Can we really achieve this?

Last week’s blog was about me reviewing on the final three pieces of DLC for Mass Effect 3 and what you might not know is that after I completed the Citadel DLC I felt sad. It wasn’t because I knew it was the end of the series and the last time I will see this characters but it was because throughout this whole month and up until that last sense I had noticed something that my life and others where lacking. Before you turn away and say that this is going to be another topic on Mass Effect it isn’t but I am going to use this scene to paint you a picture of what I am trying to get at and then talk about what it all means.

The scene in question takes place right at the of the Citadel DLC, After you have completed all the mission and thrown the party, you are then asked to return to the Normandy where when you active this cut scene you are give a scene where you, the crew and your love interest have one last look at your ship and a talk. If your love interest is with you, you are shown a moment of pure love that those two characters have for one another.

To make the point even more I will also us this quote from a song “If it’s not like the movies, That’s how it should be,”

For those that are unaware this is a Katy Perry song that talks about how love should be like the movies and if you have seen a any romantic films you will have seen what Katy Perry is singing about, in which they have such great love for one another and then at the end of the movie go on to have that “happy ever after” scene.

Now a lot of people will say that this is a fantasy that the media wants us to believe is true but in real life it isn’t and I would like to agree with you but there is a time in everyone relationship in which they do get to experience this.

All relationships start off with the two of you chasing after one another so that you can get to go on a date with said person and by the time you arrive at the second or third date, feeling start to boil and the relationship starts to get going. From this point on you both start showing your raw emotions and passion for one another and you are doing everything you can to keep that spark alive and this to me is the part that the movies are talking about.

Now you may disagree with me which is your right to but I know that I have experienced this within my own my relationships and I have also seen those in their own relationship experience it too but somewhere along the line it just stops and you both become comfortable with one another and in the process the romance just dies and then the following situation could happen.

Have you ever been with your other half when he or she asks you the following question “Do you love me?” and your answer is always yes but here is the kicker, are you saying yes to this question because it is true or are you saying yes so that the two of you don’t end up in and argument but you do love them but you know something is missing from your relationship.

If it is the latter part then you have just arrived at what every relationship gets to at some point, where the “happy ever after” is gone and that is because you both have become too comfortable with one another.

When you arrive at this point in the relationship it is very hard to get out of it and I know that there are books and articles all over the place that will tell you that the two of you need to make time for your relationship and everything else but the true is that, there are only so many romantic dinners you can go out on or cook for your other half when you have to come to the conclusion that nothing is working.

The think that I am trying to get at here is that it took god only knows how many shows, movies and games for me to see that we all have experienced this kind of love at least once in our lives and that if you want to have that long last relationship with the “happy ever after“, like the movies you are trying to show us then you both are going to need to keep working on your relationship.

Until Next Time

Katy Perry – Not Like the Movies

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ewTkrfaWtA

Mass Effect 3 scene in question, see from 5:40

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lXkSjOMJYDc

If it was only possible

This week marks the conclusion of my Mass Effect March and yes I know that it is April but I had five topics planned for the five Fridays of March but I only started releasing content from 8^th of March, so you could say that the month ends on the 8^th April but enough of my babbling on, let’s get on with this week’s topic.

For those that have been following the Mass Effect series you would have know that at the beginning of last month Bioware released the last pieces of Downloadable Content (DLC) for the series which also means that the series has now come to some kind of an end for the time being. At the same time you might have also noticed that within my blogs I have pointed out that I haven’t yet played any of the new Mass Effect 3 DLC that has been released since the first pack (From Ashes DLC). The reasoning behind this is because I like to play the game as a whole and if I know that there was still going to be DLC released later down the line then I would wait until it has all been released before playing it all.

The way in which this will work is that I will go thought each one on of the DLC packs in the order that they were released and give them a brief overview of what the pack is about while trying not to spoil it too much (So there could be spoilers for those that haven’t played the DLC yet). After that I will then tell you what I thought about the pack and then move on to the question that always comes up with any DLC, should the pack be DLC or if it should have been on the disk when it was released.

First up we have the Leviathan DLC which puts us on a mission to find out as much as we can about the history of the Reapers. This DLC is related to the main story of Mass Effect 3 and has been pulled of very well due to the fact that it answers a lot of the questions that you may have had at the end of Mass Effect 3. The only drawback I had with this DLC pack was the fact that a lot of what I believed to be correct was correct but at the same time it took away some of what I believed to be true too as well but at the end of the day we now know all most all of the answers to the end now. For if this should have been DLC or on the disk to begin with I would have to say this should have been on the disk when the game was released due to the fact that this piece of DLC is part of the main story of Mass Effect and because of that this should have been included on the disk and not sold as DLC.

Next up on the chopping board is the Omega DLC, this piece of DLC covers what happens to Omega between Mass Effect 2 and 3 and was something that was set up and played out within the novels and graphic novels of the series. The main focus of this DLC Pack is to help Aria T’Loak get back her station that was taken from her by Cerberus, did I enjoy this DLC pack the answer to that question is a mixture of both yes and no. The reason for my answer is when you play Mass Effect 3 before the DLC came out there was a mission in which you needed to get all three factions on Aria’s side so if you did that you knew that you would have to take back Omega but after completing that mission nothing else happened, so you kind of knew this was coming. The reason that I liked this DLC is because it was nice to return to some of the areas that you spend a large amount of your time in, in the second game and plus it also good to see how far both sides were willing to go to keep or get back the  station. When it comes to the question if this should have been DLC or on the disk when the game was first released my answer would be that this should have been DLC from the beginning and that includes the faction mission that was in the main game. The reason for this is because this story was set up in novels and graphic novels and because of this it should have been treated as an add-on to begin with.

The final and last piece of DLC that has been released is called the Citadel, in short this DLC is made up of two parts, the first parts has you  trying to stop a terrorist organisation from trying to kill and the second part is a massive get together with everyone. When it comes to saying how good this DLC pack is I just can’t create a sentence that would give it any justice so I will break it down into just words. It is changeling, comical, Interesting, referential, emotional and a love letter from the creators that I enjoyed playing every minute of. Should this have been DLC or been released on the disk, my answer would have to be DLC and that is because it doesn’t add anything to the story and second it is a laugh that stays within character that was needed for a game that spends a lot of time being serious and emotional.

To bring this Mass Effect March to a close my final thoughts are more along the lines of a thank you, a recommendation and a request. First of all I would like to thank those that have taken the time to read everything that I written down in the last five weeks along with thanking everyone at Bioware for creating sure a great piece of art that I and so many others have been able to enjoy. I would also like to recommend to anyone that hasn’t played or read any form of the series to go and do so and the last thing that I would like to ask even though I know that it may be impossible to do and that is to create a novelisation of all three games. I know that a lot of people would disagree with this at first but to have a story as good as this and not in a novelisation would be a crime, plus if it was you would then be able to find out what the correct story path would be and you could take it away from the television if you wanted to carry on the story. As I said this would be impossible but you never know it could happen in about ten years or so but who knows.

Thank you again and until next time.

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.