BioWare: Mass Effect 3 Combat Perfected

[Sniper Team 4]

Is it just me, or does it sound like--according to this guy--the Mass Effect series is slowly forgetting what it is, an RPG? All I saw in this was "shoot, shoot, shoot some more." Does he really think people are going to compare Mass Effect 3 with Call of Duty? (Do people like that actually exist?)
Please tell me one of those tweaks that the made to combat is that I can now use more than one power at a time. PLEASE!!!!!

 

[Zeraki]

People are still bitching about Dragon Age 2? -resists urge to bash head on desk-

You people do realize that Dragon Age and Mass Effect are handled to two separate teams right? The Dragon Age 2 horse started smelling a while ago, it's time to stop beating it. I'm tired of hearing the non stop whining.

And I guess everyone missed the news on the 8th where BioWare said they're bringing back a lot of the RPG elements and weapons mods from the first game, so it isn't just going to be a shooter. It sounds to me like they're trying to combine the elements of the first two games and improve on them.

And I have to say, as much as I love the first Mass Effect it is tedious as hell compared to Mass Effect 2. The side quests suck and the cover system is terrible. While the main story in Mass Effect 2 wasn't as good as the story from the first, the side quests were amazing and enjoyable. That alone made Mass Effect 2 a more re-playable experience for me than the first.

I'd like them remove the thermal clips and health regen though, as they were the only parts of the second game I hated.

Until we actually see a video lets just wait and see what changes they're making before everyone jumps on the "It's gonna suck!" bandwagon that people seem to be so eager ride on.

 

[TilMorrow]

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.

Well wouldn't you be upset if your favourite game did a major change that you didn't agree with? Plus I thought people were unhappy with the coverbased shooting in ME2?

Also why would they want to compare their combat with Call of Duty? It's 3rd person like Gears of War not an FPS.

Captcha: isollyea explicitly. So I sell yea, explicit-ly?

 

[ultrachicken]

That's good, I'd actually like it if Mass Effect 3 played a bit like Gears of War (mostly with the cover system - Mass Effect 2 was clunky as hell in that regard), but they need to bring back the sense of progression you had in the first game.

 

[Slycne]

Alright, so 4 pages of comments retreading the same old back and forth, though I will admit with a few highlights. I really don't care for this whole genre argument. Honestly, what does it matter? There is only one really definitive choice you need to decide for a game - did I have fun with this? Because you know what, I had fun in the Mass Effect series, the Baldur's Gate series(even today still in my Top5 if not most favorite game), Mount & Blade, the Elder Scrolls series, the Orange Box, the Dragon Age series, Bulletstorm, Call of Duty, Dead Space, Eve Online, World of Warcraft, the Diablo series, the Starcraft series, Half-Life, Plants vs Zombies, Sword of the Stars, Torchlight and so on. I don't exclusively enjoy my games only if they exist in narrow predefined bands of genre.

When defining what little box you can label a game into based on x,y,z feature becomes more important than deciding for yourself if you had a good time with a game then dare I say I think you might have a screw loose.

 

[KingKamor]

"Now, with Mass Effect 3, we're able to complete that genre-shift with changes across the board."

Fixed that for ya.

But seriously, the combat in ME2 was just fine; they don't need to change it with every iteration. I don't see the point of this genre change when they set out to make a RPG, not a shooter. It feels far too forced at this point in the series. I can hear them talking now:

"What's that? We need an epic climax for our epic RPG? MAKE IT INTO A 100% SHOOTER! They're gamers, they won't know the difference!"

If I'm proven wrong, then more power to them, but I'm not sold on this in the least.

 

[arcaneviper]

1, please don't make me dildo planets for hours just for an upgrade again.
2, i play shooters mainly and u know what they don't have... it's ladders!!! hell i'm doing a games design course and one of our assignments was to make a multi player level for UT3 (used for the assets, get to use full blown UDK next year squeeeeeeeee) and you know what they said... ramps always ramps, and maybe jump pads or lifts, no bloody ladders and especially not any bloody spiral stairs or stairs in general (despite the fact that the editor has a staircase brush ¬_¬) no ladders in there haha. other than that i can't give input as i havn't played any mass effect but thats something i plan to fix over the summer.

 

[Exocet]

I just wish they rework the weapon system.As it's been said before,you don't feel like you're progressing in ME2.
Also,while I can live with ammo being power-based,please give us back weapon mods Bioware.Now that weapons of the same class function differently,give us the option to define our play-style a bit more.
One more thing,how about keeping the heatsinks to act as "ammo mags" to quickly cool off a weapon,but give each weapon a slow cooling of itself.It keeps from having ME1's ridiculous infinite fire assault rifles,but keeps sniper rifle and shotgun users from having to srpint across the line of fire just to get ammo.

 

[Mr.Squishy]

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...

This. God, this. If I were Bioware, I would make it so you could collect handles, barrels, scopes, triggers, trigger guards, inner workings, muzzles and texture materials for the guns, as well as separate armor for all 10 of your toes and fingers, arms, legs, head, ass, kidney, neck and genital area. In addition, you would have skill trees for everyday tasks, such as using elevators, breathing, going to the toilet and walking. And you would have a stat for each such skill. Combat would now take place in large, complex space fortresses that oddly never have any cover whatsoever, only a flat surface. Whenever you pull the trigger, you see a d20 roll on the right side of the screen and add your relevant modifiers. If you fail the roll, you miss, even at point blank range. The companions will spout their life stories at a moment's notice, and all the side quests you can do for them add up to a separate game for each companion, called [Name] Effect. Meanwhile, shepard can now undergo extensive reconstructive surgery to become any alien race from hanar to elcor to asari.

And still the rpg fans will call it 'dumbed down for the console tards'

 

[Ian Caronia]

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?

I know you meant to be snarky and probably somewhat offensive, but I'm man enough to say this made me laugh a bit. Genuinely. XD
Now, seriously though, I am looking forward to ME3 and so of course I'd visit threads on the game. Never said I wasn't going to buy it. Just ranted about how it clearly isn't an RPG anymore. RPG in genre, not textbook definition.
_Also, just because they didn't specifically say it, that doesn't mean they didn't say it here. In more words than one, Bioware has admitted to caring more about making a game initially meant to be an RPG shooter hybrid, into a full on shooter. Read their quotes on this again and tell me they aren't telling everyone ME3 is a shooter. Flat out? No, because that's how you leave pseudo wiggle room when those who were hoping for more RPG elements start to fire back. But they certainly are not hiding it's real genre.

Also, the ladders thing you mentioned would be interesting to me:

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!)

Bit much with the "dangerous past-time" there, mate. I never implied inferring about something was a bad thing.
Anyway, your interesting idea is not the case, since the article states:
"...Ladders providing access to multi-leveled areas..."
You might be reading more into this than what's actually being said. If it turns out you aren't when actual game footage comes out, I will be wrong and VERY happy. Until then...
...And yes, you were right, the quotes above don't show bragging about ladders. Must've been how the article set it up. I'll concede on that one.

Mate, in the end, I want ME3. Bad. Love Tali, Garrus and Jack. But I want people to stop calling it an RPG just as bad. It's not. ME2 didn't deserve RPG of the year, and ME3 sure as hell doesn't either. Shooter of the year? HELL YES (maybe, yet to see ME3)! Put it in it's genre, especially so that others who badmouth JRPGs and RPGs don't end up looking stupid by bringing up ME in such an argument.
Just a change in definition is all I'm asking now. I get Bioware thinks Call of Duty is an RPG. I just want real RPGs to get the respect they deserve and not get compared to games which should be in another genre. I'd also like to not play the same game over and over (Call of Gear of Effect 2), but in this industry that's probably asking too much (gunplay wise, of course).

 

[theamazingbean]

Ladders are boring, wall-sprinting would be better, jet-packs would be best.

 

[masonfr8kr]

Personally I played ME2 before I ever played ME1. I recently just got the first one because I wanted to see how things could turn out differently if I handled certain things in the first game differently. The inventory screen, less combat-effective biotics, and the different ammo system were a pain at first but after a while it became interesting and fun trying to tweak guns and armor to be more effective against certain enemies and as Shepherd went further and further along on his mission and became more proficient I felt a sense of accomplishment that I had sculpted him into the best warrior I could. When i started playing the same character in ME2 it was a bit uncomfortable how estranged I had become from the ME2 combat system. Sticking to walls like I had velcro on my back and crouching behind chest high walls as my sniper ammo dwindled quickly seemed like a stop backwards. My only wish for ME3 is for the two styles to meet in a happy middle zone but that seems a bit far fetched after seeing what Bioware plans to do with the series. I just hope they know that a game doesn't have to be a Gears of War style shooter just to sell games.

 

[Mikeyfell]

I broke down and cried after reading this.

Call of Duty and Bulletstorm are both incredibly mediocre games. Apart from that it's not even your genre, you make action RPG's, they make shit (I mean really bad First Person Shooters).

Look Bioware if you want to match the sales figures of shitty shitty games like CoD or Gears of War than take out the dry humping and put the sex back in your games, and focus on what you're good at, the writing!

Please your games are the only beacon of hope in my dim pointless miserable existence, I even for gave you for Dragon Age 2 being buggier than that jar of ladybugs I bought at the nursery, so please for the love of all things good and right! Don't do this. It's never too late to un-sellout.

 

[Irridium]

Before I say this, everyone's entitled to their opinion. If you liked ME1 better in every way, that's perfectly alright.

However, I want to know how starting with ass-backwards guns is fun. I can understand starting with very little health and crappy biotics, but starting with guns that can hit everything except what you're aiming for is fun. It's actually quite annoying. Granted, you do have allies but they're almost as ass-backwards as the starting guns, and that doesn't level up. I understand that this isn't a shooter, and that's fine, but leveling up should have allowed you a greater selection of weapons with which to decimate the opposition, not to make your assault rifle 10% less ass. I see no reason why that would be fun in any RPG pretending to be a shooter, or shooter pretending to be an RPG. It just doesn't sound like a good idea.

I'll agree that ME2 started off more along the lines of Gears of War, but you still got different things. You got different guns and you leveled up and you had points to spend on stuff, which is very different from Gears of War in which leveling up comes from the skill and intelligence and wisdom you gain from progressing forward (i.e., you make dumbass mistakes at first and get wiser as the game goes on.

As for the infinite ammo vs. limited ammo argument - I was more bothered by the long time I had to wait for the gun overheating to go down than I was for the two-second reload time. However, neither bothered me much. Bioware's reason for this was that it reduced the time you had to wait for cooldown, but I don't buy that because if thermal clips were more efficient, then why the hell didn't they keep them in the first game?

Finally, I think ME3 is going to be a shooter with some true RPG elements (a good story that changes with your options, experience points, etc.) but the "shooter" part is definitely going to ring true throughout the game.

It will be welcome in my library.

With the guns, if you fired from cover, and in bursts, your guns were accurate enough to get the job done. If you were running around holding down the trigger, of course your shots are going to go everywhere. But they still go inside the reticle. Again, if you just took your time with your shots, and didn't hold down the trigger and fire everywhere, you'd do fine. And you do get a greater selection of weapons as you level up. Both from finding them on enemies and buying them.

And yes, you did get different things in ME2, but they weren't really better then your standard gear. They were essentially sidegrades, rather then upgrades. Which is not a bad thing, but you still don't improve your armor or weapons that much. You just pick a gun for your playstyle, and use it throughout the whole game without changing it, or getting a better version, or anything like that.

And its pretty hard to make mistakes with the leveling system or the gameplay. It was simplified so much that the only mistake you could make is just not leveling up. As for the gameplay, the biggest mistake you could make with it is to not get in cover.

As for the reloading, all they had to do is lower the time it takes for a weapon to cool off, or let us press a button to make it cool down faster.

 

[katsumoto03]

Why are people getting so goddamn pissed off at the fact that it's becoming more of a shooter than an RPG? So fucking what? What's so wrong with shooters?

Mass Effect 3 is going to be fucking awesome and if you disagree you can go fuck yourself.

/rant

 

[Tdc2182]

I missed the loot system in Mass Effect 1 with the guns and armor.

2 made the visceral combat a little more appealing, but (and I hate to say it), the 2nd's combat felt dumbed down to me.

 

[Bebus]

Aw bless, so many people who think that having a playable combat system stops a game from being an RPG.

I hope they keep the vast majority of ME2 changes, but restore some (just some!!) of the ME1 aspects. The weapons themselves were a vast improvement. Some people seem to think that you actually had a choice in ME1. You did not. You chose the one with the biggest numbers. In ME2 you could choose strategically from weapons with very different aspects.

I want them to restore the old 'upgrade' system, choosing weapon mods and ammo, whilst keeping the actual weapon system from 2. Merge the overheat and heat clip system, so you have a limited number of heat sinks, adaptable across all weapons, but they cool down when not in use. Make armour more selective instead of the 'one size fits all' of ME2: biotic barriers stop biotic attacks but not tech. Vice versa with shields. Armour reduces damage but can't be 'broken'.

The multiple levels thing sounds really interesting, as long as there aren't huge pauses to climb ladders!

Bioware have been...iffy... recently, but I hope ME3 makes up for it all. Their reputation is going to depend upon it!

 

[Mr. Omega]

I love the QQ from the fans. "Bioware is dead! They BETRAYED us!" God, they all sound like a bunch of children. "I don't like what they're doing, and anyone who does is an idiot who can't appreciate a REAL RPG!"

 

[Dracain]

Personally I played ME2 before I ever played ME1. I recently just got the first one because I wanted to see how things could turn out differently if I handled certain things in the first game differently. The inventory screen, less combat-effective biotics, and the different ammo system were a pain at first but after a while it became interesting and fun trying to tweak guns and armor to be more effective against certain enemies and as Shepherd went further and further along on his mission and became more proficient I felt a sense of accomplishment that I had sculpted him into the best warrior I could. When i started playing the same character in ME2 it was a bit uncomfortable how estranged I had become from the ME2 combat system. Sticking to walls like I had velcro on my back and crouching behind chest high walls as my sniper ammo dwindled quickly seemed like a stop backwards. My only wish for ME3 is for the two styles to meet in a happy middle zone but that seems a bit far fetched after seeing what Bioware plans to do with the series. I just hope they know that a game doesn't have to be a Gears of War style shooter just to sell games.

I could not agree more, though I must say that the comparison to Bulletstorm and CoD worries me. Honestly though, I would just appreciate not having all my powers on the same cooldown. Oh, and making later difficulties a tad more doable as a biotic, yes I know it's doable, but all the resistances are insane (no pun intended). Really, I just hope for different cooldowns on power though, that would make my day.

 

[Saviordd1]

I can hear it now "Wahhhh, games not an RPG anymore since it has better shooter elements, wahhhh" dumb idiots