8 Reasons Why Mass Effect’s Story Isn’t As Great As You Think
3. Motivation? What Motivation?
Why does Shepard do what s/he does? You know, besides saving all life in the known universe. An unquenchable death-drive and depression? An aversion to blue-eyed demagogues? Maybe it’s just something to do to pass the time.
The plot is Shepard’s motivation – and as a character, that’s somewhat weak. Very few characters are driven by plot alone, because it implies a lack of personality. Movies develop their characters by offering motivation – Luke Skywalker was initially motivated not by the Empire’s weapon of mass destruction, but by wanting to escape a humdrum life; Clarice Starling stops Buffalo Bill because of past traumas, not just because there’s a serial killer on the loose.
You could argue that, being an RPG an’ all, it’s about the player’s motivation, but this falls down for two reasons: Other games manage to offer an ulterior character motivation (Fallout 3’s Lone Wanderer wants to save their dad, for instance), and simply wanting to 100% a game doesn’t usually offer drive enough to prevent the actual destruction of the galaxy.