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mrstickball on 22 May 2009
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outlawauron said:

Are you kidding me?! Final Fantasy's battle system is under the microscope nearly every time. Any subtle hint or change that Square is anaylzing and scrutnized over and over again. You clearly do not play them.

Response: You can do this with any game regardless of genre. I will still get the story from Fable II and Mass Effect from youtube. It can be easily done. The choices you make a really an illusion and the only ultimate change you see if a different ending. (which JRPGs have been doing for years. Different scenes and endings based off of choices you've done) 

@ Legend

I know there were the hardcore PC WRPGs, but I'm talking about consoles.

@ selnor

So you're not playing a role in a JRPG because it isn't always you? Isn't it not like acting? You are playing another character, living his/her life. You may not choose how you fart in a JRPG, but you are still playing the role of that character.

A few notes about Mass Effect, and the storyline (spoilers abound):

You can not derive the entirety of the story, nor the outcomes, from one simple playthrough. Your ignorance of Mass Effect is stunning. I have 5 playthroughs of Mass Effect under my belt, and am one of only 15,000 Mass Effect players to have fully mastered the game with a 1000/1000 gamerscore rating (which, by the way, requires no less than 3 complete playthroughs, if not 5).

Lets go over some of the aspects of how the storyline changes based on what you actually do in the game (to prove your ignorance of learning the storyline from a few YouTube clips):

  1. Birthplace and Backstory take a major precidence with your character. There are no less than 10 scenes in the game, through various quests, that directly reference your birthplace and backstory, and even dive into further detail about your history. This cannot be unraveled in one playthrough, or one character, since both options are customizable only once per character. Not only this, there are unique missions in Mass Effect that are available only when you have a certain birthplace (Spacer, Earthborn, Colonist). Backstory is referenced quite often, and does play into Renegade/Paragon ultimate missions.
  2. There are multiple quests that feature radical differences in results and storyline, depending on how they are resolved. I am reminded of 2 such quests: Uncovering Saren's murder of Nhilus, and Acquiring a Passcard in Hanshan. In the case of Saren's murder, there are roughly 4-6 different ways of resolving the quest, each with entirely different story arcs. If you haven't played ME, then you wouldn't know how many ways there are to resolve this quest (which takes anywhere from 30 minutes to one hour, depending). Each resolution has an entirely different story arc, with a different result set. In one example, you can travel to Chora's Den, fend off assassins, learn about Garrus, save Garrus & learn of the plot against Tali, return to Choras Den, and choose (or not) to kill the owner, Fist. If you complete this story arc, you find Wrex well after the mission is completed, and you are leaving the Citadel to being freeroaming the galaxy. Or, you can find Wrex first (by talking to various people about him), skip the assassins at Choras Den, and directly go to Fist without the Garrus or Harkin story ark. If such a move is made, Wrex kills fist, which opens up a different story arc completely, and may leave you in the dark concerning other plotlines. Likewise, with Port Hanshan, you have 5 different ways to resolving the acquisition of a passcard. The mission varies in completion time by 3 minutes, to 2 hours, depending on which way you want to resolve the mission. Depending on how you resolve it, you meet anywhere from 3 critical NPCs with unique dialogue, up to about 6 with unique dialogue (entirely dependant on how your handling the mission, and your alignment).
  3. The endgame of Mass Effect is only determined by one, and only once choice. Although there is only once choice, how you got there, is an entirely different story.
  4. Depending on other major choices you've made in Mass Effect #1, it will dramatically change Mass Effect 2's storyline. Let me explain this: We care about ME2 so much, because certain playable characters were sent to their deaths by our choices in Mass Effect 1. Depending on who we killed (and some must be killed), they will, or won't, appear in Mass Effect 2. That is why we care so much.

For more spoilers, here are some major plot questions we were left with in ME1 that carry over to ME2:

  • Did you murder Fist in cold blood? Who pulled the trigger, you or Wrex?
  • Were the Rachni saved on Noveria? You had the choice of saving the very last queen of the species, and much storyline is given to if this choice was made or not (after all, the entire galaxy was at war with them for centuries)
  • Who died on Virmire? Ashley or Kaiden?
  • Is Shepard pregnant? Did Shepard father a child with Liara or Ashley?
  • Did you kill Wrex on Virmire?
  • How did the council, or Anderson react to the events, post-ME1? There are 5-6 endings, and all of them are critical to the establishment of the Mass Effect 2 storyline.

There's a lot of depth to the choices you make in the Mass Effect universe. I'd challenge you to read the entire storyline of ME 1 in a matter of YouTube clips.

 



Back from the dead, I'm afraid.