Love Thy Crew

Lady Dragonfly · Post by **Lady Dragonfly** » Thu Jun 12, 2008 6:50 pm

Commander, if you are younger than 17, do not even think about reading all this. This topic is for the M people only. Got it? Now go and play whatever you were playing.

Alright, after that's been taken care of, we can get down to business. Spoiler alert, btw.

So many worlds, so much to do, so little done, such things to be.
--Tennyson.

1) I heard so much about alien sex. I heard so much that I even became interested. I went so far as to endure the asari-style romance, expecting to be eventually rewarded with Shockingly Inappropriate Visual Content. I assumed a 106 years old maiden would have stored enough energy in her battery to set my monitor ablaze. I also rightfully expected my finely crafted male protagonist to show some muscle. I mean, literally. Boy, was I disappointed! So little done.

Men at most differ as Heaven and Earth, but women, worst and best, as Heaven and Hell.
--Tennyson.

2) Now, let's examine our choices. The male protagonist disinclined to pursue the exotic pleasures has an opportunity to woo a good-looking female marine quoting Tennyson. On the other hand, the female protagonist (free of the homosexual tendencies) is saddled with a suffering from migraines and bad memories biotic (an outdated model, too) named Kaidan. Oh, and in case your Japanese is pretty rusty, “Kaidan” means “horror story”, in Japanese.
I say, come on, BioWare.

I must lose myself in action, lest I wither in despair.
--Tennyson.

3) Why can't you "have them both"?! I mean, in addition to the Consort. Life is so short. Besides, you are a specter, a guy above the rank and file crowd. The Chosen One, in fact. You are entitled to some perks. A bit of extra melding here and there can’t hurt, can it?

Ours not to reason why, ours but to do and die.
--Tennyson.

4) I did not get it. You have a spaceshipload of eager for action aliens loitering on the beach. However, for some reason only a human can be sent on a suicide mission. Preferably, the same one you’ve just made love to. Or, better yet, the person you'd previously ditched. Drama, man. It's all about tough choices.

What say you, M people?

Wajal · Post by **Wajal** » Sat Jun 14, 2008 12:39 pm

When I first heard about all the scandalous (alien)sex in the game I thought this really was something special, but as you said it was a little disappointing, all you did see was an ass and something that almost resembled a kiss.

And I agree on the choices in the game, they made it to limited and Im not to happy about charm and intimidate, reason was not an option, in other games (kotor and so on) you could still (sometimes) use reason and win the day, I kinda miss that.. to be able to be brainy

It was a really funny game, but they should have done more work on the relationship part and some other things like the AI, many enemies was almost suicidal, rushing you "allout" style

Invisable Man · Post by **Invisable Man** » Sat Jun 14, 2008 9:10 pm

accually my fello m people id just like to add what you are experiencing and thinking if quite disturbing and secondally if you are complaining about the lack of visual effect that is because in the media before its release they had a full fledged orgy royal but then fox news said that it portrays woman as sex slaves even though one had the option of being female, so they were forced to make it only one romance option and to have it completely censored

Shrap · Post by **Shrap** » Mon Jun 16, 2008 6:27 am

link or ur lying

Invisable Man · Post by **Invisable Man** » Mon Jun 16, 2008 3:00 pm

Shrap wrote:link or ur lying

i have no clue how to link but im sure i saw it on wikipedia, go there and just search mass effect

Lady Dragonfly · Post by **Lady Dragonfly** » Mon Jun 16, 2008 8:56 pm

I don't think ME was censored. There was a silly controversy (that's why I was "interested") but it did not result in anything being cut off, as far as I know.

Razor Blade · Post by **Razor Blade** » Tue Sep 02, 2008 1:10 pm

it is a GAME not a PORN movie.....i mean.....it's pretty obvious you won't get to see much action....

Lady Dragonfly · Post by **Lady Dragonfly** » Thu Sep 18, 2008 8:55 pm

Looks like I will go down in GB history as a porn enthusiast.

GawainBS · Post by **GawainBS** » Tue Sep 23, 2008 7:56 am

Finished ME today, so I finally read beyond LD's spoiler alert.

I concur that after all the fuss, the actual love scene was rather short. Probably because the animation would be a problem. I can imagine that to animate something like pulling a shirt over a head is hard to do, or two intertwining bodies. Also, imagine the outrage if there was actually something to see.

Overall, it added to the game, as most well written romances do. If anything, it should have been worked out more.

I haven't played as a female Shepard (on my to-do list), so I can't comment on Kaiden's romance. I did find Liara to sound a bit too whiney, though.

About sending a human with the salarians: Shepard states that they need someone aware of the Alliance communication protocols. That means either Kaiden or Ashley.

dragon wench · Post by **dragon wench** » Tue Sep 23, 2008 8:27 am

Razor Blade wrote:it is a GAME not a PORN movie.....i mean.....it's pretty obvious you won't get to see much action....

OK, first of all, an expression of sexuality is not necessarily porn..

Secondly, the lack of "visual action" begs the question... why all the fuss when the first reports of that scene came to light?
Pretty sad IMO...

GawainBS · Post by **GawainBS** » Tue Sep 23, 2008 9:17 am

dragon wench wrote: Secondly, the lack of "visual action" begs the question... why all the fuss when the first reports of that scene came to light?
Pretty sad IMO...

I don't get it either. Do the people that cried out about that never read a book then? There are numerous explicit scenes in books, and nobody ever says anything about it.

drazac · Post by **drazac** » Tue Sep 23, 2008 10:45 am

GawainBS wrote:I don't get it either. Do the people that cried out about that never read a book then? There are numerous explicit scenes in books, and nobody every says anything about it.

Seeing is believing =)

Lady Dragonfly · Post by **Lady Dragonfly** » Tue Sep 23, 2008 2:58 pm

GawainBS wrote:About sending a human with the salarians: Shepard states that they need someone aware of the Alliance communication protocols. That means either Kaiden or Ashley.

It's all patched together this way so you'd have to make a supposedly tough desision. One of the cheesiest Hollywood cliches I've ever seen.

@DW

Secondly, the lack of "visual action" begs the question... why all the fuss when the first reports of that scene came to light?

My point exactly.

GawainBS · Post by **GawainBS** » Tue Sep 23, 2008 3:47 pm

Lady Dragonfly wrote:It's all patched together this way so you'd have to make a supposedly tough desision. One of the cheesiest Hollywood cliches I've ever seen.

That's nitpicking. It was a pretty tough choice for me. Besides, it's a game, limited in its capabilities, so they have to railroad your decision to a certain amount, if they want to present a coherent story.

Tricky · Post by **Tricky** » Tue Sep 23, 2008 4:13 pm

I do not have Mass Effect, but I curious. What happens if a crew member dies? Does it shut off parts of the game? Or is it more a kind of respawn death so-we-can-wheel-all-the-important-characters-to-the-next-motion-captured-drama deal?

Edit: oh wait, this might be one of them threat-high-jacks. Sorry.

Lady Dragonfly · Post by **Lady Dragonfly** » Tue Sep 23, 2008 6:59 pm

GawainBS wrote:That's nitpicking. It was a pretty tough choice for me. Besides, it's a game, limited in its capabilities, so they have to railroad your decision to a certain amount, if they want to present a coherent story.

Why was it a tough choice? There were no consequences. ME is notorius for that - plenty of choices without any consequences.

As for the coherent story, it was entertaining but totally irrational and full of Hollywood cliches. I really like the Mock Effect parody.

@Tricky

What happens if a crew member dies? Does it shut off parts of the game? Or is it more a kind of respawn death so-we-can-wheel-all-the-important-characters-to-the-next-motion-captured-drama deal?

The latter. They go down for the duration of the fight but after all baddies are dispatched, everyone merrily springs back to life with low HP and no hard feelings. You can heal them or they will regenerate health (and 'shields') over time. Besides, you have a special power to ressurect them during the fight.

GawainBS · Post by **GawainBS** » Wed Sep 24, 2008 1:49 am

Lady Dragonfly wrote:Why was it a tough choice? There were no consequences. ME is notorius for that - plenty of choices without any consequences.

Not having a team member afterwards qualifies as "no effect"?

It was a tough choice (for a game) because you have to choose between two good, loyal people.

Lady Dragonfly · Post by **Lady Dragonfly** » Wed Sep 24, 2008 7:57 am

GawainBS wrote:Not having a team member afterwards qualifies as "no effect"?

It's not like you have a party of six and then ouch! - a party of five. You can have only two squad members at a time. And you have better options.
Also, your romance is 'over' by now, no more dialogue options etc.
The whole thing is so illogical - instead of taking off and just dropping a nuke, they go on a suicide mission. The whole game is like that.

It was a tough choice (for a game) because you have to choose between two good, loyal people.

Both humans felt disposable to me. When I played as a male Shepard, I romanced Liara (and saved Ashley of course

) and when I played as a female Shepard, I saved Kaidan (that was no brainer either). I've never had them in my squad anyway.

GawainBS · Post by **GawainBS** » Wed Sep 24, 2008 8:04 am

My romance had barely started by the time I had to make the choice. I do agree that Kaidan is the least useful partymember, but that's a matter of his class, not the story.
The events on Virmire did add a lot to the characters.

Oh, and dropping the nuke was hardly an option, since there were still AA towers active and the fact that it had to be placed on a precise spot.

Lady Dragonfly · Post by **Lady Dragonfly** » Wed Sep 24, 2008 8:47 am

GawainBS wrote:My romance had barely started by the time I had to make the choice.

Really? You probably went to Virmire first... Well, you could not continue your romance after Virmire anyway, could you?

Oh, and dropping the nuke was hardly an option, since there were still AA towers active and the fact that it had to be placed on a precise spot.

OK, the towers. Alright. But that 'precise spot' is ridiculous. Who cares about precise shots when dropping a NUKE???