I am not Shepard
June 29, 2010
My gaming habits have been unusually schizophrenic lately. Usually I only have one large-scale single-player game going at a time, but right now I’m partway into Super Mario Galaxy 2, The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask, Bioshock, and Mass Effect, with the naively optimistic intention of finishing all of them. (Yes, that’s why I haven’t had anything to write about recently. That and long hours at the office!)
In any case, it’s Mass Effect that’s been holding my attention recently. I’ve been hesitant to play it because of a long-standing apathy toward shooters — if any of my current games goes to the chopping block, it’ll be Bioshock — but was convinced by the criminally low Steam sale price, my enthusiasm for BioWare’s Dragon Age, and a particularly evangelical friend.
My friend had already played Mass Effect before trying Dragon Age, and quickly abandoned the latter because the combat system was not to his taste. More memorably, he lamented that the player character does not have spoken dialogue as Commander Shepard does in Mass Effect, which omission struck him as a disappointing step backward. Having now spent time with both games, I have a hard time seeing it that way.
For those who are unfamiliar, Dragon Age and Mass Effect take different approaches to representing dialogue. In Dragon Age, each of your dialogue options is presented in a numbered list. Upon selecting one, your character is assumed to have spoken those words and your interlocutor immediately responds, complete with voice acting and facial animation. You do not, however, see or hear your own character speak.
In Mass Effect, you are presented with a handful of dialgoue options arranged as spokes on a wheel, each position roughly corresponding to a particuar intention or tone. Each option is a loose paraphrase, and selecting one prompts Commander Shepard to expand it into spoken dialogue: “Don’t try to study me,” for example, becomes “I’m not some artifact you can take back to your lab, doctor.” All characters, PC and NPC, thus have a voice.
Media Molecule’s Kenny Young outlines several problems he has with this approach:
- Frequently, my character will say something which I categorically had no intention whatsoever for them to say, in a way which just doesn’t suit the character I’m trying to be. I’ve been forced to choose from a small selection of directions which are compromised abstractions, the result being frustration with my character and the game.
- I’ve got to listen to the mouthy bugger, and if I skip this I have no idea what he’s just said because of the limitations of the aforementioned abstractions which are representative only of my character’s initial response and not the entirety of the rambling speech he then goes on to make.
- I am my character (right?), so why do they do things and say things which I have little control over, and know a whole bunch of stuff which I don’t? I mean, I’m meant to be them, but I’m having it rammed down my throat that I’m quite clearly not them. They are themselves more than I am them. If that’s what I was looking for I’d watch a film, a really good film that has a century-long legacy of perfecting this kind of storytelling.
- In summary – why give me a choice, the illusion of control, only to immediately remind me who’s really in charge? I don’t get this kind of frustration, certainly not to the same degree, playing a game with purely linear cutscenes.
While I admit having a similar (if less vehement) reaction to Young, I also appreciate why my friend disliked Dragon Age’s approach. Seeing and hearing characters talk to each other means there is one fewer element requiring a suspension of disbelief, and giving the protagonist a voice allows for cinematic flourishes that are simply not possible when she must remain silent.
For me, though, that’s exactly the problem with the fully-voiced approach: it feels cinematic. As much as I’m convinced by the writing and voice acting, the degree to which Commander Shepard is already realized as a character makes her inaccessible to me as an avatar. Clicking on my preferred dialogue options, even on weighty matters like the survival of a species, is not sufficient for me to inhabit her. I am not Shepard; I’m just a voice in her head.
That said, I am still enjoying Mass Effect and hope to write more about it soon.
13 comments
Personally, I like the idea of what Bioware was trying to do with Shepard’s dialogue in Mass Effect, but I think the main problem is the execution — that what the player selected on the wheel did not always accurately reflect what he would say and do (which you pointed out when you quoted Kenny Young). This is especially troublesome for choices that could be interpreted multiple ways (I can’t think of an example right now, but I know I encountered this in my playthrough).
In general, though, while voice acting is nice, I find myself somewhat missing the days of text-windows. Shamus Young talked similarly about voice acting in his column at The Escapist, but from the viewpoint of its hindrance of choices. It’s a good article: http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/columns/experienced-points/7588-Experienced-Points-Voice-vs-Choice
(Oh, also, in your third last paragraph, you have “admint”.)
by JPLC on June 29, 2010 at 9:33 am #
It’s funny, I had the exact opposite reaction. I really like the Mass Effect main character voice precisely because it’s more cinematic and less like an avatar. It plays really well on a console, sitting on a couch, like watching a fun space opera movie where you get to shoot the guns yourself sometimes. I’m OK with the more traditional style like Dragon Age too, but I enjoyed Mass Effect better.
I think it’s fascinating Bioware put out too very similar RPGs at the same time with this one very important narrative difference. Maybe some graduate student somewhere is writing a deconstruction.
by Nelson Minar on June 29, 2010 at 10:57 am #
That’s exactly why Miyamoto-san makes all his protagonists (notably, Link and Samus) silent. He wants the player to feel that they *are* the protagonist, so filling in the protagonist’s lines with your imagination creates more immersion than any possible script.
by Pace Smith on June 29, 2010 at 11:29 am #
The first Mass Effect had a terrible problem with two completely different response choices obviously resulting in the same response. Really brings you out of the world.
I was left largely cold by the game (atrocious level design, boring settings, clunky ui & mechanics), but the second one is a massive improvement (although it doesn’t have same the great soundtrack). And it’s probably too late, but playing as a female shephard also makes the game a lot more enjoyable as the voice actor is far superior.
by Paul McGee on June 30, 2010 at 8:46 am #
@ Pace Smith – But that never happens, rarely does anyone *have to fill in the character’s dialog. Rarely does go beyond Princess Zelda asking for your name.
@ JPLC – I agree text boxes are really underrated, especially in the age of listening to horrible unskkppable JRPG lines. If FF7 had voice acting, it would have been ridiculous.
by Paul McGee on June 30, 2010 at 10:14 am #
JPLC: Personally I haven’t had too much trouble with misinterpreting the dialogue summaries, at least not yet. I can see how that would be frustrating, though. What an odd way to have your roleplaying subverted!
Shamus is quite right about its limitations, but I think Mass Effect benefits from full voice acting quite a lot. Since the dialogue is written to be read aloud, there is an incentive to create believable, concise lines that sound like things people might actually say — unlike, say, Morrowind, where characters often “sound” like encyclopedias. (And thanks for catching my typo; I’ll fix that now.)
Nelson Minar: I think “a space opera where you get to shoot the guns yourself” is an excellent characterization, and I think it’s very successful at that. I don’t think it’s as successful at being a role-playing game, interpreting that term as literally as possible, because Shepard already seems like a discrete and fully-formed character and not someone who I can play as.
That’s not necessarily a bad thing. As I said at the end of my post (perhaps unconvincingly), I am enjoying Mass Effect — I just feel a curious disconnect with the character who I am supposed to be identifying with. To use an extreme example, when I’m playing Galaxy I don’t feel like I’m Mario — he’s Mario, and I’m just controlling him — but those are some of my favorite games.
I read recently that the latest expansion for Dragon Age will be a prequel of sorts featuring Leliana, one of the characters from the original game, and they’re going to use a Mass Effect-like dialogue system for it. I’m curious to see how that turns out!
Pace Smith: It is an interesting approach, isn’t it? I wonder how much of it is allowing us to identify with Link or Samus, and how much is preventing a voice actor from destroying our preconceived notions of what those characters might be like. I’m reminded of Bill Watterson’s adamant refusal to license Calvin and Hobbes for an animated series (or, indeed, anything else) in an attempt to maintain the purity of the characters. If Link started talking in the next game, would he be the Link I expected? (That is, would every third line be “Hey! Excuse me, Princess”?) I’m not sure.
Paul McGee: I haven’t noticed two different choices resulting in the same response, though it seems like I wouldn’t be able to unless I played through more than once. Regardless, I can’t fault them too much for it, since the same information usually needs to come out of your conversation whether you use coercion or sweet-talking.
I admit that I’ve heard so much about the improvements in Mass Effect 2 that I’m pushing myself along a bit. The original does feel a bit dated in some ways, so I’m curious see what they did with the more timely feedback! (And happily, I’m playing a female Shepard thanks to all the praise I’ve heard for Jennifer Hale’s performance. She’s very good!)
by Dan Bruno on June 30, 2010 at 10:44 pm #
This is fascinating to me, as I’d expected most players to react like I (and your friend) did: as if full voice acting is the future, and games like Dragon Age are hopelessly retrograde in abandoning it.
The problem, from my perspective, is that I am not my character, and I don’t typically assume that I am. When a game treats me like I am my character, I find it very distracting. (My name is not Gordon Freeman, and I can’t feel it when Alex hugs him.) Film has proven extremely effective at eliciting emotions in an audience by showing actors experiencing things, and I think a few games have borrowed from this playbook to excellent effect.
I’d have to agree, though, that the first Mass Effect suffered from dialog options that turned out not to make any difference, and from some dialog options that had unexpected results. The sequel is better about that (and has snappier dialog writing in general), but it also offers a narrower range for Shepard’s personality: S/he is a military badass, even as a “paragon.” After the first couple times you pick dialog options that seem more badass than expected, it becomes clear that the dialog choices shouldn’t surprise you because that range is now so much narrower, for better or worse.
by Jason T on July 4, 2010 at 11:10 am #
I have the like Mass Effect, dislike Dragon Age problem.
I find it more dislocating in Dragon Age that I’m listening to a (frequently badly acted) spoken conversation, which then stops while my character fails to say anything, and then on we go. None of the characters seem inclined to mention my obvious telepathy, but then they didn’t mention that I was covered from head to toe in blood. Perhaps they were embarrassed.
Other games where the character doesn’t speak tend to be structured so that the character doesn’t need to speak, so it doesn’t seem out of place. This has its own problems, not least of which is the feeling that you’re being ignored and everyone’s merrily getting on with their own life and projecting a character on to you (Half Life 2, for example).
I should have another go at DA, but with the speech off and the subtitles on. If I’m not going to speak, I’d rather nobody did.
by Andy Krouwel on July 6, 2010 at 10:46 am #
Great post! Saw this on Gamasutra’s round-up of excellent critical pieces.
Personally, as someone who splits time between competitive FPS gaming and western RPGs, I enjoyed both games. In a lot of ways, Dragon Age sucked me in more to the world than Mass Effect, but I’m mixed on the dialogue itself.
I really like the cinematic feel of Mass Effect, but I’m not sure if that would really work well with the high fantasy setting. I do share your frustration with the dialogue wheel. It’s an interesting UI choice, but I wish it was simply the KOTOR dialogue tree with the voice acting included. (I do like the fact that you can pick your response before the NPC you are talking to is finished without clipping their line.
Where DA’s dialogue really succeeds (in my book) is all of the random banter between the other members of your party–the humor is really well done!
by David (Milwaukee Video Games Examiner) on July 8, 2010 at 5:51 pm #
Interesting. I’ve always been ambivalent in regards to voice acting vs. unspoken, mainly because I don’t really ever feel like my character anyway. Voice acting does tend to pull me out of the fantasy even MORE, though, especially because it usually sucks.
Fallout (not 2) is a good example of presenting choices in dialogue that reflect my playing style, but were also concrete enough to be interesting. They were also pretty bold and, in a way, helped shape my idea of who I was playing. It was more of a cooperative process, I suppose.
Another interesting example is Deadly Premonition. Agent York pretty much says and does whatever he wants to, and there are very rarely any dialogue choices, which would normally just be a very “cinematic” presentation. Oddly, though, by giving York a split personality (Zach), and representing Zach as the player’s agency within the world, it actually makes it feel much more interactive than it actually is. Rarely does a game so directly share a dialogue with the player.
So maybe the answer is to stop pretending that the player has any real control over the story, and just run with it. I prefer a main character that has his own personality, instead of being a bland fill-in-the-blanks-because-we-were-too-lazy-to type.
by Clint on July 11, 2010 at 10:52 am #
Jason T: It looks like history may prove you right! Dragon Age 2 is going the Mass Effect route with full voice acting and a dialogue wheel.
I think the “narrow range of personality” you mention was the real root of my complaint here. I suppose it was a case of mistaken expectations; Dragon Age allows for a considerably broader range of character types than either of the Mass Effect games, and since I played it first it colored my expectations. Now that I’ve completed all three games, I believe BioWare’s writing is strong enough to pull off either approach.
I will say, though, that I had just as much of a problem with unexpected dialog options in Mass Effect 2. The interruptions are particularly problematic because they don’t indicate the severity of your action; I was quite taken aback when my Shepard punched that news reporter in the face.
Andy Krouwel: I disagree about the low quality of voice acting in Dragon Age, but the blood is a little silly, isn’t it? There’s a setting to turn it off, if it helps.
Personally I haven’t ever been convinced by the Half-Life approach, where the game suggests that your silent protagonist is literally silent the entire time. I find that much harder to swallow than either Mass Effect or Dragon Age. Even modern Zelda games will imply that Link is responding to people.
David: I share your concern, but it looks like that ship has sailed; Dragon Age 2, in addition to using Mass Effect-like dialogue system, is actually described in the marketing blurb as “an entirely new cinematic experience.” I’m staying optimistic, though.
The banter is definitely a huge part of Dragon Age‘s charm. It was a great way to keep the game feeling fresh after a few dozen hours; I burned through the available dialog options far too soon in Mass Effect.
Clint: Your comments remind me a little of this recent post on Critical Damage. There is, I think, an element of thematic cohesion that is only possible when the writers have strongly characterized protagonists. The line BioWare seems to be walking is between writing a character themselves and allowing a player to feel like the story is dynamic.
by Dan Bruno on July 11, 2010 at 8:06 pm #
Maybe I’m over-interpreting here, but the announcement about Dragon Age 2′s dialog (being more like Mass Effect’s) strongly suggests to me that the stated reason for their original approach was only ever half the issue. I wish I could find where I read it, but I do recall seeing an interview in which one of the developers explained it as impractical to voice every species/gender combination, and also more desirable for players to imagine their own character’s dialog themselves. While they seem to still have the same concern about the former (given that you can only play a human in DA 2), they appear to have reversed position on the latter. I find that interesting, as this post and its comments suggest that the desire to imagine your own character’s dialog might be a lot more prevalent than I ever imagined. I bet you could find plenty of people on the Dragon Age forums who also prefer it that way, but perhaps there’s no easy way to deal with the blank-faced responses without actually making the character more of an “actor” with a voice.
Ah well. At least it won’t seem as strange when our characters shout “Warden senses tingling!” in battle, but then clam up during conversation.
by Jason T on July 12, 2010 at 5:48 pm #
First of all nice writeup you did a more balanced job than allot of other have (also gj to all the commenter’s for some really interesting points)
I’d just like to throw out there the idea the two different styles of player character are actually appropriate for the sort of story Bioware was/is trying to tell at different stages of the Dragon Age saga.
If you look at Origins as a prologue of a sort, setting the scene and establishing the world of Dragon Age. Then being able to see multiple view points makes perfect sense. It’s a game about the world and the people in it not necessarily the story of your character.
In some ways the Darkspawn Chronicles DLC is quite explicit about this, your Origins character doesn’t actually matter that much in the greater scheme of things. With no input from the player at all it suggest that events would have conspired to build up to the exact same final confrontation.
I know in many ways this runs very counter intuitive to what allot of people feel about the game, about being able to create your ‘my grey warden’. But its made perfectly clear at the ending of the game that in the big scheme of things you were still only ‘A grey warden’ and that others have proceeded you, and more will follow(although the plot indicates the nature of them may have been changed).
I’m probably wrong but thats the way whats been revealed feels to me, Origins was about exploring a world, dragon age 2 will be about exploring a character.
I’ll leave you with a totally inappropriate and out of context quote from the Incredibles:
“I’ll sell my inventions so that *everyone* can have powers. *Everyone* can be super! And when everyone’s super– no one will be. “
by duncan on July 13, 2010 at 11:39 am #