The Mass Effect trilogy, released between 2007 and 2012, is a generation-defining series. Mass Effect does a great job of building out its universe and populating it with exciting factions and characters. At the heart of its storytelling remains a core feature than most all fans recall fondly. That's the Paragon/Renegade system, that allowed fans to choose dialogue options and actions that were either good or evil. Despite its popularity, however, it seems most players didn't explore the feature significantly.

In a post to Twitter, John Ebenger, a cinematic designer for Mass Effect 2, Mass Effect 3, and the Dragon Age franchise, brought up the Mass Effect Paragon/Renegade choice. Another Twitter user had brought up how gamers often lauded games that gave players the choice of being the "bad guy." However, in practice, players still tended to make "good guy" decisions. Ebenger was able to back up this anecdote with genuine data.

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According to Ebenger, "something like 92%" of all Mass Effect players chose the Paragon path in Mass Effect. It's unclear if Ebenger means 92% across the whole franchise or just in a specific game or two. Nevertheless, it's an interesting look into how players actually played the Mass Effect games as opposed to how they may have been portrayed in the media. Given the number of Renegade jokes and memes, few likely expected Renegade to be played by just 8% of players.

Ebenger does acknowledge that the Paragon/Renegade system did have its flaws. Prior to Mass Effect 3, the system incentivized players going heavily in one direction or another. As such, players wouldn't experiment with the other options. Mass Effect 3 changed that, though Ebenger doesn't say whether it had the desired effect.

Several comments also not that Paragon choices were often very consistent. They made Mass Effect protagonist Shepard out to be a loyal soldier fighting for the betterment of the universe. With Renegade options, player options could range from jokey pranks to committing genocide.

It will be interesting to see, when EA and BioWare eventually revisit the Mass Effect franchise, whether the Paragon/Renegade system is kept. Mass Effect: Andromeda tried to drop the system and was worse because of it. There's definitely a lot of nostalgia for the system, but it's also clearly a lot of work for the developers that goes largely unplayed. Perhaps BioWare will evolve on the system to make it more intuitive. Or perhaps it will scrap it entirely. Choices don't always have to be binary.

Mass Effect 2 is available on PC, PS3, and Xbox 360.

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