Trailers: Mass Effect 3: Producer Insight

[Akarezik]

Agreed. I'm praying they use that dark energy plotline that was heavily hinted at in ME 2 to give the galaxy a fighting chance, instead of pulling some never before heard of tech out of their ass that will somehow overpower the eons of experience and technology the Reapers have going for them. They need to wrap this one up well, to try and earn back some of the goodwill that DA 2 burned out of their fans.

There's also the massive cannon mentioned in both Mass Effect 1 and 2. The one that left an unholy sized gash across the entire width of a moon/planet you could see clearly from the ground in ME 1, which was also the weapon that could incapacitate a Reaper the Illusive Man was interested in.

My major concern is how they are handling "Illusive man working with Reapers" thing in ME 3, without going the Saren route. It would just be lazy and completely obvious... hell it can be due to the Constructor base because that's a variable, not a concrete reason, and I don't see how blowing the base up would ever lead him to teaming up with the reapers.

Every time I remember that Cerberus is a big enemy in ME 3, I can never come up with a plausible reason that connects to your choice in ME 2. If you kept it, surely TIM knows enough to keep himself far enough away from it to avoid indoctrination, right? And if you blew it up? Yeah, I could see TIM wanting your head on a pike, but not while the Reapers are invading! I think he must have found something that he believes will stop them, though we'll have to wait and see what their reason is. Either that, or he's working with them in anticipation of finding whatever it was he wanted with the Collector base.

 

[skotconcarne]

Looks epic and alot of fun! Can't wait to play this.

 

[Mr. 47]

I've only started playing Mass Effect recently with getting a new laptop. I am not even half way through and I've already bought Mass Effect 2 for the PS3 and am psyched about ME3. One of the best series of this generation.

 

[Worgen]

well Ill be the gameplay will be fun but Im also betting that the story will be stupid and be less coherent then it was in part 2, I mean the reapers showing up should be bad ending... ugh. I just foresee this doing the standard scifi thing of "oh no, we cant hope to win, oh but someone put a button someplace that kills all the bad guys, quick, press the button.... yay everything is wonderful forever"

 

[Bobbity]

I think that the link is fucked. Both this and the producer insight lead to the same video.

Ah well. Looks like I'll just have to go and see this video over on IGN...

 

[RedDeadFred]

Don't understand why people are complaining about this trailer. It just looks even better than the previous games. Also, people who liked Mass Effect 1 more than 2. You're a minority, Bioware isn't going to go back to that just for you.
Although I believe they are doing a bit inbetween for 3.

 

[SouthpawFencer]

Great, so they're introducing 3rd person combat elements like rolls and more visceral melee attacks that Gears of War managed to do years ago, and did better. I'm thrilled. At this rate, they might as well give Shepard a chainsaw-bayonet... Actually, that would have made an ME2 Vanguard's Charge (or the Infiltrator's Cloak) power pretty damn awesome!

My point being, Mass Effect's raw combat will never equal Gears, because that was ALL that Gears of War's gameplay consisted of. If they sacrifice the RPG elements and build trees of ME in order to try to make the combat more like Gears, they're going to have an inferior game.

I don't WANT the game to be more like Gears (a game that I love almost as much as Mass Effect). I want to have to decide whether I want to whirl this turian pirate around with a Singularity while my squad uses him for target practice, levitate him while my squad uses him for target practice, throw him off a cliff, or put his krogan teammate into Stasis while I overload his weapon and hit him with a Warp effect that'll amplify the damage as MY krogan teammate curb stomps him.

I still haven't given up hope, but this trailer did not have the effect on me that the developers were probably hoping for.

 

[Nimcha]

If they sacrifice the RPG elements and build trees of ME in order to try to make the combat more like Gears, they're going to have an inferior game.

They've repeatedly stated they're not going to do that. In fact, they're going to exapand both.

 

[T.D.]

ACTION DOES NOT DETRACT FROM ROLE PLAYING GAMES.

RPG's do not need complicated management systems, or turn based combat. They do not need to be what Dungeon's and Dragon's are in gameplay.

What they do need is a strong story, universe and characters. Cause that's what Role Playing is.

Nothing against turn based combat, etc. It's just that RPG's don't NEED them. They've just become an unfortunate staple to the genre.

Although personally I would like to see more customization that actually makes a difference in gameplay rather than just in numbers. I don't want numbers, I want features.

 

[SouthpawFencer]

They've repeatedly stated they're not going to do that. In fact, they're going to exapand both.

If they're planning on expanding both, great. I'd feel more assured, however, if they had instead released a trailer showing that expanded skill tree menu and examples of what the powers would do rather than this, which showed none of that except for what appeared to be a single biotic attack in the midst of examples of how they're making the combat a pale imitation of what Epic managed to do years ago.

Though I really could have used a Singularity when fighting General Raam...

 

[Awexsome]

The gameplay in combat will benefit from playing more like Gears than being clunky like it used to be so the big key is how they do handle those powers and flesh out the skill trees.

This really isn't a game they can go back to let numbers do the fighting. Refine the Gears-esque combat because that's better than ME1 by far but they could bring more of the skills back and have them more customizeable and upgradable at the same time.

Until they show otherwise I don't think they're lying about it.

 

[Prof. Monkeypox]

If the RPG elements are deep and immersive (at least on par with the first game) but the combat is fluid and brutal, it may be a product for the ages.

 

[Camaranth]

i can honestly say it looks appauling, too actiony, too shootery and dummed down for the masses... shame on you bioware for giving in to EA

I get that reaction too, but keep in mind, this is a trailer designed to show off the combat to those masses that EA wants to pander to; not necessarily indicative of what the game will actually be like. There are other video clips - like this one [http://www.gametrailers.com/video/e3-2011-mass-effect/714903] - that show something more like the Mass Effect we know and love.

I have to say thank you as well! this link tempered most of the uncertainty from the producers insight video. Bioware may yet pull this off!

 

[Namewithheld]

I actually really like how it looks, but this REALLY BUGS ME.

The omni-tool uses a hapatic/holographic interface. Basically, force feed back on your fingers combined with holographic images, so you "push" against something while you manipulate it. Theoretically, that's a far more efficient (and cooler) way to preform rapid calculations and computer operations without a clunky physical interface.

You know what else the omni-tool is?

A mini-fabricator, capable of producing small three dimensional objects. That's how tech attacks work: Your omni-tool is making miniexplosives of various kinds and chucking them at the enemy. It's a neat concept.

I've been saying for, oh, three years now that Shepard needs a short sword. Why? The shields! They stop rapid projectiles (like bullets) but not slow objects (so you can sit down in a chair without shoving it away, for example). A sword would be PERFECT for melee combat. Make it a monomolecular blade and it'd even slice through armor pretty good. And with shields, you actually have a chance to USE it before bullets overcome your shields and take you down.

So, the use of of an omni-tool to create a blade in combat to use against an enemy while you're close is AWESOME and COOL.

BUT IT'S NOT A FUCKING HOLOGRAM! A holographic blade would be as deadly as, say, a FLASHLIGHT in your face. At worst, it'd disorient you. It'd more likely just MILDLY ANNOY you. Obviously, the omni-blade is a rapidly extruded monomolecular punching dagger.

NOT.

A.

HOLOGRAM.

God, these people...

 

[Dr Snakeman]

Nifty.

Although I was expecting this one:

As was I. Whatever, it's still cool.

The combat system is very different from the first (and even the second) game, but I do think the changes are for the better. Also, the graphics look even better, if that can be believed, and all the best characters are back (Liara, Garrus, Legion, Tali, etc). It looks promising.

Now, we just wait and see how EA is going to screw it up.

 

[airrazor7]

implementation of close range offensive/defensive moves? 'bout frakking time. I hated being surprised rushed while hiding behind cover and not being able to do anything about it because I didn't pick the sentinel for its tech armor or pick a class that wields the shot gun. Sure, you can 'elbow' baddies at close range but that never works on a charging krogan and on the hardcore and insanity difficulty levels you may as well just stand there and get eaten by varren(s).

 

[ultrachicken]

Well they certainly managed to relay how fun this game will be.

You are awesome.

OT: I was going to play infiltrator, but then I'd miss out on the visceral melee combat, so vanguard it is. This is looking awesome, though I have one gripe: why are the graphics still the same?

 

[Elamdri]

To be honest I wish they had stuck with the feel of ME 1 it is still the best game of the series, and increasing the action to turn mass effect into a cover based shooting series takes away from the RPG elements... and that soundtrack makes me shudder and want to physically vomit with rage, nothing like those of ME 1 or 2.
I could stand the increased combat and the cover based shooting in ME 2 as it was only minor and still left all the RPG elements from ME 1 intact, but ill be honest, I would have liked to see improvement in the RP side rather than just the shooter aspects of the game, and if they once again fail to enhance those aspects, they really ME 3 will be nothing more than a cover based shooter with RPG elements and a mere shadow of what it could have become.

Ok, rant over.

I honestly can't even play Mass Effect 1 anymore. For when it came out, it was a great game, but it was just outclassed in every possible way by Mass Effect 2.

The combat in ME1 was terrible. Enemies where really stupid, the cover system didn't work as well, and at the end of the game, you were STUPID overpowered with Master Specter Weapons. There wasn't an enemy I pretty much didn't just one shot.

The inventory management system was probably one of the worst game design decisions. You have to manage just about every set of pants you pick up to see if it's marginally better than the set of pants you have on right now. You then have to do this for 6 different characters and for like each weapon and it's 8'000 upgrades and ammos. It was a much better idea to give the player a tight and unique set of weapons to mess around with and just upgrade them as the game goes along so your character develops in a linear fashion. (Not to mention that the weapons in Mass Effect 2 actually played and FELT different, compared to the weapons in Mass Effect 1 which were just different skins with slightly differing damage stats.)

Planet Exploration is where it really get's difficult to play ME1. I can drudge through the game pretty much up until I have to drop to my 1st planet, and then it's just a matter of time until I rage quit. The planets are just retextured carbon copies of each other. The Mako handles terribly. Combat in the Mako is just plain slow and boring. I mean, they have the gall to put stuff on the planet besides the main objective and expect me to check it out? Sure guys, when you can figure out how to make a vehicle section with a vehicle that doesn't handle like it's being drive by a sloth with Parkinson's in a hurricane, while you put me in a canyon on a boring, planet, and I have to find the one spot in the canyon where the walls aren't a 180 degree incline, then yeah, I might take the time to look around and find some secondary objectives >.>

Meanwhile, when you finally do get to your objective, it's one of like 4 copy-pasted dungeons. Compare Mass Effect 2 where each individual planet exploration had it's own unique map and unique mission. It actually felt like someone with a soul designed it.

Then there was the character screen. Listen to me BIOWARE. TOO. MANY. FRIGGING. SKILLS. Why the hell does Commander Shepard, a SOLDIER, have to take so many weapon and armor skills just so he can shoot his GUNS better than a 5 year old and wear his MILITARY armor? Don't they realize PASSIVE SKILLS ARE BORING!?!?! No one likes to have to spend points upgrading their armor and weapon damage when they could be improving their cool abilities. Likewise, why would you make it so that you upgrade your speech skills by putting points into them? Did it seriously take them a whole game for someone to realize that perhaps Commander Shepard could just get better at smooth-talking by...talking?

 

[Elamdri]

I'd like to see an "ammo" system where your thermal clips slowly cool down (so both the ammo in the gun and in reserve regenerate, but you still can reload a clip if you need it). Let's them do away with the "all enemies drop thermal clips" lunacy. Why would collector tech be compatible with your own tech?! Makes no sense.

The thermal clips are in the game, you can see it in some of the tech demos. Personally, I always felt like the overheating mechanic in ME1 was broken as hell because by end game you could put upgrades in your weapons that prevented them from ever overheating.

 

[Sniper Team 4]

Is it just me, or does the title for this trailer seem a little misleading?

Nifty.

Although I was expecting this one:

This is what I wanted to see. Well done. Soooo looking forward to telling that Turian Council member, "I told you so!"