#tali also likes them for this reason but she likes playing into the roleplay more

[chisatowo]

🖊!

Sier lovessssss board and card games, but alas rarely gets to play them since the only person they can usually play with around the house is their brother, but sometimes the rest of the human kids will play whatever cheap or free online options Sier can find! Once they meet in person Sier gets to be absolutely delighted by the fact that Aris' grandpa had a board game collection, and definitely made them come together for a game night at some point. Bloom is banned from monopoly now

[princessshikky]

[unpopular opinion] Bioware's famous "grey morality" was never about "both sides are equally bad" [/unpopular opinion]

Let's be real here, the grey morality in DAO wasn't about "darkspawn are bad, but Loghain is equally bad!" or somesuch. It was about letting the protagonist do horrible things and not punishing them for it. The Warden could let a demon roam the Deep Roads and receive no trouble and a hefty sum of money. The Warden could slaughter an innocent group of people and get a personal army of werewolves for their trouble. The Warden could kill all mages of Kinloch Hold without any consequences. Sometimes actions that seemed good could lead to terrible results (see: Harrowmont vs Bhelen), sometimes taking an easy but morally questionable path was the best decision. That was what the "grey morality" was about: the consequences of your Warden's actions were not cut-and-dry. If you decided to help some beggar, no оne would give you Light-side points and a reward, you'd just lose money. If you decided to kick a puppy for shits and giggles, you wouldn't get Dark-side points and yellow eyes all of a sudden. You could abandon a village to be massacred and suffer no punishment. You could honorably refuse to commit a crime and lose an easy chance to get some gold.

But here's the thing: no оne would present your bad actions as good. No оne would say that selling Connor out to a demon or brutally slaughtering a group of alienage elves was acceptable (except Morrigan, but she was never presented as a moral compass). No оne tried to pretend that alienage elves somehow "deserved" to be sold to slavers.

So, what did Bioware do wrong in DA2 and DAI? Two things: first, they gradually took away the player's choice. It was less noticeable in DA2, but Hawke's reactions and choices were still limited compared to DAO. Hawke could not properly argue with Elthina, Hawke could not properly join the mage resistance, Hawke could not wholeheartedly approve of the Chantry explosion. I don't care if the writers think that the chantry explosion was a Moral Event Horizon, using elves as sacrifices was also a Moral Event Horizon, yet the Warden was allowed to do it. In Inquisition the player is barely allowed to do anything. A lot of choices are taken away. This is a roleplaying game ffs, let me roleplay! I don't care whether the writers approve of killing that templar or not, my Inquisitor should have an opportunity to do it regardless!

Second, Bioware tried to present both sides of the mage-templar conflict as "equally wrong". There was no reason to do it! Let templars be the obvious bad guys and let Hawke/Inquisitor join them regardless! Maybe try to shove some consequences depending оn Hawke's choices, like if pro-mage Hawke sided with the templars, Varric could say that Hawke became the viscount and gradually took the power from the order, while pro-templar Hawke who sided with the mages in the end is hated by both sides equally? My point is, don't try to forcefully write "morally gray" situations in a clearly black-and-white conflict. It is unnecessary and excessive. Just let the player join the obviously evil faction without whitewashing their actions or punishing them. "The Nature of the Beast" had the obviously good choice (convince Zathrian to remove the curse), obviously evil choise (kill the Dalish) and a "lesser evil" choice (kill the werewolves). Did anyone complain about the lack of a grey morality because elves were not presented as somehow "deserving" being murdered? Letting Branca have the golem-producing technology was an unquestionably evil thing to do, yet no оne complained about it being painted as unquestionably evil. Why would you try to fix something that wasn't broken in the first place?

While we're at it, let me rant about the whole "lack of player choice in a roleplaying fucking game".

IMO, it started in Dragon Age 2 but really showed in Mass Effect 3. Like, I understand that the studio may not have had the necessary budget and/or the necessary amount of time to finish the game properly and had to cut corners. BUT it doesn't mean I have to forgive the constant railroading of conversation. The cutscenes are EXTREMELY long, yet you barely even get the chance to pick a reply. Most of the time your Shep functions оn autopilot. And when you get a dialogue wheel, there are оnly two choices (instead of three): "Say A" and "Say A a bit more forcefully". Your Shep could not decide that leaving Earth was the best decision, even if it went against your Shep's character. Your Shep inevitably regretted "trusting" Cerberus, even if you spent the previous game saying how you don't trust TIM/never actually regretted siding with them. Your Shep couldn't NOT like Liara or Garrus or Tali, they are inevitably friends. Hell, the renegade path is all but non-existent, which railroads you even more.

It got worse in DAI. Not оnly did they significantly limit your Inquisitor's freedom of reactions (hey guys, where's my chance to be rude to Cullen?), they retroactively erased some of your choices by taking Hawke out of your hands. The Hawke that the writers gave you was their Hawke, not yours. Their Hawke hates blood magic, even if your Hawke is a blood mage and/or supports blood magic. Their Hawke hates Wardens for some reason. Their Hawke calls Anders a monster even if your particular Hawke supported his actions.

I haven't played MEA (and maybe I never will) but from what I've heard it's even worse? You get to choose the manner of your reaction but not the reaction itself?

Sad thing is, I don't think the situation is going to become any better. Unless Bioware figures out their priorities and stops trying to shove the player into a specific course of action with manipulative writing and railroading, DA4 is going to be all but unplayable.

[mass-effect-galaxy]

The Clone Party

Some more blogging from my ongoing campaign with Jennifer Shepard. Base character description is here. If you had missed the previous blogs, just click on the #space sisters tag below.

The more often I play the combat part of the Citadel DLC the less I like it. The dialogues are hilarious, regardless of how often I hear them but the fighting gets somewhat tedious with repetition. The exact opposite to me with the Omega DLC: While Nyreen and Aria start to go on my nerves, I am really enjoying the combat in that mission.

I had played the clone fight after Rannoch and brought the usual team with Tali and Ashley for roleplaying reasons; that way missing Wrex on the squad. Then I somewhat delayed the party without need and threw it between Horizon and Cerberus HQ. At this point, it doesn’t fit into the game. When I make another playthrough with Jennifer, I have to change the order of missions and throw the party after Rannoch, where it belongs to.

Jennifer tried to save the clone. I think she would like the idea of having a twin, even it is a fairly evil one. There is a reason why she is gathering “sisters” all over the galaxy: deep down in her heart she is lonely and afraid that there is no one else like her.

This musical-scene is jaw-dropping. I would have never expected anything like that to happen. In Mass Effect! And there are people that believe it is a 3rd-person shooter... Goddess!

However, the longer I play this Tali romance the less I like it. The problem is the full 180 that Tali’s character makes. In ME1 she was a determined, independent and tough woman on her personal mission. Two games later she has turned into a frightened teenager. If we take that as “character development” she would actually have been traumatized by the events of ME1 and ME2, not grown stronger.

That way, Tali doesn’t really fit Ashley and Jennifer Shepard anymore. I have made Jennifer even harder in ME3. Save for a few decision, she has become a full renegade character. In ME1, Tali was the most renegade team member together with Wrex. In ME3, that’s clearly Ashley.

For another playthrough with Jennifer, I either have to make changes to Shepard’s character or to the romance part of her story. Maybe both. 

The guest list for this party was a bit shorter: Miranda and Zaeed were dead, Jacob was not welcome. The same went for Samara after she threatened to kill Shepard for being that renegade. Grunt isn’t there for technical reasons (his shower scene causes sound issues on my PC). I also skipped Javik. I don’t really like him and only bring him when Liara is the LI. 

...

[mindthemuse]

It’s difficult for Jennet Shepard to begin a romance prior to ME2 because she’s incredibly adherent to rules and presentation on who and what she is within the Alliance. 

While women are accepted into the Alliance’s service, the service still leans towards masculine as neutral. Jennet is more naturally inclined to feminine but knows that won’t serve her as well. On top of this, she’s from a multi-cultural and religious family with strong Middle East ties struggling with the religious implications of Mass Effect physics and the existence of exosolar species, despite serving the Alliance faithfully with her father serving in the Second Fleet for over 20 years before retiring and her mother’s exceptional continued service.

Shepard’s very much presenting as the Alliance wants their marines to be and what her parents want her to be. Getting into a romance pushes her into direction that may not mesh with what her ideals of the Alliance or her parents. 

Of the canon romances; there are moral issues that she doesn’t entirely resolve in her canon run by the time the game is over.

Fraternization remains paramount in Shepard’s mind; though a Spectre she still is a senior officer to Ashley and Kaidan. While this can be waved off by Shepard in game, Jennet takes that consideration seriously. There are also other issues and most of them lie at Shepard’s feet.

Ashley and her devotion to family and religion is like Shepard in many ways, though Shepard keeps her religion and her family’s situation far closer to her breast and begins more far open minded than Ashley in ME1. Ashley is more open and frank compared to Jennet’s far more reserved temperament and Jennet isn’t sure how to navigate it beyond friendship if Ashley is the survivor.  

Kaidan is reserved and cautious about expressing himself and sexuality, just like Jennet. What concerns Jennet in this manner is Kaidan presumptions about their friendship and Jennet feeling she might be a replacement for Ranha (Rahna, like Jennet, has a Middle Eastern and likely Muslim background and a biotic). 

Liara, while not apart of the Alliance, is also framed as Fraternization. Of the three choices presented in ME1′s canon, she’d be the most likely for Jennet to begin something more than friendship despite ‘age difference’. Jennet is quiet and prefers the company of pursuits more than people, enjoys culture and history, and has a strained relationship with both her parents. Unfortunately, Jennet doesn’t pursuit for more after Matriarch Benezia’s death.  

In regards to the non-canon!romance squad mates? While mature for her age, Tali is presented as younger than Liara (’18′ to Liara’s ‘early 20s’) and while Garrus is only four years younger than Shepard, he’s very sheltered and immature, even compared to Ashley. Wrex, despite gad-fly tendencies, is the most mature but mostly emotionally unavailable of the squad and physically daunting. 

It’s not until ME2 that Jennet Shepard feels more free to pursuit someone for various reasons. (Of course, none of this is set in stone in regards to shipping and roleplay; rather this is justification for why no romance in her ‘canon’ run during the play through until ME2. I’m more than willing to ‘break canon’ to explore ships and what muns with these muses can expect.)

TLDR: Jennet Shepard doesn’t get laid in ME1 because she’s a gigantic paragon mess. 

[aion-rsa]

Mass Effect: 10 Toughest Choices in the Trilogy

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BioWare knew from the start that they wanted Mass Effect to be a franchise about tough choices. Unlike Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic where your decisions often came down to whether or not you wanted to be “good” or “bad,” BioWare wanted Mass Effect to be the kind of game where you were rarely sure what the right decision was (if one even exists).

Granted, the Mass Effect franchise sometimes struggled to achieve that lofty goal, but many of the best moments in Mass Effect history come down to a tough choice that leaves you staring at the screen wondering what to do. In many cases, there is indeed no “right” decision. The trouble comes when you try to look far enough ahead to see all the possible angles and decide which decision is the right one for you.

While our look back at Mass Effect‘s toughest choices accounts for the consequences of those choices and how they impact the game’s dynamic story, it’s important to also remember how those choices felt in the moment they were presented and the ways they made us question how we were ever going to force ourselves to make a decision that could very well hang over our head for the rest of the game and beyond.

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10. The Ending- Mass Effect 3

Many words have been written about Mass Effect 3’s controversial ending, and many more words will likely be written about it now that we have the chance to revisit that ending via the trilogy’s Legendary Edition release. However, it’s hard to deny that the final choice presented during that ending is a tough one to make, even if it’s only because none of the options really speak to you.

There is a lot to be said about the decision to effectively whittle Mass Effect’s story down to three choices, but the feeling of having to make that choice at that moment after everything you’ve been through is hard to replicate. That choice is made all the more difficult by the fact that the consequences of each decision can play out differently enough based on your previous actions to make you wonder whether the choice you make at that moment is also the one that will honor what you’ve done before.

9. Destroy or Rewrite the Heretic Geth – Mass Effect 2

The decision to either destroy the Geth in Mass Effect 2 that have been aiding the Reapers or to rewrite them and convince them to rejoin the hivemind is sometimes criticized for being a decision that has a “right” answer in terms of the payoff.

That’s actually part of what makes this choice so fascinating, though. Many members of your squad think the right decision is to destroy the Geth (for various reasons), and it’s only through investigation and soul searching that you start to see the value and ethics of the other option. Of course, destroying the Geth may still be what you simply prefer to do as part of your roleplaying experience, which happens to be the kind of emotional conflict that makes these games so great. 

8. Save or Destroy The Council -Mass Effect

If you’ve never played Mass Effect, the decision to save the Citadel Council at the end of the game probably seems like an easy one. Who wouldn’t want to save the “good guys?” However, actually playing the game will likely make you wonder if the council is more of an annoyance than an asset and if it’s worth sacrificing so many lives and resources to save them. 

The thing that makes a Mass Effect decision so tough is weighing the value of your instincts against the consequences of your actions and your emotional investment in the outcome. So far as that goes, this is still one of the best examples of an “obvious” choice that isn’t nearly as obvious as it may seem.

7. Who to Romance – Mass Effect Trilogy

We’ve seen other games treat the ability to romance other characters as little more than a gimmick, but there are two things that separate the Mass Effect series from those other games: the quality of most of the characters you can romance and the ways that romancing characters allow you to better understand them.

It’s technically possible to romance multiple characters across the Mass Effect trilogy, but most of the more impactful and memorable relationships require you to commit to one partner over the others. It’s hard enough to make that decision, but the really tough part is not dwelling on what could have been. 

6. Destroy or Save Maelon’s Data – Mass Effect 2

If you complete Mordin’s loyalty missions in Mass Effect 2 (which you should), you’ll eventually confront one of Mordin’s students (Maelon) who has been performing unspeakable experiments in search of a cure for the Genophage. You’ll have to decide whether to keep the data related to his research or destroy it. 

Aside from the ethical dilemmas associated with the research methods that data comes from, the thing that makes this decision so hard is the fact that the game offers little indication of what this is really all about and how far the consequences will go. Is there something in that data that will lead to more deaths? Can you really trust Mordin given his past? Your decision may come down to what you think the Shepard character you’ve built so far would do, but trying to guess what will happen is certainly part of the fun.

Read more

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5. Give the Illusive Man the Collector Base or Destroy it – Mass Effect 2

You’re on your way to destroy the Collector Base in Mass Effect 2 when you receive a transmission from the Illusive Man. He asks you to utilize a radiation pulse that will kill the Collectors but preserve the base. With their technology, he believes he can help find a way to destroy the Reapers. 

This is something of a companion to the “Council” decision from the first game in that your feelings about the Illusive Man will likely impact your choice. Is your animosity towards the Illusive Man blinding you, or are you right to suspect that his seemingly generous offer isn’t what it appears to be? The long-term payoff of this one is a little underwhelming but, it’s a fantastic dilemma delivered at the right time. 

4. Free or Kill the Rachni Queen -Mass Effect

Not too long into your Mass Effect adventure, you confront the Rachni Queen: the apparent sole survivor of a species once partially responsible for a long and violent war. The queen asks for you to spare her life so that she has a chance to rebuild her species, but given the historic actions of that species, you may decide to kill her instead. 

While this is another one of those instances where the payoff of your decision doesn’t quite justify the feeling of the moment you have to make it, this was certainly one of the first Mass Effect decisions that really made you stop and think. It may be little more than a test of your moral compass, but it’s certainly a fascinating one. 

3. Save the Geth or the Quarians? – Mass Effect 3

One of Mass Effect 3’s best moments see the Geth and Quarians engage in a massive battle. Geth companion Legion asks you to give the Geth the Reaper code so that they can perhaps aid you in future battles. Quarian companion Tali says that doing so will likely lead to the Geth killing the Quarians and that it’s better to simply be rid of the Geth altogether.

It’s entirely possible to broker peace between the Geth and Quarian, but if you haven’t made the right moves along the way, then you’ll ultimately need to pick one side over the other. Not only does your choice have galactic ramifications but it will lead to the death of one of your companions. Aside from the diplomatic option and the “out” it provides, this is arguably the ultimate example of a tough Mass Effect choice. 

2. Save Ashley Or Kaidan – Mass Effect

While trying to destroy Saren’s base on Virmire, a series of circumstances put Ashley and Kaidan’s lives in jeopardy. It becomes clear you can only help one of them, but which one do you save? 

The set-up is simple, but the fact that you’re forced to choose between two of the companions who have been with you the whole time is more than enough to make this one of the hardest decisions in the Mass Effect trilogy. Granted, these aren’t the most beloved characters in the game, but in a strange way, that almost makes the decision more difficult as it robs you of an “obvious” choice.

1. Picking Your Squad for the Suicide Mission – Mass Effect 2

The final mission in Mass Effect 2 makes little effort to hide how dangerous it will be. As you prepare to infiltrate the Citadel, you’re forced to decide which of your crew members will assist you in what is clearly described as a suicide mission. Make the right decisions, and you all might just make it through alive. Make the wrong decisions, and the consequences could be devastating.  

The thing that makes this choice so tough and so memorable is the fact that it’s both sudden and very much based on the little choices that you’ve made so far up until this point. Making the “right” decision requires you to make a series of right decisions along the way that allow you to clearly see the best path forward. Overall, this is one of the best examples of a Mass Effect choice that’s tough at the moment, tough based on your previous actions, and tough based on what you suspect the consequences of your decision may be.

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