***Mass Effect Andromeda SPOILER Thread***

[Vol]

"Didn't want" or "didn't get to." Going off the old concept art, there's not much to _see_, short of whatever sort of vagina situation they have. If I were in charge, and I received word that there was no time or will to model a nude Vetra, and the animations were already done, I'd have the art crew take her basic model, and open the front of the pants. Never show it, but show the flaps of the fabric, or whatever it is, opened and Ryder always strategically blocking. I'm inclined to think it was the model _and_ animations though, given were it's obvious time ran out on the content pipeline.

So I'll be there, hoping along with you, we get some proper turian love.

Oh. I missed a lot of dialogue from the various bugs, so I didn't get that second line. First one I did.

[TheodoricFriede]

"Didn't want" or "didn't get to."

Its probably a bit of both.

I think some of it is that its legitimately hard to render turians naked and make them look good. Not sexy, but good. Look at Jaal naked in game compared to the concept art. Concept art he looks alien, different, but still visually appealing. In game his chest looks like a place polygons go to die.

Anyway as i said. Hopefully they add her scene. Its unlikely, but i also thought it was unlikely they would fix the animations.

[Someone With Mass]

I'd argue that adding a naked turian would be the most progressive thing they could do. Shit, I'd gladly sacrifice the fetch quests for it.

I sadly also missed a lot of dialogues about her preferences. I've also heard that the NG+ is a bit buggy, so I'm going to wait until another patch comes out.

[TheodoricFriede]

I sadly also missed a lot of dialogues about her preferences.

You most likely missed it because its very obscure. Its a nomad conversation with i dont even remember who, that only triggers after you lock in her romance.

I think it may be Cora actually. "So all your time with the asari you never...?" "Nope." "Really? I mean... Have you SEEN asari?"

[Someone With Mass]

I sadly also missed a lot of dialogues about her preferences.

You most likely missed it because its very obscure. Its a nomad conversation with i dont even remember who, that only triggers after you lock in her romance.

I think it may be Cora actually. "So all your time with the asari you never...?" "Nope." "Really? I mean... Have you SEEN asari?"

Ah, that explains it. That was around the same time everyone went dead silent in the Nomad.

[Raga]

@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.

She also comments that she finds Suvi's voice really sexy at some point.

[TheodoricFriede]

She also comments that she finds Suvi's voice really sexy at some point.

Ah thats right.

[Someone With Mass]

Well, here's to hoping that they'll come to their senses and add some more to the romances.

Speaking of which, have there been any word at all on what might be in store for future DLCs? Aside from the multiplayer, that is.

[TheodoricFriede]

Aside that they are coming? No.

Quarian ark seems like the obvious choice, but who really knows?

Im sure at least one of them will be an epilogue dlc. Bioware has been big on that lately. (Consider that even before the Citadel dlc, we got the Arrival dlc, and DA2 was supposed to have a full on expansion before that was canceled.)

[TTTX]

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

The plan was basically force people to accept the exaltation or the planets they live on will become living hell and they'll all die.

[TTTX]

Aside that they are coming? No.

Quarian ark seems like the obvious choice, but who really knows?

Im sure at least one of them will be an epilogue dlc. Bioware has been big on that lately. (Consider that even before the Citadel dlc, we got the Arrival dlc, and DA2 was supposed to have a full on expansion before that was canceled.)

and DA:I had Trespasser which also was a epilog DLC.

[magnuskn]

I'd argue that adding a naked turian would be the most progressive thing they could do. Shit, I'd gladly sacrifice the fetch quests for it.

I'd sacrifice the fetch quests for a donut and a coffee. Hell, I'd donate a donut and a coffee if they would get rid of them.

[Vol]

@Theo: I am 100% on board with epilogue DLCs. With the caveat that it's not an excuse for the _base game_ to not have a real ending. But so far, I can't think of one that's disappointed me. Didn't DA2 have on e that was solely to set up Cory?

@TX: Right, so that reinforces the point of limited military action. They wanted willing submission over a war, and if a planet won't submit, they could make it unlivable. Which wouldn't happen immediately, so there'd be time for surrender.

[Dragaros]

[Dragaros]

[Dragaros]

[Dragaros]

[TheodoricFriede]

Im glad they have consistently toned down their alien designs.

Those are just... stupid.

[Someone With Mass]

Look more like something out of Warframe than Mass Effect.

[Alienmorph]

On the other hand tho, we're in another galaxy, and the two new races are really nothing that wouldn't fit easily in the previous games. Actually, considering things like the Elcor and the Hanar, we had weirder things back in the Milky Way than we do in this whole new galaxy.

Most of those design ARE pretty silly, but I'm not so sure that doing the opposite and playing safe was the best idea either.

[Mazder]

Not only are those designs waaaaay over the top, they're all balls to the wall hard to emote with. In a character driven game being able to see emotion is vital, those designs would have had little impression.
Unless they're just random grunts.

I do like this one though;

where they're thinking about more visual ways to indicate/change the battlefield dynamics of enemies. Visuals etc.

[DarkStorm]

At least those designs are unique. Still could made a bug race to be honest.

[Alienmorph]

Definately. Both the Angara and the Kett look like they could be scrapped Prothean designs. Not exactly screaming "so unique that they really look like thei're from another galaxy". They could have done something like Halo and the Covenant and have a multi-species alliance with the humanoid ones being in charge, and one or two very freaky allied species, to make things more varied and interesting. Just to make an example.

[Dragaros]

Not only are those designs waaaaay over the top, they're all balls to the wall hard to emote with. In a character driven game being able to see emotion is vital, those designs would have had little impression.
Unless they're just random grunts.

Im glad they have consistently toned down their alien designs.

Those are just... stupid.

We're on opposite sides on this point, then. I like many of those alien designs, and wish they had been used for the Kett and Angara. The Kett in particular.

Going to a whole other galaxy is the perfect excuse to go really wild and creative. An opportunity they wasted, in my opinion. I can only hope the subsequent sequels and DLC's introduce new species with a more inhuman aesthetic.

[DarkStorm]

ha, just checked my email and EA sent me a survey to do for andromeda.

Well thats done, will it matter probably not. But might as well tell them anyway.

[TheodoricFriede]

ha, just checked my email and EA sent me a survey to do for andromeda.

Well thats done, will it matter probably not. But might as well tell them anyway.

For once, I wish they would actually send me one.

[Mazder]

We're on opposite sides on this point, then. I like many of those alien designs, and wish they had been used for the Kett and Angara. The Kett in particular.

Going to a whole other galaxy is the perfect excuse to go really wild and creative. An opportunity they wasted, in my opinion. I can only hope the subsequent sequels and DLC's introduce new species with a more inhuman aesthetic.

Trouble is they'd go against IP based design conventions. Yeah you an spruce it up BUUUUT you can only go so far.
You need to keep things familiar enough that we can still emote and bond with the aliens, even at a certain level towards the enemy aliens.

Plus most of those designs are just too busy, especially if they're going to be enemy designs, so they'd be moving around a lot. The animation department would be killed in the first week of production.

[TheodoricFriede]

Trouble is they'd go against IP based design conventions.

Its exactly that.

Mass Effect aliens dont look like that.

[TTTX]

Trouble is they'd go against IP based design conventions. Yeah you an spruce it up BUUUUT you can only go so far.
You need to keep things familiar enough that we can still emote and bond with the aliens, even at a certain level towards the enemy aliens.

Plus most of those designs are just too busy, especially if they're going to be enemy designs, so they'd be moving around a lot. The animation department would be killed in the first week of production.

Counterpoint we never really saw the quarian faces and yet a lot of people like and understand them and let's not forget some of the facial animation in ME:A was rather bad in some areas.

Body Language, voices and such can go a long way, you don't always need a human kind of face in order to evoke emotions or understanding of others.

But I kinda get the real reason why the races in Andromeda have human kind of faces is simple because it make them easier to animate as they had to just stand still and no move as much.

[Alienmorph]

Not really sure the "IP design conventions" is a valid excuse, when you make a game that's supposed to be a fresh start for the series. Some of those designs are too over-complicated and silly, but they did get all the basics covered, at least when it came to most of the main species the series' known for. They could have take some risk and come up with something new, that felt alien even compared to the aliens we had already enstablished.

Once again... on the Citadel we could talk with giant sentient jellyfishes, but once getting to another galaxy we come across only two new sentient species worth mentioning, and thei're both bipedal vertebrates with relatively humanoid features? Kinda boring...

[TTTX]

Its exactly that.

Mass Effect aliens dont look like that.

Well the milky way aliens, sure, but Andromeda is another galaxy and even some alien designs don't walk on 2 legs in ME universe, like Elcor and Hanar and these are new species no one says they have to look like something from the Milky Way.

So claiming "ME aliens don't look like that" is technically false because arguments could be made to why they looked different from what we know.

[Mazder]

Counterpoint we never really saw the quarian faces and yet a lot of people like and understand them and let's not forget some of the facial animation in ME:A was rather bad in some areas.

Body Language, voices and such can go a long way, you don't always need a human kind of face in order to evoke emotions or understanding of others.

But I kinda get the real reason why the races in Andromeda have human kind of faces is simple because it make them easier to animate as they had to just stand still and no move as much.

Yeah, and putting MORE creepy alien animations ON TOP of that is a GOOD idea?
When?

Yeah, but that is not all that helps.
Humans NEED faces. We're a VERY expressive species and there is a reason we identify with faces a lot easier. Body language and tone don't cover it enough to be as strong signifyers of emotion. Intent, yeah, emotion, no!
Try to imagine the difference between someone being angry and someone being kinda miffed if they have a monotone voice. The difference is nearly negligible. But add a snarl or a frown and you get which emotion is being used.
And that's one example across the THOUSANDS of emotions we express in out faces alone.

Not really sure the "IP design conventions" is a valid excuse, when you make a game that's supposed to be a fresh start for the series. Some of those designs are too over-complicated and silly, but they did get all the basics covered, at least when it came to most of the main species the series' known for. They could have take some risk and come up with something new, that felt alien even compared to the aliens we had already enstablished.

Once again... on the Citadel we could talk with giant sentient jellyfishes, but once getting to another galaxy we come across only two new sentient species worth mentioning, and they're both bipedal vertebrates with relatively humanoid features? Kinda boring...

Yeah and how many of those jellyfish did we actually get so see MOVE at more than a walking pace?
How many did we have EMOTIONAL bonds with outside of lines concerned with mocking them by other races that could emote?

Most of those designs are fungoid/insectoid in nature. A cool idea but the closest thing we've had to insects are the Collectors. Who were bipedal aliens with two primary eyes and four primary limbs.
And even then they didn't have a cacophony of "spiked"/"pronged" edges and weird angles we could not connect with.

And IP design conventions ABSOLUTELY apply.
If it didn't LOOK like Mass Effect it wouldn't FEEL like Mass Effect.
I mean they can add variety but those designs are clearly WAAAAAAY to busy in nature to match anything else around them, they'd stick out like a sore thumb, they'd not fit the rest of the aesthetic, making them only noticeable because they'd not fit.

Well the milky way aliens, sure, but Andromeda is another galaxy and even some alien designs don't walk on 2 legs in ME universe, like Elcor and Hanar and these are new species no one says they have to look like something from the Milky Way.

So claiming "ME aliens don't look like that" is technically false because arguments could be made to why they looked different from what we know.

Wrong, absolutely 100% wrong.
There has been NOTHING fungoid in appearance in ME before. Nothing else matches them.
It doesn't matter if it's a new place, if it doesn't match the overall aesthetic ME is going for (which is Space Opera with an action flair if you didn't know) it sticks out and is not going to fit, let alone be familiar enough for people to make a connection.

[Alienmorph]

Yeah and how many of those jellyfish did we actually get so see MOVE at more than a walking pace?
How many did we have EMOTIONAL bonds with outside of lines concerned with mocking them by other races that could emote?

So the fact BW couldn't well-animate non-humanoid aliens in the past means they shouldn't even try to break the mold?

There are movies and tv series that can make completely non-human creatures move and emote in an, at least, eye-catching ways, if human-like is too hard. And we're supposed to believe that a AAA space opera RPG game with a giant budged can't do the same?

Sure, fine. Whatever.

Wrong, absolutely 100% wrong.
There has been NOTHING fungoid in appearance in ME before. Nothing else matches them.
It doesn't matter if it's a new place, if it doesn't match the overall aesthetic ME is going for (which is Space Opera with an action flair if you didn't know) it sticks out and is not going to fit, let alone be familiar enough for people to make a connection.

THAT'S THE DAMN POINT.

We HAVE Mass Effect aliens already. If we're moving to another galaxy there should be things that are almost jarringly different. Instead all we got are Collectors and Protheans 2.0. and some more alien drones. And you still have people like Liam go "Oh look at the freaky fucks... evolution truly went an whole other way here!". Except it really didn't. There SHOULD be fungoid. Or freaky cybord. Or sentient bugs. Or bird-people.

I don't really like those particular designs all that much, but they've probably got an whole pile of stuff that is more elegant and interesting we may never see, and that yet got scrapped. The artbook will probably give us a better clue.

[TheodoricFriede]

So claiming "ME aliens don't look like that" is technically false because arguments could be made to why they looked different from what we know.

Its not a matter of "dont look like that" its a matter of completely thematic dissonance.

[Vol]

To chime in, ME4 did not have a huge budget. 40 million over 5 years, on multiple platforms, with an MP component, rumors of major resdesigns, and given the scope, what we get makes sense to me. I think Dead Space 3 had over double that.

Edit: With that said, I would absolutely like some really inhuman aliens in the future. Fungoid or otherwise. Though given the Milky Way had less than 1 sapient species per cluster, we're batting above average in Heleus.

[TheodoricFriede]

Yeah and how many of those jellyfish did we actually get so see MOVE at more than a walking pace?
How many did we have EMOTIONAL bonds with outside of lines concerned with mocking them by other races that could emote?

Oh i dont think it has anything to do with emotions.

I think its that Mass Effect alien designs tend to be very clean, slick, and uncluttered. They are intentionally easy to understand.

That concept art stuff is hard for me to even look at, let alone understand.

[Vol]

The big test is going to be the DLC, in essence. Then they'll have time to polish, manually animate, and focus on smaller (linear?) content. I don't think we'll see new aliens though, given we're being teed up to meet newly digitigrade quarians, volus, drell, elcor models. Maybe Ryder's Mama, or the other hooks. I'd be surprised if we don't get at least 1 new alien species, sapient or not, by the end.

[Someone With Mass]

To me, the only sapient alien in Andromeda that feels like it can be a part of Mass Effect is the angaran males. The females look amateurishly done and the kett look like a rejected concept from Gears of War.

Also, the devil is in the details. The reason why I bought the design of the turians, the krogans, the quarians etc is because they all came with pretty heavy lore that explained their looks and sort of gave me an understanding of their evolution. The turians developed metal plates to endure the intense radiation on the surface of Palaven. The krogans developed hard, thick plates and redundant organs to survive the harsh nature of Tuchanka where pretty much everything is an apex predator. The quarians have a weak immune system because their biology is more symbiotic than combative because of the lack of insects on Rannoch.

I can get behind that, even if it all might not be scientifically accurate, because it sounds reasonable.

The anagra have a bioelectric chemistry just because it sounds cool.

[TheodoricFriede]

I'd be surprised if we don't get at least 1 new alien species, sapient or not, by the end.

Whatever is attacking the quarian ark, i dont think its kett or remnent. (or reapers for the lunatics that actually believe that will be a thing.)

[TTTX]

Yeah, and putting MORE creepy alien animations ON TOP of that is a GOOD idea?
When?

Yeah, but that is not all that helps.
Humans NEED faces. We're a VERY expressive species and there is a reason we identify with faces a lot easier. Body language and tone don't cover it enough to be as strong signifyers of emotion. Intent, yeah, emotion, no!
Try to imagine the difference between someone being angry and someone being kinda miffed if they have a monotone voice. The difference is nearly negligible. But add a snarl or a frown and you get which emotion is being used.
And that's one example across the THOUSANDS of emotions we express in out faces alone.

because it's different and having variety is good.

I would accurately say that human need eyes to express emotion, you know kind like Wally from the pixar film Wally and ME:A even showed us how having bad eyes on certain characters can really drag a scene down or even take you out of it.
As long as you have eyes on a creature or alien, they can express emotions and generally where you can see them then you generally don't need that much of a face.

Wrong, absolutely 100% wrong.
There has been NOTHING fungoid in appearance in ME before. Nothing else matches them.
It doesn't matter if it's a new place, if it doesn't match the overall aesthetic ME is going for (which is Space Opera with an action flair if you didn't know) it sticks out and is not going to fit, let alone be familiar enough for people to make a connection.

You aren't entirely right as there were the Thorian creepers from ME1, granted they were originally made from flesh and blood species (and technically plants), but they were still copies made by a thinking plant or plant like creature.

So it's not stretch to have fungoid looking race, since we already had a thinking plant, thinking insects races, a thinking jellyfish race, Vortcha is basically walking talking worms and even a elephant like race (elcor). So it's not like ME doesn't have it's weird and variete aliens.

Its not a matter of "dont look like that" its a matter of completely thematic dissonance.

I must have been playing different series then you then.

Oh i dont think it has anything to do with emotions.

I think its that Mass Effect alien designs tend to be very clean, slick, and uncluttered. They are intentionally easy to understand.

That concept art stuff is hard for me to even look at, let alone understand.

well it's 2D, things can change lot when moving to 3D along with moving, talking along with whatever background info they get.

hell we based this group originally on female member of a race we didn't see (outside their body shapes) or even know what looked like under their suits for years and years.

[TheodoricFriede]

To me, the only sapient alien in Andromeda that feels like it can be a part of Mass Effect is the angaran males. The females look amateurishly done and the kett look like a rejected concept from Gears of War.

How? They just look like... well... female angara.

[TheodoricFriede]

I must have been playing different series then you then.

I am more and more convinced of this every day.

[Vol]

[Mazder]

because it's different and having variety is good.

I would accurately say that human need eyes to express emotion, you know kind like Wally from the pixar film Wally and ME:A even showed us how having bad eyes on certain characters can really drag a scene down or even take you out of it.
As long as you have eyes on a creature or alien, they can express emotions and generally where you can see them then you generally don't need that much of a face.

Variety, yes. Going against the entire design document of the entire series? No.
Star Wars doesn't do it.
Star Trek doesn't do it.
Stargate doesn't do it.
Hell even Doctor Who doesn't do it!

Wally has eyebrows, or psuedo eyebrows.
Bad eyes still show us how emotions can be confused or misread. Now imagine there were NO eyes. It'd be even harder. Now imagine there was nothign AROUND the eyes. EVEN HARDER.
Eyes don't make emotion, they convey very little compared to the eyebrows, cheeks, lips and eyes combined.
Even on things that don't HAVE them they still emulate them.

Hell even Legion had eyebrows!

You aren't entirely right as there were the Thorian creepers from ME1, granted they were originally made from flesh and blood species (and technically plants), but they were still copies made by a thinking plant or plant like creature.

So it's not stretch to have fungoid looking race, since we already had a thinking plant, thinking insects races, a thinking jellyfish race, Vortcha is basically walking talking worms and even a elephant like race (elcor). So it's not like ME doesn't have it's weird and variete aliens.

Thorian creepers aare at best a fungus spore rewriting, not fungus themselves.
And again, a throwaway enemy in the first game when the aesthetic has MOVED ON AND EVOLVED from ME1.

And it is waaaaay different from vague humanoid that is grey to literally walking mushroom people.
Vorcha are even humanoid looking and do not look like their wormy description. And they have eyes and expressive faces.
Even Elcor have SMILES and expressive faces!!!
All your examples aren't a support for how massively different the concept art is and ow it literally doesn't match anything else seen before to match,at all.

[TTTX]

Variety, yes. Going against the entire design document of the entire series? No.
Star Wars doesn't do it.
Star Trek doesn't do it.
Stargate doesn't do it.
Hell even Doctor Who doesn't do it!

Wally has eyebrows, or psuedo eyebrows.
Bad eyes still show us how emotions can be confused or misread. Now imagine there were NO eyes. It'd be even harder. Now imagine there was nothign AROUND the eyes. EVEN HARDER.
Eyes don't make emotion, they convey very little compared to the eyebrows, cheeks, lips and eyes combined.
Even on things that don't HAVE them they still emulate them.

Hell even Legion had eyebrows!

ME's design for most of the species are basically 2 arms, 2 legs and some sort of face with eyes, what kind of species they are doesn't matter all that much since there is already some many different species that can think and even communicate to begin with.

Last I checked those designs had eyes and it shouldn't be that hard to add something that functions like Eyebrows.
Legion and Tali would disagree with you needing cheeks, lips in order to evoke emotion.
Good writing, body language, good voices, good animation and right camera angle, I have seen work in other games that way older then ME:A, like Soul Reaver 2, Razial doesn't show his mouth (mostly because it's kinda gone) most of the time in cut scenes and yet he expresses himself quiet well, with his eyes, moving his head a bit and even his body when it's called for.

Thorian creepers aare at best a fungus spore rewriting, not fungus themselves.
And again, a throwaway enemy in the first game when the aesthetic has MOVED ON AND EVOLVED from ME1.

And it is waaaaay different from vague humanoid that is grey to literally walking mushroom people.
Vorcha are even humanoid looking and do not look like their wormy description. And they have eyes and expressive faces.
Even Elcor have SMILES and expressive faces!!!
All your examples aren't a support for how massively different the concept art is and ow it literally doesn't match anything else seen before to match,at all.

Throwaway enemy or not it's still lore and cannon and it shows that such things does exist in the ME universe.

and no it's not, we already have had a thinking, talking (with an asari) plant, a Jellyfish race that talks, thinking, talking (1 with Asari) insects and so having mushroom people isn't that hard to swallow, it just require the right lore to make it work, worked for the Turians, Quarians and such (and its not like the Kett makes that much sense at the moment other then basically being the new Reaper enemy of ME:A).
Not really, sure the Elcor have faces, but they aren't very good at expressing themselves, because according to lore they uses a combination of smells and body language to express themselves. After all they do tend to say what emotion they are talking in before saying their sentence.
Some of those designs probably wouldn't work, but some of the other examples could work (again because not all the races have human like faces), after all it's just 2D things can change a lot when it get turned into 3D (which you should know since you are an artist and such).

[Mazder]

ME's design for most of the species are basically 2 arms, 2 legs and some sort of face with eyes, what kind of species they are doesn't matter all that much since there is already some many different species that can think and even communicate to begin with.

Last I checked those designs had eyes and it shouldn't be that hard to add something that functions like Eyebrows.
Legion and Tali would disagree with you needing cheeks, lips in order to evoke emotion.
Good writing, body language, good voices, good animation and right camera angle, I have seen work in other games that way older then ME:A, like Soul Reaver 2, Razial doesn't show his mouth (mostly because it's kinda gone) most of the time in cut scenes and yet he expresses himself quiet well, with his eyes, moving his head a bit and even his body when it's called for.

Yeah, there is a design, which ALL if not a majority, of those concept art pieces either throw out the window or just stick on as an afterthought as if to remember "oh, wait, they're going to need to be relateable with humans and they look NOTHING like ANYTHING ELSE in all FOUR of our games that people actually connect with.

Yeah, but those two are exceptions which you spend A LOT of time with. These designs are clearly not meant for a proper NPC and are meant for background characters that still look NOTHING like anything seen before and also don't fit in anywhere.
You stick ANY of those next to ANY oft the other two races and yo'd get the impression they're from two separate franchises.

And Soul Reaver is not a good example of a damned RPG character. You do not get emotionally invested in the same way and they're designed differently.
You can't take two examples from two DIFFERENT franchises to support your claim these fit in one of them when they honestly don't match either of them.

Throwaway enemy or not it's still lore and cannon and it shows that such things does exist in the ME universe.

and no it's not, we already have had a thinking, talking (with an asari) plant, a Jellyfish race that talks, thinking, talking (1 with Asari) insects and so having mushroom people isn't that hard to swallow, it just require the right lore to make it work, worked for the Turians, Quarians and such (and its not like the Kett makes that much sense at the moment other then basically being the new Reaper enemy of ME:A).
Not really, sure the Elcor have faces, but they aren't very good at expressing themselves, because according to lore they uses a combination of smells and body language to express themselves. After all they do tend to say what emotion they are talking in before saying their sentence.
Some of those designs probably wouldn't work, but some of the other examples could work (again because not all the races have human like faces), after all it's just 2D things can change a lot when it get turned into 3D (which you should know since you are an artist and such).

Okay so any goddam critique about the Kett looking "boring and rock" like are now totally invallid because there were rock statues all over the last Mass Effect games and rocks were ALL over the place so c'mon guys they're totally not dull as they're totally the same!
No. It doesn't equate.

Mushroom people that, once again, LOOK NOTHING LIKE ANYTHING CONNECTED TO MASS EFFECT!
It's not about them being different it's about them not matching the design of the game AT ALL. They look like they should be in another franchise altogether.

And your comment on the Elcor proves my point. They, "by lore standards", don't NEED a face. So WHY would they NEED them?
Hmmm, maybe it's because us humans that are playing it need a face to look at that can at least be recognized enough to emote and come to terms with.

A few MAY work if altered a bit, but most just have bits poking out of them at all angles or are too ridiculous to take seriously as a thing that anyone IN THE LORE OR OTHERWISE would take remotely seriously. I mean we already take the piss out of the volus, the elcor and the hanar, we don't need any more dumbfucks to win the ugly contest. Especially when they'd put a strain on the animation budget that's already stretched thin.

Those designs would fit something like Stellaris as a sill image better than a Mass Effect race.

[Someone With Mass]

At least the NPCs in the trilogy had something to do while Shepard was talking to them. If they didn't, they at least tried to gesture with their arms, shift postures or look away to avoid eye contact. In Andromeda, the majority comes down to a slight repeat of the same animations or the NPCs doing nothing and just standing there with their arms crossed. I think Legion did more gesturing in the AI core on the Normandy than any NPC in Andromeda. I get it that they might not want to do a proper cutscene for all the NPCs since that strains resources and time, but fuck's sake, at least have them do something.

Same thing goes for Ryder. If I had gotten a Euro cent for every time I saw Ryder do the same casual gesturing with the arms while talking to someone outside of a cutscene, I could have bought the super deluxe version of the game with that money alone. When he eventually got some other animations to do, they were often some that I recognize all too well from the trilogy.

Voice acting alone can't really sell me on a character. It goes a long way, sure, but it's hardly the only thing that matters.

[TTTX]

Yeah, there is a design, which ALL if not a majority, of those concept art pieces either throw out the window or just stick on as an afterthought as if to remember "oh, wait, they're going to need to be relateable with humans and they look NOTHING like ANYTHING ELSE in all FOUR of our games that people actually connect with.

Yeah, but those two are exceptions which you spend A LOT of time with. These designs are clearly not meant for a proper NPC and are meant for background characters that still look NOTHING like anything seen before and also don't fit in anywhere.
You stick ANY of those next to ANY oft the other two races and yo'd get the impression they're from two separate franchises.

And Soul Reaver is not a good example of a damned RPG character. You do not get emotionally invested in the same way and they're designed differently.
You can't take two examples from two DIFFERENT franchises to support your claim these fit in one of them when they honestly don't match either of them.

You can put the human like face all you want on a species, but if the writing doesn't give anything else to relate other then their faces, which what happened to the Kett and hell the science lore of ME back those other designs more then what they look like in ME:A since they have so many genes from many different species, they should look very different from what we are use too.

Didn't stop BW from creating new animal designs that looks nothing we have seen before in ME, that's fine apparently, but having different looking and talking aliens now that's dumb and not ME at all.

A character is a character no matter what franchis they are in and Razial is a good example on how you make people relate to a character without seeing the entire face and that was what the argument BW made with the Kett having human like faces was to relate to them, the problem is that the Kett isn't related at all in ME:A you could literally put Collector heads on them and it wouldn't have change them one bit. Hell we can't even relate to other humans if the writing isn't there to help relate.

Okay so any goddam critique about the Kett looking "boring and rock" like are now totally invallid because there were rock statues all over the last Mass Effect games and rocks were ALL over the place so c'mon guys they're totally not dull as they're totally the same!
No. It doesn't equate.

Mushroom people that, once again, LOOK NOTHING LIKE ANYTHING CONNECTED TO MASS EFFECT!
It's not about them being different it's about them not matching the design of the game AT ALL. They look like they should be in another franchise altogether.

And your comment on the Elcor proves my point. They, "by lore standards", don't NEED a face. So WHY would they NEED them?
Hmmm, maybe it's because us humans that are playing it need a face to look at that can at least be recognized enough to emote and come to terms with.

A few MAY work if altered a bit, but most just have bits poking out of them at all angles or are too ridiculous to take seriously as a thing that anyone IN THE LORE OR OTHERWISE would take remotely seriously. I mean we already take the piss out of the volus, the elcor and the hanar, we don't need any more dumbfucks to win the ugly contest. Especially when they'd put a strain on the animation budget that's already stretched thin.

Those designs would fit something like Stellaris as a sill image better than a Mass Effect race.

1 Rocks don't have DNA and 2 the Kett isn't thought out as species at this point in time they feel more like the Reapers of this galaxy then anything else.

The Thorian, Elcor, Hanar, Rachni and so on doesn't look like anything else in the ME universe yet they still exist,

The Elcor have a face because they need to breath and eat, since they are still some sort of animal (biology).
Faces aren't enough, it's just to have something familiar to look at, but the Kett doesn't have anything (at this point in time) else going for them, they are basically Reapers with faces and that's not very raletable and it's actually rather pathetic of BW reusing that same troupe from the old Trilogy all over again, it's 1 of the reasons why the Kett falls flat on their faces, at least with those other designs they would look more like the terrible Reaper copy cats they are.

I couldn't even take the Kett seriously at least with 1 of those designs they would at least stand out, right now they look like a rejected collector design also Volus, Elcor and Hanar aren't ugly.

ME:A takes place in another Galaxy even the game comments the races from Andromeda could be very different from what we know, because there are over 2 million light years between the milky way and Andromeda.

[Raga]

I'm not overly concerned about seeing physically alien aliens in this game because I get there's modeling and animating constraints, but I would like to see some genuinely psychologically alien aliens. Something like the buggers or pequeninos from the Ender series. The closest we have got are the rachni and the Thorian, one of which we shoot at once. I always thought the rachni were super cool.

[Vol]

I enjoyed the song aspect of talking with the rachni. It was unique, it was kinda understandable in an abstract way, it wasn't so obtuse as to be irritating, and made sense for their species. Something like the rachni, in terms of inhumanity and psychology, would be nifty.