ME2 | Life, Death, and Everything Inbetween

It's funny how simple and complex life is. It's a paradox that will continue to sustain itself as long as humans exist. Time is a big part of it. Time and knowledge (or the lack thereof). For example, I was eating dinner, chatting with the family, and watching part of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone on TV as a rerun just moments before I started writing this. (Okay, I'll admit it. I'm multitasking. I'm still watching HP.) After I finish this, I'll probably continue watching the movie, read a book, and play Skyrim. Life goes on. It always does. This blog won't change the world. My posting about the intricacies of video games may be interesting - I certainly think it is - but of the seven billion people on this planet, maybe a dozen will read it. Perhaps I'm being pessimistic. Maybe the right people will come by this blog, find it unique enough to make note of and share with others, and it will take off, making me an Internet sensation overnight. That's just one more facet of life: ambiguity. The unknown is as fascinating as it is terrifying. How does technology fit into all this? Well, it enhances the experience of life. Look at augmented reality. Look at the phenomenon of touch screens. Look at the explosion of 3D cinema (and printing, for that matter). It literally tries to make life better, or at least more interesting. To a certain degree, it does.


And now, for something completely different. (Not really. It's quite relevant.)


Samara Loyalty


There are so many parallels between each character within the game, it's almost comical. Here, Samara reveals that the asari have a rare genetic flaw that occurs only within a line of purebloods. (How convenient that I'm watching Harry Potter while discussing this.) This flaw creates what the asari call the Ardat-Yakshi, which means "demon of the night winds". Basically, these asari are sex-crazed sociopathic killers. The condition affects their nervous systems and makes it so that when they mate with another, they take over the other's mind and essence of being, destroying their brain, killing their bodies, and sucking their soul. (So, they're kind of like Dementors.) Through this, they gain power and become more obsessive. Freaky, no? Samara's daughters are some of the few lethal breeds of Ardat-Yakshi, which can reasonably create some tension in the family. Two of the daughters have chosen to spend their lives in isolation, preventing any danger to others or themselves. The third, however, embraced the obsession. This daughter, Morinth, has been traveling the galaxy, killing with her sexual prowess and gaining a boatload of power through it. Samara's mission - which is something she's been trying to do for hundreds of years - is to find Morinth and kill her. A mother has to kill her own daughter to save lives, as part of her moral and lawful obligation. Yikes. But that's exactly what happens. (I know that there's a way to kill Samara and bring Morinth onto your squad instead, but for some reason I didn't have that option in this playthrough. Oh well.) It was extremely creepy to purposefully step into a club, catch Morinth's attention, and have her take me back to her place thinking that I was just another great catch. Thankfully, Samara was there the whole time, watching my back. Still, it was unnerving. It's kind of like those movies or TV shows where the civilian wears a wire with microphone under their shirt to catch bad guys, constantly fearing getting caught. I would never willingly sign up to be bait for a homicidal sex addict. (FemShep has balls of steel for that.) Samara not only wishes to kill her to uphold the code, but also for a surprisingly personal reason: she wants redemption. She sees herself as the guilty factor of Morinth's life choices because Samara gave birth to such a monster. The genetic mutation is directly linked to pureblood lines. It wasn't anybody's fault. Science creates natural anomalies. Technically, I myself am a scientific anomaly as an identical twin. (Weird.) It brings up an interesting psychological factor of the parental obligations to a child. To some, children will always be under the responsibility of the parent, no matter the age. Family has a particular bond for those within it. Even mafia movies can agree to that. I can't help but think of the Hulk and Frankenstein and other classical narratives that depict monsters. The correlations are obvious.


A quick quote that Samara uses in a letter to her daughters (the non-crazy ones): "Time is a weak salve for a fresh wound." Powerful statement.


Thane 


I like this character. He's an interesting guy who, like Mordin, is very thoughtful and philosophical. He bears great respect for his beliefs and bases his life upon them. But to complicate this, he's an assassin, and a ridiculously skilled one at that. It certifiably resonates with me due to my history with the Assassin's Creed franchise. According to their creed (nothing is true, everything is permitted being the tagline of it), they kill only those who cause harm and destruction to the innocent and wreak havoc on society as a whole. Their targets are Templars. If they can avoid unnecessary death, they will, and if they can save the innocent, they will. After every kill, they close the target's eyes and mutter, Requiescat in pace under their lips (which means "rest in peace" in Latin, for those who are unaware), sending even those who they feel ill will toward to a better place. Thane does this as well, though the prayers are for himself. Killing is what he was literally raised to do. He does it because he's paid and told to do it. His philosophy separates the soul from the body; they are two entities acting in one form. Those who create the contract for the hit are the true killers, according to Thane. They are the killers, and Thane is simply the tool they use to do it. As he mentions in the loyalty mission (which I'll get to in a second): "If you kill a man with your gun, do you hold the gun responsible?" To give him even greater character depth, we learn right from the get-go that Thane is dying. He has a cancerous-like disease called Kepral's Syndrome. Like cancer, it is caused by the environment and has no discernible cure. This gives Thane an even greater motivation to do dangerous missions. He knows he's doomed to die in the not-so-distant future anyway, and would prefer to eliminate as many bad guys as he can to leave the galaxy a little bit brighter before he passes on. For his loyalty mission, we find another issue with family. Thane has discovered that his son is entering the assassination business, but perhaps isn't doing it well or for the right reasons. (He also lacks the intensive childhood training.) He steps in to spare his son from the life that he lives. He bears guilt for the loss of his wife, his son's mother. While he was away on business (cuz it's totally normal to have your dad be an elite assassin), enemies attacked and murdered her. She was his weakness, a force that "awakened" him, and that flame was put out when he thought things were safely taken care of. Thane doesn't have a close relationship with his son because he was away so often, and because his son is angry with him for her death. They try to work things out (I think it goes better as a Paragon character, but I can't remember right now). It's an unfortunate situation.

My sister always makes fun of his appearance, saying that he looks like a frog or gecko.  He does have an amphibian-like quality to him, gills included, but I see his character more than his appearance.

I jotted down a couple of things here. The first is that Thane claims that "those who are truly dangerous" don't fit the physical profile. Those who pose the greatest threat are those who do so in secret. You can even go as far as considering this on a figurative level. Technology poses a great threat, yet we all blindly rely on it. A virus strikes from within the software, destroying the work we've been so diligently working on for several hours. Evil and dangerous, yet trusted and given the benefit of the doubt. Technical images seem to be infallible, perfect, ideal, when they are actually deceptively flawed.


He has perfect recollection of memory in what he calls "solipsism". The definition of this is a philosophical theory where "only the self exists, or can be proved to exist". Deep stuff. The memory feels very real, even though it is more like a mental leap back in time. Don't mistake this as something like Source Code where Thane can go back and change it or meander about it that area of space and time. He simply recalls the memory with flawless clarity. I thought of D. J. MacHale's invention, Lifelight, where people willingly invest in sitting in a machine that lets their mind wander in a land of pure fantasy. Thane mentions that sometimes, drell (his species) get lost in their memories and continue to live in them as though it was real. (Now that bit is a little more like Source Code.) To be able to have any contact with something so seemingly perfect is a difficult temptation to ignore.


I also had to make note of that fact that Thane referenced the work of Thomas Hobbes and his theory of the social contract and what happens when government is removed from the equation (war). As someone who has studied political science and ideologies (though not extensively), I found that particularly noteworthy. Awesomesauce. Furthermore, he claims that "entropy always wins". There will always be a decline into chaos, a time for war amongst civilizations, as history constantly repeats itself.


The scenario of being trained to kill as a child reminds me of the Kony 2012 movement. And it wheels me back to free will again. And the potential for indoctrination. If they don't know any better, how are they to judge their actions as bad? They don't know it's wrong because the society they were raised in said that everything they were doing was the norm. Thane is fully aware of his actions and what he does. That separates him from this. He's very intelligent and is fully aware of it all. His beliefs are so intrinsic to who he is and why he does what he does, though. In some ways, he is also a warrior monk like Samara.


Mordin


Had to make a quick note of something he said in a dialogue scene. He recognizes that it's very difficult to fathom an entire galaxy of living beings. There are seven billion people living on Earth currently, but can you actually sit there and put a face, personality, background, and empathetic connection to every single one? No, you can't. Seven billion is just a number. To more appropriately wrap your head around it, picture a personal connection - in Mordin's case, a nephew - to find a reason to fight. Imagine that all of those seven billion people are just like your nephew, and suddenly it becomes a planet worth fighting for. Life is just a matter of perception, as the show Fringe has claimed. (Speaking of intelligence and sci-fi and everything that makes Mass Effect epic, Fringe is a phenomenal example of some of the same stuff I've discussed here in television form. Not in the same way, obviously, but it discusses advancement of science and what it could look like or how it could affect humanity. I love it.)


Liara and the Shadow Broker


To spare you from further redundancy, I will only touch on this part of the game. This is very much relatable to the Illusive Man and the idea of secrecy, money, reputation, and influence being a major power play in the galaxy. The Shadow Broker is like the long-lost brother of the Illusive Man, really. The main difference is that the Illusive Man's goal is to preserve and ascend the order of humanity. The Shadow Broker, in a narcissistic way, uses his/her power to maintain balance and order in the galaxy through the means of constant monitoring, bribery, trickery, and so forth. (This is actually a DLC I purchased, so isn't technically part of the main game, but it's kind of awesome and helps out a lot in regards to Renegade points, finances, and resources.) Liara's mission is to take down the Shadow Broker, who kidnapped her friend who had helped rescue FemShep's destroyed, dead body at some point after the intro scene where Shep gets blasted. (It's quite a revelation that Liara saved FemShep, I thought.) She'll do anything to get him back, even if it means taking down one of the most impossible characters to reach. But she does it. She's spent two years and a great deal of effort tracking him down and, with the help of FemShep's latest ally (the double-edged sword Cerberus), they locate him and take him down. The neat thing is that the Shadow Broker is a title, a mask for any creature who takes the role for his or herself. There have been many Shadow Brokers over time, but no one knows this. They all assume that the Shadow Broker is immoral, a mysterious figure that has been in power for hundreds of years. If you've ever seen The Princess Bride, you might understand this a bit better by relating the Shadow Broker to the Dread Pirate Roberts. Roberts had died long ago but secretly replaced a trusted crew member to take on the role instead. This happened several times, Wesley being included in this chain of events (and possibly the famed Inigo Montoya as well). For this reason, it's also like Batman. "As a symbol, I can be everlasting." Just as the Internet and technical images immortalize figures, phrases, etc., symbols do the same in a more primitive medium. The criminals of Gotham don't fear a man in a cape, or Bruce Wayne. They fear Batman. What makes this interesting is that Liara, after defeating the current Shadow Broker (a creepy-looking alien called a yahg, as pictured below), takes on the role of the Shadow Broker. What makes it more interesting is the way at which she does it. Her philosophy is to be a good influence on the system. Rather than base everything on corruption, she wishes to "use this power for good" and try to make the galaxy a better place with her now endless supply of resources and connections. In one quick decision, she suddenly has more control than any single being in the entire galaxy. Woah, Bessie.

The not-so-adorable yahg, a rare and thought to be extinct alien race. This particular one became the Shadow Broker for some time until Liara comes along. Also, he reminds me a lot of a character you might see in Zelda, like those leafy guys in Wind Waker. 

Liara now controls the various connections she has throughout the galaxy and reboots the system, starting from scratch to initiate a less corrupt Shadow Broker facility.

One other quick reference to The Princess Bride is the torture machine Liara's friend is hooked up to. The Pit of Despair, anyone? That chair is a pretty ingenious design, though, that must have taken much research and money. It connects to the victim's vitals and nervous system to sustain life, but also electrocutes with that same connection. An eternal chain of torture.


Tali and the Migrant Fleet


The connection between parent and child - creator and created - is another recurring theme of the series. With the quarians and the geth, it's still maker and creation but on a synthetic level. Is it slaves overthrowing their masters, or children rebelling against their parents? The geth kicked the quarians off of their homeworld some time ago when they essentially went on strike to have free will. (ME3 goes into this and fleshes it out in a great way. I can't wait to experience it for myself.) The technological robots who were supposed to be devoid of personal thought seized the day and did what any lower, controlled race would: they rebelled. The twist is that they're tech. Because of that, we all assume that they're evil beasts trying to take over the world, but are they really? (Skip to the Legion section for more on this.)


Recruiting Tali means battling through a giant field of geth. Not so fun. They're everywhere, constantly firing everything they have at you. Her purpose for being on this ridiculous planet is to study a dying sun (being in any direct sunlight attacks your body and would kill you were it not for the armor and shields protecting you). She believes that dark energy is involved - a seriously foreboding notion, since the only known connection to dark energy in this game universe is the Reapers.

You never see a quarian out of their suits or without those helmet mask things on. What lies behind it all?

Then there's the loyalty mission with Tali. She is accused of treason. She has been sending geth parts to her father for study. She claims they were inactive and completely safe to use. A recent attack on the ship where her father was working suggests otherwise, since geth were the obvious culprits to destroy the base. This mission delves into politics as Tali is essentially subpoenaed to a trial with the Migrant Fleet (the center of all quarian civilization). They wish to exile her for putting their race in harm's way. Tali didn't do it, of course, and I go on a little mission through the destroyed ship to prove it. As it turns out, her father was the wrong-doer. He took the inactive parts Tali sent and made them active, attempting to create a weapon that could destroy all geth once and for all. Tali's father cared for her, but showed his appreciation and love poorly; he was always gone, working, never giving his family the time of day. (It's like workaholic parents who are never home and dedicate themselves to their job. The parent believes he or she is doing the right thing and helping others, but there is a deep psychological effect on the child because of this neglect.) The trial itself is very similar to America's jury system, but less formal. It's like a bad family meeting over Thanksgiving dinner. The politics themselves are interesting to consider. They don't believe in prisons or execution. Instead, they sentence the accused (if proven guilty) to work off their crime somehow, or be exiled from the Migrant Fleet completely, never to return again. The exiled can send their children to the Migrant Fleet, however, so their descendants won't be punished for their wrongdoing. It's an interesting solution to punishment.


I noted that actions speak loudly, as does precedence. FemShep argues on Tali's behalf that she helped save the entire galaxy from the Reapers two years ago, a proven fact that stands to her name, and that it can't be ignored or pushed aside. She put her life in jeopardy for all galactic life and would do nothing to harm her own civilization. This happens as either a Renegade or Paragon Shepard, though the manner at which the argument is given certainly changes. (I basically yelled at and scolded the judges.)


After some thought, I'm beginning to think that the quarian race isn't purely organic. The suits they wear are high-tech and very different from anything else in the game. The quarians are easily susceptible to disease, which makes me think they're a more interesting species than some give them credit for. Perhaps they're like the Reapers - a combination of synthetic and organic life. I hope to learn more about them.


Legion


I had to stop playing right after I brought Legion on board, so I didn't actually have the time to converse with his character. Pity, since speaking to him was something I found great interest in. Since I didn't play the section with him in it, I'll at least provide the clips of cutscenes for his character. Very interesting to watch. Technology at a peak of advancement. Cool. Inspiring. Dangerous.

The bottom line is that he represents a form of technology that can actually converse on its own, an AI that acts according to its own functioning. While it is still based on processors, wiring, and data, it has assimilated itself over time to create its own thoughts. There is no individual personality for each geth, but there is a personality and belief system for all geth as a whole. I'm genuinely mind-blown by this.


And So It Goes...


The ending of the game doesn't really give me much to talk about that I haven't already mentioned. (Well, there is a bit I could talk about, but it's more about ME3 than ME2 so I'm refraining.) The team gathers resources and such to be able to travel through the Omega 4 relay (ol' reliable Normandy). A creepy human-like version of a Reaper is being created by the Collectors, which is the reason for the huge amount of abductions of humans. FemShep and crew destroy the entire base of the Collectors, including the freaky human Reaper baby. As a Renegade, FemShep saves the data to provide to Cerberus for investigation and study; as a Paragon, FemShep would have destroyed it with everything else. Oh, and Cerberus is strongly hinted to have turned on you after you did your job - namely, the Illusive Man suggests this. No big surprise there, after everyone except Miranda in this game is warning you not to trust Cerberus and that they'll turn their back on you the moment you're no longer useful. This ending serves as a bridge to the final installment in the trilogy. The Collectors may be destroyed, but the Reapers are coming nevertheless, and they've set their gaze on Earth. Dun dun duuuuuuh!

Creepy human-looking Reaper baby. So glad that thing gets destroyed.

This video uses a male Shepard instead of FemShep, but it nevertheless represents the Renegade ending.


Gaming Segment (14+ Hours)


I didn't do all of this in one day. I could, of course, but not during college courses. I combined a few gaming segments together for the sake of completion. (4 + 3 + 2 + 4.5 + 1 = about 14.)


I'm a bit bummed that I didn't have the time to actually complete the game, but I'm also not. The ending is extremely frustrating, but not because the game is bad. It's frustrating because it's hard, which makes it a game worth playing. It also makes it time-consuming, which is something I couldn't afford to do when I had to study like mad for finals week. Thankfully, I know how it ends and the Internet is a useful resource to set things straight. If you're ever confused about anything I posted or simply want to know more about Mass Effect, the Internet is your friend. Check out the Mass Effect wiki for loads of details on it. I will likely play this game again, and maybe even as a Renegade, now that I know what it's like and what it takes. It isn't about being evil - it's about being logical to the point of putting the facts ahead of emotion.


And that's my final post. I hope you were able to take something away from this. I enjoyed it, and not just because I got to play a video game (although that's certainly nothing to complain about). I had already wanted to study the Mass Effect series, believe it or not, and this was the perfect opportunity. I'm pleased with the result. I've taken so much away from it. I don't think I'll ever look at a video game the same way again. As I go off for my much-needed vacation this weekend, I will likely continue my gaming with Skyrim or Assassin's Creed: Revelations, but I'll consider them differently than before. (You may think I'm just saying that, but I really will think about my games with a critical eye.) Thanks for reading! Feel free to post comments, and do refer to the video walkthrough on the right side of the page, if you get the chance. I may even continue this after the fact, just cuz I can.


Happy gaming!


~Mel

The end, isn't in sight?

Sorry for the lack of posting there for awhile, it is Finals week and all! :) Gaming segment: 6 hours! Which means, yes, I have fulfilled my 20 hour duty for this project, but, did I finish the game? Not even close. Here is what did happen . . .

So after killing all of the super mutants in the hotel, I ran out of it and looked around at my surroundings. There was a super mutant on a skybridge next to me, the hospital to the left, and unknown area to the right. I decided to brave the hospital again, because I figured there would be a bunch of supplies in there!

When I went in, bam, right off the bat a centaur made his way for me. I took him out with my rifle and ventured around the corner. What I saw wasn't a pretty sight :( at least 6 or 7 super mutants. Deciding that I wasn't quite ready for that, I booked it back out of the hospital! I snuck under the skybridge so that the super mutant wouldn't see me, but turns out that when I walked past the building that was connected by the skybrige, another 4 or so of the mutants were waiting for me. I used a couple grenades and lured them out of their hiding spot and slowly but surely was able to defeat them.
I went down a little alleyway and ended up finding a new Metro station, and Vault Tec Headquarters.

Inside Vault Tec there were, of course, super mutants. I have honestly just come to expect them everywhere in this game haha. I took them down and looked around a little, and found a door that lead upstairs. Looking around upstairs, I ran into a new enemy, a Robobrain:

These things are more difficult than Protectron's, and emit this . .sound wave, or something, that damages you head pretty quickly :/. It hit me with one of those waves and my head was crippled. I luckily had a Stimpak on me so that I was able to cure my head. After firing rounds back and forth I won and kept pushing on. The building was mostly filled with Robobrains and Protectrons on the first two levels. Then . .I got to level three, where a turret took me by surprise. This was also the first time in the game that I had came across a turret. They are attached to the ceiling and have an unlimited amount of ammo. awesome. It weakened me a lot, so I had to turn back and fast travel to Tenpenny once outside.

After the usual curing process and buying of more ammo and Stimpaks, I set out again. I decided to make a quick little detour to Girdershade, the location on the map where the "crazy Nukacola Quantum lady" lives. I fast traveled to the power station that I thought was close to Girdershade and walked up there. Once I was there, I walked inside her place and she
gave me the "nukacola tour" (a very small tour of the inside of her house, not exactly fun). I told her to get a move on it. She ended up giving my 360 caps for 9 Quantums! I was pretty happy with myself. As long as I keep bringing her bottles, she will supply the caps. When I went to leave, I met Ronald Larsen, the towns only other inhabitant. He has (had) a fatty crush on Sierra (Nukacola lady) and would do (did) anything to please her. (funny thing is, he ended up dying soon after, but I will get into that in a minute). He offered me a deal; if i brought him the Nukacola Quantums that she wanted, so that he could give them to her, that he would pay me what she would pay me. When I had the option to respond, I had a new option pop up in the text box. Remember how I said that having the Black Widow perk lets you say interesting things to men? Yeah, so, when this came up, "Tell you what handsome, if you go and get those Quantums for me, I'll make it a threesome with you two." hahahaha!! Of course I said that. He pretty much was drooling like a dog and ran off to go get those Quantums. Now, I didn't really trust that he was going to be smart enough to actually survive the journey, so I followed him. We walked and walked and walked and fought a couple of Radscorpions along the way, and eventually made it to, where else, my favorite Nukalurk infested place: The Nukacola factory.

I bit the bullet and decided it was time to get those suckers once and for all. I turned back to see if he was going to follow, but nope, he just stayed at the entrance. Oh well. I went into the Storage and Mixing Vats again, to find to Lurks in sight. I went into the stairway to the offices and yikes! There was once coming down the stairs at me. After dying about 4 times, I finally set up two mines and gunned him down. I kept going a little and found another Lurk. I was pretty low on health, so I decided to turn back to go get some more Stimpaks. Funny thing about how the building is set up though, you can't go back the way you came in the Storage and Mixing Vats. I had to climb a staircase and drop down to get to the door to the offices, and the bottom area was blocked by debris :( I had no choice, Nukalurk was goin down!! I headed back up and loaded my missile launcher in my hands, this was no situation to take lightly. After I hit him square in the chest he only had small amount of damage surprisingly!! But I was able to finish him off. I finally was done with that floor! I kept going and fought a couple Protectrons, but they were amazingly easy after the Lurks. I was on the factory floor and found a computer that said activate shipping belt, or something like that, and 3 Quantums came out, awesome! With Quantums in pocket, I walked to the only door leading out in sight, and it had a lock pick skill of 100, which mine was 75 :( Frick. Luckily I found a very hard to see switch on the left side of the door that opened it, but If I hadn't of seen that, I would have been soooo frustrated. The doors opened, and low and behold, I was at the entrance again. Oops, Ronald is dead. My bad. Don't know how he died in the 30 minutes I was gone, but, yeah, he did. I looted his stuff, of course, and acquired a great gun! Called, the Kneecapper, it's a shotgun that does quite a bit of damage. With new possessions I left the factory finally feeling accomplished I made it all the way through. Although, by this point, I had used all my ammo and Stimpaks that I had originally bought so that I could back to Vault Tec and finish off those Turrets and Robots, so, back to home base it is!

With the reenergize finished, I fast traveled back to Vault Tec to finish them off! I climbed to floor three again and was able to defeat all turrets and robots. Anndd there really wasn't anything more to do. So that was kind of a waste of time. hmm.

I knew that the Metro outside would be valuable to explore, but, I wanted to see what was in that hospital! I walked on back to the hospital, faced my doubts, and walked inside. Guns ready in hand, I took a left down a hallway where I had previously taken a right. I checked all the rooms and boy was I right when It came to supplies! Stimpaks galore!! I ended up looting about 18 in all. Score. But those damn super mutants were still in there. I broke out my mini gun and went at them!!
That thing . .just does work! I was able to take down all 9 or 10 of them within oh, about a minute. Needless to say, I am feeling a bit more confident around them with that gun in hand :) I went upstairs in the hospital and found two more mutants which I took down, and didn't much more in the hospital on that level. I went back downstairs and found stairs that actually lead to a dry sewer? Interesting.

In the sewer, 4 mutants charged me but again, that mini gun makes them no problem whatsoever! I leveled up during this sequence :) Level 8, and the Strong Back perk to follow! I can now carry 50 more pounds. Man, does that help!! I cannot tell you how many times I have had to decide what is really important to me because I was at my weight level and had to drop something. This is going to help immensely. Found some ammo down there, and a door that lead to the metro tunnel. In the metro tunnel, super mutants and a Merc. With all defeated, I do have to say that I am starting to get good at this whole, staying alive thing, for longer. hah :) I came out at Dupoint Station! Raiders galore out there!! :( Seriously though, about 10 of them rushed me. See, mutants are that bad because they are pretty dim witted and even though they are large, they are slow and not the best at aiming (typically). You do get the occasional mutant with a mini gun or missile, and THAT is a pain to deal with. Lots of hiding, attacking, and hiding again. Anyways. The raiders though . .they are typically smarter than mutants, and actually know when and where to shoot. I died a couple of times and then decided the right course of action here is to grenade them first, then attack in the open. That strategy works just fine! It still gets me that they always get down to very low health and then say they don't want to die and run away. Yeah, still going to get you. Not going to let you go. mmhm!

Once they were all gone, I fast traveled to Tenpenny because I actually used pretty much all the Stimpaks I had :( Bummer. I refreshed and took a break from the downtown scene for a minute. I had actually heard from a buddy of mine that has played the game that there is this one Vault that is haunted . .and very much wanted to check that out! I fact traveled to Vault 101 and walked NW from there to eventually end up at Vault 106. Now, don't get me wrong, I LOVE creepy games. Silent Hill? So much fun. But this Vault, wow, freaky. From the minute I hit the "open vault" lever, the noise from the door opening for probably the first time in a long time, was terrifying. I walked inside and the state of the place was in disarray. Barrels everywhere, and various items strewn around the ground. I walked down some stairs and what?

All of the sudden my vision goes purple and I see someone in a white lab coat walking into a room. I go down the hallway towards the room and my vision is back to normal and when I do get to the room, the person is gone. I go outside the room and woah!! a "insane vault dweller" is coming at me in a vault 106 jumpsuit and a knife. I take him out and wonder, what that hell is going on down here? Curious, I jumped on the Fallout Wiki page I mentioned, and looked up Vault 106. The lowdown is that, all of the vault dwellers went insane because this vault was always part of an experiment to see what would happen if the vault was pumped with hallucinogenic gas. Ohhhh that makes so much more sense! But makes for some damn crazy people. With knifes. And swords. Yikes. I kept going down and down finding more insane people along the way, and some purple visions as well. One of those purple visions I hit VATS on the man before me, and ..it's my dad?! It can't be, can it? I never caught up to him . .so I am assuming he isn't real. When I did get to what seemed the bottom of the Vault, another "trip" happened and this time . .it's Butch coming at me with a knife! Remember him? The bully I took out in the Vault? Yeah . .looks like he is back, and wanting revenge :( When this "vision" came at me, it actually hurt my HP. HOW IS THAT POSSIBLE?!? I knew it was time to get out of there when my hallucinations are actually, physically hurting me. I ran out of there as fast as I could and boy did it feel good to make it out of that creepy place. Can't say I will be going back there anytime soon.

I fast traveled to Dupoint Station, where I had previously defeated those raiders, and walked across a bridge of sorts and found another Metro! I went inside and came across some Ghouls, no biggie there! Although, there were a lot of them. So that was a little difficult. Reguardless, I made it to a new Metro station, and Pennsylvania Avenue :) Getting closer to where I want to be, I just know it! I leveled up again, a new record to level up twice in one gaming segment, and picked the Large Guns perk, where all my rifles and shotguns do more damage. Im so loving that perk, since those happen to be my favorite guns, anyways! With the addition of the Level 9 perk, I called it a day in the world of Fallout.

Overall stats after 20 hours of Gameplay:
7 Quests completed
Roughly- 25 Times killed
75 People Killed
291 Creatures killed
Locks picked: 24
Computers Hacked: 3
Stimpaks taken: 110
Times addicted: 3
Status: Very Evil- Urban Invader (Lvl 9)

Feelings on Fallout 3, gameplay, aesthetics, etc.:

This game, in one word, is . .incredible. One of the best I have ever played, honestly. Besides the random glitches, it has worked like a charm. It draws you in . .makes you want to play more and more. The overall time and thought put into every aspect of the game, locations, characters, plot line, was just so thorough!

Playing the bad character was challenging, but very engaging. I found myself not caring, as much, about stealing and little things like that. When It came to killing a good character, though, I felt more apprehensive, as this wouldn't sit well with me in real life. The freedom to whatever you  like, when you want, is so addicting though. being able to live vicariously through this game, doing things you normally wouldn't do, is part of the rush though, right? That is what I think draws me into games that are so maybe dark and centered around killing enemies. Lets face it . .that is probably what draws a lot of other gamers in as well. Who actually wants to play a game about happy, everyday life things, where is the thrill in it . .the rush? It's simply not there.

Sometime I noticed when playing this game is something I kind of already knew in real life, but is even more so reenforced though this game; is the fact I have to be thorough. I know I can be slightly ADD/OCD in real life, but in a game where you yes, have a storyline, but no, don't have to follow it all of the time, there are many opportunities to start other side missions. When I enter a building, I have to explore every inch of it and know what is behind every door, it is just in my nature. If I don't, I won't feel satisfied. I also noticed that even though I would do or say the bad thing, that it never felt satisfying. Maybe at the time it was easier to be rude and callous, but in the long run it would have made me more comfortable to be the nice guy.

So no, I didn't finish the game. I have barely scratched the surface as I see it. I plan to finish it out, finding every section on the map and location to be discovered :) Let me just say, while being evil wasn't my first intention, I would do that route again. Just to get some perspective as to what is on the "other side of the spectrum" than what path I usually pick as a video game character. If you have the time, I would pick up a copy of Fallout 3 and see what I am talking about for yourself! Or if you have it, and have only been a good guy, walk on the dark side for a little! You may come to like it  . .:) haha.

With all that is said and done, I hope you all enjoyed my account of Fallout 3- now get out there and game!

-Kels

ME2 | The Will to Act Freely, With or Against the Law

To continue my rampage over the ME3 ending, there is an excellent article that picks apart the ending of the game with specific reasons to feel disappointed. It justifies the fans' negative response in an eloquent manner. Worth reading, but be warned: there are massive spoilers, since it literally takes moments from the last ten minutes and exploits them. (I haven't played the game yet but was willing to be spoiled in order to understand why the ending certifiably sucks.) If you're not even a gamer, it's also worth reading. First of all, it furthers a point I've tried to make with this blog: gamers are people, too. Smart people, even. There is more to video games than staring at a television set for 12 hours, drooling, sweating, and getting calluses on your thumbs. Yes, sometimes that happens, but we put an intellectual and emotional (and, technically, physical) investment in these games that sometimes transcends that of any other medium. It's a very personal and exciting experience to play video games, especially RPG's, in my opinion. So, there. 


Garrus Loyalty


Have I mentioned that Garrus is also one of my favorite characters from the ME series? I don't really know why. I'll have to think about it. Perhaps I like him even more as a Renegade FemShep. I contemplated pursuing a relationship with him as my FemShep character, but didn't end up going there. (Actually, I didn't end up pursuing any romantic connections at all in this playthrough.) Perhaps it's because I can appreciate sarcasm, and Garrus definitely amps up the sarcasm.


Largely, this mission was about understanding the difference between vengeance and revenge. (The mission is even called "Eye for an Eye".) Garrus was effectively being a turian version of Batman who acted as an anonymous vigilante to wipe out crime syndicates and mercenaries. He gathered other strongarms who believed in his cause. One of those sidekicks, Sidonis, turned on him and caused his entire team to be murdered. Naturally, Garrus is seriously upset about it, dealing with a lot of guilt and anger. The mission (should you choose to accept it) is about helping Garrus to either kill the SOB or forgive and forget him. As a Renegade, I absolutely helped him with the killing. (Garrus is an excellent sniper, let me tell you.) 


I couldn't help but remember that scene from Batman Begins when Rachel Dawes is talking to Bruce after the trial for his parents' murderer. She points out that Bruce wanting to kill his parents' murderer is revenge, not vengeance.
Define "revenge":  The action of inflicting hurt or harm on someone for a wrong suffered at their hands.
Define "vengeance":  Punishment inflicted or retribution exacted for an injury or wrong.
By the dictionary, there is no definitive difference between the two. Hence the confusion. I think a lot of the issue here is that revenge indicates pleasure or satisfaction with the act, whereas vengeance is supposed to be a form of justice that elicits no pleasure from the enforcer. Revenge is dehumanizing, but vengeance is morally acceptable. I find this interesting, since the dictionary claims that they're synonymous and society differentiates them by emotional empathy. One word changes whether or not you're morally reasonable. Is this a clever ploy created by some guy years ago to make murdering his dirty cheating wife justifiable?
This clip isn't the whole scene, and cuts out the dialogue that I'm referring to, but I always laugh when Rachel slaps him not once, but twice. This remix nearly made me erupt with laughter in the middle of a quiet library area. Oops.

(Quick sidenote: I've completed the Batman Begins video game for Gamecube a dozen times. I loved Batman, and it was the only real game I had at the time. There wasn't an Xbox or a Wii in my household then. And who doesn't want to be Batman at some point in their lives? I got to drive the Batmobile!)


Investigating a Collector Ship


Every time I do this level, it kinda freaks me out. This game isn't easy to play at night if I'm alone in my room, I admit it. The Collectors are creepy. It's the one area of the game where I take pleasure in blasting my guns. I loathe the husks with a fiery passion and enjoy watching those ugly, evil creatures fall to their deaths. The Collectors themselves are just below my feelings for husks, so I hate them, too. (After knowing things from the ending of this game and ME3, I don't hate them quite so much. All for the love of science and, in a twisted way, saving the galaxy. But I'll always hate the husks. They're almost an equivalent to zombies, except worse.) The danger of influence and science at its most extreme form is embodied by the Collectors themselves. (Again, nod to ME3 with the issue of organic versus synthetic.) The whole place is like a technological beehive. I don't like bees. It makes sense that the game makers did it this way, though, since the Collectors harvest species for study. They're meant to be like insects. 

Personally, I was pissed that the Illusive Man lured me into the ship. He planned the whole thing just so he could get some intel from the inside of a Collector ship. From the Renegade perspective, though, it made sense. Shepard makes impossible missions possible and has some of the best of the best crew members in the whole galaxy, so having confidence in FemShep's abilities is reasonable. Furthermore, the opportunity to learn about the Collectors from first-hand experience is rare and incredible. Their technology - which is technically Prothean and Reaper technology - is very advanced. To be able to study that would be amazing and could help out humanity as well as other species. (In other words, it's a very dangerous thing to put into the Illusive Man's hands as a Paragon, but a very good and innovative thing to give him as a Renegade.)


FemShep spoke with Mordin after the mission. (He's the voice of reason in all of this chaos, which is interestingly contrasted with the difficulty of following his speech pattern.) The Collectors are not Protheans, or even descendants of Protheans. They are clones of Protheans. Their genetic and organic material was studied, taken apart, and put back together with modifications to create the Collectors, a race purely designed by the Reapers to collect species, study them, and probably do the exact same thing. (ME3 answers this, I think.) They have no culture or personality - nothing that gives them any sense of individuality.  Culture and art, as Mordin points out, represent a philosophical and intellectual progression in some form. Advancement in society is dangerous at opposite ends of the spectrum; if there is no progression when society is ready for it, or progression when society is not ready for it, bad things happen. There must be a balance where a step forward in culture occurs when the people are prepared for it. As time changes, society changes. The Collectors have no society to be changed, and time makes no difference to them. This proves their synthetic connection - the part of them that is technologically altered by the Reapers. They're organic robots. It's an awesome and terrifying idea. 

Image of Prothean statues on planet Ilos from ME1. (Click to enlarge.) Supposedly, a living Prothean actually makes an appearance in ME3 which has me really excited. It's difficult to see what they look like here, and the Collectors have altered the actual appearance of the Protheans.

Miranda Loyalty


There isn't a lot to say about this one, I don't think. There's the stuff about Miranda as a character, which is interesting. She is a genetically-modified human. Everything about her is made to be perfect, or as close to perfection as physically possible - even her appearance, as she herself points out. Technology assisted with making her so freakishly awesome, but she's very much a living being with flesh, blood, and personality. Not an organic robot. She has some serious baggage, though, about having no choice in the matter. Her father literally designed her to be this way. He's so narcissistic and egomaniacal that he used his own genetic material and combined it with whatever else he found that was the best of the best. She doesn't have a mom. (How sad!) She ran away from him once she had planned it out and was old enough to, and Cerberus scooped her up. She quickly rose in ranks and became one of the Illusive Man's best cohorts. Goody.


This mission is about Miranda's identical twin. Genetically, anyway, since her twin is actually several years younger. Miranda kidnapped her sister, Oriana, to save her from their father. She did it to protect her, since she understood the villainous ways of her father and wished to spare her from that life. You could compare her to the "silent angels" that euthanize dying patients in hospital wards, acting by the belief that they're helping others when perhaps they're not. (Free will, folks.) Did she have the right to do it? Maybe since she's actually a familial connection, there's more of a reason for her to be allowed to do it. And, of course, she experienced it herself and actually knows for a fact what her father is like. I'm on the fence about it. The situation warrants more merit than the typical trying-to-protect-my-sibling case. But I also never got to hear about the father's side of the situation, nor much about him as a guy beyond the fact that he's uber wealthy and successful in business. The whole concept of twins and genetics and whatnot is particularly relevant to me because I'm an identical twin. All those jokes and references and stuff made in society about twins is something I'm either fully aware of or have experienced in my two decades of life. I can attest to the fact that I'm absolutely not a clone, by the way, and that there are some pretty substantial differences between my sister and I. 


I'd really like to pick a bone with Bioware about potentially sexist programming with her character, how the camerawork specifically forces the gamer to "check her out" and accentuates her feminine aspects, but I'll bite my tongue for this blog. The game itself largely appeals to the young-adult male demographic, but I'm a college girl who loves these games. Then of course, you could argue whether they should do the same sort of sex appeal for male characters and if I would complain about that, which I very well might not, so... Ah, devil's advocate.

I love Yvonne Strahovski. She's a great actress, she's modest, she's gorgeous, and she's Australian. And all of this is coming from a straight woman.

Illium


A quick note about this planet. It's like a futuristic Seattle or New York City. The only place I visit as FemShep is Nos Astra, a marketing district to buy stuff. Pity, because this place would be awesome to explore. Well, I visit a couple of separate locations for the missions with Samara and Thane, but they're exclusive buildings that are nearby. This place is much less grungy than most of the planets visited. Clean, shiny, and - as well other places in the game - boxy. Synthetic stuff is to lines as organic stuff is to circles, if that makes sense. 

Pretty, no?

Recruiting Samara


I believe a character in the game described her best: a warrior monk. She's an asari like Liara (who I'll come to in my next post) with wicked biotic abilities. (Hence the weird glowing purple stuff in the image below.) She's a justicar, a term in the game that refers to a small, powerful classification of asari who strictly follow a set of codes to uphold the law. They're similar to Spectres. The term "justicar" came from medieval England, and is used appropriately since justicars from our own timeline were judges who upheld justice. Good job, Bioware, for your historical accuracy. Asari justicars are selfless and lethal. They have a reputation for killing law-breakers ruthlessly and protecting the innocent to the death. If you're a criminal, you do absolutely everything in your power to steer clear of justicars or they'll getcha. They're a monastic order that follows a borderline religious code that covers pretty much any possible circumstance they could possibly face. They're governed by this code rather than living beings. In American society, the citizens are checked by the government, and the government is checked by the Constitution. The invariability lies in the fact that our court system can change the code with the laws and interpretations they pass. But I'd rather not delve into that ethical debate right now. Even so, I find Samara to be a fascinating character. 

Again, I'm biting my tongue over sexism here. Speaking plainly, Samara's boobs are ginormous and the outfit she wears certainly emphasizes that. Boing! As a character that vocally sounds like an older woman (and as a character who technically is an older woman), this could be a representation of the male audience that enjoys the appeal of "cougars". I could be making an interpretive leap here that isn't true, but...um. I have reason to believe it.


Video games are nothing but symbolic coding figured into computers to create technical images. How interesting that asari justicars abide by a strict code, when as far as I'm concerned, they're completely created by a technological code. 


Gaming Segment (7 Hours)


Free will keeps popping up in my mind with the ME series. It's much like the article I posted about ME3 where they actually do discuss how free will plays an important thematic role in the series:One of the series’ strongest themes is an exploration of what it means to be a living being. This ties very closely the concept of free will, and both ideas are defined by contrast to the Reapers. Reapers see other beings as material resources, and their most insidious trick is that before destroying organic life, they rob it of independence. In Mass Effect, the struggle to maintain control over oneself at all costs, even if it means dying in the process, is an important concept. This is further developed in Mass Effect 2, first in Jacob’s loyalty mission ( his father is discovered to have used the side effects of an indigenous plant to turn female coworkers into sex slaves as a means of survival), and with Legion’s, where it’s revealed that the Geth are actually a complex people who simply want the freedom to go their own way without fear of being destroyed. This creates a moral environment in which the crew of the Normandy isn’t just fighting to save Organic life from evil machines, they’re actually fighting for the right to exist on their own terms. 


It can't be ignored that a powerful concept that humans love to explore is free will. Look at the United States and our history of gaining independence. Look at our Bill of Rights and the First Amendment to the Constitution. Humans love freedom and frequently exercise their right to have it. It's no different, hypothetically, for any other competent species. Granted, we also love control and power, which creates a very interesting and conflicting dichotomy.

I'm enjoying this project immensely and am finding great intellectual satisfaction in it. I hope others can share my enthusiasm for it. Video games are awesome.

~Mel

ME2 | Humans Playing God, Science, and Identity

As I play, I'm finding myself increasingly justifying the actions of a Renegade character. That, or maybe I'm simply understanding it more now that I've actually taken the time to consider it. The experience certainly proves that I'm no exception to the overall ignorance of humanity as a whole. Perhaps Renegade FemShep isn't as bad as she seems. The poor image of her is tainted by her tendency to swear and make brash decisions when in reality, obscenities are just words and her choices are very logical with a focus on how it will effect everyone in the future. The Renegade character is always looking forward in time and with a mindset that covers the big picture rather than the here-and-now that the Paragon seems to see. 


I just recently discovered how Mass Effect 3 ends, and I must say that I'm disappointed. I'm entering the realm of spoilers here, so avert your gaze until you see bold lettering if you wish to play it with a fresh eye. 
The adventures and missions embarked upon throughout the first two games of the ME trilogy foreshadow an epic, ridiculously awesome and difficult showdown with a huge, astronomically powerful alien race that plans to annihilate the galaxy. While the revelations about the Reapers and what their true intentions are seem interesting to me - I'm basing all of my information about ME3 by quick glances of reviews online - it's the ending that seems to have everyone in an uproar, including myself. It's a bit extreme to claim that everything you do up to the final moments is for nothing. Billions of beings' lives are saved by Shepard's efforts, and he is given somewhat of a godlike status for his actions. But a big part of what made this RPG so satisfying is that you, the player, have a ton of control over how the game plays out. Bioware hyped up this game and said that decisions had an even greater impact on the overall outcome of the game than ever before. Yet the ending resolution to the game ultimately ends the same way, no matter what choices you make: 1) Every mass relay is destroyed, leaving several and almost all of the galaxy's life forms stranded on foreign planets with zero contact to other species and a high probability of dying there. 2) Shepard dies. There's no avoiding it at all. Supposedly, if you have a high enough amount of XP you can see Shepard twitch right before the credits, clinging to life but ultimately losing the battle. 3) Your crew gets spaced, too. All of those characters you learned to love or hate, but appreciate and respect nonetheless, die in vain. Now, I have to play devil's advocate with this, as someone who is viewing this gaming series with a critical eye. Not everything in life has a happy ending. With something as huge, dramatic, and violent as this is, it's reasonable that there will be a lot of death and some seriously depressing results. But what many gamers who became invested in this series had hoped to see was the impossible: Shepard lives, has a happy ending with his or her LI (love interest), has drinks with the crew, and pans back to a view of the galaxy, which has taken a hit but is working on rebuilding itself. It's all too possible and realistic that the galaxy would be destroyed, almost everyone dies, and the Reapers essentially accomplish what they were aiming for. It's a bit surprising to me that Bioware chose to end the series this way, and, as I said before, disappointing. There's already a movement to get Bioware to create a DLC to "fix" the ending and allow gamers the choice to save more lives, prevent the mass relays from being destroyed, and not die. I, for one, am all for it and hope their efforts succeed. Technical images are most satisfactory when we have control over them, as I have likely shown through my gaming journey here. When the ending was taken out of our control and destruction and death became the only solution, we threw our controllers into the air with disgust. I'm not nearly as excited to play ME3 now. Had I heard that there was a possibility to save the galaxy and have that "only in the technical realm" happy ending, I would still be stoked to play, even with the spoilers. Here's to hoping.


Okay. Now to the stuff I actually did in ME2. 


Jack Loyalty


There's an undeniable resemblance to Grunt with Jack. She, too, was tested by her own race to create the perfect biotic soldier. Many people died in pursuit of exploiting her abilities. The difference here is that the truth was hidden from her. There are so many things she never knew as the process continued. She was experimented on - tortured, really, because she felt a lot of pain on both a physical and psychological level - as a child. It was only through the Shadow Broker DLC that I learned a teeny bit more about Cerberus' motives with her. (It also made me hate Cerberus a bit more than I already do. They're dangerous extremists.) She was exposed to Element Zero, as other biotics had been, but she had been given a dangerous amount of it and, amazingly, survived. Cerberus lied to Jack's parents, who know nothing of Jack's whereabouts, and kidnapped her to be used as a labrat. She was dumped in with kids that had been purchased as slaves or stolen by pirates. The loyalty mission itself is to destroy the facility that kept her imprisoned. Literally. She wants to blow it up, and we do by the end of the mission. (I'm getting a slight vibe from The Count of Monte Cristo here. Deception, isolation, truth, and revenge - in that order - puts Edmond Dantes and Jacqueline Nought in a similar circumstance. I like that I found out her real name, too. I knew it wasn't simply Jack.) Her tough and sexual exterior are a response to her life in what seemed to her as a prison. This level also showed some of Jack's humanity - her soft side, if you will. She isn't just some obscene wild woman or rebel without a cause. She very much has cause. Cerberus stripped her of a normal life and made her what she is today. (Again, Monte Cristo much?) Granted, the choices she made after she escaped were her own and it can be argued of whether or not she could still make them, but that would be a purely hypothetical argument about a technical image, so you wouldn't really get anywhere with that. She said something along the lines of, "I believe that horrible things or actions must have a good reason". Under her hard outer shell, she has a reasoning and moral center that tries to find the good in the bad. For the most part, she's had great difficulty with this, which has led her to be frustrated and full of despair, as well as distrusting of everyone. 

Pragia (testing facility where Jack was held)

This makes me ask the question: What limits corporations with revolutionary scientific study? How far should they be allowed to go with their research? This again reminds me of Makers by Doctorow, and of Gamer starring Gerard Butler. It's a game of money and power. Life is a game of money and power - to some, anyway. Where is the end to all of this? Does the end of the game of power (a la A Game of Thrones) mean an end to all of civilization as we know it? Perhaps the Reapers were on to something. (See ME3 spoilers for details on what I mean by that.)


Mordin Loyalty


As much of the game has hinted at, Mordin's loyalty mission bears a connection to his previous work on the Genophage as a member of the STG. It weighs on his conscience greatly as he struggles with whether or not it was the right decision to make - whether he should have made the decision in the first place. (How interesting. To a certain degree, he represents human's struggle with the concept of power and the consequences that can come with playing god.) It also showed Mordin's scientific philosophies. He strongly values all life and would rather preserve it than kill an innocent being for research. (My hero.) He would never perform experiments on live test subjects, and limited subjects by their intelligence level. If they're "capable of calculus", he refused to work on them. Human scientists of today likely perform their studies similarly. Rats and mice are common test subjects. They're living creatures, as many pro-life animal supports will adamantly point out, but they lack the higher intellectual capabilities that humans are capable of (amongst other creatures that also have higher mental capacities). ME2 emphasizes how fascinating the human race is, and this level plays on that factor. Humans are shown to have been studied upon, valued for their "diversity". The game makers made it so that all other species are strikingly similar to one another whereas humans and their (or should I say, our) genetics have such a wide range. Mordin knows that "all life is precious" and is vehemently opposed to his former allies' efforts to restore the cure to the Genophage - not because curing the Genophage is necessarily bad, but because his fellow salarian's methods at achieving it were less than reputable. 

Tuchanka (a giant dump that Krogans live on)

Speaking of life forms, I made a note of how intelligence can be a burden on living beings, but such a burden has no presence in the form of technology. This computer that I'm typing on doesn't have morals or feelings of its own. (Or does it?...) It's a logical output of words, images, and symbols that were input by beings with morals and feelings. If I used scraps of technology, just like Perry and Lester from Makers, and made a robot, and then I commanded it to kill my lab partner, the burden of guilt and remorse will be put on me. The computer will be the logical factor that reminds me that his circuitry wasn't completed yet and without said lab partner, I can't finish it. Technology lacks the "human" trait of compassion and general feeling. Of course, it also lacks such things as flesh and blood, too.


And this brings me to the Reapers themselves, who are a combination of organic and synthetic material. ME2 hints at this in the final battle of the game. Reapers are made of organic material - humans, for example - and technology helps to support their size and the fact that they're also spaceships. It's honestly pretty difficult to wrap my head around. Consider it this way. Think about yourself and your body. You are an organic, living being, filled with anatomical parts that fulfill bodily functions. Now imagine that you're two or three as big as you are now, thanks to a technological experiment that hooked you up with wires and electronic parts. You have all the same internal organs and stuff, but there's now additional room to, say, store stuff. Maybe your cat can sleep in your chest cavity. The Reapers are like that. They're giant, semi-living creatures that have been heavily supported by a futuristic form of technology to make them live the dual identity of a creature and a ship. ME3 enforces this further with the final choices. (Sorry, guys. I'm a spoilery person, when it comes to games and TV shows. Can't help it.) And, as a sci-fi fan, I would be inept if I didn't mention Moya, the ship from Farscape that is, as Crichton mentions in the intro, "a living ship". 

This diagram points out the fact that Moya is both a spaceship with a docking bay and a living creatures with a brain.

Grunt Loyalty


I didn't take too much down for Grunt's mission, as it was also on Tuchanka and I just wanted to get it over with. It's mainly about seeking a personal and cultural identity. He feels torn as a Krogan who was created in a test tube - one who cost many potentially strong (both in physique and willpower) Krogan their lives - and whether or not he deserves to be part of the Krogan society on Tuchanka. As a true Krogan, which he technically is, he needs to be a part of their world. (Cue the accidental song lyrics reference to The Little Mermaid.) That's something the game makers took an interesting take on. Krogan have a biological need to satisfy their place in society, similar to what humans would call "puberty". (Jack points this out in that oh-so-sarcastic manner she embodies.) This mission centers on something all people must experience at some point in their lives, usually during the time between their mid-teens and mid-twenties. We must all have an understanding of who we are as individuals and where we stand in society. Self identity and cultural identity. One more point that I made a note of is emphasis on "krant", or comrades. As the Beatles famously sang, "I get by with a little help from my friends". At the risk of sounding corny with this cliche, the power of friendship is something that shouldn't be underestimated. Humans innately rely on a physical, intellectual, and emotional connection with others. In the Mass Effect universe, that same policy applies to all species with the "higher intellectual capacity" that Mordin elucidates.

A thresher maw, as previously shown in ME1. This thing is massive in size, and also a big pain in the butt. When I first played the game, it scared the crap outta me. 

Gaming Segment (3.5 Hours)


One note I made reminded me of the television shows Bones and Sherlock. The titular characters, Temperance Brennan and Sherlock Holmes, are extremely brilliant but lack proper social skills. They're very honest and have a logical, scientific mind that deviates from traditional human compassion. Renegade FemShep strikes me as someone who fits into this group, but with a little more firepower involved. She's certainly not stupid, but also definitely won't go out of her way to shake hands with a fan or get to know a fellow soldier. She's driven by the job. Get from Point A to Point B in the most efficient way possible. End of story. 


While there's nothing that can be done now, had I been able to do so, I would have liked to play a game I had never played before. It would have been annoying to have to stop and take notes on something I'm completely unfamiliar with, but it would have seemed less forced. On the flip side, there are advantages to knowing what's going to happen, beyond the obvious factor of no surprises. I can afford to gloss over things I know are insignificant and focus on immersing myself intellectually into previously unexplored areas. Pros and cons in everything, eh?


Only a few more posts to go! The end is in sight! I will say, though, that this experience will likely remain with me in the sense that I'll continue to play video games with a critical judgment. Similar to my film class and the theorist Barthes, I'll divide my mentality into half-immersive gamer that totally digs all the visual stuff, and half-intellectual gamer that sees beyond the image to why it's there, what it represents, etc. And that's fine with me. I might have better gaming experiences this way.


~Mel

ME2 | The Power of the Mind and Ideas

I'm so close to the end, I can taste it. (I only know because I've finished it before, so the indicators are still there.) I will say that playing this on a higher difficulty is much more frustrating, though - as I mentioned before - the main cause of stress is from the husks. While they as beings are somewhat intriguing - humans placed on strange, technological spikes to transform into zombie-like creatures, which is what gives them their name - they're a serious pain in the rump to deal with. Beyond that, I honestly have found the game to be moderately easy, all things considered. I'm much more adjusted to the more sinister Renegade lifestyle, though I happily admit that I still prefer being the "good guy". I'm also finding myself restless. Being frank, I'm sick of playing ME2 now and look forward to getting back to my other games (namely Skyrim, but also Fable 3, Red Dead Redemption, and Assassin's Creed: Revelations.)


Anyway, let's get to the analysis, shall we?


Collectors and Reapers


I said I wouldn't touch on them much until the end of the game, but I realized that I may as well discuss them now. The revelation(s) at the end of the game are really interesting - it floored me the first time I played the game, let me tell you - but that's for when the time comes, eh?


I took note of the recurring themes of indoctrination or hypnosis throughout the game, primarily from the Reapers. Carrying over from ME1, the Reapers have the power to infiltrate one's mind and control them. It's a gradual process, though, rather than an instant, dramatic mind-control technique. They work their way into your mind like a virus, but do so slowly and subtly. It begins with simple things, like giving you a feeling that something is right or wrong, or slightly altering your memories. Eventually, many of your memories could become corrupted and your beliefs will change; you'll follow the Reapers because you don't know any better. They now own you and your mind. You will do their bidding and feel that it is the right thing to do. Of course, you're just bait, a distraction to keep people busy while the Reapers do their business of plotting to take over the world. Well, galaxy, really. (Insert Pinky and the Brain reference.) It covers something that's occurred to me a while ago and become all the more relevant since playing video games like this: The human mind. Nothing in our body is more sacred. Yes, the heart and lungs and such and such keep us alive. They serve the functions of sustaining life, the things that make us what we are. But our brain is everything that makes us WHO we are. (Fairytales and pop-culture always make the reference of "listening to our hearts" or falling in love with our hearts and stuff, but the heart has nothing to do with love at all. Nor is it shaped like a geometric heart. It's all in the noggin.) If something or someone manipulates and controls our brain just like a computer virus corrupts a hard drive on our computer, we lose everything that makes us who we are. All people have fears of something, some more rational than others, but it is my personal belief that fearing the loss of sanity - the loss of one's own mind - is one of the greatest, most understandable fears. The Reapers not only take away your mind and free will, but they use you as a tool to their ultimate goal of galactic destruction. Yikes. Thankfully, this is over one hundred years in the future, so I'll be long gone by then.

Reaper (Sovereign from ME1)

Collectors (with big, nasty guns)

Loyalty Missions


I thought I'd make a quick note about these. Their significance is to gain the loyalty of the crew members. The purpose of gaining loyalty is to be sure that each crew member can attain some level of closure before heading off on a suicide mission to save the galaxy. Perhaps the most ideal death is one where you're ready for and comfortable with it. Furthermore, from a Renegade FemShep perspective, it keeps the crew focused, which is key in such a critical mission. Is loyalty worth providing, especially in such a touchy, difficult mission where there are some potentially disloyal crew members alongside you? Does loyalty matter in general? It's a matter of bias and perspective.


Mordin and the Genophage


I touched on this in my previous post with Okeer and Grunt. The salarians created the Genophage. They mainly thought of it as a threat; they didn't plan on using it. But the turians saw how effective it was an, during the war (I forget which war, sadly), they released all of it. Yikes. This is similar to World War II on earth. I don't claim to be a biologist or ecologist or the like, but there were dangerous chemicals used during WW2 that still have lingering effects today. What beings will do for war... (This also reminds me of Inglourious Basterds.) Most creatures adapt to their environments as time goes on, and the krogan began to build an immunity to the Genophage. Because they still posed a threat - even greater, since the Genophage was released and they've become more aggressive and reckless - the salarians redeveloped the Genophage and launched it again, though in a more subtle circumstance. I think of it as a specifically-targeted computer virus, meant to block and destroy malicious websites and malware. While it does its job well, it also takes down some of the good and productive sites and services with it. The Genophage itself is a genetically-engineered flaw that doesn't cause severe harm to individual Krogan. It's hard to justify it, though, even from my more Renegade perspective. 


Can you tell I like Mordin? His character is fascinating to me. I always pay close attention to what he has to say in dialogue options. Partly because he talks so freakin' fast, but because he has very intelligent and insightful things to say.


Jacob Loyalty


There wasn't a lot to note here except for the nature of our hunger for power. Jacob's father found himself with a lot of a power at a difficult time and wasn't prepared for it. Power, confusion, and fear is a dangerous combination. It does no good for anyone. The result was turning all of his crew members into primal animals. Men died off or became ravenous warriors, and women were sent to a camp to mill around and be used (yes, in that way) by the men. It's sickening. Segregation like in concentration camps back from the war days. I guess war tends to be a recurring facet of humanity. History repeats itself, whether we like it or not. Male dominance reappeared here, too. Perhaps being a woman myself affected my view of this. I would feel so violated by it. Then again, no one there except for Captain Taylor was in their right mind. (This refers back to my previous statements of the mind and its sanctity.) 

Sidenote: I was never a big fan of Jacob's character. Or Kaidan's, for that matter. I liked the fact that he was loyal and a genuinely good guy. As far as character development and abilities go, though, he's a character I rarely deploy on missions or bother getting to know. Feel free to persuade me otherwise.


Gaming Segment (3 Hours)


Something that video games - and technical images - allow people to do is disassociate oneself from the truth. Parents fear for their kids when they play things like Grand Theft Auto and do some pretty violent and obscene stuff, it will correlate to their actions in real life. Kids' retorts will be that their decisions are only in the gaming world and they'd never do that in real life. "It's just a game!" It's just a bunch of technical images, simulated by an advanced set of symbols, made to look like something real or feasible. But there is some truth to the fact that video games have an effect on gamers - good and bad. (I'm sure I have at least slightly better mental reflexes because of gaming.) I'm interested to see what you guys think of this. 


I jotted down a quote from a passing turian in the Citadel: 
"Everything would be so much simpler if we all had the same DNA. But no, the universe loves diversity."
I wish I had jotted down more than just the quote because I know I had something awesome to say about it. What a shame. It's still worth considering.


Something that I jotted down in this segment is the power of ideas versus the power of reality. People often underestimate ideas and how much influence they have over your mind. I'll use The Hunger Games as an example. On a very basic level, it's a trilogy of novels about how Katniss Everdeen defies a corrupted government and stays alive in very competitive and public combat. I read all three in a week and loved them.  They displayed war and brutality and life in a strikingly realistic way. They're part of the reason I hope to become an author myself. Now it's been translated into movie form, which will hit theaters in two weeks (I very much intend to see it). The movie broke box office records, reeling in more opening-day funds than both of the Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows films and the first part of Twilight's Breaking Dawn film combined. That's impressive. This is all based on the power of ideas. Nothing in THG is real. It's purely fictional, but strongly founded in realistic life. We flock toward this stuff. Arguably, people fear the unknown and the chance that impossible things could be possible more than they fear the known and the possible. I bring this argument to the technical images format because, as I've said before, technology makes the frighteningly realistic in previous levels of imagery (drawings, photographs, novels) and makes it even moreso. If ideas were already powerful, than it's scary to imagine how powerful technical images could become as technology continues to progress. There will always be an argument between writing and technical images. I adore books and don't think I could give them up for video games. Some people see it as a way of perception: seeing is believing versus believing is seeing. As an open-minded person, I look at it both ways.


Why do we believe technology is going in the direction of items like holograms and holographic screens and systems of contained energy (like lightsabers)? What made us think that? Why are we so consumed with the idea of it? We many never have the technology for that and have simply tricked ourselves into thinking that it's possible. Or maybe it is, but it's limiting the potential to what we could really do with technology. Who knows? Maybe we really will see a society like Makers had. Is space the final frontier? Are we destined to meet alien life forms? Are we truly a superior race, or will we find that there are other species far greater than our own? Is all of this a load of bullocks? Maybe. I guess we'll find out. 


~Mel