Going forward

Beyond the obvious,(char creator, animations, etc) which have been covered in numerous other threads, a few things which i think would improve the next game going forward.

1.  Female Ryder needs to be more imposing.  The male ws fine, but the female version looked too petite for me.  She's supposed to be quasi-military.  She should have broader shoulders, maybe taller, i dont know...but in many scenes (like the bar fight), I just thought, "yeah, right".

People are really stretching to find things to complain about in MEA.


2.  This one has been covered, but longer missions-less travel.  Peebee's loyalty required about 10 load screens hopping planet to planet, while ME2's usually had 2, and acquiring Garrus and Mordin actually in the same place.

ME2's loyalty missions didn't stretch most of the length of the game. I did it while working on other quests and it wasn't too much of a problem. Overall I think the loyalty missions are one of MEA's greatest strengths.


3.  I would like to see more armor variances, but without stats or bonuses.  Get those through modding.   Want to look like a tank and throw tech powers?  Mod it that way.  Want to wear a sleek spy/ninja outfit as a soldier, fine.  Why be stuck to one armor per playstyle?

I didn't feel I was stuck. Maybe on higher difficulties? Don't know yet. My first playthrough was a biotic, the second a soldier and I used mostly the Initiative and Pathfinder armors. More variety is always good, though. I wish armor crafting was handled more like DAI.

4.  Less SAM.  Again, covered elsewhere, but worth repeating. SAM did everything, opened doors, talked to Remnant, everything but solve sodoku puzzles.

I was less bothered by what SAM did than what he said. I'm kinda tired of him interrupting my party banter for weather updates.

5.  Perhaps most controversial:  only allow a primary and secondary skill tree.  If I was limited to being a biotic/tech, soldier/tech, or biotic/soldier, it would give me more reason to replay the game.  I realize this means taking away something they added, but I think this would help define each Ryder better, make them more unique.

Limit yourself, the game doesn't have to do it for you. My first Ryder used only the Adept profile for the entire game because that's the way I wanted it to be. Nothing's forcing you to use more skill trees than you want to.


6.  Because biotic wielding asari and roaring krogan stand out, human characters (Liam, in retrospect Jacob) need to be more badass. If they seem like cannon fodder, people will find them dull and boring.

Badass how? You talking their personalities or their combat abilities? Personality-wise I've always liked the human companions not named Jacob in the ME games. In combat they've ranged from functional to pretty damn good. Could you clarify more what you're looking for here?


7.  New villain.  Kett feels too similar to reapers, remnant are just more bots.  How about some snakey/amphibians, or feline-ish, or insectoid?   Everyone hates bugs.

Kett are only superficially similar to Reaper ground troops, and not at all like the Reapers themselves. They obviously have a society and free will that I hope gets expanded upon in DLCs and/or sequels. Remnant are a bit generic, a bit like the Geth in ME1 but not like the Geth as we got to know them in ME2 & 3. Need to see more.

And, please, no bugs. The last thing I want to see is Mass Effect turn into Starship Troopers: The RPG.

Any other constructive thoughts?