Mass Effect 2 *spoilers around pg 29/30*

[tmp]

I don't think phones exist in the ME universe.

They do, but Shepard keeps cutting off the calls.

[rk47]

Mass Effect has a fairly complicated combat system. You've got story and choice. For some fans that don't buy 12 games a year and maybe buy two or three, some of those things can be intimidating.

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2011-06-10-why-mass-effect-3-supports-kinect

The future of EA Games is bright...

 

[tmp]

It's surprising there's no mention of Kinect support for Battlefield 3 yet, beyond the noncommittal "we're thinking about it". That fairly complicated combat system must be intimidating for some people who don't buy 12 games a year, too.

[caladein]

The same kind of point-to-object-and-speak thing might be cool there too.  It's all context sensitive as-is (because it's stuck as a one-button action on the controller).

[tmp]

Without snark, i imagine the finger tracking they have working in Kinect now could be actually cool way to issue squad commands in game which pretends to be a modern shooter.

(although that's probably the opposite of making it more accessible)

[Sjofn]

God I hate Commander Shepard's flirty voice. For both genders, although in this case I was provoked by LadyShep. I just cringed my way through some flirting with Jacob. It makes me sad. It's almost enough for me to keep Sally Shepard TRUE to Carth Kaiden.

[Ratman_tf]

Inerest in ME3 fading...

[Jeff Kelly]

Mass Effect has a fairly complicated combat system. You've got story and choice. For some fans that don't buy 12 games a year and maybe buy two or three, some of those things can be intimidating.

WTF? Are those fans riding on the short bus as well?

How much are they willing to dumb it down? (This is NOT a challenge if an EA exec is following this thread)

[Maledict]

It's more complicated than 2 - in both levelling up and gear options. There are more choices to make and more sub themes for each character class, plus additional weapon design.

[rk47]

It should just be a left click to hug villain and right click to blow their head off all the way to the end credits.

[Tebonas]

And it is proven once more. We can't have nice things because of retarded mouthbreathers and the fact that there are more of them than us.

[Amaron]

"When you're in this business now you have to be able to get to the widest possible audience. Games are so expensive to build now that you can't have a sustainable business if you're in the million unit seller range. You've got to be multi-million units.

 

[Reg]

Maybe you guys should just stick to the wonderful niche games you see on Steam for 5 dollars each from developers you've never heard of.  I hear they're awesome.

[Tebonas]

What makes you think we don't do that already, together with games so niche they don't even find their way onto Steam?

The frustrating thing with Mass Effect is that they have us already invested in the story. If they pulled that shit in part 1 already, only the mouthbreathers would have bought it and we wouldn't have this problem.

[jakonovski]

http://www.spacepiratesandzombies.com/

[UnSub]

It's more complicated than 2 - in both levelling up and gear options. There are more choices to make and more sub themes for each character class, plus additional weapon design.

"Great, I just got a new pistol at a higher level. It's ... worse in every stat than the pistol I've got, despite being a higher number. Oh well, at least the new armour is... also worse. And now my inventory is full. Guess I'll slot that +5 extra damage buff to my rifle and then the useless cryo debuffs to some crew members who don't use those weapons."

ME is all about being a cover shooter with a narrative. ME 3 will be a cover shooter with a narrative.

As for the skill points thing, by the time I'd finished ME, I'd bought every skill to max (well, lvl 60). There's no real choice in ME either, no cost for investing in one skill over another except for what you can hack / not hack at particular points.

[Maledict]

This last page is confusing as heck to be honest - maybe I'm missing some posts, but I can't see a thread of conversation at all. Re. Ease of okay and dumbing down - the two are not the same. Mass effect 1 was a good game, mass effect 2 is an awesome game. Everything they have shown us looks bigger, better and more complicated that the second game so I'm really not sure why folks are still screaming that the sky is falling down. We have seen the more complicated character and weapon options, and we've been told repeatedly they are adding more RPG iinto the game so not sure what else they could do.

Unsubscribe - well no shit you maxed out every skill at 60. You had to complete the game at LEAST twice to hit 60, normally 3 times. That's like grinding out all the end skills in a FFgame and then complaint you get them all. For someone who is just playing the game through once you won't hit the max level in either game, and you will be forced to make decisions. RPGs have always broken under the pressure of hard core gamers who will replay something endlessly, or will grind for hours on something. The game isn't balanced around us, nor should it be.

And the cost for investing in one skill over another is that you don't get to use the other skill. That's all the cost there needs to be - and the average player isn't going to be able to max every skill like you can in ME (or almost can in ME2).

[Ingmar]

Yeah it seems like people are replying to a post that was deleted or something?

[Reg]

I just assumed that some of the doomsayers from the SWTOR thread had decided to exercise their talents over here.

[Amaron]

Yeah it seems like people are replying to a post that was deleted or something?

It's the article rk47 posted a up higher in the page.

[Sjofn]

Oh, from nearly two weeks ago?

[UnSub]

Unsubscribe - well no shit you maxed out every skill at 60. You had to complete the game at LEAST twice to hit 60, normally 3 times.

I finished it the first time with a character in the early to mid 50s. (Mainly by using the trick of getting out of the Mako to finish everything off using hand weapons, which gave full XP.) Also played through the DLC.

I also did a play through on Easy where I raced through using only the human characters (except where forced to change by the game) and still got a character up into the 40s. Didn't really feel I missed any skill choices there by making sure I had a medic character, fighter and engineer that played to their strengths.

I didn't find ME's systems particularly deep or complex in either ME1 or ME2. At the end of the day it is a shooter, so it is all about the DPS (and maxing Paragon / Renegade points).

[Ratman_tf]

http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/495903

[rk47]

Some screens.



They call squadmate 'Henchmen' now...Oh, also happy that the Mattock makes a return!



Longer barrels, etc. Not the example I want...I mean, where's the sniper / laser sight attachments? etc.

[Morat20]

Influence and dilation sounds like a particularly unpleasant medical procedure.

[Shrike]

Finally real info and not EA kvetching.

I'd have suspected the Mattock would be making a triumphant return. It was only the best rifle in the game, and usuable by every class, no less (well, after the ghost ship mission). Also, it was plastered over every screen and trailer from E3. It might have not been as much fun as the Revenent, but it was a damned sight more effective in any fight that wasn't in an elevator or narrow hallway.

I"m liking the looks of that character screen. More original ME and less ME2. The one thing I missed in ME2 was the ability to dink around with the stats. The game played better, but I like fiddling with characters and there simply wasn't enough of it in ME2. I didn't miss the tons of basically identical gear that had to be shuffled through, but I like seeing numbers change and stats grow as I see fit.

[cironian]

Looks to me like a very simple skill tree. You first get the 3 upgrades at the top, then choose one of the lower branches. The bars below are probably just to show you your total stats, not something you can adjust.

[Ratman_tf]

So are the skill tree choices going to be real choices or WoW choices? 

[tmp]

Looks to me like a very simple skill tree. You first get the 3 upgrades at the top, then choose one of the lower branches. The bars below are probably just to show you your total stats, not something you can adjust.

From the videos that aired around e3 time it'd appear you can drill down and put upgrade points into each of the labels in the middle area (damage, henchmen damage etc) The three buttons on top switch between different sets of the middle area options iirc. The bars indeed show cumulative effect of these upgrades on the relevant stats, but the system overall seemed effectively similar to the original ME skill system.

[Sjofn]

Influence and dilation sounds like a particularly unpleasant medical procedure.

Oh good, I'm not the only one who thought this to themselves. 

[tmp]

High resolution screenshot of designs for some of the returning team mates (and one new arrival. spoiler, i guess)

wonder how much of the army budget went into the development of these armoured mini skirts and zippers in the breastplates...

[jakonovski]

The new guy is called James Vega. Looks like a huge douchebag, especially with a fake hawk.

[Ingmar]

Think that's just a long coat, not a miniskirt.

[tmp]

I was talking about Ashley, not Liara. Agreed it seems like a coat of sorts on the latter.

[Nightblade]

The new guy is called James Vega. Looks like a huge douchebag, especially with a fake hawk.

ME1 had Kaiden
ME2 had Jacob
ME3 will have will have both of the above and this new douche nozzle. I'm not pleased.