Selena
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Odinsdottir
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Post by Selena on Nov 7, 2016 19:45:00 GMT
Happy N7 Day!
As expected, we have new trailers and new information about the next game in the series. The short and sweet stuff:
** The Andromeda Initiative was a scientific venture to explore the neighboring galaxy.
** The project officially began years before Mass Effect 1
** The colony ships were all scheduled to launch a full year before Mass Effect 3.
** Around the time Shepard was dead and being rebuilt by Cerberus, pretty much.
** Meaning, everyone on the ships left before the Reapers invaded and likely have no idea what happened.
** The ships have been traveling for about 600 years, with crews in cryo-stasis.
** Each ship has a "Pathfinder," a scientist-soldier-explorer who guides exploration missions.
** You are attached to the colony ship known as Hyperion.
** Hyperion's designated Pathfinder is your character's father, it looks like.
** He's the one wearing N7 armor.
** YOU might not be N7 yourself, but may end up wearing the armor. Hard to say.
** Some kind of calamity happens once you get to Andromeda.
** You are emergency-woke out of cryosleep.
** Your father dies in the emergency.
** You become the new Pathfinder.
** Explore, survive, bang aliens.
Here are the trailers that came out today.
I'm excited, but with the slightest hint of caution. Bioware's last big game was Dragon Age: Inquisition. That game's dialogue and storytelling was better than ME3's had been, so that is a hopeful sign. I do have one big concern about the exploration mechanic, though. Inquisition had a lot of wide open maps, but very little to do in them. You ran around and flagged landmarks/resources a lot. Fought generic mooks. I'm hoping they learned from that and gave each planet/map some more substance.
There is co-op and the equivalent of raids, which hopefully won't detract from the single player experience. Details on co-op are a little hazy at this point.
And, uh....
....SPAAAAACE!
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lordofshadow
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Post by lordofshadow on Nov 15, 2016 4:39:23 GMT
** The colony ships were all scheduled to launch a full year before Mass Effect 3. ** Around the time Shepard was dead and being rebuilt by Cerberus, pretty much. ** Meaning, everyone on the ships left before the Reapers invaded and likely have no idea what happened.** The ships have been traveling for about 600 years, with crews in cryo-stasis Hah! That's one way to avoid continuity issues. Now they don't need to make any player decisions from the original trilogy canon. it's kind of brilliant, really. I'm pretty excited, but in a vague, inherited-from-the-orginal-trilogy sort of way. Nothing so far has really grabbed me, and I'm mostly coasting in faith in the series and in Bioware. I'm liking the more active traversal gameplay I've seen so far though - big jumps, jetpacks, etc. Almost has a Metroid vibe in some of the footage I've seen. |
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Post by DarkJuno on Nov 17, 2016 3:38:13 GMT
...is that Clancy Brown narrating the first trailer?
Anyway, it looks fine, and I'm looking forward to it. Looks like they've opted for the same approach with continuity as they've been doing with Dragon Age, have it be an entirely seperate story by any means necessary and have all the connections be nice for people ho played and imported saves for previous games, but ultimately not matter much beyond "Hey, it's that guy/thing I did last time!"
...and am I crazy in remembering Bioware say that female Ryder was supposed to be canon? I mean, it's not a huge deal if I'm wrong, but if I'm right, it sorta sucks they went back on that, probably due to some marketing research or whatever. If nothing else, Inquisition did well by not really saying either way and having trailers with both gendered versions of characters.
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lordofshadow
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Post by lordofshadow on Nov 17, 2016 4:43:34 GMT
My understanding is that there are two Ryder siblings, one female and one male. You play as one of them, and the other is an NPC. So... both are cannon. Sort of.
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Selena
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Odinsdottir
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Post by Selena on Nov 17, 2016 20:23:03 GMT
I'm not 100% certain, but it sounds like how Fallout 4 dealt with gender selection. Both Ryder twins exist. You select which one you're going to play. The crisis that officially starts the game results in damage to the Hyperion's cryo systems. Your twin's cryo-chamber is damaged. The other twin will eventually join everyone else, it sounds like, but they aren't a squad mate. Possibly an "adviser" role like Cullen was in Inquisition.
Andromeda is also confirmed NOT to be a trilogy or planned series. It's a standalone game with room for future adventures. Sounds like even if they don't follow-up with Ryder, they'll still be focusing on the Andromeda setting. For obvious reasons. Easier to avoid dealing with the aftermath of the original trilogy, and there are theoretically lots of explorers kicking around Andromeda.
I also wonder if Papa Ryder (whose name is Alec Ryder?) knows Shepard in some capacity. The Andromeda Initiative likely would've been in the works for years -- even before the events of Mass Effect 1. I don't expect a close, personal connection to Shepard. But a colleague, perhaps. Or maybe Ryder was a senior N7 while Shepard was rising through the ranks. Papa Ryder will clearly be older than Shepard, given that he has two kids in their late teens or early twenties.
"Kids, before I joined Andromeda, I had to help train this uppity punk named Shepard. Failed all the driving courses. It was horrendous to watch. Back-flipped a Mako tank."
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Post by DarkJuno on Dec 2, 2016 15:11:49 GMT
Well, hopefully it'll also do the Fallout 4 thing where you can customize and name both Ryders regardless of which one you end up picking. Bro Ryder is going to be named Zack if I can help it.
Anyway, hey, new trailer.
I wonder if the end of the game will be the team phoning home about how they found a nice new home in Andromeda, and Ryder'll ask "So, what's been going on in the last 300 years?" Then smash cut to Force Ghost Shepherd (in your ending color's choice) blinking and not quite knowing where to start.
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Selena
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Odinsdottir
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Post by Selena on Dec 2, 2016 17:11:51 GMT
I'm digging how the combat system looks. Jetpack boost and then Vanguard Warp of Doom? Holy shitsack, you'll be an unstoppable biotic wrecking ball. Seems like they took some cues from the ME3 multiplayer -- Ryder has that quick asari biotic strafing. Looks like they turned Barrier into an actual forward shield now? Interesting.
No more paragon/renegade, so the interrupts are just action flags now. I actually like this more. This gives you more freedom to walk between good and bad. You sometimes felt siphoned into Paragon or Renegade in the main trilogy.
Trailer didn't assuage my concerned about the open maps being like Inquisition's: pretty to look at but a lot of resource gathering and landmark flagging. But hopefully there's more meat to be revealed. Hopeful but cautious.
That cutscene with the space pirate(?) looked surprisingly unpolished. I mean, the graphics are nice. But the facial animations felt awkward. Maybe it was just me and Adrienne who felt that way? Bioware hasn't ever been known for making great faces / body language. So.
I would be very surprised if you couldn't customize the Ryder twins. I imagine they both use the same face-codes, so customizing one automatically changes the other during creation.
Also, trailer implies that Andromeda is Mass Effect Australia. A bunch of convicts and people kicked out of regular society. How fun.
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Post by SteveT on Dec 2, 2016 18:59:34 GMT
I've been too bitter to look at anything related to Andromeda until today.
I'm still bitter.
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Selena
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Odinsdottir
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Post by Selena on Dec 2, 2016 22:29:07 GMT
Another of the "training" promo videos, this time describing the Nexus hub ship and the Hyperion vessel. My impression? This is probably what they were talking about when they said multiplayer would be "integrated but not mandatory" in Andromeda. The Nexus looks like it will be a fixed hub for all players. Just like the Citadel. Or, in Destiny, like the main hub on Earth. Sounds like there will be open public areas for mission planning and shopping, while there are private (probably custom) residences for players.
You'll probably plan your strikes and co-op missions on the Nexus, it hinted?
Details on multiplayer are still really vague, but it's "supposed" to be seamless as far as story goes.
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Selena
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Odinsdottir
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Post by Selena on Jan 5, 2017 20:57:55 GMT
New snippets of gameplay footage suggest that you can change your class at will, while adventuring?
I...... don't know if I like that. Part of Mass Effect's replay value was in doing new runs as different classes. They all feel more powerful and unique; like dedicated specializations. If you can change at will, it might feel overpowered and lose a lot of "class identity." I hope there's new balancing mechanics for this.
The combat system was heavily inspired by ME3's multiplayer. The skill trees are very similar. Gameplay popped open the pause menu and went over there. It takes the best of Galaxy at War's gameplay, so combat is pretty fast and power usage is seamless. They were playing with the Engineer kit, and they've added powers like the flamethrower to make the Engie a little more angry.
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Leo
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Post by Leo on Jan 5, 2017 23:12:04 GMT
Would I need to play through the campaigns of ME 1-3 to get the most out of Andromeda when it comes out, or would it be like Witcher 3 where it's somewhat standalone?
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Selena
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Odinsdottir
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Post by Selena on Jan 5, 2017 23:27:58 GMT
Andromeda will be a fully standalone game -- it has almost no big ties to the main trilogy.
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Leo
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I don't believe in the moon, I think it's just the back of the sun.
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Post by Leo on Jan 6, 2017 2:51:56 GMT
Excellent - I've got ME2 and 3 on Origin, so I'll just play them whenever. Thanks!
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Selena
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Odinsdottir
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Post by Selena on Apr 7, 2017 8:01:55 GMT
^ Those were my full thoughts on the issue.
But in short: This is one of the only Bioware games I did not enjoy playing. It feels like the writers did the lightest possible story and squandered a ton of potential. The animations are getting a lot of attention on the interbutts, but those don't bother me -- at least not really. They look a lot like traditional Bioware / Bethesda uncanny valley stuff.
The quests are just really repetitive, the story is pretty dull and straight-forward, and your magic AI omni-tool serves as the game's designated plot device to literally handwave problems away.
There are some good moments, and Jaal is a legitimately cool companion, but for the rest of the game?
Ugh, it felt really tedious.
It also had a pretty big MMO feel to me -- which makes me think it might have been better of as an MMO in the first place. You know. Lots of little quests. Big sprawling maps without a whole lot in them. Choices that don't really alter anything but change the flavor of your specific playthrough.
And for a Pathfinder, you don't actually find anything. All the planets are settled by the time you wake up. Just in various states of disrepair and chaos. You oughta been called "The Fixer" or something. You're never the first person on a planet.
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Post by DarkJuno on Apr 8, 2017 3:20:42 GMT
Man, I initially didn't get this game right away because 1. I was on vacation the week it came out and 2. Busy with Zelda, but even ignoring all the obvious hyperbole and the internet being the internet about it, this game seems like it's just a huge bummer for what I'm looking for. Listening to what a handful of press people I respect the opinions of, and now yours just makes me glad I didn't bite - I'm a big enough fan of the series to still buy it and try it for myself, but I'm going to just wait 'til there's a good sale and maybe even after all the DLC is out and see if any of it is worth playing with the main game.
And while the animation is just as janky as every other previous game, I think the writing is just...off, which might be why I'm noticing it more? Like, the writing was awkward here and there, but generally speaking they did a good job with characters and just how they spoke in at least Inquisition. Even when the romances and such got awkward, they were at least pretty representative of what the characters were going for. Your Hawke in II or Inquisitor in Inquisition could be swarmy sarcastic assholes, but there was almost a sort of corny charm to them. Ryder's sarcasm just makes me want to throttle him or groan everytime s/he opens their mouth. Hell, to be honest, I think the animation is slightly better - the couple of times I've watched and seen a third person leave a conversation in that oh-so-awkward and stilted Bioware way, I was actually pleasantly surprised to see that third character appear in the background walking away, instead of just teleporting.
I don't know, I could totally forgive the game if it did one or two things well and everything else middling, but even if they did release this game in , say, June or October and it didn't have all the bugs in it, it still seems like a completely middling Mass Effect game, and that's bad enough in and of itself. The fact that it is coming out right after an amazing new game (Horizon), an amazing new Zelda, and some pretty damn solid and great games that surprised a lot of people (Nioh, Resident Evil VII, Nier: Automata) it just looks like a bad use of gaming time.
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