Mass Effect 3 Multiplayer to be released as DLC: Bioware stopping all discussion

[spartandude]

Whether it was DLC or on the disk it would still be optional! in fact it being DLC means the few people who want to play it have to wait for it to download. the reason people are complaining is that it takes money time and people away from working on the single player

especially as fans of the series want this game for the single player as the entire series so far has been single player and multiplayer is expensive!

 

[Vault101]

Well, fuck. Guess I'm going to have to cancel my pre-order for this too.

Really wanted to finish the story, what a bummer. Too bad it's looking more like Gears of War than Mass Effect at this point.

oh for crying out loud your going to cancel your pre order over THIS??

I'm sorry but its attitudes like this that really annoy me

WHY do people flip out over small details like this? thats just stupid

I mean I cantsee the reason Unless you really hated ME2

 

[Blackpapa]

It is my dream to become a great game producer and give the public what they want.
No DRM and all content available from the start.

It's not about giving the public what they want, it's about giving the company what it wants. And it wants money.

Who are you to decide my priorities? If I'm the producer I can forego more money in favor of better deals for the customer.

Well if I'm the investor then I can tell you to pack your shit and get the fuck out of my building.


Stuff like that happens.

3. "Why does everything need a multiplayer component? This is so silly, no one is going to play it or pay for it."


That's a bit of a bold statement. Do you know what this multiplayer component entails?

No...? Do you know if it's going to cost anything?

...

I know perfectly well what that entrails. Which is why I find this whole discussion pretty weird. You don't just "add multiplayer".

The Unreal 3 engine used in Mass Effect supports multiplayer but the decision to include such a mode must have been made very early on. All the content must be designed with multiplay mode in mind. Otherwise the multiplayer DLC will be half the size of the original game, swapping out a lot of existing assets, or the DLC will be an independant mass-effect-stylized online minigame of sorts.

Bioware's refusal to comment on this is interesting though. At this point I'm guessing they're running into trouble with integrating multiplayer - otherwise they wouldn't even think of releasing it as a DLC. My guess is that they're wondering on whether to scrap the feature altogether or leave it festering, unfinished in the code and when they get some more time finish it and release it as a DLC. They realize multiplayer isn't the main selling point and that they need to throw the game out the door ASAP.

It's probably a case of executive meddling where this or that higher-up in EA decided ME3 would be a XBOX HUEG hit if it had multiplayer co-op perhaps thanks to games like Fthreear. But the executive being as proficient in game tech as a really smart goldfish didn't foresee it could be difficult to implement it, would not fit with the game philosophy and resulted in it's future being debated right now.

 

[Xaositect]

If they insist on a multiplayer, this is the best way. Give the project out as DLC to either a small team thats low priority or someone else entirely so that it doesnt affect the main game, and also charge people who want to play it.

That way we dont get a shitty tacked on multiplayer taking up space on the game if we dont want to, and also, like people who want extra single player content, the people who insist on directly contradicting the mass effect experience with dumbass multiplayer can do so and get charged for it too.

Still, doesnt beat the "no multiplayer whatsoever" option.

Fucking stupid really. "Weve got this supposedly story heavy single player game where its supposed to be shaped by the individual player. What shall we do?"

"I know, lets waste time with a multiplayer mode, instead of focusing all out on making what the game is supposed to be about better with 100% of our effort".

Stinks of money grab really. EA money grab, but if its an optional one, I still think that limits the damage.

 

[shadowmagus]

I blame EA and the part of the community that thinks multiplayer needs to be in literally every-#@$%ing-thing

That's where the money is.

Uh, no because then you have to maintain servers for that multiplayer and the cheap DLC price is not going to cover that. The money is in making LotSB caliber DLC and selling that for 10-15 bucks. Most people will buy high caliber DLC without blinking an eye.

 

[trollnystan]

My opinion has probably been ninja'd a few times by now but what the hay, I'll weigh in.

I'm glad it's DLC because I have no interest, and never will have any interest, in an multiplayer mode. Especially seeing as it's Mass Effect. I might feel differently if it was a CoD game, where online gaming is a big part of the experience - or so I'm led to believe; I have no idea myself as I've never played CoD or any similar contemporary FPS.

In other words...

You're going to cancel a pre-order based on the fact that optional DLC exists that you're not interested in? That's kind of like saying you don't want a burger because the option to pay extra for cheese is there, and you don't like cheese. If you want to boycott the idea of post-release premium content, don't buy that. But don't prevent yourself from enjoying a game you've otherwise been looking forward to.

If they're gonna try ME multiplayer, this seems a good a way as any. Don't force those who don't care to take part, and don't waste single player development time trying to shove it on to the disk. Spend a few months on it to try for a polished product, keep working on it post-release of the actual game, show a few demos, and then see if anyone wants to try it

Besides, until it's confirmed publically by EA and/or Bioware, it may still be bullshit. Or, by mentioning it online, we may be giving them ideas.

... what this guy said.

 

[Zeraki]

Well, fuck. Guess I'm going to have to cancel my pre-order for this too.

Really wanted to finish the story, what a bummer. Too bad it's looking more like Gears of War than Mass Effect at this point.

oh for crying out loud your going to cancel your pre order over THIS??

I'm sorry but its attitudes like this that really annoy me

WHY do people flip out over small details like this? thats just stupid

I mean I cantsee the reason Unless you really hated ME2

It's especially stupid considering this is only a rumor at this point, posted by some random non credible source on the internet.

 

[Blackpapa]

That's not true at all... you know in FPS games why multiplayer maps are usually mini versions of missions in the game? Like if there is a jungle mission in the campaign, you'll find a jungle multiplayer map, if there's a snow level you'll find that too, etc.

To save space and reuse assets. They just take models that are already in the game and use them in multiplayer. So it is very easy to make original assets intended for the campaign, and then import those over and make a few additions for multiplayer. It is what most games with single player in mind do. Bioshock 2's multiplayer, for example, I could look around and see objects I remember from the main game, lol.

No shit sherlock. And how about the game-specific logic? Sure, you've got an engine with a cleanly defined gamestate object and then add your game logic, scripts that don't go into the remote gamestate at all, instead staying in the purely clientside interpreter. How about handling global states (like trade screens, conversations) which affect all entities?

Do you have ANY experience with coding server/client applications whatsoever?

Alllottt of games get multiplayer punched in later on in development.

Give me one example of that being done on a home-brewed engine that didn't go down the Oni way.

 

[Jimmy T. Malice]

Multiplayer? In Mass Effect? I'm not buying that. Haven't EA made it 'mainstream' enough?

 

[Jakub324]

Not that I've ever played Mass Effect games, but that's a dick move if I ever saw one.

 

[Blackpapa]

What's with the hostility, man? I'm sorry if I sounded a bit offensive but that wasn't my intention.

I don't have any experience with coding or server client applications, no. I'd respond but I honestly have no idea what you're talking about, why do you want an example of multiplayer being added to a homebrew game? Aren't we talking about Mass Effect here?

A random example that comes to mind though is Half Life 2 deathmatch. The actual multiplayer component is only about 300 megabytes, but uses the Half Life 2 object data and player models and such. That's sort of what I had in mind.

Not a homebrew game but a homebrew ENGINE. Then again that's not even a requirement for post-production addition of multiplayer to fail - you can use an engine with extensive multiplayer support and still get miserable results. Take a look at the attempts of creating the Deus Ex 1 co-op mod, based on a modified Unreal 1 engine no less.

Assets aren't that big of a problem. It would be a matter of redesigning maps into arenas and redoing animations + filling in the gaps for the missing ones. The problem is the game logic - if it wasn't designed for multiplayer in mind then it might sometimes be impossible to implement it right - because making something multiplayer automatically adds a lot of constraints. Doing any feature for a skill-based/reflex-based game in multiplayer is much more time-intensive and complex than doing it in singleplayer offline. Data is updated instantly, there's no need to worry about trusting the client, you have unlimited access to the whole gamestate instantly.

Source: job

 

[Blackpapa]

Well, I'm sure the Unreal Engine 3 (that's what Mass Effect uses, right?) has extensive multiplayer support.

Also, it won't necessarily be a skill based/reflex game. You have to think about it logically, Mass Effect isn't the strongest shooter out there. The investors know it, Bioware knows it, and I really doubt they'd be stupid enough to add something like arena based deathmatch.

I think they'd play on their strengths, which in Mass Effect's case is the story and single player portion. I was thinking a multiplayer component might entail another player controlling one of your squadmates. While I'm not very savvy on this sort of thing, I don't think a drop in/out co-op feature would be too difficult to implement.

If and only if the game was designed around this feature from the ground-up.

If it was, why release it as a DLC if the feature is already there?

If it wasn't then adding it would mean rewriting a significant part of the game, possibly removing a lot of existing content and redoing what's already present.

Unless, of course, the multiplayer isn't tied to the main game and is more like a reskinned Unreal Tournament with ME3 models. Which, by the looks of it, it frankly is.

A rumor last year suggested a multiplayer-focused Mass Effect game was in development before a separate report said that Mass Effect 3 would include a multiplayer component. The possibility remains unconfirmed by BioWare, but two new reports today reaffirm that multiplayer is coming in ME3.

Eurogamer reports a four-player, online co-op mode is included. It's a "standalone" component and has "competitive elements." The story refers to the possibility of something similar to Gears of War's Horde mode or Halo's Firefight as a possibility. Both of those examples see players working together to fight off increasingly difficult waves of AI-controlled enemies.

BioWare co-founder Ray Muzyka told Eurogamer last week, "We haven't talked at all about multiplayer in the Mass Effect franchise, but we're exploring multiplayer in all of our games and all of our franchises." He added, "It's always an idea we're interested in."

CVG has independently backed up the multiplayer rumor, although its source says ME3 won't have something akin to Horde mode. Instead, the game will have a "handful" of replayable, "original missions" that are separate from the game's campaign.

 

[A Shadows Age]

Co-op should have been in the other games. I play them repetitively, and am sick of A.I. teammates that just stand there half the time and try to kill the enemy with nasty thoughts and have a staring contest with bullets. You have 2 other squad mates at all times, how does co-op not make sense there, most people online don't use their mike, don't talk or are in party chat, so your not usually hearing them talk while you play anyway, and there is always offline. Co-op for me means a cooperative campaign, i.e. halo CE. What does not count as co-op is GTA4's crappy AI vs. mode, that is bad multiplayer not co-op. And EA never does things that could work right, so I don't want them to screw it up for people who could. That means letting someone else design multiplayer for ME not EA.

 

[Katana314]

To be perfectly honest, I'm somewhat surprised that anyone still plays Mass Effect for its gameplay. It never settled on a good formula for its combat, can't decide what to do with its RPG system, and the AI squadmates are idiots. On the plus side, it has had some very notable storyline, so I don't think the true fans will miss out on much.