A Picture Is Worth a Thousand Dialogue Trees

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[The Random One]

That was very well done. Especially because my biggest gripe with gaming storytelling is a terminal lack of subtlety. Nice catch, Arendt.

I roleplay the same way, but I had to go with Liara because I love freaky girls. Also, since I too had a girl Shepard it was either that or Kaidan, who is a stereotype wrapped in another, different sterotype. But I got to the point where I could romance Kaidan (by accident), and the dialog in which he subtly indicates that he wants to be with Shepard and I have Shepard unsubtly announce she has no idea of what the fuck he means is one of my favourite gaming dialogs ever.

 

[sms_117b]

My first play through Shepard didn't romance anyone, he still had feelings for Liara, where the romance scene should have been all I saw was her photograph and a disheartened Shepard...

Second time around Kaiden turned his back on Jane Sheppard, so she went to Jacob, the good old doctor forwarded some leaflets on using Biotics in the bedroom, this peaked my curiosity in the romance scene.....

 

[Jared]

Susan Arendt was vaguely disappointed that Joker wasn't a romantic option in Mass Effect 2.

If only to hear Mordin explain how best to approach that without breaking him in two.

That would have been hilarious...

hehe, his certain convrsation about one other crew member had me in hysterics!

 

[Amnestic]

Joker's heart belongs to EDI.

I feel like those who romanced Liara rather than Ashley/Kiaden got a better deal out of the whole 'follow up' romance. Having booted up saves for both the human romances (but not yet imported a Liara romance), I found that A/K's reactions were pretty...well, bitchy.

I mean, I'd been dead for two years, Anderson's roosterblocking me on where ROMANCEINTEREST is and I'm a bit busy trying to save the galaxy on what amounts to pretty much be a suicide mission. We finally meet, by chance, and all they do is whine at me that I'm helping Cerberus. Hell, I brought Garrus with me on that mission and he told ROMANCEINTEREST that they were being crazy but they didn't listen.

Then a few missions later I get one, single e-mail about how they're all confused and stuff. You know what ROMANCEINTEREST? I'm not confused. I was calm, polite, I explained how stuff went down and that I've been dead for two years and after all that all I got was a stupid Tennyson poem? Screw you. I'm going to go have sex with the genius Quarian girl who's been into me since I saved her tight arse in the Wards.

But yeah, the picture frame being lowered was a nice touch. Didn't really reflect what I was feeling though. I wanted Joker to jettison into space and obliterate it with my shiny new Thanix Cannon.

 

[nilpixelcount]

It was because of that damned photo that my Sheppard stayed single. I played a renegade, but even as a badass, I couldn't play if it meant breaking Liara's heart! I broke up with Jacob when I saw that and he was pretty bitter about it

 

[Raven's Nest]

To quote EDI:

I love seeing humans on their knees.

I love that moment. Joker's like "WTF?"

When I found out about the ship's AI, I nearly blew my lid. I spent the last game plowing through AI baddies only to have one sitting in my ship's systems? "Get this thing off my ship!"

I think I was actually scared of Tali when she is informed of the AI's presence aboard the Normandy. For someone who has no perceivable face she sure 'looked' mad. Her body language is so well animated throughout. Bravo to bioware...

OT: I noticed the photograph too... Interestingly I noticed it once I had just invited Tali up to my quarters for the first time... I didn't feel too guilty because I had always loved Tali.

Actually this has been the first game to truly pull on my emotional strings. I usually roleplay as if it were me in the situation, naturally I am fully paragon in virtually everyway, (just a bit partial to smuggling and fraud). But I first noticed that I had begun to truly treat my crew like real living people with real emotions. After listening to Tali talk about reclaiming her homeworld from the Geth I had initially tried to convince her not to start a war, but she actually convinced me to support her in her cause... When Garrus asked me to help him assassinate his former squadmate I had pretty much refused out of principle but something in the way he was talking to me just pursuaded me to help him. The moments like that were incredible for me and bioware seems to have pulled it off so easily and with such startling impact. Peter Molyneux has been trying for years to achieve this, I sure hope he was taking notes for Fable 3.

I really hope they scrap the push here for nice response and here for evil options. It isn't that hard to work out the effect you'll have if you say something... Also by just hiding the good/evil points mechanic it'd make choosing the right path for you so much more gratifying. Let the reactions inform you if you just made a bad move or said something insensitive, we all make mistakes in conversations why should that be any different in-game?

 

[Loop Stricken]

Why does everyone romance Liara? I mean, I get it if you don't like Ashley or Kaiden... But you think LIARA is a better alternative? I hated her so, so, so much. Her voice was horrible.

In my case, for the achievement. I couldn't get Tali in ME1 and Ashley was, to be blunt, an ugly racist.

 

[Sepiida]

Nice catch Susan. My uploaded Shepard had stayed single specifically because I didn't want an old relationship to cause problems with Tali in ME2. Now I'll have to play it again with a different profile to catch all the little things I missed out on like that picture.

 

[Jonatron]

Without reading anything in this article beyond the first line, I just wish to thank you from the bottom of my KotOR/RPG loving heart for the spoiler warning. I won't be playing it for another couple of weeks at least and I really appreciate the spoiler warning.

 

[Booze Zombie]

I noticed that little photo, too.

I'm not sure if 1000 words are expressed, but you certainly get that Shepard did not enjoy his/her reunion with Liara where she effectivly just hires him/her as an employee for a bit, pays you and you never really have any reason to talk with her ever again.

So, does Shepard keep the photo to remind him/her of the past or to hope for the future?

 

[FlyAwayAutumn]

Through the unfortunate pressing of the X button I missed the entire romance cutscene. Damn, now I will have to play throught the game again to see what Tali looks like without her helmet. Oh well, no loss there.

Yes, no loss there because you don't get to see her face... why!!??

*ahem*

Anyway I never noticed any "Small moments" because I was having too much fun throwing people out windows and headbutting krogans in the FACE!

 

[Susan Arendt]

Why does everyone romance Liara? I mean, I get it if you don't like Ashley or Kaiden... But you think LIARA is a better alternative? I hated her so, so, so much. Her voice was horrible.

Kaiden was a complete ninny. He was just so utterly limp, not something Joanna would find attractive at all. He certainly wasn't her equal. Liara had a quiet and beautiful strength that complemented Shepard well.

 

[Aries_Split]

Why does everyone romance Liara? I mean, I get it if you don't like Ashley or Kaiden... But you think LIARA is a better alternative? I hated her so, so, so much. Her voice was horrible.

Kaiden was a complete ninny. He was just so utterly limp, not something Joanna would find attractive at all. He certainly wasn't her equal. Liara had a quiet and beautiful strength that complemented Shepard well.

Kaidens only redeeming quality was that I knew deep down, he was Carth Onasi.

That's IT.

Anyway, fantastic article, I love when games approach things subtly like that. It really does say more than hours of cutscenes could. One of the reasons I loved MGS3 so much is that for a metal gear game, it wasn't NEAR as blunt as all the other ones, story wise anyway.

 

[Compatriot Block]

The scene with Liara in ME2 just made me angry. If she has the nerve to be upset in ME3, I'll freak out in her general direction.

I really hope Bioware doesn't write it so Liara attacks your love interest from ME2, but from how she behaved on Illium, I'm not so sure she will handle it too well.

 

[AcacianLeaves]

I love the little details here. I was kind of disappointed with the lack of crew options for a gay Shepard, since the first game established that a female Shepard could potentially be gay. That's how I played my female character, and I was disappointed that no female crew members were potential love interests (except for the aforementioned roll in the hay with Kelly). It seemed like an odd choice to exclude any homosexual choices in ME2. I actually found it borderline insulting. Basically saying "She couldn't possibly be gay, of COURSE she'd want to hook up with a male crew member!".

Also before I get flak I play a female Shepard because the voice acting is far superior. I chose Liara because it made the most sense. My Commandeer Shepard was a tried and true military brat, and she would not have violated rules by fraternizing with her subordinate officers. Also as I was going to play Shepard as gay for the interest of a "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" military character, Liara it was.

Also Kaiden was a ninny. I couldn't sacrifice him fast enough.

 

[Labcoat Samurai]

Why does everyone romance Liara? I mean, I get it if you don't like Ashley or Kaiden... But you think LIARA is a better alternative? I hated her so, so, so much. Her voice was horrible.

Kaiden was a complete ninny. He was just so utterly limp, not something Joanna would find attractive at all. He certainly wasn't her equal. Liara had a quiet and beautiful strength that complemented Shepard well.

Yeah, except that she got "the vapors" at the end of every mission. But boy, she changes, doesn't she? She goes from being a bookwormish academic to being a ruthless underworld information broker.

I definitely felt the romance options in ME2 were better. I had romanced Ashley in the first game, and was never quite happy with her overt racism. So when she bitched me out on Horizon, I figured that was as good an indication as any that it was over, and I was free to move on to greener pastures.

 

[Labcoat Samurai]

I actually found it borderline insulting. Basically saying "She couldn't possibly be gay, of COURSE she'd want to hook up with a male crew member!".

In all fairness, there's another way to look at it. Shepard might very well be gay. Unfortunately for her, Miranda, Tali, and Jack are not.

In one sense, Mass Effect 2 has more gay/bi characters. Asari are monogendered, so an asari being attracted to a female human isn't particularly meaningful. Kelly, on the other hand, is human, and apparently bi-curious at least. And if your Shepard romanced Liara and was gay in the first game, presumably she didn't stop being gay... she just lacks a good outlet for it.

But to back up and look at it in a meta sense, Bioware made the decision to make Jack, Garrus, Tali, Miranda, Jacob, and Thane all strictly heterosexual, so if you want to fault them for leaving out good homosexual relationships, that's probably fair... Though I guess Morinth is sort of an exception, but a relationship with Morinth is very ill-advised

Besides, she's Asari anyway, so she's no more gay than Liara.

 

[Tears of Blood]

Actually, Susan, you can leave the picture up if you don't persue romance with another character. Devs said that the romances in the first two games would have a places in the third game. My FemShep (Alex) went for Liara as well. Instead of the romance scene you got with Thane you would have got a shorter, less risque one where Shep looks at the picture on the desk for a few moments.

Also, I am surprised you found any acceptable choices. The last thing I'd want to do after breaking up with someone is find a terminally ill one who's going to die in less than a year.

 

[Worgen]

Im annoyed that Tali wasnt a romantic option for a fem shepard. Kelly kinda creeped me out by how quickly it seemed like the conversation would have ended up in bed, same with jacobe (err black guy whoes name I cant remember) and sleeping with Garrus just didnt seem right and Thane was too human looking for a reptile alien. So for me when it comes down to it Tali is the only char I like in such a way that I would want my Shepard to sleep with.... at least my fem one, one of my male ones wouldnt be let near her, that just seems wrong.