I'm not active nearly so much as I used to be, but I've begun finally replaying the ME trilogy, so I've been coming around to the group more often. If the group needs to move to a new location, I'm fine with just about anywhere we might go. Logistically speaking, hosting our own site might prove the most difficult, given the cost required to create and maintain such a thing. Steam is the most accessible, but doesn't really have the proper format for the kinds of forum-posting we generally do. I've never used Teamspeak 3 before, and I'm not opposed to it, but I was under the impression that those were mainly for holding audio discourse? Beyond that, I'm not familiar with GameIV or TZF, so I can't speak regarding those options.

 

I'd also like to add that Alienmorph makes a good point about us not necessarily requiring a full-blown website of our own. Simply having a functional forum can allow us to do everything we normally do here, and more besides (given many places have fewer restrictions than BioWare regarding acceptable content). It would also likely be cheaper than maintaining an independent site.

Been posting this to several places in hopes of finding people willing to take up the challenge. So far, no takers. Some people who are familiar with me may know I originally intended this story concept as my own piece, but I have since given up on trying to write it myself and have instead turned it into a Challenge.

 

(Challenge) Corporal Jenkins: Spectre Reborn

 

Roughly 2 days before the Eden Prime incident, Corporal Jenkins finds himself host to another consciousness in his mind - a guilt-ridden, insane Shepard from an Alternate Universe who not only failed to defend his galaxy, but ultimately destroyed it. Follow Jenkins as his survival, and choices, change the galaxy. AU

 

Note: I have posted a story-starter/prologue for this challenge, here: https://www.fanficti...-Spectre-Reborn

 

Key points that should be retained in the story, should anyone take up the challenge, are listed at the end of the prologue. Check it out and tell me what you think.

 

(PS - Anybody else find it ridiculous that Marauder Shields, awesome though he may be, is a selectable character in the dropbox for Mass Effect characters, but not the great Corporal Jenkins? XD)

Checking in after receipt of my invite.

 

EDIT: Not a fan of the bright white backdrop. DX Too bright for my eyes.

I personally feel BioWare made some mistakes when they chose to make Multiplayer the way they did, specifically the limiting character options.

Don't get me wrong, I've had a lot of fun with the Multiplayer so far, but there is a laundry list of things I find wrong with its execution. Multiplayer, despite the "Promotion" aspect of increasing War Assets, is kept a completely separate (and different) experience from Singleplayer. The reason is that Multiplayer is essentially Horde Mode, which means it is about only one thing: combat, combat, combat. That means not much variety in gameplay, so the only real place a player can find variety is in character customization. By limiting player choices in what character/class combos they can use, BioWare essentially puts an expiration date on their Multiplayer, regardless of any DLC that might come out to "increase options", because limitations like this will result in stagnation after the initial excitement has died down.

Here's an example of how a different, improved system for customization could add to the game's lifespan and player enjoyment factor:

1) You begin by choosing your class. They're the standard six (Soldier, Engineer, Adept, Infiltrator, Sentinel, Vanguard), with a few different skillset options based on your personal battle preference (Combat, Balanced, Support).

2) Choose Race and gender. Available races: Asari, Batarian. Drell, Geth, Human, Krogan, Quarian, Salarian, Turian, and Vorcha. All races except Asari and Geth would have both male and female versions (because having seen fans make 2D fanart AND 3D models of female versions of pretty much all races, I am CONVINCED this is a perfectly feasible possibility).

3) Choose "Racial Sub-Power". Based on your race, you would be given the option of choosing one racial sub-power to add to your skillset from a selection of 2 or 3 possible choices. Things like Sabotage for Quarians, Energy Drain for Salarians, etc.

4) Customize your character. This section would be where you would choose your character's aesthetic appearance. There would be a much larger assortment of appearance options to choose from, though some options can still be required to be "unlocked" through the purchase of packs.

5) Level cap is 30. A restructure of the XP and skill trees and a larger level cap would make it slower work to promote characters (which goes by so quickly right now, that several people could probably get the best ending just because of their outrageously high "N7 Special Ops" War Assets). Additionally, having to work with that character for a longer period of time will allow the player to get more emotionally attached to it, making them want to hold onto their character due to that personal connection. It's a nice bit of conflict between promoting for war assets and increased N7 Ranking, versus keeping the character you've grown to love.

6) Weapons are sold through random packs, but some more expensive packs are specialized (Assault Pack, Sniper Pack, Shotgun Pack, SMG Pack, and Pistol Pack) to allow players to decrese their odds of getting crappy weapons, at increased cost.

Now, this is just my personal opinion, but I'd like to hear everyone else's thoughts on what are good and bad about Multiplayer, and how you might have improved it.

Well, if the pseudo-spoilers are to be believed, then Tali can't be recruited until Quarian/Geth conflict, which is triggered after the Genophage Cure (Salarian/Krogan) Conflict. That would place it at around the middle of the game, I think.

EDIT: Spelling

Saphra Deden wrote...

lol, so you're just gonna play through the game and then stop when you get the end? Please tell me you aren't buying it. Just rent it.

While I would never cancel a pre-order, should these endings turn out to be true I will be twice as disappointed as most people who pre-ordered the game. Why? Because I pre-ordered both an N7 Collector's Edition for XBox 360 AND a Digital Deluxe Edition for PC off Origin.

Here's to hoping these pseudo-spoilers are wrong. *tips glass*