Character Development

Over the past three weeks I have spend a large amount of my time writing very long blogs to which I am sorry for, on the Mass Effect series, starting with my thoughts on the series ending to how I got into the series and why I have enjoyed it so much.

While writing last week’s blog I touch on in very little detail the character development that takes place within the series and that a series can only survive if it can find a balance between the characters, world and story. An example of this that I would like to use would be any television show you watch, the main reason that you watch these shows is for the story and its characters and over time if those character don’t show any change or the story stays the same you will at some point become bored with the show and leave. If the show runners are able to create a balance between these two facts you will then be able to bring more people in to the series and give those that are watching a reason to return to the show the next time it comes back on and Mass Effect has done this very well.

The one thing that I would like to point out before I go on, is that once a series reaches its conclusion on its own terms you have to have created something within that time frame to give those that have invested time into your show a reason to come back and re-watch it even though they may already know the outcome. Examples of this would be the story and characters from Babylon 5, the comedy and relationship of Chuck and the story of Battlestar Galactica 2003. As you can see from my examples, each show I have listed also has a reasons as to why I would go back and revisit them.

As I have stated a moments ago Mass Effect has found a way in which to create this balance while at the same time giving those the chance to invest in the story and its characters. For me the first game created balance between the two very well, while the second game forced more on character development and the final game going more into story development.

I know that a large amount of the fan base will disagree with me but that is a topic for another time, today I just want to have a look at the characters themselves. The one theme that always come up in both the original and the second game is that you spend a large amount of your time talking to your crew members about their past and getting to know them, but the way in which the game makes sure you are not being over loaded with information is by only telling you so much before stopping and then only carrying on after you have completed another mission. Each time you interact with them you find out a bit more information about them while at the same time discover how they got to where they are now, plus you also get this feeling that you are helping them with their past.

By the time you arrive at the third game the character development that has taken place in the previous two games slows down so that the story can take a more centre stage but also allowing for those characters to grow and come to terms with their own actions.

The way in which the series gets you involved with the characters is to try and get you to sympathise with them along with allowing you to try and find apart of you within these characters. A great example of this would be Mordin Solus, when you first meet him you discover that he is a doctor who wants to give back to the galaxy before he dies. As you start to get to know him you find out that he worked for his races Special Forces while at the same time improving upon the Krogan genophage that was created by his race long ago. By this point you discovery that he is helping to create genocide on another race and that his reasoning behind all of it is statistics, when you do meet up with him in Mass Effect 3 you discovery that he has decided to help cure the genophage because he wants atone for what he has done, I won’t spoil what happens next but in just two games you end up caring what happens to him and that in some way you have had a hand in making him realise the error of his ways.

Another great example would be Thane, when you first go looking for him all you know in advance is that he is a contact assassin but just after a few moments of seeing what he can do you get this picture that he is a ruthless killer while being a very holy person as heart. Just like with Mordin when you finally do start talking to him you discover that he has an incurable disease that is killing him and that he wants to connect with his son and make up for lost time.

Again there a more character within the series than those that I have just spoke about and each one is completely different from the next but it is the way in which the writers have been able to create these characters so that we can relate ourselves to them while caring about who they are and what happens to them. This to me is good writing and this is just one of the reasons this series will stand the test of time and why so many will come back to it again and again, if it wasn’t for the story or the characters themselves I don’t think this game series would have been as successful as it is.

Until Next Time

Why a month of content?

If you have been following me on Twitter then you might have seen a tweet from me talking about Mass Effect March, you might also be asking yourselves what am I on about and if you do then you might be asking yourself why am, I making a whole month of content for just one game series. Well the reasons why I wanted to spend the whole month talking about this series is one, that I want others to know how I got into the series and why I like the series along with everything that has happened over the last year, I thought that I would at least try and shrine a positive light back on the series.

When the series was first released I was still at that point in my life where I wouldn’t play games, read books or listen to music that were popular and a good example of this would be when my brother (who had moved away to go university) came down for the weekend, we as a family went out for the day and he decided that he wanted to visit our local GAME store. While we were in the store I remember him talking about how much he wanted to play Mass Effect and because of his statement and the way I was back then I decided to stay well away from the series.

It wasn’t until the summer of 2009 when I was out shopping with one of my ex-girlfriend that we both decided to stumble into a GAME store and while looking around the box art for Mass Effect jumped out at me and to make things even better it was also on offer. (At this point in my life I had grown out of the phase that I was in back when I first heard about Mass Effect). At that moment in time I remembered what my brother had said a few years back about it, so I decided to pick it up but that didn’t mean that I could played it right away. Oh-no because not long after picking up the game, me and my ex-girlfriend broke up and in the process I had to move back to my parents house and because of all this I completely forgot about the game until April 2010.

When April of 2010 arrived I had the unforeseen problem of my Laptop dying on me and because of this I knew that I need to go out and buy a new one. While out shopping for my new laptop I discovered that the shop that I was buying my laptop from was also selling Mass Effect 2 on the cheap so without knowing what the first game was like I decided that I would pick the it up. I will admit that I did have a feeling that if there was a second game in the series out on the market then it could only mean that the first one was a success.

May 2010 and throughout the summer of 2010 was a bad time for me but I also took that moment in time to at least give Mass Effect a try in a hopes that I could at least loss myself in a story, setting or place that wasn’t my own at the time. Normally if I wanted to do this I would go and play a Tales of Series game (another RPG) or watch a television programmer but I just wasn’t in the mood for either of them. Within just a few hours of booting up the game I was completely lost in the game and its story and because of this I felt like I was the main character within the series and that I was the one making the choices throughout the game.

Once I had completed the first game and because I knew that I had the second one I decided to get started and right away everything that had drawn me in from the first game was there in the second one but this time on a big and more powerful setting.

All I could do after completing the two games was to go back and play them again but it wasn’t until I was with my current girlfriend that she informed me that there were other stories set within the series in books and graphic novels. With this new information I was really pumped and since that day I have done everything that I can to get my hands on any and all things Mass Effect.

Now after this little bit of story time you might be asking yourself why am I telling you my life story about how I got into the series, well the answer to that is very simple, I wanted to make sure that everyone knew that I was late to the party and to also give you an understand that at the time I was also using the story as a way to get away from what was a dark time in my life.

Now the one thing that I will talk about quickly is that at the time I was looking for something that was set within a science fiction background and while going through the series I noticed that this series also closely resembles television show that I was drew too when I was younger and that was Babylon 5. The reason that I make this connection is because after playing the game once you can see that some of the idea that are in Babylon 5 are also within the Mass Effect series, examples that I would use are the character development and that you as a person have the ability to change the events that are happening right now. I will also be honest and say that Babylon 5 does do it on a much better scale than Mass Effect, but this isn’t the reason we are here.

As I said moments ago some of the reason that I really enjoyed the series as a whole is that you get to see some of your choices play out throughout the series along with the relationships that you have created. What I am mean here is that like with all RPG you are given choices so that you can change the story but at the same time the story will still follow the path that was laid out for it but those character around you will react to your choices differently while at the same time seeing parts of yourself within each character and this is what makes good characters. Good characters are those that you can in some form relate to them while at the same time care for them and worry what could happen to them.

One thing that does sometimes get over looked when playing a game or watching other types of mediums is the music, music is also a very important part within these mediums and if you are unable to get the music tone right for the scene then it could completely change or destroy what is going to happen next and Mass Effect series does make good us of its own music.

The last thing I will look at before concluding this blog is the story for the whole series which includes all the novels, graphic novels, games and DLC (this does not include any DLC after the From Ashes DLC) that I have been able to experiences over the years. What I mean here is that the series has been so well written that it does give you the ability to go back and revisit it again and again, just like some of your favourite films or television shows.

I would also like to take this moment to thank everyone that help create such a great series that we can all go back to again and again and that I do hope to see more of these kind of series in the future.

Until Next Time.