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The Mass Effect Community Thread

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Halabane

Member
Hope they go back to what they were doing in me1. too many rpgs are just turning into shooters. also don't really care about the mutliplayer. rather they spend the money into the solo experience. again there are enough multiplayer games out there.
 

DOWN

Banned
That's a problem you have man, for me, IDGAF. I just want more ME, I don't care how I get it.

ME is a very visual experience. I care about every dust particle the Mako can scatter into the zero G atmosphere.

Hope they go back to what they were doing in me1. too many rpgs are just turning into shooters. also don't really care about the mutliplayer. rather they spend the money into the solo experience. again there are enough multiplayer games out there.

the money for multiplayer doesn't exist if multiplayer doesn't exist. There's no world in which the devs would get to say 'nah we want to dump multiplayer but keep the money greenlit for it to use on single player.' It doesn't hurt single player and it does help the franchise succeed so that all budgets can increase for the sequels.
 

DOWN

Banned
Meh, screw that I care more about the amount of dialogue and worlds (including size) I can explore than dust particles.

That will be there regardless of if visuals take a hit due to exclusivity. I'm sure I wouldn't be the only one disappointed with the hardware choice if they make it exclusive.

I would have been more bothered by Rise of the Tomb Raider, but then I found out is cross-gen and pitied them instead.
 

prag16

Banned
No chance in hell ME4 is exclusive to anything.
This. How the hell does this keep popping up every so often? I don't have inside info (though shinobi might), but this is asinine. There's literally zero chance. Let's use our heads. This isn't a valid concern.
 

Omega

Banned
I did not know there were Mass Effect mods for Civ V. I now know what I'm doing this week!

My perfect New ME Universe game would be something like Star Trek Voyager. A lone ship stranded out in unknown territory trying to get home with only the help from the allies they make on the way. Would be magnificent.

Reapers are OP (as they should be) so just be aware about playing against them

You start the game off with Sovereign (I'm guessing it's just the giant robot thing you research later in the game, I've never actually built one though as I'm still new to Civ) and it just absolutely wrecks everything lol

Started a game on like the 6th difficulty (theres so many I forget the names) and I just wiped out 4 other civs in the first 100 turns.

They're a lot more broken than that as well. In fact, that's probably the least OP thing about them..
 
Meh, I wouldn't care either way if the next ME game went exclusive or not, that's the main benefit of owning both consoles and also being a PC gamer, you don't miss out on anything :p
that comes at the cost of hundreds more or possibly even thousands of more dollars spent on video game merchandise as well as more time time consumed on video games in general. that's why to me it is justice to own 1 console per generation. But hey, we're all grown men here, so to each their own you know.

and MAYBE nowadays a nintendo console on the side, since they don't really compete with the consoles
That's a problem you have man, for me, IDGAF. I just want more ME, I don't care how I get it.

I think what PANTHEON was trying to tell you is,

if you knew that the game, the final product could've been better if was multiplatform (and optimized on the other platforms), would you be pissed if it the developer had no choice but to limit themselves due to the game's platform's hardware?
 
The people believing and spreading the exclusivity rumors seem to forget the reason why the franchise was exclusive in the first place.

I do expect Microsoft to do co-marketing and exclusive DLC for it though.
You should definitely care if their ambitions and tech only are reaching for the weakest console and they invest no effort into better visuals due to the team's knowledge it won't be seen or it will only be a budget external port a year later to better systems. I own Xbox One. I refuse to buy third party games for it.
Multiplat games generally always develop with the weakest platform in mind. A BioWare Dev confirmed on a panel that everything they had to cut from ME3 was because of the PS3.
 

DOWN

Banned
The people believing and spreading the exclusivity rumors seem to forget the reason why the franchise was exclusive in the first place.

I do expect Microsoft to do co-marketing and exclusive DLC for it though.

Multiplat games generally always develop with the weakest platform in mind. A BioWare Dev confirmed on a panel that everything they had to cut from ME3 was because of the PS3.

Except games that are definitely launching on other platforms also have an element of scalable effects that are created for use on the stronger machines. More plants in GTA, HBAO+ on PC. The investment in those effects is reduced dramatically when the stronger systems can't even play the game at all because of exclusivity.
 
Except games that are definitely launching on other platforms also have an element of scalable effects that are created for use on the stronger machines. More plants in GTA, HBAO+ on PC. The investment in those effects is reduced dramatically when the stronger systems can't even play the game at all because of exclusivity.
True, there's always going to be differences. How have frostbite games compared? Any other differences than resolution?
 
The people believing and spreading the exclusivity rumors seem to forget the reason why the franchise was exclusive in the first place.


Multiplat games generally always develop with the weakest platform in mind. A BioWare Dev confirmed on a panel that everything they had to cut from ME3 was because of the PS3.

What? That doesn't make any sense. The Ps3 was the most powerful console of the last generation. If anything was sacrificed it had to be because they had trouble with developing on the cell (in fact that has to be because all the ME games on Ps3 were riddled with issues)

do you mind sharing the info from the panel of everything they cut due to the Ps3 version?
 

androvsky

Member
What? That doesn't make any sense. The Ps3 was the most powerful console of the last generation. If anything was sacrificed it had to be because they had trouble with developing on the cell (in fact that has to be because all the ME games on Ps3 were riddled with issues)

do you mind sharing the info from the panel of everything they cut due to the Ps3 version?
It was the split memory, iirc.
 
What? That doesn't make any sense. The Ps3 was the most powerful console of the last generation. If anything was sacrificed it had to be because they had trouble with developing on the cell (in fact that has to be because all the ME games on Ps3 were riddled with issues)

do you mind sharing the info from the panel of everything they cut due to the Ps3 version?
Here's the panel, I think its mentioned at the 24 min mark. The problem comes from the way memory was split on the PS3 (it was unified on 360).
 
Omni tool translator was mentioned in the books iirc.
the interesting thing to counter that is the fact that the aliens themselves had distinct human-english accents. some spoke with an american accent, some with a british, and some like tali had their own unidentifiable accent as if they studied the english language rather than using the translator.

i wonder if it's supposed to be interpreted as just the easy way to tell the story, or if the different accents spoke somewhat of a background/upbringing of the aliens who had them.
Here's the panel, I think its mentioned at the 24 min mark. The problem comes from the way memory was split on the PS3 (it was unified on 360).
Wow, this is serious news to me. It not only makes me wonder how much better Me3 could've been if it was a360 exclusive, but also how many other multiplat games suffered from holding back their dev's vision of the final product. Essentially, this is kinda the same was what Ubi pulled with asscreed5.
 
Translators.

Omni tool translator was mentioned in the books iirc.

If I was building these worlds and making fictional races I would consider it a personal failure to use this kind of obviously impossible tech as an excuse. It's the same copout they always use. The weirdest thing is that it's Star Wars of all things that actually has a common galactic language, and the ones that can't speak it (physiologically) get subtitles or what they're talking about is just natively understood by other people (if not the audience).

Babylon 5 had you dealing with alien diplomats that learned English because Humans ran the space-UN basically.
 

Omega

Banned
What? That doesn't make any sense. The Ps3 was the most powerful console of the last generation. If anything was sacrificed it had to be because they had trouble with developing on the cell (in fact that has to be because all the ME games on Ps3 were riddled with issues)

do you mind sharing the info from the panel of everything they cut due to the Ps3 version?

For a multiplatform developer, PS3 limited developers. Was something along the line of only having 256mb VRAM i think.

Unreal Engine needed 512mb which is why a lot (if not every) UE3 games performed worse than the 360 versions.

at least this is what I read awhile ago. I used to play ME3 multiplayer on all 3 systems and only had freezing problems on PS3. It was a huge issue for the system. Never occurred on 360 or PC
 
For a multiplatform developer, PS3 limited developers. Was something along the line of only having 256mb VRAM i think.

Unreal Engine needed 512mb which is why a lot (if not every) UE3 games performed worse than the 360 versions.

at least this is what I read awhile ago. I used to play ME3 multiplayer on all 3 systems and only had freezing problems on PS3. It was a huge issue for the system. Never occurred on 360 or PC

I see. That is quite unfortunate that that was the case. I wonder how many games suffered because of this.
 

Lakitu

st5fu
I hope we get to have sex with ME 4's equivalent of the Yahg or even a Thresher Maw. One of Mass Effect's themes should be exploring a galaxy and having sex with weird ancient races, some of them may even have tentacles.
 

foxtrot3d

Banned
If I was building these worlds and making fictional races I would consider it a personal failure to use this kind of obviously impossible tech as an excuse. It's the same copout they always use. The weirdest thing is that it's Star Wars of all things that actually has a common galactic language, and the ones that can't speak it (physiologically) get subtitles or what they're talking about is just natively understood by other people (if not the audience).

Babylon 5 had you dealing with alien diplomats that learned English because Humans ran the space-UN basically.

Meh, both paths have their up and down sides, having a galactic language that is basically just English is just as cheap and wouldn't make sense in Mass Effect. First, humans are newcomers and it seems pretty unreasonable to expect all Alliance personnel, from enlisted to officer, to learn a completely alien language; afterall how many people know more than one language on Earth, our own planet? Second, it also can seem unrealistic, how can you create a galactic language when every species likely has different vocal cords, tongues, mouths, etc. In reality, most every species would have to be subtitled or you'd have to just state that most species have the physiology to learn the Galactic standard language.

Translators allows for every species to have a voice and can allow for cool sounding aliens, like say the Hanar for example. However, they too have certain unrealistic properties in which you have to suspend some disbelief. For one, if everyone is using translators then to the audience, humans, they should all sound the same. Why would a translator put a weird voice modulation to Hanaor bio-luminescence communication? Second, why does it take everyone the same length, as say English, to finish a sentence? Like, shouldn't their lips not be in sync with the sounds we are hearing through the translator?

In any event, I prefer translators to Galactic standard languages. THAT SAID, Mass Effect uses both translators and a "trade" language. From the Codex:

Technology: Translation

Human cultures remain linguistically divided. Some converse in Spanish, others in Mandarin, Arabic, Swahili, etc. Every alien race has their own equally broad panoply of languages and dialects.

Most individuals know only their mother tongue, and rely on machine translation. Modern portable computers allow anyone with a few hundred credits of equipment to enjoy seamless real-time translation of alien languages, courtesy of handheld PDAs, computers in clothing or jewelry, or sub-dermal implants. Without fast and accurate translation, galactic trade and culture would not exist.

Governments provide subsidized software, updated through the public extranet "on the fly", often as users approach spaceport customs facilities. Even the batarians, who isolated themselves from galactic society nearly two decades ago, take pains to provide up-to-date glossaries and linguistic rules, though most suspect that this is only so they can continue exporting propaganda.

It is still considered broad-minded and practical to be able to speak without machine aid. Children often take courses in alien language, and most races can speak the simplified artificial "trade tongue" with little difficulty.

Some species must rely on machine translation to interact with the rest of the galaxy. Hanar, for example, cannot reproduce the spoken language of any humanoid species, and other races cannot reproduce hanar bioluminescence without mechanical aid. Newly discovered or obscure races don't have machine translation available until the linguists have had time to study them.
 
Meh, both paths have their up and down sides,

It wouldn't make sense in ME to have English as "Basic", I was just pointing out how funny it was that such an unrealistic series like SW (some people claim it doesn't even qualify as SF) had a more realistic approach to language than a lot of other mainstream SF.


That said, they too have certain unrealistic properties in which you have to suspend some disbelief. For one, if everyone is using translators then to the audience, humans, they should all sound the same. Why would a translator put a weird voice modulation to Hanaor bio-luminescence communication? Second, why does it take everyone the same length, as say English, to finish a sentence? Like, shouldn't their lips not be in sync with the sounds we are hearing through the translator?

That's only the half of it; they're translating phonemes in real time to lip sync, which doesn't just mean that every language takes the same length of time to say a sentence, it also means that from the first sound of a sentence the translator already knows what word they're going to say, and thus assigns the corresponding first phoneme of the English equivalent of that word. And that all languages have the same structure, because otherwise they might be saying a completely different type of word to what the first word in that sentence in English would be.

There's also strangeness regarding how the translator would pick different accents for each voice, lol.

The point isn't that they're not allowed to do this stuff, it's just that there's a real missed opportunity to deal with a lot of it in an interesting way that would really make you feel immersed in the SF world. People fall back on these standard tropes, which I find a bit disappointing.

I think it would be very cool if we saw the translators be featured as a thing inside a SF world, not just a hasty background explanation for why people speak English. In ME for instance, since we have holograms, you can imagine a Dead Space style in-game HUD thing where you get translations appearing including (optional to read) translators notes. The dialogue when speaking with Aliens could actually provide us with little nuggets of background worldbuilding information because an understanding of culture is usually very important for comprehending more than just the surface meaning of large sections of text.

There's also room to parody and deconstruct some of this stuff if you were thinking about a more comedic type of game, where the translators are literally time machines that send themselves messages from the future so they can lip sync in real time :p
 

foxtrot3d

Banned
^ I agree though I think "realism" has to be sacrificed for convenience, I wouldn't want to have to read subtitles for every alien I come in contact with. Also, we really don't have any idea how an intelligent alien species, if they existed, would look or communicate like. Thus, we truly can't say "X" is unrealistic, aliens truly are ALIEN in the most true form.
 
The new games name as of right now is
Mass Effect Contact
I believe. So maybe the story will revolve around...first contact with a new galaxy or species or something.
 

BumRush

Member
Not happening.

Seeing you say that is very encouraging.

At the point of ME4's release, Sony will have sold at least 40 million PS4s. EA would never leave those potential sales on the table. Plus, knowing that once the assets are completed, Bioware will probably make 2+ ME games this Gen, why would one be exclusive?
 

Bisnic

Really Really Exciting Member!
I don't understand why people still believe that ME4 might be exclusive to XBO. Sure... the franchise started on Xbox 360, but it has been multiplatform for years now. It's all in the past.
 

DOWN

Banned
I don't understand why people still believe that ME4 might be exclusive to XBO. Sure... the franchise started on Xbox 360, but it has been multiplatform for years now. It's all in the past.
DSC_0169+copy.jpg

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It's a fairer time to be skeptical. But EA and Mass Effect are strong, so I don't expect exclusivity on that series.
 

WanderingWind

Mecklemore Is My Favorite Wrapper
If I was building these worlds and making fictional races I would consider it a personal failure to use this kind of obviously impossible tech as an excuse. It's the same copout they always use. The weirdest thing is that it's Star Wars of all things that actually has a common galactic language, and the ones that can't speak it (physiologically) get subtitles or what they're talking about is just natively understood by other people (if not the audience).

Babylon 5 had you dealing with alien diplomats that learned English because Humans ran the space-UN basically.

Impossible tech? We're getting pretty close to having that in real life right now. Everybody with a smart phone can point it at a sign and it will translate it in real time. A real time audio translator is obviously a long, long ways away, but you know. So are mass relays, ships like the Normandy and functional AI. I think it's well within the realm of at least plausible science fiction.
 

Bisnic

Really Really Exciting Member!
DSC_0169+copy.jpg

rd4tifr5ub7otfqjogtd.png


It's a fairer time to be skeptical. But EA and Mass Effect are strong, so I don't expect exclusivity on that series.

So? Different developpers.
If Dragon Age Inquisition is multiplatform, so will be Mass Effect. EA isn't known to make their multiplatform franchises suddenly exclusive anyway. It's like if Madden 2016 was exclusive to XBO and the next Battlefield exclusive to PS4, i dont see it happening.
 

Nirolak

Mrgrgr
DSC_0169+copy.jpg

rd4tifr5ub7otfqjogtd.png


It's a fairer time to be skeptical. But EA and Mass Effect are strong, so I don't expect exclusivity on that series.

Japanese publishers have pretty much imploded this generation though. We could make a much longer list using them actually. I don't think Capcom actually has a single new retail PS4/XB1 game that isn't funded by a console vendor.

EA's exclusives were signed years ago on 1.) a game that according to The Final Hours of Titanfall they thought had a high chance of not completing due to extreme studio turmoil and project descoping to even finish and 2.) timed exclusives on two games from a studio that was actually not producing simultaneous releases on any platform at the time.

I feel context is really key when analyzing these kinds of things.
 

DOWN

Banned
So? Different developpers.
If Dragon Age Inquisition is multiplatform, so will be Mass Effect. EA isn't known to make their multiplatform franchises suddenly exclusive anyway. It's like if Madden 2016 was exclusive to XBO and the next Battlefield exclusive to PS4, i dont see it happening.
You being intentionally obtuse or what? You get the point. People weren't really expecting hit franchises from other multiplatform companies to go exclusive either. You asked why people thought exclusivity is possible, there it is. You are coming up with arbitrary borders on what can go exclusive and what can't.
 

X-Frame

Member
I spent yesterday mostly finding and listening to 80's style synthwave music, and am reading the 4th Expanse book -- so it's getting difficult for me to not boot up ME1 and start the series over.

I really want to hold out for a possible Trilogy Remaster announcement for PS4, but even if it's announced during E3 it still could be a Fall or Winter release, right? Ugh.

If I had a PC this wouldn't be that big of an issue, but I played on the 360.
 

WanderingWind

Mecklemore Is My Favorite Wrapper
I spent yesterday mostly finding and listening to 80's style synthwave music, and am reading the 4th Expanse book -- so it's getting difficult for me to not boot up ME1 and start the series over.

I really want to hold out for a possible Trilogy Remaster announcement for PS4, but even if it's announced during E3 it still could be a Fall or Winter release, right? Ugh.

If I had a PC this wouldn't be that big of an issue, but I played on the 360.

I'm stuck too. I have ME1-2 on PC (and 360) and ME3 on 360. I installed ME1-2 again, but I refuse to buy ME3 on PC just for a playthrough and my 360 is in storage. So, I hope they announce a trilogy re-release, PC and current gen and all with controller support all for $19.99.

Lol.
 
Is it worth asking/hoping for a worthwhile morality system & improved dialog options? ME1-3 were shallow as hell in that sense.

ME3 made a huge improvement to the dialogue system by decoupling it from the persuade options. Finally, no more mandatory full Paragon/Renegade!

I'd be down for more dialogue options, though. DAI was a good step forward in that regard.
 

Bisnic

Really Really Exciting Member!
I'm stuck too. I have ME1-2 on PC (and 360) and ME3 on 360. I installed ME1-2 again, but I refuse to buy ME3 on PC just for a playthrough and my 360 is in storage. So, I hope they announce a trilogy re-release, PC and current gen and all with controller support all for $19.99.

Lol.

ME3 on Origin is what? 5-10$? It's less than its DLCs lol. Not like it still was 60$.

You being intentionally obtuse or what? You get the point. People weren't really expecting hit franchises from other multiplatform companies to go exclusive either. You asked why people thought exclusivity is possible, there it is. You are coming up with arbitrary borders on what can go exclusive and what can't.

I'm just saying EA doesn't work that way(i mean, isn't DA:I being multiplatform good enough to make the exclusive fear go away?). At most, you'll get exclusive DLC weapons, or maybe even a multiplayer map... but i think it wouldn't go further than this.
 

Bisnic

Really Really Exciting Member!
$20 with no DLC.

$50 for the story DLCs since they never go on sale.

$70 for ME3.

Well, he could just skip the DLCs since he already played them on 360. ME3 probably go on sale sometimes, so he could wait and buy it at 50%.

That or wait for E3, maybe a trilogy remaster with all DLCs included for 50-60$ will be announced. :p
 

Opt1kon_

Member
i doubt ME is Exclusive to the XB1, and I'm sure Microsoft Doesn't want Millions of People to Hate them because that would be literally heart Breaking, just hope we see something this year at E3 From the Good Folks over at Bioware
 

WanderingWind

Mecklemore Is My Favorite Wrapper
Well, he could just skip the DLCs since he already played them on 360. ME3 probably go on sale sometimes, so he could wait and buy it at 50%.

That or wait for E3, maybe a trilogy remaster with all DLCs included for 50-60$ will be announced. :p

Plus, I can't justify buying ME3 again without a damn good reason. Having the whole set playable, with controller, from my computer for cheap would be justification enough. I'd feel better if they provided a unicorn though.
 

Subitai

Member
Reminds me of the times when Bioware wasn't part of EA and they were doing MS exclusive stuff regularly.


Too late to go back to full exclusivity now though, and so I think there definitely could be DLC or multiplayer stuff that ends up exclusive on the side.
 

chaosaeon

Member
I reeeally hope the writer from Halo doesn't annihilate the lore and story of ME with all the nonsense. The plot for ME4 better not be nothing but meaningless titles, terms, and excuses for why there is no further explanations for things.

----- "The Architect who vanished 1000 years ago has returned to seek The Informant who may have the secret to acquire the superweapon relic long forgotten that can wipe out The Risen, a race of generic aliens once sealed by The Absolver before the Great War plunged the universe into darkness." <---- None of that crap, seriously.

And I hope they add big open planets to explore with random enemy spawns, tons of hidden paths, items to find, and little side missions or other things to do. And bring back gaining EXP for killing enemies. Was just playing Destiny and thinking it would be great to have areas like the planets in Destiny to just mess around, explore and take out enemies with little side missions all in the ME universe with the powers and combat etc. Have that be the random worlds like in ME1, just with things to do.
 

Sou Da

Member
I reeeally hope the writer from Halo doesn't annihilate the lore and story of ME with all the nonsense. The plot for ME4 better not be nothing but meaningless titles, terms, and excuses for why there is no further explanations for things.

----- "The Architect who vanished 1000 years ago has returned to seek The Informant who may have the secret to acquire the superweapon relic long forgotten that can wipe out The Risen, a race of generic aliens once sealed by The Absolver before the Great War plunged the universe into darkness." <---- None of that crap, seriously.

And I hope they add big open planets to explore with random enemy spawns, tons of hidden paths, items to find, and little side missions or other things to do. And bring back gaining EXP for killing enemies. Was just playing Destiny and thinking it would be great to have areas like the planets in Destiny to just mess around, explore and take out enemies with little side missions all in the ME universe with the powers and combat etc. Have that be the random worlds like in ME1, just with things to do.

Wow, let's not.
 

dr_rus

Member
I reeeally hope the writer from Halo doesn't annihilate the lore and story of ME with all the nonsense. The plot for ME4 better not be nothing but meaningless titles, terms, and excuses for why there is no further explanations for things.

----- "The Architect who vanished 1000 years ago has returned to seek The Informant who may have the secret to acquire the superweapon relic long forgotten that can wipe out The Risen, a race of generic aliens once sealed by The Absolver before the Great War plunged the universe into darkness." <---- None of that crap, seriously.

And I hope they add big open planets to explore with random enemy spawns, tons of hidden paths, items to find, and little side missions or other things to do. And bring back gaining EXP for killing enemies. Was just playing Destiny and thinking it would be great to have areas like the planets in Destiny to just mess around, explore and take out enemies with little side missions all in the ME universe with the powers and combat etc. Have that be the random worlds like in ME1, just with things to do.

That sounds ok for the overarching plot really. The devil is in the details.
 
Impossible tech? We're getting pretty close to having that in real life right now. Everybody with a smart phone can point it at a sign and it will translate it in real time. A real time audio translator is obviously a long, long ways away, but you know. So are mass relays, ships like the Normandy and functional AI. I think it's well within the realm of at least plausible science fiction.

Talking about translators that provide real time dubbing such that it appears as though people are speaking English. Which is not possible. Not even conceptually with arbitrary technology.
 

JohnnyFootball

GerAlt-Right. Ciriously.
as things are right now, yes that is what I believe.

but all it takes is a brolic check from mS to EA for this rumor to unfortunately become a reality.


I never had a 360, and I didn't care about ME until it was ported to Ps3. And that's when I realized what I was missing out on all this time. Thank God it became multiplatform.

If they made it exclusive though, it adds tremendous value to that platform. Yes, they may be sacrificing sales, but that's the tradeoff every exclusive game makes, 1st party or not.

When are you going to stop with all this crap?
 

chaosaeon

Member
Wow, let's not.

Getting no exp for killing enemies made the combat feel like nothing but roadblocks in ME2 for the longest time for me. I just had to put it in the back of my mind and try to not think about it. The enemies were just "in the way" of the next cutscene, especially when combined with the corridor map layouts. And having no EXP for enemies also made the EXP get dished out at the same rate for everyone, so everyone was at pretty much the exact same level at the same points of the game. You couldn't do anything to get more exp by choice other than side missions which other people could do too. Even if it worked quietly in the background, exp for downing enemies made it at least feel like it counted for something.
 
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