One of my major watershed moments in ME2 was actually quite simple; I checked my messages, read an email from Cerberus pointing me to a mission, and then I pulled up the galaxy map and headed there. As I was flying around the galaxy, It suddenly hit me; I am living my fantasy.
All those times as a kid watching Star Wars or Star Trek and wishing that I could just do that for one day, wishing that I could be Kirk on the Enterprise or Han Solo on the Falcon, zipping around the galaxy and fighting the bad guys one exotic worlds. It all seemed like a faraway dream, but alas, I was doing it.
This moment had nothing to do with how deep of an RPG the game was, nor did it in any way relate to how solid of a shooter the game was. My epiphany in that moment derived from the fact that, regardless of what genre it was in, Bioware designed Mass Effect to be as enjoyable as possible in the context of it's story.
Yes, Bioware is considered an RPG developer, so it is expected that the games at least have RPG elements, but if you look at the companies mission statement, it says "BioWare's vision is to Create, Deliver, and Evolve the Most Emotionally Engaging Games in the World"
No where in that sentance do they state a genre. Where as in previous generations, due to limitations in technology and presentation, RPG's were simply the most practical genre to create an engaging story for the player. But Mass Effect, I think, has allowed Bioware to do something they've wanted to do for a long time; Make a game where the gameplay is designed only to service the story in the most entertaining way possible. This means that when you pick up a gun and start shooting, It feels really damn fun. And when you are back at your ship and want to excersise some of the freedom you've earned as Captain of a spaceship, yes, you've got a lot of different options to choose from, from things like weapon uprgades to dialouge trees to choosing your next destination.
I think that this philosphy is reflected in Biowares reported improvements to ME3. Sure they say they've added richer RPG elements in the form of greater customization, but they also make it clear that it is not at all in the fashion of ME1, a game which, honestly, felt like it had one foot awkwardly out of the RPG genre, as if BW was still unsure how far they could take it. The customization in ME3, from the sound of it, is all about further immersing the player into the world of the game.
I think if we argue too much over whether the game should be more shooter or more RPG, we may miss the point entirely. With each game, Bioware has gotten closer to making Mass Effect the way they imagined it, and making the best experience possible, regardless of genre.
Modifié par starmine76, 06 mai 2011 - 06:02 .
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