Topic: Mass Effect 3 to be more of an RPG?

[MysterD]

GameInformer -> Video Interview w/ Casey Hudson of BioWare on the birth of Mass Effect series.

[MysterD]

Delayed until 2012.

[MysterD]

SPOILER WARNING for all ME games
G4TV -> Lots of ME3 Info.

[shock]

Just finished 2.  HUGE SPOILERS ON 2 ARE BELOW

So excited they are making a third.  This is a great series.

My random thoughts are below:

1) Mining on 2 was a pain in the ass.  Can the stupid mouse move any slower?  Also, it would be nice to have a clearer idea of what the resources are going to be used for to determine whether or not it is worth scanning.  I had over 200k of 3 of the 4 elements at one point because I was under the impression they would be useful somehow.  In the end, I was still too poor to afford one final damage upgrade, but I had 150k of two elements.  Kinda silly.

2) Bypassing/Hacking also got old fast.  It was actually really fun for the first few times, but after the Nth time, I nearly started skipping things, but I felt forced to do it anyway.  Perhaps adding more minigames to the rotation could make this a lot more enjoyable.

3) Story was great, as I expected, although I don't like some of the new characters.  And I hate that Ashley Williams was absent almost the entire second game.  That was a bit disappointing.  Perhaps it was the way I played ME1, but she was such a huge part of my first game that it felt a little empty without her.  I remember sending that other marine to die in the first one so I could save her.  And later it was bone time.  I know the devs can't cater it to how I played through, but I felt sorta cheated by the one dialogue with her, and then she just ran off.  She didn't even need to be a squad character, but a little something more.

4) Relationships were pretty good, but could definitely use some work.  For example, I only played through once, but it's annoying to have character options limited by your relationship with someone else.  I went for Tali (omg hawt), but Miranda wouldn't even talk to me for the second half of the game.  She just kept on saying she was busy, even after the mission was over.  I assume this was because I was bunking up with Tali, but it was annoying to totally destroy that character.  It would be cooler to sort of woo both and force a confrontration.  Or maybe let you sleep around provided certain conditions are met.  I'm not sure, but it felt very rigid.

There were also a lot of good conversations, but a lot of repeated ones too.  Kelly (the lady that checks your email) should definitely have been a deeper character too.  Although I did hit that.   

5) The ending sequence was a little strange.  Two of my squad members died.  I did all of their loyalty missions and all were loyal, so I'm assuming it was because I chose the wrong person for the wrong thing.  I'm going to replay it to be certain.  It seemed really RNG, and almost forces the person to replay it.  I know the intent was to not let you see who was going to die, but I didn't particularly enjoy that.  I'd rather send Jack to the slaughter for complaining. 

6) Compared to one, the side missions were fantastic.  They are all unique.  While there seemed like less (perhaps substantially so), I didn't particularly mind.  The main story itself seemed rather short.  I feel like I spent 85% of my time exploring planets/mining/doing sidequests and like 15% on the main storyline.  My recollection from ME1 is that it wasn't so lopsided.

7) amg a Bioware game that lets you keep exploring after you finish the game?!  WHAAAATTT

So those are my random quabbles/things that I think need to be addressed for 3.  While this probably sounds like bitching, I think this is the best game I've played in a long time.  Great stuff.

Edit: I just played through the last part again and I managed to keep everyone alive until the last scene, when Jack, the only non-loyal person, died randomly.  Kind of annoying.  Oh well.  She was being a drama queen anyway, and wouldn't talk to me ever since her and Miranda started fighting and I didn't have the Paragon/Renegade score to turn her back.  Meh.  I don't think it would be possible to not have her die in my savegame.

I'm about to reformat, but I think I'll hold onto my save file so I can load it into 3.

[gpw11]

5) The ending sequence was a little strange.  Two of my squad members died.  I did all of their loyalty missions and all were loyal, so I'm assuming it was because I chose the wrong person for the wrong thing.  I'm going to replay it to be certain.  It seemed really RNG, and almost forces the person to replay it.  I know the intent was to not let you see who was going to die, but I didn't particularly enjoy that.  I'd rather send Jack to the slaughter for complaining. 

Yeah, a couple of the choices for tasks aren't really what you'd think they should be. 

[MysterD]

Mass Effect 3: Digital Deluxe Edition that will ONLY be on EA Origin.

EA will release a Mass Effect 3 N7 Digital Deluxe Edition exclusively on its download service Origin.

It costs £54.99. Here's what it includes:

    Digital commemorative artwork of Commander Shepard.
    70-page Digital art book featuring hundreds of unique and gorgeous illustrations from the BioWare development team.
    Limited edition Mass Effect digital comic by Dark Horse Comics, complete with unique cover artwork.
    Exclusive Digital 4x6 lithographic featuring a one-of-a-kind piece of artwork.
    A full collection of in-game content that can’t be found anywhere else!
    N7 Arsenal Pack – Bring the firepower with the N7 Sniper Rifle, Shotgun, SMG, and Pistol.
    Robotic Dog Companion – A faithful sidekick to keep you company on board the Normandy.
    Squadmate Alternate Outfit Pack – New appearances for your favorite squad members.
    N7 Hoodie – For Commander Shepard’s casual days on board the Normandy.
    Relive all the greatest moments of Mass Effect 3 with the digital soundtrack.
    Display your initiation in the N7 ranks with a collection of forum and social badges, avatars, and perks.

Really.

Origin is EA's Steam rival, and it comes as no surprise to find that Mass Effect 3 is not available to pre-order from Valve's shop.

[Pugnate]

haha nearly $90 for a bunch of imaginary stuff.

[Xessive]

haha nearly $90 for a bunch of imaginary stuff.

Bear in mind that the numerical value (rather than the actual value) is usually kept the same for some titles from certain publishers. For example if a game costs $49.99 USD it will retain the same number 49.99 GBP, which is utter bullcrap.

GOG.com always boast about providing proper value for their games, regardless of region. This was one of their big points with The Witcher 2.

It's likely that Mass Effect 3 DDE will got for $54.99 USD but based on ME2's release date price tag I'd estimate something closer to $59.99 USD.

[MysterD]

Bear in mind that the numerical value (rather than the actual value) is usually kept the same for some titles from certain publishers. For example if a game costs $49.99 USD it will retain the same number 49.99 GBP, which is utter bullcrap.

GOG.com always boast about providing proper value for their games, regardless of region. This was one of their big points with The Witcher 2.

It's likely that Mass Effect 3 DDE will got for $54.99 USD but based on ME2's release date price tag I'd estimate something closer to $59.99 USD.

Somewhere, I read ME3: Digital Deluxe Edition [from Origin] is $79.99 USD.

[Xessive]

Somewhere, I read ME3: Digital Deluxe Edition [from Origin] is $79.99 USD.

Damn, that's how much the retail Collector's Edition of ME2 cost.. That was a physical CE though. I can't justify paying that much for a digital-only version of the game.

[gpw11]

Digital commemorative artwork of Commander Shepard

Ahahahahaha.  How the fuck are they going to do that when everyone's Shepard looks different.  Unless it's "Digital commemorative artwork" of the stock one.  Either way, it's completely fucking retarded.  Who the fuck wants this shit?  They're trying to corner the grandmothers who play modern video game market.

And I hope they don't mean to hold out on Steam in hopes of giving Origin some sort of boost.  I know you guys are mostly not fans of the service, but I don't think I'll be buying PC games retail anymore (For reasons we've gone into before).

[shock]

I've never bought a LE/CE version of a game.  I can't think of any reason I ever would.  I haven't purchased a store copy of a game in years, but when I did, I would always throw out the box and packaging.  I don't have enough room to keep that crap around.

[Xessive]

Damn.. I might be a hoarder.. I keep the covers for sentimental value.. and they look cool.

[scottws]

The onle CE I bought was for SCII.  I found it cool at first, but now I could really give a crap about anything in there.

[shock]

I do get a little envious when people do the "post your setup" stuff and someone posts their room full of game boxes.  It does look pretty cool then

[Pugnate]

Man it is really a sign that I am getting older. I used to buy CEs left and right, and now I couldn't give a damn. To be honest, I don't even want CDs anymore. Steam is just too convenient, especially with the sales.

[Cobra951]

It's funny how I've gone from hating digital to hoping they figure out a way to release multi-disc games digitally on the Xbox.  ME2 would make a great such release on Games on Demand.  No disc swapping.

[MysterD]

Destructoid -> Mass Effect 3 - Interview w/ Casey Hudson from Comic Con 2011.

[MysterD]

RipTen -> Interview w/ Casey Hudson on modding/customizing weapons and level-up trees.
GameSpot -> Squad Leader Combat Trailer.

[MysterD]

Some details on ME3's MP modes.

[MysterD]

Destructoid -> Online pass confirmed for ME3.

[MysterD]

Mass Effect 3 Demo coming in Jan 2012 with SP and MP content.

[MysterD]

Joystiq -> ME3 PC requires an Initial Net Check at boot; and there's no local Co-Op for ANY version.

EDIT:
From Bioware Blog:

Will ME3 require an internet connection for each launching of the SP game, or will it retain ME2′s single verification method?
Mass Effect 3 PC will require the internet connection when you initially launch and authorize it but then you will no longer require the connection.

[MysterD]

Casey Hudson interview on ME3 w/ GameInformer.
Read this about the game having 3 different Game Modes...

GI: When you start Mass Effect 3, you have to choose between three new game modes – action, roleplaying, and story. How early into development did you come up with the idea of splitting it up into the different types of players who are likely to be checking this game out?

Casey Hudson: That’s actually another thing that we wanted to do in previous games. It’s simpler than it seems. It looks like we’ve done something really crazy, but all it’s doing is – first of all, we realized that it’s not ideal that when someone starts the game, they don’t know that much about it and we dump a huge options screen on them. Automatic squad powers and this and that – you’re asking them to make too many decisions about stuff they haven’t even played yet. That wasn’t ideal. We also have a lot of feedback from people who say, "Your games look really cool, and I love the idea of the story and the characters. It looks awesome when I watch it on YouTube, but I’m just not that coordinated with a shooter. I would play it if I could figure out how to do combat." So we always thought we should have a mode where combat isn’t going to kill you. You still go around and fight, but you’re playing it for the story experience. We thought we should be able to do that relatively easy, but there’s still work involved in that.

You have to make a game with a certain design before you realize that there are different player types. One of the surprising pieces of feedback was for some players, it’s not that they don’t like the story. They love story. In fact, the story is so important to them that they feel the story choices are intimidating. They’re worried that they’re going to make a wrong decision. We never build our games that way, but they find it stressful that they have to make all these decisions. They want to see what happens, but they want to see what they would perceive as the best outcome.

So all these settings do is that they set some of the options on the option screen before you’ve played it and know what those options mean. Once you get in and start playing, you can change things. The story mode is actually just a difficulty setting. The action mode is actually just about choosing "automatic dialogue."

GI: So if you’re playing in story mode, you actually don’t die at all?

CH: It’s not that you don’t die at all.

GI: It’s just really difficult to lose?

CH: Yeah, it’s easy enough that combat happens a lot faster. You get through it faster. You can mow through enemies. Generally, if you’re trying, you’re not going to die.

GI: For the action mode, do you have it set up so that it’s choosing specifically a paragon or a renegade path, or is it a mix of the two?

CH: It’s a mix. It’s not canon. We have a rule in our franchise that there is no canon. You as a player decide what your story is. But we choose a default path that gives you access to a lot of cool things. It’s like how a character like Jack Bauer has to make some decisions where he feels empathy in one moment or feels particularly brutal in another moment. We weave you through a default path that switches between those.

[shock]

Interesting.  I'm assuming that action has the most difficult combat sequences.  I liked the combat in ME and ME2, so this option would be tempting.  I hope it doesn't come at the expense of anything else though (IE less storytelling).  The distinction between roleplaying and action seems a bit forced.  I guess there is more ability to customize your characters in roleplaying and less emphasis on the action.  But again, why really make this distinction?  Even if you hate the roleplaying parts of the game, you can just breeze through them without too much thought (it takes like 5 seconds to select some skills and you are back in the fray).  Why take that option away?  Story makes a lot of sense, since a lot of people that like the game are into the story.  But if it just tones down the difficulty of the combat, is it really worth the effort?  Why not just let players use a difficulty slider and focus on other aspects of the game?

It's a strange idea and gives me a bit of anxiety.  Overall, it seems like it could be oddly limiting in a series that gets most of its appeal from its interplay between action, roleplaying, and storytelling.  Why would I want to chose to focus on one of these options at the expense of the others?  I want all of them at once.

[sirean_syan]

Yeah. It's weird. I just want an option that says:

I like games. Give me the hardest and most in-depth version of each portion of the game.

I don't want to have to pick a more in-depth role playing experience at the expense of action, especially like shock said, it's the interplay between the role playing and the action that makes the game portions of the series interesting.

[Pugnate]

wtf

So all these settings do is that they set some of the options on the option screen before you’ve played it and know what those options mean. Once you get in and start playing, you can change things. The story mode is actually just a difficulty setting. The action mode is actually just about choosing "automatic dialogue."

That doesn't seem so bad. Don't they realize they are just confusing people?

I think DA2 and now this just confirms that Bioware are just losing their heads.

[MysterD]

About the dialogue choices - wasn't the aggressive options purposely placed in the ME games really for the action gamer to get themselves out of the dialogues and get back to the action? 
I really don't get this. It's like Bioware can't decide what genre their game is and who to cater the game to.

[Pugnate]

No.

[MysterD]

I just can't see this going well w/ having 3 different game modes here...

[Pugnate]

No.

[MysterD]

No.

Is that your answer for everything?

[Pugnate]

No.

[idolminds]

I'm watching the internet forum meltdowns about ME3 requiring Origin for "a one time, single authorization for the single player game."

[MysterD]

I'm watching the internet forum meltdowns about ME3 requiring Origin for "a one time, single authorization for the single player game."

This is NOT much different than most PC games requiring Steam or G4WL... 

EDIT:
Bioware Forums -> Origin and ME3 Thread - 80 pages long, so far.
Kotaku and IGN reporting ME3 PC requires Origin.

[scottws]

I'm watching the internet forum meltdowns about ME3 requiring Origin for "a one time, single authorization for the single player game."

Fuck.  Seriously?  I guess I'm not surprised but I don't like that thing where EA can close down your account (and hence any games associated with it) for disuse.  I've sworn off Origin but I don't know if I can really keep that up with ME3.

[MysterD]

One thing I liked about Origin OVER Steam was that to run my games, I never had to keep Origin going in the background.
Well, ME3 and BF3 kind of wreck that idea, unfortunately.

On another hand - game requiring client-program is not much different than Steam, honestly.

Both programs data-mine, except Steam asks for your permission (the survey!) or you can set it in your preferences [so they can find out your specs, what app's you got installed, drivers, etc etc].
Origin doesn't ask for permission - it just bloody takes what it wants for info, which is what you agree to in the EULA.

Like Scott said - the whole "EA has control of your games" is another issue, too.
Then again, others have had this issue w/ Steam, too.

From what I been reading the past few days, this looks to be the problems people are having w/ ME3 requiring Origin.

[MysterD]

Mass Effect 3 PC -> System Requirements.
2.5 GB HDD requirements for probably for the Demo, not full version.

[MysterD]

Sounds about right for me...

[sirean_syan]

Meet the voice actors... except only the famous ones... and Jessica Chobot.

Really? Jessica Chobot? They couldn't find some decent no name who would probably be cheaper and not Jessica Chobot?