What if Mass Effect Andromeda had a silent protagonist?

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All I can say is that Cyonan and Sylvius are interesting reads. I never allow myself to go that deep into a game nor have I played D&D.
I was more into the  Strategy & Tactics board games (still am).

Like these: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_board_wargames#Tactical

 

I'd definitely be glad with a silent protagonist, so my imagination isn't that restrained. But I doubt it will happen; ME trilogy model proved to be successful after all.

I don't have a problem with a silent protagonist as long as the camera view is first person. Third person with silent protag is just weird.

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The romance options in previous games seemed more like quests.

ME:A romance mechanics have changed, according to Bio, More organic... more natural. The implementation will be an  interesting exercise to see.
Which probably means getting into someone's pants = harder proposition.

The 64 dollar question is whether the romance effort will only reveal itself just before the Big Bad and last Boss Fight.

I know I don't.

My understandingim is that flirting was the reason they implemented the tone icons in the first place. There were reportedly too many complaints about ninjamancing in DAO.

Agreed. The interrupts are, in theory, a useful tool.

In Exile and I worked out an elaborate replacement system for them which would provide the same character agency (as distinct from player agency) as the current interrupts do, without making them impossible for a roleplayer to use.

I found both the unpredictability of the interrupts and the QTE aspect of triggering them to be fatal flaws. Both need to be eliminated for interrupts to work.

Incidentally, I sent In Exile a bunch of PMs before BSN went read-only in the hopes that we wouldn't lose touch with him, but the PM archives have been hidden from public view, so I don't know if he received the information in time.

That doesn't stop them from having a useful definition of metal, though. Fans of Doom Metal and Speed Metal and Grindcore can still have a meaningful discussion about whether KISS is metal without worrying about into which subgenre it might fall.

2 is better than 1.


That only happens to me if my character does something untenable, or if the game world reacts in an unbelievable way. There's a great example of this in NWN2, where you're given 2 options for which faction to join, and you have to respond then with a preference (even though you're talking to a third-party). But that expressed preference instantly becomes the only available option - the relevant NPCs and quest items for the other faction simply vanish. So not only can you not lie to that third-party, you also can't change your mind later if presented with new evidence. The world just doesn't make sense.

NWN2 did this sort of thing a lot. I was really disappointed by that game.

Another example of something I find game-breaking is how KotOR2 tried to do the same thing KotOR did with the protagonist having a backstory that was relevant and of which the player was unaware. But the problem in KotOR2 was that the protagonist knew that backstory, so it should have been influencing his behaviour, but it couldn't because the player didn’t know what it was.

This is a recurring feature of Obsidian's games, and I can't stand it.

That's something that needed to be addressed but probably in a better way.

People will sometimes take what you're saying as flirting even if it's not, but you hardly ever just "accidentally" end up in a relationship with somebody as a result of it(which was the ninjamancing problem). There should have been a clarification point where one character will essentially ask the other character out officially. I think DA:I sort of does this where it'll give you a notice that says "You will enter a relationship with X character".



I think the trick is making it predictable and not QTE without effectively just making it another dialogue option that pauses the conversation and asks "Would you like to input something here?". We already have a few of those in normal dialogue.

Though I'm really not sure how one would go about doing that.



Most of the metalheads I know will say that Metal as a broad definition is pretty useless outside of casual fans because there is so many sub genres with too much difference, much like how many hardcore RPG fans will say RPG as a definition is also pretty useless. To be honest as a FPS fan, I think the term FPS is also pretty useless in accurately describing the game beyond the absolute basics. Half-Life is vastly different from Call of Duty, but they're both just "FPS" because they're both first person with guns.

Plus we eventually have to start including JRPGs too and they're just an entirely different beast from the "Western RPGs" that we've been talking about.



The thing with me is that the NPCs all acting like they've got multiple personality disorder will start to make the world not believable for me.

Well it would come down to the writing. In Mass Effect 1 if you flirt with both Ashley and Liara, you'll eventually reach a point where they confront you about it and make you choose one.

The only reason you'd have to abandon any possible relationship with other characters is because the writers forced you to do so.

Fallout 4 is voiced and lets you have a relationship with multiple companions. It was probably because they didn't want to bother to code in the checks for that, but it's still there.



I said that they're useless as descriptive definitions, not that they don't exist. FPS as a genre exists, but telling me that a game is FPS tells me very little about it. Is it an arena shooter? Class based shooter? Modern Military Shooter? Twitch Shooter? Those things tell me more than simply "FPS".

Though should RPG not follow the same thing? RPG is now the broad definition that encompasses everything while Baldur's Gate and Mass Effect would be two different sub-genres of RPG.

Is Doom Metal not still Metal, even if you're somebody who is looking for Speed Metal?

Is a cinematic action RPG not still a RPG, even if you're somebody who is looking for an old school cRPG?



The label just has to get more broad to encompass it as well which yeah, will make it less useful.

Though as I've been saying, it's not like those broad labels are all that useful from a descriptive standpoint anymore anyway.

As riveting as this is, I can feel nothing but gladness that the silent protag is dead to Bioware for good. Heck I'm even gladder that it's even presumably gone for Bethesda.

The term RPG doesn't strictly speaking tell you nothing, but it's also a weird label. FPS is a label we can take literally: It's a shooter in first person. Most other genres also follow the same style, we can use the term literally. Strategy in real time, a game that involves sports.

However Roleplaying Game? Well okay, so it's a game. We have a decent definition of one of those(there are rules, there is a goal, etc.) but Roleplaying? That's just acting as a role that isn't yourself. By that logic, I can argue that every game is a RPG. In Half-Life I assume the role of Gordon Freeman, so am I roleplaying in Half-Life?

So it more becomes "How much does it give the player capacity for roleplaying?" but that's going to be subjective, hence why nobody can universally agree upon a single definition for RPG. It's a label we can't take literally because that would be a useless label, since it includes every game. Not to mention that you already disagree with the game part of taking that label literally, as you've said numerous times you don't think RPGs are games.

It's also why a lot of discussions that involve anything somebody views as being good/bad for RPGs just turns into a "Well what is a RPG?" discussion.

IF we wanted it to be closer to terms like FPS and RTS we'd need to come up with an entirely new term that we can use a literal definition of, because that's a lot more objective than what we currently have.

Good luck convincing the internet of that, though =P

I barely consider Mass Effect an RPG. It's still mostly a TPS to me. The choices and dialogue features set it apart, but many adventure titles have that too. The actual RPG elements -- the points and character building. These are sparse. I don't feel like I'm crafting that unique of a build with any of them. It still just comes down to 5 classes. The variations in those classes are negligible (like Commando vs Shock Trooper with Soldiers, for example).

As far as AAA games go, Bethesda's (and Obisidian's) Fallout is a far more deep shooter with RPG elements. You can create some unique personalities with just the skills alone. Before you even talk to anyone or make any choices, you're a unique character right off the bat.