Considering the gameplay was based a lot on ME3 MP I would assume yes.
-
Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.
Mass Effect: Andromeda's skill/class/levelling system explained (by me)
- Thread starter EatChildren
- Start date
Considering the gameplay was based a lot on ME3 MP I would assume yes.
EatChildren
Currently polling second in Australia's federal election (first in the Gold Coast), this feral may one day be your Bogan King.
I can appreciate concern over deterioration of traditional choice/consequence role play character builds, as I'm someone who too really enjoys that style of game design, especially in the old CRPGs heavily influenced by table top role playing.
That being said, I do feel some people are not reading my full explanations or my explanations are not adequate, and are still interpreting the new system under structure of the trilogy's class design. As in swapping between Engineer/Vanguard/Soldier is no different to Mass Effect 1/2/3, unlocking a whole bunch of new abilities on the fly with zero cost to the play.
That's not really how it works, or so it seems. There's an essence of that for sure, but it's still fundamentally different. Ignoring the names of the profiles you could outright say that the old class system is gone entirely. Profiles could be retitled proficiencies or specialisations, and are just named after the old classes for legacy reasons. Yes you can swap between profiles on the fly, but access to and effectiveness of each profile is still highly dependent on the skills you've chosen to acquire and upgrade.
I doubt it'll be anywhere near as restricted in a traditional RPG sense, but it's almost akin to the character building of games like Fallout and Arcanum, where you don't chose a class at all with rigid skill system gatekeeping, but instead every character has access to the "character sheet" of full skills and it's up to you how you build and spec your character. Every skill point you spend on aggressive, firearm and combat tech related skills is a point you're not going to be able to spend on biotics, which will nullify the usefulness (or access to) biotic related profiles. And even then, a combat/tech built character might benefit massively from the Soldier profile due to unlocking relevant skills, but not gain huge bonuses from the Engineer profile even if it's accessible due to not investing in Engineer-like skills.
To me balance is the major question here; how readily and easily are you able to acquire levels and thus skill points. How fast can we transform from a focused build into someone who possesses more or less every skill. And for actual respec, as in the distribution of your skill points and thus which profiles are buffed, how this will be accessed and to what ease.
That being said, I do feel some people are not reading my full explanations or my explanations are not adequate, and are still interpreting the new system under structure of the trilogy's class design. As in swapping between Engineer/Vanguard/Soldier is no different to Mass Effect 1/2/3, unlocking a whole bunch of new abilities on the fly with zero cost to the play.
That's not really how it works, or so it seems. There's an essence of that for sure, but it's still fundamentally different. Ignoring the names of the profiles you could outright say that the old class system is gone entirely. Profiles could be retitled proficiencies or specialisations, and are just named after the old classes for legacy reasons. Yes you can swap between profiles on the fly, but access to and effectiveness of each profile is still highly dependent on the skills you've chosen to acquire and upgrade.
I doubt it'll be anywhere near as restricted in a traditional RPG sense, but it's almost akin to the character building of games like Fallout and Arcanum, where you don't chose a class at all with rigid skill system gatekeeping, but instead every character has access to the "character sheet" of full skills and it's up to you how you build and spec your character. Every skill point you spend on aggressive, firearm and combat tech related skills is a point you're not going to be able to spend on biotics, which will nullify the usefulness (or access to) biotic related profiles. And even then, a combat/tech built character might benefit massively from the Soldier profile due to unlocking relevant skills, but not gain huge bonuses from the Engineer profile even if it's accessible due to not investing in Engineer-like skills.
To me balance is the major question here; how readily and easily are you able to acquire levels and thus skill points. How fast can we transform from a focused build into someone who possesses more or less every skill. And for actual respec, as in the distribution of your skill points and thus which profiles are buffed, how this will be accessed and to what ease.
Yeah the game points em out now too saw a "tech explosion" pop up.
Exactly. I likened it to classic Fallout and TES earlier. Profiles/Classes are like Tags or Standing Stones. Instead of Tagging set Skills at character creation to determine your strengths like FO, it works the other way around. The Skills you select each level up determine your strengths in the form of which Profiles you have access to and their respective rank and thus the bonuses they confer. Or you can compare the Profiles to the Standing Stones in Skyrim which represented to an extent the Birthsigns from past games but also the classes. Different Standing Stones confer different bonuses and abilities based around those classes, but in that game the only limit is you finding their physical location in the world. In the case of MEA your ability to access them and the effectiveness of those bonuses is instead based on which Skills you've unlocked and upgraded.
In all three instances your character and their "class" is pretty much squarely determined based on how you spend your Skill Points on the various Skills. The Profiles,Tags and Standing Stones simply augment that and are there to bolster your preferred Skills and preferences based on those choices. And in terms of Profiles and Standing Stones may also operate as minor boosts to skills set you may not have put much attention to, but they remain just that minor boosts, not major alterations to you character build.
EatChildren
Currently polling second in Australia's federal election (first in the Gold Coast), this feral may one day be your Bogan King.
Yep. And look, it's something they could totally stuff up if the balance is shot. And it probably will be. Rarely do these games balance accordingly between main and side content. Usually if someone really enjoys the side objectives they'll over level really quickly.
That being said I really like the change as a means to try something new in the style of game Andromeda appears to be. I also like that the profile buffs aren't just percentile boosts to various stats, but also a perk. Like the soldier being able to chain kills quickly for extra damage output, and the engineer having access to passive drone. In theory you could make a biotic heavy build, like a Vanguard, and acquire just the right amount of skills to also unlock Solider Rank 1 profile. Combine the two and you can use biotic skills as your offensive while getting the chain kill buff from soldier. That combination could lead to some very aggressive biotic builds; stasis, slam in, shotgun blast, chewing through multiple appointments to chain up increasing damage output.
EventHorizon
Member
As someone who has been very critical of Andromeda, I think the new system is an improvement. All they have done is combine the leveling up in a single character. This allows the player greater experimentation to find out the play style they like the most, and I think that is how it will be used. If you find you like playing a soldier, odds are that will be what you will do most of the time.
However more skilled players will likely choose their profiles based on the enemies likely to be encountered and/or the companions they want in their party. This just takes the party configuration part one step further by including your own abilities. The role playing decisions made by your character are still consistent across all profiles. That is what matters most when it comes to role playing, not the skills used to defeat your opponents.
The things that I am worried about is the focus on action abilities and grinding. It looks like in order to encourage a more action game style, active abilities will be limited to 3 so they can be mapped to buttons. That reduces the complexity and the strategic nature of the combat. As for grinding, to allow a single character enough content to experiment with and level up additional skills, more copy-paste activities must be in the game. My main fear of the game is that it will be too much a generic open world, and this skill system seems to be another indication that this will be true. Combining simplified combat due to reduced skill use along with repeated generic content is a recipe for dull gameplay.
However more skilled players will likely choose their profiles based on the enemies likely to be encountered and/or the companions they want in their party. This just takes the party configuration part one step further by including your own abilities. The role playing decisions made by your character are still consistent across all profiles. That is what matters most when it comes to role playing, not the skills used to defeat your opponents.
The things that I am worried about is the focus on action abilities and grinding. It looks like in order to encourage a more action game style, active abilities will be limited to 3 so they can be mapped to buttons. That reduces the complexity and the strategic nature of the combat. As for grinding, to allow a single character enough content to experiment with and level up additional skills, more copy-paste activities must be in the game. My main fear of the game is that it will be too much a generic open world, and this skill system seems to be another indication that this will be true. Combining simplified combat due to reduced skill use along with repeated generic content is a recipe for dull gameplay.
ffejeromdiks
Banned
Oh bullshit, there's been skepticism on a new Mass Effect since 2012, everything that's been revealed is just confirming everyone's suspicions.
ffejeromdiks
Banned
Then maybe don't start with a "I dunno; fucking deal with it I guess? Don't buy it?" and not come across as someone who was clearly going to put in a lot of work into defending the game regardless of it's content.
UnluckyKate
Member
I honestly love the idea of skill swap and hybrid build. Adept vanguard hybrid : biotic combo madness incoming
Yeah I dropped Vanguard after that was my original main in the series because of the changes they made in ME2 that removed a lot of the basic Biotics from their Talent list. If can roll with Throw, Warp and Charge that will be awesome.
EatChildren
Currently polling second in Australia's federal election (first in the Gold Coast), this feral may one day be your Bogan King.
I'm not particularly fussed with people who would rather ignore the entire op based on a single line quip and instead use the thread as a platform to complain about something they don't fully understand but could if they'd spared 30 seconds of reading comprehension. I'm happy to engage in discourse about how the new system could falter tragically at the hands of BioWare, hence the post you replied to, where I briefly mentioned as much.
And people are more than welcome to interpret myself as someone who "put in a lot of work into defending the game regardless of it's content", since the onus is on them to learn my posting habits and perspectives. I'm not really going to defend my perspective given the exact same op in question is more than sufficient in doing so, as is my entire posting history.
StereoVsn
Member
To be fair I am also quite enjoying the COD space shooter it's just not what I am looking for in ME.
The Silver
Member
the amount of people with a lack of reading comprehension in this thread is astounding to me.
this system is far more expanded and deep than the other ME games yet somehow it's dumbed down and/or become CoD? I can't wrap my head around it.
this system is far more expanded and deep than the other ME games yet somehow it's dumbed down and/or become CoD? I can't wrap my head around it.
That is tame as far as this forum's tone goes, hardly a justification for not reading.
Vigilant Walrus
Member
Class-less RPG building can be very rewarding. Make your own class. Spec into what you want and be unique like the snowflake you were meant to be.
Here is the kicker: Most gameplay systems reward going 100% in a skill tree. And we're psychologically programmed to refer to something as more valueable if we had to give more to spec into it. You see a lot of people theorycrafting in RPGs about hating when they don't fully spec into something because they feel that they are not as good at something as they could be. You see this all the time in MMOs where people wanna be really good specialists; really good healers, really good DPS, really good tanks. People wanna be really good at something.
So what happens is that in classless systems, building is taken for granted because there is not carrot at the end of a skill tree, or people are apathetic because it's just an oblivion take-what-you-want-bonanza that ultimately feels that you can do anything and therefore there is no compromise or actually being a fantasy. your a healing wizard in heavy armor with greatsword and you sneak everywhere. You're all the classes in one and you have no identity.
It's a matter of balance and a matter of thematic. Some games have tried limiting or putting caps on how far you can spec a character one way.
Ultimately I think many gamers are illogical about choice. You often hear there is support for as many skills as possible because they think the more skills and ways to build your character the better. What is often forgotten is the cost of adding more varied skills and classes. less polish, less balance. It comes at a cost.
Here is the kicker: Most gameplay systems reward going 100% in a skill tree. And we're psychologically programmed to refer to something as more valueable if we had to give more to spec into it. You see a lot of people theorycrafting in RPGs about hating when they don't fully spec into something because they feel that they are not as good at something as they could be. You see this all the time in MMOs where people wanna be really good specialists; really good healers, really good DPS, really good tanks. People wanna be really good at something.
So what happens is that in classless systems, building is taken for granted because there is not carrot at the end of a skill tree, or people are apathetic because it's just an oblivion take-what-you-want-bonanza that ultimately feels that you can do anything and therefore there is no compromise or actually being a fantasy. your a healing wizard in heavy armor with greatsword and you sneak everywhere. You're all the classes in one and you have no identity.
It's a matter of balance and a matter of thematic. Some games have tried limiting or putting caps on how far you can spec a character one way.
Ultimately I think many gamers are illogical about choice. You often hear there is support for as many skills as possible because they think the more skills and ways to build your character the better. What is often forgotten is the cost of adding more varied skills and classes. less polish, less balance. It comes at a cost.
StereoVsn
Member
On the other hand sometimes you get games like Baldur's Gate 2, Divinity OS or Gothic 2 Gold which manage to combine a good story, characters and superior RPG mechanics. All three of these games are unsurpassed in their respective mechanics (RTwP, TBS, ARPG).
That said classless mechanics can certainly be good if done well but I am not convinced that Bioware will manage to do a good job vs saying fuck it and going Bethesda route with say Fallout 4.
Well I mean the big point of this new system is that the system really isn't classless, it's just not fixed. They have very deliberate carrots to entice players to go deep down one path with the Profiles. The way it looks to work is the more you invest in the Skills a Profile is linked to the higher Rank you acquire in that Profile, and most likely the greater bonuses it confers upon you. Even at a base Rank of 1 they seem to confer 10% and even 20% increases to certain Skills and character traits.
Added to that if my guess math work is correct is the fact that Skill Points are likely to not be that plentiful. Going deep into a particular Skill and acquiring that 4/5/6 upgrade costs a hefty price. If you want to max out a bunch of Skills you're going to be pretty limited in overall Skill count as a result since that's going to eat heavily into your Skill Points. So even at a hypothetical max level of 100 you might only be able to max out 9 Skills total. That's really not a lot when there looks to be at least 36 Skills between the three Combat Disciplines.
The new system seems to allow you the freedom to choose as you want, but offers up some rather enticing rewards for not spreading yourself too thin and trying to have a little bit of everything.
glad your not too fussed. I think it was quite a well thought out and realized thread start so I am subbed. I am interested to see how close you are to the mark when the game drops. You are right in saying that profiles are really where RPG/ARPG are going nowadays, and really does it make any sense not to, when you are as invested in a character as in ME, or an Inquisitor or other hero, its not like an old day party system, like the first few FF or any tactics games. These RPG are focused on role play, and creating profiles is not a bad way to experience more of what the game has to offer.
You have been around long enough to know that a lot of gaffers simply can't be arsed to read and then actually let what you have said sink in before posting, sucks.
EDIT: my own thought - a lot of people are intimidated by complex skill trees. I don't really like skill trees at all, particularly the Witcher 3 (which I love) I hate the skill trees in that game. I prefer a much more simple RPG, like Dark Souls (Dragon Warrior and so many before, where it is simply stat distribution)
EventHorizon
Member
At a theory crafting level min-maxing doesn't have to be the only viable option in a classless system. Diminishing returns for advancing in a skill and the ability to use a large number of skills can create a valid trade off between being the best at one skill versus being pretty good at a wider range of skills. Gameplay can help reinforce this by not making skills spamable. A powerful ability that has significant downtime can be just as effective as a less powerful version combined with other skills that can be used during that downtime.
Unfortunately Mass Effect Andromeda only lets you use three skills at a time which creates the incentive to make those skills as powerful as possible. However that also solves the problem of being able to do everything. Profiles limit that even further because not all combination of skills are valid. This new system won't affect balance because ultimately a player will only be using a single class at a time. All this system does is it lets players try out multiple classes and play styles without having to create separate characters. The result will be that most players will see more of the game than they ordinarily would.
Wolfgunblood Garopa
Member
It's about the issue of a squad member having the same skills as you so you'd never pick him/her.
lucebuce12
Member
oh man, I didn't even think about this.
This means that every squad member will be viable and it'll mainly come down to personal preference more than anything else.
Sorry but my all Biotic Squad wrecked shit up profoundly in ME2/3. We were dropping Biotic Bombs everywhere. Pull, Warp, Repeat.
Yeah this will be nice. Squadmates are most certainly custom Classes again. From this most recent trailer PeeBee looks to be a custom Sentinel type. If my math is correct and Sqaddies receive 2 Skill Points per level and we can go to level 100, then they can max out 9 Skills, meaning they likely have 10 Skills total, as they normally could max but one Skill in past games and they may very well be the case here. If not they would have to increase the number of Skills, to say 12, or decrease the point gains at some point like level 50 down to 1 point per level, which would give them only enough points to max out 7 skills.
I think 10 Skills, say 8 active and 2 passive, sounds like a solid allotment for Squadmates. It's not crazy high, but fits with the overall theme of the new progression system. Though with only letting us have 3 active Skills at a time it could seem like overkill, especially if Squadmates can max out 9/10 of them. At 7/10 that means you'd most likely max out the 2 passives and then have 5 active Skills, leaving only 2 not in use due to Skill loadout limit instead of 4. This also works if the level cap is the series standard of 60, which would allow Squadmates to max out 5 Skills at 2 points per level, which could work for a max Skill set selection of 7-10 Skills, which might be more appropriate. Still more than you can have in your loadout, but not too many. Though that would mean Ryder would only be able to max out 5 Skills out a potential selection of 36 Skills which doesn't sound right at all, unless you gain 4 points per level after 30 like ME3, which would be 8 maxed Skills which isn't bad, but maybe a little low.
I'm spending way too much time thinking about this.
It's essentially a job class system from final fantasy you can swap on the go except this isn't a jrpg or turn based.
EatChildren
Currently polling second in Australia's federal election (first in the Gold Coast), this feral may one day be your Bogan King.
I'm hoping in single player and thus having access to the entire skill pool the upgrade trees for skills will be more focused on the skills themselves rather than the weird trees in ME3. But the flamethrower tree does look very similar...
LostDonkey
Member
Mass Effect 2 is currently free on Origin. Dunno if there's been a thread or whatnot or if someone could make one.
Classic game.
Edit: NVM just seen the thread. Move along
Classic game.
Edit: NVM just seen the thread. Move along
DeadPhoenix
Member
How mod-able have the ME games been? If someone made a mod that upped the number of hot keys is be all over that. If I could just play though an ME game without using a gun on my sentinel that'd be awesome.
Not very. Bioware is now on Frostbite, and the most that can be expected are texture/model replacements and things that you could do manually through e.g cheatengine that are purely about altering variables and so on.
Changing game mechanics won't be happening for any time soon, if ever.
It worked pretty well in practice because it allowed you to alternate between the two at the different point values.
Ie Skill level 4 you choose Ranged + Shield. Then Skill 5 you choose Melee skills and balance it yourself
It made no sense for me because melee already gives you bigger risks and more damage taken, why penalize further by giving the safer playstyle (ranged) more shield.
This stuff becomes really class specific. So what works for an engineer is completely different then for a vanguard.
For instance on Vanguard you can use your Melee charge to regain full shields so with fast cooldowns you can essentially have unlimited shield.
There is another choice on your skill tree that lets you have 2 wave discharges vs 1 large charge.
When you combine all those 3 things it gives you essentially unlimited shield that you can half deplete to clear nearby enemies for the few seconds that it takes to recharge.
So in this instance it creates a risk v reward scenario in the skill tree do you want more Melee power, or Defense.
Engineer has a similar mechanic yet you usually keep your shield up while using heavy weapons like Assault Rifles, Shotguns and Sniper rifles since your shield is basically impervious.
Essentilly the Shields vs Melee choices are about making the player choose one playstyle between the two ranged options and using the other to buff their initial choice
AFAIK charge damage does not scale off melee power.
Vanguards are usually better off selecting increased power damage off charge, since Nova afterwards scales off shield remaining and charge boost (despite ideally getting one melee off before Nova-ing). Same for Krogan BM better off buffing range off charge for the shotgun combo.
The classes that suffer from this skill tree problem are N7 Slayer and Krogan Warlord. They need to do big melee damage but get rekt asap due to awful shields.
edit: building Krogan Sentinels/Soldiers for rage melee is so ineffectual because they have no mobility to avoid damage and already traded off survivability for melee dps.
Didnt realise you were talking about multiplayer. Nevermind then. With that mny classes/options im not suprised some are broken
While I'm waiting for ME3 mods to install, I'm back to trying to figure out the leveling in this game.
I'm fairly certain that Ryder has way more Skill Points(SP) in this demo footage than you will in the actual game as they just don't add up. They show he's got 86 points invested with 31 left over at just level 27, for a total of 117 SP. That would mean he gained 4.5 SP per level, which is crazy high to start out with. Even assuming he only gains 4 per level that would mean he started out with 13 points at level 1 which doesn't make sense either.
PeeBee's 52 SP count seems much more realistic. She already has Invasion unlocked, probably upgrade 2. Auto Level Up looks like it maxes out Invasion(+18SP), maxes out Pull(+21SP) and get Shockwave to Upgrade 4(+10SP). 18+21+10=49, 52-49=3 SP left over as we seen in the demo. Question here is why didn't Auto Level Up use the remaining 3 points to unlock 3 more Skills, or unlock 1 Skill to Upgrade 2? Could those three Skills be the only ones she has? What about a passive Skill like Squadmates all had in past games? That doesn't seem to make a whole lot of sense. Plus at that rate if those were the only Skills available to her that would mean she would only need 4 more level ups to gain the necessary 11 SP to max out Shockwave to upgrade 6. Unless she maxes out at level 30, which again doesn't make sense. Whatever.
My question now is what is the level cap? Is it 60 again or because this is a bigger game, and one that you can play after the ending, have they raised it to 100. Or is there no level cap much like DAI, just a technical cap that you reach once you exhaust major EXP sources and your next level requirement is far beyond what kills will provide.
Either way another question now is will the player Skill Point Gain(SPG) double at the halfway mark again like past games and will companion SPG half at the halfway mark. If that is the case then Ryder at level limit of 60 will have 181 SP total(if he starts out with 3 SP at lvl 1 like past games) which allows for the maxing out of 8 Skills and enough points over to get 9th Skill to Upgrade 4 and 10th Skill to Upgrade 2. That is enough points to nearly max out an entire Combat Discipline, which likely have 12 Skill total as seen in the Tech Tree.
If the level cap is 100 though Ryder will have 301 SP total with the same SPG of 2 Points Per Level 1-50 and 4 Points Per Level 51-100. That would mean you could max out 14 Skills, with enough left over for a 15th Skill at Upgrade 3 and a 16th Skill unlocked. So that would mean being able to max out an entire Combat Discipline with enough left over for 2 max Skills in a second Discipline. Which kind of seems like overkill. Even if you reduce the SPG for levels 51-100 to 3 you still end up with enough SP to max out 12 Skills, or an entire Discipline, with a few SP left over. But if you maintain a SPG of 2 for all levels you end up with enough to max out 9 Skills with 12 SP left over. Which is just a little bit higher than a level cap of 60 with 2/4 SPG from past games.
In conclusion, I don't know. Both the level cap of 60 with 2/4 SPG make sense as does a level cap of 100 with an SPG of 2. The alternative of 100 with an SPG of 2/4 or even 2/3 just seems like too much. Especially when the 3 active Skill limit is taken into account. Ohh hey my texmods have been installed. And it's midnight. Fuck.
I'm fairly certain that Ryder has way more Skill Points(SP) in this demo footage than you will in the actual game as they just don't add up. They show he's got 86 points invested with 31 left over at just level 27, for a total of 117 SP. That would mean he gained 4.5 SP per level, which is crazy high to start out with. Even assuming he only gains 4 per level that would mean he started out with 13 points at level 1 which doesn't make sense either.
PeeBee's 52 SP count seems much more realistic. She already has Invasion unlocked, probably upgrade 2. Auto Level Up looks like it maxes out Invasion(+18SP), maxes out Pull(+21SP) and get Shockwave to Upgrade 4(+10SP). 18+21+10=49, 52-49=3 SP left over as we seen in the demo. Question here is why didn't Auto Level Up use the remaining 3 points to unlock 3 more Skills, or unlock 1 Skill to Upgrade 2? Could those three Skills be the only ones she has? What about a passive Skill like Squadmates all had in past games? That doesn't seem to make a whole lot of sense. Plus at that rate if those were the only Skills available to her that would mean she would only need 4 more level ups to gain the necessary 11 SP to max out Shockwave to upgrade 6. Unless she maxes out at level 30, which again doesn't make sense. Whatever.
My question now is what is the level cap? Is it 60 again or because this is a bigger game, and one that you can play after the ending, have they raised it to 100. Or is there no level cap much like DAI, just a technical cap that you reach once you exhaust major EXP sources and your next level requirement is far beyond what kills will provide.
Either way another question now is will the player Skill Point Gain(SPG) double at the halfway mark again like past games and will companion SPG half at the halfway mark. If that is the case then Ryder at level limit of 60 will have 181 SP total(if he starts out with 3 SP at lvl 1 like past games) which allows for the maxing out of 8 Skills and enough points over to get 9th Skill to Upgrade 4 and 10th Skill to Upgrade 2. That is enough points to nearly max out an entire Combat Discipline, which likely have 12 Skill total as seen in the Tech Tree.
If the level cap is 100 though Ryder will have 301 SP total with the same SPG of 2 Points Per Level 1-50 and 4 Points Per Level 51-100. That would mean you could max out 14 Skills, with enough left over for a 15th Skill at Upgrade 3 and a 16th Skill unlocked. So that would mean being able to max out an entire Combat Discipline with enough left over for 2 max Skills in a second Discipline. Which kind of seems like overkill. Even if you reduce the SPG for levels 51-100 to 3 you still end up with enough SP to max out 12 Skills, or an entire Discipline, with a few SP left over. But if you maintain a SPG of 2 for all levels you end up with enough to max out 9 Skills with 12 SP left over. Which is just a little bit higher than a level cap of 60 with 2/4 SPG from past games.
In conclusion, I don't know. Both the level cap of 60 with 2/4 SPG make sense as does a level cap of 100 with an SPG of 2. The alternative of 100 with an SPG of 2/4 or even 2/3 just seems like too much. Especially when the 3 active Skill limit is taken into account. Ohh hey my texmods have been installed. And it's midnight. Fuck.
EventHorizon
Member
Shit, I totally heard that in a MEA recap vid I watch earlier today...
Interesting. Kind of really odd though to use the same pool for all those rather different upgrades. Jetpack I can kind of understand but the Nomad, really? Level cap of 60 at SPG of 2/4 kind of seems unlikely now as that total is pretty low, though I still think 100 at 2/4 is also pretty high. I'm guessing 100 at 2 or 2/3 SPG is decent range.
Ryder's total SP in the trailer still seems too high though, even if they did a reverse SPG of 4/2 since you'd still end up with 13 SP at level 1 which is a lot. Unless you can acquire SP outside of leveling up which might make sense. Hard to tell as dev builds are notoriously unreliable when it comes to accurate numbers. Between console cheats used to setup instances for capture and demoing to work in progress balancing of the game's mechanics a lot can change or be inaccurate.
HP_Wuvcraft
Banned
My favorite part of ME1 was when you reach ExoGeni (sp?) with the Rachni, and my guys would literally be tearing the entire room apart with Biotics.
I really dont like the "loadout" design so many RPGs are using these days. Hopefully there will be a way to save presets and hotswap between them instantly. Having to dive into a series of menus each time I want to swap skills is incredibly tedious and one of the things I hated most about Witcher.
Thank you based Eat Children.
I was quite confused regarding ME A's class/skill/leveling systems to say the least following the latest gameplay video. Now I have a much better idea of how this will work.
A few years ago I may have been more hesitant about these changes but now I welcome them.
Being a huge fan of the 1st ME, I like the sound of the equipment progression (though I still prefer the 1st games aesthetics).
Cheers!
I was quite confused regarding ME A's class/skill/leveling systems to say the least following the latest gameplay video. Now I have a much better idea of how this will work.
A few years ago I may have been more hesitant about these changes but now I welcome them.
Being a huge fan of the 1st ME, I like the sound of the equipment progression (though I still prefer the 1st games aesthetics).
Cheers!
EatChildren
Currently polling second in Australia's federal election (first in the Gold Coast), this feral may one day be your Bogan King.
The Game Informer basically straight up implies skill point redistribution is possible. Ryder can "refund" skill points and try different builds. So I guess all the pressure of allocation is 100% off.
That being said, you're still only able to unlock and level up specialisation profiles via associated skills. Explorer isn't the default class either, but unlocked if you're a bit of a jack-of-all-trades. You don't seem to have any profiles available until you start unlocking stuff.
That being said, you're still only able to unlock and level up specialisation profiles via associated skills. Explorer isn't the default class either, but unlocked if you're a bit of a jack-of-all-trades. You don't seem to have any profiles available until you start unlocking stuff.
This isn't a surprise as ME2/3 had the Retrain Powers option you could research. Same in DAI with the respec potion. I don't have a direct source Link but when I was watching BioFans big what we know recap video he did mention a respec station on the Tempest. So hopefully like past games respecing requires you to go back to base and it costs a substantial amount, which doubles every time you use it. If they just let you reset anytime, anywhere at no cost then yeah it could be an issue for overall game design.