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How long did it take them to build the Crucible, which for all anyone knew could've been a huge railgun?
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May 7, 2013 12:12
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Spug posted:How long did it take them to build the Crucible, which for all anyone knew could've been a huge railgun? Exactly. And the gun wasn't the size of a loving planet, it was just capable of firing a round that could shear a huge valley in one. Just spitballing, but it could be several kilometres long and able to fire at a fairly large fraction of light-speed. Hell, they wouldn't even need to make more, they could probably just study it and make general breakthroughs in weapons tech. Would be fun to see one fire in-game though.
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May 7, 2013 12:21
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Dan Didio posted:Maybe it's for the best that there isn't one. I don't know, I thought that about halo wars and then it turned into something quite good in the end.
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May 7, 2013 12:23
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Spug posted:How long did it take them to build the Crucible, which for all anyone knew could've been a huge railgun? The Crucible was worth doing because it tapped into the relay network, which meant that it would do something on a galaxy wide scale, instead of trying to shoot *individual Reapers* - the original giant railgun having been able to only get one shot off before being destroyed (being therefore less effective than the fleet the council already had). There's significant time compression in play in ME3, but ultimately the Crucible is (a) far from planet sized, and (b) took the combined efforts of the entire galaxy to complete a single one of. Mass producing giant railguns was obviously not a solution. There's little evidence that railgun was technologically more advanced than the Thanix cannons Sovereign was using - or else the Reapers would be using them, themselves.
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May 7, 2013 12:24
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lenoon posted:I don't know, I thought that about halo wars and then it turned into something quite good in the end. I wasn't speculating about the quality of the game. But on that note, the whole 4x Mass Effect or Mass Effect RTS game kind of turns me cold. So much of those games is about conquering unclaimed territory through expansion and exploring the new frontier and very little of Mass Effect is actually about that on that particular scale and plane.
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May 7, 2013 12:26
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Dan Didio posted:I wasn't speculating about the quality of the game. Yeah, and the sort of high-speed, infantry based combat in ME just wouldn't work, either. A MEverse version of XCOM would rock, though.
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May 7, 2013 12:30
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Fangz posted:A MEverse version of XCOM would rock, though. That would be interesting. Or an RTS similar in scope to Dawn of War 2's squad-based stuff.
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May 7, 2013 12:31
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Dan Didio posted:That would be interesting. Or an RTS similar in scope to Dawn of War 2's squad-based stuff.
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May 7, 2013 12:51
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Fangz posted:Planet sized railguns don't get built - let alone mass produced - in months, people. Which is still the writers' fault for insisting that the Reapers only got delayed an extra six months instead of letting years pass. The time skip would be equally arbitrary either way, but they wrote themselves into a corner for the sake of spectacle by pushing the invasion up as soon as possible. Hell, they could have taken the route Joker suggested and have the various leaders working on top-secret anti-Reaper strategies over the three years between ME1 and ME3 that they refused to tell Shepard while s/he was linked to Cerberus, but no. Everybody has to be blind fools except Shepard's close friends. The real answer for this, like just about every other issue with ME3's plot, is that the writers didn't have a coherent vision and shot themselves in the foot with badly-thought out decisions. Geostomp fucked around with this message at 13:01 on May 7, 2013 |
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May 7, 2013 12:52
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Fangz posted:There's little evidence that railgun was technologically more advanced than the Thanix cannons Sovereign was using - or else the Reapers would be using them, themselves. It punched a hole through a Reaper and made a valley across a planet easily seen from space. It very well could be more powerful than the Thanix, but unfeasible for use on ships (even Reapers) due to size and therefore relegated to use as a land-based AA weapon. I'd actually be interested by that - two different weapons technologies with different applications. Also I'm not sure about how Reapers would 'definitely be using them'. This railgun's main use is the killing of massive ships that you can't fight with your own ships through sheer force. The Reapers are the biggest ships around. Also, they work by capturing and pulping/husking as many organics as they can, so guns that blow holes in planets don't seem like the sort of thing they'd need unless an organic race pulled out some 3-5km battleships. They'd want more precision than that. Also, since it can likely only be used from land and the Reapers attack from the air, destroying ship resistance before reaching land, that's another part that wouldn't fit. e. Just to be clear I'm not all NO YOU ARE WRONG ABOUT MY VIDYA GAMES. I just enjoy debating this stuff. Fangz posted:Yeah, and the sort of high-speed, infantry based combat in ME just wouldn't work, either. That would be great fun. I need to go back into XCOM when I get my PC fixed. I got too aggravated by the luck element. BreakAtmo fucked around with this message at 13:16 on May 7, 2013 |
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May 7, 2013 12:59
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BreakAtmo posted:It punched a hole through a Reaper and made a valley across a planet easily seen from space. It very well could be more powerful than the Thanix, but unfeasible for use on ships (even Reapers) due to size and therefore relegated to use as a land-based AA weapon. I'd actually be interested by that - two different weapons technologies with different applications. The thing with that reaper-killing super-gun is it had an atrocious degree of collateral damage. And that's just based on what little evidence of near-misses you can find. It wasn't just killing whatever it shot, it was devastating multiple solar systems in the trajectory (or at least singular planets therein). Think of the speech that drill sergeant gives in ME2 about "If you pull the trigger on this, you're ruining someone's day, somewhere and sometime" and increase that to the point using it would be almost certainly worse than not doing so, even if it still worked. As to the Normandy/ies getting detected by the Collectors in ME2, they weren't. Both times they got caught in traps set for them because they couldn't be tracked conventionally.
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May 7, 2013 13:30
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Neddy Seagoon posted:The thing with that reaper-killing super-gun is it had an atrocious degree of collateral damage. And that's just based on what little evidence of near-misses you can find. It wasn't just killing whatever it shot, it was devastating multiple solar systems in the trajectory (or at least singular planets therein). Think of the speech that drill sergeant gives in ME2 about "If you pull the trigger on this, you're ruining someone's day, somewhere and sometime" and increase that to the point using it would be almost certainly worse than not doing so, even if it still worked. True. That gun would ruin a great many days. I can imagine smaller versions being made, or, like I said, weapons tech generally being improved from studying it, but since none of this stuff was ever explained, we're just going over how things *could* have been written. Still better than the Catalyst, though I'd like for most devs to set a higher bar than that. BreakAtmo fucked around with this message at 13:44 on May 7, 2013 |
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May 7, 2013 13:41
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BreakAtmo posted:True. That gun would ruin a great many days. I can imagine smaller versions being made, or, like I said, weapons tech generally being improved from studying it, but since none of this stuff was ever explained, we're just going over how things *could* have been written. Oh I agree, I'm just saying that if they got it working it would probably be a case of "Good news is; we killed a few reapers. Bad news is that Terra Nova, Pluto, a good chunk of the Horsehead Nebula, and France are now little more than memories." As for the Catalyst, I really do wish they'd had an "armada" ending just to make your amassed forces count for something important rather than arbitrary choices. Might've also been an fun ironic twist if it turned out the Catalyst worked, but didn't trigger because of the way the Protheans from Illos sabotaged the Citadel. Something like a massive pitched battle, followed with an epilogue of them slowly mopping up errant Reapers throughout the galaxy as a combined force.
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May 7, 2013 14:01
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The Catalyst also had an elegant design that had been continually refined through countless galactic cycles.
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May 7, 2013 16:04
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Ragingsheep posted:The Catalyst also had an elegant design that had been continually refined through countless galactic cycles. By people who if this cycle was anything to go by had no idea what it did or how it worked. The cd player was probably top notch.
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May 7, 2013 16:24
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You know, it really seems like our cycle was the shittiest. Other cycles developed and refined the crucible thousands of years (relative to their cycle) before us, were more technologically advanced (at least until we killed the reaper and hacked his technology), and were able to last hundreds of years after the reapers came. It's like we were the little brothers who could only finish the game because our big brother gave us cheat codes.
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May 7, 2013 16:30
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I gotta know, am I the only one that actually really liked driving around in the Mako? I thought it was fun romping around on planets and discovering stuff like outposts that weren't on the map, or the cute little beetles or hexapedal anteater-things.
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May 7, 2013 17:38
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I love the Mako and think it is one of the funner parts of ME1. It can get annoying when it becomes challenging, but it's a game, they are supposed to be challenging.
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May 7, 2013 17:49
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When the challenge comes from clunky controls and unpredictable and inconsistent terrain properties though, I think it veers sharply into "not fun" territory.
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May 7, 2013 17:50
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I find those terrain challenges fun. 180 degree turns are kind of broken, though.
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May 7, 2013 17:53
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The Mako was fun during the plot worlds but once you headed for the uncharted worlds it became a giant chore. I replayed Mass Effect a few weeks ago and it was goddamn painful to drive around those terribly generated maps with the Mako.
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May 7, 2013 17:56
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I loved the Mako and the sense of exploration you got driving around on those big open worlds. I just wish they had made a couple of the planets less mountainous and/or given you a forward-boost button.
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May 7, 2013 17:59
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If there was some clearer indication of "you can't drive here, find a way around", I'd say that exploration could have maybe been a little fun (if there were more interesting things to find, that is), but it just got so frustrating. Sometimes there'd be a peak or a hill in your way with no real clear way around it on the map, so you'd decide to try to just drive up it. Sometimes it would work (if only just barely), but sometimes you'd crawl almost all the way to the top and the game would decide "nope, this terrain is impassible, unlike all the identical terrain that you could slowly climb over, time to go back down and start over". It was the world's least fun guessing game.
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May 7, 2013 18:05
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The Mako just kills the pacing. It's fun for a while but there's not a whole lot of character to the worlds and it takes forever.
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May 7, 2013 18:06
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Instant Grat posted:I gotta know, am I the only one that actually really liked driving around in the Mako? I thought it was fun romping around on planets and discovering stuff like outposts that weren't on the map, or the cute little beetles or hexapedal anteater-things. Nah, the Mako owned! The sidequest planets could have done with a little more polishing and detail work, but other than that it was really cool and something I've always felt was missing in ME2 and ME3.
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May 7, 2013 18:27
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If they could somehow do something in ME4 where they had procedurally generated uncharted worlds that you could always explore for the first time, every time, while still being fun, I'd pretty much never stop jizzing my pants over it. But that's a pretty tall order for something that's just a side focus of a big-budget game. Still....
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May 7, 2013 18:31
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StashAugustine posted:The Mako just kills the pacing. It's fun for a while but there's not a whole lot of character to the worlds and it takes forever. Yeah if there had been more signs of life (hell even just visible colonies or signs of life in general) off in the distance of some of the hospitable planets I would've been happier. I mean for sure it made sense that on some planets there would be little more than crashed probes and abandoned research and dig sites, but every non-main plot planet being like that just kinda sucked. It made the worlds feel empty but not in a believable way.
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May 7, 2013 19:09
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Dan Didio posted:Mass Effect 4: Armchair General. I am pretty sure that is 3. Though judging by how well that was thought out it isn't the best idea to resurrect that idea.
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May 7, 2013 19:11
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I honestly wish there was an opportunity to (completely optionally, of course) pilot a Mako during moments where it'd be exceptionally awesome in ME3, I.E. Tuchanka, vs. the Reaper on Rannoch, the final charge on the teleporter to the Citadel, or really, anything about the battle for Earth in general.
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May 7, 2013 19:12
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Yasser Arafatwa posted:Yeah if there had been more signs of life (hell even just visible colonies or signs of life in general) off in the distance of some of the hospitable planets I would've been happier. I mean for sure it made sense that on some planets there would be little more than crashed probes and abandoned research and dig sites, but every non-main plot planet being like that just kinda sucked. It made the worlds feel empty but not in a believable way. Still, especially on the more barren words once in a while I'd be working my way up some ridge, and in the process of trying to turn the camera around so that the controls actually got me in the direction I wanted, I'd look up and see the Mako framed against a red orange sun, one that was even slowly shifting in the distance. The greener worlds could have used more signs of life (and gently caress that one with the giant hills and barely any way through), but moments like the above helped me to not entirely detest the Mako sequences.
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May 7, 2013 19:17
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That's the one UNC planet whose name I'll always remember because I hated it so much. gently caress Nodacrux. Besides that, yeah, I'm one of those weird guys who kinda liked the Mako and kinda misses it sometimes.
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May 7, 2013 19:24
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Instant Grat posted:I gotta know, am I the only one that actually really liked driving around in the Mako? I thought it was fun romping around on planets and discovering stuff like outposts that weren't on the map, or the cute little beetles or hexapedal anteater-things. Bioware should have completely ripped off Halo and given the Mako a form and controls similar to the Warthog, because that's actually fun to drive.
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May 7, 2013 19:28
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The crappy terrain wasn't the real problem with the Mako. It was the bloody shield recharge. If you took it into any kind of combat, like those Geth invasion missions, the shields would go down from small arms fire and the odd actual hit and then you were hosed for the next fifteen minutes. Without shields the thing crumpled as bad as the Hammerhead. And repairing didn't recharge them. So you waited for what felt like half an hour to be able to go back into combat without dying.
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May 7, 2013 19:38
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 just quicksave and then reload, shields back to maximum
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May 7, 2013 19:43
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I loved the Mako to bits. But then, I'm one of those weirdos who would load up Mass Effect and just go driving around those uncharted worlds for fun and try to discover the songs of the rachni. I loved ME1, absolutely loved it to bits. I really dislike ME2 and ME3 gets a pass from me simply for all the call backs, so I'm really one of the weirdos. I didn't like where they went with the series story wise with 2 to 3 and I especially don't like the way they changed the RPG elements, inventories and the shooting elements. 2 and 3 had no wonder for me, not anywhere near what 1 had and I will always lament the what could have been had they continued the series as they started.
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May 7, 2013 20:12
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All the elements they changed were positive improvements. The inventory of ME1 just got in your way and prevented you from playing the game. Even if you had everything you needed you'd still need to waste time converting loot to omnigel and there was just way too much stuff that was all functionally the same except for some stat changes. And how can you dislike the shooting improvements  in ME1 you can miss perfectly lined up shots because accuracy is based on some dice rolls.
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May 7, 2013 20:17
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I didn't mind the accuracy penalties since the marksman power boosted things to 100% or something and that's all I used. But the sniper rifle crosshair penalty was pretty annoying for non infiltrators/soldiers since your probable hit area was practically the size of the whole screen. Though at the same time it played into my love for the ME1 RPG-style of finding workarounds, like because I wanted the Sniper achievement, I just slapped on the most powerful mods and used the sniper rifle as a shotgun at close range.
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May 7, 2013 20:21
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I love RPGs, but it's some unhealthy obsession with RPG mechanics if you think that going from a lovely RPG to a good shooter wasn't an improvement.
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May 7, 2013 20:48
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1st AD posted:All the elements they changed were positive improvements. The inventory of ME1 just got in your way and prevented you from playing the game. Even if you had everything you needed you'd still need to waste time converting loot to omnigel and there was just way too much stuff that was all functionally the same except for some stat changes. And how can you dislike the shooting improvements I said I was one of the weirdos. I just preferred the way ME1 did everything. I liked cooldown, I liked shots being part of the RPG RNG type stuff. I liked my huge inventory that Iwould manage. I liked the tight story with only a few characters, and I liked the way it did everything so much more than 2 or 3. It's a completely different game to the sequels and it's the kind of game I prefer.
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May 7, 2013 20:50
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I forget... If you buy the weapon/armor pack DLCs in 2, do they carry over into 3?
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May 7, 2013 21:32
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