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[ApolloCloud]

Greetings.

I'd consider myself a fan of great storytelling. I
like to read, I like to watch movies and good TV shows, and when it
comes to videogames, I like the more story driven kind, which is why I
stick with the RPG, adventure, and action-adventure genres. I'm even
somewhat of a storyteller myself.

I am also not one of those people that looks down upon videogames as a storytelling medium and
artform. I'm a big fan of story driven videogames, I recognise their
greatness, and the likes of Metal Gear Solid, Xenogears, Ever17: The Out
of Infinity and Final Fantasy are among my favorite stories of all
time, alongside the book, TV, and movie counterparts of such stories as
Lost, The Prestige, Memento, and Childhood's End.

I came into
Mass Effect expecting great things based on the praise the series has
been getting and I can't help but feel almost annoyed at the people who I
feel were overhyping the game, as I wanted, and expected it to be at
least close to as great as people claim it to be, and from where I'm
standing it really isn't. My issue with Mass Effect, and as someone with
a wealth of experience in the field of storytelling, isn't that it's
not good. It's perfectly good. My issue is just that it's not, in any
way, great.

We have a cliched, formulaic plot set within the
confines of an unimaginative, unoriginal setting. It's entirely lacking
of a good measure of complexity, and psychological, spiritual and
philosophical depth, instead only possessing the political and cultural
depth you'll find in any expansive wider universe themed story. The
emotional and dramatic value can at best be described as mediocre. The
voice acting is good, but nothing spectacular. The art design is the
epitome of an uninspired vision, striving to be as similar to the real
world as possible, or where the Sci Fi elements come into play, as
similar to what they imagine it would truly be like, in no way distinct
from the feel established by a large number of generic Sci Fi movies out
there. The music, while good, is still clearly lacking; certainly
nothing as powerful or atmospheric as the kind of tracks you would find
in a Nobuo Uematsu or Yasunori Mitsuda soundtrack. Even the choice based
mechanics deliver nothing truly new; the basic dialogue options have
been found in numerous other games and are done far more effectively and
meaningfully in the vast majority of visual novels out there such as
Ever17, Remember11 and Phantom of the Inferno, and importing your
decisions into other games has also been done by numerous other games, a
quick example being the early Suikoden games where you could actually
recruit the main character of the first game in the second game
depending on choices made in the first. And as said, it does absolutely
nothing new with the system; the Infinity series of visual novels on the
other hand incorporated the many worlds interpretation into its choice
making to make all the different choice you can make come alive and all
fit into the greater whole; the visual novel Kagetsu Tohya had the main
character relive the same day over and over again in a manner similar to
that seen in Groundhog Day, with new choice options opening up each day
depending on what choices you make along the way, taking each day
further and further away from a set outline with each day you relive.
Those are some examples of great things you can do with such a choice
based system. Mass Effect on the other hand, does absolutely nothing new
with it.

So yes, I really don't see what it is that people love
so much about Mass Effect's storyline. The Final Fantasy series has been
far more imaginative with its storytelling, with such storylines as
that of VII, where the game places you in the role of Cloud, an
individual who's memories had earlier been intertwined with that of
Zach's without his knowing, creating a completely new personality
distinct from that of either of them, journeying through a world that
both seperately lived in and intricately weaving in his current
perception of his past with the state of affairs of the world and the
recollections of those around him, or that of Final Fantasy X, where you
take on the role of a character who's not actually even real, but
simply a physical manifestation of the memories of the past of the
dreaming Aeon summoned craetures. Mass Effect's storyline on the other
hand doesn't have much more to it than a group of individuals banding
together to stop a great and powerful alien menace with the basic impact
of their actions and events on the political side of things being as
you'd expect in such a story. And what's ironic is that the same
individuals who overhype Mass Effect to ridiculous extremes will also
critisice the Final Fantasy series, a series that makes a habit of
creating imaginative settings and storylines, for being generic.

Anyways, would somebody be able to explain what exactly it is about Mass Effect that they appear to be so enamored by?

[Stanley Woo]

Too much fighting and off-topic bickering and name-calling.



End of line.