An open letter to Bioware

[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.

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-

Haha, Lol'd. I thought I should recheck... just for a moment

As for the honeymoon, pretty much all my friends agreed with me right away... Well, I finished it quick and just went to blow off steam on the forums. I was amazed at how the direction changed. Just two-three years have passed and they aim the game at little kids. Sure, the game wasn't "teh total adult awsumeness" from the start, but WTF.

Just WTF.

Now I'm laying some suppressive fire on those kids on forums. I mean, WTF, Bioware. Did the bucks stop flowing from the first game or what...

 

[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)

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"

I understand, and commend the comprehensive list of ideas, I just don't agree with many of them, it's nothing personal.

Particularly the stealth, I've seen way too many games collapse on themselves in terms of quality by trying to overextend themselves.

 

[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

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

Oh shit... must've clicked the wrong quote button(It was like 4AM), so sorry

 

[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

Oh shit... must've clicked the wrong quote button(It was like 4AM), so sorry

Dont worry about it. It amused me for a while. Now go and quote the hell out of whoever you were trying to!

 

[RhombusHatesYou]

Constantly getting caught on cover as you tried to run away from an enemy after using "charge" at them (i was a Vanguard)

Running away is your problem. Try charge followed by feeding your enemy an incendiary shotgun round to the face. Works a treat if you stripped their shield/barrier away beforehand. Even more fun if you've upgraded to Area Charge.

 

[Daedalus1942]

Constantly getting caught on cover as you tried to run away from an enemy after using "charge" at them (i was a Vanguard)

Running away is your problem. Try charge followed by feeding your enemy an incendiary shotgun round to the face. Works a treat if you stripped their shield/barrier away beforehand. Even more fun if you've upgraded to Area Charge.

Okay, thanks for the tip but suffice to say I already finished the game ages ago and I'm never playing it ever again.
-Tabs<3-