History Analysis / MassEffect2

''...or "How Come the Suicide Mission Is So Awesome?"''

The main appeal, driving force, and resources of ''Mass Effect 2'' are the [[PlayerParty thirteen recruitable companions (squadmates)]] of Commander Shepard[[note]]which includes both the two {{DLC}}-only companions and the secret squad member Morinth[[/note]]. The entire game revolves around them, and the Suicide Mission is quite consciously a FinalExamFinale level, taking the form of a weird {{Puzzle|Game}} and CollectibleCardGame hybrid. The collectible card aspect comes from the fact that the outcome of the endgame depends largely on what "deck" (i.e. which squadmates) you bring with you to the Omega 4 relay. The puzzle aspect is owed to the complex but static set of rules that determine your success or failure in the Suicide Mission--rules that are pretty obvious if you pay attention to your squadmates beforehand.

* Phase I (steps 1 through 4) consists mostly of cutscenes and evaluates the player's initiative and readiness to go beyond the explicit instruction in preparation for the SuicideMission--namely, to discover and to acquire Secondary Resources without an obvious indication to their usefulness. It punishes the insufficiently prepared players by handicapping them in phase II via the loss of some Primary Resources, but, ingeniously, makes this seem like a PlotlineDeath by denying the player any immediate agency in it, as well as giving only vague hints at how it could have been prevented. To further throw the player off-balance, loyalty, while essential elsewhere, provides no [[PlotArmor protection]] to crucial Primary Resources in this phase.

The [[StaticRoleExchangeableCharacter interchangeability of squadmates in certain story-relevant roles]] and, conversely, the dependency of [[StoryBranching said roles' outcomes (success or tragedy)]] on the suitability of the actors is what gives the strictly linear Suicide Mission its amazing variability. Even though it doesn't matter much, for instance, which loyal squadmate escorts the ''Normandy'' crew back to the ship, the option to choose one and the palpable consequence of that teammate being absent for the rest of the mission give the players an illusion of controlling their own story. Moreover, the multitude of winning scenarios guarantees that most players end up feeling like they have been told a personal and unique story, even though everyone starts the endgame with roughly the same "deck" and experiences exactly the same story beats along the way.

''VideoGame/MassEffect2'' is the most universally adored part of the original ''Franchise/MassEffect'' trilogy, and despite its improved gameplay refinement and variety, ''VideoGame/MassEffect3'' could never supplant its predecessor. Part two had something its sequel didn't: a mind-blowingly epic ending that left every player in awe. But what exactly made the ending of ''Mass Effect 2'' so amazing? Although the magnificent cutscene direction and musical composition contributed a lot to the ending, the key to the awesomeness of ''Mass Effect 2's'' endgame segment lies in the gameplay design and the story scripting of the entire SuicideMission.

''VideoGame/MassEffect2'' is the most universally adored part of the original ''Franchise/MassEffect'' trilogy, and despite its improved gameplay refinement and variety, ''VideoGame/MassEffect3'' could never supplant its predecessor--because part two had something the sequel didn't: a mind-blowingly epic ending that left every player in awe. But what exactly made the ending of ''Mass Effect 2'' so amazing? Although the magnificent cutscene direction and musical composition contribute a lot to the ending, the key to the awesomeness of ''Mass Effect 2'' endgame segment lies in the gameplay design and the story scripting of the entire SuicideMission.

The main appeal, driving force, and resource in ''Mass Effect 2'' are the [[PlayerParty thirteen recruitable companions (squadmates)]] of Commander Shepard[[note]]which includes both the two {{DLC}}-only companions and the secret squad member Morinth[[/note]]. The entire game revolves around them, and the Suicide Mission is quite consciously a FinalExamFinale level, taking form of a weird {{Puzzle|Game}} and CollectibleCardGame hybrid. The collectible card aspect comes from the fact that the outcome of the endgame depends largely on what "deck" (i.e. which squadmates) you bring with you to the Omega 4 relay. The puzzle aspect is owed to the complex but static set of rules that determine your success or failure in the Suicide Mission--rules that are pretty obvious if you pay attention to your squadmates beforehand.

Team members don't just risk dying as specialists or by accompanying Shepard- the rearguard left to keep the Collectors off Shepard's back as he confronts the Big Bad can also lose their lives as a result of player choices- and, as with the run-in aboard the Normandy, the link between cause and effect is well enough masked that many first time players assume Mordin's is a PlotlineDeath. In fact, who if anyone gets killed is a function of the player exercising common sense regarding his team and what would constitute a cohesive defensive combat unit. But knowing the hidden game mechanic sure makes it easier, so here goes.

Each squad member has a hidden stat, used only for this part of the game, which can be called the Hold The Line Score. The scores are as follows:

The way the mechanism works, in brief, is to take the ''average'' of the scores of the Hold The Line team, and compare it to a table which indicates how many of them will be killed. ''The Magic Number is 2;'' if the average is equal to or greater than 2 then everybody makes it. Otherwise, the designated number of casualties are removed according to a prioritized list.

Assuming loyalty, each of the Tuff Guys can in effect "protect" two Weak Links ((4+1+1)/3 = 2), so leaving any two of the three will guarantee everyone's safety. If you do have loyalty issues, remember that Jack positively slaughters Collectors, and Mordin's Incinerate is ''very'' useful against the final Boss, so bringing those two Weak Links in Shepard's party and sending Kasumi or Tali back with the crew survivors could well get the number high enough.

Note that Mordin happens to be the first name on the list, but sending him back with the crew won't save a life- someone else will just die in his place. On the other hand, removing such a low-scoring member might just boost the group average over 2 so that nobody dies. However, sending Tali, Jack or Kasumi would accomplish the same thing.

Zaeed - He is tougher than Garrus health wise, more experienced and is also a sniper who can also bunker down with an assault rifle and hold position. His score is also 4, not because he is a master tactician like Garus, it is because he can tank and soak up fire away from someone else who can't. Also, his inferno grenades are very handy weapons for both crowd control and a medium range distraction. It is primarily with them that he can protect even the weak members.
* His score when disloyal is 3 and that is his default. He is enough of a SociopathicSoldier to not really care about saving the very weak. It is just that after dealing with Vido or letting go, his sociopathy is tempered.

Grunt - His score is 4 for obvious reasons. He is an intimidating figure and a hell of a damage sponge that other weaker squadmates can bunker down behind. His inferno ammo is also a terrifying distracting crowd controller. And if everything goes to hell, Grunt will be the last one standing; he is at the bottom of the Death List.
* However without having been inducted into Clan Urdnot he has no sense of loyalty to a team, which is why his score drops to 3. He is still enough of a soldier to protect the weak but trying, but his apathy towards the slacking weak is what gets them killed.

Legion is an anomalous case. You would think that as a very powerful sniper (able to inflict the most damage), with the ability to wield an assault rifle like any other infantry soldier, with his ability to overclock shields and soak up damage, and his force multiplying combat drone, he would be a 4 too, but unfortunately he is only a 2 when loyal. Why? Because the other squadmates are still very suspicious of him due to his being a geth.
* His disloyal score is 1 because he is worried about being reprogrammed by the heretics, and so is everyone else. The squad are expecting him to turn to the Reapers and betray them.

Jacob has tactical acumen as a squad leader, inferno ammo, a damage soaking barrier ability and is a shotgun wielded. Why is his score only a 2? Because he is purely a shotgun wielding biotic shock trooper, not an all round infantry rifleman. He therefore cannot protect other people as he has to get in close to hit the enemies, thus depriving him of more situational awareness of squadmates in trouble.
* That score drops to 1 because he is distracted. He even lampshades it.

Samara wields assault rifles, has mercenary soldier experience and Justicar training and dedication, has crowd controlling biotic abilities, has Reave which boosts her health and has a strong duty to protect even weak squadmates. So why is her score only a 2? Because even with her health recoverable by reaving, she is still an asari. Asari, who the Codex says cannot stand up to a firestorm the way a human, turian or krogan can. So even if she wanted to help someone else, she would only endanger herself too.

* As an aside, Mordin is perhaps the single least useful squad member during the Suicide Mission: even if loyal, he cannot be safely given any task (except the Escort, which is why most guides suggest to take that opportunity to send him to safety), and he's borderline useless for holding the line. Why? Because he has already returned on all of the investments that went into recruiting him and gaining his loyalty by allowing you to upgrade the ''Normandy'' and creating the Collector swarm countermeasures. Afterwards, he's just tagging along to see through what he started and trusts Shepard to keep him alive.

** 1.5 to 1.99 -- 1 death
** 0.5 to 1.49 -- 2 deaths

** 1.0 to 1.99 -- 1 death
** 0.5 to 0.99 -- 2 deaths
** 0.01 to 0.49 -- 3 deaths

** 1.0 to 1.99 -- 1 death
** 0.01 to 0.99 -- 2 deaths

** 0.01 to 1.99 -- 1 death

Each squad member has a hidden stat, used only for this part of the game, which can be called the Hold The Line Score. They are as follows:

Note that Mordin happens to be the first name on the list, but sending him back with the crew won't save a life- someone else will just die in his place. On the other hand, removing such a low-scoring member might just boost the group average over 2 so that nobody dies; but then sending Tali, Jack or Kasumi would accomplish the same thing.

Let's look at why the secret hold the line scores for all members when loyal and unloyal are what they are

Garrus - When loyal his score is 4. Why is it so high, considering he was a bit of a GlassCannon in the first game? Because a sniper who can also bunker down with an assault rifle and hold position is perfectly capable of fending off enemy assaults on his own. His score is higher than the minimum 2 needed to survive because of his effectiveness as a squad tactician. Even if not loyal, his turian dedication to duty will ensure that he will switch to long range kills as necessary to help keep others alive. However, if things go very badly Garrus would be the type to sacrifice himself to save another, which is why his place on the Death List is much higher than the other Tuff Guys, Zaeed and Grunt.

Zaeed - He is tougher than Garrus health wise, more experienced and is also a sniper who can also bunker down with an assault rifle and hold position. His score is also 4, not because he is a master tactician like Garus, it is because he can tank and soak up fire away from someone else who can't. Also the inferno grenades are a very handy weapon for both crowd control and as a medium range distraction. It is primarily with them that he can protect even the weak members.

## Remove HTLDeathCalculus(S*, L*, P4*, ESC)[[note]] see below[[/note]] from S*

## Remove [[http://img203.imageshack.us/img203/3025/suisidemissionfinal8.jpg MAGIC(S*, L*, P4*, ESC)]] from S*

* As an aside, Mordin is perhaps the single least useful base-game squad member[[note]]with DLC, Kasumi rates even lower[[/note]] during the Suicide Mission: even if loyal, he cannot be safely given any task (except the Escort, which is why most guides suggest to take that opportunity to send him to safety), and he's borderline useless for holding the line. Why? Because he has already returned on all of the investments that went into recruiting him and gaining his loyalty by allowing you to upgrade the ''Normandy'' and creating the Collector swarm countermeasures. Afterwards, he's just tagging along to see through what he started and trusts Shepard to keep him alive.

* As an aside, Mordin is perhaps the single least useful squad member during the Suicide Mission: even if loyal, he cannot be safely given any task (except the Escort, which is why most guides suggest to take that opportunity to send him to safety), and he's borderline useless for holding the line. Why? Because he has already returned on all of the investments that went into recruiting him and gaining his loyalty by allowing you to upgrade the ''Normandy'' and creating the Collector swarm countermeasures. Afterwards, he's just tagging along to see through what he started and trusts Shepard to keep him alive.

Let's look at why the secret hold the line scores for all members when loyal and u loyal are what they are

Garrus - When loyal his score is 4. Why is it so high, considering he was a bit of a GlassCannon in the first game? Because a sniper who can also bunker down with an assault rifle and hold position is perfectly capable of fending off enemy assaults on his own. His score is higher than the minimum 2 needed to survive because of his effectiveness as a squad tactician. Even if not loyal, his turian dedication to duty will ensure that he will switch to long range kills as neccesary to help keep others alive.

Grunt - His score is 4 for obvious reasons. He is an intimidating figure and a hell of a damage sponge that other weaker squadmates can bunker down behind. His inferno ammo is also a terrifying distracting crowd controller.

## IF (BS not in L*) or (BS not in [=IdealBS*=]) THEN remove RANDOM(P3*) from S*

## Victim3 = FIRST( { "Thane", "Garrus", "Zaeed", "Grunt", "Jack", "Samara", "Morinth" } in S* )
## IF "Thanix Cannon" not in U* THEN remove Victim3 from S*

## Victim1 = "Jack"
## IF "Heavy Ship Armor" not in U* THEN remove Victim1 from S*

## Victim2 = FIRST( ( { "Kasumi", "Legion", "Tali", "Thane", "Garrus", "Zaeed", "Grunt" } in S* ) not in P1* )
## IF "Multicore Shielding" not in U* THEN remove Victim2 from S*

* Which is 0 if the Bekenstein heist wasn't pulled off because she stupidly wants to carry out a burglary just to get some memories of her LostLenore when the survival of humanity is at stake.

* On a side note, after Mordin, Thane is the single most useless squad member on the Suicide Mission: he isn't an ideal choice for any Specialist missions and his HTL score is low. That may be why he seems to be the default squaddie to report to Shepard in the checking-up-on-HTL cutscene--in an ideal playthrough, that's basically his only spotlight moment.

Mordin' slow HoldTheLine score of 1 has already been explained in the VideoGame\MassEffect2\FridgeBrilliance section, but why does he drop to 0 if his loyalty mission hasn't been done? Because he is worried about the Krogan torturing a genophage cure out of Maelon, thus ensuring Krogan Rebellion Two. This Collector mission would therefore be a pointless distraction from the oncoming disaster.

The main appeal, driving force, and resource in ''Mass Effect 2'' are the [[PlayerParty thirteen recruitable companions (squadmates)]] of Commander Shepard[[note]]This includes both the two {{DLC}}-only companions and the secret squad member Morinth.[[/note]]. The entire game revolves around them, and the Suicide Mission is quite consciously a FinalExamFinale level taking form of a weird {{Puzzle|Game}} and CollectibleCardGame hybrid. The collectible card aspect comes from the fact that the outcome of the endgame depends largely on what "deck" (i.e. which squadmates) you bring with you to the Omega 4 relay. The puzzle aspect is owed to the complex but static set of rules that determine your success or failure in the Suicide Mission--rules that are pretty obvious if you pay attention to your squadmates beforehand.

The [[StaticRoleExchangeableCharacter interchangeability of squadmates in certain story-relevant roles]] and, conversely, the dependency of [[StoryBranching said roles' outcomes (success or tragedy)]] on the suitability of the actors is what gives the strictly linear Suicide Mission its amazing variability. Even though it doesn't matter much, for instance, which loyal squadmate escorts the ''Normandy'' crew back to the ship, the option to choose one and the palpable consequence of that teammate being absent for the rest of the mission give the players an illusion of controlling their own story. By extension, the multitude of winning scenarios guarantees that most players end up feeling like they have been told a personal and unique story, even though all players start the endgame with roughly the same "decks" and experience exactly the same story beats along the way.

** Expected the SuicideMission to be like Virmire where some simple acts of sabotage BehindEnemyLines can save most people? Expected to only sacrifice one person? No, this is evil universe Mass Effect. This time, there is the possibility that everyone dies.

** Omega station is the Citadel's antithesis. Both places are seen as the "capital" of their respective territories, both places contain a diverse multi-species population and both of them have asari as de facto rulers. You even recruit Garrus and a very important tech expert in both places. Except, the Citadel is this supposed bastion of orderliness and harmony, while Omega is the most wretched of WretchedHives. The Citadel presidium keeps itself well lit with a calming ambience, while Omega's hub is clearly dark and grimy, with club music blaring. Unlike the gentle persuasive collaborative system the asari set up on the Citadel, the asari ruler of Omega wouldn't be out of place in Film/Goodfellas and is ruthless and autocratic within her own gang but laizzes' faire with the rest of the people.

** Grunt is the anti-Wrex. Wrex is old, wizened, adopts a MySpeciesDothProtestTooMuch attitude and is generally jaded about the future, while grunt is a very young aggressive Blood Knight. Wrex genuinely cares about his people while all Grunt wants out of his people for now, is enemies to kill.

** Legion is the anti-Tali. While Tali has the anti-synthetic bigotry typical to her species, Legion is actually very understanding and forgiving towards most organics. Tali seeks only to destroy the Geth while Legion from the outset only wants to understand why the Quarians acted the way they did. While Tali goes through this game having to undergo a lot of learning and CharacterDevelopment, Legion actually forces us as the player to undergo a reevaluation of lots of premises.

* Jack is the anti-Liara. Both are extremely powerful biotics, both have to be rescued from containment fields, after which you get a tough BossFight and both express interest in you early. But while Liara is the socially inept BookSmart academic who preferred a more collaborative approach, Jack is street smart but book dumb, and is an extremely bellicose BloodKnight.
** Grunt is the anti-Wrex. Wrex is old, wizened, adopts a MySpeciesDothProtestTooMuch attitude and is generally jaded about the future, while grunt is a very young aggressive Blood Knight. Wrex genuinely cares about his people while all Grunt wants out of his people for now, is enemies to kill.

** The Citadel itself underwent a large change. In the first game, it was a relatively calm place with side quests there comprising primarily of talking to people to Charm or Intimidate them to see reason, helping people out with certain mundane problems that do not neccesarily involve killing, or make you do the killing somewhere off world. Even C-sec is presented as this ObstructiveBureaucrat run but mostly benign force, not tolerating CowboyCop types or corrupt drunks. Attitudes towards humans are also generally welcoming except for two blowhards. Come this game, there is much more of an air of hostility towards humans, C- sec is a more intrusive, restrictive and aggressive police force, not above making people "squeal a little". Now you have to deal with a dangerous demagogue politician, a protection shakedown racket, an assassination attempt, even an entire mercenary base of operations. The former drunk cop who just skimmed a little here and there has now gone full blown criminal with some extremely powerful muscle, and even the helpful Avina terminal now tattles on you to C-sec under certain conditions.

** Omega station is the Citadel's antithesis. Both places are seen as the "capital" of their respective territories, both places contain a diverse multi-species population and both of them have asari as de facto rulers. You even recruit Garrus and a very important tech expert in both places. Except, the Citadel is this supposed bastion of orderliness and harmony, while Omega is the most wretched of WretchedHives. The Citadel presidium keeps itself well lit with a calming ambience, while Omega's hub is clearly dark and grimy, with club music blaring. Unlike the gentle persuasive collaborative system the asari set up on the Citadel, the asari ruler of Omega wouldn't be out of place in Film/Goodfellas and is ruthless and autocratic within her own gang but laizzes' faire with the rest of the people. Even the Terminus is the antithesis to Council space. Council space aspires to be this multicultural utopia, while the Terminus is the chaotic unstable ungovernable version of a multicultural society. Even your directives as a Spectre are flipped. In the first game, you are told in no uncertain terms to stay within Citadel space and keep out of the Terminus Systems, while in this game you are restricted to operate only in the Terminus Systems and admonished to not enter Citadel space.
* Illium is in many ways the anti-Noveria. Noveria is known for its cold temperatures, isolation in the labs and the people there are very clammish, even giving you a "loose lips" speech. Illium on the other hand is hot, ostentatious and the people there aren't afraid to speak their casually racist, classist minds. You even meet a matriarch in both places. One was formerly a calming social butterfly type who normally advised cooperation and collaboration, but who was turned into this extremely hostile enemy you have to kill. The matriarch you meet on Noveria was an iconoclastic laughingstock who seems to be this bellicose hawkish type, but she is actually harmless and looks like she could be an important ally.

** Omega station is the Citadel's antithesis. Both places are seen as the "capital" of their respective territories, both places contain a diverse multi-species population and both of them have asari as de facto rulers. You even recruit Garrus and a very important tech expert in both places. Except, the Citadel is this supposed bastion of orderliness and harmony, while Omega is the most wretched of WretchedHives. The Citadel presidium keeps itself well lit with a calming ambience, while Omega's hub is clearly dark and grimy, with club music blaring. Unlike the gentle persuasive collaborative system the asari set up on the Citadel, the asari ruler of Omega wouldn't be out of place in Film/Goodfellas and is ruthless and autocratic within her own gang but laizzes' faire with the rest of the people. Even the Terminus is the antithesis to Council space. Council space aspires to be this multicultural utopia, while the Terminus is the chaotic unstable ungovernable version of a multicultural society. Even your directives as a Spectre are flipped. In the first game, you are told in no uncertain terms to stay within Citadel space and keep out of the Terminus Systems, while in this game you are restricted to operate only in the Terminus Systems and admonished to not enter Citadel space.

** Expected the SuicideMission to be like Virmire where some simple acts of sabotage BehindEnemyLines can save most people? Expected to only sacrifice one person? No, this is evil universe Mass Effect. This time, there is the possibility that everyone dies.

* In the first game, the authority figures you report to are presented as being out of their depth and obstructive, urging you to be cautious. In the second game, the authority figure comes off as extremely supportive and reasonable, giving you tons of resources and people to help, instead of just throwing you to the wolves.

Take a look at many missions and characters in this game and you realize that this isn't just a DarkerAndEdgier sequel, it is more like a Cain to the first game's Abel