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Mass Effect: Andromeda - Game Informer Details (Combat, story, more) [Up: All Info]

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There are plenty of good things they can take from DA:I. And they seem to address the main problems people had with DA: I as well.

So it is confirmed that we won't see pointlessly huge environments with tons of even more pointless collectables in them?

Also did they say that the game won't have tons of filler fetch quests?
 
Sounds good, and the whole implications of a self contained story set up alleviate my worries of another ME3 fuck up where they promise more lasting consequences and long term player agency then they can deliver.

Also I really hope there's a romanceable lady Turian this time. Garrus was my favourite FemShep paramour in the original trilogy, getting some more Turian love from the other side of the gender scale would be a nice bonus for long time fans, especially in light of how bloody long it took them to even create a single female Turian in the first place.
 

FStop7

Banned
I'm a little skeptical about BioWare being good enough at combat to do away with pausing.

Mass Effect petting.

http://66.media.tumblr.com/97751109935653d09827c9c6ba8ff088/tumblr_np8x107Lkl1qzp9weo3_500.gif[IMG][/QUOTE]

I'd pet an Elcor.
 

Tovarisc

Member
If all goes right then it means we can be an asshole while still being a good guy, which is really nice. I really hate the binary nature of most games' morality systems.

Witcher games are still best when it comes to dealing with morality, choices and impact they have, imo. You can be asshole if you want or need, you can be good guy in next moment etc.
 
You're definitely not the only one. They can say that they learned their lessons but honestly, I'll believe it when I see it.

Yeah, exactly. After DA:I I just can't believe in what they say anymore. Especially right now that the info even makes the game sound more like DA:I.
 

EatChildren

Currently polling second in Australia's federal election (first in the Gold Coast), this feral may one day be your Bogan King.
I'm a little skeptical about BioWare being good enough at combat to do away with pausing.

If it's a tighter variation of Mass Effect 3's combat it should be fine. Pausing was obviously absent from the multiplayer, yet despite its clumsiness it felt really, really good to play.
 

Garlador

Member
Yeah, exactly. After DA:I I just can't believe in what they say anymore. Especially right now that the info even makes the game sound more like DA:I.

Dragon Age: Inquisition stands as the only RPG made in the Frostbite engine. While BioWare's Mass Effect team is taking cues from the openness of environments, they're also looking at Inquisition's quests -- both what worked and what didn't.

"We learned that there were some quests in Dragon Age that didn’t resonate and were kind of flat – fetch quests and stuff,” says Flynn. “The nice thing is, you take those lessons, you package them all up, and you talk to the Mass Effect team and say, ‘These are the things you should do, these are the things you shouldn’t do.’ And the Mass Effect team get the pencils out and they build all that into it.”

Believe what you will. They say they listened to the feedback.
 
I trust 100% Bioware but I'm going to miss the pausing effect during combat sequences, it allowed for very cool and clutch moments during the many times I've played the trilogy !
 
Well, honestly it seems they're hitting all the right notes. From the info it looks like a significant improvement in graphics, combat, exploration, characters, morality system etc. if the length is right and the story interesting we might have a real winner.
 

Tovarisc

Member
I will never understand why people felt they needed to be able to see two seconds of Shepard breathing in order to have completed the game.

To be fair when that shit surfaced all we knew was that MP had direct impact on SP ending(s) available to you. We didn't know that endings were RGB coded level pulls with very little meaning. It was clearly designed as way to force SP people to dip into MP.
 
Best buy has the 2 versions of the collector edition with the mako & steelbook case (no game of course) up for preorder. GCU 20% does not work on it since there is no game presumably.
 
How do you explore the Andromeda galaxy without Mass Relays? Kind of a nit-pick, but it was one of the major technologies in the previous games. Reaper technology guided the development of every species. It was kind of fundamental to the lore of the game. None of the council species had managed to crack the technology behind the Mass Relay. The Programs, who were much more advanced than the council species, had only barely managed to make a one way mini-Mass Relay.
 

Garlador

Member
How do you explore the Andromeda galaxy without Mass Relays? Kind of a nit-pick, but it was one of the major technologies in the previous games. Reaper technology guided the development of every species. It was kind of fundamental to the game.

We don't know yet.

If only there was a special day to talk about it or something. Like a Mass Effect day.
 
If it's a tighter variation of Mass Effect 3's combat it should be fine. Pausing was obviously absent from the multiplayer, yet despite its clumsiness it felt really, really good to play.

Ehhhh... in ME3 multi you had a limited ability set and only had to worry about yourself. I can't imagine trying to queue up squad orders and movements without pausing, or playing a class like the Engineer where you've got a lot of plates in the air. I still hope there's a miscommunication somewhere.

Why this needs to be a thing at all?

So that I get even more out of my time with it. Gonna be ULTRA HYPE.

How do you explore the Andromeda galaxy without Mass Relays? Kind of a nit-pick, but it was one of the major technologies in the previous games. Reaper technology guided the development of every species. It was kind of fundamental to the lore of the game.

You're not exploring all of Andromeda in this one, just one (large) star cluster. Easily manageable distances.

We don't know yet.

If only there was a special day to talk about it or something. Like a Mass Effect day.

They did tell us tho
 

Rellik

Member
If it's a tighter variation of Mass Effect 3's combat it should be fine. Pausing was obviously absent from the multiplayer, yet despite its clumsiness it felt really, really good to play.

True, but you also had a lot less skills on tab to play with in MP because of it.

I hated the multiplayer section of ME3. It's the worst part. The fact that it played into the Single Player ruined ME3 for me.

Everything but a single trophy/achievement could be done in SP. Even the Shepard lives ending could be done with help of the phone app.

But the MP itself was fantastic. I avoided it up until a few weeks back and I realised I had been missing out on something amazing.
 

Phamit

Member
How do you explore the Andromeda galaxy without Mass Relays? Kind of a nit-pick, but it was one of the major technologies in the previous games. Reaper technology guided the development of every species. It was kind of fundamental to the lore of the game.

The Game takes place in a certain cluster within the Andromeda galaxy, also ships have FTL drives.

Okay, how we travel between solar systems in MEA? I have missed this info too.

Edit: Or nvm... didn't we travel between clusters via relays and then just fly between systems in ME3?

Jup, you only needed The relays for fast travel between Clusters, you fly with ftl between systems
 
Yeah, I read that in the OP, but they had kind of marketed it as exploring the Andromeda Galaxy so I wasn't sure what they were doing with it.

I mean, you are exploring the Andromeda Galaxy, lol. Just not all at once.

Okay, how we travel between solar systems in MEA? I have missed this info too.

Edit: Or nvm... didn't we travel between clusters via relays and then just fly between systems in ME3?

Yup. Like that, but bigger, and not overhead.
 

TLS Lex

Member
Loving pretty much all of this information. Really looking forward to seeing how the multiplayer pans out, because it was a pleasant surprise with ME3. Also love the info re: squadmates and dialogue.

There seems to be confusion about the characters' names though, can we change Ryder's first name or not? The fact that this infodump lists three first names says no to me, but others seem to be sure the first name is set by the player. Not sure where the latter is coming from.
 
Loving pretty much all of this information. Really looking forward to seeing how the multiplayer pans out, because it was a pleasant surprise with ME3. Also love the info re: squadmates and dialogue.

There seems to be confusion about the characters' names though, can we change Ryder's first name or not? The fact that this infodump lists three first names says no to me, but others seem to be sure the first name is set by the player. Not sure where the latter is coming from.
One of the BioWare guys (Mike Gamble, I think) confirmed you can change the first names. The names listed in the OP are the default names, much like John and Jane for Shepard.
 

Tovarisc

Member
Jup, you only needed The relays for fast travel between Clusters, you fly with ftl between systems

Yup. Like that, but bigger, and not overhead.

I wonder if you can manipulate power of The Tempest's engines by installing game either on SSD or HDD :b I kinda wish there was somekind space travel simulated as loading screen while being allowed to move around in the ship during it. Instantly popping next to the planet in 5 solar systems over would feel... odd.
 

SDBurton

World's #1 Cosmonaut Enthusiast
Relationships/Characters
-There are more relationships in the game than any other Bioware game (as they noted fans make a big emphasis on romance in the games)
-The squadmate with the least amount of lines in Andromeda has more lines than the squadmate with the most amount of lines in ME3
-Due to complications in the awakening process, your sibling won't join you in combat but you can interact with them and build a relationship
-Many of these dealings are optional, and discovering more about the Ryder family is a plot thread
-BioWare is confident the details of this story are what differentiates it from a traditional "hero's journey"
-Loyalty missions return but they are not critical to the ending of the game; you can complete them after you complete the main story path for example
-Emphasis that relationships don't just culminate in a sex scene, but rather characters can just want to get in the sack, while others are interested in long term relationships and others still aren't interested at all. Bioware wanted to capture more "shooting bottles with Garrus" moments in the game, of which there are plenty

Just what I wanted to hear. If my FemRyder can have more than two options in wooing another lady I'll be stoked.
 
Believe what you will. They say they listened to the feedback.

They literally say that with every game (before and after release)
BioWare Community Manager Chris Priestly reiterated that idea, promising that they’ll respond to the feedback soon, beginning a forum thread which now sits with over 150 pages.

"We appreciate everyone’s feedback about Mass Effect 3 and want you to know that we are listening."
At the same time, Laidlaw says that Bioware are listening carefully to fan feedback to Dragon Age 2.

I'm sure you can find many other similar promises in regards to other Bioware titles. It's not that I don't believe that they are listening it's more that I don't trust them to get the right massage from the feedback that they are receiving.

Like even in what you've posted there are no mentions of needlessly huge environments or the pointless collectables.
 
So each planet not being a "linear slice" implies that each planet is an open-ended "zone" much like DA:I (and I suppose ME1)?

I'm fine with that as it's obviously unrealistic to have you roam around an entire planet but I hope these planets are far more numerous and varied with less overall "tasks" on each to keep the sense of space.

I really like everything I'm reading about the combat.

And hopefully Mac Walters learned to write better over the past 5 years.
 

Tovarisc

Member
How many planets there will be and how extensive they will be? I'm afraid they will go to extreme. Either overdesign planets so there is very few or copypasta a lot so there is plenty.
 
lurNoVy.png


This seems a little passive aggressive? lol. It's kinda like "I'm joking but not really".
 

Garlador

Member
They literally say that with every game (before and after release)

I'm sure you can find many other similar promises in regards to other Bioware titles. It's not that I don't believe that they are listening it's more that I don't trust them to get the right massage from the feedback that they are receiving.

Like even in what you've posted there are no mentions of needlessly huge environments or the pointless collectables.

They over-responded, but you can't say they LIED and didn't listen to the feedback. DA:I is clearly a response to the criticisms of DA2, regardless of its own unique faults.
 
True, but you also had a lot less skills on tab to play with in MP because of it.



Everything but a single trophy/achievement could be done in SP. Even the Shepard lives ending could be done with help of the phone app.

But the MP itself was fantastic. I avoided it up until a few weeks back and I realised I had been missing out on something amazing.

Wait. It's still active?
 

barybll

Banned
They over-responded, but you can't say they LIED and didn't listen to the feedback. DA:I is clearly a response to the criticisms of DA2, regardless of its own unique faults.

DA:I was also heavy handed as fuck.
It felt a singleplayer mmo all the way through.
Reminded me of Kingdoms of Amalur
 

Garlador

Member
DA:I was also heavy handed as fuck.
It felt a singleplayer mmo all the way through.
Reminded me of Kingdoms of Amalur

It's problematic, don't get me wrong, but it's also the polar-opposite of the bare, limited, street and dungeon-driven design of DA2 that felt cramped, shallow, and restrictive.

DA:I is big and vast... and empty. Again, don't get me wrong, it's got problems, but you can clearly see them making it with the mindset to avoid the trappings of DA2. They just stumbled into new ones when making the shift.
 

BigTnaples

Todd Howard's Secret GAF Account
Shockingly, you can still find games on both Xbox and PC, even before it went up on BC.


Not too surprised.



The multiplayer in ME2-3 was an amazing surprise. And unlike other games like CoD, there has been no new iteration or remaster to replace it.
 
Having Major hubs again sounds fantastic.

My favorite part of KOTOR was how each planet you go to was basically its own large hub.

Mass Effect reduced that to pretty much just the Citadel and that smaller one on an ice planet. And Mass Effect 2+3 reduced the hubs even more; there may have been more, but they were pretty small and didn't give you much of a sense of exploration.
 
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