Mass Effect (2007) - contact@rockpapershotgun.com (Jim Rossignol)
So I am busy playing through Mass Effect 3 at the moment, with my collected thoughts on the events, happenings, and systems therein to appear on Tuesday. I’ve been doing a bit of retrospective browsing over the first two games, too, and comparing events in those to the events in the third game. This process led me to wonder this: what has been your> favourite event in the games so far? And why?
As a follow up question: who is your favoured character? Garrus seems like the obvious choice for acerbic/murderous sidekick, and I generally take him on missions for the sound of his voice, but I think Thane was the highlight of Mass Effect 2. Anyway: speak your brains, show your working>.
Say those words to any Mass Effect fan, and they'll probably get a funny look on their face: A grin that's half-silly, half-guilty. "Oh, man. I punched the crap out of that reporter."
What started as a somewhat shocking, offhand bit of violence in Mass Effect reached meme status when it repeated itself in Mass Effect 2. (Back when I was running the blog Gamer Melodico, I made the video below, which shows my own Blade Shepard decking Al-Jilani twice. The jerk.)
I always thought that Mass Effect 2 didn't get enough credit for how funny it was. The first Mass Effect had moments of humor, sure, but there wasn't anything as funny as Blasto the Hanar Spectre or that bachelor party on Ilium. BioWare games have always been funny, and Mass Effect 2 felt more in line with that tradition than its dry predecessor. (Mind you, there were other aspects of Mass Effect's atmosphere and vibe that I preferred to its sequel.)
That dry tone is exactly what made the reporter-punch so bizarre in the first game. There was no warning that this was going to happen, since the game didn't have interrupt prompts—there was just the dialogue option "Time to shut you up!" For all I knew, that meant Shepard was just going to yell rudely at the reporter and storm off. I didn't anticipate that he'd go all Björk on her ass.
But nope. Instead, he dropped her like a sack of potatoes. And yeah, okay—depending on whether your Shepard is of the lady or bro variety, this can be some loaded imagery. A huge, brawny space-badass laying a right hook on the chin of a dainty female reporter. But the first time it happened it was just so absurd and unexpected… one of gaming's true "WTF?" moments.
So this brings me to Mass Effect 3, which releases next week. I haven't played the game, so I don't have any insider knowledge here, but man do I hope that we get some quality closure on the saga of Kalisah, The Reporter Who Was Punched.
Sure, BioWare could just give aggressive Shepards a chance to take one last swing. But how much funnier would it be if finally, three games into the series, Al-Jilani got her revenge?
I hope that's what happens. She might be kind of an asshole, but I'd say at this point, she deserves to give Shepard some payback.
The attempted raffle of an early copy of Mass Effect 3 this week still bothers me, even though its owners apologized and pulled back the gimmick when they realized it would run afoul of anti-gambling laws. The raffle or its legality isn't what really troubles me, however.
Backing up a bit, this is what happened. Electronic Arts marketers tied a bunch of copies of the coveted game to weather balloons and sent them into very near space last week, encouraging fans to track the balloons via web and try to find the games where they landed. In Las Vegas, two friends, who are also filmmakers, ended up the lucky winners of a drawing for one of the copies after the balloon went off course and the web page displayed an incorrect flight path.
Even though they owned the thing outright, what Michael Davis and Miguel Droz then chose to do with their copy was basically inappropriate and then, it was discovered, also illegal. The two wanted to raise money for a computer so they could develop a game for the iOS platform. So they planned a raffle—$5 for a chance at winning the game in a drawing online. The money raised would buy this computer.
While it would have depended on trusting these two guys to run an honest drawing and not give the game to, say, a friend, who mails it back to them, that's not the big problem. Davis and Droz certainly seem like honest guys who don't want to rip anyone off and simply didn't know the law. When an attorney who writes about video games law spotted the problem and pointed out the potential for Davis and Droz to pay big fines or even do jail time, they ended the stunt and apologized.
But in the very video in which they announced their intentions (above), the duo acknowledged that this looked like a douche move. After all, some guy looking for the weather balloon ended up on someone's private property and had a gun pointed at him. A family had driven all the way from Colorado with their 8-year-old boy for a shot at the game. Both got a copy, but they were out there because they wanted the game and they wanted to play it, not speculate on it as a commodity.
And so, Davis and Droz said, 30 percent of the proceeds were to have gone to the Child's Play charity, a foundation established by Penny Arcade which gives video games, consoles, and toys to children's hospitals.
Sorry, but regardless of the raffle, what they intended to do with the game or with the money they made off of it, it still sticks in my craw, this kind of fig-leaf using the go-to charity for any cause remotely connected to gaming. It has gone beyond cliché, and it trivializes the mission of Child's Play and the efforts of those who donate to it for reasons other than good PR.
Every week we get tips about a gaming marathon, and it seems they're all donating to Child's Play in whole or in part, basically stealing the idea from the marathon that first did it most visibly: Desert Bus for Hope by Loading Ready Run, which raised more than $380,000 for Child's Play this past year by suffering through one of the most intentionally horrible games ever created.
We gamers can do a lot of good as a community. Let's stop abusing Child's Play's mission with the whitewashing seen in this abortive Mass Effect raffle.
It boggles my mind that Child's Play has so much money—not that deserving it has anything to do here. Charitable donations are not a zero sum game. But Good Lord, the embarassment of riches it must be managing, when Desert Bus for Hope has raised more than half a million dollars in the past five years and every gaming event seems to send in some tithe simply because it's "the gamer's charity." And the announcements we get all proudly march around Child's Play's name, as if everyone must snap to attention on its mention and give this effort, whatever it is, some publicity. The fact Davis and Droz were doing it in a scheme to launch a business is just contemptibly tacky.
I don't mean to suggest that making sick children happy is not a worthy cause, or is less worthy than other gestures of mercy. I've seen the work it does and I have written about it with great empathy. But let's stop thinking in such a narrow way.
This year, Mojang identified four causes for gamers to give to in its Mojam 48-hour game development party. One was Child's Play; another was the Electronic Frontier Foundation, whose advocacy absolutely touches everyday gamers' lives, and then also the American Red Cross and charity: water, philanthropies that are there to do good for a great multitude of people regardless of their entertainment interests.
We gamers can do a lot of good as a community. We are idealistic, highly motivated, and treat damn near every penny as disposable income. While Child's Play is a worthwhile cause, it ain't hurting the last I checked. And we can do so much more for this community's image by donating to other worthy causes in the mainstream, rather than a knee-jerk fundraiser that appears only to take care of our own. Let's also stop abusing Child's Play's mission with the kind of whitewashing seen in this abortive Mass Effect raffle.
Many companies are chastised for "pinkwashing,"—flaunting support of breast cancer awareness and branding products with the Susan G. Komen for the Cure pink ribbon in what is otherwise a nakedly promotional appeal. I'm not sure what the color of -washing it is we're dealing with when Child's Play is repeatedly dragged into someone's self-promotion, but we need to clean up our efforts.
Hey folks, Something Negative is a rant. Love it or hate it, we all need to blow off steam on Fridays. Let yours out in the comments.
EA has warned Xbox 360 gamers that their Mass Effect 3 saved games won't import if they're stored in the 360's data cloud. They'll have to be located on or transferred from the console on which they were created.
Looking forward to Mass Effect 3? Of course you are. If you've only played the first two games, though, you've barely scratched the surface of BioWare's amazing sci-fi universe. There are books, comics and of course, a whole stack of downloadable add-ons that fill in the gaps, take you to places Shepard doesn't get to go, and explain details you may have missed - like exactly why everyone hates Cerberus so much. But which ones are worth your time, which are essential if you want to appreciate the full story, and which can be skipped? We've checked them all out. For you.
Please note, we're only looking at the tie-ins that help develop the Mass Effect story or universe in some way, so you won't find things like the soundtrack discs or art books here. We've also skipped over the iOS game Mass Effect Galaxy, simply because it's no longer available for purchase. Don't worry though, it wasn't very good.
What of the rest? Let's jump straight into...
- The Downloadable Content
Mass Effect only had two DLC packs - and neither are worth picking up, even for completion value. Bring Down The Sky introduced recurring nasties the Batarians to the series, but they don't do anything very interesting here. The second, Pinnacle Station, was entirely combat-focused, and Mass Effect 2 does a much better job of making shooting aliens entertaining.
Mass Effect 2 has a better mix. We're ignoring the pure weapon and costume packs here, along with the vehicle-focused Firewalker expansion (free with the Cerberus Network anyway), which leaves six plot missions. Many of these come free with the PS3 version, though PC and Xbox 360 owners will have to spend BioWare or Microsoft points to fill in the gaps. Most plot DLC is priced at 560 of either of them, with BioWare points having a slightly better conversion into real money. Lair of the Shadow Broker is slightly more expensive, clocking in at 800.
Genesis
(sings) Spectres don't fear the Reapers. Nor do Tali, Garrus or Thane. We can be like they are...
Genesis is the 'story so far' comic included with the PlayStation 3 version of the game. It kicks in after the destruction of the Normandy, with the Shepard of your choice both explaining what happened in the first Mass Effect, and giving you the option to decide who lived, who died, and who he/she romanced, ready for the decisions to be continued in Mass Effect 2.
The comic itself is nothing special, and not only should it arguably have been a free download, it still irks that you didn't get to set these in the shuttle ride sequence at the start of the original Mass Effect 2. If you're playing on Xbox 360, it's a handy time-saver if you don't want to replay the first game to change BioWare's default choices (like picking Udina over Anderson, or the fate of the Council). On PC, just visit Mass Effect Saves and download a Shepard with the options you need, completely free.
Verdict: Skip It (PC) Maybe (Xbox 360)
Cerberus Network (Zaeed: The Price of Revenge / Normandy Crash Site)
If you bought Mass Effect 2 new, you already have this. With a second hand copy, it'll cost you a whopping 1200 BioWare or Microsoft points (around £10). Is it worth it? Plot-wise, not really. Normandy Crash Site is a very short vignette, while Zaeed's biggest contribution to the Mass Effect experience is letting you giggle at having Leslie Grantham on your ship. The new missions they add are OK, and worth playing if you've got them, but not buying separately. You don't need to have the Cerberus Network to download other DLC packages.
Verdict: Skip It (if you have to buy it)
Overlord
There are reasons why nobody trusts AI in the Mass Effect universe, and Overlord is a good demonstration of these. It's a multi-stage mission involving science gone bad, and while basically unrelated to Shepard's battle against the Reapers, at least it's the kind of situation that warrants his/her personal attention. Forgettable compared to the DLC that came later, but a solid chunk of content with enough moments to justify taking the diversion on your next playthrough.
Verdict: Maybe
Kasumi: Stolen Memory
The tie-ins keep Shepard's specifics vague. But we all know she's a green-eyed redhead, right? Right.
Kasumi Goto is the second and final bonus crew-member you can pick up - an intergalactically renowned thief with a love of action, willing to join your suicide mission. She's of limited use to it, but the quest that earns her loyalty is at least something a bit different. She wants to recover a 'greybox' from an unpleasant art collector, and her plan is to dress Shepard up in something a bit smarter than that old N7 armour and run a quick heist at a cocktail party.
It's a fun change of pace while it lasts, but could have done with being much longer and more involved. As is, it's not long before everything descends back into standard cover shooting, and not long after that before you're back on the Normandy, likely never to use Kasumi again. Go back and play it if she turns out to have a big role in ME3, but if not...
Verdict: Skip It
Lair of the Shadow Broker
Yes. Yes, yes, yes. Lair of the Shadow Broker is an absolute must-play, especially if you were disappointed by Liara's limited face time in Mass Effect 2 proper. BioWare pulls out all the stops, turning Mass Effect 2 into an action spy movie for this one, as well as piling on the bonus content afterwards by letting you rummage through the shadowy information dealer's files to uncover your crew's hidden secrets and private e-mails. What transpires is of huge importance to both the Mass Effect universe and Liara's personal story, and told beautifully. It's exciting. It's funny. It's touching. It's the Mass Effect 2 DLC you absolutely have to play.
Verdict: Get It
Arrival
Things we learned from the tie-ins: BioWare's writers really, really have a thing for Aria T'Loak.
Arrival is trickier. Technically, it should be a no-brainer. It's a bridge between the end of Mass Effect 2 and 3, explaining why Shepard is in his/her predicament at the start of the new game. It technically has some good story information about the Alliance's take on the Reapers. It gives you the chance to be there for a critically important decision - even if you are railroaded into it - that you'd otherwise only know about second-hand.
The problem is that it's not very good. You're alone, the mission isn't particularly exciting, and the result is more of a teaser than a plot continuation. That was annoying when it was going to be months until the continuation. Now, it feels a little pointless, especially knowing going in that everything is locked down, and you don't have the power to fix anything you deem is going wrong, not least because we know how Mass Effect 3 starts. It should have been a must buy. It's not quite a skip. It's the definition of...
Verdict: Maybe
- The Novels
There are currently four novels, the first three written by former BioWare writer Drew Karpyshyn. They're set throughout the Mass Effect series, with plenty of connections to events in the game. They spend just as much time on their own stories and characters though, like scientist Kahlee Sanders and messed up father/daughter Paul and Gillian Grayson, so if you're planning to read them anyway, do so in order. But if you just want to skip to the timeframe that interests you, here's what you can expect.
Revelation
Warning: Even thinking about spoiling Mass Effect 3 is officially punishable by torture.
This is a prequel to the original Mass Effect, focusing on Anderson's attempts to become the first human Spectre and Saren, prior to being driven crazy by Sovereign. The latter is the most interesting part. We never got to see much of him in the original game, or how he treated his position in the universe compared to Shepard's heroism. This novel fills in many of the gaps, as well as setting up the new elements for the later novels. Whether you plan to read the rest or not, this is the place to start.
Verdict: Read It
Ascension
Ascension is a pre-Mass Effect 2 look at Cerberus, though one more focused on the novel universe's characters than anyone you care about from the games. It's OK for what it is, but the main ground covered is done much better in some of the tie-in comics, which we'll get to in a minute. The other plot points of note here mostly come from getting to see the galaxy's response to Sovereign's attack at the end of the first game, which Shepard largely missed out on due to being unavoidably dead, and a continuation of the first novel's new threads. Not a bad book, but without the original's immediate hook if you're not working through the entire series.
Verdict: Skip it
Retribution
Set after Mass Effect 2, and features a return of several important characters - the Illusive Man, Aria T'Loak and Anderson. As before though, it largely continues the novels' story, but there are enough familiar faces to be able to jump in as long as you've finished the game. In return, you'll get plenty of insight into Cerberus (in extra-dickish form) and what's been going on since Shepard dealt with the Collector threat. For the novels-specific plot, you may find the story-so-far on the Mass Effect 2 wiki helpful reading.
Verdict: Read it
Deception
BioWare's DLC has been up and down, but mostly down. Will Mass Effect 3 finally get it right?
Something of a controversial release, this one. Deception is the first novel not written by Karpyshyn, and has been savaged by fans for its canonical inaccuracies. Whether you care or not, BioWare has acknowledged this and promised to release an updated version, so you should probably wait for that.
Verdict: Skip It
- The Comics
Not in the mood for a full novel? The tie-in comics offer both key off-screen moments and vignettes in a more easily digestible form, as well as making it clear that BioWare really, really likes getting people to draw pictures of Asari. The main ones - Redemption, Evolution and Invasion - are four-part arcs currently available in trade paperback form, with Redemption also available electronically as a set of apps on the iTunes store. The other, shorter, ones are vignettes set around the Mass Effect universe, and available for free on various different sites.
Redemption
Did you buy one of the Alternate Appearance Packs? Why? Why do something so silly.
How did Cerberus get its hands on Shepard's body? When did the once-bookish scientist Liara become such a badass? Redemption explains everything, as well as setting up one of the key characters in the Lair of the Shadow Broker DLC and giving us a chance to see our Cerberus colleagues when they don't have Shepard making them play nicely with aliens.
It's not an amazing comic, and if you've played the game, you know the rough gist already. It cracks along at a decent pace though, bringing in plenty of familiar faces and filling in a few gaps. As with Shadow Broker, it's an important part of Liara's character arc as much as a slice of the universe itself, and for that reason alone, worth checking out if you have the chance.
Verdict: Read It
Evolution
Explaining Evolution's place in the series a bit of a spoiler, but since just opening it up reveals that the artists don't care, to hell with it. This is the story of how he came to be the man we don't know today, involving the Turians, Saren and the Great Contact War. It's a solid offering, especially if you want to see more of the alien side of the universe, but don't expect too much of the inner machinations of Mr. Illusive or Cerberus themselves - both of their stories really kick off after this one ends.
Verdict: Maybe
Invasion
Set on Omega after Mass Effect 2, this is a fun but largely inconsequential story pitting Mass Effect 2's main chessmasters - the Illusive Man and pirate queen Aria T'Loak against both forces from beyond the Omega 4 relay and each other. Aria seems to be something of a pet character for BioWare, regardless of her limited screen time so far, and it's interesting to see how she deals with a threat to her empire when not just sitting around in a booth at a strip club. There's not a vast amount to the story though, and it's a pain to track down. Copies of individual issues are on eBay, but the trade collection isn't due until April. Check it out if Mass Effect 3 decides to continue Omega's story in the actual game. Otherwise, you can safely give it a miss.
Verdict: Skip it
- The Shorts (Incursion, Conviction, Inquisition)
Finally, there are three standalone comics, each eight-page vignettes, and two of them available to read online right now. Inquisition is a day in the life of C-SEC officer Bailey, available free in Flash format over on USA Today. Incursion is yet another trip back to Omega to catch up with Aria, this time setting up the Collector threat before the loss of the Normandy.
The third is trickier. While (cough) copies aren't difficult to find online, you can only legally get your hands on it through a special Dark Horse comics promotion. That's a shame, as while it's little but a glorified bar brawl, it is the only one of the set to tie into Mass Effect 3 by introducing new crewmember James Vega. Will he turn out to be yet another First BioWare NPC who never gets to leave the ship on account of being duller than a balsa wood statue of himself? No idea. But if the write-up on the wiki is anything to go by, he's not going to be a diplomat.
A post on the Bioware blog describes how Mass Effect 3's reputation system has moved on from Mass Effect and Mass Effect 2's Renegade vs. Paragon setup. We'll still be able to unlock extra conversation options and satisfying interrupts, of course, but the adjusted reputation system should let us do this without feeling the need to commit exclusively to a Paragon or Renegade path.
"In Mass Effect 2, if you wanted to get the hardest Charm options, you had to play an almost completely Paragon character," Patrik Weekes explains. "We intended many of those Charms to be fun Easter eggs, but many players felt like they had to play pure Paragon to avoid being penalized by the loss of a dialog option. In Mass Effect 3, your Reputation score determines both Charm and Intimidate options, and that score is determined by adding your Paragon and Renegade scores together."
That should let us choose to act as a Paragon one moment, and go Renegade the next, making decisions based on the situation rather than a need to grind for maximum morality points. Many important acts in Mass Effect 3 will increase Shepard's overall reputation score without changing the Paragon/Renegade balance. In these cases "the bar on your screen will grow, but the Paragon/Renegade ratio will remain unchanged."
Mass Effect 3 will have one overall reputation measurement instead of two separate bars. New conversation options will unlock as your actions push the bar past four progression points on the bar. "If you see that you’re a bit short of hitting a new line, and someone has just said something like, “Let’s head down to and finish this once and for all,” it may be worth your time to go do a couple of side-quests first," says Meekes. You can see the new reputation bar on the left in this here screenshot.
Gaming site CVG got a copy of the love scene between a male Commander Shepard and a male lover. They posted it to YouTube where... it's being spammed with dislikes. 1,320 dislikes to 292 likes at this count.
We haven't played enough of the game to see the scene ourselves, but it looks legit. Still, what's so bad about it? YouTube users, you're trashing it for the acting, right?
Hey Game Club, it's been awhile. 2012 is already shaping to be a year of dramatic changes. We wanted to make sure our next Game Club was suitably epic, so we're playing Mass Effect 3.
One of the year's biggest and most talked-about games, Mass Effect 3 is already a contextual powderkeg, inciting discussions across the internet regarding its stance on gender and romance, controversial casting, and DLC disputes. More importantly, every player will have a different experience based on the choices they've made in the past two, some of which they may have forgotten. Everybody has their own Shepard story to tell and we're going to see how they all converge right here.
If it's your first time playing with the Kotaku Game Club, our goal is simple: We come together each month to play a video game together as a community, sharing our thoughts and concerns about the game's narrative, mechanics, context and anything we think is noteworthy.
Our meetings take place every week on Thursday at 4pm Eastern in the comments section of a special Kotaku Game Club post. Remember that the Game Club is about dialogue as much as anything else, so feel free to speak your mind and discuss other readers' thoughts in addition to your own.
As in the past, we'll have four meetings to discuss Mass Effect 3, starting next Thursday, March 8th. We'll cover the main game during the first three sessions, and spend our last week on the merits of ME3's new multiplayer offering.
Here's the full schedule:
Thursday, March 8th - Campaign: Week 1
Thursday, March 15th - Campaign: Week 2
Thursday, March 22nd - Capaign: Week 3
Thursday, March 29th - Multiplayer and Final Thoughts
As always, there will be a reminder blip on Kotaku each Wednesday to remind you about our meetings. If there are any emergency shifts in the schedule, we'll make sure to let you know as far in advance as possible on the site, Facebook, Twitter, etc.
U.K.-based retailer GAME will not be stacking any of publisher Electronic Arts's March games, including Mass Effect 3, it said today.
In a statement on its website, the retail chain said it is "not in a position to supply [its] customers with Mass Effect 3," although it "may" stock copies of the game in the future.
Other EA games slotted for March release include FIFA Street, Tiger Woods PGA Tour 13, and The Sims 3: Showtime.
Eurogamer obtained a copy of an internal memo sent out to GAME staffers that explains the company's decision. According to the memo, GAME could not come to an agreement with Electronic Arts on credit terms for selling the publisher's products.
"We committed to only stocking products on which we could get the right credit terms, regardless of the title or the supplier," the alleged memo says. "We will not stock products if the terms are not right for our business - a position we believe is critical to our long term health as a business - we have taken the very difficult decision to not stock EA's March releases, including Mass Effect 3."
GAME, one of the largest game retail chains in Europe, says it will refund all preorders and offer £5 worth of reward points to affected customers.
Times have been tough for the brick-and-mortar retailer, which has been losing business to online stores like Amazon and Play.com. Earlier in February, the company renegotiated a deal with several British lending banks that would give it some financial breathing room and help it keep its stores supplied.
However, the retailer has still had trouble striking deals with some of its publishing partners. Until yesterday, GAME was not stocking any of Ubisoft's Vita titles. It still has not reached terms with publisher Nintendo to sell games like Mario Party 9 and upcoming Wii U.K. release Pandora's Tower.
One former GAME employee told me today that he believes the company is in serious trouble.
"They are going broke," he said. "GAME had by far the best developer/publisher relationships of any retailer in the U.K., got all the support and exclusives, and now they can't even get credit for stock."
So I am busy playing through Mass Effect 3 at the moment, with my collected thoughts on the events, happenings, and systems therein to appear on Tuesday. I’ve been doing a bit of retrospective browsing over the first two games, too, and comparing events in those to the events in the third game. This process led me to wonder this: what has been your> favourite event in the games so far? And why?
"Kalisah Bint Sinan Al-Jilani, Westerlund News."
Hey Game Club, it's been awhile. 2012 is already shaping to be a year of dramatic changes. We wanted to make sure our next Game Club was suitably epic, so we're playing Mass Effect 3.
U.K.-based retailer GAME will not be stacking any of publisher Electronic Arts's March games, including Mass Effect 3, it said today.
