Mass Effect 3

[Reverend]

^Yeah, I don't know how they managed it, but the journal on ME3 was really botched all to hell. It still baffles me how they could mess up something that worked perfectly fine the first two times.

[Jeyl]

Reverend wrote:

---

^That's debatable. I mean at least it was something new to fight and actually expanded our understanding of the reapers a little (whether that was something worth knowing is neither here nor there.) The ME1 end boss was just a reskinned geth hopper chucked into an enclosed space.

The problem with the human reaper was that it changed the overall tone of Mass Effect into a more condensed and quite honestly, contrived storyline that slowly got worse. It essentially all boiled down to "Humans are special" and that we are the Reapers #1 threat and target. I hate it when we have an entire universe full of diverse aliens with their own unique strengths and weaknesses that the franchise all of a sudden resorts to having humans be the cream of the crop. This is why I like the first Mass Effect game over 2 and 3 because it didn't portray humanity like that. Humanity wasn't the center of the galaxy, they were, like everyone else, just a part of it. Shepard isn't awesome because (S)he's human. (S)he's just the hero who happens to be human. I don't see why an Asari, Turian or even a Krogan couldn't accomplish what Shepard set out to do.

It's like Gene Roddenberry took over writing duties for the series after the first game and brought his "If we aren't telling a story about humans, what's the point in telling a story?" ego with him.

[Reverend]

I never took it as "Shepard wins because humans are special", rather I saw it as "the reapers are after humans because one of them offed Sovereign." If an asari had been commanding the Normandy, I'm sure the reapers would have made a bee-line for Thessia.

Still, there is that bit about humanity being more diverse (socially and genetically) than most of the other races, but again, I don't think that was meant to say we're special so much as it was just to highlight our defining trait (according to the writers.) Not intrinsically "better" than any of the other races, but possessing a trait that appears to bring out the best in others.

[Angel4576]

In the original 'Dark Energy' storyline, Humans WERE special. From memory, the ultimate choice was to either sacrifice humanity to save the rest of the galaxy, or save humanity and everyone takes their chances.

The 'Dark Energy' plot was ditched towards the end of the development of ME2. It was so late in the day that there are still a few references throughout the game. I think I read a while ago that the Human Reaper came about because the Reapers discovered that humans were special. Note, in this plot the Reapers were actually misunderstood good guys trying to prevent dark energy from destroying everything.

[bullethead]

Jeyl wrote:

---

The problem with the human reaper was that it changed the overall tone of Mass Effect into a more condensed and quite honestly, contrived storyline that slowly got worse. It essentially all boiled down to "Humans are special" and that we are the Reapers #1 threat and target. I hate it when we have an entire universe full of diverse aliens with their own unique strengths and weaknesses that the franchise all of a sudden resorts to having humans be the cream of the crop. This is why I like the first Mass Effect game over 2 and 3 because it didn't portray humanity like that. Humanity wasn't the center of the galaxy, they were, like everyone else, just a part of it. Shepard isn't awesome because (S)he's human. (S)he's just the hero who happens to be human. I don't see why an Asari, Turian or even a Krogan couldn't accomplish what Shepard set out to do.

Dude, did you not read the Codex entries relating to the System Alliance's rise to power? Humanity went from "we're stuck in our solar system" to "up and coming galactic power" in the span of decades. Hell, the volus and hanar (or was it elcor) are pissed in ME1 because humans either got an embassy on the Citadel quickly, might be made Council members before they are, or both. Humanity being special has always been part of Mass Effect.

[Hartzilla2007]

Angel4576 wrote:

---

Note, in this plot the Reapers were actually misunderstood good guys trying to prevent dark energy from destroying everything.

Of course had they gone through with this plot the question of why Soverign was such a creepy villain type going on about the imminent destruction of organic civilization and how not only Shepard was doomed but how impossible it would be to stop them.

[Crazy Eddie]

I don't know what everyone's complaining about. Omega kicks ass! Not as interesting as Leviathan, but quite a bit more fun. I thought the adjutants were a bit overrated, "Wow, all that hype for THAT? What a bunch of bullsh--" and then it jumped across the room and killed me. Never thought I'd be so happy to have a Harrier X.

[Angel4576]

Leviathan was 5/10. Omega gets a 7/10 IMO. It was alright, but nothing special.

[Jeyl]

bullethead wrote:

---

Humanity being special has always been part of Mass Effect.

Maybe, but is humanity the most interesting part of Mass Effect? I don't think so. Humanity doesn't make Mass Effect unique, it's universe does. There are already so many science fiction stories that are focused on humans and the planet Earth, but how other science fiction franchises have the Asari, Krogen, Turian or other races that Mass Effect has? I would sooner ditch Earth in a heart beat and fight for them than taking back what so many other science fiction stories have done in the past.

[Jeyl]

Reverend wrote:

---

I never took it as "Shepard wins because humans are special", rather I saw it as "the reapers are after humans because one of them offed Sovereign."

Shepard had help from non-human characters to get to that point, and a lot more help in the fight against the collectors. I would hardly call that a priority. But than again, these are Reapers who think that the Citadel isn't a place worth invading.

[Skywalker]

Jeyl wrote:

---

Maybe, but is humanity the most interesting part of Mass Effect? I don't think so. Humanity doesn't make Mass Effect unique, it's universe does. There are already so many science fiction stories that are focused on humans and the planet Earth, but how other science fiction franchises have the Asari, Krogen, Turian or other races that Mass Effect has? I would sooner ditch Earth in a heart beat and fight for them than taking back what so many other science fiction stories have done in the past.

I completely agree. I'm tired of the "humans are special" and "Earth is the most important planet of them all" tropes in sci-fi. While ME1 obviously made a big deal about humanity rising to such prominence in such a short amount of time (unbelievably in less than thirty years, in fact, but that's an entirely different subject), other than that it did a good job of making humans seem like just another species out of many in the galaxy. Earth wasn't important (other than Anderson's "Even Earth is at risk!" line during his tirade about Saren) and the Citadel was the heart of galactic civilization.

But ME3 took the focus on Earth to absurd levels. It got to the point where every Shepard kept blathering on and on about Earth no matter what their own life experiences were. Most of my Shepards were either Colonists or Spacers, they weren't born on Earth and they didn't grow up there. But in ME3 they keep talking about it like it's their home, like it means more to them than the places they actually came from. Sure, it's the cradle of humanity and the vast majority of the human population still lives there, but it's still just one world out of many, and not even the most important one.

[Bishop76]

I hate to break it to you all, but people who don't want to see an earth-first storyline are the minority. Most people tend to enjoy stories that have some sort of real-life stakes and moments we can relate to. Sure, you can relate to Thane as he's dying or Mordin as he tries to attone, but ultimately, if you want a HUMAN audience buying and playing your game to really truly relate to your story, the vast majority of people want it to be a human-centric story.

[ATimson]

Hanukkah Solo wrote:

---

But ME3 took the focus on Earth to absurd levels. It got to the point where every Shepard kept blathering on and on about Earth no matter what their own life experiences were. Most of my Shepards were either Colonists or Spacers, they weren't born on Earth and they didn't grow up there. But in ME3 they keep talking about it like it's their home, like it means more to them than the places they actually came from.

I blame Project Lazarus.

[Skywalker]

Bishop76 wrote:

---

I hate to break it to you all, but people who don't want to see an earth-first storyline are the minority. Most people tend to enjoy stories that have some sort of real-life stakes and moments we can relate to. Sure, you can relate to Thane as he's dying or Mordin as he tries to attone, but ultimately, if you want a HUMAN audience buying and playing your game to really truly relate to your story, the vast majority of people want it to be a human-centric story.

It's already a human-centric story by virtue of the viewpoint character being a human.

[Bishop76]

Right, but if the world that the Reapers were going to destroy was Thessia then the audience has mild concern because some characters they like were from there. But if you make it Earth, EVERYONE playing the game has a common frame of reference and a gut reaction of "not in my backyard". You can use images like Big Ben getting destroyed and it'll have a lot of impact rather than some random building that they just told us was important on Thessia. You can still have those great scenes on other planets of course, but the ultimate McGuffin usually will be earth or the earth fleet or humanity in most sci-fi.