Mass Effect: My Commander Shepard is the perfect RPG

The Mass Effect Trilogy has justified my love for Science Fiction. I am neither with Star Wars nor grew up with Star Trek, for me, Fantasy stories as the Lord of the rings always sound more exciting. But then Mass Effect came with its three games comprehensive space epic, which showed me what Science Fiction Storytelling can create.

The trilogy has an important part of this permanent impression to owe in my opinion Commander Shepard, the main character of the games. Because sheepard creates it like hardly any other RPG hero, the spaghat between decisions of the players and a character with an established personality. The mixture of these two elements ultimately forms my very personal mass effect experience.

Shepard is always shepard

Mass Effect makes me a lot of freedom, as mine or my shepard should be. So I can set the origin, the psychological profile, the combat specialization, appearance, the first name and gender before the start of the game in the character creation. However, while these elements have a small influence on the action (such that Shepards mother occurs only in the game when I choose the spacer background, then Shepard will always be a N7 elite soldier who have command over the Normandy and in Mass Effect 1 to be appointed to the first human Spectre.

Shepard is not a "blank slate" character, so someone who has no predetermined personality and only shaped which decisions I meet as a player. Instead, he or she is a world-established and well-known character. NPCs have an opinion on Shepard, even if I meet them as a player in the game for the first time. Like team member Miranda about Shepard says, "This fire that brings to you to follow yourself in hell" - I do not owe my decisions in the game, but the character of Shepard.

This strong and stringent characterization also ensures that I always know how my shepard would react to situations and that - regardless of whether I are exemplary or renegade games - shepards decisions believe.

Soon or harsh, but always heroic

This may sound like a conflict with the role-play principle of Mass Effect - after all, I have the moral system (and associated with the dialogue wheel and the interruptions) the opportunity to influence shepards. But in fact, myself with the most difficult decisions of the game can never break out shepards established character.

No matter if I'm exemplary or renegade (or a mixture of both) games, the target of the Commander never changes, just the way there. The dialog box for example allows me to choose the direction of a response, but the words are ultimately that of Shepard. I can play him or her harsh and sometimes even as a quorful artschloch, but never as a complete disgust, which represents itself against the alliance or breaks off the mission.

Shepard is idealistic in any case. A * E Hero * In, who is ready to give everything from him to save the galaxy. The only question about Shepard's personality, which I can answer by my decisions is: How many victims is this goal worth?

Player * Interior Freedom versus Epic Story

Of course, my playful freedom also restricts a degree. The world of Mass Effect is not my playground, in which I can let off, as I want (how this is possible in the former fallout games.) This alone already shows some of Shepard's decisions that I might not hit If the game would have given me the choice: such that Shepard chases the Batarian relay in the Arrival DLC in the air or join the second part of Cerberus.

But there is also an established character for immersion, for that I can feel in front of like a badass in an epic story. Mass Effect leads me through the story and let me decide which way to the destination Shepard chooses and makes me experience my own Mass Effect Story.

My personal Commander Shepard (brilliant of Jennifer Hale spoken) for example is a spacer, specializing in infiltration and a bit in love with her team member Tali (okay, maybe I'm a bit ...) She always tries to make the decisions Save the most lives, but does not shy away when the situation requires it.

And at the end of the day, my Commander is also "shepard" like the Renegade Badass from our free authors Stephan. Whether as heroine or antiheld, shepards goal is to save the galaxy from the reaperers - we are there to choose how Shepard achieves this goal.

This article is part of our hero * indoor theme week, which is still up to August 13, 2021 Umsuch presented daily exciting new articles around the topic of video game characters. All items of our hero * Interior theme week can be found here in the overview.