What I would find interesting would be in the choice system.
When you get more and more paragon/renegade points I think it would be interesting that the later choices you do would be affected by your paragon/renegade points. Like, when you get 50 paragon points all your later choices would be more paragon-ish, so that the "renegade" choice would be a bit nicer but would still net you renegade points.
Hope that made sense, just a random thought, but I think it'd be interesting and add a bit more depth to the one-dimensional "good v. evil" mechanic of the games.
I want them to actually have my choices in previous games matter, and actually influence something.
In ME2, my choiced didn't have any impact at all. Not even killing the council. Either way, you still get told that your insane and get bitched out that your working for Cerberus, and you can't even fucking tell them why your cruising around in a Cerberus-branded ship. You'd think that they want to know how you were just brought back to life.
Every thing else just got summed up a line of easily missable dialog or some email. Thats not having my choices influence jack shit, thats just my choices giving me more mail.
The only one that seemed actually change how things work is killing/not killing Wrex. The only one you seem to set up for 3 was the Rachni choice. And what the fuck was with Conrad always talking about how you were an ass to him on the Citadel, even when you were nice? Your choices with him didn't matter at all, because he always seems to think that you pulled a gun on him. And that was your freaking main example of how choices were going to come back and bite you. I know you planned the paragon one, its in the game's files:
I know things get cut due to time/money/ect, but when your primary example for choice/consequence ends up not being in the damn game, its just embarrassing.
So far I don't feel like I'm shaping my own universe. I don't feel like my choices matter. Its just the illusion of choice. I fell like I'm just being pushed wherever the writer wants me. Normally I would be fine with this, but when one of the main selling points is choice, hell yeah its going to bother me.
Also, I'd like a return to Mass Effect's original tone. I'll now paste this comment I found on another site I go to. It adequately explains what I want to, and does a better job of it:
The setup and story of Mass Effect, more than the optimistic tone that was referenced before, was mainly a very classic science-fiction setting. Space here was protrayed as the infinite frontier, with our knowledge of discrete parts of it clashed with a large mass of unknown in between the main branches of the mass effect grid. In general it is an almost perfect copy of the themes at the core of a space opera, the eddification of it as a new time for discovery similar to the naval discoveries of the 15th century for Europe, the main conflict not visible but as a quest for truth or discovery instead; for that same reason, the full story of the Reapers was kept under wraps until the climax as well, for that is the main drawn of the science fiction epic, the mistery itself.
The Reapers part in this was thus rightfully fit. The fact that their motives were an unknow was the classical Lovecraftian edification of what horror should be and that fits greatly into the exploration theme. At their core, the Reapers were edifications of the danger of the unknown; they were the concept of pure evil as seen built from motives and logic beyond our human concepts, they were the ?hole in things? and the dragon of Saint Jorge all along. When faced with an enemy such as this, born out of the unknown, the proper way to battle it, can be nothing other than the search for knowledge, and the edification of Mass Effect was just that; you(as the player and as a human) contained no special skills of your own, and your quest in the end was nothing more than a long search for answers with those answers edificated in the presence of your various companions. It?s an hard task for game designers to impair the sense of intelectual accomplishment to the player when you?re supposed to achieve it as a character, but here by shifting that task upon your own work as the game progresses, the discoveries and companionships you form as direct opposition to the Reaper menace fulfill that role.
Of course even after all of that, as this was a videogame we needed a boss battle. The de facto ending of the game?s climax was the meeting with Virgil and the subconsequent jump through the mass relay into the citadel. Here, for all we care Sovereign had lost; its plans were know and we had managed to put ourselves into the pivotal point of it, so intellectually we had already won the fight. Thus the existence of Saren as an opponent. Saren?s edification as an anti-you, and the end game revelation of his cybernetic enhancements brings once more the theme of a confrotnation of intellectual merit to the table; except here the intellectual component has turned into the concept of a battle between transhumans. While Saren represents the transhumanist who seeks his betterment without any regard towards his old humanity, with his body changed by edifications by the part of the Reapers(again edifications of the unknow, of what lies beyond the horizon, of the dark fringes beyond which lovecraftian horrors lurk), we as Shepard represent the transhuman with his roots still firmly set upon our past; our strength and power comes not from drastic enhancements to ourselves, but through the work of a lifetime and through alliances with teammates that complement ourselves; this was also a big aspect as to why the suicide we force on Saren was so important from a storytelling point of view, it served as the most direct and just battleground where two transhuman might met, dialogue versus teh brawn. In the end, even after this the physical boss battle served was best confrontation so as to end the game, the old tale of intelect vs brawn when faced with unsourmauntable odds; in here we had already achieved victory and this was nothing more than a formality, we here David versus Goliath, Batman versus Joker, the Man with No Name versus the Bad, Luke and Vader versus the Emperor and the measly insignificant human against the vast and unknow universe and we came out triumphant.
This seems to be where Mass Effect 2 most diverged from the first. Despite the darkening of the mood, which all by itself could not justify a change of theme(after all so did Empire Strikes Back and it still mantained many of the same aspects of episode IV), the 2nd game showed us a shift towards the use of force for an estabilished goal. The fatc that pretty much from the beggining we have as an objective the Omega Relay somwhat lessens here our task, because the torch then has passed from triumphant discoverers who find the path by themselves, to measly taskmasters who do what they are told so as to achieve a preset goal. Even our ultimate inspection past the Omega Relay and into the climax, even though it is supposed to be a journey of discovery, turns into a simple reaction to teh thing we are confronted with. Here, the mistery that is discovered is done such with little or no effort by our part and we lose the sense of uniqueness that makes us believe that only us Shepard(the player) could have done this and assembled this team. Even beyond that, the only confrontation we have with this monster(because if before it was only the concept of a monster, now it fully takes the form of a monster and surprise! there is a giant coakroach behind the door and now despite opening it again and again it is not scary anymore) is purely physical. We lose all aspects of the intellectual growth towards the role of Homo Galactus and we just unload ammo upon ammo towards the problem. We have regressed towards the Homo Sapiens of ago, whose accomplishment could be defined by ?USE rock ON bug?.
Unfortunately, the teaser for Mass Effect 3, only seems to create a greater feeling of this. Here the cat is out of teh bag pleanly, and the immense presence of the Reapers on Earth seems to tie us ever closer to the roots that we were trying to shake. While before the confrotnation was towards the unknow and our exploration of it was the pathway towards a solution and steps which made us abandon our lesser feats to elevate us an example of the species, here we have to come back to our home, not to solve the problem as a transhuman but to use the above appointed rock on the bug. In the end, it seems that our role here has been relegated towards the application of brute force, which has always been the anti-thesis of the space opera. While there might be a physical confrontation, when dealing with the concepts of science-fiction, we are directly tied to the fact that we reached beyond our planetary orbit by using our intellect, and as such that would be the tool that we would refine towards the world of tomorrow and upon which our betterment relied. The obsession upon a strictly physical confrotnation might fit with purely macho-militaristic concepts such as Halo, but here we are trying to portray the post-Sapiens human, and clear-cutting the way towards only a physical confrontation as the teaser seems to indicate is quite wrongly built upon the initial story.
Once again, sorry for any errors or ortographical mistakes. Just my two cents any way.
Well, that was a lot longer then I expected. And quite a bit more angry then what I was intending, but whatever.
Oh, two more thing: I'd like to be able to be friends with my companions without having to have sexy time with them. This actually goes for lots of Bioware games. Too many times I try to just be friends with someone, but after 4 conversations they want to have sex with me. Then they get pissy when I say I don't want to have sex with them.
Second, if your going to use the dialog wheel, indicate what we're going to say better. Example, when plaing as a female Shepard, almost every time I talked to Jacob she would be insanely flirty, even when her dialog choices didn't indicate that was the intention. Another example is on Purgatory, where you recruit Jack. At the end you have the option of saying "I don't work for Cerberus". When you pick that Shepard says "I'm working for Cerberus just because they have what I need right now." Thats the opposite of what the wheel said. The exact god damn opposite. An indication of how I'm going to say something would be fantastic. As would better descriptions of what I'm going to say.
Anyway, done now. I wonder how many people will read it all right to the end. If you do, go get a cookie, or some other baked treat of your choice. You've earned it.
I read what I could from that long-ass post, though I feel slightly stupid for not really getting the gist of what he's saying. Care to give a summary? That and I don't quite get the youtube video. I feel stupid...
Right now, I'm playing Mass Effect 2 after Mass Effect 1 and there does seem to be something off about it. Mass Effect 2 seems a bit more action-y, more over-the-top and because of that a bit more generic than Mass Effect 1. I'm still enjoying my time with it, but I'm not rushing to back to the game every time I have like I did with Mass Effect 1 (though school is about to start up soon, so that could be it).
Overall, I plan to get Mass Effect 3 anyway just to complete the trilogy, but we'll just have to wait and see what Bioware makes of it.
I only read the Adept section (I don't play as any other classes) and I agree heartily. It might be good for gameplay in theory, but someone who can bounce enemies off the walls with Mass Effect fields still carrying around a pistol seems pretty damn redundant to me.
I agree with the idea of letting Adepts map another biotic ability to their normal trigger button and just sort of forget the pistol. Might be annoying at first, but honestly by the time I got half-way through Mass Effect 2 I was already relying on my biotics more than my gun anyway, both cause it allowed a more diverse combat mechanic, and because it's fucking COOL!
I read what I could from that long-ass post, though I feel slightly stupid for not really getting the gist of what he's saying. Care to give a summary? That and I don't quite get the youtube video. I feel stupid...
Right now, I'm playing Mass Effect 2 after Mass Effect 1 and there does seem to be something off about it. Mass Effect 2 seems a bit more action-y, more over-the-top and because of that a bit more generic than Mass Effect 1. I'm still enjoying my time with it, but I'm not rushing to back to the game every time I have like I did with Mass Effect 1 (though school is about to start up soon, so that could be it).
Overall, I plan to get Mass Effect 3 anyway just to complete the trilogy, but we'll just have to wait and see what Bioware makes of it.
Summary: ME1 was about exploration, very classic sci-fi feel, you can't fight the unknown(reapers), so you had to rely on knowledge, and you ended up searching for it. Knowledge was the key weapon you had against the Reapers. You aren't special, you can't do anything on your own, you need your companions, they help you in ways you can't do yourself. Its more a battle of the minds(between you, Sovereign, and Saren) then a battle of brawn. Saren is the anti-you. His presence, and his enhancements by the end of the game make it a battle of opposites. On one hand he is willing to do whatever is necessary to save people without any regard to humanity(or "alienanity", or whatever term is used for aliens). Whereas Shepard represents the transhuman with his roots still firmly set upon our past. Strength comes not from enhancements but from hard work of a lifetime and through alliances with teammates that complement ourselves. We here David versus Goliath, Batman versus Joker, the Man with No Name versus the Bad, Luke and Vader versus the Emperor and the measly insignificant human against the vast and unknow universe and we came out triumphant.
This seems to be where Mass Effect 2 most diverged from the first. Despite the darkening of the mood, which all by itself could not justify a change of theme(after all so did Empire Strikes Back and it still mantained many of the same aspects of episode IV), the 2nd game showed us a shift towards the use of force for an estabilished goal. Instead of being triumphant discoverers who used knowledge to win in the first game we are now just measly taskmasters who do what they're told to achieve a goal. We lose the sense of discovery. We lose the sense of wonder. Instead of discovering things by ourselves, we get it all handed to us. We lose the sense of uniqueness that makes us believe that only us Shepard(the player) could have done this and assembled this team. Even beyond that, the only confrontation we have with this monster(because if before it was only the concept of a monster, now it fully takes the form of a monster and surprise! there is a giant coakroach behind the door and now despite opening it again and again it is not scary anymore) is purely physical. We just unload ammo upon ammo towards the problem. We have regressed towards the Homo Sapiens of ago, whose accomplishment could be defined by 'USE rock ON bug'.
Unfortunately, the teaser for Mass Effect 3, only seems to create a greater feeling of this. Here the cat is out of teh bag pleanly, and the immense presence of the Reapers on Earth seems to tie us ever closer to the roots that we were trying to shake. While before the confrotnation was towards the unknow and our exploration of it was the pathway towards a solution and steps which made us abandon our lesser feats to elevate us an example of the species, here we have to come back to our home, not to solve the problem as a transhuman but to use the above appointed rock on the bug. In the end, it seems that our role here has been relegated towards the application of brute force, which has always been the anti-thesis of the space opera. While there might be a physical confrontation, when dealing with the concepts of science-fiction, we are directly tied to the fact that we reached beyond our planetary orbit by using our intellect, and as such that would be the tool that we would refine towards the world of tomorrow and upon which our betterment relied. The obsession upon a strictly physical confrotnation might fit with purely macho-militaristic concepts such as Halo, but here we are trying to portray the post-Sapiens human, and clear-cutting the way towards only a physical confrontation as the teaser seems to indicate is quite wrongly built upon the initial story.
Damn, didn't do so good in trying to shorten and summarize it... lets try again:
ME1: Use exploration, discovery, knowledge and intellect to win.
ME2: KICK the most ASS with a team of BADASSES to WIN!
ME3: Seems to be going the ME2 route.
Of course theres a shitload more to it, but those are the core things.
You can tell the changes in tone from the intro music for the games:
Oh, and the Youtube video was showing that a paragon-esque Conrad did exist at some point, but was never implemented.
No matter what you did in the first Mass Effect, you get renegade Conrad for ME2.
I never realized how many glitches there were in Mass Effect.
Don't get me wrong, i loved playing it. But occassionally there are some niggling things which just refuse to go away throughout the game.
Mainly i'm thinking that your choice of Squadmates should effect the mission. Rather than just choosing your favourites and sticking with them the entire game there should be an incentive to mixing and matching them- more dialouge options, different tactical options etc. Otherwise theres little point to having 12 squadmates and 10 of them spend most of their time in their respective areas of the ship waiting for Shepard to ask them about their personal problems!
How to fix ME2: An open how to fix it guide
1: Make it exactly like ME1
2: Make inventory easier to clean up (not that it was hard already you lazy fucks)
3: Make the Mako handle a bit better
4: DONE
I really hope this is the model that they followed for ME3. ME2 was just an "RPG third person shooter" without any RPG.
(Editors note: please do not consider Conviction to be anywhere near as good as the previous entries in the series)
(EN2: That lazy fucks thing is a joke btw don't anyone get mad)
(EN3: The only good thing about ME2 was the story, other than that it was just Gears of War with the ability to fly a ship around.)
God the inventory system in ME1 was a mess and not even worth bringing back. I like how you didn't have to juggle a shit ton of guns and armor just to try and fined the better gun. I like how you had to upgrade your gun and armor and not have to collect it. Bioware side the inventory in ME1 was a mess and that it was not pleasing. I hated having to sell of everything I didn't need and finding something was a pain in the ass. I'd sell off things every time I could and I still had too much to handle.
Also you're forgetting ME2 had some major up grades to allot of things so making it just like ME1 is an ME1 reskin. As for the Mako it's been replaced with the vehical you get with firewalker and use in Overlord. Bioware has said that and that there will be planet side explorastion again. The powers are most useful in ME2 then 1 but hell this is just what I think after about 10 play throughs of both games. No game is perfect and no one is going to agree on ewverything someone else thinks.
As for you OP is like allot of your ideas and would love to see them used but sadly Bioware will never see this tread.
Gears of war like gameplay.
GoW has a ton of haters, but the gameplay is solid and fluent. theres a lot of things in mass effect 2 i just cant do. Only use staged, fixed cover, no blind fire, no supression, etc.
In GoW you charge forward, dive headfirst into some cover, and stick your gun over the wall and start shooting.
How to fix ME2: An open how to fix it guide
1: Make it exactly like ME1
2: Make inventory easier to clean up (not that it was hard already you lazy fucks)
3: Make the Mako handle a bit better
4: DONE
I really hope this is the model that they followed for ME3. ME2 was just an "RPG third person shooter" without any RPG.
(Editors note: please do not consider Conviction to be anywhere near as good as the previous entries in the series)
(EN2: That lazy fucks thing is a joke btw don't anyone get mad)
(EN3: The only good thing about ME2 was the story, other than that it was just Gears of War with the ability to fly a ship around.)
ME1 gameplay is shit. There, I said it.
I love the game, but its not good design.
Stack 10 bad guys in room, enter room, fight all 10 badguys.
and I didnt like ME2s inventory UNTIL i thought about it.
You are commander Shepard. The most badass badass to ever exist ever. Why would he be opening every trash can he sees looking for gear? HES COMMANDER SHEPARD. He should be able to have the best shit at a snap of the finger. Leave it the way it is, minor upgrades in shops, the odd new weapon here and there. It just fits the story and character better.
I think I got the gist of it now, and in a sense I suppose he's (the original poster) right, though one could easily claim that he is over-thinking it.
From what I've read of other people's opinions, people like to compare the Mass Effect trilogy and it's change of tone to the original Star Wars films in that the second one seems to be the darkest one and the third one brings the tone a bit lighter but still serious. Overall, I'm still enjoying Mass Effect 2, but I agree that it does feel more restrictive with it's lack of exploration and stuff. Say what you will about the Mako and resource collecting, it did give you a sense of discovering new worlds.
How to fix ME2: An open how to fix it guide
1: Make it exactly like ME1
2: Make inventory easier to clean up (not that it was hard already you lazy fucks)
3: Make the Mako handle a bit better
4: DONE
(Editors note: please do not consider Conviction to be anywhere near as good as the previous entries in the series)
(EN2: That lazy fucks thing is a joke btw don't anyone get mad)
(EN3: The only good thing about ME2 was the story, other than that it was just Gears of War with the ability to fly a ship around.)
Couldn't agree with you more, though the OP does make some good points. I thought one was vastly superior to two, and that most of the changes they made were for the worse. ME2 was the shortest 2-disc game I've ever played.
How long did it take you to complete (and why did you have two discs)?
OT: It'd be better putting this on the BioWare forums since that's where they read stuff, although your calls for gore and dismemberment will go unheard. It's not a matter of controversy, it's a matter of age rating.
I'd say that the cries for gore seem a bit childish, and things that wouldn't add to the game at all.
Other than that, I agree.
AVATAR_RAGE said:
The platforming idea is a good one, though I think if it is included it should be class specific. With a route for biotic, tech and combat based classes. This would give classes like the sentinal and vanguard more of a choice when goin though a level.
For example adepts may be able to move large objects to clear a path, while an engineer could repair a broken door and a soldier could have more of an eye for more tactical routes like say an air vent. (remeber you will be with your group so you can't have any extreme platforming options)
I think it'd be better to not have it class-specific. There's nothing I'd hate more than to be shoehorned into a specific part of a level because of the class I choose. Instead, give certain classes perks that'll let them complete a certain section more easily (but don't make it impossible for everyone else.) Giving players more options like that could make the game come much more alive, imo.
I think I got the gist of it now, and in a sense I suppose he's (the original poster) right, though one could easily claim that he is over-thinking it.
From what I've read of other people's opinions, people like to compare the Mass Effect trilogy and it's change of tone to the original Star Wars films in that the second one seems to be the darkest one and the third one brings the tone a bit lighter but still serious. Overall, I'm still enjoying Mass Effect 2, but I agree that it does feel more restrictive with it's lack of exploration and stuff. Say what you will about the Mako and resource collecting, it did give you a sense of discovering new worlds.
I didn't even mind the barren worlds so much. It was the stupidly steep cliffs that you had to drive up with a horribly physic'd(is that even a word?) Mako.
And ME2 didn't really feel dark to me. Just feels like they tried to coast on the Rule Of Cool [http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/RuleOfCool]. Which while that works for lots of things, it just seems out of place in Mass Effect.
I think I got the gist of it now, and in a sense I suppose he's (the original poster) right, though one could easily claim that he is over-thinking it.
From what I've read of other people's opinions, people like to compare the Mass Effect trilogy and it's change of tone to the original Star Wars films in that the second one seems to be the darkest one and the third one brings the tone a bit lighter but still serious. Overall, I'm still enjoying Mass Effect 2, but I agree that it does feel more restrictive with it's lack of exploration and stuff. Say what you will about the Mako and resource collecting, it did give you a sense of discovering new worlds.
I didn't even mind the barren worlds so much. It was the stupidly steep cliffs that you had to drive up with a horribly physic'd(is that even a word?) Mako.
And ME2 didn't really feel dark to me. Just feels like they tried to coast on the Rule Of Cool [http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/RuleOfCool]. Which while that works for lots of things, it just seems out of place in Mass Effect.
Yes, driving the Mako was like riding a jackrabbit on a trampoline trying to get to a Mexican jumping bean.
We'll see how Bioware does with Mass Effect 3. I'm by no means a Bioware fanboy, I haven't had enough experience with their games to really become one, but it'll be interesting to see what they do with Mass Effect 3.
I think putting in platforming in a game like mass effect would be an awful idea to be honest, it just would not fit without a total overhaul of mechanics. I also think a better example of giving mission variety would be the Noveria level in ME1, where you can use diplomacy, trickery, or lots of bullets.
How to fix ME2: An open how to fix it guide
1: Make it exactly like ME1
2: Make inventory easier to clean up (not that it was hard already you lazy fucks)
3: Make the Mako handle a bit better
4: DONE
I really hope this is the model that they followed for ME3. ME2 was just an "RPG third person shooter" without any RPG.
(Editors note: please do not consider Conviction to be anywhere near as good as the previous entries in the series)
(EN2: That lazy fucks thing is a joke btw don't anyone get mad)
(EN3: The only good thing about ME2 was the story, other than that it was just Gears of War with the ability to fly a ship around.)
Wow, there are actually a lot of good ideas in there. I completely agree with you on adding more of a stealth element for the infiltrator class. The cloak while good in theory, didn't seem to be that useful in practice. Actually I think everything mentioned in the infiltrator paragraph at the end of your post is right on target.
Also agree with your thoughts on melee kills (yes!) and space battles (double yes!).
You should think about posting this on the Bioware forums if you haven't already.
I'm planing to. Problem is, I'm not quite sure where to post it, as I'm unfamiliar with what's considered proper conduct on Biowares website.
I also thought about just sending it to them, but they strictly state that they're not in the business of of taking requests(Which I defiantly understand).
So very, very wrong.
It is a singleplayer game where you have companions who also use the available classes (or uniques of their own in most cases) alongside who you will be fighting and who you will be comparing yourself to because none of the enemies have a power level of over 9000.
They obviously didn't worry about balancing much for Dragon Age, and that game was so hilariously unbalanced between classes it just wasn't fun (or playable in late game) if you were not a mage or two-handed weapon user. Don't turn ME into a badly designed RPG like DA.
On weapon variety, here's my idea:
During your journey you get weapons a little more often as in ME2, which was a bit overly light on them. Then, you can buy licenses at vendors ME1-style so you can choose a variant customized with parts from those companies and a unique look, giving large selection with an easy menu (Weapons > Pistol, Assault Rifle, Shotgun, etc.> Assault Rifle A, +20% reload speed, -8% accuracy, AR B, +5% damage, +12% recoil, etc., at most 6-8 variants per weapon in addition to vanilla guns).
Of course, making the entire game environment climbable just so one of the six classes can use that feature doesn't seem like a feasible investment.
I do like the idea of biotic powers as a main weapon instead of their current supporting role. It might actually make me impressed with the next sexy-female-biotic-with-romance-subplot's powers.
30x yes on the visceral feedback.
Charm / Intimidate does need reworking.
Overall, agree with some things, disagree with others. Happy New Year, by the way.
It is true that platforming would be difficult and perhaps underused.
Maybe just some alternative paths above the established(Similar to Thanes Loyalty Mission), Engineers could hack them as well, but Infiltrators would have the advantage. You could even send certain members of your squad towards different parts of a mission. That would also be helpful to make every member of the team useful, and do away with the "Elite Specialists" who spend all their time presumably admiring the Normandy's paint job
I disagree with most of the things you've said there but then whatever changes they do or don't make is going to make people unhappy. So long as it still feels like playing Mass Effect and they don't mess up the ending I'll be happy.
But since we're on the topic of wishlists I would like a return of the weapons and armour upgrades, remove the resource scanning, make Kelly take better care off my fish, oh and it would be awesome if the ending of ME3 was totally dependent on an obscure side quest from ME1 to piss of all the people who complain about the choices not making a big enough difference. I would love it if you couldn't get a good ending if in ME1 you didn't collect all the Turian Insignias or if you killed the monkey things in the bomb mission.
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