S1:E8 – Pinnacle of Agency ft. Kenneth Shepard

Welcome to Massively Affected, where I, Josh Silverman, bring on a guest and ask them the not-so-simple question: Why Mass Effect?

This week I'm joined by Kenneth Shepard, who you may know as a Staff Writer for Fanbyte, and the co-host of NormandyFM. On this week's episode, Kenneth and I discussed agency in the Mass Effect universe, among many other topics. In exploring Commander Shepard's journey, players are often put in situations where they're guessing at what Shepard will say based on snippets of dialogue. These don't always relate to the exact circumstances of what will be said, leading to a bit of occasional cognitive dissonance between what players intended, versus what actually happened. In this episode we looked at how the ending to Mass Effect 3 gave the only true agency to Commander Shepard, as through no spoken dialogue Shepard was finally able to do exactly what the player wished. At least within the confines of the game's planned out story.

If you enjoyed my conversation with Kenneth Shepard, make sure to give him a follow on Twitter.

Make sure you come later this week, as I'll be joined by Eric Van Allen of NormandyFM. If this is your first episode, make sure to check out the full backlog of episodes found on But Why Tho.