A little while ago, I wrote about how my history with Mass Effect leaned heavily towards Renegade. Renegade Shep is much cooler on the face of it - they shoot first and ask questions never, and they take no shit. Our own Andrea Shearon already wrote about how a lot of the R⛄enegade dec🐲isions don’t make sense, but why would making sense matter when you’re the biggest badass in the universe? With a bit of distance though, Renegade Shepard’s Pax Humanica, pro-mili🍎tary industrial complex vibes, a🌜nd fascist tendencies didn’t sit too well with me. I’d decided that with the Legendary Edition, I was going to play it as Paragon, and be a more mature, even tempered, kind hearted Shepard. I’ve only just been made a Spectre, and it’s already pretty hard.
The Council are proper bastards, aren’t they? I knew they were, but I’d forgotten just how 𓃲irritating and snooty and bureaucratic they were. And then Harkin chatting you up in Chora’s Den? It makes me want to break his wrist. But I’ve committed to playing Shep as Paragon, so I’m going to tough it out and hope it all pays off in the long run.
Many of us will be returning to Mass Effect a little bit older than when we last played it. Well, everyone returning will be older - that’s how time works. But a ✨lot of people, like myself, played the trilogy in their formative years, when our brains were still prone to mood swings and impulsive behaviour. All teenagers are Renegades, is what I’m saying. So I think a lot of people, like me, will want to turn over a new leaf, but be warned - Mass Effect makes this very tricky, especially at the start.
Of course, these clashes with Harkin and the Council are pretty minor in the face of some bigger Renegade decisions. It’s in backing down from punching the reporter in the face, from letting the Council die, from kicking people out of elevators, and from “I’ll surrender one bജullet - where do you want it?” that the benefits of a more balanced, realistic ⛦Shepard will come to the fore. I want my Shepard to be a good person, to care for the many and not the few, and to not abuse her power for the hell of it. But I also don’t want her to take any shit, and it’s a bit of a shame that I have to choose.
The Renegade/Paragon dynamic is iconic, and I wouldn’t dream of suggesting BioWare should have taken it out ahead of the Legendary Edition - choosing what sort of Shepard you want to be is arguably the biggest decision in the entire trilogy. But it does force you to lock in your chosen path quite early - playing Shep as a bit of both means they’ll lack the points in either category to make some huge decisions later on. Yeah, I could have told Harkin to screw off and still played the trilogy as a Paragon Shep trying to help people out instead of acting selfishly and being violent or mean just for a laugh♛, but Mass Effect puts you in the habit of choosing your response before they’ve even appeared. If you’re Paragon, you need to pick the top option, while Renegades pick the bottom one. You can be Neutral and pick the middle, but I’ve never met anyone who does that, and I pray I never do. I bet they find mayonnaise spicy.
Maybe that’s more accurate though. If you’re an arsehole, you can just be an arsehole all the time. It’s quite freeing - that’s probably why they are so many arseholes about. Just be horrible to everyone and never worry about the consequences - that’s the life of Renegade Shep. It’s straightforward, but it’s not the♓ life I want for my Shepard. Not this time.
If you’re nice though, that takes effort. You have to work at it every day. Sure, you’re allowed to slip up every now and again, or turn nasty on someone who really deserves it, but most of the time you’re making a conscious effort to not be an arsehole. As a Renegade, I’m used to just picking the bottom each time without thinking about it. Maybe as a Paragon, I need to actively decide whether this situation warrants a Paragon response, or whether I can let the Renegade in me out a bit more. I’m struggling with that so far, but the ⛦more I play, the easier it’s going to get. Right?
I’m still gonna call the Hanar a big, stupid jellyfish though. You can𒊎’t stop me.