Mass Effect 3

[ATimson]

firehawk12 wrote:

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But sure, I understand that they're not going to go back and actually flesh out those origin stories. She's not going to have nightmares about her dead family because only a certain number of people will have picked that origin story. They were meant to just give stat boosts to your character in ME1 (Spacer = Paragon, Earthborne = Renegade, Colonist = both), but it's just an example of how they just missed all these small things that they allow the player to choose throughout three games.

There was also a unique quest & other dialogue changes in ME1 depending on your origin. Pretty sure that got dropped by ME2, though.

[Reverend]

^There were corresponding emails, but that's about it. Thankfully ME3 made more use of both the origins and the career history stuff. But yeah, using those for the dreams did actually occur to me (I think I even posted it in this very thread a few months back) but realistically speaking, while a nice idea it would have been expensive in terms of memory and assets. Also a bit awkward to pull off if a player picks 'Spacer' & 'War Hero'. I mean where's the crippling emotional scars in that combination? Conversely, 'Colonist' & 'Sole Survivor' might be a but too much.

[Evil Twin]

firehawk12 wrote:

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When the game tells you that millions of humans are being harvested by the Reapers everyday and you're off having coffee with Liara at the cafe or shooting beer cans with Garrus, there's already a disconnect. Forcing this new narrative element onto the player in the third game - especially when she has already seen two human colonies (Eden Prime and Horizon) wiped out and basically brushed it off, it just seems awkwardly written at best.

I wonder how many humans died while I stood there listening to the Blasto 6: Partners in Crime billboard in its entirety.

[RyuRoots]

Evil Twin wrote:

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I wonder how many humans died while I stood there listening to the Blasto 6: Partners in Crime billboard in its entirety.

It's an RPG staple! You can spend hours arcade snowboarding while you should be heading to North Crater, searching for nuka-cola while the Enclave is gathering forces, etc. etc. It's weird, amusing, and I've honestly gotten kind of used to it.

[firehawk12]

ATimson wrote:

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There was also a unique quest & other dialogue changes in ME1 depending on your origin. Pretty sure that got dropped by ME2, though.

Yeah, each origin story got their own quest in ME1, but that became irrelevant by 2.

Reverend wrote:

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^There were corresponding emails, but that's about it. Thankfully ME3 made more use of both the origins and the career history stuff. But yeah, using those for the dreams did actually occur to me (I think I even posted it in this very thread a few months back) but realistically speaking, while a nice idea it would have been expensive in terms of memory and assets. Also a bit awkward to pull off if a player picks 'Spacer' & 'War Hero'. I mean where's the crippling emotional scars in that combination? Conversely, 'Colonist' & 'Sole Survivor' might be a but too much.

And yes, the emails!

It's funny though, because if you choose Spacer, you basically had a peaceful upbringing and your mom (or dad?) is an admiral in the fleet. I *think* that comes up in ME3, and you're given an opportunity to ask if they're okay after the attack on Earth, but I could be making that up.

Either way, the lesson is that they probably shouldn't have overpromised on the impact that the player had over their Shepard's character arc... because ultimately, shoehorning in one story to fit all players is just going to leave some people disappointed.

RyuRoots wrote:

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It's an RPG staple! You can spend hours arcade snowboarding while you should be heading to North Crater, searching for nuka-cola while the Enclave is gathering forces, etc. etc. It's weird, amusing, and I've honestly gotten kind of used to it.

Well, yeah, there's some suspension of disbelief of course.

It was funny how they had to insert scenes that basically told the player that the best course of action was to hang out at the Citadel because you need to gather the support of the other races.

(While on the other hand you are a creepy stalker who eavesdrops on people's conversations in order to start fetch quests!)

[RyuRoots]

But you are a creepy stalker who gets the job done. I think my favorite is the kakliosaur fossil, since it's just funny to think about the prospect of someone you've never met just handing you the key to re-enacting John Hammond's plans and running off as quickly as she (or he) came.

[Steven]

A couple webcomics cover Shepard's... um... eavesdropping quest gathering ability:

http://www.awkwardzombie.com/index.p...0&comic=042312

http://www.vgcats.com/comics/?strip_id=313

[PsychoPere]

firehawk12 wrote:

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It's funny though, because if you choose Spacer, you basically had a peaceful upbringing and your mom (or dad?) is an admiral in the fleet. I *think* that comes up in ME3, and you're given an opportunity to ask if they're okay after the attack on Earth, but I could be making that up.

After Rannoch, Hackett tells you that Hannah Shepard has been located, recruited for the Crucible project, and promoted to Rear Admiral.

And I just realized that, even though I'm pretty sure one of my Sheps had a Spacer background, I never went through the Spacer quest in ME1...

[Evil Twin]

Steven wrote:

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A couple webcomics cover Shepard's... um... eavesdropping quest gathering ability:

http://www.awkwardzombie.com/index.p...0&comic=042312

http://www.vgcats.com/comics/?strip_id=313

Oh man, the second one had me in tears...

PsychoPere wrote:

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And I just realized that, even though I'm pretty sure one of my Sheps had a Spacer background, I never went through the Spacer quest in ME1...

Not surprising since it's in that damn connecting hallway between the Presidium and the Wards that's only reachable via elevators. Not really easy to just stumble across once you're able to swift travel everywhere and can just bypass that place.

[Steven]

PsychoPere wrote:

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After Rannoch, Hackett tells you that Hannah Shepard has been located, recruited for the Crucible project, and promoted to Rear Admiral.

And I just realized that, even though I'm pretty sure one of my Sheps had a Spacer background, I never went through the Spacer quest in ME1...

I did that one in my 2nd playthrough, but I missed the Earthborn quest with my first Shepard.

[Skywalker]

PsychoPere wrote:

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After Rannoch, Hackett tells you that Hannah Shepard has been located, recruited for the Crucible project, and promoted to Rear Admiral.

And I just realized that, even though I'm pretty sure one of my Sheps had a Spacer background, I never went through the Spacer quest in ME1...

Good to know. I've got two Spacers, I'm actually about to start one of them right now. I don't recall my Colonist or Earthborn Shepards' backstories contributing to the game, but then again, only the Spacer's really fits.

It would have been cool if the Earthborn meets up with a fellow former street rat who's now fighting for the Alliance. Maybe they could have put Javik on Mindoir instead of Eden Prime. I always did find it kind of weird that they never showed one of Shepard's potential homeworlds, even if just on the galaxy map.

[Jax]

When the game tells you that millions of humans are being harvested by the Reapers everyday and you're off having coffee with Liara at the cafe or shooting beer cans with Garrus, there's already a disconnect. Forcing this new narrative element onto the player in the third game - especially when she has already seen two human colonies (Eden Prime and Horizon) wiped out and basically brushed it off, it just seems awkwardly written at best.

Gameplay & Story are always going to clash, especially in a game like Mass Effect. People would go mental without the side stuff built into the game (myself included).

[Skywalker]

Yeah, goofy as the setup is, it's an RPG and you have to expect stuff like that. Personally I didn't have a problem with it. I pretend that the eavesdropping go-fetch missions don't actually happen in the "real story," they're just a gameplay convention.

[Jax]

Skywalker wrote:

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I pretend that the eavesdropping go-fetch missions don't actually happen in the "real story," they're just a gameplay convention.

Yeh pretty much I kind of think the same and it would be interesting to see the movies if they ever happen what sort of cannon they will pick n choose from.

[Reverend]

firehawk12 wrote:

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And yes, the emails!

Ah, I tell a lie, there's the news reports too for both the origin and career history.

It's funny though, because if you choose Spacer, you basically had a peaceful upbringing and your mom (or dad?) is an admiral in the fleet. I *think* that comes up in ME3, and you're given an opportunity to ask if they're okay after the attack on Earth, but I could be making that up.

No you're right. At some point later on in the game Hackett mentions she's turned up with her ship. I think there's also mention of her early on when you ask Garrus about his family.

Honestly, I like the little touches like that as it helps to flesh things out a little, informs in how you might characterize them and makes it that much easier to distinguish between one's different Sheps.

For example, my main Shep is an Earthborn Sole Survivour. Now when I picked those I didn't know that it would give a heavy renegade bonus, I just thought they were interesting. She had a rough upbringing, did a lot of stuff she's not proud of to survive (in my mind, she's basically Matilda from Leon...maybe mixed in with a little Bean from Ender's Shadow ;-) ) and enlisted to escape the life. This gives her a very tough outer shell and a very low BS tolerance, but also a deep sense of duty and personal honour. She holds herself to a very high standard, though mostly out of a deep seated sense of inadequacy and fear of letting other people down.

As you can imagine, the dreams fit very well with this character, as did the sort of surrogate father/daughter relationship she had with Anderson.

Conversely, my renegade Shep is a Ruthless Spacer. An arrogant navy brat, almost sociopathic in his lack of empathy and has a very direct, goal oriented view of problems. Not much in the way guile or cunning, but he has a selfish streak a mile wide.

My paragon Shep is a colonist war hero and I played her as a high functioning psychopath and borderline schizophrenic. She's very careful about controlling her impulses and keeping up appearances to such a degree that doing the "right thing" has almost become a reflex action. Not so much a wolf in sheep's clothing as a wolf that's convinced itself it's a sheep.

Jax wrote:

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Yeh pretty much I kind of think the same and it would be interesting to see the movies if they ever happen what sort of cannon they will pick n choose from.

I think it'd be funny if they just picked *all* of the back story options!

*deep breath*

The child of two career navy officers, born in space but settled on a colony when they mustered out. The colony get wiped out and Shepard, still just a child gets sent back to Earth, but runs away from the orphanage/foster home and ends up on the streets all through adolescence. After enlistment Shepard's entire squad is wiped out by thresher maws. While on convalescent leave on Elysium, Batarian pirates hit the colony and Shepard single handedly holds a gap in the defences, saving thousands and earning a quick promotion and the assignment to lead the counter attack.

Damn, you could almost make a whole movie just about that. They could call it 'Mass Effect Origins: I Hate Space Pirates!'

[EDIT]

Almost forgot. If anyone's interested, you can download the EC soundtrack for free here, straight from Bioware.