Mass Effect 3

[Velorath]

People joke about it or mock it and shit, but if Bioware actually made a westernized "Dating Sim" that shit would make BANK and sell a billion copies.


A BILLION!

It's essentially their most rabid and vocal fanbase too. So they're being catered and happy. Hamburger helper can be the director of that particular dev dept.
The rest can go back to making RPGs sans romance.

As big a deal as some people like to make about romances in Bioware games, each one usually takes up what, about 5-10 minutes of game time in a playthrough?

[Sjofn]

Yes, but it's yucky girl stuff. Cooties everywhere!

[tmp]

It's worth noting these 5-10 minutes experiences still manage to generate roughly 50% of bioware forums traffic

[koro]

People joke about it or mock it and shit, but if Bioware actually made a westernized "Dating Sim" that shit would make BANK and sell a billion copies.


A BILLION!

It's essentially their most rabid and vocal fanbase too. So they're being catered and happy. Hamburger helper can be the director of that particular dev dept.
The rest can go back to making RPGs sans romance.

What RPGs has bioware made in recent history that lack romance, exactly?

Did BG1 have a romance?

The only Bioware RPGs I can think of that did not include romances were BG1, NWN1, and Sonic Chronicles. I'm not even 100% certain on NWN.

That said, I'd love for Bioware to make a story-heavy RPG without the baggage that romances add, but at this point it's kind of expected of them.

[Margalis]

If gameplay is separate from story in that the gameplay doesn't effect the story then really most story is separate from story as well for the same reason.

"This thing doesn't effect the story, therefore it's not part of the story" makes very little sense and completely disqualifies all books and movies from being stories - a hard position to defend I would think.

A lot of games do a good job of delivering story bits, atmosphere, characterization and such during the actual game.

[Velorath]

Playing through story mode in the demo feels like one or two steps above playing with cheat codes on basically.  The enemies do little enough damage that you never need to take cover, and even the mini-boss at the end couldn't kill me with me just standing there (my teammates eventually gunned it down).  It did eventually get through my shields though and took off two bars of health (shields regenerate but the health didn't so it's possibly that over time I could have gotten myself killed maybe).  My squads skill points were automatically distributed as well.

[Fabricated]

Man, are we sure Ashley didn't get secretly reconstructed like Shepard did? I only knew it was her because whoever posted the picture said so. Sorry you can't put a plain-looking female character in the game Bioware.

[Tebonas]

Thats not the Ashley I romanced, so I certainly want an "Nah, we are breaking up since you obviously blew all of Earths Defense budget on your plastic surgeries to look like that retarded woman Cerberus forced me to endure on my ship" option.

[Fabricated]

I'm kinda convinced at this point that Mass Effect 3 is going to be Dragon Age 2 all over again only the actual gameplay won't be terrible.

[Hawkbit]

My PS3 demo ran like utter crap.  Cinematics had maybe 10-20 fps and was headache inducing.  Once it got to the gameplay, there seemed to be too much hud and not enough fun.  The story appears to be light years ahead of what was in the first two, but the game itself is disappointing. 

[TripleDES]

I'm trying to figure out what's wrong with ME3 graphically. I mean, it was nice and fine back when it ME1 came out, but considering most over AAA games that came out, and that it's UE3, it's kind of lacking. If I had to guess, they're skimping on baking indirect light into the textures, or not doing it properly. These dumb orange glow ME terminals are especially out of place in that regard.

[kildorn]

Ashley, even if she looks completely different, is like the only non creepy looking face in the Mass Effect Universe I've seen. Well that and new Roid Rage dude.

I love the series, but god damn if humans don't have terrible faces in ME.

[Surlyboi]

That is the future that humanity is doomed to.

And I'll be damned but I dig the shit out of the multiplayer right now.

[tmp]

I'm trying to figure out what's wrong with ME3 graphically.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ye0Rl16elKo

(early part of demo so spoiler warning)

[Stormwaltz]

What RPGs has bioware made in recent history that lack romance, exactly?

Sonic Chronicles.

[kildorn]

The lobby is terrible, but the multi itself is surprisingly fun. I may need to migrate away from my beloved vanguard though, since damage seems to be far higher and crazy charge antics seem like bad ideas now.

Incinerate, though.. that's a skill that will never go out of style.

edit: I'm also digging the new skill evolution system. Instead of just "pick one at the end", about halfway through the tree you get to pick one of two options for every tier. Much love.

[TripleDES]

I'm trying to figure out what's wrong with ME3 graphically.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ye0Rl16elKo

(early part of demo so spoiler warning)

I've seen that playing the demo. Even some if MaleShep's animations right at the beginning of the demo are also weird as fuck. That better be a bug and gone in the final build.

But I mean the graphics itself. The environmental lighting is just so damn weird.

[Fordel]

No seriously though, like a Droid/Iphone game, that is nothing but dialogue trees and character interactions and story with Biowares writers. Tell me that shit wouldn't sell a jillion copies? Tell me there isn't a huge demand for that?


I'd play it.

[tmp]

But I mean the graphics itself. The environmental lighting is just so damn weird.

Yeah, i just posted that because it seems like a good symptom of broader problem -- it's hard to figure out how stuff this bad made it pretty much to the final game; it's like some combination of either plain not seeing such issues (and/or thinking that's good enough) or not being able to do any better.

[Velorath]

I'm trying to figure out what's wrong with ME3 graphically.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ye0Rl16elKo

(early part of demo so spoiler warning)

Oddly, her run animation changes in the second part of the demo.

[Ingmar]

That doesn't actually look all that horrible to me. Not meme-generation bad, certainly. I'm pretty sure I look like a retard when I'm running at full sprint.

[tmp]

I'm pretty sure I look like a retard when I'm running at full sprint.

Well, i'm watching a football match as it happens; 20 guys running back and forth at various speeds and no one looks like a retard or draws any attention from the brain because their movements look absolutely natural (duh). In contrast, these ME animations have me sitting in perpetual 'wtf, it's all off' state. It's not fault of the medium in general because there's enough games out there which do manage to have natural looking walk/run cycles, and it's actually rare for me to have this kind of reaction to character animations in games. So i'd have to conclude this one just is particularly bad.

[Ingmar]

I do suspect that swinging a loaded gun around like that is probably not the safest way to run with a weapon, certainly.

[jakonovski]

Never mind all the other stuff, what the crap is wrong with the sound mix? It's like half the environmental sounds are missing and sound levels are all wonky.

[Sjofn]

Ashley, even if she looks completely different, is like the only non creepy looking face in the Mass Effect Universe I've seen. Well that and new Roid Rage dude.

I love the series, but god damn if humans don't have terrible faces in ME.

If you mean Lt. Bro, he is ugly as fuck and you are high. Even my PigShep is looking at that dude's nose and going "that man has a pig mother, it is the only explanation."

[Venkman]

What's Mass Effect's genre?

Feh, easy and non-controversial :) Action RPG. Gives them broad latitude to mix together a bunch of things. It's also required. If it was just RPG where we could negotiate our way all the way through telling the Reapers to go home, then sure, skip the combat. Heck, skip everything but the dialog options. If it's just an Action game, skip all that stupid dialog and story crap, just barrel your way through cover/combat until the boss at the end, and then rinse repeat to min/max glory. Downside is mixing all this means you'll probably not be able to do it as well as Skyrim or Modern Warfare. But it also means getting to be somewhat unique.

Besides, this is Mass Effect 3. The whole series has always had all this mixture of stuff.

I thought it interesting that the demo effectively let you make that choice though. They let ya choose mostly combat, mostly dialog, or middle of the road. They did call middle of the road "normal" though.

Felt like Mass Effect. That's good enough for me. Love this series, and combat seemed a bit more fluid this time.

[Bunk]

Awesome, the opening city (which promptly gets anhiliated by Reapers it seems) is Vancouver.
http://www.vancitybuzz.com/2012/02/mass-effect-3-vancouver-screen-shots/

Ton of clear landmarks in those shots, heavily futurified.

[Lakov_Sanite]

Reapers are bruins fans.

[Surlyboi]

That explains a lot, actually.

[Miasma]

Awesome, the opening city (which promptly gets anhiliated by Reapers it seems) is Vancouver.
http://www.vancitybuzz.com/2012/02/mass-effect-3-vancouver-screen-shots/

Ton of clear landmarks in those shots, heavily futurified.

They couldn't put together a split screen?  I have little idea what Vancouver looks like.  I always just visualize a field full of hippies with mountains on the right and ocean on the left.  Because I'm looking North.

[Stormwaltz]

Not fully relevent, since Drew hasn't worked on ME since I did, but I didn't know where else to put it:

Drew Karpyshyn retires from BioWare after 12 years as a staff writer.

[kildorn]

Ashley, even if she looks completely different, is like the only non creepy looking face in the Mass Effect Universe I've seen. Well that and new Roid Rage dude.

I love the series, but god damn if humans don't have terrible faces in ME.

If you mean Lt. Bro, he is ugly as fuck and you are high. Even my PigShep is looking at that dude's nose and going "that man has a pig mother, it is the only explanation."

But he still winds up looking better than the others.


edit: also, still totally digging the multiplayer. Though Sents got mauled with a nerfbat from hell for some reason. Here's your shield buff! Also, it makes all your powers regen 80% slower because fuck you.

[TripleDES]

I like the story mode. Can't be assed with all the shooting every single playthrough beyond the first one.

[bhodi]

Not fully relevent, since Drew hasn't worked on ME since I did, but I didn't know where else to put it:

Drew Karpyshyn retires from BioWare after 12 years as a staff writer.

BTW, I blame you leaving for the ME story going off the rails. Him too, now. I guess you can both share the blame.

[kildorn]

http://content.usatoday.com/communities/gamehunters/post/2012/02/mass-effect-3-becomes-true-space-oddity-/1

I'm not sure what to make of this marketing gimmick.