Interview: Mass Effect After the Fact: An Outsider's Perspective

Mass Effect After the Fact: An Outsider's Perspective

You don't have to be hardcore to have an opinion.

PB: You played Mass Effect completely removed from the hype. You don’t follow video games news sites or anything. What would you say if I told you that the fans were so angry at the ending that they demanded that BioWare change it because they felt they were owed a better ending than what they were given?

Neena blinks a couple times, obviously taken aback. She shakes her head in disbelief.

N: …Wow. Well, I wouldn’t be that angry about it. Some things could be better, but it wasn’t horrible. (laughs) Hokay! Seeing if everyone has families or lives happily ever after would be nice. I was angry that my Shepard was dead.

I show Neena the extended ending for synthesis. She doesn’t have internet access at the moment, so it was impossible for her to download it or play the DLC. Afterwards she remarks that the extended cut is a much better ending. She also says that if she had seen that she would have gone to work that night in tears after the memorial for Shepard.

PB: Now that you’re done, do you feel like going back with a new character, or are you happy with the story of your Shepard?

N: I’d probably keep my Shepard, but I might go back and make different decisions. Since everything affects everything and snowballs through the three games, it would be cool to, say, let the Rachni queen live and see how that changes things.

PB: Would you be interested in playing another Mass Effect game, knowing that Shepard wouldn’t be a part of it?

N: It would be cool to see a game that takes place after this one once the Reapers are gone, because you have no more mass relays. You’re pretty much stuck on Earth or wherever your party is. What if you’re playing someone else in your party? What if it’s written so that you have the option to play as your love interest after you’re dead?

Neena isn’t a hardcore gamer. She’s not going to check message boards or read a bunch of articles about Mass Effect. But she is a Mass Effect fan. She enjoyed her time with the series immensely, and found herself impressed with the lore and characters. During the 5 year lead up to the conclusion of the Mass Effect trilogy, the series built up a level of hype and fandom rarely seen. But now that it’s over, the trilogy exists as a set of games that new players can pick up and enjoy at their own pace, away from the red hot debates that raged when it was new. Talking to Neena, I feel like we as passionate and hardcore gamers can let ourselves get so carried away with our expectations that we lose sight of what’s important—our personal enjoyment.

4 Pages « 3 4

#Mass effect #Mass effect 2 #Mass effect 3 #Interview #Opinion #Fan reaction

BrokenH

02/23/2013 at 01:04 AM

Mass Effect has memorable characters and good narrative. I think these merits transcend "gaming" and are something we can all appreciate. It was heart warming to see someone on the outside looking in get totally invested in the ME trilogy. Now I don't have to feel like such a freak. lol.

Julian Titus Senior Editor

02/23/2013 at 01:14 AM

Mass Effect freaks are welcome here! To be honest, I talk about it so much that I've made a loose New Year's resolution to not mention it on the podcast. So far, it's only come up in two episodes.

It's a long road ahead.

02/23/2013 at 01:25 AM

Julian

I almost beat ME 2 before deciding to delete my Shepherd, start with ME 1, then import my Shepherd from the beginning. Then I got distracted. Worse choice I ever made apparently. I'll probably go back to all the ME games after I pick up the third one!

Casey Curran Staff Writer

02/23/2013 at 01:55 PM

Good idea for an article. I always wondered if people I know who are not that into gaming would still enjoy Mass Effect. Looking forward to seeing what kind of content you guys will be posting.

02/23/2013 at 09:31 PM

I wasn't the one that pushed the game on her, but I nudged her along. She wasn't exploring the extra dialogue and as such didn't get a good sense at the depth of the world at first. I also think that Mass Effect has never done a good job of teaching people how deep the combat system is. Once I showed her how to pause the action and set up commands and utilize all of her abilities she really got hooked.

02/24/2013 at 02:47 AM

I always thought the game had more depth than people give it credit too. I've played 2 and 3 with every class except Soldier and each of them needed completely different tactics just because they had different health and powers. It made me appreciate it even more.

Jon Lewis Staff Writer

02/23/2013 at 05:46 PM

That was a cool piece. I've always felt that the story in Mass Effect could be enjoyed by more than just us hardcore gamers and its good to see a casual gamer enjoy such a rich series. On a side note, I can't wait to finish off the story with Citadel and then replay the game with my fem-shep.

jgusw

02/23/2013 at 09:51 PM

My wife played through the trilogy last year. She played the games back to back. I had all the dlc, but my wife played through the games before the extended cut ending released. She enjoyed the games and didn't like the endings. She wanted her Shepard to live and thought the synthesis ending was stupid. She started playing through the games again starting from the beginning. She got through ME1 and ME2, but hadn't started ME3 again yet.

GrayHaired

02/23/2013 at 10:50 PM

I see the trilogy set on sale (PS3) and I will one day buy it. Im not in a hurry either, it isnt my type of game but i have to play it because I've heard so much about it from jgusw and who knows, I might just enjoy it.

asrealasitgets

02/24/2013 at 01:45 AM

I just finished the 3rd game last month. I deiberatly waited to play it away from all the noise and hype so I could get an unbiased perspective on the game, well unbiased as much as possible. I feel that the world and universe in the game can stand apart from the core game play and compares to classic sci fi film and tv like Star Trek and Star Wars. It's a very good stand alone sci fi series.

Matt Snee Staff Writer

02/24/2013 at 02:39 AM

this was a pretty good article. she seemed to be pretty clear headed about the ending, and just took it for what it is. Damn, I remember that firestorm.

Coolsetzer

02/25/2013 at 04:31 AM

I pretty much missed the entire trilogy as well. I tried to play the first one when it came out, but I just couldn't get into the combat. I dropped it in favor of Dragon Age Origins, which was a much better game for me. I had heard that a lot of fans were upset about how they ended it. I just don't know how they could throw away all the characters that they had spent hundreds of hours on developing. Anyway, I was thinking of getting the ME Trilogy, but don't want to pay more than $40 for a few older games. I'll play it eventually though, I'm sure.

Ryan Bunting Staff Alumnus

03/05/2013 at 01:42 PM

I just recently played through all 3 games again, and it was yet again, an absolutely incredible experience. I was not one of the people that didn't like the ending of ME:3, and I thoroughly enjoyed the entire journey from Saren all the way to the battle on Earth. When I first played Mass Effect - the first game - I beat it 3 times in a row, consecutively, in a matter of days. I was so impressed with the storytelling and compelling characters, that I couldn't stop. Now I own all 3 games, all single player DLC, and don't regret a single one of them. Mass Effect is easily my favorite series of this generation, and will probably continue to be as long as there are ME games to play.

Super Step Contributing Writer

03/06/2014 at 01:57 AM

Can't read just in case I wanna play myself at some point, but great and unique interview idea. Always good to have outside-ish perspectives. How'd you find Neena?

03/06/2014 at 11:36 AM

She's a friend. Er, was a friend. It's complicated. I used to play Pathfinder with her an a group.

PixlBit