It happened again.
When I played Mass Effect 1, I had the honor and privilege of meeting and befriending Trundles, the Mako vehicle that was to be Shepard’s means of transport all across the galaxy whenever roaming planetary surfaces. Trundles died in the battle of the Citadel, as a Mass Relay whipped it across the cosmos at a measure of lightspeed in order to motherfucking bulldoze a path through a bunch of enemies so that the team who rode within could blaze the way to victory. Its sacrifice was not in vain - Shepard won the day and saved everyone.
ME2 went by without similar incident - a bunch of Normandy crew were abducted and liquefied apparently but they were generic background extras. The second game went very much in the opposite direction, being full of newly-minted friendships and allies acquired. It was a hopeful game - not everyone got out unscathed, but overall there was a real feeling of hope when it finished. There were a lot of little flourishes that really let you get to know your crew and squad, until it turned into almost a kind of TV show family.
When the third game came around the tone had changed a lot. The whole galaxy was at war and it was obviously time to quit faffing about and ~get shit done~. The ship crew was a lot different - a lot smaller. The ship had been shifted around, and the first chance to really walk around it, everything came rushing back. Here was where Kasumi used to sit on one of the observation deck couches being utterly adorable about the fact that she’s a goddess of thieves. There was where Jacob used to stand stoically adjusting the weapons. Seeing them all missing from the ship left a hollow feeling, like the band had broken up. But hope kind of returned - almost everyone from the old crew showed up again, and a few even rejoined the ship. It was great to have them back, a real bit of joy in a galaxy that’d come to the beginning of an apocalyptic war. Gave some sense of hope back again. Like yeah, we put the dream team back together again, and we’re gonna kick some ass all over again.
Then… they started dying.
Thane I knew was going to die, because in ME2 it was said he had a terminal illness, and I watched someone else play through that section of the game before. I was ready for that, though it was still a little tough to go through.
But then I lost Mordin. The science officer of sorts for the ship in ME2, Google him if you need to know why he was such a kick-ass character in the games. This one came out of left field. I had no warning. And really, it was unavoidable. To shorten a lot down, his death brought hope to the future of a whole sentient race, ended a centuries-old war between two rival species, and united those two into a force that not only could help save Earth, but save everything.
And yet the thing is? my Shepard stands in her quarters looking in the mirror, alone, and can’t say “it was worth it” with a straight face. This is the real power of this narrative - it introduces you to these characters, lets you befriend them, charms you into really liking them - and then puts you into a situation that you only ~later~ learn led them to their deaths. And it’s not that you weren’t trying to do the right thing, the best thing - it’s just teaching you that in a war that’s how things go. Hell, you meet a minor crew member from last game someplace later on, and if you advise her to keep on sticking around and helping the refugees (which is what she wants to do anyway) instead of booking passage someplace far away, you later find after a commando raid that she was killed.
This game, man. It’s ~depressing~ sometimes. Makes you hesitate before ever mission, like… this isn’t like other RPG-like titles, your main characters can ~and will~ get offed here and there. It’s like they made a game out of an early Don Bluth movie or something.
But I have to keep fighting. None of my fallen comrades - not Mordin, not Kelly, not Thane, not Trundles - can rest in peace until the enemy is destroyed. So every life I lose will be more fuel for the fire - a fire that is going to cleanse the universe of the motherfucking sons of bitches who thought they could just come and take people from me. And I’m going to make it ~hurt~.
ME2 went by without similar incident - a bunch of Normandy crew were abducted and liquefied apparently but they were generic background extras. The second game went very much in the opposite direction, being full of newly-minted friendships and allies acquired. It was a hopeful game - not everyone got out unscathed, but overall there was a real feeling of hope when it finished. There were a lot of little flourishes that really let you get to know your crew and squad, until it turned into almost a kind of TV show family.
When the third game came around the tone had changed a lot. The whole galaxy was at war and it was obviously time to quit faffing about and ~get shit done~. The ship crew was a lot different - a lot smaller. The ship had been shifted around, and the first chance to really walk around it, everything came rushing back. Here was where Kasumi used to sit on one of the observation deck couches being utterly adorable about the fact that she’s a goddess of thieves. There was where Jacob used to stand stoically adjusting the weapons. Seeing them all missing from the ship left a hollow feeling, like the band had broken up. But hope kind of returned - almost everyone from the old crew showed up again, and a few even rejoined the ship. It was great to have them back, a real bit of joy in a galaxy that’d come to the beginning of an apocalyptic war. Gave some sense of hope back again. Like yeah, we put the dream team back together again, and we’re gonna kick some ass all over again.
Then… they started dying.
Thane I knew was going to die, because in ME2 it was said he had a terminal illness, and I watched someone else play through that section of the game before. I was ready for that, though it was still a little tough to go through.
But then I lost Mordin. The science officer of sorts for the ship in ME2, Google him if you need to know why he was such a kick-ass character in the games. This one came out of left field. I had no warning. And really, it was unavoidable. To shorten a lot down, his death brought hope to the future of a whole sentient race, ended a centuries-old war between two rival species, and united those two into a force that not only could help save Earth, but save everything.
And yet the thing is? my Shepard stands in her quarters looking in the mirror, alone, and can’t say “it was worth it” with a straight face. This is the real power of this narrative - it introduces you to these characters, lets you befriend them, charms you into really liking them - and then puts you into a situation that you only ~later~ learn led them to their deaths. And it’s not that you weren’t trying to do the right thing, the best thing - it’s just teaching you that in a war that’s how things go. Hell, you meet a minor crew member from last game someplace later on, and if you advise her to keep on sticking around and helping the refugees (which is what she wants to do anyway) instead of booking passage someplace far away, you later find after a commando raid that she was killed.
This game, man. It’s ~depressing~ sometimes. Makes you hesitate before ever mission, like… this isn’t like other RPG-like titles, your main characters can ~and will~ get offed here and there. It’s like they made a game out of an early Don Bluth movie or something.
But I have to keep fighting. None of my fallen comrades - not Mordin, not Kelly, not Thane, not Trundles - can rest in peace until the enemy is destroyed. So every life I lose will be more fuel for the fire - a fire that is going to cleanse the universe of the motherfucking sons of bitches who thought they could just come and take people from me. And I’m going to make it ~hurt~.