Connectivity

[Apathetic Flamingo]

Extra Punctuation: Connectivity

The space-buggy sections in Mass Effect 2 may have been annoying, but at least they were there.

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Sorry to nit-pick you, Yahtzee, but you said that at least the Space Buggy sequences were at least there in Mass Effect TWO. Haha, sorry, you're a reviewer. It was time to give you a taste of your own medicine.

Anyway, really good XP this week! Will Gareth Gobblecoque be your game's main character.

 

[JEBWrench]

Anyway, really good XP this week! Will Gareth Gobblecoque be your game's main character.

This has to be done. For science!

 

[copycatalyst]

Mass Effect 1 had the connectivity between areas using elevators instead of loading screens, and a lot of people hated it. I played the original on Xbox and the sequel on PC, so I'm not sure if the loading times would differ based on that, but it seems to me that the loading times are not substantially different now. In ME2 the elevators have all been replaced with loading screens, and I doubt anybody would complain, even though it does create a greater break in immersion.

I think it leads to an interesting point, that quite often gamers don't look at individual aspects for their contribution to the game as a whole, but only "how much fun am I having right now." Example: the driving sections were fairly boring and repetitive, but now that the Mako is gone planets cannot be explored manually and thus the galaxy seems smaller. I wouldn't go so far as to say I miss the Mako, but I think I would appreciate its return in ME3, provided that they take the time to make the driving parts more interesting.

 

[Nocta-Aeterna]

No dogfighting? That's really a shame, but I guess it can't be helped.

I wish you good luck with further programming: I'm curious for the end result.

Just a small note on the stealth idea: while visual stealth is viable in outer space, your ship will light up like a World War II searchlight on the infrared spectrum, since radiation is the only possible form of heat disposal in space.
You could perhaps give the player the ability to use his fuel tanks as a temporary heatsink, at the risk of overheating and blowing up his ship.

Or bet on the suspension of disbelief

 

[ewhac]

Maybe I'm showing my age here, but every time I see the Mako, I can't help but think of Ark II [http://archive.perfectduluthday.com/ark_2.jpg].

If you're too young to know what Ark II was [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ark_II], [em]count yourself exceedingly fortunate[/em].

 

[CopperBoom]

*snip*
I forgot that you "earned" fast travel songs. That is a great point. It does help. It forces you to travel the world, but once you have been somewhere you can kind of zip here and there. When done right I think it is a good system.

In Morrowind I never fast traveled because I wanted to feel like I was the avatar. Actually in Daggerfall it was the same way too, but that was long ago. In Oblivion, it was so much more "video-game-y" (for lack of anything resembling a better word) so I fast traveled everywhere. I enjoyed one game as much as the other, but the way the game played influenced how I used the travel systems.

Having not played either Mass Effects, I can't say which method would be better for game experience's sake, but some kind of balance of the two - time saver vs. hugeosity - probably would work. Such as being able to skip an airlock cutscene should you choose to do so. *shrug* As I said, I've not played them.

Agreed. I could not have said it clearer.
I think skipping cutscenes is one way. The elaborate landing and docking you do not *have* to view each time, but can.

You should really try them, ME1 is kind of hard to go back to, but necessary to get into ME2. You just have to think of them as they are. A very focused and lean Sci-Fi action/adventure with a interesting story, visuals and world, plus some RPG elements.

 

[ewhac]

Oh, and regarding enemy AI in space/flight sims: The simple mechanic of nothing more than "Turn toward player" can be remarkably effective.

 

[JEBWrench]

Agreed. I could not have said it clearer.
I think skipping cutscenes is one way. The elaborate landing and docking you do not *have* to view each time, but can.

You should really try them, ME1 is kind of hard to go back to, but necessary to get into ME2. You just have to think of them as they are. A very focused and lean Sci-Fi action/adventure with a interesting story, visuals and world, plus some RPG elements.

They sound interesting enough, but to play them would require too much investment for a work-at-home stepdad trying to keep a small business afloat. (Both financial and temporal).

 

[PrinceoN]

When he talks about a "space sim with fps controls", I start thinking about Air Rivals/Ace Online. Someone Kinda already beat him to the punch into making that kind of game. But I'd be interested to see what kind of gameplay a STEALTH space sim with fps controls would be like.

 

[Jaranja]

I too need a good space sim.
No one can tell me a mixture of Freelancer and Mass Effect wouldn't be the most amazing game ever.

EVE online and Mass Effect 2 would be good when mixed.

eve has a kinda surreal metagame to it... like right now im writing from inside the gate, im on two voice comms, and with a fleet which is taking a break from invading.

Right now, I'm hauling shit to Dodixie in my Badger. Heh.

 

[Lucifron]

Yahtzee, you say it exactly how we mortals would like to. To your article I say: This, a thousand times this!

 

[ZippyDSMlee]

World/locational map you have to walk? Are you crazy how are you going to lead on the tweens and twitch gamers and all these modern noobs from point A to point B? Hell sticking them on the rails in a corridor can get them lost!
/Curmudgeon

Now where was I..ah yes...you know I thought he was going to rip online connectivity there for a bit.... how the more living people you get in a game the dumber ...er.... smaller the experience gets.

Online crap aside it's simple folks its today's design emphasis is on simplification be it gameplay, story, inventory you take whatever it it is simplify it down to where you do not need many if any words to sell it and then move on to the next project with the swagger of I just fooled millions into buying this product....

*sigh* I am getting old.....

 

[reg42]

I never really had that problem with ME2. The "biggest" of it all was fine for me, though I guess that because I didn't really explore that much with the last game, I don't miss exploring so much. The games seem about the same "size" to me.

 

[300lb. Samoan]

So you're making in which you play a parasitic scout ship that will feature Descent style controls and lots of endlessly connected space exploration? Count me in, that sounds fucking great! I loved Descent, I love exploration, and I love the idea about trailing a shark and feasting on its left-overs.

 

[dead_rebel]

I'll just say it. I LOVE the Mako sections. I don't understand why people are so buggied (haha get it...sigh) by it.

 

[Sneaklemming]

I too need a good space sim.
No one can tell me a mixture of Freelancer and Mass Effect wouldn't be the most amazing game ever.

EVE online and Mass Effect 2 would be good when mixed.

eve has a kinda surreal metagame to it... like right now im writing from inside the gate, im on two voice comms, and with a fleet which is taking a break from invading.

Right now, I'm hauling shit to Dodixie in my Badger. Heh.

dodixie is such a rubbish market haha. what ur ingame name, il drop you a line

 

[MelasZepheos_v1legacy]

You know, I have only one request for Yahtzee's space game. I want to be some form of Firefly/Han Solo style mercenary/smuggler, transporting goods from one place to another. It would justify the need to stay under the radar instead of joining big shipping lanes, and it would be a great way to live out my adolescent power fantasies.

I'm sorry, I did have a point. I think ME2 felt very small, even when compared to non-RPG games. Not only is there no more free-reigny exploration going on, but they didn't put any of that into the actual level design, which was pretty damn linear. (Every 'secret bunker' had exactly the same layout as a 'prefab shelter' or 'colony base'. Every mine was a literal copy paste.) In ME2, we have all of the linearity, but unbalanced by the exploration, so it's become incredibly constricted. Pretty much literally the only forms of expresison are in how you react to people now. It's barely an RPG anymore.

 

[jmoore4ska]

As for the simulator thing, i always did the same thing. I still do!

In fact, this whole lack of "bigness" was one of my main complaints in my review of ME2. Not to say i didn't still enjoy it, of course.

 

[Burningsok]

He's statement makes sense. It did feel a little small for how big it actually is. All it needed was good transition from space to land that flew smoothly and not just jumping in and out of the areas. Like he said it needed something like a fly space ship to planet, dock space ship, get off space ship, do mission, run back to space ship, hop back into space ship, and then take off back into space.