16 réponses à ce sujet

[Dunmer of Redoran]

I like being a human but being a human in a video game isn't always the most exciting thing when you've got four-eyed terrorists, lizard people, big fat turtles, crazy blue ladies, crab-eagles and little fat thingamajigs in pressure suits. Also humans aren't portrayed as being able to do everything imaginable. They can't read faces like a Batarian, regen lost limbs like a Krogan or Vorcha, use biotics like an Asari or get stuck in doors like an Elcor.

Don't know if they're interested in staying dialogue-heavy, but if they're not, could variety with playable races really hurt anything?

[David7204]

Yes, it could hurt a great deal of things.

[PwnedDuck]

DaftArbiter wrote...

I like being a human but being a human in a video game isn't always the most exciting thing when you've got four-eyed terrorists, lizard people, big fat turtles, crazy blue ladies, crab-eagles and little fat thingamajigs in pressure suits. Also humans aren't portrayed as being able to do everything imaginable. They can't read faces like a Batarian, regen lost limbs like a Krogan or Vorcha, use biotics like an Asari or get stuck in doors like an Elcor.

Don't know if they're interested in staying dialogue-heavy, but if they're not, could variety with playable races really hurt anything?

If I wanted to play TES, I would play it. I like mass effect specifically because it is not TES, because it has interesting characters and dialougue.

[Trentest0]

Mass Elcor Stuck-indoors Simulator 2014?

Count me in.

[Dunmer of Redoran]

PwnedDuck wrote...

DaftArbiter wrote...

I like being a human but being a human in a video game isn't always the most exciting thing when you've got four-eyed terrorists, lizard people, big fat turtles, crazy blue ladies, crab-eagles and little fat thingamajigs in pressure suits. Also humans aren't portrayed as being able to do everything imaginable. They can't read faces like a Batarian, regen lost limbs like a Krogan or Vorcha, use biotics like an Asari or get stuck in doors like an Elcor.

Don't know if they're interested in staying dialogue-heavy, but if they're not, could variety with playable races really hurt anything?

If I wanted to play TES, I would play it. I like mass effect specifically because it is not TES, because it has interesting characters and dialougue.

The Naked Courier isn't interesting to you?


But in all seriousness, I guess this thread boils down to another question: would it be possible to have a non-human as the lead and expect to still sell copies? Are people okay with playing as someone that's not a human but has humanoid emotions and mannerisms?

[David7204]

It really has very little to do with whether players will play as a human or not.

[Triforce Hermit]

No, just wouldn't work in ME for a number of reasons. If we were forced to play as a Turian, I'd be all for it. But freedom to chose a race isn't a good idea.

[JamesFaith]

DaftArbiter wrote...
But in all seriousness, I guess this thread boils down to another question: would it be possible to have a non-human as the lead and expect to still sell copies? Are people okay with playing as someone that's not a human but has humanoid emotions and mannerisms?

There are basically two main problems.

1 alien main character would in complain why this f.e. asari and not batarian, turian and so on. After three games races have their own fans same as individual characters.

More then 1 alien option - too much voicework, because practically only human and asari have same voices. Batarian, krogans or drells have a little altered voices. Quarians have dialects. Salarians speak extra fast. Turians speak little slowler.   

[Iakus]

Does playing a nonhuman in TES really make any difference story-wise? I always thought the only differences were some skill/stat adjustments and a different avatar for the player.

[Zehealingman]

iakus wrote...

Does playing a nonhuman in TES really make any difference story-wise? I always thought the only differences were some skill/stat adjustments and a different avatar for the player.

*shrug* The only thing I can think of is some changed dialog.

[aznjoez]

iakus wrote...

Does playing a nonhuman in TES really make any difference story-wise? I always thought the only differences were some skill/stat adjustments and a different avatar for the player.

It doesn't in TES but say if we had the same race decesions in ME1-ME3 than it wouldn't work because of how they made the story revolve around "shepard" an alliance soldier, etc. But in TES your person never physically talked. All of the dialogue by your person was just text. I guess to avoid having to do several versions of all the dialogue.

The only way the TES system of races will work  is if they spend a significant amount of extra time doing dialogue and remove any of the back story of the hero in the game that limits the race such as the hero being an alliance human soldier in ME1 thru 3.

The other alternative would be having your person never physically talk like in TES.

I would like to play multple races in the next ME.

[Han Shot First]

The problem with giving the player the ability to choose any species at startup, is that it automatically means you won't have a voiced protagonist. Many of the species in Mass Effect don't sound anything alike. It would be far too expensive and impractical to have multiple actors voicing every possible line of dialogue from a protagonist who be any sex and come from a multitude of species. There would also be far too many potential back stories to account for, that it by default would mean that the character's back story would not be mentioned.

The last thing I'd ever want to see is Mass Effect turned into an Elder Scrolls clone. Blank slate characters with no personality just aren't my thing, and when it comes to RPGs I tend to prefer ones where the focus is on the characters that populate the game world rather than the game world itself.

Either the next Mass Effect game should stick with a human protagonist, or alternatively it could go with very limited alien options. For example a male character would be a Turian while a female character would be an Asari. Limited alien options would only require two voice actors (male and female) just like a human protagonist, and would not strain resources to the breaking point. They could also still retain a canon backstory that is mentioned in the game.

[Ledgend1221]

Multiple Human re-skins?
Sounds great!

[Iakus]

aznjoez wrote...

iakus wrote...

Does playing a nonhuman in TES really make any difference story-wise? I always thought the only differences were some skill/stat adjustments and a different avatar for the player.

It doesn't in TES but say if we had the same race decesions in ME1-ME3 than it wouldn't work because of how they made the story revolve around "shepard" an alliance soldier, etc. But in TES your person never physically talked. All of the dialogue by your person was just text. I guess to avoid having to do several versions of all the dialogue.

The only way the TES system of races will work  is if they spend a significant amount of extra time doing dialogue and remove any of the back story of the hero in the game that limits the race such as the hero being an alliance human soldier in ME1 thru 3.

The other alternative would be having your person never physically talk like in TES.

I would like to play multple races in the next ME.

So it sounds like I really wouldn't care for TES version of multiple races.  Sounds like a waste if it doesn't actually mean anything.

Now if it actually played into your character's backstory, like in DAO, or how people react to you, dialogue options, quest outcomes and such, then it might be worth it.

But if it just amounted to "Look at me, I'm an asari!  See, I have blue skin and calamari hair!" no thanks.

[gisle]

TES' race choice is purely cosmetic (stats too, but that's not what ME is about), really, and affects next to nothing. I'd prefer a human-only protagonist myself, but not affiliated with Cerberus or the Alliance, so that there could be more roles filled by alien characters.

Modifié par Gisle-Aune, 21 juillet 2013 - 05:40 .

[Dunmer of Redoran]

JamesFaith wrote...

DaftArbiter wrote...
But in all seriousness, I guess this thread boils down to another question: would it be possible to have a non-human as the lead and expect to still sell copies? Are people okay with playing as someone that's not a human but has humanoid emotions and mannerisms?

There are basically two main problems.

1 alien main character would in complain why this f.e. asari and not batarian, turian and so on. After three games races have their own fans same as individual characters.

More then 1 alien option - too much voicework, because practically only human and asari have same voices. Batarian, krogans or drells have a little altered voices. Quarians have dialects. Salarians speak extra fast. Turians speak little slowler.   

Couldn't most of that be covered with voice editing software however? A bit simplistic, maybe, but a "neutral" voice (one for each sex) could be changed accordingly to accommodate the differences.

[MrFob]

DaftArbiter wrote...
Don't know if they're interested in staying dialogue-heavy, but if they're not, could variety with playable races really hurt anything?

I'd like them to stay dialogue-heavy. It's one of the main strength of the ME games, IMO. And since the two feature are kind of mutually exclusive, I am happy with being restricted to one race (not necessarily human but as you said, forcing the player to be non-human in an ME game will probably hurt sales so I don't expect that).