Mass Effect 3 beta leaked

a whole lot of pictures with tens of minutes of gameplay and several information

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=451016

Action Mode: For those who want to emphasize action and combat and minimize story management. Action mode will set automatic replies in conversation and a normal difficulty.

Story Mode: For those who want to emphasize story immersion and minimize combat pressure. Story mode will set manually-selectable replies in conversation and a minimal combat difficulty.

RPG Mode: For those who want to explore both realms of story and combat. RPG mode will set manually-selectable replies in conversation and a normal combat difficulty.

lol?

Action Mode: For those who want to emphasize action and combat and minimize story management. Action mode will set automatic replies in conversation and a normal difficulty.

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*Facepalm*

I'm speechless…

If this is true I call bullshit and Bioware loses even more respect from me.

/facepalm

I'm so waiting for ME3 to be in the bargain bin now. Shouldn't take too much time.

Action mode will set automatic replies in conversation and a normal difficulty.

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If they had been consequent, they should have done this (changes by me) :

Story mode will set automatic combat and manually-selectable replies in conversation.

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They're pushing the combat so much it feels as if this is a complete shooter gme now.

Maybe they misunderstood something about RPG players and over-emphasized combat a bit ? According to "I fight, therefore I play a role" ?

... they are out of their mind... I'm waiting for bargain bin for this game unless they change that utter stupidity. I have almost no respect for Bioware now... sigh.

well since its beta and 5 months till release, maybe they will listen to the fans

porcozaur said:

well since its beta and 5 months till release, maybe they will listen to the fans

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To me I expect that to happen as soon as I am deafened by a flock of pigs taking off!!

We all know they just want to sell this game to the broadest market possible and the biggest chunk of that is for shooters. In an effort to include the rest of us they have put in these other modes. I'm ok with that, I just wish the changes ran a lot deeper. Like putting in toggles for AI/player controlled companions, character/player skill combat, long/short/no cutscenes, etc.

Oh wow, do they really think that putting an 'RPG' mode in ME 3 it'll become a real RPG? C'mon...
I've loved just the first ME: I've loved the characters, the story, the Normandy, even the Mako sections weren't so frustrating for me, at least they tried to give you some (limited) exploration, and almost nothing of this was in ME 2.
I've just finished it because of the story, I've liked some characters (the Drell assassin, Legion and the bald woman for example), but the rest... Meh.
I've really enjoyed many Bioware games, but that was the past...

A normal /facepalm isn't enough.

For this we need to get the captain:

That´s a pretty huge difference between story mode and RPG mode right there.

Anyway, these are obviously just presets for individually adjustable options, so the only news is that there´s now an option to automate conversations, which personally I don´t see as a big deal, even though I can´t quite imagine why anyone would want to play Mass Effects just for the action.
If they want to appeal to wider audience, doing it via offering more customization options is better than "dumbing down" the game for everyone and it´s yet to be seen if they´ve done that as well .

Autologin into Origin is what the captain and I were /facepalming.

I'm not sure if that means I HAVE to be on Origin, but if it does then 'buh bye' Mass EFfect 3. I'm not touching that thing with a ten foot pole. I've got Steam and Impulse. I'm not adding Origin as well.

Though the fact that they even have those 3 choices is sad. They must think people are complete morons now that they have to have these three different defaults that will do everything for them. It's probably true, but still sad.

They are still dumb even if they are presets. Conversation mode? What a joke.

And of course you'll need Origin to play ME3. Unless you pirate (Invasive-free). Every one of these major publishing companies is going to have their personal DRM program that collects data off your computer and sends it to them for marketing purposes. Bioware's already been doing this with you staying connected to their servers while playing and collecting your gaming data (like how much you died, what decisions you made, etc.).

And because it works so well we got DA2 with awesome button, and now ME3 with multiplayer, and shit like conversation mode.

It's like marketers create games and developers just build them.

@DeepO: do you believe a game can be everything to everyone? I don't - I think that's where unease on my part would come from. Something has to give - probably our expectations...

I usually don't like to join in on the Bio-rants, but this is the new low for trying to make a game with absolute universal appeal. That simply doesn't work because it is impossible to please everyone. What will likely end up happening -imo - is that ME3 will be a game that ultimately doesn't completely appeal to anyone because it's not sure what it wants to be, and the developers won't commit to a firm, cohesive, and decisive direction. Want to appeal to the Gears of War crowd? Fine, then make a full-on shooter that excels in 3rd person shooting combat. Any remaining RPG mechanics will just annoy that crowd, and the new multiplayer doesn't seem like it's going to be able to compete with the full-on shooter multiplayer game modes seen in other games. Want to make it a hybrid RPG/shooter that emphasizes role-playing mechanics? Great! Go all-out on the RPG mechanics (or at least return to ME1's system) and appeal to the crowd that likes hybrid RPGs. By placing ME3 awkwardly in the middle of these divergent philosophies, the result will be a game that isn't completely satisfying to either the shooter crowd or the RPG crowd - just like DA2.

booboo said:

@DeepO: do you believe a game can be everything to everyone?

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Does anyone?

However, as I said above, if someone is trying to catch a bigger audience, doing it via offering more granular customization is in my opinion much better way than making a game accessible for everyone by design.

On a more general level, difficulty settings are a widespread feature and they follow pretty much the same principle. Playing an RPG on easy usually automatically means diminishing the importance of some of the RPG aspects like resource management or character development, for example. Playing an action RPG on easy will very likely diminish the importance of both action and RPG, and so on. I haven´t noticed people having much problems with DE:HR having a "give me a story" setting, for example.
Or, speaking of game elements customization, with Bloodlines offering automated allocation of skill points, which pretty much phases out all character development.

One could also suspect that making dialogues optionally automated means that dialogues/choices are redundant even when not using the option, however dialogues in pretty much every RPG, especially in those which don´t employ skill checks, could be easily automated for a "default" story progression, so I wouldn´t be sure if there´s actually some devaluation going on for players who won´t play in the "action mode".
For example, some people, including me, praise Alpha Protocol for its narrative design, yet it´s possible to finish the game without ever doing anything while in dialogue mode.
The Witcher, also a game often praised for its C&C, could have the automated dialogues option implemented right away and not much would be lost for those who would just play it for some sightseeing, general atmosphere and combat.
You could already just "press space" through all dialogues in previous Mass Effects and still finish the games, and Mass Effect 2 already sorta does the automated dialogue choices thing for those who haven´t played the first part.
Gameplay of the series consists of two major elements - shooting and talking - you could already play them as story shooters and now Mass Effect 3 can be additionally played as a story shooter.

We might argue about the lack of strong vision, creative confidence, etc., but that in my opinion goes for the difficulty settings in general, which I really wish developers would pay a lot more attention to if they have to implement them.

For what it´s worth, my expectations for Mass Effect 3 are quite low.

DeepO said:

so the only news is that there´s now an option to automate conversations,

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So, now ME3 is one giant big screensaver ?

Grimlorn said:

It's like marketers create games and developers just build them.

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I think you're hitting the top of the nail.
It's basically the same impression I get, too.
With maybe exchanging "marketers" with "accountants".

Edit : I just had the thought that in regard to "RPG-ness", ME3 will be measured against Skyrim ... Two big huge games coming soon ... And I believe that it doesn't look too well for Bioware right now, regarding the "RPG-factor" ...

Alrik Fassbauer said:

So, now ME3 is one giant big screensaver ?

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If it is, it is so optionally.