The Paragon-Renegade system is among the defining characteristics of developer Bioware’s Mass Effect trilogy (2007-2012). The system fleshes out the player character, Commander Shepard’s personality through the player’s dialogue choices and plot decisions. And in developing Shepard as an ever-benevolent keeper of order, a loose cannon that gets what they’re after, or something in between there’s an attunement to the player’s play style that really allows them a sense of ownership and power over their experience. A core element of the trilogy’s Paragon-Renegade system is the cumulative tally of the points you earn in either category that unlock special dialogue options, often allowing Shepard to charm or intimidate their way out of conflict with a hero’s entertaining dramatic flair. However the nuances of Paragon-Renegade mechanics changed between games, and in reviewing Mass Effect 2’s system I want to show how those nuances affect and potentially limit the “player’s choice” that is so appealing in Bioware games.
The most easily observable change that happens in the Paragon-Renegade system is the content and ideologies associated with your dialogue choices. Basic dialogue trees are often split into a paragon, neutral, and renegade option and the original Mass Effect had a significant number of trees where renegade options were not only aggressive but xenophobic as well. Mass Effect 3 reflected the Paragon-Renegade dichotomy less in personal beliefs about social-politics and more purely in the tone that Shepard used to get an idea across. Mass Effect 2 lands in transition between these two. Mass Effect 2 introduces quick trigger paragon and renegade reactions that cleverly mesh your player input with gut reaction as a role-player. You don’t know what Shepard is actually going to do before you click, but the tonal indication of a paragon or renegade prompts you to select based on the disposition of your Shepard in that situation. On the whole as well, dialogue trees in Mass Effect 2 focus on whether your Shepard would ask nicely or show some grit when trying to reach their objective. But some main plot dialogue trees align paragons with their former ties to the Systems Alliance Military of Earth while renegade options tie you deeper to the radical human advancement group Cerberus that you work with in this sequel. The association of these two groups with paragon and renegade lawful leanings makes sense, but imposing it onto the dialogue options when there’s only one choice of each for paragons and renegades may not have been a wise choice. Special paragon and renegade options often have to be different in content since there’s a clear action associated with each; attaching differing ideologies to the demeanors Shepard can have as a paragon or renegade adds a layer of contemplation and limitation to the player as their Shepard might not support the Illusive Man or Cerberus despite being having a renegade personality.
The other part of Mass Effect 2’s Paragon-Renegade system is the “unlocking” conditions required for getting special dialogue options. The original Mass Effect and Mass Effect 3 unlock special paragon and renegade dialogue options once you reach certain thresholds of points earned in a dialogue’s respective category. In Mass Effect 2 the unlocking of special paragon and renegade options is based on calculated percentages of your past paragon/renegade choices out of your whole playthrough. You need to choose between a paragon or renegade Shepard and not only achieve but maintain a high ratio of choices in your selected disposition if you want to have the special dialogue options, especially in late game where thresholds are set high, available to you. This system may go unnoticed by a player because they choose to play a thoroughly paragon or renegade Shepard, but even if a player doesn’t really care about having special paragon or renegade options the game often still shows these special branches of the dialogue tree greyed out despite being unavailable. Implementing this Paragon-Renegade unlocking system promotes a rigid adherence to one type of play and encourages replaying the game in as the type of Shepard you missed out on the first time. That’s also the immersion-breaking wall a player can face when they want to play as a Shepard on the spectrum between the paragon and renegade types. While not necessarily affecting gameplay in a catastrophic way, Mass Effect 2 punishes players for any middle of the road options – either in choosing neutral dialogue or not “settling” on a paragon or renegade playthrough. The middle game of the acclaimed Mass Effect trilogy almost compels the player to typecast their protagonist despite the Paragon-Renegade system offering agency and command over who your Shepard will be as a hero. And if you regard Mass Effect 2 and the trilogy as a player-agency based RPG both in narrative choices and customization of Shepard as the player’s protagonist, the game’s Paragon-Renegade system has limitations that overlook this appeal of the series.
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