No "Meaningless Stat Games" in Mass Effect 3

[bob1052]

I'm looking forward to seeing how Mass Effect 3 is received.

It sounds like Bioware is making the game for who they think their fans are and that they are going to be in a rude awakening when it's out.

Its gonna be Dragon Age 2 all over again and between the failure of that franchise, how badly TOR is shaping up to be, and the direction they seem to be wanting to move in with Mass Effect 3, Bioware is very quickly moving from one of the best to one of the worst AAA developers.

 

[rsvp42]

This just means that when we spend points, we know what's changing. No pointless math equations giving the false impression of depth. Besides, if RPG purism is getting in the way of a better Mass Effect, then RPG purists can screw off.

I'm so glad that my love of leveling, looting, and tactics is now relegated to "meaningless stat games".

When did they say they were removing leveling, tactics, or looting?

 

[Compatriot Block]

Oh god, incoming rage. Prepare thyselves, Bioware. Hell hath no fury like an entitled gamer scorned.

So anyone who has some standards is somehow branded "entitled" these days? Nice...

Notice that in my post, I said entitled gamers will complain. Did I say that everyone who disagreed was entitled? Although I greatly enjoy you both putting words in my mouth and acting as if anyone with "standards" will be upset with this news.

 

[shadowform]

Stop raging.

One major problem Bioware fixed from ME1 to ME2 was the fact that, since enemies scaled according to your level, you could never really get a distinct advantage by upgrading your weapons (unless you found something exceptionally higher than what enemies would drop, as with Spectre weapons). ME2 fixed this by not constantly upgrading from weapon to weapon within the same category.

Again, though, ME2 had this same unnecessary scaling with the "+X% damage" bonuses in ME2: enemies still scaled and scaled according to your approximate power, so instead of your base weapon actually getting any stronger, all of the other weapons would get weaker over time.

From the sounds of it ME3 is going to skip all of this and go for a Call of Duty-style talent and experience system, which - in all honesty - is probably going to be the best place to take it. Whats the point of a stat system when the entire difference is doing 10 hp against an enemy with 100 at the start of the game, and 100hp against an enemy with 1000 at the end of the game?

 

[SageRuffin]

So long as there's no scaled leveling (or at least, not like in ME2 where all those nice new upgrades ultimately didn't mean shit), and I can actually, you know, play the role of my specific flavor of Shepard, I'm happy.

Hmm... I keep thinking about Vanquish every time I hear more news about combat overhauls. And goddamn that game was awesome...

 

[Jumplion]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, okay, whatever, we get it, combat is more fluid and smooth and whatever.

What about the non-combat aspects? I want to know where I'll be traveling, will vehicles return? Will these still be linear corridors? What customization options do I have? Who is on my side and who isn't? What is the state of the Citadel and the Council in the wake of Earth's invasion? C'mon, it's supposed to be a friggin' Space Opera, not another action-packed blockbuster as much as we may love those at times!

My thoughts exactly. All of these announcements about Mass Effect's combat are making me nervous. Gears of War and Call of Duty are where we go when we want mindless shooting, Bioware games are where we go when we want messy moral decisions and fantastic and creative environments.

Get that straight, Bioware.

Really, now that I think about it, if Mass Effect 2's combat was pretty much where the team wanted to go, why are they continuously telling us this about Mass Effect 3? If it's what you wanted then there should be no reason why you are constantly telling us this. Give us information about the (most likely pointlessly binary) decisions we're going to have to make, the state of the Council, Shepard's Spectre ranking, all that good stuff.

See, this is when I get frustrated that I can't talk to the guys in charge directly. I want to tell them, face-to-face, exactly what I thought about Mass Effect 1 and 2 and the changes they made, both good and bad (not screaming in their face, mind you) because there is only so much you can get across through text. Instead, I have to resort to pointlessly typing away my thoughts on a forum that most likely will never even be glanced at by the BioWare team. And even making a video would be pointless as people would go "Durh hur, you RPG-fanboy!" and BioWare still would not bother with it.

Sometimes I feel we forget that there are people behind these companies who want to make the best damn game possible, and that these people in the companies forget that we want to recieve the best game possible. Sure, it'd be hard to discern the real criticisms and grievances to the fanboys and trolls, but still...

Bleh, end rant.

 

[RedEyesBlackGamer]

This just means that when we spend points, we know what's changing. No pointless math equations giving the false impression of depth. Besides, if RPG purism is getting in the way of a better Mass Effect, then RPG purists can screw off.

I'm so glad that my love of leveling, looting, and tactics is now relegated to "meaningless stat games".

When did they say they were removing leveling, tactics, or looting?

Looting was gone in ME2, as was in depth leveling and combat was much less tactical and more fast paced. Seems to be what he is referencing.

 

[sneakypenguin]

Love this, anything to piss off traditional gamers amuses me. You can keep your minute level upgrades .01 sec to lift length etc, and exploring baren planets with about 15 textures. I'll take streamlined combat and bioware story over that crap any day.

 

[Traun]

Oh god, incoming rage. Prepare thyselves, Bioware. Hell hath no fury like an entitled gamer scorned.

So anyone who has some standards is somehow branded "entitled" these days? Nice...

Notice that in my post, I said entitled gamers will complain. Did I say that everyone who disagreed was entitled? Although I greatly enjoy you both putting words in my mouth and acting as if anyone with "standards" will be upset with this news.

I must admit, I was presumptuous. However you must admit that the line you used has been used a lot in order discard complains about certain games and gaming trends.

 

[Mahorfeus]

Remember that crap in Morrowind, where even if your arrow happens to hit your target head on, you will be told that "Your Dexterity is too low to hit this target" if it isn't high enough? Oblivion ended up fixing that, involving stats too much in real-time combat can just be a real pain in the ass if it isn't done right. Mass Effect 1 and 2 both screwed it up in their own ways - making the stat adjustments more subtle might actually be a good thing.

 

[Phlakes]

Love this, anything to piss off traditional gamers amuses me. You can keep your minute level upgrades .01 sec to lift length etc, and exploring baren planets with about 15 textures. I'll take streamlined combat and bioware story over that crap any day.

Or, you know, they could have streamlined combat, a Bioware story, AND RPG elements at the same time.

 

[Jumplion]

I don't have to literally farm entire galaxies to just upgrade Garrus' calibration cannon, or?

Hang on a sec, I'll respond to that once I calibrate this post;

 

[Altorin]

they can do whatever they want to it. As long as the game is the same feeling, I'll love it because I loved both Mass Effect 1 and 2. If ME3 is even as different from ME2 as ME2 was to ME1, I'll be fine with it.

 

[RedEyesBlackGamer]

I don't have to literally farm entire galaxies to just upgrade Garrus' calibration cannon, or?

Hang on a sec, I'll respond to that once I calibrate this post;

That ticked me off about ME2 too. Garrus had next to no dialogue for a male Shepard. I understand he was a squad mate in ME, but it got insulting after a certain point.

 

[Jumplion]

Here's what I'm wondering

Yeah, yeah, yeah, okay, whatever, we get it, combat is more fluid and smooth and whatever.

What about the non-combat aspects? I want to know where I'll be traveling, will vehicles return? Will these still be linear corridors? What customization options do I have? Who is on my side and who isn't? What is the state of the Citadel and the Council in the wake of Earth's invasion? C'mon, it's supposed to be a friggin' Space Opera, not another action-packed blockbuster as much as we may love those at times!

My thoughts exactly. All of these announcements about Mass Effect's combat are making me nervous. Gears of War and Call of Duty are where we go when we want mindless shooting, Bioware games are where we go when we want messy moral decisions and fantastic and creative environments.

Get that straight, Bioware.

How are messy moral decisions and fantastic and creative environments mutually exclusive with shooting from behind chest-high walls?

They're not, I just feel that BioWare have been unnecessarily pumping up the combat to their game when they've given us little information about anything else. It's great they have more stramlined combat, whatever, I don't care about that right now, I want the juicier bits to this.

 

[Duskflamer]

Having given it some thought, I think that this announcement on it's own doesn't warrant too much panic, it's when this is combined with the earlier announcement that EA wants Mass Effect 3 to appeal to as wide an audience as possible that the panic begins (though only begins) to become justified. Streamlined combat is good, dumbed down combat for the point of attracting CoD fans is not good. I don't think I'd truly mind substantial upgrades much if I wasn't afraid that the only reason they're going this direction is because they want to attract people who are too thick headed to register anything less than a drastic change.

 

[ZeZZZZevy]

People do realize RPG stands for "Role-Playing Game" right? As in the point is a deep story, not a crapload of minor stat increases and equations. As long as the story and character development is still really good I think it's still gonna be a blast.

However, I'm reserving judgement until I get more concrete information. These vague comments are just plain unhelpful.

 

[Jumplion]

I don't have to literally farm entire galaxies to just upgrade Garrus' calibration cannon, or?

Hang on a sec, I'll respond to that once I calibrate this post;
*snip*

That ticked me off about ME2 too. Garrus had next to no dialogue for a male Shepard. I understand he was a squad mate in ME, but it got insulting after a certain point.

Seriously, I was honestly offended, it was like he didn't want to spend time with his old buddy anymore! Always calibrations, calibrations, calibrations! You'd think he got off on those calibrations of his!

 

[Paksenarrion]

Mass Effect 3...by the producers of Heavy Rain.

Press X to "Reapers".

 

[RedEyesBlackGamer]

Look, they tell me the BS Renegade/Paragon system is gone, and I'll be on board. It is probably my biggest complaint along with the dialogue wheel.