Flaw in Mass Effect Movie

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Soviet Heavy

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The Hive Mind said:
Mass Effect, like TES, is so far up its own ass in boring lore that I can't stand the backdrop to the series at all, and so although the gameplay is pretty fun, and some of the characters are quite well done (but fuck off with cheesy lesbians please), I really don't want to see a film of this.
You're mad at a game because it tries to be scientifically accurate with it's lore?
 

Ir0n Squid

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MelasZepheos said:
I think Bioware Word of God has said that male Shepard full Paragon is canon, but beyond that nothing, so that's what the movie will reflect.
Just so happens that that is my canon view of Shepard, or how my main play through had him play out. Anyway:

Thats the root of the problem: Players have their own Shepards, their own stories that they have played through. Picking and choosing which Shepard will make it to the big screen will conflict with many player's idea of how the ME universe shapes up. Its perfectly possible that Bioware will impose their Voice of Bob to dictate a canon on how the movie- and therefore the ME universe- will play out. It might work, but it will be hard for those that imagine John Shepard, soldier, Bad Ass Renegade of the Year to accept the movie.

The other option is to do a prequel. Something like the First Contact War would be awesome (it would be fun to watch a Human and Turian fleet duke it out in orbit) full of special effects and big booms. But then it falls into the niche that Movies based on games fill up. Without an established main character (possibly some random Alliance grunt) it would be hard to connect with the story. It turns into merely a visual stroll thought the Codex, watching all the nifty future gadgets and how they work.

The final option (or at least the last one I can think up of) will be a prequel following one of ME1's or ME2's other characters. What I mean is: The ME prequel universe, like around the First Contact War, but from, say, the Illusive Man's perspective. Or following Kaiden's training out at Jump Zero. Or, my personal favorite, following Garrus and is transformation into Archangel, taking place after the first game, but before the events of the second.

Honestly, I don't know how the movie will turn out. I have hope, and will be there opening day to see it.
 

Sinspiration

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thejboy88 said:
Hi everyone.

As you may be aware at this point there is a Mass Effect movie in the works. Now video game adaptations are nothing new, nor is the feeling that most of them are not faithful or even very good. However, if this movie is trying hard to emulate the main story of the MassEffect franchise then I have a very specific worry regarding the film.

The biggest and most important aspect of the Mass Effect games is tha ability to shape the story and characters through a combination of dialogue choices and moral decisions. This leads to many branching story paths and outcomes for the characters. This, I think is whre the idea of a Mass Effect movie falls apart. There is just no way that an adaptation of the game can implement this aspect onto the big screen.

As such we will have a film where only one set of choices is made, one type of character path. The biggest problem of this is that now, evrry choice players have made regarding the story and characters will be rendered invalid.

There will be a canon gender for Shephard, a canon relationship (if any), a canon morality and a canon ending. Whenever gamers choose otherwise, it will now be out of continuity with the path the filmakers have for the adapation.

This could be one of the biggest differences between games and films, the ability to make choices. It will also be, I think, the biggest contributing factor to this film's likely failure.
Its at this point we demand Bioware makes a whole new kind of 'Game Movie', insert the disk, import your character data and the movie would change based on your imported data. Now wouldn't that prove to have some interesting results? XD

Basically an ME sequel where you just watch instead of playing *snort*
 

Shoggoth2588

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I think this is why Bioware is publicly displaying all the info they're gathered from Mass Effect 2. I can see them sharing this info with whomever is writing the script so that person/ those people can make the most popular choices with the plot and whatnot. Not the best method to make a movie but what are you gonna do.
 

Dr. Paine

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Altorin said:
They won't show the actual events from mass effect. More likely, the movie will take place in established cannon, either something referenced in the game (such as the First Contact War), or something in the novels (such as the storyline of Either novel)

Caedus said:
If ever Mass Effect should have a movie, it would surely be a disaster. Nice-looking and badass but still a disaster. Why ? Because Shepard is iconic, "He's a bloody hero" :) Mass Effect without Shepard isn't Mass Effect.

But still, I'd like to see what it would look like. Saren's early life is a possibility too ?
The books are pretty good and actually feel more believable as sci fi then the games do, and only one of them even mentions shepard and it's only very briefly in passing.
Second one, right? -has just read it- Just mentioned 'Shepard was on all the vids' or something... perfectly, utterly neutral XD

Anyway, I second a movie based on the First Contact War/Garrus becoming Archangel x3
 

Crashage

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Ultratwinkie said:
Crashage said:
As long as Matthew Fox doesn't play Shepard I wont be raging over it any time soon
he is the confirmed shepard. you can now rage.
Oh well I always thought Shepard would be better if he cried every two seconds and looked pained for the rest of the time, like a gay man torn between his love of the penis and his own self loathing, which is exactly how Matthew Fox looks in every role he plays. Instarage.
 

Hader

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Last I heard, there was no word on whether or not the movie will follow the first game's story or not. Please correct me if I am wrong.

Based on that I am still willing to bet that the movie will likely focus on the first contact war, and all the events that took place before Shepard became a big name.
 

Anarchemitis

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thejboy88 said:
As such we will have a film where only one set of choices is made, one type of character path. The biggest problem of this is that now, evrry choice players have made regarding the story and characters will be rendered invalid.
Such is the art of film, and how it's different from the art of games.
The motive power of film comes from cinematics, while games it's narrative and interactivity combined.
This could be one of the biggest differences between games and films, the ability to make choices. It will also be, I think, the biggest contributing factor to this film's likely failure.
In the words of Eugene Kranz:
"With all due respect sir, I believe this will be our finest hour."
At this point there is just as much probability that it will be another wave in the wake of Uwe Boll, as it will be the turning point which redefines the video-game film adaptation in the public's consciousness to something respectable and admirable.
 

Jadak

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This "issue" already exists in the form of the books. Perhaps it hasn't hit on every aspect, but plenty of choices that are open to to the player are "Set in stone" within the canon through those.

In my opinion, who cares? Games are games, the "official" story can be whatever they like, options only matter to the games and that doesn't need to change, doesn't make much difference to a movie.
 

The Stabilo Boss

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I think a first contact war film would be pretty average - the only races would be Humans and Turians. The relationships between all the different races is one of the things that gives the ME universe so much depth. That being said, as long as Bioware are involved in the making of the film, I trust them to stop it from sucking.
 

Yarpie

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Dr. Paine said:
Second one, right? -has just read it- Just mentioned 'Shepard was on all the vids' or something... perfectly, utterly neutral XD
That, and the third one actually. Shepard is mentioned by both the Illusive Man and Anderson on a couple of occasions, however it is just as neutral as in the second book and is compatible with 'your' story no matter how you played the games.
 

Flying-Emu

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Ultratwinkie said:
DustyDrB said:
They don't have to make the movie based on the games. It can just take place in the universe the same way the books do.

Ultratwinkie said:
Crashage said:
As long as Matthew Fox doesn't play Shepard I wont be raging over it any time soon
he is the confirmed shepard. you can now rage.
Source? I haven't seen that anywhere. This [http://www.imdb.com/news/ni1941704/] is the best I can find, which doesn't sound 100% (maybe 90%, that "latter stages" doesn't mean finalized. But that article is many months old now).

Of course, if you're right then I don't want to see that movie for obvious reasons. It's hard enough for me to watch videos of the version of Shepard used in ads. That's an impostor!

Nothing against Matthew Fox as an actor. He had some great moments in Lost, though I haven't seen him in anything else. Nothing really against Avi Arad either. I can't say I like many of the movies he's been a part of, but so many of those are dime-a-dozen comic book movies anyway that I care little about. The story of Commander Shepard is one that is crafted by the gamer, not a studio.
http://www.google.com/search?q=matthew+fox+mass+effect&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:eek:fficial&client=firefox-a

pretty much common knowledge.

Flying-Emu said:
theriddlen said:
No way this movie is gonna be about Shepard. He probably won't even appear there.
*She.

But yeah, I'm hoping they go with the Skyllian Blitz or FCW over the shenanigans with the reapers.
Actually the canon Shepard is male.
Canon Shepard can suck me. The male voice is annoying as shit.
 

AugustFall

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I feel like you're assuming that in creating the movie they are trying to recreate the RPG style of the game. They are not, no one would, it would make no sense.
Let's hypothetically say the KOTOR came out before the original trilogy and IV, V, and VI were based off it. KOTOR had a strong base in decision making and how it affects how characters regard you and the story itself. The original trilogy however simply shared the same universe and told a story.

What I am trying to (and failing to) say is that they are creating this movie because Mass Effect has a rich universe and a pre-existing fanbase.
 

Sephychu

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OhJohnNo said:
Well, I see where you're coming from, and that certainly would be a big problem... but not the biggest by a long shot.

The biggest problem is going to be condensing 20-odd hours of gameplay into 2-odd hours of screentime.

Why they went for a movie, and not an ongoing TV series, I don't know. I don't expect much.
They probably went for a movie because by the time you've realised a movie sucks, you've already paid to see it.
 

Blind0bserver

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thejboy88 said:
I keep seeing this argument pop up pretty regularly, and I understand where it's coming from, but to me it just seems fundamentally broken as far as reasoning goes.

That opinion is really based on my view of this movie business as a whole; I'm not really regarding the movie version of Shepard as being "canon", but rather just the movie's version of Shepard. In my mind their Shepard doesn't override yours or mine, but is just as valid a portrayal of what the character is or does as when we pick up the controller and play ourselves.

I doubt anyone actually shares that viewpoint, but hey, that's why I don't really have an issue with them making a movie. Well, the concept of them making a movie. I reserve the right to be annoyed by things like casting decisions and the director being an idiot later on.

P.S. - I think it's about time everyone faces reality and realizes that no, they aren't going to make the movie based off of (insert anything ME related that isn't the games' story here). There's a better chance of a Battletoads MMO being made that manages to kill WoW by stealing it's entire playerbase than the movie being about the First Contact War or something like that. Just... just let it go.
 

The Wykydtron

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Damn it I want this film to do well but i'm not optimistic, just look at all the other video game films and how bad they were. I'll watch it but won't be expecting the best film evar
 

repeating integers

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Sephychu said:
OhJohnNo said:
Well, I see where you're coming from, and that certainly would be a big problem... but not the biggest by a long shot.

The biggest problem is going to be condensing 20-odd hours of gameplay into 2-odd hours of screentime.

Why they went for a movie, and not an ongoing TV series, I don't know. I don't expect much.
They probably went for a movie because by the time you've realised a movie sucks, you've already paid to see it.
But a TV series would suit the Mass Effect games perfectly. You could fit in the more interesting sidequests, lots of nice character development, and the overarching plotline of Saren and the Reapers. It would also allow the directors (are they called that for a TV series?) to properly explore Mass Effect's excellently fleshed-out background.

A movie does not suit the games at all. The ycould make a movie of the First Contact War or something, I guess, but there's no way in hell a movie based directly on the game could possibly succeed.