MASS EFFECT 3: The Boring Part

[skullpoker]

ME1 = driving across huge barren landscape looking for mission objectives. BORING
ME2 = scanning globes for radio signals to find mission objectives/raw materials. SLIGHTLY less boring.
ME3... What's the boring part and how huge a part of the game is it?

[Nemkoon]

Sprung will kill you.

[TheRealSpiders]

ME1 = driving across huge barren landscape looking for mission objectives. BORING
ME2 = scanning globes for radio signals to find mission objectives/raw materials. SLIGHTLY less boring.
ME3... What's the boring part and how huge a part of the game is it?

You scan entire star systems now to find war assets/fuel/etc. It's still a relevant part to the game, but there is no limit to how many times you can scan, no need to refill on probes and such, also no more raw materials at all.

[skullpoker]

Even in ME2 the scanning was at least a couple of hours of game time, even if you know what planets to search and where. So if you want to get all the xp and such, how much time do you have to spend on scanning?

Not saying I hate Mass Effect, it's a good series with a fairly deep story. Even the best game has it's weak points.

[Cookie Monster]

Having to use the Mako in ME was a good idea, having to actually explore planets to find minerals and missions made it a more immersive experience.

[skullpoker]

Quite right. Remember the part where you had to cook dinner, fill out ordinance requisitions, and go to the toilet? So Immersive!!!

Oh yeah, you don't put boring crap like that in games. Silly me.

[Cookie Monster]

Quite right. Remember the part where you had to cook dinner, fill out ordinance requisitions, and go to the toilet? So Immersive!!!

If that's what exploring a galaxy means for you, it shows you have problems understanding the meaning of immersive

[TheRealSpiders]

So if you want to get all the xp and such, how much time do you have to spend on scanning?

You aren't awarded experience for scanning anymore, so you don't have to grind scanning for XP. What you find by scanning is mostly war assets (dreadnoughts or whatever and tech that is more story oriented), fuel for the Normandy, credits, and sometimes items for fetch quests.

What's nice is that if you find an item for a fetch quest before you have the quest, it automatically flags the quest for completion rather than the item in question just not existing until you have the quest to begin with.

[skullpoker]

You aren't awarded experience for scanning anymore, so you don't have to grind scanning for XP.
...sometimes items for fetch quests.

Yeah, this is more what I was referring to in the first place. If that game is made so that you can get to level cap without scanning anything then I will be pretty satisfied. Exploring can be fun, but it really shouldn't be mandatory.

[Mistral]

If that's what exploring a galaxy means for you, it shows you have problems understanding the meaning of immersive

He's pointing out that there are a surfeit of things that could exist in the game for immersion, but are rather debilitating to gameplay. For me, driving along the surface and finding these nice convenient outcroppings of uranium was far weirder from a verisimilitude standpoint (and therefore immersion-breaking) than doing orbital scans; both were all sorts of tedious, though. It was always convenient in ME1 how every important thing on a planet's surface could be found in a few minute's drive from a single landing point, and handwaving it as time compression of the same sort as why it doesn't take days or weeks to fly between stars just raises the question of what Shepard is doing playing Magellan on every alien world s/he comes across instead of, you know, saving the galaxy. Besides, immersion could include dying from getting shot by a single bullet with your barrier down, but hardcore mode is not the default for these games for similar reason. On the flip side, the realist component of immersion would also include Shepard sticking to the business of saving the galaxy instead of gallivanting off on sidequests, but if you stripped out all of the sidequests in the game, or even if you shoved them all to the post-game, the fanbase would scream bloody murder. I mean, worse than they already do anyways.

As for ME3, I have no clue. I haven't bought it yet, and I probably won't for a while.

Finally, to address skullpoker's point, ME2 has a toilet. Two of them, in fact.

[Cookie Monster]

He's pointing out that there are a surfeit of things that could exist in the game for immersion, but are rather debilitating to gameplay. For me, driving along the surface and finding these nice convenient outcroppings of uranium was far weirder from a verisimilitude standpoint (and therefore immersion-breaking) than doing orbital scans; both were all sorts of tedious, though. It was always convenient in ME1 how every important thing on a planet's surface could be found in a few minute's drive from a single landing point, and handwaving it as time compression of the same sort as why it doesn't take days or weeks to fly between stars just raises the question of what Shepard is doing playing Magellan on every alien world s/he comes across instead of, you know, saving the galaxy. Besides, immersion could include dying from getting shot by a single bullet with your barrier down, but hardcore mode is not the default for these games for similar reason. On the flip side, the realist component of immersion would also include Shepard sticking to the business of saving the galaxy instead of gallivanting off on sidequests, but if you stripped out all of the sidequests in the game, or even if you shoved them all to the post-game, the fanbase would scream bloody murder. I mean, worse than they already do anyways.

As for ME3, I have no clue. I haven't bought it yet, and I probably won't for a while.

Finally, to address skullpoker's point, ME2 has a toilet. Two of them, in fact.

I know what he's trying to say, but, exploring a planet, regardless of the more or less fortunate way they've chosen to do it, is not one of said things. Call me crazy but that's the kind of things you expect to do in a game like this, exploring planets and their different surfaces and experimenting different gravities, it makes sense. And it's the kind of things that doesn't make ME just another generic shooter. We already have dozens of those for those too impatient to appreciate anything different than direct action. I'm sure they find all the vast info the game provides (codex entries, etc) the boring part too Should we remove that too?

And again, immersion doesn't mean doing mundane, totally unrelated (to the kind of game it is) things as it was suggested. But it doesn't mean presenting the game in the most realistic way possible either. No game would survive to that kind of extreme analysis. There's a compromise point between both and that's what having to explore planets is supposed to be. Mako races, that would have been immersion-breaking, but not the exploring part.

[Gare]

I also thought the Mako bits were probably the worst part of an otherwise good game. Exploring different planets sounds fun on paper, except in ME all the planets are more or less the exact same thing with a different color palette - empty landscape with nothing to explore and the occasional dungeon. Jacob's loyalty mission in ME2 is the kind of exploration/discovery I'd expect when landing on an alien planet. But obviously they can't do that with every single planet, which is why the Mako parts scream quantity over quality to me. But if you enjoyed it, more power to you. I'm not going to argue about it.

As for ME3, I don't have it yet, but from what I read online it seems like people are raging about the ending(s).

[Slacker Magician]

From what I've gathered by reading this thread, it seems ME has some of the worst mini-games ever.

[deadlegion]

From what I've gathered by reading this thread, it seems ME has some of the worst mini-games ever.

Depends what you define as a mini-game, and what you think is really boring (or pointless).
Even the best of games have their faults, depending on your point of view.


Like Skyrim.

Spoiler warning:

You get the skeleton key and you still have to go through the lockpick routine.
Even though it's an unbreakable lockpick

[Cookie Monster]

I also thought the Mako bits were probably the worst part of an otherwise good game. Exploring different planets sounds fun on paper, except in ME all the planets are more or less the exact same thing with a different color palette - empty landscape with nothing to explore and the occasional dungeon. Jacob's loyalty mission in ME2 is the kind of exploration/discovery I'd expect when landing on an alien planet. But obviously they can't do that with every single planet, which is why the Mako parts scream quantity over quality to me. But if you enjoyed it, more power to you. I'm not going to argue about it.

As for ME3, I don't have it yet, but from what I read online it seems like people are raging about the ending(s).

Of course everything can be improved. Regardless of how it was executed, it was a good idea, never said it was perfect, but it wasn't terrible either. But yeah, I rather have the Mako parts in the game than not having them.