I guess they need to fill in the music somehow until the OST is finished.
The GAF 80's style synth-wave music thread has given me tons of similar music that I can't wait to play along with ME.
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The Mass Effect Community Thread
- Thread starter shinobi602
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I guess they need to fill in the music somehow until the OST is finished.
The GAF 80's style synth-wave music thread has given me tons of similar music that I can't wait to play along with ME.
Extra Sauce
Member
Holy shit I just watched episode 2 of Silicon Valley. For those who are familiar, you know why I'm mentioning this here. For those who aren't, check out the show. It's not just hilarious, the plot is surprisingly engaging.
EatChildren
Currently polling second in Australia's federal election (first in the Gold Coast), this feral may one day be your Bogan King.
Each of the three games have strengths and weaknesses, differences often in the same areas. ME2 has the strongest individual character narrative arcs in the series, but falls apart in the main narrative, where ME1 is the most consistent and focused. ME1 has the most traditional and complex RPG stat building, but I feel ME3 was as step in a more appropriate direction for customisation and leveling relative to real time play. ME2 and ME3 are massively regressive in dialogue choices, but ME3 has some great conclusions to various story arcs with some fun outcomes based on earlier decisions. ME3 has overall far more polished encounter design and combat systems, but totally abandoning the open areas of ME1 does quell some design potential (that ME4 will be trying again).
For me it's just not clean cut, outside of maybe a few very specific examples, as to which game leads in any one area. ME3's combat is really, really tight compared to its predecessors. The multiplayer highlights this. The encounters are smarter, the game systems more balanced, and the feedback satisfying. But I miss the interesting cooldown-over-ammo from the first game, biotics arguably played more interestingly, and the more streamlined encounters aren't quite as unique as ME1's open moments (even if those open moments didn't always play well).
I've never been of the belief that ME1 is some super traditional hardcore RPG where dice rolls and tiny stat increases enhance or supplement the design. To me there's so much more to what defines an RPG-like experience than that. And it's those other areas I hope ME4 explores.
I have a fair bit of faith a lot of what I want to see in ME4 will at least be attempted, based on the next generation console standard, Inquisition's area size as a template, and what Frostbite can do that UE3 struggles a bit with. Whether or not it delivers on quality is another matter entirely.
For me it's just not clean cut, outside of maybe a few very specific examples, as to which game leads in any one area. ME3's combat is really, really tight compared to its predecessors. The multiplayer highlights this. The encounters are smarter, the game systems more balanced, and the feedback satisfying. But I miss the interesting cooldown-over-ammo from the first game, biotics arguably played more interestingly, and the more streamlined encounters aren't quite as unique as ME1's open moments (even if those open moments didn't always play well).
I've never been of the belief that ME1 is some super traditional hardcore RPG where dice rolls and tiny stat increases enhance or supplement the design. To me there's so much more to what defines an RPG-like experience than that. And it's those other areas I hope ME4 explores.
I have a fair bit of faith a lot of what I want to see in ME4 will at least be attempted, based on the next generation console standard, Inquisition's area size as a template, and what Frostbite can do that UE3 struggles a bit with. Whether or not it delivers on quality is another matter entirely.
Winterfang
Banned
Speaking of Combat, I got a free month of Gold and decided to give it a try and MY GOD, does EA makes it near impossible to start playing!!
I had to make an origin account but it wouldn't let me for some reason, and the game keeps checking for updates so I can't play offline neither when connected to the internet.
Then I make one account on origin.com and it freezes
I try to make another but it says the username is already in use!.
I make an EA account then, it tells me I have an origin account already.
I log in with the EA account and it says the account will turn into a origin one in a couple of months!! (WHAT?)
I manage to log in the origin account from EA site, finally I'm log in but it still doesn't recognize my password on the console.
I try to find the synch accounts button on the page but is not anywhere.
I downloaded origin the program into my laptop and installed, there's no synch option neither.
I go to add friends and there's the connect with Xbox Live option!!!!!! [WHUT?]
Entered the console and it ask me for an online pass, I buy one since thankfully Is free and manage to get online after a couple of inconveniences...
What the hell is wrong with EA?
I had to make an origin account but it wouldn't let me for some reason, and the game keeps checking for updates so I can't play offline neither when connected to the internet.
Then I make one account on origin.com and it freezes
I try to make another but it says the username is already in use!.
I make an EA account then, it tells me I have an origin account already.
I log in with the EA account and it says the account will turn into a origin one in a couple of months!! (WHAT?)
I manage to log in the origin account from EA site, finally I'm log in but it still doesn't recognize my password on the console.
I try to find the synch accounts button on the page but is not anywhere.
I downloaded origin the program into my laptop and installed, there's no synch option neither.
I go to add friends and there's the connect with Xbox Live option!!!!!! [WHUT?]
Entered the console and it ask me for an online pass, I buy one since thankfully Is free and manage to get online after a couple of inconveniences...
What the hell is wrong with EA?
wolfhowwl
Banned
Is 360 still active?
I ended up just rebuying the game for PC rather than ever pay for Xbox Live again. It's been on sale for less than a month's subscription too. As of tonight, games are still easy to find.
Hyperzephyrian
Banned
As much as I loved the characters in ME2 (and all the games, really), there was a single big problem. Having a dozen squad members, with many different possible configurations of who you had and hadn't recruited, meant that there was almost no unique inter-squad banter and dialogue. There was some, of course, on missions; but the characters didn't refer to each other by name, and the lines were much more general, because that dialogue had to work with any combination of squad members. I think the little arguments aboard the Normandy after certain missions were partly there to address this problem.
Sounds like you had an origin account already attached to the email that you're using with Xbox Live from a past EA title from before Origin integrated with consoles (back when it was just EA online) thus the prompt that you already had an account that would migrate to origin in a few months (I guess the messaging for those edge cases never was updated).
Normally it's straight forward but I can see how it would be very confusing in your edge case.
prag16
Banned
I agree with this. Keeping it a bit tighter (around the ME1 amount) might be desirable for the next game. But on the other hand having a lot was interesting, and being able to assign various members to various tasks was very cool during the suicide mission. Shame that type of idea wasn't used at any other point.
Good point. Compare ME2 to, say, Thessia with Javik and Liara.
I like how in ME3, some of the characters actually acknowledge that the other squadmates around you were someone in particular. Like the cutscenes on Sur'kesh if you have Garrus and Liara with you. Them and Wrex were all like "ahh, i love you guys, like good old days huh?", when if it was James or EDI, it wouldn't be the same.
Yeah. ME3 has this, too, in spots. I still laugh remembering the exchange on Sur'Kesh after the Yagh gets loose.
Shepard: There goes the next Shadow Broker.
Garrus: Could have sworn it was muttering T'Soni.
Liara: Not funny.
Or the Tali-2nd squadmate dialogue before the dreadnaught mission.
I don't remember how combat was in ME1 for Xbox 360, but I do know it was improved for PC. I played it one year ago and it was good. I mean, I agree ME3 was better, but it was never hit or miss for me on PC. Besides, I loved the heat-based ammo and used it after the Citadel DLC as well. As for customization, I hope they come back with those colourful armour designs.
+1
I disagree that ME2 was regressive in dialogue choices however, it wasn't a big leap forward by any means, but it was better in that as far as I can tell from the times I've played it, all the dialogue choices are unique (and I feel like there's more of them overall). Having played ME1 probably 50+ times, it eventually became apparent that a hell of a lot of the dialogue "choices" all end up with Shepard speaking the exact same line.
If this was already mentioned recently I apologize, but I really appreciated how there was only 1 Morality meter that combined Paragon and Renegade actions in ME3, as opposed to ME1 and ME2 that basically forced a straight Paragon or a Renegade Shep in order to select all the dialogue choices and punished those that had a mixed morality Shep.
Absolutely agree, the banter was one of the highlights for me in both those games; I'm still discovering unique quips in Inquisition and actively try to switch the team around as much as possible, which I never felt the incentive to do in Mass Effect.
It would still have to trigger whilst the team is inside the Mako (unlike the horse riding in Inquisition). If I recall, team members would point things out when you were inside the Mako in ME1 so I don't see why not.
Yep. I'm very happy that ME3 fixed that bullshit morality system from previous games. Having to constantly stick to one extreme in order to select dialogue choices, not only heavily restricted and stifled role playing, but was also incredibly unrealistic.
Winterfang
Banned
Yeah I'm doing it to get the readyness up and get the achievement. Is still active, managed to have full players every time. I'm new to multiplayer so it's a be different but is pretty fun actually.
Poodlestrike
Banned
Easily one of the best parts of ME3. ME2 was especially bad about this; to get the "Golden" ending on a first playthrough you absolutely had to follow either Paragon or Renegade 100% of the time. NO EXCEPTIONS.
Drove me up a wall. Even importing a high-Paragon save, you still had only a few opportunities to go against the grain. ME3's reputation system allowed for much more dynamic roleplaying. I hugely enjoyed punching that Quarian who tried to blow up the Geth Dreadnaught with me onboard.
Also, lol @ that gaming side thread about WRPGs.
Winterfang
Banned
LOL that scene is hilarious, specially since the game expects you to agree with the fucker. You can tell that because the scene after that Shepard is taking super calm and casual, so is a very jarring transition.
Poodlestrike
Banned
Really? I remember yelling at him extensively. I think it only defaults to calm if you pick Paragon-esque options after the punching, which, in all fairness to the game, would be very strange. "Now that I've sucker punched you and gotten it out of my system, let's have a rational discussion about what went down."
TC McQueen
Member
What? You just had to upgrade the ship and make the proper squad member selections, unless you're talking about something other than getting everyone through the Suicide Mission.
Poodlestrike
Banned
Huh. I thought I read that unless you secure the loyalty of your entire squad, one of them is guaranteed to croak.
Winterfang
Banned
No no, I yell at him, punch him, kick him out of my ship, then start a casual conversation with the quarian scientist lady immediately. Is the only transition in the game that's jarring to me.
You don't need full paragon or renegade to complete the any of their missions.
TC McQueen
Member
I think you can mess up one or two loyalty missions and not lose anyone. There's a flow chart or something showing the factors and characters you should choose for any role in the suicide mission.
Winterfang
Banned
I remember screwing Tali's mission and taking her with me at the final body, just so that my face is the last thing she sees before she dies.
Poodlestrike
Banned
I was actually thinking about the Miranda vs. Jack dispute, where you can only get both of their loyalties with full Paragon or Renegade.
Hyperzephyrian
Banned
Winterfang
Banned
Oooh, you can still save both of them if I'm correctly. It takes a ridiculous amount of paragon points to get ones loyalty back after doing that though.
I did a runthrough recently where I didn't get Jack's loyalty because of this but still ended up getting her out alive of the Suicide Mission.
Poodlestrike
Banned
Ah, so you can get the golden ending. Still, I like to get everybody's loyalty, which isn't possible without full Paragon. My inner completionist will not be denied!
Which is why I like the ME 3 system.
Yeah. That unevenness is the problem with discussions on the whole franchises. It's not like Gears or something where you have linear iteration from game to game. BioWare literally swapped big portions of the formula in and out with each game.
I'll agree on ME3's combat though, but that was probably the only really good thing about it. It's a really tight third person shooter with what could be the beginning of a good RPG system. It's where BioWare -- an RPG developer, finally figured out how to make a good action game, whereas ME2 was just an early attempt in that direction. The biggest problem with the idea of the action RPG is most of them are made by RPG developers who don't know how to make action games. Dark Souls has been a rare and fresh exception.
Also, what I miss the most about ME1 is its sense of exploration. I'm not going to pretend ME1 is a perfectly-executed RPG. Everything it attempts makes a pretty mixed landing, but it pulled things off just well enough to create an interesting space RPG that drew people in. All I really wanted was an iteration on that feeling of exploring planets.
Winterfang
Banned
I think ME3 is a great mix of Action and RPG. It not just an FPS with RPG elements, if you start the game in insanity without weapon upgrades and a fresh character, you are going to get rightfully destroyed. Even if you shoot everything in the face.
But is hard to mix them both without either the RPG elements feeling like an after though or losing because of an arbitrary stat instead of your skill.
But is hard to mix them both without either the RPG elements feeling like an after though or losing because of an arbitrary stat instead of your skill.
#1 Dump the RPG label. Too much baggage. Hell, call it an FPS. Just keep it a third person sci-fi action exploration game with role playing elements to really mess with people.
ME3: Powers and Weapons. I don't like weapon levels, but some people gotta have that loot. Weapon differentiation and power synergy were on point. Keep up the good work.
ME2: AARs Build on them and that reward system. Incorporate it into the world. Experience for objectives not kills.
ME1: Encounter setup and pacing. The structures were lacking and definitely need to be bigger, but the broader environments were nice. Overlord/BdTS are good templates. ME1 also did a good job incorporating transitions into the game. ME3 did level design better, but the hard line between combat and exploration made it feel stilted. The transition to next-gen only will probably alleviate that problem.
Resource management should be shipboard. Don't let me carry two tonnes of ordnance and junk into combat. Again ME3 was a step in the right direction. Use this to press the weapon differentiation angle.
Scrap the dialogue and morality system entirely. Slide in Alpha Protocol and that sweet faction affinity.
Exploration! A dash of ME1 with a dash of Star Citizen. Being on the Normandy never felt right. The view never changed. Except for a few fleeting scenes the sense of scale with the environment was never established. Very little difference between a gas giant and an asteroid. Do a better job placing our super secret stealthy space ship in its space.
Stew achieved.
Really I'm just looking forward to whatever they make.
ME3: Powers and Weapons. I don't like weapon levels, but some people gotta have that loot. Weapon differentiation and power synergy were on point. Keep up the good work.
ME2: AARs Build on them and that reward system. Incorporate it into the world. Experience for objectives not kills.
ME1: Encounter setup and pacing. The structures were lacking and definitely need to be bigger, but the broader environments were nice. Overlord/BdTS are good templates. ME1 also did a good job incorporating transitions into the game. ME3 did level design better, but the hard line between combat and exploration made it feel stilted. The transition to next-gen only will probably alleviate that problem.
Resource management should be shipboard. Don't let me carry two tonnes of ordnance and junk into combat. Again ME3 was a step in the right direction. Use this to press the weapon differentiation angle.
Scrap the dialogue and morality system entirely. Slide in Alpha Protocol and that sweet faction affinity.
Exploration! A dash of ME1 with a dash of Star Citizen. Being on the Normandy never felt right. The view never changed. Except for a few fleeting scenes the sense of scale with the environment was never established. Very little difference between a gas giant and an asteroid. Do a better job placing our super secret stealthy space ship in its space.
Stew achieved.
Really I'm just looking forward to whatever they make.
I'm in total agreement with you, except for this. The morality added an extra sentiment to main characters that I would otherwise not care about if they lived or died - not to mention it contributed to replayability in the long wrong.
Winterfang
Banned
Man the multiplayer can get exhausting, 11 rounds is a lot, it takes roughly 20 minutes for every mission. Ufff really intense, on the plus side I have 100% readiness in two system and 90% in the others, so they level up fast.
Oh there needs to be a sense of morality in the game, but I actually never cared for the Paragon/Renegade meter, or any points-based system either. Honestly I just wish I got a sci-fi game with CDProjekt's storytelling and sense of morality.
Poodlestrike
Banned
Oh god no. CDProjekt's sense of "morality" is awful. It's all shades of black. Utterly miserable.
anexanhume
Member
Bring back codex guy.
I dont know what game you were playing but The Witcher is a shades of grey game and benefits from never siding with anyone or giving you a stupid meter to chart your goodness, whatever that actually means. Much better than the cartoonish binary saint/sociopath bars. I mean fuck visible karma meters. May they die an swift death. Even more complex systems like alignment are fraught with problems. A video game is better off using a few long term consequence and a reputation system with multiple factions in play (whether they are individual characters or groups). And its better off hiding the numbers. It also helps with your writing when it doesnt center around have a good option, bad option and boring option when talking to people. A binary dialgoue choice that doesnt advertise its morality to the player is far superior to that.
Poodlestrike
Banned
I was playing the game that gave you the choice of which group of awful people you'd prefer to align yourself with. It's the morality of the childish cynic. Is the saint/asshole meter outdated? Certainly. Is The Witcher's approach (inserting moral "complexity" by making everybody equally bad) any better? I say no.
I typically enjoy a little more complexity in the morality at play. I sort of wish that freeing David at the end of Overlord left you at a tremendous disadvantage when dealing with the Geth in ME3.
However, that's not my biggest complaint with Mass Effect's system. My biggest complaint is that having a little fun head-butting a Krogan on Tuchanka made solving the Miranda-Jack conflict that much more difficult. Mass Effect 3's cumulative persuasion bar is a small step in the right direction, but there's so much room for improvement. Mass Effect flags choice in saves so they can just skip the middle man and refer straight to the pertinent information. I realize this approach is FAR more difficult to develop, but the reward is worth the time.
I have no problem with ME's writing with regards to morality but I do think the Paragon/Renegade system should be thrown out, it's really a hold over from KOTOR that doesn't belong in ME. In my opinion, there should just simply be a Conversation skill similar to ME1 and that by putting points into that more choices are unlocked. I should never be locked out of a choice because I'm not "Renegade" enough.
Really, I think they should just take what Fallout, especially New Vegas, does with its conversation system. And by that I mean that you have dialogue options that come from more than just your Conversation level. So, if you have a lot of points in Electronics you might have a dialogue choice dealing with that if the conversation was about some technological thing, whereas if you didn't you wouldn't have that choice. I'd also like if your say "reputation" affected certain dialogue choices as well, so if you say murdered an entire batch of Batarians cold heartedly then later on when dealing with someone else you could intimidate them because word of that story had gotten out.
And, of course I'd love more missions that involved just talking or solving a puzzle as opposed to simply shooting stuff. Some of my favorite ME side missions were those that didn't involve any shooting.
Really, I think they should just take what Fallout, especially New Vegas, does with its conversation system. And by that I mean that you have dialogue options that come from more than just your Conversation level. So, if you have a lot of points in Electronics you might have a dialogue choice dealing with that if the conversation was about some technological thing, whereas if you didn't you wouldn't have that choice. I'd also like if your say "reputation" affected certain dialogue choices as well, so if you say murdered an entire batch of Batarians cold heartedly then later on when dealing with someone else you could intimidate them because word of that story had gotten out.
And, of course I'd love more missions that involved just talking or solving a puzzle as opposed to simply shooting stuff. Some of my favorite ME side missions were those that didn't involve any shooting.
ThoseDeafMutes
Member
They experimented with that in Inquisition, tied to inquisition perks. I like the idea but it didn't seem to change a lot in practice from what i could see.
A way of doing it in Mass Effect might be:
80% of dialogue available to everybody
10% associated with persuade skill
5% based on class (tech, soldier, biotic)
2% based on character background (Earth/Spacer/Colonial)
2% based on military background (sole survivor/war hero/ruthless)
1% based on gender
(percentage figures pulled from my anus)
A way of doing it in Mass Effect might be:
80% of dialogue available to everybody
10% associated with persuade skill
5% based on class (tech, soldier, biotic)
2% based on character background (Earth/Spacer/Colonial)
2% based on military background (sole survivor/war hero/ruthless)
1% based on gender
(percentage figures pulled from my anus)
dr_rus
Member
There is a reason why "exploration" usually mean "RPG" and vice versa you know.
EatChildren
Currently polling second in Australia's federal election (first in the Gold Coast), this feral may one day be your Bogan King.
Paragon/Renegade just seems like fluff to me. You've no reason to not pick a path and stick to it for the frequent blue/red text that solves your problem. It's a lazily implemented moral choice system that holds no weight, worsened by BioWare's insistence to avoid serious moral dilemmas, or by over rewarding the magic blue/red text.
I mean, The Witcher is sometimes a bit transparent in its dark, edgy scenarios at times, but at least many of the moral choices are just situations you find yourself in with no real distinction of right, wrong, good, or evil. The game doesn't present you with moral choice game systems. The moral choice is your interpretation as a player.
I mean, The Witcher is sometimes a bit transparent in its dark, edgy scenarios at times, but at least many of the moral choices are just situations you find yourself in with no real distinction of right, wrong, good, or evil. The game doesn't present you with moral choice game systems. The moral choice is your interpretation as a player.
I did a run playing through the games deliberately not selecting any of the paragon/renegade choices or interrupts, it was actually kind of fun because you can't save everyone and you have to live with your choices.
Codex guy will be back, no doubt.
Hawkeye 131
Member
Hmmmm, the soothing voice of the Codex narrator! I could listen to that man's voice all day long... Giggity
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