#Star wars vs mass effect series

And like those genre mainstays, the developers wanted Mass Effect's protagonist to have largely unfettered access to the entire universe and carte blanche regarding their actions and decisions. Despite a shared love of Star Trek, the team wanted to avoid recreating its vision of utopic egalitarianism. Other writers, like Chris Hepler, complement those interests with popular films and television. Smith's Lensman series, along with a number of crunchy role-playing systems such as Atomic Rockets, Attack Vector, and 2300AD. Mass Effect writer Chris L'Etoile specifically mentions E.E. The success of 2003's Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic and 2005's Jade Empire inspired them to adapt their action RPG formula to the tropes and trappings of hard science fiction popularized in the '70s and '80s. The writers and creative directors of Mass Effect have never been shy about their influences. I was older, more cynical, and already discarding the last shreds of the politics adopted from my parents. But emotional investment in all my favorite characters could no longer distract from the pervasive undercurrent of military exceptionalism throughout the series. Mordin's sacrifice to cure the genophage still hit hard, and I once again held my breath through much of the suicide run on the Collector's home base. It would be a lie to claim I experienced a complete heel turn from these sentiments. Garrus is one of the many companions aboard the Normandy. Their insistence that everyone help the Alliance Navy defeat the Reapers or else get the hell out of the way came across as righteous and necessary. Their constant skepticism of the de facto governance in the galaxy used to seem rational and justified. Shepard's journey from a freshly-minted commander to a resurrected yet maligned war hero to the face of human persistence against total annihilation once felt good. Spoiler warning: This article contains spoilers for the Mass Effect trilogy. But this latest deployment aboard the Normandy hit differently, and I needed answers. Revisiting old games is often a productive and meaningful undertaking that can reveal as much about yourself as it can your nostalgic, imperfect memories.

#Star wars vs mass effect series

BioWare's popular space opera trilogy is a favorite series of mine and one I've regularly returned to over the years. I reached out because I've been playing Mass Effect in 2020, and it has in fact been weird. Youngblood is an associate professor of English at Eastern Connecticut State University, where he does research into video games and gender and sexuality studies. 'When you contacted me and said, 'I'm playing Mass Effect right now,' I was like, Mass Effect in 2020.