It was only very recently that I jumped onto the Mass Effect bandwagon. Now it stands as easily one of my favourite series of all time, and I'm getting excited for the third one. It's obviously far too late for me to make what amounts to an open letter of what I want, so I'm just listing off what I'm hoping they've already done.
1. That quarians aren't all innocuous. I'm not asking to go around killing a bunch of Tali clones, but god forbid a quarian down on his luck is actually guilty of stealing. In Mass Effect 2 we finally see some quarians who aren't Tali, and that's great. But why is it that every time we see one, they're always some guiltless individual who has been wronged in some way?
For example, there's this one quarian girl in the Citadel being held by the authorities on the grounds that she allegedly stole some volus guy's credit chit. Without hestitation you're supposed to find the chit that the volus guy must have dropped. And then once you prove the quarian's innocence, the cop ends up being even more of an asshole by telling her "don't do it again", to which you can perform a Paragon action to tell him to stop being a dick.
I just don't understand why everyone in the galaxy hates quarians and yet they're all basically saints to begin with. You know why I and just about everyone else went with Tali? Because BioWare decided to make quarians some kind of awesome super-race that we're meant to pity and stand up for at every waking moment. At least one quarian who isn't a paragon of excellence would be nice.
For example, there's this one quarian girl in the Citadel being held by the authorities on the grounds that she allegedly stole some volus guy's credit chit. Without hestitation you're supposed to find the chit that the volus guy must have dropped. And then once you prove the quarian's innocence, the cop ends up being even more of an asshole by telling her "don't do it again", to which you can perform a Paragon action to tell him to stop being a dick.
I just don't understand why everyone in the galaxy hates quarians and yet they're all basically saints to begin with. You know why I and just about everyone else went with Tali? Because BioWare decided to make quarians some kind of awesome super-race that we're meant to pity and stand up for at every waking moment. At least one quarian who isn't a paragon of excellence would be nice.
2. That they don't show Tali's face, but instead show the face of one or more other quarians so we can get a grasp of what she might look like without completely spoiling the mystery. The guys on The Escapist's Podcast talked about a few ideas for what BioWare could do for this. And I happened to like this option the best.
If they showed Tali's face, even as some kind of option or easter egg or something you just know for a fact it's going to get out on the internet and the next time you're watching an episode of Zero Punctuation he might flash it up on the screen for a second and the otherwise eternal mystery will be ruined for you forever.
But if they don't show her face, then that'll leave a lot of people curious. I mean, we don't even know what quarians look like. If they showed us even just one other quarian's face by the end of the game we can at least get a better picture in our heads what Tali actually looks like, but without completely ruining her for us.
If they showed Tali's face, even as some kind of option or easter egg or something you just know for a fact it's going to get out on the internet and the next time you're watching an episode of Zero Punctuation he might flash it up on the screen for a second and the otherwise eternal mystery will be ruined for you forever.
But if they don't show her face, then that'll leave a lot of people curious. I mean, we don't even know what quarians look like. If they showed us even just one other quarian's face by the end of the game we can at least get a better picture in our heads what Tali actually looks like, but without completely ruining her for us.
3. That they find the alleged "happy medium" between the first and second games for the equipment and character progression. I'm one of a very small minority who actually liked Mass Effect more than Mass Effect 2, and part of that reason was that ME1 was an RPG before it was a shooter, and ME2 was the opposite. Admittedly, the original's inventory system was way too big of a clusterf*ck.
Thankfully, BioWare has said that they found that happy medium. I'm just hoping they can be believed.
Thankfully, BioWare has said that they found that happy medium. I'm just hoping they can be believed.
4. That the moral-choice system is more realistic and represents "renegade" as what it really is.
I dunno about you guys, but I couldn't play Renegade in either Mass Effect. Heck, I can't play a jerk in any game (Bioshock, Fallout, whatever). And at the same time, I think I know why. It's because when you're a jerk, you're supposed to get something out of it. If being good and being bad amount to the exact same things, then being bad is only there for the sake of it.
In real life when people are assholes, it's not just to be an asshole, it's usually because they're thinking of themselves more than of others. Being a jerk usually helps you out in, at the very least, the short-term. If walking all over people meant that I'd actually be better off in my objectives then I'd feel less bad doing it. That's what a moral choice really should be: altruism (thinking of others before yourself, gaining friends but usually at a disadvantage) versus selfishness (thinking of yourself first, gaining the upper-hand at the cost of respect).
Thankfully, Mass Effect 3 is going to leave itself really open to this. In fact, right at the end of Mass Effect 2 you make a huge decision about whether to keep the abombination that was the Collector mothership or to destroy it. That gives me hope.
I dunno about you guys, but I couldn't play Renegade in either Mass Effect. Heck, I can't play a jerk in any game (Bioshock, Fallout, whatever). And at the same time, I think I know why. It's because when you're a jerk, you're supposed to get something out of it. If being good and being bad amount to the exact same things, then being bad is only there for the sake of it.
In real life when people are assholes, it's not just to be an asshole, it's usually because they're thinking of themselves more than of others. Being a jerk usually helps you out in, at the very least, the short-term. If walking all over people meant that I'd actually be better off in my objectives then I'd feel less bad doing it. That's what a moral choice really should be: altruism (thinking of others before yourself, gaining friends but usually at a disadvantage) versus selfishness (thinking of yourself first, gaining the upper-hand at the cost of respect).
Thankfully, Mass Effect 3 is going to leave itself really open to this. In fact, right at the end of Mass Effect 2 you make a huge decision about whether to keep the abombination that was the Collector mothership or to destroy it. That gives me hope.
5. That they bring back the hotkey menu system from the first game. For example, hitting "J" to access your journal or "I" to open your inventory. This one's pretty self-explanatory. Why they took that out of Mass Effect 2 is beyond me.
6. That they have even a minor game system that allows for random events that you can join or leave without consequence to the whole game (i.e., you don't get renegade points for ignoring a distress call or something).
Think Red Dead Redemption.
I'm not sure if it would fit or work well within the Mass Effect universe, but if they found a way to do it well, I'd be all over that. Any way to extend my play time of that game without just making some sections utterly tedious would make me happy
Think Red Dead Redemption.
I'm not sure if it would fit or work well within the Mass Effect universe, but if they found a way to do it well, I'd be all over that. Any way to extend my play time of that game without just making some sections utterly tedious would make me happy
7. That they bring back the world-exploration part from the original game (and preferably make the levels more diverse and easier to navigate). The vehicle sections in the original Mass Effect were super hard to control, and the planets were all palette-swaps, but they were still some of the most fun parts of the game.
If they could bring those sections back but polish them properly, I can't think of a better way to explore the galaxy. This is something that I think a lot of people wanted after the first two games, so hopefully BioWare is going to get the message and make it awesome.
If they could bring those sections back but polish them properly, I can't think of a better way to explore the galaxy. This is something that I think a lot of people wanted after the first two games, so hopefully BioWare is going to get the message and make it awesome.
8. That the cover-based shooter system within the game isn't as noticeable as in the second one. In Mass Effect 2 you knew there was a fight coming up as soon as you saw a ton of chest-high walls, and if you didn't get behind one immediately it was game over. The original had a few open areas and was a lot more fun. For me, anyway.
Though again, just like my third point in the list, they say that they've found some magical "happy medium", so I'm hopeful for it.
Though again, just like my third point in the list, they say that they've found some magical "happy medium", so I'm hopeful for it.
9. That they have lots of side-missions but not making them notorious. I hate games where you beat one side-quest and you get three more, diverting your attention from the main story for hours at a time. It's actually the reason why I haven't beaten Fallout 3 yet and why it took me so long to beat Oblivion. Those games both had like 5-minute-long stories, but side-tracked you with countless quests.
Any game where your incomplete side-quest count increases steadily as you complete them is just annoying. If you skip it, you feel like you're letting a large portion of the story go by. But if you don't skip it you avoid the main storyline for days and days.
Mass Effect 1 did this very well, I think. It did a great job pacing the player between cutscenes, story missions, and then side-quests as a breather. And I just hope they can do it again.
Any game where your incomplete side-quest count increases steadily as you complete them is just annoying. If you skip it, you feel like you're letting a large portion of the story go by. But if you don't skip it you avoid the main storyline for days and days.
Mass Effect 1 did this very well, I think. It did a great job pacing the player between cutscenes, story missions, and then side-quests as a breather. And I just hope they can do it again.
10. That they keep the mechanic where you can perform a paragon/renegade action in the middle of a cut-scene, but make it a lot easier to execute (rather than forcing the player to keep his hand on his mouse or keyboard and never getting a breather).
I'm sure most of us can agree that quick-time events suck, especially when you don't see them coming. You just finished watching 5 cutscenes where nothing happens and then suddenly you're forced to click a button within 1/4 of a second and it's just like "WAAAAA!!".
But it sucks because I totally loved interacting with certain cutscenes.
That said, I hope they find some way to keep it within the game but without forcing us to keep our hands on our mouse or controller without letting us put it down to get a drink or something. Having to drink tea with my left hand because I had to keep my right hand on my mouse at all times was annoying >_>;
I'm sure most of us can agree that quick-time events suck, especially when you don't see them coming. You just finished watching 5 cutscenes where nothing happens and then suddenly you're forced to click a button within 1/4 of a second and it's just like "WAAAAA!!".
But it sucks because I totally loved interacting with certain cutscenes.
That said, I hope they find some way to keep it within the game but without forcing us to keep our hands on our mouse or controller without letting us put it down to get a drink or something. Having to drink tea with my left hand because I had to keep my right hand on my mouse at all times was annoying >_>;
11. That they allow us both the abilities to pause and to skip cutscenes. And give us the ability to skip lines in a dialogue section without using the same button as to choose dialogue. Some cutscenes you just couldn't skip, period. And some cutscenes were so long and wouldn't let you pause at all. I also never liked going afk on a conversation wheel because it always felt awkward.
I just hope they let us do that in Mass Effect 3.
I just hope they let us do that in Mass Effect 3.
