You could say the exact same thing about ME1 and ME2. Hell, just about any RPG really. None of the side quest in the previous game has anything to do with the collector threat or saren/sovereign.
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Mass Effect 3 |OT| Space Jesus Returns (tag all spoilers)
- Thread starter Blue Ninja
- Start date
You could say the exact same thing about ME1 and ME2. Hell, just about any RPG really. None of the side quest in the previous game has anything to do with the collector threat or saren/sovereign.
Awww man, that's lame...I wanted to try that but I don't own a Kinect and already got the PS3 CE pre ordered...
None of the games you mentioned ever had the "impending doom" scenario so no.
Skyrim was a beautiful place with the odd dragon taking a shit on a town. ME3 has entire colonies going dark from Reaper attacks.
EmCeeGramr
Member
Yeah, and that was a liiiiiiittle silly as all hell in those games and completely undermined ME2's story! And with ME3, the premise of the story makes it worse!
gnarlyxcharlie
Member
People talking about how awesome the hub world(s?) is, has shot my hype through the roof.
The Technomancer
card-carrying scientician
BWAHAHAHA, I just read the "manga" for the first time. What the flying fuck?
Vire
Member
Did you play Skyrim?
The fate of the world was at hand ultimately, so yes "impending doom" was about to happen. Alduin was called "THE FUCKING WORLD DESTROYER".
No RPG has ever handled side quests like this. It's unreasonable to expect otherwise.
As long as the side quests are compelling, I don't see an issue with it.
And she doesn't like the smell of Shepard's sweat.
Again, what makes this different than ME1/ME2? The threat in ME1 was much worse than the threat in ME3. At least now we have a chance against the reapers in ME3. If sovereign took control of the Citadel in ME1 while Shepard was picking up space kittens, there wouldn't even be a ME2 or ME3.
shinobi602
Member
Lol, damned if you do, damned if you don't. Then everyone would bitch how there are no sidequests in Mass Effect and the games are linear as hell and there are no branching quests or storylines on the side.
Vire
Member
Seriously, just put him on your ignore list.
I hope the billion sidequests is not Bioware taking lessons from Skyrim. Actually they shouldn't as I found the game ultimately to be disappointing in various ways especially as far as quests are concerned. It did some things right as well but it isn't the game to steal ideas from.
You don't get the point. Skyrim wasn't in tears 24/7. You could go and chase butterflies and listen to owls at night. Skyrim was far more ambient than ME3. The demo alone shows War of the Worlds invasion scenario of "oh shit we are all fucked".
And yes, ME2's side-quests were stupid too, but we already knew that.
What threat in ME1? Oh, you mean the only time Reapers did anything right at the end of the game? Because for the entirety of the game you were just chasing Saren and trying to find evidence etc. Did you play it?
EmCeeGramr
Member
That's one hell of a conclusion to jump to.
I wasn't saying there should be no sidequests or non-Reaper-focused sidequests whatsoever (nobody did, not even the IGN guy), just concerns over what IGN was saying: that the sidequests might get a little excessive and be too imbalanced towards irrelevant stuff, not that there shouldn't be any at all.
Don't understand why you feel the need to willfully misrepresent my position.
LumpOfCole
Member
It's better for a game to have too many sidequests than not enough.
I don't think anyone here is complaining that they don't want to do fetch quests. We're saying that the complaint is still legit for those people who don't like it.
I personally can't wait to get stuck in doing the N7 stuff.
Like right now with with my playthrough of ME1 I will probably skip a number of the seemingly worse sidequests.
On the positive side, other than the already positives that I am confident the game will have and makes me have a high opinion of it, what the IGN article mentions of the upgrade system and weapons, I like. This fusion of better than ME1 gameplay that ME2 represented and an upgrade system that is more similar to ME1 than 2 is something I like.
On the positive side, other than the already positives that I am confident the game will have and makes me have a high opinion of it, what the IGN article mentions of the upgrade system and weapons, I like. This fusion of better than ME1 gameplay that ME2 represented and an upgrade system that is more similar to ME1 than 2 is something I like.
shinobi602
Member
But sidequests are optional...that's why I don't see the complaint as valid. If sidequests like "Find this rogue VI" or "Save this Quarian colony from varren" keep popping up, then simply roleplay your character as if the galaxy was doomed and ignore them.
The sidequests are easily a plus in my opinion, that can give you more choice in what you do in the game.
Eh, if you want Mass Effect to be a role-playing game you gotta bring that RPG'ness into it yourself, so role play. Ignore the side quests and gun after the main baddy. 
In almost any RPG you can just dick around while the world crumbles around you.
You need to set a Fallout 1-style post-water chip timer to curb the goofing off, but some people hated that so much that Interplay patched it out.
In almost any RPG you can just dick around while the world crumbles around you.
You need to set a Fallout 1-style post-water chip timer to curb the goofing off, but some people hated that so much that Interplay patched it out.
You know, the threat of Sovereign using the Citadel to transport all the reapers instantly to the heart of the galaxy and cutting all communication off to all the other species, giving them no chance at all against them.
If Shepard didn't reach the Citadel in time, that would have all happened. Hell, even the last segment on Ilos is timed to reinforce how dire the situation is. You think Shepard would have enough time to find all the evidence to stop Saren if he was just dicking around all day doing unrelated side quest?
Eh, if you want Mass Effect to be a role-playing game you gotta bring that RPG'ness into it yourself, so role play. Ignore the side quests and gun after the main baddy.
In almost any RPG you can just dick around while the world crumbles around you.
You need to set a Fallout 1-style post-water chip timer to curb the goofing off, but some people hated that so much that Interplay patched it out.
I hate random excessive number of side quests with little focus and detail in them and like fewer but good side quests personally. My issue is more found in this quote
than the other issues.
It is not a dealbreaker for me in any case, but I don't like this design decision.
Yes, but this was right at the end of the game. The closing moments of the game involved Reapers actually proving to be a major threat to civilisation.
For the first 85% of the game, you're finding evidence in the citadel, finding some Matriarch's daughter in a mine and exploring planets on a space buggy.
None of the characters but Shepard and his/her crew ever thought there was any sort of threat from "Reapers". In ME3, EVERYBODY is getting royally fucked by the invasion.
That seems like a perfectly legitimate concern to me. Not even the quantity or how optional/disconnected they are, but how are they presented to you in the first place. Oh well.
The Technomancer
card-carrying scientician
Yup, this is what I do.Eh, if you want Mass Effect to be a role-playing game you gotta bring that RPG'ness into it yourself, so role play. Ignore the side quests and gun after the main baddy.
Not too spoilerish because it's the goddamn Normandy but
how did they fit the war assets room into the CIC? Unless they merged the entire lab+armoury+comm room together or something
Vire
Member
Also, depending on the post-game scenario it may or may not make sense to continue to do ancillary side quests after the Reaper threat is dealt with.
What I tend to do in most Western RPG's is go through the main story and then tackle the side stuff in the "post game".
Not sure how it's handled in ME3 though.
What I tend to do in most Western RPG's is go through the main story and then tackle the side stuff in the "post game".
Not sure how it's handled in ME3 though.
EatChildren
Currently polling second in Australia's federal election (first in the Gold Coast), this feral may one day be your Bogan King.
I'm okay with the unrelated side quests, but only because I've been conditioned by so many shitty RPG side quests, especially in BioWare games, that I've come to expect it. It's still disappointing, mostly because it shows BioWare are unable to shake old habits.
And I agree with the above; Human Revolution's side quests were excellent.
And I agree with the above; Human Revolution's side quests were excellent.
I agree with that, and yeah those side quests seem to be presented in a silly fashion. Quality > quantity, but hopefully there'll be a set of decent ones in there.
I do think the idea of driving the player forward in this sort of game is almost impossible to do without some strict limit like a timer. On some level, if you want to be "in" the game and be Shepard or whatnot and experience it more as a straight storyline, you have to take on some of that role-playing burden and force yourself to ignore meaningless side quests.
With Skyrim it's like "hey the dragons are back and murderous, and you're kinda the only guy who can do anything about it," and you can just run around and pick flowers the entire time. It's largely an unavoidable issue, without doing something like what Fallout did with its two timers (which I always thought was pretty cool and certainly very story-appropriate).
It'd be neat to see something like that again but it'll probably never happen.
Jake Tower
Banned
I bet the Council will still deny their existence.
gnarlyxcharlie
Member
I hate the fact that endings are even being mentioned in here, makes me paranoid.
You might just use a savegame editor to give yourself the minerals (and maybe the credits) you need. Also, one tip I offer is to enable subtitles, then just tap A (or Space, on PC, or X on PS3) to flip through the dialogue. You can still get the gist of things and slide through it quickly. Obviously that's not a great idea for your first time through a game, but I've been through both games at least 8 times each...
Huh?
FairXchange
Member
I have ME2 on 360, but never finished it. Liked it a lot.
Think I'll go with ME3 on the PS3 this time, I have more HD space for the inevitable DLC I'll download for it.
Think I'll go with ME3 on the PS3 this time, I have more HD space for the inevitable DLC I'll download for it.
I think it's hilarious.
Woo-Fu
Banned
He's offended by their comparison of one fictional character with another.
GodfatherX
Member
how many disc is this on 360?
Personally, the side quest problem is less of an immersion killer than traditional RPG loot and economy. I don't understand why an elite protagonist wastes time with basic 'level 1' trinkets. Similarly, why are the agencies responsible for player employment not being more generous with resources? These systems exist to placate RPG traditionalists as opposed to providing some actual depth and sense of progression. I hate the regression in itemization.
Alpha Protocol sets the bar with both of these issues. Obsidian actually took 2 seconds to name their weapon levels. They also gave a passing nod to the need for plausible deniability in regards to player resourcing.
This is all retread ground though. It's getting so goddamned old. What's new is multiplayer. I hope the war score can be completely satisfied with co-op play. I will probably be doing a lot of it.
Alpha Protocol sets the bar with both of these issues. Obsidian actually took 2 seconds to name their weapon levels. They also gave a passing nod to the need for plausible deniability in regards to player resourcing.
This is all retread ground though. It's getting so goddamned old. What's new is multiplayer. I hope the war score can be completely satisfied with co-op play. I will probably be doing a lot of it.
Darkmakaimura
Can You Imagine What SureAI Is Going To Do With Garfield?
Probably two.
LumpOfCole
Member
Shame he's not a squadmate in ME3
a couple of pages late, but GODDAMN
looks like I'll have to get the DLC after all
I'm actually really glad that there are lots of other side quests not pertaining to the Reapers. I know it doesn't make sense from a story standpoint but I was worried that literally everything would be go here, get the Reapers out, repeat.
Is this post serious? I honestly can't tell.Emwitus said:
shadyspace
Banned
I hope there are at least a decent amount of Reaper-centric sidequests. Stuff like assisting an evacuation or rallying a battalion shaken by heavy losses.
Felix Lighter
Member
I wish developers would find an excuse to put some down time moments in their plots so players can take that time to do side quests without it feeling like the main character is neglecting an imminent disaster. You just need some stretch of time in which the main character is waiting on someone or something else. It could be easy enough to allow people to just push through those moments if they want to keep the story going but it would make taking the time to do some side quests not seem so absurd. I'll admit with the Reaper invasion makes that a little trickier in ME 3 than it would be in some other games.