#shimoyake

More preaching to the choir, but I feel like this is one of those rare times where not speaking my voice would be like denying a drowning man oxygen. If we don't speak up, well... Then we couldn't even say we tried.

For me, everything but the ending was perfect. Uniting the races. Losing dear friends along the way. Praying, at every turn, that it won't go wrong and you won't lose even more. I freaking LOVED that you could have Shepard start to show the burden of his/her role. Nightmares haunted by the voices of fallen friends. Guilt! My Shep was basically feeling that the loss of Thessia was her fault. It's a crazy notion, of course, and no one really blames the Commander for not being able to do the impossible, but Shepard is a true leader. It began to feel like a truly complete story. Love and happiness and stress built across three games and several years were coming together.

I didn't even hate the kid. For my Shep, that's everyone who cannot be saved. Everyone who sacrificed just so that Shepard could fight another day. Mordin. Thane. Legion. And the fact that The Illusive Man became a villain more than Harbinger? I was cool with that, too. TIM, to me, very easily represents what Shepard could have become. I still think it's quite possible that Shep was at least partially indoctrinated or affected by all that Reaper-related contact. TIM wanted to do what was right, more than anything. He was merely led astray and fed into darkness with power and the blind ambition that only HOPE can bring.

But frankly... We deserve the ability to choose. Mass Effect 3 was the best game I ever played. Period. Laughter, sadness, hope... The endings made them all pointless. Why can't my Paragon, guilt-ridden, War Hero use the alliances she has built between races and between organics and synthetics as proof that not all is lost? She has struggled too long. My heart marveled at the beautiful truth when Shepard hears Hackett say something is wrong. Why? Because, beaten and broken, alone and in agony, Shepard STILL thought of the mission first. "What do you need me to do?" I started sobbing right then. What a true hero. I even thought that I would be happy if the game ended right there. If Shep died on that platform... if she failed... Well, at least she died true to herself. At least she tried.

Why can't my secondary Shepard, a true renegade, refuse those three ending options given and simply use his sheer motivation to stop the Reapers to use the Crucible as it was intended: as a weapon? A horrifying weapon with unthinkable consequences, true, but Victory at All Costs!

The option to finally be at rest with your LI should be there. The option to go out in a blaze of glory and take your enemies with you should be there. Otherwise... what was it all for? If you allow us to make so many choices, let them at least provide us with an alternative. After all, when did Shepard ever accept what he/she was dealt? Shepard is a hero. Shepard always finds a way.