Active abilities in ME:A (Updated)

yeah that's right I know that for certain as my current Shep's an engineer in ME3 atm in fact. 

i imagine we will run into other problems. Namely you will run into a skill point wall and you're build could be really really sucky.

That we know of. But this isn't the Milky Way galaxy.



Eye movement tracking isn't viable in the field, where the character needs to be looking around. All of the others require motions which take time and may be inconvenient when you're actively engaged in the other physical activity of battle.



All of the items mentioned serve the same purpose: as a user interface to some device or tool.

Only the brain implant would provide direct, (essentially) instantaneous responsiveness. The moment the implant detects the brain sequence that signals the intent to use an omnitool feature, a signal is sent to the omnitool. It eliminates the time needed for the brain to send the signals to the muscles and for the muscles to carry out any movements needed to interact with a different type of user interface.

Whatever the mechanics turn out to be, you can ignore the technological implications, accept what the game offers in the way of explanation, headcanon a solution that works for you, or... whatever, I guess.

I've enjoyed a lot of games where gameplay is in direct conflict with world lore. In the end, it's a personal choice.



Neither do I. I don't generally play shooters - just FO and ME because they're RPGs.

Ryder has had training in focusing biotics through an implant. That may well have already been the reconfigurable implant but, even if it wasn't  I don't see the issue. You focus your biotics and the implant determines what happens. It's not like Shepard starts the game being able to use all these powers. He unlocks them and levels them up over time. Just as Ryder will.

In any case, 'surgery' to replace implants seems to be pretty trivial as far as ME3 is concerned. Jack promises a student at Grissom a new implant as a present, if I recall, and a side quest will let you get Grissom academy tech that allows a whole bunch of biotic Asari to upgrade for the war. I don't think that replacing implants is that big a deal by that time.

Weapon training isn't a power as such but a certain amount of their bonuses is indeed from tech. According to the wikii on the subject of soldiers:  "High-level operatives are outfitted with ocular synaptic processors that allow them to focus on targets with lethal accuracy".  Fortification is created by the excretion of 'non-Newtonian fluid' and concussive shot is a homing attack which needs to be guided. Since it's a soldier-specific power it's not being guided by the gun that fires it otherwise why isn't everyone capable of firing one? I think it's highly likely that it's guided by an implant dedicated to that purpose, just as an Engineer's combat drone is controlled by an implant in the MEA Engineer profile.

The omnitool has a lot of functions but, that's like saying a computer has a lot of functions. You still need a program to provide each function. From the evidence presented by the game, not least the latest MEA screen shots, there is a strong suggestion that these programs are being run by implants designed to create a bridge between the user's neural impulses and the desired effect. What else is all that embedded tech for in all the different schematics?

 

Have you ever seen anyone use a haptic interface with an omnitool? I can think of a few cutscenes where Shepard appeared to use a UI on it, but not in the heat of battle.



Not since the new, re-configurable implants came into use.



To direct the effect to its intended destination. Brain tells the tool to turn on the flamethrower, arm directs the flame. Ditto cryoblast, etc.



Yep. Just like biotics.



Maybe the older omnitools were hard-wired and hard-coded to perform a very specific set of abilities. Since the ones used by the AI can be re-configured, they cannot do as many things at a time.

No, but such devices usually need some input via a UI to function.

The haptic interfaces we've seen in-game (mostly Joker) are typically operated with both hands. The omnitool typically occupies one arm, so unless you can manipulate the interface with the same hand it's on, you'd need to use the other hand. In combat, the other hand is usually holding a firearm. The brain implant makes the UI hands-free, so one arm can use the omnitool while the other continues to use the firearm.



It wouldn't - though some gear has multiple input devices, like mouse and keyboard. Some functions can be performed with only one of those devices, others require both.



Maybe. Or not. So? In ME1, we got a slew of biotic amps as loot. Also upgraded omnitools, which not every squadmate could use.



If you can manipulate the interface with the same hand the omnitool occupies.  Whenever we've seen characters using it in cutscenes, they typically use the interface with the other hand. In combat, the other hand is usually occupied by a firearm.



There's actually not a whole lot about the technology in ME that has ever made much sense to me.  I had to take a lot at face value when I first started playing ME1, and the trilogy stretched the envelope of my ability to suspend disbelief throughout.  Their world, their rules, enforced when it's convenient, ignored when it isn't.  Shrug.

Where do you decide to make a limit, if your only value is 'fun'? And whose fun? Only yours? Who is on a high horse? And what if there are people who aren't content with only 7 active powers, who would find it much more fun to have 16, with indivudal cooldowns, of course, so that they can cast and combo non-stop without any help from those pesky squadmates who only get in the way and have dumb AI anyway?

What I have apparently failed to convey in my posts, is that I want the game to be reasonably challenging for each difficulty level above casual, and most of all, fun. I don't find god-mode in higher difficulties fun, that erases any point of higher difficulties altogether. I don't find bullet-sponges fun, which is what we'll have if our protagonist has the potential of being god-mode. The alternative to bullet-sponges and a low limit on the number of powers, is to lower the overall effectiveness of these powers, and have weapons being yet again the main source of DPS. Dumb them down drastically. The Flamethrower in the gameplay trailer didn't seem weak at all, so there goes that possibility. Personally, I'd rather have less active powers, but them being effective and actually useful, than a plethora of active useless powers, and/or bullet-spongy ennemies, or even worse, a completely casualized game on higher difficulties.

That isn't so different than some other poster saying they want tactical pause back, because they don't like fast-paced games, and it makes their carpal tunnels hurt. But they are allowed to say it because they agree with you. I love double-standards. I have a friend who gets motion-sick with TPS/FPS game. Should we ask BW to make MEA in isometric 3D instead, so that she can play too? They can't please everyone, it's almost a guarantee that some feature will displease someone out there (or more specifically, one BSNer or another). Whether the three active powers limit will be implemented remains to be seen, and I will adapt either way, but I would be happy with it if it did, and I'm fucking allowed to state it, and I feel my reasoning makes sense. I'm sorry you're so unable to take contradictory opinions.

I'll copy past a post in another thread since it might be relevant for the discussion on the active powers.

edit: Can't quote the quoted text and the other image properly.





Maybe as we put points to tech skills then Engineer Profile levels up too after a while. As i see there are 6 Engineer ranks, it is the same as the skills' ranks. But it seems profile sklls are passive ones. I don't see any indicator that we can use the Combat Drone, but the Remnant VI most likely takes over the role of the Combat Drone for Engineers.

yeah perhapss some powers aer automatically applied. Hopefully they explain these systems soon.


Just thought I'd post in here this bit of info from the twitter thread seeing as it is to do with powers. 




11 hours ago Pearl, Kaibe, and 44 more like this likeQuotePost Options POST BY [BIO]TIBERIUS ON 11 HOURS AGO

[BIO]Tiberius Avatar

Jan 7, 2017 at 5:28am [BIO]Tiberius said:

goishen Avatar

Jan 7, 2017 at 3:49am goishen said:

I'm honestly not trying to pin you down to anything, so forgive me if it sounds like I am. But what about the PITA factor that I mentioned? In other words, holding down 1 while trying to move?



If that's too much for you, then let me ask you this. Is it like DAI in the fact that we're gonna have wildly different controls from the previous games? IN DAO and DA2, all we (KB&M users) had to do was to hit 1, and we were automatically auto-attacking. In DAI, it was a completely different story, where we had to hold down a button, it didn't matter if it was the KB or the mouse.

I was going to wait on this until some later gameplay reveals, but eh, it's been a long day and I'm feeling generous, so here you go, goishen!



The way we avoid these pita input problems is pretty straightforward: with more options for the player.



You can rebind your keys/mouse buttons however you like on PC, and we offer specific options for certain aspects of our input and gameplay to let you optimize your ergonomics. I won't go into all of the options now, but here's an example that pertains to your question:

Take the Flamethrower power.

By default, Flamethrower shoots gouts of flames from your omni-tool as long as the relevant power button is held down.

If you're using a controller, or if you have that power mapped to mouse4 for example, then you probably want to leave this power on its default (hold) settings.



If you've got this power mapped to the 3 key, on the other hand, then you'd need to use WASD to move and hold down the 3 key at the same time to shoot your flames. Some players seem to be fine with this when we run playtests, but personally I find it pretty awkward. For players like me (and you, from the sounds of it), we have an option that takes all sustained powers like Flamethrower and switches them from a Hold mechanic into a Toggle mechanic (like how Flamer worked in ME3). With Toggle enabled for sustained powers, you could just hit 3 to start the flames and either wait for it to end on its own or hit 3 again to stop it early.

PITA situation averted.



Hope that helps!

This should help those of us who are worried about the no pause to aim feature but whether it works for all powers or how it exactly works I'm not 100% sure but certainly having a toggle on a power should help instead of having to hold the button. Especially for those of us that have only 1 hand to do everything with due to disabilities or whatever.

Thing is, that Mass Effect always imposed quite a harsh soft limit on skills. The way the cooldowns in Mass Effect work pushes players into using only a few skills together with passive like skills like the ammo powers. Other than having a few extra situational skills and passive skills (I still forget to turn ammo powers on until after the first fight; those don't really have to be active skills, long duration skills like Fortification are better of as a passive as well) players use only 2-3 (in general they'll just use the strongest Combo of 2 skills, in case of soldiers and infiltrators just the strongest skill most of the time) skills anyway as any skill use makes all other skills unavailable. As long as the majority of cooldowns won't go below 2 or 1 seconds it does not matter very much if a player has a high active skill count or if its limited. The player won't use that 5th situational skill if he has to wait 5 or more seconds to be able to use his generally good skills again.