This puzzles me every time I hear this. Not because Mass Effect is necessarily found wanting in quality but because....Mass Effect actually has more in common with Star Trek than Star Wars.
People should be saying "Mass Effect is the next Star Trek!"
What do you all think? Is Mass Effect more like the latter or the former?
I think that Star Wars is the Star Wars of our generation. Can't comment on Star Trek because I don't really know Star Trek.
Mass Effect is its own weird thing, though.
It's a mix of both, with a bit of Halo, Farscape, 2001 and Bladerunner thrown in. It wears it's Star Trek influences on it's sleeve (the art style is heavily influenced by the films, for example), but, with Bioware's history with Star Wars, it's understandable that the link would be made, especially with the Force-like Biotic powers too.
It's a mix of both, with a bit of Halo, Farscape, 2001 and Bladerunner thrown in. It wears it's Star Trek influences on it's sleeve (the art style is heavily influenced by the films, for example), but, with Bioware's history with Star Wars, it's understandable that the link would be made, especially with the Force-like Biotic powers too.
Bladerunner? Hmm, I dunno about that. Shepard isn't broody enough. 
This puzzles me every time I hear this. Not because Mass Effect is necessarily found wanting in quality but because....Mass Effect actually has more in common with Star Trek than Star Wars.
People should be saying "Mass Effect is the next Star Trek!"
What do you all think? Is Mass Effect more like the latter or the former?
Mass Effect was always more operatic, something Star Trek tended to lack since it got mired in too much technobabble for my tastes. Over time I noticed that there was no difference outside of the "magic" stuff in Star Wars, although Trek compensates for Time travel apparently, and a holo deck that tries to murder everyone every other week.
Heck, even something as scientific as Babylon 5 was more akin to Star Wars than Star Trek, it's the fact that it focused primarily on interpersonal relationships and had a character arc, while tackling issues found mostly in science fiction, that makes it relevant. Compound how Mass Effect is talked about in different academic fields as a case study on things also gives it a lot of credit to that theory to, it is relveant to discussion for value as something artistic.
We see that with a lot of games lately, Minecraft, WoW, GTA, and so on, so it's not unusual, but it does seem to be only a certain crop of games that continue to be talked about in that form. Something to think about.
So I stand by what I said for what it's worth. Trek always had an interesting take on science fiction, but most of the time people tend to put in the camp of harder science more than I think it should be. That's me though.
I've always made slight comparisons to Star Trek concerning Mass Effect. It resembles more of that kind of style than Star Wars. But Mass Effect does not have the kind of popularity Star Trek or Star Wars has... YET.
And ME is one of the most popular and influential games of our generation, and the fact that it's not even on Star Trek's or Star Wars' level says something.
Bladerunner? Hmm, I dunno about that. Shepard isn't broody enough.
You got a point there. Plus he can't handle his drink like Deckard; remember how in Afterlife he took one drink of whisky and fainted straight away? Lightweight.
I was thinking of the art style of Omega and Illium, plus the conflict between humans and synthetics.
You got a point there. Plus he can't handle his drink like Deckard; remember how in Afterlife he took one drink of whisky and fainted straight away? Lightweight.
I was thinking of the art style of Omega and Illium, plus the conflict between humans and synthetics.
Which is not unusual either though.
We saw that same themes in stuff like 2001: A Space Odyssey, Dune, Robert Heinlin books, Deus Ex and so forth. It's a common theme, and it is also coming back in Andromeda as well, with those Remnants and ancient technological aliens we are supposed to encounter.
Which is not unusual either though.
We saw that same themes in stuff like 2001: A Space Odyssey, Dune, Robert Heinlin books, so forth. It's a common theme, and it is also coming back in Andromeda as well, with those Remnants and ancient technological aliens we are supposed to encounter.
Oh yeah, it's a common thing across Sci-fi, and in fact in other forms of literature and, in a weird way, history too.
Oh yeah, it's a common thing across Sci-fi, and in fact in other forms of literature and, in a weird way, history too.
It's also a legitimate concern, the Matix or Terminator being the worst case scenarios of course if an A.I goes insane.
Curiously, even Star Wars addresses this issue, although they do so through two ways; Droids have A.I's that less powerful so they remain obedient, yet we always see R2 skirting that obedience constantly, and the fact that Droids were argued to have autonomy and full-scale rights in some planets and star systems, at least in the Legends Canon.
So they deal with in the "peaceful way" I guess we can say.
Realistically, the capacity for an A.I is one that we can match, but will it really rebel against the creators in a sort of biblical sense that everyone fears?
Or is technology always going to be a dangerous thing? Social scientists have argued that one too.
I feel that ME is too much of an amalgamation of styles to be directly compared to be either one.
There are equal parts of Star Trek, Star Wars, Babylon 5 and BSG in it, plus probably half a dozen other SciFi franchises. The devs never made a secret out of the fact that they used a lot classic SciFi for inspiration but in the end, the mix of it gives ME its own style IMO.
The only thing that really comes very close to the ME style (in terms of visuals and the very character focused storytelling) are the new JJ Abrams Star Trek films. I always feel like watching a Mass Effect film with the wrong ship models. 
If we are talking popularity, no, not even close, unfortunately.
You got a point there. Plus he can't handle his drink like Deckard; remember how in Afterlife he took one drink of whisky and fainted straight away? Lightweight.
I was thinking of the art style of Omega and Illium, plus the conflict between humans and synthetics.
You forget, the whisky was poisoned by a Batarian who hated humans. Yet, Shepard survived where every other human died. Oh, plus Shep drinks Rinccov, likely again first human to try and live. So, lightweight my ass, Shepard's a heavyweight through and through.
Bladerunner? Hmm, I dunno about that. Shepard isn't broody enough.
Mass Effect is Space Magic™ just the same as Star Wars.
The transhumanism and all the social issues displayed in ME are more like Star Trek though. Star Wars never gave a crap about the sentience and emotions of droids.
ME has lots of influences, as posters above have pointed out already.
Jabba the Hut would've been a lot cooler had he been able to crap out endless clones of green scantly-clad dancers.
It also took a decent amount of inspiration from Farscape (which is one of my favorite SciFi series. Everyone should watch it):
http://sharetv.com/i...zotoh_zhaan.jpg
http://discoverfarsc...dTop/Pilot4.jpg
It's fair to say that Mass Effect emerged from an amalgamation of many major and cult sci-fi media.
That said, the Asari are basically Delvians down to the mind merge.
It also took a decent amount of inspiration from Farscape (which is one of my favorite SciFi series. Everyone should watch it):
http://sharetv.com/i...zotoh_zhaan.jpg
http://discoverfarsc...dTop/Pilot4.jpg
Ahh Farscape...good times 
Seth Green, one of the biggest SW nerds out there, has been quoted as saying (and I'm sorry, I'm paraphrasing here), "Star Wars had better be glad it came along when it did."
I very truthfully think that he's right. And I'm very truthfully thankful that I got to witness two (maybe more) great space genres. Because say what you will, either SW or ME, has created its own genre.
3 games, for ME. 6 movies for SW.
Maybe a niche genre. But still a genre.
All sci-fi shows and books and movies tend to borrow the same themes though and look though.
The bigger question is what is the overall goal of Mass Effect as a game in the end? Like, what is the core of the series really about? For me, it's all of the above, with that sense of adventure and the fact that they can tell a story in this new world we see that just captures the imagination. Star Wars also captures that I feel.
It becomes that cultural touchstone type of deal- we own Mass Effect in a weird way; we play in that sandbox and enjoy that world, those characters, the story. That is what is really distinctive I feel in the end, and only Star Wars is really comparable in most cases.
It's fair to say that Mass Effect emerged from an amalgamation of many major and cult sci-fi media.
That said, the Asari are basically Delvians down to the mind merge.
I've always made slight comparisons to Star Trek concerning Mass Effect. It resembles more of that kind of style than Star Wars. But Mass Effect does not have the kind of popularity Star Trek or Star Wars has... YET.
And ME is one of the most popular and influential games of our generation, and the fact that it's not even on Star Trek's or Star Wars' level says something.
+1
Being a fan of both ST and SW, I see influences from both.
Biotic powers would be the closest thing to using the Force.
The futuristic weapons/tech are a little of both worlds.
Society shares similarties: Citadel Council Races-inclusive; ST United Federation of Planets-inclusive; SW Republic-inclusive. Although SW and ST share romance, ME is the one so far to be completely okay with bisexual/gay relationships, and openly does so; at least in this ME is contribuiting to opening human perspectives in ways ST and SW have not yet (not to say they cannot or will not); that said, ST TOS was definitely pushing the envelope with their messages (RIP Gene and Co.!).
+1
Being a fan of both ST and SW, I see influences from both.
Biotic powers would be the closest thing to using the Force.
The futuristic weapons/tech are a little of both worlds.
Society shares similarties: Citadel Council Races-inclusive; ST United Federation of Planets-inclusive; SW Republic-inclusive. Although SW and ST share romance, ME is the one so far to be completely okay with bisexual/gay relationships, and openly does so; at least in this ME is contribuiting to opening human perspectives in ways ST and SW have not yet (not to say they cannot or will not); that said, ST TOS was definitely pushing the envelope with their messages (RIP Gene and Co.!).
Yeah I see influences from both, considering KoToR 1 was what set Mass Effect in motion. They've (BioWare) forgone a sure thing in KoToR sequel for a game that may not have worked in Mass Effect.
Yeah I see influences from both, considering KoToR 1 was what set Mass Effect in motion. They've (BioWare) forgone a sure thing in KoToR sequel for a game that may not have worked in Mass Effect.
Well, Kotor 2 was the sequel though we got.
It had the better story overall, but it was definitely not the better game in terms of polish. It took a whole decade to get that fixed up too sadly.
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