Preview Bioware Interview At MTV Multiplayer

[Edward_R_Murrow]

Tags: BioWare; Mass Effect 2

MTV Multiplayer posted <a href="http://multiplayerblog.mtv.com/2009/03/31/bioware-answers-your-questions/">an interview</a> of the two Bioware MDs with a combination of journalist submitted and reader submitted questions, mostly on Mass Effect 2, with a few Dragon Age and The Old Republic mentions sprinkled in.<blockquote><b>Will players be able to move their ME save to ME2?</b>
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<b>Zeschuk</b>: Keep your saved games is what we’re telling people now, but as far as how that all works, it remains a mystery. Fortunately, we can apply alien technology.
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<b>Muzyka</b>: It’s not a mystery to us but a surprise for fans. But everything we’ve said about moving your games between the products in the trilogy, or saves and characters, was true. And everything in the teaser is also true. So it’s a disconnect. It’s a surprise.
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[...]
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<b>MTV Multiplayer</b>: So the ramifications of your choices… What if players change their mind? Like Wrex is dead, and by forever, you mean forever. I’m assuming you’d have to start over then…
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<b>Zeschuk</b>: Mmmm. I think you’ve got to go back. You can’t rewrite history. You’ve made your choices.
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[...]
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<b>MTV Multiplayer</b>: What things are you fixing in “Mass Effect 2&#8243;?
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<b>Muzyka</b>: One of the things that we definitely listen to is fan feedback. We got a lot of feedback about small things and big things in “ME1,” and we’re basically trying to look at all the feedback we’ve gotten. So some of it is about amping up the intensity of the action. “ME2&#8243; is an RPG but it’s a shooter-RPG. We’re really focusing on the intensity of the action experience. And also, tightening the exploration. Uncharted worlds, they’re still optional but we want to make all of them feel important and feel like they’re all augmenting and improving your main passage through the game. They’re still optional but you’re going to really feel rewarded for having gone through them. It’s a much tighter experience as a result. Moment-to-moment intensity, being able to grab control of the conversations that we didn’t do in the first game. Small things too, like reducing the elevator speed times and things like that. Those are important to fans. We recognize that.</blockquote>Sounds like some of the right things to do. Better exploration could go a long way. So could good dialogues with choices and consequences, but I'll take what I can get.
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Spotted at: <A HREF="http://gamebanshee.com/">Gamebanshee</A>

 

[phanboy_iv]

...being able to grab control of the conversations that we didn’t do in the first game.

By the collar, no doubt.

 

[sheek]

Game sounds sort of interseting... why have I herd nothing about it?

Some qu's to the ppl's developing this game:
-What does ME stand for?
-Will it be real-time ot turn-baseD??
-Who is developing it?
-Is this for PC or X-Box only?
-Whose Wrex??
-Why is this a sci-fi world? It needs to be changed to fantasy. Sci-fi sucks, and is overhyped.
-Will there be a localization for Pakistan?
-Will savegames be importable from previous games? I think this would be a good idea, think abuot it.

Also where can i get more info? Thx

 

[Andhaira]

Save game transfers probably only means starting out in cetain locations, keeping certain deleoped relationships and keeping certain items. No way wil they let you keep all the experiance IMO. (I would like to be wrong though)

Game sounds sort of interseting... why have I herd nothing about it?

Some qu's to the ppl's developing this game:
-What does ME stand for?
-Will it be real-time ot turn-baseD??
-Who is developing it?
-Is this for PC or X-Box only?
-Whose Wrex??
-Why is this a sci-fi world? It needs to be changed to fantasy. Sci-fi sucks, and is overhyped.
-Will there be a localization for Pakistan?
-Will savegames be importable from previous games? I think this would be a good idea, think abuot it.

Also where can i get more info? Thx

Beautiful. Just beautiful.

 

[Dionysus]

Sounds like some of the right things to do. Better exploration could go a long way. So could good dialogues with choices and consequences, but I'll take what I can get.

It sounds like the "better" exploration is synonymous with "less" exploration.

 

[Rhalle]

Sounds like some of the right things to do. Better exploration could go a long way. So could good dialogues with choices and consequences, but I'll take what I can get.

It sounds like the "better" exploration is synonymous with "less" exploration.

That that's the path our current generation of marketing-developers are on is as clear as can be.

Recently, filler garbage replaced actual content; then there was the "player desire for shorter games"; now it's 'we will streamline the experience because it's what the fans want': the result is, of course, shorter games that don't even have to bother with the filler anymore.

It's horseshit, and I hope they die in a fuel fire.

 

[MetalCraze]

Zeschuk: Keep your saved games is what we’re telling people now, but as far as how that all works, it remains a mystery. Fortunately, we can apply alien technology.

Muzyka: It’s not a mystery to us but a surprise for fans. But everything we’ve said about moving your games between the products in the trilogy, or saves and characters, was true. And everything in the teaser is also true. So it’s a disconnect. It’s a surprise.

Ah the typical dev bullshit which means "oh sorry guys, in fact your savegames won't mean nearly anything"
"It is as we promised but in fact it is not, it is a surprise, and it is true yet it is different from what we said yet it will be that way uh blah blah blah"

 

[Dionysus]

Recently, filler garbage replaced actual content; then there was the "player desire for shorter games"; now it's 'we will streamline the experience because it's what the fans want': the result is, of course, shorter games that don't even have to bother with the filler anymore.

To be fair, these sorts of games were always full of filler garbage. The real problem for Bioware is that they want to create a frictionless and controlled gameplay experience. It's one of the problems that Oblivion had. There's no good reason to explore because you won't find anything unique and useful. My guess is that they are essentially cutting any feeling of exploration and replacing it with more scripted content in the form of storylines and cutscenes. And I don't really blame them. I don't think they wanted to make a game like Elite or Starflight in the first place.

Ah the typical dev bullshit which means "oh sorry guys, in fact your savegames won't mean nearly anything"

Not necessarily. The original game had a game+ mode, so it's certainly possible that they'd let you keep the experience. The structure of the game is level scaled to the extent that it really wouldn't matter much. It would be like importing a Morrowind character into Oblivion. Playing at Level 20 isn't much easier than playing at level 1.

 

[MetalCraze]

I believe that they will only let you import the character stats and level, as well as face, but not your choices. For two simple reasons:
a) Bioware
b) how the consequences will be determined for new ME2 players? Knowing that this is Bioware they won't bother thinking on it.
Besides ME1 didn't have any choices besides killing or not killing the council (oh you also could kill or not kill the spider and that's it) and knowing how "no we can't let our players miss at least a single bit of content!" - they most likely will tell you at the beginning of the game "well the fate of the council is such now you are going under the command of the other guy" - just like character backgrounds in ME1 which didn't do absolutely anything besides adding 2 dialogue lines in the beginning of the game.

 

[Volourn]

"Besides ME1 didn't have any choices besides killing or not killing the council (oh you also could kill or not kill the spider and that's it)"

Stop lying. It's rude.

 

[MetalCraze]

Ah oh yes you could also choose to kill the only human chick you could have e-sex with or an annoying Carth Onassi stereo-type.

But was it really a choice?

 

[Bluebottle]

Ah oh yes you could also choose to kill the only human chick you could have e-sex with or an annoying Carth Onassi stereo-type.

But was it really a choice?

KilledWorf: 0 or 1
LeftCarthtoDie: 0 or 1
KirkedtheBlueChick: 0 or 1

 

[aries202]

It's nice to see that Ray and Greg finally admits that Mass Effect is a shooter-rpg, not a traditional RPG.

 

[Fat Dragon]

It's nice to see that Ray and Greg finally admits that Mass Effect is a shooter-rpg, not a traditional RPG.

They've been calling it an action RPG since the game was first announced years ago, man.

 

[aries202]

It's nice to see that Ray and Greg finally admits that Mass Effect is a shooter-rpg, not a traditional RPG.

They've been calling it an action RPG since the game was first announced years ago, man.

There is a difference between an action rpg and a shooter rpg, in my mind. An action rpg still has some sort of stats and skills that determines how well the character is aiming and shooting. A shooter rpg does not necessarily have that.

 

[Volourn]

The game is Action RPG. They ar eonly using the shooter thing to confuse people so they can get fans of all genres to buy the game. Next interview, they'll be sure to call it a Puzzle-RPG, Sports-Rpg, or soemthing else. And, the suckers fall for it.

R00fles!

P.S. "not a traditional RPG."

Weird. They've never called it a full fledge tradional PRG. It's an Action RPG. Which is exactly what it is. Whether it is good or not is irrelevant to what it should classify it as.


P.S.S. "There is a difference between an action rpg and a shooter rpg, in my mind. An action rpg still has some sort of stats and skills that determines how well the character is aiming and shooting. A shooter rpg does not necessarily have that."

Going by your defintions, ME is definitely an Action RPG.

 

[janjetina]

It is a FRPG - a fecal RPG.

 

[Fat Dragon]

How very clever and humorous.