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Mass Effect: Andromeda

Nimisys said:
I still can't forgive planet scanning and the end quest in ME2. I found it worse then any iteration of ME3 to be honest. For as bad as the child was, the final boss of ME2 doesn't fit in anywhere in the ME universe, before or after. It was so bad I could not bring myself to replay that game, just knowing that what was waiting for me.
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I couldn't disagree more. The planet scanning is stupid but you can edit your save game file and basically skip it. The end boss of ME2 isn't nearly as incongruent with the tone of the series as the Star Brat is. Not even close.
 
Despite my love of the Mass Effect series (replaying ME1 for the umpteenth time), I have to agree that Star Brat was an unprecedented low in gaming wretchedness.
 
Armenius said:
I feel like I'm the only one who enjoyed the Mako exploration in the first game :oops:.
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I got sick of it after I saw all the different versions of side quests and the rest were just rehashed versions :(
 
Some new info from another forum,

PC Gamer (UK) spoke with BioWare for their cover story in the new issue. These are some highlights (not really new info)! Also, no new screenshots.

Most important bit:

  • There are also over a dozen ‘hubs’ in addition to the planet areas, including the Nexus, a Citadel-like space station, and Kadara, a populated zone that looks like a more cyberpunk version of a Wild West town from Firefly.
Others:

  • There is no 'big bad' like the Reapers, no overarching threat.
  • The story is slightly more optimistic bent, 'instead of barreling towards certain doom'
  • The stories are 'of a more casual nature', says Michael Gamble
  • "The Reapers had basically attacked and everything had all gone to shit. It’s really hard to have a story about an individual, their struggles, their personal crises. For Andromeda we wanted to remove that a little bit so that we can tell stories of exploration, stories of a more casual nature. We definitely want to take on a bit of a lighter tone, for sure."
  • Father passes down Pathfinder job 'for as-yet-unknown reasons' in first act
  • Some of the Initiative apparantly 'broke off and formed factions'
  • Planets will have enemy bases to clear out, powerful optional enemies and areas to scan for crafting opportunities
  • There are also puzzle-locked vaults to uncover
  • "One of the things that was very critical for us early on was this saying that when we develop these planets, each one needs its own story and its own history, its own backstory and its reason for existing."
  • “We are approaching the completionist aspect very differently, because we’ve done and learned a lot from Inquisition. But we’ve also observed what other games have been doing, like The Witcher. And it was very important for us that the quantity of scope doesn’t downgrade the quality of whatever you are doing there.”
  • Side quests are 'meaningful'.
  • Loyalty missions like in ME2
  • “The squad members that you have, whether they’ve arrived with you or whether they’ve come before or whether they’ll come after – in addition to the kind of political game that’s been going on already in Andromeda, that sets a cool ground for us to tell a lot of different side stories. The story is not only about the cast. The story is about settling, the story is about survival, the story is about the locals – and that’s where the loyalties will definitely focus.”
  • 'Not everyone arrives at the same time, there are things going on in Andromeda that you have no control over.'
  • Cora is 'more militaristic and orders and rules based', Peebee will appeal to those who think adventure is fun
  • Interrupts return
  • 'The ability to express tone and different emotions to many NPCs in the game, and have different reactions from them based on that, is not just exclusive to your love interests anymore. It’s kind of sprinkled more throughout the game.'
  • Instead of rolling you use a dash attack and cover is automatic
  • Story missions are a little more arena-like (than out in the open world)
  • Space (the map) is more 3D than 2D
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Last bulletpoint is a big one. 3D space flight perhaps.

Also:
“We are approaching the completionist aspect very differently, because we’ve done and learned a lot from Inquisition. But we’ve also observed what other games have been doing, like The Witcher. And it was very important for us that the quantity of scope doesn’t downgrade the quality of whatever you are doing there.”
 
Armenius said:
I feel like I'm the only one who enjoyed the Mako exploration in the first game :oops:.
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I enjoyed it at times. Unfortunately, it felt like filler used to make the game seem longer than it really was. There was little substance to the experience. It's cool at first but after awhile those procedurally generated environments have nothing to offer.
 
Dan_D said:
I enjoyed it at times. Unfortunately, it felt like filler used to make the game seem longer than it really was. There was little substance to the experience. It's cool at first but after awhile those procedurally generated environments have nothing to offer.
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Limitation of the tech of the day unfortunately. I remember Casey lamenting this during the development of ME2. They wanted to do something closer to what Andromeda aims to do... which is why I knew what this game would focus on before they ever used the word "exploration".

More power to them, I hope it works out.
 
As long as these games seemed when they were new- replaying them is fairly quick, assuming you remember the basic plot points and generally where everything is (or what to Google).

For my last run, instead of doing Insanity I dropped it back down to Normal, being more interested in the story, and it took me:
20 hours for ME1
20 hours for ME2
30 hours for ME3

And that's doing *all* of the given quests (aside from the collecting stuff in ME1) and still doing a bit of running around and finding stuff.

While the Mako is annoying to a degree, one thing I learned early on was to always make a quick plan when you land as to the order of the objectives you're going to hit, paying attention to the topography. Doing this made getting everything necessary for the story (and at least everything that was marked) pretty straightforward.
 
Frraksurred said:
Limitation of the tech of the day unfortunately. I remember Casey lamenting this during the development of ME2. They wanted to do something closer to what Andromeda aims to do... which is why I knew what this game would focus on before they ever used the word "exploration".

More power to them, I hope it works out.
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Hopefully they'll do a better job with the quest log; while I realize they're jumping off from Inquisition (which wasn't bad), ME3 was pretty bad, almost as bad as ME1's inventory management.
 
IdiotInCharge said:
As long as these games seemed when they were new- replaying them is fairly quick, assuming you remember the basic plot points and generally where everything is (or what to Google).

For my last run, instead of doing Insanity I dropped it back down to Normal, being more interested in the story, and it took me:
20 hours for ME1
20 hours for ME2
30 hours for ME3

And that's doing *all* of the given quests (aside from the collecting stuff in ME1) and still doing a bit of running around and finding stuff.

While the Mako is annoying to a degree, one thing I learned early on was to always make a quick plan when you land as to the order of the objectives you're going to hit, paying attention to the topography. Doing this made getting everything necessary for the story (and at least everything that was marked) pretty straightforward.
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I'm aware that you can really speed things up if you know what you are doing. I've played each game all the way through to completion many, many times. The Mako driving still feels tedious no matter how many times I've run through a given planet with it.
 
IdiotInCharge said:
While the Mako is annoying to a degree, one thing I learned early on was to always make a quick plan when you land as to the order of the objectives you're going to hit, paying attention to the topography.
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Not to mention there are maps online showing exactly where everything is. So, if you really want to make the most of points earned / loot found, while investing the least time in the Mako as possible, there are tools to assist you.
 
they need to bring back Sovereign and the Reapers...they were one of the coolest villains in gaming history...the scene at the end of ME1 with Sovereign is still to this day one of my favorite gaming moments ever
 
Very much. The first meeting (the hologram) made me jump, and genuinely had my skin crawling bit. It's a shame that ME:A doesn't really have the right setup to bring something like that back. Still hoping for the best- I was playing ME3 multiplayer all afternoon, still good (although PUG skill level has dropped :) )
 
The Official Xbox Magazine (UK) had a cover story on Andromeda. Many new tidbits on the game were covered, but a quote from the game's produce Michael Gamble stood out:

"'I definitely wouldn't call Andromeda an open-world game. We like to use the term exploration-based game. Sometimes that happens in open spaces, but not always. You can cruise around some of these planets in the Nomad, but it's not the traditional sandbox-type game."

Other noteworthy information includes:
  • There are 'several highly advanced alien races' we'll meet in Andromeda
  • Blades confirmed as a craftable melee weapon (we already knew hammers)
  • After a couple of encounters with the Kett, you'll be able to craft some of their technology (they use plasma guns)
  • Crafting is entirely optional, not important to the story
  • Based upon your dialogue choices, there can be tensions in the team
  • You see planets and stars fly by from the Tempest's bridge, al windows on the ship give a view of your current location on the galaxy map
  • 'Interrupts' are not paragon/renegade, but 'disarm' for example (it's a strategic choice, not a moral)
  • You'll be able to understand the Kett motivations, they're more nuanced as an enemy
  • There's a whole seperate storyline besides the Kett
  • The Kett were originally designed to be completely nude, but it was akward in cutscenes
  • All squad members have a loyalty mission (they seem to be 'a string of objectives' rather than one single mission)
  • The loyalty missions will explain the squad members' motivation for leaving the Milky Way
  • Side quests will be 'more varied and interesting than ever', says BioWare
  • Active abilities/powers (like Overload, etc.) have an alternate fire mode
  • There is no level cap, you can keep leveling until you run out of skills to put points into
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I am grateful for that. Mass Effect was always a focused experience, and not one based around many repetitive tasks and fetch quests. Few "sandbox" games are actually sandbox games, and those tend to not work well with good narratives anyways. Although I do want maps opened up a bit, the linear nature was especially noticeable in ME2. A few more ports with some bigger side mission options are welcome. But more capture the outpost, 30 different variations of 7 missions like Batman Arkham Knight? No thanks.
 
Yea, the multiplayer was good on ME3, but it definitely could use more polish. Getting hung on a doorframe or hard cover while trying to move made me rage at times.

Surprise- I can watch that at work today (yay for most people being gone for the weekend)! I like the look of the combat, and the (assumed) character customization.

Is this one of the Andromeda initiative videos? If so, this is 5 of six, right?
 
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I gotta admit combat does look a lot more fluid than ME3.....gives a lil more hope with the switch to the Frostbite Engine.
 
This is the first time I've seen the changes to Engineer skills and I like what I'm seeing. Before, Engineers typically held back and fought with a strategy of attrition.
 
Looks really nice. I'm going through ME2 right now and damn the combat feels clunky, this looks great though. Oh and Frostbite is the gift that keeps giving (y)
 
with all these videos and previews being released I guess it's safe to say that the game will not be delayed and will hit its March 21st release date...good news...it's been a slow start to the year in PC gaming (PS4 is having all the fun with Horizon Zero Dawn and Nioh)
 
So far, this is the most encouraging video I've seen. The game looks more solid here than previous videos. I'm still concerned about the Ryders being unrelatable adolescents with lack luster writting, but I'm hoping that's just been poor marketing choices. Regardless, March draws closer and closer. Well know soon enough.
 
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Holy fucking shit batman! I was just watching the latest gameplay videos. I wasn't even really paying attention, been busy with other games.

Can't wait to play this on my new AMD Ryzen system, should be kickass.
 
4 of 6 because they haven't released the last 2 yet. Website is on the clunky side anyway, half the time it won't let me log in, and when it does, it makes me watch all the videos over again.
 
This is a long video, but it is by far the best multi-trailer break down I have seen. It focuses mainly on the recent combat trailer, pulling in tidbits from previous trailers to help flesh out details. It is crammed full of good info, and even one item that some may consider a minor spoiler. Worth a watch if you're interested:

 
There's both. Milky Way guns use ammo, Andromeda guns use heat. It makes sense imo.
Pretty sure all or most of the guns in ME2 and ME3 were ammo based.
 
Yea- I like that there are going to be a mix, already planning to love a particular weapon except that it belongs to the wrong group...
 
TaintedSquirrel said:
There's both. Milky Way guns use ammo, Andromeda guns use heat. It makes sense imo.
Pretty sure all or most of the guns in ME2 and ME3 were ammo based.
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Wait, did they retcon again? Because there was no ammo in ME2 and ME3 except for the heavy weapons.
 
Armenius said:
Wait, did they retcon again? Because there was no ammo in ME2 and ME3 except for the heavy weapons.
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Don't think it was a retcon. Personal shields improved enough to make heat clips useless so they had to change the type of ammo used. That's what Bioware came up with to explain the ammo limit in ME2 and ME3 anyways.
 
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