124 réponses à ce sujet

[BloodyMares]

You didn't need to do that in ME3 anyway, you know. The quests work just the same whether you're listening to the Citadel ambient convos or not.

I know that you may acquire these quests by stumbling upon items and then the journal says "find an NPC that needs this" and you can only do so by eavesdropping on people, otherwise Shepard is a psychic and just knows what character needs a certain item.
 

 

Where's the line between this and War Asset or Power rewards?

Well, I don't really know. War Assets were tied to your main job (gather the forces) but the execution was rather bad.

[Element Zero]

The difference with ME3 will be that those 'side quests' were 'levels'. Designed for that one mission. In ME:A the side missions will be integrated in the open worlds I guess, which means elfroot.

It doesn't have to be this way, though. See my above post about TW3's sidequests. Hell, you've probably played it.

They can put some effort into creating lengthy, investigative sidequests that take time to complete. Maybe you end up backtracking clues from an ancient wreck site to another planet. On that planet, you discover another site or item of interest that requires investigation, and so on. It's about having some interesting side mysteries going while the main missions lie ahead. I do not want to collect elf root ever again.

[Kabraxal]

As long as the companion content is as strong and robust as both DA and ME have been I will be more than happy with the optional content. The strength of Bioware has always been companion content and it a huge part of their side offerings. People hit on Inquisition for its side content, when the companion quests alone match most other games optional content. I hope they contine that. If they add more then sweet.

[AlanC9]

I know that you may acquire these quests by stumbling upon items and then the journal says "find an NPC that needs this" and you can only do so by eavesdropping on people, otherwise Shepard is a psychic and just knows what character needs a certain item.

Oh, right. You're talking RP, instead of the mechanics. Yeah, it's a little weird if you never heard the convos.

[LiechockiRJ]

I would not care about variability

 

 

dont need to be something like that, just differents ways to complete a single goal.

 

For example: Kasumi´s loyalt mission: A renegade Shepard should be able to force Lock to open his Vault.

[Pasquale1234]

One of the side-content issues with DAI was that the procedural animations sucked.
Example, Bethesda don't have animations for most of their conversations either, but they zoom into exactly the right place so that you are in the scene.

Bethesda games are first-person (default), so you're always seeing through your character's eyes. They also don't use cutscenes much, so people grow accustomed to that presentation style.

But you're right - if a dialogue is not going to be in a cutscene, it would be very helpful if we shifted to first-person view. That's something I've suggested before.
 

I've been thinking about why DAI's sidequest and open world content was so poorly received compared to other open world games and I think it's a bad mix of a few things that I don't think MEA will suffer from.

In most open world games like Assasin's Creed II or Arkham City, combat is balanced in a way that if you get into a skirmish with a dynamically generated enemy, you can either run a way real quick or end the fight rather quickly. Plus, you can traverse the open world rather quickly. Or in Assassin's Creed's case, traversing the city is fun because, yay, climbing.

The way DAI's squad based combat is balanced with huge enemy health pools, if you run into a dynamically generated enemy, you might be stuck fighting it for 2+ minutes. Even if you're vastly overpowered compared to the enemy, it'll still take long enough that it feels tedious if you run into a few on your way to the side quest that you actually want to do. And the horse, unlike the Batmobile, only runs about twice your running speed. So, just getting to the elfroot or whatever can be annoying.

That's an excellent point. I think the DA team was trying to make combat a lot weightier in DAI, and succeeded - but at the cost of making it tedious. I don't think that even a level 1 character should have to smack a bear 50 times to kill it.

The sheer quantity of enemies in place when you first arrive in a location combined with the length of each battle to make a lot of the exploration feel like a tedious slog.

I also think their "aggro detected - enter combat mode" detection range was far too large. Entering combat mode in DA makes your character move much slower, and you can't do some of the things you can do in just walking around mode. I specifically remember standing next to a landmark and wanting to mark it, but my character was in combat mode for some far-off creatures I had no intention of engaging. That also happens frequently when you're on a hillside or somesuch, and some hostile creatures are roaming around below. It's really annoying.

[vbibbi]

Thoughts on how to save on budget: if the new Andromeda alien species we encounter follow the KOTOR model and aren't translated, Bio would be able to recycle a smaller set of voice acting. Think the twilleks who don't speak common. They have a limited voice set, one for each gender. And some of the aliens didn't even sound like voices but sound effects.

 

This would be realistic since the game starts with us arriving in the new galaxy, I assume. So we haven't yet had the time to adjust any translation technology to accommodate new alien languages. There's enough time to learn enough of the language to translate them on our omni tools but not to provide a voiceover effect.

 

 

 

 

For side quests, I want them to involve more dialogue options and differing outcomes. I don't want there to be only one outcome in every side quest and one way to complete the quest. Use of skills in helping to solve a quest would be a bonus. I want the number of "read this note, perform this action/kill this creature, quest ends" to be dramatically reduced.

 

 

 

I'm gonna toss out a real popular opinion.  ME2 planet scanning wasn't that bad.   All you do is go to rich planets, scan them till they drop in resource level, move on.  I'm also in favor of bringing back loyalty quests for your squad mates. 

 

I don't consider the planet scanning as a side quest, though. It was a mini game feature that unlocked ship upgrades, but it wasn't a quest in itself... IMO

 

 

 

Well, to be fair to BW, side quests are side quests. They're probably boring for all those involved. I imagine being made to do side quests is a sort of punishment, or more likely, akin to having to cleaning up bathrooms. Hopefully they can dedicate a little more time to the design of them and maybe, just maybe, make fun of how uninspired they seem (they might be greatly inspired… just weren't given to the most enthusiastic of people to finish up).

 

For example, they could have a quest where they meet up with an alien and while there, learn how to fire a certain new weapon and gain it, after taking out some evil "beer bottles".

 

 

If you consider all side quest to be boring, then it's clear that there's something wrong in game development. Side quests are not created just to fill time and help level the character up between main missions. Or at least, they shouldn't be. They are supposed to help flesh out the world, provide roleplaying opportunities for our PC which helps define them, and provide relief from the larger storyline.

 

I asked about this upthread. Why would you want to track them?

Because there is no way in game to track our progress since the journal doesn't do so. Yes, the map highlights all interactive people who are connected to a quest, but I don't always remember that this CSec officer needs those power grids while that CSec officer needs information on the batarian terrorist. (or whatever they actually were, I haven't played the game in a few years so I don't remember the minutiae). And while I will scan a planet and find the dinosaur fossil or totem or book or whatever, the game didn't always unlock scannable systems to match the quest givers concurrently. So I would forget which item I had scanned and which person was asking for it. I ended up going to each system as it unlocked, scanned all planets, then returned to the Citadel and spent a good hour speaking to each interactive person until I matched the person to the item.

 

If the journal updated once I found an item to mention who was looking for it, it would save a lot of time. The journal is to help me manage my quests, I shouldn't have to be making notes myself. Otherwise, what's the point of the journal?

[Pasquale1234]

For side quests, I want them to involve more dialogue options and differing outcomes. I don't want there to be only one outcome in every side quest and one way to complete the quest. Use of skills in helping to solve a quest would be a bonus. I want the number of "read this note, perform this action/kill this creature, quest ends" to be dramatically reduced.

I think part of the reason this isn't easy to discuss is the varying levels of what constitutes a sidequest.

To me, anything you're not required to do to progress the game, any optional content is technically a sidequest or side content. That would include a lot of follower dialogue, personal (loyalty) quests, romance content, and the like.
 

Because there is no way in game to track our progress since the journal doesn't do so. Yes, the map highlights all interactive people who are connected to a quest, but I don't always remember that this CSec officer needs those power grids while that CSec officer needs information on the batarian terrorist. (or whatever they actually were, I haven't played the game in a few years so I don't remember the minutiae). And while I will scan a planet and find the dinosaur fossil or totem or book or whatever, the game didn't always unlock scannable systems to match the quest givers concurrently. So I would forget which item I had scanned and which person was asking for it. I ended up going to each system as it unlocked, scanned all planets, then returned to the Citadel and spent a good hour speaking to each interactive person until I matched the person to the item.

You could use the map, but that really wasn't all that different from Hawke magically knowing who had lost the stuff s/he came across in DA2.

A couple of thoughts I have about fetch quests if they're going to be present:

-- They could be limited to characters who are already in the hub / area where you find the item. For example: character in village X lost a necklace while out roaming the nearby desert. You find it in the desert, and naturally suspect it might belong to someone in that village. Of course, that'd work a lot better if you don't get cutscened out of the area once you've completed your business there, but instead naturally, organically choose to travel back to the village on your own.

-- There could be some items you find that you think would be useful to members of your own party (followers, crew-mates, whatever). Like finding some interesting alien technology and taking it to the chief researcher in your lab - we sort of did that with the creature research in DAI. Finding some star charts and taking them to your navigator. Etc.

[AlanC9]

Because there is no way in game to track our progress since the journal doesn't do so. Yes, the map highlights all interactive people who are connected to a quest, but I don't always remember that this CSec officer needs those power grids while that CSec officer needs information on the batarian terrorist. (or whatever they actually were, I haven't played the game in a few years so I don't remember the minutiae).

But that's not a useful thing to remember in the first place. The specifics of what you're turning in and to who aren't relevant. You have the thing, or you don't.

When is tracking progress of this stuff useful? Tracking how much of the Galaxy you've scanned is the critical thing, and you do that from the map. At what moment would looking at a more complicated journal help with anything?

So I would forget which item I had scanned and which person was asking for it. I ended up going to each system as it unlocked, scanned all planets, then returned to the Citadel and spent a good hour speaking to each interactive person until I matched the person to the item. If the journal updated once I found an item to mention who was looking for it, it would save a lot of time. The journal is to help me manage my quests, I shouldn't have to be making notes myself. Otherwise, what's the point of the journal?

I'm really confused by this. How would notes or a journal help you save time? Can you walk me through your process?

When I play, when Shepard reaches the Citadel I glance at the map, and drop by anyone who shows up on it, since those are the ones I've got stuff for. Unless I'm not going to that level, in which case I don't even look unless this is the last visit or I'm short on cash for something. When would a journal or notes make this process more efficient? (RP-wise, I figure Shepard's got a VI to keep track of this stuff.)

Actually, doing all the scanning and then dropping everything off in one go is the most efficient procedure, although the cost of that time efficiency is delaying a lot of cash and Rep points until the endgame.

[nfi42]

As long as the companion content is as strong and robust as both DA and ME have been I will be more than happy with the optional content. The strength of Bioware has always been companion content and it a huge part of their side offerings. People hit on Inquisition for its side content, when the companion quests alone match most other games optional content. I hope they contine that. If they add more then sweet.

 

I don't think the companion quests where the worst of the issues with "side quests".  There was a lot of grinding on power quests, picking elf root  and a lot of different collectathons. 

 

I do think the companion quests should have been more involved, they were rather short for my preferences.

[Pasquale1234]

Actually, doing all the scanning and then dropping everything off in one go is the most efficient procedure, although the cost of that time efficiency is delaying a lot of cash and Rep points until the endgame.

That's not entirely workable. Some things are progress-related - just as the systems become available on the map at various points throughout the game, the characters who want those items can also disappear from the Citadel.

[vbibbi]

But that's not a useful thing to remember in the first place. The specifics of what you're turning in and to who aren't relevant. You have the thing, or you don't.

When is tracking progress of this stuff useful? Tracking how much of the Galaxy you've scanned is the critical thing, and you do that from the map. At what moment would looking at a more complicated journal help with anything?


I'm really confused by this. How would notes or a journal help you save time? Can you walk me through your process?

When I play, when Shepard reaches the Citadel I glance at the map, and drop by anyone who shows up on it, since those are the ones I've got stuff for. Unless I'm not going to that level, in which case I don't even look unless this is the last visit or I'm short on cash for something. When would a journal or notes make this process more efficient? (RP-wise, I figure Shepard's got a VI to keep track of this stuff.)

Actually, doing all the scanning and then dropping everything off in one go is the most efficient procedure, although the cost of that time efficiency is delaying a lot of cash and Rep points until the endgame.

 

Ideally, as soon as I picked something up from a planet scan, the journal would update. If I had already overheard the request for this item, the journal would update to "I've now found the fossil. Geneticist salarian scientist near the presidium apartments will be pleased to receive this" or if I hadn't overhead the conversation it would say "I've found a fossil. EDI informs me that with the right technology this could be used to genetically engineer mounts to use for krogan troops. I should be on the look out for a geneticist who might be interested in these."

 

Then, the next time I'm at the Citadel, I can check my journal and remember that I have the fossil and either go straight to the salarian I had previously overheard, or else as I walk around the Citadel I keep an eye out for someone talking about genetics.

 

What I got in the game was one standard journal entry which never changed. So when I checked my journal, I didn't remember whether I had overheard someone requesting the item or whether I had randomly scanned a planet and found an item. There is no way to check my inventory for the items I've picked up, so I could have found several items (but not all) from the systems I've scanned, And since I've done some actual quests since the last time I was on the Citadel, I don't remember off the top of my head who was asking for a fossil or a book, etc.

 

It's one thing if the game wants the player to keep track of all of this themselves. But the presence of a journal listing quests indicates that there is a game mechanic which is supposed to help us keep track of everything. I didn't find it fun trying to remember who wanted what and spending an hour jogging around the Citadel handing out items.

[Kabraxal]

I don't think the companion quests where the worst of the issues with "side quests".  There was a lot of grinding on power quests, picking elf root  and a lot of different collectathons. 
 
I do think the companion quests should have been more involved, they were rather short for my preferences.

I had no problem with the "fetch" quests. We had robust side missions in the companion quests, lesser but meaningful quests that openes from war table events or collectable gathering, and we had the pure fetch. I enjoyed the range and found many of the filler quests to add to the world through the enviromental story telling. I know I am one of the fee, but then it is also why Bethesda is a big deal for me. I enjoy when a dev lets the world "speak" without a constant need to smother the player in cutscenes. I enjoy cutscenes, but getting everything from that leads to more shallow worlds in my opinion.

I enjoyed the side quests in ME1 though too. Which is very much like Inquisition. I hope ME:A is a mix of that style and more loyalty oriented content from ME2. I want that character interaction. But I like how Inquisition and ME1 let me simply take in the world(s) and don't feel the need to simply cram them full of dialogue and cutscenes. The world begins to feel real instead of a game world designed for constant input.

[nfi42]

I had no problem with the "fetch" quests. We had robust side missions in the companion quests, lesser but meaningful quests that openes from war table events or collectable gathering, and we had the pure fetch. I enjoyed the range and found many of the filler quests to add to the world through the enviromental story telling. I know I am one of the fee, but then it is also why Bethesda is a big deal for me. I enjoy when a dev lets the world "speak" without a constant need to smother the player in cutscenes. I enjoy cutscenes, but getting everything from that leads to more shallow worlds in my opinion.

I enjoyed the side quests in ME1 though too. Which is very much like Inquisition. I hope ME:A is a mix of that style and more loyalty oriented content from ME2. I want that character interaction. But I like how Inquisition and ME1 let me simply take in the world(s) and don't feel the need to simply cram them full of dialogue and cutscenes. The world begins to feel real instead of a game world designed for constant input.

 

Thanks for sharing your POI.  Have you/do you play Assassins Creed and do you enjoy their filler content?

 

I don't mind a certain amount of "filler" as long as it is in a minority proportion of the game.  As you probably suspect,  my least enjoyed DA game was DAI,  least enjoyed ME game was ME1 and I can only tolerate Assassins Creed as a form of masochism.

[Kabraxal]

Thanks for sharing your POI.  Have you/do you play Assassins Creed and do you enjoy their filler content?
 
I don't mind a certain amount of "filler" as long as it is in a minority proportion of the game.  As you probably suspect,  my least enjoyed DA game was DAI,  least enjoyed ME game was ME1 and I can only tolerate Assassins Creed as a form of masochism.

AC fan since day one. Black Flag is one of my favourite games. But I can agree their collectathons were too much. Syndicate started to right that ship though. A lot of the content were optional assassinations instead of all collecting.

For me, the companion content is first then comes the world building and environment. ME1s space vistas and differing planets added flavour and a sense of exploration. Same for Inquisition. There were times in Mass Effect when I stopped to enjoy the view... like the twin moons or the rift on the nearby planet. In Inquisition, there were dozens of times when something would catch my eye and I'd spend quite some time "putzing" around to investigate the collapsed ruins in the Hissing Wastes or the amazing rolling hills around the ruins in Tresspasser. Those worlds feel alive and full of history and wonder. That is sadly missing from the last two Mass Effects (still love the games) and DA2 suffered greatly for a lack of environmental story telling.

And in Inquisition, the fetch quests fed back into the lore, even in subtle ways. I much prefer to be given a breadth of style in how the story is delivered. Inquisition succeeds where others struggle. We have cutsceneses, dialogue, branching paths that offer some change, banter, exploration, and a deep, intricate world that offers one of the best examples of environmental storytelling. If ME:A can even come close to it, then I will be absolutely ecstatic. I suspects hours of exploring a planet just soaking in the environment.

[AlanC9]

That's not entirely workable. Some things are progress-related - just as the systems become available on the map at various points throughout the game, the characters who want those items can also disappear from the Citadel.

Yeah, you would lose 50 or so WA points doing it that way too. I should have included that, although there aren't going to be too many cases where being down 25 EMS will cause you to hit a breakpoint

[nfi42]

AC fan since day one. Black Flag is one of my favourite games. But I can agree their collectathons were too much. Syndicate started to right that ship though. A lot of the content were optional assassinations instead of all collecting.

For me, the companion content is first then comes the world building and environment. ME1s space vistas and differing planets added flavour and a sense of exploration. Same for Inquisition. There were times in Mass Effect when I stopped to enjoy the view... like the twin moons or the rift on the nearby planet. In Inquisition, there were dozens of times when something would catch my eye and I'd spend quite some time "putzing" around to investigate the collapsed ruins in the Hissing Wastes or the amazing rolling hills around the ruins in Tresspasser. Those worlds feel alive and full of history and wonder. That is sadly missing from the last two Mass Effects (still love the games) and DA2 suffered greatly for a lack of environmental story telling.

And in Inquisition, the fetch quests fed back into the lore, even in subtle ways. I much prefer to be given a breadth of style in how the story is delivered. Inquisition succeeds where others struggle. We have cutsceneses, dialogue, branching paths that offer some change, banter, exploration, and a deep, intricate world that offers one of the best examples of environmental storytelling. If ME:A can even come close to it, then I will be absolutely ecstatic. I suspects hours of exploring a planet just soaking in the environment.

 

Once again,  I don't agree but appreciate.

 

I would have liked DAI much more if it had more main story, or even just Trespasser in the base game. By the time it came around,  it was too late to impact my overall opinion.

[AlanC9]

Ideally, as soon as I picked something up from a planet scan, the journal would update. If I had already overheard the request for this item, the journal would update to "I've now found the fossil. Geneticist salarian scientist near the presidium apartments will be pleased to receive this" or if I hadn't overhead the conversation it would say "I've found a fossil. EDI informs me that with the right technology this could be used to genetically engineer mounts to use for krogan troops. I should be on the look out for a geneticist who might be interested in these."
 
Then, the next time I'm at the Citadel, I can check my journal and remember that I have the fossil and either go straight to the salarian I had previously overheard, or else as I walk around the Citadel I keep an eye out for someone talking about genetics.

You didn't actually answer my question. How would doing that have saved you time? If anything, it sounds like the objective is to be less efficient -- like you want to have the system encourage you to check the journal, rather than the system we got where using the journal is irrelevant if not outright counterproductive.

Am I reading that right?

What I got in the game was one standard journal entry which never changed. So when I checked my journal, I didn't remember whether I had overheard someone requesting the item or whether I had randomly scanned a planet and found an item.

There is no way to check my inventory for the items I've picked up, so I could have found several items (but not all) from the systems I've scanned, And since I've done some actual quests since the last time I was on the Citadel, I don't remember off the top of my head who was asking for a fossil or a book, etc.

So why check the journal? Why try to remember that stuff?
 

It's one thing if the game wants the player to keep track of all of this themselves. But the presence of a journal listing quests indicates that there is a game mechanic which is supposed to help us keep track of everything. I didn't find it fun trying to remember who wanted what and spending an hour jogging around the Citadel handing out items.

The running around can't be helped. The recipients simply are in those locations. And the amount of running depends on which particular items you have, which is effectively random. You can increase efficiency by doing the deliveries in fewer passes, and combining deliveries with doing other Citadel stuff. But that's it.

But keeping track of the stuff? Waste of time. Don't do it.

[vbibbi]

You didn't actually answer my question. How would doing that have saved you time? If anything, it sounds like the objective is to be less efficient -- like you want to have the system encourage you to check the journal, rather than the system we got where using the journal is irrelevant if not outright counterproductive.

Am I reading that right?

 

How is checking the journal for two seconds to see which person needs the fossil counterproductive? By doing so, as soon as I scan for the fossil, the next time I'm at the Citadel, I can go directly to the quest giver and complete the quest. I don't need to run to each interactive person and see if they are the person who wants the fossil, nor do I have to remind myself whether or not I've found the fossil yet.

 

And what I'm requesting is a method of making the existing journal not ineffective. It sounds like you think the journal isn't useful at all. I agree, it's not, but I would rather tweak it so that it is useful rather than just not use it. What point is there in including a gameplay feature if it's not effective and people don't use it?
 

So why check the journal? Why try to remember that stuff?

 
I would check the journal so that I don't have to remember the stuff. The journal would remember it for me.

 

The running around can't be helped. The recipients simply are in those locations. And the amount of running depends on which particular items you have, which is effectively random. You can increase efficiency by doing the deliveries in fewer passes, and combining deliveries with doing other Citadel stuff. But that's it.

But keeping track of the stuff? Waste of time. Don't do it.

Right, that's why the journal would keep track of the stuff and I wouldn't have to. Whenever I go to the Citadel, I can take one minute to look through my open quests and see if I have anything which can be completed. I would know where to go and go there immediately. As it is, I have no way in game of knowing if I've collected a quest item (since there is no inventory) and don't remember who wants what. So I end up traveling to each person across the Citadel to see if I can complete their quest.

 

So an improved journal would mean a few minutes checking my journal and going directly to the quest giver. The journal in game means spending an hour-ish wandering around speaking to everyone in hopes that I have something that they want.

 

 

 

I didn't like the system in DA2 either, but at least it was "I've found X, I bet someone would like it." So there's no way the journal could predict who would take it. But in ME3, we overhead the person who is looking for something, so Shepard should know whom to return the item to.

[AlanC9]

How is checking the journal for two seconds to see which person needs the fossil counterproductive? By doing so, as soon as I scan for the fossil, the next time I'm at the Citadel, I can go directly to the quest giver and complete the quest. I don't need to run to each interactive person and see if they are the person who wants the fossil, nor do I have to remind myself whether or not I've found the fossil yet.

This doesn't make any sense. You don't have to run around to each interactive person and see if he wants the fossil. Just hit the ones who show on your map; when they do, you've got something for them, and once you give it to them they stop showing. Nor do you ever have to think about whether you have the fossil. If you have it, that salarian shows on your map.
 

Right, that's why the journal would keep track of the stuff and I wouldn't have to. Whenever I go to the Citadel, I can take one minute to look through my open quests and see if I have anything which can be completed. I would know where to go and go there immediately. As it is, I have no way in game of knowing if I've collected a quest item (since there is no inventory) and don't remember who wants what. So I end up traveling to each person across the Citadel to see if I can complete their quest.

My point was that you don't need to keep track as it is. Again, the map shows you that. It's better at that than any journal since it shows you exactly where to go

There is one bugged early SQ where the target doesn't show on the map. Maybe that gave you the wrong impression of how the system works.

[deuce985]

Witcher 3 is how I want them. However, Bioware is not new to that concept. They've built games with side-quests tied to heavy narrative focus too which is why I'm confused at how short some people's memory are. They only need to be reminded about it. Should've been like this in DAI but it wasn't. If you tear the surface off TW3 side quests they're all incredibly repetitive if you remove narrative. The point is narrative gives them much more meaning and it's only natural that's the focus in a story-driven game side-quests.

 

Bioware already said we should not expect DAI-type side-quests in ME:A. They want them to identify with the ME franchise so to me it seems they can look at how ME3 tied them similarly to narrative before each side mission(outside the repetitive fetch quest nonsense) and improve on that in a vastly bigger universe in ME:A. Over 4 years development they really have no excuse for lame Fed-Ex quests or boring side content. If you want to drop 100 planets on us to explore you better make them interesting full of mystique and discovery.

 

It shouldn't be hard for their creative minds to go wild in a completely new galaxy starting from scratch. Less quantity with more quality. Bigger is not necessarily better. I don't want the Bethesda philosophy anywhere near ME:A where they give you this massive world to explore and just pile tons upon tons of absolutely repetitive and meaningless content on top of the player. It's very bad design. It's so bad and repetitive that you can predict layouts in dungeons the first step you walk into them because you went through 100 of the same ones. Why not cut that down to 20 and make them all more unique to explore?

 

DAI had some of the best level design I've seen in an open-world game recently and ME:A looks to keep pushing that boundary with many different planets with unique distinctions. I do not think DAI was nearly as bad as some say and think Kabraxal above touched on many of the points I actually liked about exploring in that game. If they can expand on that while also making them more narrative focused and keeps Mass Effect's identity...they'll be fine.

[Monk]

Thoughts on how to save on budget: if the new Andromeda alien species we encounter follow the KOTOR model and aren't translated, Bio would be able to recycle a smaller set of voice acting. Think the twilleks who don't speak common. They have a limited voice set, one for each gender. And some of the aliens didn't even sound like voices but sound effects.

 

This would be realistic since the game starts with us arriving in the new galaxy, I assume. So we haven't yet had the time to adjust any translation technology to accommodate new alien languages. There's enough time to learn enough of the language to translate them on our omni tools but not to provide a voiceover effect.

…

 

Oi, as long as they make it sound less repetitive. It always had the tendency to repeat in the same waaay… which gets annoying.

 

Ohhhh, does this mean we'll need a protocol droid? Maybe one with "extracurricular" abilities? Get what i'm saying, fellow meatbag?

 

 

… 

For side quests, I want them to involve more dialogue options and differing outcomes. I don't want there to be only one outcome in every side quest and one way to complete the quest. Use of skills in helping to solve a quest would be a bonus. I want the number of "read this note, perform this action/kill this creature, quest ends" to be dramatically reduced.

 

I don't consider the planet scanning as a side quest, though. It was a mini game feature that unlocked ship upgrades, but it wasn't a quest in itself... IMO

…

 

I'm down with this. And, surprisingly enough, the one quest which sort of did this was the side quest suggested by Isabela when done with her loyalty quest. Though not highly varied, i believe how you answered determined if you got a discount with Martin.

 

 

… 

If you consider all side quest to be boring, then it's clear that there's something wrong in game development. Side quests are not created just to fill time and help level the character up between main missions. Or at least, they shouldn't be. They are supposed to help flesh out the world, provide roleplaying opportunities for our PC which helps define them, and provide relief from the larger storyline.

 

Spoiler

Because there is no way in game to track our progress since the journal doesn't do so. Yes, the map highlights all interactive people who are connected to a quest, but I don't always remember that this CSec officer needs those power grids while that CSec officer needs information on the batarian terrorist. (or whatever they actually were, I haven't played the game in a few years so I don't remember the minutiae). And while I will scan a planet and find the dinosaur fossil or totem or book or whatever, the game didn't always unlock scannable systems to match the quest givers concurrently. So I would forget which item I had scanned and which person was asking for it. I ended up going to each system as it unlocked, scanned all planets, then returned to the Citadel and spent a good hour speaking to each interactive person until I matched the person to the item.

 

If the journal updated once I found an item to mention who was looking for it, it would save a lot of time. The journal is to help me manage my quests, I shouldn't have to be making notes myself. Otherwise, what's the point of the journal?

 

I wouldn't say all but it seems only the loyalty quests get any serious attention, at least where DA2 is concerned (of course, this might be more my situation since i'm replaying it now).

 

And agreed regarding their purpose should be. It's just, there are times _it really seems, the devs don't give a damn.

[Seraphim24]

I still think they can just do SWTOR.

[LPPrince]

Following off the other thread, Bioware should look towards The Witcher 3 for inspiration on how to make side quests feel important and interesting.

[In Exile]

For the lowest tier of quests, I just want them to be optional. Totally optional, not "You can skip this if you don't mind getting a bad ending". Also, making it clear when the quests are of this sort is good, like when DA:O segregated them on boards.

To be honest, I'm fine with "bad" quests hidden by oodles of dialogue, particularly if they involve an interesting character and/or a nice choice. If I'd improve them, it'd be getting rid of the stuff that isn't dialogue when its not adding anything.

I don't care for optional - it's not as if the stuff in DAI wasn't optional, or all the crap in ME1. But the problem was that it wasn't good.