About Mass Effect

I already played Mass Effect many times and liked it very much. The second and third part took a little different direction in the series development, bringing a lot of Gears of War style gameplay forgetting it's roots, but after playing games many years i learned to love games for what they are, because after all, gaming brings many good things in our lives and if you truly like them you will not argue with other people about why you think the game sucks and why not. If you like it, just play it and enjoy it. Regarding the plot of Mass Effect as a whole, I'm very well aware of it's sometime bad writing decisions, but i want to point it one more time that it was the author's vision in the first place, so i will respect it, even if it has no logic sometime and it's stupid, but that's because i like the game very much, it's that simple.

The first game was released on Xbox 360 and it was the big RPG from Bioware, so every old gamer wanted to play this new beast. I can imagine how the new generation gamer treasures this game if it is the first RPG in his life. I personally played when the game was released on PC. I remember that i played back then Mass Effect and Assassin's Creed for the first time. Mass Effect right from the start kicked me in the nuts with it's greatly written plot. Starting it for the first time one can tell that this will revolutionise the genre just like Baldur's Gate and Fallout did back in the day, or Final Fantasy XII, Ultima III: Exodus, The Bard's Tale: Tales of the Unknown, but these are better suited for another separate discusion.

So the Mass Effect introduced very cinematic storytelling, at the same time remaining true CRPG game. Yes it's true that it was first released on Xbox 360, but Bioware did a great job not just porting the game, but adapting it for the PC. The game plays just like the modern Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic. At last Bioware invented their own cosmo-opera. Back in the day i always wanted that to happen. Like in every true CPRG game, Mass Effect contains a lot of role-playing. The main character almost always reflects the player's choices, but to be honest, the second and third part fails to achieve that feeling because starting with Mass Effect 2 the game became more of a flirting simulator in space with a bunch of ugly mercenaries just waiting to blow your ship to hell, then walk near the ship's breached hull through open space without a spacesuit and then try to investigate Miranda's behind. Like i said, i think the first part is a masterpiece in the CRPG genre and in science-fiction genre, but the later games wanted to appeal to the mass-market and became mainstream (which is not bad at all). I think the main goal the series as a whole achieves perfectly.

It's a very interesting and enormous space adventure that keeps you in front of your monitor for a hundred of hours of refined cinematic role-playing experience with choices and different outcomes. I personally don't share the opinion on the whole drama regarding the Mass Effect 3 ending. The game had more obvious problems since the second game was out, but of course a lot of people didn't notice that. From the very start many suspected that the ending of a big cosmic saga cannot end with infinite outcomes, simply because it's irrational for a game to end in many ways only because you choose it at the end. That's why i think Mass Effect 3 ends with a one general ending, changing a little the disposition of the main character and the rest of the galaxy, based on few presented choices, created more for an illusion's sake of freedom and infinity.

Simply put, Mass Effect 3's ending is how it's supposed to be, considering the RPG style of the game. Even Silent Hill 3 ended with just one ending because it was meant to end the story, and it was the best game in the series. It's logical to assume that my Fallout: New Vegas' ending would be very different from my friend's ending because you can play it the way you want, experiencing your own adventure in the borders of a game universe. The key to this "mystery" lies in the gameplay process itself and the exploration factor that a RPG game possesses. To say it very simple, Mass Effect is more "Max Payne with CPRG mechanic", but Fallout: New Vegas is a "CRPG with more Ultima or Wizardry exploration mechanic".

From the plot point of view - to have a different outcome you must have a different experience behind it. If we take only the first Mass Effect, it's a very good example of a game with two different general endings (just like KOTOR). The whole way up to that point where the game ends, it's not like it gives you to choose the ending you like more, but just reflects the whole game experience you had for fifty hours with some solid statements. Also, the first game is a good example of a true detective story, where the main character finds himself a couple of partners, uncovers the bad guy's motives and stops him to save the galaxy only to discover the real threat that is far more dangerous. After many hard hours of playing and completing the game, Mass Effect just gives you a satisfaction of winning just one battle, but not the whole war, only prolonging the inevitable - the coming of an ancient race that wants to wipe out the galaxy.

I think the whole plot of Mass Effect is very inspired by one of the best cosmo-opera of all times Babylon 5. In both we have a place where humans and aliens can resolve their problems peacefully. In both they are wrapped up in many tons of spinning metal all alone in the night. Citadel is an ancient artifact found by the race called Asari. It's many mechanisms remained a mystery, because the race who built it were very ancient and advanced. Babylon 5 is a station built by humans, but the station is situated near another ancient alien artifact called Epsilon 5, and it's a planet with some colossally big machinery. Almost every thing from Mass Effect you can find in Babylon 5, but i will not spoil any more, because I'm convinced that the new generation haven't even heard about Babylon 5, and from some perspective it's a good thing, they will have the chance to enjoy it for the first time, maybe even after reading this nostalgic documentary.

The logic of the first game exists in harmony with all the other elements, like graphics, gameplay and continuity. It answers the questions with solid statements and leaves you in a well thought universe that lives by it's own rules. Now about Mass Effect 2.

Although Mass Effect 2 is a great game it sometime breaks it's own rules and that "solid logic" thing is becoming "solidus logic" and even "liquid logic". But it's very funny at least when this is happening, so, no problem with that. It's funny how Shepard, after hibernating for two years states that he has no bullets, considering the last time when he held a weapon there were no bullets, and all weapons were just energy weapons. And that's not all about weapons. There is a side-quest in the game where you must find the father of your crew member. His father was isolated due to a crash on some planet for ten years, but considering the new game's "liquid logic", the armament changed in two recent years, adding bullets. Somehow all crew of that crashed ten years ago ship had new kinds of weapons instead of old energy weapons. Bioware at least needed to learn from Hideo Kojima how to break the fourth wall and make their new decisions flow gently with the game's already established universe.

There are many "liquid logics" in this game, but I'll leave the hunt to the players not spoiling anything, because finding that kind of stuff in every game is always fun. Nevertheless Mass Effect 2 it's a very entertaining and huge game. And this game is from Bioware, you can tell that from a mile. If you keep that "solid logic" out of the way and never even try to uncover it making it "naked logic", you'll enjoy Mass Effect 2 much more. It's naturally a Babylon 5: The Game. I always dreamed about big Black Isle / Bioware style CRPG in Babylon 5's universe. And here it is, almost.

The majority of game universes from Bioware (and not only Bioware) contain a capital in which the players can go and enjoy a more peaceful atmosphere, rather that flying through galaxy in search of trouble. Such capitals were present in Baldur's Gate, Neverwinter Nights or KOTOR. In first two cases even the name of the game reflected that. The city of Baldur's Gate and the city of Neverwinter. In Mass Effect universe the role of a capital is played by the Citadel Station, that somehow reminds the design of other capital called Sigil, presented in Planescape: Torment game, and even the space station Beyond, from Kojima's Policenauts. Sigil is a capital of all D&D settings connecting many multiverses into one big universe, making possible the different encounters of the most exotic entities that D&D possesses.