EA Tweaking Mass Effect 3 to Appeal to Wider Market

[Xanthious]

Here, I will just say the same thing I said in the last thread. . . . .

Well I can't be too harsh I mean look how awesome Dragon Age 2 was when they had it "Appeal to a wider audience" . . . .oh wait it was total garbage. In fact I've had more fun wiping shit off of my shoe than I did playing that abortion of a game.

I was previously of the belief that Bioware had just enough autonomy after selling their soul to EA that Mass Effect 3 would be their last (yep last) chance at making what qualifies as a really good game. Sadly, judging by all the talk of broadening the audience it's likely going to be Dragon Age 2 all over again. Hooray for catering to the lowest common denominator !!!

I can't believe I'm about to say this but EA needs to take a note out of Activision's book and treat Bioware the same way Activision treats Blizzard. Even Activision has enough sense that they know not to go fucking around with Blizzard less they risk killing the golden goose. And that's what EA is doing, they are killing their golden goose. Bioware was awesome without EA. However, since getting consumed by the EA machine they have done nothing but decline and decline rapidly. I believe that the day they are just another developer isn't far off. Hell, it might be here already.

 

[Hive Mind]

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.

Sorry to correct you, but I think you mean THIRD person shooter

Damn it!

My vision was distorted when typing that due to an inner nerd rage. That's my excuse.

 

[Conza]

Mass Effect 1 was a great game, but a lot of the RPG elements were just massively tedious. Mass Effect 2 is such a better game because most of the tediousness was stripped out. I can't even play ME 1 anymore because it frustrates me so much in comparison to ME 2. So I'll reserve my judgement until I see ME 3 in action.

To some extent I agree, but I hope ME3 is that happy medium we've been looking for. Bring back the customisation of weapons, and more weapons for that matter, but don't extend it to 10 variants or upgrades of the same type of component, that's the only tedius part.

It would be increbily hard to argue, ME2 had a better leveling system to ME. ME's system was nice and precise, well extended, ME2's was f*cking annoying, atleast IMO, 1+2+3+4? No, I want 1+1+1+1, ect!

The graphics were better in ME2, yes, but the gameplay of ME1 is so much more playable. Story was, maybe better in ME2, but ME1 is the original, it should be the iconic game. In years to come, I hope ME1 and ME3 are remembered 'slightly' more favourably than ME2, without ME2 being left in the dust.

 

[Yarpie]

Gotta say I find the "rage to info"-ratio in this thread very fascinating, especially since some people go as far as to proclaim not only the death of a franchise, but also the developer, due to a fairly nebulous statement made by a publisher to some investors.

Personally I'm not too worried as this statement tells us pretty much nothing. But then again I might just be under reacting. Still, from this thread you almost get the impression that some people are just waiting for a chance to enter a bleeding hearted rage.

 

[Ayjona]

No, clearly you only mean good when you misrepresent the reality of the market by saying that this will only ruin the game.

And I fail to see how acknowledging that I loathe it when people engage in hyperbole to be negative is using hyperbole.

So you equate "dumb down" (which was the words I agreed with) with "ruin"? Interesting.

But yer absolutely right: your loathing does not have to be a hyperbole. If it is not a hyperbole that you loathe when people use hyperboles for the sake of negativity, it is instead a sign of a massive waste of emotion, and possibly an indication of the pressing need for an immediate detachment from online communication, your passion for games, or a revaluation of interpersonal relationships ;-)

Anyways, had I believe you commenced your digital-verbal attack with any intention of reaching some sort of intellectual common ground, or with the intention to actually persuade/discuss/enrich each other through cordial debate, I'd gladly have carried on. But since I do not, I will not. Feel free to scream yourself hoarse in return ;-)

 

[Zhukov]

Now let the nerd rage flow!

Personally I'm not too upset by this. The further the game gets from number-crunching stat-driven boredom, the happier I shall be.

So here's hoping they can pull off the fun and immediacy of gameplay as well as the dialogue and characters.

 

[Antari]

And so the end begins. The investors aren't playing the games. If they make too many changes they'll piss us off, and then that means the investors won't be pleased. Good luck Bioware.

 

[Neyon]

The simple fact is that following a statement such as "to give the game a more broad market appeal" in my experience no developer has released a game that wasn't either a let down or a complete pile of crap.

 

[cheywoodward]

The Mass Effect series is one of my favorite series of all time because of one thing: the story. I don't really care if I can't spend 6 hours making sure my team has the best helmets and boots, I care about the story and characters. As long as combat stays as enjoyable as it was in the second game and the story and freedom of choice remain as great as that of the past two games, I'm down with a little more accessibility in Mass Effect 3.

 

[BrotherRool]

". It's important to remember, however, that this was a comment intended for investors, not gamers, so is undoubtedly lacking in context and detail."

The context being, they don't need to lie or dress-up the statement for investors, because they can tell the truth without driving away fans. IE a statement unfiltered by the non-developer related market machine.

Besides it's already happened, the dialogue and choice depth of Mass Effect 2 was reduced from one (As well as focus on relationships) and is nothing like that of KotoR

 

[ZippyDSMlee]

Why? Is it not dumbed down enough? If you want to sell to the drooling masses outside of normal action gamers why not just make a DVD...it would make you more money.....

 

[mjc0961]

BioWare's Casey Hudson may have previously stated [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/109207-BioWare-Mass-Effect-3-Combat-Perfected] that the combat in Mass Effect 3 would be the best in the series, but that doesn't automatically mean that it will come at the expense of the RPG side. With more than seven months to go before the game comes out, it's probably best to wait until we've seen something more than screenshots before we start making assumptions about the game.

Hey, you can't make sense! You have to immediately condemn this game. Stop being a rational human being!

 

[GGZeta]

I don't want to be alarmist about this, but I am slightly alarmed. To echo the sentiments of previous comments, ME2 had its mechanics simplified enough already for just this exact reason. I can't imagine what kind of tweaks are necessary to make it more approachable... I'd like to finish the story of Shepard (and her lover Garrus) before it becomes Halo with Krogans in.

 

[beema]

This is truly disgusting news. I mean, we already knew that ME3 was going to be changed in some ways -- slightly less RPG-y. But now they are flat out saying that "we are changing it for as broad appeal as possible." This can't mean anything other than making it very average and very bland. When you try and appeal to everyone's tastes, you have to take a way lots of specifics, which, you know, are generally the things that make something stand out amongst the crowd.
Usually when publishers change a game in this way, they try to sugarcoat the news "we are making it more optimized, efficient, energetic" or other such descriptors. That they are just blatantly calling it what it is I find pretty disconcerting. Like they don't even give a shit anymore if they upset fans.
Also, Mass Effect 2 did immensely good. How much more of a broader market does it really need? Not every game has to have CoD numbers, you stupid publishers.

For the record, I thought a lot of the "rpg" systems in ME1 were complete crap. ME2 was lacking in some ways, but I enjoyed the overall game play MUCH more than ME1. I thought it was an appropriate balance. Changing it any further, though, seems like a mistake.

The noble, intelligent RPG gaming master race will die out and be replaced by fat mouthbreathing basement dwellers with glasses and acne!

Wait, I thought the RPG master race WAS the basement dwellers with glasses and acne?

 

[AwesomeNinjaPowers]

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! and WHYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY?

 

[Moonlight Butterfly]

After the total fail of DA2 they are going to do it again? What is wrong with these people? They had everyone celebrating becuase we all thought they were going to put some time into this game now turn around and say they are making it a brown shooter? -.-

Spoiler: disingenuous assertions

 

[gunner1905]

Oh, cmon EA
didn't you already do that to ME2
ME2's combat is already good enough develop the RPG side will you.
ME2 is still better than ME1, but there are still things that ME1 did better (like immersion, just the fact you have to walk out of your spaceship is something that makes ME1 more immersive) and you should focus on adding those things to ME3.
Not the combat, ME2 combats is already top notch

Also maybe put back ME1 inventory system, I know it's broken so fix it don't tear it out of the game,

P.S. Am I the only one who likes the inventory system from ME1?

 

[snark]

I was already nervous when the trailer was released. I don't want Mass Effect to be rooted to Earth. If I wanted to play a game where I run around on Earth and shoot aliens, I'd play ODST or Crysis 2. EA really should back off of Bioware, I don't want to see the last game of the series get fucked up just so EA can make a quick buck.