Post by Alexander Hawke on Mar 29, 2015 23:07:24 GMT -6
LOYALTY
Remember the loyalty missions? If not or you never played Mass Effect 2, that's cool. In the games, your teammates would each have some sort of issue that you would help them resolve. Once you took care of that, their head would be in the game and they would be far more effective than if you just let it go. More often than not (Tali, Jacob, Miranda, Thane kinda, Garrus in ME1), they turned out to be daddy issues. They don't have to be daddy issues here, but that one's up to you, buddy.
Well that's here too, as we have the Loyalty System!
The Loyalty System basically means that each character has one personalized mission tailored to them that they can spring on someone else when they feel it's the right time. It doesn't have to be Shepard you open up to. It can be literally anyone except yourself. Once the characters are close enough, feel free to do it. Even Shepard has a Loyalty Mission, so let the Shepardbowl commence.
For a Loyalty Mission, you can only take one person with you: the person your character opened up to. It's a two man mission. No more, no less.
Anyway, once the Loyalty Mission is complete, it activates the character's Loyalty Stat. How this works is that whenever that character is near the person they did their Loyalty Mission with, the person that resolved their issues receives the bonus; +3 to that stat.
For example, Garrus's loyalty stat is TEK. Shepard helps him out with whatever's bugging him. Now whenever they're together, Shepard will get a +3 to their TEK score.
Loyalty Bonuses do not stack. If for example, Shepard helps Garrus and Tali, who also has TEK, then Shepard won't get +6 to their TEK score, just +3. However, if multiple characters are loyal to the same person but have different stats for their Loyalty Stat, then the receiver will get both. If Shepard does both Garrus and Ashley's missions, and Ashley has STR as her Loyalty Stat, then Shepard would get +3 STR and +3 TEK.
Loyalty, as a system, encourages character interaction and development, while at the same time helping characters out with nifty bonuses. One may find therefore, that while the Lone Wolf can do some stuff on their own, the bonds they hold with others will end up being a greater boon, people that they met, shared memories with, and became extremely close with.
Course again, whether your Loyalty Mission is about daddy issues is up to you.