8 réponses à ce sujet

[Brass_Buckles]

Rather than have multiplayer be separate and distinct from the main game, although that's fun, I'd like to have the option of setting your main campaign to either singleplayer or multiplayer.  Singleplayer would not require you to connect to EA servers, except to check your DLC.  But multiplayer would work like multiplayer does now--you'd connect, then you could either open to public or invite friends to join you--after which they'd take control of a squadmate or two.  Any unplayed squadmates in the squad would be controlled by AI, while you, the host, would control the main character.  The other players would get to choose which squadmate to control or they could pick at random.  Stats would be pulled from the host's singleplayer game, unless the singleplayer and multiplayer were two different saves (this would depend how the game was developed).

I'd like even better if you could have a richly detailed setting with two or three main protagonists who could do multiplayer together while all feeling important, but... let's face it, who hasn't wished they could invite a friend into their game to be Liara, Garrus, EDI, Kaidain, Vega, etc. for a while?  I think it would add to replayability to be able to jump into the game together like that.  (And it could be very interesting if friendly fire were still possible in higher difficulties.)

[Lockler]

I haven't. Single-player RPG, not Halo co-op RPG-TPS. Would love to not connect to the EA servers on the main menu though. Lovin' that idea. =D

[Brass_Buckles]

See, that way if you only wanted singleplayer you could just not connect to multiplayer. But it would still have to check you for DLC, apparently they are afraid you will steal the DLC--and I understand that. Piracy is a big problem, and game companies are not so huge that they can sustain it indefinitely.

[David7204]

That sounds nice, but there are a few very serious problems that are apparent to me immediately and probably several dozen that aren't.

Primarily, it sounds like the host gets to have all the fun while the 'squadmates' are just flunkeys. The host chooses the missions, holds the conversations, advances the story, makes the choices...are the squadmates suppose to just twiddle their thumbs while the host is having a conversation with an NPC?

Also, there are serious problems with integrating singleplayer and multiplayer in general. You ever notice how few games there are that integrate multiplayer in the single player campaign (particularly PvP multiplayer) despite it being a seemingly rich and obvious opportunity? There's reasons for that.

Modifié par David7204, 25 novembre 2012 - 08:09 .

[Brass_Buckles]

If Bioware has even a modicum of the company it has been in the past still there, they could do it, and make it work. Maybe there could even be dialogue between squad members while the main character spoke with NPCs, to fill the time. Not elevator-style from ME1, but actual "choose A, B, C" dialogue wheels. And also voice chat. Which could be annoying, I'm sure, if you're using voiced dialogue, but to get around that you could have auto-subtitles in multiplayer, with voiceovers automatically disabled. Options would be there to turn subtitles off and voice on, but that default set would make it easier to play the game with friends.

[David7204]

It's not that simple. Some of these features are going to fundamentally reduce quality elsewhere. It's not a question of 'making it work.' It's a question of introducing one feature at the cost of another.

BioWare has already taken a lot of criticism for spending resources on multiplayer, allegedly at the expanse of singleplayer. This would be absolute proof that, yes, that's exactly what they're doing. They're on thin ice for cutting some corners for singleplayer content and having multiplayer affect singleplayer too much as it is. 

Modifié par David7204, 25 novembre 2012 - 08:21 .

[Brass_Buckles]

The problem is they're going to have some multiplayer functionality regardless. EA has standardized it. So yes, resources are going to be funneled into multiplayer. Would you rather have the same shooter we've got that doesn't really fit into the game as it has been for years, or have something that integrates your friends better into the existing game world? I like the current multiplayer, but it's the same thing over and over. It's not as if I can suddenly change sides and be a Reaper. And actually sometimes I'd really rather just play single player, except I have to be connected to Origin no matter which I play, and the ending was so horrible, I might as well just play multiplayer and not have to endure that ending again. It would be more tolerable if I could just ask my friends "Hey would you want to be Liara for a while?"

[David7204]

If it has a substantial negative effect on singleplayer? Yeah, for a game like Mass Effect, I'd rather have crappy multiplayer and outstanding singleplayer then good multiplayer and good-but-not-great singleplayer.

[Brass_Buckles]

Again, it's going to have multiplayer regardless. ME3's quality probably did suffer from adding it. But if you could add multiplayer functionality to enable people to play together within the main campaign, you'd still have to focus on the main campaign most of all, rather than focusing on adding all new content just for the multiplayer section. More manpower would be devoted to the main storyline. So it would probably be beneficial to the single player mode, rather than detrimental. No more maps and characters developed solely for multiplayer, which not everyone even plays. That effort, which is currently funneled into the sub-game multiplayer, could go into improvements to singleplayer, storyline co-op, or even new DLC. Yes, there would be problems, but there are lots of problems with the current multiplayer. And again, EA wants all games to have some form of multiplayer or co-op--it might not happen, in the end, but that's what they want. Which is why, though I'd rather have just a high-quality singleplayer game with no co-op or multiplayer options at all, I would rather they give me the ability to let my friends play my main campaign with me, than tack something new on that doesn't really seem to fit and gets fairly repetitive.