262 réponses à ce sujet

[laudable11]

Human or races that can use the same character model.

More work means more bugs and we know Bioware puts zero priority towards fixing bugs.

[Vortex13]

As a Dwarf Inquisitor I didn't feel I had nearly as much interaction with my race or opportunities to role play a traditionalist dwarf, as the humans could with their race. If DA:I would have only had humans as the choice for the PC, then maybe we could have gotten to visit Orzamar again.

 

 

Even though I am a staunch supporter of alien representation in the ME setting; especially the 'alien' aliens; I would have to say that a human-only protagonist would (most likely) be the best way to go, simply because it means that more of the game's resources can be devoted to giving us more alien representation and unique game play mechanics. 

 

 

 

For example, I would much rather have a human protagonist with heavy re-activity based on his/her background, and a narrative that allowed me to experience and recruit an Elcor or Rachni squadmate versus having a Human, Asari, Salarian, and Turian protagonist with only small codex entries or one or two lines of dialogue mentioning his/her chosen race, and only interacting with the human-like aliens in any significant capacity.

[ShadyKat]

I'm fine with a human protagonist. I just don't want the next game to be about humanity. The trilogy more than did enough of this. We didn't even get female aliens until the last game. Stuff like this can't fly in the next game.

[Anouk]

I agree with the topic starter.

 

Human is the best for mass effect.   Mass effect is for me an Action game with a lot rpg elements. I hope it wil stay that and  turn not in a DAI rpg  clone in another format,  I hope Bioware is learning from DAI and there new frostbite engine. I like DAI but i miss something in that game. Can,t realy tell why. 

[Larry-3]

If they add the option to play as different races then that would divert resources from cut-scenes, dialogue, and places to visit. With all the options for human customization, I imagine it would be difficult attempting to squeeze asari, turian, and any other race in.

[I Am Robot]

Mass Effect was pretty anthropocentric...

 

I mean, one of the largest themes of the games was how special humans were.

 

Mass Effect never represents humanity as somehow superior or "better" than the other races. The development of humanity as part of the galactic society is an important part of Mass Effect, but that doesn't take attention away from the other races. 

 

The books are a bit anthropocentric but not the games IMO. 

[I Am Robot]

 

 

 

 

For example, I would much rather have a human protagonist with heavy re-activity based on his/her background, and a narrative that allowed me to experience and recruit an Elcor or Rachni squadmate versus having a Human, Asari, Salarian, and Turian protagonist with only small codex entries or one or two lines of dialogue mentioning his/her chosen race, and only interacting with the human-like aliens in any significant capacity.

 

That reminds me. DO NOT REMOVE THE CODEX. It is an integral component of the game. The game cannot function without it. 

[Undead Han]

It's confirmed that the next ME game is going to be partially open world.

 

I think that puts me more firmly in the human only camp. I fear that the partially open world approach combined with multiple races would just result in the same problems that DA:I had, with less immersive storytelling outside main quests.

[corporal doody]

BOOOOOOOOOOoooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

 

Boo to that!!!

 

 

lemme play a Asari and Turian!

[Mordokai]

I would very much be in favour of playing as an alien. In my opinion, diversity is always a good thing and I think that, if done right, playing as asari or turian would make a story much richer. However, I think the concerns of spending too much money on that are quite valid.

 

So I'm gonna say I'm not inherently opposed to the idea of human only protagonist. Just drop the "humanity uber alles" and "humans are special" crap that was so prevailent in the trilogy. That gets old really fast.

[I Am Robot]

I would very much be in favour of playing as an alien. In my opinion, diversity is always a good thing and I think that, if done right, playing as asari or turian would make a story much richer. However, I think the concerns of spending too much money on that are quite valid.

 

So I'm gonna say I'm not inherently opposed to the idea of human only protagonist. Just drop the "humanity uber alles" and "humans are special" crap that was so prevailent in the trilogy. That gets old really fast.

 

How was humanity portrayed as special throughout the series? 

[Ajensis]

See in DA the humans, elves, qunari, and dwarves all evolved on Thedas and are very similar, exchanging culture/religion/ideas over time, and we can interbreed as well. I do not expect species from a whole other planet on the other side of the galaxy to act in any way like humans and I would be disappointed if I was playing another species who acted and sounded like my human character.

 

I think this is an important point and something I've been wanting to say every time this topic came up the past couple of months. Multiple playable races in Dragon Age is not identical to multiple playable races in Mass Effect. Even if DA:I had been perfect in this regard, it wouldn't mean it would automatically work for this series. The dialogue issues that God (the forumer ) mentioned on page 1 alone is a huge obstacle that would likely lead to a lack of nuances (in which case, what's the point of playing an alien?) and/or outright less dialogue.

 

Anyway, I'm in favour of a human-only PC for many reasons that have already been stated in this thread, so I won't repeat them. Instead of multiple races, I'd just like to see different backgrounds again with even more dialogue choices that reflect where we come from. Every time this was available in Mass Effect it made me feel connected to our Commander.

 

Shepard is the best protagonist I've ever played as, bar none. And it's not because of all the epic stuff we do (actually, I wish we did less epic stuff in the trilogy... It gets a bit silly when we make galaxy-wide decisions for no other reason than being Shepard); I think it's simply from how we have three full games of top-notch role-playing. I don't even need a lot of 'tough choices' - I suspect that, to me, the constant affirmation of Shepard's character through every dialogue choice makes a much bigger difference. But anyway, I'm veering off-topic.

In short, my dream scenario is that we get another human protagonist with a selection of different backgrounds - and that this person will be a recurring protagonist for at least one sequel, allowing for the kind of meaningful, evolving relationships we've had so far. Not just our relationship to Shepard, but to our squadmembers as well.

[I Am Robot]

Yeah, carrying through your decisions and your character onto the next game is one of the greatest strengths of ME. 

[Livi14]

I hope not! In such a vast universe with a lot of interesting races, I'm tired of playing as a human and hearing humans are the special snowflake race.

[Mordokai]

How was humanity portrayed as special throughout the series? 

 

Is this a trick question?

 

Membership on Council after paltry 30 years. Humanity inventing medi-gel. Humanity saving the Council and the hight of retardism, getting an entire human Council if you decide to sacrifice the original Council durin Sovereign's attack and the rest of galaxy being "too scared to do anything about it". Human Reaper larva. Humanity being the most genetically diverse. Harbinger's comments about human squadmates, when compared to those about alien squadies. The whole "Earth is the center of the universe" thing.

 

The list probably goes on. Those are just the ones off of top of my head.

[Ajensis]

I'll agree that humans are being portrayed a bit too much as the superior race in Mass Effect, but that isn't intrinsically connected to playing as a human protagonist. In fact, it could be a lot of fun to be in a situation where you're considered inferior and prejudiced against and have to overcome that

[Undead Han]

Whether or not we get multiple playable races, I'm entirely in favor of the series toning down the 'humans are special' trope. Every time humanity has thought itself special, the universe has proven otherwise. Special snowflakes in the garden of Eden? Nope. Earth as the center of the universe which all celestial objects orbit? Nope. Earth is the only planet where life has formed? The jury is still out on that one, but the scientific consensus is probably not.

 

Mass Effect may be fiction, but I think it should follow that trend. The less 'humans are better because human' the better.

[God]

Mass Effect never represents humanity as somehow superior or "better" than the other races. The development of humanity as part of the galactic society is an important part of Mass Effect, but that doesn't take attention away from the other races. 

 

The books are a bit anthropocentric but not the games IMO. 

 

What do you mean? Yeah, yeah we were. Listen to Mordin's schpeel about 'genetic diversity'. Look at how the Reapers and Collector's are now targeting humanity alone. Look at how members of every species are being resentful, mean-spirited, or hostile to humans because 'they changed the playing field' and 'refused to go about things the 'right' way like the other species'. The final game ends up having its climax on and over the human homeworld. Look at how Earth is strongly implied to now be the new capital of galactic affairs with the Citadel in orbit in most of the endings. Look at how the whole plot of the series was essentially caused by a guy who utterly hated humans. Look at how his actions caused said humans to essentially become the race that saves the galaxy forever from the greatest threat it has ever faced. Look at how virtually every species is broken down in ME3, while the humans are the species that are seen as rallying and standing and fighting and setting an example to everyone else. Look at how the assembled galactic fleets are commanded by humans. Look at how human fleets saved the Council from the Reapers in the first game. Look at how humans are promoted to the Council in 30 years since our discovery (a feat which takes centuries), and are portrayed as the only unambiguous race that doesn't have its own agenda. Look at how, despite my own distaste for the Council, their reaction to charging to save Earth and their refusal to do so on practical and sound strategic grounds, and how the game portrays them as the ignorant, blind ones for not rushing to follow Shepard and the humans to Earth. Look at how it's even technically possible to get not only a human led Council in ME1, but a full on human only council (which was of course dropped later).

 

Come on, humans are seriously shown to be superior and special to somewhat absurd levels. And you know what? I'm absolutely ok with that. In fact, I don't want this to not be the case. At least, sans some of the absurdness. I support diversity in the games, but I also want the humans to have a particular perspective.

[God]

Yeah, carrying through your decisions and your character onto the next game is one of the greatest strengths of ME. 

 

It's an excellent feature when done right, but they were still never able to account for all the various permutations and differences throughout the entire trilogy.

 

I'd say a Keep system would work better, though it seems that a lot of the permutations in there are seemingly meaningless beyond the main story points.

 

The biggest issue is reflecting the outcome of all the issues and choices into the next series and building up from there. That's hard to do; in some cases, functionally you'd have to create an entirely different sequence for the game.

 

While I notionally support the idea of branching storylines in this aspect, I acknowledge that economically, for the most part, it's just unfeasible.

[Vortex13]

Is this a trick question?

 

Membership on Council after paltry 30 years. Humanity inventing medi-gel. Humanity saving the Council and the hight of retardism, getting an entire human Council if you decide to sacrifice the original Council durin Sovereign's attack and the rest of galaxy being "too scared to do anything about it". Human Reaper larva. Humanity being the most genetically diverse. Harbinger's comments about human squadmates, when compared to those about alien squadies. The whole "Earth is the center of the universe" thing.

 

The list probably goes on. Those are just the ones off of top of my head.

 

 

 

Don't forget Cerberus. A racist terrorist group that can stand toe to toe with other species' military fleets, can plant spies and double agents in every level of galactic government, and develops brand new or improved technology on their own despite the rest of the galaxy collaborating on efforts.

 

The superior Normandy, the Lazarus project, advanced aerospace fighters, a medi-gel variant that can aid in Turain recovery more than anything else in the galaxy (and Cerberus discovered this in rudimentary tests), and let's not forget the ability to disrupt and subvert Reaper signals. All of this from a small group of human scientists and engineers; sure they did horrible things to achieve their successes, but the fact that a galaxy of trillions is nowhere even close to the level of achievement that Cerberus has just screams: "Humans are special!"

 

 

The amount of stunts Cerberus pulls off would be like the Klu Klux Klan, or Al Qaeda being able to develop anti-gravity or cold fusion technology while the rest of the world still considers such things to be science fiction.

[emark.mark20]

How about allowing the player to switch between squad members? Having humans as the only race your hero can be may make development easier but that dosen't mean you cant copy what dragon age does. Look at da2, only way to play a elf and a dwarf is by switching to people like merril, fenris, and varric.

Besides, i wished that i could play as garrus and liara. Hope ME 4 (or whatever its called) will have a similar system

[MrFob]

How about allowing the player to switch between squad members? Having humans as the only race your hero can be may make development easier but that dosen't mean you cant copy what dragon age does. Look at da2, only way to play a elf and a dwarf is by switching to people like merril, fenris, and varric.

Besides, i wished that i could play as garrus and liara. Hope ME 4 (or whatever its called) will have a similar system

 

I definitely oppose that. One of the main positives in the ME trilogy was that I had one character I could really identify with. In Dragon Age for example, I feel like this disembodied entity and hovers over the battlefield like a daemon, possessing different people at different times. In ME, I was Commander Shepard. I was the leader of the team, so I could give orders but I I could only do so from my perspective. Having me switch squad mates would really mess with that perceptive IMO.

 

On topic, whether the main PC should be allowed to be an alien largely depends on how BW is going to distribute resources. I would like the idea of having a choice but I do acknowledge that this would potentially cost quite an enormous amount of time, effort and disc space, so if I had to choose between more species selection or more story content, I'll go with content every time.

[ShadyKat]

Mass Effect never represents humanity as somehow superior or "better" than the other races. The development of humanity as part of the galactic society is an important part of Mass Effect, but that doesn't take attention away from the other races. 
 
The books are a bit anthropocentric but not the games IMO.

Clearly we didn't play the same games.