If the only purpose is to shoot things and "explore", does lameness matter?
I think so. I don't shoot things and have fun doing so just by the mechanics or I would enjoy games without aesthetics or theme; I don't. If you put me in an awe-inspiring game-world with a gun and some cool enemy designs I'm automatically compelled to just roam around and try things out for a while. I'm in love with the Mass Effect aesthetics (though I find Andromeda to be slightly less inspired so far) and I would love to just spend time in it. I believe this is a biproduct of the trilogy being so good.
"A geth wanting emotions would be no less disrespectful a character than a black man who wanted to be white." - L'Etoile
If the only purpose is to shoot things and "explore", does lameness matter?
I think so. I don't shoot things and have fun doing so just by the mechanics or I would enjoy games without aesthetics or theme; I don't. If you put me in an awe-inspiring game-world with a gun and some cool enemy designs I'm automatically compelled to just roam around and try things out for a while. I'm in love with the Mass Effect aesthetics (though I find Andromeda to be slightly less inspired so far) and I would love to just spend time in it. I believe this is a biproduct of the trilogy being so good.
I'd find that to be a good cure for insomnia.
I need a story, and characters, with interesting personalities, quirks, and goals. I need something to work towards, a character to shape. The most interesting backgrounds to wander about in and the coolest enemies to shoot at won't make up for a lame story. Heck why else do people complain about DAI's semi-open world? BEcause beautiful though it is, there's really not much in the way of storytelling there
And this is whyI'm still so p*ssed about the trilogy. It took a setting with such promise and flushed it down the toilet. And we're supposed to forget about that because Andromeda is a completely different toilet.
I think so. I don't shoot things and have fun doing so just by the mechanics or I would enjoy games without aesthetics or theme; I don't. If you put me in an awe-inspiring game-world with a gun and some cool enemy designs I'm automatically compelled to just roam around and try things out for a while. I'm in love with the Mass Effect aesthetics (though I find Andromeda to be slightly less inspired so far) and I would love to just spend time in it. I believe this is a biproduct of the trilogy being so good.
I'd find that to be a good cure for insomnia.
I need a story, and characters, with interesting personalities, quirks, and goals. I need something to work towards, a character to shape. The most interesting backgrounds to wander about in and the coolest enemies to shoot at won't make up for a lame story. Heck why else do people complain about DAI's semi-open world? BEcause beautiful though it is, there's really not much in the way of storytelling there
And this is whyI'm still so p*ssed about the trilogy. It took a setting with such promise and flushed it down the toilet. And we're supposed to forget about that because Andromeda is a completely different toilet.
It's more likely, given the staff and state of BioWare that Andromeda arises from the toilet.
I kind of agree about the trilogy. Ever since Mac got the front seat he started to enforce the idea that "it's about the characters" and you can find multiple accounts of him talking about the setting as merely a means to an end, saying you can write "downton abbey" into it, and at every turn get the sense that he never cared much for utilizing the characteristics of the setting to create a plot around it but rather used it as an excuse to make whatever plot he wanted.
But that being said, as a character-driven narrative the trilogy was fantastic for the most part save one or two forced sacrifices in ME3. ME:A will lean slightly more on world-building again though, but without L'Etoile to be their Kip Thorne-guy I just doubt the rules and conventions of the setting will be as plausible or considerate this time. The premise is already very shaky. It even states that Peebee got aboard Ai becuase she was like "Milky Way is so last year".
"A geth wanting emotions would be no less disrespectful a character than a black man who wanted to be white." - L'Etoile
I need a story, and characters, with interesting personalities, quirks, and goals. I need something to work towards, a character to shape. The most interesting backgrounds to wander about in and the coolest enemies to shoot at won't make up for a lame story. Heck why else do people complain about DAI's semi-open world? BEcause beautiful though it is, there's really not much in the way of storytelling there
And this is whyI'm still so p*ssed about the trilogy. It took a setting with such promise and flushed it down the toilet. And we're supposed to forget about that because Andromeda is a completely different toilet.
It's more likely, given the staff and state of BioWare that Andromeda arises from the toilet.
I kind of agree about the trilogy. Ever since Mac got the front seat he started to enforce the idea that "it's about the characters" and you can find multiple accounts of him talking about the setting as merely a means to an end, saying you can write "downton abbey" into it, and at every turn get the sense that he never cared much for utilizing the characteristics of the setting to create a plot around it but rather used it as an excuse to make whatever plot he wanted.
But that being said, as a character-driven narrative the trilogy was fantastic for the most part save one or two forced sacrifices in ME3. ME:A will lean slightly more on world-building again though, but without L'Etoile to be their Kip Thorne-guy I just doubt the rules and conventions of the setting will be as plausible or considerate this time. The premise is already very shaky. It even states that Peebee got aboard Ai becuase she was like "Milky Way is so last year".
I wish I could be as confident, but the fact that Mac is still running things (and has been promoted to Creative Director combined with Bioware never walking back ME3 to any degree has me thinking MEA will be SSDD, with a somewhat "safer" ending (because of course peple were ONLY p*ssed because the ending was TOO SAD )
They seem to have invested very much in the exploration part of the game. I get this feeling they put most of their eggs in the exploration basked. Personally I'm not opposed to that as I enjoyed exploration and was a big fan of driving the Mako but I can understand those that prefer a more compact story-oriented game. The hope is that they manage somehow to strike a balance between the two in a better way than they did with Inquisition. I'm optimistic about the premises but we shall see. Also as much as this will sound as an unpopular opinion here I'm somehow convinced that many devs secretly played and enjoyed TW3 and felt inspired in how to strike a balance between exploration and meaningful quests.
This is the precise reason why I hope they keep Inquisition's random enemy encounters. I want to get into a gun fight every time I decide to run out and roam. The bigger the waves, the better.
And if they drop prefab camps and equipment like Inquisition, I'd love that too.
I've got fallout 4 for that. Or any other game of its ilk.
Me hating Bethesda and any game they cook up in house means I don't have Fallout. And most RPGs don't use shooter mechanics for combat, so Andromeda will be all I have.
Post by Giant Ambush Beetle on Feb 7, 2017 2:59:04 GMT
Most open world games quickly bored the shit out of me - Far Cry 3, DA3, Skyrim, they were woefully repetitive so I'm really skeptical about ME:A being an open world game.
I hope sniping becomes a thing again, laying on a cliff in the distance picking off confused enemies one by one.
Of course it's entirely possible that enemies won't spawn until your right next to them at which point combat will turn into just a frantic power spamfest.
I hope sniping becomes a thing again, laying on a cliff in the distance picking off confused enemies one by one.
Of course it's entirely possible that enemies won't spawn until your right next to them at which point combat will turn into just a frantic power spamfest.
To think that once I could not see beyond the veil of our reality, to see those who dwell behind. My life now has purpose, for I have learned the frailty of flesh and bone.
If the only purpose is to shoot things and "explore", does lameness matter?
I think so. I don't shoot things and have fun doing so just by the mechanics or I would enjoy games without aesthetics or theme; I don't. If you put me in an awe-inspiring game-world with a gun and some cool enemy designs I'm automatically compelled to just roam around and try things out for a while. I'm in love with the Mass Effect aesthetics (though I find Andromeda to be slightly less inspired so far) and I would love to just spend time in it. I believe this is a biproduct of the trilogy being so good.
Pretty much. I could play GTA and Saints Row and do nothing but run around and cause mayhem for a few hours or so, but if the story and activities aren't up to snuff, then ultimately you're going to get bored with it.
Same with Mass Effect in these examples.
another example is Star Ocean 4 for me; i find that the game has one of the best, if not the best combat in an RPG--Japanese or otherwise--but the story is so garbage that I never beat the game and all of my attempts to get back into it for gameplay's sake have been met in failure because the story is so garbage.
Post by Link"Guess"ski on Feb 7, 2017 17:10:26 GMT
I agree with all that but I wasn't talking about wanting to play the game solely for aimless roaming either. I'm just saying it excites me as a component -- just being able to exist within the game-world and not always being forced into an emotional prescripted rollercoaster anytime you select a destination.
What I'm looking forward to the most is something I'm unsure is even in the game, which is to see my Ryder go through hardship. One of my favorite moments in ME1 is when you wake up after getting the visions on Eden Prime. There's that little moment of quiet with the characters and everyone listening to Shepard as you can feel the story revolves around him now because of something he just went through and you can sense how what he has just witnessed is going to matter on an important level. I didn't feel DA:I really had that moment for their protagonist. The way he is branded "special" was quite uninteresting to me and he was a pretty flat character, and BioWare as of late has been too good to their own characters I feel, except Patrick Weekes who wrote Solas and who didn't write anything for ME:A.
In the end being able to just breathe in the game's universe as I roam about is gonna be the biggest remedy for me if the story isn't my biggest takeaway. I'm looking forward to it sure, but I'm just not expecting much to be honest. If the game is like DA:I there is a greater sense of urgency and tension when I'm about to infiltrate a Kett outpost than there will be when the final battle in the story goes down.
"A geth wanting emotions would be no less disrespectful a character than a black man who wanted to be white." - L'Etoile
In the end being able to just breathe in the game's universe as I roam about is gonna be the biggest remedy for me if the story isn't my biggest takeaway. I'm looking forward to it sure, but I'm just not expecting much to be honest. If the game is like DA:I there is a greater sense of urgency and tension when I'm about to infiltrate a Kett outpost than there will be when the final battle in the story goes down.
Just keep in mind that universe can change at a whim whenever Bioware decides they need to rewrite the rules of the universe to fit whatever story they want to hammer into the setting.
Or do a soft reboot because they frakked things up yet again.
In the end being able to just breathe in the game's universe as I roam about is gonna be the biggest remedy for me if the story isn't my biggest takeaway. I'm looking forward to it sure, but I'm just not expecting much to be honest. If the game is like DA:I there is a greater sense of urgency and tension when I'm about to infiltrate a Kett outpost than there will be when the final battle in the story goes down.
Just keep in mind that universe can change at a whim whenever Bioware decides they need to rewrite the rules of the universe to fit whatever story they want to hammer into the setting.
Or do a soft reboot because they frakked things up yet again.
Sad but true is the fact that this is just how writing works if you really think about it. Think of any good you can recall, like a standalone one for the best example, and consider that its plot and its internal consistency had probably been tweaked and rewritten numerous time just to fit the author's intended message. The reason BioWare can't create new games without rewriting their own lore is because they don't plan ahead to know that certain limitations will keep them from writing a good story unless they change the details or handwave issues that hadn't been foreseen and part of it is also the need to follow the trends of the medium which mostly includes technical things and gameplay which always come before or after making a plot or IP that suits it.
Personally I would like the latter fact to be true but it would only be true if BioWare were willing to sacrifice potential customers and new players and they just aren't because they're too big a company to pass on a broadening consumer-base.
"A geth wanting emotions would be no less disrespectful a character than a black man who wanted to be white." - L'Etoile
I hope sniping becomes a thing again, laying on a cliff in the distance picking off confused enemies one by one.
Of course it's entirely possible that enemies won't spawn until your right next to them at which point combat will turn into just a frantic power spamfest.
That was one of the best parts of ME1, sitting on a hill picking off mercs outside their base. I really want to do that in ME:A.
It's not super far away but it's certainly far enough to get the impression that you will be able to quite happily snipe, as you would expect with what is more of an open-world setting. The sniper scope says 188.7 meters so that's a fair distance.
I'm continually skeptical about what Andromeda will be like with its story and characters or even the RPG mechanics. I do however look forward to crafting, looting and having places where I can just explore. That was one of the feats of Mass Effect 1 in my opinion, the being able to land somewhere and discover a compound with enemies in it, kill them and take loot from chests and lockers.
I disagree entirely with his. I think one of the faults of ME1 was the uninteresting exploration.
I'm looking forward to ME:A's story and characters, and am wary that exploration will get in the way of that. If they populate the worlds with interesting locations, characters, quests, etc., then I'm all for it. But if it's remotely like ME1, I'll be disappointed.
"- Oh look, we have life forms similar to thresher maws on this planet. - Let's blow them up then, we have vital resources to collect there around their nest. Looking forward to tes... - Huh... we don't have any armaments on the nomad, pathfinder. We have to do this on foot. - "
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