Siansonea II wrote...
Yeah, it seems like for a lot of you self-insert types, it comes down to an over-identification with Shepard. At no point do you ask yourselves "What if I'M the one who's wrong here? What if Ashley actually has a point? Why the hell AM I just going along with the Illusive Man?" Shepard never questions his own Derp Quotient. It's all "you're being mean to me Ashley! GTFO!" <_<
I disagree. I am with Cerberus because humanity is under the gun. I don't trust TIM as far as I could throw the Normandy and I expect a knife in my back at Cerberus' earliest opportunity. I tried to enlist the aid of the Council, but they refused. The Alliance doesn't believe in the threat to humanity either and is also doing nothing about the missing colonists as even Admiral Hackett admits. That just leaves me.
I was a corpscicle in space floating around until somebody picked my carcass from space and gave my remains to Cerberus. I wake up to a rolling assault and have no idea where I am, what is going on, or where my friends are, so I do the only thing that I can do and that is to survive. I meet TIM and he gives me the blah, blah about threats to humanity and I go and check it out and guess what? TIM is at least telling the truth about that.
Again, I have no choice. The only choice that I do have is to split and leave tens and perhaps hundreds of thousands more colonists to vanish or I work with the only people willing to fight the collectors. Anderson doesn't tell me anything and won't even tell me where Ash is or what she is up to. He does however keep me from being crucified by the Council and I guess that's something.
I don't like Cerberus and I damn sure don't trust them. I shut down every Cerberus op I came across as a Spectre and I fully anticipate ending TIM at the earliest opportunity on general principle. He and his organization are dangerous and rogue and they need to be stopped. The last straw for me was Overlord, because I won't allow any more innocents to be tortured by their hands if I can help it.
Therefore, I know exactly who I am and what my motivations are and I did what I needed to do for the greater good. I am not happy about doing it that way and I would gladly have left Cerberus if given the option, but I had no choice despite my best efforts. Ditto Arrival and 300K+ dead Batarians, and ditto LotSB and a rogue Spectre who was unwittingly aiding the Reapers.
Mass Effect drives home some very simple themes. First, you don't always get to do what you want to do. Sometimes you have to improvise. Second, things don't always transpire the way that you want them to and sacrifices must be made in order to accomplish your mission. Third, your friends won't always be your friends and one day you might have to let them go or kill them. Ash had two years+ to mature into the person she is in ME3. Because of her waffling on Horizon, she is no longer my LI.
I don't expect BW to make it easy for Ashley to fall into your arms again. They are going to make you work for it. You are going to have to win her trust all over again and bend over backward to kiss your own behind. If you are that limber then be my guest, but I am not going to do that because to me, it would be adding insult to injury.
I appreciate that there are differing opinions and I respect them, but please don't tell me that my own personal evaluation of the situation is flawed because I didn't question my own motives. If you wish to be Ashley's BFF, then go ahead and good for you. I choose not to. As for "over identification" with Shepard, If I play him then I am him. Just as an actor becomes his character on stage. That is what we call "game immersion." It is why we have large monitors, dark rooms, and surround sound in order "get into" the gaming environment. In a shooter, you don't immerse as much, but with an RPG the immersion is greater because the emotional investment of the player is usually higher.
In an RPG, emotion is king. Good emotions, bad emotions, and everything in between are all fair game for the RPG and that is why a great story is necessary in order to make the player care about the events that are transpiring and the characters who are performing the actions. It is also why romance is so dicey, because romance relies on a strong connection created between the player and the virtual character. The reactions are not as important because the goal is to make you feel something. Therefore, my reaction to Ashley is just as valid as your reaction to Ashley. Two different people, two different results and neither is wrong.
At least, that is how I see it.
Retour en haut
