BioWare Trims Mass Effect 3 Squad to Focus on Deeper Relationships

[Jaime_Wolf]

Good.

ME2 made it work for the most part because the game was almost entirely about the characters with very little independent plot. Given the plot ME3 has to cover, this sounds like a great decision.

Also, I wish people would quit parroting the doom and gloom pronouncements based on the stockholder announcements. Read what the devs are actually saying and it becomes immediately clear that they're being seriously misrepresented.

 

[dibblywibbles]

I want Wrex and Grunt in my party. All hail the Krogan!

that about sums it up for me. I want wrex back and I want him to hurt things, not try to keep the peace.

 

[DarkhoIlow]

As long as I get Garrus and Tali I'm happy.

 

[Conza]

Between Tali, Wrex and Garrus, I'm pretty much satisfied, and even if none of them come back, the newer additions (with the exception of test tube moron), were all fairly good (oh, and generic soldier working for cerberus guy), but I think 6-9 characters is reasonable (7-10 including Shepard).

 

[Jubbert]

As long as they don't almost completely fucking remove some characters from the overall plot (wrex, liara, kaidan/ashley) then it's all good.

Also, more incredibly epic ship to ship combat with Joker yelling SONS-A-BITCHES please.

 

[bl4ckh4wk64]

As long as I can still have Ashley in my party, I'm completely okay with this. Oh, and as long as they don't completely change her like it seems like they're doing. However, if you look at it, the lesser companions can make sense. I mean, Mordin and Thane could be dead, from old age and disease respectively, Garrus could be off being a Vigilante and get killed, Legion could be shut down by the Geth, Wrex probably won't be okay with joining as he has to watch over Tuchunka, etc. I guess a smaller pool would be okay, as long as it's not too small and as long as Ashley isn't another fucking cameo.

 

[Jubbert]

Also, am I the ONLY person that thinks that "dumbing down" the combat is a GOOD idea?

I mean, in my opinion, mass effect has NEVER had a real "RPG"-style combat system. In both ME1 and 2, the battles have been more like third person shooters than RPGs. I actually think that if they drop all the pretenses of saying that it's an RPG and just go all out gears of war style action, that'd be good for everyone. People that like RPG stuff more will still be able to enjoy the incredible story and characters, and people that like shooters more will get some awesome combat.

Before, the combat was too much like a shooter to be enjoyed by RPG fans, and too much like an RPG to be enjoyed by shooter fans. Hopefully now it'll just be one or the other instead of neither side getting theirs.

 

[Jandau]

At which point did I say anything about ME2?

You were saying that the franchise was being dumbed down by reducing the number of squad members. I assumed you were one of the people who were complaining after Mass Effect 2 was released, since that game had roughly the same changes as Dragon Age 2 (limited looting, companions have their own armor, isolated missions, corridors). If you preferred Mass Effect 2 to 1, then I'm not sure what you have to worry about.

Mass Effect 2 demonstrated that adding more squad members only spread the character writing too thin (for the most part), leading to certain party members getting very little characterization outside their loyalty missions. Hence, Garrus calibrating all the goddamn time.

Reducing the number of characters doesn't necessarily mean they'll reduce the total amount of writing, just that more of it gets put into each character. In theory, anyway. I obviously haven't played Mass Effect 3. It could be that everyone is making calibrations this time around, who knows?

[sub]Although the article does say "to focus on deeper relationships".[/sub]

Please don't assume, makes you look like a dick.

I didn't complain about ME2. I thought it was a good game. I complained about DA2 because it was a rushed product that constantly reused environments shamelessly, its encounters were poorly designed and lacked a strong central narrative. Heck, I didn't even mind the lack of item customization that most people bitched about.

Everything I heard so far about ME3 gives me the feeling that DA2 wasn't an isolated incident and that for whatever reason Bioware is trying to rush games out faster and faster, sacrificing quality in the process. Basically, whenever I hear a developer saying "We're doing less of this, and of that, and of this as well..." while at the same time trying to make it sound like a good thing, it never ends well. Never.

 

[LostProxy]

The whole "Shooter RPG" thing is largely an attempt by the gaming industry to look at two of the most popular generes, and hope that if they can convince the fans that such a thing is possible through enough propaganda, than people will accept it. The problem of course being that actual RPG gamers are smarter than that. Shooter fans like the idea because it makes them feel smarter, RPG gamers on the other hand know what makes an RPG, and were there because they like all their numbers, stats, and similar things, and not having those things determining the outcome means they generally aren't going to be happy.

Whoa whoa whoa buddy hold on. Stop talking like you speak for all RPG fans and start talking for yourself. I've been an RPG pen and paper fan long before I was an RPG video game fan so I say this as a player of the genre distilled to one of it's purest forms (the other being completely without rules.) When I played DnD or Shadowrun or Eclipse Phase I knew how it was going to go. I could make my character as solidly as possible but when the action started my dice would be the ruling factor. You could put the odds on your side but chance was always an element. And that's how I liked it.

But video games give another option. An option where you can make the character as you like, have his/her skills determine certain factors, but in the end have the players skill be the final and most important element. I love that. It allows me to have my cake (character generation/progression) and eat it too (actually being able to do something beyond the numbers.) Not all RPG fans like that luck is a final decider when things are going bad. Not all RPG fans like watching the animations of characters hit each other.

Sorry if this was a little bit of a rant but I absolutely hate when people say they're speaking for a whole crowed when they aren't. They're speaking for themselves.

 

[Chronologist]

The problem with having a trilogy RPG is that the third game has to keep all the allies from the previous games. RPGs with a single plotline have it easy, they just kill whoever was unpopular with the fans. However, with the alternate endings of the Mass Effect series and optional deaths, that severely complicates things... especially since Bioware really wants to cut down on the number of squadmates.

My bet is that the squadmates will be Wrex, Tali, Garrus, and Liara, with 4 new characters coming in to fill the ranks. I believe that these new characters will be affiliated with factions that require your help in defeating the Reapers, possibly including the Geth, Council, Earth Gov, and Terminus Systems. All the new squadmates from the second game, should they have survived, will serve as links between Shepard and the organizations they have worked for (Salarian Special Forces, Cerberus, Justicars, etc), and will not act in a party member fashion.

Personally, I'm more interested in how the classes will function. I play Soldiers, Adepts, Engineers, and Vanguards mostly, and I'd like for biotics to not be as terrible as they were in ME2. The game's supported by Presentation, Gameplay, and Story. Bioware has 1 and 3 down, but the actual gameplay suffered in ME2, and if they can balance that, I'll buy ME3 no matter the number of companions or missions.

 

[Shavon513]

MAss Effect 2 was awesome. Even better than the first one. Like I've been saying all along, if ME3 ends up being a combo of the best elements of both games, it will make my friggen year. The Mass Effect and Dragon Age franchises are the best that video games can get. So excited for this sequel! And they can delay as long as they need to, just make the game perfect, Bioware

 

[Programmed_For_Damage]

Liara is supposedly in ME3 according to the Mass Effect Wikia.

I've seen a screen shot in Game Informer where Liara is standing beside you shooting at someone, so yeah she's in it.

I like the idea of a reduced roster. In ME2 half of the cast spent their time "warming the pine" on the Normandy until I took them out on a random planet-scanning side mission out of pity.
From memory I had Miranda, Garrus and Grunt on high rotation. Legion, Samara and Thane made handy subs. Mordin, Jacob, Tali (sorry fanboys) and Jack only really came along for their personal missions.

 

[subtlefuge]

If they promise a satisfying conclusion to your romance choice(s) then I could guarantee that nobody would be angry.

However, with their track record of game endings, giving players the kind of news they have been lately isn't a good idea.

I mean seriously: major Bioware spoilers for KOTOR and Dragon Age below.

Spoiler: KOTOR and Dragon Age

Awesome games that when you get to the end, you find out that it was all a secret society of supernatural builders that created the evil force for good, or that you will have to perform a voodoo ritual out of nowhere to survive the final encounter.

I mean they give us great writing, but they have never proven themselves capable of writing a good ending, and that makes me wary of the entire game.

 

[Jubbert]

But Subtlefuge, the only goal in a loving relationship is the end reward of getting laid!

EDI: That was a joke.

 

[CommanderKirov]

If they promise a satisfying conclusion to your romance choice(s) then I could guarantee that nobody would be angry.

However, with their track record of game endings, giving players the kind of news they have been lately isn't a good idea.

I mean seriously: major Bioware spoilers for KOTOR and Dragon Age below.

Spoiler: KOTOR and Dragon Age

Awesome games that when you get to the end, you find out that it was all a secret society of supernatural builders that created the evil force for good, or that you will have to perform a voodoo ritual out of nowhere to survive the final encounter.

I mean they give us great writing, but they have never proven themselves capable of writing a good ending, and that makes me wary of the entire game.

I give you KoTOR (And even that is quite far fetched) but how does the DA fit in that description?

 

[Hawgh]

Seems fine to me. Those of my favourite RPGs that I can think of right now had about half as many followers/companions/whatever as the Mass Effect games.

 

[Swny Nerdgasm]

Wait, am I the only one who didn't like Tali and purposely made sure she died in the suicide mission?

 

[irequirefood]

I hope I didn't mess with my game too much. I'm expecting both Miranda and Jack to be mad at me, because I managed to sleep with both of them, and then finally settled on Tali afterwards.

I am hoping for at least Tali, Garrus, Wrex and Liara.

 

[Jubbert]

Wait, am I the only one who didn't like Tali and purposely made sure she died in the suicide mission?

HOW COULD YOU BE SO CRUEL.

 

[Swny Nerdgasm]

Wait, am I the only one who didn't like Tali and purposely made sure she died in the suicide mission?

HOW COULD YOU BE SO CRUEL.

She annoyed me