Combat

How difficult is the combat?

Bob McCabe:
We want combat to have depth and challenge and excitement, of course - but at the root level it has to be approachable. And we're working very hard to make sure combat is as simple to understand and interact with as it can be.

Also please read this topic for more (far more ;) ).

How does the combat system work?

The combat system... (I know that again ) I notice in one screen there is a large targeting cross hair (well it's a big circle but... )do you hold that over a target and then a characters ballistic skill/probability roll works out if a shot/s hit the target then the strength of the weapon plus probability roll is compared to the targets toughness to determine damage???
Jay Watamaniuk:
The combat we displayed at E3 was a very minor part of the complex system we are implementing. E3 is just not the place to try and show off anything complicated and layered as our system is. In general, you have a target reticule and magnetic targeting to help zero in on a target however your aim and a variety of other factors are determined by a set of skills. The better your skills the better you are and the more options you have. When you pull your trigger to fire you will fire anywhere in that target reticule so you may in fact miss a lot if you reticule is rather large because you do not have very good skill or that you continually fire which increases the size of the reticule. That is one small part of combat, kind of a foundation of how to fire in the game.

There will be a huge amount of military skills to go along with the Biotic powers that will become available in the game and so you aim will improve you ability to fire in different ways and offer different support of primary fire for your squad.

I can’t speak to the specifics in your question at the moment but since my brother (Preston Watamaniuk, Lead Designer) is leading the charge on what the actual game rules are behind the combat I ca assure you it is far more complicated then hit and miss. This is a roleplaying game so your stats have to matter or there is no point in having them and improving them.

And

Posted by Bob McCabe:
Just like Jay wrote, you have a targeting reticule and bullets stay within that ring. The ring grows in size, as fast and as large, based on your characters' talents, what opponents are doing, positioning, etc.

Also, as he said, you can improve your characters' ability to target - allowing you to sticky-target opponents outside of your reticule (to a degree based upon your ability). That lets the player manage targeting more or less on his own or allow the character to manage that - depending on the player's ability level. The more you level up in weapons, though, the more you can focus on the strategy of combat - and less on the mechanics of combat.

Some guns, like the sniper, have a zoom mode that works outside of this targeting system. And we also allow you to run-n-gun at a much reduced accuracy.

I know I'm really just re-stating what has been said, or pointing out what has been seen in past videos, but things can and will change all the way through the development cycle - especially for something as important to the fun of the game as combat.

By the time we're really close to ship, I'm sure we will release some videos showing off how it looks and feels.

How realistic is the AI?

Bob McCabe:
Anyway, the topic of AI draws a lot of interest for us at BioWare. We want to get much better at creating a realistic AI as we think it's been a weakness of ours in the past. A good AI will definitely be part of the gameplan for ME.

And

Bob McCabe:
We generally tend to steer toward fun over realism, but sometimes we can achieve both. We'll see? We haven't hammered down inventory yet, so that's about all I can say.

And

Bob McCabe:
I can say right now that, even though I can't go into detail on our combat system and such, the AI is a little insane in a good way - which excites me.

How best to phrase this?

The AI of opponents in the game right now is kind of like what it would be like if I wandered onto a paintball field and stumbled upon a troupe of SWAT team members. Literally, I'd walk into an encounter and see a ton of motion that lasted about 1/2 a second, and then I'd see a ton of bullets; I'd be lying on the ground wondering what happened.

Maybe sometimes I'd just find myself running because I wouldn't know what else to do! And other times, when it's really bad (or the SWAT team is really good), I'd not even be able to run because there'd be nowhere to go.

Hahaha.

OK, so we're really early in development and a game this hard would not be fun - for the majority of players (though I am going to fight to have this AI variation kept in for the highest difficulty settings). But my point is that the game is challenging right now because of the tactics the opponents use - and not because they cheat. It's nice to see, especially when you're not antipating anything other than "charge!".

Our difficulty settings *likely* (but not definitely) will modify how quickly the opponents dive into their tactics, and how efficiently they do so as well. Some guys, for example, may use the wrong tactics, on lower difficulty levels, and undermine their own ranks' strength. Additionally, we'll also likely use some "cheat" modifications such as extra health or protection for the opponents because sometimes it's a little more fun to go up against opponents that can take more than a few hits.

Will EMP weapons work against robots?

10/02/06 06:22:48 (GMT) by Chris L'Etoile:
The standards in ME are optical processors and solid state optical data storage, which are immune to EMP.

Will there be melee combat?

IGN:
The game will feature light melee elements, but most arsenals will be consist of high-energy, futuristic weapons.

How do you control your party during combat?

Chris Priestly:
You do not ever take direct control of your party members. You can order them through squad commands to do things like attack, retreat, move to location, etc, but you do not ever assume control of the squad members.

Do weapons have limited ammo?

Brenon Holmes:
ME weapons don't have ammunition, they can overheat though.

Does Mass Effect feature destructible environments?

Chris Priestly:
Currently, and things could always change before we're done so don't hold me to this, there is limited environment damage in the game in some areas. For example, if a group of geth are hiding behind a make-shift barricade you can blast it apart with a grenade or the cannon from your mako.

You will not be able to be walking anywhere and say "Hmm... this looks like a good spot for a door" and just be able to blow stuff up.

You'll also notice that your bullet rounds leave marks on the walls and other nearby cover. These marks will slowly fade out (saves memory that way), but they do look cool as the bright red heat fades to black and then fades away. :)