I guess if you are playing as a maleshep and only want human heterosexual LI's you're somewhat screwed in ME 1 and 3. Never thought of that actually. Though it's rumored big boy Roboute Guilliman wouldn't mind clapping those alien cheeks. But the mighty Imperial Fists are probably to fortified for such heresy?
Well-written romances can bring quite a lot to a RPG, basically like it would do in a good book or movie. Dragon Age: Origins imo did the best job out of all BW games. Your group is the classic ragtag bunch of misfits, they're are all quite talkative and brutally honest regarding your preferences and it's driven forward on the road since there's a lot of banter etc. Also ofcourse you had a lot more choices in dialogues and it wasn't always that obvious (but still quite obvious) which is the right route for your LI. ME 2 and ME 3 especially also did a good job in the romance department depending who you choose but I'm not a big fan of those ambient dialogues on the Normandy and everything overall feels a bit more "static". Also since were talking about the crew of a military ship it probably isn't that commendable that half of them want to get in each others underwear so to speak. Though you might excuse this with the whole "apocalypse" scenario. DA: I already was a lot worse overall concercing LI's.
The fandom is quite a thing. Like mentioned in this Quarian thread, while downloading the LE I looked up what was new and read that Tali "got a new face" (aka a new 20$ picture) and made the mistake to just google "Tali" under Google images. That day me, not quite 30 yet, learned that there is such a thing as a digestion fetish among other things..
I guess if you are playing as a maleshep and only want human heterosexual LI's you're somewhat screwed in ME 1 and 3. Never thought of that actually. Though it's rumored big boy Roboute Guilliman wouldn't mind clapping those alien cheeks. But the mighty Imperial Fists are probably to fortified for such heresy?
Well-written romances can bring quite a lot to a RPG, basically like it would do in a good book or movie. Dragon Age: Origins imo did the best job out of all BW games. Your group is the classic ragtag bunch of misfits, they're are all quite talkative and brutally honest regarding your preferences and it's driven forward on the road since there's a lot of banter etc. Also ofcourse you had a lot more choices in dialogues and it wasn't always that obvious (but still quite obvious) which is the right route for your LI. ME 2 and ME 3 especially also did a good job in the romance department depending who you choose but I'm not a big fan of those ambient dialogues on the Normandy and everything overall feels a bit more "static". Also since were talking about the crew of a military ship it probably isn't that commendable that half of them want to get in each others underwear so to speak. Though you might excuse this with the whole "apocalypse" scenario. DA: I already was a lot worse overall concercing LI's.
The fandom is quite a thing. Like mentioned in this Quarian thread, while downloading the LE I looked up what was new and read that Tali "got a new face" (aka a new 20$ picture) and made the mistake to just google "Tali" under Google images. That day me, not quite 30 yet, learned that there is such a thing as a digestion fetish among other things..
That's only the tip of the iceberg. There's far worse than that....
Eh, I like romances in games. But the fandoms have gotten REAAAAALLY creepy about them. And Bioware has reduced them to "three conversations and a hookup" rather than actually flesh out a story and risk offending somoene.
Aye. But the creepy fandoms is something best left unsaid.
Also, ME1 was easily the worst offender with it's ninja romance locks.
That goes towards the lack of romance story. When there is zero indication that any sort of relationship is developing until they try to crawl into bed with you.
Then its not a Bioware game... Though probably not a bad idea till they improve their story telling back to its glory days. Then sure add back the nuance that I technically don't really care about.
And what glory days are that, pray tell?
Anything before they became EAWARE... So anything before their main franchises of Mass Effect and Dragon Age.
Then its not a Bioware game... Though probably not a bad idea till they improve their story telling back to its glory days. Then sure add back the nuance that I technically don't really care about.
Or just scrap it for good. It was never really needed in the first place.
Third Person Bethesda Game Studio? I am ok with that.
If a crew member dies or leaves the party for another reason then don't replace them with another. That diminishes the feeling that actions don't have consequences. If a character needs to be replaced then give that character at least totally different dialogues and missions.
Yeah, this. The generic replacements for Mordin, Jacob, etc in ME3 if they didn't survive ME2 were... very unsatisfying.
And this isn't something "new" but is something they changed for ME:A, but I hope they once again allow you to control your squadmates powers, like in the OT. Hard to coordinate combos and stuff with the AI controlling your squadmates power use.
Otoh, I hope they keep the class/power system from ME:A where you can mix and match and powers you want without class-restrictions, that was a brilliant decision and one of ME:A's strong points.
I guess they would say that we could set this world ablaze
If a crew member dies or leaves the party for another reason then don't replace them with another. That diminishes the feeling that actions don't have consequences. If a character needs to be replaced then give that character at least totally different dialogues and missions.
Yeah, this. The generic replacements for Mordin, Jacob, etc in ME3 if they didn't survive ME2 were... very unsatisfying.
And this isn't something "new" but is something they changed for ME:A, but I hope they once again allow you to control your squadmates powers, like in the OT. Hard to coordinate combos and stuff with the AI controlling your squadmates power use.
Otoh, I hope they keep the class/power system from ME:A where you can mix and match and powers you want without class-restrictions, that was a brilliant decision and one of ME:A's strong points.
I have to disagree with that. For me the power mixing was one of the worst parts of ME:A.
Yeah, this. The generic replacements for Mordin, Jacob, etc in ME3 if they didn't survive ME2 were... very unsatisfying.
And this isn't something "new" but is something they changed for ME:A, but I hope they once again allow you to control your squadmates powers, like in the OT. Hard to coordinate combos and stuff with the AI controlling your squadmates power use.
Otoh, I hope they keep the class/power system from ME:A where you can mix and match and powers you want without class-restrictions, that was a brilliant decision and one of ME:A's strong points.
I have to disagree with that. For me the power mixing was one of the worst parts of ME:A.
It was good but in my opinion only partially implemented and should have been carried out to conclusion. ...... ..... .... ... .. . Wait its already been done? Maybe ME:A deserves a reinstall... Replace Profiles with Classes Powers Pack
Yeah, this. The generic replacements for Mordin, Jacob, etc in ME3 if they didn't survive ME2 were... very unsatisfying.
And this isn't something "new" but is something they changed for ME:A, but I hope they once again allow you to control your squadmates powers, like in the OT. Hard to coordinate combos and stuff with the AI controlling your squadmates power use.
Otoh, I hope they keep the class/power system from ME:A where you can mix and match and powers you want without class-restrictions, that was a brilliant decision and one of ME:A's strong points.
I have to disagree with that. For me the power mixing was one of the worst parts of ME:A.
Could you explain what you mean? I don't really see the downside, if you liked the class-based loadouts from previous games then you could recreate them in ME:A. Or, come up with crazy cross-class combinations like Tactical Cloak + Biotic charge.
Which is the point; you had the freedom to choose, which is almost always a good thing. But maybe I'm missing something here.
I guess they would say that we could set this world ablaze
I have to disagree with that. For me the power mixing was one of the worst parts of ME:A.
Could you explain what you mean? I don't really see the downside, if you liked the class-based loadouts from previous games then you could recreate them in ME:A. Or, come up with crazy cross-class combinations like Tactical Cloak + Biotic charge.
Which is the point; you had the freedom to choose, which is almost always a good thing. But maybe I'm missing something here.
I can see how some people don't want that freedom because then they're unable to stick to just one class and it feels like cheating when in previous games you had to just try to work with the class you chose in the beginning. For me, laziness does the trick: I can't be bothered to switch profiles once I'm used to using a specific set of powers in a specific class. It gets too confusing.
ME 2 and ME 3 especially also did a good job in the romance department depending who you choose but I'm not a big fan of those ambient dialogues on the Normandy and everything overall feels a bit more "static". Also since were talking about the crew of a military ship it probably isn't that commendable that half of them want to get in each others underwear so to speak. Though you might excuse this with the whole "apocalypse" scenario. DA: I already was a lot worse overall concercing LI's.
ME3 had a lot more dialogue overall, thanks to that ambient dialogue. It was cheaper and quicker than animating face-to-face conversations and that is the main reason why we had more dialogue overall. It was either that or less dialogue. However, maybe less dialogue can still feel more meaningful if it's face to face, with Shep included rather than some creepy onlooker.
ME 2 and ME 3 especially also did a good job in the romance department depending who you choose but I'm not a big fan of those ambient dialogues on the Normandy and everything overall feels a bit more "static". Also since were talking about the crew of a military ship it probably isn't that commendable that half of them want to get in each others underwear so to speak. Though you might excuse this with the whole "apocalypse" scenario. DA: I already was a lot worse overall concercing LI's.
ME3 had a lot more dialogue overall, thanks to that ambient dialogue. It was cheaper and quicker than animating face-to-face conversations and that is the main reason why we had more dialogue overall. It was either that or less dialogue. However, maybe less dialogue can still feel more meaningful if it's face to face, with Shep included rather than some creepy onlooker.
Yes it's a good and a bad thing. It definitely provided a much more continuous amount of dialogue and character development than for example ME 2 since more or less after each mission, excluding the N7 ones, there is something new for your squadmates. I also liked that there was overall much more interaction between your party on the Normandy. Since there is a lot more ambient than cinematic dialogue on the Normandy around 50% through the game I guess BW had problems sticking to their time schedule and this kind of dialogue was a makeshift solution. I remember reading that BW needed 4 months (of a 2-3 years developement cycle) for shenanigans like the docking tube scene during the Geth Dreadnought mission and this time was certainly needed somewhere else. But like you mentioned Shep himself/herself often just is some kind of awkward bystander. For example, there are multiple occasions where Garrus and Tali share some friendly banter and when Shep wants to talk to them afterwards they just go like "Not right now" like you're the weird guy showing up and ruining the conversation.
@son of Dorn
I'm inclined to believe you without any further prove tbh..
ME3 had a lot more dialogue overall, thanks to that ambient dialogue. It was cheaper and quicker than animating face-to-face conversations and that is the main reason why we had more dialogue overall. It was either that or less dialogue. However, maybe less dialogue can still feel more meaningful if it's face to face, with Shep included rather than some creepy onlooker.
Yes it's a good and a bad thing. It definitely provided a much more continuous amount of dialogue and character development than for example ME 2 since more or less after each mission, excluding the N7 ones, there is something new for your squadmates. I also liked that there was overall much more interaction between your party on the Normandy. Since there is a lot more ambient than cinematic dialogue on the Normandy around 50% through the game I guess BW had problems sticking to their time schedule and this kind of dialogue was a makeshift solution. I remember reading that BW needed 4 months (of a 2-3 years developement cycle) for shenanigans like the docking tube scene during the Geth Dreadnought mission and this time was certainly needed somewhere else. But like you mentioned Shep himself/herself often just is some kind of awkward bystander. For example, there are multiple occasions where Garrus and Tali share some friendly banter and when Shep wants to talk to them afterwards they just go like "Not right now" like you're the weird guy showing up and ruining the conversation.
@son of Dorn
I'm inclined to believe you without any further prove tbh..
Cool, don't need to scar anyone's mental state without digging into the more... disgusting elements of the fandom.
Post by MegaIllusiveMan on Mar 29, 2022 16:47:51 GMT
1) An actual working infiltrator class.
Enemies can't see you? Sure, but you don't have to gun down every single one of them to go through the plot. Because that's what most infiltrators would do.
2) Ship customization
3) Extensive weapon customization
4) Not new, but something I wanted expanded upon - bring back the ME2-style N7 Missions. I loved going through the galaxy on mini-arcs, like the one with the Hacked Mechs or landing on a random planet that had an unique atmosphere.
Enemies can't see you? Sure, but you don't have to gun down every single one of them to go through the plot. Because that's what most infiltrators would do.
I want to push back on this opinion a bit and say that "Infiltrator" is just a name for the class, and perhaps a bad name for the class. (You could probably say the same thing about all the classes really). Do you think you would have the same opinion if the class was named Saboteur instead of Infiltrator?
4) Not new, but something I wanted expanded upon - bring back the ME2-style N7 Missions. I loved going through the galaxy on mini-arcs, like the one with the Hacked Mechs or landing on a random planet that had an unique atmosphere.
This is one I do agree with whole-heartedly. These small mini-arcs were great, as you were introduced to a problem, investigated further, then resolved the problem.
Could you explain what you mean? I don't really see the downside, if you liked the class-based loadouts from previous games then you could recreate them in ME:A. Or, come up with crazy cross-class combinations like Tactical Cloak + Biotic charge.
Which is the point; you had the freedom to choose, which is almost always a good thing. But maybe I'm missing something here.
I can see how some people don't want that freedom because then they're unable to stick to just one class and it feels like cheating when in previous games you had to just try to work with the class you chose in the beginning. For me, laziness does the trick: I can't be bothered to switch profiles once I'm used to using a specific set of powers in a specific class. It gets too confusing.
But that's what I mean; if you want to play within the guidelines of the class system from previous games, you can recreate that in ME:A. If you want to be an engineer or biotic or whatever with only the powers those classes had in ME3, you could do that.
But it also allowed you to do something else. So I guess I don't see the downside, or how more freedom could possibly be a bad thing when you can still play the same way as past games if that's what you want to do.
I guess they would say that we could set this world ablaze
I can see how some people don't want that freedom because then they're unable to stick to just one class and it feels like cheating when in previous games you had to just try to work with the class you chose in the beginning. For me, laziness does the trick: I can't be bothered to switch profiles once I'm used to using a specific set of powers in a specific class. It gets too confusing.
But that's what I mean; if you want to play within the guidelines of the class system from previous games, you can recreate that in ME:A. If you want to be an engineer or biotic or whatever with only the powers those classes had in ME3, you could do that.
But it also allowed you to do something else. So I guess I don't see the downside, or how more freedom could possibly be a bad thing when you can still play the same way as past games if that's what you want to do.
Powers and other choices in leveling, combat, enemy design, get changed to fit the versatility. If its class based you can cater their premier power to fit the class as a whole, when anyone can have it and combine it with anything it impacts quite a bit so they tune things in a fashion to balance it, and things feel less impressive and more boring. It also in the case of MEA where you learn every dang power just felt absurd for the setting. Yeah, yeah SAM but it just didn't feel right.
I can see how some people don't want that freedom because then they're unable to stick to just one class and it feels like cheating when in previous games you had to just try to work with the class you chose in the beginning. For me, laziness does the trick: I can't be bothered to switch profiles once I'm used to using a specific set of powers in a specific class. It gets too confusing.
But that's what I mean; if you want to play within the guidelines of the class system from previous games, you can recreate that in ME:A. If you want to be an engineer or biotic or whatever with only the powers those classes had in ME3, you could do that.
But it also allowed you to do something else. So I guess I don't see the downside, or how more freedom could possibly be a bad thing when you can still play the same way as past games if that's what you want to do.
I suppose for me it takes away the magic somehow, the classes don't feel quite as special when anyone can switch them on the fly. And being able to mix any powers from different classes. There is no point in replaying just to try a different class, which was often my primary motivation in trilogy playthroughs.
Enemies can't see you? Sure, but you don't have to gun down every single one of them to go through the plot. Because that's what most infiltrators would do.
I want to push back on this opinion a bit and say that "Infiltrator" is just a name for the class, and perhaps a bad name for the class. (You could probably say the same thing about all the classes really). Do you think you would have the same opinion if the class was named Saboteur instead of Infiltrator?
Yeah, I see your point. I was actually making reference to Tactical Cloak itself and how it works. For example, there shouldn't be any trouble going to Aratoth and using the power. Instead, only by triggering it, you attract attention.
I guess make more gameplay-wise elements just like conversations from the Omega DLC, where your powers actually expand even more on your playstyle.
Oh, and another thing for OP: I would actually like Thermal Clips to work as in-game lore says (if they come back to the reload system)
Thermal clips are universal. So, if I pick one up, 1) It shouldn't reload all my weapons and 2) The clips should be shared between weapons, so you can actually play more smart, using not only your weapons, but powers and environment.
For something new? Hmm for new squadmates I would like a volus and batarian in the mix. A new angaran would be nice but we’ve already had one.
Now as for something new I think it’d be interesting if Mass Effect had a Deus Ex upgrade where you could read people and press them further on something.
But that's what I mean; if you want to play within the guidelines of the class system from previous games, you can recreate that in ME:A. If you want to be an engineer or biotic or whatever with only the powers those classes had in ME3, you could do that.
But it also allowed you to do something else. So I guess I don't see the downside, or how more freedom could possibly be a bad thing when you can still play the same way as past games if that's what you want to do.
I suppose for me it takes away the magic somehow, the classes don't feel quite as special when anyone can switch them on the fly. And being able to mix any powers from different classes. There is no point in replaying just to try a different class, which was often my primary motivation in trilogy playthroughs.
So like I said, then don't mix powers from different classes; no one was forcing you to. So you can still play the old classes.
That's what I mean about there being no downside: with the flexible ME:A system, you can re-create classes from the OT, or you can mix and match. But under the old system, you could only play the class system. So the ME:A design allowed you to play the way you did in the OT or in a new way, whereas the reverse is not true. There is no downside to the ME:A system, it allows everyone to have what they want.
I guess they would say that we could set this world ablaze
MEA's system had a couple of flaws. No power wheel. No control over the squadmates. It was an option in the trilogy, but some reason it was removed in MEA. It was a step backwards. I like to see that return in the next game.
Last Edit: Mar 30, 2022 23:07:29 GMT by themikefest
Elizabeth Nancy Shepard - Earthborn/soldier/ruthless Humanity #1 I'm Commander Shepard, and this is my favorite playthrough in ME If you see a soldier or veteran, shake their hand and thank them for their service