What would you add or change to the Mass Effect gameplay?
Mar 25, 2017 1:22:45 GMT
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Post by bumbleb on Mar 25, 2017 1:22:45 GMT
So I haven't played ME:A (my GPU sucks atm...) but I have been playing the original trilogy and while I'm enjoying my playthrough, I do feel like the gameplay could be 'fixed' or altered in areas
Here's my list of things I'd like to see changed:
• No more Binary Morality System- I'm not a big fan of black and white decision making. Not only can it be poorly written or too cartoony (especially the Dark Side/Renegade/Evil alignment in games) but it also encourages players to fully commit to one side only to unlock stronger alignment based dialogue options. It discourages being 'Gray' because you won't be able to choose the higher tier alignment dialogue options.
I would much prefer some influence and/or reputation system. Influence for how characters regard you based on your words and actions, while the reputation system would be for how factions perceive you. I think that offers far more freedom and makes the writing and world feel more natural.
• Realistic Ammo: I appreciate how ME1 tried to do something a bit unique. Unlimited ammo but you could overheat if you kept firing far too long. I wasn't a big fan of the finite ammo system in ME2 and ME3. It just seemed too similar to shooters. But I will say that the ME1 ammo system does also feel a bit too simple since it basically was unlimited ammo.
I think what I would prefer though is something similar to Dead Space 3. It also had universal ammo like in ME2-3 but It treated ammunition like real life magazines. Reloading when you have rounds left means you discard those remaining rounds for a full clip.
i.imgur.com/6Vt6J.jpg
Dead Space 3, Red Orchestra, Arma, Sniper Elite and others use this system and I wish ME could too. Plus not only would you have to consider whether to reload/discard your remaining rounds but I think it could also make sense lore wise. Thermal clips are supposed to be universal but ingame your ammo is separated per weapon. Uh, shouldn't the same Thermal clips in my Assault rifle be usable for my emptied sniper rifle? With a realistic ammunition system, you would have ~15 thermal clips and it would be distributed to any weapon you're holding. Maybe some weapons use uses up more thermal energy/rounds in the clip than others.
• Dynamic Cover: Most Third Person Shooters use a snap-to-cover system. Press a button and you'll snap into cover and stick onto it. It's not a bad system but I think I much prefer how games like Tomb Raider (and I heard ME:A now is too) handles cover. You basically go near something that could act as cover, aim, and your character will automatically fire over or around the cover
I'm currently playing ME3 and while I like how much faster the shooting and movement system is, I find the cover system to be too sticky or too finicky and that often leads to unnecessary deaths or health loss. I much prefer something more dynamic and natural as it would also allow for my movement and flexibility which ME:A seems to be going for (though in some way I think maybe ME:A is going a bit too far with all that dashing and jetpacking and it looks less tactical and more like these fast paced shooters you see from games like Titanfall). Speaking of tactical...
• More Squad Tactics: I think it's disappointing to see ME never seem to develop squad tactics. For a game that's really focused on the characters you meet, you really don't have much control over them. Flanking, suppressing fire, assault, and other tactics aren't really possible and instead the best you can do with them is activate their abilities which is a bit too little for me. Positioning your characters is a nightmare because they might not snap into cover and you can't see past what you can see. And i think that's the issue: You Don't Have a Tactical Map
A lot of tactics games, even Dragon Age Origins and Inquisition have isometric bird eye's view of the map to give your squad members orders on where to move, where to attack, and so on.
I would love it if you could have a tactical map and more tactical options in ME. Imagine ordering Garrus to suppress an enemy behind cover with his assault rifle while you send Wrex charging toward the enemy like a true Krogan and killing him while he's pinned down. Or maybe have Wrex force an enemy trooper out of cover to avoid Wrex's charge/shotgun and when he's out in the open Garrus can easily snipe him. Certain characters would be more useful in an assault, flanking, or support fire role
• Interactive Space Combat: I think it would be nice if the Normandy can get itself into some combat situations during the galaxy map phase. Not that you would be flying the ship like in Tie Fighter but instead it would play more like an interactive story like in Pillars of Eternity and Sunless Seas. In those games you're provided with a scenario but you're then forced to make a decision that's also based on your skill level. Pillars of Eternity had an early Interactive Story moment where your party member gets attacked by someone as you're about to flee. You can throw your weapon at the enemy but you'll lose your weapon, you can throw a rock at the enemy but that requires X amount of Dexterity, or you can hope your party member breaks free himself though that requires him to have enough health.
I think it could work for ME as well with the Normandy. Maybe your ship can level up whether through the crew members gaining XP and skills/abilities and through ship upgrades. So imagine getting attacked by Batarian pirates in the galaxy map. You could try to defeat them or try to flee and there'd be different options to each approach. How well you handle it depends on your crew's skills and the ship's upgrades and equipment (maybe finite resources like ammunition). You would refill ammunition, fuel, and make repairs (not sure if the Normandy can be destroyed in these random encounters. I think dying would be a bit frustrating. Maybe just being heavily damaged and an automatic escape would be better) at a fuel station. I think having your ship and its crew progress like you and your squad would give your ship and it's crew a lot of personality
• Small Things: I probably have a lot more big ideas but I'll just list some small changes I'd like to see.
Destructible cover, destroyable armor (Fallout 4 had armor you can shoot off and leave those areas vulnerable I think), weak points (would be nice if like in Fallout, the anatomy would matter like shooting someone in the legs would cripple them, hands would make them drop their weapons, etc), more death animations over the ragdolls that just look awkward, recurring persistent enemies or squads that gain rank and can escape like in XCOM 2 and Shadow of Mordor thus becoming a nemesis of sorts for youanbbd... I think that's it for now
Anything you'd like to add, remove, or change in ME, gameplay wise?
Here's my list of things I'd like to see changed:
• No more Binary Morality System- I'm not a big fan of black and white decision making. Not only can it be poorly written or too cartoony (especially the Dark Side/Renegade/Evil alignment in games) but it also encourages players to fully commit to one side only to unlock stronger alignment based dialogue options. It discourages being 'Gray' because you won't be able to choose the higher tier alignment dialogue options.
I would much prefer some influence and/or reputation system. Influence for how characters regard you based on your words and actions, while the reputation system would be for how factions perceive you. I think that offers far more freedom and makes the writing and world feel more natural.
• Realistic Ammo: I appreciate how ME1 tried to do something a bit unique. Unlimited ammo but you could overheat if you kept firing far too long. I wasn't a big fan of the finite ammo system in ME2 and ME3. It just seemed too similar to shooters. But I will say that the ME1 ammo system does also feel a bit too simple since it basically was unlimited ammo.
I think what I would prefer though is something similar to Dead Space 3. It also had universal ammo like in ME2-3 but It treated ammunition like real life magazines. Reloading when you have rounds left means you discard those remaining rounds for a full clip.
i.imgur.com/6Vt6J.jpg
Dead Space 3, Red Orchestra, Arma, Sniper Elite and others use this system and I wish ME could too. Plus not only would you have to consider whether to reload/discard your remaining rounds but I think it could also make sense lore wise. Thermal clips are supposed to be universal but ingame your ammo is separated per weapon. Uh, shouldn't the same Thermal clips in my Assault rifle be usable for my emptied sniper rifle? With a realistic ammunition system, you would have ~15 thermal clips and it would be distributed to any weapon you're holding. Maybe some weapons use uses up more thermal energy/rounds in the clip than others.
• Dynamic Cover: Most Third Person Shooters use a snap-to-cover system. Press a button and you'll snap into cover and stick onto it. It's not a bad system but I think I much prefer how games like Tomb Raider (and I heard ME:A now is too) handles cover. You basically go near something that could act as cover, aim, and your character will automatically fire over or around the cover
I'm currently playing ME3 and while I like how much faster the shooting and movement system is, I find the cover system to be too sticky or too finicky and that often leads to unnecessary deaths or health loss. I much prefer something more dynamic and natural as it would also allow for my movement and flexibility which ME:A seems to be going for (though in some way I think maybe ME:A is going a bit too far with all that dashing and jetpacking and it looks less tactical and more like these fast paced shooters you see from games like Titanfall). Speaking of tactical...
• More Squad Tactics: I think it's disappointing to see ME never seem to develop squad tactics. For a game that's really focused on the characters you meet, you really don't have much control over them. Flanking, suppressing fire, assault, and other tactics aren't really possible and instead the best you can do with them is activate their abilities which is a bit too little for me. Positioning your characters is a nightmare because they might not snap into cover and you can't see past what you can see. And i think that's the issue: You Don't Have a Tactical Map
A lot of tactics games, even Dragon Age Origins and Inquisition have isometric bird eye's view of the map to give your squad members orders on where to move, where to attack, and so on.
I would love it if you could have a tactical map and more tactical options in ME. Imagine ordering Garrus to suppress an enemy behind cover with his assault rifle while you send Wrex charging toward the enemy like a true Krogan and killing him while he's pinned down. Or maybe have Wrex force an enemy trooper out of cover to avoid Wrex's charge/shotgun and when he's out in the open Garrus can easily snipe him. Certain characters would be more useful in an assault, flanking, or support fire role
• Interactive Space Combat: I think it would be nice if the Normandy can get itself into some combat situations during the galaxy map phase. Not that you would be flying the ship like in Tie Fighter but instead it would play more like an interactive story like in Pillars of Eternity and Sunless Seas. In those games you're provided with a scenario but you're then forced to make a decision that's also based on your skill level. Pillars of Eternity had an early Interactive Story moment where your party member gets attacked by someone as you're about to flee. You can throw your weapon at the enemy but you'll lose your weapon, you can throw a rock at the enemy but that requires X amount of Dexterity, or you can hope your party member breaks free himself though that requires him to have enough health.
I think it could work for ME as well with the Normandy. Maybe your ship can level up whether through the crew members gaining XP and skills/abilities and through ship upgrades. So imagine getting attacked by Batarian pirates in the galaxy map. You could try to defeat them or try to flee and there'd be different options to each approach. How well you handle it depends on your crew's skills and the ship's upgrades and equipment (maybe finite resources like ammunition). You would refill ammunition, fuel, and make repairs (not sure if the Normandy can be destroyed in these random encounters. I think dying would be a bit frustrating. Maybe just being heavily damaged and an automatic escape would be better) at a fuel station. I think having your ship and its crew progress like you and your squad would give your ship and it's crew a lot of personality
• Small Things: I probably have a lot more big ideas but I'll just list some small changes I'd like to see.
Destructible cover, destroyable armor (Fallout 4 had armor you can shoot off and leave those areas vulnerable I think), weak points (would be nice if like in Fallout, the anatomy would matter like shooting someone in the legs would cripple them, hands would make them drop their weapons, etc), more death animations over the ragdolls that just look awkward, recurring persistent enemies or squads that gain rank and can escape like in XCOM 2 and Shadow of Mordor thus becoming a nemesis of sorts for youanbbd... I think that's it for now
Anything you'd like to add, remove, or change in ME, gameplay wise?
