Editorial Mass Effect 2: A Narratological Review

[DarkUnderlord]

Tags: Mass Effect 2

<p>TNO follows up from his earlier escapades of <a href="http://www.rpgcodex.net/content.php?id=201">looking at the story side of things in Mass Effect</a> by casting his eye to the aptly named sequel in: <a href="http://www.rpgcodex.net/content.php?id=204">Mass Effect 2: A Narratological Review</a>.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span class="postbody">The real problem is the titanic catastrophe of the plot itself. There are lots of little niggles with ME2 (&ldquo;Why do I start looking like the terminator if I pick nasty options in dialogue?&rdquo; &ldquo;If the Collectors go through the O4 relay, why don&rsquo;t people notice this/why not just blockade it or blow up the relay?&rdquo but these are sufficiently minor that you assume some semi-plausible explanation can be fan-wanked in. The main plot of ME2 careens from the simply sloppy (reliance on plot coupons and McGuffins), to the irredeemably bad &lsquo;oh-god-I-hope-this-gets-retconned&rsquo; stupid (the human Reaper). </span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;">[...]</p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span class="postbody"> Jetting off half-way across the galaxy to lift emotional baggage for the party made them less a crack team of elite specialists and more an angst battalion. </span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><span class="postbody">Fan-wanking commence! Your angst battalion has been attacked!<br /></span></p>

 

[Tycn]

TNO is a true bro.

 

[Overweight Manatee]

I love angst battalion. I'll be sure to use it whenever I want to describe most bioware games and any JRPGs.

 

[Kthan75]

Excellent analysis.

This made me chuckle:

The dialogue in ME2 is, broadly, good for what it is.

 

[Occasionally Fatal]

It's funny, I was just wondering if he'd do another one of these. GIVE ME CONTENT NOM NOM NOM

 

[Konjad]

So now everyone hates Mass Effect 2? Gaming journalists are such bitches and retards.

Release date:
OMGG BEST GAME EVAR, PURRRRRFEKT IN EVERYTHING, GAME OF THE DECADE 11/10!!!!!1111

Few months later:
Shit, this sucks, that sucks, it's shit.

 

[circ]

Strange thing to bitch about too. I can understand Jack hating, but some of the chars in ME 2 were quite likable. Jacob, Fishguy, DLC psycho guy, maybe someone else I forget. Either way, a fuck of a lot better than the ones in ME 1.

 

[yaster]

some of the chars in ME 2 were quite likable. Jacob (..)

Who?

 

[circ]

Token black guy groupmate.

 

[TNO]

can we have this as a normal forum post? big newsposts in the codex layout are fucking hard to read

I could post a topic, but I'd prefer not to split the Kodex Konsiderations across two threads.

@Konjad: In my defence, I didn't give ME2 a clean bill of health on release day. I didn't even own the game then.


Thanks to DU for putting it up, and the other members of the team who had to negotiate my spelling and grammar.

 

[Freelance Henchman]

Good analysis. I like that you conceded that the game actually did have a couple of good points in its favor.

 

[DarkUnderlord]

can we have this as a normal forum post? big newsposts in the codex layout are fucking hard to read

In what way?

 

[ghostdog]

Another well written and spot-on review, TNO. Keep them coming, I'm waiting for a AP review.

So now everyone hates Mass Effect 2? Gaming journalists are such bitches and retards.

Release date:
OMGG BEST GAME EVAR, PURRRRRFEKT IN EVERYTHING, GAME OF THE DECADE 11/10!!!!!1111

Few months later:
Shit, this sucks, that sucks, it's shit.

Wut ?

Did you even read the review ?

 

[Sceptic]

Wut ?

Did you even read the review ?

More to the point: did you even look at WHO wrote the review? (hint: not a gaming journalist)

 

[Clockwork Knight]

Why? Reading is boring, lemme at those kkk already

 

[Elwro]

So now everyone hates Mass Effect 2? Gaming journalists are such bitches and retards.

Read first, comment later, you silly Pollack.

 

[Konjad]

@Konjad: In my defence, I didn't give ME2 a clean bill of health on release day. I didn't even own the game then.

Well, I had no idea but I didn't mean you but gaming journalism in general. When hyped game is released everyone (journalists) says its best in everything or at least one of the best. Bitchers start writing several months later. And there were already some articles on some sites (I won't bother with looking for a links except you really want me to) who claimed some game was so awesome just to bitch about it later.

 

[hiver]

can we have this as a normal forum post? big newsposts in the codex layout are fucking hard to read

I could post a topic, but I'd prefer not to split the Kodex Konsiderations across two threads.

@Konjad: In my defence, I didn't give ME2 a clean bill of health on release day. I didn't even own the game then.


Thanks to DU for putting it up, and the other members of the team who had to negotiate my spelling and grammar.

I dont like it. Its way too positive. I mean on the story front.

I didnt play it but i just read that, for example, decision on whether or not save the council in ME1 has no effect in ME2 and that whoever is in power now still doesnt believe there are reapers out there... even after one went straight into the citadel and nearly destroyed it.

Or was it that some features of the story were just too awful to think about for long?

 

[racofer]

Screw you hates, I've been quite entertained with the latest Bioware releases, both ME2 and DA:O.

Despite whatever you might say, ME2 is good for what it is (a TPS), with much better gameplay than that piece of turd Alfa Popamole. And DA:O is, like VD said, a major incline. The game has quite a lot of real C&C, with repercussions that go beyond the immediate events and also a very well thought out game world, very convincing and very detailed.

 

[circ]

Screw you hates, I've been quite entertained with the latest Bioware releases, both ME2 and DA:O.

Despite whatever you might say, ME2 is good for what it is (a TPS), with much better gameplay than that piece of turd Alfa Popamole. And DA:O is, like VD said, a major incline. The game has quite a lot of real C&C, with repercussions that go beyond the immediate events and also a very well thought out game world, very convincing and very detailed.

TOO BAD ABOUT FUCKING ALISTAIR. AND FEMALE BARD LIANA? AND TOWER OF MAGES FADE. OH AND ENDGAME POPAMOLE. OH OH AND EVERY ORIGIN EXCEPT DWARVEN COMMONER BEING SUCK ASS. UNIMAGINATIVE DUNGEON DESIGNS. And a plethora of other things. Fun no not really.

 

[Sceptic]

Well, I had no idea but I didn't mean you but gaming journalism in general. When hyped game is released everyone (journalists) says its best in everything or at least one of the best. Bitchers start writing several months later. And there were already some articles on some sites (I won't bother with looking for a links except you really want me to) who claimed some game was so awesome just to bitch about it later.

Oh generally speaking you're right. In fact one of the other news thread is exactly about that.

 

[Clockwork Knight]

TOO BAD ABOUT FUCKING ALISTAIR. AND FEMALE BARD LIANA? AND TOWER OF MAGES FADE. OH AND ENDGAME POPAMOLE. OH OH AND EVERY ORIGIN EXCEPT DWARVEN COMMONER BEING SUCK ASS. UNIMAGINATIVE DUNGEON DESIGNS. And a plethora of other things. Fun no not really.

So descriptive and specific

 

[Brotherman Bill]

Screw you hates, I've been quite entertained with the latest Bioware releases, both ME2 and DA:O.

Despite whatever you might say, ME2 is good for what it is (a TPS), with much better gameplay than that piece of turd Alfa Popamole. And DA:O is, like VD said, a major incline. The game has quite a lot of real C&C, with repercussions that go beyond the immediate events and also a very well thought out game world, very convincing and very detailed.

 

[BearBomber]

Instead, BioWare chicken out and do their best to undo and appease what they did in the last outing. Cerberus isn’t really that bad after all. Miranda tells you all the nasty stuff was done by some rogue cells, and it turns out Jack’s experience with Cerberus is, again, a rogue element which was acting outside their orders. Further, it seems pretty out of character: Why wouldn’t the ‘ends justify means incarnate’ Illusive man authorize some morally unpleasant experiments on children to give humanity a biotic edge? This post-hoc whitewashing turns Cerberus into a repeat performance of the Spectres as another 'limitless authority to stop evil by any means necessary' instead of something really morally ambiguous.

This is not true, the Illusive Man often lies to Shepard when he thinks he can gain something from it (eg. about the Collector's trap). Also when you suggest Jack that you will talk with him about the experiments she will tell you that he will just deny any connetction to them.

 

[racofer]

Not this time. I really mean that.

 

[Rhalle]

Actually, the interaction with the squadmates in ME2-- I guess that counts as dialogue-- was quite good. And the squadmates were good, too.

Reunion with Wrex and Shepard on Torfin (or whatver its called)? Great gaming moment. Jack's story was good. Garrus reunion and Garrus was good. (Thane was freaky-girl Bioware forumite fan service, so he sucked.)

But all the loyalty stories were really quite good. The decision on how to treat the Salarian after you figure out his past with the genophage is probably the best Bioware moral connundrum ever, since it didn't railroad you into a good-guy position and it let you sympathize with a guy who engineered a genocide.

ME2 has better writing than DA:O, because ME2 was Bioware starting to shed some of that sterotypical Biowarian silly Dungeons and Dragons boilerplate, which allowed it to achieve some real poignancy.

The only problem with ME2 was the truncated beginning, where they wimped out for noob consumer retards who didn't play the first game and they didn't want them to be confused, and the plot of the whole thing, which was Bioware just treading water until they had to make a third installment.

 

[TNO]

I dont like it. Its way too positive. I mean on the story front.

I didnt play it but i just read that, for example, decision on whether or not save the council in ME1 has no effect in ME2 and that whoever is in power now still doesnt believe there are reapers out there... even after one went straight into the citadel and nearly destroyed it.

Or was it that some features of the story were just too awful to think about for long?

Given I said the plot was one of the worst things about ME2, I'm a bit confused how you though I was okay-ing the story. If I said a good word about ME2's story, I take it back. :wink:

But yes, the blindness to the Reapers remains. But that's small fry to all the other stuff that doesn't make any sense. I spend my time bitching more about the endgame and the human reaper.

This is not true, the Illusive Man often lies to Shepard when he thinks he can gain something from it (eg. about the Collector's trap). Also when you suggest Jack that you will talk with him about the experiments she will tell you that he will just deny any connetction to them.

Fair call on the Collector trap (although one wonders why he doesn't need to tell you: have the reapers bugged your phones or something?) Further, he justifies it as being helpful to your mission. He doesn't screw you over purely for the gain of Cerberus.

However, I disagree on the Jack stuff. If you go and actually do her loyalty quest, all the holovids say about how the Illusive Man was trying to check up on them and they were disobeying protocol (NPC banter rams it home further). So whatever the Illusive Man might or might not have said to you (you don't get the chance to bring it up) it seems that, in fact, his nose is clean here.