I've played through this game 3 times now: 1 non-imported maleshep, paragon, mordin and some of the crew died, 1 imported femshep renegade, no deaths, 1 imported maleshep paragon, no deaths.
I've spent a ridiculous amount of time with this game, and with many other bioware games. And I've started to notice patterns and styles that the writers enjoy. And now that my playing has finally slowed down, I've been analysizing my experience and come up with a few points. So without further blah blah, here it goes:
I. First Things
1. The Fundemental Principle of Mass Effect: The more things change, the more things stay the same.
For all the choices presented in ME, there reallly isn't much a player can do to substantially change the plot. You are presented with this truth the moment you meet Miranda, who says you can stay on the station and die, or come with her. There is a technical choice, but there isn't a real choice. ME gives you the freedom to choose within a frame that can never be broken. Its great, I love it (obviously), but don't fool yourself into thinking that three will have any sort of sandbox elements, or that the world will fundementally change based on your actions in ME2.
Case: Saving or Killing the council. When you play both versions, you realize, whether the council was saved or not, the result is the same: Humanity cannot confront the collector threat, and the universe has forgotten the reaper menace. You have a different experience with aliens, different reactions, but the core plot is no different.
2. ME2 is the middle point in an old story
Its so obvious, but it needs to be repeated over and over. This is the middle game, the mid point in the story, the part of every great trilogy that is really the make or break point. What makes Mass Effect so strong is not its new-ness, although that is very good, but its ability to tell an old story very well. Mass Effect owes so much of its success in that it takes principles laid down in epics like Lord of the Rings and Star Wars and presents them in a very modern world.
The midpoint is when the real cast, the really important characters, are both introduced and cemented into the story. Take star wars. In empire, we meet the emperor, yoda, and lando, all pivotal characters, yet they weren't even hinted at by the first film. Old characters are made stronger, their backstories and personal problems pushed the forefront, like Obi-Wan's deception of Luke. So all of you terrified that characters as insanely developed as Tali or Garrus won't be coming back, quit shivering in fear. They'll not just be squadmates; they'll be so much more. More on that later.
3. ME enjoys the apparent threat/deeper threat motif
In ME, and most other bioware games, there is a motif of an apparent threat and deeper threat. ME1 was geth/saren (apparent), reapers (deeper). ME2 also sort of has that going on with collectors/reapers, but it is actually more of setting up the apparent threat before the reveal of the deeper threat in ME3. More on that later, but for now keep it in mind.
II. Characters, Characters, Characters:
1. Tali- BOOM starting with a controversial one. I don't know if there is a character that gets more nerd love than Tali, but its for a good reason; she's the most developed character in ME2. Her backstory is at once the most personal and also the most insightful into the ME universe. It tackles father/daughter relationships, politics of a civilization, the importance of names and heritage, betrayl. I could go on. The point is, her story, even if not her physical body, is coming back.
a) If she lived, she's a squadmate. This one is crazy obvious. Her name is Tali vas Normandy. Her flotilla ship is now the Normandy. She is tied to shepard through her name. I can't think of a way Bioware could be more obvious she is coming back as a squadmate. The romance option is icing on the cake for her fans, but for plot purposes, her backstory and her name signal the significance she and the quarians will be in ME3
Even if she died, the story elements started in ME2 will continue in ME3. Think about everything that went on in her personal mission. Its revealed that the quarians have reached a point politically where they are going to make a decision on the future of their race, and it comes down to the three Admirals. Anyone notice how "Morrigan" and "Logain" were two of the Admirals. No chance bioware would bring in those fantastic voice actors just to waste their talent on interesting, but pointless side characters. The quarians are going to have a civil war, and it will be because of Tali and her father's work. Having Tali will just make that experience all the more epic and richer for the careful player, but not having her will still present the same core plot.c) Bioware loves Tali, and tali-like characters. Go back and play BGII and see if any of the female characters remind you of her. Tali is even on the cover of ME: Ascension. Could bioware be in anymore love with a character? So quit worrying. She's going to be with you the whole way if you want her to. Lock this one down.
2. Garrus- Garrus in ME2 is not Garrus from ME1 because of what happens to him. He will also be in ME3 and as a squadmate, as its clear bioware loves his type of character as well. Garrus becomes a very tragic, weathered, damaged character because of the events of ME2, and its pretty clear what is going to happen.
a) Garrus will probably die in ME3. The near death he faced on Omega was only a temporary reprive. Look how Sidonis and the events on Omega shattered him to his core. As even another hint he won't make it, if he is chosen to be squad leader in the suicide run, he's shot again. Very clear foreshadowing that Garrus' life is in danger. Garrus is such a fantastic character because he is hanging on to life out of duty, out of knowledge that he knows he has some role to play in saving the Galaxy from extinction. But at the end, Garrus will not survive the fight. It'll be glorious, but it is inevitable. (For more evidence, watch the romance scene. It's very telling).
If Garrus died: this is a very interesting proposition. Because while I think it may be possible, I don't know how Bioware could be any more obvious they don't want him to die. Someone will have to confirm the ability to kill Garrus without getting the complete death ending because so far, I haven't seen it done. But lets say it did happen: Garrus likely won't have the development he did in ME2, simply because his death is coming, however awesome it's going to be. So the small extras will be cut, and the player will miss out on the experience of having him. But I have a feeling that, like ME1 where you could not even recruit him, the game will most likely assume he is alive. More on this when I talk import features. Locked down.3. Miranda: Also kind of a no brainer on if she is coming back. She was in ME Galaxy, which nobody played, but there you have it. She is Cerberus, and bioware did its best to make sure you didn't screw up and kill her.
a) Miranda will represent another central conflict of ME3: Cerberus VS the Alliance. The tensions are certainly present throughout the story, and will be exacerbated by the fact that Ashley/Kaiden will be returning to the Normandy as a squadmate. Like any good story, in order to make a huge conflict become real, the writer must personalize it. Therefore the conflict between Cerberus and the Alliance will be manifested onboard the Normandy with Miranda and Ashley/Kaiden. Locked down.
4. Jacob: Kind of a tossup if he's coming back. He's not quite as developed as some of the other characters, but more developed than how developed the ME1 characters were in that game. While he expressed misgivings about cerberus, by the end of ME2 he's very loyal to shepard and has a better opinion of cerberus. More likely than not a return as a squadmate.
a) Jacob could be the middle ground in the fight between Cerberus and the Alliance. His loyalty is to shepard, and I have little doubt he will become an even closer friend/companion in ME3. He stands with Shepard. 75% he comes back.
5. Jack: This character will be the most influenced by how you treated her in ME2.
a) I have no doubt that ME3 will borrow from DA:O with Jack. Depending on how she was treated in ME2, with kindness and understanding or with harshness and indifference will have a signficant role on her character development. Think hardening from DA:O with Leliana and Alistar. Same principle here. Very likely she will be back as a squadmate since she was so hard to kill on the suicide mission, and her backstory was so rich with conflict and personal development. 90% she comes back
6. Thane: Depends hugely on when the events of the next game take place, but if it corresponds to what I suspect, (more later), he will be in the game. Will he live? Who knows.
a) Not many clues I can get from thane on what he will be like in the next game.One thing he has going for him is that he was so genuinely interesting and bioware spent a lot of time developing a personal connection to him through the trial with his son. Its the uniqueness of his race, story, and demeanor that makes him a likely candidate for ME3. He may be like Garrus and also die, but it will probably be more tragic than epic. Garrus is going to go out in a blaze of glory; Thane is going to die after achieving some sort of peace. Perhaps in the epilogue after the story is concluded. 75% chance.
7. Grunt: Grunt was fun, but he won't be back. His backstory was more about the insight into krogan life and krogan culture than about grunt personally. Grunt's story was about shepard developing respect with the krogans, which will be important for the plot of ME3, but I don't think theres much evidence for Grunt coming back. The Krogan people seem to want him too much. Then again, shepard is his battlemaster. I could be wrong. 50/50 chance
8. Samara/Morinth: I'm including both of these characters together because of the obvious replacabiltiy of each. Very little chance either is coming back. Samara was only loyal for that specific quest and states that many times, whereas Morinth was around for the ride but has no real loyalty to shepard other than that she finds him interesting. Also, Liara has a pretty good chance of coming back. 10% either one returns.
9. Legion: He will be in ME3 in a big way, no matter what happened in ME2. Even if he was turned over to Cerberus, he will appear. Even if he died, keep in mind that Geth are all geth as he explains.
a) The geth haven't been dragged around for 2 games just to be forgotten in 3. Legion doesn't present you with such a fundementally challenging question as genocide or brainwashing just to spice things up. The geth legion belongs to will have a big role in me3.
Whether you destroyed or brainwashed the geth, the heritic geth will be mostly the past and the "legion geth" will be the major players in ME3. It goes back to the fundemental principle. Same result, different paths.c) There is a high likelyhood that the Tali/Legion conflict scene is foreshadowing a major conflict in ME3. No prediction on whether legion will be apart of the squad.
10. Zaeed/Any additional DLC character. I am very sad to say almost no chance of these returning. With no dialogue trees, no significant recruitment quest, and no real character developing/changing events, theres not much chance we can expect them to be any more than a background character in ME3. On a personal note, this makes me very sad as Zaeed is, in fact, my favorite ME2 character. I listened to all of his dialogue on the ship and I think he has so much potential. But DLC is DLC. 2%
11. Mordin: He's hilarious, he's got a fascinating backstory and a very compelling quest. However, he's an old man. Expect him to be on the ship, but not a squadmate.
12. New Characters
a) So far, I've presented 6 high likelyhood characters who will be squadmates. That seems like a pretty fair number to include for the next game as squadmates, and yet it gives the designers plenty of room to add more. I have no doubt that a few will be background chacters from ME2.
Cpt. Bailey, from c-sec, is coming aboard the Normandy. Not only did they pick a high-profile voice actor and yet give him a relatively small part, which leaves plenty of room for the expansion of that character, but the Illusive Man also mentions in one of his post mission reports that he intends to recruit Bailey. And when one thinks of the kind of guy Bailey was, is he the kind of person who would just sign up, or would he say he'd only want to work if he was with Shepard.c) Expect another quarian. Impossible to tell who. Could be an admiral, but I doubt it. More likely Kal-Reegar, or most likely Veetor or a character we haven't met yet. This character could be an optional character that only appears if Tali didn't make it through the first game.
d) ME3 is going to be epic. An epic game needs an epic cast. I don't think its unreasonable to expect 12 squadmates, especially if a possible new gameplay feature (more on that later) will be the ability to have 3 squadmates instead of 2.
13. Ashley/Kaiden: I think its almost a for sure conclusion that they are coming aboard the normandy again. This is mainly covered in my Miranda section, but I'll reiterate: The Virmire survivor represents the Alliance in the Cerberus VS Alliance conflict, making the conflict personal. Not much else to say, because the devs have already spoken much towards it.
14. Liara: I'm still developing this one. Will update soon.
15. A note on ME2's possible endings.
So many people seem to be in a certain boat: That you want everyone to live through the suicide mission, and that you are confused as to how in the world bioware will reconcile all of the possible permutations of people dying. Calm yourself. I shall tell you.
The final mission is designed, with every conceivable help in place, except spoon feeding or forcing the player, to have every squad member live. First, look at how they suggest people you pick for what role in the final mission. Read the descriptions of the characters. Its not rocket science. In fact, its possible to have no one die and only do a few of the loyalty missions.
Have you walked around your ship after the final mission and some crew members died. Its maddening. It drove me crazy, so crazy that I couldn't play anymore. I couldn't stand not seeing Kelly telling me I had mail, or Mordin giving me sex advice. I know I'm not the only one. This is totally intentional. Bioware doesn't want anyone to die because of what it wants to do in the next game. They want you to go back and make a successful ending. Thats why they have the ME2 import, where you can start at 30 and blaze through the game. Everyone is supposed to live.
Expect more and less importation in ME3. On the one hand, certain actions will have great impact. However, they will force things down your throat, and that will very likely be certain squadmates living. Always keep in mind that no matter what happened with Garrus in ME1, you were old friends by ME2. It will be the same principle in ME3. Garrus Lived. Tali Lived. Miranda Lived.
Some have said "well why didn't they just make them invincible if they weren't expendable". It goes back to my insistance that your gaming experience will be maddening without them. They aren't going to force you until ME3. You may say that infringes on your creative gaming expirence, but I would counter with this; would Bioware throw out these characters just because a minority (and it will be a minority by the time ME3 starts coming around and everyone cracks open ME2 to get the good ending) want some more freedom (which the game has never been about), or will they bring back their proven successful characters. Look at Dragon Age Origins Awakening. Alistar is alive whether you like it or not. They will force you, don't doubt it.
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III. Plot
1. Its war. Everywhere.
ME3 isn't going to just be about war with the reapers. It's going to be about the galaxy falling apart with conflict as the Reapers approach. Here are two of the main conflicts hinted at during ME2, which must be resolved, or at least attempted, before the reapers hit
a) Cerberus VS Alliance: The Illusive man, no matter what ending you decided to pick in ME2, is going to get his hands on some Reaper tech, and he will use it to make Cerberus a competitor to the Alliance. The significance of your choice to either destroy or "clean" the collector base will still result in Cerberus using Reaper tech. It may change certain elements of the story, but it'll sort of be like letting the council live or die: It didn't really matter. See my fundemental thesis.
Quarian vs Quarian vs Geth: Remember Tali's side mission, how it is clear there are two main factions in quarian society, pro and anti war, and one splinter group, pro-enslavement. That will come to full force in ME3. And since these are "action" rpgs, I doubt the anti war group is going to have much clout, but they will be a factor. Here's what I see happening: "Logain" wants war, and he fills the council seat with another pro-war admiral. Xen aka "Morrigan" is going to take her splinter group off from the rest of the flotilla where she will round up some geth, possibly "good" geth to futher set fire on the situation and let loose a virus that will make them loyal to her quarian band. Shepard's job will be to either diffuse the situation or to pick a side and run with it. I see this point in the game arriving at some real divergence. Legion and his geth will no doubt play a role, likely a side you can join with or destroy. By the end of ME3, this whole lingering conflict will be settled.c) Sub Conflict- Liara VS Shadow Broker. They both will have a significant role to play, obviously from the previous two games, and it is likely that the Shadow Broker will be revealed. What will he be is anyone's guess, but since everyone suspects it's an organization, its probably NOT that. I'm thinking its one person, but its more of a title thats passed from owner to owner. Or its an AI. Either way, thats pure speculation. What we do have evidence for is that there is a conflict building between the shadow broker and liara, and that will have to be resolved.
2. Uniting a galaxy:
a) Shepard and Cerberus know the reapers are coming, but no one else knows or cares. Its going to be Shepards job to go around, not building a team like in ME2 but building an army, like in pretty much any epic. Is it obvious? Perhaps. Cliched? Maybe. But its pretty clear that this is a story that people love, and bioware's story isn't about doing new things, its about doing proven things very well. So likely, the Asari will be scattered and just want to sit around and talk it out, the Turians won't trust the humans, the Krogan will want to roar, visit the female clans, and fight each other instead of the reapers, and the salarians will be very salarian and just make jokes and sing. I can't say I know any details as to what these missions will entail, but I think the basic structure is there.
3. Whats up with those Reapers just floating towards the Milky Way?
a) This is where things get hazy. Pretty much everything here I have very little evidence for, but based on the last 15 seconds and a few convos, here we go: The Reapers are connected to dark matter in some way. I have a feeling that this dark matter will turn out to literally be an interdimensional force of evil, rather than just a physics term. It also seems very plausible that the sun on haestrom is going to be the vessel for the reapers return. A wormhole or something of that nature. I could definitely see a significant plot element being an attempt to stop what is happening on Haestrom but failing. The ultimate climax could be not a fight between the reapers and the galaxy, which may be happening in the background, but between Shepard and ending the power of the Dark Matter force. No clue on how that would happen. However, this would fit very well with the apparent threat/ actual threat thesis.
4. The End
a) Pure speculation. However, i think we will finally be rewarded and truly have different endings instead of the same ending/different path. I'm thinking not a copy of but similar to the end of DA:O, except cinematic of course. If you wanted Tali, you get her. If you didn't, you don't. You may be a council member, you may be a merc. But I think at the end of the tale all of our choices will finally matter.
Modifié par Average Gatsby, 04 février 2010 - 10:23 .
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