I thought about that, but there were other games where the developers created their own deep setting. Elder Scrolls: Morrowind for example. In the grand scheme of that game's setting, you were just some guy in a huge world that was full of interesting people and organizations. I couldn't say the same for Mass Effect 3, which had your companions, and a few people you interacted with in your quest to save the galaxy, but that's pretty much it.
Again, Morrowind is the third game. Arena is still very "iffy" setting wise. And bland. Stuff only started getting interesting (i.e. weird :) ) in Daggerfall.
And don't forget that The elder scrolls is known for it's "flexible" and uncertain lore (Who/what is really Talos?) and big retcons (Cyrodill's forests).
But I agree with what you say about Mass Effect. I just think that they are different things for different tastes.
On the Mass Effect side you have highly developed characters and character interactions and a high focus on emotional and memorable setpieces. There is a great effort to provide an emotional story, and making the player experience it in the best way possible.
On the other hand you have The Elder Scrolls, where the story and character are not so interesting (or what makes them interesting is not thrown in your face) and the story is just a pretext to make you experience the world. The world is what is important, so it's what is developed.
There is also a different purpose in the different "levels" of the game. While in ME a design goal may be "The player should fight an old friend, after discovering his betrayal", in TES may be "The player should fight a dragon near a boiling volcano using a dwarven ballista". In the first one the writer have to focus on the emotion to be conveyed by the dialog and environment, while in the second the writers just have to justify the environment (i.e. "Why is there a dwarven ballista?").
I also belive that writers in TES are given the reedom to write what they want and if it's cool it goes into the game. That's how I believe all that trippy stuff[0] got into Morrowind.
Yes, but until Morrowind, not much was established about that part of the Elder Scrolls world. It was, for all intents and purposes, an almost-blank slate and was created basically from scratch.
I agree with your characterization of the Mass Effect series. And don't get me wrong, I like all three games, and am looking forward to the fourth. I was just explaining why they fall short on the narrative front, and that the "they don't make games like they used to" complaint the grandparent mentioned is quite valid.
>> It was, for all intents and purposes, an almost-blank slate and was created basically from scratch.
In Arena, they introduced the provinces, the races, and some other bits.
In Daggerfall you are introduced to many of the important features of the setting, as you can see by the list of in-game books [0]:
- The story of Tiber Septim and the Septim dynasty,
- The Aedra, the Daedra and Oblivion
- The MAges Guild, Fighters Guild, Dark Brotherhood and The Psijic Order
- And you already have some glimpses into some bits that would be expanded later (Like the Dwarves and the Numidium)
Now, you can argue that more was added in Morrowind that in the any other game. I agree, and add that more was added in Morrowind that in all other entries together.
Sure, they are awesome, weird, and generate most of the modern discussions about TES lore. And don't forget that the Dragon Break only exists because Daggerfall has multiple endings.
About the "things aren't like they used to", I disagree. There is more text and fluff in modern games than before. Yes, in the 80's you has massive instruction manuals full of lore, and feelies, and other stuff. But the games themselves were many times lacking. Nowadays you have lot's on in-game logs and books. Almost every item has some flavour text associated.
And, IIRC, King's Quest has a framework pretty much similar to Mass Effect. You follow a linear path, with well crafted setpieces, but not much store about "other stuff". How big is the kingdom? What to they believe in? Who was the previous king? And the One before that? Were there any wars? etc..
