Tags: BioWare; Mass Effect 3
<p><a href="http://www.computerandvideogames.com/310556/interviews/mass-effect-3-bioware-on-intense-combat-and-overhauling-ai/" target="_blank">Part III</a> of the Mass Effect 3 interview at CVG is up. This time BioWare gameplay designers Christina Norman (who in the meantime left BioWare for greener pastures and has been replaced by Preston Watamaniuk) and Corey Gaspur answer a few questions.</p>
<blockquote>
<p><strong>And the system in the new game will make them harder to fight, even on Normal?</strong><br /><br />CN: Yeah. And in Mass Effect 3 it's not just that the game is harder on Insanity, it's that this creature actually behaves differently on higher difficulty levels. On those harder difficulty levels we can make the enemies exhibit specific behaviours more often, or even give them new behaviours that we think will work for a harder difficulty level, but which won't work for an easier one.<br /><br /><strong>And enemies are bigger too, right? A six hundred foot mini-Reaper and the new Atlas Mechs - how do you make such behemoths interesting to fight?</strong><br /><br />CN: Without going into the specifics of any of the enemies you'll face, I can say it needs to be more about smart ways of taking them down. If a large enemy is nothing but a bullet sponge where you shoot him until his hit points go to zero then that really doesn't work. If you can interact with the enemy in specific ways by shooting at weak points? Use the environment against them? Those are the factors that make larger enemies more interesting to fight.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Good luck, Christina and may you successfully scan your planets somewhere else.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Additionally here's a <a href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/me3/previews/the-epic-saga-continues" target="_blank">Mass Effect 3 preview</a> on TentonHammer.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Much like the second installment of the trilogy, combat has also undergone another upgrade. Still keeping the tactical flow from the previous games, the shooter gameplay will thankfully make it less of a necessity to constantly rely on the cover mechanic. In fact, one of the biggest crowd pleasers during the gameplay demo last month during E3 was Shepard’s liberal use of the new omni-blade in close combat.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>With a more viable form of melee combat maneuvers finally in the mix, stealth will also be an option depending on which class you choose to play. Hopefully this means some of the badass stealth attacks that Kasumi Goto (a crew member introduced in the ME2 addon pack <em>Kasumi – Stolen Memory</em>) uses will become available for Shepard as well.</p>
</blockquote>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p><a href="http://www.computerandvideogames.com/310556/interviews/mass-effect-3-bioware-on-intense-combat-and-overhauling-ai/" target="_blank">Part III</a> of the Mass Effect 3 interview at CVG is up. This time BioWare gameplay designers Christina Norman (who in the meantime left BioWare for greener pastures and has been replaced by Preston Watamaniuk) and Corey Gaspur answer a few questions.</p>
<blockquote>
<p><strong>And the system in the new game will make them harder to fight, even on Normal?</strong><br /><br />CN: Yeah. And in Mass Effect 3 it's not just that the game is harder on Insanity, it's that this creature actually behaves differently on higher difficulty levels. On those harder difficulty levels we can make the enemies exhibit specific behaviours more often, or even give them new behaviours that we think will work for a harder difficulty level, but which won't work for an easier one.<br /><br /><strong>And enemies are bigger too, right? A six hundred foot mini-Reaper and the new Atlas Mechs - how do you make such behemoths interesting to fight?</strong><br /><br />CN: Without going into the specifics of any of the enemies you'll face, I can say it needs to be more about smart ways of taking them down. If a large enemy is nothing but a bullet sponge where you shoot him until his hit points go to zero then that really doesn't work. If you can interact with the enemy in specific ways by shooting at weak points? Use the environment against them? Those are the factors that make larger enemies more interesting to fight.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Good luck, Christina and may you successfully scan your planets somewhere else.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Additionally here's a <a href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/me3/previews/the-epic-saga-continues" target="_blank">Mass Effect 3 preview</a> on TentonHammer.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Much like the second installment of the trilogy, combat has also undergone another upgrade. Still keeping the tactical flow from the previous games, the shooter gameplay will thankfully make it less of a necessity to constantly rely on the cover mechanic. In fact, one of the biggest crowd pleasers during the gameplay demo last month during E3 was Shepard’s liberal use of the new omni-blade in close combat.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>With a more viable form of melee combat maneuvers finally in the mix, stealth will also be an option depending on which class you choose to play. Hopefully this means some of the badass stealth attacks that Kasumi Goto (a crew member introduced in the ME2 addon pack <em>Kasumi – Stolen Memory</em>) uses will become available for Shepard as well.</p>
</blockquote>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
