inherit
1227
0
3,661
Phantom
2,657
August 2016
deathscepter
Mass Effect Trilogy, Dragon Age: Origins, Dragon Age 2, KOTOR, Jade Empire
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Post by Phantom on Oct 10, 2021 2:28:19 GMT
If I was a writer for this thought experiment, I would have an singular alien race focused story. So if Volus was a player character, he would know the ins and outs of his species and general overview of Citadel Species that he encounters. Also the dialogue would make him come across as a well educated person. Side note: Scotty my Cerberus Engineer that is scottish is bit of an asshat but intelligence.
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Jan 24, 2024 17:47:40 GMT
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Party like it's 2023!
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August 2016
kaisershep
Mass Effect Trilogy, Dragon Age: Origins, Dragon Age 2, Dragon Age Inquisition, Mass Effect Andromeda
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Post by KaiserShep on Oct 10, 2021 17:22:54 GMT
If I was a writer for this thought experiment, I would have an singular alien race focused story. So if Volus was a player character, he would know the ins and outs of his species and general overview of Citadel Species that he encounters. Also the dialogue would make him come across as a well educated person. Side note: Scotty my Cerberus Engineer that is scottish is bit of an asshat but intelligence. I feel like these sorts of diversion type stories would work best being relatively short. I'd love "Day in the life" type setups where we get to view the wider galaxy with somewhat lower stakes, but the big issue is the cost and risk of these experimental projects being more of a drain than anything. Personally, I'd opt for animated shorts, similar to Love Death + Robots but all set in the MEU. I would love to see a Volus banker have to deal with shady elements on Illium or something and see his personal life in a little jeopardy.
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August 2016
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https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=https%3A%2F%2Ftse1.mm.bing.net%2Fth%3Fid%3DOIP.hVm-5wNStlyTEXjhwDoa_wHaEK%26pid%3DApi&f=1&ipt=8f745a5f30b08f8231ddb64664df7375d23cc10878aa50d66fec54e9d570c7e2&ipo=images
Mass Effect Trilogy, Dragon Age: Origins, Dragon Age 2, Dragon Age Inquisition, Jade Empire, Mass Effect Andromeda
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Post by Sartoz on Oct 15, 2021 14:11:53 GMT
I desperately want my protag to be an Asari or a Female Turian, or a Female Quarian. I went through the trilogy as Shepard (and I love Femshep don't get me wrong), I went (slogged really, I hate the open world aspect) through Andromeda as Ryder.
I feel have earned the right to finally play as an alien protagonist. I don't care if most people would end up choosing to play as a human character, most people played as MaleShep but FemShep is and will always be the most iconic and enjoyable experience for me, and also just because most play as male doesn't mean female option shouldn't be allowed.
I've had my fill of the Mass Effect universe from a purely human perspective, most of the appeal of Mass Effect are the aliens anyway particularly the "main" aliens Asari, Turian, Quarian, Salarian, and Krogans. I think its about time that we should be able to play as at least one of them and let THEM be the hero of our personal stories in the rich setting of Mass Effect.
Word Budget limitations, comes to mind. Besides, going that route will alienate fans that wanted a Quarian, rather than a Turian... etc. Again, the game must provide a male and female human protagonist.. now there's an alien one too. VO actor costs go up and what as Bio gained?
Admittedly, I don't care about an alien P. I see ME as a human space opera. Let's not make things too complicated for Bio. I said way back then that Bio needed to make Andromeda a hit after that clusterf*ck of a ME3 ending. Result? .. a fail. I then posted that Anthem needed to be a hit or Bio will be in the shitter and certainly was unimpressed by that game. Hm, guess what happened?
Bio really has one cat life left. DA4 is it. A fail there, and I doubt we'll see ME5, ME LE notwithstanding.
Retconning that Shep lived through the reaper War, then the game plot is all about re-building. Shep will be at the front of taking care of Pirates, small space Kingdoms, defending key Human Outposts, making alliances... etc. There's plenty of material if Bio chooses this route.
Most of all, there's Shep!
(◔‿◔)
_______________
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15,426
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Post by themikefest on Oct 15, 2021 15:55:46 GMT
If I was a writer for this thought experiment, I would have an singular alien race focused story. So if Volus was a player character, he would know the ins and outs of his species and general overview of Citadel Species that he encounters. Also the dialogue would make him come across as a well educated person. Side note: Scotty my Cerberus Engineer that is scottish is bit of an asshat but intelligence. Volus as main character? Yes. It can happen. They are the most popular species outside of humans. One of the talents he/she will have is the bowling ball. When activated, he/she rolls into the baddies knocking them to the ground. When that happens, the sound effect of bowling pins falling over will be heard. It will become so popular that the next game will be called the Bowling Effect. Instead of fighting reapers, the enemy will be bowling pins. It would be a preorder for me. excellent.
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2,657
August 2016
deathscepter
Mass Effect Trilogy, Dragon Age: Origins, Dragon Age 2, KOTOR, Jade Empire
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Post by Phantom on Oct 15, 2021 16:44:22 GMT
If I was a writer for this thought experiment, I would have an singular alien race focused story. So if Volus was a player character, he would know the ins and outs of his species and general overview of Citadel Species that he encounters. Also the dialogue would make him come across as a well educated person. Side note: Scotty my Cerberus Engineer that is scottish is bit of an asshat but intelligence. Volus as main character? Yes. It can happen. They are the most popular species outside of humans. One of the talents he/she will have is the bowling ball. When activated, he/she rolls into the baddies knocking them to the ground. When that happens, the sound effect of bowling pins falling over will be heard. It will become so popular that the next game will be called the Bowling Effect. Instead of fighting reapers, the enemy will be bowling pins. It would be a preorder for me. excellent. well that bowling ball will be an option. Also able to mod the volus's armor to player's wish. Including to have batarian gauntlets. also there is a scene I would actually love to see to have my Volus Inflirator with batarian gauntlets hitting my Cerberus Phantom Commander in the dick.
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Oct 16, 2017 16:19:07 GMT
October 2017
sirpetrakus
Mass Effect Trilogy, Dragon Age: Origins, KOTOR, Baldur's Gate, Neverwinter Nights, Jade Empire, SWTOR
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Post by SirSourpuss on Oct 15, 2021 18:39:01 GMT
Bio really has one cat life left. DA4 is it. A fail there, and I doubt we'll see ME5, ME LE notwithstanding. Caution: FanFiction incoming. Consume at your own risk. I know that EA is willing to give ME a better chance than DA, at least financially. On the other hand, I know Gary doesn't fucking care, as long as he doesn't get the blame if it tanks and just cares about making things as cheap as humanly possible. The problem is, as DICE found out, this new version of Frostbite isn't ... it's not all there yet. And I gather that DA4 is around 2 years behind of where they'd want the game to be. 1,5-2 years behind. I consider a delay to Q1 2024 a given, at this point and there better be am uptick in people working on this title, yesterday. They need double the amount of people and for that amount of new people getting on board on a project that they've been entirely out of the loop, to get acquainted and familiarized, they're going to need 3-6 months as a baseline. Which brings us just barely beating Anthem in terms of what they can put out.
But considering what Gary wants to do with the books and keeping a tight leash on the budget, I don't see it happening. So ...
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Cyberstrike
N4
is wanting to have some fun!
Games: Mass Effect Trilogy, Dragon Age: Origins, Dragon Age 2, Dragon Age Inquisition, KOTOR, Baldur's Gate, Jade Empire, Mass Effect Andromeda, Mass Effect Legendary Edition
XBL Gamertag: cyberstrike nTo
PSN: cyberstrike-nTo
Prime Posts: 1,732
Prime Likes: 467
Posts: 1,868 Likes: 3,037
inherit
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0
May 14, 2017 17:50:43 GMT
3,037
Cyberstrike
is wanting to have some fun!
1,868
August 2016
cyberstrike
Mass Effect Trilogy, Dragon Age: Origins, Dragon Age 2, Dragon Age Inquisition, KOTOR, Baldur's Gate, Jade Empire, Mass Effect Andromeda, Mass Effect Legendary Edition
cyberstrike nTo
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1,732
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Post by Cyberstrike on Oct 15, 2021 22:04:49 GMT
If I was a writer for this thought experiment, I would have an singular alien race focused story. So if Volus was a player character, he would know the ins and outs of his species and general overview of Citadel Species that he encounters. Also the dialogue would make him come across as a well educated person. Side note: Scotty my Cerberus Engineer that is scottish is bit of an asshat but intelligence. I feel like these sorts of diversion type stories would work best being relatively short. I'd love "Day in the life" type setups where we get to view the wider galaxy with somewhat lower stakes, but the big issue is the cost and risk of these experimental projects being more of a drain than anything. Personally, I'd opt for animated shorts, similar to Love Death + Robots but all set in the MEU. I would love to see a Volus banker have to deal with shady elements on Illium or something and see his personal life in a little jeopardy.
Some stories are better suited to other media than video games.
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midnightwolf
N3
Games: Mass Effect Trilogy, Dragon Age: Origins, Dragon Age 2, Dragon Age Inquistion
Origin: BlackSassyWolf
XBL Gamertag: BlackSassyWolf
Posts: 947 Likes: 1,231
inherit
2174
0
1,231
midnightwolf
947
November 2016
midnightwolf
Mass Effect Trilogy, Dragon Age: Origins, Dragon Age 2, Dragon Age Inquistion
BlackSassyWolf
BlackSassyWolf
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Post by midnightwolf on Oct 21, 2021 2:47:47 GMT
Think of the voice acting costs. TWO voice actors per species, aside from Asari who only need one. That leaves very little for much else. So basically, you want an Alien monster munch, with all of the budget spent on voice work, not story.
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Mass Effect Trilogy, Dragon Age: Origins, Dragon Age 2, KOTOR, Jade Empire
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Post by Vortex13 on Oct 21, 2021 13:05:44 GMT
Yeah the only way to feasibly do an alien PC is to have the protagonist be silent.
You either have to do that or:
1. Limit the 'alien-ness' of the character to the point of just being minor cosmetic window dressing in order to preserve a more 'generic' dialogue.
2. Hire 12 different actors for each alien option and have a game that's only a half hour long.
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Felya87
N3
Games: Mass Effect Trilogy, Dragon Age: Origins, Dragon Age 2, Dragon Age Inquisition, KOTOR, Baldur's Gate, Neverwinter Nights, Jade Empire, Mass Effect Andromeda
Posts: 876 Likes: 2,228
inherit
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Mass Effect Trilogy, Dragon Age: Origins, Dragon Age 2, Dragon Age Inquisition, KOTOR, Baldur's Gate, Neverwinter Nights, Jade Empire, Mass Effect Andromeda
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Post by Felya87 on Oct 21, 2021 14:16:59 GMT
Someone here have forgot Inquisition already had four voices for the Inquisitor? And four playable races? I don't see the problem. And neither the need for multiple VA. Even Turian and Quarian need just a little artificial distortion, and even if I'm no expert, I don't think it can't be added without redoing the voice lines. It's a simple distortion. Still, it would just be: Turian and Quarian, one set of VA, Dreel, human and Asari, the other. Nothing of colossal work, or out of the world. SWTOR had no problem using one set of VA for the different races of any "origin".
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sirpetrakus
Mass Effect Trilogy, Dragon Age: Origins, KOTOR, Baldur's Gate, Neverwinter Nights, Jade Empire, SWTOR
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Post by SirSourpuss on Oct 21, 2021 14:25:09 GMT
Someone here have forgot Inquisition already had four voices for the Inquisitor? Yes, and it was purely cosmetic. It's also going to interfere with Gary McKay's policy to keep the budget under control. It's simply not happening.
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Mass Effect Trilogy, Dragon Age: Origins, Dragon Age 2, KOTOR, Jade Empire
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Post by Vortex13 on Oct 21, 2021 15:00:31 GMT
Someone here have forgot Inquisition already had four voices for the Inquisitor? And four playable races? I don't see the problem. And neither the need for multiple VA. Even Turian and Quarian need just a little artificial distortion, and even if I'm no expert, I don't think it can't be added without redoing the voice lines. It's a simple distortion. Still, it would just be: Turian and Quarian, one set of VA, Dreel, human and Asari, the other. Nothing of colossal work, or out of the world. SWTOR had no problem using one set of VA for the different races of any "origin". They did, and all of the dialogue for the different races (with the exception of the human and maybe a little of the elf) it was completely generic. The Dwarf and Quniari Inquisitor knew nothing about their respective races or homelands' cultures and out of a handful of responses; those all being some variation of: "Hey. You're a Dwarf/Quninari"; the game makes no mention of your choice of racial choice. I would much rather have humans only if the alternative is my Asari character stands there slack jawed when an actual Asari says "By the goddess" and then has to have a human explain to them the finer points of Asari religion and culture. [See Josephine in Inquisition explaining dwarf and quinari culture to your dwarf or quinari PC].
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Post by garrusfan1 on Oct 26, 2021 20:36:28 GMT
Someone here have forgot Inquisition already had four voices for the Inquisitor? And four playable races? I don't see the problem. And neither the need for multiple VA. Even Turian and Quarian need just a little artificial distortion, and even if I'm no expert, I don't think it can't be added without redoing the voice lines. It's a simple distortion. Still, it would just be: Turian and Quarian, one set of VA, Dreel, human and Asari, the other. Nothing of colossal work, or out of the world. SWTOR had no problem using one set of VA for the different races of any "origin". They did, and all of the dialogue for the different races (with the exception of the human and maybe a little of the elf) it was completely generic. The Dwarf and Quniari Inquisitor knew nothing about their respective races or homelands' cultures and out of a handful of responses; those all being some variation of: "Hey. You're a Dwarf/Quninari"; the game makes no mention of your choice of racial choice. I would much rather have humans only if the alternative is my Asari character stands there slack jawed when an actual Asari says "By the goddess" and then has to have a human explain to them the finer points of Asari religion and culture. [See Josephine in Inquisition explaining dwarf and quinari culture to your dwarf or quinari PC]. That can easily be taken care of by adding a few extra lines.
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Mass Effect Trilogy, Dragon Age: Origins, Dragon Age 2, KOTOR, Jade Empire
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Post by Vortex13 on Oct 26, 2021 20:43:06 GMT
They did, and all of the dialogue for the different races (with the exception of the human and maybe a little of the elf) it was completely generic. The Dwarf and Quniari Inquisitor knew nothing about their respective races or homelands' cultures and out of a handful of responses; those all being some variation of: "Hey. You're a Dwarf/Quninari"; the game makes no mention of your choice of racial choice. I would much rather have humans only if the alternative is my Asari character stands there slack jawed when an actual Asari says "By the goddess" and then has to have a human explain to them the finer points of Asari religion and culture. [See Josephine in Inquisition explaining dwarf and quinari culture to your dwarf or quinari PC]. That can easily be taken care of by adding a few extra lines. So more of the: " Oh. You're an Asari." lines? Not a fan of that in Inquisition and would not be up for it in Mass Effect. Just adding a few extra lines of throw away dialogue isn't going to make the alien characters fit better. You would need sizable portions of the narrative and story be reactive to your PC choice to matter. And the only way you could feasibly accomplish that (outside of a lazy copout) is going with a silent protagonist.
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Jan 24, 2024 17:47:40 GMT
16,819
KaiserShep
Party like it's 2023!
9,233
August 2016
kaisershep
Mass Effect Trilogy, Dragon Age: Origins, Dragon Age 2, Dragon Age Inquisition, Mass Effect Andromeda
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Post by KaiserShep on Oct 28, 2021 17:07:47 GMT
Someone here have forgot Inquisition already had four voices for the Inquisitor? And four playable races? I don't see the problem. And neither the need for multiple VA. Even Turian and Quarian need just a little artificial distortion, and even if I'm no expert, I don't think it can't be added without redoing the voice lines. It's a simple distortion. Still, it would just be: Turian and Quarian, one set of VA, Dreel, human and Asari, the other. Nothing of colossal work, or out of the world. SWTOR had no problem using one set of VA for the different races of any "origin". In terms of just the vocal variety, Inquisition fell a bit short because it didn’t have a distinct voice for the Dalish elf. Qunari and dwarves can get away with it, but that brogue from the Dalish is unmistakable.
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Cyberstrike
N4
is wanting to have some fun!
Games: Mass Effect Trilogy, Dragon Age: Origins, Dragon Age 2, Dragon Age Inquisition, KOTOR, Baldur's Gate, Jade Empire, Mass Effect Andromeda, Mass Effect Legendary Edition
XBL Gamertag: cyberstrike nTo
PSN: cyberstrike-nTo
Prime Posts: 1,732
Prime Likes: 467
Posts: 1,868 Likes: 3,037
inherit
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0
May 14, 2017 17:50:43 GMT
3,037
Cyberstrike
is wanting to have some fun!
1,868
August 2016
cyberstrike
Mass Effect Trilogy, Dragon Age: Origins, Dragon Age 2, Dragon Age Inquisition, KOTOR, Baldur's Gate, Jade Empire, Mass Effect Andromeda, Mass Effect Legendary Edition
cyberstrike nTo
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Post by Cyberstrike on Nov 2, 2021 0:51:29 GMT
I desperately want my protag to be an Asari or a Female Turian, or a Female Quarian. I went through the trilogy as Shepard (and I love Femshep don't get me wrong), I went (slogged really, I hate the open world aspect) through Andromeda as Ryder.
I feel have earned the right to finally play as an alien protagonist. I don't care if most people would end up choosing to play as a human character, most people played as MaleShep but FemShep is and will always be the most iconic and enjoyable experience for me, and also just because most play as male doesn't mean female option shouldn't be allowed.
I've had my fill of the Mass Effect universe from a purely human perspective, most of the appeal of Mass Effect are the aliens anyway particularly the "main" aliens Asari, Turian, Quarian, Salarian, and Krogans. I think its about time that we should be able to play as at least one of them and let THEM be the hero of our personal stories in the rich setting of Mass Effect.
Word Budget limitations, comes to mind. Besides, going that route will alienate fans that wanted a Quarian, rather than a Turian... etc. Again, the game must provide a male and female human protagonist.. now there's an alien one too. VO actor costs go up and what as Bio gained?
Admittedly, I don't care about an alien P. I see ME as a human space opera. Let's not make things too complicated for Bio. I said way back then that Bio needed to make Andromeda a hit after that clusterf*ck of a ME3 ending. Result? .. a fail. I then posted that Anthem needed to be a hit or Bio will be in the shitter and certainly was unimpressed by that game. Hm, guess what happened?
Bio really has one cat life left. DA4 is it. A fail there, and I doubt we'll see ME5, ME LE notwithstanding.
Retconning that Shep lived through the reaper War, then the game plot is all about re-building. Shep will be at the front of taking care of Pirates, small space Kingdoms, defending key Human Outposts, making alliances... etc. There's plenty of material if Bio chooses this route.
Most of all, there's Shep!
(◔‿◔)
_______________
IF BioWare does go back to MWG and retcon Shepard survived then make Shepard retired married and/or an Admiral or a Councilor or just make them a guest star because none of what you said demands that Commander Shepard and company needs to be involved, or simply put make Shepard an NPC that gives the PC their main mission and that is it.
I'm sorry but after over 30 playthroughs on 4 platforms I'm more than a little tied of Commander Shepard and Company.
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sirpetrakus
Mass Effect Trilogy, Dragon Age: Origins, KOTOR, Baldur's Gate, Neverwinter Nights, Jade Empire, SWTOR
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Post by SirSourpuss on Nov 2, 2021 1:01:20 GMT
IF BioWare does go back to MWG and retcon Shepard survived then make Shepard retired married and/or an Admiral or a Councilor or just make them a guest star because none of what you said demands that Commander Shepard and company needs to be involved, make Shepard an NPC. No. In Shepard does not need to be involved in any capacity. Nobody does. What we are talking about is purely to make amends to the part of the fanbase that feels fucked over by Bioware and for marketability. Similar to the Mandalorian season 2 finale. Nobody needed to show in that finale to make it a good episode, or to ruin the episode. But that appearance was received by the fanbase as an apology and a correction about the ill received sequel movies. People get what they want and then they give the company/product support. Sorry but after over 30 playthroughs on 4 platforms I'm more than a little tied of Commander Shepard and Company. Nobody forced those on you, buddy. That was your choice. Don't shift your own problems on the world to deal with. MEA2 with Ryder would be a better than another adventure with Shepard. There is no inherent value that makes any story better with Ryder, than any other character. If it is good, it can be good even with Conrad Verner. The problem with Ryder is marketability. The name is not marketable and not intertwined with the ME brand enough. You can make a Half-Life: Alyx, but Gordon Freeman is who everyone wants back. With the distinction being that Alyx is actually well received by the Half-Life community, where Ryder isn't.
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jrpN7
N3
Pro vobis omne periculum.
Games: Mass Effect Trilogy, Dragon Age Inquisition
Posts: 731 Likes: 1,859
inherit
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Pro vobis omne periculum.
731
January 2017
jrpn7
Mass Effect Trilogy, Dragon Age Inquisition
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Post by jrpN7 on Nov 7, 2021 17:32:07 GMT
The whole setting and point of the ME series was humanity, our arrival onto the galactic stage, proving our worth and finding our place in an otherwise structured galaxy. None of this was the point or necessary in DA between species.
So no, yeah, I don't see us playing any alien species- even the Asari or Turians are a stretch- and I wouldn't care to play them. But offer those, and everyone will start complaining about the elcor or hanar they want to play as. It gets messy too quick.
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Mass Effect Trilogy, Mass Effect Andromeda
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Post by masseffectfanforlife on Nov 11, 2021 1:41:43 GMT
There's no reason why it shouldn't happen, unless the story says otherwise (if the story is meant to revolve around a human).
Dragon Age allowed the players to make the main character a human, elf, dwarf, etc. It shouldn't be difficult to allow the player to the same in a Mass Effect game.
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Post by alephthirteen on Nov 13, 2021 21:27:23 GMT
I desperately want my protag to be an Asari or a Female Turian, or a Female Quarian. I went through the trilogy as Shepard (and I love Femshep don't get me wrong), I went (slogged really, I hate the open world aspect) through Andromeda as Ryder.
I feel have earned the right to finally play as an alien protagonist. I don't care if most people would end up choosing to play as a human character, most people played as MaleShep but FemShep is and will always be the most iconic and enjoyable experience for me, and also just because most play as male doesn't mean female option shouldn't be allowed.
I've had my fill of the Mass Effect universe from a purely human perspective, most of the appeal of Mass Effect are the aliens anyway particularly the "main" aliens Asari, Turian, Quarian, Salarian, and Krogans. I think its about time that we should be able to play as at least one of them and let THEM be the hero of our personal stories in the rich setting of Mass Effect.
So, I've read through this and seen a variety of interesting (often valid) complaints. I think Bioware would be wise to use alien protagonists. There is a massive fanbase (larger than that of some indie games, even if it's a minority of ME gamers) on Shakrian, Shali, Shiara ships that skews probably older, probably less core "19 year old dude in a frat house with an Xbox" than EA brass is thinking of and might not be super into a game that is obviously just MaleShep or someone in the CoD protagonist mould: Biceps with some facial hair or female soldier with tank top, airbrushing and suspiciously good makeup. That's a trap they need to avoid. Some of why FemShep works so well is like Ripley in Alien, she rarely gets treated different as a woman. Using the rigging for the male model was done for cost/hurry reasons but it works, those animations make her seem more pugnacious, gives hints that she's had to push around to earn the right to take up space. I think there's two parts to this: Business/Money and Art/Technical. Business/Money: If you keep him, the fratboy gamers are just going to pick him anyway. So there's no risk of losing them. Gaming has changed since 2007, at least slowly, and in terms of new audiences being added. In 2012, something like 15% of gamers played FemShep according to Bioware's stats. It was 36% on the last go round. Word of mouth? Friends telling each other "you have got to try playing as FemShep, the VA is amazing!"? Not sure. But you'd lose some audience (female gamers, LGBTQ, people who got attached to FemShep) with a bro-only protag. Maybe more than they can lose at this point. I get that people want classic Mass Effect but that can be a trap too; they already made ME1 with better graphics in ME:LE. I wonder how many saying they want want classic mean "the exact same game" (human soldier badass saving the universe) and how many want the feel, the product being taken seriously, interesting aliens to talk to, the story being good, etc.? If they put in alien PCs, or a Geralt/Ciri type thing where sometimes, you can be an alien, they'd be smart to mention it early. Get the hype going. IF You can include an alien protagonist, it shows Bioware is taking it seriously artistically. You probably recapture some of the not-19-year-old-fratter market, draw in new people to. DA:I and Andromeda did some things right. Flirting was more complicated. Romance was less "pull lever, put something in slot" in DA: I, for instance. You could lose affection and romance wasn't fully detached from actions. That sticks with me more than the rest of the plot. They have female/male models for every race except drell (they'd need a female drell) that has identifiably different sexes. Asari should really only be customizable maybe in presets and then scales/eyes/tattoos/makeup. Paint-your-own drell, or decorate-your-envirosuit for quarian players. And I think a Geralt/Ciri approach would be smart, regardless of who the PC is especially if both galaxies are in play. Solve a mystery that affects both galaxies, using two PCs working in tandem. Split the ten story missions in half, two PCs chasing the same problem at different ends. Would anyone have minded if ME2 was Shepard and Kaidan/Ashley, with 6 loyalty missions each, rather than Shepard, with 12 loyalty missions? Hell, the brother and sister thing was pretty cool; so toss in some family. Parent/Child, discovering that the one who didn't go to Andromeda survived the war. Descendent getting a "anyone alive over there there?" hail from the person who went to Andromeda. AND The bottle of diet coke is fully shaken and the mentos are in it. They left the Milky Way in such a mess with so little clear that lots of things are possible. Maybe the dwindling survivors used cryo to preserve themselves, or some did, while generation after generation, they rebuilt the relays. Some of all of the governments might be in collapse. There's zero reason our PC (or our 1/2 PC, if Shepard/Liara is the other) needs to be Alliance Military. There's also zero reason for the Alliance military to be all-human: Bonds can be built in war and besides, human citizens have asari kids; or will, after the mid 2200s when they're grown up; we overhear human partners worrying about their asari daughters in ME3. Is a soldier strapped Alliance going to turn down an asari raised by her dad in like, Cleveland? Hell, no. They want to lock down any biotic who will sign the papers. Even if they are an Alliance person, literally every race fought and died to protect Earth. Some humans probably adopted orphaned quarian kids; or drells had kids that got adopted, or krogans. Whatever. Mixed marriages probably happened, widows remarrying aliens. Especially if humanities savior was in one. Seemed more normal. Handle that in the intro text scrolling of "Following the Horrors of the Reaper War..." That's just if they're Earth-based, Alliance (or replacement for it) soldiers. Just the safest, most conservative option. The junior officer tagged to lead the scoutship in in Mass Effect IV: The Search For Shepard. They could be an independent crew, hired on as techs or freight-haulers, returning from figuring out which relays are working to find an empty base. They could be a just-awoken nerd trying to deal with an alarm on the Mass Relay reconstruction station (mostly automated maybe, with the repair mechs fritzing or some hostile). I think it's important that not every protag is James Bond Who Can Beat Space Cthulu and a protege arc with Shepard keeps them in the game, gives us the feels, but also makes it possible for Mass Effect 6 to grow past Shepard...which they will have to do, some day. Andromeda was too soon to let go (not helped by the fact that we really wanted to know what happened to Shepard) but Shepard as co-PC here, and then NPC in 6, and then VO-only advice, like Hackett in ME1? And being smart about who the PC or second PC is can fix a lot about the technical challenges. The more races you include, the harder "a intro mission for each" gets. So do an alien/not alien mission. Make the most important thing about the PC their skills, so that most NPCs don't comment on them being asari or krogan. Things like voices are solvable by filters. No one's going to be mad that the female drell sounds like Jennifer Hale plus some cool reverb. Trust me. She said in an interview she recorded like, 12 versions of each and they picked one. Maybe they now pick two, for some scenes, keeping the "not having your shit" tone of voice for if the character is interacting with a xenophobe. While I would love to be able to play a first mission on Kahje, or Thessia, or Palaven prior to linking up with the crew, I do think that's unlikely. They've obviously solved the "how to play as" for MP playing as aliens. The plot can be written--if they're smart--to make "Chief" or "Skipper" work 90-95% the same whether they're alien or not for all lines. But then there's one mission, or a two-mission chain, maybe, based around being an alien. Early, ideally. Humans get a different side-quest sprung on them. Like there was in ME1 for background, just a bit deeper. It could be sabotage, and the last scene varies with the bad guy's rant or who the bad guy is (racist? or just looking for money?). Which does create the lack of variety problem if an alien mostly plays the same in cutscenes. You know how you solve that? Racially-influenced gameplay. Which isn't even hard, certainly not compared to different missions. Have drell have a power where they can use extra senses for 15s but then they're at 0% barrier. Have salarians have a 5s motion speed boost because they're overcaffeinated, jumpy little weirdos. Give certain biotic powers (maybe cool looking, but hard to use, like an "advanced class" in Overwatch) only to asari or have asari be able to do a QTE or a stealth check to meld/read a person for a whodunit mission, skipping a charm option or use it to subdue an agitated person, like in some of the suicide prevention talk-downs that made me love Colonist FemShep and Sole Survivor. Renegade, Paragon, Flirt, and Tackle-and-Meld interrupts (asari). Some NPCs just aren't into hanar, so the flirt fails. Krogans can growl and get a boost to renegade interrupts but also close dialog trees. Maybe the aliens only get 5 skill slots because they get two race-specific things. But those make it a drell-flavored playthrough without requiring redoing missions. Just a bit more complex gameplay balance and some new powers on the wheel (not too hard, they've already made what, 50 counting all sub-variants? 70 for Andromeda?) If one power is passive and non-combat, like a sense, or asari melding, or something, it really only needs to be checked against level design. If an alien plays different, and looks different and if needed sounds different (not needed for quarian, asari), you don't need to do different origin missions. Just slip something in the tutorial about the drell power, or the asari power or the krogan temp-invulnerability blood rage... ...and what's most important for Bioware: The Dating Sim aspects. If you're a drell that ends up with a drell, the triumphant end cutscene (or slideshow, I actually liked the EC slideshow artistically) can involve a kid. If not, just you two on the balcony, having breakfast.
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Post by vonuber on Nov 14, 2021 2:51:25 GMT
Seriously: A playable race would be great. Questioningly: Who would you like to play as? Excitedly: May I suggest an Elchor? Apologetically: I understand if you don't want to. Disappointedly: I may have to kill you now.
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dmc1001
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Biotic Booty
Games: Mass Effect Trilogy, Dragon Age: Origins, Dragon Age 2, Dragon Age Inquisition, KOTOR, Baldur's Gate, Neverwinter Nights, Jade Empire, Mass Effect Andromeda, SWTOR, Mass Effect Legendary Edition
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Post by dmc1001 on Nov 14, 2021 14:46:41 GMT
So, I've read through this and seen a variety of interesting (often valid) complaints. I think Bioware would be wise to use alien protagonists. There is a massive fanbase (larger than that of some indie games, even if it's a minority of ME gamers) on Shakrian, Shali, Shiara ships that skews probably older, probably less core "19 year old dude in a frat house with an Xbox" than EA brass is thinking of and might not be super into a game that is obviously just MaleShep or someone in the CoD protagonist mould: Biceps with some facial hair or female soldier with tank top, airbrushing and suspiciously good makeup. I haven't see any evidence of this massive fanbase. And I'm not just talking about BSN. If you keep him, the fratboy gamers are just going to pick him anyway. So there's no risk of losing them. I'm not a fratboy and I find it rude that you would lump me or a lot of people into that category. I'm not young. I'm not interested in playing non-humans or females. That's my choice. I see some people here and there who want aliens but, really, the fanbase isn't there. ME is the story of humanity. Period.
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ewigDunkelheit
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Games: Mass Effect Trilogy, Dragon Age: Origins, Dragon Age 2, Dragon Age Inquisition, Mass Effect Andromeda
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Post by ewigDunkelheit on Nov 16, 2021 13:32:17 GMT
ME is the story of humanity. Period.
I don't know. It seems like some of the portrayal is open to interpretation. At least, in my opinion.
I would agree with your statement for the first two games, but not for ME3 or Andromeda. Are you including Andromeda in your statement? Mass Effect 3 is a far-reaching, galactic tale viewed through the lens of humanity's perspective, but, barring the showdown being brought to Earth, the circumstances of the story affected every race equally. And, despite the lie offered during marketing, Andromeda's story had no element specifically tied to humanity. The Pathfinder could have been any race, and the story being told would have been exactly the same.
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Post by Hanako Ikezawa on Nov 16, 2021 14:13:43 GMT
ME is the story of humanity. Period. It wasn’t ever since ME2. Only ME1 can be claimed to be that.
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Cyberstrike
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is wanting to have some fun!
Games: Mass Effect Trilogy, Dragon Age: Origins, Dragon Age 2, Dragon Age Inquisition, KOTOR, Baldur's Gate, Jade Empire, Mass Effect Andromeda, Mass Effect Legendary Edition
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Post by Cyberstrike on Nov 16, 2021 16:23:18 GMT
ME is the story of humanity. Period. It wasn’t ever since ME2. Only ME1 can be claimed to be that.
Ironically starting with the game that Shepard had to work with the Space Nazis (aka Cerberus).
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