Enough of that Engine Oil, Give Me Blood !
on June 22, 2010 | Videogames | emotion in games, storytelling
Now let me be clear, this isn’t a request for more violent games. I’m fine with violent games - something ignorant people all over the globe think will be the downfall of mankind, but that’s not what this is about.
I was initially taken aback a bit when it became clear that the largest DLC for Mass Effect 2 (Overlord) was about Geth. I wasn’t sure why, but now that I’m going through it, it becomes clear that it isn’t the fiction bit that I have a problem with - the Geth are quite fascinating, but the combats themselves:
I feel nothing.
And yet I remember enjoying the ME2 combat system very much during parts of the campaign. As I recall those moments, however, I can only points out to combats against Organics. Because that’s what’s happening here: I don’t care that I’m mowing down dozens of Geth, because they’re only Geth to me; the times it felt like I was truly going to combat were those times I had to go through squads of screaming, cursing and oozing Organics.
And I guess this comes from what Mass Effect is about to me: an epic story about sacrifice - except it’s not always mine. As I’m playing as a 100% renegade, the fiction in my mind is as follows: I have a mission of supreme importance to accomplish, and the loyalty and secondary missions (those with mercenaries) were simply delaying my oh-so-important mission. So I slaughtered them.
And it was a great feeling to buy into this larger fiction, this tale of horrors done for the greater good. But dismantling 22nd Century tin cans is taking that away from me.
So please BioWare, make the next DLC a bit more fresh, will you?
June 26th, 2010 on 11:35 am
I think this just goes to show that you need to see a shrink. :)
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June 30th, 2010 on 1:15 pm
In a desperate attempt to avoid the mandatory psych ward stint that’s coming my way, you whistle-blower, I’ll add this:
The lack of empathy simply comes from the representation BioWare chose for the Geth: apart from Legion - the only platform designed for independent operation, all Geth are swarm-like non-individuals. They don’t have identity, so why would I feel bad about them?
The depiction of the Reapers is a lot more interesting: each Reaper is a nation, but the whole nation can be addressed as an individual. This is something we understand at the end of ME2, when we see the Reaper fleet creeping toward the galaxy: each Reaper has structural differences, reinforcing the idea that each of them is an independent entity.
Now of course, BioWare needed cannon fodder for the game, but in a way, it’s too bad that the ant-like species is the one we encounter during gameplay.
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