I'm not inside my own mind today... I recently completed Mass Effect 3 and it's like when LOST ended. Now its kind of like something's missing now that I have finished Mass Effect 3 and I know that there's not going to be more to the story. I got what I got.
If you want to know what I thought of the first two games, check out Parts 1 and 2... This will be for my thoughts on Mass Effect 3.
Again... SPOILER ALERT: I may discuss some details that some people would consider a spoiler. I will not ruin any parts of the game specifically however I may reveal important plot details that you would otherwise have to play the game to learn for yourself.
Now... Mass Effect 3 was tough because for the first time in the trilogy, I actually had to really WAIT to get my hands on it. I remember when the first teaser trailers went up, and right away it was like the excitement level was at 200%.
As I reference in part two, speculation made the wait for Mass Effect 3 borderline unbearable. I wanted to pre-order the collectors edition over a year before the game was even due out. I didn't pre-order the game, probably the best that I didn't. The anticipation was overwhelming. I was ready to finish the fight and save the galaxy.
Mass Effect 2 did not get a demo... Mass Effect 3 did. I played it, I was too eager not to. Like the game itself, the Demo took you through a brief character creation process and then thrust you into the first mission of the game. Then the game let you play parts of a mission that takes place quite a bit later in the game. This portion of the demo lets you play at a higher level in the mid 20's so you get to use your powers and your allies powers and get a better feel for the subtle changes they made in the combat of ME3.
The game came out and I was there on the front lines. The game doesn't pull any punches. Like the demo, the game begins with Reaper Forces invading Earth. You're fleeing Future Vancouver as the reapers are invading. You try to save this little boy, he's scared. You don't save him. This little boy serves as a beacon of... feelings... for the rest of the game. One of the vague sub-plots of psychological exploration that this battle and all the losses are starting to take a toll on Shepard.
Mass Effect 3 was, by and large, everything I wanted it to be. Did I get to unite the galaxy in a last ditch effort to save it? Yep! Do I get to see some old faces and make new friends along the way? Yep! Do I get to finish the fight! Yep!
Overall, and saying this without getting too personal, Mass Effect 3 accomplished what it needed to and was in no way a disappointment. That being said, it had its fair share of disappointments.
I can only speculate on production and all that. The game was delayed a good, what, six months? They took a lot of steps of fan service on this game and that is what I would like to speculate about.
To say Mass Effect Fans and BioWare have a "relationship" is almost not the best way to put it. Bottom line, Fans speak on BioWare's forum and they listen. They try their best and I think there is plenty of evidence in Mass Effect 3 that says the developers listened and tried to encorporate as many elements of fan service as they could. The best example of this is the relationship between Joker, the Normandy's pilot, and EDI, the Artificial Intelligence of the Normandy that gets its own body in Mass Effect 3 (she's one of the playable characters and one of the more interesting additions to the Cast). This relationship simply would not exist if the fans did not express their desire to see it happen. A lot of fans thought it would be a "cool" thing, and it happened. Something that belonged in the most obscure fan fiction became a reality in Mass Effect 3...
Anyway, my belief is that this relationship did more harm to Mass Effect 3 than good. I think BioWare was always aware of the huge expectations that this game had. They went to inordinate lengths to please the fans and in the wake of what I will call the EndingGate Scandal... I wouldn't be surprised if they went to more lengths to further please the fans in the wake of what I will refer to as ... moderate disdain from thee fan base over the ending of the game.
Now... again I can only speculate. I think that they had a list (maybe more figurative than literal) of moments or things they wanted to have happen to make sure you saw as many familiar faces as possible. This lead to some pretty random encounters which you can shrug off early on.
Now... I did a Lost comparison earlier. Lost, after season 4, kind of takes a turn that will lead it down the path it takes to the end of the show. I can't really explain that in more detail without writing an entire blog about LOST and... bla bla. How it relates is that Mass Effect 3's plot takes a similar path. The game starts out, like the show, rather open. Of course, the goal of "save the galaxy" is always there (this is where the lost parallel goes out the window) anyway. ME3 takes a turn toward the end of the game that steers the plot down a definite path.
Like Lost, the ending of Mass Effect 3 could not have played out without the foundation laid before it. I won't go into personal feelings or even spoil aspects of the ending because I think everyone should experience it for themselves. I think the ending of Mass Effect played out the way it did in part because they perhaps "wrote themselves into a corner" as it were with the game's plot or maybe unbeknownst to me, the plot meant to go that way. All I really want to say is that Mass Effect 1 and 2 had very meticulous plots and it was very clear how thought out those plots were. Mass Effect 3, as far as storytelling is concerned, lacks that, especially at the end of the game when it's most crucial.
For what it was, I liked the ending. It was a bit contrived, and it was certainly worth the backlash. I was about midway through the game when buzz of the ending became deafening. I took an impromptu break from the game. Partially because (due to re-playing ME 1 and 2 again) I had been on a months long Mass Effect spree and needed to play something else and partially because I didn't want my journey to end. I had no hang ups about the possibility of the ending not meeting my expectations but I was certainly hung up that my journey as Commander Shepard was coming to an end.
There was a particular part of the game that I had to re-play because the result of a choice I made was so horrific, to me at least, that I had to re-play an entire mission. A good hour of gameplay, just to make sure I got the result I wanted. That's how this story, and the characters in this game, have become so much to me that I would knowingly re-play a part of the game to have an outcome I find more pleasing rather than (knowing I can just re-play the game later) going with what outcome I was given. That's the only point in the 3 games I had to go back and do something over.
The choices you make in Mass Effect 3 are big. Galaxy saving big. It's only natural the game with the highest stakes would have some of the biggest choices for your Shepard to make.
The character development and character work of Mass Effect 3 is another thing that makes me question development because really, there's very little if not any character development outside Shepard himself (and maybe, The Illusive Man, EDI, and a couple other characters) the character impact is not nearly as prevalent in ME3 as it is in the first two games and that's not a big deal because Mass Effect 3 doesn't have to be character driven, it's been clear from the get go that this is where we fight the fight, and save the galaxy. There ARE the token character moments so it's not like the game is completely void of character growth, it's just that it takes a back seat.
Another thing that takes a backseat, unfortunately, are THE CHOICES YOU'VE ALREADY MADE... a lot of things just seemingly "happen" in Mass Effect 3 and given the games precedent for cause and effect, the gaffe of simply setting a course of action seems like a huge oversight...
Thematically, "fate" is kind of a big plot element of Mass Effect as a whole, maybe things play out the way they do because they needed to. Maybe it was fan service prioritized over something as simple as remembering who I chose to be the Human Councillor at the end of the first Mass Efffect game and oh... making sure that change is still reflected in the 3rd game just as it was in the 2nd? That's my biggest gripe and the only direct spoiler I will include. I hate how they retconned that, and there's a couple other little things too but anyway.
Mass Effect 3 was not perfect. As part of the series, I think it's the weak link just on basis of the way the game ends alone. As it stands, Mass Effect 3 was a very good video game, and had many points that define the entire series not just itself to stand apart from the other two.
The reason I started this 3 part "saga" out with mentioning Final Fantasy VII is because that the Mass Effect games evoked emotions in me that I haven't felt since playing that game, and frankly, emotions that I thought a video game would never evoke again. I developed a closeness to the characters that to see a character death is an utmost tragedy. Highs that come with battle are emotional high's playing the game and the points where the stakes are highest are some of the most emotional points of the mass effect games. I felt the entire spectrum playing this game, and really what more could you ask from a video game experience?
If you're in to Science Fiction, or Video Games, or if you like Shooters, or hell, if you just like a good story, any and all of these are great reasons to start your own adventure as Commander Shepard and get a copy of the Mass Effect games for yourself. You won't be disappointed! Don't listen to the hype, or anti-hype, just play it and experience it for yourself. Coming to your own conclusions is infinitely more rewarding than not doing so because you read something that turned you off of the game. Mass Effect is literally a one of a kind video game and will likely go down as BioWare's defining accomplishment as Game Developers and that is as huge a compliment as I can think to give!
Friday, March 30, 2012
Mass Effect: Cause And ...Effect (Part Two)
I'm not inside my own mind today... This is part two of a, PROBABLY, three part blog on Mass Effect. Yeah it's going to take me a few blogs just to talk about ONE series of video games. I just completed Mass Effect 3, there's lots of buzz about that game so I'll just say to get the gist of part one, read it. I am kind of just taking off where I left off as this is part two.
WARNING: I will be discussing VAGUE plot elements. I will NOT be ruining any key moments of the game itself but I will be ruining points of the game per-se that you would otherwise have to play to find out about. General plot stuff, nothing too "WHY DID YOU RUIN THAT" okay? I promise!
SO... I just stopped Saren right? I'm Commander Shepard, on top of the world. Following the first game, you could say I was on a bit of a high. The game did a great job of making you feel like your efforts in the end of the game were really balls to the walls and that everything depended on what you did in those final moments. The drama, tension, it was perfect and really at that time was probably one of the best endings to a video game I had played, and since then, it stands as one of the best endings to a video game period in my opinion.
There was also a eagerness because now that I had finally experienced Mass Effect, played it through, I had something big to look forward to. Mass Effect 2 was coming!
Mass Effect 2 was big because you got to import your character from the first game and those big important choices you had to make would shape and affect the game as you played through Mass Effect 2. They eventually made a DLC interactive comic so that, if you wanted, you didn't HAVE to play through the first game to make those important choices, you could make them in the comic and then the game would reflect those choices. You, to my knowledge, didn't get the in-game perks that you would typically get with importing a Mass Effect 1 character.
There was no demo, which at the time made me kind of sad. I was playing BioWare's current release at the time, a fantasy game called Dragon Age: Origins which was a decent game in it's own right, it wasn't quite filling my Mass Effect cravings...
Mass Effect 2 starts out with a bang, we'll say. You're shot out of the sky, presumably dead, and brought back to life by Cerberus, an organization that you learn in the first game is somewhere in the realm between "Outside The Box" and "Extremist". You're introduced to a man named The Illusive Man, voiced by Martin Sheen, who is the "leader" of Cerberus. He wants you to help him learn about these beings called The Collectors who are abducting Human Colonies. Sure, sounds reasonable. He brought you back to life, you like humanity, so you the enemy of your enemy is your friend right?
Long story short, you learn the Collectors are in cahoots with The Reapers (They're baaaack!) so you're thrust once again into the forefront of a battle to keep the Galaxy safe from the Reaper Threat. The Illusive Man isn't going to leave you hanging though, he's given you a number of dossiers of potential allies to recruit for your Suicide Mission against the Collectors. You run into some old friends too from Mass Effect 1 along the way.
Now, Mass Effect 2, as a game, I think it's the best of the 3. It gets some flak for its step back from RPG elements in favor for making the game a more forward shooter but that doesn't mean that Mass Effect 2 isn't, on it's own, one of the best RPG's that have been made in this century, if not among the all time great RPG Video Games.
The way the game keeps its RPG-ness alive is probably more in the background. The squad-mate combat is refined. You can tell your AI teammates to actually position themselves in different locations. You couldn't do this in ME1 which made things frustrating at times but in 2, you could be strategic, and use flanks and combat tactics to your advantage. Leveling up yourself and your squadmates was also simplified but the game had more than double the squadmates of ME1 so this made sense to me. To me, combat seemed easier because the squad mates seemed more effective than in Mass Effect 1.
Of course, Mass Effect just wouldn't be Mass Effect without making huge choices and they up the ante big time in Mass Effect 2. You're forced to make choices that effect entire alien races, choices that will gain you new friends or new enemies and of course, the weight of your choices could mean life itself.
The end of the game? Well they didn't slouch there either. The Suicide Mission was probably better than the end of Mass Effect 1 simply because it was as do-or-die as it gets. This was also one of the more RPG-centric parts of the game as well. Using your squad-mates strengths and weaknesses, you assign your allies to different important tasks of the suicide mission. Their performance in their assignment, as well as yours, affects who lives or dies in the mission itself (so potentially, who will or will not be there for Mass Effect 3.) It was a great way to end the game and Mass Effect 2 ended on a strong note.
Now the game ended with a bang, maybe... depending on what choice you made... and what followed the end of Mass Effect 2 was just a perfect storm of speculation.
With Mass Effect 3 forthcoming, everything was analyzed. Where could the choices you made lead you in the third game? Fan speculation was awesome, I loved reading the ideas people had and the theories that fans came up with. Their in-game evidence and their own speculations in regards to what that could lead to in the third game.
My personal favorite has to be the "Worst Possible Playthrough" (Can be read here (contains numerous spoilers)) In which one such fan took it upon themselves to make all the worst choices they could through the first two games to ensure they had the greatest potential to fail in the third game. All I can say in this regard, thanks to the power of retrospect, is that it's a complete shame this didn't play out as well as it could have (and I will get to that in Part Three.) but the fact that the theme of choice in the game of course can inspire the worst in people is something I love to see in video games.
The thing that sets the Mass Effect games apart from the rest is that things like this CAN happen. You can try to do the WORST job you can to ensure a specific result. How many games can you really do that with outside of the Bethesda games (Morrowind/Fallout 3) and I'm not sure about those because I haven't played them.
Due to the nature of duality in the game (Renegade/Paragon choices) I've always tried to play through each game twice. Because of this, I've beat the Mass Effect games (The first two) more times than any other game I can think of. I've beat Mass Effect 1, 4 times and I've beaten Mass Effect 2, 3 times. The reason I've beaten Mass Effect 1 one extra time is that part-way through my initial Playthrough of Mass Effect 2, I realized that my lackadaisical nature toward this duality (I had casually picked both renegade and paragon choices in ME1) had impacted my character and limited my potential off the start.. Because of this I re-beat the first game to import my "pure paragon" Shepard into the game for all the perks. I know... I know...
Mass Effect 2 did everything Mass Effect did well, BETTER. Especially character work! All your favorite characters make a return appearance in one way or another in Mass Effect 2, some are even squad mates. These rich characters like Garrus, Tali and Wrex continue to grow in Mass Effect 2 while you meet some new interesting faces like Thane, Mordin and Grunt. Just as with the first game, you find yourself attached to these characters and it helps shape your own Mass Effect journey as you learn about these new characters and learn things about characters like Garrus and Tali you never knew. It helps continue to flesh out the world without making it feel like a forced sequel, it's like a natural extension of the first game.
Mass Effect 2 was an absolute triumph... and it made what followed difficult for a lot of people. How did it make me feel? Well... you'll have to read Part Three for my thoughts on Mass Effect 3!
WARNING: I will be discussing VAGUE plot elements. I will NOT be ruining any key moments of the game itself but I will be ruining points of the game per-se that you would otherwise have to play to find out about. General plot stuff, nothing too "WHY DID YOU RUIN THAT" okay? I promise!
SO... I just stopped Saren right? I'm Commander Shepard, on top of the world. Following the first game, you could say I was on a bit of a high. The game did a great job of making you feel like your efforts in the end of the game were really balls to the walls and that everything depended on what you did in those final moments. The drama, tension, it was perfect and really at that time was probably one of the best endings to a video game I had played, and since then, it stands as one of the best endings to a video game period in my opinion.
There was also a eagerness because now that I had finally experienced Mass Effect, played it through, I had something big to look forward to. Mass Effect 2 was coming!
Mass Effect 2 was big because you got to import your character from the first game and those big important choices you had to make would shape and affect the game as you played through Mass Effect 2. They eventually made a DLC interactive comic so that, if you wanted, you didn't HAVE to play through the first game to make those important choices, you could make them in the comic and then the game would reflect those choices. You, to my knowledge, didn't get the in-game perks that you would typically get with importing a Mass Effect 1 character.
There was no demo, which at the time made me kind of sad. I was playing BioWare's current release at the time, a fantasy game called Dragon Age: Origins which was a decent game in it's own right, it wasn't quite filling my Mass Effect cravings...
Mass Effect 2 starts out with a bang, we'll say. You're shot out of the sky, presumably dead, and brought back to life by Cerberus, an organization that you learn in the first game is somewhere in the realm between "Outside The Box" and "Extremist". You're introduced to a man named The Illusive Man, voiced by Martin Sheen, who is the "leader" of Cerberus. He wants you to help him learn about these beings called The Collectors who are abducting Human Colonies. Sure, sounds reasonable. He brought you back to life, you like humanity, so you the enemy of your enemy is your friend right?
Long story short, you learn the Collectors are in cahoots with The Reapers (They're baaaack!) so you're thrust once again into the forefront of a battle to keep the Galaxy safe from the Reaper Threat. The Illusive Man isn't going to leave you hanging though, he's given you a number of dossiers of potential allies to recruit for your Suicide Mission against the Collectors. You run into some old friends too from Mass Effect 1 along the way.
Now, Mass Effect 2, as a game, I think it's the best of the 3. It gets some flak for its step back from RPG elements in favor for making the game a more forward shooter but that doesn't mean that Mass Effect 2 isn't, on it's own, one of the best RPG's that have been made in this century, if not among the all time great RPG Video Games.
The way the game keeps its RPG-ness alive is probably more in the background. The squad-mate combat is refined. You can tell your AI teammates to actually position themselves in different locations. You couldn't do this in ME1 which made things frustrating at times but in 2, you could be strategic, and use flanks and combat tactics to your advantage. Leveling up yourself and your squadmates was also simplified but the game had more than double the squadmates of ME1 so this made sense to me. To me, combat seemed easier because the squad mates seemed more effective than in Mass Effect 1.
Of course, Mass Effect just wouldn't be Mass Effect without making huge choices and they up the ante big time in Mass Effect 2. You're forced to make choices that effect entire alien races, choices that will gain you new friends or new enemies and of course, the weight of your choices could mean life itself.
The end of the game? Well they didn't slouch there either. The Suicide Mission was probably better than the end of Mass Effect 1 simply because it was as do-or-die as it gets. This was also one of the more RPG-centric parts of the game as well. Using your squad-mates strengths and weaknesses, you assign your allies to different important tasks of the suicide mission. Their performance in their assignment, as well as yours, affects who lives or dies in the mission itself (so potentially, who will or will not be there for Mass Effect 3.) It was a great way to end the game and Mass Effect 2 ended on a strong note.
Now the game ended with a bang, maybe... depending on what choice you made... and what followed the end of Mass Effect 2 was just a perfect storm of speculation.
With Mass Effect 3 forthcoming, everything was analyzed. Where could the choices you made lead you in the third game? Fan speculation was awesome, I loved reading the ideas people had and the theories that fans came up with. Their in-game evidence and their own speculations in regards to what that could lead to in the third game.
My personal favorite has to be the "Worst Possible Playthrough" (Can be read here (contains numerous spoilers)) In which one such fan took it upon themselves to make all the worst choices they could through the first two games to ensure they had the greatest potential to fail in the third game. All I can say in this regard, thanks to the power of retrospect, is that it's a complete shame this didn't play out as well as it could have (and I will get to that in Part Three.) but the fact that the theme of choice in the game of course can inspire the worst in people is something I love to see in video games.
The thing that sets the Mass Effect games apart from the rest is that things like this CAN happen. You can try to do the WORST job you can to ensure a specific result. How many games can you really do that with outside of the Bethesda games (Morrowind/Fallout 3) and I'm not sure about those because I haven't played them.
Due to the nature of duality in the game (Renegade/Paragon choices) I've always tried to play through each game twice. Because of this, I've beat the Mass Effect games (The first two) more times than any other game I can think of. I've beat Mass Effect 1, 4 times and I've beaten Mass Effect 2, 3 times. The reason I've beaten Mass Effect 1 one extra time is that part-way through my initial Playthrough of Mass Effect 2, I realized that my lackadaisical nature toward this duality (I had casually picked both renegade and paragon choices in ME1) had impacted my character and limited my potential off the start.. Because of this I re-beat the first game to import my "pure paragon" Shepard into the game for all the perks. I know... I know...
Mass Effect 2 did everything Mass Effect did well, BETTER. Especially character work! All your favorite characters make a return appearance in one way or another in Mass Effect 2, some are even squad mates. These rich characters like Garrus, Tali and Wrex continue to grow in Mass Effect 2 while you meet some new interesting faces like Thane, Mordin and Grunt. Just as with the first game, you find yourself attached to these characters and it helps shape your own Mass Effect journey as you learn about these new characters and learn things about characters like Garrus and Tali you never knew. It helps continue to flesh out the world without making it feel like a forced sequel, it's like a natural extension of the first game.
Mass Effect 2 was an absolute triumph... and it made what followed difficult for a lot of people. How did it make me feel? Well... you'll have to read Part Three for my thoughts on Mass Effect 3!
Mass Effect: First Contact (Part One)
I'm not inside my own mind today... I recently fought the fight, I saved the galaxy. Commander Bryce Sheppard defied the odds, defied what seemed to very well be FATE to unite the galaxy and stop the forces of evil...
Of course, what I'm trying to say is I finally finished Mass Effect 3. There are a lot of emotion's I'm currently feeling so I think it's best to just start at the beginning.
How far back do we really want to go?
Let's go to to 1998.
I would have been 10 or 11, just got my first Sony Playstation. Now I used to take what little money I could scam out of my mother the odd weekend to rent video games at a store called The Jolly Gamesman. Typically I would rent sports games. This time was different, a game jumped out at me in particular.
It was called Final Fantasy VII...
Now I had played Final Fantasy games before, mainly Final Fantasy II for my Super Nintendo. This was a game I really enjoyed so surely the 7th "Final" fantasy would be worth a try as well right?
Little did I know I would be starting an adventure that would go unparalleled in my personal mythos. The tale of Cloud, Tifa, Barret, and AVALANCHE as they take on the evil SHINRA corporation to save the world was one that set a standard that would take decades to even come close to seeing met again by a video game.
Lets fast forward to 2007... My friend Geoff told me about this game called Mass Effect and honestly I should have taken his suggestion with a little more weight than I did. For a long time, Geoff tried to get me into this band you may have heard of called RUSH. I resisted for the longest time but Rush would eventually become one of my top favorite bands.
It was a long time between when Geoff first told me of Mass Effect and when I would actually play it. Years, as a matter of fact. Probably AT LEAST two.
I found Mass Effect for the unstoppable price of twenty dollars at Staples after I moved to Nova Scotia. Starting it out, I wasn't sure what to expect really.
Let me digress momentarily with a little bit of background: I've never really been into science fiction. Other than watching the majority of Star Trek: Voyager in the days when I only had two channels of TV to watch, I hadn't really enjoyed sci-fi outside say, Star Wars. I didn't exactly go out of my way for it either. Coincidentally, BioWare, the developers of Mass Effect, made some very good Star Wars games you may have heard of called The Knights of The Old Republic (As well as the recently released MMO Star Wars: The Old Republic).
For those of you who have never played Mass Effect, I will try to keep these as spoiler free as possible. I WILL discuss plot elements of the games but I will TRY to refrain from ruining any parts of the games that I wouldn't want ruined for myself. IF you wish to remain blissfully ignorant to any of the plot points of MASS EFFECT 1 than please do not read any further. I will let you know when it's safe to read again. Mass Effect takes place in the future, in the 2100's. Now, technology moves very fast in this world. Humans have JUST discovered the technology for faster than light travel which allowed them to explore the universe. In 30 years, Humanity has 'earned a place' among the galactic civilization which houses numerous alien species. This is something that has always made me raise an eyebrow. Humans can barely co-exist with each other and yet we somehow can peacefully co-exist with numerous alien races?
Okay, okay... it's just a video game. Anyway, YOU are Commander Sheppard. As the game begins, you go through a brief character creation process to "personalize" your Sheppard. You start out on The Normandy as it's heading toward a planet called Eden Prime. You soon learn things are not what they seem and before you know it you're on a race across the galaxy to stop a rogue named Saren from enacting his evil plan. Saren has become indoctrinated by a force known as The Reapers, a sentient race that is more or less the purveyors of a destruction cycle of genocide that takes place once a species has reached its apex of evolution. Sheppard, of course, takes exception to this.
OKAY... this is where I stop revealing plot points, you are safe.Now Mass Effect 1 takes a bit of time to get going, there's an epilogue that takes about a half-hour to an hour to complete and then by the time you're actually given free reign to roam the galaxy you have already played for close to two hours. A lot of people I've tried to get into the game seem to have a hard time getting past this early lull in the game but once you get past this you are brought to a whole galaxy to explore.
Mass Effect drew me in hard with its emphasis on the characters. Early on as you meet Garrus, Tali and Wrex, you are introduced to the diversity of life the Mass Effect universe has to offer but you're also introduced to a game that places heavy emphasis on Character Development which directly affects the player experience. You grow yourself attached to these various characters as they aid you through your seemingly impossible journey. These characters and their points of view, racial "quirks" and hatreds toward each other (such as the volatility between the Krogan and everyone, as well as the Quarian and the Geth) help shape a world as complex and unique as the one we live in. This suspension of disbelief is so important in any science fiction or "futuristic" setting. It's the reasons shows like Star Trek and Babylon 5 were so popular.
In the game you make choices that lives depend on, the decisions you make in the game could affect thousands of lives and these choices are not made easily. As Commander Sheppard, you are in the forefront of a battle for the galaxy in Mass Effect and you are thrust into some sticky situations and these situations are not weighed lightly. When most games simply make you a facilitator for an event to happen, Mass Effect is making you as the player, literally and directly impact the game you are playing when so many games just take you on a ride like a roller coaster. When you're drawn into the conflicts of the game, these choices you're forced to make become harder and harder and as a lovely side-effect you are pulled deeper into the game's mesmerizing atmosphere.
When I completed Mass Effect 1, it was mere months before Mass Effect 2 was due to be released. Now that I knew I had something to look forward to that wasn't another Hockey, Baseball or Football game, I was VERY excited. Little did I know what kind of rabbit hole I was crawling in to...
TO BE CONTINUED....
Of course, what I'm trying to say is I finally finished Mass Effect 3. There are a lot of emotion's I'm currently feeling so I think it's best to just start at the beginning.
How far back do we really want to go?
Let's go to to 1998.
I would have been 10 or 11, just got my first Sony Playstation. Now I used to take what little money I could scam out of my mother the odd weekend to rent video games at a store called The Jolly Gamesman. Typically I would rent sports games. This time was different, a game jumped out at me in particular.
It was called Final Fantasy VII...
Now I had played Final Fantasy games before, mainly Final Fantasy II for my Super Nintendo. This was a game I really enjoyed so surely the 7th "Final" fantasy would be worth a try as well right?
Little did I know I would be starting an adventure that would go unparalleled in my personal mythos. The tale of Cloud, Tifa, Barret, and AVALANCHE as they take on the evil SHINRA corporation to save the world was one that set a standard that would take decades to even come close to seeing met again by a video game.
Lets fast forward to 2007... My friend Geoff told me about this game called Mass Effect and honestly I should have taken his suggestion with a little more weight than I did. For a long time, Geoff tried to get me into this band you may have heard of called RUSH. I resisted for the longest time but Rush would eventually become one of my top favorite bands.
It was a long time between when Geoff first told me of Mass Effect and when I would actually play it. Years, as a matter of fact. Probably AT LEAST two.
I found Mass Effect for the unstoppable price of twenty dollars at Staples after I moved to Nova Scotia. Starting it out, I wasn't sure what to expect really.
Let me digress momentarily with a little bit of background: I've never really been into science fiction. Other than watching the majority of Star Trek: Voyager in the days when I only had two channels of TV to watch, I hadn't really enjoyed sci-fi outside say, Star Wars. I didn't exactly go out of my way for it either. Coincidentally, BioWare, the developers of Mass Effect, made some very good Star Wars games you may have heard of called The Knights of The Old Republic (As well as the recently released MMO Star Wars: The Old Republic).
For those of you who have never played Mass Effect, I will try to keep these as spoiler free as possible. I WILL discuss plot elements of the games but I will TRY to refrain from ruining any parts of the games that I wouldn't want ruined for myself. IF you wish to remain blissfully ignorant to any of the plot points of MASS EFFECT 1 than please do not read any further. I will let you know when it's safe to read again. Mass Effect takes place in the future, in the 2100's. Now, technology moves very fast in this world. Humans have JUST discovered the technology for faster than light travel which allowed them to explore the universe. In 30 years, Humanity has 'earned a place' among the galactic civilization which houses numerous alien species. This is something that has always made me raise an eyebrow. Humans can barely co-exist with each other and yet we somehow can peacefully co-exist with numerous alien races?
Okay, okay... it's just a video game. Anyway, YOU are Commander Sheppard. As the game begins, you go through a brief character creation process to "personalize" your Sheppard. You start out on The Normandy as it's heading toward a planet called Eden Prime. You soon learn things are not what they seem and before you know it you're on a race across the galaxy to stop a rogue named Saren from enacting his evil plan. Saren has become indoctrinated by a force known as The Reapers, a sentient race that is more or less the purveyors of a destruction cycle of genocide that takes place once a species has reached its apex of evolution. Sheppard, of course, takes exception to this.
OKAY... this is where I stop revealing plot points, you are safe.Now Mass Effect 1 takes a bit of time to get going, there's an epilogue that takes about a half-hour to an hour to complete and then by the time you're actually given free reign to roam the galaxy you have already played for close to two hours. A lot of people I've tried to get into the game seem to have a hard time getting past this early lull in the game but once you get past this you are brought to a whole galaxy to explore.
Mass Effect drew me in hard with its emphasis on the characters. Early on as you meet Garrus, Tali and Wrex, you are introduced to the diversity of life the Mass Effect universe has to offer but you're also introduced to a game that places heavy emphasis on Character Development which directly affects the player experience. You grow yourself attached to these various characters as they aid you through your seemingly impossible journey. These characters and their points of view, racial "quirks" and hatreds toward each other (such as the volatility between the Krogan and everyone, as well as the Quarian and the Geth) help shape a world as complex and unique as the one we live in. This suspension of disbelief is so important in any science fiction or "futuristic" setting. It's the reasons shows like Star Trek and Babylon 5 were so popular.
In the game you make choices that lives depend on, the decisions you make in the game could affect thousands of lives and these choices are not made easily. As Commander Sheppard, you are in the forefront of a battle for the galaxy in Mass Effect and you are thrust into some sticky situations and these situations are not weighed lightly. When most games simply make you a facilitator for an event to happen, Mass Effect is making you as the player, literally and directly impact the game you are playing when so many games just take you on a ride like a roller coaster. When you're drawn into the conflicts of the game, these choices you're forced to make become harder and harder and as a lovely side-effect you are pulled deeper into the game's mesmerizing atmosphere.
When I completed Mass Effect 1, it was mere months before Mass Effect 2 was due to be released. Now that I knew I had something to look forward to that wasn't another Hockey, Baseball or Football game, I was VERY excited. Little did I know what kind of rabbit hole I was crawling in to...
TO BE CONTINUED....
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