An open letter to Bioware

[Korten12]

I think ME needs a more dynamic world, the npcs should react to major desecions, like when you go to illium, its the same NPCs saying the same convo's over and over again.

Have NPC's walking around, possible night to day cycle so then different NPCs (besides quest NPCs) are around at different times.

 

[StBishop]

One thing I would add would be some online support. NOT multiplayer, just something that allows other people to experience a glimpse of your ME experience. Maybe a recording tool to allow you to build videos of combat (and dialogue, if they flow well together) to make your own little Mass Effect movie experience that you may share online.

Also, make the combat and dialogue flow well together. Give people who choose paragon options sub-lethal techniques to utilize that earns them different rewards and dialogue options when out of combat. Make being a paragon more difficult than not extorting money you don't need.

While I am loathe to argue with someone about what they like and their opinions, I would be so disapointed that I would not be able to describe it with words if Bioware spent a second on developing an online community/share feature/media production feature that they could have spent writing dialog/story/fixing other things that people have mentioned.

I am pretty sure it'll be on PC, why not get it for PC and make movies that way?

 

[Alkore]

A few things i disagree with in your op
1) the ifiltrator is my favorite class as is mainly because its the only class with a sniper rifle and because of ai hack i think a stealth factor would ruin this charachter especally a splinter cell type stelth that you mentioned.

2)I actually enjoyed the driving parts of the first mass effect at least the parts where you are driving around the planets not actually trying to fire the stupid gun at a target so i would prefer for them to fix the original instead of doing away with it completly.

3) As for damage and the Biotics/tech powers for the most part in terms of damage shown and sounds Ithink its fine the way it is except that would prefer if they would bring back the weapon special powers and have each power recharge sepratly.

4) You also mentioned that they dont have to worry about balancing which is not true because all the classes have to get through the game with roughly the sam amount of dificulty if you can barely beat the game on nomal with the vangard how are you going to beat it on insanity?

As for the things i agree with i would defenatly prefer the old inventory system and more character conversations bring back the elevators intead of those loading screens oh and space battles

 

[Programmed_For_Damage]

Well at least you haven't taken a razor to the game and have actually suggested slight tweaks that may make things better. Kudos.

The only real thing I disagree with you is on the combat. The melee system definately needs to be reworked (if I smack an organic meatsack human merc it should be totally different to belting the mass of plastic, steel and wire that are the Geth) but i think it should be more Jack Bauer-esque high impact takedown to the Marcus Fenix head crushing brutality. I don't want the Mass Effect combat system to get any more Gears Of War-like; at the moment its getting close. As much as I love GoW, Mass Effect's combat needs to offer something different. Perhaps refining the biotic and tech powers as you suggest may give it that sense of individuality.

What I found beneficial was to go back and play the original straight after playing Mass Effect 2 and I noticed that it does the bulk of things A LOT better. Of course the original has some feature like the inventory which I think is better than the armory system (although a combination of the two would be heavenly); but on the whole ME2 is much more refined. The Paragon/Renegade actions are an improvement, the planet scanning is marginally interesting than flying to each planet and seeing if the 'land' option appears and as much as I wasn't originally impressed with the way ME2 distributed points for leveling (what's with this level 4 maximum shit?) I did like the way that once you reached level 4 you could choose a speciality from two different options.

 

[CosmicSpiral]

The cooldown system needs to be drastically changed. Tech abilities and biotic abilities somehow having the same source, engineers and their damn Combat Drones: it doesn't work.

 

[Danpascooch]

It sounds like you want to play Gears of War.

Go play Gears of War. Please leave Mass Effect alone.

Thank you, but I'm not a big fan of Gears of War, it's just the only cover shooter I can stand.

I suggested Gears of War because it's the(Or at least one of) the reason that cover shooting is so popular, it does what it does well so if what you're doing is cover shooting it's a good place to look.(Gears also sells well, which is probably helpful for all the people working for Bioware)

RPG's aren't defined by their sluggish gameplay, it's just a common side effect of their enormous size. You can't honestly tell me that Mass Effect 1 controls better then Vanquish, even if it's a better game overall(Which I think it is). Mass Effect seems interested in changing that, so I see no problem with taking instructions from people who've been doing it longer.

I would like to play a game that was as fluid as Gears of War, but with actual story and depth, that's why I play Mass Effect

P.S: Isn't the fact that Bioware created a social network and used fan reply for Mass Effect 2 evidence that "Leaving Mass Effect alone" is the exact opposite of what they want us to do?

I just think that with everything nowadays using the standards set in Gears of War we could use something different. There's really no need for Mass Effect to try to become a boilerplate FPS, or to try to overextend itself into things like proper stealth, at the expense of the development of things like story or length (because development time IS finite unfortunately)

 

[Mr Pantomime]

I havent played Mass effect 2 and I didnt read your post, but I just want to say that the opening post was the biggest ive ever seen.

As far as I know there are two separate teams for each game

Um...sure.....

There aren't?

Well, there are. But that had absolutely nothing to do with what I said

 

[sumanoskae]

I havent played Mass effect 2 and I didnt read your post, but I just want to say that the opening post was the biggest ive ever seen.

As far as I know there are two separate teams for each game

Um...sure.....

There aren't?

Well, there are. But that had absolutely nothing to do with what I said

If I'm not mistaken, you said Bioware is focused on Dragon Age. What I'm saying is that the Dragon Age team is focused on Dragon Age, and the Mass Effect team is focused on Mass Effect

 

[sumanoskae]

It sounds like you want to play Gears of War.

Go play Gears of War. Please leave Mass Effect alone.

Thank you, but I'm not a big fan of Gears of War, it's just the only cover shooter I can stand.

I suggested Gears of War because it's the(Or at least one of) the reason that cover shooting is so popular, it does what it does well so if what you're doing is cover shooting it's a good place to look.(Gears also sells well, which is probably helpful for all the people working for Bioware)

RPG's aren't defined by their sluggish gameplay, it's just a common side effect of their enormous size. You can't honestly tell me that Mass Effect 1 controls better then Vanquish, even if it's a better game overall(Which I think it is). Mass Effect seems interested in changing that, so I see no problem with taking instructions from people who've been doing it longer.

I would like to play a game that was as fluid as Gears of War, but with actual story and depth, that's why I play Mass Effect

P.S: Isn't the fact that Bioware created a social network and used fan reply for Mass Effect 2 evidence that "Leaving Mass Effect alone" is the exact opposite of what they want us to do?

I just think that with everything nowadays using the standards set in Gears of War we could use something different. There's really no need for Mass Effect to try to become a boilerplate FPS, or to try to overextend itself into things like proper stealth, at the expense of the development of things like story or length (because development time IS finite unfortunately)

A) Yes, they could use something different, that's why I'm suggesting ideas

B) I don't like cover shooting either, but that's what Bioware are going for, so why not take instructions from someone who knows how?. I don't consider GoW a great or even exceptional game, but it does what it does a lot better then 90% of whats out there

C) As I said, I don't expect any great deal of this to make it into Mass Effect 3, "but if you should ever decide to do more with the series or concept, here are some ideas"

 

[Daedalus1942]

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.)

Oh my god... I want to marry you!
This is exactly what i've been saying since Mass Effect 2 became my worst game of 010.
You sir, are a god.
Bring back the RPG elements and can we NOT have Vanguard as a broken class this time?
My favourite class was completely useless in Me2 and it really ruined my enjoyment of the game.
-Tabs<3-

 

[Mr Pantomime]

I havent played Mass effect 2 and I didnt read your post, but I just want to say that the opening post was the biggest ive ever seen.

As far as I know there are two separate teams for each game

Um...sure.....

There aren't?

Well, there are. But that had absolutely nothing to do with what I said

If I'm not mistaken, you said Bioware is focused on Dragon Age. What I'm saying is that the Dragon Age team is focused on Dragon Age, and the Mass Effect team is focused on Mass Effect

No, I said his post was really big, and I didnt read it (I was going out at the time), but it was impressive

 

[Daedalus1942]

All I have to say: fuck feedback. You never please everyone.

And a game is not a washing machine... but streamline too much and it turns into one.

On the first point, maybe you can't please everyone, but if everyone has a handful of cash does it not make sense to please as many as you can? I think within the op's wall of text there were some sound ideas, and judging by the responses, i'm not the only one.

On the second point, huh?

All just one point, actually.

Those who gave their cash can be considered already pleased. Why would you give cash to something that won't please you, anyway?

Now, fans of the original go and buy a sequel, but it turns out to be entirely different. This is your suggestion at work here. Cash flow guaranteed, but the conflicting inputs of your experiences in the first game and 180 degree marketing campaigns for the sequel are reasons why people still go buy the next game and get disappointed. Yes, new people buy it, too. So they double their money.

What I've seen as a pattern, is that they "listen to fans" and change (streamline) all the possible things. A washing machine is very streamlined. You don't play it. You load it, push START and go watch the TV. This level of no-skill-requirement is what I was referring to. And people will always complain that they need this or the other stuff to be as easy as a washing machine. This fine, as I just don't play these things. But what Bioware does here is lure the original fanbase into sequels that they won't quite like. Why can't they just keep the established stuff. It's the lazy washing machine users who are complaining. And you weren't selling one.

Well i'm complaining and it's not because it's too complex.
Me2 was a crappy, watered down version of the first game which had amazing potential.
The characters were literally the ONLY thing keeping me playing it.
The plot was completely incohoerent in regards to the first game,my favourite class was useless and broken. the cover system was woefully problematic, they got rid of nearly every single rpg element in the game. Even the levelling up system was story progressed and didn't ammount to actually acquiring the right amount of experience.
Only being able to level up at the end of a mission, what the hell was the point of that?
Medigel had a cooldown? yeah.. that made sense because apparently it's a biotic power now...
What was wrong with the overheating system in 1? they scrapped it and brought in ammo again? that totally wasn't a dick move...

Let me make this clear... the inventory system and the Mako were both brilliant frigging ideas, just poorly executed, and require some tweaking. Not to be removed from the entire frigging game grid...

I'm complaining that they dumbed down the sequel, not that they need to streamline it. It's too streamline and can't really be considered an RPG anymore. It's just a generic third person shooter in the same vein as Gears of war, except Gears of War actually had a working cover system...
-End Rant-

-Tabs<3-

 

[Redingold]

I think they should seriously fix the ammo system.

Here's what I suggest:

1. Go back to ME's ammo system.

2. Make all the shields in the game a lot tougher.

3. Increase the fire rate or power of all weapons to almost match the shields, without affecting the cooldown rate.

4. Add thermal clips to vent the heatsink so continuous fire is possible.

This combines ME's and ME2's systems, as well as making sense (unlike ME2's system). It means that careful, slow firing will still take down enemies without wasting heatsinks, but to take them down quickly, and make battles easier, you'll have to spend heatsinks.

Also, they should make the weapons customisable in the same way that they did the armour.

Space battles could be very difficult to implement. To make them feel right, you'd have to implement 4-dimensional controls (speed, yaw, pitch and roll), unless you want something like EVE, which would just feel like a cop-out.

Trying to control a ship flying through space while simultaneously being shot at and deciding which enemies to shoot at could be taxing. Not to mention, most battles take place over a range of several kilometres or hundreds of kilometres, so you wouldn't actually see the results of your work. Deliberately forcing all battles into close range would just feel cheap.

Finally, bring back weapon powers like Carnage. Maybe replace Concussive Shot with a weapon power.

Yay, 900th post.

 

[kidwithxboxlive]

I wanted a currency/exchange system.
I had over a million iridium and next to no credits. I think i would have liked the idea of selling the iridium for credits. Also being able to buy the elements.

 

[gl1koz3]

All I have to say: fuck feedback. You never please everyone.

And a game is not a washing machine... but streamline too much and it turns into one.

On the first point, maybe you can't please everyone, but if everyone has a handful of cash does it not make sense to please as many as you can? I think within the op's wall of text there were some sound ideas, and judging by the responses, i'm not the only one.

On the second point, huh?

All just one point, actually.

Those who gave their cash can be considered already pleased. Why would you give cash to something that won't please you, anyway?

Now, fans of the original go and buy a sequel, but it turns out to be entirely different. This is your suggestion at work here. Cash flow guaranteed, but the conflicting inputs of your experiences in the first game and 180 degree marketing campaigns for the sequel are reasons why people still go buy the next game and get disappointed. Yes, new people buy it, too. So they double their money.

What I've seen as a pattern, is that they "listen to fans" and change (streamline) all the possible things. A washing machine is very streamlined. You don't play it. You load it, push START and go watch the TV. This level of no-skill-requirement is what I was referring to. And people will always complain that they need this or the other stuff to be as easy as a washing machine. This fine, as I just don't play these things. But what Bioware does here is lure the original fanbase into sequels that they won't quite like. Why can't they just keep the established stuff. It's the lazy washing machine users who are complaining. And you weren't selling one.

Well i'm complaining and it's not because it's too complex.
Me2 was a crappy, watered down version of the first game which had amazing potential.
The characters were literally the ONLY thing keeping me playing it.
The plot was completely incohoerent in regards to the first game,my favourite class was useless and broken. the cover system was woefully problematic, they got rid of nearly every single rpg element in the game. Even the levelling up system was story progressed and didn't ammount to actually acquiring the right amount of experience.
Only being able to level up at the end of a mission, what the hell was the point of that?
Medigel had a cooldown? yeah.. that made sense because apparently it's a biotic power now...
What was wrong with the overheating system in 1? they scrapped it and brought in ammo again? that totally wasn't a dick move...

Let me make this clear... the inventory system and the Mako were both brilliant frigging ideas, just poorly executed, and require some tweaking. Not to be removed from the entire frigging game grid...

I'm complaining that they dumbed down the sequel, not that they need to streamline it. It's too streamline and can't really be considered an RPG anymore. It's just a generic third person shooter in the same vein as Gears of war, except Gears of War actually had a working cover system...
-End Rant-

-Tabs<3-

Spot on, man.

 

[Xaositect]

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.)

Oh my god... I want to marry you!
This is exactly what i've been saying since Mass Effect 2 became my worst game of 010.
You sir, are a god.
Bring back the RPG elements and can we NOT have Vanguard as a broken class this time?
My favourite class was completely useless in Me2 and it really ruined my enjoyment of the game.
-Tabs<3-

I agree as well in theory, I just think despite the morons who leap to ME2s defense always claiming otherwise, nobody is saying "brink back ME1s inventory exactly as it was", because it was bad. Theyre saying bring it back and actually concentrate on improving it.

For all the sucking off Bioware are getting from moronic journalists and idiot gamers who love dumbed down mediocrity, Mass Effect 2 was a monument to laziness.

The main objective was, "were not good at shooters at Bioware, but we want shooter fans to buy this game, so lets concentrate on the shooter". If massive amounts of effort arent put into the RPG, exploration and storyline side of things in ME3, its going to end up the same as ME2: a series of linear shooting gallery missions, hastily propped together by weak "go here, do this" objectives.

Also Bioware will have proved to everyone that they dont actually listen to their fans, because I think the outcry over ME2 and its flaws has been much larger than ME1s. Yeah, ME1 wasnt scooping up 10/10s and GOTY awards from biased journalists who have had their opinions influenced, but I know for a fact from my time browsing the internet that the criticism of the game was far less from most gamers. More people seemed to play ME2 and hate it than did ME1, by far. Im one of them.

 

[Timmibal]

I think they should seriously fix the ammo system.

Here's what I suggest:

1. Go back to ME's ammo system.

If they did that, I would never use any of the other weapons avaible, Just stick to the highest DPS weapon like I did in ME1. I think that's why they introduced the disposable heat sink system.

2. Make all the shields in the game a lot tougher.

I didn't find a problem with shields in ME2. Shield power was an issue in ME1 because health didn't regenerate (Without an armour mod).

3. Increase the fire rate or power of all weapons to almost match the shields, without affecting the cooldown rate.

See above. Perhaps you could elaborate on why this is an issue for you?

Also, they should make the weapons customisable in the same way that they did the armour.

This would be a very time consuming exercise for very little benefit. People are just going to find the 'Ideal' mod sequence and stick that on every weapon. (EG. Radioactive rounds in ME1. NOTHING could stand against that.)

Space battles could be very difficult to implement. To make them feel right, you'd have to implement 4-dimensional controls (speed, yaw, pitch and roll), unless you want something like EVE, which would just feel like a cop-out.

I wouldn't like to see space combat implemented in ME, it's too awesome a feature to be resigned to what will probably end up being a small part of the game.

That having been said, however, ever played Freelancer? You lead with the targeting recticle and the ship automatically adjusts course to put it at '0'. That could be controlled with the left stick, the right could adjust ship position whilst holding a target.

Spoiler

(like what joker does when playing chicken with the collector ship during the SM to avoid their beam weapon)

Finally, bring back weapon powers like Carnage. Maybe replace Concussive Shot with a weapon power.

I thought carnage was still in the game as an NPC ability to compensate for PCs having access to adrenaline boost?

 

[Daedalus1942]

All I have to say: fuck feedback. You never please everyone.

And a game is not a washing machine... but streamline too much and it turns into one.

On the first point, maybe you can't please everyone, but if everyone has a handful of cash does it not make sense to please as many as you can? I think within the op's wall of text there were some sound ideas, and judging by the responses, i'm not the only one.

On the second point, huh?

All just one point, actually.

Those who gave their cash can be considered already pleased. Why would you give cash to something that won't please you, anyway?

Now, fans of the original go and buy a sequel, but it turns out to be entirely different. This is your suggestion at work here. Cash flow guaranteed, but the conflicting inputs of your experiences in the first game and 180 degree marketing campaigns for the sequel are reasons why people still go buy the next game and get disappointed. Yes, new people buy it, too. So they double their money.

What I've seen as a pattern, is that they "listen to fans" and change (streamline) all the possible things. A washing machine is very streamlined. You don't play it. You load it, push START and go watch the TV. This level of no-skill-requirement is what I was referring to. And people will always complain that they need this or the other stuff to be as easy as a washing machine. This fine, as I just don't play these things. But what Bioware does here is lure the original fanbase into sequels that they won't quite like. Why can't they just keep the established stuff. It's the lazy washing machine users who are complaining. And you weren't selling one.

Well i'm complaining and it's not because it's too complex.
Me2 was a crappy, watered down version of the first game which had amazing potential.
The characters were literally the ONLY thing keeping me playing it.
The plot was completely incohoerent in regards to the first game,my favourite class was useless and broken. the cover system was woefully problematic, they got rid of nearly every single rpg element in the game. Even the levelling up system was story progressed and didn't ammount to actually acquiring the right amount of experience.
Only being able to level up at the end of a mission, what the hell was the point of that?
Medigel had a cooldown? yeah.. that made sense because apparently it's a biotic power now...
What was wrong with the overheating system in 1? they scrapped it and brought in ammo again? that totally wasn't a dick move...

Let me make this clear... the inventory system and the Mako were both brilliant frigging ideas, just poorly executed, and require some tweaking. Not to be removed from the entire frigging game grid...

I'm complaining that they dumbed down the sequel, not that they need to streamline it. It's too streamline and can't really be considered an RPG anymore. It's just a generic third person shooter in the same vein as Gears of war, except Gears of War actually had a working cover system...
-End Rant-

-Tabs<3-

Spot on, man.

It's "Ma'am" actually.
You know what I love the most though?
I had these exact same opinions last year when Mass Effect 2 came out and it was brand spanking new and nobody at all (EVERYONE disagreed) agreed with my views and opinions on the game.
I even got put on suspension for supposedly trolling and everyone laughed at me calling it game of the year and all that other horseshit.

Now look what happens, the honeymoon period is over, people are only just realising how what I did a year ago.
How short it is and how many problems Mass Effect 2 had in terms of gameplay (or lack of), as well as very little depth compared to the first.
I was sworn at and ridiculed, i had several threads flamed for my unpopular views because I didnt think it was "Game of the year" or "The best RPG ever" (it's not even a frigging rpg).
Well, who's laughing now? hehehehe.
-Tabs<3-

 

[Daedalus1942]

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.)

Oh my god... I want to marry you!
This is exactly what i've been saying since Mass Effect 2 became my worst game of 010.
You sir, are a god.
Bring back the RPG elements and can we NOT have Vanguard as a broken class this time?
My favourite class was completely useless in Me2 and it really ruined my enjoyment of the game.
-Tabs<3-

I agree as well in theory, I just think despite the morons who leap to ME2s defense always claiming otherwise, nobody is saying "brink back ME1s inventory exactly as it was", because it was bad. Theyre saying bring it back and actually concentrate on improving it.

For all the sucking off Bioware are getting from moronic journalists and idiot gamers who love dumbed down mediocrity, Mass Effect 2 was a monument to laziness.

The main objective was, "were not good at shooters at Bioware, but we want shooter fans to buy this game, so lets concentrate on the shooter". If massive amounts of effort arent put into the RPG, exploration and storyline side of things in ME3, its going to end up the same as ME2: a series of linear shooting gallery missions, hastily propped together by weak "go here, do this" objectives.

Also Bioware will have proved to everyone that they dont actually listen to their fans, because I think the outcry over ME2 and its flaws has been much larger than ME1s. Yeah, ME1 wasnt scooping up 10/10s and GOTY awards from biased journalists who have had their opinions influenced, but I know for a fact from my time browsing the internet that the criticism of the game was far less from most gamers. More people seemed to play ME2 and hate it than did ME1, by far. Im one of them.

On laziness alone, the game design itself was a monument to that.
you couldn't go back to any previous level/mission areas to pickup items you didn't grab (which if you didn't grab you were screwed for the suicide mission later on).
The constant glitches, the massive save glitch that plagued everyone on first release, the constant catapulting into the ceiling or the ground, only to fall through the map and die. Constantly getting caught on cover as you tried to run away from an enemy after using "charge" at them (i was a Vanguard), and to top it all of, am I the only one who enjoys playing with subtitles?
If not, did anyone else notice the severe spelling mistakes in speech? I'm talking about "slave" being spelt as "salve" and these annoying black censor blocks sitting in front of words so I couldn't read them half the time. I will not be buying 3 unless Bioware can prove somehow it's drastically different from Mass Effect 2.
Mass Effect 2 shouldn't have gotten GOTY.

Bioshock II deserved that title far more than ME2. it was well written, well paced, the characters were interesting an unpredictable (did you pick what would happen with Sinclair? that blew me away). The sound design was top notch, it tied in with the first game while expanding on it and the gameplay was improved upon so damn much (especially the hacking), the little sisters harvesting adam was actually quite a challenge and that drill... my god.
The best melee weapon in any game ever? Yes, I believe so!
And what an ending, my god.
-Tabs<3-

 

[Engarde]

I am sad to say you missed my biggest criticism of the Mass Effect series. Shepard has the personality of a wooden board covered in paint the colour of drab. This itself is not a problem as you can then project to make him your hero, but you are shoehorned into ANGRY SHEPARD or HAVE A NICE DAY SHEPARD or inbetween.

Call me a broken record, but I prefered the dragon age method of conversation.