Suggestions for Mass Effect 3

[SomeBritishDude]

The Paragon/Renegade thing has given me some issues. Renegade too often comes off as being a total d-bag just for the sake of being a d-bag while Paragon makes you seem like Jesus. Not a big issue though, just something a little nitpicky.

Personally on the Paragon side I didn't feel this was so much of an issue this time around. I ME1 Paragon meant pussy. In ME2 there where several sections where you'd choose the paragon option or interruption which would result in a badass action, even if it has good intentions behind it.

I will say I agree with Kraken about the whole Paragon/Renegade system not allowing you to play the way you want. Personally though I think they should just scrape it. You don't need a little dial telling you whether your doing good or bad stuff, you don't need silly evil powered scar and you don't need dialogue options which are only available because you've stuck with one choice the whole game.

Important story moments which require dialogue to solve should be solved with your own initiative. You should be able to access the situation, the characters and the options, choose one and pray you've made the right choice.

 

[Jenova65]

I know I might be a lone voice on the escapist with this, but I know I'm not that lone voice elsewhere when I say, get rid of Jacob and bring back Kaiden, I miss him.
If you play as a female, Kaiden is a charming character, the right level of experience and maturity held up by strong views. People saying he is boring aren't really looking at him because

Spoiler

they are looking at him as someone to sacrifice so they can keep Ashley but his reaction to Shepard working with Cerberus is spot on the way he would be, he expects more of her he feels let down and hurt and it all comes across beautifully

I can't help feeling that Bioware pandered to what male gamers wanted with Tali and Garrus and totally blew off female gamers, seriously go and look at the male romance options and then at the female options
- Male Shepard Stereotypical hot chick, bad ass, kick ass, troubled past and nearly naked chick, and exotic and mysterious chick,
Female shepard - Good looking guy who is too cocky and arrogant (we have real men for that thanks Bioware) Lizard guy, and cricket bug guy.
Don't get me wrong Thane is awesome and out of the three his character is fascinating, buuuuuuuuut,

Spoiler

dude's dying we have a year tops apparently (thanks again)

Bioware should find some middle ground with levelling up and inventory management, sure they listened, but they listened to the vocal minority (people who are satisfied make less noise on forums etc. cos they have no bones to pick) and they went too far, I want what Bioware have given me before in their games not GOW with conversations, I want Mass Effect, people who want to play games like GOW have tons to choose from and Bioware don't need to be aiming at that audience it is not their core gamer, not their target, iygwim? Nothing against GOW I like it, but I love ME1 and don't want it to lose what it is by trying to be everything to everyone!
That said I do still love it BUT seriously, Bioware I'm not kidding bring back KAIDEN thank you! For male gamers who are thinking he is rubbish, can I just say I'm not a bit fussed by Tali, sorry. But I will put up with her in the team, at the end of the day I have a choice who I take on missions, you don't like Kaiden, simple - leave him on the ship, I'll take him! (Bioware do claim to scour the internet for feedback right? ;-) )
OK, I'm done, rant over.....

 

[Raven's Nest]

::Warning spoilers ahead::

You should be able to access the situation, the characters and the options, choose one and pray you've made the right choice.

Oh this a million times! Also it'd be nice to see a game reward you for your own comprehension of a situation or conversation. I'd like to see conversations happen in a way that you aren't simply mining people for information. You should have one opportunity to ask a relevant question etc and the response you get is based on whether or not you asked the right question at the right time. That'd A) make conversations, much more interesting and B) Encourage people to learn things and deduce things for themselves. Having a conversation wheel telling you "choose this response for good points" or vice-versa does nothing to help you establish a personality of your own. Then you are literally deciding the game by yourself and not out of a necessity to be 'good' enough to save the world/romance/children etc...

Only a few parts of ME2 did this... Where you had the choice to send the virus out to the Geth. It is actually a very hard moral choice to make where the game doesn't simply tell you you made the right decision. This is exactly how every conversation or choice should play out.

When I found Tali about to blow away Legion's synthetic arse into dust over him hacking into her omni-tool I was actually thinking "Fuck, how am I going to calm her down without losing her respect?" (I was and still am very much in love with her) despite understanding where both parties were coming from I was really hoping to have an option to calm down both. But then bioware ruined the moment by making the solution glaringly obvious. Earlier on in the game, I didn't think the Quarians should attack the Geth but since Tali felt so strongly about it, I ultimately changed my opinion and supported her views. I love that she actually appreciated and most importantly acknowledged that I did that. As was the same with Garrus when he convinced me that he need to enact justice on his former associate. I was so impressed with Bioware's writing team for making these characters so believable that I actually decided to act in their best interests instead of doing what I would actually deem to be ethically and morally right...

To solve Internet Kraken's problem, They don't need to scrap the paragon/renegade system completely. They just need to hide it. They can do this in several ways; removing pre-notions that you are performing a certain act (i.e no blue or red dialogue options). Not giving you a scale on which you can see how good or evil you are. The consequences of your actions should be obvious as to whether or not you have performed a good deed. If you need to be told whether or not your a nice guy you should simply ask someone. Just like in real life!

Too many times have developers forced us to make only supremely good or supremely bad choices. What is all that wrong with killing a criminal who just shot a kid in the back? I don't personally think he deserves to live, but If i don't pick the alternative I won't be able to convince the Quarian judges that Tali is innocent without having her exiled...

Also more often than not, I find most evil options just means you treat people like a dick. Just because I chose to beat the crap out of Harkin, doesn't mean i'll be a complete prick to one of my team-mates just for the sake of being evil. Yet if I don't, I won't be evil enough to... erm... something really evil later in the game...

I find similar issues arise when I only cared about the performance of my armour or weapons instead of how they appeared asthetically. I was glad to see ME2 eliminate this problem by giving you "paintable" armour and a limited choice of weaponry. As for the latter it was a welcome move as I got to be a bit more tactical when it came to dealing with enemies as a soldier. I'm not really even one for biotic or tech powers, so I very rarely directed a squad member to use them. Reducing the focus on heavily modified/upgraded weapons also meant I spent more time looking how to deal the most damage in real time rather than worrying to much about whether another weapon would do the same job like 3% more efficiently. Getting bogged down by those details only serves to encumber you during combat. I'm glad Bioware opted for a more visceral, FPS style which was more what they were trying to achieve in the first place.

Oh and just because i'll cry if I don't get any feedback on the idea, i'm going to bolt this onto this post...

Spoiler

I have a suggestion...

For story, I can only think of one thing epic enough to work...

The Terminus Systems, led by Cerberus, have united and declared war on Citadel Space. As part of a small team of spectre's you have to prevent this war from happening and ultimately unite them in order to stop the inevitable reaper invasion...

After Wrex is betrayed and murdered, The New Krogan Army has risen and has launched an assault on the Salarian homeworld. This conflict must be stopped, but this is only possible if you convince the Rachni queen and her brood to help you...

Meanwhile the Quarian Fleet has declared war on the Geth which you are also forced into mediating.

The bottom line is this... You will unite... Or you will all be exterminated...

You heard it here first...

(Oh and find a main character for Sir Patrick Stewart to voice...)

[sub]Hmm. I may use this post as part of a review piece...[/sub]

 

[Blindrooster]

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Related to that is the heat clips system in ME2. While I love how the heat clips make you think tactically, use all your weapons, and conserve ammo, I hate having to search around the room after every firefight looking for more clips. Why don't they put in regenerating ammo, kind of like how mana and health regenerate between battles for Bioware's fantasy games. That way, you still have to spend heat clips wisely, but don't have to worry about finding more. To clarify, I never once ran out of ammo, but the constant pressure of keeping a full load of it led me to meticulously search for more when I wasn't full up. That's just not fun - it adds more busywork that the game really doesn't need.

Play on intense. you'll run out of ammo, i promise. the amount it takes to take out a scion alone is unbelievable, not to mention those flying gazer beam squid.

 

[Internet Kraken]

To solve Internet Kraken's problem, They don't need to scrap the paragon/renegade system completely. They just need to hide it. They can do this in several ways; removing pre-notions that you are performing a certain act (i.e no blue or red dialogue options). Not giving you a scale on which you can see how good or evil you are. The consequences of your actions should be obvious as to whether or not you have performed a good deed. If you need to be told whether or not your a nice guy you should simply ask someone. Just like in real life!

I really don't care what they do with the Renegade/Paragon system so long as it no longer stops you from role-playing. That's my biggest gripe with it.

But I also think that the choices shouldn't be as clear as they are in the Mass Effect games. Like you said you should have to make a choice based on the opinion of your squad mates and your own personal beliefs. Not based on what the game arbitrarily considers to be the "good" or "evil" choice.

Play on intense. you'll run out of ammo, i promise. the amount it takes to take out a scion alone is unbelievable, not to mention those flying gazer beam squid.

I hate Scions so much. There the hardest enemies to deal with, at least for me.

 

[bluebrino]

I know that this may seem like a trivial idea, but I think that it would be cool if Bioware actually use the first name we gave our Shepard, as in having characters use it in dialog. But only have characters that are close to Shepard use it to save on voice acting, like romance options or they could bring back that loyalty system but make it so it actually furthers the relationship between them and Shepard. When it comes to choosing the names, Bioware should go through the obvious list of names and then ask the fans what names they should use, if they have not already thought of it. But the fans have to provide something that lets Bioware know how to pronounce the names, like a voice recording of them saying the name or just doing it like they do in the dictionary.

 

[private]

Experience Points - Making the combat more rewarding
Removing Xp from mob kills was obviously a conscious decision on the developer's part to streamline the RPG mechanics but why remove the one thing that other genres are adopting ? My suggestion would be to bring it back - make it minimal if you want to control progression through quest lines but make it meaningful in some way. The two games from 2009 that did this perfectly were Batman and inFAMOUS - in both those games you get special bonus xp for killing anyone with style. The achievements for things like headshots or killing people will biotic/tech powers shows that they're already being tracked. Now just give the players in-game bonuses for doing these things and encourage them to try out different fighting techniques. The existing mechanics already allow a great flourish in combat, just make the process more rewarding.

I actually liked the idea of throwing out the experience point concept. I think it improved the role playing aspect of the game. Now, experience points are awarded for killing enemines, I think this is a little restrictive because you are awarded with experience only if you kill an enemy. Doesn't it also make sense to be awarded if you avoid confontations all together by sneaking past enemies? The xp system that me2 had made it seem like it didn't matter HOW you achieved your goal, so long as you achieved it, which makes sense given the whole paragon/renegade spectrum of spectres.

Level design - Not this corridor again
Mass Effect 2's cover based mechanic is right up there with Gears of War but it still lacks the varied level design that makes Gears a better shooter. The combat in ME2 is fun thanks to all the biotic and tech powers. However I couldn't help but notice that a lot of the set pieces were essentially the same level with a different decor. Maybe that's a problem with the genre in general but I think this is the easiest and probably the first thing they should look into. Shepard is visiting so many planets with vastly different geographies but s/he is invariably staring down the same corridor when the guns start firing. I think the premise in itself provides BioWare the inspiration they need here and give us just a little bit more variety.

I couldn't agree more with this. One thing I would like to add: BLIND FIRE!!
The omission of this really does make an otherwise excellent shooter feel every stilted, and restrictive. For something like biotics, I can understand having to stand up fully, but why can't Shepard stick one arm over a wall and blast away with a pistol or fire off some tech abilities?

 

[VivaciousDeimos]

I know I might be a lone voice on the escapist with this, but I know I'm not that lone voice elsewhere when I say, get rid of Jacob and bring back Kaiden, I miss him.
If you play as a female, Kaiden is a charming character, the right level of experience and maturity held up by strong views. People saying he is boring aren't really looking at him because

Spoiler

they are looking at him as someone to sacrifice so they can keep Ashley but his reaction to Shepard working with Cerberus is spot on the way he would be, he expects more of her he feels let down and hurt and it all comes across beautifully

Don't worry, I liked Kaiden too. In what I consider to be my canon Sheppard, she stays loyal to him. Hoping that pays off in 3. What I want from ME3 is the integration of your old party into the new. Let Ashley/Kaiden and Liara be recruitable and possibly expand on their characterization. Wrex would also be awesome, but that might be a little trickier since he is ruling now.

I loved that a good portion of ME2 was spent developing your team and helping them with their issues, so now I want that for my former crew as well. I think Liara's would be fairly straight forward: help her deal with the Shadow Broker.

OP: I noticed the level design as well and wanted a little bit more variety. As for the Two Towers point, I think that's something that's pretty common among trilogies is for the second installment to fell a little...not off, exactly, but not quite right. It just has to do with being the middle child in a series.

 

[Vrex360]

For me personally just a few things I'd like to see in Mass Effect 3.

First of all I want Ashley to return (alternativley Kaidan). I don't really care how she returns, maybe Shepard bumps into her on an uncharted planet or she saves his life in a warzone or even speaks in his defence at some kind of hearing. The point is, I want her to return because she was (in my own opinion) the best romance subplot out of them all and I deliberatley avoided any romantic contact in Mass Effect 2 just to see how it would play out.
The same similar role is to be said for Liara. But moreso for Ashley because she and Shepard have some past issues that need good resolution without too much cheese.

Next up, Wrex.... I really liked this guy and I would hope for some kind of recuitment mission or something or maybe even just a mission where you help him completely gain the loyalty of the Krogan (particularly clan Urdnot) and in turn have Clan Urdnot assist you in the final battle against the Reapers... Grunt should be there as well.

That's the other thing, while I think it would be kind of cool to have a mission structure where you go around recuiting entire species armies to begin a war against the Reapers I would still like some core missions about finding a final way to kill the Reapers once and for all.

Also, no new teams unless the patricular Shepard team is particularly devastated. I would much prefer to see no new ship, no new crew and no new LI given that this is the END and therefore all the characters from prior games (i.e entire ME1 crew and entire ME2 crew) return to the fray.
It wouldn't kill me if you ended up with yet another new team but it would still annoy me a little.

Naturally, as always, it should properly register the decisions made in the first two games and reflect them positivley.

Finally, it should retain the epicness and awesomeness of the first two games and hit a home run with the third.

 

[Booze Zombie]

I guess I'd say characters, plot and environments/immersion.

Speaking of that, I had a character idea, anyone know how I would go about getting someone at Bioware to take a look at it?

Might end up with some writer from ME2 telling me how I went wrong, help me improve, etcetera.

 

[Anthropaphagi]

LESBIAN ALIEN SEX! (I'm only sort of joking)

I do like that your actions influence the game/loyalty but I do agree with others that it is often very 'black and white'. It needs to be more realistic, especially when you have history with characters like Tali and Garrus.

And was it just me or was Miranda throwing a perpetual hissy fit? Every time I had to make a decision she didn't care for, I had to endure intergalactic pouting.

 

[Jenova65]

I know I might be a lone voice on the escapist with this, but I know I'm not that lone voice elsewhere when I say, get rid of Jacob and bring back Kaiden, I miss him.
If you play as a female, Kaiden is a charming character, the right level of experience and maturity held up by strong views. People saying he is boring aren't really looking at him because

Spoiler

they are looking at him as someone to sacrifice so they can keep Ashley but his reaction to Shepard working with Cerberus is spot on the way he would be, he expects more of her he feels let down and hurt and it all comes across beautifully

Don't worry, I liked Kaiden too. In what I consider to be my canon Sheppard, she stays loyal to him. Hoping that pays off in 3. What I want from ME3 is the integration of your old party into the new. Let Ashley/Kaiden and Liara be recruitable and possibly expand on their characterization. Wrex would also be awesome, but that might be a little trickier since he is ruling now.

I loved that a good portion of ME2 was spent developing your team and helping them with their issues, so now I want that for my former crew as well. I think Liara's would be fairly straight forward: help her deal with the Shadow Broker.

OP: I noticed the level design as well and wanted a little bit more variety. As for the Two Towers point, I think that's something that's pretty common among trilogies is for the second installment to fell a little...not off, exactly, but not quite right. It just has to do with being the middle child in a series.

Casey Hudson is on record stating that Kaidan/Ash and Liara weren't recruitable for 2 because they had to be sure the player didn't manage to kill them off, they needed to keep them safe for 3 (which indicates at the very least a pivotal role to the story) Also that there would be consequences for Shepard's who 'cheat', on their ME LI!

 

[VivaciousDeimos]

snip

Snip

Casey Hudson is on record stating that Kaidan/Ash and Liara weren't recruitable for 2 because they had to be sure the player didn't manage to kill them off, they needed to keep them safe for 3 (which indicates at the very least a pivotal role to the story) Also that there would be consequences for Shepard's who 'cheat', on their ME LI!

That is both hilarious and practical on the part of the developers, given the nature of the final mission. I had heard about the "cheaters consequences", which part of me appreciates them rewarding being loyal to your original partner, but also hopes isn't too severe for players who wanted to explore other options. With my male Sheppard I can definitely say if Tali had been available during the first go around I wouldn't have put him with Ashley.

 

[Jenova65]

snip

Snip

Casey Hudson is on record stating that Kaidan/Ash and Liara weren't recruitable for 2 because they had to be sure the player didn't manage to kill them off, they needed to keep them safe for 3 (which indicates at the very least a pivotal role to the story) Also that there would be consequences for Shepard's who 'cheat', on their ME LI!

That is both hilarious and practical on the part of the developers, given the nature of the final mission. I had heard about the "cheaters consequences", which part of me appreciates them rewarding being loyal to your original partner, but also hopes isn't too severe for players who wanted to explore other options. With my male Sheppard I can definitely say if Tali had been available during the first go around I wouldn't have put him with Ashley.

I expect it will be a 'no going back', scenario tbh, if you have a new relationship then the ME LI's won't be romance-able in 3 which makes sense, you can't have your cake and eat it!

 

[Morose_Cabage]

I want it to take a more RPG based turn than ME2. Don't get me wrong I freaking love ME2, But I miss tinkering around with equiptment, which brings me to another issue more variations in weapons. What about having a band together of all characters from ME1, 2, and some new ones in 3.