I've been thinking about ME combat as we knew it, and while I certainly know nothing about where Andromeda's combat is going, I had some thoughts and wanted to share them. Take them for what they are, just grains of salt that mean absolutely nothing. But I have a long way to go until I'll get to play Andromeda, so I decided to fill some of that waiting time with this. 
Snipers:
I think like a lot of you, I enjoyed the Mass Effect games regardless of any ups or downs. I've always loved the idea of sniper style characters, but I also always felt like Mass Effect, throughout the series, hasn't really played well for long - long - distance engagements. Some combat always seemed fairly intimate. I'd love if climbing, finding sniping positions and hit and run tactics were more possible for players that enjoyed this mode of gameplay.
This wouldn't just be a matter of terrain that allowed for this sort of play, but A.I. enemies and companions that could adapt to situations where the player, or enemy A.I. were sniping, without just becoming sitting ducks.
Jumping (and other verticle forms of mobility:
Jumping, levitating, floating Platforms like Seran used, and more, are all examples of verticle mobility. They can't just be implemented in the game as we know it, yes you could hop over barriers in the past, but the levels were made for be navigated with any real verticle abilities. Including verticle mobility isn't about being able to bunny hop everywhere, or levitate out of reach of an enemy, it's about adding complexity to an environment. You don't make the map more complex for such abilities, you make the map more complex to make fights interesting, and add in verticle mobility (and other mobility forms, like the Vanguard Charge) to both players and enemies, to increase the challenge and variety of combat they'll face.
Some of you may remember the wall hopping and climbing Geth from ME1, that we never really saw again, they were a challenging, sometimes annoying, enemy to fight that changed up the game from the standard hide behind a barrier format. Good map complexity (thoughtful complexity, not needless complexity) that thinks of different play styles is key to fighting 'tedium' and bringing real challenge and difficulty to the forefront. Too often we resort to tedium through inflated enemy health pools, and other such tricks, rather than thoughts on how to really change up what a player faces, how a player plans, and the challenge, as well as type of challenge, from moment to moment.
And let's face, what Engineer didn't want a levitating platform like Saren's, or to glide down from a high spot like the powerful Biotics in cutscenes, or just to simply jump over something that wasn't a context sensitive barrier?
Biotics as Firearms:
As much as I'd like to see sniping improved, my instant go to has always been the Adept. ME1. ME2. Me3. Adept. I'd play through again as a Vanguard. The Biotics were an intriguing mode of play I always felt could be enhanced. As your Vanguard evolved over the series, they became less and less reliant on guns. There's nothing wrong with guns, or gunplay, if you want to play in that manner, but what if you don't? What if you wanted to take how your Vanguard fought to the next physical and biotic level? What if you wanted to completely abandon firearms on your Adept?
In a way you could, ME2 tried to make the Adept less reliant on firearms, and ME3 took another step, but what about the Next step for these strong Biotic classes? What about forms of Biotics that replace firearms, serving similar function, for the adept? What about more melee range biotics that replace the need for weapons? We have our big Biotic powers like singularity and mid-range powers like throw, but what about a biotic shotgun blast from your hand that had similar limitations as an actual shotgun for your Vanguard? What if it could be upgraded through a branching tree like other special abilities?
With ME3 we saw Biotic types we'd never seen before, Lash and others, that changed up our view of how Biotics could be used and just what they were. Imagine a Biotic Shock for your Adept that let them abandon a pistol side arm, but was still limited. Not through the typical cooldown system, but through another system. What if in many years between ME3 and Andromeda technologies that let Biotics focus their powers into smaller 'firearm' style powers? They wouldn't really act the same as existing firearms, they'd need their own flavor or it would be boring and you'd ask,"Why does this exist in addition to the weapon it acts just like?" But the idea here wasn't to detail a unique Biotic firearm from the hand, but to give an example within a context we already know to function and be balanced.
Biotics and Tech as Mobility:
Charge introduced us to a new and very fun way to apply Biotics to the battlefield. It felt unqiue and powerful, but still functioned within the existing system. As Andromeda moves forward I'd like to see how we navigate terrain become far more important, and see ways of navigating the world follow suit. Imagine a tech grappling hood to get up to sniper positions, Engineer levitating platforms to command their drones from, Adepts levitating silently down behind the enemy to get a drop on an enemy below or the Vanguard charging across a canyon to punch a tank in the face (well, that sounds like something a Vanguard would do anyways). Obviously every class would need something fun to play with, and these aren't what should actually be in the game, as much as examples to give you an idea of what I'm talking about.
Such things would need to be limited. How long can you levitate? What's different about Biotic Levitation between the levitating Tech platform? Oh, the Platform is slower and can't go as high but has a hardened tech shield, it's as much about defense as mobility, the platform isn't pulling on your personal endurance either. The biotic levitation does pul on your personal endurance, but it's faster, and isn't outright defensive, as it's not meant to take sustained fire, it's about quick verticle movement, that contrasts the charge's even faster horizontal movement.
The Engineer and the Adept:
Sadly in the stats we got from ME the Engineer and the Adept were two of the least played classes. One thought might be to axe them, but, honestly, I'm be sad if they did. The Engineer and the Adept, in a way, have a problem. It's the mode of play the other classes and the game itself are balanced around. In many ways ME3 got closest to solving this issue, but in games like ME2 Engineers and Adepts had issue with the game being balanced for very different classes. ME1 had the opposite issue with Adepts, where it still wasn't very well balanced for Adepts, but it lead to Adepts being very powerful rather than lagging behind as they did in ME2. ME3 definitely found a sweet spot I felt could be used as a launching point.
First of all the Adept, shield stripping and armor stripping . . . these aren't really fun mechanics for an Adept. In ME2 they were downright tedious as an Adept, especially on harder difficulties, but ME3 definitely alleviated many of these issues. In a way the issue is that so much of the Adept's arsenal was about control, and the abilities couldn't see use until you stripped defenses. Two abilities that I recall ignored defenses in ME3, as a way of allowing more use of Biotic ability core mechanics outright. Biotic combos were introduced in ME2 and made even better in ME3 to give the Biotic other mechanics to play with. I think the best solution for keeping biotics viable and fun isn't for them to ignore defenses, but for there to more Biotic abilities that don't hae their CC as their core. Sure, keep the ones that do, they're great fun when you can use their CC portions, but more Biotics that let you play with how you deal with an enemies' initial defenses seems key.
In a way Biotics are space magic, so playing with new forms of Biotics isn't out of the question, we've seen some very strange Biotic abilities (we couldn't use) in the ME series. More itneraction with the environment is also key, ME1 players may remember that Biotics could affect the terrain, sending objects flying slamming them into the enemy, they didn't just work on the enemy. More physics enabled object in the environment, and ways to manipulate them could be a great way to enhance the Adept, and other classes beyond just shooting or biotic blasting the enemy. What if your Bitoic could throw the boulder around your enemy was hiding behind, rather than pulling them from behind it? What if they had biotic swarms that could be directed to fill a pass making enemies choose between enduring defense loss while going through the swarm or being blocked off/having to find a way around. What about creating those bubble biotic shields to help defend your team?
The Engineer has a similar story to the Adept. In ME2 the game was not made with a class like the Engineer, it had trouble stripping certain defenses, and it just didn't feel as well thought out as classes like the Vanguard or Soldier. In The Engineer's case their issues weren't with the control power of their abilities, but with their abilities becoming standard for all classes (hacking) and other fun bits like that. Be it levitating platforms, little mechanic suicide spiders that can be directed to lie in wait on cliffs, behind rocks until it's time to pounce and explode, targeting for orbital lasers or team defense options with shield wall deployments and other mechanics, the Engineer can be made to feel more like the tech specialist they're supposed to be beyond their one drone, AI hacking and a few other little pats on the head.
Upgrades and Mods and Bases:
I'm assuming I'm not alone in liking how abilities could branch or how you could mod weapons. ME3 did it in ways that worked for me, and I'd love to see both expanded upon further with more changes,d eeper branches and even more in depth customization. I assume I'm not the only one that watched the fallout 4 trailer and, whatever I think of Bethesda or Fallout, said, "I'd love weapon and armor customization that went that far, or further" and that extends to the idea of building up settlements out in an alien Galaxy. At the end of the day, stuff like that may not be the focus of Andromeda, and that's fine, but I had to bring it up. Especially the weapon upgrading, because that's really right up the ME alley.
With ME3 we also saw Biotics of non-standard color, mostly Prothean style, and it's obvious Humans could use them. I'd like to see customizations that go into ideas like that. Being able to go into ability upgrades as a biotic that give their biotics an electric or frost visual and effect, or Vanguard biotics having a fiery red visual that cause burning? Let's face it, Vanguard's and fire ammo go hand in hand, what if you didn't even need your gun to set aliens on fire though? Elemental biotic upgrades, deeper ability branching trees for all classes, and so much more are things I hope to see more of.
A small note here :: This is not a demand thread, and it's not a thread for nay saying or shooting down ideas. I've noted some things I'd like to see done with combat in Andromeda, and I hope everyone else here will join in sharing their own hopes in this regard. Please don't derail the thread with arguments over what Bioware can't do, or what isn't possible, if you'd like to see something other than what someone suggests in this thread, just list what you'd like to see in a non-argumentative way. Let's make this a fun thread.
Retour en haut
