Oh shit, I realized something. In the first game, you could explicitely make Shepard a religious person. You'd think that this would really affect the whole "coming back from the dead," perspective. Either she would think Cerberus pulled her out of Heaven (or Hell, I guess, if she had really low self-esteem,) or she would be really troubled by the big nothing she experienced in the meantime.
EmperorSeth on
You know what? Nanowrimo's cancelled on account of the world is stupid.
0
DragkoniasThat Guy Who Does StuffYou Know, There. Registered Userregular
edited March 2011
Really. Bioware's stance about the whole resurrection thing was to ignore it completely.
The whole thing was just to give you a reason to work with Cerberus and for everyone to think you were working with Cerberus. You think about it too much and you're going to hurt yourself.
Oh shit, I realized something. In the first game, you could explicitely make Shepard a religious person. You'd think that this would really affect the whole "coming back from the dead," perspective. Either she would think Cerberus pulled her out of Heaven (or Hell, I guess, if she had really low self-esteem,) or she would be really troubled by the big nothing she experienced in the meantime.
SCIENCE!
Seriously though, maybe everyone just assumes Shepard was in coma for two years, it's not like anyone (except Liara) saw him as meatloaf.
DarkCrawler on
0
jefe414"My Other Drill Hole is a Teleporter"Mechagodzilla is Best GodzillaRegistered Userregular
Overlord got me thinking about what it'd be like to have a Dead Space-styled horror game set in the Mass Effect universe.
Of course, in order to scare you first you'd have to be someone that isn't Commander Shepard.
Easy. You are Zaeed's nephew and Cerberus janitor working at a research site. Everything is bound to go wrong in the most horrific way possible. You are the only one to make it out alive (and the Zaeed relation explains HOW you are actually able to survive).
Is it bad writing? Yes, like the shuttle excuse. Or the cure-all from the answering machine on Ilos. But that honestly seems to be the direction Bioware went. You can clone an army into adulthood, you can go faster than the speed of light, you can bring back people if you have the right doctors and an unending mountains of money.
People are upset, but they don't seem that surprised. And if you really can clone someone from scratch, I would assume that same science could be very easily applied to repair almost the entire body by replacing each tissue layer, one by one. Or some easier scientific magic.
the funny thing that makes mass effect unique to my mind is that it's pulpy sci-fi (like you say, faster than light, clones, genetic engineering, AI, etc) but the implications always seemed to be thought through- see all the mountains of info we have on how space-battles are fought 100 odd years from now, something we never actually see, but some writers at bioware have thought "well these ships are firing rail guns at each other at massive distances but space is empty so i guess that makes newton the deadliest son of a bitch in space" yadda yadda
even something a silly as telekinesis was relatively believable if you swallowed everything about eezo being able to hack the laws of physics if you put a charge through it
the effect of space magic on politics, communication, the internet, and the environment and everything was meticulously detailed even if we never saw it directly. i really liked that. in mass effect 2,you got people coming back from the dead and biotics being able to "reave" people's life away and dominate their minds and i'm wondering where the codex entries are
I'm not an geneticist but I don't think you can just swap gender in a clone like that
oh well, a scientist did it
Dr. Ian Malcolm:But again, how do you know they're all female? Does someone go into the park and, uh... lift up the dinosaurs' skirts? Henry Wu:No, we control their chromosomes. It's really not that difficult. It just takes an extra chromosome developed at the right hormonal stage to make them male. We simply deny them that.
And of course, the quote that defines Cerberus...
Dr. Ian Malcolm:Oh, yeah. Oooh, ahhh, that's how it always starts. Then later there's running and screaming.
:^:
Bobble on
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Apothe0sisHave you ever questioned the nature of your reality?Registered Userregular
edited March 2011
I don't care for Kirrahe.
Apothe0sis on
0
OrcaAlso known as EspressosaurusWrexRegistered Userregular
Honestly, being reduced to meat and tubes is not an insurmountable obstacle as long as the brain survives.
Shirow Masamune covered that ages ago with Ghost in the Shell.
And, as GitS directly pointed out, how do you know you're you? Have you ever seen this alleged gray matter that connects you to the self that emerged from someone's womb so many years ago?
GUNM, which came out a few years later, took it to the next extreme, wherein spinal columns are seemingly optional.
Is it bad writing? Yes, like the shuttle excuse. Or the cure-all from the answering machine on Ilos. But that honestly seems to be the direction Bioware went. You can clone an army into adulthood, you can go faster than the speed of light, you can bring back people if you have the right doctors and an unending mountains of money.
People are upset, but they don't seem that surprised. And if you really can clone someone from scratch, I would assume that same science could be very easily applied to repair almost the entire body by replacing each tissue layer, one by one. Or some easier scientific magic.
the funny thing that makes mass effect unique to my mind is that it's pulpy sci-fi (like you say, faster than light, clones, genetic engineering, AI, etc) but the implications always seemed to be thought through- see all the mountains of info we have on how space-battles are fought 100 odd years from now, something we never actually see, but some writers at bioware have thought "well these ships are firing rail guns at each other at massive distances but space is empty so i guess that makes newton the deadliest son of a bitch in space" yadda yadda
even something a silly as telekinesis was relatively believable if you swallowed everything about eezo being able to hack the laws of physics if you put a charge through it
the effect of space magic on politics, communication, the internet, and the environment and everything was meticulously detailed even if we never saw it directly. i really liked that. in mass effect 2,you got people coming back from the dead and biotics being able to "reave" people's life away and dominate their minds and i'm wondering where the codex entries are
Honestly, being reduced to meat and tubes is not an insurmountable obstacle as long as the brain survives.
Shirow Masamune covered that ages ago with Ghost in the Shell.
And, as GitS directly pointed out, how do you know you're you? Have you ever seen this alleged gray matter that connects you to the self that emerged from someone's womb so many years ago?
GUNM, which came out a few years later, took it to the next extreme, wherein spinal columns are seemingly optional.
Is it bad writing? Yes, like the shuttle excuse. Or the cure-all from the answering machine on Ilos. But that honestly seems to be the direction Bioware went. You can clone an army into adulthood, you can go faster than the speed of light, you can bring back people if you have the right doctors and an unending mountains of money.
People are upset, but they don't seem that surprised. And if you really can clone someone from scratch, I would assume that same science could be very easily applied to repair almost the entire body by replacing each tissue layer, one by one. Or some easier scientific magic.
the funny thing that makes mass effect unique to my mind is that it's pulpy sci-fi (like you say, faster than light, clones, genetic engineering, AI, etc) but the implications always seemed to be thought through- see all the mountains of info we have on how space-battles are fought 100 odd years from now, something we never actually see, but some writers at bioware have thought "well these ships are firing rail guns at each other at massive distances but space is empty so i guess that makes newton the deadliest son of a bitch in space" yadda yadda
even something a silly as telekinesis was relatively believable if you swallowed everything about eezo being able to hack the laws of physics if you put a charge through it
the effect of space magic on politics, communication, the internet, and the environment and everything was meticulously detailed even if we never saw it directly. i really liked that. in mass effect 2,you got people coming back from the dead and biotics being able to "reave" people's life away and dominate their minds and i'm wondering where the codex entries are
What the hell is reaving a mind anyway?
The potential for cyberpunk and the few allusions to cyberpunk lit really intrigue me the most in Mass Effect. Things like Kasumi's greybox, the mentions of stimsim, and the core of Overlord for example. The pulp can go off a cliff. Shepard in II is a Chiba City Chopshop Street Samurai. I just wish they would actually bring up the issue of his humanity at some point. Make a challenge of it, and make us care.
Hell, if you read about some of the upgrades you unlock in the lab, they talk about some pretty scary invasive surgery. Talkin some high hardware.
mister tuxedo on
Digital Illusions Creative Entertainment/ PO Box 20068/ 104 60 Stockholm/ Sweden
Send them a Pair of Running Shoes. Used or Otherwise. Or a letter, but let's not be formulaic. Send them a picture of trainers, too. Or a painting. Or money. Whatever.
The potential for cyberpunk and the few allusions to cyberpunk lit really intrigue me the most in Mass Effect. Things like Kasumi's greybox, the mentions of stimsim, and the core of Overlord for example. The pulp can go off a cliff. Shepard in II is a Chiba City Chopshop Street Samurai. I just wish they would actually bring up the issue of his humanity at some point. Make a challenge of it, and make us care.
Hell, if you read about some of the upgrades you unlock in the lab, they talk about some pretty scary invasive surgery. Talkin some high hardware.
Yeah I'm totally on board with this. I hope ME3 really focuses on Shepard as a character and gives the player more opportunities to develop nuance. It would be a nice contrast to ME2 which was really all about the supporting cast.
The potential for cyberpunk and the few allusions to cyberpunk lit really intrigue me the most in Mass Effect. Things like Kasumi's greybox, the mentions of stimsim, and the core of Overlord for example. The pulp can go off a cliff. Shepard in II is a Chiba City Chopshop Street Samurai. I just wish they would actually bring up the issue of his humanity at some point. Make a challenge of it, and make us care.
Hell, if you read about some of the upgrades you unlock in the lab, they talk about some pretty scary invasive surgery. Talkin some high hardware.
Yeah I'm totally on board with this. I hope ME3 really focuses on Shepard as a character and gives the player more opportunities to develop nuance. It would be a nice contrast to ME2 which was really all about the supporting cast.
Honestly, I'd love to see Shepard finally acknowledge the very real possibility that she's simply a well-built, augmented clone told that she was revived like someone out of the Bible. This is Cerberus we're dealing with, they are nothing if not liars when it suits their purpose.
And then, I'd like to see her come to grips with it, acknowledging that, hey, this whole thing--the Reapers, the Collectors, the Geth--are all bigger than her. Does it suck to not the original? Yeah, but things could be a lot worse (i.e. mind control chip).
That being said, I'm sure everyone hates this idea, since it detracts from the orthodoxy of constantly fellating Shepard as being Space Jesus combined with Superman and anything that detracts from that is highly undesirable. Just my two cents. I'm not a huge fan of the pulp myself, and I'll acknowledge what I'm proposing is distinctly anti-pulp.
Honestly, being reduced to meat and tubes is not an insurmountable obstacle as long as the brain survives.
Shirow Masamune covered that ages ago with Ghost in the Shell.
And, as GitS directly pointed out, how do you know you're you? Have you ever seen this alleged gray matter that connects you to the self that emerged from someone's womb so many years ago?
GUNM, which came out a few years later, took it to the next extreme, wherein spinal columns are seemingly optional.
Is it bad writing? Yes, like the shuttle excuse. Or the cure-all from the answering machine on Ilos. But that honestly seems to be the direction Bioware went. You can clone an army into adulthood, you can go faster than the speed of light, you can bring back people if you have the right doctors and an unending mountains of money.
People are upset, but they don't seem that surprised. And if you really can clone someone from scratch, I would assume that same science could be very easily applied to repair almost the entire body by replacing each tissue layer, one by one. Or some easier scientific magic.
the funny thing that makes mass effect unique to my mind is that it's pulpy sci-fi (like you say, faster than light, clones, genetic engineering, AI, etc) but the implications always seemed to be thought through- see all the mountains of info we have on how space-battles are fought 100 odd years from now, something we never actually see, but some writers at bioware have thought "well these ships are firing rail guns at each other at massive distances but space is empty so i guess that makes newton the deadliest son of a bitch in space" yadda yadda
even something a silly as telekinesis was relatively believable if you swallowed everything about eezo being able to hack the laws of physics if you put a charge through it
the effect of space magic on politics, communication, the internet, and the environment and everything was meticulously detailed even if we never saw it directly. i really liked that. in mass effect 2,you got people coming back from the dead and biotics being able to "reave" people's life away and dominate their minds and i'm wondering where the codex entries are
What the hell is reaving a mind anyway?
The potential for cyberpunk and the few allusions to cyberpunk lit really intrigue me the most in Mass Effect. Things like Kasumi's greybox, the mentions of stimsim, and the core of Overlord for example. The pulp can go off a cliff. Shepard in II is a Chiba City Chopshop Street Samurai. I just wish they would actually bring up the issue of his humanity at some point. Make a challenge of it, and make us care.
Hell, if you read about some of the upgrades you unlock in the lab, they talk about some pretty scary invasive surgery. Talkin some high hardware.
These words stir images in my mind, damn good images.
The potential for cyberpunk and the few allusions to cyberpunk lit really intrigue me the most in Mass Effect. Things like Kasumi's greybox, the mentions of stimsim, and the core of Overlord for example. The pulp can go off a cliff. Shepard in II is a Chiba City Chopshop Street Samurai. I just wish they would actually bring up the issue of his humanity at some point. Make a challenge of it, and make us care.
Hell, if you read about some of the upgrades you unlock in the lab, they talk about some pretty scary invasive surgery. Talkin some high hardware.
Yeah I'm totally on board with this. I hope ME3 really focuses on Shepard as a character and gives the player more opportunities to develop nuance. It would be a nice contrast to ME2 which was really all about the supporting cast.
Honestly, I'd love to see Shepard finally acknowledge the very real possibility that she's simply a well-built, augmented clone told that she was revived like someone out of the Bible. This is Cerberus we're dealing with, they are nothing if not liars when it suits their purpose.
And then, I'd like to see her come to grips with it, acknowledging that, hey, this whole thing--the Reapers, the Collectors, the Geth--are all bigger than her. Does it suck to not the original? Yeah, but things could be a lot worse (i.e. mind control chip).
That being said, I'm sure everyone hates this idea, since it detracts from the orthodoxy of constantly fellating Shepard as being Space Jesus combined with Superman and anything that detracts from that is highly undesirable. Just my two cents. I'm not a huge fan of the pulp myself, and I'll acknowledge what I'm proposing is distinctly anti-pulp.
Man, I hope it doesn't go down like that.
I mean, I'm fine with the clone possibility, oddly. But I'm not fond characters bitching over their "lost humanity" and the like to start with, and being forced into your character doing it is worse.
If they do that at all, I want a JC Denton style dialog option right off the bat when someone explains the situation.
"Figured as much. Now, if you don't have anything important to say, kindly shut the hell up and let me get back to saving the galaxy"
MichaelLCIn what furnace was thy brain?ChicagoRegistered Userregular
edited March 2011
Oh, I got it!
The whole thing is a simulation, Kobayashi Maru style, by the Alliance. He completes it to find he's still a cadet and those weird wheels that came up when he was talking were part of the VR program, recording the choices he makes in command.
MichaelLC on
0
chiasaur11Never doubt a raccoon.Do you think it's trademarked?Registered Userregular
The whole thing is a simulation, Kobayashi Maru style, by the Alliance. He completes it to find he's still a cadet and those weird wheels that came up when he was talking were part of the VR program, recording the choices he makes in command.
If you picked MeerShep, the game ends with HaleShep walking in and asking if the current crop of worthless cadets are any good, or if she'll have to save the entire universe on her own. Again.
The whole thing is a simulation, Kobayashi Maru style, by the Alliance. He completes it to find he's still a cadet and those weird wheels that came up when he was talking were part of the VR program, recording the choices he makes in command.
If you picked MeerShep, the game ends with HaleShep walking in and asking if the current crop of worthless cadets are any good, or if she'll have to save the entire universe on her own. Again.
The whole thing is a simulation, Kobayashi Maru style, by the Alliance. He completes it to find he's still a cadet and those weird wheels that came up when he was talking were part of the VR program, recording the choices he makes in command.
If you picked MeerShep, the game ends with HaleShep walking in and asking if the current crop of worthless cadets are any good, or if she'll have to save the entire universe on her own. Again.
Then she and Anderson laugh about old times.
and then the academic review board says "Really, Mr. Shepard? You tried to sleep with Jack, the Quarian, AND Yeoman Chambers? We're isolating you from the rest of the cadet population."
The whole thing is a simulation, Kobayashi Maru style, by the Alliance. He completes it to find he's still a cadet and those weird wheels that came up when he was talking were part of the VR program, recording the choices he makes in command.
If you picked MeerShep, the game ends with HaleShep walking in and asking if the current crop of worthless cadets are any good, or if she'll have to save the entire universe on her own. Again.
Then she and Anderson laugh about old times.
and then the academic review board says "Really, Mr. Shepard? You tried to sleep with Jack, the Quarian, AND Yeoman Chambers? We're isolating you from the rest of the cadet population."
The potential for cyberpunk and the few allusions to cyberpunk lit really intrigue me the most in Mass Effect. Things like Kasumi's greybox, the mentions of stimsim, and the core of Overlord for example. The pulp can go off a cliff. Shepard in II is a Chiba City Chopshop Street Samurai. I just wish they would actually bring up the issue of his humanity at some point. Make a challenge of it, and make us care.
Hell, if you read about some of the upgrades you unlock in the lab, they talk about some pretty scary invasive surgery. Talkin some high hardware.
Yeah I'm totally on board with this. I hope ME3 really focuses on Shepard as a character and gives the player more opportunities to develop nuance. It would be a nice contrast to ME2 which was really all about the supporting cast.
Honestly, I'd love to see Shepard finally acknowledge the very real possibility that she's simply a well-built, augmented clone told that she was revived like someone out of the Bible. This is Cerberus we're dealing with, they are nothing if not liars when it suits their purpose.
And then, I'd like to see her come to grips with it, acknowledging that, hey, this whole thing--the Reapers, the Collectors, the Geth--are all bigger than her. Does it suck to not the original? Yeah, but things could be a lot worse (i.e. mind control chip).
That being said, I'm sure everyone hates this idea, since it detracts from the orthodoxy of constantly fellating Shepard as being Space Jesus combined with Superman and anything that detracts from that is highly undesirable. Just my two cents. I'm not a huge fan of the pulp myself, and I'll acknowledge what I'm proposing is distinctly anti-pulp.
Man, I hope it doesn't go down like that.
I mean, I'm fine with the clone possibility, oddly. But I'm not fond characters bitching over their "lost humanity" and the like to start with, and being forced into your character doing it is worse.
If they do that at all, I want a JC Denton style dialog option right off the bat when someone explains the situation.
"Figured as much. Now, if you don't have anything important to say, kindly shut the hell up and let me get back to saving the galaxy"
Yeah, I mean it would have to be delicate. I mean, I'm not comfortable with the clone or any other "what a tweest" endings, but I totally understand people not wanting their Shepard to look like a pussy. However, the whole, "You made me a cyborg monster, now I'm going to kill you all" gig doesn't sound too mopey to me.
What might work best is something like encountering two groups of characters, one extensively modified and one purist organics. You can then explore it as much as you want. Please, though, anyone but the geth v quarians. This isn't exactly Rodenberry's utopia, and if Shepard's extensive metal is a problem, I figure she can only come to terms with it through a distinctly human perspective.
RoyceSraphim, Solid.
mister tuxedo on
Digital Illusions Creative Entertainment/ PO Box 20068/ 104 60 Stockholm/ Sweden
Send them a Pair of Running Shoes. Used or Otherwise. Or a letter, but let's not be formulaic. Send them a picture of trainers, too. Or a painting. Or money. Whatever.
The potential for cyberpunk and the few allusions to cyberpunk lit really intrigue me the most in Mass Effect. Things like Kasumi's greybox, the mentions of stimsim, and the core of Overlord for example. The pulp can go off a cliff. Shepard in II is a Chiba City Chopshop Street Samurai. I just wish they would actually bring up the issue of his humanity at some point. Make a challenge of it, and make us care.
Hell, if you read about some of the upgrades you unlock in the lab, they talk about some pretty scary invasive surgery. Talkin some high hardware.
Yeah I'm totally on board with this. I hope ME3 really focuses on Shepard as a character and gives the player more opportunities to develop nuance. It would be a nice contrast to ME2 which was really all about the supporting cast.
Honestly, I'd love to see Shepard finally acknowledge the very real possibility that she's simply a well-built, augmented clone told that she was revived like someone out of the Bible. This is Cerberus we're dealing with, they are nothing if not liars when it suits their purpose.
And then, I'd like to see her come to grips with it, acknowledging that, hey, this whole thing--the Reapers, the Collectors, the Geth--are all bigger than her. Does it suck to not the original? Yeah, but things could be a lot worse (i.e. mind control chip).
That being said, I'm sure everyone hates this idea, since it detracts from the orthodoxy of constantly fellating Shepard as being Space Jesus combined with Superman and anything that detracts from that is highly undesirable. Just my two cents. I'm not a huge fan of the pulp myself, and I'll acknowledge what I'm proposing is distinctly anti-pulp.
Man, I hope it doesn't go down like that.
I mean, I'm fine with the clone possibility, oddly. But I'm not fond characters bitching over their "lost humanity" and the like to start with, and being forced into your character doing it is worse.
If they do that at all, I want a JC Denton style dialog option right off the bat when someone explains the situation.
"Figured as much. Now, if you don't have anything important to say, kindly shut the hell up and let me get back to saving the galaxy"
Yeah, I mean it would have to be delicate. I mean, I'm not comfortable with the clone or any other "what a tweest" endings, but I totally understand people not wanting their Shepard to look like a pussy. However, the whole, "You made me a cyborg monster, now I'm going to kill you all" gig doesn't sound too mopey to me.
What might work best is something like encountering two groups of characters, one extensively modified and one purist organics. You can then explore it as much as you want. Please, though, anyone but the geth v quarians. This isn't exactly Rodenberry's utopia, and if Shepard's extensive metal is a problem, I figure she can only come to terms with it through a distinctly human perspective.
RoyceSraphim, Solid.
I wasn't talking about looking like a pussy, exactly, although that's a factor. I was just thinking about it being a "thing" when the fate of all civilization is on the line.
One of my favorite bits in Deus Ex was when
JC Denton learns he's a vat grown clone of his brother, and some of his memories are implanted. His response? Basically "So? I've always thought it was a possibility. Doesn't change much"
I mean, I like a good "What is the nature of a man" question, but not everyone needs to get introspective about it. Just being able to go "Well, it helps get the job at hand done, beyond that I don't care." would be nice, even if more in depth poking on the dialog tree wouldn't be a bad option to have.
The potential for cyberpunk and the few allusions to cyberpunk lit really intrigue me the most in Mass Effect. Things like Kasumi's greybox, the mentions of stimsim, and the core of Overlord for example. The pulp can go off a cliff. Shepard in II is a Chiba City Chopshop Street Samurai. I just wish they would actually bring up the issue of his humanity at some point. Make a challenge of it, and make us care.
Hell, if you read about some of the upgrades you unlock in the lab, they talk about some pretty scary invasive surgery. Talkin some high hardware.
Yeah I'm totally on board with this. I hope ME3 really focuses on Shepard as a character and gives the player more opportunities to develop nuance. It would be a nice contrast to ME2 which was really all about the supporting cast.
Honestly, I'd love to see Shepard finally acknowledge the very real possibility that she's simply a well-built, augmented clone told that she was revived like someone out of the Bible. This is Cerberus we're dealing with, they are nothing if not liars when it suits their purpose.
And then, I'd like to see her come to grips with it, acknowledging that, hey, this whole thing--the Reapers, the Collectors, the Geth--are all bigger than her. Does it suck to not the original? Yeah, but things could be a lot worse (i.e. mind control chip).
That being said, I'm sure everyone hates this idea, since it detracts from the orthodoxy of constantly fellating Shepard as being Space Jesus combined with Superman and anything that detracts from that is highly undesirable. Just my two cents. I'm not a huge fan of the pulp myself, and I'll acknowledge what I'm proposing is distinctly anti-pulp.
Man, I hope it doesn't go down like that.
I mean, I'm fine with the clone possibility, oddly. But I'm not fond characters bitching over their "lost humanity" and the like to start with, and being forced into your character doing it is worse.
If they do that at all, I want a JC Denton style dialog option right off the bat when someone explains the situation.
"Figured as much. Now, if you don't have anything important to say, kindly shut the hell up and let me get back to saving the galaxy"
Yeah, I mean it would have to be delicate. I mean, I'm not comfortable with the clone or any other "what a tweest" endings, but I totally understand people not wanting their Shepard to look like a pussy. However, the whole, "You made me a cyborg monster, now I'm going to kill you all" gig doesn't sound too mopey to me.
What might work best is something like encountering two groups of characters, one extensively modified and one purist organics. You can then explore it as much as you want. Please, though, anyone but the geth v quarians. This isn't exactly Rodenberry's utopia, and if Shepard's extensive metal is a problem, I figure she can only come to terms with it through a distinctly human perspective.
RoyceSraphim, Solid.
I wasn't talking about looking like a pussy, exactly, although that's a factor. I was just thinking about it being a "thing" when the fate of all civilization is on the line.
One of my favorite bits in Deus Ex was when
JC Denton learns he's a vat grown clone of his brother, and some of his memories are implanted. His response? Basically "So? I've always thought it was a possibility. Doesn't change much"
I mean, I like a good "What is the nature of a man" question, but not everyone needs to get introspective about it. Just being able to go "Well, it helps get the job at hand done, beyond that I don't care." would be nice, even if more in depth poking on the dialog tree wouldn't be a bad option to have.
I should have probably elaborated that I don't want the overdone, Star Wars-style drama of Shepard coming to grips with that issue. Again, punk, not pulp. I think Shepard would come to grips with it quite promptly, faster than her comrades anyway. Better than just dismissing the issue with the rest of the horrible crap Cerberus pulls.
"It is one thing to suspend your disbelief. It is another thing entirely to hang it by the neck until dead."
"You were dead as dead could be."
-- Jacob.
I don't buy that they could resurrect Shepard, he was suffocated, burned, and then crashed into a planet at terminal velocity. Then, even if there was anything more than chunks left of him, they would have frozen from the planets cold.
You don't come back from that, you just don't, but my problems with the actual death and resurrection of Shepard are neither here nor there. If Bioware wanted to kill and then resurrect Shepard, fine I can roll with that, but don't just have it be a stupid gameplay device to reset us, do something with it!
I'm not asking for an in depth look into what it means to be human, although I wouldn't have a problem with that. I'm not looking for Shepard to go into spiritual crisis, I don't need a bunch of navel gazing, but don't just gloss it over. Give Shepard an actual opinion about it, have characters ask you how you feel (even if Shepard was not the first to be resurrected, people, especially your close friends would ask you about it) have characters question if it's really you. Do something with it! I mean, they could have done a parallel between Shepard and Saren, showing how Shepard has in some ways become Saren, but no, we get nothing.
Really. Bioware's stance about the whole resurrection thing was to ignore it completely.
The whole thing was just to give you a reason to work with Cerberus and for everyone to think you were working with Cerberus. You think about it too much and you're going to hurt yourself.
I don't know about anyone else, but I'm far more bothered by the events in the 2nd paragraph than the 1st
"It is one thing to suspend your disbelief. It is another thing entirely to hang it by the neck until dead."
"You were dead as dead could be."
-- Jacob.
I don't buy that they could resurrect Shepard, he was suffocated, burned, and then crashed into a planet at terminal velocity. Then, even if there was anything more than chunks left of him, they would have frozen from the planets cold.
You don't come back from that, you just don't, but my problems with the actual death and resurrection of Shepard are neither here nor there. If Bioware wanted to kill and then resurrect Shepard, fine I can roll with that, but don't just have it be a stupid gameplay device to reset us, do something with it!
I'm not asking for an in depth look into what it means to be human, although I wouldn't have a problem with that. I'm not looking for Shepard to go into spiritual crisis, I don't need a bunch of navel gazing, but don't just gloss it over. Give Shepard an actual opinion about it, have characters ask you how you feel (even if Shepard was not the first to be resurrected, people, especially your close friends would ask you about it) have characters question if it's really you. Do something with it! I mean, they could have done a parallel between Shepard and Saren, showing how Shepard has in some ways become Saren, but no, we get nothing.
I tend to agree with this for the most part, but, here's the problem: If they just made it a discussion wheel option to delve into the topic of Shepard's resurrection, I think it would likely be as contrived and trite as some of the forced character intrigue that we've gotten on a couple occasions. Namely in Miranda's case and Ashley's case. "Daddy issues!" and "I like poetry!" were cop-outs. I'd hate to see them whip something together in a hurry just to toss it on a chat wheel.
I could imagine a conversation between Shep and Garrus where Garrus brooches the subject and the mutual understanding between the two old friends makes the discussion more interesting. They could meet at a middle ground. Talking it out but at the same time not sounding preachy. There are a few other characters I would think were appropriate for that chat, but certainly not just any ol' npc. I don't think it's a conversation that should be had with the Normandy's cook.
Though I think that would be amusing.
Oddfish on
0
chiasaur11Never doubt a raccoon.Do you think it's trademarked?Registered Userregular
"It is one thing to suspend your disbelief. It is another thing entirely to hang it by the neck until dead."
"You were dead as dead could be."
-- Jacob.
I don't buy that they could resurrect Shepard, he was suffocated, burned, and then crashed into a planet at terminal velocity. Then, even if there was anything more than chunks left of him, they would have frozen from the planets cold.
You don't come back from that, you just don't, but my problems with the actual death and resurrection of Shepard are neither here nor there. If Bioware wanted to kill and then resurrect Shepard, fine I can roll with that, but don't just have it be a stupid gameplay device to reset us, do something with it!
I'm not asking for an in depth look into what it means to be human, although I wouldn't have a problem with that. I'm not looking for Shepard to go into spiritual crisis, I don't need a bunch of navel gazing, but don't just gloss it over. Give Shepard an actual opinion about it, have characters ask you how you feel (even if Shepard was not the first to be resurrected, people, especially your close friends would ask you about it) have characters question if it's really you. Do something with it! I mean, they could have done a parallel between Shepard and Saren, showing how Shepard has in some ways become Saren, but no, we get nothing.
I tend to agree with this for the most part, but, here's the problem: If they just made it a discussion wheel option to delve into the topic of Shepard's resurrection, I think it would likely be as contrived and trite as some of the forced character intrigue that we've gotten on a couple occasions. Namely in Miranda's case and Ashley's case. "Daddy issues!" and "I like poetry!" were cop-outs. I'd hate to see them whip something together in a hurry just to toss it on a chat wheel.
I could imagine a conversation between Shep and Garrus where Garrus brooches the subject and the mutual understanding between the two old friends makes the discussion more interesting. They could meet at a middle ground. Talking it out but at the same time not sounding preachy. There are a few other characters I would think were appropriate for that chat, but certainly not just any ol' npc. I don't think it's a conversation that should be had with the Normandy's cook.
Though I think that would be amusing.
"Howdy Commander! Care to try my new gumbo recipe?"
"Am I truly me? My resurrection, what methods did they use? Was my soul lost in the transition?"
"Is this about the clogged toilet? Because I swear, I tried to get it working again, but Grunt doesn't exactly make it easy."
I'm pretty sure the whole "computer president" deal on Cerberus Daily News was Bioware's sneaky way of saying Shepard's brain was archived somewhere along the line because she's a Super Spectre, and from there growing a new body and slapping on some cybernetics doesn't sound that unreasonable
It's the future. God is dead. The soul is a children's story. Just kill the damn Reapers and sneak in a few rounds with some alien tail while you're at it.
"I'm Commander Shepard and I don't give a fuck."
Oddfish on
0
DragkoniasThat Guy Who Does StuffYou Know, There. Registered Userregular
edited March 2011
Like I said...space magic.
I mean thread already has enough to deal with with people constantly comparing alien conflicts to real life conflicts.
Last thing we need is people using Shepard being made into robo-cop to question the idea of an afterlife.
"It is one thing to suspend your disbelief. It is another thing entirely to hang it by the neck until dead."
"You were dead as dead could be."
-- Jacob.
I don't buy that they could resurrect Shepard, he was suffocated, burned, and then crashed into a planet at terminal velocity. Then, even if there was anything more than chunks left of him, they would have frozen from the planets cold.
You don't come back from that, you just don't, but my problems with the actual death and resurrection of Shepard are neither here nor there. If Bioware wanted to kill and then resurrect Shepard, fine I can roll with that, but don't just have it be a stupid gameplay device to reset us, do something with it!
I'm not asking for an in depth look into what it means to be human, although I wouldn't have a problem with that. I'm not looking for Shepard to go into spiritual crisis, I don't need a bunch of navel gazing, but don't just gloss it over. Give Shepard an actual opinion about it, have characters ask you how you feel (even if Shepard was not the first to be resurrected, people, especially your close friends would ask you about it) have characters question if it's really you. Do something with it! I mean, they could have done a parallel between Shepard and Saren, showing how Shepard has in some ways become Saren, but no, we get nothing.
I tend to agree with this for the most part, but, here's the problem: If they just made it a discussion wheel option to delve into the topic of Shepard's resurrection, I think it would likely be as contrived and trite as some of the forced character intrigue that we've gotten on a couple occasions. Namely in Miranda's case and Ashley's case. "Daddy issues!" and "I like poetry!" were cop-outs. I'd hate to see them whip something together in a hurry just to toss it on a chat wheel.
I could imagine a conversation between Shep and Garrus where Garrus brooches the subject and the mutual understanding between the two old friends makes the discussion more interesting. They could meet at a middle ground. Talking it out but at the same time not sounding preachy. There are a few other characters I would think were appropriate for that chat, but certainly not just any ol' npc. I don't think it's a conversation that should be had with the Normandy's cook.
Though I think that would be amusing.
"Howdy Commander! Care to try my new gumbo recipe?"
"Am I truly me? My resurrection, what methods did they use? Was my soul lost in the transition?"
"Is this about the clogged toilet? Because I swear, I tried to get it working again, but Grunt doesn't exactly make it easy."
At the end of shadow broker
If you invite liara up to your room to talk, you get the chance to express your personal feelings for pretty much the first time I can remember. In a conversation like that it would be pretty appropriate.
Posts
Because you want more...
The whole thing was just to give you a reason to work with Cerberus and for everyone to think you were working with Cerberus. You think about it too much and you're going to hurt yourself.
SCIENCE!
Seriously though, maybe everyone just assumes Shepard was in coma for two years, it's not like anyone (except Liara) saw him as meatloaf.
Easy. You are Zaeed's nephew and Cerberus janitor working at a research site. Everything is bound to go wrong in the most horrific way possible. You are the only one to make it out alive (and the Zaeed relation explains HOW you are actually able to survive).
the funny thing that makes mass effect unique to my mind is that it's pulpy sci-fi (like you say, faster than light, clones, genetic engineering, AI, etc) but the implications always seemed to be thought through- see all the mountains of info we have on how space-battles are fought 100 odd years from now, something we never actually see, but some writers at bioware have thought "well these ships are firing rail guns at each other at massive distances but space is empty so i guess that makes newton the deadliest son of a bitch in space" yadda yadda
even something a silly as telekinesis was relatively believable if you swallowed everything about eezo being able to hack the laws of physics if you put a charge through it
the effect of space magic on politics, communication, the internet, and the environment and everything was meticulously detailed even if we never saw it directly. i really liked that. in mass effect 2,you got people coming back from the dead and biotics being able to "reave" people's life away and dominate their minds and i'm wondering where the codex entries are
:^:
Good captain. Bit of a cloaca. Loved his speeches. Hold the line! Personally prefer to get job done and go home.
Man that dude epitomized the Salarians. Get the job done no matter what. It's all about the greater good.
The Greater Good.
And, as GitS directly pointed out, how do you know you're you? Have you ever seen this alleged gray matter that connects you to the self that emerged from someone's womb so many years ago?
GUNM, which came out a few years later, took it to the next extreme, wherein spinal columns are seemingly optional.
What the hell is reaving a mind anyway?
That sound you hear is the death rattle of your suspension of disbelief.
Pay it no heed.
That needs to be on a t-shirt.
Or a coffee mug.
Mordin was my favorite.
Hell, if you read about some of the upgrades you unlock in the lab, they talk about some pretty scary invasive surgery. Talkin some high hardware.
Send them a Pair of Running Shoes. Used or Otherwise. Or a letter, but let's not be formulaic. Send them a picture of trainers, too. Or a painting. Or money. Whatever.
Yeah I'm totally on board with this. I hope ME3 really focuses on Shepard as a character and gives the player more opportunities to develop nuance. It would be a nice contrast to ME2 which was really all about the supporting cast.
Honestly, I'd love to see Shepard finally acknowledge the very real possibility that she's simply a well-built, augmented clone told that she was revived like someone out of the Bible. This is Cerberus we're dealing with, they are nothing if not liars when it suits their purpose.
And then, I'd like to see her come to grips with it, acknowledging that, hey, this whole thing--the Reapers, the Collectors, the Geth--are all bigger than her. Does it suck to not the original? Yeah, but things could be a lot worse (i.e. mind control chip).
That being said, I'm sure everyone hates this idea, since it detracts from the orthodoxy of constantly fellating Shepard as being Space Jesus combined with Superman and anything that detracts from that is highly undesirable. Just my two cents. I'm not a huge fan of the pulp myself, and I'll acknowledge what I'm proposing is distinctly anti-pulp.
These words stir images in my mind, damn good images.
http://www.fallout3nexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=16534
Man, I hope it doesn't go down like that.
I mean, I'm fine with the clone possibility, oddly. But I'm not fond characters bitching over their "lost humanity" and the like to start with, and being forced into your character doing it is worse.
If they do that at all, I want a JC Denton style dialog option right off the bat when someone explains the situation.
"Figured as much. Now, if you don't have anything important to say, kindly shut the hell up and let me get back to saving the galaxy"
Why I fear the ocean.
The whole thing is a simulation, Kobayashi Maru style, by the Alliance. He completes it to find he's still a cadet and those weird wheels that came up when he was talking were part of the VR program, recording the choices he makes in command.
If you picked MeerShep, the game ends with HaleShep walking in and asking if the current crop of worthless cadets are any good, or if she'll have to save the entire universe on her own. Again.
Then she and Anderson laugh about old times.
Why I fear the ocean.
:^:
and then the academic review board says "Really, Mr. Shepard? You tried to sleep with Jack, the Quarian, AND Yeoman Chambers? We're isolating you from the rest of the cadet population."
I could get behind this.
What might work best is something like encountering two groups of characters, one extensively modified and one purist organics. You can then explore it as much as you want. Please, though, anyone but the geth v quarians. This isn't exactly Rodenberry's utopia, and if Shepard's extensive metal is a problem, I figure she can only come to terms with it through a distinctly human perspective.
RoyceSraphim, Solid.
Send them a Pair of Running Shoes. Used or Otherwise. Or a letter, but let's not be formulaic. Send them a picture of trainers, too. Or a painting. Or money. Whatever.
http://www.fallout3nexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=16534
I wasn't talking about looking like a pussy, exactly, although that's a factor. I was just thinking about it being a "thing" when the fate of all civilization is on the line.
One of my favorite bits in Deus Ex was when
I mean, I like a good "What is the nature of a man" question, but not everyone needs to get introspective about it. Just being able to go "Well, it helps get the job at hand done, beyond that I don't care." would be nice, even if more in depth poking on the dialog tree wouldn't be a bad option to have.
Why I fear the ocean.
*BLAM*
~uaaagghaaaarrr~
"What a shame."
I should have probably elaborated that I don't want the overdone, Star Wars-style drama of Shepard coming to grips with that issue. Again, punk, not pulp. I think Shepard would come to grips with it quite promptly, faster than her comrades anyway. Better than just dismissing the issue with the rest of the horrible crap Cerberus pulls.
"You were dead as dead could be."
-- Jacob.
I don't buy that they could resurrect Shepard, he was suffocated, burned, and then crashed into a planet at terminal velocity. Then, even if there was anything more than chunks left of him, they would have frozen from the planets cold.
You don't come back from that, you just don't, but my problems with the actual death and resurrection of Shepard are neither here nor there. If Bioware wanted to kill and then resurrect Shepard, fine I can roll with that, but don't just have it be a stupid gameplay device to reset us, do something with it!
I'm not asking for an in depth look into what it means to be human, although I wouldn't have a problem with that. I'm not looking for Shepard to go into spiritual crisis, I don't need a bunch of navel gazing, but don't just gloss it over. Give Shepard an actual opinion about it, have characters ask you how you feel (even if Shepard was not the first to be resurrected, people, especially your close friends would ask you about it) have characters question if it's really you. Do something with it! I mean, they could have done a parallel between Shepard and Saren, showing how Shepard has in some ways become Saren, but no, we get nothing.
I don't know about anyone else, but I'm far more bothered by the events in the 2nd paragraph than the 1st
I tend to agree with this for the most part, but, here's the problem: If they just made it a discussion wheel option to delve into the topic of Shepard's resurrection, I think it would likely be as contrived and trite as some of the forced character intrigue that we've gotten on a couple occasions. Namely in Miranda's case and Ashley's case. "Daddy issues!" and "I like poetry!" were cop-outs. I'd hate to see them whip something together in a hurry just to toss it on a chat wheel.
I could imagine a conversation between Shep and Garrus where Garrus brooches the subject and the mutual understanding between the two old friends makes the discussion more interesting. They could meet at a middle ground. Talking it out but at the same time not sounding preachy. There are a few other characters I would think were appropriate for that chat, but certainly not just any ol' npc. I don't think it's a conversation that should be had with the Normandy's cook.
Though I think that would be amusing.
"Howdy Commander! Care to try my new gumbo recipe?"
"Am I truly me? My resurrection, what methods did they use? Was my soul lost in the transition?"
"Is this about the clogged toilet? Because I swear, I tried to get it working again, but Grunt doesn't exactly make it easy."
Why I fear the ocean.
"I'm Commander Shepard and I don't give a fuck."
I mean thread already has enough to deal with with people constantly comparing alien conflicts to real life conflicts.
Last thing we need is people using Shepard being made into robo-cop to question the idea of an afterlife.
At the end of shadow broker