Mass Effect 3: Magnificent, Awe-inspiring, Insipid!

NOTE: This blog post contains MASSIVE SPOILERS of Mass Effect 3!!!

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What an amazing ride it has been with Bioware’s incredible sci-fi magnum opus, Mass Effect series. For the last 5 years the creative minds at the company has created one of the most expansive sci-fi universe easily rivaling, I’d even go to say surpassing, the heavy hitters of the genre like Star Wars, Dune and Star Trek. Never before has a work of science fiction garnered so much universal praise as the Mass Effect trilogy: A complex and fully realized futuristic setting? Check. A myriad of very interesting alien races each with their history, mythology and lore? Check. A tense political scenario where history and present predicament come colliding in a grand epic plot? Check. It seems as if Mass Effect has become one of those rare game series that transcends from the video game medium and becomes a part of pop culture, something which video games are still struggling with. In the end Mass Effect will always be remembered as the game series that had the heart to become a beacon for video games as being more than a hobby for geeks, and become the game series which truly breaks into main stream with much fanfare.

Mass Effect 3 can be described in one simple word: EPIC!! Everything about the game, from its sense of urgency as the Reaper's threat becomes real and tangible, the grand scope of the plot with planets being overrun by the sentient  Reapers and every race in the galaxy scrambling together to quell the impending doom, right down to the last poignant mission on Earth. The plot moves at break neck pace bringing together all the story elements from the previous games into a rousing crescendo. Bioware’s writers did a fantastic job in knitting a coherent story line which was riveting and packed an emotional wallop and it was joy to follow the entire saga as it unfolded in the 3 games, Mass Effect 3 being the best in that regard. I also loved the way many of the lingering issues that were going on throughout the saga were resolved like curing of the genophage on Tuchanka or settling the 300 year war between the Quarians and the Geth, or being there with Thane Krios as he breathed his last or helping out Miranda’s family issues. Mass Effect 3 wrapped up all such residual issues from the previous games in a neat and satisfying manner bringing all the character threads to a close. Seeing the relationships I fostered throughout the 3 games come full circle was quite something indeed!

Now on to the game play which in my humble opinion took the best bits of Mass Effect 1 and 2 and created a perfect mixture of cover based shooting and micro management in true RPG fashion. I was quite pleased to find that the RPG mechanics had been brought back in the fold as they almost went missing in the last game. Another addition that was appreciated was weapons customization. Each weapon could be outfitted with attachments making weapons more powerful or accurate etc. Sure the customization wasn’t on the insane level of the JRPG, Resonance of Fate, but it was still pretty robust and I could actually tell the difference of any modifications I did on the different weapons.

The combat was near perfect and the action sequences were really intense. The combat moved at a fair clip and taking down hordes of enemies was done like any good 3^rd person action game (unlike the clumsy combat in the first game). The flow of the battles was raw and visceral, I especially had a blast on Rannoch and Earth with droves of baddies to shoot and shred with biotic skills of Shepard and his team (it took me 2 games to come to grips in using these skills and it certainly made for some fun battles especially against the nasty Banshees!).

Now the production values of Mass Effect 3 were once again a mix bag, a sentiment I’ve had for all the 3 games of the series much to the chagrin of a few of my Unreal Engine 3 loving friends. Look Unreal Engine 3 does a great job when it comes to showing shiny space ships or ships interiors or when it comes to showing epic space battles or when showing the grand expanse of an alien home world. But when it comes to character models the engine seems to struggle quite a bit. The eyes of characters would look creepy, there were quite a few instances of shaky animations and the general ‘muddy’ textures just didn’t impress me at all. Another problem I had with the visuals was it was ridden with glitches: I remember this really power scene before going on the Tuchanka mission which was marred by a graphical glitch that made Shepherd eyes all weird and it just killed off the scene and the impact it tried to create. And because I have the example of the incredible looking JRPG, Final Fantasy 13 whose visuals were astounding, and Mass Effect 3 just didn’t have the graphical fidelity that could out gun Final Fantasy 13!

If I wasn’t impressed by the visuals of the game, the audio department picked up the slack. The voice acting was once again some of the best I’ve ever heard and that made for a rich game experience. Hollywood star Martin Sheen once again provided great chords for the menacing Illusive Man, while Seth Green got a bit more voice time. The voice work of the main characters was phenomenal with Liz Sroka (Tali) doing in an awesome job. Keep your ears open for the Rannoch mission for some awesome voice work by her. Ali Hillis as Liara did solid work as did Keith Davis whose portrayal as Admiral Anderson was exceptional. But Mark Meer’s performance as Commander Shepard was the most nuanced and well rounded and Meer easily discarded the cardboard like performance from the previous games and gave a rousing performance. Bioware’s games always have great voice acting and Mass Effect 3 another fine example. The soundtrack was appropriate and uniformly very good.

With that mini review done I will now write a little about the romantic option I took, some of the best moments from Mass Effect 3 and of course the much talked about ending. So here goes:

The Loving Man:

The female friend that I went for this time was Tali, who I also choose in Mass Effect 2. There was something about Tali right from the start. Admittedly I went for Liara T’soni in the first game, but I was always attracted to Tali as I would make it a point to go to engineering and chat with her. Something about her race: the masks wearing Quarians, their history with the Geth and their mass exodus from their home world all added to the mystique of Tali.  And don’t get me started on the sensual exotic accent of her voice! In Mass Effect 2 I went for Tali and was rewarded with some really innocent puppy love relationship (which got marred by the clumsy love scene), but in Mass Effect 3 I was surprised at how maturely they handled the relationship, I actually felt a connection with her character, something which I have not felt since I ended Final Fantasy 10. The mission on Rannoch was where this was more evident. And then true to Bioware’s promise that they would show what Tali looked like and although they messed that up in spectacular fashion, I wasn't that miffed about it. So in the end Tali was quite the video game character, strong willed and determined but also had a vulnerability which to me was very endearing.

WTF!! Moments:

Here are some of the most awesome moments in the game. Enjoy these video clips:

This moment occurred right at the end of the mission on the Quarian home world of Rannoch. After killing the Reaper I had the chance of either siding with the Geth or the Quarians and for some odd reason I sided with the Geth and saw the entire Quarian race being destroyed and my beloved Tali commit suicide. This was one of the rarest moments in video games which really got to me emotionally (my blood spiked quite a lot and I almost broke down). I quietly pressed reset and loaded a previous save. No way in HELL was I letting Tali die off like that!

The Krogans and their sordid history with the Rebellion Wars and then the race getting decimated by the genophage was very interesting. I always wanted an option to be able to cure the virus and this is what Mass Effect 3 let me do. This scene occurs when I managed to release the cure in the atmosphere of Tuchanka and had lost my crazy Salarian scientist team mate Mordin Solus in the process. Just was one of those amazing moments!

This moment occurred on the Asari’s home world of Thessia. Finding the Prothean beacon and getting answers to my questions by the Prothean VI on the history of the Reapers, the cycle of destruction and the Crucible. Give me Goosebumps! (33:45)

Going towards the very last section on during the last mission on Earth, I get to meet up with every single member of my team. Meeting up with Liara T’soni netted me this great scene which I just cannot explain in words. It was just one of the unique moments of Mass Effect magic!

Ok with that done now it’s on to the most divisive part of Mass Effect 3: The Endings. Note: This section of the post is filled with MASSIVE SPOILERS for the endings. So BEWARE!!

It ends here:

Just when you thought that Mass Effect would create something memorable, utterly EPIC, it almost comes crashing down to its knees! I know a lot has been said and written about the infamous endings, but I still cannot get my head around it. How can Bioware, masters of telling a great tale, end their most popular game franchise with such useless endings is beyond me. There were so many plot holes right at the end that made all the time spend gathering up war assets, spending time resolving issues and killing the Reapers a waste of time. Since finishing the game I have watched a few many YouTube clips where gamers highlighted what was wrong with Mass Effect 3 endings, and the worst bit is I agreed to all of them! Here are some of the problems I had with Mass Effect 3’s ending:

First of was the Illusive Man. The guy spend years upon years trying to find ways to control the Reapers and get incredible power and to that end he did succeed (indoctrination or not), but the way he was killed was stupid. One Renegade option, one bullet, BOOM, Illusive Man, Dead! So the guy who was wielding Reaper’s power was shot dead by a measly bullet from a handgun?!?!

OK so everybody agrees that Mass Effect is an EPIC game franchise right? And Mass Effect 3 was to be the best game in the series right?. Well then where the HELL was my EPIC Final Boss Battle?!!?? Where was the ultimate evil guy (or gal) who’s behind Shepard was to kick?!!? Instead all I got was a few Reaper baddies to kill (OK fine, QUITE a few), but where was the last boss??!!? So Bioware ended the Mass Effect saga without a final boss battle?! And when the first and second game had a last boss battle!!  Don’t know about you guys but this just stinks!

During the last stand we got to see representation from all the galactic alien races, from Krogans to the Asari, but where was the Rachni Queen and her army of creepy crawlies? I didn’t see a single Rachni battling it out against the Reapers. So what was the purpose of recruiting the Rachni again?

Why did the mass relays have to be destroyed? Doesn’t this send the humans back years in terms of technology? What about the other alien races those were in Earth’s orbit. Aren’t they stuck in Earth’s orbit with no chance to returning to their home worlds?

The concept of multiple endings is not a new one. The idea behind multiple ending is to give different perspectives to a game’s story. Chrono Trigger and Chrono Cross had 5-9 endings and each of them different from one another. So what in the world happened in Mass Effect 3?! There were a total of 3 endings and each ending was ALMOST identical, expect for the color of the blasts and a little difference here and there. But everything else was the same. How can these be regarded as multiple endings?!

But for me the biggest problem I had with all the ending (YouTube FTW) was the lack of resolution. What happened after the Reapers were destroyed? What happened to the crew of Normandy (apart from crash landing on some planet) and its crew? What REALLY happened to Shepard? Nothing was properly sorted out. And what was the purpose of the ending after the credits? Who were those two nondescript individuals? Look I don’t need a happy or bright ending per say, but at least give me a satisfactory one! And why in the world do I need DLC to get to an ending that makes sense?!. That is poor game design right there! Final Fantasy 13 had a confusing story and there was too much of these random words (L’cie , Fal’cie) but at least I did get an amazing ending which made up for the shortcoming of the entire story. I won’t even remember the small details of the plot but I will always remember the ending to Final Fantasy 13. So why was Mass Effect 3 given such a poor send off? I feel I wasted 83 hours I put in the three Mass Effect games. The RPG that will give Mass Effect 3 run for its money for the Game of the Year award this year, Xenoblade Chronicles, had an amazing ending as well. Sure the last 1/3 of the game became confusing and the techno-babble and religious overtones got a little over bearing but the ending put everything on track. While I was smirking at the end of Xenoblade, I was cursing Bioware for the insipid endings. It’s as if Bioware made a magnificent 3 course meal and then pissed on it!!! 

As so this wraps up my analysis of the only WRPG game (franchise) I ever liked. I am an out and out JRPG fan so Mass Effect series inclusion in my JRPG heavy favorite games list was quite an achievement. I enjoyed every minute of all three games I played. I don’t know if any other WRPG would invoke such a passion from me, (quite A LOT of JRPGS do) like how Mass Effect did. But the sour taste left by the final ending of Mass Effect 3 is too much to swallow and it just dented the experience for me. But in the end Mass Effect franchise was one hell of a series and easily ranks as of greatest game series in gaming history!

Finished Mass Effect 2.....

Mass Effect 2 is quite easily one of the best games I have ever played. The breath of it’s epic scale, the magnificent sci-fi motif which rivals some of the best sci-fi works seen in movies, the huge cast made up of humans and aliens, each one with a story to tell, and of course the hybrid shooter and RPG mechanics all made for one awesome game which I would had not played if Mass Effect 2 had adhered to some of the Western RPG (WRPGs) clichés which I have come to hate. But thankfully Mass Effect 2 is an awesome beast of a game that will easily go down in my all time favourites list (a list which mostly comprises of JRPGS).

To say that I’ve had a sordid relationship with WRPGs is a bit of an understatement as every time I have taken the plunge to engross myself in a block buster game I have been bitterly disappointed. Throughout the last decade I have tried to play and ‘hopefully’ enjoy a game of this genre but it has always resulted in varying degrees of disappointment: be it the 90’s juggernaut Diablo 2, BioWare’s own Baldur’s Gate 2 or the fans favourite Planescape: Torment. It all came to a melting point in 2004 with the release of Fable for the Xbox as it became my most hated game of the last generation and I am still confused at why Fable has received 2 sequels and a lot of good press. For 4 years WRPGs became a no go zone for me as I was (still am) happy with RPGs of the Japanese kind, but when the first trailer of Mass Effect started to appear on the net I became genuinely intrigued. Here was a WRPG which was not set in a medieval fantasy setting and nor did the game play resemble anything like any other game of the genre. And by the time I finished Mass Effect I had become a huge fan of BioWare and as well as breaking my WRPG ‘fast’. But I did not imagine that the sequel would be so good that I would end up buying BioWare’s other WRPG franchise as a result.

Mass Effect 2 literally makes a mockery of the original!! If I compare both the games, Mass Effect feels like a broken, glitch ridden and clunky game: Mass Effect 2 is THAT good. Sequels are always better than original games, but Mass Effect 2 just takes this notion to another level. It seems that BioWare took everything that was good in Mass Effect and just cranked it up in terms of improving on those bits: the meandering plot narrative is replaced by a rollicking adventure saddled with a sense of urgency and desperation, and while Mass Effect 2 is the second part of the trilogy, its plot was still amazing and acts as a catalyst for the events in the final game of the series. The characters have added depth, complex personalities and twisted past and getting to know them and their past makes for some very interesting conversations and plot points. Return of some of the old members made the whole experience a bit more…. personal. The massive amounts of tweaking in the shooting mechanics made the cumbersome action sequences from the original a forgotten anomaly and made Mass Effect 2 game play more fun and tactically rewarding.

Combining action and RPG genres have been done before with games like Deus Ex or System Shock 2, but BioWare’s effort in Mass Effect 2 deserves special praise as the game has totally perfected the hybrid genre and raised the bar for other developers. The shooting segments were fun as well as having all the strapping of an action game like for example the cover system which was much easier to use, or the bevy of weapons which could be researched and upgraded. The new tactical commands, (which personally I didn’t use much), was also a neat addition. But the major complaint I have with Mass Effect 2 was the stripped down (nay dumb downed) RPG mechanics, and as an action RPG this was a bit of a moot point for me. There were very character customization options to choose from, there were no options of customizing weaponry or armour. I am hoping that if BioWare can address this issue in Mass Effect 3 it will be awesome!

Mass Effect 2 production values are staggering esp. the audio aspects. The visuals are really good considering that I never regarded the Unreal Engine to be capable of producing beautiful and detailed graphics. Some of the planets were downright magnificent as were some of the indoor environments. Facial animations were off the charts as every emotion was captured with insane detail while the general animation is also really good even though sometimes they would be a little wooden and stiff. There were quite a few instance were the visuals were not that good for example there were few occasions when the textures loaded a little slow, nowhere as bad as in the original but there were quite noticeable. Some of the characters supported the ‘vacant stare’ syndrome which was really creepy and kind of distracted me. But still the graphics are really solid which makes for a fine looking game.

The voice acting is really top of the line. Every voice actor has done a tremendous job in ensuring that the characters all sound natural and convincing. The cast members have some of the big names of the voice acting industry which includes the like of Ali Hillis, Steve Blum and Jennifer Hale as well as stars from movies and television like Martin Sheen, Seth Green, Tricia Helfer and Ynvonne Strahovski and their performances dispel the theory that big stars make the worst voice actors. Martin Sheen is one fine example as his performance as the mysterious Illusive Man was excellent. But one thing is for certain though that WRPGs uniformly have some of the best voice acting, far excelling ones found in 60% of JRPGs, and Mass Effect 2 is no different.

Ok so now to THE most important question: which one of the fine ladies in Command Shepherd harem did I explore the romantic angle of? At first Miranda Lawson (modelled on the lovely Ynvonne Strahovski) was the most obvious choice and I was doing everything as prescribed on online guide sites to further the relationship between Miranda and Shepherd. But half through the game that focus started to waver with the introduction of the biotic Samara, the calm and wise yet deadly Asari Justicar. Too bad that the game didn’t let me (i.e. Shepherd) go after her but the seed of doubt was sown. When Tali Zorah van Neema (member of the original game as well) was brought in the fold it really make made me forget about the buxom temptress and go for the ‘alien next door’ type!

There is something about Tali, even though she wears a full body suit and a mask, which has made her a cult figure amongst Mass Effect fans: Is it her personality, or her independent pilgrimage or her voice, I sometimes wonder. Even in Mass Effect I always enjoyed conversations Tali and Shepherd would have and now with the romancing option available I was more than curious to explore that path (to be little disappointed by how the whole thing ended..Let’s just say it was…tasteless). So yeah, Tali is also my favourite character followed by Samara, hell the entire cast was a country mile better than Mass Effect 1 and I cannot wait to see what new characters are introduced in the final game.

I take my RPGs very seriously, so I was taken aback at the pure awesomeness of Mass Effect 2. As I mentioned earlier I consider Japanese RPGs to be the ultimate representation of the genre and I still am on the fence about the typical Western RPG (with BioWare’s Dragon Age: Origin I am more than willing to try though), but Mass Effect 2 is just too good to be ignored. Every aspect of the game show cased BioWare’s high calibre as a celebrated game developing company. It is very easy to see that this game was a labour of love where everything made sense from the battle mechanics to the awesome story. Mass Effect 2 is a genius of a game that will go down as one of the best RPG ever made and anybody who knows me and my fanatic support of JRPGs; this may be one hell of a comment! My playtime: 36 hours 2 mins and my rating: 9.4.

Games of the Year Awards 2010 Day 9

2:

Mass Effect 2 (360, PC and soon PS3):

I hate WRPGs (Western RPGs). I dont like how their narratives are told, I dont like the usual fantasy setting of about 96% of WRPGs, and I don't like the non-linear exploration. Hence Mass Effect 2 was a massive choice on my list as this is the only WRPG that I actually thought was darn terrific. Something about the space setting instantly clicked with me and I have become a fan (the game series not the WRPG genre). The plot and how it is told makes all the difference as the narrative of the game is Hollywood-esque, the characters are particularly fleshed out and every decision you make has an instant bearing on the flow of the game. Its the reliance on the plot is what separates Mass Effect 2 from other games in the genre. Dare I say it seem to have taken a leaf out of Eastern RPG manuscript on how it handles the story.

And what is story it is, I mean the epic scope is just awe-inspiring. John Shepard's massive quest of saving the Universe from an indestructible threat is treated with panache and vigor as the plot is complete with intense moral decisions and a sense of grandour of the almost impossible situtaion the heroes find themselves in. This is also helped by briallant characters made up of disaprate personalities and backgrounds which makes for intriguing viewing. I consider the character of the blank slate John Shepard to be the best maybe due to how much control I have over his actions but whatever it is John Shepard felt as the complete character. Mass Effect 2 has easily the best story-line and some of the finest characters (Miranda Lawson FTW!!) this year and that says a lot in the face of some great games with stellar plot and characters released this year.

Mass Effect 2 takes the moniker of WRPG very lightly as the RPG mechanics are pretty sparse but that is off set with the feeling of actuall 'role playing' as the player is left to make any choices when conversing with many NPCs or on how the main character reacts to a given scenario which give a whole lot of independence to the player. As I rule I freak out when games give me a lot of options to think about and this is esp true when playing dense WRPGs. but Mass Effect 2 is nothing like that. I felt at ease when making tough decisions and although many decision were really hard to make, I was never over-awed, rather felt as I was IN the game. The game play itself is a major improvement over the original game with Bioware making a lot of tweaks. On a personal level the action bit in the game were awesome as the game felt like an action game even though there is a lot number crunching underneath the hood. The last time I tried a Bioware game (Knight of the Old Republic) I was bored out of my wits as the game play was pretty slow but not in Mass Effect 2.

Another aspect which made me a fan of the game was the entire presentation. The graphics are positively epic. The game uses in game engine in many of the cut scenes but boy the game still looks awesome. Even the characters all look really good (Miranda Lawson FTW!!) with real life facial expressions and animations and all environments lend a lot the the space theme. As I mentioned earlier I dont like WRPG with fantasy setting, so Mass Effect 2 sci-fi strapping just look amazing and this is why this game stands apart from rest of it contemporaries. The sound track is really strong and the voice acting is very easily one of the best due to a) a large number of good actors were hired and b) all the voice performance are uniformly good. Such polished games are not that common.

Games earn full marks from me when a particular game get a hold of my attention and doesn't let go..EVER!. Mass Effect 2 is one of two games this year which I would think about almost constantly. Calculating how to do a mission, on how to be become the best captain/hero for my crew or on how to be become the perfect saint, Mass Effect 2 had my number. This game was epic!

I am very impressed by Mass Effect 2 as the number of improvement made over the first games are so high that in comparison Mass Effect 1 feels broken, buggy and glitchy (which it isn't). Xbox 360 has an awesome game library and Mass Effect 2 is it best game (so what if the game is about to come on the PS3, its still a year late, I mean everyone has played it already!!). It doesn't have online multiplayer nor is the game overly lengthy, but it packs a massive wallop!

So finally we come to the Game of the Year which will be unveiled very soon.