Say what you will, ME3 stands as a testament to the importance of story and character development

[Dandark]

Yep, Mass Effect is all about great characterization and emotional engagement with the Waifus and Husbandos, its tightly knit impeccable writing and storylines is truly unrivalled in the games industry, it is truly an accomplishment one should be in awe of.
People didn't get so upset because of bad writing and nonsensical plot, but because every blemish upon its perfection can be seen as a wart by some people. You're totally onto something here.

Spoiler

Dat emoshunal engagement!

Although this made me laugh it is indeed true, the writing wasn't that great.

I didn't get that invested in the characters since I didn't care for them anywhere near as much as I have for others but it seems other people have. Im going to think of Mass effect the same way I think of Star Wars, it was supposed to be on the one of best things ever but I didn't think it was that great so I just assume it was good and I didn't get it.

 

[Fappy]

Everyone's already said this but I will add my voice to the choir. THIS is exactly why people are this upset about the ending and feel betrayed. I was choked up talking to my squadmates before the final mission >.>

 

[Veldt Falsetto]

I have had 3 guys die in my playthrough so far and I'm not mad...sometimes sad...often sad. I won't name names because of spoilers and such but yeah I haven't finished yet, just getting some multiplayer in for my EMS.

I don't think I will rage unless it is an unfinished ending, plot holes don't really matter I just want it to end in a decent way that'll spark the needed emotional whatever and conclude so I know what happened and why and the consequences.

It's not like the Mass Effect series is perfect.

 

[Indecipherable]

I quite liked the characters, they had their own stories and lives and they held my interest.

I'd say NWN: Hordes of the Underdark is one of the games where I really just loved all the characters to bits. They had a LOT more dialogue and would actually interact with you on their own, plus hold meaningful chatter between each other.

If I had to pick between this:

1. Fantastic characters, average storyline

vs

2. Average characters, fantastic storyline

I would pick the characters over the story in a heartbeat.

 

[Daystar Clarion]

Agreed.

I've never been so emotionally invested in a game before.

These are characters I've come to adore, characters that I've spent several years with, I know their strengths, I know their weaknesses, I know what motivates them and what saddens them, I know what their goals in life are.

And to see none of that come to fruition just makes me sad.

 

[endtherapture]

Mass Effect and it's characters were well written, but so were countless other games.

I feel just as much of a bond to Garrus as I do to Roche in The Witcher 2 for example. It's not the only game that does this kind of stuff.

 

[Tanakh]

What? Thats simply not true. The gameplay (in ME3) is right out of Gears Of War while the writing and character style is typical Bioware stuff.

Mass Effect may just be their greatest series (when you ignore Baldurs Gate) but it didnt have much of an impact. It didnt change anything. Games like Baldurs Gate and KOTOR set a new standard for RPGs. Mass Effect did nothing of the sort.

Great series, small impact.

EDIT: Of course right now it seems like it has great impact and carries great weight, but thats only because ME3 came out a week ago with a lot of controversy. Look back on it in 2 months again.

This, the gameplay is a less polished than GoW third person shooter with some twists due the RPG elements, the writing is at the level of a good blockbuster summer moive (Harry Potter level) but nothing to write home about, the level desing is actually very good (nice to see after DA2), but the lipsync and some animations are just crap.

The impact was big because it's a very well crafted standard massive commercial game that made huge mistakes alienating some gamers; I know i "mhee liked it", but can't bring me to play it, not when i have other games there that i like more and are waiting me to play them.

 

[MarxonSR1]

Yep, Mass Effect is all about great characterization and emotional engagement with the Waifus and Husbandos, its tightly knit impeccable writing and storylines is truly unrivalled in the games industry, it is truly an accomplishment one should be in awe of.
People didn't get so upset because of bad writing and nonsensical plot, but because every blemish upon its perfection can be seen as a wart by some people. You're totally onto something here.

Spoiler

Dat emoshunal engagement!

Although this made me laugh it is indeed true, the writing wasn't that great.

I didn't get that invested in the characters since I didn't care for them anywhere near as much as I have for others but it seems other people have. Im going to think of Mass effect the same way I think of Star Wars, it was supposed to be on the one of best things ever but I didn't think it was that great so I just assume it was good and I didn't get it.

Definitely the inclusion of those nightmare scenes was crass and pointless.

Though despite that they really dropped the ball when it came to character development that actually mattered, like that of your squadmates. I thought the rest of the characters were pretty well characterised. So I became way more emotionally invested in each separate situation.

 

[SadisticBrownie]

Spot on. The Mass Effect world has captivated me like no other, it's tremendously well put-together and it's a shame to see people forget that.

 

[Gearhead mk2]

I agree. Yes the ending was a massive insult, but it does show how much we care about the charactersif we are raging this much about them. Garrus and Legion are some of my favorite characters in fiction, and when doing the romance sideqeust in ME1, I just started it for the achievement, but towards the end I was honestly worried about hurting someones feelings.

 

[Thoric485]

I didn't really like the shift in tone in the last two games.

The first Mass Effect managed to pull off a fantastic, weird 70s sci-fi atmosphere, that made it seem like you were barely scratching the surface of a gigantic alien civilization.

But instead of continuing to build on that, they amped up the simple-minded Hollywood action, narrowed it down to several awfully stereotypical characters, and ended it all on motherfucking Earth with the death of interstellar travel.

There just isn't a more anti-climatic way of ending a space opera.

 

[The_Waspman]

I totally agree with this note of investment in the characters. Not saying that it's the only game series to ever do this. Fr instance, the ending of Red Dead had a huge impact on me too.

Aside from some obvious emotional manipulation (the nightmare sequences, though I didn't mind them) I was with the game all the way. I played FemShep, and Hales performance I thought was outstanding. I did actually feel that Shep was beginning to crack under all the pressure because of her performance, and some of the character notes...

Spoiler: Genophage storyline

I decided right off the bat I was going to be open about the Salarians' plans, figuring it'd result in the best outcome. Only problem was that the 'best outcome' got Mordin killed. The fact that he willingly sacrificed himself just made it all the harder for me to accept.

Spoiler: Quarian storyline

I loved this whole section. From having a fit of rage at almost being killed, resulting in me punching out an admiral, to the section down on Rannoch where my squad are all 'lets get out of here!' when the Reaper shows up, only for Shep to say 'Fuck that, I'm taking this ***** down!' and (in my mind anyway) SINGLE HANDEDLY taking out a Reaper, was a moment of pure awesome. Which was pretty quickly inverted when I found out to get the best resolution, Legion would have to sacrifice himself. I didn't take that well either. But I did think the breather that Shep and Tali had afterwards was well written.

On top of that, I did have a lot of fun listening to the conversations characters would have on the ship. Like Vega and Garrus exchanging war stories, amongst many others. There were serveral moments I also found hilarious...

Spoiler: Tali: Comedy Genius

Finding Tali drunk in the lounge complaining about Miranda being a ***** was a fun conversation. Also, just before hitting Earth, going to talk to all of my squad mates, and being unable to find her anywhere, went to talk to Garrus and found the pair of them making out...

For me, the ending wasn't bad. I get why people are so angry about it, but I personally thought it was a fitting end, how else could it have ended, really?

Captcha: High Five!

Anyone? Anyone? Come on, don't leave me hanging...

 

[dimensional]

While I ended up caring about Wrex, Tali, Miranda, Mordin and Thane most of the other characters I couldnt give a crap about to be honest they only mattered to me in so far as what skills they bought to the game while a couple namely Garrus, Jack and Grunt I actively disliked and really wanted to see them dead.

The character development is fine in Mass Effect (1 and 2 as I havent played the third) but I felt no more attachment to these characters than I do to most other character in a game I enjoy and they certainly didnt get me to really think about them after I switched the game off so in that sense I really dont think they have set a benchmark in character development or anything they have just done a decent job nothing spectacular just a good solid job.

There are games with better character development imo (including some Bioware ones). Mass Effect is a massive series and it deserves credit but lets not get carried away here.

 

[Tanakh]

On a side note, I really do recommend you play all three games if you havent. They are outstanding.

That does not, however, make them revolutionary or a benchmark for gaming, which is the point I was making, but they are more than worth playing.

Well, I played the first one twice, the second once, the third i am 2 hours or so in. I want to finish it, but between RL and several other games i rather play, it might take a while.

The problem with games, as with books, movies, music, is that I have reached a deep enough collection that games that kinda like doesn't make the cut anymore; still i will finish it somday just for as a discipline exercise.

And my main issue is the cheese of summer bluckbuster that you can feel in the plot and this:

Commander Shepherd feels like a real character to you? The famous commander who rose from the dead to become the only person capable of saving humanity from total extinction...for some reason? Commander Shepherd would need to jump off the ridiculous pedestal bioware put him/her on before he/she feels like a real person.

Shepherd is a superhero at this point, doesn't feel like I'm supposed to relate to him/her as much as I'm supposed to think the guy/gal is totally awesome and its great being able to live through him. I'd just about go as far to say that Shepherd is a pretty bad character.

Mass Effect 3 had less characterization than the last 2 games, fewer conversation options with crew members. They feel less fleshed out, especially in comparison to the first game.

The writing is pretty good in places, but relies on cheap and stupid emotional manipulation in other parts.

Shepherd of ME 3 is a superhero, and you have only two choices, play him on the light side and make him a super hero all the way or play it on the dark wich would be my option, but... then he doesn't feel either as an antihero (dirty harry, hellsing's alucard, whatever) or a evil mastermind playing his best card (lex luthor, ozymandias), he feels like a selfish moronic douche...

I am curious to see the rest of the game... but playing 20-30 more hours? Dunno, someday.

Also, this thread seems to be just a rephrasing of this week's jimquisition. I would tint the "this game make people care about the toons and therefore it's superspecial" because a lot of RPGs do that, actually almost any RPG worth playing does, rephrazing it as: "this game make the average non RPG gamer care about the toons and therefore it's superspecial".

 

[Animyr]

I didn't really like the shift in tone in the last two games.

The first Mass Effect managed to pull off a fantastic, weird 70s sci-fi atmosphere, that made it seem like you were barely scratching the surface of a gigantic alien civilization.

But instead of continuing to build on that, they amped up the simple-minded Hollywood action, narrowed it down to several awfully stereotypical characters,

I won't deny the later two games were more overtly bombastic and had more cleavage, but I don't get how people always hold the first game up on some sort of pedestal when that game had it's share of cleavage (by which I mean Benezia) and two lesbian sex scenes, one random.

I also note how some people hold up the 70s and 80s stuff as some sort of model for completely mature, non-hollywood storytelling. I can't say I'm super familiar with the old school but then what inspired the asari? Last time I checked Star wars had plenty of blue space chicks that hung around for eye candy and wasn't Captain Kirk banging throwaway alien characters even before that? Maybe I'm missing something.

 

[The Lunatic]

I'm unsure really.

Mass Effect 1, lesser extent 2, I could definitely get involved in.

3, I really didn't see much there.

They could have really done with playing on the character's more, presently, the seemed more a sideline than anything else. The forced "CARE FOR THIS" parts were just plain awful, and that stupid kid, Jesus Christ.

It seemed like they were trying to make the game about Shepard, and only a few bits actually got into the final product.

The game could have been about Shepard coming to terms with what they have done, all the people they've killed, how they've affected the galaxy. Instead, the only emotional connection we really got was Shepard was some stupid slow-mo sequences with some annoying kid who had two lines in the game.

 

[Chevalier noir]

I won't deny the later two games were more overtly bombastic and had more cleavage, but I don't get how people always hold the first game up on some sort of pedestal when that game had it's share of cleavage (by which I mean Benezia) and two lesbian sex scenes, one random.

The sex had nothing to do with it. Did you seriously play Mass Effect one then 2 and come to the conclusion that the sex in the second game is responsible for the tone shift?

The entire games art style changes to something more stylized in the second game, for one. The overall tone of the game also gets much darker. Your running around the dark criminal underworld in a lawless system with the aid of the mysterious morally bankrupt Cerberus. Its like someone flipped "dark and edgy" up to about 8.

Don't even get me started on being forced to work with Cerberus either. Shepard could have quit Cerberus at any time and rejoined the alliance military, or at least quit them so that She could go investigate on her own with alliance help, but noooo....

I'm rambling now, basically people liked the first game better because for several reasons it was the deeper, more adult game.

 

[Flailing Escapist]

You're right, no other games get me invested as much as Mass Effect. In other news: the only reason ME3's ending was bad was because we're loved the characters so much. I disagree.

Spoiler: in other words

Mass Effect wasn't an outstanding story. But it was average; it had average characters, average places, average space stuff and a bad ending.