Mass Effect 3 Beta Leak

[Spencer Petersen]

They are trying please EVERYONE, even the Shooter frat-boys. You don't need to be able to see the future to realise this will fail. They're stretching the game too much, and instead of being a great RPG or Shooter it will be a average RPG and a average Shooter

Just like Bethesda.

Because Elder Scrolls is a shooter amirite?

Because Fallout isn't a franchise amirite?

At least in Fallout I can:
Attack/Kill people outside of the predetermined plot contrivances,
Choose to solve problems in ways other than shoot them/pick colorful text,
Build my character around a certain method of problem solving besides kill or charm,
Explore a world that is more than a few hallways and corridors,
Be presented with moral dilemmas that affect combat and vice versa,
Explore side quests that impact the narrative in meaningful ways.

Shooting works in the new Fallout games because it is presented as an equally viable way to resolve issues and quests that you may wish to solve non-violently. Pick a locked door, hack the terminal controlling it, sneak by the robots guarding the other way, or just kill them all. The way you choose to solve problems also helps define your character in both how they fight and how they think. Choosing to convince or solve via skill has the benefit of increased rewards/goodwill that may manifest itself as discounts or aid. Choosing to solve via bloodshed will give you the reward of any valuables they had and the extra experience it brings.

The options are less a matter of railroaded character builds and more a reflection of what is most important to you personally, not just some arbitrary reward you get if you pass the moral-meter regardless of actual affiliation.

To remove the shooter from Fallout would be remove an integral part of the moral mechanic and consequently, the story. To remove it from Mass Effect would barely affect the story.

 

[DracoSuave]

Wait are people in this thread actually douching on a game for letting the owner play how they like?

Really? REALLY??

So long as the mode you want to play in is decent, you have no valid complaint. None. Zero.

How others play is NOT YOUR BUSINESS

 

[AlternatePFG]

The different mode idea is actually... pretty good honestly.

Those complaining about it being more shooter than RPG now - it was always that way. Even since ME1. At least BioWare is being honest about it and actually improving that aspect of the game. I couldn't give a crap about the RPG mechanics of the game, as long the shooting is good and the story is good.

 

[Still Life]

Attack/Kill people outside of the predetermined plot contrivances,
Choose to solve problems in ways other than shoot them/pick colorful text,
Build my character around a certain method of problem solving besides kill or charm,
Explore a world that is more than a few hallways and corridors,
Be presented with moral dilemmas that affect combat and vice versa,
Explore side quests that impact the narrative in meaningful ways.

Err, why are you commenting on a series that simply doesn't cater to your tastes in any way?

ME gives you choices which are designed to nuance the story. It has never been about an open world/blank slate experience, like Oblivion for example.

 

[AnarchistFish]

Do not want.

Why do people even want to play games unfinished?

I'll happily wait for the finished, undoubtedly awesome final version.

^^^
It looks fine.

Although I preferred the Mass Effect 2 start screen :3

 

[Baby Tea]

Action mode, story mode, RPG mode???? HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

Bioware fans actually trying defend these choices????HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

It's a beta.
Those things were named 'Story Mode, Action Mode, and RPG mode' for INTERNAL TESTING PURPOSES.
They won't have those 'modes' when the game ships. It's just for testing purposes. It's a BETA.
Of course, you'd know this if you read the article and neogaf thread.
But you didn't, so you assume that's how the game will be.

Try again.

 

[Teh Jammah]

a game without actual gameplay and just dialogue... isn't that called a movie? Someone's clearly pining for a return to FMV games.

Anyway, on topic...

... damn you Bioware. just when I was developing a nice level of skepticism and 'not sure how bothered I am' noncolance you go and release screenies that make my 6 year old inner fanboy jump around and squee. And now I'm all psyched up again.

DAMN YOU BIOWARE!!!

 

[Still Life]

Action mode, story mode, RPG mode???? HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

Bioware fans actually trying defend these choices????HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

It's a beta.
Those things were named 'Story Mode, Action Mode, and RPG mode' for INTERNAL TESTING PURPOSES.
They won't have those 'modes' when the game ships. It's just for testing purposes. It's a BETA.
Of course, you'd know this if you read the article and neogaf thread.
But you didn't, so you assume that's how the game will be.

Try again.

Hello everyone!

As most of you know by now, this evening an accidental leak occurred of some early Mass Effect 3 beta code. Microsoft has advised us that through human error at their end, content which was meant for internal beta testing was flagged incorrectly and released to individuals who had signed up for the beta of the Xbox Live dashboard update. It has since been taken down and deactivated.

We?d like to stress that the leaked code is in a rough, unfinished state and was not meant for public release. The content is not final, and is not reflective of the quality of the finished, polished game due for release on March 6, 2012 (March 9 in Europe).

One feature that was present in this early build is a set of game play modes that are in development. In the beta code they are referred to as ?action mode?, ?story mode? and ?RPG mode?. We want to stress that these features are still in the early stages of development and will receive considerable iteration and refinement. These modes are designed to give players an even finer degree of control over their game experience than ever before. Whether it be someone who finds the combat difficult but wants to experience the amazing story, someone who wants to focus on the action and combat game play, or fans who want the rich, story-driven RPG Mass Effect experience they?ve come to love ? Mass Effect 3 will support all of these options. We?ll have more info in the days ahead!

http://social.bioware.com/forum/1/topic/323/index/8637528/1

Personally, I don't see a problem. I'll be picking 'RPG' myself, because that's how the series has played from the start.

 

[Blue Hero]

The video game industry has more leaks than Rapture nowadays!

Spoiler

I'm hilariously unfunny.

 

[shado_temple]

I'm actually very disappointed to see no mass effect 2 characters in the squad. (Except for, in some respect, Garrus?) It reeks of corner cutting. "Yeah so we made a game where anyone can die and now we can't be bothered to let you have them on the team." Three disks and there's no room for them? BOO I say. It's looking like Mass Effect 1 redux. As much as I enjoy a friendly reunion I had also grown fond of the new cast. My hopes of seeing Miranda and Ashley getting catty on the Normandy are rapidly spinning down the tubes. Perhaps Bioware does not understand, I was ENGINEERING that situation. That was the whole point of my play throughs. Please don't leave me hanging after all these years.

You may not get your wish of a Miranda/Ashley mixer, but they have mentioned in several previous reveals that every companion from ME 2 (provided they're still alive) will have some sort of cameo in the final installment.

 

[EmperorSubcutaneous]

In case anyone reads the above post and rages, here's what it really says:

Action Mode: For those who want to emphasize action and combat and minimize story management. Action mode will set automatic replies in conversation and a normal difficulty.

Story Mode: For those who want to emphasize story immersion and minimize combat pressure. Story mode will set manually-selectable replies in conversation and a minimal combat difficulty.

RPG Mode: For those who want to explore both realms of story and combat. RPG mode will set manually-selectable replies in conversation and a normal combat difficulty.

Why are people so angry about this? They're giving us options. You can just choose RPG mode and play like normal. Chill out; it's exactly the same as setting difficulty (which you can also do elsewhere).

The biggest problem I've had with Bioware is the complete story and gameplay segregation. The inclusion of these modes is a sign they are doing less to integrate the two together and more to make Shepard in combat and Shepard in talky mode 2 entirely separate entities. If each part is so meaningless to the other that it can be removed without detriment then there is a serious problem with your game.

I thought they would be doing more to include serious choices within the gameplay bits as well as ways to develop your character's combat skill from dialogue choices. But they seem to content to keep it as a railroaded, self-indulgent, empowerment fantasy that you occasionally interrupt to kill hundred of nameless assholes, which serves to remind you just how awesome you are.

It's exactly the same as any other RPG, just like it's always been. I don't know why people expected anything different, especially when they've never given any indication that they'd be doing anything other than what they've always done. Especially dialogue options affecting your combat skill...That makes zero sense.

How is a character supposed to behave the same way when he's talking as when he's fighting? Of course he's going to behave differently, they're two very different actions. I'm really not sure what you're looking for here.

 

[Amnesiac Pigeon]

I see a disturbing lack of Legion in those screenshots.

 

[deathbydeath]

this looks the same as me2. which means it'll be shit.

Judging a book by its cover? Shame on you, you should know better.

OP: This is pretty funny, thogh somebody is going to have a lot of explaining to do to EA. Stupid that only US users get it. Oh well.

Edit:

Action Mode - For those who want to emphasize action and combat and minimize story management. Action Mode will set automatic replies in conversation and normal difficulty
Story mode - For those who want to emphasize story and narration and minimize action management. Story Mode will automatically complete all combat engagements for you. Normal difficulty.
RPG Mode - For those who want to emphasize stat building and character development and minimize story and action management. RPG Mode will run the game as a pre-rendered movie file, allowing you to periodically "level up" your characters by "increasing" stats and "selecting" skills.

Lol'd.

I know right? They have different play modes now? The really must be trying to appeal to the whole goddamn spectrum this time, including the lazies who can't be fucked to play the game properly.

i'm not judging by the cover, i'm judging based on past trends, what the devs say, and logic.

 

[deathbydeath]

this looks the same as me2. which means it'll be shit.

...

seriously bioware, did you watch ANY of smudboy's videos?

Ah, a ME2 = Gears of War proponent? *sigh*

If they watched smudboy's videos, I imagine they probably had rational reasons to discard many of his suggestions. I disagreed with a large amount of what smudboy said. He wants a specific type of experience, and the majority of his complaints were nit-picky at worst, and preference based at best.

The story/action/RPG mode disturbs me slightly, but ME2 was largely an improvement on ME1, and based on the little preview information we've had, the gameplay seems to be getting further improvement. I'm hoping that the RPG aspects will also get a bit of a tweak along the way, but we'll just have to wait and see.

by the comment about smudboy, i meant the massive LAZARUS PROJECT thingy on one of the screens, which means they're bringing even more retcons and stupid science to the table.

 

[deathbydeath]

I'm not getting the hate over the game modes. Just choose 'RPG mode' and then look down your incredibly long nose at anyone who dares to play the game differently, and you're all set.

In other news, Mass Effect 1 and Dragon Age: Origins were corporate sell-out CoD-clones because they had casual/easy difficulty settings, right?

but what if we want a game with a good story, good combat, AND good rpg elements?

Saw them before, usually I avoid potential spoilers but these didn't tell me anything I didn't already know.

seriously bioware, did you watch ANY of smudboy's videos?

snippity snip snip

...he looks like a Yatzhee wannabe without the jokes...

so if a person dislikes sonething strongly and puts it in a video, they rip off yahtzee?
smudboy didn't really bash me2, he just took it apart and analyzed the part in an admittedly really long video series
[/quote]... I had an argument with him once and the only thing he said when I counter argumented his ridiculous posts (and this is not about opinions, I has just asking how he thought that landing in the front door of an heavily guarded, well defended ship, when all the guards were patrolling the damn door is the best tactical option when sneaking as he sujested) was that me and Bioware should be more open to criticism.[/quote]
please send me a link, otherwise this makes no sense.

and what i meant by dragging in smudboy's videos into this was that it looked like bioware is dragging the Lazarus project into me3, and that shows that they didn't learn from their mistakes, which were pointed out by smudboy.

and me3 will have origin. BOOOOOO!

 

[deathbydeath]

Looks like they're going into health segments, rather than full out regen. I like.
I don't see what the big kerfuffle about the different "modes" are.Sure, it seems a bit silly, but whatever. Still, looks good, multiplayer seems entertaining, I'll just wait to see if I have to get Origin to get it on PC.

I don't like the modes because I don't want to choose between a good story, good combat, and a good rpg (they did it with me1, why not do it again?). and on one of the screens, it said "connecting to origin". this is not a good sign for pc gamers.

 

[hazabaza1]

Looks like they're going into health segments, rather than full out regen. I like.
I don't see what the big kerfuffle about the different "modes" are.Sure, it seems a bit silly, but whatever. Still, looks good, multiplayer seems entertaining, I'll just wait to see if I have to get Origin to get it on PC.

I don't like the modes because I don't want to choose between a good story, good combat, and a good rpg (they did it with me1, why not do it again?). and on one of the screens, it said "connecting to origin". this is not a good sign for pc gamers.

From what I understand, "RPG Mode" is basically just the game. You control the combat and the story.
And the Origin thing isn't looking too good indeed. I may have to get this on 360.

 

[AndyFromMonday]

What a surprise, it's shit. This whole "EA" ordeal has really been hitting gamer's hard.

 

[MercurySteam]

i'm not judging by the cover, i'm judging based on past trends, what the devs say, and logic.

Logic? Really? Logic tells you that ME3 is going to be a shit game? Dude, I don't know what kind of logic you run on but clearly your definition of logic isn't the same as that of the rest of us. You may as well say that logic says that the PS3 is the best console of all time, or some shit like that.

they're bringing even more......stupid science to the table.

Oh sure. In the future we're allowed diverse alien races, Mass Effect technology, and Machine Gods but we're not allowed to have an experimental project to bring the main character back from the dead. Fooey!

 

[walrusaurus]

I really don't understand why people are so up in arms about these game modes.
There's a game mode that plays the game exactly the same as its always been.
The other two are there to expand the games audience.
THIS IS A GOOD THING.
How many high quality AAA rpgs have been released in the past year? 2? 3 if you count Skyrim?
The fact is RPGs are not nearly as popular as other genre's.
If Bioware can make this system work, it has the potential to make RPG development more attractive ot publishers.
That means more games guys.