158 réponses à ce sujet

[Sajuro]

The refund guy, he is on a hero's quest of his own for the past two years in order to get a refund for that thing he bought, and that determination makes him our last best hope against the Reapers.

[Labrev]

DCarter wrote...

I disagree. Jack as a character is poorly executed. Considering her life is one long chain of being betrayed and exploited you would think she would be closed off but as soon as you start talking to her she's revealing personal experiences and rattling off her train of thought like it's a shopping list she's trying to remember.

She situates herself at the bottom of the ship away from everyone - I'd say that fits the definition of closed-off. If you're expecting her to shun Shepard that's just a silly expectation to refuse a major character its due development.

I mean, they broke her out of a prison ship and Cerberus has a bounty on her. She can't exactly hide the fact she's lead a life of crime or anything. No point in acting otherwise either. After that point, what's the most obvious thing she would tell Shepard about other than the massive pink elephant in the room?

First thing she tells you is her history with Cerberus, and even then she doesn't go into the details (and really, Shepard is a straight moron for not trying to inquire further on her being raised as a Cerberus test subject, especially if he saw what they did in ME1). Next she tells you about other stuff because it just kind of comes up. Third time around, you have to pry it out of her. Fourth, even more so (and actually she says nothing, it's just the romance initiation). Again, we're talking 1 out of a whopping 3 conversations where she opens up on her own. That's hardly "rattling off her train of thought like it's a shopping list."

DCarter wrote...
Her dialogue is poor. One second she'll be boasting about a crime she's commited the next she'll be moaping about how she's been treated bad in the past. We get she's supposed to appear dangerous but be vulnerable but we should get to discover this naturally over time not have it shoved in our face with every conversation. As a consequence she comes across as an exaggerated character rather than a geunine person. 

Every conversation? Could've fooled me.

She boasted about some of the things she did in one conversation. Then, in another *completely different* time and place (where she is facing the site of her childhood trauma) she talks about a past where she was abused and messed up with drugs and stuff.

You can't exactly come across as a genuine person when you have a backstory that no one could really relate to, it's kinda hard to know what to expect to be "genuine."

DCarter wrote...
However for me the biggest problem with Jack is her place in the story. What the hell is she doing in it? She's supposed to be a pragmatist trying to survive. So at what point does she decide it would be a good idea to go on a suicide mission for the good of humanity? It doesn't make any sense there's never any reason given for why she decides to come on the mission or even why you recruit her in the first place. In fact there's considerable evidence for why she wouldn't be recruited and wouldn't agree to take part in the mission anyway.

Well thinking pragmatically leads to the conclusion that it's probably in her best interests to fight for the survival of humanity when she, as a human, is in the same boat.

She actually says this very specifically.

TLDR: She's a mess

TL;DR - you're wrong.

Modifié par Hah Yes Reapers, 15 novembre 2011 - 03:47 .

[onelifecrisis]

Hah Yes Reapers wrote...

She actually says this very specifically.

I must have missed that somehow. What does she say exactly?

[Labrev]

onelifecrisis wrote...

Hah Yes Reapers wrote...

She actually says this very specifically.

I must have missed that somehow. What does she say exactly?

post-Collector Cruiser mission:

"Talk" --> "Investigate" --> "The Mission."


"I know when someone has murder on their mind. The Collectors are out to kill us. Rather do it to them first."

[UltraBoy360]

My top pick is definitely Commander Shepard. Obviously, depends on how you play him/her, but if you disregard silly alignment and RP a character based on upbringing, service history and situation, you can easy create gaming's most compelling protagonist. Credit here to the writers, but also Mark Meer, who allows for a combination of P/R/N conversation choices, without making Shepard sound bipolar (a'la Hawke).

Other characters that zing for me - Samara, because of her dignity (not a word I find myself over using when describing video game characters), Mordin as has rightly been discussed at length here, Ashley (I think the poetry/religion convos in ME1 were what sent be from love to fandom) and Kaidan (for the reasons a lot of people don't like him - a measured, laid back, talented friend/advisor).

Shout out for Gianna Parasini as someone else mentioned. Sharing a drink and a chat with her in ME2 really fleshed out the ME-world for me, relatively ordinary people working for corporations - not just mercs, biotics and super-soldiers.

[Sylvanpyxie]

Samara.

I'd expand on that, but it's 4am, and who thinks coherently at 4am?

I do! Samara and the Justicar code i personally find extremely interesting. That being said, i'm interested in all things relating to Justice, and all views/opinions on Justice. It all started with Tyr from Forgotten Realms lore.

But Samara in general, as a character, excluding her code for a moment. Is a woman who's lived her younger years as I've always wanted to live mine. Out in the world/universe, exploring not only the worlds she encounters, but also exploring entire lifestyles. Dancer. Merc. Once even an accidental Slave Trader, even if it ended with her freeing them, proof that her sense of Justice always remained strong, and her morals never wavered. Which is respectable.

Then reaching a stage in her life where she's content, happy to settle down and live her life as a mother, raising her children, mentoring the younger generations. Yet, it all goes awry and the truest form of tragedy unfolds, it's bad enough if your children are ill. But a defect on the scale of the Ardat-Yakshi must be torturous, not only for Samara's daughters, but Samara herself. Forcing her children to live their lives as hermits, separated from the wonders Samara experienced as a Maiden.

Then Samara having to hunt down and murder her own flesh and blood. A being she brought into the world. A mother killing her daughter is about as tragic as you can get. I respect Samara's character a great deal. I respect her sense of Justice and her mental/emotional fortitude.

Mostly though, it's my minor obsession with Justice and all things relating to it that makes me like Samara. Tragedy and Justice. Two things i can appreciate a great deal. ( And not in a creepy I FEED OFF YOUR PAIN kind of way either >.> )

Modifié par Sylvanpyxie, 15 novembre 2011 - 04:19 .

[Mathias]

Saren
Ashley
Garrus
Anderson
Mordin
Wrex

[SeaJayRiley]

Within the Mass Effect universe, Bioware makes every character have their unique and interesting twist. For instance, you have Mordin - the doctor who is quick to shoot, or Samara - the super cop whose default answer to evil is eradication. Absolutely everyone is unique in there own way.

Honestly, it is hard for me to limit my favorites, however...
Garrus - Begins in ME1 as a very foolish C-Sec officer who wants to bend the laws in order to get things done. After serving under you long enough, he reveals that he has discovered that hastiness isn't always the best way to get things done. By the end of ME1 he has shown himself to be trying to be just like you. In ME2, you see his progression of strategy and personality move even further when he assembles a squad to help keep corruption back. His loyalty mission is very understandable (considering it was more than likely just as you showed up that his squad was killed. The bodybags are in the basement of where you recruit him. Pay attention to what he says when you first talk to him. "It's hard killing mercs by yourself.") and revealing of how he has "round table" sort of leadership, which he learned through serving with you. No one greater or lesser than the other.
Legion - This is another great character of Mass Effect universe. You not only learn of the Geth as you speak with him but you begin to see some sort of admiration he has for you. He wears your armor like trophy and (POSSIBLE SPOILER) named his internet videogame character after you. Which you discover in the Shadow Broker's Lair. He has a lot to him that I'm interested in exploring further in ME3.
Saren - The "villain" of ME1, but yet I understand his reasoning. Trying to prove to the Reapers that organic life is worth keeping, whether it is as allies or as slaves. Either way, it means that mass extinction would be prevented and thus saving trillions upon trillions of lives. I almost sympathize with him that he would practically sacrifice everything in order to save organic life. Kind of heroic in a morbid way. His racism towards Humans however was his downfall and honestly the cause of his failure to make an "alliance" with the Reapers.
Kasumi - Even though she was simply a DLC character, I found her to be very intriguing by the fact that she is a thief whose focus isn't selfish crime but the thrill of it. Some people think she is childish but I'd argue that she has a lot maturity in the fact that she understands everyone else's motives, whether she agrees with them or not. She keeps her ear to the ground, but will only speak of the positive things about other crew members. And possibly the coolest thing to me about her is (POSSIBLE SPOILER) that if you switch Samara with Morinth, she actually notices and tries to forewarn you of pursuing a relationship with her. I am very hopeful that Kasumi will be explored more in ME3 as well as possibly a new romance option.

All that being said, I would also like to learn more about Samara, Thane, Jacob, Captain Anderson & Admiral Hackett in ME3.

[utdan]

onelifecrisis wrote...

No, I'm not. If Shepard had properly ripped Thane's position to shreds (or done anything other than ask a few cursory questions and then shut up) then I'd consider Thane to be a better-written character even though his lines had not changed. Not well written, but better written than he is. As it is, Thane says some incredibly stupid things, and Shepard starts to argue against them... but then he just stops before anything gets interesting. There's no interesting debate, no conflict, and no character growth. For all of his time spent reflecting, Thane learns nothing.

Surely the first half of that paragraph denotes bad writing for Shepard rather than Thane. Besides it's obvious that Thane would have no way to defend his beliefs under real scrutiny. More than likely he wouldn't change his stance anyway because of the fact his beliefs are nothing but a coping mechanism (have you ever seen someone convince a theist to give up their faith with logic?). So there would be no real character growth and it would just be very petty and counterproductive for Shepard to go down that route, not that i would of neccesarily opposed the choice.   
 

He was forced into a life as an assassin

He makes it very clear that he wasn't forced into anything. The rest of your post seems to hinge on this falsehood.

He was sent to be trained as an assasin at the age of 6, that hardly counts as his own decision. He makes it clear it was an honour for the Drell, not that it was his choice.

Anyway to answer the OP; Mordin is by far the best written IMO, followed by Wrex and Legion. 

Modifié par whoISthatgirl, 15 novembre 2011 - 02:57 .

[FlyinElk212]

Best written dialogue? Miranda. Some of her one-liners are incredible:
Jacob- "Do you really think Wilson was capable of doing something like that?"
Miranda- *looks down at his dead body* Not anymore.

Best written backstory? Jack. Kinda one-sided here though as a huge portion of her character IS figuring out her backstory. Hell, her loyalty mission IS revisiting her backstory.

Best written personality? Mordin. Incredibly multi-layered character, isn't just a one-dimensional, pragmatic scientist. He truly values life, believes in religion, is humorous, enjoys musicals...he's really the only character I can honestly say I know very well.

[onelifecrisis]

whoISthatgirl wrote...

onelifecrisis wrote...

No, I'm not. If Shepard had properly ripped Thane's position to shreds (or done anything other than ask a few cursory questions and then shut up) then I'd consider Thane to be a better-written character even though his lines had not changed. Not well written, but better written than he is. As it is, Thane says some incredibly stupid things, and Shepard starts to argue against them... but then he just stops before anything gets interesting. There's no interesting debate, no conflict, and no character growth. For all of his time spent reflecting, Thane learns nothing.

Surely the first half of that paragraph denotes bad writing for Shepard rather than Thane.

It's a conversation. I can't really see it as two separate bits of writing.

whoISthatgirl wrote...

He was sent to be trained as an assasin at the age of 6, that hardly counts as his own decision. He makes it clear it was an honour for the Drell, not that it was his choice.

Shepard: "They made your whole race into slaves."
Thane: "Don't insult me, Shepard. Anyone can refuse to serve."

Modifié par onelifecrisis, 15 novembre 2011 - 03:55 .

[onelifecrisis]

More ramblings on Thane...

I said he doesn't learn or grow. I don't think that all characters should always have to grow, but Thane is a character that seems to have been designed entirely for growth (or maybe just angst, it's hard to know). He suffers a massive internal conflict, one so severe that it has started to consume him. He becomes dedicated to "correcting the balance of his life", a life of assassination, which he describes as the "path of sin". Remember, this is the same guy who claims he has no guilt and has done nothing wrong. It's clear that even he doesn't really believe his own bullsh!t. If there was ever a character ripe for growth, it's Thane.

He can't change his past, but he also seems to be having trouble accepting it, so instead he tries in vain to justify it, while simultaneously (and hypocritically) attempting to atone for it. He's a mess.

But instead of growing, Thane sticks rigidly to his beliefs, so much so that by end of the game I'm left with the odd impression that I'm actually supposed to have been swayed and/or impressed by them. It's just... bad.

Modifié par onelifecrisis, 15 novembre 2011 - 04:24 .

[utdan]

onelifecrisis wrote...

whoISthatgirl wrote...

He was sent to be trained as an assasin at the age of 6, that hardly counts as his own decision. He makes it clear it was an honour for the Drell, not that it was his choice.

Shepard: "They made your whole race into slaves."
Thane: "Don't insult me, Shepard. Anyone can refuse to serve."

I see your point but being trained as an assasin from the age of 6, including emotional/pyschological conditioning it'd more than likely be the only thing he knew how to do (which he admits himself), so he probably wouldn't even think of the other possible options. Combine that with emotional blackmail in the form of pressure from his parents, society and the probable stigma of refusing to help the saviours of his species then, for all intents and purposes, i don't think he did have much choice.

onelifecrisis wrote...

More ramblings on Thane...

I said he doesn't learn or grow. I don't think that all characters should always have to grow, but Thane is a character that seems to have been designed entirely for growth (or maybe just angst, it's hard to know). He suffers a massive internal conflict, one so severe that it has started to consume him. He becomes dedicated to "correcting the balance of his life", a life of assassination, which he describes as the "path of sin". Remember, this is the same guy who claims he has no guilt and has done nothing wrong. It's clear that even he doesn't really believe his own bullsh!t. If there was ever a character ripe for growth, it's Thane.

He can't change his past, but he also seems to be having trouble accepting it, so instead he tries in vain to justify it, while simultaneously (and hypocritically) attempting to atone for it. He's a mess.

This i agree with and is, strangely enough, what i like about Thane. He's clinging to his coping mechanism despite starting to see the fallacies in it. He knows in the back of his mind that his beliefs are flawed but isn't ready to deal with the burden of his guilt. Hopefully this will be explored in ME3 because IMO its the main aspect of the character.

Modifié par whoISthatgirl, 15 novembre 2011 - 05:08 .

[1136342t54_]

onelifecrisis wrote...

whoISthatgirl wrote...

He was sent to be trained as an assasin at the age of 6, that hardly counts as his own decision. He makes it clear it was an honour for the Drell, not that it was his choice.

Shepard: "They made your whole race into slaves."
Thane: "Don't insult me, Shepard. Anyone can refuse to serve."

No offense but that is not the proper response to that at all. It would be assuming that before Thane was born he made a choice to be taken at 6 years old to become an Assassin. In reality its false. The Drell weren't forced into slavery but the most obvious reason why they wanted to actually agree to the Compact was due to being very grateful for their race being saved, having no where else to really go and they would likely feel guilty for not agreeing to it.

Of course it is highly unlikely Thane being taken as an Assassin was part of the cmopact necessarily but it isn't impossible. Either way it wasn't his choice at all for becoming an Assassin.

 

[1136342t54_]

Nyoka wrote...

That should be Mordin, Ashley and Legion. Mordin and Ashley for making me feel ambivalent; Legion for being truly alien, not a human in a costume. Though the best written romance to me is LotSB Liara's.

Thane was a very good candidate to be another true alien, but he had to be a married man with a son and a love interest. Oh well.

To be honest Legion is a idiot Savant, but he does it very very well.

[Jessica Merizan]

The OP is asking about which are the best written characters, please stay on topic to that and not nitpicking about what's wrong with others (if you want to talk about that, make a new thread).

[onelifecrisis]

Jessica Merizan wrote...

The OP is asking about which are the best written characters, please stay on topic to that and not nitpicking about what's wrong with others (if you want to talk about that, make a new thread...

...and we'll lock it).

[Ieldra]

I find it hard to say who is best-written, because it's so hard to distinguish between well-written and well-voice-acted. For instance, both Mordin and Jack are voice-acted so lifelike that they seem to jump out of the monitor. But part of that also lies in what they say - i.e. in the writing - even though there are logic issues like that someone like Shepard wouldn't have taken Jack on the mission in the first place.

All in all, I nominate Mordin.

[1136342t54_]

Jessica Merizan wrote...

The OP is asking about which are the best written characters, please stay on topic to that and not nitpicking about what's wrong with others (if you want to talk about that, make a new thread).

That's fine then. It would be pointless as hell for this thread to devolve into questioning why this or that person have this character as their favorite.

[CptData]

Ieldra2 wrote...

I find it hard to say who is best-written, because it's so hard to distinguish between well-written and well-voice-acted. For instance, both Mordin and Jack are voice-acted so lifelike that they seem to jump out of the monitor. But part of that also lies in what they say - i.e. in the writing - even though there are logic issues like that someone like Shepard wouldn't have taken Jack on the mission in the first place.

All in all, I nominate Mordin.

That's actually not a problem with the German dub. They kinda messed up a lot - even going so far changing whole cast for ME2. Ashley doesn't sound like Ashley, Shepard not like Shepard ... basically all except for Joker and Tali got new VA.

Mordin is one of the best characters of ME2 but I think he's not the #1 of all characters in the ME series, but definitely one of the top five squadmates. Three of the five are from ME1 - and they're Ashley, Kaidan and Liara in my eyes.
Miranda is quite good too but lacks more background. All she got are her "daddy issues" and her sister, but besides that, the player learns not much about her. I'd like to know far more about Miranda and her hobbies - basically like we did with top 3 in ME.

Actually, that's one of the main issues of ME2 - half of the characters lack a background that keeps you interested for the entire length of the game - Mordin is a real exception since his moral issues become more visible in and after his LM. Also Miranda has a nice one, but it's not that deep like Mordin's story.

Modifié par CptData, 15 novembre 2011 - 08:06 .

[Jessica Merizan]

onelifecrisis wrote...

Jessica Merizan wrote...

The OP is asking about which are the best written characters, please stay on topic to that and not nitpicking about what's wrong with others (if you want to talk about that, make a new thread...

...and we'll lock it).

I will never lock a thread that contains well-meaning constructive criticism.

As far as the best written characters go, I'd have to say Garrus (the writing plus VO are the sole motivators for me romancing a giant crustacean). I also really love talking to Matriarch Aethyta the bartender on Illium. The writing however is superb overall.

[Iakus]

ME1 Ashley Williams Perhaps the most complex character in the ME series. Blunt, opinionated, flawed but at the same time noble, protective and self-sacrificing. A tough yet feminine marine.

ME2 Mordin Solus Great voice, great background, wrestling with a morally very gray choice. Manages to be both comic and tragic without diluting either.

[onelifecrisis]

Jessica Merizan wrote...

onelifecrisis wrote...

Jessica Merizan wrote...

The OP is asking about which are the best written characters, please stay on topic to that and not nitpicking about what's wrong with others (if you want to talk about that, make a new thread...

...and we'll lock it).

I will never lock a thread that contains well-meaning constructive criticism.

As far as the best written characters go, I'd have to say Garrus (the writing plus VO are the sole motivators for me romancing a giant crustacean). I also really love talking to Matriarch Aethyta the bartender on Illium. The writing however is superb overall.

Maybe you won't, but there is a remarkable tendency on BSN for threads of, shall we say, a less positive nature (constructive or otherwise) to get locked.

[1136342t54_]

onelifecrisis wrote...

Jessica Merizan wrote...

onelifecrisis wrote...

Jessica Merizan wrote...

The OP is asking about which are the best written characters, please stay on topic to that and not nitpicking about what's wrong with others (if you want to talk about that, make a new thread...

...and we'll lock it).

I will never lock a thread that contains well-meaning constructive criticism.

As far as the best written characters go, I'd have to say Garrus (the writing plus VO are the sole motivators for me romancing a giant crustacean). I also really love talking to Matriarch Aethyta the bartender on Illium. The writing however is superb overall.

Maybe you won't, but there is a remarkable tendency on BSN for threads of, shall we say, a less positive nature (constructive or otherwise) to get locked.

Usually those threads end up with multiple people flaming Bioware and each other. Eventually it gets off topic incredibly fast to. BSN has a tendency to go off topic very very quickly in threads.