Taking Feedback And Adding Characters To Ghost In The Shell: First Assault

It’s been roughly a month since Ghost in the Shell: First Assault – Stand Alone Complex Online went into early access on PC, bringing not just an obscenely long title but also an interesting interpretation of the renowned anime and manga series. It’s definitely unusual, but Neople took that complex cyberpunk future and boiled it down to a free to play multiplayer shooter.

You can read our first impressions of the game from last year, but it’s already expanding, with its first content drop adding a new character and some new maps. That new character, Maven, isn’t just new to the game, but is new to the universe as a wholly original creation.

With these additions and the early feedback from the community in mind, we put several questions to the team at Neople.

TSA: What has the reception for the game been like over the first month of Early Access?

Neople: We’ve gotten a lot of feedback through the community and are very thankful for this. There are definitely many parts that need improvement and we’re working hard to improve these. We plan to have continuous upcoming updates and fixes so that the game is better to play and enjoy.

 We believe that the Early Access period is very important to us and the game.

There are a lot of new things that we have found out and we received vital information on how to improve the game moving forward. We are very thankful for the players that have joined Early Access and hope they give us continuous feedback. We’ll keep on communicating with them through updates and patches.

TSA: Though it can take time to implement ideas from the community, what feedback has stood out so far?

Neople: Among the feedback that we are receiving, we noticed that there are thoughts on matchmaking, weapon balance, skill balance and more. We are hoping not to leave anything out and address as many issues as we can.

TSA: How receptive has the community been to the idea of having newly created characters added to the Ghost in the Shell universe?

Neople: We noticed that players wanted characters from both the original anime and out. We also wish to add more new characters, and will do so. We hope these additions will add to the fun, and allow players to experience new excitement.

We’re continuously putting our heads together with the original anime creators to design new and unique characters to add to the game. We hope that our players understand that characters do need time to design and develop meaning that new character updates will take some time.

TSA: Tell us a little bit about Maven as a character and how she fits in with the rest of the Section 9 operatives with her cyberskill ability.

Neople: Maven is an expert in guerrilla warfare and topography, stemming from her time in the South American military. She first came to the attention of Chief Aramaki during an operation in which she single-handedly held off an insurgent attack after her entire squad was killed. She has proven to be a resourceful and deadly member of Section 9, and her troubled past is never far away; she has vowed to destroy the rebel group that ravaged her country and killed her family.

Her cyberskill is a therm-optic barrier capable of obscuring sight, giving her teammates an opportunity to escape to safer ground in the heat of battle or place themselves for a sniping opportunity. At level two of this ability, the size of the barrier increases, but it can still be destroyed by enemies.

TSA: One of the standout features in the game is the SkillSync system, but Maven’s cyberskill is a more standalone ability. Is that intentionally to keep SkillSync abilities feeling more special? Are they more difficult to come up with and balance?

Neople: Each skill has its own purpose and can be used strategically alone or with teammates. We focused on balancing these skills so they combine well with the modes and maps. We’re still seeing how players use them to determine whether things should be changed or not.

For Maven’s skill, we’re eager to see how players will use this not only alone, but mixed with other skills. As always, we hope to hear from our users on how the skills work.

TSA: Have you seen other players tend to pick the most important and popular characters from the anime when playing, or has it been spread more evenly? Playing as Major Motoko is bound to be very popular for new players at least.

Neople: We noticed that many players actually did use Motoko a lot at first. As we go along, we further noticed that players are starting to use characters that match their play style and also the mode and maps they play on.

Thanks to Neople for answering our questions about Ghost in the Shell: First Assault – Stand Alone Complex Online. The game’s available now on Steam, with a temporary discount for early access.