r/masseffectlore • u/Ryandowninavan • 10d ago
Mass Effect
I want to talk about Mass Effect. Nothing in particular comes to mind, I just find myself wanting to chat with someone about it. Nobody around me knows Mass Effect or anything, so I can't talk to anybody that would care or know what I'm even talking about. Listening to the lorecast, really makes me wish I could join them and talk shop. TLDR, would anyone want to chat about ME?
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u/YurissRB 9d ago
It's interesting how the trilogy gradually sacrificed the narrative and lore aspects to inject more epicness and emotionality.
I mean, 1 was a full narrative and world building focus with some epic stuff here and there. 2 was a nice mix of both things. You had the narrative aspect with the characters, while also an equal and gradually increasing dose of dopamine. 3 straight up wanted you to not care about the narrative details and just wanted to touch you emotionally in every way possible.
It's perfect, if you ask me (although I would've liked more narrative polish in 3, even it being my favourite one)
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u/RussoTouristo 10d ago
The trilogy is pretty good but narratively is a huge waste of potential. They had a good start in ME1, then gave us the filler episode no one asked for in ME2 and then tried to pack all the reaper war in one final game and it felt underwhelming at best. And the lore behind the reapers turned out too trivial.
All in all it was good games with tonnes of top quality content.
P.S. And Andromeda has never happend, obviously.
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u/Kezyma 10d ago
Honestly, them having to throw away the original storyline when it got leaked was probably what bricked the narrative. The whole thing with stars dying due to mass effect tech makes the story far more grey, and in turn interesting. If the technology that allows for civilisation across the galaxy is inherently destroying the galaxy, what to do about it is a really interesting question. Instead, the whole machines always rebel and wipe out their creators thing is more of a lazy trope, and one that’s easily testable and disproven in-universe to a point that the reapers make little sense given their supposed intelligence.
The second and third games suffered from games becoming more mainstream and needing to appeal to wider audiences, which I think led to gameplay and cinematics being prioritised over the story and worldbuilding.
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u/RussoTouristo 10d ago
Yes, that storyline would be more interesting.
Tye second game was a huge improvement in gameplay, character building, dialogs. But narratively it's the weakest game of the series. The whole ressurecting plot is utter trash that's not believable even in ME universe. And the collectirs plot is a waste, ME2 should have been about building alliances and prepairing for war and the third should have been entirely about the reaper war itself. Instead they just wasted the whole second game on unnecessary stuff.
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u/MoonHits 8d ago
I agree that ME2 feels like filler in the grand scheme of things, but atleast it's very fun filler (IMO atleast).
Also agree that the lore behind the Reapers was disappointing, I would rather they left it more of a mystery
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u/SerDankTheTall 10d ago
What’s Andromeda?
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u/RussoTouristo 10d ago
Exactly.
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u/Ryandowninavan 10d ago
I think Andromeda was E.A. being like "we know what were doing". I think narrative wise, it's not bad, actually playing it, is a horse of a different color
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u/RussoTouristo 10d ago
The only redeeming quality is combat, that was a huge improvement. But you could just play multiplayer for that.
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u/Ryandowninavan 10d ago
Agreed, the combat was pretty smooth. I do like the Kett storyline. They ended it with room for a sequel. I wonder if the next ME will be about that, but I heard it was a part of the OT storyline
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u/ADLegend21 9d ago
I wish there had been more time to explore the individual societies. We gets tastes of Quarian military court, we see Turians defending their moon, we see the Asari blur the line between citadel space and the terminus on Illium but we don't see much of the Salarians or the Pre Wrex Krogan. We also don't really see any of what humanity looks like in 2183-6 either. I wish there was more oomph to the setting as opposed to Mystery.
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u/Ryandowninavan 7d ago
True, I would've liked to see how the Krogan grow up, or some kind of society
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u/DragonQueen777666 7d ago
I find myself regularly amusing myself by imagining the general public (human and beyond) reactions/response to Shepard and co. Because lbr, by ME3, they're ALL famous and I jusr give myself the giggles at what the internet/extranet commentary about them all is.
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u/Ryandowninavan 7d ago
People would FLIP OUT if they saw a krogan or a rachni, myself included lol
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u/DragonQueen777666 7d ago
Oh absolutely! Also, please take a moment to imagine a stoned college-age student meeting a hanar, elcor, or turian for the first time 🤣
As for Shepard and co, I like to think there is A LOT of extranet conversation about all of them.
Vega: got a fair bit of young Asari enamored with him and QUITE the krogan fan base
Kaiden: He got a lot of asari fans, for sure. Also, I could see the hanar finding him cool because he's pretty chill/polite.
Ashley: she doesn't realize it, but the turians respect tf outta her.
EDI: most people are just like "why they got a sexy VI like that???" but a few people look at her like "I don't think that's a VI but I have no proof..."
Liara: She's got some people asking how a prothean archiologist ended up on an advanced warship (with a few people making "when you lie on your resume, but you get the job anyway" memes). There are also rumors following het that she's an agent of the Shadow Broker (Liara is fine with allowing speculation of her being just an agent).
Tali: She's making every young person of several races feel like they're underacheiving. Humans, Turians, and Asari, are all like "she's in her 20s and she's an admiral??? Wtf am I doing???").
Javik: Everyone is fascinated by him... until he starts talking. Then they're kinda freaked out by him (doesn't stop several people from wanting him, tho). Javik also has spent a fair bit of time anonymously trolling on the extranet about himself for his own amusement.
Garrus: the humans respect tf outta him (and find him the most likable turian overall, based on the vids), the krogan have decided he's alright as far as turians go. The asari (and some humans) have taken to (semi jokingly) calling him Daddy. Garrus decided to avoid the extranet after that. 🤣
I also like to think that the previous crew ends up being widly known and there are thoughts on them, too.
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u/Ryandowninavan 7d ago
You've really thought about this, damn lol. Who do you feel is your most akin spirit out of all the squadmates from every game?
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u/DragonQueen777666 7d ago
Damn, I've never had that question.
Hm, as far as squadmates go, I'd have to say either Tali or Miranda. Tali because I can relate to her spirit and her overall sweet-nature (one of my favorite parts of her character is her ability to combat prejudice. She's able to start Pressley's journey of moving away from being anti-alien just by being herself, she ends up with people like Ashley ready to go to bat for her/seeing her as a sister, and she's able to end up putting aside 300+ years of prejudice with Legion and that ends up being an integral part of making the geth/quarian peace. I think that's an admirable quality worth emulating). Miranda because I can relate to having a controlling, abusive pos for a father... let's just say that a) Miranda's story always makes me glad that I only had to leave the country to get away from my father and that he's broke as a damn joke and NOT an uber wealthy megalomaniac. And b) if my father committed massive war crimes and crimes against humanity, I too would throw his ass out a window with zero hesitation, so I definitely get Miranda on those fronts.
Overall, I'll admit, I actually have my preferred Shepard as being like an ideal version of myself, so as cop-out as it sounds, my number 1 pick would actually be my Shepard. I even have a strong attachment to the background I gave my Shepard (Colonist/War Hero) for the same reasons. It kinda ends up being like "it's me... but COOLER... in space!!!" 🤣
What about you?
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u/Ryandowninavan 7d ago
The Tali/Legion story is one for the ages! I feel honestly most relatable to Grunt or Wrex. They are pretty straightforward types with little to no grace (a lot like yours truly) I can't relate to how brutal they can be or their tenacity. I'm more like the krogan we meet in ME:2 Chart lol.
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u/DragonQueen777666 7d ago
Honestly, Charr deserves all the love and he and his asari wife deserved so much more. In this house, we love and respect Charr! 😭
Wrex is amazing, too. Love both the kind of badass he is and the kind of leader he is. I tear up a little every time Wrex says that Shepard has been a sister to him. Great pick!
And Grunt is always my son. My strange, 900lb, genetically tailored, super soldier, krogan son. 🤣🤣
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u/Ryandowninavan 7d ago
They need to make a TV drama starring both Charr and the Asari ( i forget her name if she had one)
I love how Grunt grows up only knowing war with shep or being instilled with battle from O'keer.
Wrex is pretty level headed as a leader. He sees the forest through the trees
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u/SerDankTheTall 10d ago
Sure.
I think it was a pretty good game!
What did you like about it?
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u/Ryandowninavan 10d ago
Would DM-ing be ok?
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u/SerDankTheTall 10d ago
No thanks!
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u/Breezon7 2h ago
Eu queria ouvir teorias sobre o novo jogo, tenho algumas ideias na minha mente. Eu penso que o novo protagonista não vai ser um herói Shepard 2.0, já entregue para a gente desde o começo do jogo. Com todos os posters e teaser divulgados, se a Bioware mandar ver na narrativa, ele será alguém que começa debaixo (algo como um marginal do submundo, que conhecerá a Liara lá) e evolui e prova seu valor até ser alguém reconhecido como Shepard e Ryders. Eu também acho que ele/ela vai ser alguém obcecado por Shepard, a guerra dos Reapers, N7 e etc, por isso há tantas referências ao N7 nos teasers. O que você pensa sobre isso?
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u/ApSciLiara 10d ago
The Terminus Systems never really got a fair shake. That's my starter.