Jessica Chobot discusses her ME3 character

[mechapotatoalex]

Obviously spoilery for those that don't wish to know anything about new characters and/or their roles in ME3...

Comments

[sinvraal]

I think you have the option of kicking me off too

Thank goodness. I'll reserve full judgement until I talk to her in game, but I'm just not interested in another Kelly Chambers, at least on my main Shep. After all the bad experiences, why Shepard would want a reporter on a military ship in a full-blown no-holds-barred war is beyond me. Go 'embed' someplace else.

[arielstarshadow]

Pretty much this.

I'm still irritated as all get-out that, if Bioware suddenly decided that we needed an embedded reporter, they didn't use Emily Wong.

[sinvraal]

I feel kinda bad, because I do try hard not to pre-judge characters... I managed it fine with Vega. But there's just something so stunt-cast pandering about this that isn't helping my first impression. It also doesn't help that Kelly grated on me a bit because I could never bring myself to trust her character. And I just don't see how my Shepard would ever trust a random reporter. But what if she's important to characterization or something, and in leaving her behind you miss out on important character bits? Dunno what to think.

[coloredearth]

I'll be really disappointed if the only way you can get your Shepard to open up emotionally is by talking to a random reporter.

[sinvraal]

Seriously.

[xenzen]

I figured a reporter on the ship would serve different things: disseminate information on the progress of the war, sending it out to the colonies and far-flung holdings that not all hope was lost, the Systems Alliance Is Doing Something About It, keep up morale everywhere, have a central area where intelligence could be gathered that wouldn't normally go through official channels (maybe because they're clogged). Like the Voice of the Resistance in Babylon 5.

Granted, the VOR in the show was created in part to combat the enemy's enormous propaganda machine, and I can't imagine the Reapers caring about it - but then I remembered Vigil saying that indoctrinated protheans were sent in to bases still holding out as sleeper agents. What if they indoctrinated high-profile leaders and other respected personalities (Saren and Matriarch Benezia come to mind), and suddenly they turned into Kenson on camera, saying "embrace the Reapers!" or something. You'd need a way to fight back against that. It's fighting on the home front.

[sinvraal]

I think I'm viewing more through the lens of my main Shepard, who would have a very VERY difficult time trusting anyone after ME2, much less a reporter on her ship while she's trying to fight off the apocalypse. Call it bad experiences with a certain Ms. "Mass Distortions for Ratings" Al Jilani.

[xenzen]

Yeah, but to balance Al-Jilani, there was Emily Wong! - who should've been the Normandy's reporter, not Allers.

[tersa]

I wished they'd gone with Emily Wong (with more clothes on) as well. And tweeted @masseffect as much. :)

[xenzen]

Yeah, I don't think Shepard would mind her at all (also, Asian character, represent!). After thinking about it some more, I think most, if not all, Shepards would be leery of having civilians on their ship - a warship - and having a snoopy one at that. They would most likely have to be convinced by someone, like Hackett, to take her on at all.

[tersa]

I don't think my Shepards would have issues with having civilians on the ship--they got around it in the Star Trek series (serii?) well enough. "Just shut up and stay out of the way."

But a reporter? Yeah. They'd be uncomfortable with that.

[xenzen]

Well, there wasn't a war on most of the time (at least, from what I remember of ST:TNG, and ST:DS9 took place for the most part on a space station).

[sinvraal]

Arguably, the Enterprise-D was full of civilians. It was a bit of a hybrid between a military vessel and a colony ship, where Starfleet personnel could bring their entire families with them on multi-year exploratory missions. And it was huge, much larger than most of Starfleet's ships.

The Normandy is a scout-class warship, much smaller than any of the Enterprises and not built with civilian personnel in mind. Most personnel don't even have private quarters. My problem with a reporter would be there's nowhere for her to stay without being constantly underfoot for the people who actually have to fight. A ship like the Normandy is like a contemporary submarine- there're no guest quarters. Even having the aliens aboard in previous games was something of a difficulty, with people shacking up in very odd places. But at least those people were fighting the fight, not just taking up space (never mind food and resources).

[xenzen]

The SR-1 was certainly tiny, with a crew complement to match, but the SR-2 is much larger, and I recall seeing bunks in the crew quarters (I'd have to fire up ME2 to check). There was a lot of wasted space, too, in my opinion, like the galley and the observation rooms.

In theory, there should be a place for Allers to bunk - though I think I'll refrain from the less-than-savory thoughts that come to mind. Still, she shouldn't expect preferential treatment - this is the space equivalent of storming the trenches, and she'll damn well eat what everyone else is eating, and be grateful for it.

[sinvraal]

The 'embed' jokes are going to light up the extranet, especially where Shepard is concerned.