Mass Effect & B5 · 5:18pm Mar 10th, 2012
So, a brief update on the stories: TSC is going well & TER is also doing okay. I need to upload to the gdocs some of the work on it I've done for my editors to take a look at though 
But, on to the blog!
So, Mass Effect.
For a while now, since it came out, actually, I've been struck by how well made it is, how detailed; how... epic. And my first thought when I started reading the history of humans in space? What series did it remind me of?
Well... my favorite, and IMHO best Science Fiction TV series of all time: Babylon 5
Which is why it shouldn't surprise me at all how much I love this game.
In any case, there are so many similarities it's almost eerie:
The Citadel = The Babylon 5 Station
The Council = B5 = UN in Spaaaace!
The Reapers = The Shadows
The Prothean = The Vorlon
Asari = (somewhat) The Mimbari
Turian = Centauri
Collectors = Shadow Minion races
Turian/Human War = Mimbari/Human War (In that both started over a misunderstanding)
Specters = Rangers
The political squabbling, the uniting of races against an ancient enemy, everything falls into one human capable of doing it Shepard/Sheridan, but there is sabotage between races, another group causes chaos Cerberus/Night-Guard... it's amazingly similar!
Now, I'm not making a case saying that it's the ONLY influence OR that they ripped it off. I mean, B5 takes a lot from Lovecraft and Tolkien, right? I'm just saying... there's a lot of really deep development in both series, world-building and character-wise that I haven't seen in most other Sci-fi series (hell Firefly was just beginning to get there before it got cancelled and Trek? No.) I guess I see the similarities because I love both so much! 
I hate Mass Effect, so I don't care...
Ha! Had you going. But yeah, a lot of Sci Fi shows have those elements. I think its just a common trope I guess...
PS: Sorry about the awful joke
Video games have definitely come a long way in terms of storytelling. Not sure if you remember the day (yeah, I'm old; sue me) when hopping on goombas and saving Princesses that were in another castle were all we needed to play.
Some of the games I've played, particularly RPGs, have had stories better than most movies (and budgets that are nearly as high). So I don't feel too terrible using the hours of the day playing, as well as watching, games.
I'm predicting that in a few more years, video games are going to get the same type of recognition that movies do. Heck, the Call of Duty franchise has earned more money for each release than most movies do in their entire lifespan. The industry's getting too big for mass media to ignore as a pastime for nerds anymore.
Nice post! Hope it doesn't distract you too much from your writing!
I see you tapped into your inner
there......
Babylon 5 is my 2nd favorite Sci-Fi universe after The Fifth Element. I own Mass Effect 1 & 2 but still haven't played either of them. I have like 50 games I own that are unplayed...
Well I will agree with you my good sir.
To see that kinda a story going on in this kind of media, its very well done. Heck I watch B5 and only now that you've mentioned it I caught on to the fact that yes, there is these really big similarities.
However, I do have one thing to say about ME3
WHY YOU MAKE SOME DECISIONS SO DAMNING AND SO AWESOME AT THE SAME TIME!! -because of three scenes I now second guess alot of my decisions in the first to games... so I'm going back to play them-
Babylon 5 is my favorite Sci Fi series pretty much. Though I like the Honorverse more in some regards, but it has had a lot more opportunity to be hashed out with so many books.
At any rate, ME3 is truly epic. I was surprised at how well they could capture the epicness of it.
The ending for ME3 nearly made me cry.... Time to go back and play from the beginning.... again. Did a fresh playthrough of 1-3 starting Wednesday night. Sure as hell made the story so much better....