I can't believe I actually read all this thread...
WALL OF TEXT:
So I'm a PS3 user mostly (Only own a PS3 right now), planning on getting ME2 on PS3, even though I've played ME1 on Xbox and basically already know all the stuff in ME2 through small playtime in PC/Xbox and watching walkthoughs/talking with friends (You have to understand I thought ME would never be on PS3
).
I'll simply say something about the whole "not bringing the ME2 squad back" because if some of them died, then the content would be locked, making it a waste.
You can carry your save, so supposedly your decisions matter.
Developers have stated that if you didn't have a very succesful SM, Shepard would have a hard time on ME3.
From a marketing stand point, it's easier to bring back characters and promote them seeing as they already have a fan base and making them lovable in ME3, than marketing new squad members that may or may not be likeable at all.
From a storyline and developing POV, if you spent the 2nd game in the series gathering allies and making them loyal, having the 3rd and final game do the same by gathering new squad members certainly both makes no sense since it repeats the same story/formula of the 2nd while it's supposed to be a war against the Reapers, and totally hinders and makes the 2nd game in the story less valuable, even a "waste of resources".
From a gameplay and story POV... Have any of you tried to look at Heavy Rain? (PS3 exclusive game.) You have 4 characters, you make A TON of decisions, you have other "decisions" which are decided if you fail/accomplish the QTEs, at least 3 of your 4 character's can die during the game, and even if they don't die they can fail the "mission" (saving a kid from drowning or letting the killer escape.) When you start the game, all dialogue options are already recorded, all possible scenes and outcomes are included in the game, but by your accomplishments/failures and decissions, things change, if one of your character dies, you miss on scenes, interactions, dialogue, clues, etc. This is what some in this thread have defined as "wasted resources". But it's these things that make the story, much like ME's story, unique for each person. And this unique story with Heavy consequences certainly netted Heavy Rain both sales and awards. Here goes the data:
"Heavy Rain ranked as the tenth best-selling game in North America for February 2010. According to NPD Group sales information, the game sold 219,300 units in the region that month.
In weeks 1 - 15 in 2010 Heavy Rain outsold all Xbox 360 games within the EU, ranking it number 10 in European software sales for consoles.
Heavy Rain debuted at number one on the UK sales charts for the week ending 27 February 2010, with higher sales than all multiplatform and single platform releases.
Heavy Rain has sold over 1 million copies worldwide, surpassing the developer's initial pre-release estimates of 200,000 - 300,000. David Cage now expects the game to sell an additional 500,000 copies by the end of 2010."
Yeah, 1.5 million copies? maybe not actually that much compared to other games. But look at the initial estimates... The game was a huge success compared to what it was going to be. And the game got mostly very good reviews from the media even with all the "wasted resources", the game developer even said that although it was possible to replay the game numerous times to see every possible outcome, he encouraged gamers not to do this because it would take the feeling of responsability and consequence from the game. This whole thing is fairly similar to what this discussion is about.
Not to mention, depending on the success/failure and choices the player made during Heavy Rain, the game has 22 ENDINGS. Even though the revelation of who the killer is is always the same, there are 22 possible endings that differ from each other depending on everything the player did.
If Heavy Rain can pull this off, then ME can pull the whole "carrying saves" from the previous games and have those saves affect the final game.
So why can't BioWare simply do the following:
*Assume from the beginning you got the Achievement for saving everyone.
*Record dialogue and create the whole story, making every character from the previous MEs important/present.
*Develop the game, and save all this in the disc.
*Release game.
*Gamer buys game, If new to the series, the game goes on to assume a default shepard just like on ME2, with scripted storyline and surviving allies, or it could be the default means everyone survived. If the gamer imports a save, it means he WANTS to continue with what he did previously, if you import a save where only Shepard and 2-3 characters survived, even after knowing/hearing it would have huge consequences, it means you WANT to lock yourself from certain content. If gamer managed everyone to survive SM, you get all your characters, and can continue the story where you left it. Mordin is getting old, Thane is seriously ill, Jack seems rather... impulsive... Zaeed and Kasumi could be removed, Samara and Morinth seem like the type to leave, although it depends on your choices, in place of this characters, you can have New ones like Big Ben (I certainly hope he's in the team
)
In this way BioWare wins the following:
They fulfill their promise of our actions having consequences on the universe around us.
Marketing wise, the game is successful by both showing new squad members and showing the already stablished ones with huge fan bases which caters to most of the fanbase and if well implemented can bring new players to explore the game.
They manage to tell a unique story for every gamer.
If the game builds and improves on the already critically acclaimed previous releases (ME1 & 2), BioWare gets another hit both with press and fans.
Sales should be very good, both because of marketing meeting expectations, the game closing the previous story and building on the success of the previous ones, and because of all the hype it received being delivered.
The "locked content" present in the disc can still be experienced by everyone with a "New Game+" or by doing a new playthrough with Default Shepard. Doing a New Game+ means you basically get the same start to your imported game but can choose different outcomes within ME3.Most fans completed ME1 & 2 more than once due to the high replayability and the promise that the choices you make would have consequences, which was probably so they could see every different outcome, so doing multiple playthroughs, even importing different saves when you start a game are almost a given for a lot of fans.
And other than that:
Take ME3 as a tree. A huge tree with lots of branches. That will be the game on the disc.When you import your saved game, ME3 reads the data from your game regarding your choices.Just like in Heavy Rain, if your characters died, branches of the tree are cut from the main story, so you can't see those branches. If you took certain decissions, a branch closes, while other opens to affect the outcome. It's really not that complicated to do, long? perhaps, impossible or unlikely? not at all. The game simply has to run an algorythm, asking a question, getting an answer from the data, closing the parts that conflict with the answer, moving onto the next question.
It's actually very likely to have all your decisions matter and affect content and story in ME3. (I have worked with this kind of algorythms, I admit, I'm not the best, I'm fairly average with programming since that's not my passion or work. But I have worked with algorythms of this type, so, even though I don't know much about game development, if it's similar, it's extremely possible for developers, specially such talented ones like the ones at BioWare, to be able to naturally analyze every choice and bring back the different character combinations/permutations.)
With this I end my long, highly polite, and I hope both correct and appealing rant here. I hope I helped somehow. And I certainly hope that for everyone's sake, BioWare does what is correct and not what is easier.
Modifié par Avl521, 05 janvier 2011 - 08:19 .
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