Bioware General (Mass Effect/Dragon Age/Other)

[Mobius_118]

I remember when people here lost their shit about the fact that Tali masturbates.

So basically i think people that take issue with characters that have had sex before they had a change to bone them should really get over themselves.

...Wat.

Seriously? People freaked out over the nervestim pro?


Fucks sake.

[TTTX]

People DO make of that a rather big deal. Probably more than they should.

I never understood the whole popping the cheery thing.

[Alienmorph]

Ohh, man yes. That was hilariously awful. "No! My alien waifu is not a sinner, she shouldn't masturbate!" "Lol, looks those creepsters' pwecious alien fantasy girls is just an horny slut!" that was a very sad and pointlessly angsty bunch of people.

I guess I can at least thank the old BSN for teaching me a good lesson about how shitty can people be on the internet. Before it I only hung around much smaller and calmer online places.

[TTTX]

Ohh, man yes. That was hilariously awful. "No! My alien waifu is not a sinner, she shouldn't masturbate!" "Lol, looks those creepsters' pwecious alien fantasy girls is just an horny slut!" that was a very sad and pointlessly angsty bunch of people.

I guess I can at least thank the old BSN for teaching me a good lesson about how shitty can people be on the internet. Before it I only hung around much smaller and calmer online places.

those people probably turned into those people who now says everything is sexist, racist and such.

[Someone With Mass]

Someone who's trapped in a suit for about 90% of their life and has limited physical contact with others and isn't really given the option to fling around without risking their health is masturbating? Preposterous!

I'm all for the protagonist having a cheering squad from time to time, but it's nice to hear that they had a life before their lord and savior entered the frame.

[Vol]

I can give perspective on this.

It's not creepy for someone to want to be the first sexual partner of someone else. That's been the norm for humans for far longer than it hasn't, on the scale of multiple millennia versus the last few decades. In the first world. In certain areas. Among certain communities. So while it's socially awkward in some circles to care about virginity (A woman's anyway, but that's a topic for another thread) now, the venom is uncalled for. I, personally, would prefer any cast of waifus to encompass a realistic range of experiences, just like Mass Effect and Dragon Age did.

So a young woman who could literally die if she breathed fresh air, who when we meet her has yet to finish her rite of adulthood, yeah. It's fair to assume, so it's fair to embrace that part of her character. Much like it's fair to want Miranda because she has experience and will actually know how to ride a dick, which is a precious treasure. Or Liara because she's managed to live a century without slipping and falling on someone's genitals, as asari are wont to do (Leeder'Akore approves +10).

The Nerve Stim thing came at an interesting time, when I was beginning to develop critical thinking skills. So at first, I was mildly annoyed that of all the new lore in the DLC, that was what Tali's big note was. Then I rationalized it, because literally everyone masturbates, and it would be stranger if she didn't, also it's hot to picture what human-centric simulations she's running in between Engineering Deck chatting sessions.

My point being, sometimes it takes fictional alien suit stimulators to kick-start turning someone into a raging libertine. But I don't shit on people who're old fashioned unless they're trying to force something.

Honestly the counter-backlash bothered me more than anything. "Talimancers all want a pretty pristine princess because x, y, z," is jive shit I still see in Mass Effect threads to this fuckin' day.

[Someone With Mass]

Honestly the counter-backlash bothered me more than anything. "Talimancers all want a pretty pristine princess because x, y, z," is jive shit I still see in Mass Effect threads to this fuckin' day.

There are still Mass Effect threads worth caring about these days?

[Vol]

There are still Mass Effect threads worth caring about these days?

Yes, but they're mostly about cracking jokes at nuBioware and ME3, as well as tentative hope that ME4 is good.

[Alienmorph]

There are still Mass Effect threads worth caring about these days?

Yes, but they're mostly about cracking jokes at nuBioware and ME3, as well as tentative hope that ME4 is good.

So basically, there aren't.

[TTTX]

There are still Mass Effect threads worth caring about these days?

Yes, but they're mostly about cracking jokes at nuBioware and ME3, as well as tentative hope that ME4 is good.

well ME:4 isn't going to happen until BW goes back into using numbers in ME games again and they probably won't do that to avoid get the game associated with ME3.

We have ME:A, which is the Fourth game in the series (not counting the app ones), but it's not ME4.

[Zero Suit Rosalina]

I like how "Mass effect super deluxe edition" is a thing.

Eat a dick EA. it wasn't enough to have a ripoff deluxe edition but they had to go make SUPER one as well. Seeing it on the marketplace makes me want to laugh and cry at the same time.

[Dragaros]

I was late to joining the old bioware forums, so the missed the bulk of any melodrama regarding various characters' virginity or masturbation habits.

But I do remember more than a few posts saying things to the effect of "Tali downloaded Fleet and Flotilla! That proves she's thinking about Turians while she masturbates instead of thinking about Shepard! She wants to cheat on him and she's a terrible girlfriend! Haha, Tali fans are such losers!" Those same people went on to be the "Tali abused Shepard's trust and betrayed their friendship by stealing the specs for the first Normandy's stealth drive that's why that quarian ambassador ship had stealth tech!" crowd when ME3 rolled around.

///

[[ Suit Process Log:
- Upgraded interface GUI for relic technology (Fee authorization: Project Haestrom)
- Upgraded suit diagnostics for radiation detection (Fee authorization: Project Haestrom)
- Upgraded omni-tool for enhanced data integrity (Fee authorization: Project Haestrom)
- Upgraded translator software for all human languages
- Installed suit application, NutriScan 2.2
- Installed suit application, EngineMaster 3.6: Human Vessels
- Installed suit application, Nerve-Stim Pro
- Downloaded entertainment vid, "Exiles: Portraits of the Lost Quarians"
- Installed prototype defense suite, ShieldJack 0.8 (Authorization: Adm. Han'Gerrel vas Neema)
- Upgraded medical scanning and quarantine suite
- Ran process, Infection Treatment (Isolated)
- Downloaded education vid, "Dealing with Loss"
- Uninstalled suit application, Nerve-Stim Pro
- Reinstalled suit application, Nerve-Stim Pro
- Downloaded education vid, "Understanding Body Language: Human Edition"
- Downloaded entertainment vid, "Fleet and Flotilla"
- Uninstalled suit application, Nerve-Stim Pro
- Downloaded education vid, "Human Courtship and Mating"
- Installed suit application, Immunoboost: Professional Edition
- Reinstalled suit application, Nerve-Stim Pro: Deluxe Edition ]]

I forgot just how hungry Tali was for a piece of Shepard.

[Alienmorph]

I like how "Mass effect super deluxe edition" is a thing.

Eat a dick EA. it wasn't enough to have a ripoff deluxe edition but they had to go make SUPER one as well. Seeing it on the marketplace makes me want to laugh and cry at the same time.

Which also does NOT come with a phisical copy of the game.

Like... I haven't bought a retail game in at least two-three years... but if I'm paying 150 buck for a "super collectors' edition" I DEMAND a damn phisical copy, wheter is on disk, memory card or pen drive. For fuck's sake...

[Vol]

I'm having memories of ME2 prerelease. The bios on the squad, the devs actually on the forums, the pretty but silly cinematic trailer, staying up late in the old Tali threads until a streamer confirmed they'd activated her romance.

I suppose we do know the ME4 lineup though. Quirky asari, krogan, 2 humans (?), lady turian, and someone else.

[Alienmorph]

Kett. I bet the last squadmate is gonna be a Kett.

Or some kind of friendly AI, because we can't get enough of those.

[Vol]

I nearly rolled my eyes when in Pillars, there was a "robot" companion. Though it had a twist in that it quite literally had a soul.

But it's a dead horse, especially in the ME setting, where we've had a trilogy cap off all about AIs.

[TTTX]

I'm like 90% sure the last Squadmate will be from Andromeda galaxy.

we already have an AI as a guide or whatever in ME:A, so we don't need an AI squadmate.

[SciFlyBoy]

The squad mates HAVE to be from our galaxy! How are we supposed to communicate with a brand new species? How can the UT know the language and how long will it take linguistic experts to figure out how to speak it and program it for everyone?

[Alienmorph]

Javik learned the languages of everyone else in a matter of minutes, and he was born 50 000 years in the past, and spent most of them in a stasis pod dreaming of revenge.

THey can come up with some bs to allow us to comunicate easily with the Andromeda natives. Hell, it's gonna be a necessity either way.

[TTTX]

The squad mates HAVE to be from our galaxy! How are we supposed to communicate with a brand new species? How can the UT know the language and how long will it take linguistic experts to figure out how to speak it and program it for everyone?

Considering that the turians figured out human speech during the first contact war, not very long.

[TTTX]

Javik learned the languages of everyone else in a matter of minutes, and he was born 50 000 years in the past, and spent most of them in a stasis pod dreaming of revenge.

THey can come up with some bs to allow us to comunicate easily with the Andromeda natives. Hell, it's gonna be a necessity either way.

well Javik had the whole touching stuff (a plot device) which allowed him to figure it out in a matter of minutes.

[Alienmorph]

Yeah, that's the point. They can come up with some macGuffin to justify how we can communicate with the Andromeda races. And they most likely will have to.

[SciFlyBoy]

Considering that the turians figured out human speech during the first contact war, not very long.

And it was an event that took place over three months where the council intervened, meaning resources where poured into negotiating a peace, meaning both sides needed representation and there fore a common language.

Here in a new galaxy colonizing new worlds? Something foul has to happen before we reach Andromeda and I'm betting the resources are left for survival and research of the cause of that. But how many months will take place in the first part of this game? If the story is over several years, then yeah. But if it's over a couple months? How could you have a squadmate from a brand new galaxy that you'll be talking to and running missions for if you don't have a developed language? And that's on a universal scale, not isolated incidents. We are on a ship traveling to multiple worlds.

Unless someone from our galaxy already went there ages ago and sired an entire race leaving the secrets of our language and technology behind for future offspring to learn. I just don't see an Androme-mate in the first game.

[TTTX]

And it was an event that took place over three months where the council intervened, meaning resources where poured into negotiating a peace, meaning both sides needed representation and there fore a common language.

Here in a new galaxy colonizing new worlds? Something foul has to happen before we reach Andromeda and I'm betting the resources are left for survival and research of the cause of that. But how many months will take place in the first part of this game? If the story is over several years, then yeah. But if it's over a couple months? How could you have a squadmate from a brand new galaxy that you'll be talking to and running missions for if you don't have a developed language? And that's on a universal scale, not isolated incidents. We are on a ship traveling to multiple worlds.

Unless someone from our galaxy already went there ages ago and sired an entire race leaving the secrets of our language and technology behind for future offspring to learn. I just don't see an Androme-mate in the first game.

The turians learn it before then according the Citadel DLC.

the Nexus arrive before the Arks and BW won't care that much how they learned the language.

BW don't care that much about logic and reason, because of they did that Shepard wouldn't have fallen into a planet and still be enough left (with a brain intact I might add) to rebuild in ME2.

[Dragaros]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BMrfMi-z3-4

[Dragaros]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k46jz0P3VDA

[Dragaros]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vfcAvDs8ipA

[TheodoricFriede]

"Tali downloaded Fleet and Flotilla! That proves she's thinking about Turians while she masturbates instead of thinking about Shepard!

And not once. NOT ONCE. Did they ever consider that Shepard would be sitting right next to her masturbating to turians with her.

Honestly, some people.

Kett. I bet the last squadmate is gonna be a Kett.

Or some kind of friendly AI, because we can't get enough of those.

Im not thinking kett. Kett seem like the Batarians of this game. They're the "ugly aliens". They will have little to no redeeming value, and basically serve the purpose of the aliens you dont have to feel bad about killing. Andromeda alien squadmate will probably be from that other unnamed alien race we saw.

I nearly rolled my eyes when in Pillars, there was a "robot" companion. Though it had a twist in that it quite literally had a soul.

But it's a dead horse, especially in the ME setting, where we've had a trilogy cap off all about AIs.

I liked Legion in ME2, but the Pinocchio syndrome robot was a dead horse long before Mass Effect. One of the reasons i argued so hard about geth sapience back in the day is that they were obviously going for a Lieutenant Commander Data thing with him.

[Someone With Mass]

The sad thing is that the writer of Legion didn't intend for him to be all about becoming a real boy, since that wouldn't make sense for a geth to strive for. They weren't made for that stuff. They were made for construction, hard labor and networking their intelligence and resources. If anything, it'd have made much more sense for them to strive to become a hive mind or something similar, much like what the heretic geth tried to do in ME2.

Sure, as they achieve more intelligence and become more sentient, that could be mistaken for becoming more like a real person from a creator's perspective, but it sounds rather limiting to me. Why would they strive for a flawed design when they can be so much more? Can organics achieve the mind the size of a galactic arm?

[Alienmorph]

I see the Kett be more the new Krogans than the new Batarians.

As a squadmate, I'm picturing a more boring version of Javik that keeps bragging about restoring the honor of his species, and how *main villan name* and his followers are a disgrace and must be stopped.

After all... the first true "ugly aliens" we were pointed at and left free to slaughter by the dozens were the Geth. Then Legion shown up and all of a sudden they were the misunderstood bro-bots. Also there's the whole fact they partially re-designed the Kett to give them more human-like expressivity. Why bother do that if they're just meant to be unsimpathetic monsters you need to whipe out with no second thought?

[TheodoricFriede]

Considering one of the lead engineers of the nexus is a krogan woman, I have my doubts that they will be the new batarians.

I dont really count the geth as the ugly aliens, because at that point they were something even less sympathetic. They were the robots. No one feels bad about killing nameless faceless robots.

The batarians were the only race that we got next to no reason to sympathize with. It literally took their entire race being nearly wiped out during mass effect 3 before we were finally given a reason to care.

[Alienmorph]

That's my point as well. Not even the Krogans are 100% the Krogans anymore. We have a female Krogan scientist as one of the leaders of the whole expedition to Andromeda. I'm sure we're gonna still have dick-ish krogans on the team, but seem unlikely we're gonna go through the whole "redemption of the species" with them all over again.

The Kett on the other hand... thei're one of the new things about the game that's getting heavily marketed, one of the main bad guys is Kett (gonna guess the real bad guy is gonna be some sort of Reaper 2.0. equivalent) and design-wise they look like a though warrior race, and not just like angsty monsters.

[Someone With Mass]

The batarians were the only race that we got next to no reason to sympathize with. It literally took their entire race being nearly wiped out during mass effect 3 before we were finally given a reason to care.

Even then, I didn't give two shits about their fate. Must be because about 99% of all batarians I came across until that point were absolute assholes.

[Mobius_118]

That Reaper artifact they found sure did a number on the leaders.

But fuck Batarians anyway, dropping a goddamn asteroid onto a planet.

[TheodoricFriede]

The Kett on the other hand... thei're one of the new things about the game that's getting heavily marketed, one of the main bad guys is Kett (gonna guess the real bad guy is gonna be some sort of Reaper 2.0. equivalent) and design-wise they look like a though warrior race, and not just like angsty monsters.

I guess we will find out. But I know where im playing my bets.

[Riptide]

I still can't believe we only have two months to go.

[TheodoricFriede]

I still can't believe we only have two months to go.

A lot can happen in a little over 2 months.

Ill believe it when im banging a turian on the 21st when i should be studying.

[Alienmorph]

Yup... I almost feel like it could turn out that EA just told them to speed things up and release the damn thing already. But it's been a long time, and they could have just legitimately finished too, I suppose.

[Someone With Mass]

I still can't believe we only have two months to go.

Well, it's almost five years since Mass Effect 3 came out, so it's not THAT surprising.

[Riptide]

I still can't believe we only have two months to go.

Well, it's almost five years since Mass Effect 3 came out, so it's not THAT surprising.

It's more surprising that there has been no build up to it. Remember ME2 and ME3? ME2 had those Fight for the Lost commercials playing all over the place, and the class gameplay demos narrated by Christina Norman. ME3 had numerous trailers, both cinematic and otherwise spread out over a year leading up to the game.

Andromeda has just been... really fucking quiet. Like that fucking gameplay trailer they showed two days ago. What was that? Half of it was just them showing off random stuff in the menus, and then using like two powers, like we've never seen that before.

It's fucking weird.

[TheodoricFriede]

I dont like the lack of information, but i do like the lack of an add campaign. Bioware has always had terrible advertisements.

This game is getting about as much coverage as Dragon Age Inquisition was. and Dragon Age Inquisition didnt really get into the heavy advertising till it was a month away.

[Someone With Mass]

It's more surprising that there has been no build up to it. Remember ME2 and ME3? ME2 had those Fight for the Lost commercials playing all over the place, and the class gameplay demos narrated by Christina Norman. ME3 had numerous trailers, both cinematic and otherwise spread out over a year leading up to the game.

Andromeda has just been... really fucking quiet. Like that fucking gameplay trailer they showed two days ago. What was that? Half of it was just them showing off random stuff in the menus, and then using like two powers, like we've never seen that before.

It's fucking weird.

Either they have no faith in their game or their marketing department is run by shit-flinging monkeys that don't know how to build hype beyond generic Inception-like trailers.

By the way, that trend needs to die in a car fire. I can feel the creativity of the human race die every time I see those rapid cuts to black/scenes that have nothing to do with each other.

[Dragaros]

Forbes: 'Mass Effect: Andromeda' Is Almost Dodging Hype As The Anti-'No Man's Sky'

"Something strange is going on with Mass Effect: Andromeda. It’s a huge game from one of the most beloved franchises ever, it comes out in about two and a half months, and…I feel like I still practically know nothing about it.

There’s been footage, sure. There was the cinematic teaser trailer. The PS4 Pro walk-around-and-press buttons-in-4K footage. The trailer with all the combat and a tiny bit of story. And now a new trailer showing menus and a bit more fighting.

And yet, despite this, I still don’t really feel like I have a sense of what this game is. Other Mass Effect games followed the saga of Shepard assembling a crew and trying to save the galaxy. But this game, featuring the same universe, but a different galaxy, feels much more nebulous, despite presumably being larger in size than any of the past installments. It’s about exploration and survival, sort of? But there’s still a story? You have a crew and a ship and a Mako, but is it the same format as old Mass Effect games? That remains pretty unclear.

I think Mass Effect: Andromeda is doing something pretty interesting here. I don’t think this is bad marketing, rather it feels like a conscious choice to keep most of its cards close to its chest. It’s showing certain systems and segments but holding back on larger details in a way that’s relatively unprecedented for a AAA blockbuster like this. Bioware seems to be purposefully avoiding hype, letting the brand speak for itself, but holding back quite a bit of the game itself.

My theory? A lot of this is because of No Man’s Sky.

No Man’s Sky was a game that practically drowned in an ocean of its own, endless hype. Many games, big and small, have probably learned from this example, believing that it’s probably better to say little or nothing at all than to go all out promising the best X genre game ever and listing off feature after feature in excruciating detail.

But with Mass Effect: Andromeda, there’s a much closer connection to No Man’s Sky, because this is also a game about exploring and surviving on various planets in a sprawling galaxy. Yes, it’s much, much more involved with its combat systems and stories, but I’m willing to bet that a long time ago, Bioware saw people going crazy for the concept of No Man’s Sky, and it became a not-insignificant influence on their development, at least to some extent.

The problem? I think Bioware is now worried about people associating Mass Effect with No Man’s Sky, which ended up being one of the biggest let-downs for most players, and is now held up as an example of what not to do when developing and releasing an ambitious game.

Between the example of No Man’s Sky and other hype cycles that have backfired on big games (Watch Dogs, the original Titanfall, etc), I think many potential blockbusters might be treading more carefully than they used to. The biggest example of this we’ve seen recently was Bethesda’s very fast ramp-up and release of Fallout 4, which did get a full marketing campaign eventually, it did not have years and years of build-up like we’ve come to expect from the industry.

Mass Effect: Andromeda feels like it’s taking things one step beyond this even. The biggest news stories about Andromeda over the last few years have just about its endless series of delays, and now that it finally has a (hopefully) fixed released date, we pull back and realize that wow, we really know barely anything about this enormous game.

Ultimately, I think this is the right call. My personal affection for No Man’s Sky aside, it’s probably the right call for Mass Effect to avoid those comparisons. And Mass Effect can get away with hiding an enormous amount of its gameplay and content because the name is going to sell the product no matter what. And given that this is such a story-heavy series, and this installment in particular is all about fresh exploration of new places, I understand why they would want to keep so much of it under wraps.

In my mind, I think it’s probably a good thing we’re moving away from these tremendous hype-cycles of developers showing off loads of early footage that ends up looking worse eventually, or promising features that never actually come. Some series still go the full nine yards for this (I felt like I barely even needed to play Battlefield 1 and Infinite Warfare at launch due to all the info/early tests there were), but others are shying away. Mass Effect is doing it, and we’ve also seen this to some extent from Zelda: Breath of the Wild this year, where there’s only been essentially one or two areas in the whole massive game shown off in early gameplay.

And yet, hype remains. Natural hype, fueled by curiosity in these storied series, not artificial hype manufactured by ad campaigns. And I think that’s just fine. Yes, part of me worries that with so little shown that maybe Mass Effect won’t be as substantive as I’d like, but honestly, I think it will all work out, and this is just a different promotion tactic rather than some elaborate smokescreen to keep players from finding out about a lack of content. We’ll find out soon enough."

[Vol]

That would be the most generous way of thinking about the relative dearth of info. But I can see that. I can also see the parade of super expensive marketing campaigns having hit a wall of returns, so they don't really need to drop millions inundating us with videos and shit. Or the pessimist response.

Do we know how long the game is supposed to be, with and without side quests?

[Deano]

I think it's more because of the ending of ME3. If you give the fans information about the game that could be interpreted as a bad sign, even slightly I think they would jump on a hate bandwagon. So you give them a lack of information which they can moan about that but not as loudly.

[Riptide]

The thing about this is, that in order for this tactic to work, Andromeda has to blow everyone away. It has to really hit it out of the park, otherwise it'll just get pushed to the side. It's been off everyone's radar for the most part, so unless critics start throwing out 9s and 10s and getting the hype train rolling after the fact, it'll peter out and probably won't do well.

Which, given the ME3 ending, is a huge fucking risk to take.

[Vol]

I mean. It's inconceivable that it won't get 9's and 10's, we all know how the game is played. It'll win at least one GOTY award. Gaming journalists are cheap dates.

Though I've been keeping myself relatively deaf to what does come out, like the videos and articles here. We know gameplay, we know plot, we know some locations, we roughly know squad, so there's that.

[Mobius_118]

I'm just gonna preorder, get my bonuses, and play it fully with fresh eyes.

What would blow my mind is that it checks for Mass Effect save files on my hard drive.

I know so little about Andromeda, because I don't want the doom and gloom hype I got from watching everyone moan about ME3. I thought it was alright until Marauder Shields died.

[Someone With Mass]

I think that gaming journalism is laughable at best, so there's next to no official media content for me to judge the game on. There's nothing that's convincing me to buy this Super Duper Ultra Mega Deluxe Special Limited edition either.

Meanwhile, Mass Effect 2 had all the classes and pretty much all the trailers out by this point. Mass Effect 3 had those pre-order trailers at least.

Sure, No Man's Sky strapped itself to an anchor and went for a swim, but I think that a part of its shortcoming was because a lot of people are so incredibly easy to impress and thereby tosses reason to the wind.

It's also sad to see that people can't make do with a middle point instead of going to extremes with everything.

[TheodoricFriede]

To be fair, No Mans sky looked incredible in its trailers. Especially the early ones.

Anyway, if the turian lady is available for men as a romance option, ill but the deluxe version.

If not, ill probably just barrow the game.