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sarah_tvPeople I think constantly ignore what Mass Effect is telling them. I can tell. I've just come out of a Zero Punctuation Article, and everyone is going "Oh, Renegade is Evil, Paragon is Good" crap. No, No!, No!!! You morons are not paying attention.
The Renegade Shepard and the Paragon Shepard are both GOOD GUYS. Neither of them ever commits a truely evil act. Even the worse acts that Renegade Shepard does (Pushing a guy off a multistory building, for example) are not evil acts in context.
The Morality System in Mass Effect is asking what kind of story do you want to hear. That's what it does. Do you want to be a nice person who comforts people in their times of troubles, a person other people look up to for guidance? Or do you want to play the Balls to the Wall character that shoots first, and doesn't care about the consequences.
In short, are you Superman or Batman? That's the decision that Renegade/Paragon presents you. That's the Morality system. The reason that it is so damn good is that it's not pegging your choices as good or bad on that level. It's the consequences of the choices that make the characters, and often times, those choices have nothing to do with being either.
Killing the Alien Queen, Nuke your love interest or save them, So on and so on. There are questions that have nothing to do with if you are a paragon or a renegade, and THOSE have deep effects on the story.
It is frustrating that the Renegade option is being seen as an 'evil' or 'Dark Side" choice. Maybe it's just wishful thinking on people's parts. I just wish they got what was happening.
The Renegade Shepard and the Paragon Shepard are both GOOD GUYS. Neither of them ever commits a truely evil act. Even the worse acts that Renegade Shepard does (Pushing a guy off a multistory building, for example) are not evil acts in context.
The Morality System in Mass Effect is asking what kind of story do you want to hear. That's what it does. Do you want to be a nice person who comforts people in their times of troubles, a person other people look up to for guidance? Or do you want to play the Balls to the Wall character that shoots first, and doesn't care about the consequences.
In short, are you Superman or Batman? That's the decision that Renegade/Paragon presents you. That's the Morality system. The reason that it is so damn good is that it's not pegging your choices as good or bad on that level. It's the consequences of the choices that make the characters, and often times, those choices have nothing to do with being either.
Killing the Alien Queen, Nuke your love interest or save them, So on and so on. There are questions that have nothing to do with if you are a paragon or a renegade, and THOSE have deep effects on the story.
It is frustrating that the Renegade option is being seen as an 'evil' or 'Dark Side" choice. Maybe it's just wishful thinking on people's parts. I just wish they got what was happening.
