Talking Meme: Day #4
From 
wisdomeagle: A non-spoilery intro to Mass Effect.
Well, let's start with the basics, shall we? Mass Effect is a video game trilogy by BioWare. The first game was released in 2007, the second game in 2010, and the third game in 2012.
The games take place between 2183 and 2186. Humanity has been colonizing outside of their own solar system for a little over thirty years, and it's been about twenty-five years since they first made contact with another species (and promptly caused an interstellar incident). Since then, humans have made contact with many more alien races, and they have a small but quickly growing presence on the Citadel, an interstellar space station that is the center of politics among the different worlds.
The main character, from whose POV the game is in, is Commander Shepard. Shepard can be... well, whoever you want him or her to be. When the game begins, you choose Shepard's gender, physical appearance, background (including both personal and military history), and skills, which in turn will have an effect on future gameplay. Throughout the game, you also have a choice to play Shepard as a paragon (basically all whitehat choices), a renegade (basically all blackhat choices), or a mixture of the two (often referred to as paragade or renegon depending on which one Shepard ends up leaning more toward).
Because of the levels of customability, the game can be very time-consuming if you want to try to discover all of the different ways things can play out. For example, some scenes play out differently depending on whether Shepard grew up on Earth, lived on a human colony that was invaded when s/he was a teenager, or was a military brat. The same goes for whether or not Shepard is a war hero, is known for being the sole survivor of a massacre that left his/her entire squad dead, or is the person that the military sends to get things done no matter what the cost.
To make it even more complicated, it's not just those decisions about his/her background that causes things to play out differently. Lots and lots of decisions that you make throughout the games can affect future events. Do you kill someone or let them live? Do you help someone with a problem they're having or tell them, sorry, but you don't have time? Do you become friends with someone or do you become enemies? No matter the choice, it could change how things play out in the future. The same goes for relationships. Things can play out differently depending on whether you become lovers with someone or stay friends, whether you stay true to someone or break up with them or cheat on them, whether you take the time to become friends with your crew or whether you keep your distance.
Anyway, when the game begins humanity is the newest rising star on the galactic scene, for better or for worse. They're pushing for more power, trying to get a foothold on the Citadel and elsewhere, and they've managed to convince the Council -- the governing body of the Citadel, made up of representatives from the three most powerful races -- to consider letting a human join their covert intelligence service, the Spectres.
Needless to say, Shepard is candidate whose name humanity has put forth.
Shepard is assigned to the Normandy, a brand new Earth Alliance ship that's on its shakedown cruise. The plan is that they'll run a fairly routine mission on a planet called Eden Prime, and s/he will be observed by a Spectre named Nihlus to see if he thinks s/he has what it takes. Except things go wrong. Very, very, very wrong.
I don't want to go into to many details about the plot, as this is supposed to be a non-spoilery intro to the world of Mass Effect. Basically, while on their mission to Eden Prime, Shepard and some other members of his/her crew discover that another Spectre, Saren, has gone rogue (and they soon discover that he's merely a puppet to the very powerful, very ancient race that's pulling the strings). The Council, being true politicians, doesn't want to put too many resources into what they think most likely isn't a real threat, so they make Shepard a Spectre and turn him/her loose on the problem. The humans get what they want, the Council gets a potential mess cleaned up (and if anything goes wrong, they can just blame those silly humans), and everyone's happy.
And, well, everything kind of pushes forward at the speed of light from that point on.
Over the course of the trilogy, Shepard pulls people from all sorts of different alien races together, with a wide variety of backgrounds. S/he is trying to save the universe, whether the universe wants him/her to save it or not, and s/he gets the best people possible to help with the job. Or possibly the worst. They're, uh, definitely a bit of an eclectic mix.
A soldier from a disgraced military family. A fiercely loyal biotic (sort of like someone with telekinetic abilities, just... more). An ex-cop. A young woman, and genius mechanic, who's left her home and her people for the first time to see what the universe holds. A mercenary who, deep down, wants to save his people. A young, somewhat naive archaeologist who quickly grows up. A fast-talking pilot who can barely walk but can fly absolutely anything. A scientist genetically engineered to be perfect. A soldier who got fed up with the military's red-tape and went freelance. A deadly assassin. A master thief. An occasionally homicidal clone. An abused, angry young woman who can kill someone with a look. A woman who's basically the alien version of a samurai (or possibly her serial killer daughter, depending on Shepard's choices). A mercenary who, based on his stories, was the sole survivor of almost every mission he's ever been on. The Mass Effect universe's version of a Cylon. A fast-talking scientist who's also a deadly soldier. An AI with questionable taste in jokes. The sole survivor of a dead race. A soldier with a fondness for nicknames. And so many more.
How things play out is up to you and what decisions you have Shepard make. Your decisions determine who lives and who dies. Whether you're a sinner or a saint (or somewhere in between). A decision you make in the first game can start a ripple in the pool that will have major consequences by the time you reach the third game.
The Mass Effect trilogy is, at its heart, the story of a man or woman named Shepard working together with a team s/he pulls together and doing his/her best to save the universe. Maybe s/he does, maybe s/he doesn't. You're the only one who can determine that part of the story.
Why do I love Mass Effect? There are a lot of reasons. I adore science fiction, but TV shows and movies can only go so far when it comes to really developing alien races and worlds. With a video game, since it's not using real actors except for the voices, the sky is the limit. Aliens can be humanoid, or they can be Snuffleupagus without the trunk, or they can be giant jellyfish. They can be made of flesh-and-blood, or they can be made of wires-and-metal, or they can be made of nothing but coding in a computer.
I love that humanity isn't the be all and end all. It's not like Babylon 5 or Star Trek, where a bunch of alien races (most of whom are older and more well-established than humanity) get together yet humans immediately end up taking the leadership roles. They're one among many. Just look at the Citadel, where humans are noticeably a minority at times compared to the other races.
I love that there's so much worldbuilding. If you ask people questions or read the signs or explore various worlds or listen to the broadcasts in public places, you can find out all about the universe that you're in. There's history going back millennia. There's art and culture and prejudices and wars and religion and science and an Elcor rendition of Hamlet and vids about Blasto. I'm on something like my dozenth playthrough, and I'm still finding new things that I missed in previous ones.
I love the characters. The good guys, the bad guys, the random people you can eavesdrop on, all of them. The games take place over a period of years, and you can tell. People change. They grow. They learn from their mistakes (or maybe they don't). The characters aren't static, they don't stay the same from beginning to end. As the story progresses, so do their lives.
I love the relationships. Not just the romances, although some of them are amazing (in so many different ways, and I'm not only talking about the ones involving Shepard), but also the friendships. The not-quite-friends but not-enemies. The enemies. Some of them make you laugh, some of them make you cry, some of them make you cheer, some of them will leave you heartbroken, some of them will make you scratch your head in confusion, and anything involving Udina getting punched in the face (and, believe me, once you've played the game you will understand) will make you smile no matter how much you might try not to do so.
I love that the list of voice actors basically reads as a who's who of sci-fi and fantasy. Keith David. Seth Green. Marina Sirtis. Raphael Sbarge. Dwight Schultz. Armin Shimerman. Adam Baldwin. Claudia Black. Tricia Helfer. Michael Hogan. Martin Sheen. Michael Dorn. Robin Sachs. Phil LaMarr. Steve Blum. Alan Dale. Buzz Aldrin.
Honestly, there's so much to love about Mass Effect. I love it all. Wholeheartedly. I really do. ♥
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wisdomeagle: A non-spoilery intro to Mass Effect.
Well, let's start with the basics, shall we? Mass Effect is a video game trilogy by BioWare. The first game was released in 2007, the second game in 2010, and the third game in 2012.
The games take place between 2183 and 2186. Humanity has been colonizing outside of their own solar system for a little over thirty years, and it's been about twenty-five years since they first made contact with another species (and promptly caused an interstellar incident). Since then, humans have made contact with many more alien races, and they have a small but quickly growing presence on the Citadel, an interstellar space station that is the center of politics among the different worlds.
The main character, from whose POV the game is in, is Commander Shepard. Shepard can be... well, whoever you want him or her to be. When the game begins, you choose Shepard's gender, physical appearance, background (including both personal and military history), and skills, which in turn will have an effect on future gameplay. Throughout the game, you also have a choice to play Shepard as a paragon (basically all whitehat choices), a renegade (basically all blackhat choices), or a mixture of the two (often referred to as paragade or renegon depending on which one Shepard ends up leaning more toward).
Because of the levels of customability, the game can be very time-consuming if you want to try to discover all of the different ways things can play out. For example, some scenes play out differently depending on whether Shepard grew up on Earth, lived on a human colony that was invaded when s/he was a teenager, or was a military brat. The same goes for whether or not Shepard is a war hero, is known for being the sole survivor of a massacre that left his/her entire squad dead, or is the person that the military sends to get things done no matter what the cost.
To make it even more complicated, it's not just those decisions about his/her background that causes things to play out differently. Lots and lots of decisions that you make throughout the games can affect future events. Do you kill someone or let them live? Do you help someone with a problem they're having or tell them, sorry, but you don't have time? Do you become friends with someone or do you become enemies? No matter the choice, it could change how things play out in the future. The same goes for relationships. Things can play out differently depending on whether you become lovers with someone or stay friends, whether you stay true to someone or break up with them or cheat on them, whether you take the time to become friends with your crew or whether you keep your distance.
Anyway, when the game begins humanity is the newest rising star on the galactic scene, for better or for worse. They're pushing for more power, trying to get a foothold on the Citadel and elsewhere, and they've managed to convince the Council -- the governing body of the Citadel, made up of representatives from the three most powerful races -- to consider letting a human join their covert intelligence service, the Spectres.
Needless to say, Shepard is candidate whose name humanity has put forth.
Shepard is assigned to the Normandy, a brand new Earth Alliance ship that's on its shakedown cruise. The plan is that they'll run a fairly routine mission on a planet called Eden Prime, and s/he will be observed by a Spectre named Nihlus to see if he thinks s/he has what it takes. Except things go wrong. Very, very, very wrong.
I don't want to go into to many details about the plot, as this is supposed to be a non-spoilery intro to the world of Mass Effect. Basically, while on their mission to Eden Prime, Shepard and some other members of his/her crew discover that another Spectre, Saren, has gone rogue (and they soon discover that he's merely a puppet to the very powerful, very ancient race that's pulling the strings). The Council, being true politicians, doesn't want to put too many resources into what they think most likely isn't a real threat, so they make Shepard a Spectre and turn him/her loose on the problem. The humans get what they want, the Council gets a potential mess cleaned up (and if anything goes wrong, they can just blame those silly humans), and everyone's happy.
And, well, everything kind of pushes forward at the speed of light from that point on.
Over the course of the trilogy, Shepard pulls people from all sorts of different alien races together, with a wide variety of backgrounds. S/he is trying to save the universe, whether the universe wants him/her to save it or not, and s/he gets the best people possible to help with the job. Or possibly the worst. They're, uh, definitely a bit of an eclectic mix.
A soldier from a disgraced military family. A fiercely loyal biotic (sort of like someone with telekinetic abilities, just... more). An ex-cop. A young woman, and genius mechanic, who's left her home and her people for the first time to see what the universe holds. A mercenary who, deep down, wants to save his people. A young, somewhat naive archaeologist who quickly grows up. A fast-talking pilot who can barely walk but can fly absolutely anything. A scientist genetically engineered to be perfect. A soldier who got fed up with the military's red-tape and went freelance. A deadly assassin. A master thief. An occasionally homicidal clone. An abused, angry young woman who can kill someone with a look. A woman who's basically the alien version of a samurai (or possibly her serial killer daughter, depending on Shepard's choices). A mercenary who, based on his stories, was the sole survivor of almost every mission he's ever been on. The Mass Effect universe's version of a Cylon. A fast-talking scientist who's also a deadly soldier. An AI with questionable taste in jokes. The sole survivor of a dead race. A soldier with a fondness for nicknames. And so many more.
How things play out is up to you and what decisions you have Shepard make. Your decisions determine who lives and who dies. Whether you're a sinner or a saint (or somewhere in between). A decision you make in the first game can start a ripple in the pool that will have major consequences by the time you reach the third game.
The Mass Effect trilogy is, at its heart, the story of a man or woman named Shepard working together with a team s/he pulls together and doing his/her best to save the universe. Maybe s/he does, maybe s/he doesn't. You're the only one who can determine that part of the story.
Why do I love Mass Effect? There are a lot of reasons. I adore science fiction, but TV shows and movies can only go so far when it comes to really developing alien races and worlds. With a video game, since it's not using real actors except for the voices, the sky is the limit. Aliens can be humanoid, or they can be Snuffleupagus without the trunk, or they can be giant jellyfish. They can be made of flesh-and-blood, or they can be made of wires-and-metal, or they can be made of nothing but coding in a computer.
I love that humanity isn't the be all and end all. It's not like Babylon 5 or Star Trek, where a bunch of alien races (most of whom are older and more well-established than humanity) get together yet humans immediately end up taking the leadership roles. They're one among many. Just look at the Citadel, where humans are noticeably a minority at times compared to the other races.
I love that there's so much worldbuilding. If you ask people questions or read the signs or explore various worlds or listen to the broadcasts in public places, you can find out all about the universe that you're in. There's history going back millennia. There's art and culture and prejudices and wars and religion and science and an Elcor rendition of Hamlet and vids about Blasto. I'm on something like my dozenth playthrough, and I'm still finding new things that I missed in previous ones.
I love the characters. The good guys, the bad guys, the random people you can eavesdrop on, all of them. The games take place over a period of years, and you can tell. People change. They grow. They learn from their mistakes (or maybe they don't). The characters aren't static, they don't stay the same from beginning to end. As the story progresses, so do their lives.
I love the relationships. Not just the romances, although some of them are amazing (in so many different ways, and I'm not only talking about the ones involving Shepard), but also the friendships. The not-quite-friends but not-enemies. The enemies. Some of them make you laugh, some of them make you cry, some of them make you cheer, some of them will leave you heartbroken, some of them will make you scratch your head in confusion, and anything involving Udina getting punched in the face (and, believe me, once you've played the game you will understand) will make you smile no matter how much you might try not to do so.
I love that the list of voice actors basically reads as a who's who of sci-fi and fantasy. Keith David. Seth Green. Marina Sirtis. Raphael Sbarge. Dwight Schultz. Armin Shimerman. Adam Baldwin. Claudia Black. Tricia Helfer. Michael Hogan. Martin Sheen. Michael Dorn. Robin Sachs. Phil LaMarr. Steve Blum. Alan Dale. Buzz Aldrin.
Honestly, there's so much to love about Mass Effect. I love it all. Wholeheartedly. I really do. ♥
This entry has been crossposted to Dreamwidth, and it currently has
replies there. Comment on whichever site you prefer.