Mass Effectfans have been on the edge of their seats since the announcement ofMass Effect: Legendary Edition, which will be a complete remaster of the original trilogy’s games. Since the announcement on N7 Day, the excitement has only heightened, but now players have a solid release day to look forward to thanks to the official confirmed date for the remaster. May 14th is whenMass Effect: Legendary Editionwill see the light of day, and with it all the technical upgrades and changes that players have been asking for over the years.
However, there’sone thing thatMass Effect: Legendary Editionhad the opportunity to change, but didn’t — the romantic storylines. BioWare has long been lauded for its creative storytelling, immersive environments, and romance stories that stick with players long after the game has ended. The issue for the most part doesn’t lie in the storytelling itself, but rather who the romanceable options are throughout the three games.Mass Effect: Legendary Editioncould have expanded the romance options for each Commander Shepard, especially in light of the recent news of the censorship during the initial development, but chose not to.
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Jack Was Supposed to be Pansexual
Recently, a former BioWare writer revealed thatMass Effect 2’s psychotic biotic was originally written to be pansexual, and would have been open to a romantic relationship with both male and female Commander Shepard. However, the higher ups at BioWare decided against this for fear of media backlash, especially from Fox News. Despite the news network’s reputation, BioWare actually had a valid reason for concern, as the news channel previously went after the originalMass Effectgame for featuring a romance scene between female Shepard and asari Liara T’Soni.
What’s most frustrating about this change is the fact that the crumbs of Jack’s queerness are still sprinkled throughout her dialogue with both Commanders. It wasn’t until much later in development that her sexuality was changed. So late was the change made that the developers had already animated scenes for both male and female Shepard, and the latter didn’t make the cut forthe final version ofMass Effect 2. To many, including BioWare’s former writer, Jack’s queer-coding makes her pansexual in their minds but it doesn’t take away the sting of what could have been for Jack and female Shepard.
Another member of theMass Effect 2team recently revealed that Jacob Taylor, another squadmate in the game, could have potentially had a same-sex romance with male Commander Shepard. This romance, which was “matching shot-for-shot fromBrokeback Mountain,” was also scrapped due to fear of backlash from the same media outlet. The reasons for cutting it at the time are sound, but it’s still disheartening to learn that something modeled after another “acceptable” gay romance was cut.
Jacob is by no means a fan favorite fromMass Effect, but adding in a same-sex romance for him and Commander Shepard would have addedthe first gay romance to theMass Effectfranchise, sooner thanMass Effect 3. As it stands now,Mass Effect 2only allows for players to romance women and female-presenting characters as male Commander Shepard: Tali, Miranda, Jack, Kelly Chambers, Samara, and Morinth. The last three listed are actually romantic options for female Commander Shepard as well, but are also the only women/female-presenting options available in the sequel.
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Why Allow Some But Not All Same-Sex Relationships?
It isn’t untilMass Effect 3thatmale Shepard is allowed a gay romance story, and even then, it’s not with an “official” squadmate. It’s with Steve Cortez, a pilot aboard the Normandy who cannot be selected for the squad for official missions. However, female Shepard has a variety of different same-sex (or same-sex presenting) relationships throughout the games. Why allow for female Shepard to have a gay romance long before male Shepard?
The answer lies in the concept of fetishization and palatability, along with the concerns of backlash from media companies. BioWare had a valid concern for continuing to add same-sex relationships to the originalMass Effecttrilogy, yet it still added Kelly Chambers as a romance optionfor FemShepard inMass Effect 2. When Jacob Taylor’sBrokeback Mountain-esque romance scene was cut, the former animator was told “America isn’t ready for it.” Despite this, America was ready to see two female-presenting characters in a romance scene.
This hypocrisy isn’t only found inMass Effect, and has been a recurring problem throughout various media representations of LGBT relationships. Female/female relationships are consistently fetishized, especially by men and those not in the LGBT community. Which means they’re more likely to be accepted by the public — but not for the right reasons. Those who are female/female fetishistsmight look at the romance between Liara and FemShepardand think it’s “hot.” Meanwhile, a male/male romance wouldn’t get anywhere near that reaction because it is less accepted by society, and less likely to be fetishized.
In any piece of media, a romance should be included because of the storytelling involved, not how easy it is to market to the public. BioWare is well known for its romances, so it’s clear these options wouldn’t have been included without proper storytelling behind them. At the same time, BioWare may have been unaware of the societal implications of including only same-sex options for female Shepard from the start ofMass Effect. However, it had theopportunity to correct them withMass Effect: Legendary Edition, and BioWare chose not to.
BioWare has clearly grown as a company, especially when players campaigned to have amale Ryder romance with Jaal added toMass Effect: Andromeda, and the developer patched it in. It’s good to see the company trying to add more LGBT representation, as it’s crucially important to the community, but it’s still upsetting that the developer didn’t right the wrongs of the originalMass Effecttrilogy. While it’s gut-wrenching that players won’t be able to experience Jack as pansexual, or Jacob as a romance option for male Shepard, there are still other romances to look forward to revisiting whenMass Effect: Legendary Editionreleases.
Mass Effect: Legendary Editionreleases on May 14 for PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One.
