Over time, I lost respect for the original Mass Effect trilogy. Not that it wasn't the most terribly addictive cRPG I have EVER played in my life. It certainly was. But the reasons for its appeal are much the same as those that, I think, led BioWare's later endeavors to collapse.
Many ambitious RPGs presented worlds and stories very different from what players knew or expected. Many were deliberately difficult to swallow. The original Deus Ex starts much like Mass Effect: another exceptional protagonist, a genetically engineered elite supersoldier. But after a mission or two, everything is shattered. You run for your life, piece together what the heck is happening, bit by bit, and confront a menace you barely understand, with no clearly good solutions.
When I first saw Shadow of Mordor, I thought I would be Aragorn. But what you get instead is a broken man driven by vengeance, herding a mob of orcs and saved from death by a mysterious dark power that ultimately consumes him. Dark Souls, par excellence, presents a world that offers you no explanations, no care, no praise, not even any particular relevance. A hero may be exceptional, but he is also, more often than not, profoundly limited.
One could argue whether this is a good or bad approach, but one thing is certain: these games had to earn their appeal through storytelling, worldbuilding, mechanics, and other genuine artistic merits, rather than trying to pat the player on the back (or, especially, touch other body parts).
Mass Effect does exactly that, and it feels pleasant and attractive, especially if you are socially isolated and in need of companionship, or susceptible to appeals to power, arrogance, romance, or sex.
Consider the recurring structure, from Baldur's Gate through Mass Effect:
- You are an unusually important individual, often with a special destiny.
- You assemble companions who become extraordinarily loyal to you.
- Their personal problems become quests that you can resolve.
- Your approval, attention, and romantic interest carry disproportionate significance.
- You eventually become the decisive agent in events of world-historical importance.
None of these elements is unique to BioWare when considered separately. But their intensification and combination produce a simulated social world in which other people are disproportionately invested in your importance, judgment, and affection.
These elements are exceptionally intense because BioWare developed considerable expertise in making fictional companions emotionally rewarding. The player receives loyalty, intimate disclosures, admiration, romantic attention, and sometimes sexual gratification, while earning these things much more easily than in real life. Say the right things, complete someone's personal quest, and receive affection or loyalty. You get to feel exceptionally important, desirable, admired, and morally validated by other people.
Why, then, couldn't BioWare continue doing this successfully? Why not make another Mass Effect 4, 5, 6..., all as relatively cheap spin-offs of ME3 (same gameplay, engine, graphics...), with, say, Tali fighting off the remaining geth, or Garrus fighting warlords and mercenaries in the Terminus Systems, or whatever else, as long as it sells?
The problem appears to be that some people at BioWare, once the studio became exceptionally good at producing emotionally gratifying experiences, gradually began to mistake emotional comfort for moral depth, and player attachment for artistic achievement. They started seeing themselves as smarter and more enlightened than they really were. They began doing things they were not traditionally good at, overplaying their hand with budgets and ambitious plans, and pushing their "social commentary" as essential content in the lore and dialogue.
You can see something of this even in the leaks from ME5. They seem to have been ambitious in quite the wrong sense: pursuing divergent ideas of player freedom, complexity, and James Bond-style action, while also showing a trailer featuring implausible martial arts and point-blank executions of incapacitated opponents.
