Loyalty vs. Friendship/Rivalry - A Discussion

[mechapotatoalex]

Just a heads up - this will contain general spoilers for Dragon Age II. Nothing specifically plot-related, but I'd recommend you stay away if you're trying to remain completely spoiler-free.

I nearly didn't write this up - it's very easy to get excited about DA2 and want to share it with the ME crowd. However, this is a subject I think is ripe for

Comments

[themarshal]

I would love to see a more robust, complex system for 'taming' your crew in ME3, but given the changes that they made from ME1->ME2, I imagine Bioware will continue down the route of "Enhanced Shooter" rather than "Space RPG".

Now, I don't necessarily mind the ambiguity as to why so-and-so is now loyal, since it allows me to fill in the blanks with headcanon. I know that some people feel that makes for a weak story, but I'd rather have some fuzziness on the details rather than be forced to accept a story that I don't really believe/enjoy.

One way or another, though, loyalty/friendship wouldn't explain the survival rate in the Suicide Mission. That at least could have been handled MUCH better.

[mechapotatoalex]

I definitely agree that an ambiguous reason is better than a bad reason. I think it's less about having a concrete answer, and more about having a plausable scenario for it to happen in.

In-game they give the reason of the characters' heads being clear, but honestly - when you're surrounded by Collectors shooting at you, is your mind really going to be anywhere other than what you're doing at that moment?

[themarshal]

"Collectors incoming! We gotta get this door closed! ...but man, I wonder how my father - who I haven't heard from in ten years - is doin..." *rockettotheface*

Honestly the only decent part about the SM was that it forced you to select the "right" person for the job(s). I could definitely see one of them dying because you didn't know your crew well enough.

[thebuttonontop]

i just giggled at this so hard that people are looking at me funny.

truth though.

[mechapotatoalex]

Yeah, that honestly struck me as more of an interesting concept. Of course it could be ruined by someone just looking up a guide on who to choose - but hey - the same applies to the loyalty stuff too.

Honestly, from all the pre-release stuff I genuinely thought we were going to have some people chicken out/turn on us during the mission if they weren't loyal.

It'd be awesome if before the SM, one or two unloyal squaddies bail on Shepard. That's the true definition of loyalty; not magical plot armour upgrading.

.....and now I can't get the mental image of Jacob pulling a very thoughtful expression just before he gets shot out of my head XD

[themarshal]

It'd be awesome if before the SM, one or two unloyal squaddies bail on Shepard. That's the true definition of loyalty; not magical plot armour upgrading.

Exactly! That would have made MUCH more sense. Though the only problem I have with that would be when would they bail on you?

Before the Omega-4 Relay?
Why bother?

While on the Normandy after getting shot at by the Collector ship? Or on the Collector base?
How do they escape?

.....and now I can't get the mental image of Jacob pulling a very thoughtful expression just before he gets shot out of my head XD

Glad I could help!