30 Days of Mass Effect: Day 9 & 10
May. 7th, 2013 11:07 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
beccatoriaI'm continuing my grouping strategy, and this does at least seem to be getting me to post more often, which I like, though I'm failing to tack on additional things into these posts. That said, nothing much additional, other than continuing to hope I'm doing all the Right Things to make sure Vidukon goes off without a hitch, has been going on. So maybe that's why. ANYWAY!
Favourite Romance.
Tricky. This is a genuine toss-up between Liara and Thane. So screw it, I'll explain them both.
For Liara, one of the reasons is that she feels like the most epic romance in that you can carry it across all three games (and in a way you can't with the Virmire survivor as she doesn't question you during ME2 even if she's not on the ship either, particularly if you have Shadow Broker installed). But she's also the NPC that is most integral to the ongoing plot. I've actually seen her criticised for that, and if you don't like her, I guess I could see why. She definitely has an attachment to Shepard that could border on the inappropriate if you weren't at least friends.
But Liara T'soni is basically as responsible for saving the galaxy as Shepard, and in every game. In ME1, without Liara, Shepard has no way of understanding the Prothean cypher or knowing there's an invasion to be thwarted. In ME2, without Liara, Shepard has no way of being alive, and in ME3, without Liara's research on Mars, there is no Crucible and Shepard has no way of defeating the Reapers. No other NPC has such a powerful and direct effect on the narrative. It's not for nothing that she's the only returning character who cannot die before that final beam run (and most of the others have multiple opportunities to croak). You just can't tell the story without her.
On top of that, I think her bookish awkwardness contrasts well with Shepard's personality (as much as we can define that), but that her shift from sheltered academic to stone-cold intergalactic information broker is an arc that can be attributed to her learning form either a paragon or renegade Shepard. On top of that, it's an interesting arc. I think I spoke in a previous post about how I liked her well-enough in ME1, but it was in ME2, when you witness her overpowering fury towards the Shadow Broker for what he made her do - for forcing her into a position where any choice compromised her morals and made her hurt you - that's when I sat up and said, okay, hello, you really have changed... But I still recognise you as you; intriguing.
So, let's move on to Thane!
OH GOD THANE. I mean, basically I suppose this shows that I prefer romances with characters that I feel have resonant and powerful relationships with Shepard regardless because it heightens the situation and Thane is just...such a beautiful, painful and necessary part of the second and third games, even though, unlike Liara, he plays almost no real role in the wider narrative. His importance is more thematic. He's the one who first lets Shepard express that she's expecting to die. Just blunt simplicity - he won't be alone long; she'll meet him across the sea...
It felt so stark and true that whether I railed against my inevitable death later in the game or not, I kept hearing that admission - every time it felt like Shepard was lying for the benefit of those around her.
But I'm jumping ahead; he's a perfect romance interest in the second game too. He's a story about second chances when it's already too late, about poignancy, about having been dead, about heading toward death. He offers a chance to affirm that you will fight to the last against your death in the second game, and then an opportunity to accept it in the third.
Something about a romance with Thane implicitly acknowledges the multitudinous nature of love; broken, wasted, precious, beautiful and lost. You are not his first love; he is not yours, but you will be his last. I think it is particularly poignant if you have just been left by the Virmire Survivor - abandoned, untrusted, uncertain whether they were correct in their damnation of your choices, the questions of responsibility and action warring with anger and betrayal. You meet Thane in a very similar place.
Liara is the love you leave behind because you die. Thane is the love you follow into death.
Liara's romance is about hope. Thane's is about acceptance.
Least Favourite Romance.
I'm honestly stumped here. I mean, I have independent criticisms of the various romances. I think it's a shame ME3 won't let you challenge Kaidan on his behaviour on Horizon the way you can challenge Ashley. I just finished a long entry on how I think a preoccupation with her status as a love interest may have hampered other character development for Miranda. I've also talked previously about how I think there are some unfortunate overtones to Jacob's storyline because having the one black dude run off to have a baby with another woman while you're in hack, isn't really the classiest piece of storytelling. I think it's great that we finally got same-sex only romances in ME3, and having played through both, I enjoyed both, but I also think we should totally note that the lesbians get a steamy shower scene while the gay dudes get a kiss in a darkened nightclub so you can barely see it.
But like, I don't hate any of them. I don't think they shouldn't have been romance options or that the characters are so awful I don't know why anyone would romance them. Even the romances where I have specific critiques, it's just because I think those are parts that stop them from being as awesome as they could be.
So I'm gonna go a slightly weird route and choose Kelly Chambers. Cus honestly? Yes, I want her to feed my fish, I do. But there's something really dodgy about her "not counting" as a romance option in the opinion of your OTHER romance interests. I think Kelly herself doesn't mind because her brief lines on the subject suggest that she's both pansexual and polyamorous, and certainly in the third game she seems genuinely happy you have someone. But like, it's hella sketchy about whether this is something your other romance options would care about. And given the way most of them will refuse to commit to you if you're also flirting with someone else, I think most of them would care, so it makes me feel like I'm keeping secrets.
The fact that it's never clear whether you're actually sleeping with her or she's just giving you EXTREMELY inappropriate-for-platonic-friends lapdances kind of makes it worse? Cus it just heightens the fact that it's like this gross mini game "Have an affair with your secretary! Make her feed your fish!" where none of the narrative implications are thought through because its existence is already justified because it panders to a certain subset of the audience. Every other character you can invite up to your cabin sits on your lap, they don't dance on it.
It's just...idk. For all I try to recognise and occasionally rant about the sexism in these games, I feel it's generally much better than the industry at large. This was one of the few places I genuinely felt suuuuper uncomfortable and like, guys? Guys, really? Did you have to?
MEH.
And okay! That wraps up the romance edition...
Favourite Romance.
Tricky. This is a genuine toss-up between Liara and Thane. So screw it, I'll explain them both.
For Liara, one of the reasons is that she feels like the most epic romance in that you can carry it across all three games (and in a way you can't with the Virmire survivor as she doesn't question you during ME2 even if she's not on the ship either, particularly if you have Shadow Broker installed). But she's also the NPC that is most integral to the ongoing plot. I've actually seen her criticised for that, and if you don't like her, I guess I could see why. She definitely has an attachment to Shepard that could border on the inappropriate if you weren't at least friends.
But Liara T'soni is basically as responsible for saving the galaxy as Shepard, and in every game. In ME1, without Liara, Shepard has no way of understanding the Prothean cypher or knowing there's an invasion to be thwarted. In ME2, without Liara, Shepard has no way of being alive, and in ME3, without Liara's research on Mars, there is no Crucible and Shepard has no way of defeating the Reapers. No other NPC has such a powerful and direct effect on the narrative. It's not for nothing that she's the only returning character who cannot die before that final beam run (and most of the others have multiple opportunities to croak). You just can't tell the story without her.
On top of that, I think her bookish awkwardness contrasts well with Shepard's personality (as much as we can define that), but that her shift from sheltered academic to stone-cold intergalactic information broker is an arc that can be attributed to her learning form either a paragon or renegade Shepard. On top of that, it's an interesting arc. I think I spoke in a previous post about how I liked her well-enough in ME1, but it was in ME2, when you witness her overpowering fury towards the Shadow Broker for what he made her do - for forcing her into a position where any choice compromised her morals and made her hurt you - that's when I sat up and said, okay, hello, you really have changed... But I still recognise you as you; intriguing.
So, let's move on to Thane!
OH GOD THANE. I mean, basically I suppose this shows that I prefer romances with characters that I feel have resonant and powerful relationships with Shepard regardless because it heightens the situation and Thane is just...such a beautiful, painful and necessary part of the second and third games, even though, unlike Liara, he plays almost no real role in the wider narrative. His importance is more thematic. He's the one who first lets Shepard express that she's expecting to die. Just blunt simplicity - he won't be alone long; she'll meet him across the sea...
It felt so stark and true that whether I railed against my inevitable death later in the game or not, I kept hearing that admission - every time it felt like Shepard was lying for the benefit of those around her.
But I'm jumping ahead; he's a perfect romance interest in the second game too. He's a story about second chances when it's already too late, about poignancy, about having been dead, about heading toward death. He offers a chance to affirm that you will fight to the last against your death in the second game, and then an opportunity to accept it in the third.
Something about a romance with Thane implicitly acknowledges the multitudinous nature of love; broken, wasted, precious, beautiful and lost. You are not his first love; he is not yours, but you will be his last. I think it is particularly poignant if you have just been left by the Virmire Survivor - abandoned, untrusted, uncertain whether they were correct in their damnation of your choices, the questions of responsibility and action warring with anger and betrayal. You meet Thane in a very similar place.
Liara is the love you leave behind because you die. Thane is the love you follow into death.
Liara's romance is about hope. Thane's is about acceptance.
Least Favourite Romance.
I'm honestly stumped here. I mean, I have independent criticisms of the various romances. I think it's a shame ME3 won't let you challenge Kaidan on his behaviour on Horizon the way you can challenge Ashley. I just finished a long entry on how I think a preoccupation with her status as a love interest may have hampered other character development for Miranda. I've also talked previously about how I think there are some unfortunate overtones to Jacob's storyline because having the one black dude run off to have a baby with another woman while you're in hack, isn't really the classiest piece of storytelling. I think it's great that we finally got same-sex only romances in ME3, and having played through both, I enjoyed both, but I also think we should totally note that the lesbians get a steamy shower scene while the gay dudes get a kiss in a darkened nightclub so you can barely see it.
But like, I don't hate any of them. I don't think they shouldn't have been romance options or that the characters are so awful I don't know why anyone would romance them. Even the romances where I have specific critiques, it's just because I think those are parts that stop them from being as awesome as they could be.
So I'm gonna go a slightly weird route and choose Kelly Chambers. Cus honestly? Yes, I want her to feed my fish, I do. But there's something really dodgy about her "not counting" as a romance option in the opinion of your OTHER romance interests. I think Kelly herself doesn't mind because her brief lines on the subject suggest that she's both pansexual and polyamorous, and certainly in the third game she seems genuinely happy you have someone. But like, it's hella sketchy about whether this is something your other romance options would care about. And given the way most of them will refuse to commit to you if you're also flirting with someone else, I think most of them would care, so it makes me feel like I'm keeping secrets.
The fact that it's never clear whether you're actually sleeping with her or she's just giving you EXTREMELY inappropriate-for-platonic-friends lapdances kind of makes it worse? Cus it just heightens the fact that it's like this gross mini game "Have an affair with your secretary! Make her feed your fish!" where none of the narrative implications are thought through because its existence is already justified because it panders to a certain subset of the audience. Every other character you can invite up to your cabin sits on your lap, they don't dance on it.
It's just...idk. For all I try to recognise and occasionally rant about the sexism in these games, I feel it's generally much better than the industry at large. This was one of the few places I genuinely felt suuuuper uncomfortable and like, guys? Guys, really? Did you have to?
MEH.
And okay! That wraps up the romance edition...
no subject
Date: 2013-05-08 07:32 pm (UTC)Then again, it also does that with Kaidan, to some extent, anyway and, I assume, Ashley (again, because I haven't played as man!Shep, but am just about to, so...we'll see).
no subject
Date: 2013-05-09 10:11 pm (UTC)I'm pretty much okay with how Liara acts basically because I think that regardless of Shepard's feelings, unless Shepard is truly horrible to Liara, Liara ends up with a crush on her. It just seems like...a consistent part of her character, and awkward though that can sometimes be, I don't think it's necessarily poor writing.
The problem is mainly that the game doesn't clarify that she has a crush on you rather than assuming you also have a crush on her. I don't think it's egregious, but I do think that at a technical level, the mechanics could have been smoother (see above with the difficulty in romancing Ashley).
no subject
Date: 2013-05-11 06:17 pm (UTC)They could've smoothed that out, at least, because that's too easy of a mistake to make (being nice to Liara) to screw up the romance with Ashley.