Yeah they've mentioned Stargate as an inspiration, but it's not the only one. Babylon 5 and a couple other series they've said they've drawn inspration from.

Stargate seems like the predominant choice though, too many core aspects revolve around it. Of course I'm not complaining because it was a good story and enjoyable mechanics, but it just seems now that I've read all the facts about BioWare and such, that they just seemed to ride the gravy train of other people's Ideas.

Kinda like how they googled the last space scene, and Tali's face


E: Tali's face kinda affected me a lot more considering she was the only one I romanced in the entire series

This post was edited by OverDoSex on Mar 12 2012 10:13pm

Not really. Stargate is as much an influence as any number of Sci-Fi franchises. Star Wars, Star Trek, Babylon 5, ect. The similarities can be summarized into two catagories, direct inspiration, and coincidence, most of Stargates likely fall in that second catagory.

The name Shepard is common in fiction. A shepard guides a flock, and in franchises where that name is used, that character often has that role. Commander Shepard clearly does.

Ancient races that left their mark in the present are in almost every Science Fiction seriies. That's definitely not from Stargate.

I never watched Stargate, but from googling it, I can't find anything about these, 'Aurai'. Doesn't seem like they're the main antagonists, which the Reapers are.

I don't really agree with that last comparison. It's a super weapon, but they don't know what it does, and it doesn't destroy the reapers, it's for something else. The Rings in Halo is a closer comparison than the Crucible.

Anyways, they definitely didn't copy Stargate, it's different enough, and the majority of similarities are present in most Science Fiction series. Like I said, they have said it's an inspiration for their writers, but it's not the only one, nor the predominant one.

well time to grind a little bit!!!
im anxious to see the ending!

and i think it reminds me alot of Farscape! pretty cool tv show.
im also diggin the shit out of these games, but still havnt played 1 yet!
thinkin bout buyng it on Games on Demand tomorrow... no used stored have it rounf here... so i started at 2.
wanna restart aftet i finish 3 ofc lol and get mass effect 1... play em with diffrent choices!

Well your first problem is, you haven't watched Stargate, I have, and I see direct similarities, and it's no mere coincidence that the "John Shepard" who's in the military has nothing to do with the "John Shepard" whos in the military, in ME

But as for me, having seen every series you've mentioned, my experiences with them all made me predominantly recognize Stargate references, now whether or not there were more of another series cooked inside, I won't know for sure, but the ones that stood out, definitely shadow Stargate in comparison to the others

I don't have to google to be sure the similarities I've noticed, it naturally happened, otherwise I wouldn't have noticed them at all. But either way, that's my opinion. And it's the thought of the crucible that counts, its a weapon everyone believes that will DESTROY the reapers, the same concept was used for the entire series of Stargate, nobody actually knew what it's true intention was. Trust me, I wasn't spitting coincidentally vaguely similar references, the only ones I threw out were ones I was sure had a curious match, not sure why it's much of a debate. The fact that they've mentioned it being an inspiration, according to you, only validates me

Either way, the thing that concerns me most is what they did to grab money from people with the DLC, and how I felt betrayed with the googled image of my Lover, Tali, as well as the googled image of the stargazer scene.

Also I just wanted to add, that the "Ancients" are constantly referred to EXACTLY the way the protheans are always referred to, it was simply by watching the series and playing ME1-2-3 had I noticed the similarities lol. Yeah each Sci-Fi (not each but we get the point) had a race of power or revel but the way Stargate and Mass Effect refers to their "ultimate races" and the similarities between both, is just simply uncanny. You'd have to watch the series to understand I suppose, so I can't expect the same understanding out of you that I have atm.... all I can do is try to explain the best I can

You're just grasping at straws now. They're are not copying Stargate, they have similarities, as all SciFi series do, but it's not copying. If it was you wouldn't be the first in 5 years to mention it.

It doesnt matter if it's your opinion, it's wrong. Stargate is niether the predominant influence nor what Mass Effect is based on.

i cried at the end

Sigh, you are taking my opinion too literal, and I never said Stargate is what completely influenced ME, nor did I say they were copying it, I only said Stargate references are predominant, which means there are more stargate references than there are from any other series you mentioned, (WHICH I'VE SEEN) that is all.

What's so hard to understand? Don't take my opinion further than that, because it isn't.

You're not saying that directly but you're attempting to connect things that are simply coincidences or common themes in Science Fiction. Thinking Shepard's name was taken from Stargate (Which it's not), Protheans = Ancients (You could say Protheans = Forerunners or Protheans = Rakata and be just as right), that Reapers are the same as whatever those things are. All of those are common themes, they're not taken from Stargate, Stargates universe was an influence when the writers were creating a storyboard and doing the Mass Effect "bible" (All the background information the head writers create and use to make the games/books/graphic novels), but it's not more an influence than Star Wars or Star Trek. Fiction takes cues from other works, but when one work is a predominant influence, the writers will always mention it so they don't get sued.

But they didn't. Stargate is an influence, but it isn't a predominant one.