Is 'Mass Effect' "The Most Impt. Sci-Fi Universe of Our Generation?

[Herkimer Jitty]

Sensing some amount of rebuke aimed at author of article. OP not author of article. Author of article not present to debate points. Journalist? Blogger? Makes big statement. Nice for web traffic. More fleshed-out than a lot of other similar pieces. Mass Effect more credible than Halo, Gears of War, appeals more to classic space opera niche. Genre reconstruction. Shouldn't take article seriously, not massive social statement.

[Yevetha]

Wasnt ME inspired by some books?

[Mr Light]

There's a *LOT* of "parallels" between Mass Effect and Babylon 5. That's what I thought was cool when I first played ME, it was like Babylon 5 The Video Game

[HotRod]

Mass Effect has a little bit of everything and ALOT of a few things. Star Trek, Star Wars, Babylon 5, Aliens, Blade Runner, The Fifth Element, Starship Troopers, the list goes on..... The fact that Bioware managed to take the best elements from each of these and make it work in such a terrific way IS something they should be commended for. In just a few years they have managed to flesh out a galaxy that is just as deep as any of the big sci-fi heavy hitters.

I look foward to what will come with Mass Effect 4 now that Shepards story will be finished and we can start a new narrative. The future is wide open for Mass Effect, and with the movie in pre-production, its mainstream exposure can go nowhere but UP!

[jefferiestubes8]

Herkimer Jitty wrote:

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Sensing some amount of rebuke aimed at author of article. OP not author of article.

Correct. I only had come across it on the web.

Makes big statement. Nice for web traffic.

Shouldn't take article seriously, not massive social statement.

Yes the title is a bit over the top but deals with what universe created should be the most important in modern scifi universes?

The Lensman wrote:

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No, Mass Effect is not the "next Star Wars"

Not as in ME is the next best franchise. Not just which universe itself has been given the most thought and would allow for the storytelling within that universe that would seem the most important location?

I think the Alien movies universe is interesting but not epic. The Total Recall universe is interesting as well as Judge Dredd. None of them span an epic huge universe though.

The Lensman wrote:

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The "next Star Wars" was Harry Potter.

Which is not what this thread is about. The Harry Potter series of novels and movies are fantasy and not sci-fi but instead is about wizards, witchcraft, & magic. I think The Lensman thought we were instead having a discussion on

The Lensman wrote:

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the closest cultural impact to Star Wars since Star Wars.

which this thread is not. That is a good topic for a thread though.

What franchise has had the closest cultural impact to Star Wars since Star Wars?
Essentially:
What has become the "next Star Wars"?
So here I made a thread.

What franchise has had the closest cultural impact since Star Wars?

[RAMA]

Wow, surprised to see my thread revived about Mass Effect! Yeah, I've come to the conclusion that though it's pretty popular in game land it probably has nowhere near the impact of SW, ST, etc. No movie ever materialized, and although i came close to trying to play it, I still never really get the sense the games can replicate a good linear storyline and milieu...that may be my bias of course,since I'm not even close to being a "gamer". I'm still going to keep an eye out on this one in the future.

[PsychoPere]

RAMA wrote:

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No movie ever materialized [...]

Legendary Pictures acquired the rights only in May 2010. As of July 2011, the film is being worked on (BioWare's ME Executive Producer Casey Hudson and screenwriter Mark Petrosevich appeared at SDCC).

[-Brett-]

Yevetha wrote:

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Wasnt ME inspired by some books?

It was inspired by a lot of things. I've been reading Reynolds Revelation Space series, and find myself reminded of Mass Effect pretty regularly.

If by inspired by you mean based on, no. The first tie-in book made it onto the shelves before the game did, but it was still written because of and based on the then upcoming game.

[Yevetha]

Does Revelation Space has a sgip calle the Quib Quib?

[marillion]

As a completely clueless observer who has only seen the tv commercials but never played the games or know anything about them, I'm all in... Some of the spots are obviously CGI (like the kid playing with the spaceship toy on the farm), but some of them look so real they could be an actual movie... I was really impressed.. Either way, it has me and my son excited to play the game.

[HotRod]

Do yourself and your son a favour and go and play the first 2 games first.

[Kestrel]

Herkimer Jitty wrote:

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Sensing some amount of rebuke aimed at author of article. OP not author of article. Author of article not present to debate points. Journalist? Blogger? Makes big statement. Nice for web traffic. More fleshed-out than a lot of other similar pieces. Mass Effect more credible than Halo, Gears of War, appeals more to classic space opera niche. Genre reconstruction. Shouldn't take article seriously, not massive social statement.

Now sing "I Am the Very Model of a Scientist Salarian."

[BillJ]

HotRod wrote:

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Do yourself and your son a favour and go and play the first 2 games first.

This. They're under twenty bucks a piece now.

[Reverend]

RAMA wrote:

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Wow, surprised to see my thread revived about Mass Effect! Yeah, I've come to the conclusion that though it's pretty popular in game land it probably has nowhere near the impact of SW, ST, etc. No movie ever materialized, and although i came close to trying to play it, I still never really get the sense the games can replicate a good linear storyline and milieu...that may be my bias of course,since I'm not even close to being a "gamer". I'm still going to keep an eye out on this one in the future.

I have to agree that for the time being, Mass Effect's impact doesn't extend much beyond the gaming community. That may change with the movie (which BTW, was only announced last summer IIRC and is still in the writing/pre-pre production phase) but then the track record of movies based on video games is hardly encouraging...on the other hand, the track record of movies based on comic books was similarly poor until 'Blade' and look where we are now.

Still, if what you want is a good linear storyline (and don't mind being spoiled and/or have no intention of playing) then I suggest you have a look at the video I linked to on the previous page. It does very well in capturing the tone feeling of the game and is not *just* a bunch of stitched together cut scenes. Seriously, I was impressed at how they were able to condense and distil 10-20 hours of gameplay into 10 minutes of cohesive narrative.

marillion wrote:

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As a completely clueless observer who has only seen the tv commercials but never played the games or know anything about them, I'm all in... Some of the spots are obviously CGI (like the kid playing with the spaceship toy on the farm), but some of them look so real they could be an actual movie... I was really impressed.. Either way, it has me and my son excited to play the game.

BillJ wrote:

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This. They're under twenty bucks a piece now.

Wholeheartedly agree! I bought Mass Effect in a Steam sale just a few months before ME2 was released. At the time I knew *nothing* about it, just that it had good reviews and there was plenty of hype for the sequel. Plus, it was only a fiver, so what the hell, right!?

Best. Purchase. Ever. And this is coming from someone who's never been much of an RPG gamer. Seriously, I *still* haven't completed KOTOR and Oblivion (another Steam sale dice roll) bored the crap out of me.

[PsychoPere]

Reverend wrote:

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[...] the track record of movies based on video games is hardly encouraging...

True, but at least BioWare has stated that they are maintaining close involvement in the production.

Also, you should definitely take the time to finish KOTOR. It's still my favorite BioWare game, and has influenced a lot of what they've done since.