79 réponses à ce sujet

[Mcfly616]

Double post.

[Vortex13]

 You shouldn't look at them from an evolutionary standpoint. They were created by the Engineers (aka the Space Jockey's)

 

Pretty much my whole response to the 'prequel' of Prometheus is to stick my fingers in my ears and scream "LALALALALALALA" all the while pretending it didn't happen. 

[Mcfly616]

I didn't think it was completely awful. It just raises questions instead of answering them. 

 

 

 

 

Still better than Alien 3, Alien 4, the AvP movies etc. 

[Vortex13]

I didn't think it was completely awful. It just raises questions instead of answering them.




Still better than Alien 3, Alien 4, the AvP movies etc.

IMO I would much rather watch AvP and consider it an accepted part of the lore than I would Prometheus but that's just me.

A predator fighting with an alien queen was at least entertaining to watch; unlike the bumbling idiots that Prometheus called 'scientists'.

[Mcfly616]

AvP had bumbling idiots as well. Ones that were far worse actors no less. But sure, it did have a good fight or two.

[Vortex13]

AvP had bumbling idiots as well. Ones that were far worse actors no less. But sure, it did have a good fight or two.

 

 

Yeah, AvP did have some rather idiotic character deaths, but then again it was never billed as an elegant film, or even as a true horror experience. It was a monster mashup, and the cardboard cutouts of the human actors/actresses were only there to provide the barest of exposition to advance the plot to the next fight scene.

 

Prometheus was billed as an homage to the cinematographic masterpiece (IMO) that was the first Alien film, and it most certainly didn't measure up to the original, let alone (like you said) answer any questions about the setting.

 

I still laugh when the supposed expert on the expedition removes his helmet on an uncharted alien planet, not thinking about the multitude alien bacteria he could be exposing himself to; a fact that is made even more ridiculous later on in the film when that line of logic is brought up by one of the other scientists. 

[KaiserShep]

I still laugh when the supposed expert on the expedition removes his helmet on an uncharted alien planet, not thinking about the multitude alien bacteria he could be exposing himself to; a fact that is made even more ridiculous later on in the film when that line of logic is brought up by one of the other scientists. 

 

No one listened to Buzz Lightyear, and no one listened to Guy from Galaxy Quest. This is why they fail.

[Han Shot First]

 

But back to the original question I would like to see a Raloi just see what they look like also in the mass effect conviction comic you see a four armed alien 
 

 

I kind of like this fan concept for the Raloi:

 

 

 

Also this one for an unmasked Volus:

 

[Mcfly616]

I've never been big on the Raloi. Just a bunch of unwarranted hype imo. But either way, they're an avian species. They're bird-like. Which is weird because we sort of already have that with Turians...

[Fufunette]

Bioware should play Spore to get some species ideas.

[Farangbaa]

You shouldn't look at them from an evolutionary standpoint. They were created by the Engineers (aka the Space Jockey's)

Oh yeah.. that's right. I watched that movie on the airplane.

[SolNebula]

^^^^

Thanks God you are not designing the game

[Vortex13]

I'm with PatchesintheSky on the depiction of aliens in not just Mass Effect, but in almost every piece of science fiction; at least all of the mainstream sic-fi settings.

 

The truly 'alien' aliens are almost always relegated to the roles of villains, or minor background NPCs/characters; whereas nearly all of the main characters are humans, or humans with one slightly different feature (most likely a facial feature or skin tone) i.e. Forehead ridges, pointy ears, head tentacles, etc. It would be refreshing if we could have alien companions/squad-mates that explore the alien side of the galaxy, rather than how compatible our PC's gentiles are with their's. 

 

I know that I would much rather see a future Mass Effect title have one less romance option in favor of gaining something like an Elcor, Rachni, or Hanar companion character; something that would allow us to see that non-humanoid life can exist and thrive in the galaxy. An article I was reading a few days ago summed up my general stance on the matter perfectly:

 

This, in part, stems from the fact that humans have never made contact with aliens, so we’re maybe a teensy bit lacking in the reference materials department. Also, we’re terrible at understanding (let alone conceiving of) things that aren’t just like us, so we tend not to try.

 

The result? So-called “aliens” that walk like us, talk like us, and never stop doing calibrations like us while we silently, painfully pine for their bizarrely species-compatible affections.

 

Don’t get me wrong: humanoid aliens have their place, but they hardly constitute boldly going where no man has gone before.

[Terca]

I don't know if we will ever get away from the fact when we make aliens they have to resemble us in some way, or the nature around us for that matter.

 

I mean, think of Elites and Turians. They both fall into the 'Emporer' archetype and as such despite their saurian or avian appearance we can still say 'that's a warrior society', be it through their military presence, proneness to uniform, honor code, so on. The reason we can relate to things that look like this and this is because despite their appearance we can say 'those are the roman aliens' or some such thing. It's what makes the obviously alien more understandable, because they're not really Alien on the inside. It's just how you make characters, they have something which is familiar to them. When you develop the culture a character, and thus a species, belongs to, you have to put it all in a box. it's just the way it is and that's why eventually they become humanized. Because they are human, just with different skin.

 

But that's not necessarily a bad thing. It's just that if you are looking for things that are purely alien you have to look for that which is completely off-side. I mean, you can view even things like the Hanar as being weird-looking but also somewhat human in their extreme reverence of a higher power. That's familiar. And thus the jellybags are still something we can understand (even if we only look at it a a gelatinous exo-layer level).

 

So where do you get the aliens which are, at their core, alien? Unfortunately, as the quote above my post says, we haven't met one. So we have to dive into the imagination and look at the world of nature to see what looks alien, what feels alien. But then there is something intrinsic to that character which will make it hard to write: unnatural feeling.

 

if you are writing a character which is truly alien when you write it will feel like staring into the unfathomable void that is another culture never-before seen. It would be like trying to capture the essence of the Japanese before the jesuits landed, trying to understand the Chinese Imperial Courts before the Opium wars. It is looking into that which you cannot comprehend from the edge of our civilization and trying to write it out. That, in and of itself, could be incredibly difficult to write in the first place, and just as difficult as the player to understand. It should be mind-boggling, uncomfortable and above all disconcerting, and at the end of the day I don't know if we all want that from our game from a character. That element of understanding from the 'human side' of a character or race is very useful, and impossible to work without to grab a feeling of a species in the quick setting of introduction.

 

Anyways, point is, I don't know if we can  make a truly alien species the same way we couldn't guess the cultures of other civilizations until we got there. And should the miracle of the 'true alien' come to pass, I don't know if they players would feel comfortable with it at first, much the same way imperial powers were when they first arrived on another floating rock in the ocean.

[Vortex13]

-snip-

 

 

You make good points, and I will admit that creating a truly 'alien' alien is something that would (most likely) be too esoteric for a mainstream audience. The most widely successful example of such an alien (IMO) would have to be the whole Cuthulu mythos, but even then most people only have a cursory knowledge of the setting; namely it being Cosmic Horror (and dealing with space squids).

 

 

Now it's true that Mass Effect species like the Rachni, Elcor, Hanar, Pre-Reaper Code Geth, and the Thorian are all identifiable from a human perspective; albeit from an extreme exaggeration of one aspect of our species' culture/religion/outlook/etc; but they (IMO) are different enough from what we consider to be the norm to warrant an 'alien' descriptor. Species like the Turians or the Salarians are only vaguely alien, their respective cultures and their general personalities are a near match with ours. This is why Garrus can be our Bro-seph/Avian lover, or why we can smile when Mordin sings Scientist Salarian (or cry when he hums it one last time  ) they are (more or less) just like us.

 

 

There is nothing wrong with this as a means of conveying a relatable story, but it has become a trope in modern sci-fi mediums to see everything in the universe as being instantly relatable to our perceptions.  At the very least, the setting could afford to show some of the non-humanoid aliens in a bigger role; which does sound incredibly shallow, what with focusing on outward appearances  . Even if a Rachni or Elcor companion is ultimately identifiable as having human characteristics, the simple fact of their anatomy would make for a refreshing take on the ME setting. One that shows that the entire universe isn't compatible with our form, and that non-humanoid life can thrive and excel in the galaxy at large. 

 

 

Rather than being treated like funny sounding quadriplegics, it would be nice to see how the Elcor can co-exist with humanoids and even in some cases excel at areas that we struggle with. Obviously, humanoid animation is easier to do, but fleshing out species like the Elcor, or Rachni would go a long way towards destroying the golden 'bipedal only' rule that seems to be present in (almost) every Sci-Fi setting.      

[Bacus]

Just gonna add my grain of sand.

 

I am all in for more alien like creatures, and it's true most of the sci-fi settings do what vortex stated: more alien = more evil entity/background character.

 

Thing is, costumers tend to relate to what they see, specially on a game, and if you make the "friends" too alieny, maybe they will reject the setting. This is probably why on ME1 the "evil turian" had a more alien face; all in all, it's a gamble.

 

I for one would love to see more weird aliens. But one thing to have in mind: there is a theory that when something works (take legs for instance) they will be repeated over and over again, because, why change something that works? If we extrapolate this to thinking entities, with the capacity of logic and tool building such as ours, will tend to produce humanoid like aliens.

 

I still understand Bioware's point of view, in my experience (i am creating a universe for a project of mine PM if you'd like info on it) making something alien and relatable is extremely difficult, and more so with some many different cultures on earth. If you really want to make real looking/feeling aliens your fan base would surely be reduced a lot.

 

I have read tons of information on evolutionary paradigms and i'm in touch with Dr. Katerina Ainfantis to make a plausible universe.

 

Anyhow, just passing by.

[Vortex13]

-snip-

 

 

Very good points.

 

People tend to gravitate towards what's familiar, its true. I just think it would be a nice change of pace if the player's alien companion characters were more about exposing the player to ideas and concepts foreign to humanity, and less about how our PC can 'Captain Kirk' them  .

 

I personally am a fan of the insectoid races in science fiction. 

 

Spoiler

 

Things like:

 

The Chrysalids of XCOM. Loved their design, but was absolutely terrified of facing them in game.

 

 

Those little buggers were the cause of many a squad wipe on my various Ironman playthroughs 

 

The Zerg of Starcraft.

 

 

I spent many, many hours trying to perfect my strategies with them. 

 

 

The Xenomorphs of the Alien franchise.

 

 

A true classic (IMO).

 

 

Even Rachni of Mass Effect

 

 

 

My favorite alien race of the setting.

 

 

 

 

Now granted, 'space bugs' is a widely used trope, but it makes sense that an insect-like species would be one of the top non-humanoid aliens we could encounter. Consider how successful our terrestrial versions are, especially the social insects like ants and bees; an organism that can account for 15 - 25% of the terrestrial animal biomass has to be doing something right after all. 

 

Normally, these archetypes are relegated towards being mindless monsters to kill, but Mass Effect's Rachni are rather unique in that they are (possible) allies to Shepard and Co. Apart from the Bugs of Ender's Game, no other mainstream sic-fi setting (to my knowledge anyway) has tried to portray insectoid species as anything other than antagonists, so BioWare has the potential foundation to create an truly unique companion character.     

 

P.S. I wish you good luck on your endeavors; creating a unique setting from scratch is no easy feat. I applaud you dedication to making a plausible sic-fi setting.

[Bacus]

-snip-

 

Thanks! it is really tough, and even more so while trying to make it plausible.

 

Beyond that you can check Sword of the Stars, those guys have a plethora of races with very different approaches. The insectoids are called Hivers.

 

But i agree with you on everything.

 

Beyond that a character created by bioware the strucked me as alien the first time I played the game was Sten from Dragon Age Origins. his ideas where very nicely presented.

[Vortex13]

Beyond that you can check Sword of the Stars, those guys have a plethora of races with very different approaches. The insectoids are called Hivers.

 

I played Sword of the Stars but I could never get into the Hivers; the fact that all of their ships looked like giant, mechanical bugs just felt really tacky to me. I mean humans don't build giant human shaped robots to ride around in.

 

Then again, I am not a fan of Japanese mecha either.

 

Mech Assault walking tanks = awesome.

 

Giant fifty foot tall robot ninjas = ridiculous (IMO)   

[Fufunette]

Japanese sci-fi is rarely credible... They're obsessed by Mechas...

[Mcfly616]

I'm with PatchesintheSky on the depiction of aliens in not just Mass Effect, but in almost every piece of science fiction; at least all of the mainstream sic-fi settings.

 

The truly 'alien' aliens are almost always relegated to the roles of villains, or minor background NPCs/characters; whereas nearly all of the main characters are humans, or humans with one slightly different feature (most likely a facial feature or skin tone) i.e. Forehead ridges, pointy ears, head tentacles, etc. It would be refreshing if we could have alien companions/squad-mates that explore the alien side of the galaxy, rather than how compatible our PC's gentiles are with their's. 

 

 Maybe within gaming and cinema.....

 

 

But within science fiction literature, this is hardly the case at all. Though I will say I agree with your last sentence and I hope they look to hard sci fi novels for inspiration in that area.

[Vortex13]

 Maybe within gaming and cinema.....

 

 

But within science fiction literature, this is hardly the case at all. Though I will say I agree with your last sentence and I hope they look to hard sci fi novels for inspiration in that area.

 

 

You are correct, there are sci-fi settings with aliens as actual aliens, and being those aliens being more than villains or (essentially) stage props, but those aren't as widespread or as acknowledged by the general public. 

 

For good or bad, movies and TV shows like Star Wars, and Star Trek, and video games like Halo and Mass Effect are what (most) people think of when science fiction is mentioned.

[Pyro411]

When it comes to new alien races, I would love to see variants on the following from Earth's mythology... possibly even explained as prior encounters with the species as they were cataloging the progression of our species.

 

I'd be okay with us actually finding some of them in a secluded civilization on the floor of Earth's oceans, or deep under ground only to be revealed after the Reaper's invasion.

 

Dragons <as stated before>

Elves

Dwarves

Orcs

Ogres

Demons

Angels

Kraken

Mermaids

Aliens such as the form of the Roswell Alien aka Paul

etc