The Official Mass Effect Thread

[Iceman]

This makes sense but it's a shame if there's no reference at all to Shepherd & a few of the others. It doesn't need to be any more specific than some kind of 'heroes of the distant past' type thing so that it doesn't restrict future Mass Effects.

 

[Havok83]

As a gameplay mechanic, I don't think co op would have worked especially with the whole slow down element which pauses the game when selecting your powers/attacks/weapons.

 

[Nathan]

It's not an issue during the multiplayer. It might appear more difficult at first, because you can't slow down the time at crucial moments, so you can strategize better, but you'd have 2 other human players helping you out.

 

[Havok83]

The options you have in MP are MUCH more limited. You have only 2-3 powers, and 2 guns all of which are mapped to the buttons. In single player, you have way more powers than buttons so the wheel is necessary in order to access them on the fly. That wouldn't work with another player

 

[Nathan]

Then you keep the wheel. You still have two people covering your backs as you switch weapons. Or you use voice commands via Kinect or your headset, to switch them on the fly. And depending on the class, you'd be stuck with two weapons anyway. I haven't played ME3 in a while, but weren't everyone's weapons reduced? In ME1, everyone could basically carry, like what, 5 different weapons? In ME3, someone like Garrus only had a Sniper Rifle and Machine gun.

I'd have no issues with only being able to carry two weapons, as long as everyone gets to pick a different class and brings something different to the table. Not everyone needs to be the jack of all trades.

 

[Havok83]

Then you keep the wheel. You still have two people covering your backs as you switch weapons. Or you use voice commands via Kinect or your headset, to switch them on the fly. And depending on the class, you'd be stuck with two weapons anyway. I haven't played ME3 in a while, but weren't everyone's weapons reduced? In ME1, everyone could basically carry, like what, 5 different weapons? In ME3, someone like Garrus only had a Sniper Rifle and Machine gun.

I'd have no issues with only being able to carry two weapons, as long as everyone gets to pick a different class and brings something different to the table. Not everyone needs to be the jack of all trades.

In ME3, you could carry as many weapons as you wanted (1 of each type). You are thinking of ME2 which limited things to 2, but ME3 wasn't like that. Weight was used to balance out power output so that the heavier your gun was, the longer the power cooldown was. The setup you propose may work for a soldier class but not those that rely heavily on biotics. For example, my Sheps were Sentinels and Vanguards and I was always stopping time to plan out my biotic explosions. That allowed me to see enemies that I normally couldn't during normal gameplay bc things moved to fast and it also helped to aim my biotics as I targeted an enemy. You cant map all the biotic powers to the face buttons so you are limited and have to use the wheel. I think stopping time is crucial in order to access them without being penalized by having an enemy move or attack you while you did.

 

[zenith16]

No you weren't allowed to carry heavy weapons in ME3 unlike me2 and there was more of a class restriction some dealin with weight and power use up issues in me 3 where some like an adept was only allowed to carry 2 weapons tops with a minor upgrade . Unless you were the soldier class. Which carried all weapons tops regardless

Nathan's right in me 2 when I played my adept shepard I was allowed to have the heavy weapon the sniper or assault rifle and a pistol. So I had a total of 3 at most. That wasn't the case Me3 you were allowed 2 for that one. All other class's besides soldier had it differently due to a restriction.

 

[Nathan]

Then it's simply an extra layer of challenge, which is balanced out by the fact that you have two intelligent players on your side, that can flank and keep the enemy in place, as you ready your biotic attack.

 

[Havok83]

No you weren't allowed to carry heavy weapons in ME3 unlike me2 and there was more of a class restriction in me 3 where some like an adept was only allowed to carry 2 weapons tops. Unless you were the soldier class. Which carried all weapons top regardless

Nathan's right in me 2 when I played my adept shepard I was allowed to have the heavy weapon the sniper and assault rifle and pistol. that wasn't the case Me3 for all other class's besides soldier.

No in 3 any class could carry any weapon. The weight system was used to balance things out. IIRC in 2 you were restricted to two weapons. There was a certain point in the game where you were allowed to elect for a bonus weapon. The adept class didn't come with a sniper by default but you could get one midway through the story. This explains the setup the game had:

In Mass Effect and Mass Effect 2, Shepard's class determined what weapons s/he could carry. In Mass Effect 3, any class can carry whichever and however many weapon types they want, subject to a weight limit. Exceeding weight decreases power recharge speed; conversely going far under weight speeds it up

http://masseffect.wikia.com/wiki/Weapons

 

[zenith16]

My shepard had all 3 weapons in Me2 though I was using them I always switched between the heavy weapon like the grenade launcher and the sniper. remember the made the emphisis more so in 3 but what ever. I know what have from my save games

 

[gohei_]

Havok is correct, though you could carry whatever weapon you wanted in the first one, but some of them you could not do any training for, thus they became pretty much useless.

 

[zenith16]

The first yes but I'm just saying what I did in ME2 and I always had those 3 weapons on me. The pistol the heavy weapon and an assault or sniper rifle. and I was always an adept.

 

[Havok83]

The first yes but I'm just saying what I did in ME2 and I always had those 3 weapons on me. The pistol the heavy weapon and an assault or sniper rifle. and I was always an adept.

and I explained in my post how that was possible. By default it was 2 for Adept/Sentinel, 5 for soldiers and 3 for the rest until a certain point in the story, where you could add one more

 

[Iceman]

Co-op would be different to the single player experience for the reasons Havok mentioned and losing the ability to pause and plan is something I'd miss as it retains the RPG over action side of things. And I like that I need to use it on Insanity just so I know exactly how many enemies are coming at me and from which angles. But it's all about options and as long as you can choose to play the whole campaign solo without any penalty, then I would love to also be able to play it in co-op where the positives and negatives should balance out with a squad of human players backing you up (who you might also be communicating with) as Nathan said. I am a big co-op and particularly team co-op gamer and I can't think of many games that I'd want to do co-op more than a future Mass Effect.

If they do it I'd like there to be a reward for doing the campaign in both solo & co-op so that the gamer is encouraged to get both experiences (which will be more different than in other games for the reasons mentioned). If it really does turn out to be a problem I'll settle for separate co-op missions. A solo run through should be essential for everyone anyway as they want to make their own story decisions and choose which characters they get on with and which they don't etc.

 

[zenith16]

and I explained in my post how that was possible. By default it was 2 for Adept/Sentinel, 5 for soldiers and 3 for the rest until a certain point in the story, where you could add one more

but I had it from the start where I had 3 weapons that's what I'm saying. Must be cause Imported from the first game after I bought the me2 collectors edition.

Co-op would be different to the single player experience for the reasons Havok mentioned and losing the ability to pause and plan is something I'd miss as it retains the RPG over action side of things. And I like that I need to use it on Insanity just so I know exactly how many enemies are coming at me and from which angles. But it's all about options and as long as you can choose to play the whole campaign solo without any penalty, then I would love to also be able to play it in co-op where the positives and negatives should balance out with a squad of human players backing you up (who you might also be communicating with) as Nathan said. I am a big co-op and particularly team co-op gamer and I can't think of many more games that I'd want to do co-op than Mass Effect.

If they do it I'd like there to be a reward for doing the campaign in both solo & co-op so that the gamer is encouraged to get both experiences (which will be more different than in other games for the reasons mentioned). If it really does turn out to be a problem I'll settle for co-op missions. A solo run through should be essential for everyone anyway as they want to make their own decisions and choose which characters they get on with and which they don't etc.

Co -op Would be different cause you wouldn't need the wheel at all cause that's only there to control your squad mates. If you have two of your buddies there playing each character there won't be a need for it.

It'll play like a third person border lands. minus the loot/gun farming

 

[Nathan]

A solo run through should be essential for everyone anyway as they want to make their own story decisions and choose which characters they get on with and which they don't etc.

You know what I would love, if every player could add something to the conversation during co-op. You have the main player, who hosts the campaign and does the important decisions, but your friends could always add their 2 cents worth. Like the main player chooses a dialogue option, and when you disagree, your character could say "This is bull****!"

Or let's say we meet another reporter. The main player refuses to hit him/her, and as everyone walks away, one of the players turns around and knocks the reporter out.

 

[zenith16]

That would make it kinda like swtor in a way minus the MMo part of it. But it's doable and I'm sure a lot of people would like that. I wonder if add in elements that work in deus ex would work for that too though. I mean the path's you can take approach wise.

 

[Iceman]

Co -op Would be different cause you wouldn't need the wheel at all cause that's only there to control your squad mates. If you have two of your buddies there playing each character there won't be a need for it.

It'll play like a third person border lands. minus the loot/gun farming

Sounds awesome!

You know what I would love, if every player could add something to the conversation during co-op. You have the main player, who hosts the campaign and does the important decisions, but your friends could always add their 2 cents worth. Like the main player chooses a dialogue option, and when you disagree, your character could say "This is bull****!"

Or let's say we meet another reporter. The main player refuses to hit him/her, and as everyone walks away, one of the players turns around and knocks the reporter out.

Best idea I've heard in a while.

 

[zenith16]

Like I said if had added what was done with deus Ex series that like how you approach things, it would add even more too. But I think the only that know how to pull that off would be the people that have worked on Deus Ex. It would be nice to see in a game like mass effect. But seeing how EA shot down that spy game pitch. it will most likely never happen. It would have been cool to have seen though.

 

[Donut]

Just set the new games before Mass Effect 1. Then no one will wonder about the commander

 

[Havok83]

but I had it from the start where I had 3 weapons that's what I'm saying. Must be cause Imported from the first game after I bought the me2 collectors edition.

Whatever the case, it doesn't take away from my original point which this back and forth has gotten away from.

Co -op Would be different cause you wouldn't need the wheel at all cause that's only there to control your squad mates. If you have two of your buddies there playing each character there won't be a need for it.

It'll play like a third person border lands. minus the loot/gun farming

No it wasn't. The wheel was what was needed to give you access to all your abilities bc again the controller doesn't have sufficient buttons for this. Not as much of an issue on a PC with a keyboard defiantly on the consoles.

 

[zenith16]

It was there for both reasons to control your powers and those of your squad mates as well cause they had powers as well. It was to have total control overall as a way to send them orders in a way or you want them to do a specific action that would help you out in those shoot out's. If you chose to play that way.

But I mean the way it would use the funtions as a pause mechnisum. That it wouldn't be needed. Heck that could be replaced with just a normal hot bar. (Ok not sure how that would work for consoles.) ok they have to do what was done with the disclssified game Xcom did.

 

[Havok83]

It was there for both reasons to control your powers and those of your squad mates as well cause they had powers as well. It was to have total control overall as a way to send them orders in a way. If you chose to play that way.

Um I know that but you said the squad control was the only reason it was there. I was correcting you in that that was not the case

 

[zenith16]

ok so I didn't word it right or I should have worded it better . I was only thinking of a certain function at the time too. So that made me say that . (after all you tell where to take cover just as much as what powers to use also at times.) My bad sorry.

 

[Spider-Vader]

I don't want co-op in the campaign, I like Mass Effect's campaign being something I can get sucked into by myself. Save co-op for the excellent multiplayer, hell add a competitive side too. I think with all of the different playstyles of the different classes/races, ME competitive MP could be something big.