BioWare Shows Off Skills Trees and Weapon Mods for Mass Effect 3

Logan Westbrook

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Feb 21, 2008
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BioWare Shows Off Skills Trees and Weapon Mods for Mass Effect 3


If you miss the tweaking and fine-tuning in Mass Effect games, then you're in for a treat with Mass Effect 3.

The Mass Effect series has something of a Goldilocks problem when it comes to its RPG elements. The first game had a few too many - or at least, too many for the systems to comfortably handle - the second game had too few, and the third game, well, the third game will be just right if BioWare is to be believed. BioWare has said for months that Mass Effect 3 would be much better blend of action and RPG than previous titles, and at San Diego Comic Con last week, the studio put its money where its mouth is.

SDCC was the first opportunity that the general public has had to play Mass Effect 3. BioWare presented a short, combat-orientated demo, which besides showcasing the improvements to the actual aiming, shooting, and crouching behind waist-high walls that makes up Mass Effect's combat, gave the studio the chance to show off the depth that it has re-introduced to the game's systems. As promised, players are able to modify weapons again - the demo had a workbench which allowed players to equip equipment like silencers and scopes - and tinker with a weapon's rate of fire and stability.

Skills also have some more depth. The biotic skill Warp, for example, has six different branches that the player can pick. What's more, he or she can pick a different branch for each member of the crew, allowing a great degree of specialization within the party. Players who aren't interested in fine-tuning their party won't have to suffer either, as there's an option to let the game make the choices for you.

With over six months to go before the game comes out, there's a lot that can change, but it sounds like BioWare is really trying to balance the action and RPG elements properly. No doubt there will be some who won't be swayed by this and will remain convinced that BioWare has sold out, but for the rest of us, there's cause to be cautiously optimistic that Mass Effect 3 could be the best in the series.

Source: Destructoid [http://www.destructoid.com/sdcc-interview-mass-effect-3-206926.phtml?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Destructoid+%28Destructoid%29]


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Dr. wonderful

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Logan, I swear to you.

Someone, somewhere is going to frecking whine about this. It's bioware fans, they complain about EVERYTHING.
 

Fappy

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Ever since the first shots of the skills trees came out of E3 I have been really excited about what they're doing with the system. It looks promising.
 

Proverbial Jon

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Nov 10, 2009
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I loved Mass Effect.

I loved Mass Effect 2.

Perhaps you can see where this is going...

Do what you like Bioware, I've trusted you thus far and you have not failed me.
 

JaredXE

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I'm going to disagree with the "The first game had a few too many - or at least, too many for the systems to comfortably handle " bit, and say instead that it had too many RPG elements than the Gears and COD crowd could handle. Yeah, you had a lot of stuff in the inventory....so the hell what? Sell it or convert to omni-gel and get on with the mission you lazy asses. Too much character customization? How so? It IS a role-playing game, I think allowing myself to decide if Shepard is going to be good with electronics or biotics should be my ongoing decision, not choose a class that almost decides for me.

Mass Effect one was great. Two had tighter combat, but dumbed down depth of gameplay.


Also....heat sink ammo? Dumbest fucking idea ever in a world where they already established near ammo-less weapons.
 

IamQ

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Sounds nice. Now let's hope it's also easy to manage, and doesn't have a strange interface. But that probably won't be an issue.
 

Troublesome Lagomorph

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I disagree with the first having too many RPG aspects and agree with the second having too little. Honestly, hearing this makes me happy. Seems like it will be a return to ME1 a little more.
 

matrix3509

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It doesn't really matter what they do to the game, the Bioware fanboys are going to baa along like the good little sheep they are.
 

Vrach

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Dr. wonderful said:
Logan, I swear to you.

Someone, somewhere is going to frecking whine about this. It's bioware fans, they complain about EVERYTHING.
Yeah, because there's a thing out there famous enough to end up known to more than a handful of people that's not complained about in some shape or form.
 

LiquidGrape

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JaredXE said:
I'm going to disagree with the "The first game had a few too many - or at least, too many for the systems to comfortably handle " bit, and say instead that it had too many RPG elements than the Gears and COD crowd could handle. Yeah, you had a lot of stuff in the inventory....so the hell what? Sell it or convert to omni-gel and get on with the mission you lazy asses.
Actually, the problem with the inventory in ME1 was that it was an absolutely horrendous design.
It wasn't deep. It was obfuscating.
 

DarthSka

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matrix3509 said:
It doesn't really matter what they do to the game, the Bioware fanboys are going to baa along like the good little sheep they are.
Well, at least I'll be a happy sheep.
 

manythings

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Dr. wonderful said:
Logan, I swear to you.

Someone, somewhere is going to frecking whine about this. It's bioware fans, they complain about EVERYTHING.
It's whiny people, THEY'LL complain about everything. Every dev has that group of screaming monkeys hanging around.

matrix3509 said:
It doesn't really matter what they do to the game, the Bioware fanboys are going to baa along like the good little sheep they are.
Yeah, where do we get off buying games and then enjoying them. If we were true gamers we'd buy stuff we hate and then hate it hardcorez.

JaredXE said:
Also....heat sink ammo? Dumbest fucking idea ever in a world where they already established near ammo-less weapons.
At the beginning over heating your weapon made combat tactical but about a third of the way in you'll have a good enough weapon, with a good enough heat sink and a high enough {weapon of choice} skill to render heat irrelevant for the rest of the game. A self-nullifying challenge is not a challenge.
 

shadowmagus

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matrix3509 said:
It doesn't really matter what they do to the game, the Bioware fanboys are going to baa along like the good little sheep they are.
I sense some repressed anger. Want to lay on the couch and talk about it?
 

Woodsey

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Aug 9, 2009
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JaredXE said:
I'm going to disagree with the "The first game had a few too many - or at least, too many for the systems to comfortably handle " bit, and say instead that it had too many RPG elements than the Gears and COD crowd could handle. Yeah, you had a lot of stuff in the inventory....so the hell what? Sell it or convert to omni-gel and get on with the mission you lazy asses. Too much character customization? How so? It IS a role-playing game, I think allowing myself to decide if Shepard is going to be good with electronics or biotics should be my ongoing decision, not choose a class that almost decides for me.

Mass Effect one was great. Two had tighter combat, but dumbed down depth of gameplay.


Also....heat sink ammo? Dumbest fucking idea ever in a world where they already established near ammo-less weapons.
The inventory was a mess, you'd be hard-pressed to find anyone at all who disputes that.

OT: I'm very "meh" about the stat aspects. If people were playing the first Mass Effect for a deep stats-based experience they were already riding the wrong train.
 

Jandau

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Dec 19, 2008
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Mass Effect didn't have too many RPG elements. It had a bad design. Weapons were unuseable without the corresponding skill (exception being Sentinels and Pistols) and most of the point spending was to get crap like 1% more health or 20 extra Shield points. A lot of points going around for minimal returns, aside from a few "milestone" points where you'd get something significant.

Mass Effect 2 cut out the minor stat upgrades and left in the equivalent of of the major milestones from ME1 where you actually upgraded your abilities (instead of getting tiny stat boosts). This was a much better system in principle, but they also went a bit too far in reducing the number of skill lines.

Hopefully, ME3 will give a greater number of choices, but make sure the choices are significant.

As for weapon mods, I honestly can't say I never got the "they dumbed it down in ME2!" part of the argument. ME2 had more weapons than ME1. ME1 had 4 weapons. That was it. "But you could mod them and get tons of combos!!!". You could mod them and get the same weapon that did a few points of damage extra or some such crap. And no, I don't care about the time you put explosive rounds in your Sniper Rifle, explosive rounds were crap.

ME2 didn't have mods, but the individual weapons were different. There was a significant difference between my Carnifex and Phalanx pistols, between my Mattock and Vindicator rifles, or between my Locust and Tempest SMGs. These weapons behaved differently and were used differently. And that's before we get to the Heavy Weapons. Sure, put the mods back in for ME3, can't hurt. But please don't say that ME1 had greater weapon variety because that's bullpoop.
 

Dr. wonderful

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Vrach said:
Dr. wonderful said:
Logan, I swear to you.

Someone, somewhere is going to frecking whine about this. It's bioware fans, they complain about EVERYTHING.
Yeah, because there's a thing out there famous enough to end up known to more than a handful of people that's not complained about in some shape or form.
Touche'

But I really mean it for this one. Someone is going to get annoy and post a thread about it. Then the thread gets lock.

rinse and repeat.
 

Jandau

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Dec 19, 2008
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Dr. wonderful said:
Vrach said:
Dr. wonderful said:
Logan, I swear to you.

Someone, somewhere is going to frecking whine about this. It's bioware fans, they complain about EVERYTHING.
Yeah, because there's a thing out there famous enough to end up known to more than a handful of people that's not complained about in some shape or form.
Touche'

But I really mean it for this one. Someone is going to get annoy and post a thread about it. Then the thread gets lock.

rinse and repeat.
Can't the same be said about any major game franchise, from CoD to Zelda? New game gets announced, some changes are made, people whine on forums. If no changes are made, people whine on forums. Different people both times, but the whine is still there.
 

ZeroMachine

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Dr. wonderful said:
Logan, I swear to you.

Someone, somewhere is going to frecking whine about this. It's bioware fans, they complain about EVERYTHING.
If it isn't about the games, it's about the other fans whining. Ho lordy.

But either way, I don't get all this "cautiously optimistic" thing that people are saying for ME3. It's looking to be the best in the series. Just be optimistic! Take a risk!
 

JaredXE

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Woodsey said:
The inventory was a mess, you'd be hard-pressed to find anyone at all who disputes that.
I dispute. How was it a mess? You had tabs for every type of gun, armour and grenades. Mods were accessible through mod option on each weapon's tab. HOW IS THIS A MESS? It wasn't hard to navigate, you knew where everything was, and a quick rundown of what you had allowed you to decide what was sellable or not. Weapons and armour had easy comparison options to see what object was better to equip.

Again, it was only complicated to the current FPS crowd. And so it was dumbed down for ME2.