I got Mass Effect 2 shortly after it came out. I will at this point state that I truly adore this game and any criticism is intended to be constructive.
After my brother had been playing it for a while he informed me that the incredibly frustrating Mako excursions were replaced with something less exasperating. As I learned about the importance of minerals and my unending quest for wealth, I set out to get as many resources as I could. I hadn't done a single mission for DAYS. I sat there scanning planets, hoping to come across rich deposits on even the least desirable planets (this is how I came discovered the "probing Uranus" easter egg). By the time I had scanned entire star clusters dry of resources and I had about 300,000 Ir, 200,000 Pt and Pd, and maybe 50,000 Eezo, it finally struck me, THIS IS INCREDIBLY BORING.
I expected that I didn't need any more minerals, so I stopped. Much to my surprise, I DID eventually need more minerals. By that point, I had been totally burned out of mineral scanning, that I'm lucky I had already made all of the Normandy 2's necessary upgrades or I wouldn't have successfully beaten the game.
I can only theorize a few reasons as to why this mechanic was left in the game. Perhaps BioWare was already in so deep and kept by the motto: "Anything's better than the Mako". Perhaps the playtesters only tested the scanning minigame long enough to see if it was functional, not necessarily fun. Regardless, if anyone has any other theories, please post them for the amusement of the rest of us.
Even so, I feel like there has to be a way around this, and I think if we all come up with some ideas and possibly "flesh" them out, we could come up with something far more functional.
Here are some of my ideas:
1. I think that possibly the quickest and easiest solution would be to make the amount of time required to circumnavigate whichever orbiting body be directly correlated to its size. For example, the biggest planets could take as long as it does now, and successive smaller planets proportionately less. I simply find it a tad illogical that it takes the same amount of time to scan around an asteroid as it does a gas giant. This could also mean larger and more frequent spikes on smaller planets, making a more psychologically rewarding experience.
2. Bear with me for this one. Imagine, if you will, a game of chance. An asteroid rich in dense metals would probably have more iridium and platinum than palladium and eezo. Consider the aforementioned example planet for the following points. You would still have probes, but instead of the scanner have a list or something, of the different elements for which you can scan. Let's say that the planet has a lot of iridium, a decent amount of platinum, some palladium, and not very much eezo. Next to each element's name on the list would be a percentage chance of discovery. In this case 70% for Ir, 50% for Pt, 30% for Pd, and 5% for Ez. The player would then launch a probe to try and discover the selected element, and of course a dice roll would be in effect. I'm thinking that the amount of each element acquired by each probe would be directly related by how rich the planet is (deposits of over 1,000 for rich planets; typically no more than 100 for depleted planets). I don't know. I think this could work, but may also be a little too simplistic.
3. Possibly my most radical (or conservative depending on how you look at it) idea would be to bring back the Mako. Before you grab your pitchforks and light your torches, hear me out. This would simply correct some of the annoyances of Mako driving, and bring back the old exploration mechanic that I thought was cool in theory. First off, get rid of the mountains. The Mako had a nasty habit of operating like a turd on wheels, and making players pathfind around (and sadly enough over) incredibly obnoxious mountains simply created frustration. This could be corrected by limiting the area to hills, or at least nothing jagged. Second, make the explorable area for the Mako a whole lot smaller. I personally hated it when I would angrily work my way over a mountain, find my long-sought-after deposit of minerals, hatefully work my way over a similar mountain, and find nothing. Limiting the area would greatly reduce the frustration caused by endless trekking about a given landing zone only to find squat. Another advantage to a smaller landing area would be that more focus could be put on the environment itself. This means that the zone would have more life and look more picturesque and less like the same textures copy-pasted at different angles for a few square miles.
Anyway, I think if we all work on this issue, we come up with something truly incredible and intuitive. Also, keep in mind that these are simply my thoughts. If you think differently, you don't need to be angry and tell me how stupid I am. I get enough of that from my older brother.
After my brother had been playing it for a while he informed me that the incredibly frustrating Mako excursions were replaced with something less exasperating. As I learned about the importance of minerals and my unending quest for wealth, I set out to get as many resources as I could. I hadn't done a single mission for DAYS. I sat there scanning planets, hoping to come across rich deposits on even the least desirable planets (this is how I came discovered the "probing Uranus" easter egg). By the time I had scanned entire star clusters dry of resources and I had about 300,000 Ir, 200,000 Pt and Pd, and maybe 50,000 Eezo, it finally struck me, THIS IS INCREDIBLY BORING.
I expected that I didn't need any more minerals, so I stopped. Much to my surprise, I DID eventually need more minerals. By that point, I had been totally burned out of mineral scanning, that I'm lucky I had already made all of the Normandy 2's necessary upgrades or I wouldn't have successfully beaten the game.
I can only theorize a few reasons as to why this mechanic was left in the game. Perhaps BioWare was already in so deep and kept by the motto: "Anything's better than the Mako". Perhaps the playtesters only tested the scanning minigame long enough to see if it was functional, not necessarily fun. Regardless, if anyone has any other theories, please post them for the amusement of the rest of us.
Even so, I feel like there has to be a way around this, and I think if we all come up with some ideas and possibly "flesh" them out, we could come up with something far more functional.
Here are some of my ideas:
1. I think that possibly the quickest and easiest solution would be to make the amount of time required to circumnavigate whichever orbiting body be directly correlated to its size. For example, the biggest planets could take as long as it does now, and successive smaller planets proportionately less. I simply find it a tad illogical that it takes the same amount of time to scan around an asteroid as it does a gas giant. This could also mean larger and more frequent spikes on smaller planets, making a more psychologically rewarding experience.
2. Bear with me for this one. Imagine, if you will, a game of chance. An asteroid rich in dense metals would probably have more iridium and platinum than palladium and eezo. Consider the aforementioned example planet for the following points. You would still have probes, but instead of the scanner have a list or something, of the different elements for which you can scan. Let's say that the planet has a lot of iridium, a decent amount of platinum, some palladium, and not very much eezo. Next to each element's name on the list would be a percentage chance of discovery. In this case 70% for Ir, 50% for Pt, 30% for Pd, and 5% for Ez. The player would then launch a probe to try and discover the selected element, and of course a dice roll would be in effect. I'm thinking that the amount of each element acquired by each probe would be directly related by how rich the planet is (deposits of over 1,000 for rich planets; typically no more than 100 for depleted planets). I don't know. I think this could work, but may also be a little too simplistic.
3. Possibly my most radical (or conservative depending on how you look at it) idea would be to bring back the Mako. Before you grab your pitchforks and light your torches, hear me out. This would simply correct some of the annoyances of Mako driving, and bring back the old exploration mechanic that I thought was cool in theory. First off, get rid of the mountains. The Mako had a nasty habit of operating like a turd on wheels, and making players pathfind around (and sadly enough over) incredibly obnoxious mountains simply created frustration. This could be corrected by limiting the area to hills, or at least nothing jagged. Second, make the explorable area for the Mako a whole lot smaller. I personally hated it when I would angrily work my way over a mountain, find my long-sought-after deposit of minerals, hatefully work my way over a similar mountain, and find nothing. Limiting the area would greatly reduce the frustration caused by endless trekking about a given landing zone only to find squat. Another advantage to a smaller landing area would be that more focus could be put on the environment itself. This means that the zone would have more life and look more picturesque and less like the same textures copy-pasted at different angles for a few square miles.
Anyway, I think if we all work on this issue, we come up with something truly incredible and intuitive. Also, keep in mind that these are simply my thoughts. If you think differently, you don't need to be angry and tell me how stupid I am. I get enough of that from my older brother.
