***Mass Effect Andromeda SPOILER Thread***

[Riptide]

If there's one thing I think we can agree about Andromeda, it's that it appears to be a base breaker.

Strong on opinions in every direction.

[Alienmorph]

Why dont you go ahead and tell me what characterization he had. Mass Effect 2 being the "best game in the series" after all, im sure he has a lot of subtlety and nuance.

Harbringer had none. The Collectors had a bit of something going for, given their backstory and the fact they DO managed to blast the first Normandy. But Harbringer was cookie cutter as whole hell.

And fact I do believe ME2 is the best of the bunch, doesn't mean it does everything it does perfectly. You're a big Dragon Age 2 fan... but I don't think that means you believe is a flawless masterpiece, no?

[TTTX]

Sure, sure. While you're overhyping a mediocre game because it tickles your fancy. Whatever-

Well what is a mediocre game is different from person to person.

If there's one thing I think we can agree about Andromeda, it's that it appears to be a base breaker.

Strong on opinions in every direction.

Yeah, it's not easy to judge the game fairly with such strong opinions.

Personally after playing the game 3 times from beginning to end, I think overall it's a good game, it could have used some polish (or a lot depending on who you ask) before being released.

Harbringer had none. The Collectors had a bit of something going for, given their backstory and the fact they DO managed to blast the first Normandy. But Harbringer was cookie cutter as whole hell.

And fact I do believe ME2 is the best of the bunch, doesn't mean it does everything it does perfectly. You're a big Dragon Age 2 fan... but I don't think that means you believe is a flawless masterpiece, no?

The real issue (or problem depending how you view it) with ME2 is in it's story telling (I have already voiced some of those points in past so I won't do it again), but ME3 had that problem too, it was just a bit more obvious in ME3 then ME2.

DA2 is still one of the weakest and over all incomplete of the BW games to ever come out, in my opinion, but that really not surprising considering it only had less then 2 years of development time.

[magnuskn]

Sure, sure. While you're overhyping a mediocre game because it tickles your fancy. Whatever-

Well what is a mediocre game is different from person to person.

Of course. Theo, though, is once again going hyperaggressive against critique of his new favorite game (calling me "insane" for one), and I don't plan to be bullied by him.

[Raga]

I think a lot of the sensitivity lies in the fact that it's a Bioware game, which means it has higher than normal levels of fan buy-in because their games explicitly encourage self-insertion and are based around immersive relationships with other people. I sincerely think people emotionally invest more in Bioware games than 99% of others. Most other games at best only aspire to be "fun." And as it turns out, "fun" is a much easier threshold to pass than "fun and emotionally immersive." If say, Rockstar or Bethesda, produces a game with a "meh" story and characters (which is frankly most of their games), it doesn't really matter because it's still fun to run over cops or rampage through town as a werewolf or whatever. If a Bioware game is merely "fun," it is treated as a failure and the failure has the emotional resonance of your best friend suddenly refusing to talk to you or the girl you've been dating dumping you out of the blue. It doesn't just disappoint people. It hurts their feelings (not meant to be patronizing).

I've felt this myself about specific aspects of individual Bioware games including available LI choices, story focus, autodialog and other things. When some other game does something I don't like, I get annoyed or bored. When it involves character stuff in a Bioware game, I frequently feel *indignant* and insulted. I've just never been sufficiently disappointed that I felt this way about an entire game. The closest was probably DA2.

[Vol]

Barbs aside, I do enjoy how we run the full gamut of opinions on ME4 here. While everyone loving it would be ideal, a distribution of opinions is more interesting.

@Raga: You're on point. The gutpunch from ME3 hit me harder than a lot of real life incidents have, and some of the specific design decisions still get me riled up today, albeit in a much smaller sense. Though I didn't take DA2 as an insult, since the circumstances around it, and the strength of what they were trying to do seemed reasonable enough to me. That and I didn't pay for it.

I don't self-insert though, since these games aren't built for allowing a person like me to do what I want. I go with the opposite, iconic face, roleplaying as who I picture them to be. Which is why I get so hung up on congruousness, like with Liara, Garrus, Tali, the Geth, etc., and how their portrayals change.

My point being, if they've got me by the heartstrings, don't follow with a wedgie.

[Raga]

I don't self insert either but from what I can tell, actual role-players are a minority. The vast bulk appear to self insert inasmuch as that is possible. I also think Bioware wants self insertion. The continual streamlining of the system from silent protags with full line reveal and stat based dialog options to paraphrased VA with intent icons and interrupts screams "Pick something! Just pick it! Don't think, pick!" And when the game is nudging you to hurry up and pick already, you will usually just end up going with your gut & intuition and not really considering what a given character would say.

This is not meant as a critique but an observation. I am not arguing silent protags are intrinsically better.

[magnuskn]

If a Bioware game is merely "fun," it is treated as a failure and the failure has the emotional resonance of your best friend suddenly refusing to talk to you or the girl you've been dating dumping you out of the blue. It doesn't just disappoint people. It hurts their feelings (not meant to be patronizing).

It's not about hurt feelings (I got that five years ago), it's about maintaining a standard of storytelling, characters and character interaction. They had reached a pretty high point in ME3 and, as I said before, after the endings fiasco they have played it ultra-safe, which has resulted in bland games. Add to that, that they follow the bog-standard open world conventions (tons of fetch quests with little story) and, at least for me, this has led to much more mediocre, meandering, unmemorable games. If I hadn't played about every prior RPG game by BioWare, I would probably feel better about Andromeda... but I have, and so have many other players.

It's not that I have problems getting pulled in by new stories and new characters, either. I recommended a new anime series, Re:Creators, yesterday. I was immediately hooked on the characters and the story.

I have played ME1 at least three times, ME2 five times, ME3 four times. SWTOR two or three times. BG2 two times. DA:O two times.

I can't see myself playing DA2, DA:I and ME:A ever again, except ME:A for the multiplayer. With DA2 it was a very mediocre story, but with DA:I and ME:A it is both the mediocre story, the lack of motivation to meet the companions again (which brought me back so many times to the ME trilogy) and the terrible, grindy open world gameplay.

[Someone With Mass]

One thing that I think Andromeda did wrong was its tone. Up until the last couple of story missions involving the Meridian, it felt more like an attempt at a funny road trip story than anything exploratory to me. The supplies I picked up were more often than not for the road (i.e, my armor, weapons, mods etc) than the advancement of a colony.

Going to a place, scan around and then talk to a person and then scan some more to fill up a bar is not really my definition of exploration.

Now, I don't mind the quirky humor all as I enjoyed the quips of the majority of the squadmates a lot of the time, but then it felt like the only way the game thought it could make me take things seriously was throwing plot twists at me.

Oh, the kett are made of people, the angara were made by the Remnant's creators and so on.

It's like it tried to have it both ways, which made it feel...I don't know a good word for it...divided? As the two parts didn't really fit together. The loyalty missions, while entertaining, didn't contribute anything at all to the story either, since the loyalty of the characters wasn't necessary to overcome an obstacle like in ME2.

Speaking of which, I doubt I'll ever play a BioWare game as much as I did ME2. I must've had at least 20-25 playthroughs of that game.

[TTTX]

It's not about hurt feelings (I got that five years ago), it's about maintaining a standard of storytelling, characters and character interaction. They had reached a pretty high point in ME3 and, as I said before, after the endings fiasco they have played it ultra-safe, which has resulted in bland games. Add to that, that they follow the bog-standard open world conventions (tons of fetch quests with little story) and, at least for me, this has led to much more mediocre, meandering, unmemorable games. If I hadn't played about every prior RPG game by BioWare, I would probably feel better about Andromeda... but I have, and so have many other players.

It's not that I have problems getting pulled in by new stories and new characters, either. I recommended a new anime series, Re:Creators, yesterday. I was immediately hooked on the characters and the story.

I have played ME1 at least three times, ME2 five times, ME3 four times. SWTOR two or three times. BG2 two times. DA:O two times.

I can't see myself playing DA2, DA:I and ME:A ever again, except ME:A for the multiplayer. With DA2 it was a very mediocre story, but with DA:I and ME:A it is both the mediocre story, the lack of motivation to meet the companions again (which brought me back so many times to the ME trilogy) and the terrible, grindy open world gameplay.

There is just a small problem with BW holding a standard of storytelling, they have been reusing the same plot points about saving the world and you can only do so much by reusing the same plot points with a voiced protagonist (that generally is up to the player how they are and that does limit their options, then a protagonist like Gerelt as an example).

DA2 is pretty much the exception, but that got screwed over by the short development cycle that EA made so it didn't go well.

So now BW is on the safe bets with their games, save the world plots and all that jazz, even ME:A should probably be a bit darker then it is from a story point of view, but I guess the negative reception of ME3 's (other then the endings) rather bleak and dark tone of the main plot is probably what made BW give ME:A a much lighter tone in general along with some other reasons I'm sure.

[Alienmorph]

I can appreciate the fact they tried to be less gloom and doom, but it does look like they overdid it in places. These people have been scattered around uncharted space, they're starving to death, and are being hunted down by alien monsters... and then there's the whole "sounds like we're the only survivors of the Milky Way" aspect, that IS a secret know only by a few, but kinda clash even further...

[magnuskn]

Yeah, I really wasn't feeling the desperation some people should have. They say things are desperate sometimes, but their voices and facial expressions and attire sure don't reflect it.

[TheodoricFriede]

Im pretty damned sure that if this game was actually darker, you'd all be complaining it was too dark, and just trying to rehash Mass Effect 3 edginess.

There's live dissection in this game.

[Alienmorph]

It's not about "make it darker!" it's about tone consistency. Through the story Ryder loses his/her dad, almost loses his/her sibling, gets the weight of pretty much the whole colonization effort on its shoulders, and discovers that, as far as the people in Adromeda are concerned, the Reapers back home ate everyone and thei're all that's left of their civilization. And he/she and all the people who are working close with Ryder and sharing his/her burdens still all act like they're auditioning for Guardians of the Galaxy. There are moment where people should stop acting like teeneger comedians and react to the world around them in a more tonally fitting way.

[Raga]

I will say that most of the crew has an overall inoffensiveness about them that can make them come off as bland. I actually like this aspect as I never understood why the hell a paragon would have the likes of Jack or Zaeed or Grunt on my ship in the first place other than to create drama from a story perspective. I have always been a bigger fan of the BG2/POE model of character recruitment, which is to say, you get 5. Who you pick depends on who you are.

I thought ME1 had by far the blandest and most one dimensional cast of any Bioware game. This one just has the *nicest* cast. I'll definitely take it over DA2's "everybody is an edgelord/drama queen/crazy person and oh yea, here's Varric" approach.

[TheodoricFriede]

So what, you want a game where everyone is super morose all the time? Talking about how they are all going to die, and that all their friends and family are dead in the Milky Way and they hope the Reapers didnt follow them?

What role would you prefer Cerberus played? Were the SAMs doing experiments on all the aliens in the dark space journey?

[Raga]

I will also say that the open world creates severe pacing problems, but I actually don't see much of anybody defending that particular aspect of the game. I think most people here can agree that the game could lose like 33-50% of its bulk and not really lose anything of note. I'm basically ignoring that and pulling out the stuff that does count: story missions, squad interaction, etc. and comparing that to past games.

[TTTX]

Im pretty damned sure that if this game was actually darker, you'd all be complaining it was too dark, and just trying to rehash Mass Effect 3 edginess.

Well let's be honest some of the animation and what people are saying and how they doesn't exactly match up and that cause some conflict with the tone in certain scenes.

[TheodoricFriede]

Well let's be honest some of the animation and what people are saying and how they doesn't exactly match up and that cause some conflict with the tone in certain scenes.

I guess but its a Bioware game. Thats nothing new.

[Someone With Mass]

Im pretty damned sure that if this game was actually darker, you'd all be complaining it was too dark, and just trying to rehash Mass Effect 3 edginess.

There's live dissection in this game.

Oh, it gets dark at times, but I didn't take the kett and their edgelords seriously for a second.

If anything, I found it to be the moodiest when I was running down the hallways of the arks that had gone dark, simply because I had the Hyperion to compare them to.

Speaking of which, did the kett just pluck that thing from the Nexus at the end or something? I probably wasn't paying attention, but I found it weird that suddenly and out of the blue, they're holding the Hyperion hostage.

[Someone With Mass]

I will also say that the open world creates severe pacing problems, but I actually don't see much of anybody defending that particular aspect of the game. I think most people here can agree that the game could lose like 33-50% of its bulk and not really lose anything of note. I'm basically ignoring that and pulling out the stuff that does count: story missions, squad interaction, etc. and comparing that to past games.

Oh yeah, definitely. If you cut out all the fetch quests and the dead time while driving, this game would be like 15 hours long, if that.

[TheodoricFriede]

Speaking of which, did the kett just pluck that thing from the Nexus at the end or something? I probably wasn't paying attention, but I found it weird that suddenly and out of the blue, they're holding the Hyperion hostage.

They sent out a jamming signal that made it so the Hyperion couldnt issue an alert, boarded the ship, and disconnected it.

[magnuskn]

Im pretty damned sure that if this game was actually darker, you'd all be complaining it was too dark, and just trying to rehash Mass Effect 3 edginess.

There's live dissection in this game.

That was actually the one spot in the game where it crossed the event horizon into grimdarkness... and casually changed the Kett from "religious zealots who are misguided because of their religion" into "total monsters I don't feel bad wiping out to the last member". Also, the only time the VA's of your companions really put some heavy emotion into their voicework. So, some good, some bad.

[TheodoricFriede]

I will also say that the open world creates severe pacing problems, but I actually don't see much of anybody defending that particular aspect of the game. I think most people here can agree that the game could lose like 33-50% of its bulk and not really lose anything of note. I'm basically ignoring that and pulling out the stuff that does count: story missions, squad interaction, etc. and comparing that to past games.

I agree, but its waaaaay better in this than it was in Dragon Age: Inquisition.

Dragon Age: Inquisition is borderline unplayable to me now.

[Alienmorph]

So what, you want a game where everyone is super morose all the time? Talking about how they are all going to die, and that all their friends and family are dead in the Milky Way and they hope the Reapers didnt follow them?

What role would you prefer Cerberus played? Were the SAMs doing experiments on all the aliens in the dark space journey?

Sigh... it's just one extreme or the other eh?

If I don't want everyone act like a buffoon all the time, that must mean I only want dark and gritty or straight up horror, indeed.

[magnuskn]

I will also say that the open world creates severe pacing problems, but I actually don't see much of anybody defending that particular aspect of the game. I think most people here can agree that the game could lose like 33-50% of its bulk and not really lose anything of note. I'm basically ignoring that and pulling out the stuff that does count: story missions, squad interaction, etc. and comparing that to past games.

But we need fetch quests #233, "Find me the best spot in the Helius Cluster to take a dump"!

[TTTX]

I guess but its a Bioware game. Thats nothing new.

True, but they have also done better in the past so give and take.

So what, you want a game where everyone is super morose all the time? Talking about how they are all going to die, and that all their friends and family are dead in the Milky Way and they hope the Reapers didnt follow them?

What role would you prefer Cerberus played? Were the SAMs doing experiments on all the aliens in the dark space journey?

I don't know, something like ME2, it's dark when the scene calls for it and light when the scene calls for it.

First time Ryder arrives on the Nexus people did seem a little to light giving the circumstances they were in (and what had happened prior), not the desperat people they tell Ryder they are, just as an example.

I agree, but its waaaaay better in this than it was in Dragon Age: Inquisition.

Dragon Age: Inquisition is borderline unplayable to me now.

Well DA:I was hold back by the previous generation, which I'm guessing EA told BW make DA:I for the previous and current generation.

[magnuskn]

I will also say that the open world creates severe pacing problems, but I actually don't see much of anybody defending that particular aspect of the game. I think most people here can agree that the game could lose like 33-50% of its bulk and not really lose anything of note. I'm basically ignoring that and pulling out the stuff that does count: story missions, squad interaction, etc. and comparing that to past games.

I agree, but its waaaaay better in this than it was in Dragon Age: Inquisition.

Dragon Age: Inquisition is borderline unplayable to me now.

I'll say that the fast travel and general speed of your vehicle helps a lot to zoom around the map. Still, the world feels empty and too large, compared to, say, the Witcher 3. There I plan to do all the side stuff a third time whenever I can finally scrounge up the huge block of time I'll have to spend in the game in NG+ to complete it + the two expansions. Except the smuggling caches out in the Skellige sea, because fuck that noise.

[Someone With Mass]

They sent out a jamming signal that made it so the Hyperion couldnt issue an alert, boarded the ship, and disconnected it.

That seems...stupid. Why not just isolate the entire Nexus by disrupting the power grid? Could have taken everyone right then and there.

[TheodoricFriede]

If I don't want everyone act like a buffoon all the time, that must mean I only want dark and gritty or straight up horror, indeed.

I'd buy that argument if people were actually acting like buffoons.

[TheodoricFriede]

That seems...stupid. Why not just isolate the entire Nexus by disrupting the power grid? Could have taken everyone right then and there.

Because he wanted SAM and the other Ryder.

He was obsessed and wanted Meridian immediately.

[TTTX]

I'd buy that argument if people were actually acting like buffoons.

Well Liam does (at least when it comes to some of his dialog anyway), but he is very idealistisk.

[Someone With Mass]

Because he wanted SAM and the other Ryder.

He was obsessed and wanted Meridian immediately.

So much for genetic superiority. Any intelligent being would have taken that opportunity to utterly cripple/eliminate the competition.

That would have been a rather interesting choice too. Save/secure the Nexus and give the enemy a head start or go after the Archon and save your sibling, hoping that the Nexus is strong enough to fend for itself. Then the other Pathfinders could have come into play in a more interesting way.

[TheodoricFriede]

Well Liam does (at least when it comes to some of his dialog anyway), but he is very idealistisk.

Well yeah... Liam IS a buffoon.

He was designed from the ground up to be the ships buffoon.

[TheodoricFriede]

So much for genetic superiority.

Turns out when you literally view other species as amoeba, you make stupid, arrogant decisions.

[Someone With Mass]

Well Liam does (at least when it comes to some of his dialog anyway), but he is very idealistisk.

Well yeah... Liam IS a buffoon.

He was designed from the ground up to be the ships buffoon.

There was something about Liam's humor/attempt at humor that always irked me and I can't put my finger on it.

[Vol]

1) Of all the emotional flatnotes, Ryder's reaction to his father's death was not one of them. It's clear they had a strained relationship, which was shown and told, repeatedly. So a really dramatic, emotional reaction would not have made sense, as opposed to if, say, the other Ryder twin had died.

2) ME1's dark spots were like the vivisection in ME4, intellectually, yes, I can see these horrible things were done here, but the impact doesn't resonate as compared to, say, Jonah the quarian's parents' last words. Or Thane describing Mouse. Or Samara discovering all her children are monsters. And then ME3 was so fucking bleak it got depressing, which was the point, to be fair. ME4, we see the operating theaters, we see the kett doing the operating, we hear the logs of the cruelty, and if I had one of those fuckers _right there_ at that time, it would've been the emotional lightning rod that was needed. I cared about the krogan I left behind because Drack made me care, and I was punished for that choice for the rest of the game. That was executed well.

3) I'll give the kett's actions some credit. Their goal wasn't conventional domination or eradication. Their goal was exaltation of the worthy, and Archon's personal mission of Remnant hijinks. And so they didn't commit to military operations that wouldn't further those goals.

[TTTX]

There was something about Liam's humor/attempt at humor that always irked me and I can't put my finger on it.

His humor feels forced.

[TheodoricFriede]

intellectually, yes, I can see these horrible things were done here, but the impact doesn't resonate as compared to, say, Jonah the quarian's parents' last words. Or Thane describing Mouse. Or Samara discovering all her children are monsters.

Whats funny is that those dont even blip on my emotional radar. At best they get nothing. At worst they get indignation at how stupid they are.

[TTTX]

3) I'll give the kett's actions some credit. Their goal wasn't conventional domination or eradication. Their goal was exaltation of the worthy, and Archon's personal mission of Remnant hijinks. And so they didn't commit to military operations that wouldn't further those goals.

The Archon wanted to do the ultimate blackmail, by using Meridian, pretty much how Doctor Doom blackmailed the world in the Spider-man 1981 cartoon (I would a show a clip, but I couldn't find one on youtube).

[Someone With Mass]

There was something about Liam's humor/attempt at humor that always irked me and I can't put my finger on it.

His humor feels forced.

Well, not just that. It's the smug attitude, I guess, that annoys me.

[magnuskn]

intellectually, yes, I can see these horrible things were done here, but the impact doesn't resonate as compared to, say, Jonah the quarian's parents' last words. Or Thane describing Mouse. Or Samara discovering all her children are monsters.

Whats funny is that those dont even blip on my emotional radar. At best they get nothing. At worst they get indignation at how stupid they are.

That's the exact opposite of funny for me.

[Vol]

@Theo: Suppose our heartstrings are plucked in different ways. Like Samara's daughters in the monastery, they got such a raw fucking deal, and when the one that survives shows even a hint of anger, Samara's there to check her. That was rough.

@TX: That segment is a blur to me, what was his plan again? Threaten _us_ with Meridian, or the rest of the kett?

[TheodoricFriede]

@Theo: Suppose our heartstrings are plucked in different ways. Like Samara's daughters in the monastery, they got such a raw fucking deal, and when the one that survives shows even a hint of anger, Samara's there to check her. That was rough.

The stuff with Drack hit me a lot harder. He has evoked more emotion in me than most Bioware characters, and they did it without super somber piano music and having an anime character kill him off.

[Someone With Mass]

3) I'll give the kett's actions some credit. Their goal wasn't conventional domination or eradication. Their goal was exaltation of the worthy, and Archon's personal mission of Remnant hijinks. And so they didn't commit to military operations that wouldn't further those goals.

But one could argue that not committing to certain military operations would have made it more difficult to perform the exaltation. Some things have indirect consequences. Not curb stomping the enemy when the option is available and easy to get is only going to lead to them trying to stop the exaltation, since they don't want that whenever they're worthy or not.

It's another reason why I don't like the Archon as a character. He overlooked something so basic and it eventually became his undoing.

Maybe people don't want their families and friends to be turned into what looks like a krogan toilet after Taco Tuesday.

"Durr, dun matter, cuz not worthy."

[TheodoricFriede]

I imagine some of the problem is that the kett actually have fairly limited resources, and they are on an extended mission.

So they were given a large force to occupy and exalt, but arent really expecting re-reinforcements and cant take unnecessary risks.

Risking full scale war with the angara AND the new species, who have undone decades of work in a few months, probably influenced the decision to only take the Hyperion a bit.

[Vol]

No clue if this is real, but the modulation at least sorta sounds right. I'm not an audial person, so one of you ear-smart folks, tell me, does that sound like the VA?

NSFW AUDIO: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oJ5waeCv5lk

[TheodoricFriede]

No clue if this is real, but the modulation at least sorta sounds right. I'm not an audial person, so one of you ear-smart folks, tell me, does that sound like the VA?

NSFW AUDIO: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oJ5waeCv5lk

Thats real, they've know about it for a while.

She was supposed to have a sex scene, it just never got added to the game. Probably because they didn't want to render a nude turian.

Personally im hoping for dlc!

[Vol]

Listening to it again and again, especially the non-husky parts, it does seem like it could be her.

@Theo: I'm aware of the rumor, I've seen no evidence until now, though this isn't _proof_ yet. I heard it was because they made her bi at the last minute and didn't have time to animate for Sara, but who knows? They clearly ran out of time on the models, so it's possible the nude turian skin wasn't ready.

On that note, I blindly stumbled onto a person on Tumblr who dared to criticize the people calling Vetra a lesbian, in that fetishistic way gay people are collected with. For bi-erasure in their fan creations, which while technically a valid concept, is not something I want to see made a "thing". I'm not sure how to feel about it, but damn it was amusing.

@SWM: They had perfected the exaltation procedure on angara, and as far as I can recall right now, they didn't kill angara that weren't actively fighting them, did they? They could have wiped out the angara cities they knew about easily with their firepower. Which is something the fucking angara should have considered, given how they were blindsided by exaltation when the kett could've finished the job easily.

My point being, the kett can't reproduce without exalting. So militarily going at the angara would've reduced the number of future kett, and also the quality, _and_ might have galvanized even more resistance and losses. Their relatively subtlety seemed to be working pretty damn well given how little was accomplished until we showed up.

On that note, since the kett are literally making hybrids out of previously purely alien people, noting that Andromeda aliens might share a common base given the existence of type 1 civilizations, but also Milky Way aliens, I am therefore vindicated, all these years later, in saying that hybrid babies are totally possible with available tech.

QED

[TheodoricFriede]

@Theo: I'm aware of the rumor, I've seen no evidence until now, though this isn't _proof_ yet. I heard it was because they made her bi at the last minute and didn't have time to animate for Sara, but who knows? They clearly ran out of time on the models, so it's possible the nude turian skin wasn't ready.

I think it was as simple as they didnt want to spend the time to make a nude turian.

I hope its added at some point, it would be awesome, but its unlikely.

I do actually think Vetra was Bi from the start based on her dialog alone. Shes clearly into male turians ("No such thing" as excessive turian flexing), and asari ("I mean seriously have you SEEN the asari?.. Uhh your fine too though babe! No one needs head tentacles right?")

Unlike, say, Merrill who literally only ever comments on male qunari.