Thread by @garius

Every now and again I remember that Mass Effect has a whole lurking subplot about the importance of using "Synthetic Intelligence" rather than "Artificial Intelligence" if you accept everyone as 'alive'.

Easy to miss it, but it's there. One of the reasons I love the series.

To which it THEN throws in the concept of Virtual Intelligences, which are specifically manufactured not to be self-aware, which then opens up ANOTHER can of worms.

Specifically once you demonstrably have VIs that seem to exhibit self-awareness.

Throw in the whole issues of the galaxy's treatment of the Rachni and Krogan for "the greater good" (genocide in the first instance, biological alterations to reduce birth survival rates in the second) and ain't NO ONE in those games without historical blood on their hands.

All three Mass Effect games are, lurking beneath the covers, massive open-ended questions about who gets to define what life is. And who (if anyone ) gets to decide which lives are more important than other lives.

And, importantly, that ANY answer to the above is always wrong.

The problem is that unless you legit read the codexes and letters, and pay attention to the stories in the various side missions (rather than seeing them as just side missions) it's SUPER easy to miss all that.

Especially on first play through.

All you get is the grand sweeps in each game: which cover the same underlying ground, but in a much more personal (i.e. Shepard's direct relationship with the companions and immediate story npcs) and simultaneously EPIC CINEMA way.

Which it has to. That's how games work. But the Mass Effect series is, if anything, a secret sequel to Knights of The Old Republic.

It covers the same themes, writ large:

Who gets to decide who lives, and who dies, when truth always depends on a certain point of view.

I suspect this is why a lot of people felt robbed with the ending of Mass Effect 3. They wanted the big, sweeping climatic builds to go on forever.

What you get is:

"Those questions of life and self we tried to get you thinking about on the journey? Make your choice."

Which was a nice IDEA, and I think the more playthroughs you do of the series, the more it lands.

But it asked a LOT of players. And I suspect, with hindsight, they wish they'd make it a bit more bleedin' obvious at times along the way.

Short version:

Go watch this scene again if you played them, considering all the above, and tell me there's not layers beyond layers hidden within it.

Keelah se'lai.