Full link: http://img143.images...plantssmall.jpg
Interface with Implant Selection
Full link: http://img715.images...plantsfulls.jpg
Concept
-The body of the character is separated into 4 categories: Head, Torso, Arms, Legs
-Each of those body categories ideally has a maximum number of 4 slots for Cybernetic
Implants (CI).
-Body categories all have their own selection of Implants. A CI that improves sprint
speed cannot be applied to the head, only to the legs section.
-A CI gives a noticeable passive bonus to the character (no activation like
powers).
-Individual
CIs can be applied to the character up to 3 times. The first CI of a type gives
the largest bonus. The bonus of the second CI of the same type is smaller, with
the third one having the smallest impact. Example:
1 “Tendon Stabilizer” Implant improves weapon
stability by 25%. The second “Tendon Stabilizer” will only add further 15%, the
third 10%.
So, having 3 “Tendon Stabilizers” would improve
weapon stability by 50%. Having this CI applied only 2 times will just grant a
40% bonus to weapon stability, as shown in the picture example.
-The whole system is applied to Shepard and squad mates. Squad mates could have less
available slots. It could also be dependent on individual characters, how many
slots they have available (if at all) and what CIs they can install. Having an
CI that toughens muscle tissue would not make much sense on a character like
Legion
-The number of available slots is increased through research upgrades. The example
in the pictures would be for a late game Shepard. When the game starts there
would be much less available slots available to reduce confusion/clutter and
for a better sense of progression.
-The strength/bonus of CIs could also be improved through research upgrades
- There should not be more than 6-8 CIs per body section (4-6 is more realistic). Their
bonuses should not overlap and address basic gameplay characteristics for rich
character customization.
- The game will automatically fill empty slots with CIs, with a balanced default setup
(health, cooldown, speed). A menu option would allow to deactivate this default
setting.
Interface
-You simply move from slot to slot with direction keys/buttons or the mouse
-When you select a slot (white outline) or double-click on it the CI Selection Wheel
will appear on the right. You scroll through the wheel which shows you all
available CIs for the specific body section of this character until you found
the one you want and accept
-When a CI is applied to the character more than once this will be indicated by a
small “2” or a “3” on the icon depending on how often the CI is present.
- A short description on the bottom will explain what the CI does and state the
exact bonus it gives, with the number of identical installed CIs already taken
into account (“2 Implants”).
Some examples for possible CIs (without “scientific” explanation for now and
place-holder names)
- Iris Augmentation (head)
o Improves general weapon effects against specific body parts of enemies, like headshot
damage, making enemies stumble (legs ) or lose their aim (arms)
- Focus(head)
o Improves general accuracy. Having this CI installed 3 times will ensure that almost
every shot will hit the exact middle of the crosshair. Not having this CI will
be about equal to what you have in ME2 without upgrades, which is fairly
accurate on its own.
- Nano Regenerator (torso)
o Shortens the time it takes before a character starts regenerating after taking damage.
Also improves the regeneration speed.
-Fiber Planting (torso)
o Increases Health
-LX(torso)
o Biotic Implant/Amp that reduces the biotic power cool down
-*Insert Name here* (arms)
o Increases the speed at which the character switches between weapons (not the response
time!). If you ever felt, that it takes painfully long to switch between
weapons during intense fights, this is the CI for you.
-Kinetic Coil (arms)
o Improves damage, kinetic force and speed of the standard melee attack. Also, reduces the
melee damage taken from enemies such as husks or varren.
-Force Absorber (legs)
o Reduces the effects of kinetic forces on the character such as biotic “throw” attacks,
explosions, rockets etc. (no change to received damage!). With this CI
installed 3 times the character will never stumble when being hit by rockets
etc. and always stay under full control.
- *Insert Name here*(legs)
o Increases sprint speed and the speed
Note these are just some examples I can think of from the top of my head. If you have
better or additional ideas for CIs, then feel free to post these.
Q&A
Q1: What is the difference between this and the upgrades you get at the research terminal
in ME2?
A1: The difference is that with a system like this you actually are encouraged to pay
attention to what you are upgrading. In ME2 you could quickly end up blindly
researching everything there is without even reading the description because
there never is a downside, especially once you swim in resources. Once you
actually pay attention and truly customize your characters it makes them more
unique (not every player has the exact same setup). Also, since you have that
kind of control you can really focus on certain aspects of the gameplay and you
will see very obvious differences like “Damn those rockets always make me
stumble when I want to sprint to another cover. I’ll just put two Force
Absorbers on my legs -> problem solved -> satisfaction”
Q2: This looks awfully complicated with all the slots and Implants. I don’t really want
to focus on customization I’m interested in the action only.
A2: What can be seen in the example screenshots would be at a later point in the game.
At the beginning there would be much less CI slots and available CIs. As the
game progresses slots and CIs would be added through upgrades or bought with
credits. The key is to never introduce too much new at once but keep adding
more until the end so that there is always motivation to continue and find more
(progression).
Either way, since slots would be automatically filled with a balanced choice of CIs by
default a player that does not want to do deal with this at all would not even
once have to open up the CI interface for the whole game and end a up with
basically the same experience as in ME2.
Q3: Are there
breast implants?
A3: Yes.
Q4: Would it not be better to have this done for Shepard only to make him/her more
distinct from the squad mates?
A4: In ME2 you would not spend a lot of time with your squad mates, because they are many
and because you barely deal with “building” them (few powers, few weapons, no armor). When you spend time and specially thought (what are their strengths and weaknesses? What role should
they fill in my team?) on your squad mates you will feel a lot more attached to
them on the long run. Also applying this system to the squad would take
customization to a level where it is very unlikely that two players will play
an identical game which is one of the main strengths of the RPG genre. Also once again, you can just deal with Shepard and let the default setting install the CIs for squad mates automatically.
Finally, I want to say that this concept is actually intended as a (much better)
alternative to the “Traits” I suggested a while ago. ->
http://social.biowar...3/index/5351821
Please share your opinions and suggestions. This is intended as feedback for BioWare and
an open discussion on the matter modern customization. Please don’t turn this into
another RPG vs Shooter or ME1 vs ME2 war which would just get this locked (again).
omnomnomnomnomnomnom
Modifié par Vena_86, 20 janvier 2011 - 08:01 .
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