A quibble (Destiny)

by narcogen , Andover, Massachusetts, Friday, February 12, 2016, 07:13 (2997 days ago) @ Durandal

While I like the "humans are superior" trope, that isn't the central theme of the ME universe.

Really? I'd have argued that it absolutely is. You play a human character and are given two human crewmembers who are suspicious to the point of xenophobia about aliens. Your military commander points out that he believes you about Saren being the bad guy because he's known to hate humans. The ambassador's primary thought and motivation is that humans don't get the respect they deserve.

You'll soon encounter a shadowy group of "humans first" activists with flexible morals, and they'll become much more important in the next game, essentially becoming the real antagonist by the third.

I think it's pointed out fairly commonly that humans are not superior. Wrex's comments about being spaced aside, Asari live for thousands of years, are tougher and are born with space magic. Krogan are nearly impossible to kill. Turians have metal laced skin. Even Quarians are hinted to be physically tougher but have their immunity issues. So at best humans have parity with Baterians and Salarians and some advantage over the Volus.

Mostly the human government has an attitude because despite being the third largest military power and significant economic might they get treated as a 2nd tier race like the subservient Volus, to the point of having to share an Embassy rather then get one of their own. Top it off with the first major alien encounter being an assault by the Turians on a human colony and of course you are going to have a bunch of ill will from humans to the rest of the galaxy. Of course the Council is full of morons who can't lead there way out of a wet paper bag, and is revealed to be full of Orwellian Big Brother types who hide the true history of the galaxy for their own benefit, so humanity's distrust is somewhat justified.

the only real "humans are special/superior" comments I saw where naval tactics, where the human fleets use a different strategy from everyone else (and far more carriers), and ME2 with them being chosen to make a new reaper, which is in part because Shepard defeated Sovereign in ME1.

Perhaps I've not been clear. I'm arguing against the idea that the game pushes the idea of humans as superior. It exposes that theme for the lie it is. It puts those words in some of your allies and many more of your enemies. The game is there to explore and debunk that idea, not glorify it-- which the many things you point about above demonstrate.

It's also worth noting that if you sympathize with Cerberus and spend the series hanging out with Kaidan and Ashley, you're going to get an earful about Those Damn Aliens, and you may well discount what the others say. After all, the game does let you kill the council, replace them with humans, and put Udina in charge. I forget to what extent it lets you side with Illusive Man through 2 and 3 because it never, ever occurred to me to do it, but he ends up being the primary source for the "humans first" viewpoint.