Review: Mass Effect (BioWare, 2007), Part 2

In my previous post I got into the shooter genes in Mass Effect, explaining what it did well, what did not and what compromises were made to please a bigger market. This time, I'll review the RPG in it, plus the setting and story.

Looking through the RPG lenses

Role-playing games are built on three main aspects: story, character stats and world interaction. The tighter they all feel, the better the final experience should be. Or, in other words, no matter how good your game is implemented and thought out, if those three pillars do not support steadily the game as a whole, the RPG player will notice.

BioWare were greatly experienced in managing all three elements, and it really shows in Mass Effect. The story starts well and ends better, with enough stops along the way; the world is complex and astonishingly detailed; the main character can be differentiated beyond genre, clothing and faces; and there are plenty of NPCs, secrets and things to pick up.
Let's talk about each of them with a little more detail.

Universe and story in Mass Effect

There are a lot of things to learn in this new Universe humanity has recently (35 years ago) discovered. Lots of worlds, life forms, political bodies, rebels... Almost anything. Many of them are presented as the plot or secondary quests advance and other times it is just in the form of codex entries. It is true that, pretty often, Shepard's ignorance of the most basic information of important issues is startling, making the exposition a little too evident.
But, most of the time, the player is simply provided some new info, readable on the menu, which add a lot of flesh to the limited bits of info the story forces on you. And, believe me, there is a lot of info in those codex. Every extraterrestrial race, coalition, political group or history event is explained in there. Quite a lot of the many hours I spent on my first play-through were spent reading every little bit.
And if that is detailed, wait for the moment you reach another planets. Each planet, no matter how irrelevant or small, has a description of formation, nature or civilization. And, what's even better, many of them are homages to sci-fi classics. Trantor and Dune are among the most recognizable, but there is space for many other plays on the genre. Quite a delightful time waster.

And the story does not lag around. I'll avoid the details, but the events progress smoothly, even when the player is allowed to play the middle section in whichever order she decides. There is a lot of conversation involved, but most are so well integrated with the events at hand that they come naturally.
The beginning is epic, and leaves many doubts about what is really happening, and as it all plays out, you start filling holes, discovering new, bigger ones and spending all the time intrigued about the possibilities. And when the final revelations come, they do with a vengeance. Lots of loose threads are tied, and even stuff you thought was only there for the looks is revealed to play major roles.
The last great conversation, right before the final assault, is delivered in such a high note that I was simply unable to pay attention to all the action coming after it for a while. It is one of the best moments I've experienced in a sci-fi work.

The biggest downside to this masterfully detailed universe is that the actual playing areas are not up to par. No matter how detailed a world's description or old a spaceship is, there are only so many models for each. There are exactly three variations on facilities or caves and one world gravity. Variety is added by placing crates and closing doors, but the general scheme is the same, so there are no surprises left after the fourth secondary quest you play. It is a real pity, because the amount of detail in the main plot areas is so high that the other locations feel cheap. I don't know if this is the result of time or memory constraints, but a better solution would have been greatly welcome.
Anyway, as I said, plot related worlds and stations are as complex as any decent RPG fan would expect. To make things better, those worlds shake things up by introducing Mako areas to travel between far away locations. These are short and not difficult at all, but quite entertaining, as you keep getting in and out of the vehicle to get loot, open gates or talk to characters.
Confession time: I am a fan of the Mako and how it is used in Mass Effect.

Character stats

One of the defining elements of RPGs are, at least for me, the depth of the character development system. RPGs are about making my own decissions and accepting the consequences, making each adventure look unique. I expect to have an adventure I can call my own: re-telling key events as they played out for me is part of the fun. How I solved a particular problem or combat, using particular abilities feels more fullfilling if the person you are talking to used a completely different approach. All players share a common general story, but the details make each one's personal.

So, in Mass Effect you get a lot of different options to affect conversations, combat and treasure hunting. There are different weapon , class, spectre, conversation and powers stats. Many of them are limited by character choice, but even two characters with the same options can be played in diametrically opposed ways. The level of character depth offered by BioWare in this ocassion is beyond all expectations.

Sharen was a no-bullshit soldier. She had a thing for Ashley, but lost her chance.

And the same goes for your partners. You can let the game use the default levelling trees, or you can micro-manage each party member to fit your particular strategy. The impact is pretty much limited to combat, but it still makes a difference.

My only issue with the way this works is that, for a long time, I stopped feeling that point stacking is a good way to do reflect that. No matter how many enemies I shoot or locks I open, experience gained that way should not be assigned to bartering or sentinel powers.
Contact, Secret of Mana and some other games have experimented with constant stat upgrading. Attacking with swords enough times improves your dexterity and damage with such weapons. Receiving damage improves your defense and life over time, while dodging attacks makes you harder to hit.
Results have often been underwhelming, often leading to unbalanced gameplay, but it is about time one the big guys stepped up and provided a working implementation of this system. I thought it would be BioWare, but they decided to play it safe and tweak an already controlled system to perfection.
Fortunately enough, each time you level up you are allowed to assign a new ability point, so progress is constant and short-term goals (unlock a new power, max a weapon) never feel too far away.

Interaction

No matter how deep and detailed a universe is, if it is only in display, it is lost. If I am not allowed to distort, break or manipulate it, it might as well not be there. Games are about interaction, and RPGs are required to go beyond the average: their worlds must be alive and consistent, properties which can only be evaluated by forcing them to the limit.

This is were Mass Effect truly shines. An inmense amount of worlds to read about, all easily reachable through a simple interface. An easily grasped conversation system which, usually, plays exactly as you expect (it doesn't in one important conversation, which was quite frustrating). Dozens of interactive NPCs which play a part in the story, 6 party members plus 4 crew members compose the main cast for the game. Most of them play a minor role, of course, but the depth they add is unmeasurable. Their objective is usually revealing some information on the workings of the world, details of the main story which it does not delve in for long or just plain old jokes or social criticism.
Many of them will also trigger secondary missions. And these will also make other NPCs appear, or turn into radio boradcasts during the elevator sequences. No matter what people say, hearing your adventures in the form of news is one of the best loading screens I've ever seen.

Then there is the matter of your squad. Six different characters, with completely different backgrounds, interests and approaches to the events on the story. From time to time, talking to them will reveal new information. If you show enough interest, they might open up and ask a favour from you. How this conversations evolve is unique to each of them. Tali is mostly an information hub on her admirable people and way of life, Wrex's conversation is a mine field you can never traverse undamaged, Liara is a nice, nerdy girl to talk to, while Ashley is a defensive soldier afraid of losing her merits because of her family ties.

You can tailor you party to overcome Shepard's weaknesses

Sometimes your squad members will start conversations among them, adding more colour and detail to their relationships. Unfortuanetely, after playing Dragon Age and, mainly, Nier, Mass Effect's party chat could seem sparse and simplistic, but only because the other ones were incredibly focused in adding content that way.

Explaining each character like this achieves little to show the immense detail some of them have, specially in the character of Tali. She is so believable that it's no wonder she is a fan favourite.
During chats and cut scenes, Tali's reactions to Geth subjects are always visceral, as is her love for the migrant fleet. But there are cracks in there, making her personality much more interesting. She has regrets, doubts, heroes and hopes, and they show in subtle ways and changes in her voice tone.

Intriguing story + great personality + veiled identity = love

It is true that Tali is, with Garrus, the most interesting character you can recruit, but the rest, while sometimes a bit corny, do not lag behind.
There is, however, one exception: Kaidan Alenko. I was unable to have more than two conversations with him, with all the crying and poor little boy stories. His story and personality just played the topic, and I did not feel like losing my time with that. But with so much going on, a mistake can be easily forgiven.

Of course, all these interaction options would be worthless if their effect on the game was limited to themselves. But it is not so: many quests have more than one possible solution, better suited to different gameplay styles, and with slightly different outcomes. Many of the choices made are, however, not relevant until later in the story, or even in the saga, with some events making a mark in Mass Effect 2 and, hopefully, Mass Effect 3.

Conclusion (RPG)

No 'Is Fallout a shooter?' jokes here

BioWare know how to do things, and they showed creating some of the most engrossing worlds and characters in a game. The number of possible variations from one game to the next is considerably high, with options and choices which usually feel and are relevant.
Add a great story and exploration rewards and you get yourself one of the best gender benders since System Shock 2.
There are things to improve, of course (animations, some voice acting...), but overall it is an amazing product of love and craftmanship.

As a side note, I'd like to compliment BioWare for releasing a patch which removes the absurd activation system originally forced into the game. I bought the game only after such annoyance was fixed. If only other EA studios were this kind to their clients...