BioWare: Mass Effect 3 Combat Perfected

[tlozoot]

Snip

Really, I think we'll have to look to see what the third games does to see whether ME really does offer a malleable story. However, I'm optimistic, simply because of all the things that we did have a say in in the past two games.


Are the rachni still around?
Did you fuck over the council or not?
Who did you put on the council?
Destroy the Collector Base or no?
Did you kill Wrex (seems not killing him leads to a more stabilised Krogan society)
Kaidan or Ashley (probably not a significant choice)
Keep genophage cure data during Mordin's loyalty mission or no
Reprogram or eradicate the heretics?
End project Overlord or not? (Might do nothing seeing as it was DLC)
Did you egg the Quarian's on to war or not?
Did you romance anyone?
Did you cheat on anyone?
Who is still alive after the suicide mission?

It seems that these big choices in 1/2 will need to have some kind of tangible effect on the third game. Perhaps it will still end the same way, but the route in which you get there, I would think, is going to depend, to varying degrees, on these things.

 

[JourneyThroughHell]

Also ME1 had infinite ammo. And no matter how you say it, I don't see how going from unlimited ammo to limited ammo is an upgrade. Especially if you like sniping, in which case you'll be running out of ammo very quickly and have to just go up the front lines and fight Gears of War style anyway. Or sit in an area where the ammo things constantly respawn, which completely undermines the new ammo mechanic.

Hey, I agree with that one thing in your post... and NOTHING else.

If ME1 was an RPG, it was a terrible, terrible one, with combat that doesn't even deserve to be mentioned among the likes of KoToR and Gothic 3, or with other TPS games for that matter.

My opinion, of course, but you have to remember that me being fairly distant from RPGs has little to do with my opinion of Mass Effect. So I'm not just hating here.

OT: PR talk, moving on.

 

[ecoho]

I remember reading that in those magazine scans that hit the net awhile back. Sounds good to me.

The RPG-crowd are gonna hate it though. "It's justed a dumbed down shooter now! Ruined forever! Waaah!

Heh.

... and we will be right. The series is supposed to be an RPG series, not an action game series.

I could be wrong, but I am expecting that Bioware might very well be in for something of a surprise here. Bioware loves to sit down and talk about the "critical reception" they have received and all the praise for the directions they have chosen, but the reality has increasingly been far differant. I still remember how they asked fans whether we would support the idea of them having a very pre-scripted protaganist with little customization for "Dragon Age II" if it meant he was fully voiced, the answer was a resounding "no" and then Bioware turned around and tried to say that the response was positive and it's what we wanted.

With "Mass Effect 2" they sold so many copies because of the success of the first game, it was largely due to pre-orders and first day sales like most games. The negative backlash was mostly from people who already had paid for the game. Saying that they were such a tiny minority "because of the sales" misses the entire way the industry and it's business model works.

I'm not saying that shooter fans won't like the game, and it won't be a decent success, but it is definatly a continued backstabbing of the RPG fans who lost their game series, and I suspect that this is going to have a surprising amount of influance on it's sales.

Interestingly one of the things about "Mass Effect" is that the storyline is interesting enough where I think there are plenty of people who will hate the game, but will buy it just to see how things turn out. That may or may not include me, depending on exactly how repugnant the gameplay is when it comes out, I'm not into high octane masochism. Sadly I think that this fact will further retard the results, and probably lead many to believe that the game changes have support that they really don't.

Only time will tell, but yeah, I think this one is going to result in some nastiness. I also think Bioware might be facing some serious backlash from the way they operate even if this game does succeed. You can only slap your core fan base so many times before they decide to slap back so to speak.

ok to be truthfull it was NEVER suposed to be just an RPG, it was sold as an epic story action RPG. Also dont go bitching just yet about ME3 see as they are bringing back alot of the RPG eliments which will make it a better game. Now i love both games for different reasons 1 had better biotic combat and the custmization,and 2 had better combat, no mako, no cluster fuck inventory(i do miss the custumization but if thats what it took to get rid of that horrible interface so be it), and it did what the second chapter should it set up for the theird while reminding us about stuff we did in the first.

All in all ME3 WILL be better then both because it seems like theyve found balance.

BTW DA2 is a different team so stop saying bioware has sold their soul to EA and that every game will be like DA2!

 

[Dango]

I guess that means I'll be playing ME3 for the story (I didn't like the combat in ME2, very shallow and hastily thrown together), that is, unless they decide to ramp up Shepard's asshole level even more. Or if the writing gets even worse. Or if there's even more scripted, non-selectable, dialog. Or if they put even less effort into writing a decent antagonist. Or if they once again make the cast a bland mix of "they show this character trait, but they're really this character trait." Or if they give you an even smaller sense of scale and discovery. Or if they make even poorer use of the fact that their setting is an entire galaxy.

See where I'm going with this?

 

[Irridium]

Obviously you didn't do the mining and upgrade your guns making them and you more powerful.

I actually did, I then did a following playthough by not mining(because it is easily the worst thing about ME2), and I didn't notice much of a difference. Although I did miss that one upgrade that let me use medigel to heal myself, rather then wait behind cover for my health to magically come back. But yeah, wasn't much of a difference.

Hmmmm...you make a good case but I personally think it's a little premature to judge just how much of a difference the choices make. While it's completely possible that the story choices I make amount to little more than a side character making a re-appearance, I'm very optimistic that Bioware will use Mass Effect 3 to go all-out with the choices you made in previous games and deliver some genuine impact.

For example, if the Mass Effect 2 squadmates come back for sizable roles, it will be pretty phenomenal to see how the storyline is adjusted to fit with who survived the ending of Mass Effect 2.

Say for example that Legion was killed on the Suicide Mission and this ends up leading to the Geth being unwilling to cooperate with the quarians or even refusing to help against the Reapers. Now THAT would be something.

It would be. And if that is what happens(they go all out with the consequences of your choices from the first 2 games) I will rethink my stance about Mass Effect as a series. But all we have to go on are what they did before. And what they did before doesn't inspire much confidence. At least for me.

 

[Onyx Oblivion]

Well, I know that I'm not buying it now.

 

[Nimcha]

Ugh, I think I'm going to stay away from the forums section of ME3 news from now on.

So many bile spewing, self entitled, RPG purists...

It does make for fun reading while eating ice cream.

Even though most of it has already been said in 20 of the same threads, it's fun seeing people repeat themselves because they can't think of anything else to say.

 

[FangShadow]

I'm somewhat torn...

On the one hand, I do like the idea that the levels are going to have a multiple approach concept, however, I don't want it if it's just going to be half-assed and tossed in their.

I also don't mind the cover system so much, however, I don't want this to be gears of war in space. If their going to to cover, maybe more fluid like, use the analog stick to get in cover and then maybe press the button to jump over and vault to the next one similar to wanted:Weapons of fate.

I also don't want it to turn into a shooter with special power bullets. I want everything to blend well. more mass effect 1 than 2. Be able to win fights with out firing a shot.


I don't mind the heat sink system, but I do miss the overheat from 1...

I do miss the progression of one, because you actually feel like you got stronger. I didn't feel that as much in 2

...I just don't want this to be rushed for profit. I would rather wait for a good game than quickly get a mediocre game with shades of greatness

 

[JeanLuc761]

Well, I know that I'm not buying it now.

Because they're improving the combat?

Bioware have also gone on record to say that they're improving the RPG elements and bringing back some from Mass Effect 1 (such as weapon mods). They've also said that they're going all-out with the writing and that past decisions, such as the Rachni, will have grave consequences in ME3.

 

[The.Bard]

Oh GOOOOOOOOD~ So does that mean we can finally make people both involved with and giving awards to this game shut the hell up about ME being remotely like an RPG? Since, you know, apparently Bioware wants it to be a 3rd person Call of Duty?

[snip]

I want to hear nothing involving RPGs or JRPGs from Bioware or it's fanbase. Nothing. Here it is, folks! Here's what your RPG OF THE YEAR is! A fucking shooter!

If this is the case, I would casually suggest that visiting threads about ME3 is a poor place for you to park yourself. I myself am looking quite forward to Mass Effect 3, a brilliant RPG shooter. Oh, wait, I just... oops. I won't mention it's RPGiness again. Except to say it's an RPG. Oh, crud, I did it again, dang me and my RPG loving... ARGH! I just can't say RPG without talking about RPG Effect 3, errr, no, I mean Mass Effect RPG. Crud. Mass-R P-Effect G3?

1. Bioware has officially stated their game is a shooter.

Was this during one of your private fireside chats with Casey Hudson and the good doctors? Odd they would tell you that while chilling at the pool, given their penchant for calling it an RPG, along with the ESRB, everyone I know, and every reviewer I've ever seen talk about the game. It's also funny since when you play the game, you can very quickly identify it by its RPGiness.

2. Bioware supposedly brags about how it's devs added ladders to levels

For one thing, it's not 'supposedly.' They did it or they didn't. I've read the quote aloud twice, and I would say, no, they didn't brag. Nothing close to it, really. I also get the impression he was referring to multiple paths and high/low tiers, not the actual addition of ladders. But that's me extrapolating. A dangerous past-time (I know!)

 

[Trolldor]

I sure as fuck hope it's just refining, not largening, the shooter mechanics.

 

[DustyDrB]

Yay! Mass Effect 3 previews without spoilers!! Along with what I've heard about improved RPG elements, I'm loving the way this sounds.

 

[blackdwarf]

i didn't like the combat from ME1. and i'm not complaining about the fact that in the start your aim was and that youhad to find guns that had better stats, i was fine with those. but the way it played just not good. it was too unnatural and not smooth. i love the shooting mech from ME2. its fun to play, but indeed, you mostly had the same gun, and you had always the same accuracy. if they can find a middle way between those it would great.

 

[strobe]

Yeah, not exactly looking forward to it...

I agree with what you say and I like your name. Really dense elements are nice although my pen nib did get bent...

It makes me sad that everyone disagrees with us and that Bioware wants to make money by pandering to the masses instead of making the game that I want to play.

I liked the Mako sections.

 

[AMAZED]

Also Firewalker >>>>>>>>>> Mako[/quote]

altho the firewalker's armor is as effective as a paper towel roll but yes it's still better

 

[Oro44]

This all seems to be semantics over what and what does not constitute an rpg. Personally, I try not to categorize a game by any specific genre and just take it for what it is. If you want every game to be a shining example of a genre, you're going to be disappointed every time. For me, ME1 and 2 were general "action games", Portal was a simple "puzzle game" and New Vegas was a "boring game".

 

[Notthatbright]

I'm not really sure how they could have possibly topped "Press A for AWESOME!" combat system of their flagship Dragon Age 2.

/sarcasm