So I'm replaying Mass Effect 1...

[dreadedcandiru99]

...and it occurred to me: isn't it kind of odd that every one of your party members carries a pistol, assault rifle, sniper rifle and shotgun, like, all the time? Even if they don't have any points in the skills for some of those weapons? Even if they don't have the skills, period? Even if they never need to use a weapon they're not trained with, and even if you never want to make them?

You'd think they wouldn't bother carrying the extra weight. I certainly wish they wouldn't, if only so that I could avoid, for example, accidentally making Tali pull out a sniper rifle in the middle of a fight and then spend a few potentially critical moments fumbling for her pistol again.

Just a thought.

 

[Last of the Chinchillas]

Absolutely, positively, right. I can't count the number of times I accidentally had someone equip a weapon they had zero proficiency with, which should have never, ever happened. And I lost precious time and health while getting everything back where it should be.

What's the point of Wrex having a sniper rifle if I'm putting all of his points in shotguns and biotic abilities?

Well, hopefully that'll be fixed in Mass Effect 2, but I wouldn't get my hopes up.

 

[sneakypenguin]

If I remember correctly you can actually level weapons your not "skilled" at. It would take multiple playthroughs though. So a pistols only biotic could technically use a shotgun until it was like a normal gun. IDR if it was a perk or what. Maybe I'm just remembering it wrong.

 

[Warrior Irme]

On another note. Couldn't they plan for Mass effect 3, if it goes that far, some multiplayer of some sort. It just seems to me that having 3 members in the party could easily be 3 human players. Sure not splitscreen, but online would be nice.

 

[Canadamus Prime]

You know, I never really thought about it, but you're right. Strange. And I did do that a number of times, accidentally pull out the wrong weapon that is.

 

[dreadedcandiru99]

If I remember correctly you can actually level weapons your not "skilled" at. It would take multiple playthroughs though. So a pistols only biotic could technically use a shotgun until it was like a normal gun. IDR if it was a perk or what. Maybe I'm just remembering it wrong.

Right, I think that's how it works: once you beat the game as, say, a soldier, you can replay as an engineer version of Shepard with a bonus "assault rifles" skill. It just seems, though, that if a given character doesn't have that skill, there's not much point in him/her carrying an assault rifle...

 

[Knight Templar]

On another note. Couldn't they plan for Mass effect 3, if it goes that far, some multiplayer of some sort. It just seems to me that having 3 members in the party could easily be 3 human players. Sure not splitscreen, but online would be nice.

That might have ruined the feel they are aiming for.
Isolation is hard to achieve when you're playing with your buddies.

 

[dreadedcandiru99]

That actually occurred to me the other day, when I too was playing through Mass Effect.

It bothered me, because carrying a pistol makes you look cool.
Carrying a small armory that you can't even use does not.

Oh, and here's the other half of the problem: in my example on the first post, besides the fact that Tali isn't trained with a sniper rifle, she still has the one she started the game with, because I didn't think to get her a better version of a weapon she has no business using. Thus, she pulls out an extra-weak gun that doesn't kill anything even if she does manage to hit with it.

 

[wolfskin]

I always found it odd that my engineer, who was trained with shotguns, would always be using her assault rifle in the mid mission cut scenes. Of course all my other non-soldier characters had the same problem but for some reason it only really stood out for me with her.

 

[Daedalus1942]

If I remember correctly you can actually level weapons your not "skilled" at. It would take multiple playthroughs though. So a pistols only biotic could technically use a shotgun until it was like a normal gun. IDR if it was a perk or what. Maybe I'm just remembering it wrong.

You can level anything including weapons. Speech/Intimidation, biotics, etc, but as you said, it takes multiple playthroughs... and I just do not have the patience.

 

[Trotgar]

On another note. Couldn't they plan for Mass effect 3, if it goes that far, some multiplayer of some sort. It just seems to me that having 3 members in the party could easily be 3 human players. Sure not splitscreen, but online would be nice.

They'd have to amp up the difficulty some, as human players would usually kick so much ass.

I think they should amp up the difficulty even without the multiplayer. I played on hardcore on the last quarter and had almost no challenge.

EDIT: by making harder difficulties harder.

 

[spinFX]

I think it is an example of oversimplification for consoles. Hard to micromanage on a console, but they went a bit far with this :S

And yes I am aware it is on PC with the same silly near non-existent micro management.

 

[Rhayn]

My biggest problem with all the extra weaponry isn't that it exists, it's that your party members can sometimes randomly pull up an untrained, lower level weapon. Playing through on Insanity is when I noticed how much it matters. Especially against stuff that tries running up to you and one-shot you with an incredibly bullshitty attack (I'm looking at you, Krogans), it really matters what weapons your squadmates have when all you do is dodging the melee.

What I think could work is have the all the weapons useable for all classes, but only working in certain situations. For example, sniping would only be usable when out of combat, shotguns and assault rifles loose effectiveness depending on range, and as for pistols... Well, everyone can already use pistols, so lets not change that.

Then, depending on your class and training, the defects would be trained away so you could snipe in combat, kill stuff further away with the shotgun, more easily aim with the assault rifle in close quarters combat etc.

 

[Abedeus]

Probably because it's not like you must have training to wield a sniper rifle. You won't just drop it suddenly in panic if you touch it.

You won't use it well enough to kill people, but it doesn't mean you can't use them.

 

[Chunko]

...and it occurred to me: isn't it kind of odd that every one of your party members carries a pistol, assault rifle, sniper rifle and shotgun, like, all the time? Even if they don't have any points in the skills for some of those weapons? Even if they don't have the skills, period? Even if they never need to use a weapon they're not trained with, and even if you never want to make them?

You'd think they wouldn't bother carrying the extra weight. I certainly wish they wouldn't, if only so that I could avoid, for example, accidentally making Tali pull out a sniper rifle in the middle of a fight and then spend a few potentially critical moments fumbling for her pistol again.

Just a thought.

Good point, however, it looks cool, and the weapons look like they don't weigh more than like 3lbs, so I don't think it would weigh them down. Not to mention I'm sure every once in a while they would wind up using the weaponry they're not specialized in. So I mean it's only a little weight, and could give you a strategic advantage so why not carry a few extra guns?

 

[Et3rnalLegend64]

Shepard is the only one who should be allowed to do that, since maxing out his Spectre Training will give him/her some semblance of proficiency (still pretty bad though, and no zoom). The only reason the others should carry a full set is for consistency.

Now, here's something that bugged me when I was playing Mass Effect today. My Engineer has Assault Rifle as his bonus perk. It makes sense that your accuracy or ability to keep firing accurately be augmented by your mastery. I pulled out my shotgun just for kicks, and was amazed at how extremely wide the spread was. I can't hit anything at point blank range. Why does my shotgun just suck because he's not trained in that line of weapon? Mastery shouldn't affect shotgun spread.

 

[atol]

Maybe their kits have a mass effect drive, making it weightless...

 

[AlphaOmega]

On another note. Couldn't they plan for Mass effect 3, if it goes that far, some multiplayer of some sort. It just seems to me that having 3 members in the party could easily be 3 human players. Sure not splitscreen, but online would be nice.

God no, please don't ruin another game with a good story and a pretty nice setting/universe to accomidate for multiplayer.

 

[pearcinator]

Ummm i think you can fix that...try selling all guns except for the ones that you want...that way your party members wont use weapons they arent trained in cos u havnt given them any!

 

[Shepard's Shadow]

On another note. Couldn't they plan for Mass effect 3, if it goes that far, some multiplayer of some sort. It just seems to me that having 3 members in the party could easily be 3 human players. Sure not splitscreen, but online would be nice.

God no, please don't ruin another game with a good story and a pretty nice setting/universe to accommodate for multiplayer.

You beat me to it. ME is a game that shouldn't have multiplayer or co-op. Its just not that type of game.