narrative, moments of brilliance, Karpyshyn, and waiting to buy

Edited with thoughts on recent reverse trilogy replay.

Join me while I meander on about why I remain somewhat optimistic about Andromeda, yet cautions enough to wait to purchase the game. It takes a bit for me to get to the point, so, you know, sorry: look elsewhere if attention is an issue.

I strongly believe that Mass Effect needs a creative leader who can do something with the narrative. Chris Schlerf, the guy who wrote Andromeda narrative, isn't exactly a proven quantity in my book. Nor am I very confident of Mac Walters, the creative director of Andromeda, after what he did with ME3 endings. So here's to hoping the game will turn out to be good, and caution that it may just be alright.

Why? I've been replaying the trilogy in reverse chronological order, and have some thoughts to share...

I won't harp on Mass Effect 3 endings. I will say, however, that aside from the endings the game felt rushed, starting from a rather weak opening to stuff like Diana Allers (really?), to day-one Javik, to humans apparently making up half the enemy forces, to Kai Leng's heavy-handed plot armor... It's hard to look at Citadel DLC and not feel like, well, this bonding sort of stuff is what the writers probably wanted to focus on. Instead we got a game that started with Reapers effectively winning (if we consider ME1's plot), so we needed a literal deus ex machina to save us. Perhaps a small-team cover shooter isn't the best vehicle to explore waging and winning an all-out-galactic war.

ME3 had its moments, namely genophage and geth arcs, Thane's death (not the fight), final goodbyes.

Mass Effect 2 is a highly polished team-building simulator. You meet some cool people, help them get over their problems, and generally hang out with them while shooting bad guys. The entire game is built around building a roster of colorful squadmates and ignoring the fact that most of what you're doing makes no sense. Even some of the recruit choices are nonsensical. Why do we need the Best Assassin in the Galaxy? Assassination is a very specific task that we have no need for... Oh right, because he's cool. Why do we need the Best Thief in the Galaxy? We're not trying to rob the Collectors. Oh, right, because she's cool. We need them because them's the orders, and in ME2, we do what TIM tells us. If course, you always do what the game tells you to do -- that's the nature of video games. But in ME2 this is pushed to an extreme: don't worry about whether what you're doing makes sense, simply trust the writers to get you somewhere, and enjoy these interesting characters in the meantime.

I do still enjoy ME2 a great deal, but having just replayed it I cannot shake the feeling that it's an amalgam of some of the best writing Bioware has done (e.g., Mordin Solus, Legion, etc.) and some of the worst (e.g., everyone's made to look comically stupid -- "Reapers" -- so that working with Cerebrus makes sense).

First game. Well, I fell for Mass Effect 1 quite hard, replaying it perhaps 3 times when it initially came out. It was the imagination that got me. A completely new sci-fi IP that made sense. I can't even imagine how hard that must have been. What got me even more were moments of sheer brilliance interspersed throughout the game. Some of these moments: talking to Sovereign on Virmire, worldbuilding via talking to "ordinary" people on various hub worlds, Wrex arc, and even the well-done "romance," at least for the time. I like that the game allowed you to be something of a racist while still forcing you to have at least one alien member on your team. I like that it had an introverted main character, Liara. ME1 version of Liara is the only quiet, introspective character across all three games.

Replaying ME1 after ME3 and ME2 really juxtaposes the differences between these games. Gameplay-wise, for me at least, ME1 is more interesting but clunky. I hate to use that word, but there it is. The variety of enemies is interesting, as is the fact that they can use their powers on you -- it's just that the combat itself is clunky and never feels as satisfying as biotic charge + shotgun to the face. I've also come around to appreciate the inventory system of ME3 more than ME1, which was not the case initially. But what's most striking, at least for me, is how fresh the narrative of ME1 feels. Mako memes aside, there's a real sense of freedom and exploration there.

Bonus: Dragon Age: Inquisition. You see, I liked this game, I think. But I also cannot for the life of me remember what the plot was. I remember I got to build up some old castle and I think I amassed an army to do... something? Seal a really big gap I guess? I also hunted Dragons. So this being the latest Bioware game doesn't exactly inspire me with confidence.

Having talked about all that, let's get to the point rather abruptly: the team at Bioware is obviously full of creative people who can make interesting characters. But of all these games, only ME1 had anything close to a compelling NARRATIVE. That's not to say that ME1 was the best game, but narratives are important. I'd like to think that this is, at least in part, because ME1 was the first. And Andromeda is, in some ways, also first. That being the case, hopefully, writers won't need too many contrivances, and can just, you know, make a good game on all fronts. I assume the characters in Andromeda will be interesting and possibly memorable, I assume the gameplay will be at least adequate and possibly fun. But the narrative. How will it all hold together? Why is Ryder doing all of this? And on that account, I'm cautious.

There's an interesting kink in all of this. Drew Karpyshyn, who was behind most of ME1 and co-director on ME2, is back at Bioware. I think it's fair to say he's the person responsible for many moments of brilliance, like Sovereign's speech. Seriously, look it up and tell me that isn't sheer goddamn brilliance... In short, this guy is responsible for why I love Mass Effect as much as anyone. If Karpyshyn was involved with Andromeda, I'd preorder without hesitation. Hell, I'd get the fancy version with all the whistles. Because brilliance should be rewarded. Since he is not involved with Andromeda, I'll wait for reviews and, more importantly, fan feedback.

So there you go. Some reasons I have to be optimistic, others to be cautious.