Mass Effect: Thermal Clips vs Overheating

[nick2150]

I was wondering what peoples thoughts were on Thermal clips vs ME1s overheat system.

I heard that the reason they changed the system was due to complaints from gamers, but I personally much prefered ME1 with a cooldown for wepons and was somewhat irritated by the introduction of thermal clips but now I guess I dont notice much.


I also liked the fact that the speed of cooldown was an important factor when modding weapons. I was interested in what you guys thought though

 

[The_Blue_Rider]

I like both systems, but I prefer thermal clips, made things a bit more tactical. It also meant I could go insane with an assault rifle or shotgun without overheating, if fact you actually output more bullets with thermal clips in a shorter amount of time if you're using an assault rifle, shotgun or sniper rifle. It makes the game flow a bit faster.

That being said, in real life I would prefer unlimited ammo, that shit would be cash

 

[Terminate421]

Thermal Clips make me feel like a boss when I reload and lessen my suspension of disbelief. Playing through Mass Effect 1 was like playing Halo on Heroic with a Plasma Rifle, Beam Rifle, and Pistol with unlimited ammo, and I could only use those.

 

[Bertylicious]

I preffered the overheat system. Going from that, adopted because it meant weapons had infinite ammo with the inherant benefits that provides from strategic point of view, to thermal clips and limited ammo was pretty jarring to my sense of disbelief.

I do like how they amended the weapons though; made them more distinct from one another.

 

[dimensional]

I preferred overheating but I wouldnt have minded clips I just found it odd they retconned everything and called it an advancement in technology er yeah sure infinte ammo to finite ammo sure is some advanced shiz. Maybe they should have had thermal clips to reduce the overheat but if they ran out the gun could still be fired but you would have to wait for it to cooldown like in the first one.

Also I found it pretty odd the entire galaxy had not only changed it weapons to the less advanced ones but had supposedly wiped the previous guns from the face of history you cant even buy them second hand and dont see them anywhere.

Yeah anyway overheat was more fun for me a high powered sniper rifle with top explosive ammo that would overheat with everyshot was awesome, extreme power with some pretty hefty drawbacks.

 

[Dandark]

I much preffered the overheat system. I found it to be pretty fun and something different for a change rather than just ammo then reload. One of the downsides of ME2 for me was the introduction of Thermal clips, why couldn't they have just kept at least one crappy pistol or something that used overheat?

 

[NinjaDeathSlap]

Didn't dislike either, but preferred Thermal Clips.

The problem with the cooldown system was that it threw the difficulty curve way out of whack. At the start of the game, where you should be getting eased into the experience, it's grind you teeth frustrating how quickly your guns overheat, but then at some point about 2/3 of the way through, when the challenge should really be starting to pick up, the game just gets pathetically easy because it becomes almost impossible to overheat even in the most frantic of firefights.

That's not to say there wouldn't have been ways to improve this system and make it more balanced, rather than just scrapping it completely. But yeah, in ME1 it's execution was kinda poor.

 

[HarryScull]

the overheat system when I used it led to long patches of combat hidden behind a wall then about 5 seconds of shooting an assault rifle at a geth sniper, doing very little damage followed by another long patch behind the wall

thermal clips made game play much more fast-paced and tactical which I liked

 

[lapan]

I also prefered the overheat system since you got thermal clips in such amount anyway that you never really ran out except maybe in the final bossfight.

 

[RJ 17]

I actually like the conversation you have with Conrad Verner in ME 3 on this very subject as, from a militaristic standpoint, he's arguing the logical stance: "Thermal clips? Well that sounds stupid. Why don't we just go back to limited ammunition while we're at it!"

Technically I still say the infinite ammo guns were better, but I can see why they switched to the clips. For one it makes it more actiony having to reload and send a clip flying. But also there was the fact that you could slap a heatsink onto an assault rifle (the specter one, in particular) and have a gun that never overheats, has incredible accuracy, and does great damage. So in short, the clips kept guns from getting too overpowered.

As for which on I prefer in the end...eh, I've gotten used to the clips. I mean it's not like there's ever a shortage of ammo to worry about so you still technically have infinite...I mean hell, every battlefield is littered with piles of clips. And like I said, they make the game more actiony so I'll go with them.

 

[endtherapture]

I miss modding my shotgun with explosive ammo which killed evrything in 1 hit but also overheated in 1 hit.

 

[bluesession]

From a lore point of view I liked the overheating.
The termal clips systems was just a gameplay mecanic that was lazily explained and it never made real sense.

That said I belive the combat system in ME2 and ME3 are far more fun than ME1. So... If thermal clips helped make the combat more fun, I guess I don't have that much against it.

 

[Indecipherable]

I preferred the thermal clips.

The overheating was just mind boggling from a 'realistic' perspective. Some of the guns could be shot just a single time before having a substantial cooldown (sniper rifles), and it just made so little sense. I can't imagine the distant future having something so ... pathetic... as their weapons.

 

[Sixcess]

I prefered the thermal clips. ME2's combat wasn't exceptional, but it was better than ME1, in which I strolled through more or less the entire game using only the assault rifle because there was really very little reason to bother using anything else.

 

[Nami nom noms]

The weirdest part for me was how ALL the weapons in the WHOLE galaxy swapped from overheating ones to thermal clip ones in 2 years.

I realised that they obviously thought the combat was too easy in ME1 and decided to change it.
As for which is better? gameplay wise, the thermal clips. Reality wise, the overheating guns.

 

[Kahunaburger]

Well, it's not like you ever have ammo problems in the games if you play smart, so from a gameplay perspective it basically boils down to a quicker reload.

 

[Zack Alklazaris]

I preferred overheating. Most people tended to complain that it made the game too difficult, but I didn't find an issue and I found it to fit better into the ME universe.

It also gave a give and take system. Sure I could make a bad ass sniper rifle with a 1 hit kill, but it would overheat after every shot. So I do accept the downtime or do I get a lower damaging one that wont overheat?

It was a wonderful system.


Oh I liked the Mako too!

(Flame shield up)

 

[Fuhrlock]

The weirdest part for me was how ALL the weapons in the WHOLE galaxy swapped from overheating ones to thermal clip ones in 2 years

Even the ship Jacob's dad was on that crashed 10 years ago and never made contact until you reached them has thermal clips. Maybe the whole galaxy just had them in reserve ready for the grand switch over lol.

Personally preferred the overheat system since it worked better with weapon modding, be it the assualt rifle which was near impossible to overheat or my personal favourite the sniper rifle good for one shot before it overheats but strong enough to burst down almost anything. Thermal clips just feels like a step backwards and I end up just being neurotic about not using up all my ammo and just spam biotic/tech abilities in place of actually shooting things (I know ammo is pretty much everywhere but I've been paranoid since the first time I ever ran out of shots lol)

 

[Dryk]

I don't have an opinion on thermal clips from a gameplay perspective... but from a lore perspective I despise them