EA Tweaking Mass Effect 3 to Appeal to Wider Market

[The.Bard]

Also, someone refresh me, are there any other console rpgs set in space? That aren't shit?
And aren't Star Wars related?

I mean, is there a Firefly to Mass Effect's Battlestar Galactica?

Outside of the Star Wars related Knights of the Old Republic, I got nothing. If you pause it a lot and pretend it's an RPG, there's Halo...

That does mean they're going to dumb it down, because the designers at bioware have no idea what they're doing. 'RPG in SPACE' is about the only selling point Mass Effect had, and moving away from that seems kinda, well, stupid.

I try to ignore these kinds of comments, but really, who put liquid cocaine in your coffee this morning? The designers at Bioware have no idea what they're doing? Think about that statement for a few seconds. Ponder what it means. No idea what they're doing? At all? Don't you think that you're being a teeeeeeensy bit, maybe just a smidgen, over-the-top melodramatic there? And by "smidgen," I really mean A LOT. I imagine you rolling around on your bed with your left arm covering your eyes as you type this whilst you sigh profoundly.

ME2 wouldn't have garnered so much critical praise if it was programmed by morons. No Game of the Year. No 90-somethingish on metacritic. Can we please put this one vague statement made to investors into perspective, just a little? I'll even give you one of my Mass Effect themed tissue wipes to blot away your tears.

 

[Michael Logan]

Thats it! No way im buying this game day 1 anymore, made that mistake with DA2, Im waiting for the reviews.

 

[Sartan0]

I flinch at the words 'broad market appeal', but in reality, this probably just means the shooting in the game will be more satisfying.

I hope you are right! I really hope this was not Bioware trying to balance things out then EA looking at the game and going: "No, get back in the kitchen and make it more shooter."

 

[Sartan0]

Thats it! No way im buying this game day 1 anymore, made that mistake with DA2, Im waiting for the reviews.

Yeah, my trust in Bioware has taken a hit.

I still have not picked up DA:2. Still waiting for a better sale on steam or elsewhere.

I am sad I missed the $35 Portal sale at amazon though.

 

[Kair]

Can anybody give me an example of when "tweaking to appeal to a wider market" did not mean "dumbing down"?

I know! Spore!
I was right, yes?

 

[Jabberwock xeno]

Anytime someone working on the game says "shooter-meets-RPG", read it as: 'a shooter with dialog options'.

As if Mass Effect 2 wasn't dumbed down and turned into a first person shooter enough.

Borderlands?

That was truly a FPS RPG hybrid.

 

[Hawkeye16]

Did they say WHAT they were tweaking? No? Then shut the fuck up and stop assuming the game is being dumbed-down based on information you pulled out of your ass.

Its BIOWARE people! Have some faith!

 

[bombadilillo]

Did you read the article? Or the title?

 

[Ziggy]

Did they say WHAT they were tweaking? No? Then shut the fuck up and stop assuming the game is being dumbed-down based on information you pulled out of your ass.

Its BIOWARE people! Have some faith!

i had faith. then they made dragon age 2 appeal to a wider market

 

[Nohra]

I'll only be pissed if there are only two levels and one big shiny skill that says "Kill Everything" that you unlock at level two.

 

[Odoylerules360]

because the designers at bioware have no idea what they're doing. 'RPG in SPACE' is about the only selling point Mass Effect had, and moving away from that seems kinda, well, stupid.

I try to ignore these kinds of comments, but really, who put liquid cocaine in your coffee this morning? The designers at Bioware have no idea what they're doing? Think about that statement for a few seconds. Ponder what it means. No idea what they're doing? At all? Don't you think that you're being a teeeeeeensy bit, maybe just a smidgen, over-the-top melodramatic there? And by "smidgen," I really mean A LOT. I imagine you rolling around on your bed with your left arm covering your eyes as you type this whilst you sigh profoundly.

I'm talking about the designers, not the programmers. And I know it sounds like an off-the-cuff statement, but that's the feeling I got all through playing mass effect one, two, all the DLC, and trying kotor and the dragon ages. It seems like they're just guessing at stuff and hoping it works, with no cleverness or understanding of what would make a great game mechanic. Like in kotor (whichever version it was that I played) the combat was the d20 system ripped straight from DnD, and it wouldn't suprise me if the game was using a random number from 1 to 20 to figure out combat (keep in mind I only played for an hour). In ME2, you can zoom with the SR and pause with power wheel to line up perfect shots every time; this is what Yahtzee meant about enemies "whistling jaunty tunes through the holes in their heads", and it's completely game-breaking. You also have the planet scanning mechanic. In ME1 you have the mako that drives like shit. In DA2 (played demo only) you have the the combat that is just button mashing, and they make the players write their own AI script (so maybe I blame the programmers a bit).

To me, at least, it seems like they just start with the 'Bioware game' template (story, characters, choices, inventory), imitate other game mechanics, and guess at what they should add. When I play ME1, I get the feeling that it wasn't designed by clever geniuses, but by some really lucky monkeys with a whiteboard.

I just can't play a Bioware game, and imagine a game designer that really knew what he or she was doing.

 

[rembrandtqeinstein]

Combat in ME 2 SUCKED. It was the most boring aspects of Gears of Bore without any of the satisfying curbstoping and goriness.

And be cause combat was so insipid your leveling up choices really didn't matter at all. The fact that each ability had a capstone power and they all shared a cooldown meant that you really could only focus on your one best active ability then finish out your passive to be optimal. There was no bonus for having lots of different abilities.

Oh and add to that the eye candy screenshot ability CHARGE was useless 3/4 of the time due to either level design or enemy shielding. No wonder everyone played a soldier. His bullet time ability was useful in every fight anytime you used it.

I hope they fix it in ME3 because after the 2nd or 3rd plant I was about to find a mod that just let me skip all of the combats.

 

[chainguns]

Now, I wouldn't agree that it was dumbed down. In some ways the combat is more complex. Item management is streamlined, but that isn't dumbing down either. My problems with DA2 were that it was buggy and that it had a nigh unacceptable amount of asset reuse,

What people refer to usually when they say "dumbed down" is the removal of RPG conventions. You either like them or you don't. If you don't like them, that doesn't make you dumb.

Dragon Age 2 DID remove a ton of RPG conventions. Only 2 useful stats per class. No need for positioning on moves like backstab. Companion armor lockdown. Inventory auto segregation. No crafting. Fewer skills and spells. Removal of non combat skills. Fewer dialog options, etc etc.

RPG conventions do however attract players that want to test their thinking skills rather than their reflexes. These players are in a minority, and they get Dragon Age Origins. Then you have players who generally want to test their reflexes, but also enjoy a nice story and some choices and dialog. This is a larger group. These people get ME. Then there is the group that thinks all dialog is boring, and they just want to shoot. This is the largest group, and they get CoD.

So .... if you were BioWare and (shock!) you wanted to maximize sales on ME3, would you make it like DA:O, like ME2, or like CoD?

 

[Xorph]

I thought Mass Effect 2 was already pretty popular. Must have been my mistake.

It's not as popular as Call of Duty, though, which seems to be what Bioware is dedicated to making now. I don't know why they're even bothering with the 'RPG' pretense anymore.

This Bioware simply isn't the Bioware that made KOTOR anymore. It's time to accept that that Bioware is dead and gone, and that it's been replaced with an even lower-rent Treyarch. The remenants that were still trying to emulate that Bioware when DA and Mass Effect were made have moved on. It's time to permanately lower expectations of their general output to "eh, maybe if I see it in a bargin bin". Goodbye, Bioware. I'll miss you.

Holy crap. Took the words right out of my mouth. I miss the old Bioware D:
This seems to happen with too many of my favorite developers. Partner with a publisher and it becomes all about the money, they hardly care about their loyal fans or what the developer wants to do. Mass Effect 1 was amazing, then Bioware partners with EA and it all goes down the tube. ME2 was dumbed down like crazy because EA wanted to try and appeal to a bigger audience, and it just didn't work. The one thing they fixed was the mixed-up inventory system.
As someone who plans on eventually making games of their own, I'm never going to partner with a publisher. Money means nothing to me, and if working without their assistance means my game takes longer to release, so be it, it'll be worth it in the long run.

 

[meece]

So long as it leans more towards ME1 than 2 I'm happy. Particularly the combat. Oh and the resource gathering, please, please don't turn strip mining planets into a chore again?

 

[elilupe]

In the words of the great Shamus Young, "RPG devlopers are few and far between these days. (Excluding online games, of course.) Of those that are left, nearly all of them are beating the dead, toothless horse of medieval fantasy. Just one space opera. That?s all I wanted. I really don?t think I?m being unreasonable."

 

[bombadilillo]

So long as it leans more towards ME1 than 2 I'm happy. Particularly the combat. Oh and the resource gathering, please, please don't turn strip mining planets into a chore again?

Lol, are you serious? The one thing it will not do is lean more towards ME1.

 

[RobfromtheGulag]

Never having played the first ME, and thus not being a huge fan, this won't bother me as much. But this entire aspect of games having to sell to a wide market really sticks in my craw. I wish there were a little firmer middle ground rather than low budget indie games and AAA cater to the 6 y.o. to 96 y.o. demographics.

 

[meece]

So long as it leans more towards ME1 than 2 I'm happy. Particularly the combat. Oh and the resource gathering, please, please don't turn strip mining planets into a chore again?

Lol, are you serious? The one thing it will not do is lean more towards ME1.

Of course it won't, I am however allowed to dream. At least....I could the last time I checked. Might be some legislation about that these days.