Mass Motivations

I liked Black Mirror but not sure I'd call it sci-fi. Kind of Twilight Zone-ish. As for some others, I don't usually last long with those SyFy channel shows. heh. BSG is the only one, and I agree, it started dipping around season 3.

Speculative fiction is a broad niche which scifi sits. Black Mirror deals with drama mixed with futuristic technology and its applications. Dramatic social commentaries can be a social science fiction by itself. I absolutely love the episodes where they use memory implants, androids and AIs. A lot of traditional scifi tend to blur the line with mythology and fantasy than actual science and I'm someone with biology background so I'm not that fussy about scifi genres as they're all fiction to me. 

How did you get through the ME trilogy, then? With all its biological nonsense? I think SF can get as fantastic as it wants when it comes to the unknown - and there is a great deal of that in physics - but it should get its facts right where it talks of the known. It can set its own rules and handwave things for its universes, but ignorance of real science, where it becomes meaningful for the story, will damage its integrity.

Honestly, this is why I like the books way more than the series.  The characters in the tv series are quite different.  And frankly, not nearly as likable.  The books are already pretty dark and dystopic.  The series is even more so.

But yes, the series is pretty hard sf (with a few pretty clear exceptions I can't get into because spoilers) It explores how human cultures could shift after a few centuries of colonizing other worlds.  Prejudices,  politics, even the definition of humanity (particularly when it comes to Belters)

I think I mentioned in other thread about ME2 is my least favourite, (yeah, Bioware, try sell me again how a skeleton with a penis became a girl in the next scene). It was harder for me to suspend my disbelief after hearing how Cerberus could reconstruct a fully functional human being from a burned corpse in two years only after they spend billions because "its always a matter of resources," said someone who obviously never been inside a tissue culture lab and never do science in his life and watch too much CSI. Every single time someone open their mouth about Shepard's reconstruction and billions of credits, I wanted to shove my pen into their ears.

Science that deals with living things requires a lot of time, even with all the money you could throw on it. Even if its possible, you don't do it out of scratch aka not burnt corpse. For that short amount of time, Cerberus need a lot of samples of healthy Shepard (blood, skin, hair, organ, bones) and a lot of data especially at peak performance and health which is only possible if I headcanon-ed that Cerberus have been studying Shepard since Akuze. But ME2 also introduced Mordin, my geneticist kin who speaks my language in one breath. And his entire character arc is about science, morality and ethics rather than usual "science evil bad bad" scientist trope. So... even if there's a lot of questionable things but its not bad enough that I couldn't enjoy it.

Either way, while I can't say much about physics (pfft! yeah, I've seen Michio Kaku vid), but there's a lot of interesting applied science in Mass Effect too. Remember the guy at Noveria talking about military enhancements. Toombs talking about experiments done to him to make him a super soldier and then in the next game, Cerberus did just that to Shepard, all those implants and upgrades. And how the reapers using nanites that uses circulatory system to turn a living organism to husk. Biotics using implants to enhance their potential and the medical side effects that came with it and the possibility of children with inherited their parent's biotics potential. Medi-gel delivery system in armor and allowing soldiers receiving automated basic medical treatment while in the field - this might sound nothing ordinary but this entire line is freaking amazing and reduce a lot of preventable deaths.



The book series was written in several first-person limited POV and it plays out like a space detective novel. They make me understand the character's motivation and goal better. Whereas the tv focus itself on the larger narrative and its flexible enough to expand (lol) on more characters who will be integral in later stories. Rather than just Holden and Miller, we have the rest of Rocinante crew, Avasrala, Johnson, Havelock, and later in season 2, they're introducing Bobbie. Season 1 also explores the politics between Earth and Mars, the situation and rising anarchy from the Belters, how humanity survive in space as a commune. Since I read the series while I was watching the show, I don't have the personal bias that may affect my appreciation to the stories but I am thoroughly impressed by them. (Have you seen season 2 trailer? *squeal*). And it made me understand why Syfy's Caprica and Defiance simply fail to establish itself. I feel more connected to the Expanse because similar to Black Mirror, it was set in near future and a lot of the concerns are valid and relatable. Smartphones got a lot smarter. Space station got a lot bigger. Space travel and mining industry extend to the asteroid belt. Superpowers controlling the rights of many people. How class privilege became more complex now that space colonialism is on the table. So exciting!

Kinda like Mass Effect in terms of its medium; video games, mobile games, novel, comics and the anime movie. Despite occasional inconsistencies, I love how each medium and writers expand a lot of characters further. Like Jacob as a protagonist in his mobile game is kinda likable and quite similar to BroShep as a protagonist, however the values we appreciate in protagonists isn't quite as enjoyable in an NPC like his Paragon-like attitude that borders to bland and dullness and the freedom to cheat for instance. Like how ME Homeworld allowed Garrus to be viewed more than just his superbly likable traits that was shown in the games (Shepard's perspective) and how his own personal narrative differ in how he tell his own story to Shepard. Shocking I know, I was always very critical about him, but it make me understand him better and I could see him objectively as a character (his own perspective versus the situation as it is) rather than just a "character that I like" (how Garrus's perspective was valued through Shepard's fondness for him versus the situation as it is). And I understand James better through his movie and the choices that made him the person in ME3. Also, Citadel politics is a lot more intricate than just human versus alien prejudices and the first novel explore it better than what was available to Shepard in the game (watching Babylon 5 isn't at all necessary too). I don't think many realize that Shepard is also the first non-council-race Spectre in over a thousand years since its inception during the krogan rebellion.

lol, its okay. I don't begrudge what others enjoyed. I'm also a fan of action and adventure fluff. But its just little things like not being able to question or disagree and then I have to suspend my disbelief more like Miranda's conception and how she have her father's altered Y chromosome and then the alien romance-related content; Mordin mentioning Thane have mild skin venom that have mild hallucinogenic effects upon ingestion and contact, Garrus could cause severe anaphylactic shock which could kill FemShep and Tali have weakened immune system that could kill her... all of which was gloss over rather than addressed which isn't fun. 

Back to the main topic, ME trilogy have its moments of scientific realism which I identified with which keep me hooked and then there's moments where they throw it out of the airlock whenever it feels like it because that's why its called a fiction and a video game. But on its own, neither is required to make me invested into the series, and I only did because I'm a hopeless romantic.   

As for MEA, I'm still undecided. They only throw around pretty pictures of Andromeda, potential Asari squadmate or LI without any story attached and Ryder family and another ancient race without any substance. Not really surprised if they retcon everything.

They did an interview about the series in both medium which explain it better than I would. The original timeline itself is problematic to the adaptation and they didn't intent to faithfully adapt each books, rather choose to expand the series further into an amalgam of its complex narrative. I assume the events in late Leviathan Wakes and Caliban's War will occur at the same time, particularly hinted with the whole Cerberus-ey conspiracy. Besides, I wouldn't want them to adapt it like HBO did with Game of Thrones.

For Mass Effect 3's characters, the issues is mainly that majority of the NPCs and their relationship to the protagonist felt organic because the game allow you the control of their fates depending on the choices you make about them like Wrex, Mordin, Tali, Kaidan or Ashley, Miranda, Samara and even Cortez (from how involved are you with them and in the playthrough and the chance for them to be either directly or indirectly killed by you) and other characters like Legion, Jack, Thane, Grunt, Jacob, Kasumi and Zaeed, are limited but their presence are affected by the decisions you make for them in ME2 (loyalty, disloyalty, death and if you choose to ignore them; Jack becoming a phantom and Legion-Cerberus attacking Shepard in Cronus station, Jacob died on Gellix).

But for Liara and Garrus, rather than given the same diversity offered to other NPCs, ME3's Garrus and Liara are written with a very singular narrative to satisfy a very specific demographic, the people who love them; best friend/lover forever. While this is perfectly fine for their fans but it adds nothing in replay elements. You can play the trilogy ten times and still haven't explored all the possible paths and combination of all NPCs above but Liara is the exact same person in every playthrough and despite being entirely optional in ME1, ME3 Garrus still talk like he's with Shepard fighting Saren in the trilogy (his lack of ME1 involvement only affect FemShep ability to romance him in ME2). In his absence if he died in ME2, nothing is affected except for characters having extra/alternate scene and dialogues, which again didn't happen to other NPCs whose presence or lack of presence do affect the narrative and War Assets.

This. I also wonder if they actually considered why people liked LotSB so much. I mean, yeah I'm sure a lot of people liked being able to run with Liara again, and continue the romance. She is a popular character. However, she is not a universally beloved one.

Other people liked the DLC because Tela Vasir was such an interesting character. Or they liked having past decisions being mentioned. Or they liked the chase scene. Or the banter. Or the boss mechanics. Or the Shadow Broker files on certain characters.

That's an interesting point.. about Liara being sidelined.

That might've been a nice touch for Garrus. I do like when things get personalized sometimes. For that Victus story, funnily, I like taking the VS there. Because they mention the bomb from Virmire and the crew has a quiet moment. That ends up enhancing it more than Garrus did.

What drew me in? I broke my foot. Second time. In one year.

Actually, to rewind a bit back, I am a BioWare's fan, who stopped playing due to family happening. Then I broke my foot.

Anyway, that's about 3 years ago, in December 2013, so I finished my interrupted run of Kotor 2, because I got really depressed about the whole foot thing. And I tried to pick between ME and SWTOR, and I picked SWTOR.loved that game, but then it grew old, and I grew stupid, so I tried Blade from Seoul. Then I pulled my head from the deep and dark place it got lodged, dumped Asian MMOs with nekkid girls, laughable dialogue and pretty landscapes, and played Mass Effect.

My motivation to play it, is that SWTOR is getting old, it lets me play a tough broad (with non deformed body and actual armor), it has zero elves, dwarves and wooden weapons, and it has dialogues and voicing that make the game interesting as a story. And, you can still kick butts for goodness no less than in the last decade of the last century in that little place called Baldur's Gate. On the it's nobody else's business difficulty setting.

Replies spanning millions of miles, tsk tsk tsk...
Explaining motivations is easy !

I love mass effect because...