This quote from Tim Clark over at Computer and Video Games really got to me:
The reason people are freaking out about Mass Effect 3 is because they love Mass Effect. And it’s a fundamental by-product of the medium’s interactivity that people feel like they own part of the outcome.
This is more or less what I realized a few Saturdays ago as I watched my download bar for Mass Effect 3 fill up.
That’s not the reason I’m playing the game. Sure, I want to see how Shepard’s story ends, but I’m more invested in everything that happens up until that point. I have already welled up with sadness/joy more than a few times over the course of my 27 hours with Mass Effect 3.
I parted and reunited with old friends, solved problems that have plagued theMass Effect universe for centuries, and watched as total extinction became a reality for many of my crew. I can’t possibly think of an ending that would retroactively make me hate the rest of the series.
Perhaps if my hard drive exploded into a million tiny pieces.