Mass Effect 3: A Dissertation

[RazielPC]

WARNING: Extremely long post regarding the Mass Effect universe.

mimaz98 from the steam forums posted a very interesting thread [http://forums.steampowered.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2011810] regarding Mass Effect 3.

If you are, in any way, interested in the ME universe, I suggest you take the time to read his thread.


Raz

 

[ThriKreen]

If you are, in any way, interested in the ME universe, I suggest you take the time to read his thread.

All I can say is, you'll find out.

 

[Princess Rose]

WARNING: Extremely long post regarding the Mass Effect universe.

**reads**

Wait, THAT's why people didn't like Arrival? I had no idea that anyone thought that the Human Reaper was supposed to do Sovereign's job.

I assumed that this was just how Reapers reproduced - they didn't actually murder everyone in the Galaxy, they used them all as spare parts to build new Reapers out of (hence all life in the galaxy dies, the Reapers grow in power - made perfect sense).

Anyway, really good analysis. I hope lots of people read this. ^^ Now I need to get back to reading it - I just wanted to say that really quick.

 

[WaywardHaymaker]

...Fuck, that's awesome. At the risk of sounding like a jack-ass, I already came to some of those conclusions... but only hazily. He made it all clearer, and I think he's onto something.

Although what he said about the nature of the Lazarus Project was... unsettling. VERY unsettling.

 

[Princess Rose]

Although what he said about the nature of the Lazarus Project was... unsettling. VERY unsettling.

Very true. I've heard people say that killing Shepard at the start of the game was bad writing, but if the implants that Lazarus used to bring him back are plot relevant, then it makes sense.

Also, in Arrival, Shep's imprisoned with a Reaper Artifact for two days. And she doesn't get Indoctrinated. I felt like the game was implying that the implants were preventing it somehow.

Also, I really liked how he pointed out that (when playing a new game) you get Arrival right after Horizon. That means that the Reapers are already in the Galaxy for the rest of the game. That's really freaky.

 

[Foxblade618]

Referring to the Lazarus problem: If anything, I imagine that resolving itself ala Resident Evil 4's plot line. Sure Leon was infected with Las Plagas, but by sheer power of will he broke the control. If anyone is capable of beating indoctrination by sheer force of mind, it is Commander Shepard.

 

[Foxblade618]

EDIT: Double post

 

[ResonanceSD]

WARNING: Extremely long post regarding the Mass Effect universe.

mimaz98 from the steam forums posted a very interesting thread [http://forums.steampowered.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2011810] regarding Mass Effect 3.

If you are, in any way, interested in the ME universe, I suggest you take the time to read his thread.


Raz

EDIT: Double post

Actually this is the fourth or fifth time he's put up this same thread.

 

[Stammer]

i'm just waiting for the council to turn out to be evil.

No kidding. I was expecting that even from the first game.

Y'know, one thing I don't like about the Mass Effect universe is that they explain the "hear everything in English" thing as that everyone has a little translator in their ear. Yet, it would make infinitely more sense if they explained it as that every single person in the galaxy simply learned and spoke a single, universal language. What would this do better?
- It would explain how everyone has a different voice and accent. They presumably grow up learning both their native language and the universal one.
- It would explain how some characters let slip occasional words in their own language. Tali says "Keelah" a lot-- you would expect such a common word to be translated by the translator.
- It would explain why every piece of text written within the world is legible by Shepard... or are everyone's eyes implanted with some kind of crazy AR technology as well?
- It would be easier to do and wouldn't cost the presumably trillions of dollars spent on translators.

It just annoys me how nonsensical it is. I mean, given this Mimaz98 guy is correct, it shows that the writers are really smart and put a LOT of thought into this universe. But if that's true this seems like a reckless oversight. Unless someone can give me some insight about why I might be wrong, that is.

 

[Syzygy23]

I got about two sentences into the post before I lost interest because Mass Effect isn't even about all these inter-galactic political crap, or "Saving the galaxy from evil robots" garbage.

The entire Mass Effect series is about one thing, and ONE THING ONLY:

Space Tits.

What, you think I should go fight crazy evil space robots because it might SAVE LIVES??? At the expense of my OWN?!? I don't think these people realize that if I die I might have to RELOAD MY LAST SAVE, which is ANNOYING AND A SLIGHT INCONVENIENCE. Throw some Quarian Tits in that deal and consider it done!
Giant Evil Spaceship Man-Guy-Things attacking your citadel? Blue Alien Boobs or GTFO.

Leave it to the fan community to overcomplicate such a simple concept!

 

[dyre]

Damn, I should probably play Arrival before I try to read this. Though, at a surface glance, it looks like the guy's looking too deeply into it. ME2 didn't have much in terms of good writing...I'd much more likely expect an analysis of this much detail for a game like KOTOR 2.

i'm just waiting for the council to turn out to be evil.

No kidding. I was expecting that even from the first game.

Y'know, one thing I don't like about the Mass Effect universe is that they explain the "hear everything in English" thing as that everyone has a little translator in their ear. Yet, it would make infinitely more sense if they explained it as that every single person in the galaxy simply learned and spoke a single, universal language. What would this do better?
- It would explain how everyone has a different voice and accent. They presumably grow up learning both their native language and the universal one.
- It would explain how some characters let slip occasional words in their own language. Tali says "Keelah" a lot-- you would expect such a common word to be translated by the translator.
- It would explain why every piece of text written within the world is legible by Shepard... or are everyone's eyes implanted with some kind of crazy AR technology as well?
- It would be easier to do and wouldn't cost the presumably trillions of dollars spent on translators.

It just annoys me how nonsensical it is. I mean, given this Mimaz98 guy is correct, it shows that the writers are really smart and put a LOT of thought into this universe. But if that's true this seems like a reckless oversight. Unless someone can give me some insight about why I might be wrong, that is.

Though, if they chose a universal language, why would they bother with English? Even if it's the official language of the Systems Alliance, that's still just a fairly unimportant group compared to the council races.

 

[ThriKreen]

Y'know, one thing I don't like about the Mass Effect universe is that they explain the "hear everything in English" thing as that everyone has a little translator in their ear. Yet, it would make infinitely more sense if they explained it as that every single person in the galaxy simply learned and spoke a single, universal language. What would this do better?

Chris L'etoile (former writer on ME) explained that a long ways back on the BioWare forums:

09/23/06 23:12:32 (GMT) by Chris L'Etoile:
Voices yes, language no. For the convenience of the player, we assume all the major races have either highly accurate automated translation, or speak a "lingua franca." This is not true for obscure or newly-discovered species.

Obviously, it is conveniently translated to English for us.

And not all words have translations, let alone accurate ones from their originating language. Such terms might require a lot of cultural background to fully understand what it could mean, and also might depend on context. So even if there was a computer translator, as opposed to a spoken one, it might not know how to translate such words.

 

[RazielPC]

I had problems with this forum and it's CAPCHAERROR's, a thread was created even though
I got an error message.

At least people noticed it.

[font color="red"]Raz[/font]

 

[Still Life]

Space Tits.

Glad you have things in perspective

The theories proffered in the steam forums make a lot of sense in the context of the story and I hope that Bioware's version lives up to the hype. Was a great read!

 

[Zhukov]

That was an interesting read.

However, I strongly suspect that, as is common with this sort of thing, this guy is putting a lot more thought into it than the actual developers. He's seeing patterns and clues where none were ever intended.

 

[Still Life]

That was an interesting read.

However, I strongly suspect that, as is common with this sort of thing, this guy is putting a lot more thought into it than the actual developers. He's seeing patterns and clues where none were ever intended.

I actually believe our writer is onto something. ME has a large and dedicated team of writers, many of whom have been with the game since the beginning. It made a lot of sense when pulling together all the narrative elements.

Also, in all the press and interviews (because I follow is series obsessively), it is really quite palpable the excitement that the devs hold for ME3. It's usually the marketers who show unrestrained excitement for a game, so seeing the devs positively mad with passion for a game is quite another thing.

Time will tell, I guess.

 

[stebsy]

Very good theories all seem possible, many probable. Has given me much to think about

 

[teebeeohh]

while it is an interesting read a lot of stuff can simply be explained by "it's a video game".
the reason there are numerous races is because it's more interesting for the player, if the protheans have something to do with that it's a retcon that uses existing facts to create the illusion of a deeper story with more forethought.
another thing: everyone has the same level of technology once they reach their first mass relay, thus removing the "star trek problem" where is the enemy has weapons that can punch through your shields you are screwed.

 

[Stammer]

Though, if they chose a universal language, why would they bother with English? Even if it's the official language of the Systems Alliance, that's still just a fairly unimportant group compared to the council races.

It's not English, it's just presented to us as English for our convenience. Most likely we're talking a version of the asari or turian language since those were the first two species to find the Citadel.

Chris L'etoile (former writer on ME) explained that a long ways back on the BioWare forums:

09/23/06 23:12:32 (GMT) by Chris L'Etoile:
Voices yes, language no. For the convenience of the player, we assume all the major races have either highly accurate automated translation, or speak a "lingua franca." This is not true for obscure or newly-discovered species.

Even though Chris L'etoile says what I'd want him to say, I know the lingua franca thing is wrong. Everywhere you look they make references to them using translators. If you look at Tali's dossier in the Shadow Broker's computers, it shows that one of her recent purchases was an upgrade to her human-quarian translator. And I remember someone mentioning that during one of the romance scenes one of the characters "lets slip" a bunch of native dialect and Shepard mentions how his translator malfunctioned (again, something that would make a lot more sense if they ignored translators altogether).