Bioware General (Mass Effect/Dragon Age/Other)

[Someone With Mass]

Oh so the only thing I care about? Cool.

Haven't heard an official statement about it yet, though.

[TTTX]

Also, I'd say that stepping back a bit from Mass Effect and learning more about what works and what doesn't would be good.

Yeah, ME:A doesn't really have a set up for a sequel so it's not like they have to hurry to get the next one out.

[Mazder]

Also, I'd say that stepping back a bit from Mass Effect and learning more about what works and what doesn't would be good.

Yeah, ME:A doesn't really have a set up for a sequel so it's not like they have to hurry to get the next one out.

Did you not play the same game as I did because there was a massive cliffhanger at the end of the game.

[magnuskn]

Oh hey theres a new gay romance for Ryd...

Oh...

Makes me miss Shepard's ridiculous orange puffy jacket. Didn't think I would ever say that.

That was my favorite outfit for ME2.:p

[magnuskn]

http://kotaku.com/sources-bioware-montreal-downsized-mass-effect-put-on-1795100285

Good. Maybe they will re-think their direction and finally get rid of Hack Walters. Maybe we actually can get back to the Milky Way and maybe the next Mass Effect will have less dead space and fetch-quest bullshit.

There will be a new Mass Effect in the future, no doubt. I view them putting it on the backburner as a good thing, because now there is a chance that they will actually think about where to take the franchise instead of just having Mass Effect Andromeda 2: The Nextening.

[TheodoricFriede]

That was my favorite outfit for ME2.:p

Good.

So this pretty much sums up my opinion of your opinion.

[TTTX]

Did you not play the same game as I did because there was a massive cliffhanger at the end of the game.

► Show Spoiler

You are talking about the Kett right?

Because the Quarians will most likely get a DLC handling them and the Benerfactor too so that doesn't leave much else outside the Jaardan (and they haven't been around for centuries so that's not really a concern at moment).

I don't considered that much a massive cliffhanger, since they aren't the Reapers (it will take longer for reinforcements to arrive) and well at the moment they are heavily weakened in the cluster and I imagine there be some sort of Epilogue DLC dealing with the rest of them and then there aren't that much left outside the scourge and Jaardan (but they are like the Protheans we don't know much and at the moment we don't need to know.)

[TTTX]

http://kotaku.com/sources-bioware-montreal-downsized-mass-effect-put-on-1795100285

Good. Maybe they will re-think their direction and finally get rid of Hack Walters. Maybe we actually can get back to the Milky Way and maybe the next Mass Effect will have less dead space and fetch-quest bullshit.

There will be a new Mass Effect in the future, no doubt. I view them putting it on the backburner as a good thing, because now there is a chance that they will actually think about where to take the franchise instead of just having Mass Effect Andromeda 2: The Nextening.

or they'll reboot that's also a possibility.

[TheodoricFriede]

or they'll reboot that's also a possibility.

Andromeda is a reboot, for all intents and purposes.

[magnuskn]

That was my favorite outfit for ME2.:p

Good.

So this pretty much sums up my opinion of your opinion.

Yeah, well. Given how I think your an overemotional bitchy drama queen with shit opinions on 90% of things, I'm not surprised.

[TheodoricFriede]

Yeah, well. Given how I think your an overemotional bitchy drama queen with shit opinions on 90% of things, I'm not surprised.

Tosser.

[magnuskn]

Yeah, well. Given how I think your an overemotional bitchy drama queen with shit opinions on 90% of things, I'm not surprised.

Tosser.

Right back atcha, you grand old pillock.

[TTTX]

Andromeda is a reboot, for all intents and purposes.

Nope, ME:A is a spin off, because the original trilogy still happened in that universe.

[Mazder]

http://kotaku.com/sources-bioware-montreal-downsized-mass-effect-put-on-1795100285

Good. Maybe they will re-think their direction and finally get rid of Hack Walters. Maybe we actually can get back to the Milky Way and maybe the next Mass Effect will have less dead space and fetch-quest bullshit.

There will be a new Mass Effect in the future, no doubt. I view them putting it on the backburner as a good thing, because now there is a chance that they will actually think about where to take the franchise instead of just having Mass Effect Andromeda 2: The Nextening.

TBH I hope they don't just go back to the Milky Way because the lowest common denominator wants it out of pure bloody spite because it wasn't the perfection they wanted post ME3.
I definitely hope they go back with a fucking point of going back of if there is a thing going on in the in between of Andromeda's timeline and find a way to sync them up. Even if it's with some wibbley wobbly space magic.

Did you not play the same game as I did because there was a massive cliffhanger at the end of the game.

► Show Spoiler

You are talking about the Kett right?

Because the Quarians will most likely get a DLC handling them and the Benerfactor too so that doesn't leave much else outside the Jaardan (and they haven't been around for centuries so that's not really a concern at moment).

I don't considered that much a massive cliffhanger, since they aren't the Reapers (it will take longer for reinforcements to arrive) and well at the moment they are heavily weakened in the cluster and I imagine there be some sort of Epilogue DLC dealing with the rest of them and then there aren't that much left outside the scourge and Jaardan (but they are like the Protheans we don't know much and at the moment we don't need to know.)

► Show Spoiler

Well there was the whole plot point of the Arcon being a basically first wave/research team/initial force or Expeditionary force.
The thing at the end clearly shows that the subordinate is gonna go back and report all that happened to their superiors, wherever they are. And they're obviously going to return with a vengeance, maybe a Crussade?!

And, we simply don't know where the rest of the Kett are, we know barely anything except that they're much bigger than we know and have been here longer than we know.
All we don't know what makes the Scourge, how to fight it, how to even contain it. There is A LOT to deal with that to relegate it to DLC territory.

Andromeda is a reboot, for all intents and purposes.

Nope, ME:A is a spin off, because the original trilogy still happened in that universe.

Okay both of you stop before this shite gets out of hand.

Agree to disagree and move on.
Otherwise this is all just pointless drama.

[magnuskn]

TBH I hope they don't just go back to the Milky Way because the lowest common denominator wants it out of pure bloody spite because it wasn't the perfection they wanted post ME3.
I definitely hope they go back with a fucking point of going back of if there is a thing going on in the in between of Andromeda's timeline and find a way to sync them up. Even if it's with some wibbley wobbly space magic.

For me, the Milky Way is home. Andromeda is a diversion which has really nothing to do with us. I want to see Earth rebuilt, new alliances, new rivalries, new enemies. I'm not interested at all what happens one galaxy away to a bunch of people who thought just fucking off on a completely unnecessary (to their best knowledge) hail mary mission was totally the best idea. Not even to mention the logistical impossibilities of that having happened between ME2 and ME3.

[Alienmorph]

http://kotaku.com/sources-bioware-montreal-downsized-mass-effect-put-on-1795100285

What a fucking shocker. I'm surprised it took this long for them to come out and say that.

While the plot and writing quality are more up to debate, the game has been through development hell, eventually was nurtured by some pretty horrible people, and had tons of problems at release. And I do hope they get to finish polish the base game, and release at least the bulk of the planned story content, for the sake of everyone that enjoyes what they got so far, but I'm fine with putting the series on hiatus and try something else later on. And if BW doesn't last that long... well... they kinda brought it on themselves really.

[Mazder]

For me, the Milky Way is home. Andromeda is a diversion which has really nothing to do with us. I want to see Earth rebuilt, new alliances, new rivalries, new enemies. I'm not interested at all what happens one galaxy away to a bunch of people who thought just fucking off on a completely unnecessary (to their best knowledge) hail mary mission was totally the best idea. Not even to mention the logistical impossibilities of that havinh happened between ME2 and ME3.

So you want to go back to where we were before in terms of power, get us all built up again only to have some new threat ruin us again.

How run of the mill, dull sci fi.
I mean, how boring must we be if all we can think of doing with what we have is "oh, let's just go back".
That's incredibly dull. I mean seriously after the reaper War what actually could feel like a threat except some bullshit Civil War?


And TBH having an exploration mission turn into a last ditch effort is completely fine. In the mindset of those going it was peacetime just before ME3. It was a perfect time to go. Humanity and the council races were stagnating again, they build up an awesome mission and went for it. I mean it's literally the ME-verse's version of the Moon Landing. Something so incredibly impossible that it's just time to say "fuck it, why not?".
Saying not caring for explorers in ME:A is like saying "sod that Neil Armstrong guy, right? What's he ever done to be interesting?"

[magnuskn]

So you want to go back to where we were before in terms of power, get us all built up again only to have some new threat ruin us again.

How run of the mill, dull sci fi.
I mean, how boring must we be if all we can think of doing with what we have is "oh, let's just go back".
That's incredibly dull. I mean seriously after the reaper War what actually could feel like a threat except some bullshit Civil War?


And TBH having an exploration mission turn into a last ditch effort is completely fine. In the mindset of those going it was peacetime just before ME3. It was a perfect time to go. Humanity and the council races were stagnating again, they build up an awesome mission and went for it. I mean it's literally the ME-verse's version of the Moon Landing. Something so incredibly impossible that it's just time to say "fuck it, why not?".
Saying not caring for explorers in ME:A is like saying "sod that Neil Armstrong guy, right? What's he ever done to be interesting?"

Yeah, I got an emotional attachment to home. I don't care if you think that boring. And saying "what interesting could ever happen?" shows a dangerous lack of imagination.

The Milky Way had still lots of options on what could be done with it. We didn't need another galaxy for that. And also, the Andromeda expedition is either hundreds of thousands of naive fools wasting incredibly important resources for a galaxy which really would have needed them just one year later or an imperialistic mission right out of the colonisation age. The Roekar may be fanatics, but they are not exactly wrong, per se.

[Alienmorph]

How run of the mill, dull sci fi.

Uuuh... you do realize that ME:A is basically you going on another scavenger hunt in alien ruins, fighting robots and zaelots, with a command structure made of assholes waiting you at base to boss you?

That is LITERALLY like 80-90% of every space opera ever. As well as the bases of the very first ME game. It is ALREADY dull and repetitive, on many levels.

[Mazder]

Yeah, I got an emotional attachment to home. I don't care if you think that boring. And saying "what interesting could ever happen?" shows a dangerous lack of imagination.

The Milky Way had still lots of options on what could be done with it. We didn't need another galaxy for that. And also, the Andromeda expedition is either hundreds of thousands of naive fools wasting incredibly important resources for a galaxy which really would have needed them just one year later or an imperialistic mission right out of the colonisation age. The Roekar may be fanatics, but they are not exactly wrong, per se.

First off I said nothing about your damned emotional attachment so you can stop with the bleeding heart crap. Earth and the Milky Way are my home too, i'm just willing to let it go so something can actually happen and we don't end up killing it ourselves with stagnation.

Secondly, the Andromeda Initiative was created over, at least 5-6 years.the result of which takes place, yeah, a year before a war (that was kept mainly in secret form the general public and was only made known by the Ai by a few leaks waaaay too far into the project to turn back and revert the resources spent to help a potentially not even verified/announced war anyway) that most of the initiative didn't even know about, nor could even do anything about. They were exploring, that was their main goal. Most of this "fresh start" business is mainly because people knew this exploration was a one way trip so they thought on the mistakes/current system and how to improve on it. I mean, when moving house do you set it up exactly the same as your old one or do you tweak, change and refine?

Thirdly, yeah, there was conflict in a bad entry. If you see the problem areas of society creeping as it does from any society then TBH we may as well burn Earth now as that shit happens when people explore or not.
At least we're not the Kett.

And lastly what scenarios can you imagine to do in the Milky Way.
Half the Galaxy is in Council Space, the other half is basically the badlands. So if it's either "something found in the badlands" or "some political conflict, eg Krogan expansion scuffles" I'm going to say I've thought about it and gotten bored of it before Andromeda came out.

Uuuh... you do realize that ME:A is basically you going on another scavenger hunt in alien ruins, fighting robots and zaelots, with a command structure made of assholes waiting you at base to boss you?

That is LITERALLY like 80-90% of every space opera ever. As well as the bases of the very first ME game. It is ALREADY dull and repetitive, on many levels.

Yeah, and guess what I don't want ANOTHER of?
The exact same thing, but BACK in the Milky Way.
At least with Andromeda they moved and attempted to move the franchise on to a new place rather than stagnating.
Yeah they had to bring in old gameplay mechanics for familiarity, I can forgive that so long as it quells the "OMG THEY RUINED IT" club spewing their tripe.

[TTTX]

► Show Spoiler

You are talking about the Kett right?

Because the Quarians will most likely get a DLC handling them and the Benerfactor too so that doesn't leave much else outside the Jaardan (and they haven't been around for centuries so that's not really a concern at moment).

I don't considered that much a massive cliffhanger, since they aren't the Reapers (it will take longer for reinforcements to arrive) and well at the moment they are heavily weakened in the cluster and I imagine there be some sort of Epilogue DLC dealing with the rest of them and then there aren't that much left outside the scourge and Jaardan (but they are like the Protheans we don't know much and at the moment we don't need to know.)

► Show Spoiler

Well there was the whole plot point of the Arcon being a basically first wave/research team/initial force or Expeditionary force.
The thing at the end clearly shows that the subordinate is gonna go back and report all that happened to their superiors, wherever they are. And they're obviously going to return with a vengeance, maybe a Crussade?!

And, we simply don't know where the rest of the Kett are, we know barely anything except that they're much bigger than we know and have been here longer than we know.
All we don't know what makes the Scourge, how to fight it, how to even contain it. There is A LOT to deal with that to relegate it to DLC territory.

► Show Spoiler

yeah, but at the moment none of the races have the tech and numbers to go the war against the Kett empire and we don't know how far they are away as far as we know they can be centuries away, there is no mass relays here in Andromeda so travel takes longer.

as for the Scourge isn't an immediate threat at the moment it's been around for centuries, so it gives time to study and such in order figure that out.

Okay both of you stop before this shite gets out of hand.

Agree to disagree and move on.
Otherwise this is all just pointless drama.

we aren't arguing yet anyway.

For me, the Milky Way is home. Andromeda is a diversion which has really nothing to do with us. I want to see Earth rebuilt, new alliances, new rivalries, new enemies. I'm not interested at all what happens one galaxy away to a bunch of people who thought just fucking off on a completely unnecessary (to their best knowledge) hail mary mission was totally the best idea. Not even to mention the logistical impossibilities of that havinh happened between ME2 and ME3.

I get it, but even if they go back so to the Milky way there are a lot of issues to deal with endings and choices, it's a nightmare from a writing standpoint because no matter what they do people are going to be pissed, hell it's the main reason why ME:A is getting extra flag on top the other stuff (hell by sound of it people make ME:A sound like one of the worst games ever made).

Although I have to admit I don't give to shits about earth in the ME universe simply because we never really got see it and when we did it got blown up (similar to the whole Kid in ME3), even the writers knew that they had to leave Anderson behind on Earth in order to give most people a reason to care, because the story doesn't until the game are more less over.

[SciFlyBoy]

What is the point of the second set of class upgrades? Let me rephrase, I picked the "engineer" class but when I put points into combat I unlock soldier levels, points in both tech and combat I get infiltrator levels, so forth. What does that mean? Should I be doing anything with those?

[Vol]

What is the point of the second set of class upgrades? Let me rephrase, I picked the "engineer" class but when I put points into combat I unlock soldier levels, points in both tech and combat I get infiltrator levels, so forth. What does that mean? Should I be doing anything with those?

Instead of classes being locked, you can freely swap between them after you unlock them, for some bonus to certain stats/effects for that kind of playstyle.

So no, it's not really important unless you get sick of the Engineer setup and start putting points into Combat/Biotics, say, and want to get bonuses to those abilities, so you swap to Vanguard or something.

[magnuskn]

First off I said nothing about your damned emotional attachment so you can stop with the bleeding heart crap. Earth and the Milky Way are my home too, i'm just willing to let it go so something can actually happen and we don't end up killing it ourselves with stagnation.

Secondly, the Andromeda Initiative was created over, at least 5-6 years.the result of which takes place, yeah, a year before a war (that was kept mainly in secret form the general public and was only made known by the Ai by a few leaks waaaay too far into the project to turn back and revert the resources spent to help a potentially not even verified/announced war anyway) that most of the initiative didn't even know about, nor could even do anything about. They were exploring, that was their main goal. Most of this "fresh start" business is mainly because people knew this exploration was a one way trip so they thought on the mistakes/current system and how to improve on it. I mean, when moving house do you set it up exactly the same as your old one or do you tweak, change and refine?

Thirdly, yeah, there was conflict in a bad entry. If you see the problem areas of society creeping as it does from any society then TBH we may as well burn Earth now as that shit happens when people explore or not.
At least we're not the Kett.

And lastly what scenarios can you imagine to do in the Milky Way.
Half the Galaxy is in Council Space, the other half is basically the badlands. So if it's either "something found in the badlands" or "some political conflict, eg Krogan expansion scuffles" I'm going to say I've thought about it and gotten bored of it before Andromeda came out.

Yeah, and guess what I don't want ANOTHER of?
The exact same thing, but BACK in the Milky Way.
At least with Andromeda they moved and attempted to move the franchise on to a new place rather than stagnating.
Yeah they had to bring in old gameplay mechanics for familiarity, I can forgive that so long as it quells the "OMG THEY RUINED IT" club spewing their tripe.

Oh, okay. So, because they put a fresh paint job over the whole tired concept of "go fetch me twenty bear asses and also shoot those scary things out there" with the name "Andromeda" on it, instead of "Milky Way", you somehow think that the tired bullshit we got with this latest game counts as "innovation"? Please. The story was not even competently told and I'll take a well told story twenty times a day over something "innovative".

A Mass Effect game back in the Milky Way would have to deal with the Reaper fall-out first thing, anyway. Unless they put it a generation in the future and then new conflicts can arise. It doesn't have to be a galaxy threatening thing every time.

"Innovation" doesn't always mean "better".

[Vol]

1) Turian toes are good and noble, bring on more toes, dammit.
2) The new patch is pretty fucking good.
3) The Kotaku story is clickbait, notice how it's more weasel-words than, you know, investigation and facts. Game studios don't have the same staff right before a launch and right after, you shift people around during the time between projects, because you don't want to pay a salary for someone not working on something.
4) We're still getting the DLC, based on how content is staggered, it's probably well far along in the pipeline, no reason not to finish up at least whatever's been worked on so far.

[Alienmorph]

Yeah, and guess what I don't want ANOTHER of?
The exact same thing, but BACK in the Milky Way.
At least with Andromeda they moved and attempted to move the franchise on to a new place rather than stagnating.
Yeah they had to bring in old gameplay mechanics for familiarity, I can forgive that so long as it quells the "OMG THEY RUINED IT" club spewing their tripe.

A new place that looks almost exactly like the old one, except with fancier graphics, less memorable races and locations (hell less of both of those period), less higher stakes, and that every 2 quests stop on its tracks to reference the old games anyway.

The game has some good things going for, but for all intents and purposes is a safer and watered down version of the previous games anyway. The fact it's set in another galaxy plays so little in it that you could literally just rewrite it so that the Helius Cluster is just one of the many many maaaany unexplored regions of the Milky Way with no Mass Relays in it, and pretty much nothing would be lost in the grand scheme of things.

Such a fresh start indeed!

And yes, of course it's clickbait, I mean, it's a Kotaku article. But in this case it's clickbait that could have some truth behind it.

[TTTX]

Yeah, and guess what I don't want ANOTHER of?
The exact same thing, but BACK in the Milky Way.
At least with Andromeda they moved and attempted to move the franchise on to a new place rather than stagnating.
Yeah they had to bring in old gameplay mechanics for familiarity, I can forgive that so long as it quells the "OMG THEY RUINED IT" club spewing their tripe.

To be fair Mazder, there is nothing in ME:A that screams this could only take place in another galaxy, it could actually have taken place in the milky way since you know less then 1% of it is explored.

[Mazder]

Oh, okay. So, because they put a fresh paint job over the whole tired concept of "go fetch me twenty bear asses and also shoot those scary things out there" with the name "Andromeda" on it, instead of "Milky Way", you somehow think that the tired bullshit we got with this latest game counts as "innovation"? Please. The story was not even competently told and I'll take a well told story twenty times a day over something "innovative".

A Mass Effect game back in the Milky Way would have to deal with the Reaper fall-out first thing, anyway. Unless they put it a generation in the future and then new conflicts can arise. It doesn't have to be a galaxy threatening thing every time.

"Innovation" doesn't always mean "better".

It wouldn't matter what collection based mechanic they had involved, that's gameplay, that can be ironed out with literally any story.
What I call dull is the thing we all care about, story.

Okay, Reaper fall out. So that brings back the ME3 ending debacle...AGAIN. yeah let's bring the hate train back on that shitshow. That will never be a good idea.
A generation ahead can work, but it'd end up making everything else potentially different anyway, the only thing the same would be planets and locations with potentially a new coat of paint. How is that not a lazy version of redoing everything because it's a new Galaxy?
And even then there is no guarantee there would be a "need" to make anything different set in the same place no matter how "well told" the game might potentially be. We might get a total lemon no matter where we are set.

Yeah, a smaller story can work. But would it feel like a threat or exciting. How much of it would depend on "meh it doesn't matter, Milky Way's still here"?

"Familiar" doesn't also mean "good" either. A lot of the time it can easily get stagnant.

1) Turian toes are good and noble, bring on more toes, dammit.
2) The new patch is pretty fucking good.
3) The Kotaku story is clickbait, notice how it's more weasel-words than, you know, investigation and facts. Game studios don't have the same staff right before a launch and right after, you shift people around during the time between projects, because you don't want to pay a salary for someone not working on something.
4) We're still getting the DLC, based on how content is staggered, it's probably well far along in the pipeline, no reason not to finish up at least whatever's been worked on so far.

Yes, more alien anatomy, good.

And TBH I've yet to touch MP even with pubbies. Not sure I am even going to touch it TBH as right now without a 4-person team it feels like the game'd be lacking somewhat.
Or maybe I'm just used to a 3 person team minimum with my gaming lately.

A new place that looks almost exactly like the old one, except with fancier graphics, less memorable races and locations (hell less of both of those period), less higher stakes, and that every 2 quests stop on its tracks to reference the old games anyway.

The game has some good things going for, but for all intents and purposes is a safer and watered down version of the previous games anyway. The fact it's set in another galaxy plays so little in it that you could literally just rewrite it so that the Helius Cluster is just one of the many many maaaany unexplored regions of the Milky Way with no Mass Relays in it, and pretty much nothing would be lost in the grand scheme of things.

Such a fresh start indeed!

Yeah because a planet would look like a planet. Take a big enough step back it all looks like, how did Drak say it? A bunch of floating rocks?

Less memorable races. Considering most of the races in ME:A are the same ones we've always had, and some of the ones which are most common in the rest of the games, that argument isn't really a strong suit. 2 new races were added. Angara and Kett. One suffers from Antagonist syndrome, yeah I'd admit that. But if you feel the Angara are less memorable simply for being new then nothing introduced in the Milky Way would have had an impact either.

Less higher stakes than a Galactic War.
Again I say, where would you even go after that?
You want to solve that question whilst staying put in the same Galaxy. At least this story added a new thing to try. Something pretty impossible in of itself. Isn't that a cool thing to try? Exploring something on a MASSIVE scale, not just in space and area but in CONCEPT?
It's like us saying "fuck it, let's pack our shit and go to Alpha Centauri right now!
How is that a dull idea?
Yeah it's execution wasn't great, but it's better than sitting around licking our wounds until something finds us as we would have done in the Milky Way.

TBH if we had this game and it was "just another part of the Milky Way" it would have been even more boring to most of us here. The thing that carries it is the core concept of moving to another Galaxy. It's the thing that actually gives the game, and the universe as a whole, any bloody life. Otherwise the story didn't matter, the setting didn't matter, the game doesn't matter and the franchise may as well have died on ME3.

So, yeah that's a pretty decent reason to feel that ME:A was a bigger step than is seen.

[SciFlyBoy]

Instead of classes being locked, you can freely swap between them after you unlock them, for some bonus to certain stats/effects for that kind of playstyle.

So no, it's not really important unless you get sick of the Engineer setup and start putting points into Combat/Biotics, say, and want to get bonuses to those abilities, so you swap to Vanguard or something.

Do you actually pick the classes that open up? I have engineer, soldier and infiltrator unlocked. Or does unlocking them and their levels just simply give you more bonuses to the skills you've already chosen?

[TTTX]

Oh, okay. So, because they put a fresh paint job over the whole tired concept of "go fetch me twenty bear asses and also shoot those scary things out there" with the name "Andromeda" on it, instead of "Milky Way", you somehow think that the tired bullshit we got with this latest game counts as "innovation"? Please. The story was not even competently told and I'll take a well told story twenty times a day over something "innovative".

A Mass Effect game back in the Milky Way would have to deal with the Reaper fall-out first thing, anyway. Unless they put it a generation in the future and then new conflicts can arise. It doesn't have to be a galaxy threatening thing every time.

"Innovation" doesn't always mean "better".

there is just that really big problem that BW won't undo the ME3 endings and that makes in future game in the milky way pretty much impossible.

[Vol]

Do you actually pick the classes that open up? I have engineer, soldier and infiltrator unlocked. Or does unlocking them and their levels just simply give you more bonuses to the skills you've already chosen?

Kinda. You unlock them by putting enough points in the different trees, but it's super low. You should have them all if equally distribute for a few levels. Then you get levels _in_ the class by more points in the right trees.

[magnuskn]

To each his own. I would happily deal with the fallout from ME3 if it gets me back to a region I actually care about. "Stagnation" is really not my concern, a well told story is. If BioWare can do that (and I am highly doubtful about that after now three games in a row since ME3 where they failed to wow me), then it would make me quite happy.

Look, this is all theoretical, anyway. BioWare has fully caught the open world virus and as such creates giant play worlds with seemingly endless fetch quests. This design decision alone has alienated me more than anything, because even if the story were better than it is, I'd have to wade through all that dross to get to it. Which I hate doing with a burning passion. So, even with a better story I probably would not play the new game more than twice (and that's a stretch). I think the only open world game which still has me itching for a third go is The Witcher 3.

[magnuskn]

there is just that really big problem that BW won't undo the ME3 endings and that makes in future game in the milky way pretty much impossible.

As I said, who knows what the future will bring in that regard? If they get rid of Hack Walters, about the last hold-out who has a vested interest in not undoing the ME3 endings will be gone. So, I have hopes for a hiatus.

[TTTX]

So, yeah that's a pretty decent reason to feel that ME:A was a bigger step than is seen.

I think one of the bigger problems with ME:A is it treads to familiar waters.

The Kett are more or less the Reapers with some minor differences here and there.

The Jaardan are basically Prothean stand ins.

Some of the story elements are more or less what we have seen in the old trilogy again with minor changes here and there.

the Cluster planets feels a rather dead lore wise aside from hub worlds we can fly to felt a bit bare at times since most of them have not much history to them (new galaxy and all that)

at the same time the game also reference the previous games pretty often and for older fans does remind us games that more less were sureprior on the lore front.

I like ME:A (I have played through the game 3 times), but I did feel at times where the game was lacking and didn't really commit to try and be it's own thing.

[Alienmorph]

Yeah because a planet would look like a planet. Take a big enough step back it all looks like, how did Drak say it? A bunch of floating rocks?

Less memorable races. Considering most of the races in ME:A are the same ones we've always had, and some of the ones which are most common in the rest of the games, that argument isn't really a strong suit. 2 new races were added. Angara and Kett. One suffers from Antagonist syndrome, yeah I'd admit that. But if you feel the Angara are less memorable simply for being new then nothing introduced in the Milky Way would have had an impact either.

Less higher stakes than a Galactic War.
Again I say, where would you even go after that?
You want to solve that question whilst staying put in the same Galaxy. At least this story added a new thing to try. Something pretty impossible in of itself. Isn't that a cool thing to try? Exploring something on a MASSIVE scale, not just in space and area but in CONCEPT?
It's like us saying "fuck it, let's pack our shit and go to Alpha Centauri right now!
How is that a dull idea?
Yeah it's execution wasn't great, but it's better than sitting around licking our wounds until something finds us as we would have done in the Milky Way.

TBH if we had this game and it was "just another part of the Milky Way" it would have been even more boring to most of us here. The thing that carries it is the core concept of moving to another Galaxy. It's the thing that actually gives the game, and the universe as a whole, any bloody life. Otherwise the story didn't matter, the setting didn't matter, the game doesn't matter and the franchise may as well have died on ME3.

So, yeah that's a pretty decent reason to feel that ME:A was a bigger step than is seen.

No, because you go to another guddamn galaxy and you STILL get just a desert planet, a jungle planet, a volcanic planet and an icy planet. All of which mostly have the same general appearance of an Earth or at least Milky Way (by ME standards) world. How about for example doing something to make these new worlds y'know... more alien? Like having blue grass and giant mushroom-trees for example, instead of just doing Nevada: IN SPAAAAAACE!

Other games seems perfectly capable of doing that...

And no, not higher stakes than a Galactic War, higher stakes for the main character and the crew. There is no Suicide Mission, there is no Virmire... fuck I thought there could be at least one scenario where you had to sacrifice Ryder's sibling. If there is no legitimate risk of losing anyone involved and/or straight up walking into a critical failure scenario the game becomes more just a "choose your own dialogue" adventure and less of a proper RPG where you actually give a shit about what's going on.

And for the one million time... no, I do NOT want a direct follow-up to ME3 that is about the rebuilding of the galaxy. But setting a smaller but well told story in a universe that is recovering from a catastrophic war and is changing completely feel more interesting to me than going on another treasure hunt on another load of generic "alien-but-not-so-much" planets and meeting a new race that looks and act so much like every other in the series previously that they might as well be in it all along.

Give me a crew like the one of the Tempest, have them starting an adventure to go after something that matters deeply to THEM and is not another "behold! The new savior of all civilization!" story, and where is possible to fuck things up and having to pay a price if you do, so that I give more of a shit about them. It's not a matter of bringing back Shepard, is not a matter of continuing where ME3 left and it's not even a matter of being mind-blowingly original. But I feel instead like every time we eventually hit this wall where you or Theo just pretend that the problem is that who doesn't like Andromeda just wanted a ME4 with Shepard and the rest of the gang, and stop listening.

[Someone With Mass]

To be honest, I'm having the most fun when me and my crew are just having great moments together rather than trying to save people from some asshole that wants to control the galaxy, destroy everything I like or whatever. I've also experienced the "hyper-advanced civilization that's mysteriously vanished and creates an arms race for all the major players" trope to the point where I honestly don't want to anymore. It bores me.

Shit, driving around in the Nomad and listening to the banter alone was more entertaining than anything the kett could offer. Then again, the kett feel like a hackjob with the lowest of efforts put into them.

[Alienmorph]

Yeah. Almost want to say they should do something ala Farscape or ala Guardians of the Galaxy, but in the ME universe where the focus is all on a fun and interestin a crew of misfits that almost accidentally ends up saving life while dealing with their own issues. Would be better than more "you must find the ancient alien artifact of Halleluja" or more "You're the *instert cool and important-sounding character name* here! Everything depends on you! You must be our saviour" shtick. I wouldn't even really care if it's set in Andromeda or the Milky Way, as long as we can get some more setting variety and we can put to rest those 2-3 main tropes the series really don't seem to be able to shrug off.

And no more AIs either. Ffs.

[magnuskn]

While of course the universe itself was very interesting, your own ragtag band of misfits is what made all BioWare games. The lack of quality in that regard of the last few games is another big factor why they are not as good as they used to.

[Alienmorph]

The squad Ryder has in ME:A is easily one of the best parts of the game (with the exception of Liam, of course), they're both relatively familiar and with some fun/interesting interaction between them. If had something like them, but in a story that isn't just "Let's redo another Mass Effect 1, except less interesting!" and with less poorly written dialogues here and there I'd be already much more happy.

[Raga]

That news makes me nervous for several reasons.

1) Bioware Montreal going back to support mode means all core singleplayer RPG development is now returned to Bioware Edmonton, which has 2 teams.

2) One of those teams isn't working on an RPG but some newfangled "live verse" multiplayer crap I couldn't care less about. If this game is successful, you can bet EA will push it hard and most of the Bioware devs will be on ship because I think most of their writers have got so full of their own shit that they want a captive audience to cram their own stories into instead of an audience that insists on a collaboration storytelling process. (That is they want to make "cinematic story-based games" and not RPGs).

3)This means for all intents and purposes there is now only 1 Bioware team working on singleplayer RPGs and that is the DA team. And given how lukewarm people were about DAI and that whatever that team produces will be compared to the Witcher 3 and lampooned unless it is borderline perfect, it is *very* easy for them to be set up for a fall as well.

This is not a good place to be in if you want singleplayer RPGs from Bioware and that is literally all I want form them. I don't want interactive movies. I don't want mediocre multiplayer. I want RPGs. I would rather have 7.5-8.5 scored RPGs from them than no RPGs because even their offal is more enjoyable than 95% of other games out there. My least favorite game of theirs (ME1), I have still played innumerable times.

[TheodoricFriede]

I just think it sucks that Mass Effect is essentially dead because people were bitching about Bioware animations that are in every Bioware game.

[Alienmorph]

I just think it sucks that Mass Effect is essentially dead because people were bitching about Bioware animations that are in every Bioware game.

If that was the only reason, I'd agree 100%.

[TheodoricFriede]

If that was the only reason, I'd agree 100%.

It was.

[SciFlyBoy]

Anyone use the option to wear their helmet except in conversations? I do, but since the patch I can't seem to equip it. Anyone else experience this?

[TTTX]

It was.

Nahh there are/were more issues then just Animation problems when ME:A first came out, like some storylines that aren't finished (not the quarian ark, but other storylines), bugs and so on.

It was obvious the game could have used at least few months more to polish some stuff.

[Mazder]

No, because you go to another guddamn galaxy and you STILL get just a desert planet, a jungle planet, a volcanic planet and an icy planet. All of which mostly have the same general appearance of an Earth or at least Milky Way (by ME standards) world. How about for example doing something to make these new worlds y'know... more alien? Like having blue grass and giant mushroom-trees for example, instead of just doing Nevada: IN SPAAAAAACE!

Other games seems perfectly capable of doing that...
[image snip]

Because it might not fit the style of Mass Effect.
Even with NEW things it has to fit the style.
Take the Marvel MCU for example.

When doing Thor they had a certain style they needed to hit BUT they also had to match it to Captain America, Iron Man, etc. If he had his fully comic appearance right out of the gate it would have honestly looked jarring next to the others, who were rather nitty gritty.

The same applies for Mass Effect. They can do new things but it has to at least match what has come before. They can introduce new things but it'd have to be slightly slower to fit the overal aesthetic of the franchise. Otherwise it might look out of place.
But they did do some interesting terrain features and new movement concepts and there were probably some small things that were new.

And no, not higher stakes than a Galactic War, higher stakes for the main character and the crew. There is no Suicide Mission, there is no Virmire... fuck I thought there could be at least one scenario where you had to sacrifice Ryder's sibling. If there is no legitimate risk of losing anyone involved and/or straight up walking into a critical failure scenario the game becomes more just a "choose your own dialogue" adventure and less of a proper RPG where you actually give a shit about what's going on.

So in order for any sort of risk there HAS to be a Virmire-like scenario? That's the level of drama you'd want?
Because I am honestly done with those types of stories because you know what I end up saying each and every time?
"Oh, here is out Virmire situation".
If it's reminding me of another game, especially one in the same franchise I have played before, it's not going to be as strong as the original, and it'd feel like another retread, something I thought we're trying to avoid.
Plus not every experience has to have this weird "perma-death" cloud over it. there are other types of danger other than death.

And for the one million time... no, I do NOT want a direct follow-up to ME3 that is about the rebuilding of the galaxy. But setting a smaller but well told story in a universe that is recovering from a catastrophic war and is changing completely feel more interesting to me than going on another treasure hunt on another load of generic "alien-but-not-so-much" planets and meeting a new race that looks and act so much like every other in the series previously that they might as well be in it all along.

And I am not saying just you.
But there has got to be a point that isn't contrived. Anything post Reaper War that close to still feel the effects of it will always have a "oh, well it's just here....because we said it is for....reasons..."
It'd just feel really weak to me.

Give me a crew like the one of the Tempest, have them starting an adventure to go after something that matters deeply to THEM and is not another "behold! The new savior of all civilization!" story, and where is possible to fuck things up and having to pay a price if you do, so that I give more of a shit about them. It's not a matter of bringing back Shepard, is not a matter of continuing where ME3 left and it's not even a matter of being mind-blowingly original. But I feel instead like every time we eventually hit this wall where you or Theo just pretend that the problem is that who doesn't like Andromeda just wanted a ME4 with Shepard and the rest of the gang, and stop listening.

No, my problem is that just because Andromeda wasn't flawless we're getting a wave of "Oh, well this totally badass concept and would be full of exploration tingles is right now thrown out the window and treated like dogshit because we found a few holes that are linked to ME3's endings".
It's just depressing that when Bioware tries with a new concept there is no support because it's "not the same as before" which just turns any ideas they want to have in the Milky way tainted a little with jealousy.

Then it turns to mild acceptance and once played it's then back to "well....maybe they shouldn't have bothered getting interested".
When TBH it should be less of a negative reaction to why they couldn't do massive changes and instead be somewhat supporting and be all "well maybe they could do X to improve upon it" instead of wishing them to not bother with it or just abandon an idea because it wasn't as strong. Especially when I have yet to see a strong alternative or contender for otherwise.

I'd be all for a more personal/closed nit story but the universe Bioware has developed isn't populated enough, or isn't shown as populated enough to make it work IMO.
Because, yeah, something small might be okay, but we've always had grand stories with things that truly matter, we've never had personal, and I mean deeply personal stories. Everything before has been to move the Grand Plot along.

Once I see an alternative that isn't just saying "fuck Andromeda because it sucked they should have done THIS instead!!!" and actually just provides a good story, no matter the setting time or Galaxy then I'd freely say we should try it at some point. But right now let's focus on fixing what we've got.

[TTTX]

Because it might not fit the style of Mass Effect.
Even with NEW things it has to fit the style.
Take the Marvel MCU for example.

When doing Thor they had a certain style they needed to hit BUT they also had to match it to Captain America, Iron Man, etc. If he had his fully comic appearance right out of the gate it would have honestly looked jarring next to the others, who were rather nitty gritty.

The same applies for Mass Effect. They can do new things but it has to at least match what has come before. They can introduce new things but it'd have to be slightly slower to fit the overal aesthetic of the franchise. Otherwise it might look out of place.
But they did do some interesting terrain features and new movement concepts and there were probably some small things that were new.

Well that's the problem with ME when it comes to style of the races, because while most of the races have the common traits of having a human like body and so on, there are also races that doesn't share those traits (but they are most likely just a bitch to animate).

However when it comes to the Angara and Kett I feel their designs are a bit lazy.
I mean it's pretty obvious the Angara are basically rip off of Star Wars Twi'leks.
and the Kett do have the genetics of at a 1000 species and they basically look humans with bones on the skin even if we accept the whole gentic side of things, they should look more then just basically humans with bones coming out of their skin. The race basically had the backstory and ME science to explain if they looked more alien then what we are use to and BW basically made the most generic race possible.

I'd be all for a more personal/closed nit story but the universe Bioware has developed isn't populated enough, or isn't shown as populated enough to make it work IMO.
Because, yeah, something small might be okay, but we've always had grand stories with things that truly matter, we've never had personal, and I mean deeply personal stories. Everything before has been to move the Grand Plot along.

Not in Andromeda (yet anyway, give it a couple of hundred of years), back in the Milky way BW could have told a more personal story but you know ME3 more or less put a stop for that.

[Mazder]

Well that's the problem with ME when it comes to style of the races, because while most of the races have the common traits of having a human like body and so on, there are also races that doesn't share those traits (but they are most likely just a bitch to animate).

However when it comes to the Angara and Kett I feel their designs are a bit lazy.
I mean it's pretty obvious the Angara are basically rip off of Star Wars Twi'leks.
and the Kett do have the genetics of at a 1000 species and they basically look humans with bones on the skin even if we accept the whole gentic side of things, they should look more then just basically humans with bones coming out of their skin. The race basically had the backstory and ME science to explain if they looked more alien then what we are use to and BW basically made the most generic race possible.

So basically your problem is that ME is too ME-looking. Well then play something else if you want big flashy aliens of many different types that have no characterization and are just complex for the sake of it.

The Angara re not Twi'leks at all. Their head things aren't Lekku as they're attached and even then just because they're bipedal doesn't mean they're "the same".

They do not look like humans with bones for skin.
Yeah they look like amalgamated bipeds because they're a petri-dish of everything absorbed. They don't look "just human" but share some traits with humans because we're pretty basic bipeds.

Not in Andromeda (yet anyway, give it a couple of hundred of years), back in the Milky way BW could have told a more personal story but you know ME3 more or less put a stop for that.

Trouble with that is WE, the paying audience, didn't get a break big enough to have a smaller scale story set like that feel right. We'd have needed at least one game in between. Or one solid story in between. Andromeda might be that (if it's all contained within DLC's) and if it is then fine.

[Vol]

*snip*

This is not a good place to be in if you want singleplayer RPGs from Bioware and that is literally all I want form them. I don't want interactive movies. I don't want mediocre multiplayer. I want RPGs. I would rather have 7.5-8.5 scored RPGs from them than no RPGs because even their offal is more enjoyable than 95% of other games out there. My least favorite game of theirs (ME1), I have still played innumerable times.

Exactly this.

I can deal with less than sterling games, stupid political preaching, jankiness that needs patches. I'd rather deal with that, and have Mass Effect and Dragon Age, than not.

[magnuskn]

I can deal with less than sterling games, stupid political preaching, jankiness that needs patches. I'd rather deal with that, and have Mass Effect and Dragon Age, than not.

I'll be honest, I just hate the direction BioWare has taken their franchises over the last years. Not in terms of story (well, for Andromeda I certainly do, but DA:I was mostly fine), but that in their quest to be the most LGBT-friendly, mainstream RPG publisher they have defanged their stories and their characters. Yes, half of the Andromeda crew was fine and there were good characters in some of the other places. But they felt like retreads and "play it safe!" characters. As did the storylines of the last few games they've published. With all of its rough edges, at least DA2 had some really heavy moments in it and ME3 also had many good parts until the ending. But after that, it seems to me that they decided to go the ultra-safe route and it translated into these ho-hum stories and mostly mediocre characters. Well, except Sera, who is terrible in every respect, which I'll never get tired of saying.

If we could get back the BioWare of around ME2 and DA:O, that would be nice and dandy. Also, less of those gigantic open worlds with not enough story content but endless fetch quests, please. More directed storytelling, like we had before. I'd rather take any day of the week a 50-60 hours game full of story than a bloated leviathan of 90-100 hours, where those added 40 hours consists of scanning things and driving around in circles.