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I take issue with one of your issues A Deathwatch Guard Send a noteboard - 08/04/2012 12:20:00 AM
Specifically, this part:

This is the part I take most issue with, because I actually really liked this part of the story. The reapers do kill organic life, but they also preserve it. Each new civilization becomes part of the reaper collective to survive for all time. The reapers believe (or at least their higher AI consciousness believes) that, left unchecked, synthetic life would dominate the galaxy to such a degree that organic life would never again develop. The reapers therefore "prune" the galaxy shortly before the point when synthetics take over, allowing the organic cycle to start anew. And you know, that sort of makes sense. In the reaper model there is always a flourishing level of organic life (because they only harvest the advanced species). They are allowed to develop however they will for tens of thousands of years, and then, at the end, their progress, culture and essence are preserved. From the perspective of an organic, is that really worse than the permanent annihilation of organic life from the galaxy?


I can see how this can seem "logical," from the perspective of beings to which thousands of years are like mere minutes, and which are practically gods when compared to humans. But while it might be logical, it is also a very defeatist way of looking at things. They see the worst possible thing that can happen, and they act to prevent it... Even though their preventative measure is really only slightly better than the very thing they're preventing. Because after all, even if war against synthetics is assured, why would the synthetics be the inevitable victors? Or if preserving organics is all they care about, why don't the Reapers kill just the synthetics, leaving organics alone? Or make contact with the organics and try to work things out with them? Their solution is extremely radical, and an extreme over-reaction given the uncertainty of the outcome they're trying to avoid.

But even if we accept that their actions are perfectly rational given their position, it does not change that from the perspective of all organic life in the universe, they are evil. We shouldn't empathize with them, or agree with them, and fulfilling their wishes should in no way be the "good" choice to make. Because there is nothing heroic about it. It is the choice of a quitter, of someone that is so risk averse that (I've been watching House) the fear of a fire will keep him from having a house.

So it isn't the fact that this is the Reaper's motivation that bothers me. It's the fact that it changes something for Shepard, and apparently changes destroying them, which was the goal all along, to be the bad choice rather than the good one.

My other issue is how little variety between the endings there is, and how unclear everything is. An ending being unclear and open ended is fine. I liked Inception's ending because it was unclear. But Mass Effect isn't that sort of series. It is a series that was based on player choices, on forging your own special Shepard different from everyone else's. So giving an ending that was so uniform for everyone was equivalent to a slap to the face for all gamers. I can respect that, though for me the main issues remain the logical/continuity ones. Like how the Illusive Man shows up in the ending, the 3 choices, etc.
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Re: Exactly, it was entirely not clear which was which - 17/06/2012 10:36:57 PM 810 Views
Re: Exactly, it was entirely not clear which was which - 17/06/2012 10:52:11 PM 844 Views
Re: Exactly, it was entirely not clear which was which - 18/06/2012 09:12:17 AM 865 Views
ME2 - 18/06/2012 12:39:05 PM 954 Views
I can finally read this thread. And I believe I'm in the "that was pretty good" camp. - 07/04/2012 04:31:45 AM 884 Views
I take issue with one of your issues - 08/04/2012 12:20:00 AM 952 Views
Re: I take issue with one of your issues - 09/04/2012 03:19:07 PM 891 Views
Re: I take issue with one of your issues - 10/04/2012 02:56:49 PM 996 Views

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