119 réponses à ce sujet

[Sartoz]

There are various ways to add in background into the mechanics

 

Simplest:

You a biologist (or sub category) = damage to organics +10%

A roboticist = damage to machines +10% or salvage from machines +10%

A physicist = effects of (self built and fragile if you don't know what you are doing) weapon mods increased +25%

A planetologist (or sub category) = gathered minerals +10%

A medical doctor = auto replenish 1 medigel per time period or colony growth +10%

A logistic background = Increased inventory space

A finance background = trading gains with aliens +10% 

A military background = damage reduction +10%

 

More complex

Each background has conversation choices linked to it and in abundance rather than just a little side quest (ME2)

 

Most complex (too much effort for too little revenue so this is highly unlikely)

Use down time to actually create new tech through a designer interface, such as

roboticists - better robotic sentries that become available in base defense missions

engineers - mixed mods that combine 2 or more mods

biologists - short live organic warriors that go with you on missions but cannot be recovered on dying (will break the 4 man team ruie)

 

                                                                                             <<<<<<<<<<>>>>>>>>>>

 

I understand what you are saying. But, it's a simple tweak to the resource gathering, scientific discovery or combat "per turn" application of said parameters mechanic. 

 

My first impression, from the original comment(s), that choosing a scientific class would change the game scripting in a significant way. That choice paths, opportunities or events would open and close so that replaying the game with another class would be quite a different game.... as a prior example such as Star Trek vs Starship Troopers.

 

In essence, I believe that the ability to choose a scientist as a profession is equivalent to the Origins stories from DA:O.  The game can probably be tweaked to support this approach but I fear it may be too late. We are about 14mo away before the game gets locked down then made ready to go GOLD.

[xAmilli0n]

Hum.....I would love to be a field Medic !! I know in previous Games we use Medigel..but I wish they nuke it for a proper healing class 

Spoiler

 

[Karlone123]

If the Wild West them plays strongly then may be as a lawman or some sort of frontier patrol.

[shodiswe]

The main character probably needs to have had at least some kind of basic military training. Or security at some Point in their Life.. Or been born into a crazy family situation in some way.... Where they kind of got the military training while growing up....

[Han Shot First]

Can we be more of a rag-tag type of crew? Smugglers? Bounty hunters? Thieves? I think we're just going to be a soldier again but I was hoping to be a rogue this time. You know, something like this;

 

 

 

I'd love that as well. It may not be a good fit for ME:A, but if not I do hope it is something Bioware goes for with the next ME game. That is at least if ME:A is a standalone and not the first game of a duology or a trilogy.

[sjsharp2011]

Yeah I agree @LadyArtifice actually I like the sound of that too. The idea of playing like a Lara Croft/Nathan Draske type protagonist but within the ME universe sounds pretty cool as I would imagine 4you'll be working with a group that has a wide range of skills and knowledge and it would be good if your character had some of that as well. Thar way you can add a little bit of extra ways to the way the character looks as well.

[Quarian Master Race]

I really hope we're not shoe-horned into playing a military grunt. I want a protagonist who can claim to be an intellectual. I know we'd have to be combat trained, but I'd much rather have some other core profession. I'd personally prefer a scientific background. More Star Trek / Stargate, less Starship Troopers.

So military can't claim to be intellectuals? Lots of officers have masters or higher degrees in a variety of subjects, so that's a bit insulting.

 

Hey, Tali got to be the best of the best with a self-defense course.

 

And Liara was just an archeologist.

 

And Garrus was a cop after his conscription.

 

And Wrex was just a Krogan.

Garrus isn't going to just forget his combat training, especially considering he was proficient enough to be recommended for being a Spectre while in the military. Wrex may have not been official military (as if there is anything of the sort for krogan) but he has been fighting for 800+ years, so presumably knows his way around a gun. Tali's said to have received "the best military training in the Fleet" according to a line by Shepard. 

Liara you've a fair point, but her civilian status was representative in not being given any sort of weapon training in ME1 (even pistols). She also seems to be the only squadmate that doesn't use any form of psuedo-military jargon in combat dialouge IIRC, so I think her portrayal was fine.

[Fixers0]

If The protagonist is going to be military then s/he should have te same rank insigina as my avatar.

[Mad Cassidy]

So military can't claim to be intellectuals? Lots of officers have masters or higher degrees in a variety of subjects, so that's a bit insulting.

 

I never said that. I said I hoped we could play something other than a military grunt, with emphasis on the term grunt. Someone who's training and knowledge could extend beyond the perview of the purely military - someone who's not just a shock trooper. Shepard never felt as though she was anything other than a highly decorated combat specialist with good people skills. She could use a gun very well, but it always felt like she was reactive rather than proactive when it came to any given problem. I would rather avoid that kind of thing. And I think it would be a nice change if we weren't required to be a professional soldier this time around.

[Han Shot First]

If The protagonist is going to be military then s/he should have te same rank insigina as my avatar.

 

What rank is that?

 

As far as design it looks like it was based on the real world insignia for a Gunnery Sergeant. (three stripes & two rockers) 

[General TSAR]

 

The main character probably needs to have had at least some kind of basic military training. Or security at some Point in their Life.. Or been born into a crazy family situation in some way.... Where they kind of got the military training while growing up....

Agreed.

 

I'm thinking merchant marine, someone who had to deal with both pirates, mercs, and surviving while stranded on an alien world outside of civilized space. 

 

I'd much rather not be explicitly military in this one. Some sort of scientist or engineer would be very cool, assuming (hopefully) that we're part of a team made up of various council races.

 

I'd like to choose from different backgrounds that determine my profession, personally.

Oh yeah, an Isaac Clarke type. 

[Heimdall]

My impression for the "well-trained, but inexperienced" comments is that we will be military at least to start with.  My hope is that the plot takes us further from the military and closer to falling in with a rag-tag lawless crew

[sjsharp2011]

Well in Liara's case she alwayus had a backup with her Biotics anyway and they served her when she ran into trouble. It was just a case of in M||E1 she was in a situation that was too strong even for her boitics to handle alone. Lucky for her Shepard came along when they didf.

[Medhia_Nox]

I'd rather have an entire team of rookies... expendables sent off-ship to explore viable worlds.

 

Why... would you EVER... send anyone valuable to explore worlds when your civilization structure is as a surplus of zero.  Engineers, programmers, machinists, botanists, chemists... it's not like you can possibly be training new ones right now. 

 

It's like sending Captain Kirk, Picard, whoever down to a planet... what kind of insane organization would allow that?  None in the real world.

 

So I'd rather we be expendables who make ourselves relevant through exploration.

 

When colonizing... nobody ever has sent "the best and brightest" - is has always been "the least needed" first.  The smartest of the least... forged a future of relevancy for themselves.

[Han Shot First]

So military can't claim to be intellectuals? Lots of officers have masters or higher degrees in a variety of subjects, so that's a bit insulting.

 

I think he/she is falling into the old stereotype of people in the military being unintelligent, which has no basis in fact. Officers are all college educated, and as you said, some have advanced degrees. Many others who enlist straight out of high school later go on to college with the Montgomery G.I. Bill or their nation's equivalent.

 

There is a good chance, at least in nations that field a large military, that one or more of your college professors is a veteran.

[In Exile]

This just made me think - What if we weren't the hero in ME:A, but the guy/gal behind-the-scenes doing all the little things while the heroes were running off doing theirs...

Mass Effect: Blue Shift

There would be a riot as big as with the ME3 endings. I get you're being facetious but that's my call.

[Ahriman]

 

 

When colonizing... nobody ever has sent "the best and brightest" - is has always been "the least needed" first.  The smartest of the least... forged a future of relevancy for themselves.

That depends. If it's top-priority-fate-of-the-colony task (and I know Bioware loves these) then such people would have everything colonial government can spare. Yeah they still would expendable, every soldier is expendable by definition, but given possible scarce population they still would be more valuable than any resource or tech.

[Han Shot First]

I'd rather have an entire team of rookies... expendables sent off-ship to explore viable worlds.

 

Why... would you EVER... send anyone valuable to explore worlds when your civilization structure is as a surplus of zero.  Engineers, programmers, machinists, botanists, chemists... it's not like you can possibly be training new ones right now. 

 

It's like sending Captain Kirk, Picard, whoever down to a planet... what kind of insane organization would allow that?  None in the real world.

 

So I'd rather we be expendables who make ourselves relevant through exploration.

 

When colonizing... nobody ever has sent "the best and brightest" - is has always been "the least needed" first.  The smartest of the least... forged a future of relevancy for themselves.

 

The issue there however would be that you'd have someone in command of a ship who is unfit for that role due to their inexperience. Whether the ship is military or civilian, the person in command should be someone who is experienced and has demonstrated enough competence to rise through the organization's hierarchy. To compare it to the typical office...you'd never make the college intern a department head.

 

So while it may not necessarily make sense for the equivalent of Picard or Kirk to always be leading the away team, I think it beats the alternative which would be having the equivalent of the Enterprise commanded by the equivalent of a red shirt Ensign who just graduated from Starfleet Academy. Either way you're going to have some straining of suspension of disbelief, but I think the latter is less believable. 

 

If the protagonist is truly a rookie, he/she shouldn't be in command. 

[Killdren88]

I'm hoping at least one option will be: ass-kicking physicist.

 

 

"Speak softly, and carry a big omni-crowbar."

The only way I'll accept Gordon Freeman in these games is if they get Ross Scott to voice him.

[Medhia_Nox]

@Han Shot First:  I agree - the main protagonist should not be in command. 

 

However, let's not kid ourselves and pretend THAT'S going to happen, what if the ship is just a junker at first?  Sure, he scrounged up enough to get his own ship to travel into the frontier.  It's not like the people who settled the American frontier didn't buy all their own supplies and wagon. 

 

So - let's pretend it is the Ark. The Pathfinder initiative created several junker ships for cheap recon of the system.  You were one (of COURSE you're still going to be the best and brightest rookie there ever was golly gosh gee Bioware!) of the few chosen to lead these junker ships into the frontier of the cluster to scout for viable worlds.  I'd even love you competing with other such crews for acclaim (and I'd love both rivalries AND the ability to totally lose out on rights to colonies, resources, etc. etc with poor decision making).  Then - as you go through the game... since they're always going to be stories about how amazing you are... you build a better ship, your crew goes from green to elite... and you rock the Andromeda as Shepard 2.0 the Second Coming Redux.

[Dean_the_Young]

Garrus isn't going to just forget his combat training, especially considering he was proficient enough to be recommended for being a Spectre while in the military. Wrex may have not been official military (as if there is anything of the sort for krogan) but he has been fighting for 800+ years, so presumably knows his way around a gun. Tali's said to have received "the best military training in the Fleet" according to a line by Shepard. 

Liara you've a fair point, but her civilian status was representative in not being given any sort of weapon training in ME1 (even pistols). She also seems to be the only squadmate that doesn't use any form of psuedo-military jargon in combat dialouge IIRC, so I think her portrayal was fine.

 

I do believe you missed the point even as you tried to counter the argument.

 

Garrus's defining qualification in ME1 isn't an exceptional military service- it's being a paramilitary cop, which is just as viable a qualification for the whole Spectre angle. No one recruits 'Garrus, military veteran/badass conscript'- you go after Garrus because he's a cop, and very good at being a bad one. His military service is far more inferred than elaborated, and never depended upon to justify his competence.

 

Similarly, being 'military' doesn't matter for Wrex. He's Krogan, which gets him the 'veteran' age angle, but more importantly he's mercenary, a sort of fighting distinct and different from a professional military person. Liara didn't need any military training to be powerful and dangerous in other ways. Even Tali was never presented as exceptional in ME1- the whole 'best of the best' angle, training included, was a retroactive justification for ME2's Dirty Dozen theme, but it was never presented as a justification for actually recruiting her in the first place. Tali's qualification in ME1 amounts to 'self-defense class' and quasi-racist-except-it's-true 'mechanical expertise.'

 

 

The point is that ME1 provided relatively thin justifications for characters covering all the basic classes (and knowing their way around guns) without relying on the military canard. These were all characters who were elevated to 'best of the best' tier in ME2 without fundamentally changing their original justifications or origins... and this isn't even touching on all the other non-military badasses Shepherd recruits in ME2 who supposedly outpace the comparitively incompetent militaries we don't recruit from. (See- Miranda, Jack, Kasumi, Grunt, Samara, Thane, Legion) The only actually military people we recruit in ME2 are Jacob and Mordin, and we don't even recruit Mordin because he's a soldier- we get him because he's a scientist.

 

 

ChronoDragoon's desire for non-military personnel is more than reasonable: it's actually the norm in our ME experience. The majority of our companions, people with records or powers rivaling or even surpassing Shepherd in various ways, have not been primarily or even incidentally military. And if companions pal around with military!Shepherd without being remarkably military themselves, there's no need for the next PC to be military either just to be competent.

 

That's the point.

[Dean_the_Young]

The only way I'll accept Gordon Freeman in these games is if they get Ross Scott to voice him.

 

Done.

 

(You'll never notice the difference.)

[Swan Killer]

A Marine Biologist.

[Computron2000]

*snip*

ChronoDragoon's desire for non-military personnel is more than reasonable: it's actually the norm in our ME experience. The majority of our companions, people with records or powers rivaling or even surpassing Shepherd in various ways, have not been primarily or even incidentally military. And if companions pal around with military!Shepherd without being remarkably military themselves, there's no need for the next PC to be military either just to be competent.

 

That's the point.

 

One problem is that the aliens are remarkably long lived (Samara, Wrex both of which lives actually involve combat as well) and some of them are actually spec ops style (Thane, Mordin), "naturally endowed" (Jack, Miranda), trained in the womb (Grunt) or matrix style learning (Legion).

 

The ones that go against the flow are Garrus, Kasumi, Tali and Liara. Garrus is pretty much paramilitary while Kasumi's combat is as her profession dictates, closer to how Thane does things in the FMVs. Which reminds me of how the gap between them performing in FMVs and game combat was ridiculously large (Jack particularly).

 

Liara was over a hundred and had practice from young with her biotics. Tali's entire combat training was rather a joke but to be fair, she was really weak in combat if you selected her for your teammate and left it to the AI

 

You're right in that there's no need for a military link as simply being an scientist studying in an environment with hostile fauna for a few years and you get combat and survival training through simple practical experience but for everyone except Tali, their ability to fight was sufficiently supported through their background.

[Absafraginlootly]

There are various ways to add in background into the mechanics

 

Simplest:

You a biologist (or sub category) = damage to organics +10%

A roboticist = damage to machines +10% or salvage from machines +10%

A physicist = effects of (self built and fragile if you don't know what you are doing) weapon mods increased +25%

A planetologist (or sub category) = gathered minerals +10%

A medical doctor = auto replenish 1 medigel per time period or colony growth +10%

A logistic background = Increased inventory space

A finance background = trading gains with aliens +10% 

A military background = damage reduction +10%

 

More complex

Each background has conversation choices linked to it and in abundance rather than just a little side quest (ME2)

 

Most complex (too much effort for too little revenue so this is highly unlikely)

Use down time to actually create new tech through a designer interface, such as

roboticists - better robotic sentries that become available in base defense missions

engineers - mixed mods that combine 2 or more mods

biologists - short live organic warriors that go with you on missions but cannot be recovered on dying (will break the 4 man team ruie)

 

Something like how knowledge perks gave you more dialogue/choice options in DAI, only way more of them and based on your background/job/service record would be great. And not leave me worrying about which bonus is best since its purely a story decision.