ME2 | Just Another Routine Mission

Please note that this game is rated M for Mature. The adult content includes: blood, drug references, sexual content, strong language, and violence. For more information on game ratings, visit http://www.esrb.org/.

Also, I would suggest to click the title of each post (in this case, ME2 | Just Another Routine Mission) so that you only view this post and there's less on your screen. I'm a bit meticulous and tend to write long posts, so it would be easier on you to have one post open at a time.

My first official blog post will be about the main plot of the game (covering the events from Mass Effect 1), the beginning of ME2, and the creation of this playthrough’s Commander Shepard. What better way to have a quick summary of the first game than to show the Genesis DLC? (DLC means “downloadable content”, for those who are unaware.) I purchased this on my Xbox a while back. Its purpose is that gamers who hadn’t played the first ME game could make the critical choices that will affect the story in ME2, while simultaneously summarizing what took place. This video features FemShep (a term fans created for the female Commander Shepard), since I will be playing as a female.

Plot

That video covers the basics of ME1, critical to understanding ME2. With the exclusion of the relationship option – since there is no good or bad choice to make – my character will take all of the evil options, which will be highlighted in a red color.

Commander Shepard is on a “quest to stop the rogue Spectre named Saren Arterius from leading an army of Geth (electronic-based creatures) to conquer the galaxy. Shepard learns of a far greater threat in the form of the Reapers. Saren has been mentally enslaved by the Reaper ‘Soverign’, a vanguard sent into Citadel Space to initiate the purge of all advanced sentient life in the galaxy, a cycle repeated by the Reapers every 50,000 years.” (Gotta love Wikipedia, eh?) The end of the first game shows Shepard and his team defeating both Saren and Sovereign, at a great cost. I would recommend looking into the first game in greater detail, if you aren’t already familiar with it.

The beginning of ME2 has to outdo all that. And it totally does. In the first ten minutes, Shepard dies. The makers killed the lead character that you control. I can’t imagine how that must have felt for first-time gamers who had no idea what would happen. (I started the game knowing how it began, so it wasn’t a surprise for me.) But it’s okay, because the future has such fantastic technologically-advanced science that it can bring Shepard back to life. It may cost a lot of credits (this game’s term for electronic and intergalactic currency), but the fact remains that it’s possible, let alone expensive. The main plot of the Mass Effect series is about the progression of Shepard’s mission to protect the galaxy from the Reapers. ME2 is about Shepard teaming up with Cerberus – a human paramilitary organization – to gather some of the best of the best in the galaxy to fight the Collectors, a mysterious species that has a connection to the Reapers. From their interactions with the Collectors, they hope to learn more about the Reapers and find a way to prevent the massive and villainous aliens from leaving dark space to destroy all life. Again.

As a sidenote, I can’t help but compare the Reapers to giant, armed squid, which is a ridiculous image. And then there’s the obvious comparison to the Drej in Titan A.E. that I can’t put out of my head.

If you would like to physically see what’s happening, go to the video bar at the right side of the screen titled ME2 Walkthrough. I’ve added a YouTube channel that shows a walkthrough of a FemShep Renegade character. Yes, there is a guy who comments on his walkthrough, which can be highly annoying to some, but you can always mute it and read the subtitles. While his character is not the same as mine, the choices made are almost entirely the same as what I’ve done/will do. (Be sure to start with the Part 1 clip to spare yourself the confusion.)

Choices Made in Genesis

·         Relationship: Kaiden. What the heck, right? The way I see it, a Renegade FemShep would mess around with a fellow human crew member and not take it seriously. This game seems to follow a strong sense of selfish bias for one’s own species, so that further justifies her choosing. It…ah…releases tension, which is important to keep a leader focused. Right? 

·         Rachni Queen: Killed. Is terminating her really so bad, when looking at the greater good? Murder is murder, but sacrificing one life to potentially save millions doesn’t give it such a lowly perspective. Eliminating one less threat to galactic destruction is a mark on the checklist of to-do’s.

·         Wrex: Killed. Perhaps it’s a rash decision to kill a squad member – especially since I have the previous bias of a Paragon character, who liked him and kept him alive – but he was interfering with a major game-changer in defeating Saren and the Reapers. The Virmire facility had to be destroyed. They were more robotic monsters than Krogan, and their deaths would mean saving trillions of lives.

·         Who Stays Behind: Ashley. Both are good soldiers and loyal to the cause, so the decision isn’t based on competence. I chose because I think Ash is similar to Shepard in that they’re both intense soldiers who do what’s necessary to get the job done. (Ash is probably a bit less cold-hearted, though.) I believe that Shepard would have made the choice for her leader, were she in the same position. FemShep acknowledges – even as a Renegade, I might add – that Ash was a good friend and the decision wasn’t easy to make. Plus, I usually save Ash and changing things up is meant to mess with my mojo. It did. I wasn’t used to seeing or reading about Kaiden being alive.

·         Council: Sacrificed. Just as it was with the Rachni and Wrex, this decision was made to sacrifice a few and save many, in regards to a ratio. Helping the Council would mean less ships attacking Sovereign, threatening not just billions or trillions of lives – many of which are innocent – but imposing the destruction of intergalactic stability. An easy choice, when ignoring the idea that they’re living beings and not statistics. As FemShep notes: “The Council could be replaced.” They represent political ideologies, not people, and thus would continue.

·         New Council Leader: Udina. While Anderson is considered a trusted friend, Udina represents what Shepard believes in and fights for: getting things done. If it takes a hard hand and ruthless ambition, so be it. While he’s not as trustworthy as a person, he knows how to lead and deal with political bombshells. Another FemShep note: Udina is “someone willing to be a bad guy…for the sake of the greater good”.

Commander Shepard Specs

·         Gender: Female. This seems strange to everyone I’ve mentioned it to, but I usually choose to play as a male character in video games. I don’t really know why. Perhaps I’m subconsciously attuned to the stereotype, or maybe I just like making the guy super attractive so I can look at him all the time. Anyway, I picked a female for this runthrough because it’s something I don’t normally do, thus a slight increase in discomfort.

·         Difficulty: Hardcore. The Mass Effect series has five levels of difficulty – Easy, Normal, Veteran, Hardcore, and Insanity. I’ve started and abandoned many of my games with ME, and this will be the second completion of the Hardcore setting. I usually play at the Veteran level. The main difference is that it makes the bosses more difficult to beat due to better protection.

·         Name: Luc Dolores. Weird, I know, but I wanted something original. Luc is pronounced “Loose” and is short for “Lucifer”. Ha. Dolores is a reference to my most-hated character from the Harry Potter series, Professor Umbridge. Two villainous names. I found it quaint. The name you choose doesn't matter with the game at all, since he/she will always be referred to as Commander Shepard. I will likely refer to her as FemShep.

·         Class: Soldier. I’m going for a quintessentially human FemShep (since Cerberus is supposed to be an evil corporation with a pro-human bias), and the Soldier class is the least influenced by the future. The biotics and tech classes clearly show scientific and technological advancement. In addition to that, I think it gives a huge advantage to weaponry because I can use all five types of guns and reap the benefits of their upgrades.

·         Background: Earthborn. Again, I’m sticking to human roots, and she’s better than the “petty crime and underworld gangs”, as the description states. Good or evil, Shepard cares about saving people and doing good for the galaxy. The Renegade route simply goes by a more logical and less compassionate manner.

·         Psychological Profile: Ruthless. This is a defining feature of a Renegade Shepard. “Throughout your military career, you have held fast to one basic rule: get the job done. You’ve been called cold, calculating, and brutal. Your reputation for ruthless efficiency makes your fellow soldiers wary of you. But when failure is not an option, the military always goes to you first. You sent 3/4^ths of your unit to its death and murdered surrendering batarians on Torfan.” Basically, Renegade Shepard is a heroic and efficient pain in the ass.

Gaming Segment (3.5 hours)

I already have a different feeling than I normally do, knowing that I'm playing as a female Renegade. Furthermore, I did something unique - I customized FemShep's appearance to be ugly. Now, what I view as attractive is purely based on my opinions and perspective, but what I did was push the eyes, mouth, chin, and other facial features to extreme levels by making them too big, pushing them too close together, etc. The purpose was to make me feel uncomfortable, since I will have to look at the product of my alterations for several hours. Initially, it's working, but not because I find her so hideously ugly - I feel guilty for having put that upon her. She's not even real - nothing more than numbers put into a machine - yet I feel an emotional response to the visual I created.

When Miranda kills Wilson and I make the Renegade dialogue option, the game seems to show that trusting no one but yourself is a good thing. I can understand that. If there's no one to trust, there's no one to hurt you, and in a world rampant with betrayal and deception, that can be a strong safeguard. In the interview aboard the transport vehicle to the Cerberus facility, Miranda and Jacob ask FemShep questions about her past - the event in her background on Torfan and her decision on Virmire between Ashley or Kaiden. Her responses involve "[doing] what was necessary", but acknowledging that she sent "good soldiers" to their deaths. She can't let morals affect important decisions. Later, when FemShep boards the Normandy SR2, EDI appears to agree with FemShep's lack of desire to trust others, concluding that it is "irrational". AI's are seen as some form of perfection, or at least technical upgrades to the heavily-flawed human race. (Miranda's background is another example of this.) It reminds me of an episode of Fringe that aired on February 17th of this year called "A Better Human Being". A scientist created various beings that were made to be perfect versions of himself combined with other genetic material. We strive so ardently for perfection, but it results in two ways: either we screw up because we try to hard, or it was a futile attempt in the first place since perfection is an ideal that doesn't actually exist. (How pessimistic.)

I can already tell that Renegade dialogue is more direct and "cut to the chase" than Paragon dialogue, disregarding emotional reactions. I can also tell that this game sets up Miranda and Jacob as a physical representation of the differences between Renegade and Paragon, respectively.

Something I suspect will prove to be very consistent is the industrial, boxy feel to each environment. The Cerberus facility and Freedom's Progress colony certainly attest to that. Neither are places I would like to call home, though I'm accustomed to grass and trees and thus have a bias. They both seem clean and shiny, certainly, but that's not necessarily a great thing. Part of my dislike for it may come from an innate modern human feature - fearing technology. Moreover, the mechs and geth are a futuristic technology capable of automatic choices to kill and can be programmed to do what humans or sentient beings can't. They're a common staple of most civilizations to protect them from danger, yet they can easily become the dangerous creatures themselves. (Perhaps this is a statement about our current technology?) 

Why do they put so much emphasis on the Normandy? Don't get me wrong - it's a great ship. I've tried to imagine what it would be like to board it. The futuristic tech alone is reason enough to be fascinated, but it's a sleek, powerful, and more than sufficient ship. I just have to laugh when the big, melodic music booms as the Normandy SR2 is introduced - music that's solely used for the big reveal of the ship. 

Everything Else

At this point, I’m already over halfway through the game and have taken a variety of notes. I got so caught up in it that I neglected to actually get my thoughts to the blog. It’s a testament to humanity’s obsession with technology. For my next post, I’ll continue to discuss the plot and my character’s decisions, as well as the implications of what each subplot and what themes and undertones are present in each mission. In at least one of my posts, I’d love to discuss the depth of this game and how much effort and technology was put into it. I’m still awed by the sheer vastness of it and the vast attention to detail. I'd also like to pick apart Cerberus and the Systems Alliance (the representative government for the entire human race). But that's for another post. 


~Mel