Old Mass Effect Megathread: Original Camera Angles

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Video Games > Old Mass Effect Megathread: Original Camera Angles

Serf: May 5, 2011

Apraxin posted:

I've seen a couple of comments from reviewers who are 20+ hours in and like the game saying that they think the plot picks up past Eos and that it was a mistake for Bioware/EA to make that the cutoff (and to forbid them from talking about stuff that comes after), so I suppose it's possible that this is the ME equivalent of putting out a pre-release demo of DAI that let you play the prologue and then 10 thrilling hours of roaming the Hinterlands. Which would itself be a decision lol-worthy in its dumbness, but I wouldn't put it past them .

This game really is DA:I in space. I liked DA:I so it's not a big deal, but come on guys.

Skippy McPants posted:

There at ladders at the forward sides of the vehicle bay and the living quarters. They're a lot quicker than the dumb lift.

Holy poo poo thanks. This is gonna speed things up a ton.

# ? Mar 17, 2017 02:43

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# ? May 29, 2024 16:27

poisonpill: Nov 8, 2009; The only way to get huge fast is to insult a passing witch and hope she curses you with Beast-strength.

BULBASAUR posted:

who worked in the gayme industry

WHOM! And your god damned father. I'm sorry. My face is tired for dealing with. Everything.

# ? Mar 17, 2017 02:44

Doctor Spaceman: Jul 6, 2010; "Everyone's entitled to their point of view, but that's seriously a weird one."

Skippy McPants posted:

While this is true, the ~*Pathfinder*~ feels like they least special role they've created for a protagonist to date. and the fact that you get the job because of space nepotism only compounds the silliness.

It's stuck in the middle ground between being important from birth (Jade Empire, Baldur's Gate), reaching the top through your own talents (Dragon Age 2, Mass Effect) and just being in the wrong place at the wrong time (Dragon Age 1, Inquisition).

# ? Mar 17, 2017 02:46

Professor Beetus: Apr 12, 2007; They can fight us
But they'll never Beetus

Fojar38 posted:

Bioware games are Mary Sue simulators with YOU as the star which is why there is always some sort of awe inspiring major role for the player that usually includes a fancy title.

Yeah but in ME 1-3 you were Commander Shepard, a veteran military officer with a ton of experience. And you still got called Commander and Shepard most of the time. Imagine if you played those games and everybody shot their load when they met you and exclaimed "a Spectre! Oh gosh, we're saved!"

Like apparently human colonists don't know how to assess risks without some jackhole interfaced with an AI.

Here is an actual bit of dialogue from Eos. You are investigating an outpost that went dark. One of your crew says something to the effect of "if only they'd had a pathfinder." in a somber tone. Like, holy poo poo, if otherwise capable people, who were selected for this specific thing can't handle the thing they came here to do, then maybe they should have loving stayed home.

# ? Mar 17, 2017 02:48

Rinkles: Oct 24, 2010; What I'm getting at is...
Do you feel the same way?

For those that played, how's the loot? What I've seen looks worryingly ME1-like (lot of garbage). How's it compare to Inquisition (didn't love that either)?

# ? Mar 17, 2017 02:48

Mister Facetious: Apr 21, 2007; I think I died and woke up in L.A.,
I don't know how I wound up in this place...

Rookersh posted:

Bioware doesn't exist anymore.

DA:O was a surprise success that took 6ish years to make and almost everyone working at Bioware to put out the door. EA had no faith in it, and suddenly it was one of their top selling franchises. So they did what EA does to highly successful franchises, and asked Bioware to make another one. Except for this new one, they wanted it started and finished in under a year, as they had a dream of an annual RPG franchise. Mind you that's hard enough to pull off for FPS games which are relatively simple to make with multiple teams. Bioware was expected to put together a full length AAA RPG in 6-7 months while also putting out the last of the DA:O DLC.

This killed the company. Huge swathes of people up and quit. They couldn't handle the stress. They couldn't handle what they were expected to do. Every single major program director and creative lead left the company during this year period where they were developing DA2. Go look at LinkedIn profiles for the major people that worked on DA:O, and more then half of them suddenly leave Bioware in 2010. The combat director quit and wasn't replaced for months, so they had no real lead directing what the combat should have been during that period. Major story beats and combat ideas got forced into the game in the final months of 2010 not because they were good, but because the game needed to ship in a few months and it needed to get out the door. To help the DA team actually finish DA2 in a somewhat annual fashion, they drew most of the ME2 team off ME, throwing them into this grinder as well.

By the time DA2 launched, around half if not more of the original "Bioware" was gone. Go through the credits of DA:O, ME1, or ME2 and start LinkedIning people, none of them work for Bioware anymore. Most left between 2010 and 2012.

It's been a pretty steady drain since then. Compare the credits list of Inquisition to the credits list of DA:O or DA2. It's almost an entirely new team, and it's a team that Bioware specifically hired to replace the losses from DA2. It's why so many styles have changed since then, why the gameplay changed so steadily, and why they chose to try so many new things. Because Inquisition wasn't made by the DA:O team trying their hand at open world game design. It was maybe 1/6th of the guys that even touched DA:O/DA2 suddenly getting an influx of new blood, most of it Bioware fans finally getting a chance to work for the company they loved, that had great new ideas for what they wanted out of future Bioware games.

It's the same for the ME team. The brain drain has been bad, and the development of Andromeda has apparently picked off massive chunks of the team. The lead writer of the group was the lead writer for Halo 4, and he apparently clashed with a lot of the senior writers/main writers of previous ME games. A whole bunch of goon favorite ME writers have quit the company, and on various development forums have mentioned it was due to creative differences with the former lead writer. Gameplay leads have been leaving the ME/Bioware teams at a pretty steady pace since the game was developed as well. The story had to be picked up mid completion as the lead writer got forced out/quit and replaced, which likely doesn't mean great things for the narrative ( which we are also seeing here. ). Andromeda has currently had the great slow drip of Bioware talent since the dark days of 2010 when DA2 "killed" the company. They've been forced to cycle talent multiple times during the development of Andromeda, not just in management ( which has seen multiple complete turnovers ), but also among the rank and file people working on the game.

This isn't to say Andromeda can't be great, or that it won't live up to the hype. I'm personally hoping it does because I need something to play right now. But if it's good, it'll be good on it's own merits and it's own merits alone, rather then because "it's a Bioware game, I like Bioware!". Because Bioware doesn't exist anymore, it's a completely new entity and needs to be treated as such. People really need to be viewing this as "EA'S NEW ACQUISITION, BIOWARE VICTORY'S FIRST RPG. HOPE IT'S GOOD." rather then "Bioware always makes quality. I know what I'll get here.". As it is right now, EA is propping up Bioware's corpse with a new studio and hoping people don't notice while they keep using it as their RPG house.

# ? Mar 17, 2017 02:50

Fojar38: Sep 2, 2011; Sorry I meant to say I hope that the police use maximum force and kill or maim a bunch of innocent people, thus paving a way for a proletarian uprising and socialist utopia

also here's a stupid take
---------------------------->

DrNutt posted:

Yeah but in ME 1-3 you were Commander Shepard, a veteran military officer with a ton of experience. And you still got called Commander and Shepard most of the time. Imagine if you played those games and everybody shot their load when they met you and exclaimed "a Spectre! Oh gosh, we're saved!"

Like apparently human colonists don't know how to assess risks without some jackhole interfaced with an AI.

Here is an actual bit of dialogue from Eos. You are investigating an outpost that went dark. One of your crew says something to the effect of "if only they'd had a pathfinder." in a somber tone. Like, holy poo poo, if otherwise capable people, who were selected for this specific thing can't handle the thing they came here to do, then maybe they should have loving stayed home.

Aren't Pathfinders supposed to be rangers who possess the necessary knowledge, skill, and survival skills to go out and investigate the wilderness and come back safely to report if it's good to colonize or not? That's not something everyone can do

# ? Mar 17, 2017 02:51

Skippy McPants: Mar 19, 2009

Rinkles posted:

For those that played, how's the loot? What I've seen looks worryingly ME1-like (lot of garbage). How's it compare to Inquisition (didn't love that either)?

Feels very Inquisition, though with less looting off bodies and more time spent in crafting menus. I expect most of the best items to be crafted.

Recommend Day 1 Engine Engine use because crafting is a dumb mechanic

# ? Mar 17, 2017 02:51

JBP: Feb 16, 2017; You've got to know, to understand,
Baby, take me by my hand,
I'll lead you to the promised land.

Exactly what make the pathfinder all powerful compared to say, anybody else on the ark?

# ? Mar 17, 2017 02:51

Fojar38: Sep 2, 2011; Sorry I meant to say I hope that the police use maximum force and kill or maim a bunch of innocent people, thus paving a way for a proletarian uprising and socialist utopia

also here's a stupid take
---------------------------->

edit: gently caress

# ? Mar 17, 2017 02:51

8-bit Miniboss: May 24, 2005; CORPO COPS CAME FOR MY

JBP posted:

Exactly what make the pathfinder all powerful compared to say, anybody else on the ark?

AI in the head apparently.

# ? Mar 17, 2017 02:52

Skippy McPants: Mar 19, 2009

JBP posted:

Exactly what make the pathfinder all powerful compared to say, anybody else on the ark?

There's some vague inference that it has to do with SAM, your AI brain-worm. But they don't really play that up enough to sell why it has to be you who's the Pathfinder.

Skippy McPants fucked around with this message at 02:56 on Mar 17, 2017

# ? Mar 17, 2017 02:52

4 inch cut no femmes: May 31, 2011

Skippy McPants posted:

There's some vague inference that it has to do with SAM, your AI brain-worm. But they don't really play that up enough to sell why it has to be you whose the Pathfinder.

It's who's! Sorry my face

# ? Mar 17, 2017 02:53

Random Asshole: Nov 8, 2010

Rinkles posted:

For those that played, how's the loot? What I've seen looks worryingly ME1-like (lot of garbage). How's it compare to Inquisition (didn't love that either)?

Lots of garbage AND loving inventory Limits again. I think like half of my max inventory is weapon mods now, so unless they introduce a way to sell or sort those easily it's looking like the ME1 inventory all over again.

Someone on the design team seems to have a HUGE hardon for ME1, even the parts that objectively weren't good.

# ? Mar 17, 2017 02:54

Fojar38: Sep 2, 2011; Sorry I meant to say I hope that the police use maximum force and kill or maim a bunch of innocent people, thus paving a way for a proletarian uprising and socialist utopia

also here's a stupid take
---------------------------->

Isn't it because your dad picked you and my-face-is-tired lady says that that's total bullshit because it isn't supposed to be hereditary but she doesn't have any better ideas

# ? Mar 17, 2017 02:54

Fojar38: Sep 2, 2011; Sorry I meant to say I hope that the police use maximum force and kill or maim a bunch of innocent people, thus paving a way for a proletarian uprising and socialist utopia

also here's a stupid take
---------------------------->

You've got an AI in your brain and you were already a Junior Ranger I think is the long and short of it

# ? Mar 17, 2017 02:55

Skippy McPants: Mar 19, 2009

Fojar38 posted:

Isn't it because your dad picked you and my-face-is-tired lady says that that's total bullshit because it isn't supposed to be hereditary but she doesn't have any better ideas

Yes, but it's not clear why being linked to SAM makes you a one of a kind wunderkind.

# ? Mar 17, 2017 02:55

Tirranek: Feb 13, 2014

Seems like if you choose one of the other presets and tweak it then the cutscenes look far less weird.

# ? Mar 17, 2017 02:56

Mister Facetious: Apr 21, 2007; I think I died and woke up in L.A.,
I don't know how I wound up in this place...

Skippy McPants posted:

Yes, but it's not clear why being linked to SAM makes you a one of a kind wunderkind.

It's because the writer also did Halo 4 :ssh:

# ? Mar 17, 2017 02:56

FronzelNeekburm: Jun 1, 2001; STOP, MORTTIME

Played a few more rounds of multiplayer. Had one that behaved well, and it was decent. I still find it hard to track where the action is and when teammates have died, but it's... okay. Two of the three games were spent swimming through rubber bands, though, and listening to teammates complain about their useless teammates.

Fojar38 posted:

Isn't it because your dad picked you and my-face-is-tired lady says that that's total bullshit because it isn't supposed to be hereditary but she doesn't have any better ideas

I wouldn't be surprised if it's because SAM has your mom's ghost inside her.

# ? Mar 17, 2017 02:58

Milkfred E. Moore: Aug 27, 2006; 'It's easier to imagine the end of the world than the end of capitalism.'

Rinkles posted:

For those that played, how's the loot? What I've seen looks worryingly ME1-like (lot of garbage). How's it compare to Inquisition (didn't love that either)?

It's got DA:I style vendor trash and a Sell All Trash button.

# ? Mar 17, 2017 02:58

Fojar38: Sep 2, 2011; Sorry I meant to say I hope that the police use maximum force and kill or maim a bunch of innocent people, thus paving a way for a proletarian uprising and socialist utopia

also here's a stupid take
---------------------------->

The real plot hole is that they should have sent like a hundred pathfinders instead of just one unless that gets explained

# ? Mar 17, 2017 02:59

Ekusukariba: Oct 11, 2012

SurreptitiousMuffin posted:

The two opinions seem to be: THIS GAME IS THE WORST or THIS GAME IS THE BEST

I mean are we allowed to say it's a really fun game with a lot of issues? That it needs patching but it's worth the price of admission? It's almost like every other Mass Effect game.

Its $80 where I live, so no its not worth the price of admission, this will be a bargain bin buy for me at best

# ? Mar 17, 2017 03:00

weg: Jun 6, 2006; Reassisted Retrogression

Richard "Dick" Ryder reporting for duty!

# ? Mar 17, 2017 03:06

Rookersh: Aug 19, 2010

I just got told a major plot point reveal.

:smithicide:

# ? Mar 17, 2017 03:06

Fojar38: Sep 2, 2011; Sorry I meant to say I hope that the police use maximum force and kill or maim a bunch of innocent people, thus paving a way for a proletarian uprising and socialist utopia

also here's a stupid take
---------------------------->

weg posted:

Richard "Dick" Ryder reporting for duty!

Don't doxx me

# ? Mar 17, 2017 03:08

Dapper_Swindler: Feb 14, 2012; Im glad my instant dislike in you has been validated again and again.

weg posted:

Richard "Dick" Ryder reporting for duty!

loving christ.

Rookersh posted:

I just got told a major plot point reveal.

tell us.

# ? Mar 17, 2017 03:08

Milkfred E. Moore: Aug 27, 2006; 'It's easier to imagine the end of the world than the end of capitalism.'

Rookersh posted:

I just got told a major plot point reveal.

...and?

# ? Mar 17, 2017 03:09

Fojar38: Sep 2, 2011; Sorry I meant to say I hope that the police use maximum force and kill or maim a bunch of innocent people, thus paving a way for a proletarian uprising and socialist utopia

also here's a stupid take
---------------------------->

Don't tell us please

# ? Mar 17, 2017 03:08

DoctorGonzo: Jul 25, 2016; by Jeffrey of YOSPOS

Vikar Jerome posted:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p-msmx9yW5Q

#teamyen

also this game is going to be trashed.

# ? Mar 17, 2017 03:09

Sio: Jan 20, 2007; better red than dead

Skippy McPants posted:

Yes, but it's not clear why being linked to SAM makes you a one of a kind wunderkind.

I think Ryder's special integration with SAM is reasonable enough, but there's not really any justification for that link being tied to the Pathfinder position.

# ? Mar 17, 2017 03:10

Rookersh: Aug 19, 2010

Fojar38 posted:

Don't tell us please

Yeah, I'm not going to post a major spoiler like that in this thread 6 days before release. There are goons who will enjoy this game and I don't want to do that.

I'm just really bummed out.

# ? Mar 17, 2017 03:10

SurreptitiousMuffin: Mar 21, 2010

weg posted:

Richard "Dick" Ryder reporting for duty!

the inevitable Monster Factory is gonna be incredible

# ? Mar 17, 2017 03:11

Fojar38: Sep 2, 2011; Sorry I meant to say I hope that the police use maximum force and kill or maim a bunch of innocent people, thus paving a way for a proletarian uprising and socialist utopia

also here's a stupid take
---------------------------->

Rookersh posted:

Yeah, I'm not going to post a major spoiler like that in this thread 6 days before release. There are goons who will enjoy this game and I don't want to do that.

I'm just really bummed out.

Thank you, I appreciate it

# ? Mar 17, 2017 03:11

Axialbloom: Jul 7, 2011; My life is a series of
lapses in judgement.

For anyone having crashes/freezing at the start of a multiplayer match -

Make sure nobody on your team is playing a Human Soldier (yourself included). For some reason that seemed to fix it for myself and the people I was playing with. Just wish it didn't take almost 2 of my 10 hours to figure out :ohdear:

On a side note multiplayer is kind of fun at the moment but holy poo poo is the ui/menu system terrible. Menus all the way down.

# ? Mar 17, 2017 03:11

JBP: Feb 16, 2017; You've got to know, to understand,
Baby, take me by my hand,
I'll lead you to the promised land.

Rookersh posted:

Yeah, I'm not going to post a major spoiler like that in this thread 6 days before release. There are goons who will enjoy this game and I don't want to do that.

I'm just really bummed out.

Post it in tags with a big warning I want to know.

# ? Mar 17, 2017 03:12

Fojar38: Sep 2, 2011; Sorry I meant to say I hope that the police use maximum force and kill or maim a bunch of innocent people, thus paving a way for a proletarian uprising and socialist utopia

also here's a stupid take
---------------------------->

PM it to people who really want to know if you would. If you post it in this thread it becomes about the spoiler and I'll have to vacate it and you are all my friends and I would hate to do that

# ? Mar 17, 2017 03:13

Milkfred E. Moore: Aug 27, 2006; 'It's easier to imagine the end of the world than the end of capitalism.'

Rookersh posted:

Yeah, I'm not going to post a major spoiler like that in this thread 6 days before release. There are goons who will enjoy this game and I don't want to do that.

I'm just really bummed out.

PM me. I'm super curious.

# ? Mar 17, 2017 03:14

Ages: Feb 20, 2005; Its just half the puffin juice and the puffin lives and doesnt mind. I promise!; Fun Shoe

Rookersh posted:

I just got told a major plot point reveal.

Oh my God

We were wrong

It was the Milky Way all along!

# ? Mar 17, 2017 03:16

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# ? May 29, 2024 16:27

lunar detritus: May 6, 2009

I just got to the part where I can listen to Liara's recordings and I love how she's all "The protheans are all so wonderful and enlightened :allears:

". I guess she got contacted before ME1.

# ? Mar 17, 2017 03:16

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