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Mass Effect
Dimmukane:
From a development standpoint, I'm not surprised the multiple endings can be traced to certain conversations. It's not easy creating conditionals for lots and lots of variables. Heck, Bioshock only had 3 endings, and it was as simple as save all/save some/save none. And the sheer amount of dialogue choices kind of have to be lumped into groups for the endings based on said choices to make sense.
KvP:
There are a number of ways to handle multiple endings. The simplest and probably most satisfying way would be breaking it up into a slideshow ala Fallout or NWN2. You have short epilogues for every significant location and NPC, the content of which is determined by your actions. But Mass Effect is too linear for that. It looks like most if not all quests have a single outcome (although routes to that outcome may vary) and I expect most of the NPCs to show up in the sequels so Bioware may have deemed character epilogues unnecessary.
Dimmukane:
A lot of people think slideshow finales are lame, though. You've been playing this moving, breathing game, and you're given a few stills and some dialogue as a reward?
KvP:
Well, the game's got to end sometime. At some point it would be necessary to take the player out of the game, and whether through a cutscene or a slideshow, you ought to get some kind of perspective. I would personally find a slideshow preferable to the abrupt ending that you get with ME, where the Normandy flies into the distance in grand Star Trek tradition and the credits roll.
Like I said, it might just be because ME is the first of three games, but it still would've been more satisfying to at least hear about how the few big decisions you do make (which I won't spoil) turn out, because they leave pretty big holes, and the "sacrifices" you make feel arbitrary outside of the situations in which you make them. It's not a very severe criticism, I expect Bioware to pull out all the stops with the third game at the least, but still, I don't think it's too much to ask that ME stand well on its own.
I'll have to wait patiently for the second game and see how adventurous they're willing to be with their formula. It remains to be seen whether or not Shepard will still be the protagonist or what (although ME certainly seems better suited for "epic level" play than, say, D&D) From the outset they've said that the entire Mass Effect trilogy will be designed for the 360 and released within the console's lifespan (hopefully that doesn't change with EA's recent acquisition) so I expect that they'll be improving upon and using the same assets for the sequels, which should cut down on development time considerably. Hopefully they'll have the first sequel out by '09. I'm going to make a tentative prediction and say it will have something to do with the hostile Terminus Systems or the "veil" behind which the Geth originate. But I will tire easily if they try to out-"epic" themselves, because Mass Effect may have been a little too "epic" for its own good.
We should see DLC out within the next few months, most likely extra clusters on the Galactic map. I hope they're more robust than the often generic-feeling exploration, assault and retrieval sidequests included in the game.
Ozymandias:
--- Quote from: axerton on 21 Nov 2007, 23:13 ---Halo managed it. Admittedly RPGs require a fair bit more work with scripting and recording than a FPS. But still I was really wanting to play this game but apparently I'm not going to be able to. There's no way I'm buying a 360 just for this.
--- End quote ---
Bungie didn't do the ports to PC, which took 3 years per game, and still didn't manage to complete the trilogy in the original XBox's life span, like Bioware is trying to do on the 360 with ME while making other games that are not ME.
What I'm basically saying is 'whatever'.
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