Exploration of barren worlds
What I really hope for in regards to exploration in ME3, is to have the vehicle based exploration of Mass Effect 1 back again. That was some really good exploration, to be able to explore vast barren worlds, discovering mercenary bases and other mysteries. It also had quite a lot of atmosphere, especially when the sky was dotted by the two starts of a binary star system or just the stars. The distance between engagements was also huge, you could really stand on top of a mountain, looking down at a mercenary base hundred of meters away, for then to pick them of one at a time with a sniper rifle. By the way, also try to make the AI to do some work to find you, some times you only had to fire one shot, and they were all on at you at once. They could pin-point you too well at times.
The worlds wouldn't all have to be barren of course, some variation would do nicely, if lush worlds are possible as well, then you can add them as well. Or you could come to a compromise, keep the lush worlds for the N7 type ME2 exploration, and keep the barren ones for the ME1 vehicle exploration. Though I prefer the former.
Which vehicle should be used?
When it comes to the vehicle which should do this task, I think something similar to the Mako would do. Now I haven't played ME1 on Xbox so I don't know the problems there, but on the PC the only issue was really that it was too "jumpy" in a sense. It was too sensitive at times, if you drove on a cliff a single bump could almost make the Mako summersault of the cliff. What really needs to be done is to give the vehicle better dampening, so that it's not that sensitive.
New type of space exploration
However this is just the ground exploration, I was also thinking adding a new type of space exploration to the game. In both ME1 and ME2 we could travel around to different nebulae and star systems, but they'd all been charted before. So in ME3 how about giving the player the ability to travel to completely uncharted star systems. To give the player the ability to open some new relays leading to places where no citadel species has gone before. Then you can scan the planets, maybe discover a new species, to aid against the reaper threat. Maybe you can also name the planets of the new star system you've charted. There could be incredible benefits.
Idea for scanning which also ties into the exploration of a planet. "Is this planet worth exploring?"
I have a new idea for planet scanning(Not the same system as in ME2), now it goes like this. Let's say you arrive at planet X, and then you can perform a general scan of the planet, so that technical specifications of the planet along with its history and other data shows up(The same as in ME1 and ME2). However what also shows up is information about what kind of resources the planet has an abundance of and points of interest. Planet X in this example has an unusual large abundance of Iridium. Is this planet worth exploring? Well if I have enough Iridium I won't have to bother with the planet, unless I want to explore its surface and its points of interest.
Things doesn't always have to be that clear-cut, sometimes the scan might show 25% abundance of Iridium and 75% of another resource, so the majority of the resources will be of the other resource. How would this work then? Well let's say that on the planet's surface there are four deposits, then one of them will be Iridium while the other three will be of the other resource.
Before anyone mentions ME2's system, this one won't be similar at all. The system will be the same as in ME1 for planets which you can't land on, you scan and you find a metal or gas. However for the worlds you can land on, information regarding the abundance of resources will be shown, and you can land to find these deposits on the planet's surface. So it's not planet scanning as in ME2. You don't have to play the mining mini-game since you'll already know what resources the planet have, you'll then have to decide whether you want to explore it further or not. This will also make things easier to choose if you want to spend time with this world or not. Again is it worth exploring? Do I have enough of this resource or do I need more? Does this planet have those resources I need? Those are the questions you are going to have to ask yourself, and it'll be easier to eliminate planets which you don't have to traverse since you already have enough of those resources.
Of course if you want to explore the points of interest you are going to have to land anyways, but not to gather any resources. So it's a more efficient system.
When it comes to points of interest, in comparison to Mass Effect 1 fewer points of interest will be shown, so that you've to explore more for yourself.
This system will of course only work if the usage of the resources(use them to upgrade weapons, the ship, and now in ME3 mods again) are similar to that of ME2, if they're not then it won't work very well.
Listed ideas for exploration in Mass Effect 3
[*]The return of a Mako-like vehicle for rough terrain exploration.
[*]The return of barren(lush if possible) alien worlds similar to ME1. Different structures could dot the surface, all from Mercenary/Pirate bases to ancient alien ruins.
[*]The ability to open new Mass Relays and to travel to new places where no Citadel species has gone before.
[*]Improved planet scanning detailed in the Idea for scanning which also ties into the exploration of a planet. "Is this planet worth exploring?" paragraph.
[*]Exploration in different forms, all from uncharted alien worlds to ghost ships to space stations.
[*]Mods can add a lot to the gameplay, e.g. modifying your weapon to work better at long ranges to make it possible for you to fight your way to an enemy base and then change it again to make it a CQC weapon when you enter the base.
[*]The return of the special atmosphere of feeling like you're in space as found in ME1, e.g. you look up in the dark sky to see the two stars of the binary star system you're in dot the sky.
[*]The ability of visit ruins of races which were made extinct by the Reapers in earlier cycles to learn about them, their history, culture, artefacts, and perhaps to learn some details on how to defeat the Reapers, or just more information about them. This could also be tied in to opening new Relays, that is as the mean to discover those worlds.
[*]The return of environmental hazards, as detailed in the environmetnal hazard post on page six.
[*]Modifications for your exploration/combat vehicle[/list]
Modifié par elitecom, 19 juillet 2011 - 07:21 .
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