226 réponses à ce sujet

[Mystranna Kelteel]

swirlwind wrote...
Huh. Most of my characters have always been friendly towards Kelly, but only the one who actually flirted with her got the fish-feeding offer. I think it comes down to the hugging bit after the Collector ship quest. I always thought the hug was a flirty thing to do, because that's the way Shep says the line, and I didn't want to give the wrong impression.

My biggest issue with actually flirting with Kelly is the fact that no matter how nice she is, she's Cerberus. Especially at the beginning, say, before Horizon, all of my Shepards are so suspicious about Cerberus' motives that being overly friendly with the Cerberus staff just doesn't seem like a good idea. I can't seem to be able to roleplay a Shepard who would be able to trust Kelly from the start.

I've had dinner with her before the Collector Ship mission, so it's not down to the hug (unless the hug is the only trigger on the friendship path or something).

Kelly doesn't belong in Cerberus, so I don't let it bother me.  I imagine if she actually heard about what they do then she wouldn't let herself be a part of it.  I'd say she's a little misguided perhaps if I had to explain it.

[uzivatel]

EpicBoot2daFace wrote...

The dinner scene with Kelly was such a wasted opportunity for prime time character development for both Shep and Kelly.

It would be pain to animate such thing.
In a way its better to let it open as we all can imagine something different (- its not an approach that should dominate, but its nice here and there).

[volus4life]

uzivatel wrote...

EpicBoot2daFace wrote...

The dinner scene with Kelly was such a wasted opportunity for prime time character development for both Shep and Kelly.

It would be pain to animate such thing.
In a way its better to let it open as we all can imagine something different (- its not an approach that should dominate, but its nice here and there).

they could recycle garrus + femshep romance scene, where they bump heads. but instead of bumping heads, they're sharing a milkshake with 2 straws.

i dunno, its a stretch.

[InvincibleHero]

Mystranna Kelteel wrote...

darknoon5 wrote...

Mystranna Kelteel wrote...
She dances, snuggles with you in bed, and sits on your lap on the couch.  That's more than the other romances get, and you can call the dancing her substitute for the sex scene.

The Paramour achievement is specifically for romancing a squadmate, which Kelly is not.  Regardless of what C-Hud might say about the officialness of Kelly's romance, it is still present and it is still a canon part of the game, hence it is a romance.

You can snuggle and sit with the other ME2 LI's, just not dance. And no that's not more then the other romances, they have actual romantic dialog, and a romantic scene.

I was referring to the cabin romance content.  Kelly has dancing, which can be substituted for the fade-to-black sex scene the others have. (You'll notice Kelly was suspiciously absent from the ship when the sex scenes are coded to trigger anyways...)  So, in the cabin, Kelly has more options than the other LI's.  It's fairly even when considering the entire romance, and if you consider the actual dinner date then Kelly has more.

The other romances don't have dates.  You have one or two romantic conversations then it's sex time.  Kelly's is much better.

I have to disagree somewhat. Kelly stays on ship. She doesn't share the danger and intimacy of trust that Shepard establishes with Miranda, Tali or Jack on the battlefields. That is quite an intimate bond. She seems like a teenager that has never had true love and becomes infatuated with Shepard.

That being said her choice is as legitimate as any of the others. She is a female and whatever makes a person's virtual Shepard happy is a good choice.

[Dusty Everman]

I'm really impressed with this forum thread. Well thought out yet conflicting views have been expressed with the discussion remaining civil, and I’ve found some great food for thought.

I have such mixed feelings when I hear the criticisms of Kelly not being flushed out as much as she should have been, or offense of her cabin dancing, or lack of a true romance scene. On one hand, it’s great that people care enough to want things different or to want more. On the other hand, she almost didn’t happen at all, so there’s more there than I had originally expected. I’ll let you in on a bit of ME2 development history.

ME2 was a very large scale project. Every department was heavily tasked to get a polished product out the door. Due to its nature, the Normandy came in a bit later than other levels. When it came time to flush out the Normandy’s light characters and plots, the writers and cinematic designers were fully tasked. There were discussions where Kelly (at least the part beyond “You have email” or “Such-and-such wants to speak to you”), Doctor Chakwas, Engineer Donnelly and Daniels, and Mess Sergeant Gardner were on the chopping block (and there were other characters that did get cut). In the end, a level designer did the writing for those characters, not a writer, and most of the cinematic design work for those characters was done afterhours by passionate cine designers. They were pretty much created after work hours as a labor of love by all involved.

From a development point of view, the real purpose for those light characters was to give meaning to the choice of going through the Omega-4 relay early or waiting. It was supposed to be something like the Ash/Kaidan choice in ME1. Do you save your Normandy crew but risk your squad mates and the entire mission, or do you prepare more but potentially sacrifice the crew. We kind of failed at this goal on two accounts. 1. That decision wasn’t clear. 2. We gave the ability to save everyone if you did the mission order just right. But the light crew members were there in an attempt to give you someone to care about. If you don’t like the flirty, optimistic yeoman, hopefully you like your old Doctor friend, or the joking engineers, or the brash cook. Hopefully there is at least one of those you care about to make the choice to go through the Omega-4 relay early a compelling one.

The light romance with Kelly was bonus. It would have been great to do the dinner in detail, but covering every type of relationship that Shepard might have with Kelly was just not feasible. Everyone has their own version in their head of what happened during that dinner, and you all are correct. To actually implement every version was just not possible, and even if there was development time that time would probably have been better spent flushing out your main squad members. Maybe the dinner shouldn’t have been in there at all then, but that’s a whole other discussion.

The cabin cuddles with Kelly and all the love interests, as well as her playful dancing, were all a last minute addition, done just a week before content lockdown. VO had been locked down long before, hence why they are all silent. Should they have even gone in? Once again, that’s a whole other discussion.

Anyway, I look forward to more of your thoughts. Thank you.

[rma2110]

I'm just glad the Kelly romance made it in Dusty. She is awesome. I also think the engineers are adorable and I really enjoyed the banter. The light charters really added a lot to game for me. When the collectors invaded MY ship and took MY crew, it became personal like you would not believe! I loved it, kudos to you and everyone at BioWare.

[darknoon5]

Dusty Everman wrote...

I'm really impressed with this forum thread. Well thought out yet conflicting views have been expressed with the discussion remaining civil, and I’ve found some great food for thought.
I have such mixed feelings when I hear the criticisms of Kelly not being flushed out as much as she should have been, or offense of her cabin dancing, or lack of a true romance scene. On one hand, it’s great that people care enough to want things different or to want more. On the other hand, she almost didn’t happen at all, so there’s more there than I had originally expected. I’ll let you in on a bit of ME2 development history.
ME2 was a very large scale project. Every department was heavily tasked to get a polished product out the door. Due to its nature, the Normandy came in a bit later than other levels. When it came time to flush out the Normandy’s light characters and plots, the writers and cinematic designers were fully tasked. There were discussions where Kelly (at least the part beyond “You have email” or “Such-and-such wants to speak to you”), Doctor Chakwas, Engineer Donnelly and Daniels, and Mess Sergeant Gardner were on the chopping block (and there were other characters that did get cut). In the end, a level designer did the writing for those characters, not a writer, and most of the cinematic design work for those characters was done afterhours by passionate cine designers. They were pretty much created after work hours as a labor of love by all involved.
From a development point of view, the real purpose for those light characters was to give meaning to the choice of going through the Omega-4 relay early or waiting. It was supposed to be something like the Ash/Kaidan choice in ME1. Do you save your Normandy crew but risk your squad mates and the entire mission, or do you prepare more but potentially sacrifice the crew. We kind of failed at this goal on two accounts. 1. That decision wasn’t clear. 2. We gave the ability to save everyone if you did the mission order just right. But the light crew members were there in an attempt to give you someone to care about. If you don’t like the flirty, optimistic yeoman, hopefully you like your old Doctor friend, or the joking engineers, or the brash cook. Hopefully there is at least one of those you care about to make the choice to go through the Omega-4 relay early a compelling one.
The light romance with Kelly was bonus. It would have been great to do the dinner in detail, but covering every type of relationship that Shepard might have with Kelly was just not feasible. Everyone has their own version in their head of what happened during that dinner, and you all are correct. To actually implement every version was just not possible, and even if there was development time that time would probably have been better spent flushing out your main squad members. Maybe the dinner shouldn’t have been in there at all then, but that’s a whole other discussion.
The cabin cuddles with Kelly and all the love interests, as well as her playful dancing, were all a last minute addition, done just a week before content lockdown. VO had been locked down long before, hence why they are all silent. Should they have even gone in? Once again, that’s a whole other discussion.
Anyway, I look forward to more of your thoughts. Thank you.

Thanks for the explanation, that's interesting.

[khevan]

Well, I for one would like to send out a huge "Thank you" to the Bioware employees who worked late nights to flesh out Kelly, Gardner, Ken and Gabby, etc. Those characters made the Normandy feel "alive." Without them, it just wouldn't have been the same.



So, thanks!

[Mr.House]

Dusty Everman wrote...

I'm really impressed with this forum thread. Well thought out yet conflicting views have been expressed with the discussion remaining civil, and I’ve found some great food for thought.
I have such mixed feelings when I hear the criticisms of Kelly not being flushed out as much as she should have been, or offense of her cabin dancing, or lack of a true romance scene. On one hand, it’s great that people care enough to want things different or to want more. On the other hand, she almost didn’t happen at all, so there’s more there than I had originally expected. I’ll let you in on a bit of ME2 development history.
ME2 was a very large scale project. Every department was heavily tasked to get a polished product out the door. Due to its nature, the Normandy came in a bit later than other levels. When it came time to flush out the Normandy’s light characters and plots, the writers and cinematic designers were fully tasked. There were discussions where Kelly (at least the part beyond “You have email” or “Such-and-such wants to speak to you”), Doctor Chakwas, Engineer Donnelly and Daniels, and Mess Sergeant Gardner were on the chopping block (and there were other characters that did get cut). In the end, a level designer did the writing for those characters, not a writer, and most of the cinematic design work for those characters was done afterhours by passionate cine designers. They were pretty much created after work hours as a labor of love by all involved.
From a development point of view, the real purpose for those light characters was to give meaning to the choice of going through the Omega-4 relay early or waiting. It was supposed to be something like the Ash/Kaidan choice in ME1. Do you save your Normandy crew but risk your squad mates and the entire mission, or do you prepare more but potentially sacrifice the crew. We kind of failed at this goal on two accounts. 1. That decision wasn’t clear. 2. We gave the ability to save everyone if you did the mission order just right. But the light crew members were there in an attempt to give you someone to care about. If you don’t like the flirty, optimistic yeoman, hopefully you like your old Doctor friend, or the joking engineers, or the brash cook. Hopefully there is at least one of those you care about to make the choice to go through the Omega-4 relay early a compelling one.
The light romance with Kelly was bonus. It would have been great to do the dinner in detail, but covering every type of relationship that Shepard might have with Kelly was just not feasible. Everyone has their own version in their head of what happened during that dinner, and you all are correct. To actually implement every version was just not possible, and even if there was development time that time would probably have been better spent flushing out your main squad members. Maybe the dinner shouldn’t have been in there at all then, but that’s a whole other discussion.
The cabin cuddles with Kelly and all the love interests, as well as her playful dancing, were all a last minute addition, done just a week before content lockdown. VO had been locked down long before, hence why they are all silent. Should they have even gone in? Once again, that’s a whole other discussion.
Anyway, I look forward to more of your thoughts. Thank you.

Intresting read, thank you Dusty I am a huge fan of Kelly, Gabby/Ken and Chakwas.

[Mystranna Kelteel]

Dusty Everman wrote...
The cabin cuddles with Kelly and all the love interests, as well as her playful dancing, were all a last minute addition, done just a week before content lockdown. VO had been locked down long before, hence why they are all silent. Should they have even gone in? Once again, that’s a whole other discussion.
Anyway, I look forward to more of your thoughts. Thank you.

I, for one, am very happy she made the cut, and I think you greatly succeeded in making us (or me, at least) care for the Normandy crew.  The scene where Kelly is dragged into the elevator was hard to watch.

So, Dusty, can you tell us anything at all about Kelly for ME3? :innocent:

InvincibleHero wrote...
I have to disagree somewhat. Kelly stays on ship. She doesn't share the danger and intimacy of trust that Shepard establishes with Miranda, Tali or Jack on the battlefields. That is quite an intimate bond. She seems like a teenager that has never had
true love and becomes infatuated with Shepard.

That being said her choice is as legitimate as any of the others. She is a female and whatever makes a person's virtual Shepard happy is a good choice.

I really can't even come close to agreeing with you about Kelly feeling like a teenager with a crush...  She knows who she is and she knows what she wants, and she doesn't fawn over Shepard at all...  If anyone fits that description imo it'd be Tali.

And I really don't need my love interest to be on the battlefield with me.  Yes, it can create a specific type of bond, but I rather enjoy the idea of my Shepard having a more civilian-type girlfriend.

Modifié par Mystranna Kelteel, 27 janvier 2011 - 05:07 .

[Barquiel]

Interesting read - thanks!

Dusty Everman wrote...

In the end, a level designer did the writing for those characters, not a writer, and most of the cinematic design work for those characters was done afterhours by passionate cine designers. They were pretty much created after work hours as a labor of love by all involved.

They did an excellent job

[Sunnie]

Dusty Everman wrote...

I'm really impressed with this forum thread. Well thought out yet conflicting views have been expressed with the discussion remaining civil, and I’ve found some great food for thought.
I have such mixed feelings when I hear the criticisms of Kelly not being flushed out as much as she should have been, or offense of her cabin dancing, or lack of a true romance scene. On one hand, it’s great that people care enough to want things different or to want more. On the other hand, she almost didn’t happen at all, so there’s more there than I had originally expected. I’ll let you in on a bit of ME2 development history.
ME2 was a very large scale project. Every department was heavily tasked to get a polished product out the door. Due to its nature, the Normandy came in a bit later than other levels. When it came time to flush out the Normandy’s light characters and plots, the writers and cinematic designers were fully tasked. There were discussions where Kelly (at least the part beyond “You have email” or “Such-and-such wants to speak to you”), Doctor Chakwas, Engineer Donnelly and Daniels, and Mess Sergeant Gardner were on the chopping block (and there were other characters that did get cut). In the end, a level designer did the writing for those characters, not a writer, and most of the cinematic design work for those characters was done afterhours by passionate cine designers. They were pretty much created after work hours as a labor of love by all involved.
From a development point of view, the real purpose for those light characters was to give meaning to the choice of going through the Omega-4 relay early or waiting. It was supposed to be something like the Ash/Kaidan choice in ME1. Do you save your Normandy crew but risk your squad mates and the entire mission, or do you prepare more but potentially sacrifice the crew. We kind of failed at this goal on two accounts. 1. That decision wasn’t clear. 2. We gave the ability to save everyone if you did the mission order just right. But the light crew members were there in an attempt to give you someone to care about. If you don’t like the flirty, optimistic yeoman, hopefully you like your old Doctor friend, or the joking engineers, or the brash cook. Hopefully there is at least one of those you care about to make the choice to go through the Omega-4 relay early a compelling one.
The light romance with Kelly was bonus. It would have been great to do the dinner in detail, but covering every type of relationship that Shepard might have with Kelly was just not feasible. Everyone has their own version in their head of what happened during that dinner, and you all are correct. To actually implement every version was just not possible, and even if there was development time that time would probably have been better spent flushing out your main squad members. Maybe the dinner shouldn’t have been in there at all then, but that’s a whole other discussion.
The cabin cuddles with Kelly and all the love interests, as well as her playful dancing, were all a last minute addition, done just a week before content lockdown. VO had been locked down long before, hence why they are all silent. Should they have even gone in? Once again, that’s a whole other discussion.
Anyway, I look forward to more of your thoughts. Thank you.

Thanks, Dusty! I can tell you though, there are quite a few Kelly fans (myself included) that think theres nothing wrong with CabinKelly other than no VO, which is understandable since it went in so late. Your after hours work to give us Kelly is well appreciated!

[jlb524]

Dusty Everman wrote...

Anyway, I look forward to more of your thoughts. Thank you.

I must say that I ended up caring for Kelly and some of the other crew like Dr. Chakwas more than some of those you had to recruit on the mission.  They just seemed more 'real' and it was nice that you could enjoy their company in normal friendly human activities, like sharing a bottle of brandy with Chakwas ("That was awesome!") and with Kelly what I liked is that she was one of the few (or only) people on the ship that was concerned with Shepard and the mission and you could actually talk to her about it.

[Bourne Endeavor]

Dusty Everman wrote...

I'm really impressed with this forum thread. Well thought out yet conflicting views have been expressed with the discussion remaining civil, and I’ve found some great food for thought.

I have such mixed feelings when I hear the criticisms of Kelly not being flushed out as much as she should have been, or offense of her cabin dancing, or lack of a true romance scene. On one hand, it’s great that people care enough to want things different or to want more. On the other hand, she almost didn’t happen at all, so there’s more there than I had originally expected. I’ll let you in on a bit of ME2 development history.

ME2 was a very large scale project. Every department was heavily tasked to get a polished product out the door. Due to its nature, the Normandy came in a bit later than other levels. When it came time to flush out the Normandy’s light characters and plots, the writers and cinematic designers were fully tasked. There were discussions where Kelly (at least the part beyond “You have email” or “Such-and-such wants to speak to you”), Doctor Chakwas, Engineer Donnelly and Daniels, and Mess Sergeant Gardner were on the chopping block (and there were other characters that did get cut). In the end, a level designer did the writing for those characters, not a writer, and most of the cinematic design work for those characters was done afterhours by passionate cine designers. They were pretty much created after work hours as a labor of love by all involved.

From a development point of view, the real purpose for those light characters was to give meaning to the choice of going through the Omega-4 relay early or waiting. It was supposed to be something like the Ash/Kaidan choice in ME1. Do you save your Normandy crew but risk your squad mates and the entire mission, or do you prepare more but potentially sacrifice the crew. We kind of failed at this goal on two accounts. 1. That decision wasn’t clear. 2. We gave the ability to save everyone if you did the mission order just right. But the light crew members were there in an attempt to give you someone to care about. If you don’t like the flirty, optimistic yeoman, hopefully you like your old Doctor friend, or the joking engineers, or the brash cook. Hopefully there is at least one of those you care about to make the choice to go through the Omega-4 relay early a compelling one.

The light romance with Kelly was bonus. It would have been great to do the dinner in detail, but covering every type of relationship that Shepard might have with Kelly was just not feasible. Everyone has their own version in their head of what happened during that dinner, and you all are correct. To actually implement every version was just not possible, and even if there was development time that time would probably have been better spent flushing out your main squad members. Maybe the dinner shouldn’t have been in there at all then, but that’s a whole other discussion.

The cabin cuddles with Kelly and all the love interests, as well as her playful dancing, were all a last minute addition, done just a week before content lockdown. VO had been locked down long before, hence why they are all silent. Should they have even gone in? Once again, that’s a whole other discussion.

Anyway, I look forward to more of your thoughts. Thank you.

Quite intriguing. You did an excellent job in the limited time available and set a standard I am hopeful carries over to ME3 for the other characters. Such a simple thing like a dinner date is perfect. Obviously, it would work for everyone but the concept is there. Get to know our potential LIs devoid of sex being the sole conclusion.

The crew dialogue is some of my favorite in the game. Once again, hopefully we have more of your work popping into ME3.

Modifié par Bourne Endeavor, 27 janvier 2011 - 05:18 .

[masterkajo]

Dusty Everman wrote...

I'm really impressed with this forum thread. Well thought out yet conflicting views have been expressed with the discussion remaining civil, and I’ve found some great food for thought.
I have such mixed feelings when I hear the criticisms of Kelly not being flushed out as much as she should have been, or offense of her cabin dancing, or lack of a true romance scene. On one hand, it’s great that people care enough to want things different or to want more. On the other hand, she almost didn’t happen at all, so there’s more there than I had originally expected. I’ll let you in on a bit of ME2 development history.
ME2 was a very large scale project. Every department was heavily tasked to get a polished product out the door. Due to its nature, the Normandy came in a bit later than other levels. When it came time to flush out the Normandy’s light characters and plots, the writers and cinematic designers were fully tasked. There were discussions where Kelly (at least the part beyond “You have email” or “Such-and-such wants to speak to you”), Doctor Chakwas, Engineer Donnelly and Daniels, and Mess Sergeant Gardner were on the chopping block (and there were other characters that did get cut). In the end, a level designer did the writing for those characters, not a writer, and most of the cinematic design work for those characters was done afterhours by passionate cine designers. They were pretty much created after work hours as a labor of love by all involved.
From a development point of view, the real purpose for those light characters was to give meaning to the choice of going through the Omega-4 relay early or waiting. It was supposed to be something like the Ash/Kaidan choice in ME1. Do you save your Normandy crew but risk your squad mates and the entire mission, or do you prepare more but potentially sacrifice the crew. We kind of failed at this goal on two accounts. 1. That decision wasn’t clear. 2. We gave the ability to save everyone if you did the mission order just right. But the light crew members were there in an attempt to give you someone to care about. If you don’t like the flirty, optimistic yeoman, hopefully you like your old Doctor friend, or the joking engineers, or the brash cook. Hopefully there is at least one of those you care about to make the choice to go through the Omega-4 relay early a compelling one.
The light romance with Kelly was bonus. It would have been great to do the dinner in detail, but covering every type of relationship that Shepard might have with Kelly was just not feasible. Everyone has their own version in their head of what happened during that dinner, and you all are correct. To actually implement every version was just not possible, and even if there was development time that time would probably have been better spent flushing out your main squad members. Maybe the dinner shouldn’t have been in there at all then, but that’s a whole other discussion.
The cabin cuddles with Kelly and all the love interests, as well as her playful dancing, were all a last minute addition, done just a week before content lockdown. VO had been locked down long before, hence why they are all silent. Should they have even gone in? Once again, that’s a whole other discussion.
Anyway, I look forward to more of your thoughts. Thank you.

Wow, thanks! Nice read! Would like to read such things more often. Gives a lot of insite on how such a game is developed.

I agree on the Omega-4 Relay part you mentioned. I never clearly understood that by delaying going through the Omega-4 Relay I killed half my crew. I just figured I would arrive on time like in any other video game! I love the fact that I didn't very much, though!! Makes me responsible for their death.
If it would have been made clearer that it matters if I wait I might have have gone through without everyone loyal. Hope you guys make more such timed decisison for ME3 (maybe make it a bit clearer that time is of the essence)!!

[Merchant2006]

Crusade wrote...

Is it just me or was she just designed for people who want to keep there relation ship from me1. You can have some romance and it does not affect any relationship Shepard might have with someone.

I thought she was cute. And when I realised she would feed my fish, therefore meaning I wouldn't have to and therefore saving about 5000 credits for those expensive ones incase they died.. well... sure why the hell not! 

Yeah I'm a money stingy ass, sorry ^^.

[Burdokva]

Dusty Everman wrote...
I look forward to more of your thoughts. Thank you.

A bit off-topic, but my deepest thanks to m-r Dusty Everman for that post. You really have no idea just how interesting dev posts can be for us, regular forumites. 

Plus, I'm still wondering if the suggestions from that old topic "Keep the Normandy SR-2 for ME3?", where you wanted opinions on the interior of the SR1 and SR-2, will have an affect on Mass Effect 3 ?...

By the way, on my last playthrough picking up Kelly's "I'd catch you / I'd embrace you" options one after the other seemed to bug her and not trigger either friendship or flirty paths. Now I'll know to pick only one and not use them every single time I speak to her in a vain attempt to get her to feed the fish asap... 

[Gemini1179]

Dusty Everman wrote...

I'm really impressed with this forum thread. Well thought out yet conflicting views have been expressed with the discussion remaining civil, and I’ve found some great food for thought.
I have such mixed feelings when I hear the criticisms of Kelly not being flushed out as much as she should have been, or offense of her cabin dancing, or lack of a true romance scene. On one hand, it’s great that people care enough to want things different or to want more. On the other hand, she almost didn’t happen at all, so there’s more there than I had originally expected. I’ll let you in on a bit of ME2 development history.
ME2 was a very large scale project. Every department was heavily tasked to get a polished product out the door. Due to its nature, the Normandy came in a bit later than other levels. When it came time to flush out the Normandy’s light characters and plots, the writers and cinematic designers were fully tasked. There were discussions where Kelly (at least the part beyond “You have email” or “Such-and-such wants to speak to you”), Doctor Chakwas, Engineer Donnelly and Daniels, and Mess Sergeant Gardner were on the chopping block (and there were other characters that did get cut). In the end, a level designer did the writing for those characters, not a writer, and most of the cinematic design work for those characters was done afterhours by passionate cine designers. They were pretty much created after work hours as a labor of love by all involved.
From a development point of view, the real purpose for those light characters was to give meaning to the choice of going through the Omega-4 relay early or waiting. It was supposed to be something like the Ash/Kaidan choice in ME1. Do you save your Normandy crew but risk your squad mates and the entire mission, or do you prepare more but potentially sacrifice the crew. We kind of failed at this goal on two accounts. 1. That decision wasn’t clear. 2. We gave the ability to save everyone if you did the mission order just right. But the light crew members were there in an attempt to give you someone to care about. If you don’t like the flirty, optimistic yeoman, hopefully you like your old Doctor friend, or the joking engineers, or the brash cook. Hopefully there is at least one of those you care about to make the choice to go through the Omega-4 relay early a compelling one.
The light romance with Kelly was bonus. It would have been great to do the dinner in detail, but covering every type of relationship that Shepard might have with Kelly was just not feasible. Everyone has their own version in their head of what happened during that dinner, and you all are correct. To actually implement every version was just not possible, and even if there was development time that time would probably have been better spent flushing out your main squad members. Maybe the dinner shouldn’t have been in there at all then, but that’s a whole other discussion.
The cabin cuddles with Kelly and all the love interests, as well as her playful dancing, were all a last minute addition, done just a week before content lockdown. VO had been locked down long before, hence why they are all silent. Should they have even gone in? Once again, that’s a whole other discussion.
Anyway, I look forward to more of your thoughts. Thank you.

This is the stuff I like reading. Getting a real feel for what was going on behind the scenes, what was intended, what felt like it worked, or didn't. I wonder if given all the time and resources, what ME2 might have ended up looking like? In the end, I enjoyed all the cuddling (with all characters) and even the semi-creepy wall dancing by Kelly.

Although, I agree that more of a choice needed to be put on the players. It is far too easy to do everything and then save your entire crew- which makes things interesting if you want to experiment, but there is never that heart-wrenching feeling you get when you KNOW you simply can't have your cake and eat it too. I would have liked the situation to have forced your hand when you had all but 2 teammated recruited which would make following playthroughs a bit more interesting as you have to really make the choice to go a couple people short (which two could vary everytime you play) or really sacrifice half the crew to make sure your squad is rounded out.

[Cutlass Jack]

Dusty Everman wrote...

The cabin cuddles with Kelly and all the love interests, as well as her playful dancing, were all a last minute addition, done just a week before content lockdown. VO had been locked down long before, hence why they are all silent. Should they have even gone in? Once again, that’s a whole other discussion.

Anyway, I look forward to more of your thoughts. Thank you.

And I look forward to hearing more of these behind the scenes looks. Thank you!

Anyway was time well spent, quite honestly. Fleshing out the crew, the cuddle scenes, etc. is what made ME2 a Great game, rather than merely a good one. The Ship in ME1 was just a boring hub for the most part. The Ship in this game was one I actually enjoyed spending time in.

I did care enough about my crew to go immediately after them. For pure roleplay reasons. I didn't expect it to make a difference gamewise how quickly I went into the relay. I just hated how empty and lifeless my ship felt again. I wanted them back.

I really hope we get much more of this sort of thing in ME3. I'd love to see Kelly, Donnelly, Gabby, and the Doc again.
...Unless its a choice between them and having Tali/Garrus in your squad. Then I'd prefer the latter.

Modifié par Cutlass Jack, 27 janvier 2011 - 06:11 .

[Fiery Phoenix]

That's some very interesting insight, Dusty. Thank you very much.

[bjdbwea]

Thank you very much for your participation in this thread and for sharing some insights, Mr. Everman.

You say that these small characters were written by a level designer. To that I can only answer: He did an excellent job, especially with the quite detailed writing for Kelly. The conversations with her are in my opinion highlights of the game, especially because they add moments where Shepard can act like a human. I'm glad that the other characters also made it into the game, because they add a significant amount of atmosphere to the Normandy, and indeed they also made me care more about the final mission.

I also understand now why the dinner scene wasn't portrayed in the game. In my opinion, it was certainly the right decision to at least mention it. And I for one don't think that a love scene is mandatory for a good romance in a video game either. But I for one would have preferred if the final scene with Kelly would rather have been left out. It does neither her character justice, nor the very good writing for her up to that point. If there was just no development time anymore, then the well written last conversation with Kelly after the final mission would have been enough of a conclusion to the romance. But I hope that it will be possible to continue the romance in ME 3.

Modifié par bjdbwea, 27 janvier 2011 - 08:18 .

[earthbornFemShep]

@Dusty



That's good to hear. So, I can just assume that my Shep and Kelli just stayed up late and talked. I didn't invite Kelli up to cuddle/dance when my character was "faithful" so hopefully that will be taken into account by my ME1 LI. I honestly just wanted her to feed my fish.



I'm glad those characters weren't left out. The engineers were an especially great addition, they kinda reminded me of people I know. So, obviously, I did my best to save them. Once, I decided to see what would happen if I waited a few missions before rescuing them... hearing the survivor talk about the other was upsetting...



But back to Kelli... I really look forward to seeing how her character develops. I wonder if she will betray Shep in ME3.

[uzivatel]

Dusty Everman wrote...

I guess you did pretty good job all things considered, but its kind of sad the crew was this low on the priority list in the first place.

Anyway, the dancer outfit is IMO wasted opportunity. That Asari light armour, Alliance uniform or even Cerberus uniform cosplay would be IMO better choice.
Then again, I guess that was probably the only piece of clothing without any significant graphical issues during the dancing animation...

[AdmiralCheez]

I much like the things Dusty Everman said. It's nice to see how much love went into making ME2. That's one of the reasons I love the Mass Effect series: you can tell the devs wanted to make something they could be proud of.



As for Kelly, I did not know the friendship path existed, so I will see if I can trigger it.

[volus4life]

Dusty Everman wrote...

The cabin cuddles with Kelly and all the love interests, as well as her playful dancing, were all a last minute addition, done just a week before content lockdown.

don't listen to people bagging on kelly's dancing! this may come as a shock to some, but some people like to do sexy and fun things with their partners!

Modifié par volus4life, 27 janvier 2011 - 11:53 .