Mass Effect 2 and Different Perspectives

During February, I was able to buy Mass Effect 2. I was luckily to own Mass Effect 1 and could therefore import my character and all the choices I made from the first game. Me and Bioware have a rocky relationship.

 Neverwinter Nights

I quite dislike Neverwinter Nights, but that might be because the game is mostly played from a bird's perspective. I think it is essential that when playing a story-heavy and character-heavy game, the camera should be set behind the character or even in the first-person - connecting you to the character instead of playing a far-away first-person narrator.

Mass Effect 2

When I look at some of my favourite games, I somewhat contradict myself. Chrono Trigger and Final Fantasy VI are role-playing games where your connection to the characters is that of a fantasy/science-fiction narrator and since they are 2D games, there is no camera to speak of and everything is played out in overhead perspective. 

I could argue that the visual aesthetics of Western and Eastern role-playing games are quite different. The sprites of Eastern RPGs, especially Chrono Trigger, is pretty, colourful, difficult to dislike, and has much more squashed proportions, giving the illusion that the sprites are larger and therefore easier to connect with. The squashed 2D sprite style is usually known by the term Super Deformed (or SD for short). I am still contradicting myself, though.

Chrono Trigger

Coming back to Mass Effect 2, I enjoyed it much more than the first game, even though Mass Effect 2 is streamlined to the bone of its RPG characteristics. When I'm playing games, I always look at the way developers balance the gameplay and narrative aspects. For me, that is what allows or disallows games to be art. It is possible to use gameplay to build and inform the story of the game.

In Mass Effect 2's case, it manages to build a precarious balance - most of the time the streamlining allows the game to communicate the tenseness of the missions Shephard (the main character) and his team go on and increases the meaningfulness of communication between the various characters that populate the universe. Other times the balance just falls flat. This is very obvious in the downloadable mission: Kasumi: Stolen Memory. The mission sets Shepard in a Bond-like situation and environment. The tools used to fuel the battles in the game and the interaction with the world does not translate in this mission. Shepard openly explores secret sections of the building he/she is in, while people are basically watching (well, they are minding their own business, but still) and even gets into a fire-fight that almost everyone in the complex should be able to hear. The elements that makes the battles exciting, makes this mission boring. Mass Effect 2 is just not a stealth game, and that is alright. On the other hand, I'm looking forward to when genres aren't important anymore - where a world can be created where the avatar can use various skills and talents to explore and interact with the created world.

 To the left: Shephard and the right: Kasumi

The following paragraph contains spoilers:

The strength of Bioware games lies in their writing and characters. I really enjoyed discovering each character's background story, from walking through Jack's old room/cell to defending Tali in court. From these interactions with these characters you could deduce what sort of people (or aliens) these characters are. Even the virtual intelligence and pilot of your airship gets a chance to shine.

End of Spoilers

Tali from Mass Effect 2

You might be wondering what happened to my plan to play one game and report on it. Well, I scrapped that idea. Unfortunately, I don't have enough time or the patience. I still play Police Quest 1 now and then, though, and if I notice anything interesting, I will report on it.