What Will Multiplayer Do for Mass Effect 3?

It's been officially confirmed that Mass Effect 3 will feature multiplayer. But with Mass Effect being such a heavily story-driven, single player game, how will this tie in, and what effect will it have on the game itself?

[Jester]

nothing. its such a single player game i dont think even co-op is going to work properly.

[Godmars290]

Lower if not wholly remove any aspect of exploration. Be able to go out of order of points A, B, and C, but A-B-C will still be there.

[ATi_Elite]

totally ruin the SP experience that is Mass Effect as Bioware continues to turn Mass Effect into the next Halo.

ME3 from the videos i've seen is becoming a full blown 3PS!

[ECM0NEY]

"totally ruin the SP experience that is Mass Effect as Bioware continues to turn Mass Effect into the next Gears"

Fixed

[ATi_Elite]

yeh i should of used Gears for the 3PS w/ cover but IDK for some reason ME just feels like Halo to me in some aspect.

[EmperorDalek]

Wait until the full game before judging it. There is nothing wrong with making the shooting better. Enemies drop weapons, you can modify your guns on weapon benches (25% more accuracy for example) and you can evolve your powers in different ways multiple times (like the last upgrade for a power in ME2). So to me, the combat RPG elements sound more fun than "Spend point for 2% damage upgrade".

Besides, making decisions that can effect whether you save the galaxy or not is more important than spending 10 minutes in your inventory. The co-op is being made by a seperate studio, so I don't think the campaign will be affected. Uncharted 2's campaign sure wasn't.

[Tony P]

"Besides, making decisions that can effect whether you save the galaxy or not is more important than spending 10 minutes in your inventory."

But is that based on any kind of enlightened analysis of the mechanics or do people simply parrot BioWare's bullshit PR about what a "great" RPG is?

[EmperorDalek]

I'm just saying that the story is more important than the combat RPG elements. And as I said, the combat RPG elements look like they could be good. Or are you trying to tell me the combat RPG elements are more important than the story?

Read the RPG elements I talked about, and tell me that part 1's were better. Sure, it had more customisable Armour, but 3 looks like it has more customisable stats. I also think they raised the level cap to 60 again, but don't quote me on that.

And just so you know, I don't care if it's an RPG or not, as long as the game is as epic as the first two. I'm more interested in TRYING to convince Alien armies to help defend the Galaxy against the Reapers.

[Tony P]

"I'm just saying that the story is more important than the combat RPG elements. And as I said, the combat RPG elements look like they could be good. Or are you trying to tell me the combat RPG elements are more important than the story?"

And I think that's the huge problem with buying into the hype. You ask me this question like there is an obvious answer. There isn't.

Do you know how a few good systems in place can benefit an RPG? Or any game? Of course the story should be nothing to overlook, but somehow BioWare has convinced gamers that RPG mechanics are bad.

And why is that?

Because THEY screwed up ME1.

And now it's "But we didn't screw it up! RPGs just suck!"

So to sum up, yes, I'd rather have story in a BioWare game. Because apparently they can design a dialogue tree better than anything else for which RPGs are famous.

[RememberThe357]

Haha wow. How is this going to ruin the game? In no way does adding MP and co-op mean that the single player game is going to suck. There is no logical link between the two. You guys are making an assumption on top of an assumption. But, MP ruined Uncharted didn't it? Oh wait...

[christheredhead]

there is no logical link between uncharted mp and mass effect 3 multiplayer. i mean were talking about bioware and ea here. its very possible that they would spend to much time and resources developing a "dead space 2 experience." thankfully there is that second studio and if they can pull it off, then great. i will remain skeptical until i see it. i mean it just sounds weird that they would add it at the end of the series, where above all, the main focus would be to end the epic trilogy. seems more suited to just wait for the next installment in the mass effect series, but we'll see soon enough how it plays out.

[RememberThe357]

I guess I'm trying to say that I have the opposite opinion on it. You guys are skeptical and I'm optimistic. Not so much about the MP being good (though I think co-op could be awesome), but more so that the single player wont be sacrificed. The logic in bringing up Uncharted 2 was to show that SP doesn't have to be sacrificed to include MP. Everyone had the same reservations about Uncharted 2 when it was announced that it had MP but then they played to game and it was mind blowing.

We have not seen many games loss quality when MP is added to them. The guy below trys to list titles but all of those series are going strong and are still quality. Adding MP never swayed true fans of those series and I don't see that changing here.

If anything I'm worried about the lack of RPG elements. Even though I loved Mass Effect 2, the watered down RPG elements bothered me. And I want loot damn it!

[Quagmire]

Take away from the SP experience. Nuff said. Just look at franchises such as Uncharted, Bioshock, Assassin'd Creed, Dead Space, and Metro which NEVER needed MP in the first place, but decided t add it to please the COD fanboys.

[boommuffin]

you just listed games that were actualy praised for their multiplayer experience. if you wanted to help your argument then you should have listed formerly singleplayer games that didnt do so well after adding multiplayer

[Shadowaste]

Trying to cram even more stuff into a game that is nearly turning into a yearly release IS a problem.

Bioware used to, USED TO, be a studio that finely crafted a true rpg game, and the spent 3-4-5 years doing so.

Pumping out multiple titles every 9 months is 100% affecting the quality!

The best game Bioware ever made was Baldurs Gate 2 Shadow of Amn, since then, sure, the graphics and voice acting have gotten better, but the gameplay and story have gotten weaker and weaker.

[Tony P]

They have made a lot of good games after BG2, but the process has been tainted over time by the realities that come with being a so-called "AAA" studio.

In BioWare's favor, the new audience on consoles was easier to please, and didn't really appreciate the developer for its PC roots. So there are no expectations.

And that's why you get so many gamers saying things like KoTOR is the best game they ever made.

But those in the know, know better.

[humbleopinion]

Baldur's Gate 2 was made half a year after Bioware made MDK2, one and a half years after the last BG expansion, and 2 years after BG itself.
AND IT CONTAINED CO-OP. So are you saying that BG2 sucked because of that policy? No, for some reason you claim BG2 was the best game ever made.

So here's to ME2 being just as bad a game as BG2, and to poor people with broken logic.