Edit: Having problems with Blogger, should be fixed shortly.
Edit2: Fixed, kinda...
Continuing our discussion on Mass Effect 3, I would like to transition from talking about the active game elements (i.e. combat), to the passive. In this case I would like to talk about the characters. This is not going to be a detailed list of all the characters, and what was done well or poorly with them (though if there is interest I wouldn’t mind a project like that in the future), instead I just want to give something more akin to an appetizer, a taste of how the characterization and character interactions have changed over the course of the Mass Effect series.
Warning! Massive Spoilers ahead, including one of the best scenes in Mass Effect 3. Continue at your own risk!
To those who feel that my feelings about Mass Effect 3’s combat were, perhaps too positive, I’m sorry. I apologize, because if you would say I was gushing in my last post, I have no idea what you’ll end up calling this one.
Mass Effect, as a series, has shown an extreme level of improvement with its characterization as it has progressed. The first game had interesting enough characters to be sure, but it really suffered from having to introduce all of the races. Tali, for example, had almost no character aside from a few story moments and elevator conversations, the rest of her conversations are nothing but info dumps about Quarians (This problem comes up again in ME2 with Legion, but thanks to the clever lore surrounding the Geth, this actually ends up being a form of characterization). Garrus is little more than a rebel cop. Of your entire crew, Wrex ends up being one of the few who has a distinct character beyond his job and race.
Mass Effect 2 really mixed things up. With a larger cast (from 6 to a potential 12 with all the dlc), and a much greater focus on the characters themselves (the vast majority of the game is you recruiting characters or dealing with their issues), it’d be very difficult not to have more interesting characters. While there are still some weak links, Jacob in particular, I would find it hard to argue that any of the characters in Mass Effect 1 are more interesting than those in 2 (or the 2 version of themselves). An example: Compare Garrus from ME1:
Edit2: Fixed, kinda...
Continuing our discussion on Mass Effect 3, I would like to transition from talking about the active game elements (i.e. combat), to the passive. In this case I would like to talk about the characters. This is not going to be a detailed list of all the characters, and what was done well or poorly with them (though if there is interest I wouldn’t mind a project like that in the future), instead I just want to give something more akin to an appetizer, a taste of how the characterization and character interactions have changed over the course of the Mass Effect series.
Warning! Massive Spoilers ahead, including one of the best scenes in Mass Effect 3. Continue at your own risk!
To those who feel that my feelings about Mass Effect 3’s combat were, perhaps too positive, I’m sorry. I apologize, because if you would say I was gushing in my last post, I have no idea what you’ll end up calling this one.
Mass Effect, as a series, has shown an extreme level of improvement with its characterization as it has progressed. The first game had interesting enough characters to be sure, but it really suffered from having to introduce all of the races. Tali, for example, had almost no character aside from a few story moments and elevator conversations, the rest of her conversations are nothing but info dumps about Quarians (This problem comes up again in ME2 with Legion, but thanks to the clever lore surrounding the Geth, this actually ends up being a form of characterization). Garrus is little more than a rebel cop. Of your entire crew, Wrex ends up being one of the few who has a distinct character beyond his job and race.
Mass Effect 2 really mixed things up. With a larger cast (from 6 to a potential 12 with all the dlc), and a much greater focus on the characters themselves (the vast majority of the game is you recruiting characters or dealing with their issues), it’d be very difficult not to have more interesting characters. While there are still some weak links, Jacob in particular, I would find it hard to argue that any of the characters in Mass Effect 1 are more interesting than those in 2 (or the 2 version of themselves). An example: Compare Garrus from ME1:
To Garrus from ME2:
His lines immediately exude much more character. He doesn’t have to tell you that he’s an ex-cop who doesn’t like to be bogged down in red tape. He’s basically Space-Batman, if Batman had a sniper rifle and a sense of humor. Still, even in Mass Effect 2 you can feel the limitations, the video gameness. Garrus quickly runs out of lines if you’re playing a male Shepard (thus the calibrations jokes), and characters still exist in their own bubble, rarely commenting on each others presence.
Mass Effect 3 is on a whole other level. Most of the dialogue trees have been removed, instead most characters act similarly to Zaeed and Kasumi from Mass Effect 2, spouting lines when you click on them. This, combined with an increased level of auto-dialogue (dialogue where you don’t choose an option) has been used by some as a criticism of ME3, butin my opinion it’s actually a strength of the game. A number of dialogue choices in ME1 and 2 were false-choices, resulting in the same, or extremely similar lines regardless of what choice you made. This illusion of choice has been removed. Now, when a player makes a choice, they’ll now that it actually matters, at least to a certain extent. Removing a number of dialogue wheels, has also removed a lot of awkward, ‘I have to go’s’. Half the problem with Garrus’ calibration line, was that there was little alternative, he had to end the conversation in a way that would make Shepard’s ‘I should go’ make sense. Now when people are out of lines, they simply acknowledge your presence, a much more natural method.
These changes in dialogue are, in truth, small fry. The whopper in interacting with characters, is that they move. In ME1 and 2 you knew where people were. If you wanted to talk to Wrex, he was down in the cargo bay by the weapon lockers. If you wanted to talk to Jack in ME2, she was underneath the engine room. In ME3 characters have their assigned positions, but they don’t always stay there. The first time I walked into Garrus’ room and he wasn’t there, my mouth dropped. Imagine my surprise when I found Garrus not only in another room, but talking, on his own, with another crewmember. I have complained about the lack of interaction between party members in RPG’s for as long as I can remember. Finally, with ME3, your team is actually that, a team. I can’t even begin to describe how huge it is for characters to stop acting like they live in a vacuum outside of the main character. It’s honestly one of the biggest improvements I’ve seen in terms of characterization, especially for a western, player-choice oriented RPG like Mass Effect.
Finally, there are the characters themselves. I don’t know if there were new writers, or if the old ones stepped up their game, but the characters really took off this game. I didn’t care about Thane at all in Mass Effect 2, but they changed that in 3. Liara went from perhaps my least favorite character in Mass Effect 1, to perhaps the most engaging character in the entire series (though that shift really started in the Lair of the Shadow Broker DLC in ME2, which was truly phenomenal and should be a guide to what all DLC should look like). The Romances went from awkward, stilted, real-doll esque interactions, to organic, realistic relationships. There’s a scene in particular in the Tali romance path that caused multiple people, including myself, to independently remember Princess Leia’s declaration of love in Star Wars. What follows is the player’s introduction to Mordin Solus, perhaps the most well written character in ME2:
And this is his final scene in Mass Effect 3, something that will say more than I ever can:
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