Please do not read on if you intend to play Mass Effect. I will do my best not to reveal unnecessary information, but it is impossible to discuss the impact of a certain portion of the game without giving away a few details. Click here to skip to the previous post.


I wish I could say that I followed my own advice and did not hear about a certain part of Mass Effect before I played it, but, in the course of searching for help a couple of times, I accidentally saw a hint of what was to come. I had heard that I would lose a companion at one point, and I would have to make a tough choice. This information haunted me as I chose my team members for each mission. I kept thinking, “Will this be the mission where I lose someone?” Unable to take the stress, I consulted a friend who had finished the game. He kindly told me that the game would strongly imply when that point would come, and I had no need to worry.

I didn’t worry until I got to a part of the game where my team was suddenly split up. I had to choose one of two companions to leave behind. I thought, “Will this be the tough decision?” I saved compulsively as I moved ahead. By the end of that mission, it turned out that I did have to make a choice to rescue the separated team member or to rescue another. I was very upset, because I had imagined this moment over and over again. I had thought that my party member choices would allow me to leave behind a companion that I never used or someone that I didn’t care about. Unfortunately, the choice happened to be between the two companions I always took along with me. I was torn, as I had spent some time talking to each and learning about their backstories, making them seem like real friends. After all, these characters had been through nearly 20 hours of gameplay with me, and I felt that I could depend on their help.

I agonized over the choice. There was no option to save both. It was simply one or the other. I was sending one of them to their death, and they each wanted me to sacrifice the other. While I considered both equal in terms of friendship, there had to be some deciding factor for me. Soon, it came down to two factors: fighting style preference and the romantic sub-plot. I had begun to enjoy one of the team members’ fighting styles more than the other’s style. This is because my Shepherd’s style complimented the one companion’s well, making my life easier. The other team member had combat skills similar to mine, so it created an overlap that wasn’t quite as helpful. Second, I had begun to pursue the romance subplot with one of the characters. As a writer, I was really curious to see how it would play out (and perhaps my girly desire for a juicy romance got the best of me). These factors may seem trivial, but I had to find some way to choose and these factors tipped the scale for me.

I felt that I had made the best choice for me, but, when I turned off my 360 that night, I felt terrible. I wandered out of my room in a daze, confessing to my roommates that I was torn up about losing a virtual friend that I been through 20 hours of missions with me. I realized how silly it sounded, but I was genuinely sad. I went online, talking to other friends and searching in forums to see if I really did have to make the choice between those same two characters or if I could’ve changed it. While everyone had to make the choice between the same two characters, it was easier for some due to their personal preferences for certain characters. Some of their choices involved romantic interests like me, but others were simply because one character bothered them.

The fact that I let a good friend and member of my team die has stayed with me and I don’t think I’ll forget that moment soon. It was a fantastic moment in game narrative. I hate to think about setting out to make a game that makes people cry, but this type of choice really can have a profound effect on a person. Tough choices seem to be the heart of creating real emotion in games, since you can affect a person’s conscience and make them realize that hard decisions have to be made in situations where the fate of the universe is at stake.