What can Mass Effect 3 do to be better than its predecessors?

[Grabnaur]

More weapon variety, customize teammates armor, more vehicle sections, some new powers, teammates should be allowed more than two guns(so we don't get stuck with the shotgun and H.pistol, L. pistol and H. pistol, or A. riffle and S. riffle setup), more places to explore, if they give us a Cerberus network more free dlc, DLC Allies should transfer over, cheaper equipment or a better way to make money that's not gambling, the events in 1 and 2 you did should have some big effects on the game, being paragon or renegade should change the way you, your teammates, and moves look and act, get rid of fuel, space battles using the Normandy,ME1 lvl up system, and maybe 2 new teammates but they have to be aliens you haven't recruited before (Vorcha, Batarian, Hannar, etc, or a new species to the story)

 

[IckleMissMayhem]

Oh, and revert back to the ME1 combat system. For reasons I've just been ranting about on the xBox360 Usergroup chat.

*raises eyebrows*
But...the ME2 combat system was universally praised as better than ME1 (and for good reason).

Well, we're going to have to agree to disagree on that one.

I'm also disappointed by the lack of RPG elements to ME2. It's blatantly just a shooty game. Pity.

 

[HT_Black]

Stop trying the be Uncharted 2.

*looks at Mass Effect 2, then looks at Uncharted 2*

...With the exception of being third-person shooters (both in the style of Gears of War), I can't think of ANYTHING the two games have in common.

Simply put, it was the quality of the writing. ME1 was a social comedy, a romance story, an action tale, and a pulp sci-fi throwback; in a nutshell, it was an entirely different universe brought to life via ones and zeroes. The characters were few, but they were all at elast as good as the characters Valve usually writes: and in several cases, they were even better. moreover, there were none of the classic Bioware archtypes: Wrex, who would normally be interchangable with Canderous or Sten, was made special because he didn't cling to the "Samuri Warrior" archtype like the others.

Mass Effect 2, on the other hand, was a dull, generic attempt at replicating Hollywood writing. It frequently sacrificed drama for dry and half-baked attempts at humor (which, it should be noted, were actually pretty funny whenever Seth Green as Joker did one), the characters were all cliche to no end (with the exceptions of Mordin and the absolutely hilarious part where Grunt goes through puberty), and the combat was cut down and gimped in order to deliver a more "Visceral, realistic experience" that in the end just felt mechanical and uninspired. It was by no means bad, but neither was Uncharted 2. It was--and this is not to be taken as Gospel, mind-- flat, flavorless, and frankly underwheling.

Also, the plot had f**k all to do with the story at large and the plot ate caulk towards the end, but that's just an aside.

EDIT: It should also be noted that while I hate many, many things about it, my buddies and I have clocked a combined ninety or so hours, and I'm going to play it again as soon as I'm tired of Reach. Make of that what you will.

 

[Xaositect]

this is an interesting point i hadn't considered. however ME2 (as you noted) was way too focused on recruitment and upgrading. there were what, five (six?) plot related missions in a 25 to 30 hour game.

i don't want to see that again. if they choose to go that route, then at least balance the time with plot driven missions and include those recruitments within the story, not disparate missions that just seem thrown together to kill time between story based elements.

I wasnt as fond of the ME2 squad anywhere near as I was the ME1 squad, but I wouldnt mind if they focused their efforts on the same kind of "re-introduction" they gave Tali and Garrus in ME2. Give the ME1 LIs and maybe two key ME2 squadmates best suited a reintroduction with the rest being a few new faces.

Generally speaking though, recruiting is a standard aspect of Bioware games, as us much as people dont seem to like the idea, starting with a near empty squad is pretty much guaranteed to happen. Its just a natural part of the progression of Bioware and in general most RPGs or games with heavy RPG leanings. Lets just hope they at least make a fair few ME3 squadmates familiar faces again to balance it out at least, even if they do have to be reintroduced for the sake of progression and newbs.

Other than that, I again agree that another "shopping list" of a main plot wont fly. There cant be any more "recruit this person and that person one after the other because we say so" in ME3, since thats practically the basis of ME2. It needs to be encounters entirely based within the plot for reasons crucial to the plot. Liara has critical knowledge due to certain events in a recently released DLC (like her role as crucial information holder in ME1 for example). Miranda or Mordin makes some breakthrough in something repear related and rejoins Shepards crew etc. etc.

 

[SpireOfFire]

give me more side-boobs!

 

[sp86]

I had an idea for the mining mechanic, Instead of scanning random planets or surveying (which was worthless in ME1 anyhow) you would use the RP system to actively find and recruit miners to establish mining bases, which you could then improve with research or investment like your ship or characters. I think it would fit with the whole, "Ready your Armies" backdrop that ME3 is sure to have (ME1 is about Learning about the threat, ME2 is about striking back, finding the depth of it, its a logical progression).

 

[blindthrall]

They've moved in the right direction with the shooter mechanics, now they need to amp them up a notch. Gears has a great playbook: Blind fire, mobile cover, human shields, environmental hazards, grenade types (sticky, proximity, contact, cluster, rain etc.), controllable turrets etc.

To top it off, ME and Gears use the same engine, so it shouldn't be too hard to incorporate these improvements on the existing framework.

Even if this was incorporated well, which I highly doubt, Bioware wouldn't do it because this isn't Gears.

Fuck. Planet. Scanning. I kind of liked the Mako. Maneuvering on alien worlds shouldn't be easy. And most undiscovered worlds would be pretty barren, so at least it's realistic. Besides, it was close to being a sandbox.

The inventory system should stay dead, but they need to beef up the skill trees. A lot. Make me want to get to level 60. On a related note, start Shepherd at whatever level you were in ME2.

The combat was perfected in ME2. If you don't think something was wrong with ME1's mechanics, you never killed Colossi by yourself as an adept. With a pistol. On insane.

Bigger battlefields. Tali's recruitment mission was one of the few levels that actually seemed big enough.

I want some actually difficult decisions. It's the Reapers, so it's a victory if any intelligent life survives. How about choosing between the Asari and the Turian homeworlds? Even better, between the Citadel and Earth, knowing the Citadel is probably the only way to get outside the Milky Way.

I want to xenocide the Batarians. Nothing redeeming about them, and they all hate humans. Fuck em, they're just indoctrination bait.

Wrex. 'Nuff said.

I want to actually see a Prothean, alive if possible. The Collectors and those statues on Ilos look nothing like each other.

Rachni squad mate!

 

[shadow skill]

I am of the opinion that ME2 screwed up royally by having Shepard be the main character while changing the rest of the cast because Bioware wanted to make things more "badass." The big problem here is that we don't really get to find out what happened to the old team, we don't get to feel the impact of Shepard's death on the team and the galaxy at large; and most importantly we are now stuck in a situation where we have to smash two teams together or just get rid of one set. Think about how many characters their are in ME2 and ME1 what the hell are we supposed to do with all of that? I'm afraid that it will turn into X-Men: Legends or Marvel Ultimate Alliance and suffer a severe case of character overload.

They also need to go learn how to make a third person shooter if they are going to focus on the action as much as they seem to want to. It is not good if a large chunk of the game is grounded in combat and the combat is horrible.

No more mining. That stuff was almost worse than the Mako.

Please use your eyes when designing the menus, using an amber background and off-white text is just stupid. Pick something that has more contrast so menu entries and the Codex are easier to read. Also copy Valve and put subtitles in a tinted box so that the text does not blend into the background. Again use your eyes.

 

[NoNameMcgee]

Make the cover and shooting mechanics a little more polished, I think they were decent in ME2 (better than the shit gameplay of ME1 anyway) but they still need some refining

Do away with the probe mining.

More planets to actually land on and do missions on (but nothing like that godawful Mako vehicle from ME1)

Those are pretty much my only major complaints.

 

[Glademaster_v1legacy]

Be mroe of a RPG. The way the game is styled is way too slow paced for a shooter. I mean to use the bloody abilities you have to pause the game and open upa ring to access abilities. That does not work for a shooter. Get rid of planet scanning and bring back Bumper Tank with less bumps or with a flying ship thing as someone already said.

 

[Optimystic]

Even if this was incorporated well, which I highly doubt, Bioware wouldn't do it because this isn't Gears.

Of course it isn't, but that doesn't mean the ME franchise can't learn from it. Improving the shooter mechanics is a win/win situation - it introduces even more shooter fans to such an excellent franchise, and it means more sales for Bioware. (Shooters are quite simply the most lucrative non-MMO genre on any platform right now.) And all without any lessening of the underlying RPG/story aspect.

 

[oktalist]

Stop telling us which is the paragon choice and which is the renegade choice. Let us work it out for us selves.

 

[Smokescreen]

I'm not sure what the complaints mean when they say 'Be an RPG'.

Because it's usually followed by 'the inventory system...' and I have to say; fuck going back to that noise. ME1 was a pain in the ass because of the inventory and because the Mako missions didn't have clear driving routes. (I mean, I got the hang of it at the end but it was still a drag.)

So; keep the inventory system as is.

As for the combat; it's a game set in space where people have guns. Lots of guns. I'm not sure what other combat options you're looking for (although I haven't played Engineer class yet so who knows, maybe that's wildly different.) ME1 also had lots of guns-and that was pretty much how enemies were fought + defeated. Yes, there are biotic powers but everyone still had guns.

I'm not saying there shouldn't be variance, I'm asking the people who complain; what else are you expecting? I mean; I get you didn't like it but what RPG qualities should it have had that it didn't?

I also found the combat in ME2 to be smoother so chalk me up as a fan-I just don't understand what should be put in its place, given the subject matter.

Bring back the elevator load screens. They were fun, occasionally funny, gave an opportunity to gain insight into characters and better than what replaced them.

Remember that not everyone has a HDTV and that squinting is not a fun way to deal with reading text you need to play a game.

Remember that any task you're going to make players do needs to be either a) very short or b) mixed up in the task department. Good examples of a) Hacking. Good examples of b) missions. Bad examples; mining. If you want upgrades (and to find some missions), you have to do it and this task is neither brief nor mixed up.

So either make up a mini-game with enough depth to do over and over again (I'm thinking the card game from FF8) or stick to short-burst events and longer ones.

Otherwise, I've enjoyed both games.

 

[DominicxD]

For a start, it can try not to take the best aspects of the previous game and completely remove them.

Fucking Mass Effect 2 would have been much better as a movie or TV series than a video game.

 

[Smokescreen]

Stop telling us which is the paragon choice and which is the renegade choice. Let us work it out for us selves.

Ooo, that's an interesting idea.

I'd also like it if certain missions the choices were /all/ paragon or /all/ renegade. Not many because that takes away from your ability to roleplay but sometimes the decisions just have to suck or get to be awesome. Plus I think it would take away from the more black + white elements the paragon/renegade choices impress on the player.

 

[Supernova2000]

How about giving spaceships an interstellar travel method that lets them travel between systems independent of mass relays? I've got the PC version of the 1st game, hadn't played it in ages so I went back on it but (call me petty) I gave up after Nihlus said "without the mass relays, interstellar travel would be impossible"...FUCK OFF!!! If that's the case, then you don't deserve to be in space!

Am I the only one who gets pissed off at the whole concept of complete and utter reliance on jump gates (or mass relays as the case may be) for interstellar travel, ala Egosoft? As a concept, such logistical suicide is just stupid and as a gameplay mechanic, it shoots explorative freedom right between the eyes!

Please Infinity, get released and show everyone how it's done!

 

[SNIPERFOX ft. Harry P.Ness]

more epic crowded firefight scenes. i loved those. so few though. make it with more rpg elements, and add the hover mako withought dlc.

 

[Mr.Squishy]

ME 1 ammo system
ME 2 inventory
ME 1+2 Crew mates (Especially Tali and Garrus)
ME 1 planet exploration(with firewalker!)
Don't make us go full paragon or full renegade to get the best results
Hanar/Elcor crewmate would be sweet
More banter
More Mordin Solus
Epic ending(s)
Different endings
Fewer but longer missions
Missions that can be resolved through non-violence (like the bionic cult in ME 1)
Have the damn council actually listen to shepard and take the reaper threat seriously
More customization options for Shepard (both creation and mid-game), and maybe some for the crewmates
A hybrid of ME 1 and ME 2's skill system
Show shepard's past (no matter which one the player chose
Better sex scenes
Big choices and consequences (like Virmire in ME 1 - especially the situation pertaining to wrex. It had me gobsmacked for a good half hour)
Stay away from at least some cliches - and some cheesy names (The lazarus project? Really?)
Moar of Cerberus and

Spoiler

the illusive man

 

[Danik93]

Have more flight sections (Like Lair of the Shadowbroker) That was so much fun!!!

 

[OldAccount]

I honestly never put any thought into what they could do to improve. I just wanted more Mass Effect lol