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ME3 Sidemissions: A Discussion


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#1
theelementslayer

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There has been another topic devoted to exploration though half of it seems to be delving into sidequests and well, I thought I would create a thread for this.

First off a rule about the thread
      This is not a debate of ME1 vs ME2, its a discussion about what we would like to see in the next installment. That leads to heated debates and usually not a good discussion. I love ME1, I love ME2.

Basic Side Quests
There are many types of side quests ranging from your standard fetch and return to a more elaborate, “here is a problem, find the solution” that takes a while a spans a few missions, aka Overlord. All are needed to make the side quests varied and unique, but put too many of the same together and it can become boring. Listed below are the standard types of side quests (don't know if these are the right names but Ill use them. Anyone who
has the “correct names” please tell me and Ill edit it.)

Fetch-Basic go get this and return it
Timed-As it sounds, you have an objective, finish it before the time runs out
Puzzle-Usually smaller puzzles that are given little or no explanation.
King of the Hill-Fight your way to a point and hold it
Execution- Find a guy and kill him
Escort-Probably the Bane of most peoples games. Thank god that Mass Effect didnt include them.


A good side quest usually is a mixture of the basics, however on its own a basic side quest can be fun. Again, I think the success of side quests is diversity.

ME1
Pros:

-Stunning locations, kind of. After 50 of the same mountainous planets, differing only by location they seemed to get old. However some views from the planets were stunning.

-Vastness. I felt small when I landed in the square mile, however again it got old quick. By about the halfway point I felt that it was just the same old same old.

-Interaction with NPC's. I liked the ExoGeni one where you can either shoot the scientist or let her go. Or Toombs, or something like that. It was a nice at the end of the mission

Cons:

-Repetative, every mission was land on this generic planet, find this generic bunker with generic enemies and shoot.

-Timing. You could go and finish every sidequest, bar 3 or 4(depending on your paragon/renegade scores) before even starting the main quests. Felt strange.

-Music. Rarely had any, and it made it feel a lot less atmospheric.

ME2
Pros:

-Diverse locations, every place that you landed on was different. Be it snowy (Firewalker) or Jungle (Saving the Quarian) or the ships, each were different and unique.

-Atmospheric locations, again the atmospheric feel of the locations from the creepy ship, to the Mech facility were all very well done.

-Timing: Again a problem but done a lot better. You couldnt complete every side mission before doing some story missions. As you need to have access to Illium to get some star charts.

-Varied missions: Each mission was unique, shutting down the mechs, to disabling the VI on the ship. Each were unique.

-Overlord: A very well done side mission. I will use this later on in the discussion but it seemed to get everything right.

Cons:

-Length:Short missions, usually under 10 minutes.

-Corridor shooting: While it fit very well with the game mechanics it made the game seem smaller. I liked not having to drive for 5 minutes to find the enemies, however it made the galaxy seem smaller.

-Connection the the plot: Again not a bad thing, because sometimes I dont want to work on the main plot and a side mission is called a side mission for a reason. But for some it would be nice to have a touch of connection to the main plot.

ME3 Side Quest Discussion

Alright so now, like always, both had pros and cons. Like most of us we want ME3 to be the best game ever so why not take the best of both worlds.

And this is where I will bring in Overlord.

Overlord had:

-Stunning worlds, admit it, the world was beautiful. That alone was worth the seven dollars.

-Fun vehicular sections, the platforming was fun, albeit old school, but its nice to have it. Plus the HH, with much better controls and handling then the mako was fast, agile and well a good vehicle.

-Exploration. It didnt take too long, or too short to make it from one area to another. Again, the world itself wasn't bland, but it had life. (Shifty cows, the birds in the background)

-Stages, from the opening battle to the power plant, to the ship, to the final boss area each was a unique area and well, atmospheric.

-Emotional ending. Probably the most emotional ending in a video game I have played, and I don't think many people would disagree

However, if this style was formulated throughout all of the missions I think it would get a bit repetitive. Just like ME1s did. Also I liked how some side quests opened up after certain missions, or time points in the game. So what I would like to see, and probably many of the fans, though I do not speak for them, is the best of both worlds.

-Have some quick N7 missions, these were fun, and well ya I liked the shortness sometimes it was a nice fix. Get dropped in, do the work, get out.

-Keep the HH and bring back the UNC worlds, but only for some missions. The UNC worlds got old quick. However I did love stepping out of the mako and being dwarfed by the planet.

-Have huge side missions like Overlord. This was extremely well done. But again keep the number down so they feel special and dont get repetitive. However if it was as good as overlord I don't think it would ever get repetitive.

-Keep the diversity and atmospheric feel of ME2. I loved the creepy feeling of the husk mine, or the VI ship. The music helped as well.

-Timing. Have some activate after others, and after certain story points are met, it would feel a lot more realistic.

-NPC involvement, maybe even character specific missions like the loyalty missions.

Conclusion:

These are my suggestions, but I think the most important part is that Bioware creates the game it was planning on creating. We know they listen to the fanbase, Overlord being a prime example of it, so lets hear what you have to say on side missions.

Discuss,and please keep it civil.

Modifié par theelementslayer, 09 août 2010 - 04:15 .


#2
Guest_rynluna_*

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I just wish Bioware would go with all the pros from both games and integrate them into the sidequests! : )



I think that Overlord was a step in the right direction. The only con I had with it was the platforming with the Hammerhead. I could have done without playing a level of Mario in Mass Effect.

#3
Whatever42

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I pretty much agree with your whole post. In my mind, its a no brainer that they should build on their success with overlord. I actually like the kasumi mission too - something with a little atmosphere where 100% of it wasn't gunning down bad guys.



As I mentioned on another thread, I would like to see some more and better story arcs to the side missions. They did it in both ME1 and ME2 - where several missions were related to each other. However, I think they could come up with stronger stories and make them more relevant to the main story.



Instead of dangerously amok droids being shipped off from a factory, perhaps create a story where the SB is attempting to acquire technology for the Collectors. Something where it would be credible that I would delay my main mission to complete.

#4
hooahguy

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Overlord and Kasumi were excellent misssions. While the Kasumi mission wasnt exactly a side mission, it still was great in terms of some sleuthing and some large-scale combat.

#5
Guest_worm_burner_*

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While i enjoy the side missions in ME2, even though they were short, I disliked the way we went about getting them. In ME1 we had Hackett sending in several missions and we could talk to people on the Citadel to pick up other missions (Kahoku, Nassana, etc...) ME2 we had to scan for the side quest locations which I found to be very frustrating and ended up just looking on a wiki for which ones to scan.

I wish all of the side missions were more like overlord (receive a distress transmission, go explore with the hammerhead and on foot, all while being in a very scenic location). Kasumi's was also very well done, a nice blend of action and sneaking around.

#6
Ross42899

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If every ME3 sidemission is like "Overlord" (+ adding a bit more character interaction) I would be completely satisfied.

#7
hooahguy

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Im surprised the OP didnt mention Overlord's awesome music.

#8
theelementslayer

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hooahguy wrote...

Im surprised the OP didnt mention Overlord's awesome music.


Actually thats something I did miss, yes the music was very, very good in Overlor, added alot of atmostphere, especially at the crashed ship, and again a very vital part in a side mission that they got perfect.

Modifié par theelementslayer, 09 août 2010 - 12:59 .


#9
Luke Pearce

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Fantastic topic. Im a HUGE sidequest fan (my favourite games are Majoras Mask and KotOR which had great sidequests).



I wish every sidequest in ME3 to be like Overlord...however the problem is that there would be like 4 total which is kind've a bummer. I like many smaller sidequests too ('scan the keepers' was annoying but I did it on every playthrough, the 1st time though I take it as a challenge!)



What I would like is a single epic sidequest. One long story taking place over 4 or 5 planets, each planet being the size and length of Overlord but with many different environments. I could finish Part 1 and do something else for a while before I come back and do Part 2.



1 big epic sidequest (Overlord x 4 or 5) + 10 smaller sidequests (5 mins up to Loyalty mission length) + 5-10 mini-side-quests (bottle of whisky for Chakwas) and you have the sidequests for ME3 all sorted!

#10
catabuca

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I broadly agree with the OP.



While repetitive, ME1 side missions did get a couple of things right: Hackett talking to you (I hate the email system, and while stumbling upon distress signals once in a while is fine it gets a little boring as a way to introduce a mission); the sense of hugeness; having to make choices that you believed mattered (Overlord, the torpedo one <-- they do that well in ME2).



In ME2 they are more diverse, which is great. The worlds, when you get dropped off, are beautiful, but you rarely get a chance to appreciate that beauty because you go straight into a building with lots of corridors. They felt very short - mainly because you didn't need to drive around a planet first. And some were just plain odd and I have no idea why they are in there - like the one to activate the shields around the base to avoid solar damage, and the one to reach the end of the crashed ship before it falls off the cliff o_O

#11
TheBabeLover

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I hope ME3 doesn't have the email system. That was a terrible idea. Instead have like you had in ME1, voice. I liked when Hackett contacted you. Bring back Hackett or someone else. Don't bring back emails!

#12
theelementslayer

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TheBabeLover wrote...

I hope ME3 doesn't have the email system. That was a terrible idea. Instead have like you had in ME1, voice. I liked when Hackett contacted you. Bring back Hackett or someone else. Don't bring back emails!


That was actually something I forgot to mention, the way you aquired the missions. Personally I think again it should be diverse the way you aquire/brief and debrief the mission. Sometimes the email worked well, as I dont see TIM always having the time for you. But someone like Hackett debriefing would be nice to have. Personally I think diversity is the key.

#13
catabuca

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theelementslayer wrote...

TheBabeLover wrote...

I hope ME3 doesn't have the email system. That was a terrible idea. Instead have like you had in ME1, voice. I liked when Hackett contacted you. Bring back Hackett or someone else. Don't bring back emails!


That was actually something I forgot to mention, the way you aquired the missions. Personally I think again it should be diverse the way you aquire/brief and debrief the mission. Sometimes the email worked well, as I dont see TIM always having the time for you. But someone like Hackett debriefing would be nice to have. Personally I think diversity is the key.


Absolutely. There's no problem with the odd email, there's no problem with the odd distress signal when scanning, there's no problem with the odd personal voice contact ... but, as ME1 uncharted world assignments taught us, make every encounter the same and you're going to ****** people off.

#14
Terror_K

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That's why in ME3 I'd like to see a mix of everything we got in both games in this regard. Give us a few emails, some spoken briefings and some "Commander Shepard! I need to speak with you!" passer-by set-ups. Give us some side-quests on major hub worlds (that aren't just fetch quests on the main path) that range from simple dialogue choices all the way to epic ones that make you visit various worlds. Give us some N7 style small places to visit, some Overlord style large, interesting and alive locations, and even some UNC style dead worlds that seem to stretch forever and make you feel alone and lost. Give us some interesting NPCs, dialogue options, input from teammates, etc. Give us some that relate to the main quest and others that are completely independent.

#15
catabuca

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Oh yeah, input and interaction with team mates is a must. Not just for side missions either, obviously. Otherwise you feel totally alone, with these lackeys just tagging along for extra fire power. It was nice to get them voice different opinions on missions (like when you had to make the Rachni queen choice). More of that!

#16
-Skorpious-

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My ME3 sidemission(s) fantasy - a handful of detailed, expansive, and meaningful missions similar in scope/scale to Overlord. Oh, and have them voiced by Hackett.

#17
theelementslayer

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Terror_K wrote...

That's why in ME3 I'd like to see a mix of everything we got in both games in this regard. Give us a few emails, some spoken briefings and some "Commander Shepard! I need to speak with you!" passer-by set-ups. Give us some side-quests on major hub worlds (that aren't just fetch quests on the main path) that range from simple dialogue choices all the way to epic ones that make you visit various worlds. Give us some N7 style small places to visit, some Overlord style large, interesting and alive locations, and even some UNC style dead worlds that seem to stretch forever and make you feel alone and lost. Give us some interesting NPCs, dialogue options, input from teammates, etc. Give us some that relate to the main quest and others that are completely independent.


Yes, diversity is the key. Some of everything. I hope someone from BioWare sees this topic, because we do know they listen to suggestions from fans.  Keep up the suggestions.

#18
Prom001

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I will bring this topic up again since it is now clear that Me3 sidemissons are the worst once...

#19
Stanley Woo

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Please discuss ME3 quests in the appropriate ME3 forum. Thank you.

End of line.