A Picture Is Worth a Thousand Dialogue Trees

[PedroSteckecilo]

Wow a lot of people killed off Ashley...

Personally I felt Kaidan was more "prepared" to go, essentially he seemed willing to blow himself up to save everyone whereas leaving Ashley to be gunned down by Geth sounded like a far worse fate.

 

[Dhatz]

I hate the dialogues grown into thees. i want conversation about something not a fucking plant. how do I know i've seen the best if I'm gonna do stuff for paragon/renegade? I had to watch hours of youtube vids to actually find out ash was a xenophobic whore, and that made me not regret killing her without having the romace(I only did it with Liara). Make sure you have seen Morlan singing before you move onto non-mass effect games.

 

[PopcornAvenger]

i was very disappointed in the romance optionsf for femshep. I hadn't read the wiki or any spoilers, so she looked for sugar from, in order:

1. Jack
2. Samara
3. Tali

. . with no luck. So she stayed "faithful" to Liara.

Not that it really matters, Bioware wimped out bigtime on the romance endscene.


. . .and Joker? Ugh. Seth needs shoved out the nearest airlock. Very disappointed you couldn't kill him off no matter what choices you made.

 

[Susan Arendt]

I love the little details here. I was kind of disappointed with the lack of crew options for a gay Shepard, since the first game established that a female Shepard could potentially be gay. That's how I played my female character, and I was disappointed that no female crew members were potential love interests (except for the aforementioned roll in the hay with Kelly). It seemed like an odd choice to exclude any homosexual choices in ME2. I actually found it borderline insulting. Basically saying "She couldn't possibly be gay, of COURSE she'd want to hook up with a male crew member!".
.

I was very disappointed that I couldn't romance Miranda or Jack. Miranda simply stopped talking to me and Jack told me flat-out that she wasn't into girls. Shame, really, I found them both to be very intriguing. Jacob is just plain boring...is BioWare incapable of making a human male sexy?

 

[carpathic]

Yeah, speaking generally, I found the romance to be problematic in the ME2. Ashley is ANGRY at seeing Shepard? You'd think she would have trusted enough in Shepard's vision to know that Cerberus is a means to an end.

As for Liara, why so distant? I know it will be revealed, but it was jarringly inconsistent with what I might expect in real life.


The conversation was something along the lines of this (clearly paraphrasing)

Ashley: "you bastard, you died. I can't believe you would do that to me"

Shepard: "Seriously *****, I DIED! You are making me DYING all about you somehow? I hope you die sometime so that I too can make it all about me, then we'd be equal"

Ashley: "So my pain doesn't matter now?"

Shepard: "Are you still alive? Did you DIE? Seriously *****..seriously."

 

[_Janny_]

Lovely article, Susan! I also noticed that little touch. It actually made me a little sad since I felt like something was missing on the desk; I loved it that until then when I entered the quarters I could just see Liara's face smiling back at me.

The freaky thing is that around the end of ME1 I found her annoying, but the pic was really one of my favorite details in 2.

I've never been good with lady caracters, I seem to play them a bit too slutty.

That's funny, I do the same thing when I play with male characters...

 

[PedroSteckecilo]

SNIP

I was very disappointed that I couldn't romance Miranda or Jack. Miranda simply stopped talking to me and Jack told me flat-out that she wasn't into girls. Shame, really, I found them both to be very intriguing. Jacob is just plain boring...is BioWare incapable of making a human male sexy?

There was Alister in Dragon Age, I hooked up my female char with him instead of Lelliana and all of my lady friends who played the game found him fantastic.

But I don't think Mass Effect 3 will be any better, not for me anyway, I'm really hoping the Saga of Chell Shepard gets some sort of happy ending that involves Liara.

 

[Susan Arendt]

SNIP

I was very disappointed that I couldn't romance Miranda or Jack. Miranda simply stopped talking to me and Jack told me flat-out that she wasn't into girls. Shame, really, I found them both to be very intriguing. Jacob is just plain boring...is BioWare incapable of making a human male sexy?

There was Alister in Dragon Age, I hooked up my female char with him instead of Lelliana and all of my lady friends who played the game found him fantastic.

But I don't think Mass Effect 3 will be any better, not for me anyway, I'm really hoping the Saga of Chell Shepard gets some sort of happy ending that involves Liara.

Ok, I'm actually terribly fond of Alistair, but he's more of an "aw, shucks" kind of cutie than a "rawr, take me now" kind of sexy. BioWare's female characters are far more nuanced.

 

[PedroSteckecilo]

SNIP

I was very disappointed that I couldn't romance Miranda or Jack. Miranda simply stopped talking to me and Jack told me flat-out that she wasn't into girls. Shame, really, I found them both to be very intriguing. Jacob is just plain boring...is BioWare incapable of making a human male sexy?

There was Alister in Dragon Age, I hooked up my female char with him instead of Lelliana and all of my lady friends who played the game found him fantastic.

But I don't think Mass Effect 3 will be any better, not for me anyway, I'm really hoping the Saga of Chell Shepard gets some sort of happy ending that involves Liara.

Ok, I'm actually terribly fond of Alistair, but he's more of an "aw, shucks" kind of cutie than a "rawr, take me now" kind of sexy. BioWare's female characters are far more nuanced.

...I guess that says something about the women I associate myself with doesn't it, most of them found Alister "rawr, take me now."

I was just happy so see Bioware create a primary male character who wasn't a serious whiner (I'm looking at you Carth, Kaidan and wanky paladin boy from BG2)

 

[Souplex]

SNIP

I was very disappointed that I couldn't romance Miranda or Jack. Miranda simply stopped talking to me and Jack told me flat-out that she wasn't into girls. Shame, really, I found them both to be very intriguing. Jacob is just plain boring...is BioWare incapable of making a human male sexy?

There was Alister in Dragon Age, I hooked up my female char with him instead of Lelliana and all of my lady friends who played the game found him fantastic.

But I don't think Mass Effect 3 will be any better, not for me anyway, I'm really hoping the Saga of Chell Shepard gets some sort of happy ending that involves Liara.

Ok, I'm actually terribly fond of Alistair, but he's more of an "aw, shucks" kind of cutie than a "rawr, take me now" kind of sexy. BioWare's female characters are far more nuanced.

I think it has something to do with male writers writing characters they want to Schtupp and then just rounding out the cast with men. I enjoyed talking to Jacob once I got past his freakishly large teeth.

 

[Susan Arendt]

SNIP

I was very disappointed that I couldn't romance Miranda or Jack. Miranda simply stopped talking to me and Jack told me flat-out that she wasn't into girls. Shame, really, I found them both to be very intriguing. Jacob is just plain boring...is BioWare incapable of making a human male sexy?

There was Alister in Dragon Age, I hooked up my female char with him instead of Lelliana and all of my lady friends who played the game found him fantastic.

But I don't think Mass Effect 3 will be any better, not for me anyway, I'm really hoping the Saga of Chell Shepard gets some sort of happy ending that involves Liara.

Ok, I'm actually terribly fond of Alistair, but he's more of an "aw, shucks" kind of cutie than a "rawr, take me now" kind of sexy. BioWare's female characters are far more nuanced.

I think it has something to do with male writers writing characters they want to Schtupp and then just rounding out the cast with men. I enjoyed talking to Jacob once I got past his freakishly large teeth.

Hmmm...perhaps I need to work at BioWare, then. Maybe we'd finally get some boys worth shagging in those games.

 

[Amnestic]

I was just happy so see Bioware create a primary male character who wasn't a serious whiner (I'm looking at you Carth, Kaidan and wanky paladin boy from BG2)

Assuming you mean Anomen, he was a cleric The only Paladin in BG2 was Keldorn who was a nice old man.

 

[PedroSteckecilo]

HOLY SNIP BATMAN!

I think it has something to do with male writers writing characters they want to Schtupp and then just rounding out the cast with men. I enjoyed talking to Jacob once I got past his freakishly large teeth.

My fiancee had a similar thought, but it was more along the lines of "Male Writers not being very good at/very interested in writing love interests for female players." I found Jacob to be a perfectly fine comrade, just a hideously boring hookup for my lead character but like I said, I'm hoping for a happy ending involving Liara come Mass Effect 3.

 

[CosmicCommander]

I felt the same things when my picture of Ashley was turned over when I romanced Tali, it was sad, but liberating.

 

[Susan Arendt]

HOLY SNIP BATMAN!

I think it has something to do with male writers writing characters they want to Schtupp and then just rounding out the cast with men. I enjoyed talking to Jacob once I got past his freakishly large teeth.

My fiancee had a similar thought, but it was more along the lines of "Male Writers not being very good at/very interested in writing love interests for female players." I found Jacob to be a perfectly fine comrade, just a hideously boring hookup for my lead character but like I said, I'm hoping for a happy ending involving Liara come Mass Effect 3.

Oh, yeah, totally good to go into battle with, and I'd happily have him on my crew. But bed him? Dear god, I'd fall asleep before he got his pants off.

 

[Souplex]

I think it has something to do with male writers writing characters they want to Schtupp and then just rounding out the cast with men. I enjoyed talking to Jacob once I got past his freakishly large teeth.

Hmmm...perhaps I need to work at BioWare, then. Maybe we'd finally get some boys worth shagging in those games.

If you succeed can you convince them to add space spears and space axes (Space swords are for overcompensating space wusses) Space armor renders space gunshots on par with arrows against normally armored targets, and they didn't get rid of the halberd once they starting crossbowing it up.

 

[theSovietConnection]

Perhaps it's just me, but between the January 28th Context Sensitive, and this one, I couldn't help but laugh.

Spoiler Alert!

If you don't watch your mouth I'll break your knees, too.

Read Full Article

Warning: The following article contains major Mass Effect 2 spoilers.

At any rate, great article. Raises some interesting points.

 

[Souplex]

Garrus was a beloved and respected friend, but shagging him would be less about romance and more about blowing off steam before the final battle. That left Thane ... terminally ill, noble, honey-voiced Thane, who was surprisingly romantic for a highly-trained assassin. He was exactly what Joanna needed: someone else who understood how precious life was, who had seen and done things he would rather have not, who was unlikely to survive what duty compelled him to do. The perfect salve for her wounded heart.

Is it me or is it pretty messed up to get into a relationship with a person who has less than a year to live?
Also, from a purely mechanical standpoint, both Garrus and Thane are covered in scales. I am fairly certain that would not be a pleasant experience.

 

[PedroSteckecilo]

Garrus was a beloved and respected friend, but shagging him would be less about romance and more about blowing off steam before the final battle. That left Thane ... terminally ill, noble, honey-voiced Thane, who was surprisingly romantic for a highly-trained assassin. He was exactly what Joanna needed: someone else who understood how precious life was, who had seen and done things he would rather have not, who was unlikely to survive what duty compelled him to do. The perfect salve for her wounded heart.

Is it me or is it pretty messed up to get into a relationship with a person who has less than a year to live?
Also, from a purely mechanical standpoint, both Garrus and Thane are covered in scales. I am fairly certain that would not be a pleasant experience.

Mass Effect is based on sci-fi from the 70's and 80's... I'm sure they can um... do it.

 

[Wildrow12]

Nice article, I noticed that too, Liara didn't seem like the innocent young Asari my Shepard fell for (also, Tali was not available in the first game), so when Tali's loyalty mission came around I was literally feeling upset for the poor Quarian... It had to be her.

My thoughts exactly!

Well, not quite. Liara was my second choice when I realized that I couldn't get with Tali in the first game.