190 réponses à ce sujet

[prosthetic soul]

The only questions Bioware needs to ask in deciding alien designs is: Are they sexy enough?  And could humans get it on with them within physiological reason? 

 

No one cares if it's too fetishy either Gaider.  MAKE IT SO REGARDLESS.  >_>

[SardaukarElite]

Given that we haven't met any aliens and all we really know is that humans are amazing by Earth standards I feel lots of humanoid aliens isn't unrealistic. Being humanoid has a lot going for it whereas asking people to design practical non-humanoid designs will probably result in a lot of things which probably wouldn't actually be as good as being humanoid.

 

I'm more bothered by how aliens just magically speak English. 

[Kabooooom]

Given that we haven't met any aliens and all we really know is that humans are amazing by Earth standards I feel lots of humanoid aliens isn't unrealistic. Being humanoid has a lot going for it whereas asking people to design practical non-humanoid designs will probably result in a lot of things which probably wouldn't actually be as good as being humanoid.

I'm more bothered by how aliens just magically speak English.

Thankfully, in reality, I suspect evolution is much more imaginative than that and the universe isn't that boring.

But for Mass Effect, humanoid body types for aliens work for gameplay purposes.

You do raise a relevant point though. On Earth, there are a handful of species that greatly overlap humans in intelligence (and potentially pass a benchmark for sapience depending on how one defines it) - the rest of the great apes, cetaceans, elephants, cephalopods, and various avian species. Of these, only the apes and elephants possess the ability to manipulate their environment to a great degree. The others exhibit tool use, but manipulate the tools clumsily. A major relevant requirement of an intelligent and advanced alien race would be the ability to manipulate the environment with ease - otherwise, none of the technological achievements that we see around us today is possible.

Bipedalism offers one means to do that. Undoubtedly, there are many others. But, obviously our anatomy is evolutionarily successful on Earth (at least in the short term).

[ZipZap2000]

Given that we haven't met any aliens and all we really know is that humans are amazing by Earth standards I feel lots of humanoid aliens isn't unrealistic. Being humanoid has a lot going for it whereas asking people to design practical non-humanoid designs will probably result in a lot of things which probably wouldn't actually be as good as being humanoid.

I'm more bothered by how aliens just magically speak English.

I'm more amazed by Quarians accents.

[SardaukarElite]

Thankfully, in reality, I suspect evolution is much more imaginative than that and the universe isn't that boring.

 

To be clear I mean that if the choice is between a regular humanoid alien and something someone just made up the humanoid one is likely more realistic in that we know that design works - assuming it still has thumbs I guess.

 

That said, taking disturbingly intelligent Earth creatures (ravens, cuttlefish) and making them capable of fine tool use might be a decent way of making alternate designs. 

[AresKeith]

Given that we haven't met any aliens and all we really know is that humans are amazing by Earth standards I feel lots of humanoid aliens isn't unrealistic. Being humanoid has a lot going for it whereas asking people to design practical non-humanoid designs will probably result in a lot of things which probably wouldn't actually be as good as being humanoid.

I'm more bothered by how aliens just magically speak English.

I thought it was stated that it's a universal translator via omni-tool

[SardaukarElite]

I thought it was stated that it's a universal translator via omni-tool

 

That is the excuse given I believe, yes. 

[Mechler]

Well I don't mind if we get a few fanservice alien races. In fact it would be preferrable to have multiple ones to make sure that we majority of fan service does not focus on one unfortunate race (like the twileks and the asari). Maybe we can throw the furries a bone this time.

 

Sure most of the races are very humanoid, but I think the Mass Effect universe is still among the more diverse ones with the Elcor, the Hanar, the Geth, the Keepers, the Rachni. the Reapers and the Volus. That's still a pretty high number considering how many alien races we encountered.

 

What I hope is that the new races will be different enough and not simply Green asari, short salarian or something like that. If it's just one change away from and old race it is not new. Make the new asari a species of yellow aquatic race with no tentacles. Turn the Geth into plant people with fully organic technology (yes I know one change, but a pretty big one). Give a race multiple heads and/or tails. And let them evolve some wings. In our galaxy only the collectors have wings.

[ELMIKE2K10]

That is the excuse given I believe, yes. 

It makes since in a Mass Effect Universe set in the future, that with the available technology, there is a universal translator via the omni-tool so all the species could better communicate with one another.

[Armass81]

I believe the new races will mostly follow the humanoid pattern, since its the easiest to model and animate.

 

As for their appearance, your guess is as good as mine. Some Artists in deviant art give some range of possibilities. Kinda expecting something along these lines:

[MGW7]

The problem is the animation rigging does not like weird designs,

 

The Yahg, which is mostly humanoid, required them to make an entirely new animation rig from scratch to make his face work, because it could not handle the extra jaw hinge. And even with this new system they had to limit the appearance to scripted areas with specially made terrain and no major interactions because they would have to reanimate just for that one species.

 

If an extra jaw joint is so hard on the system that it requires you to make a specialized new system to make it work the odds of dramatically non human designs is severely low from the prospective of how incredibly difficult it would be to make multiple distinct rigs for each race.

 

2 arms, 2 legs, and a head arranged in human fashion works with almost all of the systems in place for the human player without needing to reanimate things, all of the companion models can be modded for payer use and work in the game's animations without issues, at least on the technical side. The rig works for everything, from the payer to the atlas, elcor, geth primes, allowing you to create such weirdness as biotic charging atlases that go through the animation completely normally (albeit with a really messed up appearance due to the atlas having it's model in a different arrangement on the rig), without any extra coding beyond allowing them to use the ability.

[ACika011]

I believe the new races will mostly follow the humanoid pattern, since its the easiest to model and animate.

 

As for their appearance, your guess is as good as mine. Some Artists in deviant art give some range of possibilities. Kinda expecting something along these lines:

That's amazing! I really like the bottom four and the middle and far right on at the top, that's what i have been talking about they look weird and that's great!

[Lady Artifice]

That's amazing! I really like the bottom four and the middle and far right on at the top, that's what i have been talking about they look weird and that's great!

 

I just don't see it. They do look cool, but with the exception of the last, they don't look any more alien to me than Turians or Krogan.

[KaiserShep]

I believe the new races will mostly follow the humanoid pattern, since its the easiest to model and animate.
 
As for their appearance, your guess is as good as mine. Some Artists in deviant art give some range of possibilities. Kinda expecting something along these lines:

Am I the only one imagining the top middle guy having an angry conversation with a batarian on their agreement that they should destroy all humans?

[Mcfly616]

Making the Asari not look like fanservice would be a start. But that would probably mean a reboot of the species!

 and yet, they're not fan service at all. A trope, for sure. Sexy blue alien women have been a staple of sci fi for decades. Bioware specifically said they wanted to include that in their sci fi universe.

 

Look no further than ME2 for fan service at every turn. Tali might die if you sneeze on her, but they knew fanboys wanted to bang her, so she is now doable. And Garrus? He's so cool, we should be able to bang him now too. Never mind the fact that it shouldn't even be possible. When everything is bangable, that's when fan service has gone too far. Next up, in ME:A we're gonna get krogan gang bangs with the option of letting a Hanar tickle our backside.

[Mcfly616]

They really need to get a lot more weird and alien. If they introduce one of the new species, and they're yet another set of bipedal humanoids, I'm going to be seriously disappointed.

[Mechler]

Am I the only one imagining the top middle guy having an angry conversation with a batarian on their agreement that they should destroy all humans?

Yep. Honestly the middle one looks scared to me instead of angry.

 

 

They really need to get a lot more weird and alien. If they introduce one of the new species, and they're yet another set of bipedal humanoids, I'm going to be seriously disappointed.

 

Well prepare to be disappointed then. I guarantee that at least 90% of the new sentient races will be bipedal humanoids.

[Oni Changas]

Making the Asari not look like fanservice would be a start. But that would probably mean a reboot of the species!

I agree. They should be made into an androgynous species rather than obvious space lezzies. They're mono-gendered right? Make them actually be mono-gendered.

[Mechler]

I agree. They should be made into an androgynous species rather than obvious space lezzies. They're mono-gendered right? Make them actually be mono-gendered.

 

And that would be not-fanservice how exactly?

[SNascimento]

 and yet, they're not fan service at all. A trope, for sure. Sexy blue alien women have been a staple of sci fi for decades. Bioware specifically said they wanted to include that in their sci fi universe.

They are fan service. But at least I thought Bioware was very smart on how they explained it by the Asari being designed by the Protheans to be sex slaves. It's a kind of cool meta commentary (if that is indeed how it's called). 

[prosthetic soul]

They are fan service. But at least I thought Bioware was very smart on how they explained it by the Asari being designed by the Protheans to be sex slaves. It's a kind of cool meta commentary (if that is indeed how it's called). 

It's okay to condone sex slavery.  But God help you if you think it's peachy that alien babe over there has hips that are just a bit TOO provocative. 

 

[Mcfly616]

They are fan service. 

No they're not. They're a classic sci fi trope that Bioware chose to put into their game . But you can agree to disagree. 

 

 

Fan service is content purposely included to please the audience. Nobody was asking for blue alien space babes to be included in ME1. Bioware decided on their creation all by themselves, in an homage to sci fi space babes of years past. (says it right in the Art of the MEU book)

 

Tali, Garrus and every other alien being screwable in the sequels.....that's fan service. Why? Because fans wanted it and Bioware included the possibility to bang them in order to please said fans.

[capn233]

So are we getting green alien babes or not?

[Giantdeathrobot]

What gets me is the whole ''oh well bidepal or vaguely humanoid aliens are unrealistic!!'' shtick. How in the blazes do we even know what is realistic or not when it comes to aliens? You can say you prefer less humanoid aliens, sure, but don't bring realism into this because nobody has a clue if aliens even exist, let alone what they look like.

 

Personally, I think Mass Effect does a decent job RE: aliens. I dislike the blue space babes Asari and find Quarians being humans with photoshoped glowing eyes lame, but almost every other race is different enough to be interesting, certainly far more so than Star Trek-esque humans with rubber foreheads. Salarians, Turians, Krogans, Vorcha, and Volus are all bipedal but obviously have features that are very different from humans, and we don't even know what Volus actually look like. The more exotic ones like Geth. Hanar, Yagh and Elcor even moreso. Drells and Batarians are pretty similar to humans, but at least you barely see them.

 

Besides, in almost any visual medium we are stuck with humanoid-esque aliens. It's just way, way easier to design and animate than trying to make up entirely aliens life forms for a video game.

[Barquiel]

So are we getting green alien babes or not?

Shiala for squadmate and love interest?

I'm all for a bit of fan service and the asari are perfect as they are. What is wrong is when the only reason something is there IS fanservice. And there is really more to the asari than that...the fleshed-out, interesting Asari characters were far more prevalent than the fanservic-y bar dancer kind. I still do want the colorful mix though. Some "alien" aliens and some "humanoid" aliens (because I really don't want to romance a hanar!)