15 réponses à ce sujet

[Promethean 47]

Okay Bioware,

I am a huge fan. Love and am guaranteed to buy all your games.  And so far, I am very much enjoying Mass Effect 2.

But I got a bone to pick (and some suggestions to follow):

The planet exploration/mining system - what the hell is this? I know you guys want to give us the feeling of exploration, but I really feel this is a step back even from ME 1 (while exploration was lifeless, at least you went around in a 3d environment with nice views).  Here, you've turned space exploration into a resource grinding game.  In order to get the upgrades to the ship and crew, I need resources.  In order to get those I have to either scrimp by on stuff I pick up/hack from missions, or brave it in my very own game of spacegrind.  

The 2d screen where you scan a planet and send probes is just mindnumbingly boring and terrible.  It feels like the worst part of an MMO or final fantasy game (the grind) without any entertainment except a brief text screen describing the history of the planet (which inevitably one starts skipping after the 20th unexplored planet).  I don't mind that this is out there, what I do resent however is being essentially forced to resource grind/mine to get upgrades which some press interviews of the game said I'd need in order to survive the suicide mission.  

Why can't you make space exploration fun? ME 1 failed due to lifeless barren cookie cutter planets.  This fails equally as a weird resource/probe shooting game.  For ME3, I'd suggest scrapping both.

What's a better idea you ask?

Well, I'm not paid to do this but a few ideas/suggestions:

(1) Tie exploration to the story - part of the reason both ME1 and ME2 have failed to have interesting exploration, imo, is because the 'exploration pillar' you guys talk about in your interviews is entirely disconnected from the other pillars (story, customization, combat).  In ME2, you guys did a great job of tying the Customization pillar to the story pillar (cerberus rebuild, captain's quarters, etc).  But that's just not there for the exploration pillar.  Why not tie the 'need to explore' to a plotline?  The quarian search for a new homeworld comes to mind.  (though this has the problem of those players who want Quarians to retake their home planet).  An idea for ME 3? Make the exploration a search for an ancient weapon to use against the reapers.  With this weapon, X result happens in the final showdown.  Without this weapon, Y happens. And of course, the weapon is split up into parts strewn across multiple worlds.

These are just ideas (another idea would be directive from alliance or some other race to find new worlds, phenomenon etc), but you get the point: Give players a story justification/purpose for exploring.

(2) Make other party members a part of the exploration:  Have the other party members talk to you about planets when/if you scan them.  Memories they have there, things they've heard about it, etc.  They can just chime into you via the on ship comm system. 

(3) Give more cinematic shots while exploring.  GIve us more shots of the crew being wowed when they come upon twin stars, or a blackhole.  Give us shots of Joker whining about how something's going to mess wth the Normandy.  Just give us something besides a text screen and barren planet to click on.

EDIT: (4) Make the Normandy (or whatever ship we have in ME 3) more akin a stronghold from BG2 or NWN2.  Shepard is a captain, but you'd think he's just a away team guy, as he never really commands his crew.  Change this by having him control teams aboard the ship: (1) Engineering team - research upgrades to the ship/maintenence, etc. - set priority to engines, defenses, weapons - all of which cost resources (2) Task Force Team: Research and procure weapon/armor/tech upgrades for the squad. - set priorities to armor, shields, weapons, tech - all of which cost resources (3) Mining/Recon Team: set priority to discovery of anomolies, mining of resources - affects hourly resource gain [they go off world and come back to you when you hit a space station or mass relay], (optional) (4) security team: upgrade a squad of marines who can come in and assist your squad during certain mission moments.


Just my ideas.  Love the game of course. 
Thanks

Modifié par Promethean 47, 28 janvier 2010 - 11:09 .

[Gvaz]

agreed

[laststarfighter]

I actually miss the mako and the planet side missions.

[ToshiStation38]

^I don't.

[Cadet Staff Sergeant Jones]

It's not that difficult. Just keep pressing the scan button like you're quick firing a single-shot pistol. It allows you to quickly cover ground while still giving you heads up when it passes by a big mining spot.

[Johanry]

The probes are actually the biggest issue, if I didn't have to watch that annoyingly long launch probe animation that would probably halve(atleast the percieved) time I spend scanning.

[bcooper56]

I love probe parts. Very addictive and better than the mako.

[shinobi602]

Since I'm on my first playthrough, I'm not too bored with mining yet, but good God, I plan on doing multiple playthroughs, I can't imagine doing all that mining all over again...crap man =/

Modifié par shinobi602, 28 janvier 2010 - 10:58 .

[Promethean 47]

Seriously. The mining system cries out for pc cheat codes.

[antrachite]

Probes = tedious and pointless, imho

[Invalidcode]

Tedious, repetitive, boring.



Oh, just imagine one must do all these again on your 2nd, 3rd play-though.

[shinobi602]

Invalidcode wrote...
Oh, just imagine one must do all these again on your 2nd, 3rd play-though.

Yes, and I'm terrified.

[johnnymo0829]

while I miss the mako and the random missions on planets I do also miss the resource scans of me1. I would rather have landing sites where you need to protect a member of the normandy crew who locates resources, or kick somebody's a## and take their stuff. or work out trade agreements or help set up alliance or cerberus run mining operations.

[Awesome Helmet]

i never had a problem with the mako, i just hated the stupid drive i had to make from drop to bunker.



but theres nothing in my gaming experience thats ever been as stupid as this scanning mini game.



and it just so happens to be in my favorite franchise.



what a joke!

[Mokinokaro]

You don't have to do it as much on a 2nd playthrough thankfully. You start with 50k of each resource if you earned the Long Service medal.

/\\I'm hoping the Hammerhead offers an alternative form of mining personally.

Modifié par Mokinokaro, 28 janvier 2010 - 11:38 .

[Mordegar]

I have to agree to what the OP said.



The Game and it's story is amazing, but the resource probe mini game is simply boring.

I guess, that i'm one of the few that liked those exploration missions in Mass Effect 1, to be honest. I know they were generic, but they played on different planets in different evironments and were offering me a lot more action.



With the old inventory system, those side missions were absolutley optional, while i have the feeling that i have to do at least some planet scanning to be able to afford much needed upgrades.



It took me 1.5 hours of constantly scanning planets to finish the omega cluster, only to see a sh***oad of new planets in the next cluster. I think that you can imagine how disappointed i was after that.