Mass Effect 2, RPG or Shooter?
Mass Effect 2, RPG or Shooter?
Editorial - posted by VentilatorOfDoom on Thu 25 March 2010, 10:53:25
Tags: BioWare; Mass Effect 2GameZenith attended the GDC lecture given by BioWare's Christina Norman and they took an indepth look at what they learned there.
<p style="margin-left:50px;border-style:solid;border-width:1px;border-top-color:#ffffff;padding:5px;border-right-color:#bbbbbb;border-left-color:#ffffff;border-bottom-color:#bbbbbb;">Fans complaining (About lack of RPG experience in ME2) is a small percentage of the overall post (In the Bioware forums)
This is a real slap in the face to those core RPG gamers who have followed Bioware over the years. It is as if Bioware does not care about the lesser percentage of their audience, as long as the larger percentage loves it and they get their profits. Bioware seems to not recall who built them in the first place. They fail to remember who bought their products and put money into their pockets from the beginning. I know Bioware is on a quest to seek profits, thus broadening their audience, but please do not act like the voice of RPGers are not that important because we are a “small percentage”. RPG gamers are loyal and will support you as long as you respect their desires. Shooter gamers are itinerant, once you think you’ve gotten their attention, they will move on to the next big thing. Remember this Bioware while developing Mass Effect 3.
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Mass Effect 1 was very RPGish
There is no way to elucidate this in words as you just had to be in the room when she said this, but when she said this, there was a lot of disgust, like she was exasperated that ME1 was so RPGish. In a way, this really sets the mood for what they really wanted to do with Mass Effect 2, make it feel less like a RPG more like a shooter while still holding on to some RPG mechanics like interactive dialog and player progression.
Christina Norman also explains that in Mass Effect 1 when you level up, it interrupts gameplay and when you pause the game to level up and jump back into the action, you do not know what’s going on.
That happened all the time to me, I was suddenly forced to level up and afterwards I had no fucking clue what was going on. I'm glad BioWare addressed this issue.
Spotted at: Gamebanshee
<p style="margin-left:50px;border-style:solid;border-width:1px;border-top-color:#ffffff;padding:5px;border-right-color:#bbbbbb;border-left-color:#ffffff;border-bottom-color:#bbbbbb;">Fans complaining (About lack of RPG experience in ME2) is a small percentage of the overall post (In the Bioware forums)
This is a real slap in the face to those core RPG gamers who have followed Bioware over the years. It is as if Bioware does not care about the lesser percentage of their audience, as long as the larger percentage loves it and they get their profits. Bioware seems to not recall who built them in the first place. They fail to remember who bought their products and put money into their pockets from the beginning. I know Bioware is on a quest to seek profits, thus broadening their audience, but please do not act like the voice of RPGers are not that important because we are a “small percentage”. RPG gamers are loyal and will support you as long as you respect their desires. Shooter gamers are itinerant, once you think you’ve gotten their attention, they will move on to the next big thing. Remember this Bioware while developing Mass Effect 3.
...
Mass Effect 1 was very RPGish
There is no way to elucidate this in words as you just had to be in the room when she said this, but when she said this, there was a lot of disgust, like she was exasperated that ME1 was so RPGish. In a way, this really sets the mood for what they really wanted to do with Mass Effect 2, make it feel less like a RPG more like a shooter while still holding on to some RPG mechanics like interactive dialog and player progression.
Christina Norman also explains that in Mass Effect 1 when you level up, it interrupts gameplay and when you pause the game to level up and jump back into the action, you do not know what’s going on.
That happened all the time to me, I was suddenly forced to level up and afterwards I had no fucking clue what was going on. I'm glad BioWare addressed this issue.
Spotted at: Gamebanshee
