Mass Effect: Save our characters, Save our Game petition.

In response to the recent comments by Bioware’s Casey Hudson and Ray Muzyka as well as other Bioware staff members, we the fans of the Mass Effect trilogy, would like to submit a formal petition to voice our concerns in regards to the continuing story of our beloved characters in hopes that the fans and artists can mutually cooperate in continuing to build a better ME experience.

First and foremost we would like to thank all of the artists and staff members that have worked for years in building this wonderful experience. Though many of us have voiced our dissatisfaction with various features and choices in the game, we ask that you please do not misunderstand, not one of us doubts the intense amount of labor and love it took to get the game to where it is today. All that hard work can be reflected not only in the end product itself, but also in its loyal and passionate fan base.

We’ve fallen in love with its universe, mythologies, cultures, and ultimately with its characters. Many of us have become so emotionally invested in this world that we have come to genuinely care for these characters, especially our squad mates. This is an amazing achievement on behalf of the writers, concept artists, and animators. However, it is because of this that it came to us as such a shock and disappointment the way some character’s stories were treated in ME3. Bioware and its artists have all the right to protect their artistic integrity, however some decisions such as the ones of not allowing Shepard to continue his or her relationship with a previous ME2 character go against what was promised to the players. It felt like a message telling the fans,” you should have picked this instead of this.”

We are of course speaking of Thane Krios and Jacob Taylor. Not only does Shepard have no choice in the matter of their relationship, their change in attitude go against what the characters have developed alongside her through the events of ME2. It may not seem important to a lot of people since they wouldn’t have had the same experience, but in an otherwise excellent game these small but important details become incredibly jarring and jeopardize the experience as a whole.

In the case of Thane Krios, please let us have a choice to save him.Trust us it was incredibly emotional when he died, but not so much because he died protecting the council, but rather how his death was treated as a whole. From the moment you meet Thane whatever will to live he had developed because of Shepard, in six months it is all but gone. Despite clear precursors to possible cures, the writers opted to ignore these entirely and decided to completely take any choice away from the player. After two years of hoping, players had to resign to his inevitable fate. As if that was not enough during the entire ordeal Shepard is surprisingly indifferent about their relationship or with his death. When Thane finally dies in the one place he wished not to die, a hospital bed, a prayer is said and our hope of showing him a desert dies with him. Only a few words are exchanged, differing slightly whether he was a love interest or not. And then the last straw happens when Shepard seeks the comfort of her friends, of whom not one mentions Thane or his sacrifice. The only one to mention him would be his killer later on in the game. Thane doesn’t even get a codex entry. This can be considered pretty dismal treatment for 2010’s most popular character, ME2 poster boy, and a favorite of the female fan base. If he were brought back as a squad mate, even male players would welcome him, he is one of the most compelling and well-made characters in modern games.

As for Jacob Taylor, his decision to cheat on Shepard during their six month time apart is out of character to say the least. For someone that developed a trauma by his father leaving him, he essentially abandoned Shepard just as well. This seemed very out of the blue and a huge surprise to his female fans.

It is also vexing how the two characters that were given this treatment were for the female players, meanwhile there are six love interests available to male players. We’re all about variety, and we wouldn’t take one word, sentence, or choice away from these characters because we know these truly help make the game a much better experience.  However we hope that Bioware doesn’t forget about its female fan base, which is large and just as passionate, and let us save these characters, because they mean a lot to us. We understand it would be difficult, but then again, “most things worth keeping are.”