5257 réponses à ce sujet

[DLC200]

I ONLY want one thing.... to import my mass efffect femshep into the new mass effect 4 game... she dont have to be called shepard or have anything to do with shepard i just want to use the model i used for all the games... its only reason i play these games... just be able to use the model/looks of your old shepard...

this way... you can have both the old shepard in the new story game... and at the same time have new characters or story or w.e and appeal to both

Modifié par DLC200, 09 décembre 2013 - 12:24 .

[Ahriman]

First of all I'd like to see non-"spectre" character without special treatment and free passages. Some kind of explorer/merc would be great.
Possibility to switch between party members, this way people will be able to play as different races in singleplayer (seeing how stupidly fights your character is a bonus).
Deus Ex style dialog wheel, so you have option to see what your character is exactly going to say.

[Faerlyte]

I strongly desire multiple species options for my main character. It seems a terrible waste not to take advantage of the rich diversity that the Mass Effect Universe provides.

[prsquared]

Treat the Destroy ending as Canon

[Possessed Turian]

You don't have to canonize the endings using the Reaper IFF mission as a indoctrination point works perfect. Its a great ready built universe. Talk to me bioware I can help.

[Grizzly46]

As usual, I'm late for the party, but I'd thought I'd give a couple of thoughts about it - even though personally I doubt anything said would be implemented. But what the heck, I'm buying lottery tickets as well hoping to win...

So what is already here?

First of all, the Mass effect universe is great, no question about it, and then I'm only talking about the science-fact/fic implemented, from the mass effect fields, to the properties of element zero to biotics and so on. That is quite frankly a great way to build a foundation for any further games. So it would be a damn shame to retocn pretty much.. anything about it.

The Mass Effect triology was also a great gaming experience and the way we got to know both the universe and the people in it. I'd say, as long as some of the creators (none mentioned, none forgotten, but I'm looking at you Hudson) keep off the pot and starts celebrating that the third game is (almost) done, we know they can tell great stories. So that is what Bioware should keep doing: tell stories.


Relationship with the triology

This is a tough one. essentially any game in the ME universe will take place before, after or during the triology, and thus any player will know that if the game takes place before the triology, any decision won't matter since the main story is yet to take place, namely the galaxy-shattering invasion of the reapers, or if the game is set during the triology's timeframe, the player will know s/he is a D-Day dodger since the main action is taking place somewhere else with commander Shepard in charge. Actually, James Vega did play this part, and his experiences makes the whole thing so much more tragic: he played the second violin and everything he did was absolutely worth nothing since Shepard was away blowing away the collectors. Would any player like to go through that too?
I sure wouldn't. To continue on the theme with the D-Day dodgers: sure Italy may be sunny, but it is still just a sideshow.

A game taking place after the reaper attack then? Now there's a big honking problem. No matter what you choose (since the final choice was the official ending), any ending will have such a tremendous impact on the future of the galaxy I doubt it would be feasible to implement it all. Place the game 300 years into the future - no matter what ending is choosen either by the player or Bioware as "canon" (Urgh - let's not go there) the end of ME3 will still have had an impact.

Which leaves us with...

The Mass Effect triology. 

Yes, and these is my suggestions for a fourth game:

* Let it go and return to the triology - let the Mass effect universe be represented the best way it can, namely within the Mass Effect triology.
* Remake the first game so that it is technically up to date with the third.
* Add interactions with the team members for all three games. For some reasons ME2 took a lot of flak that it didn't give that many interactions compared with ME1, which quite frankly was pure BS - each character in ME2 had more to say than in ME1. But more interactions would be very welcome for all the games.

(That said, I was kind of happy to see that the number of team members varied over the games, and they made sense - in the first game Shepard essentially took on whoever could carry a gun, but in the second there was an entire organization behind Shepard doing all the foot work for him, ensuring that Shepard would have the best team possible. )

* While on the subject of interactions, where were all the conflicts between team members? the only ones we had were in ME2 between Jack and Miranda and Tali and Legion respectively; this whilst Grunt says he hates turians and Tali says she disliked Miranda. Part of being a leader is having to deal with the subordinates throwing bread at each other at the dinner table. A good leader can fix this (as with the two conflicts mentioned) though, so if the player (aka Shepard) do his/her job right, there won't be any worries about "friendly" fire.

* Stick to one standard. If a gun use ammo, let's have them use ammo and not thermal clips or the other way around instead of that half-assed retconning attempt. That's just one example by the way.

* Make sure the player is in control, both of his actions, but also of his opinions. This applies especially to the third game, where it took excruciatingly long sometimes before the player was prompted for input and where Shepard was given opinions - "Women have good ideas Wrex." - WTF? But "my" Shepard is a misogynic a-hole, why is he saying that? "The geth are better than this." - WTF again, "my" Shepard hates geth? And so on. Without going into exactly how many balls were dropped in ME3, this is a crucial point.

* Let the player be in control. (I thought it was worth repeating)

* A lot of stuff in especially ME3 seemed to be just place holders for real side missions - I mean, eaves-dropping on people, go out and shoot a probe and then you are done? The sound you hear is a whole warehouse full of balls bouncing.

* Fix the game ending. Seriously.


So to conclude...

I don't think there's a lot that really needs to be changed per se, but I do think that the original triology is in need of a tune-up.

[Samuel Beckenbach]

sell the IP to another company similar to wat bungie did with halo. let someone else someone who cares about the universe work on it and build upon the great universe that was created. i feel like another company with fresh ideas could hopefully take the IP and bring it out of the slump bioware left in.

[Coming0fShadows]

Its hard to say anything new here with so much said... One thing im going to say is alot of people want choices between races, that i think would be pretty bad. Id love to be able to play as one of the other races, but only if that was the only choice given. It would be near impossible to put enough dialogue in for them all. Think about it, If you talked to a Salarian as a Krogan you would expect an entirely different conversation to happen then if you where a Turian or Asari. Now translate that to every character you interact with and you would end up with so much data that the game would be far to massive to pull off. The only way to work something out would be to have generic lines no matter what race you are, which would result in a story thats hard to get engrossed in like the past games. There would be no diversity between races, which would just dumb down the amazing backgrounds we already have for each race.

For example if they did something like TES, where there is only a line or two different in conversation denoting our race, then whats the real point of choosing a race? I cant play games like Skyrim because of how absorbed in the story i can get with Shepard and the other characters in Mass Effect, and in Skyrim it just seems watered down when it comes to all the choices in race because outside of combat its utterly pointless. Id hate to see Mass Effect go that direction. Maybe im wrong and Bioware can pull this off great in say, DA games with tons of dialogue, but i wouldnt know if there are race choices as i havent played them. Even if they did it though, i think it would be to hard to pull off in this universe.

Modifié par besterisgood, 15 décembre 2013 - 11:41 .

[X-Master]

I would still like to something of a spin-off by creating that strategy game that was mentioned being based off of the galaxy map. I would not mind a prequel exploring past events in the ME universe at some point, but after the next trilogy or whatever moves into the future after the events of ME3.

[Possessed Turian]

Something I really want to see the old skill tree in mass effect 1. I don't need all the little powers but I like assassination or overload but the saving six points for a skill is annoying. The decrypt charm all my weapons skills going up 1 or 2 point at a time was great. I could have no skill in shotguns, but a ton in sniper assault rifle pistol. My hard suit power, soldier power and so on. I loved that set up the new one was just not very good.

You can ignore what I just said though if you bring back Shepard.

[DarthLaxian]

hm....

another idea:

Start with a RETCON and make "REFUSE" (but with a victory - how grand a victory might be dependent on war-assets, if we get to import ME3-Savegames) canon (everything else can stay, but none of the endings we have is cutting it IMHO (even with extended-nonsense...eh...extended-cut)

greetings LAX
ps: and a SEQUEL please (prequels are not really interesting - for a movie, ok, but not for a game)

[jnthn0584]

I think they should bring the focus down a bit and back into something closer to reality. I think the players (I strongly support two player cooperative with full story integration in addition to a single player story) would start as C-Sec officers who get recruited into the Specters after “just doing their job” and saving the council from a terrorist attack. After that it is off to explore the galaxy and piece together what happened and why, and bring the guilty party to justice. None of this ancient evil/save the galaxy business; just a straight forward mystery/cop drama/detective story. James Bond in space.

On a slight side note; I am also really hoping for a more free-form class system. Not like Skyrim, but more in line of a build-from-template system. Like picking an Adept would let pick one from between two or three "core" powers (singularity, biotic orbs, stasis, ect) that are Adept exclusive, but then you can add whatever general biotic powers to that base you want.

[Thesandman87]

I just want to go back more to RPG style elements and less FPS elements, honestly to much was sacrificed as far as depth goes in ME2 and 3 for the FPS style

[jnthn0584]

Thesandman87 wrote...

I just want to go back more to RPG style elements and less FPS elements, honestly to much was sacrificed as far as depth goes in ME2 and 3 for the FPS style

I'm all for reapplying some of the old RPG style, but not all of it. Weapons for example, I like it more as it is than as it was. I don't mind having to unlock the ability to use a given weapon type before I can, or even getting some nice passive upgrades to my effectiveness with said weapons beyond the level proficiency as I apply points to my skill. But I DO NOT want the game to screw me over like it did in Mass Effect 1 because that makes me feel like my own skill with the game is irrelevant. With the ME1 weapon skill system you may as well have just used an MMO auto attack and had combat play itself.

If I align my crosshair up perfectly on some mercenary’s skull I don’t want my shot to go wide and miss because the game rolled some dice and decided I missed before I ever pulled the trigger. Likewise the thing I hated most in ME1 was not being able to actually use a sniper rifle even after adding several points to the skill because Shepard had a seizure every time he looked through the scope.

Like it or not Mass Effect is a shooter. It could be a RPG-Shooter or a Shooter with RPG elements, either is fine with me, but it is still a shooter and in a shooter player skill should always mean more than a digital dice roll. Again, if the doesn’t actually care about my skill with a mouse and keyboard to handle combat, then why is it putting me in control of combat at all? If my aim doesn’t matter, than don’t humor me with it, just make it a third-person turn based tactical shooter and be done with it. Otherwise, if you’re actually going to let me handle the gun play, then let ME handle the gunplay.

Modifié par jnthn0584, 17 décembre 2013 - 10:15 .

[Shepard Drake Marston]

ME had loads and loads of shooting too, remember, but it was kinda clunky (though I didn't find it quite as bad as some say it was). ME2 improved that element substantially. Did that come at the cost of the RPG elements? Not to any great degree, I'd say. Did this improvement upon ME's combat style, mean ME2 (and later ME3) became like the run of the mill megabucks first person shooter and lacked depth? Not to my mind.

But each to hers/his own. I even liked ME3. So there.

[EliotNesss]

I actually love Grizzly46's idea of doing a definitive anniversary redo of ME trilogy. One that cleans the game up; add all of the DLC, and make it play somewhere between ME 2 and 3 from a gameplay and physics standpoint. That would be canon. That would also be a killer collector's edition that I would buy. And especially for PC if they adjusted it so I could actually chose between using a mouse/KB or controller. They should farm it out to a Company like Saber Interactive, who did Halo CEA. But I would not do this instead of a follow up trilogy. Do both! And for goodness sake, please don't go backwards and do a prequel. That is the only thing I won't buy into. Unless going "Back To The Future" allowed me to actually reshape events in the ME future.
 
For those suggesting more RPG and less FPS; I couldn't not disagree more. I think Bioware got that progression down perfectly. The balance between the two were flawless IMO as the stakes got ratcheted up between the 3 episodes. The Galaxy was at war or always near a state of war. They got the tension between the 2 styles just right to reflect that. Why keep blabbering when its time to fight. And vice versa.

For those still complaining about the endings. I really think you need to let that go. I and many others loved the ending. I had the choice to decide exactly how I wanted it to end based on the way I played all 3 games. For many (based on comments read here and elsewhere), most of the disappointment centered around one's perception of a heroic or "happy" ending based on a non heroic style of play. Or the ending wasn't happy if you died a perceived meaningless death. Both package of feelings suggest that one played the game out of character. Because all along you were shaping the only personality that was unformed. That was Shepard/You. If you played Shepard as a Renegade Badass, who only cared about humans, Him/Her/Self and mercenaries, you got the ending you and the Illusive Man deserved with the Refusal or Destroy options. If you played as a Full or near Paragon, you got the 2 endings that was required with Synthesis or Control. And regardless of how you played, you got to observe all of the end game scenarios.

Modifié par EliotNesss, 18 décembre 2013 - 01:06 .

[X-Master]

EliotNesss wrote...

I actually love Grizzly46's idea of doing a definitive anniversary redo of ME trilogy. One that cleans the game up; add all of the DLC, and make it play somewhere between ME 2 and 3 from a gameplay and physics standpoint. That would be canon. That would also be a killer collector's edition that I would buy. And especially for PC if they adjusted it so I could actually chose between using a mouse/KB or controller. They should farm it out to a Company like Saber Interactive, who did Halo CEA. But I would not do this instead of a follow up trilogy. Do both! And for goodness sake, please don't go backwards and do a prequel. That is the only thing I won't buy into. Unless going "Back To The Future" allowed me to actually reshape events in the ME future.
 
For those suggesting more RPG and less FPS; I couldn't not disagree more. I think Bioware got that progression down perfectly. The balance between the two were flawless IMO as the stakes got ratcheted up between the 3 episodes. The Galaxy was at war or always near a state of war. They got the tension between the 2 styles just right to reflect that. Why keep blabbering when its time to fight. And vice versa.

For those still complaining about the endings. I really think you need to let that go. I and many others loved the ending. I had the choice to decide exactly how I wanted it to end based on the way I played all 3 games. For many (based on comments read here and elsewhere), most of the disappointment centered around one's perception of a heroic or "happy" ending based on a non heroic style of play. Or the ending wasn't happy if you died a perceived meaningless death. Both package of feelings suggest that one played the game out of character. Because all along you were shaping the only personality that was unformed. That was Shepard/You. If you played Shepard as a Renegade Badass, who only cared about humans, Him/Her/Self and mercenaries, you got the ending you and the Illusive Man deserved with the Refusal or Destroy options. If you played as a Full or near Paragon, you got the 2 endings that was required with Synthesis or Control. And regardless of how you played, you got to observe all of the end game scenarios.

Agreed. For me it was a few little niggles here and there such as ME2 needing more variety of guns, ME3 I think got that down pretty well, a good variety of equipment without the palooza of ME1 where the only difference was stats, not so much in aesthetics or even unique functionality like 3 shots only per trigger pull.

As far as the ending goes in ME3, the only thing I was not a big fan of was the shoehorning of the reaper's motivations when the whole concept was undoubtedly there but was mostly in the background of the first two games, at least to my mind anyway.

[Aethgeir]

jnthn0584 wrote...

On a slight side note; I am also really hoping for a more free-form class system. Not like Skyrim, but more in line of a build-from-template system. Like picking an Adept would let pick one from between two or three "core" powers (singularity, biotic orbs, stasis, ect) that are Adept exclusive, but then you can add whatever general biotic powers to that base you want.

The only reason to include "classes" in a game at all is if different classes actually run off of different dynamics. Currently all classes in Mass Effect essentially just run off the same "powers" dynamic, where different classes have one unique power and a few different choices.

What I'd like to see are complete customization of "class", (perhaps starting with a template and offering an "auto-leveling" feature for those who aren't interested in customization) A player should be able to advance their character in whatever way they wish. This would result in some very narrow but very potent specialists, and other less potent but more versatile jack-of-all-trades characters, all depending on the player's play-style.

"Combat" heavy classes would be the simplest, catering to FPS players with advancement tied mostly to improving one's weapons, armour and grenades. Combat "Powers" like "Carnage" or "Concussion" might be unlocked by applying an under-slung RPG launcher to shotguns or assault rifles, while "Adrenalin" might be unlocked by applying a particular mod or component to your armour.

"Tech" heavy classes could be the most versatile with "Tech Applications" that can actually be bought, sold and upgraded, and then uploaded to an Omni-Tool or Combat Drone "pet". This would allow players to equip their character according to the enemies they expect to face and their play-style.

"Biotic" classes could be the most powerful with powers running of a "tree" like progression similar to what they already do, albeit more elaborate.  Biotic powers should have a high degree interaction, allowing the player to set up devastating combos.  They might also draw on a regenerating biotic "pool" (perhaps even the character's "barriers") that could be topped-off with "Juice" power-ups!

Finally, level design should be more like Deus-Ex: Non-linear and reflecting these different dynamics, presenting players with problems that can be solved in several different ways.  For example, a tech character facing a locked door might use an "application" to bypass the lock. A combat heavy character might use a "breach-grenade" to blow open a nearby air-shaft to go around, whereas a Biotic might simply rip the door right out of its frame!

Modifié par Aethgeir, 18 décembre 2013 - 05:40 .

[jnthn0584]

Aethgeir wrote...

jnthn0584 wrote...

On a slight side note; I am also really hoping for a more free-form class system. Not like Skyrim, but more in line of a build-from-template system. Like picking an Adept would let pick one from between two or three "core" powers (singularity, biotic orbs, stasis, ect) that are Adept exclusive, but then you can add whatever general biotic powers to that base you want.

The only reason to include "classes" in a game at all is if different classes actually run off of different dynamics. Currently all classes in Mass Effect essentially just run off the same "powers" dynamic, where different classes have one unique power and a few different choices.

What I'd like to see are complete customization of "class", (perhaps starting with a template and offering an "auto-leveling" feature for those who aren't interested in customization) A player should be able to advance their character in whatever way they wish. This would result in some very narrow but very potent specialists, and other less potent but more versatile jack-of-all-trades characters, all depending on the player's play-style.

"Combat" heavy classes would be the simplest, catering to FPS players with advancement tied mostly to improving one's weapons, armour and grenades. Combat "Powers" like "Carnage" or "Concussion" might be unlocked by applying an under-slung RPG launcher to shotguns or assault rifles, while "Adrenalin" might be unlocked by applying a particular mod or component to your armour.

"Tech" heavy classes could be the most versatile with "Tech Applications" that can actually be bought, sold and upgraded, and then uploaded to an Omni-Tool or Combat Drone "pet". This would allow players to equip their character according to the enemies they expect to face and their play-style.

"Biotic" classes could be the most powerful with powers running of a "tree" like progression similar to what they already do, albeit more elaborate.  Biotic powers should have a high degree interaction, allowing the player to set up devastating combos.  They might also draw on a regenerating biotic "pool" (perhaps even the character's "barriers") that could be topped-off with "Juice" power-ups!

Finally, level design should be more like Deus-Ex: Non-linear and reflecting these different dynamics, presenting players with problems that can be solved in several different ways.  For example, a tech character facing a locked door might use an "application" to bypass the lock. A combat heavy character might use a "breach-grenade" to blow open a nearby air-shaft to go around, whereas a Biotic might simply rip the door right out of its frame!

In a word; cool. But let me build off of that.

 

Each of our three core character types are giving a basic “frame” at the onset  that can be replaced for better models as they progress. These “frames” allow them to “equip” the different powers they buy/find/learn over the core of the game.

Combat specialists would have “tactical harnesses” that allow them “carry” more modified thermal clips and grenades allowing them to “toggle” between different ammo powers or toss grenades or whatever. As the game progresses they can buy/find/craft/be rewarded better harnesses with more “pockets” allowing them to carry more stuff.

Tech specialists would of course obtain and upgrade Omni-Tools onto which they can “install” different power applications, limited by the Omni-Tool’s memory. Upgrading to a better tool means more memory, and thereby the ability to “install” more “applications.”

Biotic specialists would use the new L4 VI assisted implants and upgrade their amps. Like tech specialists they can acquire and “install” new software into the implant, but the number of techniques the VI can assist with is limited by the power of their amp, and as such the amp is what is constantly upgraded to allow them to utilize a wider verity of powers.

Each of these frames has a skill associated with it, and this skill needs to be upgraded as the game progresses in order to allow the use of more advanced frames. So a player could choose to focus only on upgrading their tech skill and be able to equip the most advanced Omni-Tools, but be limited to only the most basic amps and harnesses, thus limiting their ability in those fields. Likewise “skill points” are used to unlock the use of weapon types.

In addition to that players also get additional points to spend on abilities themselves with a branching system. Improving on the core “powers” they have bought or found. For example I might just find or buy a basic Overload program for my Omni-Tool, but then I can spend points to improve that program and make it better. The skill level of combat/tech/biotics could even be used to limit how many upgrades you could take for a given power type. So someone focused heavily on Tech would not only be able to equip more tech powers, they would be able to improve those powers well beyond those a combat specialist may install on his entry level Omni-Tool.

Modifié par jnthn0584, 18 décembre 2013 - 06:29 .

[Shepard Drake Marston]

X-Master wrote...

EliotNesss wrote...

I actually love Grizzly46's idea of doing a definitive anniversary redo of ME trilogy. One that cleans the game up; add all of the DLC, and make it play somewhere between ME 2 and 3 from a gameplay and physics standpoint. That would be canon. That would also be a killer collector's edition that I would buy. And especially for PC if they adjusted it so I could actually chose between using a mouse/KB or controller. They should farm it out to a Company like Saber Interactive, who did Halo CEA. But I would not do this instead of a follow up trilogy. Do both! And for goodness sake, please don't go backwards and do a prequel. That is the only thing I won't buy into. Unless going "Back To The Future" allowed me to actually reshape events in the ME future.
 
For those suggesting more RPG and less FPS; I couldn't not disagree more. I think Bioware got that progression down perfectly. The balance between the two were flawless IMO as the stakes got ratcheted up between the 3 episodes. The Galaxy was at war or always near a state of war. They got the tension between the 2 styles just right to reflect that. Why keep blabbering when its time to fight. And vice versa.

For those still complaining about the endings. I really think you need to let that go. I and many others loved the ending. I had the choice to decide exactly how I wanted it to end based on the way I played all 3 games. For many (based on comments read here and elsewhere), most of the disappointment centered around one's perception of a heroic or "happy" ending based on a non heroic style of play. Or the ending wasn't happy if you died a perceived meaningless death. Both package of feelings suggest that one played the game out of character. Because all along you were shaping the only personality that was unformed. That was Shepard/You. If you played Shepard as a Renegade Badass, who only cared about humans, Him/Her/Self and mercenaries, you got the ending you and the Illusive Man deserved with the Refusal or Destroy options. If you played as a Full or near Paragon, you got the 2 endings that was required with Synthesis or Control. And regardless of how you played, you got to observe all of the end game scenarios.

Agreed. For me it was a few little niggles here and there such as ME2 needing more variety of guns, ME3 I think got that down pretty well, a good variety of equipment without the palooza of ME1 where the only difference was stats, not so much in aesthetics or even unique functionality like 3 shots only per trigger pull.

As far as the ending goes in ME3, the only thing I was not a big fan of was the shoehorning of the reaper's motivations when the whole concept was undoubtedly there but was mostly in the background of the first two games, at least to my mind anyway.

Agreed on pretty much all of this.

[Aethgeir]

jnthn0584 wrote...

Aethgeir wrote...

jnthn0584 wrote...

On a slight side note; I am also really hoping for a more free-form class system. Not like Skyrim, but more in line of a build-from-template system. Like picking an Adept would let pick one from between two or three "core" powers (singularity, biotic orbs, stasis, ect) that are Adept exclusive, but then you can add whatever general biotic powers to that base you want.

The only reason to include "classes" in a game at all is if different classes actually run off of different dynamics. Currently all classes in Mass Effect essentially just run off the same "powers" dynamic, where different classes have one unique power and a few different choices.

What I'd like to see are complete customization of "class", (perhaps starting with a template and offering an "auto-leveling" feature for those who aren't interested in customization) A player should be able to advance their character in whatever way they wish. This would result in some very narrow but very potent specialists, and other less potent but more versatile jack-of-all-trades characters, all depending on the player's play-style.

"Combat" heavy classes would be the simplest, catering to FPS players with advancement tied mostly to improving one's weapons, armour and grenades. Combat "Powers" like "Carnage" or "Concussion" might be unlocked by applying an under-slung RPG launcher to shotguns or assault rifles, while "Adrenalin" might be unlocked by applying a particular mod or component to your armour.

"Tech" heavy classes could be the most versatile with "Tech Applications" that can actually be bought, sold and upgraded, and then uploaded to an Omni-Tool or Combat Drone "pet". This would allow players to equip their character according to the enemies they expect to face and their play-style.

"Biotic" classes could be the most powerful with powers running of a "tree" like progression similar to what they already do, albeit more elaborate.  Biotic powers should have a high degree interaction, allowing the player to set up devastating combos.  They might also draw on a regenerating biotic "pool" (perhaps even the character's "barriers") that could be topped-off with "Juice" power-ups!

Finally, level design should be more like Deus-Ex: Non-linear and reflecting these different dynamics, presenting players with problems that can be solved in several different ways.  For example, a tech character facing a locked door might use an "application" to bypass the lock. A combat heavy character might use a "breach-grenade" to blow open a nearby air-shaft to go around, whereas a Biotic might simply rip the door right out of its frame!

In a word; cool. But let me build off of that.

 

Each of our three core character types are giving a basic “frame” at the onset  that can be replaced for better models as they progress. These “frames” allow them to “equip” the different powers they buy/find/learn over the core of the game.

Combat specialists would have “tactical harnesses” that allow them “carry” more modified thermal clips and grenades allowing them to “toggle” between different ammo powers or toss grenades or whatever. As the game progresses they can buy/find/craft/be rewarded better harnesses with more “pockets” allowing them to carry more stuff.

Tech specialists would of course obtain and upgrade Omni-Tools onto which they can “install” different power applications, limited by the Omni-Tool’s memory. Upgrading to a better tool means more memory, and thereby the ability to “install” more “applications.”

Biotic specialists would use the new L4 VI assisted implants and upgrade their amps. Like tech specialists they can acquire and “install” new software into the implant, but the number of techniques the VI can assist with is limited by the power of their amp, and as such the amp is what is constantly upgraded to allow them to utilize a wider verity of powers.

Each of these frames has a skill associated with it, and this skill needs to be upgraded as the game progresses in order to allow the use of more advanced frames. So a player could choose to focus only on upgrading their tech skill and be able to equip the most advanced Omni-Tools, but be limited to only the most basic amps and harnesses, thus limiting their ability in those fields. Likewise “skill points” are used to unlock the use of weapon types.

In addition to that players also get additional points to spend on abilities themselves with a branching system. Improving on the core “powers” they have bought or found. For example I might just find or buy a basic Overload program for my Omni-Tool, but then I can spend points to improve that program and make it better. The skill level of combat/tech/biotics could even be used to limit how many upgrades you could take for a given power type. So someone focused heavily on Tech would not only be able to equip more tech powers, they would be able to improve those powers well beyond those a combat specialist may install on his entry level Omni-Tool.

Yep! That's pretty much what I was getting at with upgrades and leveling.

All Characters would still have weapons, armor and omni-tools of course, but it would require investment of experience and credits in these areas to actually improve them.  And all omni-tools should offer different "melee options" and start-out with basic utilitarian applications for things like hacking and bypassing, etc. Biotics should also have simple utilitarian applications in-game, like moving heavy objects, fast-run, high-jump, slow-fall and so on.

Tech specialists could ultimate end up choosing between "high-end" Omni-tools/drones that can install more applications for greater versatility, or weaponized omni-tools/drones that hold fewer applications but offer huge bonuses to power or cool down. Imagine having a shotgun-like omin-tool that fires incineration blasts with roughly the same frequency as an actual shotgun! I get nerd-chills just thinking about!

Biotics might have similar options through high-end "amps" or implants. But changing selected powers outside of leveling should require significant investment, like the "operations" available in the Normandy Med-bay in ME3, otherwise biotics become too versatile and imbalanced.

Stealth is another aspect that's easy to build off of without having to add much to the game. Any characters with stealth armour/mod/application could actually be rewarded with optional mission objectives or bonuses for stealth, guile and avoidance over straight up combat.

Dynamics like this could even effect some character interactions in the RPG side of the game. In other words, it's not only the choices the player makes that effect outcomes, but HOW they play the game as well - again, appealing to more action-oriented players while at the same building on, rather than sacrificing, the RPG elements.

What all this means is the game can appeal to the broadest range of play-styles and thus, a larger market  of gamers. And all without having to "dumb-down" any particular aspect of the game.

Modifié par Aethgeir, 19 décembre 2013 - 06:37 .

[jnthn0584]

An interesting idea to be sure, but I would handle its implementation a little bit differently. I’ll try to be brief….

Okay, combat armor, weapons, biotic amps, omni-tools, omni-tool applications, biotic techniques, and combat equipment (such as grenades and the like) are all items that can be found or purchased in the game. Likewise “powers” can be upgraded by finding or purchasing better versions of them (Overload v1.0, Overload v2.0 ect). And you equip these powers in order to use them in combat. But the types, ranks, and number of powers you can equip is limited by your equipment, and that is limited by your skills. And everyone has the same selection divided into three categories.

*Skills include Fitness (raises health and melee damage) and a class based Mastery (raises shields and provides power bonuses).
*Weapon Proficiencies include Heavy Pistols, SMGs, Shotguns, Assault Rifles, and Sniper Rifles.
*Training includes Combat training (provides a passive armor boost and allows the player to equip non-basic Combat Armor), Engineering (provides a passive power recharge bonus and allows the player to equip non-basic Omni-Tools), and Biotic Talent (provides a passive power damage bonus and allows the player to equip Biotic Amps).

As you level you spend points in these different sections. Each item has six ranks with evolving choices at ranks four, five, and six just like in Mass Effect 3. You need proficiency with a given weapon before you can use it, but the bonuses for having higher ranks with a given weapon are all passive or back-end stuff, so you won’t ever be punished for not having a high rank in a given weapon. If you can equip a weapon you can use it competently, but having a high rank provides highly desirable bonuses. I’ll give an example.

Heavy Pistol
Rank 1: Allow use of Heavy Pistols.
Rank 2: reduces pistol recoil.
Rank 3: reduces pistol reload speed.
Rank 4: Choice of increased damage to unshielded foes or increased ammo capacity
Rank 5: choice of increased headshot damage or minor armor penetration
Rank 6: choice of completely eliminating pistol recoil or allowing dual wielding of pistols

Powers are limited by your training, as you need better equipment to use better powers. I could give a fuller example and some lore reasons for this if you like, but for now I’ll keep things short with a concise mechanical example.

Combat Training
Rank 1: Allows use of combat armor, provides 5% damage resistance while wearing armor, and allows use of a single rank one combat equipment type power.
Rank 2: Increases damage resistance to 10%, and allows use of up to two combat equipment type powers of rank two or lower.
Rank 3: Increases damage resistance to 15%, and allows use of up to three combat equipment type powers of rank three or lower.
Rank 4: Choice of providing a damage resistance bonus to light firearms (Pistols and SMGs) or increasing sprint speed. Allows use of up to four combat equipment type powers of rank four or lower.
Rank 5: Choice of providing a damage resistance bonus to heavy firearms (shotguns, Assault Rifles) or increasing melee damage. Allows use of up to five combat equipment type powers of rank five or lower.
Rank 6: Choice of providing a damage resistance bonus to anti-armor weapons (Sniper Rifles, explosives) or increasing weapon damage. Allows use of up to six combat equipment type powers of rank six or lower.

What do you think of this? Out of combat functions based on your build can be sprinkled into this baseline.

Modifié par jnthn0584, 19 décembre 2013 - 08:29 .

[Aethgeir]

jnthn0584 wrote...

An interesting idea to be sure, but I would handle its implementation a little bit differently. I’ll try to be brief….

Okay, combat armor, weapons, biotic amps, omni-tools, omni-tool applications, biotic techniques, and combat equipment (such as grenades and the like) are all items that can be found or purchased in the game. Likewise “powers” can be upgraded by finding or purchasing better versions of them (Overload v1.0, Overload v2.0 ect). And you equip these powers in order to use them in combat. But the types, ranks, and number of powers you can equip is limited by your equipment, and that is limited by your skills. And everyone has the same selection divided into three categories.

*Skills include Fitness (raises health and melee damage) and a class based Mastery (raises shields and provides power bonuses).
*Weapon Proficiencies include Heavy Pistols, SMGs, Shotguns, Assault Rifles, and Sniper Rifles.
*Training includes Combat training (provides a passive armor boost and allows the player to equip non-basic Combat Armor), Engineering (provides a passive power recharge bonus and allows the player to equip non-basic Omni-Tools), and Biotic Talent (provides a passive power damage bonus and allows the player to equip Biotic Amps).

As you level you spend points in these different sections. Each item has six ranks with evolving choices at ranks four, five, and six just like in Mass Effect 3. You need proficiency with a given weapon before you can use it, but the bonuses for having higher ranks with a given weapon are all passive or back-end stuff, so you won’t ever be punished for not having a high rank in a given weapon. If you can equip a weapon you can use it competently, but having a high rank provides highly desirable bonuses. I’ll give an example.

Heavy Pistol
Rank 1: Allow use of Heavy Pistols.
Rank 2: reduces pistol recoil.
Rank 3: reduces pistol reload speed.
Rank 4: Choice of increased damage to unshielded foes or increased ammo capacity
Rank 5: choice of increased headshot damage or minor armor penetration
Rank 6: choice of completely eliminating pistol recoil or allowing dual wielding of pistols

Powers are limited by your training, as you need better equipment to use better powers. I could give a fuller example and some lore reasons for this if you like, but for now I’ll keep things short with a concise mechanical example.

Combat Training
Rank 1: Allows use of combat armor, provides 5% damage resistance while wearing armor, and allows use of a single rank one combat equipment type power.
Rank 2: Increases damage resistance to 10%, and allows use of up to two combat equipment type powers of rank two or lower.
Rank 3: Increases damage resistance to 15%, and allows use of up to three combat equipment type powers of rank three or lower.
Rank 4: Choice of providing a damage resistance bonus to light firearms (Pistols and SMGs) or increasing sprint speed. Allows use of up to four combat equipment type powers of rank four or lower.
Rank 5: Choice of providing a damage resistance bonus to heavy firearms (shotguns, Assault Rifles) or increasing melee damage. Allows use of up to five combat equipment type powers of rank five or lower.
Rank 6: Choice of providing a damage resistance bonus to anti-armor weapons (Sniper Rifles, explosives) or increasing weapon damage. Allows use of up to six combat equipment type powers of rank six or lower.

What do you think of this? Out of combat functions based on your build can be sprinkled into this baseline.

Yes, that's more or less what I'd like to see as far as experience and character progression goes.

While "training" and "weapon proficiencies" all fall under the definition of "skills", every character should have access to ALL skill trees/ladders, at any time.  To actually advance their skills a player would "spend" their character's experience like currency on which ever skills they'd like to improve.  In this system, it's not even really necessary to have actual levels anymore, since characters can spend their experience as soon as they get it.

We needn't limit skill progression to six "ranks" either. Progression could actually be much smoother with particular "benchmarks" or "branches" that offer more choices or abilities. Skills could also have much higher ceilings, with true specialists having huge advantages in a particular skill due to the significant amount of experience they invested in it.

Just to emphasize again though, omni-tool or drone "applications" are gear, whereas "Omni-Tools" and "Drones" are skills required to use them.  This reinforces the broad versatility of Tech specialists as they can focus on improving this small number of skills quickly, gaining the broad versatility that tech skills offer. Or simply gain competence with tech skills, while also maintaining considerable skill with weapons, armour, biotics, etc.

Biotics should remain skills however.  While amps and implants are worthy gear for biotic characters, skill in biotics should come at considerable investment of experience. This reflects the relative rarity of biotics in the Mass Effect universe.  (This would be true even of asari, should BioWare decide to offer different player races - although the player's race may affect their "starting skill set".)

The only other thing I'd suggest, is that "weapon skills" NOT "unlock" weapon types.  Rather, initially selecting a particular "weapon skill" should grant "competence" in that weapon.  "Untrained" use of a weapon should simply make aiming, reloading, etc, more difficult.  But any character should be able to "try out" any weapon the come across.  Otherwise we start getting into locking players out of content and that should never happen.

Additionally, I would bring back "Heavy Weapons".  At this point, "Combat" specialists may need something to balance them out with tech and biotic characters.  Effectiveness with these should come at considerable cost however.

One final note, BioWare should use this exact same character creation/progression system in both multi-player and single player.  None of this slow-unveiling-of-new-"classes"-over-time nonsense!  Players should be able to build whatever kind of character they want right from the get go.  Any new races or "powers" added to multiplayer should likewise become available in single player and vice-versa.  This would allow players to "test" custom character builds - and if they develop something they like, they can go back and use that build in the single player campaign.

It's all about the Player: The most important character in every game!

Modifié par Aethgeir, 20 décembre 2013 - 01:11 .

[Grizzly46]

Aethgeir wrote...
Additionally, I would bring back "Heavy Weapons".  At this point, "Combat" specialists may need something to balance them out with tech and biotic characters.  Effectiveness with these should come at considerable cost however.

I fully agree with you. I prefer the soldier class myself, and heavy weapons is basically the only way that class has something that the others don't.

Aethgeir wrote...
One final note, BioWare should use this exact same character creation/progression system in both multi-player and single player.  None of this slow-unveiling-of-new-"classes"-over-time nonsense!  Players should be able to build whatever kind of character they want right from the get go.  Any new races or "powers" added to multiplayer should likewise become available in single player and vice-versa.  This would allow players to "test" custom character builds - and if they develop something they like, they can go back and use that build in the single player campaign.

It's all about the Player: The most important character in every game!

Fully agree on that too. When it comes to races like volus, I think some might be best left to MP if we are going to have that at all, but when it comes to the different classes? Hell yes.