Combat could be better.

I don't see how this is a huge change to mechanics.  If anything it is some key bindings and a setting to disable part of the squad AI.

Nevermind that there was no reason to "streamline" squad management in the first place.

Key bindings? How would that work on Console?
And nothing was 'streamlined' this is how they built the game.

It is streamlined relative to the previous iterations.

If not doing a wheel for console, you already have squad control for attack target, but given that AI will use their powers whenever they want, you have lost a significant amount of control for no compelling reason.  edit: If like ME2 style where you could actually set squad power use to off or defense only, and the squad attack order could order a relatively appropriate power, it would be a step up from what we have.

And "how they built the game" is the point here, this was a step backwards with no benefit.

This sometimes works but seems to be more luck as my squadmates will end up using their powers more or less whenever they want, which means the power may not actually be available.

yes, i agree
but it could be another improvement to just add an option to cover by pressing a key, it's better to control the character

Re-mapping controller buttons is kind of an issue, too - largely because they needed to assign an extra button for evade for the ^%$@@ jump jets.

Although I'd agree that the jump jets add some fun gameplay, the cost was too high imho.

This is a load of crock! Combat in this game is amazing! The only caveat is that you can't control Squadmates. I can see a reason for it tho besides to make it like MP. I can see them doing this to make it more of a personal journey with your character. It doesn't make sense on a deeper level that you should be able to control your squadmates. You are playing a single character, not three. The others are there to share in the journey, but not to actually be controlled.

Can someone tell me if it's possible to put squad-mates on 'passive". As of now they are shooting anything that moves regardless of the distance or aggressiveness (yellow mobs). Quite annoying.

Yep. Just like Shepard told Garrus, Ash/Kaidan, Wrex, Miranda, etc. - all of whom were accomplished leaders themselves - what to do in combat. It's not because they're in any way clueless or would not be able to serve as leaders themselves, but because someone needs to coordinate their efforts to create team synergy.



Indeed, they have mastered their individual skills and are quite capable. Perhaps you've not noticed that working together benefits the team as a whole?



I'd vote for slowing down the pace - but apparently a lot of people want it to be faster.

In any case, RPG mechanics are generally abstractions. What would be more likely to happen irl is that the leader (Shepard or Ryder) would meet with the squaddies to discuss tactics and exactly what to do under various conditions ahead of time.

I'd argue that is wasn't actually Shapard telling everyone what to do in combat because its just nonsensical. If you want to play a game as a game mechanic where you are controlling an entire team, it only makes sense that the player is not the one calling all the shots, but is actually just the narrator of the story as opposed to actually playing as a character embodied in and to themselves.


I don't call working together dictating what everyone else does. Point being, if they were real people, you wouldn't be dictating everything they do.


That's fair, but it looks like this series and other BW games is/are moving away from that.


This is true, however, I have not seen a game that actually has this type of thing as an actual mechanic in a game (not to say that there are not any games that would have something like this).


I don't make these arguments to say that tactical, team based games where you issue all the orders to everyone are bad or anything like that. I am just trying to point out that if you are playing as a specific character in a game, it doesn't actually make sense that you would control the other NPCs, and if you did/could, It should be understood that you are issuing commands to your teammates as opposed to having that requirement forgone. It would take some more voice acting, but the devs could simply have the character who is issuing commands verbalize what commands are said so there would be an indication that the PC is telling the squaddies what to do. And I understand that some people like issuing commands to all their Squaddies, and I do too, but I am just pointing out an alternate perspective here.

On mobile, so admitting some laziness here with respect to quoting.

Re MP mechanics - It is true that you don't control squad members in MP, but I don't see why this should preclude us from getting precise control over squadmates. The 'defend here' and 'attack this target' functions are SP specific to begin with. And it isn't as if the MP functionality in ME3 prevented implementation of the squad controls in it.

Seems like what the dev was getting at was 'We didn't want to spend time on this because it doesn't apply to MP.' Whatever the case, I obviously disagree with that decision. If anything, Bio ware has shown they are responsive to feedback, so hopefully bringing this up would get squad control to return in a future title if not practical for MEA,at least if the sequel is ostensibly a game with squad based combat.

Re 'Real combat,'and micromanagement - Agree with previous rebuttals regarding tactics briefing and also conceit to gameplay. The issue here for me isn't necessarily the reality argument though, it is player control and rewarding player skill and knowledge.

I don't want to tap a novel here, so I will also just add that Cora's behavior in combat doesn't look like what you would get with a well trained combatant.