ME3: The Characters' Stories
While playing the game, I've been pondering a particular aspect that I find interesting. I still can't decide if it's ingenius or simply the result of necessity. Maybe a little of both. One of the big points about the Mass Effect series was the determined effort to insert choices that have consequences. While we're still a long way from having the freedom to influence a video game world in the way that roleplayers can with a GM at the table, the series did a realtively good job. Perhaps the best yet.
And while in some cases that means choices about races or factions, seeing exactly how Bioware did this was most apparent (and where it made the most impact for me was) with the main cast.
At a gut-reaction level, I've been disappointed that only a few of the squadmates (and romance options for that matter) can carry over all three of the games as such. If I'm counting correctly, only Garrus and Tali are squad-possibilities through all three and they're not romancable until ME2. So as a player, I had to make new attachments, but... I see why.
In ME1, you get your squad of friends and allies and over the course of the game, you can lose a couple. There's an either/or choice in the story that forces the death of one character who stays behind. There's also a point at which you have to either kill or talk down another character - the latter option only being available with sufficient paragon/renegade reputation. So most of the main cast survives one way or another.
In ME2, though, those squad characters are given secondary roles. Aside from Garrus and Tali, they assist but they don't actually join up with Shepard on his mission. Some become bigger figures in their own right. And to fill the gap, you get a bunch of new squadmates.
Then comes the potential bloodbath of the "suicide mission" at the end of the game. Depending on choices and achievements, Shepard can walk out of the final mission with every alive or nearly everyone dead. I think Joker's survival is a given, and I'm not actually sure if it's possible to lose all the squadmates, but I know it is possible to lost most of them at least.
So what the heck do you do with that when making ME3? Well, there are a couple extremes, but it looks to me like Bioware effectively split the difference. Starting out, they bring back a couple characters from ME1 (whose survival isn't in question) to fill the critical role of early-game support (or critical background roles) for Shepard while introducing a few new characters.
Then they bring back the couple we have the most invested in - if they survived ME2. Garrus returns fairly early, and Tali a while later. Doing this, though, requires a fair bit of effort because everything beyond their reintroduction needs to be written both with and without them. Garrus has a lot of great, but relatively minor, interactions along the way. Tali... I have trouble picturing the whole quarian plotline without her, but it's there if she didn't survive ME2. Her presence is shorter, but more major in my view. They theoretically could have done this with all the squadmates of ME2, but each one adds more and more complexity as scenes and plotlines have to be written multiple ways.
And all the other squadmates from ME2 who may or may not survive? They definitely make their appearances, large and small. And from this pool, we have a number of characters with player investment to use for story purposes without being actual squadmates. They can be the valiant sacrifices along the way or they can be the uplifting suppor that comes in when needed. Though the player doesn't get to fight alongside them in a mechanic sense, their presence can be felt in secondary-objective teams while on missions.
And while I didn't always like the changes in cast, it worked out pretty well in the end. The story didn't have infinite flexibility, but different choices, actions, and successes could mean a very distinct third installment that reflects each person's previous experience. And that's quite an achievement in a video game, especially one with top-tier production values.
And while in some cases that means choices about races or factions, seeing exactly how Bioware did this was most apparent (and where it made the most impact for me was) with the main cast.
At a gut-reaction level, I've been disappointed that only a few of the squadmates (and romance options for that matter) can carry over all three of the games as such. If I'm counting correctly, only Garrus and Tali are squad-possibilities through all three and they're not romancable until ME2. So as a player, I had to make new attachments, but... I see why.
In ME1, you get your squad of friends and allies and over the course of the game, you can lose a couple. There's an either/or choice in the story that forces the death of one character who stays behind. There's also a point at which you have to either kill or talk down another character - the latter option only being available with sufficient paragon/renegade reputation. So most of the main cast survives one way or another.
In ME2, though, those squad characters are given secondary roles. Aside from Garrus and Tali, they assist but they don't actually join up with Shepard on his mission. Some become bigger figures in their own right. And to fill the gap, you get a bunch of new squadmates.
Then comes the potential bloodbath of the "suicide mission" at the end of the game. Depending on choices and achievements, Shepard can walk out of the final mission with every alive or nearly everyone dead. I think Joker's survival is a given, and I'm not actually sure if it's possible to lose all the squadmates, but I know it is possible to lost most of them at least.
So what the heck do you do with that when making ME3? Well, there are a couple extremes, but it looks to me like Bioware effectively split the difference. Starting out, they bring back a couple characters from ME1 (whose survival isn't in question) to fill the critical role of early-game support (or critical background roles) for Shepard while introducing a few new characters.
Then they bring back the couple we have the most invested in - if they survived ME2. Garrus returns fairly early, and Tali a while later. Doing this, though, requires a fair bit of effort because everything beyond their reintroduction needs to be written both with and without them. Garrus has a lot of great, but relatively minor, interactions along the way. Tali... I have trouble picturing the whole quarian plotline without her, but it's there if she didn't survive ME2. Her presence is shorter, but more major in my view. They theoretically could have done this with all the squadmates of ME2, but each one adds more and more complexity as scenes and plotlines have to be written multiple ways.
And all the other squadmates from ME2 who may or may not survive? They definitely make their appearances, large and small. And from this pool, we have a number of characters with player investment to use for story purposes without being actual squadmates. They can be the valiant sacrifices along the way or they can be the uplifting suppor that comes in when needed. Though the player doesn't get to fight alongside them in a mechanic sense, their presence can be felt in secondary-objective teams while on missions.
And while I didn't always like the changes in cast, it worked out pretty well in the end. The story didn't have infinite flexibility, but different choices, actions, and successes could mean a very distinct third installment that reflects each person's previous experience. And that's quite an achievement in a video game, especially one with top-tier production values.
I assume then that Liara romance from ME1 having a brief stint of not being around in ME2 (save for DLC rekindling it) means she doesn't carry over through all three games?
ReplyDeleteWell, not quite in the same was as Garrus and Tali because Liara isn't a squadmate in ME2 (discounting DLC missions). As a "guaranteed survivor" of ME2, though, she's back as a squadmate in ME3 and appears a romance option as well (at least if you romanced her in 1, possibly even if not). Does that... answer the question?
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