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Post by cipher on Oct 17, 2019 14:04:18 GMT
Lets see...
Race changes:
Well, as much as I'm fond of Javik, I'd keep the Prothean's original creepy appearance. I remember reading an art-sheet that actually said the appearance was suppose to act as a template/amalgamation for the other Milky Way races. Build on this perhaps? Illos itself always gave me a lovecraftian vibe.
Make the Asari race exactly as ME 2 hinted at in that bar on Illium. While I know it's not canon that they appear attractive to certain races by influencing how they appear towards them: ie they appear as a blue human, turian, Vorcha... that would be fascinating to explore. They'd be mysterious, and possibly very manipulative because of this ability to influence in such a way. Of course, there may be pictures of their actual appearance, but the same could of easily be said for Quarians.
Reapers... assuming they are still the main antagonist, are pure technological beings with the uploaded organic minds of the first race that was reaped. The "reaper intelligence" aka Starchild, is instead a giant Matrioshka/Jupiter Brain that exist in dark-space. Doesn't "control" the reapers, but forms the collective computing power A.I. that gets more uploaded minds added after every cycle. The need for such computational power & the crude means to achieve it are only speculated at within the story, perhaps to achieve another tech singularity and ascend further?
Plot changes:
Agree with whomever said make ME 2 basically Mass Effect Uncharted/Tomb Raider. As much as I love basic ME 2, I'd be interested instead in finding out about the Protheans lost knowledge, activating dormant Mass Relays, possibly seeing new aliens, and just exploring. Cerberus actually makes more sense as chief antagonist during this point, as they try to beat Shepard & crew to Prothean knowledge/tech which could allow humans to dominate the other races.
The collectors can still exist, just not as Protheans and instead are an indoctrinated race that is hostile just like the Rachni were, encountered when a new relay is opened. Assume control is not Harbinger, but just Collector General who is interested in their new adversaries.
Being a council spectre truly means something, with dialogue, accessible locations, political missions (like ME 1 Hackett), and personally working with either Anderson/Udina. I'd like to think that the human councilor acts in the same role as the Illusive Man in giving Shepard direction, but not controlling their actions.
Pretty sure this has been stated a million times. But if joining Cerberus is a necessity or option in the plot, then let it be via infiltration. Perhaps this option is actually more emphasized should you allow the council to die in ME 1 (& Udina is counselor), giving them less incentive to help you.
If Shepard is a Biotic, express it more in cut-scenes. No need for Jack or Samara level antics, but perhaps something like Miri's or Javik's.
Allow Shepard to relive the moments of their service record backstory as a plot mission.
Elanos Haliat, the pirate leader of the Terminus Systems which enacted the Skyllian Blitz, is presented as a Turian as originally intended.
Mechanic changes:
I'd possibly replace Paragon/Renegade with the personality wheel from DA & Andromeda. While the Paragade system can be fun, it's just too binary to properly build character. Sometimes you want a smart, logical character who has heart and isn't an ass. Maybe keep the interrupts for flavor, and add some to ME 1.
Andromeda might actually be best gameplay wise, perhaps because it allows itself for more scanning/exploration. Maybe not as much open world, but one in which at least feels big and not so confined, which ME 2 & 3 sometimes felt compared to 1. The "villain bunkers" & planetary bases of ME 1 need to be upgraded to the standards of its sequels, so as to not be so repetitive.
Make the classes seamless across the games: ie biotic charge in ME 1.
Get rid of thermal magazines/clips. ME has/had a unique feel with the unlimited ammo & overheating mechanics of its weaponry. Streamline the ME 1 inventory is a given.
Upgrade the Normandy over the course of the trilogy. (considering the prior change of ME 2 plot) Have access to both the Mako & Hammerhead depending on which is best suited for planetary terrain in ME 1. No more getting stuck on polygon ledges trying to obtain minerals...
Really, some of these things I'd like for even a soft reboot.
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Post by x19dude95 on Oct 26, 2019 13:23:02 GMT
We don't need a reboot. Any good writer can get past the ''ending'' thing.
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Post by hawkster94 on Oct 26, 2019 14:13:50 GMT
Not that a reboot is gonna happen, but let's say it does.
I'll probably have the Reapers defeated by the Protheans in background lore, tho Protheans die out due to lack of population.
Shepard and crew are mostly the same, but the plot focuses on clash of ideologies between Council races, non-Council races, humans and an arms race through trying to exploit remnants of dormant Reaper tech. Basically, a constant battle of power and their balance shifting
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Post by cloud9 on Oct 26, 2019 15:01:13 GMT
We don't need a reboot. Any good writer can get past the ''ending'' thing. Uhh...
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Post by x19dude95 on Oct 26, 2019 20:00:36 GMT
We don't need a reboot. Any good writer can get past the ''ending'' thing. Uhh... Okay just have it take place before ME3.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 27, 2019 6:19:51 GMT
We don't need a reboot. Any good writer can get past the ''ending'' thing. There's no need for a reboot or a sequel. Let's let Mass Effect rest in peace.
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Post by Spectr61 on Oct 27, 2019 21:13:11 GMT
We don't need a reboot. Any good writer can get past the ''ending'' thing. There's no need for a reboot or a sequel. Let's let Mass Effect rest in peace. Speak speak for yourself.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 27, 2019 22:05:35 GMT
You know Mass Effect trilogy was designed as a trilogy, right? Once you deal with the Reapers at the end of ME3, that's the end of the story.
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Post by hawkster94 on Oct 28, 2019 14:07:48 GMT
To be honest, I never cared about the Reapers or their storyline. I was always invested in the characters and story nuggets within the galaxy.
To me, sci-fi stories that focuses on idelogical/sociopolitical conflicts are far more interesting than ancient squid machines
Bioware put themselves into a corner when they wrote the Reapers as ancient and almost-invincible powerful squid machines
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Post by Sanunes on Oct 29, 2019 5:00:38 GMT
To be honest, I never cared about the Reapers or their storyline. I was always invested in the characters and story nuggets within the galaxy. To me, sci-fi stories that focuses on idelogical/sociopolitical conflicts are far more interesting than ancient squid machines Bioware put themselves into a corner when they wrote the Reapers as ancient and almost-invincible powerful squid machines I agree about the Reapers for they didn't grab my interest because they were so powerful and with how powerful BioWare described them seemed to be a problem. The other problem I think BioWare put themselves into is killing off companions for how people did invest themselves into them. Between the choice of Ashley or Kaiden in Mass Effect 1 and then your entire crew of Mass Effect 2 it just seemed to be a problem going forward and it was probably my biggest problem with Mass Effect 3 for I can skip the other things I don't like. That is the biggest reason why I want BioWare just to end any potential future with the first group of people for I just don't think they will be able to keep the characters to the point of being as engaging as they were in the past due to the number of companions and the potential of them not being alive which impacts how the story of the game develops. That is why I am also willing to continue in Andromeda for I think they can improve the story and character flaws that were in Andromeda and won't require them to create a new setting all over again and have the potential of having problems like Andromeda did.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 29, 2019 5:19:40 GMT
Bioware put themselves into a corner when they wrote the Reapers as ancient and almost-invincible powerful squid machines Would you rather have an enemy which is equal to you? Rather than one who is more powerful.
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Post by Sanunes on Oct 29, 2019 15:43:49 GMT
Bioware put themselves into a corner when they wrote the Reapers as ancient and almost-invincible powerful squid machines Would you rather have an enemy which is equal to you? Rather than one who is more powerful. There is more powerful, but there is also near invincible. The Collector's were more powerful, even The Shadow Broker was more powerful the difference is that we could still beat them with the tools we had as players.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 29, 2019 17:30:18 GMT
In some stories, the hero doesn't always win. In Mass Effect 3, victory was only possible by building a device, that when combined with the mass relays and the Citadel would defeat the enemy.
They weren't invincible, because you could do damage to a Reaper and kill it.
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Post by alanc9 on Oct 29, 2019 19:21:03 GMT
In a series where the hero is a guy with a rifle and the enemies are gigantic space battleships, you probably should expect some sort of space magic device to even things up.
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Post by griffith82 on Oct 30, 2019 0:24:35 GMT
Would you rather have an enemy which is equal to you? Rather than one who is more powerful. There is more powerful, but there is also near invincible. The Collector's were more powerful, even The Shadow Broker was more powerful the difference is that we could still beat them with the tools we had as players. They were strong but they could be defeated just not conventionally.
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Post by tatann on Oct 31, 2019 12:32:29 GMT
Like Germany in WW2, they rolled over Europe with superior firepower in 1939, leaving London/England as a pocket of resistance (like in ME3) But when nations united, they finally got beaten
The same can be seen in the Edge Of Tomorrow movie, with a far more advanced enemy occupying Europe, a pocket of resistance in London, and they even pushed the metaphor with the D-day in Normandy (Normandy, isn't that the name of a famous space ship ?)
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Post by sjsharp2010 on Nov 8, 2019 22:56:44 GMT
We don't need a reboot. Any good writer can get past the ''ending'' thing. There's no need for a reboot or a sequel. Let's let Mass Effect rest in peace. I'd rather allow the series continue in Andromeda but if it can't I'd rather just let Mass Effect be. I don' twant any reboots or return t othe MEW umntil we're finished with Andromeda's story.
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Post by alanc9 on Nov 9, 2019 17:25:07 GMT
OK, but then you should just stay out of threads like this. I'm kind of where you are, but on its own terms playing around with how to reboot ME can be a fun exercise.
I'd start by clearing up some basics. MEU physics needs to be modified to make the universe work. Ships in FTL are undetectable and unstoppable, and mass effect weapons are powerful enough to trash planets cheaply. This means that planets can not be defended from an opposing fleet, except by conceptual deterrents like the Citadel Conventions, which only work if the other side voluntarily adheres to them. MAD still works, but then the logic of the techs is that the universe ends up being ruled by shifting coalitions of space pirates. Probably the best way to handle this would be by making trans-relay assaults very difficult without massive superiority. A way to detect and intercept ships in FTL would also help, but I don't know how we get there from here.
The Council's "don't open new relays" policy is idiotic. If you don't open the relay yourself, all that means is that the guys on the other side can open it whenever they damn well please. You're better off knowing that bad guys are on the other side rather than keeping the door closed and hoping that there's nothing bad on the other side. But then we have a problem with the Citadel races not exploring the entire network in the centuries they've had access to it. Honestly, we might be better off with the Citadel inflicting some sort of low-grade Indoctrination on galactic leadership which causes them to do stupid things. This has the advantage of preemptively excusing some bad writing.
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Post by skekSil on Nov 9, 2019 18:40:21 GMT
Ships in FTL are undetectable and unstoppable, and mass effect weapons are powerful enough to trash planets cheaply. This means that planets can not be defended from an opposing fleet, except by conceptual deterrents like the Citadel Conventions, which only work if the other side voluntarily adheres to them. Or they have powerful planetary shields or some other mass effect technology that can defend from this stuff.
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Post by Deleted on Nov 10, 2019 1:49:24 GMT
My two cents:
ME1 is switched with ME2 time-wise. Commander Shepard, Alliance Marine, is investigating mass abductions in the human colonies inside the Terminus systems. The Alliance is turning a blind eye; The Illusive Man approaches Shepard. ME2 happens.
ME1 happens. Because of the events in the first game, The Council is considering Shepard for the position of the first human Spectre. the basic plot is the same, but it's expanded. This is the game that we explore the Galaxy unraveling The Reapers misteries, expanding our knowledge, and learning their (few to none) weaknesses. The battle on the Citadel happens, we are victorious, the galaxy know about the Reapers. Arrival happens. In this game, you learn that Cerberus splintered because of your actions in the first game, and they are researching on indoctrination. You would battle against them as well.
ME3 happens. You deprived The Reapers of their back door for their invasion. The travel to the Milky Way from Dark Space without mass relays reduces their offensive and defensive capabilities, but they are still formidable opponents. There's no Crucible. Theres no Kai Leng. One of the first missions would be discovering the Keepers secrets, learning how to move the Citadel, attracting the Reapers to different locations. there would be a minigame, you would attract the reapers to systems with mass relays and destroy them, sacrificing some of your fleets but weakening the enemy even more, till the final showdown on the last system with a relay (this could change depending of the order that you choose to complete the missions, so it could be on Palaven, Earth, etc.). Depending of how loyal your squadmates are, they would choose to stay behind with the sacrificial fleet for each relay destroyed (Garrus on Palaven, Wrex on Tuchanka, Kaidan/Ashley and other humans on Earth, and so on). Indoctrination would play a role: if you couldn't accumulate enough reputation, helping people and keeping your morale and hopes up, you would have less choices on the dialogue wheel , and they would appear only for the worst outcome (you wouldn't have the choice to broker peace between Quarians and Geth even with all the right decisions, for example). If your indoctrination bar gets to a critical point, you would turn against your allies, and the Reapers would win: worst ending.
The fleets condition in the final push would be determined by your choices throughout the trilogy. If you chose poorly, you could end with a skeleton crew, facing the final battle with few ships. This would be the bad ending: Mutual destruction with all Relays and the Citadel destroyed, and a new dark age. In regular playthroughs, you would end up sacrificing yourself, your ship and your crew for victory, but without the destruction of the Citadel, with one or few relays intact, ensuring a brighter future for the survivors. A better ending would be choosing between sacrificing yourself or one of your allies to ensure victory, but with the rest of the crew intact.
But if you made all the right decisions (this would be very difficult, even on lower difficulties), you would survive and almost everyone on your crew would as well. You would have The Citadel DLC as an epilogue, giving closure to Shepard's story.
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Post by gothpunkboy89 on Nov 10, 2019 3:59:13 GMT
I'd start by clearing up some basics. MEU physics needs to be modified to make the universe work. Ships in FTL are undetectable and unstoppable, and mass effect weapons are powerful enough to trash planets cheaply. This means that planets can not be defended from an opposing fleet, except by conceptual deterrents like the Citadel Conventions, which only work if the other side voluntarily adheres to them. MAD still works, but then the logic of the techs is that the universe ends up being ruled by shifting coalitions of space pirates. Probably the best way to handle this would be by making trans-relay assaults very difficult without massive superiority. A way to detect and intercept ships in FTL would also help, but I don't know how we get there from here. Need to take a page out of Halo's book and have orbital MAC guns powered from ground based generators. When you have at least 3 Dreadnought class cannons pointing at you at any given time any fleet's attempt to attack the planet wouldn't last very long.
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Post by alanc9 on Nov 10, 2019 16:17:04 GMT
That can't work in ME. Fleets can fire at planets from almost infinite range; planets can't dodge, and mass effect weaponry doesn't lose effectiveness with distance.
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Post by gothpunkboy89 on Nov 10, 2019 20:04:05 GMT
That can't work in ME. Fleets can fire at planets from almost infinite range; planets can't dodge, and mass effect weaponry doesn't lose effectiveness with distance. The same laws of physics exist in Halo the only difference is charging and firing method. The only difference is that you can add shielding capabilities to the platforms to create a sort of shield network blocking large sections when turned on. The major point however is that orbital bombardment is a stupid idea for anyone to actually try. Save like 2 or 3 races like Krogan, Geth and maybe Rachni orbital bombardment would leave the planet incapable of supporting life. And while each round has a ton of kinetic force it would require hundreds of shots to wipe out everyone on a planet. Enough that it would be a clear victor from the fight to reach that level of space superiority.
In no way would you be able to defeat the Alliance by firing pot shots at Earth from Uranus. The rounds do not travel at FTL speed and and the Codex says that dreadnoughts can only accelerate a round to 4025 km/s. Uranus is 2.6 billion km away from earth at it's closest orbit. That would mean a round fired from Uranus would take 645962 seconds or ~ 7 days to travel the distance. And there is no reason why they would not be able to track and intercept a round with literally 7 days to do something about it.
And realistically a round fired that fast would hit the atmosphere and shatter in the same way high velocity rounds shatter on impact with water. It would have to be a massive around to survive the transition from space to atmosphere. A 44 lbs round would not be large enough to survive but would also slow down considerably.
That said the Citadel Conventions set down those rules to follow because the krogan launched asteroids at planets that wiped them out. An orbiting system of defense cannons would be capable of blowing those asteroids apart before they impact rendering them harmless or severely reducing the effects of their impact.
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Post by alanc9 on Nov 11, 2019 6:29:10 GMT
Halo doing it too just means that Halo's bad too.
Sure, the technique doesn't work for all races and government types. But that is exactly the problem. Powers which don't have planets or don't care about keeping planets have a big advantage over other powers. Put another way, the quarians are doing it wrong; instead of begging the Citadel races for scraps, their message should be more along the lines of "Nice Thessia you've got here. It would be a real shame if something.... happened to it." The quarians won't do that because they're nice guys (if you're organics), but sooner or later the batarians or some such will figure it out.
As for the practicalities, at what range can you detect a 20-kilogram slug? How many can you shoot down? The number of potential incoming rounds is gigantic, since a fleet can reposition itself with FTL to thousands of different firing positions without sacrificing time-on-target synchronization for the barrage.
Not sure about the physics of a round travelling at 1.3% lightspeed hitting atmosphere. Any physics grads around? And is dreadnought muzzle velocity from rest actually the velocity limit for a barrage? What if a fleet travels towards a planet at near-lightspeed and drops a bunch of rocks? The rocks exit the fleet's ME fields and ... stay at near lightspeed? Or do they decelerate? The way mass effect weaponry works implies that they keep their velocity as long as it's below C in the current physics regime.
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Post by Pounce de León on Nov 11, 2019 13:42:18 GMT
Halo doing it too just means that Halo's bad too. Sure, the technique doesn't work for all races and government types. But that is exactly the problem. Powers which don't have planets or don't care about keeping planets have a big advantage over other powers. Put another way, the quarians are doing it wrong; instead of begging the Citadel races for scraps, their message should be more along the lines of "Nice Thessia you've got here. It would be a real shame if something.... happened to it." The quarians won't do that because they're nice guys (if you're organics), but sooner or later the batarians or some such will figure it out. As for the practicalities, at what range can you detect a 20-kilogram slug? How many can you shoot down? The number of potential incoming rounds is gigantic, since a fleet can reposition itself with FTL to thousands of different firing positions without sacrificing time-on-target synchronization for the barrage. Not sure about the physics of a round travelling at 1.3% lightspeed hitting atmosphere. Any physics grads around? And is dreadnought muzzle velocity from rest actually the velocity limit for a barrage? What if a fleet travels towards a planet at near-lightspeed and drops a bunch of rocks? The rocks exit the fleet's ME fields and ... stay at near lightspeed? Or do they decelerate? The way mass effect weaponry works implies that they keep their velocity as long as it's below C in the current physics regime. How many 20 kg meteorites survive re-entry? It's probably better to have them insert into decaying orbit and de-orbit normally rather than firing directly. A shattered shell will do nothing but evaporate on reentry. And those doing reentry from decaying orbit are pretty much useless without a stage that guides and propels them during reentry for limited targetting. Ballistic only would have abysmal accuracy.
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