Mass Effect 3
If there is one game that bookended my university life, it's Mass Effect 3.
After my A levels I went out to by the first Mass Effect, but as I didn't have a gaming PC then, it had to wait till later in my freshman year when I got a decent rig for the family.
Skip to my final year, and here's the conclusion to the trilogy. It's a bit like what Harry Potter was to my secondary school/JC days, I guess. Read the first few books like a maniac in lower sec, and then A levels when Harry would've taken his NEWTS if not for Voldy taking over Hogwarts. Mass Effect 3 is contributing to this sense of finality, that THIS IS IT, the world is ending, time to leave school and face what's out there. The game itself didn't have the best ending, which is what I want to dust off my LJ and write about it to give myself the closure that I need. (Otherwise I won't be able to concentrate on my last term paper ever.)
Though I kicked off the space saga with the default male Shepard, I played him straight (not in the sexual orientation sense, although this guy does like the ladies), meaning good-guy heroic soldier... which got boring by the end of the second installment. Rolled a ruthless renegade female infiltrator, and is she ever more complex. It's not just the renegade he-who-fights-monsters dramatic tension, or the change-up in gameplay. You've got a Sigourney Weaver -esque BAMF for a sci-fi protagonist, how is that not awesome? Playing a female ranked high in the military, respected for her skills and not treated any different because of her gender -- and the fact that it's not deliberate because Shepard is by default male -- that's just not something you see often in mainstream media. And so I decided to take her to the end first. To me, she is the ideal Shepard.
Aaand not forgetting the fabulousness of her love interest. It's probably a Bioware trademark by now to have a romance element in the game (and the "payoff" in an awkward sex scene). Not all relationships are created equal, though. By Mass Effect 3 you can pretty much swing whatever way you want, even cross-species, but the most healthy, equal relationship is what Shepard shares with Garrus Vakarian, ex-cop, ex-vigilante, and all-round too-cool alien badass. Garrus is the arguably the squadmate with the best lines and he's been around for most of all three games so he's received real character development, plus you get the sense of growing closer to him, getting to know him better. Even male Shepards see him as the ultimate bro. There's none of the awkwardness of a subordinate relationship like with James Vega, and Kaidan is basically a whiny/clingy female, which leave Garrus who snarks back at you and a respectable military leader in his own right. There's a cute scene about him being pretty high on the succession ladder for his species -- indeed, he's come a long way from the frustrated detective tied up by red tape when you first meet him.
While confident in his mad sniping kills, he's also adorably shy around female Shepard which makes all the fangirls flail with glee. The species thing doesn't mean much in this 'verse anyway, and Garrus has got the overwhelmingly awesome personality that more than makes up for it. It also gives him opportunities for lines like "turian-human babies" and "Are you ready to be a one-turian kind of woman?" Sure, as Shepard put it, "biology may not cooperate", but he expresses a depth of commitment that you don't see with the other love interests, human or otherwise. Garrus is the one you want to settle down with, alright.
I love it that roleplaying makes the game so different each time you run through it. Wonder
how it'll go with male Shepard... which I'll take up after the exams.
Now I should be in the mood to churn out 1,500 words for the last term paper of my life.
After my A levels I went out to by the first Mass Effect, but as I didn't have a gaming PC then, it had to wait till later in my freshman year when I got a decent rig for the family.
Skip to my final year, and here's the conclusion to the trilogy. It's a bit like what Harry Potter was to my secondary school/JC days, I guess. Read the first few books like a maniac in lower sec, and then A levels when Harry would've taken his NEWTS if not for Voldy taking over Hogwarts. Mass Effect 3 is contributing to this sense of finality, that THIS IS IT, the world is ending, time to leave school and face what's out there. The game itself didn't have the best ending, which is what I want to dust off my LJ and write about it to give myself the closure that I need. (Otherwise I won't be able to concentrate on my last term paper ever.)
Though I kicked off the space saga with the default male Shepard, I played him straight (not in the sexual orientation sense, although this guy does like the ladies), meaning good-guy heroic soldier... which got boring by the end of the second installment. Rolled a ruthless renegade female infiltrator, and is she ever more complex. It's not just the renegade he-who-fights-monsters dramatic tension, or the change-up in gameplay. You've got a Sigourney Weaver -esque BAMF for a sci-fi protagonist, how is that not awesome? Playing a female ranked high in the military, respected for her skills and not treated any different because of her gender -- and the fact that it's not deliberate because Shepard is by default male -- that's just not something you see often in mainstream media. And so I decided to take her to the end first. To me, she is the ideal Shepard.
Aaand not forgetting the fabulousness of her love interest. It's probably a Bioware trademark by now to have a romance element in the game (and the "payoff" in an awkward sex scene). Not all relationships are created equal, though. By Mass Effect 3 you can pretty much swing whatever way you want, even cross-species, but the most healthy, equal relationship is what Shepard shares with Garrus Vakarian, ex-cop, ex-vigilante, and all-round too-cool alien badass. Garrus is the arguably the squadmate with the best lines and he's been around for most of all three games so he's received real character development, plus you get the sense of growing closer to him, getting to know him better. Even male Shepards see him as the ultimate bro. There's none of the awkwardness of a subordinate relationship like with James Vega, and Kaidan is basically a whiny/clingy female, which leave Garrus who snarks back at you and a respectable military leader in his own right. There's a cute scene about him being pretty high on the succession ladder for his species -- indeed, he's come a long way from the frustrated detective tied up by red tape when you first meet him.
While confident in his mad sniping kills, he's also adorably shy around female Shepard which makes all the fangirls flail with glee. The species thing doesn't mean much in this 'verse anyway, and Garrus has got the overwhelmingly awesome personality that more than makes up for it. It also gives him opportunities for lines like "turian-human babies" and "Are you ready to be a one-turian kind of woman?" Sure, as Shepard put it, "biology may not cooperate", but he expresses a depth of commitment that you don't see with the other love interests, human or otherwise. Garrus is the one you want to settle down with, alright.
I love it that roleplaying makes the game so different each time you run through it. Wonder
how it'll go with male Shepard... which I'll take up after the exams.
Now I should be in the mood to churn out 1,500 words for the last term paper of my life.