Hello again, old friend

[trinityvixen]

My anticipation of Mass Effect 2 has not diminished the game for me at all. I am still very much in love with its world. It's funny, though--the gameplay can actually bore me, and I've messed up and had to redo parts so I had to listen to conversations over which wasn't fun--but I'm still having a great time.

Part of it is due to my prior investment, of course. I ran into an old friend last night while playing (this is a fictional, in-game, actually-just-a-friend-of-my-character friend), and I nearly let out a whoop of joy. He/she/it came with me, too, which almost made me cry. I remain intrigued, even optimistic about coming to love my first two available squad members, but they're not my old team. I really, really loved my old team. I'd take my least favorite old team member over the new guys thus far. I'm sure that will change, but still. (It might be because they're humans. In the first game, I had a definite bias in favor of the aliens, too.)

Besides my own fangirlishness, I spent a lot of my first night playing just marveling at how huge the world of this game is. There are entire backstories between races of aliens that I'd forgotten and had to read up on again. But the fact that there are volumes of things to learn about each race is so very impressive. It makes it feel like there's a universe that exists and runs and functions and fractures whether or not my player character is doing anything to it. It's not to say all the races are unique snowflakes (the more I watch Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, the more analogues I see), just that their interactions are so richly developed. The alien races, planets, space stations, criminal and lawful elements alike feel so lived in.

I think that makes all the difference--the idea that a place doesn't just start and stop existing as you come and go. I can see the interplay of interspecies politics, why some races have some advances and not others. Of all the races, too, I don't find that any are stupidly designed or inorganically sprung from their native environments. Are individual aspects of their culture heritage maddening? Oh hell yes. Does it make sense that they would think/behave that way? Absolutely.

Better still? Not every member of an alien race believes in the same things! There are prevailing norms, but there are still individuals who buck the system, who are biased by their upbringing but to whom exposure to the rest of the universe was a revelation and a catalyst for individuality. It helps that I'm sort of an unusual player character; it explains why I would attract or else keep running into the exceptions to the rule. But it's the acknowledgment that no society of millions, if not billions, would ever be homogenous that makes this game so mature. (Well, that and the sexing. I'm hoping I get to that soon!)

Comments

[edgehopper.livejournal.com]

There are prevailing norms, but there are still individuals who buck the system, who are biased by their upbringing but to whom exposure to the rest of the universe was a revelation and a catalyst for individuality.

Yes! Bioware came very close to turning the Asari into as boring a race as the Na'vi, but instead made them much more interesting. I like that all of the organic races in the Mass Effect universe have their good and bad guys, and the only thoroughly evil races are the machine types (Geth and Reapers).

[trinityvixen.livejournal.com]

I just ran into a gangster Asari. I'm loving that. I like that there are unscrupulous members of every race and they justify it in different ways based on but not exclusive to their racial background. I think I'm more aware of this than ever I was because I'm now sort of in that muddy gray area myself.

I also am not sure if the Geth are evil. Reapers, yes. But Geth seem to me to be just like the Cylons. They were made and used, first. Their relationship to the Reapers needs more analysis before I can be sure that they're just cool with slaughter (versus either being controlled by the Reapers or manipulated by them). The Collectors, on the other hand? Dead curious about them.

[oblvndrgn.livejournal.com]

The Geth are totally the Cylons, down to the Quarians having been mostly destroyed by them and flying around in space without a homeworld. Have you spotted both BSG voice actor cameos? One of them you may not have run into yet (the one I got instantly) but the major one you definitely have, but it took me a while to recognize the voice.

[trinityvixen.livejournal.com]

If you're talking about Tricia Helfer as EDI, oh yeah, I heard that. I knew she was doing voice work for the game, so I was waiting to hear her. And she has such a distinctive voice. It's not the strongest or even the most subtle, but it is very much her own. It's clipped, precise. Even with the computerized distortion, I recognized it.

But, no, I hadn't run into another BSG cast member, so I had to go look it up. ::GLEE:: Looking forward to seeing him.

[jlc.livejournal.com]

I'm not sure the Geth are evil--they rebelled against a group that used them by slaves and started a campaign of genocide once they showed signs of consciousness. Then, once they won, they retreated behind the veil and mostly avoided organics until the events of Mass Effect. Smart move, not necessarily an evil one.

[trinityvixen.livejournal.com]

Word.

[neo-leviathan.livejournal.com]

You're evidently further into the game than I am :)

I've only just reached the Cerberus station where I need to go and chat to Elusive Man.
By the way.. who the fuck voice acts him? The voice is so damned familiar but I just can't place it >

[oblvndrgn.livejournal.com]

President Martin Sheen

[neo-leviathan.livejournal.com]

Aha!

It's been a little surprising the amount of actors who have been making video game cameos (or having larger parts) recently. Seeing Lando Calrissian with a big part in Command & Conquer was.. amusing to say the least.

[trinityvixen.livejournal.com]

Ah, beat me to it! Yes, indeed, it is Martin Sheen. It's really weird to see his voice coming out of the Illusive Man. (Can't wait to find out why they spell it that way.)

[jlc.livejournal.com]

I was pretty frustrated with the first little while of the game because, sorry, I remember what that organization was doing in Mass Effect and do not approve of my 10000%-Paragon Shepherd working for them. The same period in Mass Effect also made me feel like the fucking greatest hero in the galaxy ever, which Mass Effect 2 seemed to throw out in favor of Darker and Edgier (tm). But that's improved slightly, so I think it'll work out in the end. And quick-time conversation events rock.

I very much appreciated the cameos on Omega, but I'm disappointed that I haven't been able to reestablish anything with my Mass Effect beau yet. My female Shepherd playthrough will, however, be 100% Garrus boffing. As soon as possible. As much as possible. And damn BioWare for making me have to be female to do that.

[oblvndrgn.livejournal.com]

There is a certain female character from the first game that I thought was much cooler than the two romanceable options that were in the actual game. I believe Mr Shepherd will be remedying that this time around for me.

[jlc.livejournal.com]

Oh hell yes. If she had been an option the first time around, I would've made that choice too. Liara and Ashley both annoy me in their own ways. Kaiden was the only one who I thought much of beyond just wanting to see the extra dialogue.

[trinityvixen.livejournal.com]

I found Kaiden interesting, as a character. Much more so than Liara. Ashley I went for hard with male Shepard because he was my renegade jerk character and they made sense together that way. (He's a mercenary bastard, she's a racist jarhead. It worked.) Liara was always meh.

[jlc.livejournal.com]

He's endearingly cute. But when you do end up sleeping with him, he proves to be the WORST ROMANCER EVAR. "Joker's waiting for you on the bridge!" What, not even a peck on the cheek?

[trinityvixen.livejournal.com]

I can't fault him too much. Shepard's always out of bed and dressed to love and leave by the time his/her lover gets up. I'd be flip with him/her, too.

Who's in the running for your dude Shepard again? Shoot me for saying it, but right now? Probably Miranda. She's foxy, and despite her being with the EVIL company, I'm digging her. I happen to love Yvonne Strakowski who voices her (and whom the character resembles very much). I admit I'm biased. I'm also just not far enough in yet to know my choices. I admit to having had my eye on the new Asari chick, too. (And, as another bone for girl-type-Shepard, the green alien assassin dude. HAWT. Forgive me, Garrus!)

[jlc.livejournal.com]

The save I pulled in to start with was 100%-paragon and romanced Ashley (she annoys me less than Liara and really comes around to a more friendly position re: aliens through the paragon dialogue). I'm unsure exactly what I'm going to do about this, because I imagine Shepherd being faithful.

I'm going to probably dedicate a save file to romancing Tali, because she's awesome. I formed an intense hatred for Miranda off the bat due to her loyalties, but doing her side mission really made me reconsider her motivations. I'll probably get around to romancing her at some point in the future just to see.

The only person I know is an option that I'm definitely not pursuing is Kelly, your personal assistant/ship's counselor. It just strikes me as skeevy.

[trinityvixen.livejournal.com]

I don't think there has to be a through-line with your relationships. Maybe Ashley moved on when she thought you were dead!

Aw, I like grown-up-type Tali, but I can't get around this weird mental block I have of her being a precocious but really underage kid. I wouldn't be able to romance her without wanting to take a shower. As for members of the ancillary crew, it's Joker and Dr. Chakwas for girl and boy Shepards.

[trinityvixen.livejournal.com]

I am not sanguine about Shepard working for them either.

Also: can you boff Garrus? Because? I would! I want to! I want to hug him and squeeze him and love him forever. I've figured out a few of the options for the other love interests and they all bore me.

[jlc.livejournal.com]

The most authoritative thing I can say without linking you to spoilerrific YouTube vids is that he's on the Mass Effect wikia list.

[trinityvixen.livejournal.com]

Oh man, I have to go flirt with him a lot right now if it's even a possibility. As yet, I'd only had Jacob around to flirt with, but it was half-hearted and perfunctory because he was the only dude around. I want Garrus. I must make it Garrus.

[jlc.livejournal.com]

You must. As soon as I beat the game with good Shepherd, psycho Shepherd will be aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaalllllllllllllll over him.

(Though I still maintain that Paragon Shepherd is the one that should be boffing him. Never met a man like you indeed)

[trinityvixen.livejournal.com]

I agree: Garrus gets only paragons. He deserves nothing less because he's fucking awesome. If I didn't need to get achievements for playing through the first game with all the other characters, I wouldn't EVER have stopped playing with him and Wrex. (Oh, WREX. I miss you!)

My Shepard paragon is going to get Archangel. She must. Then my renegade girl Shepard can have Thane, whenever he shows.

[neo-leviathan.livejournal.com]

Wrex was indeed awesome. Especially the elevator scenes. "So, Garrus, who would win if you fought Shepherd?"

Grunt does have a few moments though, and Mordin is brilliant.

[trinityvixen.livejournal.com]

I grew to like Grunt, but nothing will ever be as adorable as Wrex. I just loved him to pieces and Grunt is more like Wrex-lite than anything else. Mordin had me as soon as he started teasing me about how I might want to avoid "ingesting Turian proteins" if I were to get physical with Garrus. Oh, Mordin, you randy old toad!