Mass Effect 2 Tried Something Bold But Didn’t Spark A Revolution

by

Today, on January 26, 2025, Mass Effect 2 is commemorating its 15-year anniversary. Let’s reminisce about its distinctive episode format, a style that many game developers haven’t attempted to emulate since.

Celebrate with us as we mark the 15th anniversary of Mass Effect 2, which happens to be on January 26, 2025! As we look back, let’s appreciate its groundbreaking episodic design, a concept that few other developers have dared to replicate.

Many Role-Playing Games (RPGs) share similarities with fantasy or science fiction novels. The epic cross-continental adventures found in Final Fantasy X and Dragon Age: Origins are reminiscent of The Lord of the Rings or The Wheel of Time. Even games like Baldur’s Gate 3, which seem more open-ended, often follow a linear sequence of events, with disruptions to routine being central to fantasy fiction. On the other hand, Mass Effect 2 departs significantly from this mold, mirroring a television season instead. Although many have made this comparison, even after numerous RPG releases over the past decade and a half, Mass Effect 2‘s structure continues to stand out. This format played a significant role in elevating Mass Effect 2 to the top tiers of many ‘greatest-games’ lists. It remains the most cherished installment of the franchise, surpassing its unfinished and contentious siblings. However, without the novelty of playing it for the first time, Mass Effect 2 feels more like a brave initial attempt at something innovative, rather than the pinnacle of the genre.

As a gamer diving into Mass Effect 2, let me tell you, my character Shepard’s primary objective is to gather a team of 12 allies for a perilous mission that’s more about friendship than survival odds. While the main storyline has its moments, most of the game’s action revolves around recruiting these characters and helping them deal with their personal struggles. In essence, Mass Effect 2 is less about the grand plot and more about the individual tales of its diverse cast.

If I were to compare it to other RPGs, Baldur’s Gate 3 and Dragon Age: Origins have a more structured narrative progression. But in Mass Effect 2, each mission stands alone like an episode in a TV series. Most missions are self-contained and only loosely connected to the main storyline. The game is essentially a massive RPG that tries to replicate the long-term character dynamics found in classic Star Trek episodes.

Theoretically, this setting provides room for characters to unwind, expand, and reveal their intricacies and nuances. Occasionally, it manages to do so effectively. The assassin Thane stands out as a notable example – a stereotypical character brought to life with thoughtful writing and subtle alien influences that add depth and elegance.

/videos/mass-effect-lore-cerberus/2300-6455366/

In the team assembly, Mass Effect 2 offers some striking character moments due to its emphasis on individuals, yet it results in minimal opportunities for party members to connect and respond to each other. This issue is common among many RPGs. Since you frequently exchange companion characters, leaving others behind, there’s not much time dedicated to any specific character or group within your team. The interactions between companions are primarily limited to quick quips or brief responses. Since the presence of party members can’t dictate the plot progression, conflicts among them can’t drive the story forward as there’s no assurance that a particular party member will be present at any given moment. (Final Fantasy tackled this challenge by ensuring every party member is present for cutscenes, while restricting combat to a select few characters).

In Mass Effect 2, the design of the game’s party members introduced a unique challenge: each member appears in only two main missions, with DLC characters like Kasumi Goto and Zaeed Massani appearing even less frequently. This necessitated making these characters broad, charismatic, and easily relatable. The majority of the characters are familiar archetypes that receive minimal development: Jack is a traumatized punk with a golden heart; Mordin is a neurotic, autistic-coded scientist; Samara is a beleaguered self-sacrificing warrior. Characters like Tali, Garrus, and especially Liara deviate from this trend to some extent (the DLC Lair of the Shadow Broker focuses on Liara’s story and is considered one of the best in Mass Effect). However, Tali’s and Garrus’s missions primarily explore their arcs from the first game. For instance, Tali’s mission delves into her relationship with her culture and family, while Garrus’s mission grapples with his instinct for vengeance. Unfortunately, neither mission significantly advances these characters beyond where they were in the previous game.

In essence, Mass Effect 2 strives to focus on character conflicts, particularly between key figures like Jack and Miranda, who represent opposing sides. However, these confrontations are brief and easily resolved, lacking the intensity or recurring impact that could be found in other narrative structures. The game’s design doesn’t permit these disagreements to escalate dramatically at crucial moments or serve as ongoing issues across various missions. Instead, individual characters undergo development, but the overall consistency of the ensemble is prioritized. Significant relationships can form between party members and the player, but the collective growth and evolution of the team, a hallmark of great television, is limited in ME2. The game offers only fleeting indications of this broader development.

Although I may have grumbled about it, Mass Effect 2 occasionally shines by taking advantage of its format. Its episodic structure offers a broader range of environments compared to the first game’s hub worlds and the third game’s military battlefields. While the game’s overall narrative might be lacking, its specific instances remain impactful, offering missions with varying levels of importance, such as saving a missing sibling or preventing a son from repeating his father’s mistakes. This lends an emotional depth to the game, making the tension in the suicide mission feel more personal, connecting us more deeply with the lives of our crew members than any other factor.

Though Mass Effect 2 remains highly esteemed, none of the subsequent RPGs have truly replaced it as the undisputed leader in its genre. Instead, games like Pentiment, Disco Elysium, and Citizen Sleeper have introduced fresh concepts to the format. Dragon Age: The Veilguard adopts Mass Effect 2‘s concept of the “suicide mission,” culminating in a grand finale, but discards its more episodic aspects. Retro isometric games such as Pillars of Eternity and Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous endeavor to adapt tabletop campaign complexity into digital form. On the other hand, series like Life is Strange draw inspiration less from sci-fi television epics and more from mini-series. In essence, Mass Effect 2 may be cherished but not necessarily influential in its impact on the RPG genre.

After fifteen years, Mass Effect 2 stands out as a beacon of promise. Although it’s not particularly innovative in its genre, it dared to try something fresh and achieved success. However, the areas where it falls short are intriguingly enticing. One can’t help but ponder what a game with a more compact cast, a stronger emphasis on character disputes, and an unwavering dedication to narrative arcs might produce. Its full potential remains undiscovered.

Read More

2025-01-26 17:39