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Mass Effect 3: Planet probing gone. Replaced with new game mechanic (detailed inside)

From BSN:

Well I was once again wasting the remaining minutes of my lunch hour reading up on gaming magazines in WHSmith when I saw another Xbox Magazine (Xbox World I think... meh) and well, turns out no more planet-mining (as in... going around with a huge scanner and probing planets for chunks of minerals).

Instead, the whole scanning for minerals has been replaced with another system. Preston Watamaniuk said along the lines of replacing the mineral scanning with a search and rescue system; you can go around and explore these conflict zones - trying to find survivors and that's pretty much where we will be able to collect minerals and... things. I guess.

Source
 

EatChildren

Currently polling second in Australia's federal election (first in the Gold Coast), this feral may one day be your Bogan King.
New thread, and put a source in the op.
 

Dresden

Member
They should just randomize planets so people can be happy about exploring distant (and potentially infinite number of) lands on floaty buggies. Immersion! It's like you're really exploring space.
 

RSP

Member
79d789d356750728f0e8c8bf14d5e599c6fc9cb3.png


Don't hate.
 

DaBuddaDa

Member
That sounds really time consuming. I guess they'll have to reduce the amount of stuff you need to collect to get upgrades.
 

R1CHO

Member
Just give me the damn resources on a regular bases, maybe after unlocking them on actually good side quests.
 

MC Safety

Member
Here's how you make a starship captain feel as if he's some toilet scrubber, third class:
You make him mine for minerals in a deadly-dull minigame.

All the time I was doing that mining crap, I thought to myself, is there no underling available to chum this shit?
 
That sounds really time consuming. I guess they'll have to reduce the amount of stuff you need to collect to get upgrades.

Yeah, this sounds just as bad as the previous method, except now you can't zombie your way through and actually need to worry about dying. Talk about missing the forest for the trees.
 

Haunted

Member
One of the most ill-conceived minigames ever implemented in a videogame. Universally panned.

Mind-boggling that no one stopped for a second to notice that during development.
 

EatChildren

Currently polling second in Australia's federal election (first in the Gold Coast), this feral may one day be your Bogan King.
Yeah, this sounds just as bad as the previous method, except now you can't zombie your way through and actually need to worry about dying. Talk about missing the forest for the trees.

If there's some degree of challenge and interactivity, with a reward at the end for applied skill, then isn't this exactly what material gathering needs? Materials in Mass Effect 3 are really no different to XP; they are acquired points used to upgrade shit. I don't really see any problem with them being in the game in theory, as long as the player is required to work for them, much like XP.

Planet scanning/probing was faulted by lacking any learning and skill curve whatsoever. You didn't do anything. As you said, you zombie your way through click, click, drag, click until you have all you need. This is definitively a grind, and a pointless one, as it puts no burden on the player to apply skill and interact with the game in a meaningful way. It's pulling a lever or pressing a button over and over, and not why we play games in the first place. Stuff like this should be automated.

But if you, the player, has to engage with the game and apply your skill to work towards a just reward, is this not the point of the game in the first place? For the same reason you shoot bad dudes and hope not to die, to be rewarded with XP, new equipment and progression through the story, so too should being properly challenged for materials be a fun and engaging risk/reward game mechanism.

This is an optimistic outlook, mind you. But in theory I don't see how apply missions to upgrade materials is at all a bad thing. If it works, it means more enjoyable and engaging gameplay content with a just reward at the end for your work. It's the polar opposite of everything that was wrong with Mass Effect 2's probing/scanning.

On the other hand, it could be a bland, mindless fetch quest treasure hunt with zero risk and minimal reward. That would be bad.
 

MrOogieBoogie

BioShock Infinite is like playing some homeless guy's vivid imagination
Sounds like mining for minerals will once again be boring and repetitious.

At least in Mass Effect I felt like I was really scouring the universe. Loved visiting so many different, desolate planets. Why can't they go back to that?
 
So, maybe I'm reading this wrong, but it'll be like ME2 landing missions, only we'll fight a bunch of waves of enemies along a corridor and then rescue a person, and all the while (or at the end?), we'll find mineral deposits, like the mineral crates in ME2 but bigger (like the mineral deposits in ME1).

That's just how I'm interpreting this.
 

i-Lo

Member
That's basically what ME1's random planets were, which is what I'm afraid they will go back to.

As much as I like a few of them, almost all of them had the same level design underground as if the fracking construction was done a by single galactic contractor.

Maybe they believed in "sameness movement".


Anything, yes ANYTHING is better than probing.


... you sure about that? I thought probing was more fun that getting probed or it may be the other way around depending upon thy preferences.
 

MrOogieBoogie

BioShock Infinite is like playing some homeless guy's vivid imagination
So, maybe I'm reading this wrong, but it'll be like ME2 landing missions, only we'll fight a bunch of waves of enemies along a corridor and then rescue a person, and all the while (or at the end?), we'll find mineral deposits, like the mineral crates in ME2 but bigger (like the mineral deposits in ME1).

That's just how I'm interpreting this.

That's exactly what it sounds like.

*sigh*
 

Kyoufu

Member
... you sure about that? I thought probing was more fun that getting probed or it may be the other way around depending upon thy preferences.

ME2 felt like I was being probed in all the wrong places.

I need to see a video of how the leveling/upgrade system is. Also, please let us carry over upgrades in New Game+ !
 

iNvid02

Member
probing was lame, but this doesn't sound any better.

seems like more work involved fighting off waves of losers, at the end you rescue another loser and there happens to be some boxes with shit waiting for you.

i'll just use a cheat to get infinite minerals or something
 

enzo_gt

tagged by Blackace
So, maybe I'm reading this wrong, but it'll be like ME2 landing missions, only we'll fight a bunch of waves of enemies along a corridor and then rescue a person, and all the while (or at the end?), we'll find mineral deposits, like the mineral crates in ME2 but bigger (like the mineral deposits in ME1).

That's just how I'm interpreting this.

That's what I'm reading too. Not sure if upgrade. It sounds a bit more like ME1s system than ME2s, which is a bad thing. Both systems are pretty bad, with ME2s becoming this weird kind of compulsive chore at some point.
 

diffusionx

Gold Member
ME2's scanning didn't bother me, though I played the game after it was patched to make it easier.

Sounds like mining for minerals will once again be boring and repetitious.

At least in Mass Effect I felt like I was really scouring the universe. Loved visiting so many different, desolate planets. Why can't they go back to that?

.. different, desolate planets that all looked identical and required a terribly controlling buggy to navigate.

I know ME1 came out a while ago but it's like everyone has forgotten that game's myriad of problems.
 
I hate to be THAT guy but has this been pointed out before? His name is Preston Watamaniuk? Preston What A Maniac? IS that forreal? Can't get past it.

As for the article, just seems like out with one filler in with a new one that they hope might be more enjoyable filler.
 

EatChildren

Currently polling second in Australia's federal election (first in the Gold Coast), this feral may one day be your Bogan King.
.. different, desolate planets that all looked identical and required a terribly controlling buggy to navigate.

I know ME1 came out a while ago but it's like everyone has forgotten that game's myriad of problems.

Buggy controls are one of those subjective things, split between the 360/PC user base it seems. I've asked about it before, but from what I can gather the Mako was a pain to control on the Xbox 360. Meanwhile it was really, really easy to manoeuvre and shoot on PC.
 

Kyoufu

Member
ME2's scanning didn't bother me, though I played the game after it was patched to make it easier.



.. different, desolate planets that all looked identical and required a terribly controlling buggy to navigate.

I know ME1 came out a while ago but it's like everyone has forgotten that game's myriad of problems.

I've played ME1 6 times through and yeah, that part of the game was pretty bad. Is it worse than probing? No.
 

erpg

GAF parliamentarian
I just want to explore space, see interesting planetary conditions, skyboxes, and relax, you jerks. :(

Someone needs to make this game for me. I don't care if there wasn't much to do except shoot down Thresher Maws, go down the same mine shaft or two storey base on these planets, landing on something only a few thousand kilometers away from its sun, or a hundred years from being crushed by its own satellite was amazing.

I like space. It's a cool place.
 

EatChildren

Currently polling second in Australia's federal election (first in the Gold Coast), this feral may one day be your Bogan King.
So, maybe I'm reading this wrong, but it'll be like ME2 landing missions, only we'll fight a bunch of waves of enemies along a corridor and then rescue a person, and all the while (or at the end?), we'll find mineral deposits, like the mineral crates in ME2 but bigger (like the mineral deposits in ME1).

That's just how I'm interpreting this.

This is what it will probably be. But for now I'm going to be optimistic because I've already pre-ordered and I have awful comics coming my way and I don't want to get depressed all over again.
 
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