J1M
Arcane
- Joined
- May 14, 2008
- Messages
- 14,653
This seems to be a trend with sci-fi. Stargate Atlantis fell into the same trap. I think it comes out of the brain damage that so many artists have that teaches them military=bad, civilian=good. How to make a military game better? Make it... not military!So yeah, the "Tempest" instead of the Normandy, Pathfinder instead of Commander, all dialog options are weak, no renegade mode.
Everything about the original ME screamed military. You even had the option to be a total pro-human racist in ME1&2. I think I remember one of the Bioware devs even talked positively about the being able to take a "softer tone" with the Patherfinder's dialog than they did with Shepard. It feels like the series got co-opted along the way by people who hate the hard military feel of the game and so decided to subtly gut those aspects.
In an actual civilian operation, you wouldn't have a title like Pathfinder dictating actions to 100% loyal crew. That is the definition of military discipline. You wouldn't have clear chains of succession when characters die, you'd have the anarchy of the mob and eventually something that gives way into a pseudo-vote of the strongest voices.
Basically, a civilian operation on this scale and of this level of danger sunders any suspension of disbelief because we know that any remotely similar situation in real-life would result in chaos.
PS: For those of you having fun with the animations, have a look at Scott Ryder's head from the side when he blinks. Pathfinder blinking is so powerful it stretches one's hairline. Cora has the same problem.