GamePlanet Interview with Mike Gamble Dec 22'16

I'm not saying that the implant is yanked out and replaced. I'm suggesting that it is electronically re-programmed or re-configured using some new tech unique to the Pathfinder (possibly enabled by the AI/VI Sam). That concept is already consistent with the Lore. There's a device in the med-bay in ME3 where you can change your bonus power. It can be biotic, tech or combat-related but it can be changed using the med-bay device whenever you want (albeit, at a cost).

Note that the Bio-Amp and Biotic Implant are two different things. The bio-amp was the thing you could buy and sell in a stores in ME1 and freely swap between your biotic characters to amplify their biotic powers. same as the omni-tool could be swapped between your tech characters. The implant is the thing that is actually embedded inside you which enables you to control and focus your biotic power through the bio-amp to produce the right effect.

When you swapped omni-tools or bio-amps between characters in ME1 you didn't swap their powers. They still had the same powers regardless of which omni-tool or bio-amp they were equipped with. All powers - biotic, tech, even combat-ones - are enabled by implanted tech doing the actual effect or implanted tech controlling an omni-tool or bio-amp to produce the effect. If you look at the class-selection screens in ME3 you will see that every class has a different configuration of embedded technology inside the character. So, if the powers are all ultimately derived from embedded technology it makes perfect sense that you should be able to change your available powers by reconfiguring that technology.

What's unique about Pathfinders, I believe, is that they have a way to reconfigure their embedded tech on the fly without requiring the need to actually swap out the implants physically.

I get that biotic amps and implants aren't the same thing, but it still remains that removing/reprogramming a biotic amp midfight is a strange thing to do (unless you are replacing it with another better amp). The presence of the biotic amp does nothing to prevent you from using an omnitool however you want. Why remove it?

I'm trying to think of an analogy. Say I have a gun and an axe to use as weapons. In some situation, it makes most sense to use the axe. Why would I remove/repurpose the magazine from my gun, thereby rendering it useless, just to use the axe? Better to have the option to use both.

I'll wait and see how they implement it. Hopefully a good explanation is in order, and if not I can just abstain from this particular feature.

As a side note, I always thought adding bonus biotic powers to a non biotic Shepard was weird and I never did it. I just interpreted it as them being a very weak biotic whose primary skills were elsewhere. And even then using non biotic skills didn't suddenly render your biotic bonus ability inert.

The fact it can and probably will happen again in MEA is the problem. What they did with Shepard is a prime example of what I don't want them to do with Ryder and yet not only does it seem to be the case but they are going even farther down that road. 

You'd still be able to do that if they allowed both personalities as options for Scott and Sarah rather than one for Scott and one for Sarah. I see nothing enjoyable about what they have described. And again, that's not what the dialogue wheel does in MEA. The options aren't the kind of personality you describe, but are literally Head(I'm assuming this means logical), Heart(I'm assuming this means emotional), Professional, and Casual.

The interview certainly reads that way. The example Mike Gamble gave is us changing during a mission. 

No it's not possible to respec during a mission. Change profiles though we can. Which makes sense.

Classes are an arbitrary gameplay mechanic and so are bonus talents, there's no ingame logic as to why certain classes can use some abilities and others don't. those are once again just arbitrary restrictions for the sake of gameplay balance. substituting permanent classes for temporary profiles is not much more than a shift in gameplay direction.

We do the know the usage of Biotic talents requires extensive physical and mental training, so in that regard the gameplay in Mass Effect never followed it's own narrative considering we could add biotic powers from a terminal, even non-biotic classes could add them with no explantion at all.


A long time ago I did propose an alternative class system of just three profiles, namely combat, tech and biotic. These profiles were designed with a deliberate inbalance: The combat profile would be the least complicated and most straigthforward. The tech profile would have fairly manageable core set of base talents but would become branched with specialisations as the player levels up. Finally the Biotic profile would be the most complex and situational, requiring heavy micro mangement of talents.

This is more or less an extrapolation of what is allready present, Soldier tends to be the most popular class in mainstream surveys by far because most gamers tend go with what is the most straightforward the first time. Soldier was also the most heavily featured class in trailers as well as it being part of the 'default' Shepard.

 Merry★* 。 • ˚ ˚ ˛ ˚ ˛ •
•。★Christmas★ 。* 。
° 。 ° ˛˚˛ * _Π_____*。*˚
˚ ˛ •˛•˚ */______/~＼。˚ ˚ ˛
˚ ˛ •˛• ˚ ｜ 田田 ｜門｜ ˚And a happy new year!

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Normally, I guess that's true.

However, there is a Mystery surrounding the Ryders.  This Mystery probable explains how the Ryders do what they can do.  Sticking to the old Lore as an immutable Bible  ties the naysayers into knots, imo.

I think how its going to work is that as soon as you get three points to spend, and spend them on different abilities, you unlock your first profile.  Honestly it seems people are confusing profiles with classes.  Even if they share the same name as the classes from the OT.  There are no classes in the game.  There likely are three ability trees you can use, combat, tech, biotic, when you unlock powers from certain trees you unlock certain profiles which you can then swap out at will with one another without having to respec.  Respeccing is something else entirely because respeccing actually means you trade out an ability for another ability entirely where you no longer have access to that first ability.  

How this is going to work in combat is they want you, if you have the profiles unlocked, to be able to switch between them at will based on the situation/ preferences of the player on the press of a button (or two).  I think anyways.  So if you are in a CQB situation you may want to load your 'Vanguard' profile which will have abilities with both combat and biotic abilities.  But if down the hall you are in a wide open space you will want to load your 'Infiltrator' profile (tech + combat) with abilities which will help deal with the specific combat abilities.  Now keep in mind I believe you can load whatever abilities you want to in these profiles.  So you can have an 'Infiltrator' Profile with Tactical Cloak, Marksman, and Overload.  These profiles, as has been theorized in this thread (by Thrombin I believe) will be tied to your weapons.  Which is how you will change between them.  You will have an Infiltrator profile tied into your Sniper rife, and a Vangaurd profile tied into your Shotgun.  Which you can also trade out between different weapons of the same weapon type which only, in my mind, seeks to further confirm this theory.  Based on all the knowledge we have at this point this will be the only real way to be able to switch between them.  Its certainly the easiest way to do so.  

Now, I believe that when you load up a profile and create one using various abilities of your choosing and actively use it, I think each profile has various passive buffs associated with it which will encourage/ help out a certain play style.  IE shotgun damage bonus/ power recharge bonus for those wielding a 'vanguard' profile.  

As far as respeccing is concerned that is something entirely different.  It happens on the Tempest, away from combat, in something called the 'gallery'.  The gallery is where you can change abilities, for free, to try out different builds (profiles).  Sure this could be concerning to some people but what people have to keep in mind is the swapping out of profiles and the swapping out of abilities via respeccing are entirely different things.  

However, all this is under the assumption that we are not suffereing from BioWare's marketing eam not knowing what the heck they are talking about (again).  And that Gamble is not mixing up his apples and his oranges.  We really won't know until they show us how the systems work which may not even happen so we have to wait until gameplay.  But I really do believe that this is how it will work.  And really if it does work this way this sounds like the best combat system ever conceived for a video game. 

TLDR version: Profiles= swapping between abilities you alreayd have, respeccing= getting an entirely new set of abilities. 

It might be logical if we were playing in The Matrix, but this is still supposed to emulate real life.  Many of the abilities cannot just be download - "sleep training" as you want to call it - to obtain instant proficiency...many things require years of muscle memory conditioning to perfect.  If I downloaded everything about being a virtuoso guitarist into your brain you may end up knowing how to play the guitar, but you still wouldn't be able to play like a virtuoso.  Basic knowledge type proficiency could be taught as you suggest, but not anything that requires action behind the knowledge.

Still sounds like a bit of a long shot for me considering this sounds really advanced for the technology that exisists in the ME universe.  Simpler solutions are probably more logical at this point in time. 

Actually there is an example of 'sleep training' in Mass Effect. Grunt was taught everything he knew while in his tank. He emerged as a fully educated, fully capable soldier without ever having been in actual combat.

Oh crap?!  Can't believe I forgot about that.