Quite a long list. I agree with most. Extremely important points I agree with in
Terror_K wrote...
PRESENTATION
* Get back to the pseudo 80's sci-fi roots of ME1; less of the modern Hollywood approach of ME2.
**That needs clarification. I don't know which elements you consider parts of one or the other.
* Bring back larger areas if possible. Find a way to cheat it if need be if framerates can be an issue. Adding vehicle sections or things such as the Illium car chase in LotSB can help make places seem bigger for instance. Elevators couldn't hurt, so long as they weren't too slow. Transition cutscenes perhaps, where you may see Shepard walking and talking with somebody as the next area loads.
* Places need to feel more open and branch out more than they did in ME2. Have multiple routes, and bits that lead you off elsewhere.
* I can't stress this one enough: give us proper combat and space capable outfits on people. No more having people run around in their civvies yet somehow getting the full benefits of kinetic shields and medi-gel dispensers. No more running around in dangerous environments affected by pressure, vaccuum, toxins, extreme temperatures, etc. with skin exposed and only a breather mask on, etc. It's stupid and shatters believability, pulling you right out of the experience. It's not cool, it's pathetic and moronic.
* A Fallout/DAO series of summary screens post-ending outlining how your Shepard had a mass effect (sorry... couldn't help myself) on others would be nice too... just FYI. It'd be a nice way to really cap off the trilogy and let you see where your choices led beyond the games.
* No more one-piece armours without removable helmets. A helmet toggle option and/or a DAO style cinematic removal of helmets (except when it makes sense to have them on). I'd personally prefer just the former really, so one can have the bonus the helmet of choice gives you along with the option of whether you see it or not, but so that it appears when it needs to. That's pretty much what it was in ME1 after all.
* No more "Mission Complete" screens. Main missions should be summarised via discussing them on The Normandy with your crew, more akin to ME1, and then XP given out just after this for the mission. XP should also --as before-- be gained gradually and for your deeds in a clear, concise manner rather than as a meaningless lump sum with no context.
* Bring back elevators if possible instead of loading screens. This could also help make areas seem larger without them being larger if done right.
* Change the HUD back to something more like ME1's HUD, or something new. The current one is too vague and unclear. Bring back the radar and/or mini-map too.
**We need a minimap, yes. But ME2's HUD is OK.
* Get rid of ammo-powers, the concept is stupid and makes no sense. Make them mods again like they were originally.
**Most notably, get rid of powers the class shouldn't have, like Warp Ammo for non-biotics.
* If we're going to have The Hammerhead (I'd prefer not personally... awful vehicle) or some kind of vehicle, we need the following: a proper HUD (along with shields, a health bar and radar), the ability to save in it and the ability to exit and enter when we like.
* No multiplayer. Just... just no.
COMPANIONS
* Companions should have friendship paths as well as romance ones, allowing them to open up even when they aren't romantically linked with you (e.g. how Jack's full story isn't seen unless you're a male who romances her).
* More dialogue on missions. I'd suggest a mix of things for this. Have it so you can interact with them on-mission ala ME1, and bring back the ME1 style observation places, though more in the style of the interactive ME2 ones over the proximity + "make interesting noise" ME1 ones. Have it so they have a few phrases about each major place. Have Dragon Age Origins style trigger points. Even a few small elevators convos here and there.
* Have certain quests that only open up when you take a character to a certain location, somewhat akin to KotOR. For example, if you go to Palaven and have Garrus with you a little quest opens up.
* Have some conversations between characters now and then, even sometimes without Shepard there. Have them somewhat like KotOR 2 whereby you return to The Normandy from a mission and before resuming on the ship you see the odd little cutscene between two companions, sometimes related to Shepard, sometimes not. Have these things skippable for those who don't want to see them.
* Companions should weigh in more on quests and interact with each other based on your combinations as well as Shepard. Again, look to DAO for how to do this well. Even little things such as acknowledgement of the other companion can make a big difference (i.e. instead of simply saying "I think we should side with them on this, Shepard" have them say, "I agree with Garrus, we should join these people for this.")
* Give companions both a civilian outfit and a combat outfit, just like Shepard (and like they sort of did in ME1). This eliminates the issue of them still having unique clothing while being able to go on dangerous missions without it seeming universe-shatteringly stupid. When more than half of the time you talk to them they're on the ship anyway, what's the real point in avoiding giving them armour to make them special. Besides, you can just give them their own special armour if we're still not going to be able to alter their outfits. That said...
* Bring back being able to alter their outfits. Maybe not loads of options. Even just a colour and pattern choice would be nice. That said, I'd be happy enough with just the above option of two outfits. Seriously... just eliminate the whole "running around in combat and dangerous environments unprotected in mere clothing" and I'll be happy enough merely with that.
* A few "this or that" companions would be nice in ME3. i.e. you can either have this companion, or that one, but not both. Playing as one of them, if only briefly, would be cool too. For example, you have to split into two teams and at one point you control Shepard and his/her team while at another point you control the second team.
* Companion loyalty needs to be more than just a binary state of either loyal or not. There should be a level of trust each companion has for Shepard. These, IMO, should also vary depending on who they are as well as what you do, and their past with you. For instance, if Garrus and Tali were in ME3 they'd automatically have a really high level of trust automatically, but it would be even higher if you got their loyalty in ME2 and even higher again if you'd done their ME1 quests (Dr. Saleon and Geth Data respectively) and yet even higher if you'd romanced either of them. Beyond romance interests, the next highest would be those from ME2 you gained the loyalty of, then the likes of Kaidan/Ashley and then those who survived ME2 but you didn't get loyalty for, then newbies for ME3 (unless they were knew as squaddies but not new as characters, such as Anderson, Shiala, etc. who would get a little more loyalty, depending on circumstances). Note: This is only if loyalty needs to be a factor for ME3. If not, just don't have it, unless having it unlocks some bonus.
* Remember how with Kaidan or Ashley you could ask them "what's your opinion of the last mission?" after each main quest? Let's have that back, but for every companion. It would also be nice if companions commented on each other as they joined, so you could have a "what do you thing of X?" type query as well.
DIALOGUE
* Have certain situations where Charm and Intimidate aren't always the "win" button. Have it so that while you pass it doesn't always lead to the same general outcome. Have it so that some NPCs react more favourably to one over the other, and visa versa. For example, a krogan bounty hunter would see an Intimidate response as you being strong and respect that, while mere words and a kinder, friendlier approach he may see as weakness. On the other side of things, a human enslaved by some batarians would react well to a kind word, but think somebody who is intimidating is a bully and close off.
* Dialogue choices related more to both your backgrounds, as well as your class. Shepard has a pre-service history and his/her claim to fame so it would be nice to have these referenced a little more now and then.
* Dialogue choices related to your class. Perhaps an Adept would know something about biotics another class wouldn't, while an Engineer would know about mechanics and electronics and a Soldier may know more history about Earth conflicts, including The First Contact war.
* More Paragon choices should blow up in your face. While they net you the Paragon points and give a generally better outcome initially, have them so that down the line one or two may actually lead to a lesser outcome. For example, letting a criminal live and sent off with a warning is generally more Paragon and simply executing them, but then perhaps the criminal doesn't listen and causes some problems for people down the road.
COMBAT
* Bring back crouch.
* Keep universal cooldowns, but limit them to whatever type they are. i.e. a biotic attack affects only biotic powers, a tech ability affects only tech abilities, etc. Cooldowns need to be a little slower too; as it stands, it's barely offline long enough to make a difference.
No slower cooldowns if you keep universal or grouped cooldowns. That limits the "caster" classes too much. But I like the biotic/tech grouping, that makes a lot of sense.
* Thermal clips. IMO the damage has already been done here, but some can be saved if the universe starts to actually see how backwards things are and decides to incorporate a hybrid system.
* Not a fan of being forced to use weapons I don't want to. Either allow us to slot a particular gun type with nothing, or instead of limiting us to carrying one of each type simply give us a limited amount of areas to carry the weapons and allow us to carry what we want out of what's possible. If I can use shotguns, I should be able to carry two of them at the expense of another weapon if I like, or none of I prefer Pistols and SMGs. Though I'd advise that the hip slot should always only be able to carry a pistol... maybe an SMG.
* Use combat more to the advantage to create interesting situations and puzzles without deviating too far away from the main gameplay. Haestrom did this a little with its intense heat, and beyond that some of the gimmicks in some of the N7 missions (see below for more on that) could be better used as part of something larger in a main quest. Beyond that, look at Gears of War for inspiration on how to do this.
NON-COMBAT GAMEPLAY
* Bring back Hacking and Decrypting as skills for tech-based classes. That said, to counter the issue of needing a tech to do these things, give alternatives to other classes. Give soldiers a bash attack and biotics a biotic pulse for containers, at the risk of damaging contents. Beyond this make the timer slower for tech-based classes with less objects to deal with, simply making it faster and simpler for them.
* Bring back armour classes similar to ME1, but give them additional pros and cons. Heavier armour protects more, but at the cost of speed and weapon-switching time, while light armour offers less protection but makes you faster. Medium armour is the middle ground. Don't make players find different kinds, simply let the player choose in their customisation which type you want of the three. Keep it class restricted ala ME1, though allow other classes not capable of wearing heavy be able to buy the ability as training using credits.
* Above concept of bringing back armour classes revised to the following: Instead of having armour classes, have different armour pieces that reflect the difference. For example, some pieces will provide greater protection against damage, but because they're thicker they'd restrict movement slightly. Other lighter materials wouldn't protect as much, but actually provide more mobility and thus make you run and change weapons slightly faster at the cost of being slightly more vulnerable. It's up to the player how they mix and match these armour pieces and upgrades and not class restricted that way, while still adding depth and choice as well as limitations.
**I don't like anything that makes armor more complicated. No idea if this would count as too complicated, though. I'm undecided.
* Skill trees should branch off into two more diverse paths about halfway through, rather than at the very end branching off to two barely-different alternatives. For example, a biotic attack called Biotic Wave that is a simple shot of biotic energy to do small damage could split off into Shockwave and Biotic Orb, while another biotic power could split into either Lift or Pull. The player should then also be able to travel down both paths if they like, but at the cost of more points.
* Planet exploration should return. I'd doubt they'd go back to The Mako, though I would prefer it. The Hammerhead either needs a massive overhaul or needs to go; we need a proper exploration vehicle that's also combat capable that would make sense, not a zippy little platforming thing designed specifically for arcadey little games on overly designed worlds. If the UNC worlds were fewer and weren't as steep and had more intersting content on them I don't see The Mako being too much of an issue: just tweak the suspension and overall bounciness a little and it should be fine. In either case, be they UNC worlds or something akin to Overlord's main hub area or some of both, we need some proper exploration back.
**Planet exploration should return, but I do like the Hammerhead somewhat. I prefer a floating vehicle to a land vehicle, but it does need to lose the arcade-like feel, on that I absolutely agree.
* Planet scanning. Here to stay I believe. If that's the case, it needs some tweaking, though I was never as bothered by it as most were to be honest (funnily enough, considering how much of ME2 I didn't like). I'm not sure what exactly needs done here. Make it too easy and it becomes pointless... too hard and/or repetitive and it becomes annoying.
**Planet scanning as it was in ME2 must go!!
* There needs to be better mini-games overall. The current ones are too simple, even without making the timer slower later on with the upgrade. Alpha Protocol had some good examples of how to do this as its hacking, decryption and unlocking mini-games were all better done: not too easy or long, but also just challenging enough to make them not a cake walk.
* The Renegade isn't supposed to just be a jerkwad, he's supposed to be the one who does what needs to be done to get the job done as fast as possible. This somehow needs to be reflected more and better.
* Persuasion needs to be done better in ME3 than it was in ME2, which discouraged proper roleplaying by having your level of Paragon/Renegade determining your ability to perform said actions and beyond that only tied it into a combat skill with persuasion stuff tacked on, which resulted in players often either having to be pure Paragon or Renegade or suffer not having the points to perform actions, discouraging more neutral players and those who liked to mix and match. Either return the separate Charm/Intimidate skills ala ME1, or (preferably) have a single Persuasion skill that the player must invest points in to perform either action.
**I prefer the option to spend points in one skill which adds to your ability to intimidate or charm.
INVENTORY AND ITEMS
* An inventory system doesn't need to come back, but there does need to be more inventory and more meaningful inventory overall.
* More weapons overall. ME1 had too many, ME2 far too few. If we had all the ME2 DLC items along with all the ME2 items in ME3 it would be about right, so I pretty much suggest that.
* Visible stats on weapons and armour. Simple as that.
* Armour should act like armour again. As it stands it doesn't even protect, and is more akin to wearing a bunch of rings or amulets rather than armour. To avoid the whole "but I'm forced to wear a style I dislike for max protection" just make sure that the outer plates are customisible and that it's the underlay and material that determines the protection.
* Bring back weapon mods. Not necessarily all the same ones as in ME1, but in some form. I'd like to see things like Combat Optics back though, but other things such as laser sights, scopes, thermal clip storage, etc. as well. Could be bought, found or created. These need to be limited so the player has to choose and can't just slot everything, so as to avoid...
**I should add that it would be best to limit mod changes so that you can only change stuff in your base or at special points. To make them possible on a mission you'd need an inventory system, and I'm glad that's gone.
* The research/upgrade system. Should remain, but needs an overhaul. Should no longer be able to upgrade everything to max any more as this is basically God-modding. This is how guns should basically be leveled (i.e. instead of having tiers I to X ala ME1, you upgrade from I to X using research, and only have to once for each type of weapon). Use this to make mods for weapons and armour.
* Bring back omni-tools and biotic amps. Have fewer of them, but have each one different in its benefits and weaknesses. Faster cooldown for less damage, or more damage for slower cooldown, or a more balanced one, etc. No one should be clearly superior to the others. These should also be able to be upgraded via the research system. Perhaps a single, specific boosting mod could go into each one too.
* The Normandy. More sprucing up would be nice, though I'd like to see this not as high a priority as it was in ME2. If you have the time things like "trophies" and other momentos from certain missions to keep in your quarters would be good. Beyond this, I'd also like to de-Cerberize it in ME3 if possible. Let me give the SR2 a more SR1 style paintjob, or even something more independent. I just want rid of the Cerberus decals in some way now.
MAIN QUESTS + STORY/NARRATIVE
* This is the main one: More meaningful consequences. Make my decisions actually feel important. Real, different outcomes too, none of these weak substitutes where the outcome is basically the same and only the character changes or one or two pieces of dialogue change, but the rest is identical. The Council decision should have changed Council space a lot, but didn't. Wrex being or not being on Tuchanka should have greatly changed it, but it didn't. Kaidan or Ashley surviving should have changed more than simply who met you on Horizon, but it didn't. I believe the point is made.
**I should add that I expect those "wildly diverging outcomes" mentioned in an interview. Here's the chance to do things unrestrained by the need to create a sequel. Use it, please!
* Councilor Udina is canon. Please at least give some kind of explanation for those of us who chose Anderson beyond a forced retcon. Have the rest of The Council demote him or the Alliance ask him to step aside for Udina because they feel Udina better represnts them or something... just don't leave it like it is now with nothing else.
* More alternate branches on quests as a whole. Noveria in the original game is the example of how to do this: half a dozen ways to get the garage pass at Port Hanshan, then other alternatives at Peak 15 itself. ME2's quests were too linear beyond the odd dialogue choice towards the end and pretty much always ended in the same result... ME3 needs more choices, more alternatives and more outcomes. Relating to my notes above in the DIALOGUE section, there could be different paths for Paragons and Renegades even.
* Narrative reasons to do sidequests, particularly if this is another "race against time" style story. Give us a natural pause in the narrative where somebody says to you "before you proceed it'll take some time to do this" or something, then the player can choose to either skip straight to the next day (or week, or whatever) or use the time to go and do sidequests. This way the flow of the narrative isn't interrupted for those who want a logical reason to do sidequests, while those who don't and just want to get on with it can, but can always do sidequests later too if they so chose.
* If this is a "race against time" story reflect that more some how. Make things harder for players who do more sidequests before the final part by having more enemies because they've had more time to gather their forces, or have more worlds fall to The Reapers if you take too long or something. If the game is open-ended and you provide the right narrative reasons to do sidequests and the player chooses to go about things smartly then they should still be able to do everything without being too punished. We saw a little of this with you wasting time after the crew had been taken in ME2, so it would be nice to see more along these lines.
* Like ME2, I'd like the game to be open-ended if possible, so you can play after the credits. Not just for DLC purposes, but for special post-game content you can only get after the main story is complete. Things like news reports on your exploits, people acknowledging them via dialogue. I'd also like to steal an idea from Oblivion: the statue you get of yourself based on your actual character. A statue of Shepard should appear on The Presidium or somewhere else at the end of it all, based on your own Shepard's face and armour and everything.
SIDE QUESTS
* Side quests are side quests for a reason: to get us away from the main story for a little while. Have less ones related to the main quest and more independent ones if possible.
**I need motivation to do sidequests. Most of them shouldn't be *completely* unrelated. See the Cerberus-related ones for ME1, there were about half a dozen of them. Worked very well.
* Less fetch quests, or more involved ones. For example, Rupert's ingredients quest would have been more involved and deeper if there were more things to get from it, such as perhaps getting quarian food for Tali from The Migrant Fleet or krogan chow from Tuchanka as well, etc.
* Sidequests should have more unique areas rather than have us trip over the items related to them as we go on our journey anyway. For example, the quest on Tuchanka for the krogan mechanic had us trip over what he needed on Mordin's loyalty quest. Same goes for the Salarian data and the missing trinkets on Illium. If we're going to get sidequests at least have them take more of an effort to do. Make us go off-world for them, or at least have to divert somewhere we wouldn't naturally go perhaps. Compare the aforementioned ones to the optional Zhu's Hope stuff that actually had you go to a separate area off the beaten path of the main quest.
* Locations: I'd like a mix of a few ME1 style UNC worlds, a few ME2 style N7 worlds and a few Overlord main hub style worlds. ME2 missed out on that feeling of lonely, desolate, unexplored vastness that had an impressive, quaint beauty to it that the UNC worlds gave us and this made the universe feel small and populated. N7 missions were better designed, but a little too much so, feeling over-designed, small and this made the universe in ME2 feel even smaller again. Overlord's area felt like a good blend of the two, but some areas still should feel more compact and others more empty, hence why a mix of all three would fit best, IMO. Having a mix would eliminate most of the issues each style had too, UNC planets not being so bad because there's less of them and more variety on the other worlds, and N7 style places not making the universe feel small since it has UNC ones to off-set that flaw.
YES!
* Presentation needs to improve from the N7 ones. See the remaining points in this section for examples:
* Shepard and companions should actually speak now and then, have some dialogue choices and even some moral choices.
* The stories need to be more interesting and rely less on gimmicks (though many of these gimmicks could work as part of bigger missions. Isolated they're gimmicky, but when part of something larger they'll work better).
* Less shooting nameless mercs and collecting datapads, more interesting characters who will speak, be they antagonists, victims, quest-givers, witnesses, etc.
* More proper set-ups and less emails and merely scanning random planets for anomalies. Bring back Hackett or some other Alliance or Council quest-giver, and even others who simply want help. More along the lines of Nassana Dantius, Helena Blake, Garoth, Admiral Kahoku, etc.
* Another quest or two related to Shepard's backgrounds please. Either related or unrelated to the ME1 ones.
All in all, a very good list. Bioware should read it!
Retour en haut
i bet that's "magic" to you, too... or better yet,: lightning?!
