Who Said What?

I’ve been a fan of the game developer, BioWare ever since the first “Neverwinter Nights” came out; although they’ve been making games long before that.  At the time NWN was coming out, I was one of many caught up in the hype over the game’s “Aurora Engine” and how it was going to revolutionize Pen and Paper roll playing games; at least those set within the Dungeons and Dragons universe.  Well it didn’t revolutionize anything, not by a long shot.  But Neverwinter was pretty fun as far as computerized D&D modules go; which is saying quite a bit considering *most* D&D modules are fucking horrible piles of literary and creative excrement smeared between too-many sheets of paper.

BioWare is also known for creating the Star Wars themed roll playing game, “Knights of the Old Republic” (awesome game), the ancient-Orient themed RPG, “Jade Empire” (awesome game); and most recently the futuristic space themed RPG, “Mass Effect” (without a doubt: awesome game).

I’m playing through Mass Effect this very moment; or rather I *would* be playing through it this very moment if I wasn’t writing this post.  For me the game represents a monumental leap forward for RPGs and if you’re familiar with the genre at all, then the point I’m going to make should significantly resonate with you.  For decades RPGs have had extensive text based dialog.  When Final Fantasy X came out back in 2001, it was the first RPG to feature in-game *spoken* dialog, but only to a limited extent.  By the time of Knights of the Old Republic and Jade Empire, *almost* all of those games, in-game dialog was spoken… the exception being anything the Player Character had to say; that was still silent text.

With Mass Effect, *all* dialog in-game is spoken, including everything the PC has to say.  To some people who don’t play video games, or RPGs at least, you might not comprehend how awesome it is to have *your* character actually saying something.  It covers massive ground towards making the video game more immersive and allows the telling of the story to flow that much more seamlessly.

Of course the dialog shouldn’t completely overshadow all the other elements of Mass Effect such as… well, just about everything.  Especially graphically, the characters are near-life-like in appearance.

Oh, I almost forgot, Mass Effect also features partial alien nudity. 

Follow-up to the above broadcast.

Share your thoughts by clicking here.