So I’ve been playing through Mass Effect again. Why, you ask. Well I don’t have the internets and I haven’t done for two weeks. You’d be surprised at how much you need the internets if you’re unemployed.
Anyhoo, I’ve been struggling through. The combat is balls but some of the bits are fairly entertaining – mainly the fun character bits. Having said that, I’ve just given up on it. Why? Because I couldn’t get a girl to shag me.
Part of the hype behind Mass Effect was you could cultivate relationships between characters and this is probably the best bit of the game. The problem arises when you don’t go down the beaten track. The first time round, I had my eye on someone, I forget who but because I was playing a girl and I didn’t tell Kaiden to fuck off at any point, the game decided I clearly wanted to ride him like a bitch from hell. This annoyed me and I had to start again, making the person I wanted to fuck extremely clear from the outset.
I should point out, by the way, that I am not in the least interested in seeing the grainy CGI sex scene. It’s just that the character arc is incomplete for the NPC’s if the relationship I’ve been cultivating for most of the game doesn’t go anywhere. It’s really annoying when films, for example, drop an unresolved character half way through and never bring them back. I was struggling with that sort of frustration.
So anyway, this time I was playing as a girl and I wanted to shag Ashley Wiliams. Why? Well because fucking the Asari is far too easy – the woman comes on so hard it’s like having sex with a stalker. I got Kaiden killed because he’s just a little bit too boring. Garrus, Tali and Wrex are out for species reasons.
It was with great surprise that I discovered – during the scene where my two characters usually meet and confess their love for each other – nothing. Not a sausage. Poor choice of words there. The game just skipped straight on to the next bit of story – which is landing on Ilos if anyone cares.
This *really* annoys me. The entire fucking game is about cultivating relationships and it doesn’t even let you do that properly. I forgave its rubbish combat, dodgy plot, lack of any interesting sub plots and so on because the character development system was brilliant. It seems that I had been playing the exact way Bioware wanted me to and as soon as I wanted to do something SLIGHTLY UNUSUAL, that was it.
Reh.
The second one had better be an improvement.
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I can't think of any decent relationship system that *doesn't* force you down a pre-arranged path, or end up feeling shallow.
ReplyDeleteAn extremely varied and responsive system would be incredibly time-consuming and still force you into a certain 'type' of relationship: For a Mass Effect example, either a 'paragon' or 'renegade' one.
The alternative is a points-based system, as far as I can see... "you need 15 points in 'trust',10 in 'shared opinions' and 5 in 'displayed interest' to progress to stage 2, 'light petting'.
Thoughts?
Well the influence system in KOTOR 2 seemed to work quite well - characters liked you if you followed their advice and/or acted in ways they approved of. This was supplemented with smoozing them with conversation.
ReplyDeleteI don't think it's possible for games to treat relationships without definite pre-definied paths, because relationships are infinite, unpredictable and unique to each person in the world.
The forcing thing does come in, though - shagging the Asari does feel very damn forced as she throws herself at you at every opportunity. I don't think the mass effect system is particularly shallow, though. You do need to work at each relationship - especially as you're not penalised for not doing so.
Since writing the above article, I've done a little digging and have discovered that you can't actually have a homosexual relationship in Mass Effect, as either gender.
Is it just me, or is that just a little bit sinister? Apparently there's no room in Bioware's futuristic utopia for The Gays. Jade Empire was more progressive than that.
I don't think there's anything especially wrong with forcing people down certain relationship types - it's better than not having relationships at all, which most games do. It's certainly a step in the right direction and will no doubt be expanded upon by developers of the future. I just find it slightly odd that Bioware made pioneering strides when it comes to character development in the KOTOR games and Jade Empire and yet have taken large steps backwards in Mass Effect.
Odd.