Mass Effect 3 Interview With Jesse Houston

This should be interesting

@drangel_jam I agree with your first post. AI hasn't been improved since the first FEAR game, I think. I also believe a harder difficulty should be more about opponents with better tactical vision and tactical strikes rather than more health and aggressiveness. However, I disagree to an extent with your second post. You are being too harsh. For sure. There is no RPG around that has the action portion of the game nailed as good as Mass Effect does. I think, and this is not meant badly towards you but, you should do more research on what it takes to create a game like this. It's obviously not easy, but if you do research you'd find that BioWare made some stuff happen that other developers were also busy with, but just couldn't make it happen. Also, I think there is nothing wrong with the level design. The first Mass Effect, yeah. That one had repetitive enviroments for sure. But it still had varied worlds with a very deep background to all of them and realistic looking information on how everything worked. The scale of the game was almost unmatched. Mass Effect 2 really stepped up and I don't think I've seen any enviroment being recycled like in the first game. You are comparing it to the wrong games. Uncharted is an infinitely smaller game than Mass Effect. It's like saying GTAIV looks like crap compared to Gears of War a few years back.

I also think that Bioware needs to step-up their level design. The interaction, the navigation, and the physics are all very simplistic. Sure, it's an RPG, but games nowadays are borrowing a lot from various genres. So as they borrow so much from shooters, they should also borrow from adventure games. Uncharted 3 had awesome gameplay moments and set-pieces that required a different take on the progression approach, GoW3 also did a great job, was nice too with passages that the environment was critical, and I'm not even talking about Darkstalkers and Zelda. Other than the open areas with casual NPC interaction, the game scenarios often feel simplistic. Just a bunch of empty corridor with whacky stuff to shoot at.

As he says a much better AI, we can see the AI making stupid moves. Look at 1:45 the AI has a gun, yet it freezes as Shepard slowly activates the Omni-blade, and btw how does a hologram blade works? I love ME, I'm just saying that the AI in games has a long way to go. Especially in action adventure games. This generation really disappointed me in terms of AI, no evolution whatsoever, compared to the visual, graphical, audio, and technical gameplay fidelity. The idea of difficulty is AI dealing and taking more damage, being bigger in numbers, and just being more aggressive. I won't AI that doesn't want to die! I want a game that progression isn't simply about blowing people's heads up, it could be about clearing pathways.

it's very kind from them to have the players suggestions to the game development and also brings more money to the pocket ;)

@JeremyPhi86 Mass Effect games are epic you won't lose your money for nothing try to play the Mass effect (1&2) it's a lot of fun beleive me ;)

This game looks good but I want to see more before I decide

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My most highly anticipated game. Can't wait!! This and Duty, all i want.

To be fair I'm likely to buy this no matter what any reviewer says because bad or good I want to see the ending to what so far has been my favorite game series this generation.

Wow. "Story is gravy in video games" Barighm? That is insane. Story is important, period. It's what separates a mindless Halo/CoD knock off FPS from a game that actually might have a meaningful impact on you. Personally I think there's enough unsubstantial crap out there already, I'll take a game with a good story. Duke Nukem will still be there for me if I want personally unchallenging tripe.

This is why a game's story should be regarded as gravy: it's good, but entirely extra and hardly worthy of bashing a game no matter how bad one may percieve it. Mass Effect 2 was a great game because the gameplay was fun. The story was just extra. If you're not the kind of person who can disregard the indescrepancies and just enjoy the twists and turns, not to mention the game itself, then I suggest you walk by the video game store and head right into the book store. This medium is clearly not for you.

Ok people, I'm tired of replying these questions, if you want to believe that Mass Effect 2 was a good game it's not my problem, you'll probably live happier. I will end my participation in this matter paraphrasing Shamus Young (that said it before and better than me): "No matter how good Mass Effect 3 might be, it will always take place in a universe where Shepard died inconsequentially, Kashley was an unreasonable irrational b*tch for no reason, the Reapers were comically inept, guns suddenly required magazines, the Council didn't believe in reapers, the Alliance wouldn't help you, you worked for Cerberus, and Miranda wasn't unemployed because her personality was too grating to get work as a waitress or a stripper. Worst of all, Mass Effect 2 didn't move the overall story forward. A new threat was revealed, and then dealt with, and we wound up right back where we started. It inflicted all of this damage on the Mass Effect 2 setting in order to accomplish nothing. [...] your indignation, no matter how intense, will not cause me to suddenly retroactively enjoy this game."

@alexander00 1) I'm affraid you're completely mistaken, please read the following statements from ME1: Every 50.000 years "the reapers harvest whatever species they find and after hundreds of years of using them as slaves, they abandon them [...] as mindless husks no longer capable of independent thought [...] that soon die" (Vigil - Protean AI - ME1) so nothing about "most prominent race". The pattern is as follows: "Organic civilizations raise, evolve advance and [...] are extinguished" (Sovereign - ME1). "The only organic race 'spared' by Reapers were the Keepers [...] those evolved only responding to Citadel signals [...] non-organic servants like the Geth would be more predictable" (Vigil - Protean AI - ME1). About statatement 3) I'm affraid you're assuming things that have nothing to do one with the other: "Indoctrination is the term used for the brainwashing effect the Reapers have on organic beings. A signal or an energy field surrounds the Reaper, which influences people's minds" - Mass Effect Wiki - so the Harbinger can't just possess the Collector General at a distance. If Sovereign was a God for Geth so were the other Reapers. So no point in leaving. You (and biowware) got a weird concept of stealth if you think that invading collonies with a giant ship and kidnaping every single human in each of them is stealthy..

@noigel 1) Harbinger and the hologram in the original ME said specifically that the reapers harvest the most prominent race in the galaxy at the 50 000 interval mark, last time it was the prothean (who apparently were alone), this time they chose the race that manage to destroy sovereign and prevent the activation of the citadel all of which within a hundred years or so after discovering the mass relays. The other citadel race might be bigger/stronger, but the human have the biggest potential. 3)The reapers, specifically Harbinger worked with the collectors because he's not physically here in the galaxy during the events of ME2, he's still in dark space. As for the geth, they followed sovereign because he was a god to them, they wouldn't follow Harbringer as he was merely communicating/controlling the collectors. I assume that part of the collector base is a communication system allowing Harbringer to control his slaves, he can't contact the geth the same way and anyway his goal was to create a new reaper by stealth, using the geth who were just crushed for working with sovereign wouldn't be exactly stealthy. The prothean are dead, the collectors are not much more than the Citadel's Keeper, they are made using the Prothans as template, but they are not the protheans. The ending was not pointless, at least not much more than in ME1. Both times we merely managed to stall, delay the inevitable invasion which we knew was coming as ME1 was ending.

@SooperNoobie Ok, who are you and how you know all this :)? Because what you're saying is not at all mentioned in the 2 games... 1- As for the nonsense attack to Earth: Your theory makes a bit more sense, but just a bit, I think I said it before but it would have more sense to wipe out their defenses (the citadel) and comunications and after that start doing whatever you want... I still find it a bit silly but ok. As for the looks of the Reaper... it is a cheap made up excuse from Mac Walters (after the release of ME2) to justify to fans ME2's poor final boss, but the damage is already done. 2- If that's true, it is good news, one game late, but good news. 3- The virus issue is a minor issue that sinex1983 misunderstood, I'm talking about general rules of the universe that were broken in ME2 like the Reapers being inept or working/slaving the Collectors (flesh) while Geth (tech) vanish, Legion, you working for Cerberus, the all the sudden flesh-adiction of the Reapers, the Proteans (an extinc race according to Vigil -the protean AI from ME1-) brought back to life as the Collectors, their mission, the Illusive Man, the human (former bipedal) reaper, the whole Councill/Alliance stupidity, guns sudenly requiring magazines and the fact that nothing really important happens in ME2; If you choose the paragoon option by the end of the game you are at the exact same point you where by the end of ME but with "1 live less"... and the general feeling of having been screwed by bioware that will never disappear.

@Noigel 1) It's not going to be bipedal. It's been confirmed the outside of the Reapers generally have a similar style, but on the inside, it's basically a "replication" of whatever species it was made out of. It's not just humans they use to create more Reapers - Every 50,000 year cycle they choose a species they think if worth being part of the next Reaper and construct a new one using a mixture of biomass from said species, and technology. And perhaps, perhaps, they decided it would be more worth it to simply kill them than try to harvest them. They're already a threat. Time to cut your losses and wait until the next time, probably with a new plan to prevent this from happening again. 2) You got bonuses for being high level in the next game. It's not as though you're not rewarded, at least. 3) There are going to be multiple ways you can take out the Reapers, and some will even be dead ends. I doubt there will be a virus. Maybe it'll appear, and perhaps it'll be one of the dead-end possibilities. Who knows?

rawr! cant wait! :P

@BlackBaldwin Yeah. I think ME1 was better than ME2. ME2 looked nicer but everything else seemed to be stripped down.

ouch mar 2012..well that sucks. dont know why but was thinkin 2011...i'll be waitin ME3 :D

the system they had in place in me1 was still the best out of the two.. they need to just reput that set up in me3 improve the character creation screen and just put in lots of cool weapons and armor with a great story to end the series. But thats just too much to ask I guess...

i cant wait to customize the guns in me3. hope its not the end of mE series. they can make ME4 with another character and another storyline, that will be good.

no matter what people say bad or good, people will end up buying and playing it! thats how awesome ME is!!! :)

rpg winner of the year 2012 hands down no matter how much you guys argue.

God Liara is ugly, who thought a white lab coat would be appropriate for a mission TO SAVE THE GALAXY?? Whatever, we'll have more alt costumes, can't wait for this epic ending.

@sinex1983 First of all, we agree that Mario is good but Half-Life 2 is technically better, but "Thor" is newer than Half- Life 2 and it's far worse, so newer not always means better and this is what happens with ME. Replying to your concerns: 1- I've played ME & ME2 all the way through and the fact of Reapers deciding that the new batch will be made out of humans is one of the things I completely dislike about ME2; first of all because it's just ridiculously unbelievable that a superior elder race of supermachines that despise flesh (Sovereign - ME1) suddenly decided to make a whole new batch of them from humans, second because a biped Reaper is useless (what will it do? walk arround in Space?) and last becasue if you want to harvest humans to create Reapers you don't kill "2 million in the first day and another 7 million by the end of first week" (ME3 Announcement Trailer) so the theory doesn't stand. 2- "Made this way" doesn't mean that it is good, specially if you're trying to do a trilogy... 3- Not realism, but BIOWARE set up an scenario, a world with certain rules in ME that forgot or deliberatelly broke in ME2 and that is what I'm criticizing. When you create a world you can imagine whatever you want, but once created you have to stick to it and Bioware didn't do it. Also, please read carefully; I said that the "all-mighty virus solution" would be a dumb solution, not something too hard to imagine... About your final statement, if you think that trying to do things right is "being stuck in the past"... well, then I guess I am...

There is great concept in ME (bioware's decent attempt for action adventure /not RPG at all) , there is great artwork in ME, there is good enough graphic in ME. But there are also, repetitive gameplay, very limited usable skills, almost no weapon attachment, no meaningful storyline variations, very awful level design, no interactivity with environment (no physics with objects, environment), complete removal of character, weapon customization. As long as it can provide meaningful diversity in gameplay with depth, DETAIL, I'm sure it can get itself back to the position of very good game as it was intended to be...unlike ME2 shallow as hxxx hollywood blockbuster look alike.

@anthonycg @a_tiger101 EA wants to hold peoples' hands but they can't expect to be able to do that and still churn out a complex game. Though it's from different publisher and dev, COD 4, COD mw2 still managed to provide so many ways to play the game strategically with all the weapon attachments and different perks, while not giving up simple at core principle. From what I am seeing, Bioware is simply trying to make money with lazy work and minds. Very lazy mumber of skills, repetitive as hxxx gameplay.

@Noigel I'll attempt to address the issues raised in the least hostile, least abrasive method that I can manage. 1) Shepard is on Earth and from Earth. Also: did you even *play* ME2? The Reapers have determined that it is from humans that the next batch of Reapers will be created, so it stands to reason that they must assault Earth in order to accomplish their goal. 2) Every RPG-esque game that has spawned a sequel invariably resets your character's skills. It's just the way the industry works. 3) Are you seriously bringing up concepts of realism in a game where we accept that technology exists that is so far in advance of what our smartest scientists can only conceive of as magic? Mass effect fields, super-intelligent machines that harvest the galaxy of all life every 50,000 years, every alien species in the galaxy speaks English: but using an all-powerful computer virus to wipe out said machines is just too much of a stretch of the imaginion for you? These are the complaints of a gamer whose mentality is stuck in the yesteryear of PC role-playing games. Those days are gone, man -- live in the now. To put it clearly: I love -- LOVE -- the original Mario Brothers for Nintendo, but I readily acknowledge that Half-Life 2 (or any modern game) is better.

I'm sorry but I disagree with most of you... ME is getting worse with every video they show... now they confirmed that they changed the leveling system once more, so they'll have to reset your abilities again... so what? they'll kill shepard again? or he will have selective amnesia? or even worse, they just won't give a reason for that...? what will they do? It will be "fun" (in the saddest way possible) to find out. The main story went from superb (ME) to terrible (ME2) and now is getting even worse with the Reapers attacking a non-strategic planet like Earth. Weapon customization is back (halleluya), but there is nothing to cheer about since it should have never went away. In ME3 you will facing an enemy that you just can't defeat (in 2 games we haven't found a single clue of something that could remotely be of use against the Reapers...) so they'll have to either destroy the whole civilization or make up a dumb solution for the mess they created; like a virus that will spread through the reapers, a new race never seen before with a weapon we never heard about before or something even more unbelievably ridiculous. I don't know if it's EA influence or just that BIOWARE writers got hit in the head by a piano in between ME and ME2 but since ME2 I had clear that BIOWARE would do nothing more but kill ME franchise with a dreadful finale... (and for now that's exactly what they're doing). I'd just like to tell something to those that will thumb me down: you should be hating Bioware (not me) for destroying what it was a really good story and an overall game that just needed some "polishing" back in November 2007...

@a_tiger101 EA wants to hold peoples' hands but they can't expect to be able to do that and still churn out a complex game.

just hurry and release the game....

Looks like the skills are still going to be crap, SPECIAL AMMO should NOT take a damn skill slot, it should be a weapon attachment just like it was in ME1, give us more class skills instead FFS, that's what I hated the most in ME2 and they are doing it again..

i hope the character creation system is improved. i've gone 2 games with half of my created characters having hair/beards and mysterious bald spots near their ears...no sideburns, in other words. i also want to change my existing character without starting form scratch. i like the fact that we'll be able to use whatever weapons we want, regardless of player style. it always annoyed me when biotics in ME1 had a full arsenal on their backs, but could barely use them.

i hope the character creation system is improved. i've gone 2 games with half of my created characters having hair/beards and mysterious bald spots near their ears...no sideburns, in other words. i also want to change my existing character without starting form scratch. i like the fact that we'll be able to use whatever weapons we want, regardless of player style. it always annoyed me when biotics in ME1 had a full arsenal on their backs, but could barely use them.

Dragon age 3 will be the ultimate test to see if Bioware listens to the community, at least the studio that makes dragon age.

I hope they make the love scenes a little more spicier like in part one. Not asking for porn here..just a little more spice. lol

New leveling and skill system looks cool. More in depth than ME2's at least. Bioware seems to be close to making this one the best in the series. I hope this game will send the series off with a bang.

i wish that the dragon age team was anything like the mass effect team in terms of listening to your fanbase

I'm there, March 2012 can't happen fast enough. I've even heard that there may be up to 3 or 4 disks for this game....oh yeah! lol

They say they listen to their fans, eh? Well, I guess this game will be more of an RPG than the second one.

I've got high hopes when it comes to this game, so they'd better live up to them.

I don't know if I'll be able to wait for 8 more months..

i want this now

@Caprica23 I actually don't like the mechanics of the inventory of Mass Effect 1. What I liked was that it had an inventory. I enjoy picking up items and equipping them to customize your character.

I hope 'valuing community feedback' means NO planet scanning/probe launching and NO driving around on planet surfaces to scan mineral deposits. So tedious.

liara looks lame

@peterfaj, although I did enjoy ME2 I agree with your comments about being disappointed in it. That said, I'm hoping Bioware learned from their mistakes and the pounding they have taken over Dragon Age 2. They have an opportunity to combine and improve on what they did right in ME and ME2. If that happens ME3 will be a phenomenal game.

What happens to all the weapons and DLC that I have from ME2?

@SinStarship i hear you def with the team mates armor this is going to be mad