188 réponses à ce sujet

[SolNebula]

I'm really enjoying the open-world aspect of DAI. I hope my favorite BW franchise will follow the path of DA:I in this regard. Exploration and open world were something I was missing since ME1. It just great to give me a break between one main quest and the other and everything you do in the open world is still connected with strenghtening the Inquisition so you don't actually feel like you are wasting time. It is a great formula which I'm really looking forward to see also in ME.

[heinoMK2]

I haven't bought DA:I and probably won't. Partly because it inherited some of the issues with open world games like Skyrim: everything else has to suffer enormously just to let the devs create a pretty yet lifeless world.
Look at DA:I classes - how many skills are there to use? Is the gameplay in any way more than just 1-2-3-do-it-again? From what i've seen in the gameplay streams it looked pretty boring which for me is gamebreaking(ie i cringe nowadays, just thinking aboutl Skyrim gameplay). The strory and characters seemed okay, but the gameplay was very very shallow. Party/group tactics almost absent, too, way worse than even in any of ME games. The random enemies seemed indeed random, liefeless and just copy&pasted throughout the maps.

While i enjoyed the open world aspect of Skyrim enormously back then, I just hope that whatever the Bioware devs do with the new ME, they won't sacrifice other parts for the ability to freely wander around.

[Vazgen]

I haven't bought DA:I and probably won't. Partly because it inherited some of the issues with open world games like Skyrim: everything else has to suffer enormously just to let the devs create a pretty yet lifeless world.
Look at DA:I classes - how many skills are there to use? Is the gameplay in any way more than just 1-2-3-do-it-again? From what i've seen in the gameplay streams it looked pretty boring which for me is gamebreaking(ie i cringe nowadays, just thinking aboutl Skyrim gameplay). The strory and characters seemed okay, but the gameplay was very very shallow. Party/group tactics almost absent, too, way worse than even in any of ME games. The random enemies seemed indeed random, liefeless and just copy&pasted throughout the maps.

While i enjoyed the open world aspect of Skyrim enormously back then, I just hope that whatever the Bioware devs do with the new ME, they won't sacrifice other parts for the ability to freely wander around.

Skyrim combat is actually more diverse than what've seen from DA:I. For example, archery can be complemented with other skills like Alchemy, Enchanting, powers etc. Archery combat I've seen in DA:I is only limited to using different powers in succession

[TruthSerum]

I haven't bought DA:I and probably won't. Partly because it inherited some of the issues with open world games like Skyrim: everything else has to suffer enormously just to let the devs create a pretty yet lifeless world.
Look at DA:I classes - how many skills are there to use? Is the gameplay in any way more than just 1-2-3-do-it-again? From what i've seen in the gameplay streams it looked pretty boring which for me is gamebreaking(ie i cringe nowadays, just thinking aboutl Skyrim gameplay). The strory and characters seemed okay, but the gameplay was very very shallow. Party/group tactics almost absent, too, way worse than even in any of ME games. The random enemies seemed indeed random, liefeless and just copy&pasted throughout the maps.

While i enjoyed the open world aspect of Skyrim enormously back then, I just hope that whatever the Bioware devs do with the new ME, they won't sacrifice other parts for the ability to freely wander around.

This this this a thousand times this.

Straight linear gameplay is confining and outdated and open world kills gameplay depth.

Multiple branching interlocking hubs is where its at.

[PunMaster]

Open world is pretty effort intensive, is open world in MENext occurring on one world, or multiple worlds? I'd love 5+ big open worlds, but considering most games get out 1, it'll be interesting to see how this is pulled off.

[B.Shep]

Not every planet will be a garden world, i guess wastelands (deserts, frozen or vulcanic worlds) will be more easy to build since there will be no animals, plants or  much people around (apart from a few instalations or domed cities).

 

That being said, they already showed a new race homeworld in one of the artworks. So i am also curious to see how pretty and how big that planet will be.

[Mcfly616]

Idk....it would have to be a lot more "open" for Mass Effect. DA's world is not vast enough for what an open world sci fi game would deserve (imo).  Considering the focus on mako exploration, I'm hoping they've already come to that realization. 

[Element Zero]

In light of my DAI burnout, my first thought upon reading the thread title was "please no!". Then, I considered how much I enjoy the mechanics of ME3 compared to any DA Game. Driving the next generation of the Mako through huge alien worlds, occasionally blasting threats with guns, bionics or tech? Yes, please.

DAI doesn't have the gameplay to prevent its open world from becoming monotonous, in my opinion, and it killed the game for me. ME3, on the other hand, has very enjoyable mechanics. I think an open world Mass Effect is going to be amazing. Huge games shouldn't be huge for the sake of size, though. DAI often feels hollow and pointless, turning the game into a monotonous grind. The ME team should bear this in mind.

[ImaginaryMatter]

Idk....it would have to be a lot more "open" for Mass Effect. DA's world is not vast enough for what an open world sci fi game would deserve (imo).  Considering the focus on mako exploration, I'm hoping they've already come to that realization. 

 

They might look into procedurally generated content, like in No Man's Sky, although probably not to that great of an extant (it's not the first game to do so but it's the closest I can think of).

[Booth]

I doubt that Bioware can manage to create an "open world" game with great storytelling that I would really like. I doubt that ANY game developer can do. Only one of the "open world" games so far was a great experience for me, but only because it was partly "open" and although the storytelling was not that great: Gothic 2 (including the addon). One clue why open world did work in that game for me was "chapters" in addition with some regions you could not get to if you were to weak.

 

I played Morrowind, Oblivion, Fallout 3, New Vegas and some other "open world" stuff - played some MMOs like Star Wars Galaxies, The Old Republic and Lord of the Rings. In almost every open world game, most NPCs did not create deeper interest in me (and "interest" does not even mean emotional connection) and most sidequests felt very uninteresting for me. Most time in that games I felt like a vagabond who does not want to come to close to any part in the world. In reality I am not a vagabond and in no dreams of mine I like to be a vagabond. Its just nothing for me. Beside of that feeling also the main quest in those games was for LOTS of hours almost invisible.

 

In Gothic 2 the main world was so little, that you had to go several times to the same locations with the same NPC. Also in every new chapter there was a noticable change of that main locations so the NPC had newer quests and stuff to talk about. So it was rather important for me that the game was NOT very large. Strange is I did not bother that most NPCs have a rather simple personality - that did not really led to a negativ feeling, although storytelling was also on a simple level. I think the reason was, that some very special game mechanics made so much fun in addition to that location-chapter-stuff, I already explained. Especially the rude german language was really well done and gave the game a very unique feeling. But I should get back to ME

 

The reason why Mass Effect, especially part 2 and 3, are the most emotional game experiences I ever had, is the companions. The personalities of all the crew members are just great. They all have their own character which I have to face in most of the conversations. And then Bioware managed in Mass Effect 2 to create for EVERY of you companions own side quests (which somehow are part of the main quest, too - you know what I mean). So the only way, I see, that a game can be "open world" and also give me emotional connection by good companions is the following: Make most of the locations in the "open world" a location where one or maybe a few of your companions are somehow connected to. First that would let you give an initial reason why "strangers" would talk to you and give you quests. Because they are not strangers for one of your companions. And also those locations could have a quest-line for the companions to get to know them better and their background, too. And if you really want to give the feeling of familiarity with some locations make them available more than one time and let that locations evolve somehow. Thats why I liked the "Omega-DLC" very much. It was a familiar location in a very different situation.

 

In my opinion I hope Bioware will NOT put to much random-quests with no meaning in the "open world". For me its just a big issue that destroys my emotional connection to the world. I dont want to get the feeling of "gambling" around. I want the opposite: Have very precise reasons WHY I am WHERE I am. To give the player some choice in which order we can visit the locations is OK. But I want for EVERY bigger Location a deeper story part... and I would love to see that all these locations are also connected to my companions. To use the Companions as the emotional link between me and the world should be the best solution... at least FOR ME

 

Ah - and please dont let the mako driving to become a bad climb experience. And also dont put rather large locations there like in ME1 where only some MiniGame-POIs can be found (beside the one "dungeon" that can be found that also where rather boring because only 3 or 4 different dungeon-architectures existed in the game and the story background for most of those dungeons was very poor).

 

But... if such an approach makes to much problems within programming or whatever I rather prefer to get a linear game with bigger emotions and well created companions than an "open world" which does not fullfill that concern.

 

Regards

[Lvl20DM]

DAI isn't truly open world, but it does give you plenty of room to explore. I think that will be the approach of ME4.

I also suspect that the "zones" will be much larger than DAI, but emptier. This will be offset by the Mako. You can do some interesting things with scale at that point.

[Mcfly616]

 

They might look into procedurally generated content, like in No Man's Sky, although probably not to that great of an extant (it's not the first game to do so but it's the closest I can think of).

 Though I can't wait for No Man's Sky, that's not really what I'm thinking for the next Mass Effect. From what I've seen of DA:I, it almost seems like the game world is broken up into separate sandboxes and linked together by 1 or 2 linear paths. If I want to go to another area, I would have to traverse through this linear area before it opens up again. 

 

 

That absolutely should not be the case with the next Mass Effect. Each planet should be open, and if I want get to the other side of the map, I should be able to set out in any direction to do that. I shouldn't be herded there like cattle. If I want to go through a canyon, or drive the Mako over a mountain or through a lake, I should be able to do that.

[Element Zero]

I hope ME finds a better balance between story and size than did DAI.

The world was much larger in DAI than in previous games in the series, but the story was not woven through this expanded world. Neither did the world feel alive. If I ever manage to replay DAI, I will likely skip several of those sprawling areas that contributed nothing to the story, and only a few XP to my character.

BioWare excels at writing characters, and I think most of us play their games for those character interactions. I feel DAI failed to fill those long hours of ultimately fruitless exploration with enough story and character interaction.

I want the next ME to recapture that feeling of entering the next great frontier, and I think it will. More important to me, though, is that it still fill my hours of play with meaningful plot and memorable character interaction. I don't want to simply see new worlds and discover lost secrets, I want to do so with a talkative, engaged crew; and I want many of my discoveries to have some plot relevance and impact.

Creating an "open world" sci-fi epic that maintains or improves all the character and mechanical strengths of the previous games is a lofty goal. I hope they do a good job of reaching it. I think it can be done. I just don't know how clear their vision was when development began, and how many great ideas they will have the time and resources to implement.

[Bizantura]

My worries lie not in open world vs story driven world.  It is however in the characters/protagonist arch.  The ME series did this well and I could connect with all the characters ingame.  They did bonding so well that in my opinion it was responsible for the initially ending blowback on that grand scale with revision ending as result.

 

DAO had good characters too but since DA2 it is in steep decline.  DA2 might be the first in the series that was fully voiced but so what!  Let any Shepard talk and I recognise both voices instantly, it is like talking to an old friend.  I wouldn't recognise the protagonist voices of DA2, I dont remember his/her name come to think of it even after playing DA2 several times.

 

That bonding problem is again predominant in DAI.  That Sera thing being the ice on the cake.  I simply don't even understand that thing they created, I have a hard time calling it even human.  It does not matter how fibrant and cool the open world is, not even the overarching decent story can keep DAI together if the protagonist/characters are bland and not so interesting or blunt putting completely unbearable.

 

Bioware relies on the magic of you the player and your party and in DA case it is dwindling fast.  As a PC player that irks me more then the lesser control system or other minor/major bugs in the game.

 

So I am desperately hoping the ME series keep the magic of the new protagonist + party on par like it was with Shepard and co those created characters became family.

[Catastrophy]

No platformy levels! No ladders!

Multiple ways to reach a summit!

Roadkill enabled!

Heabutts need to come back!

Blue Space Babes dancing in bars to cool music!

Singularity needs to be in!

0-g combat!

Quarian finally de-masked! (For real this time!!!)

ME3 combat mechanics need to be basis for gameplay!

[Calders]

After playing DAI I am deeply sceptical that an open world game can deliver a good story, simply because of the problem of allowing the player to go to areas out of sequence to any story.  The Open world areas of DAI had very poor story telling whilst the main story quest where mostly linear game play.  

[Linkenski]

It can work though. DA:I had a lot of potential, but the world was not only too big but it was rarely used for the main story... I mean, all they had to do was make certain quests in the main plot fit into the open areas whenever there was no "rush" or illusion of time-pressure in the quest. Then we could go talk to people and solve things through dialogue. I liked how you had to meet Blackwall and Bull out in the wilds and how going to Redcliffe village was part of the Mages questline. I just wanted more of that because it worked well.

 

In Mass Effect I think I'll be less pessimistic about big open areas though, when the sense of discovery is likely bigger from not being set in a cliche medival setting like Dragon Age, but space which we haven't seen many open-world games in. Even if the quests are lame I think just enjoying the sights will be that much more satisfying.

 

I know with a game like Destiny for instance that a big plus for that game was its sci-fi setting. Neither main mission had any interesting objective or memorable moment but the pure joy of exploring those, quite big, sci-fi areas was enough to keep me entertain for many hours to be completely honest.

[L. Han]

We have way too many open world games now. The market is getting saturated with this nonsense. Provide a proper story instead of some sandbox without any proper direction.

[goishen]

That's kind'a the thing that I'm seeing.  Saw it wayyyy back when open worlds were first invented. 

 

Then, just about every 5 years or so, the developers get too big for their britches and make one too many games that are open world and have no sense of direction.  *AC*cough*WD*cough*Skyrim*cough*

[Nitrocuban]

Yeah, right now open world is TEH THING and everyone and his mom is doing open world.

By the time ME4 finally is released the trend might be over and players are just like "meh, not again". Bioware should really focus on what they are best at: strong story, character interaction and hooters.

[TruthSerum]

For myself the combat needs to be spot on so I hope it stays as close to ME3 as possible. For me the core gameplay is what's most important and everything builds off of that.

I dont care if its the most beautiful game in the world with a platoon of great characters, if the core gameplay isn't there it all means nothing to me and I will stop playing because the core gameplay/combat isn't fun.

That's not to say that characters and story aren't incredibly important because without that there is no reason to keep going. (ahem...Destiny)

Also don't dumb down the skill trees if anything expand them because its far better to have different classes that play differently then have all classes play the same.

Oh and totally open worlds are overrated and dull. The game shouldn't be completely linear but a GTA/DAI style open world is a big fail for me.

Make a couple of big interesting hubs with medium sized semi open story/mission/objective based areas off of that....and make a LOT of them. Don't hold them back and save them for DLC. Also make those semi open areas have hidden areas inside them. Not just a desk or a room with an item behind them but actual hidden cool looking areas that make you go HOLY $HIT! i cant believe I missed this the last time I was here....and whatever you do don't make a hidden atea without worthwhile loot in it.

[Han Shot First]

I'm not sure open world would be a good fit for Mass Effect to be honest.

 

The series becoming more like Skyrim would be disappointing. Also I'm not entirely sold on Bioware's foray into open world with DA:I. As much as I loved the game, I do think the complaints that the story seems to get drowned a bit in the vast amount of time you spend exploring or doing side quests (many of which feel MMOish) do have some merit. Also you spent the majority of your time in DA:I running around in the wilderness. I'm not sure I'd want to sacrifice the Citadel (or its equivalent hub, if set elsewhere) just for the sake of having a fully explorable asteroid or seemingly endless stretches of Martian desert.

 

If it's going to feel just like DA:I, I'd rather ME:Next *not* go open world. 

[tehturian]

We have way too many open world games now. The market is getting saturated with this nonsense. Provide a proper story instead of some sandbox without any proper direction.

Here here. I'll take my corridors thank you very much. 

[Mcfly616]

Too bad....

[Element Zero]

My two biggest worries with the game are "open world like DAI", of which I am not a fan, and a failure to uphold and build upon the great ME lore thus far established. I think ME can better support an interesting open world than DA, but it still worries me.

The good news is that they still have plenty of time to incorporate the feedback received from DAI. We who felt DAI was too empty, lifeless, stretched thin, or whatnot are not an insignificant minority. I'm sure they are seeing these criticisms mixed in with the praise. I'm hoping Mass Effect is a better game for the experience and lessons of DAI.