Tuesday, December 27, 2011

Mass Effect 3 Characters

Legion; Geth Infiltrator
To start with lets talk about Mass Effect 3 characters.

Right now based on what I’ve read online I’m concerned that my favorite characters aren’t going to be “permanent” squad members in ME3.  I’m a bit upset/POed.  I like the characters in ME2 much more than ME1 for a variety of reasons.

My favorite ME2 characters are Miranda, Grunt, Mordin, Kasumi and Legion.

EA/Bioware has said that the squad will be smaller in ME2 perhaps down to 6.  They said publicly (http://masseffect.wikia.com/wiki/Mass_Effect_3) that the following are on Shepard’s permanent squad:

  • Kaidan Alenko
  • Tali’Zorah vas Normandy
  • Liara T’Soni
  • Garrus Vakarian
  • James Vega
  • Ashley Williams
Seems that EA/Bioware has given all six slots to ME1 characters, WTF?  ME2 characters are only “appearing in some capacity” or “will be optional and others may only be available for a single mission.”  I want my favorite characters to be full time permanent squad members not written off.  As I’m sure you do with your favorite characters. 

Why have I spent all this time with ME2 characters I like better than ME1 characters to not be able to take them on missions with me as permanent squad members in ME3?  I thought that one of the premises of ME was to be involved with the story line and characters?  Now the characters I like will only get some lame video scene like what they that did with Ashley Williams/Kaidan Alenko in ME2.  That’s just wrong EW/Bioware!

Notice that EA/Bioware keeps playing secret squirrel games with their customers about the characters.  It’s not about giving away the plot (that is already out, one of the worst kept secrets about ME3) its more likely that EA/Bioware is afraid we won’t buy the game when we find out we won’t have our favorite ME2 characters but are stuck with ME1 characters for missions.

Wondering why I shelled out $80 for the “Collectors Edition” at this point.

What are your thoughts?

5 comments:

  1. Apparently MOST of the squadmates wont be 'permanent.' They'll come and they'll go according to the part of the game you're currently playing or the decisions you make. The characters you've listed above are simply the ones that have been announced. Casey Hudson on several occasions has stated that the whole idea of 'permanent' squadmates doesnt work in ME3, because so much changed based on what you do.

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  2. I hope your right.

    However, that fact that EA/Bioware has named permanent members and they are all ME1 characters is very bothersome.

    As I said, I like most of the ME2 characters better than those from ME1. If my favorite characters don't have an equal role in ME3 this will be last Bioware product I'll ever purchase.

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  3. I do agree with you. While I enjoyed ME, ME2 was without a doubt IMO a much better game, with many great characters. While Garrus has always been one of my favorite characters Grunt, Legion, Samara, Zaeed, Kasumi, Jack(who even though pisses me off most of the time. her biotics are impressive in battle, nothing like setting off her wide Shockwave and watching 5 baddies go flying) are all such unique characters with unique story lines, and I do hope get their fair share. By that, I mean I hope they can at least be used for an entire mission at least, not just in a cutscene like the Horizon scene you mentioned.

    I do like the original crew members, but I agree with my preference of the ME2 crew mates. I'm interested to see how the Geth play out now that the heretics have either been re-written or destroyed(I have done both in different play throughs)

    P.S. I much enjoy the blog, as I am a HUGE Mass Effect fan!

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  4. I want to see how the Heretics and the Rachni play out. I also hope my favorite characters will be large in ME3. Although I honestly feel like EA/Bioware has cut out ME2 characters in favor of ME characters based on what they've said so far. Hope I'm wrong.

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  5. I actually don't have a problem with this as most of my favorite characters are those from ME 1. ME 2, while amazing, wasn't able to go into extraordinary character depth because there were so many characters. I was used to talking to all my crew after each mission in ME 1, but in ME 2 I kept getting rejected. I pity Garrus as much as I hate his damn calibrations at this point. That aside, having only certain characters available at certain times seems like an interesting twist, and will probably make them central to the plot, rather than the Core team which, while no doubt important, will probably not be as tied in to the plot. While I of course understand many people feeling cheated, to be honest I was never felt fully comfortable with my new ME 2 team: from the very start, the team seemed temporary. It was just a "come with me for this Suicide Mission then return to your own life" feel, whereas ME 1, all your allies followed you as "Shepard" rather than for the current mission. All biased of course, and I hope things work out for those that feel frustrated.

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