I know that gaming in general has become more main stream and socially 'acceptable' than it was a few years ago, but there are still varying levels of gammer. We all game for different reasons, all very valid and very real. In finishing the
Mass Effect series with the completion of
Mass Effect 3, I've been struggling to let my cannon Shephard, Kai, go. I don't want her story to be over, which has prompted me to sign up for a 10,000 word fanfiction challenge - an effort, on my part, to let her go and move on. It's made me realize how dear to me gaming is and how these characters, seemingly insignificant pieces of code combined with a visual, have helped me through some of the darkest points of my life.
In high school, it was Adrianne Tabris - my city elf, dual wielding warrior from Dragon Age: Origins. Dealing with the emotional tumult that were my final years of high school, Adri was the calm in the storm - she knew what she had to do, and set out to get it done. And she did it with a
smile, this job that was forced into her hands as leader of the Grey Wardens and eventual Hero of Ferleden. She found love and held on to it, in spite of duty, giving up pieces of herself to protect those she loved. Writing about her with a friend at the time, she provided an outlet to confused feelings and immense hurt. She helped to mend some broken bridges, or at least air out some dirty laundry in tandem with my friend's Mahariel. She became an outlet for my anger and frustration, a leader to aspire to, a safe place where I could leave my teenage angst behind me.
College came around and my gaming became limited to my visits home, cramming in hours between visits with friends and dates with the boyfriend. When my college buddy came back from winter break with an xbox that she offered to let me play, Ferrel was born. My sweet, naive mage was my protagonist for my first play through of
Dragon Age II, falling hard for Anders early on. Shortly before I beat the game, I broke up with my long distance bf, calling it off due to a need for space and a feeling of disconnect between us. Not a week later, he came clean to me over a skype call. He had been sleeping with my best friend almost the entire time we had been dating. Over a year.
Never have I been so hurt, so angry and hateful all at once. I ceased trying to contact the girl I had called 'friend' for so long, wrote with, cried with, grown with. It was the first time my college friends had seen me break down, and I'm still trying to let go of the resentment.
Dragon Age II became an escape, a support alongside my friends and family. So when the Chantry exploded and Ferrel was faced with Anders' betrayal, the feeling was eerily close to that of my own real betrayal. And I realized that Ferrel had become a symbol of myself as I had been; that her change, post-betrayal, mirriored my own. Neither of us were the women we used to be: young, childish, naive. We grew hard, wary, but didn't let it change us. It made us stronger. It took Ferrel for me to see that.
Now, as I sit before the blank document that will be Kai's last chapter, I don't know where to begin. Sophmore year of college kicked my ass. Between a full class load, the Resident Advisor duties, and the unexpected Presidency of the DePaul Swing Society, I was grasping at straws to get everything to come together. I managed, it's done, but I never had any time to just sit back and be myself. If one thing was finished, there was always something else on its heels: another duty, another paper, another test. Even when I could steal a few minutes for myself, the lingering sense of my titles and who everyone else needed me to be weighed heavily. So when
Mass Effect 3 came out in March, about two weeks before finals, I dove into it with fervor. I had recapped and set up Kai's files, ready to see where this last game would take me. I never imagined that it would lead me here.
Powering through, doing as much as I could on a schedule, I felt the urgency and pressure settling on Kai's shoulders. Do this, solve that, make this work while the Reaper threat was blaring in the background. The woman was cracking at the edges, and there was nothing her lover, Garrus, could do about it. It was just too much - the galaxy needed Commander Shephard, not Kai. DePaul needed RA Sarah, or President Sarah, not just Sarah. Sarah had to wait.
I cried hard when I thought I'd killed Grunt on the Rachni mission, sobbing hard enough to have to pause the game when he came out of those tunnels alive. When Mordin went up into the Shroud, singing as it exploded, I cried for Kai, since she could not. Thane, Legion...so many friends, for both of us. Garrus was her strong rock, balancing her, keeping her sane. So when the final push came, that last weekend before Finals, I was caught in Kai's desperation and wish that it would just be
over. When she finally chose Synthesis that first time and the credits rolled, I couldn't help but sob over the peace she felt, the she had done her job and could
rest. I toyed with what happened after, but it was done. She had done it, living on in spirit, in the synthesis.
As satisfied as I was with my original ending, little bits niggled at me and got me excited for the Extended Cut. I had gone back to play through
Mass Effect with Alexis 'Alex' Shephard, my charming, ice queen Commander who had survived Mindor and become the Butcher of Torfan. She was a 180 from Kai, who's outreaching, paragon disposition inclined her to make friends, do the right thing, and made those who followed her fiercely loyal. Kai was a bad ass, but personable - Alex is bad ass, but cold as hell. So, jumping back to the final hours before striking Cerberus with Kai threw me for a loop. I forgot what it felt like to play her character, more going through the motions than anything else. And then the evac scene.
My boyfriend was watching me, keeping his distance as I had requested when I warned him that I was going to play. The evac scene played, and I couldn't stop the tears. Kai, my baby girl, had to order her turian lover to leave. The same one who had been at her six all game long. The same one who fought to stay beside her, bloody and all, claiming "You've got to be kidding me. We're in this together!"The goodbye wrenched my heart, made all the more potent that she was saying goodbye to Kaidan, her love interest from
ME all those years ago, as well. The two men she loved most, her mate and her brother-in-arms, could only watch as she faced the end alone. And there was not a damn thing they could do. And Kai knew she wasn't coming back. Not this time. So when the choice came, fleshed out with new information and insight, she chose Destruction. She begged EDI's forgiveness, Legion's forgiveness as she fired, praying that she'd die this time. Only, she didn't. And she doesn't know what to do with that.
And now it's officially done, Kai's game story. All that's left is whatever I can write to do her justice. Going through
ME3 with her mirrored my own frantic nature, allowed a little bit of 'self' escape through her. She got me through the rest of the year and is helping me process. I think writing the end of her story with provide closure for both of us; something to look back on and face with acceptance. Something to learn from.
All of these characters, Kai in particular, have grown with me, shaped me, supported me in ways that only they can. Their stories mean more than just mere games: they are their own beings, fictional, but real in strange ways. It's a hard thing to describe, but it's special and true and why I love video games in particular. It's been a blessing to take these journeys with these characters, and it's been eye opening. At the end of the day, I can only hope that I can write a story that can help someone else as much as these stories, these characters, have helped me.
So now, as I sit down and write Kai's story, I hope her ending is what she wants it to be, something that does her - and the force she's been in my life - justice. We'll see where she takes me next, no?
