On the effects of mass.

[shirenomad]

I'm doing this exercise again, but this time I'm giving you some advance notice: these are my Mass Effect characters. Refrain from asking about actual Mass Effect events (especially as I haven't played ME2 through yet and do not want to be hit with spoilers), but feel free to tailor your questions to your knowledge of the ME universe in general (culture, tech, politics, etc.)

1) Dara
2) Cole
3) Brit
4) Zaku

Comments

[westmarked.livejournal.com]

What training has each one undergone (class) and how does it reflect on their personality?

[shirenomad]

Dara [Soldier] had no biotic skill and couldn't get her head around computers, but through her parent's encouragement she trained physically, and when she signed up, the Alliance was happy to keep her in shape. She sees things as ideals and hates complicated decisions. Also, seeing her opponents face-to-face on the front lines, as well as experiencing frequent losses on her own side, has given her an aversion to taking the violent approach.

Cole [Adept] showed excellent biotic capacity and was put into the then-new L3 program. His way of focusing during training was to imagine the slavers that killed his family and friends as the targets, and that vision stuck with him in the field. This cemented, in his mind, his purpose in life: his talents would be used to stop the evils of the universe wherever he found them. And if he has to use his biotics on you, for a second, you've got the face of his family's murderer.

Brit [Engineer] was skilled with computers and hacking before the Alliance got anywhere near her; signing up was a way of "putting her skills to use." So they gave her no other training before she began her first mission, because they expected they'd need her only to get the settlement back online. She taught herself how to shoot that night, very quickly. In short, the Alliance and the universe have given her nothing of use, and she's not going to give them anything back.

Zaku [Vanguard] had both the biotics and the shooting skills from the start. Somewhere along the way he decided his ability to "dual-major" in two forms of combat made him a genuine action hero. He's cocky, placing a lot of value in his abilities, and he will let you know how exactly awesome he is.

[westmarked.livejournal.com]

Is Zaku related in any way to Duo Maxwell?

[shirenomad]

Unlikely; Zaku's colony is a lot farther from Earth. :P

[westmarked.livejournal.com]

Also:

They aren't in the same canon, but assume for a moment that they are. Each is paired with another in succession for a series of missions. Which pairings would work and which wouldn't?

[shirenomad]

Dara and Cole: This will depend a lot on who is designated as team lead. Dara will ultimately defer to Cole's decisions should the Council put him in charge; she respects their authority more than her own qualms about going in guns blazing rather than talking the opposition down. Cole has no such respect; if it looks like Dara does her "we come in peace" shtick is going bad, he will pull the trigger, no matter what Dara told him before they entered the room. Which is the point where Dara will go back the Council to the effect of "I can't work with this man anymore."

Dara and Brit: Any team involving Brit is in instant trouble on the grounds that Brit has to have things her way (and that way is "whichever way benefits me most, up to and including cutting my losses and nuking the site from orbit"), and this regardless of who is officially in charge. Dara and Brit are the most at odds here, as Dara is all about the "we're here for others, not ourselves." I give it two missions tops before Dara tries to report Brit to the Council as a rogue.

Dara and Zaku: This would be surprisingly successful. Zaku's ego would grate on Dara from time to time, and she'd regularly chide him for his impatience (which will annoy Zaku a little but he's heard it all before). But he'd be very agreeable to her approach of "save everyone" (good thing he's there to apply his skills to what would otherwise be a near-impossible task!) She'll have difficulty keeping up once they hit the ground but won't be able to argue with the results.

Cole and Brit: The two share a certain sense of pragmatism about what to do with the target of the mission; that is, generally easier to shoot him than to waste the brig space. However, Cole will still object whenever Brit takes what he'd call a bribe (and she'd call payment for a job well done), and will loudly shout her down when she shows indifference to civilian lives (who she will let die anyway if it's the easier path to the objective). Cole, recalling Anderson and Saren's first mission, will inevitably decide Brit qualifies as a rogue, quietly set up an ambush, and take her out.

Cole and Zaku: Zaku would be fine with it but Cole would see Zaku as foolhardy, the Leeroy Jenkins in Cole's careful considerations. Much yelling will ensue every time Zaku's recklessness puts people in danger, and though Cole will run the campaign to completion rather than waste time trying to get other support, he'll flip the Council the bird if they ever try to pair the two again.

Brit and Zaku: Another successful team-up, due to mutual failure to care about the other team member. Brit will just let Zaku cut loose after some initial eye-rolling: hey, he wants to be the one up front risking his neck and drawing fire? why should she argue? Not that she'll just let him die, but she also won't weep for him if he doesn't make it back. Meanwhile, Zaku won't care that Brit is hanging back so long as she doesn't get left behind completely. The only situation where he might get at odds with her are if she promotes a method that he considers outright cowardly (e.g. poison the water supply). Whereupon she'll happily change the plan to "you engage from the east flank, I'll engage from the west," where the west turns out to be where the water supply is.

The two most effective teams both contain Zaku. This is because Zaku hates the idea of planning, and is happy to defer to someone else's leadership, including in defining good battlefield ethics. So long as he gets to show his skills in the end, he's both easy to please and flexible.

[westmarked.livejournal.com]

Once you've finished playing though the game at least once and will know, what's the hardest decision each character had (will have) to make? How would making that decision and seeing the results of it change them in the future (i.e. the next game)?

[shirenomad]

I have finished my first run (with Dara) so here's what I've got. (I'll try to be vague for the readers who haven't played yet.)

Dara: The escape from Virmire. For the first time she had to make a choice based on pragmatism (she ultimately chose to go back to the bomb; it absolutely needed to be armed) rather than idealism. She consciously made "who will survive" the secondary priority, and paid the expected price. It'll take her a while to get used to the idea that it was necessary, but it will have sunk in by ME2, and she'll be more willing to make similar calls... not that she'll enjoy it. (Also, some of her other decisions may come back to haunt her, but none of them backfire in the short term of the first game.)

Cole: The finale of X57. He's not letting the lead terrorist get away for several reasons (some selfish, some not), but the resulting hostage casualties will haunt him for a while. I'm not sure if he'll really let it affect his later decisions but he may hesitate to make similar "catch the bad guys but lose the civilians" decisions next time.

Brit: The Thorian's "defenders." She won't think to ask in advance if there's a non-lethal option, but actually having to gun them down... she'll try to ignore it with "they weren't really on my side" but it won't stick. "Will this kill civilians?" (or at least "will I have to see the civilians die?") will enter her considerations in later decisions.

Zaku: The escape from Virmire. If it was hard on Dara, it's gonna be devastating for Zaku; suddenly he's painfully aware that he can't always save everyone. (And it'll immediately follow the beach confrontation, which he'll blow.) Really, all of Virmire will change Zaku: outwardly, he'll probably still act the part, but his confidence will waver and he'll begin avoiding plans that put people he cares about (well, other than himself) at heavy risk. (If you remember Maniac's brief run as squadron command in Wing Commander: Prophecy, and how it ended, it'll resemble that.)