Character Creation In Mass Effect

[Volourn]

http://xbox360.ign.com/articles/816/816533p1.html

 

For 'just' an Action RPG that people accuse of being nothing more than a glorified 'shooter'; it has it's shae of role-playing ideas like how characetr abckground actually influences others' reactions to you, and how the player can shape the story.

 

Great read.

 

Coolio beanios.

[Morgoth]

*yawn*

 

Boring read, nothing new. I knew about the facial generator before, and how it works. This seems just to be a gimmick to me. Let's better wait how well ME pulls of the choice/consequences part.

Edited August 29, 2007 by Morgoth

[Volourn]

Did you read it? ME's characetr creation is more than face gen. It has backgrounds ( two different choices) which effect how others interatc with you. True, it's one thing to read ana rticle about it's 'rpgness' than to see it in action. The point is ME is not just about combat. Not even close.

 

What will your background(s) be?

 

I'll be an 'Earthborn War hero'.

[Morgoth]

Uh whatever. A PC version would be nice for a start before I get too deeply into background talk. Is there also a background choice for "sick dirty space-bastard"?

[Volourn]

L0L Not quite; but you probably can act like one...

 

Your BG choices consist of 1 of the following:

 

spacer, colonist, or earthborn

 

 

and

 

 

soul survivor, ruthless, or war hero

 

 

 

For you, you'd likely choose 'ruthless spacer'.

[Tigranes]

Three backgrounds?

 

And three 'psych' backgrounds that don't even make sense, I mean in the way that they've been picked. Why not 'sheltered officer boy', or 'the brigade punching bag', etc? Surely 'ruthless' applies to everyone, too.

 

I mean, they sound well done and I think you will see them pop up throughout the game, which is good; looking forward to that. But it's really asking for a bit more variation. Not Arcanum's 30, since you can't really make 30 things pop up in dialogue later, but 6 or 7? Why not that?

 

Also, the bit about female Shepard not being a caricature will strike fire with Sand and the other "I wanna create my own character" people. Personally I have nothing against premade characters, but the personality of the female they describe is so ridiculously a caricature.

Edited August 30, 2007 by Tigranes

[Volourn]

Heh. Well, I presume how you play your character (female or otherwise) will be up to you 9wityhin the limits of the choices of course). Sand can play his own character in ME. He's not forced to play a certain way.

 

And, while more BG chocies are always nice; BIO probably went with this smaller number so they cna be used mor eoften. Probably why DA only has a handful of backgrounds as well (but, of course, DA's BGs all come with their very own prologue *and* potential nemesis, IIRC).

Edited August 30, 2007 by Volourn

[Tigranes]

Sand can play his own character in ME. He's not forced to play a certain way.

 

Well, yeah, but is that gonna stop him complaining?

 

I understand the logic but I think 3 is *too* small. For that number, it better have a huge and real impact responses to the PC unlike anything we've seen before. Which would be very nice.

[Pop]

Sand can play his own character in ME. He's not forced to play a certain way.

 

Well, yeah, but is that gonna stop him complaining?

 

I understand the logic but I think 3 is *too* small. For that number, it better have a huge and real impact responses to the PC unlike anything we've seen before. Which would be very nice.

Somehow I doubt that, since most NPCs wouldn't really care what his background is, they'd be caught up in how the PC is currently "first human (space cop whatever)" I'm expecting the background to be just like NWN2's - only really relevant to stats and to what NPCs say at the very beginning of the game.

Edited August 30, 2007 by Pop

[Deraldin]

Sand can play his own character in ME. He's not forced to play a certain way.

 

Well, yeah, but is that gonna stop him complaining?

 

I understand the logic but I think 3 is *too* small. For that number, it better have a huge and real impact responses to the PC unlike anything we've seen before. Which would be very nice.

Somehow I doubt that, since most NPCs wouldn't really care what his background is, they'd be caught up in how the PC is currently "first human (space cop whatever)" I'm expecting the background to be just like NWN2's - only really relevant to stats and to what NPCs say at the very beginning of the game.

 

Spectre. Cops who don't have to abide by the rules.

[Tale]

EXTREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEME!

[Tigranes]

only really relevant to stats and to what NPCs say at the very beginning of the game.

 

In which case, 3 is just mindnumbingly stupid. We shall see.

 

Spectre. Cops who don't have to abide by the rules.

 

What.

[Sand]

Sand can play his own character in ME.

 

If its not on PC I can't. Beyond that its sounds cool, but only 3? I wouldn't mind if we had more choices, like 10 maybe.

Edited August 30, 2007 by Sand

[Deraldin]

Spectre. Cops who don't have to abide by the rules.

What.

 

The space cop people. They are called Spectres.

[Sand]

To bad you can't pick your own name otherwise you can be... SPECTRE GADGET!

 

GO GO GADGET DEATH STAR!

Edited August 30, 2007 by Sand

[Volourn]

"Well, yeah, but is that gonna stop him complaining?"

 

You win.

 

That said, where is everyone getting this 'only 3' thing from?

 

It's 2 seperate choices of background stuff so you have variant background combo checks.

 

And, I'm sure it's used more than just at the start of the game. It's supposed to effect certain quests, too.

 

You can choose your first name.

 

P.S. Sand, xbox 360's price has lowered so buy it. You know you want to.

[Sand]

P.S. Sand, xbox 360's price has lowered so buy it. You know you want to.

 

Nah. If the Premium or Elite edition of the console was a $100 or less I would consider it but its not and I am not going spend several hundreds of dollars for one game. When it comes to the PC, if it comes to the PC, I will most certainly will get it.

[Tigranes]

It's 2 seperate choices of background stuff so you have variant background combo checks.

 

Yeah, 3 general + 3 psych. It's still very, very small. Now, for that number, I expect to see, throughout the game, substantial NPC responses and recognisance of not only your backgrounds but also them in combination, and there be some juicy consequences to your background, i.e. lots of NPC prejudice. And if that happens, the system would be very successful and I'd be very happy to see it there - it would represent new ground of a sort being broken, as well.

 

However, if the 3+3 backgrounds don't really have more impact than we've seen in previous games, then it would be sorely lacking. So I'm not making any presumptions Volo, just saying that for 3+3 number, I expect and hope to see some extensive interaction / response.