Ah, here’s that promised blog post a week later. Better late than never!
So here’s what happened: Almost three weeks ago, I finally sat down to play Mass Effect 3. And it was amazing and addictive and I didn’t want to do anything else. I went to work, I fed myself on occasion, I pulled my hair out when some home improvement projects made a giant mess in my house, and I played the game. That’s really it.
I actually finished the game last Saturday night (well, I’ve seen 3 out of 4 endings, and more on that later). Now that I’m done and I don’t have to worry about spoilers, I can truly jump into the fandom with both feet. I’ve been reading trivia, perusing fanfic, looking at artwork…all that stuff you do when you don’t want your experience with a story to end. I’m not sure if that really counts as being productive, but I don’t mind the little mental break. We all deserve that every now and then, right?
And what a story it was. Yeah, yeah, I knew going in about the controversy over the ending. Truth be told, I was initially disappointed, but after a little time passed, I grew to appreciate some aspects of it. Is it perfect? Wait, scratch that…is it satisfying? Eh. Mileage varies. While I’ll never condone some of the behavior that immediately followed the game’s release (sending death threats over a video game? really?), I’m also not rolling my eyes at the people who are in the “well, THAT sucked” camp. Amusingly enough, I’ve done some guest blog posts on this very topic before – how important is a stereotypical happy ending?
Regardless, the game was still fantastic. Since this is supposed to be a writing blog after all, I might as well pontificate a bit about the storytelling aspects. The worldbuilding is rich and complex, and the characters that inhabit said world are varied and compelling. The romantic in me was satisfied with the love story on the side, especially since the relationship I chose seemed so realistic. I both laughed my ass off and cried my eyes out, and it’s rare that something can elicit both those reactions. Even if you’re not really a fan of games, I highly recommend the series because it’s such a vibrant fictional universe.
And yeah, there are fanfics coming out of my keyboard. I’ve already knocked out a quick one, and I’m collaborating with Boobulon to write a humorous tale about late nights aboard the ship. Don’t judge me.