Mass Effect: Andromeda - Autism reaches outer space

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Bigguy28

Lord Nagafen Raider
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After Mass Effect 3 I can't bring myself to care or get excited about anything Mass Effect related and it used to be my favorite Bioware setting.
 

spronk

FPS noob
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same :(

i keep hoping a remaster could get me into the series again with all the DLCs but those fucktards can't even get that right
 

Vycron

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So this takes place in 2185 which is when Mass Effect 2 takes place. Weren't the Reapers hanging out in dark space surrounding the Milky Way woken up by then? I guess these ark ships slipped past them. Space is big after all.

Backstory
-Around 2185, at the height of galactic progress, unaware of the impending Reaper invasion, several species band together for the "Andromeda Initiative"
-4 Arks, each carrying a different race, are built, housing thousands of individuals to chart a course to Andromeda
-The Heleus Cluster is noted as having a significant amount of "Golden Worlds", or planets ripe for life
-Each ark is led by a "Pathfinder"
-The Pathfinder, recon teams and others onboard are in cryosleep, unaware of what transpires in the Milky Way after they depart
-You play as either Scott or Sara Ryder, the children of Alec Ryder (pathfinder of the human ark)
-Alec Ryder is voiced by Clancy Brown
-Events at the start of the game occur that pass this role down to you, you are untested and unproven, unlike Commander Shepard of the previous trilogy
-This doesn't mean Mass Effect is Ryder's story from now on, they want the game to feel like a complete story (while teasing other stories that could happen)
-More customization options than previous games
-You can customize your father and your sibling, though not as extensively
-The "Nexus" is basically a forward command center staffed by multiple species that arrives in Andromeda early to pave the way for the Arks
-The Hyperion (humanity's ark) arrives at an incorrect location that's volatile and loses contact with the other arks and Nexus

Inspiration
-The (much improved) Mako of ME1, the loyalty missions of ME2, the multiplayer of ME3

Combat
-Global cooldowns are now replaced by individual timers
-Powers are instead hotkeyed for quick use, no longer pausing to bring up a wheel and aim
-Dynamic cover system (ala TLOU)
-Still a cover based shooter with a goal to get the player moving around the battlefield more
-Jetpack allows for more movement variety; you can quick dash instead of rolling
-Jetpack has a hover function that allows you to hit enemies seeking cover or survey your surroundings
-Less emphasis on linear, clearly telegraphed environments that tell you a combat encounter is coming (though linear areas are still in the game)
-Game Informer's hands on was positive, feel the game has a clearer identity in combat than previous games
-You still queue up attacks, combos, order your squad, etc
-All key elements are still intact but the studio wanted to encourage more experimentation and wider variety of abilities

-Class system is gone; instead you have full access to abilities from all classes, you can mix and match skills from tech, soldier or biotics
-Goal is to allow players to try different approaches to combat without being locked in at the start
-However, you can still specialize once you invest enough points into a category of skills, you unlock a profile that can get you bonuses for your particular play style
-This is where class names like "Vanguard" (invest in combat and biotics) and "Adept" (invest in biotics) resurface
-Invest in multiple categories and you unlock the "Explorer" profile
-There is a narrative reason that allows you to reconfigure your points throughout the game so that you can try out multiple gameplay approaches without making multiple characters
-You can customize your helmet, chest, shoulders, arms and legs, more extensive than previous trilogy
-Many familiar weapons return, as well as new melee options like swords and hammers

-The 'Kett' are the main enemy
-The team wanted players to experience the first time encountering a new alien species vs already having it established in prior games
-Rather than painting them as mortal enemies, BioWare wanted to make them feel foreboding but not ugly as they want you to also empathize with them
-Instead of having "linear slices" of planets that you land on, you explore these planets from the surface to their underbelly
-Critical paths, optional planets, major hubs, loyalty missions return
-Your land vehicle is designated the "Nomad", and the team got special guidance from NFS developers on its handling.
-The Nomad isn't sluggish and cumbersome like the Mako, it's very fast, still boosts and maneuvers much better
-The Nomad doesn't have weapons, you can customize things like its speed and appearance
-BioWare did not want to repeat having things like mineral nodes and multiple identical outposts scattered across planets
-Points of interest include combat encounters, puzzles, narrative beats etc on planets
-One planet, called 'Elaaden', is flagged as a possible habitat zone, however the surface is hazardous (no water, extremely hot); you can be pointed in this direction in multiple ways, for example, a Krogan can request the Pathfinder to find a missing colony ship or you can just choose to land on the planet yourself and see what you find
-On planets, one of your priorities is to scout for drop zones for your crew that drop "forward stations" that establishes a foothold for you
-These stations allow for changing up your loadout, fast travel point, etc
-Planets can have multiple dangers like acid pools, burning wreckage, weather etc that can all kill you
-Most planets have at least one major enemy base
-Planets can have areas, encounters and "super bosses" that are too tough for you to handle at first, encouraging players to come back later
-Since Andromeda is a new galaxy, Ryder can actively scan and discover things in the environments; that gets sent back for analysis and unlocks new technologies for the player
-Scanning and discovering these things also allows you to obtain blueprints to craft weapons and armor for yourself
-You can create a wide array of items, not just ammo types and weapon mods, items that haven't been seen before in the Milky Way (thanks to new alien tech)
-Some plot threads and missions lead you across multiple planets

Squadmates
-Peebee: Asari squadmate shown in previous footage. Went off on her own after arriving on the Nexus and described as having a "bubbly personality". She's smart and not concerned with social norms and "niceties".
-Liam: Arrived with the Pathfinder, former police officer and described as having a "light attitude", bringing levity to situations

The Tempest (Your Ship)
-Important to harken back to the Normandy as it was a fan favorite
-There are no loading screens as you move through the ship
-Galaxy map returns but rather than piloting a mini ship on a map, it is more immersive, you select a planet, the game gives you sense of traveling towards that planet, and when you back out, you're immediately at your destination
-You don't pilot the ship manually, but it feels seamless as you go from planet to planet and see them from your bridge getting closer in the window
-They wanted a seamless experience from picking a planet to walking down to your cargo hold, hopping into the Nomad and landing on a planet. There is a landing sequence and you get off the ship. No more loading screens and instantly popping up on the surface of a planet.

Relationships/Characters
-There are more relationships in the game than any other Bioware game (as they noted fans make a big emphasis on romance in the games)
-The squadmate with the least amount of lines in Andromeda has more lines than the squadmate with the most amount of lines in ME3
-Due to complications in the awakening process, your sibling won't join you in combat but you can interact with them and build a relationship
-Many of these dealings are optional, and discovering more about the Ryder family is a plot thread
-BioWare is confident the details of this story are what differentiates it from a traditional "hero's journey"
-Loyalty missions return but they are not critical to the ending of the game; you can complete them after you complete the main story path for example
-Emphasis that relationships don't just culminate in a sex scene, but rather characters can just want to get in the sack, while others are interested in long term relationships and others still aren't interested at all. Bioware wanted to capture more "shooting bottles with Garrus" moments in the game, of which there are plenty
 
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sadris

Karen
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Biowares lead designer is a racist anti white SJW. Take that into consideration when buying
 
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Vycron

Derives Perverse Pleasure
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Biowares lead designer is a racist anti white SJW. Take that into consideration when buying

I most definitely am taking that into account. If you told the March 5th 2012 full hype train version of me that he would be extremely hesitant / borderline not even gonna bother buying ME4, well he'd probably stare at you in disbelief for an entire minute before telling you to get the fuck outta here. I loved the Mass Effect universe so much. Between the ending of 3 and Bioware becoming a hive of SJWs, there's no way I'm buying this new let alone preordering. I'll rely on the impressions of this forum(and a few others) and if combat's any good and the story isn't crammed with virtue signaling faggotry I'll pick it up newly used.
 
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Lenas

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So this takes place in 2185 which is when Mass Effect 2 takes place. Weren't the Reapers hanging out in dark space surrounding the Milky Way woken up by then? I guess these ark ships slipped past them. Space is big after all.

No the trip to Andromeda takes place at that time. This game takes place 600 years later when they arrive at Andromeda.

The Reapers, presumably, did not surround the galaxy in every single direction. There aren't that many Reapers.
 

wat

Golden Knight of the Realm
215
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Well as long as I get to bone women

It's Bioware so chances are they'll only be 1 romancable straight female and she'll be weird looking. Everyone else will be trans, non binary asexual gender queers.
 
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Pyros

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Good thing I play female chars so I only care about the lesbian and bicurious women/female entities. Hope we get to bone an immaterial lady, the whole body-shaming triggers me, not everyone needs to have a body, sentient gaseous ladies are beautiful too.

 
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TrollfaceDeux

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It's Bioware so chances are they'll only be 1 romancable straight female and she'll be weird looking. Everyone else will be trans, non binary asexual gender queers.
I have to admit that alien sex is not really my thing. Tran and gay shit makes it even worse... Mass effect 2 was good....mmmm Miranda
 
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Qhue

Trump's Staff
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Ahh I misread the timeline initially. This allows things to progress without dealing with the whole Mass Effect 3 ending issues. Presumably this also precludes a 'twist' where the antagonists are likewise from the Milky Way just a couple hundred years after we left. Getting passed en-route and coming across the people you thought you had left behind seems to be a common trope for sleeper-ship stories.
 

spronk

FPS noob
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you don't need to play ME3 to get your space alien hentai fix, just go to /r/asseffect on reddit (extremely NSFW)
 
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Chanur

Shit Posting Professional
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You arrive in Andromeda to find it populated by biomechanical hybrids. You start battling them to clear out a space for your colony only to find out it's your people post ME3, dun dun dunnnn!
 

Regime

LOADING, PLEASE WAIT...
<Aristocrat╭ರ_•́>
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You arrive in Andromeda to find it populated by biomechanical hybrids. You start battling them to clear out a space for your colony only to find out it's your people post ME3, dun dun dunnnn!


After clearing out the colony, the ending of the game approaches as a strange apparition appears.....


me3_starchild.jpg
 
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Big Phoenix

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This whole 600 years in the future in andromeda is an awful round about way to get around the retardation of Me3 for a sequel.
 
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Xalara

Golden Squire
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This ain't TV or the movies where you travel 83x10^723 light years in 3 seconds because "lol warpz" dude!

No, but it does get into one of the more interesting problems with interstellar travel: It's entirely feasible for a group of humans to set out on a journey that takes thousands of years, and arrive to find out that humans have been there for hundreds of years because of some technical advance that occurred after you left. Beyond that, I am finding it hard to get excited because it comes across as disconnected from the first three games.
 
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kaid

Blackwing Lair Raider
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Where does charging insta melee kill mobs fit into that chart?

That aside, ME's gameplay was greatly enhanced by vanguards. Rooms of waist high duck and cover can only be done so many times.

Yes it gave good options of range of how aggressive do you want to be from sit back and throw drones at folks all the way to telepunching and just wrecking it in melee. The multiplayer even added a lot of other interesting twists to it which makes me almost hope we have more options along those lines for andromeda.
 

Gavinmad

Mr. Poopybutthole
42,274
50,242
For the love of god please take sync kills out of multiplayer, instead of adding more when it's the number one thing MP players complain about.