Mass Effect Series

[Hisako]

No they didn't. In both games you spent almost just as much time running around and talking to people, exploring and buying shit from shops and upgrading your characters, as you did shooting things. You've just always done a bit more shooting. ME is a shooter at its core after all, and complaining about an increased focus on its core gameplay is silly.

What they've both been lacking is polish.

Except in the second game, they removed a huge chunk of exploration, shops had extremely limited inventories and never restocked, upgrading was more simple (not that I'm saying that is a bad thing) and combat, well, was combat. Dialogue and everything is the same good ol' wheel it was in both games, sure, I'm not going to dispute that.

My point is that ME is a shooter-RPG hybrid and that's what personally appeals to me. My issue is when the mechanics are starting to favor one over the other, although that's arguably difficult to quantify.

 

[Max Payne]

Except in the second game, they removed a huge chunk of exploration, shops had limited inventories and never restocked, upgrading was more simple (not that I'm saying that is a bad thing) and combat, well, was combat. Dialogue and everything is the same good ol' wheel it was in both games, sure, I'm not going to dispute that.

There were plenty of non story missions and planets you could explore on foot man. The only difference is they took out the mako. You can still do a great deal of optional exploration. Shit a lot of RPGs don't even have that, so it's not some integral part of an rpg.

My point is that ME is a shooter-RPG hybrid and that's what personally appeals to me. My issue is when the mechanics are starting to favor one over the other, although that's arguably difficult to quantify.

However I may feel about your opinions on ME2, it's entirely too early to worry about ME3 favoring one aspect of the game over another.Especially when the devs are working on more exploration and trying to recapture the feel of the first game.

ME2 had a good balance of RPG and Shooting, despite what anyone make think, there wasn't an overabundance of one over the other. Shit, my first playthrough I did more talking than shooting.

 

[Hisako]

But! yeah um I'm not worried about ME3 man, . From everything I've heard I always thought that they were going to find a good balance between what it was like in ME2 and 1.

My real gripe with ME2 is how they considered 'improving' flawed mechanics as equal to removing them from the game, which is partially the reason why I thought they took out some of what made ME1 a part-RPG. It always seemed like they heard how people didn't like the Mako sequences or the encyclopaedic inventory system and interpreted that as a need to take those away, rather than, say, tweak the physics (or terrain) and cut down on the frequency of some of the vestigial weapon/upgrade drops. I am not exactly sure what their train of thought was when they replaced the overheating system with an ammo count, but I guess I could trawl the Internet to find their rationalisation of that.

That's also partially why I don't consider ME2 as "superior" to 1 as many other players seem to think. I mean, sure, I'm probably a lot more invested in the story and I'm appreciating quite a lot of what ME2 makes fun, but at the same time the game doesn't completely address all the issues in ME1. Here's to hoping ME3 does something about it.

 

[Madame Mayor]

http://www.gametrailers.com/video/e3-2011-mass-effect/714803

 

[Joker]

Seems gimmicky.

Also, that guy is a horrible public speaker.

AND DAMN THEM FOR NOT SHOWING US THE KROGANISTA

 

[Joe]

Then don't use it.

I think it's a cool feature. It's not subtracting anything from the game and if you're in an atmosphere where you are likely to be immersed in the game it simply adds to it. I don't think I'll be using the dialogue choices though. Something about me saying it and then Femshep saying it doesn't seem right. The combat commands is a big hell yes, I will be using that.

 

[Dana Scully]

I don't really give a shit about the Kinect support (though the combat commands are pretty sweet) but unf that melee attach/mech.

AND DAMN THEM FOR NOT SHOWING US THE KROGANISTA

kroganista is my new favourite word

 

[Joker]

The melee bit was pretty damn cool, ngl.

 

[Joe]

I can speak to Liara person-to-person...

IT'S EVERYTHING I'VE EVER DREAMED OF.

 

[Joker]

Notice how he says "LIARA SINGULARITY" and then "CONCUSSION SHOT".

Garrus is just that damn good.

 

[Joe]

Liara Singularity is clearly different to a normal singularity. because she's sexy

This is clearly the reason.

 

[ForceStealer]

(Already posted in the E3 thread, but just for reference)http://www.gametrailers.com/video/e3-2011-mass-effect/714870

Lookin' pretty awesome. The melee utilizing the omni-tool is cool and makes a lot of sense. I'm surprised they (or I) didn't think of it sooner. Also, yay for seeing the Normandy doing something other than look pretty!

I wonder how far into the game all this stuff is? Will it be starting with the invasion? Maybe it'll start on other planets before Earth?

Spoiler: Arrival Spoiler

Shepard supposedly bought everyone a few months after all. Though if they're going to be coming in the same direction as the Alpha Relay, the only plot-important world between it and Earth are Tuchanka, iirc.

 

[Max Payne]

ME3 starts with Shepard's trial bub. THEN the invasion.

 

[Alex]

 

[Max Payne]

So, I'm watching the 11 minute walkthrough, and holy shit I love the combat improvements and how cinematic everything is.

The graphics have also received a nice upgrade. I don't remember such good looking god rays in any other ME game.

http://www.gametrailers.com/video/e3-2011-mass-effect/714902

http://www.gametrailers.com/video/e3-2011-mass-effect/714904

 

[Dana Scully]

Fuck the melee looks great - love the pulling guys over cover to stab them in the face. I'm really looking forward to see how it plays in combination with Tactical Cloak. Movement definitely looks a lot smoother.

It is just me or does it seem like you once more have infinite ammo?

also

WREX

 

[Max Payne]

Fuck the melee looks great - love the pulling guys over cover to stab them in the face. I'm really looking forward to see how it plays in combination with Tactical Cloak. Movement definitely looks a lot smoother.

It is just me or does it seem like you once more have infinite ammo?

also

WREX

I thought I saw him reload a few times? Iunno

Also each melee is different depending on class, so you should be able to come up with some awesome melee+biotic power combos. The cover takedowns and swat turns look fucking awesome though.

Also, THAT FUCKING LIGHTING BABY.

 

[Dana Scully]

I thought I saw him reload a few times? Iunno

Yeah, but it didn't look like he had any limit on how many times he could reload (just kept going back to 16), and I didn't see any heat sinks.

and yeah game is stupid pretty.

 

[Max Payne]

Yeah, but it didn't look like he had any limit on how many times he could reload (just kept going back to 16), and I didn't see any heat sinks.

and yeah game is stupid pretty.

It was probably only for the purpose of the demo.

Damn now I want to replay me2

 

[Joker]

Nah, I saw some clips on the ground. Plus there's no reason to reload if you have infinite ammo.

ALSO

Is Wrex's VA different as well?

Why in God's name is Anderson playable?

And what in the hell did Ashley do to her hair? It looks kinda bleh at the tail end there ;.;

 

[Max Payne]

Why in God's name is Anderson playable?

because awesome

 

[Joker]

HE IS OLD (although ACCORDING TO ME UNIVERSE SCIENCE HUMANS LIVE FOR 165 YEARS ON AVERAGE AND ANDERSON IS ONLY LIKE 40-SOMETHING)

THEREFORE HE CAN GTFO OR BRING SHEP HIS MEALS AND CHANGE HIS NAME TO ALFRED

 

[Hisako]

Dude like I said

Go watch the LotSB videos



Anderson is a fucking badass in his own right and would totally have beaten the Reapers in 2 games if it weren't for Saren

 

[ForceStealer]

That gameplay demo looks excellent. You really can more around a lot more. I love the melee stuff too. That stealth kill looks pretty exciting for a infiltrator~~

But man, all this stuff always reminds just how badly I wish female Shepard was the face of the game. I like everything about her better.

 

[Alex]

'Joker's probably inside....(but Seth Green is still recording his lines)'