Storyline mistake?
I think I found a mistake made by the Mass Effect storyline. At one point you meet an Asari (humanoid alien) who talks about her father and feels ashamed because she is pure-blood (the child of two Asari parents). An Asari has the ability to mate with any species and they feel it to be
more advantageous to mate with another species in order to gain a better gene pool and enhance the race as a whole. Being a pure-blood means you are not helping the species and have nothing to gain. However, the Asari are an all-female species and so how could this Asari be a pure-blood and have a "father". Mistake right? However, now I realize that "father" in this case is really "mother." This Asari had two mothers (just calls one "father"). This is probably why the Asari always refer to them as "partners" to make things easier. The Asari have the ability to not only reproduce with another species, but also reproduce regardless of gender.
More on the Asari
The Asari are the sexy, intellectual species in the game. It's common for them to reach 1000 years of age. The first stage of their life is called the "maiden" stage where they spend most of their time acquiring as much knowledge as possible, exploring the galaxy, and interacting with other species. The second stage is the "matron" stage where they go around having sex with everyone and producing many, many offspring. The final stage is the "matriarch" stage where
they stop having babies and become leaders and counselors at the top of asari society.
Ender's Game and Xenocide
Having read the first two books in the Ender's Game Saga (by Orson Scott Card) ("Ender's Game" and "Speaker of the Dead") over the past several months, I've noticed some similarities between the Saga and Mass Effect. Sci-Fi novels tend to build on top of some of the same concepts and terminology, however I can't help but see sometimes direct similarities between Ender's Game and Mass Effect; I think the writers have read the books and were inspired.
<SPOILER ALERT>
For example, the idea of a Hive Queen who controls the "buggers" in a telepathic type way commanding everyone of her children at once harnessing an advanced hereditary, ancestral memory while being technologically advanced and dominant is central to the story of Ender's Game. Also, the fact that the entire "bugger" race was completely annihilated, an act of Xenocide after humans saw them as a huge threat is also part of the Ender's Game saga.
In Mass Effect, this hive-mind race are called the Rachni, and dominated most of the galaxy until they were finally wiped out, or thought to be wiped out. During the game you have to make, what I think is probably, the most important moral decision of the entire game. After finding out someone is trying to bring back the Rachni race having found a Hive-Queen egg, you have to decide to really commit Xenocide and wipe out the Hive-Queen thus sending the Rachni to permanent extinction, or let them live and risk another War and Rachni dominance. Similarly, Ender who was the one who almost wiped out the entire "Bugger" race, finds the last remaining existence of the "buggers" as well. He finds a Hive-Queen egg, and having felt guilty of almost committing Xenocide, he roams the galaxy for a place for a suitable place for the Hive-Queen to live and hatch its egg giving way for the "buggers" to live once again.
The whole story behind Mass Effect is not from the Ender's Game saga, but I'm glad to see they used it and other Sci-Fi novels as well as many original ideas to help shape and create one awesome game that I get to enjoy!
Sound interesting; Play Mass Effect and go read the Ender's Game saga... there's so much more gory details in there!
</SPOILER ALERT>
Artificial Intelligence vs. Virtual Intelligence
I'm kind of an AI junky and Mass Effect is packed with references to AI and VI. Many people
misuse the term AI and I think Mass Effect did a great job printing in BIG BOLD PRINT the difference between AI and VI. Virtual Intelligence (VI) is just a program which has access to a database of information, and with clever programming, is sometimes given a certain "personality" or attitude to make it act human. Just think of using Google by talking instead of typing and having it respond with a voice instead of text.
Artificial Intelligence, on the other hand, is more than just clever programming, it's a system that is able to reason and think on it's own and sometimes have the potential of becoming self-aware. The robot in the movie "I, Robot" is Artificial Intelligence. In Mass Effect, an intelligent humanoid race called the "Quarians" created a networked AI race which became self-aware and eventually turned on them and went to war killing to survive. This race is called "the Geth," and 300 years later, they have evolved and have become a huge threat to all species. This is why legal action was taken to repress the development of AIs in galactic society.
The Human Race
After playing Mass Effect and reading different Sci-Fi novels, there is one conclusion I made. As Humans, it kinda sucks to only live for less than a century. Even the most advanced medical science made possible probably would give us 200 years which is still kinda short compared to other species. Then again maybe living for a little under a century isn't that bad. I mean because our lives are "short-lived" it's more exciting and filled with more adventure (or at least has the possibility to be). Also, we develop faster. So maybe if we lived for two centuries instead of one, a 41-year old would really be a 21-year old--and it would suck to wait 41 years to become 21 and all rules that go away with that age like drinking. Heh, your parents would make you wait until you were 32 to date. So it's really not that bad if you make the most of your life.
Also, it kinda enhances the Human race as a whole with our rate of learning. In other words, Human society advances much farther in less time. Maybe this is one reason other species, in Mass Effect, are afraid of the Human race because we learn too fast, a curious species always eager to explore the unknown.
Great game, I can't wait to finish it!
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