A Tale of Two Shepards

Posted by brandon in Editorial on Jan 20th, 2012 | 0 comments

There are two Commander Shepards for me. It’s not just that I rolled two different characters, but I played Mass Effect 2 before I played Mass Effect and the Genesis interactive comic didn’t work as well as maybe the creators hoped it would. My first Shepard that I used in my PS3 playthrough of Mass Effect 2 killed the Rachni queen, he let Wrex live, he loved Liara, and he saved Ashely instead of Kaidan. When I eventually played Mass Effect for real on the 360 after already completing Mass Effect 2 on the PS3, I wound up making three of those four same choices. (I let the Rachni queen live on Noveria.) But it took playing through the real game to understand why those were the best decisions for me.

PS3 Playthrough

When I first played through Mass Effect 2 on PS3, I tried to make decisions that I think I would make in real life. In my dealings with scumbags on Omega, I was typically pretty Renegade in my choices. When dealing with not-so-scummy individuals on the Citadel and on Illium, I often made Paragon choices. (Except for kicking the guy out the window. That’s just fun.) My Shepard wound up being a middling mix of Paragon and Renegade, which probably shows that in most situations, I would try to do the right thing in real life, but when dealing with less than admirable people, I’d be harsh. For a video game though, this leads to less than great character building. I wound up losing the loyalty of Jack because I didn’t have either enough Paragon or Renegade points.

Mass Effect

I got really into the fiction of Mass Effect and had to play the first game. (I also read the novels.) I didn’t even own an Xbox 360, so I bought one essentially to play Mass Effect. It was totally worth it. It was so weird going back in time to the first game and playing with different character building mechanics and seeing things happen I’d already heard about. Unfortunately, all the big story points were ruined for me. I still had a great time playing though. In almost every way, the story of Mass Effect is better than that of Mass Effect 2. Saren was the face of evil in Mass Effect. Mass Effect 2 had no face. The Collectors, while formidable adversaries, were characterless and uninteresting. The story of who they used to be is far more interesting. In fact, I probably spent 20 minutes on Ilos listening to the history of the fall of the Protheans.

The Citadel of Mass Effect is a much larger and more vibrant place than the Citadel of Mass Effect 2. Sure, it was torn to bits at the end of the first game, but it was the key place in the Mass Effect universe and it’s sad that it wasn’t as well-developed in the second game.

Choices in Mass Effect

Noveria

Unlike in Mass Effect 2′s Genesis interactive comic, I saved the Rachni queen on Noveria. I was playing a mostly Renegade Shepard, but when it came down to it, and I thought about it for a good five minutes or so, I couldn’t bring myself to wipe out the Rachni race. The queen seemed genuinely peaceful and even encouraged me to wipe out her uncontrollable children. That alone showed that she wasn’t interested in harming others. Also, I fully believe that the Rachni will wind up being an ally against the Reapers in some way in Mass Effect 3.

Vimire

Wrex

I had Wrex live on the PS3. I didn’t get why he should live until playing Mass Effect. Wrex is my favorite party member. He’s powerful and his dialogue was always great. Putting him and Garrus together in the elevators on the Citadel was a treat especially. Thankfully, I had enough Renegade point to end the confrontation with Wrex on the beach without Wrex having to die. It would’ve been truly sad to lose Wrex.

Ashley/Kaidan

I let Ashely live on the PS3. I didn’t have any particular reason to let her live. I went into my playthrough on 360 thinking that I’d let her die. I was sticking with that right up until the moment came to choose who would live or die and damn it if I didn’t save her again. It wasn’t because I wanted to romance her. I didn’t. But in my head, it made sense to let her superior officer take responsibility and let him bite the bullet. It seemed like the military thing-to-do.

Mass Effect 2

Mass Effect 2′s choices are so interwoven into the game play that sometimes you’re left with only one real option. In the service of having the best gameplay experience possible, you have to keep everyone alive. In order to best to this, you have to make everyone loyal. So, you have to either swing really hard to Paragon or Renegade to build up points (possibly making decisions you normally wouldn’t to keep your conversation options open) or go along with party members’ actions even when you don’t want to to keep them happy. I want to see everyone again in Mass Effect 3 so I’ve gotta keep them all happy. That, to me, is the big flaw of Mass Effect 2. Mass Effect had the confrontation with Wrex on the beach and the Ashley/Kaidan decision, but Mass Effect 2 has many more situations like that, although not as serious in comparison.

Mass Effect 3

I’ve got a complete save from Mass Effect and Mass Effect 2. Everyone’s alive and all the side missions have been completed; hopefully giving me the opportunity to see everything that Mass Effect 3 has to offer. I’m climbing the walls in anticipation of Mass Effect 3 and January 31st (the release date for Mass Effect: Deception, the fourth novel) can’t come fast enough. Finally, it looks like there’ll be some crossover between the books and games when Kai, a Cerberus operative makes an appearance in Mass Effect 3.

Mass Effect and My Frustration With It

Posted by brandon in Editorial, Reviews on May 27th, 2011 | 1 comment

Playing Mass Effect 1 after Mass Effect 2 is hard. Not that it’s really difficult, but it’s frustrating. I just spent 40 hours playing an accessible third-person shooter, and now I’m 10 hours into a deep RPG with a finicky combat system. My squadmates in ME2 rarely got themselves killed. In ME1, I’m constantly babysitting their health bars because they love to just stand there toe to toe with the enemy. I see them ignoring possible cover spots all the time. It’s frustrating when the biggest reason you’re dying is because your squad isn’t as smart as you are.

After going back to where Mass Effect began, two seems really limited in its level of customization. Mass Effect allows for a long list of abilities and talents as where Mass Effect allows at the most 5. And that’s only after you’ve paid the price in Element Zero to train one of your teammate’s special abilities that were granted after completing their loyalty mission.

Mass Effect 2 can be enjoyed and never feel frustrating even only if you just shoot your way through it. The game is at its most entertaining and fulfilling if you’re using your squad’s biotic and tech abilities as well, but you can get by without them. ME1 on the other hand really makes guns take a back seat to biotic and tech abilities. I kind of wish I hadn’t taken the default “soldier” set up into the game. I wish I had chosen a different class. While my squad is pulling out shield overloads, biotic lifts and hacking enemy AI, I’m just popping out of cover long enough to plug the enemy a couple times with my assault rifle and not get my head blown off.

The equipment managing in ME1 is a bit much too. It may be like this in all Western RPGs (I wouldn’t know having not played any until now), but managing all the different guns, armor and tech accessories for all the team members plus the upgrades on each individual piece of equipment is a headache. I was surprised the game let you transfer upgrades from one weapon to the next easily, but at least there was that.

Mass Effect 1 does a much better job at story-telling than it’s successor did. The story in ME1 feels huge and the conversations feel a little more natural. ME2′s story feels small in comparison. ME2 felt like a serious of human fetch quests until you fully stocked your party. It’s much easier to up your conversation skills in ME1 as well and the first game makes much better (and frequent) use of it.

I’m really glad I’m playing Mass Effect. I really wish I had played it before Mass Effect 2, but I’m still enjoying the game. I know almost everything that’s going to happen, but that’s okay. I wanted to see the Citadel in all its splendor and I did. I wanted to see the first Normandy, and I have. I also wanted to see the politics of Citadel space, and not just the “I can do anything because Cerberus is backing me up” way of doing things. It’s an interesting ride that isn’t even over yet. But it’s gonna be weird going back to the shootery future to play the final ME2 DLC, Arrival when PSN is back up and I can buy it.