iakus wrote...
Well, I guess I'll just have to say that in this particular case, I'm willing to settle for less. I find myself wishing they had spent as much effort on the stroy as on the cinematics.
Fair enough.
I think it's because the paragraph of text is the conclusion of the mission. You battled your way here, now what you se is: It describes things you do or see which are probably not necessary to show, such as hacking a computer, examining a body, and so on. I know what's going on, so if they wanna cut that corner, they can.. A more cinematic scene might be better, if there's unique dialogue or a decision to be made.
So, are you saying that hacking a computer is comparable to finding your quest-giver lying dead on the floor, murdered by a terrorist organization? I would think this is something to warrant a cut-scene or special delivery of some kind, not a paragraph of text.
However, I'd rather have the paragraph than a cutscene of Shepard doing something, followed by Grunt saying "That should do it" which is followed by a black and gold box flashing "Press F to exit the mission" At least with the text I can believe the resources went to something more important.
To be honest, I feel the opposite. Sure, these instances in Mass Effect 2 you are describing may feel useless, but it still represents a conclusion of the quest.
Why is this better than emails? Because the emails are completely unnecessary. They're just reminders that "I did this quest. I met this person"
They have no impact on the story, Toombs? I'd really like to explain things to him, given the threatening lett I received. I'd hate to have to kill him in self-defense. Except, I can't reply, which doesn't matter since I never actually see him anyway.
They give no opportunity for character development. Han Olar, presumably in an institution of some kind, also sends a message I can't respond to (poor guy really needs a friend)
They do not expand the universe in any meaningful way. Dr. Michel wants me and Garrus to stop by and see her on the CItadel. Well, that may be a problem, given that section of the wards apparantly no longer exists
Some of them don't even make sense. It's nice that Samesh Bhatia opened his restaurant and all, but how'd he get this account?
Ironically, I have the same conclusion as you do but for the exact opposite reasons. I recall you mentioning that you wanted your choices to be more meaningful in Mass Effect 2. To be honest, I felt 100% opposite. Not opposed to huge decisions (Saving the Council, exterminating the Rachni, etc) being relevant, but the truth is why must Shepard be confronted with every decision he made in Mass Effect?
Is saving/exterminating the Feros colony really going to have adverse consequences throughout the galaxy? If I save/kill the biotic cult and Major Kyle, do I really need such a minor side quest to have huge ramifications? Hell, I would honestly be opposed if they took all those emails and made them in-game cameo appearances or become new side quests. It would have felt too forced. I'm honestly glad that all these 'decisions' can at least be ignored in their email form. The only decisions I really thought should be relevant for future games are Shepard's choice for Councilor, extinction of the Rachni, and letting the Council die. Those aside, I didn't see the need for my choices to be hugely relevant.
That being said, for me, unless there's something particularly distinctiveor otherwise noteworthy , I inevitably tune out the background after a while. A particularly distinctive feature, like a pretty starscape, an unusual piece of geography, or strange weather, sure I'll notice that. But the same four room warehouse or lab doesn't bother me because I simply don't notice it. What I do notice is the dead body on the floor, followed by the text which reads:
And I feel the same when my environments are not exact replicas of each other. Admittedly, this is not Bioshock's Rapture. That is not the main appeal of Mass Effect; we are not meant to explore our environments with incredible awe as we do Rapture. But the reason why I don't focus on every detail of Mordin's apartment is because it looks like an apartment (what it's supposed to look like). Unless I see something incredibly unexpected/awesome, I will inevitably tune it out my environment. When I'm on Tuchanka, it's supposed to look like a desert wasteland and it does. So I tune it out. Same basic philosophy.
The problem becomes Mass Effect tells me that I am going to infiltrate a top secret terrorist organization. If I feel like I am doing so, then I will probably tune out my environment. Unfortunately, I don't feel like I'm doing so which causes problems for my believability, especially when it looks exactly like any other structure.
You check for a pulse but find none. Admiral Kahoku is dead. Despite the ferocity of the creatures he was sealed in with, there are no signs of trauma to his corpse. The needle marks on his arm suggest a different means of execution.
Cerberus murdered him! I can only hope it wasn't thresher maw venom! Time to make them pay!
My reaction was more like "What are the odds that I'm going to explore another four-walled room on this next quest?"
Regardless, what you are describing sounds more like you felt emotions in spite of Bioware's paragraph of text rather than because of it. I'm going to be honest in saying I couldn't care less that Admiral Kahoku was dead. I didn't know him long enough for it to matter and the narrative didn't give me a reason to care. It takes more than a journal entry telling me that I must avenge him to give me the desire to avenge him. There are ways (even with a paragraph of text) to convey these emotions, yet Bioware was once more idle. Example:
You check for a pulse but find none. Admiral Kahoku is dead. Despite the ferocity of the creatures he was sealed in with, there are no signs of trauma to his corpse. The needle marks on his arm suggest a different means of execution. You notice in his hand that he is clutching a small picture of what must be his family with the words "Love you, Dad! Can't wait to see you!" scrawled across the back. Hardly perfect and could use alot of work, but the point is there are ways to create emotional impact. Planescape and BG could both do it relying strictly on text. Mass Effect didn't. The paragraph of text was quite simply lazy writing with little thought given to the context of what I (the player) should have been feeling at the time. Hence why I feel that this quest lacked any sort of emotional depth.
If by "lowers the number of points needed", you mean "down to zero", then yes I agree. Otherwise it has to be near-maxed or he dies either by your hand or Ashley's.
Was it that low? To be quite honest, I always max renegade first so I never really noticed it.
If these were "focus missions" I would have liked to see them make a mistake that gets them or others killed. Or refer to their personal mission as what gets them through. Something to show how or why the lost focus, or kept it. For example:
So, choosing the wrong biotic specialist (which kills off a squad mate) is not an example of the bolded? Choosing the wrong fire team leader (which kills off your tech specialist) is not an example of this?
The reason I say this is because you say "or refer to their personal missions", which implies it could be one or the other. I would very much say that your squad mates can get your party members (and themselves) killed.
Miranda: "For Oriana"
Tali: "For you, father"
Legion "For the future"
Samara "For righteousness" (Morinth (quietly) "For me")
Jacob "For duty"
Thane "For Kolyat"
Garrus "For the dead"
Mordin "For the living"
Grunt "For Clan Urdnot"
Jack "For pain"
Zaed "For vengence"
Kasumi: "For love"
The LI could substitute "for Shepard" for their line. And Shepard could wrap up with "For EACH OTHER!" (or, as the ads said "For the lost!")
Eh, to be honest I couldn't really get into this idea. I could see Shepard's line "Fight for the Lost", but I find the idea of each party member "invoking" a different cause to be a little weak (absolutely no offense intended). I'm not saying there couldn't be "something". Think LOTR the scene where Gandalf and Pippin are waiting for the Orcs to break through the door, for example, but at the same time this might be overextending what Bioware could do with so many possible variables at this point based on who can live or die.
Instead, I would think something like your Mass Effect 2 LI (if you had one) pulling you aside and breaking down at the last moment might fully capture the emotion of the scene. One of my favorite ME2 dialogue sequences was with Miranda where she talks about how she is afraid of you dying again. I'd like to see that invoked for the finale.
Modifié par Il Divo, 22 août 2010 - 04:37 .
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