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[Slaythe]

Look likes you have to activate the trial by March 7th which means it would end two days before the MEA trial on the 16th.

The smart assholes !!!

 

[Enduin]

Has this been confirmed?

How does it work?
Your first 7 days are FREE if you sign up for Origin Access before March 7! After your trial ends you'll be charged monthly or yearly, depending on the plan you choose. Cancel anytime during your 7-day free trial and you won't be charged.

http://answers.ea.com/t5/Origin/Origin-Access-7-Day-Free-Trial/td-p/5882325

 

[KKRT00]

Q: How does MEA Insanity compare to ME2 Insanity?

Ian: Hard to compare them apples to apples. ME2 added layers of defense (shield, barriers, armor, etc.) to everybody, which made it brutally difficult to take enemies down. While I enjoyed the challenge of ME2 Insanity, I didn't like that Adepts got the shaft due to all those layers of defense.

With MEA, we decided to keep defenses static (i.e. If an enemy doesn't have shields on Normal, then he doesn't have them on Insanity either), but we increase enemy durability enough to require a well-made character (and ideally well-crafted weapons) to take them down quickly, we increase enemy damage enough to melt you very quickly when you're out of cover, we increase enemy reaction times and make them smarter about flanking and taking advantage of when you do something unwise (trying to use a hover attack when surrounded by entrenched foes, for instance), using more flushing attacks to force you out of cover, and so forth. We also scale the player's health and shield gates, so you've got very little slack if you screw up.

In general I find that if I want to get through insanity without a silly amount of deaths, it's best to:
- Optimize my build. Your skills, armor, weapons, and profile should all have strong synergies.
- Build in some flexibility. Whether with Favorites, Consumables, backup weapons, or some mix of the above, be prepared to deal with different sorts of threats than my "main" build is optimized for.
- Use my squad smartly. Choose their skill evolves in a way that complements yours and each other's. In battle, order them into strong positions which guard my flanks, and order them to directly attack a target when a good opportunity presents itself.
- Git gud

Source: http://bsn.boards.net/post/305838

But Mass Effect 2 was relatively easy on Insanity ;/ of course that in context of the hardest difficulty in RPG game. I had only one real problem in the game, but it was mostly due my bad setup for the mission (end battle in finding Legion mission)

 

[Tovarisc]

BTW, do we know if there is a way to fully turn the HUD off/on, and that such option can be assigned to a key (instead of having to enter the menu)? Not sure why that's not standard.

Some HUD elements can be toggle On / Off and some are contextual, fade out after little while when not needed. Didn't confirm if all elements can be turned Off or if there is hotkey for that. On PC you can work around that with Ansel if you have NV GPU.

 

[Sendero]

Thanks Enduin for the confirmation.

Didn't confirm if all elements can be turned Off or if there is hotkey for that. On PC you can work around that with Ansel if you have NV GPU.

Ah, missed the announcement that it would support Ansel at release. That's good then.

 

[Tovarisc]

https://twitter.com/tibermoon/status/834550938388021248
https://twitter.com/tibermoon/status/834552216765730816

 

[gbpackers25]

I'm trying my best to go in completely blind now. I was a huge fan of the original trilogy and I hope this holds up to that. Less than a month to go guys!

 

[Enduin]

They're going to have to pull some real wizard shit to make me think removing squad power control was a good move.

 

[BigTnaples]

Do we know or have any idea when the next video in this series releases?

 

[JMY86]

Do we know or have any idea when the next video in this series releases?

Friday 12pm EST is when the last one was released. I imagine the next will be the same.

 

[GavinUK86]

Gotta give props to the amount of questions Ian is answering on Twitter. Learning more from him than the videos so far.

 

[Ushay]

Q: How does MEA Insanity compare to ME2 Insanity?

Ian: Hard to compare them apples to apples. ME2 added layers of defense (shield, barriers, armor, etc.) to everybody, which made it brutally difficult to take enemies down. While I enjoyed the challenge of ME2 Insanity, I didn't like that Adepts got the shaft due to all those layers of defense.

With MEA, we decided to keep defenses static (i.e. If an enemy doesn't have shields on Normal, then he doesn't have them on Insanity either), but we increase enemy durability enough to require a well-made character (and ideally well-crafted weapons) to take them down quickly, we increase enemy damage enough to melt you very quickly when you're out of cover, we increase enemy reaction times and make them smarter about flanking and taking advantage of when you do something unwise (trying to use a hover attack when surrounded by entrenched foes, for instance), using more flushing attacks to force you out of cover, and so forth. We also scale the player's health and shield gates, so you've got very little slack if you screw up.

In general I find that if I want to get through insanity without a silly amount of deaths, it's best to:
- Optimize my build. Your skills, armor, weapons, and profile should all have strong synergies.
- Build in some flexibility. Whether with Favorites, Consumables, backup weapons, or some mix of the above, be prepared to deal with different sorts of threats than my "main" build is optimized for.
- Use my squad smartly. Choose their skill evolves in a way that complements yours and each other's. In battle, order them into strong positions which guard my flanks, and order them to directly attack a target when a good opportunity presents itself.
- Git gud

Source: http://bsn.boards.net/post/305838

Not sure how this will pan out. I can understand adding durability as opposed to more layers of defence for Insanity. But I still think AI and enemy ferocity are the best scalars for difficulty. Whatever the case, I'll be diving in on Insanity difficulty from the beginning!

 

[EatChildren]

Gotta give props to the amount of questions Ian is answering on Twitter. Learning more from him than the videos so far.

Yeah, it's great. We're definitely in the "time to talk about everything" phase. Thorough, regular gameplay trailers will be the media mainstay, devs opening up to questions in twitter, and hands-on press previews tomorrow.

 

[BigTnaples]

Yeah, it's great. We're definitely in the "time to talk about everything" phase. Thorough, regular gameplay trailers will be the media mainstay, devs opening up to questions in twitter, and hands-on press previews tomorrow.

Anyone mind doing a summary of what is being said?

 

[Lifejumper]

Yeah, it's great. We're definitely in the "time to talk about everything" phase. Thorough, regular gameplay trailers will be the media mainstay, devs opening up to questions in twitter, and hands-on press previews tomorrow.

Previews tommorow?

 

[A-V-B]

https://twitter.com/tibermoon/status/834550938388021248
https://twitter.com/tibermoon/status/834552216765730816

Well, it's cool he's willing to talk about it.

 

[Squire]

https://twitter.com/tibermoon/status/834550938388021248
https://twitter.com/tibermoon/status/834552216765730816

I'm very into making design changes to help the fluidity of the combat. Or rather, to give it any fluidity at all. Even at its height (ME3), Mass Effect is very rigid. Andromeda doesn't seem to have lost that entirely, but again... Diet Vanquish.

 

[EatChildren]

Anyone mind doing a summary of what is being said?

Not sure where to find one, but Tovarisc reposted this nice summary of recentish stuff.

Knight-enchanter on Tumblr went and compiled recent info out of dev twitter feeds. I noticed this thanks to Reddit thread: https://www.reddit.com/r/masseffect/comments/5upwqv/compilation_of_recent_tweets_from_mea_designers/

• “Narrative” is purely the lowest difficulty setting, not comparable to ME3′s action mode which removed dialogue choice in favor of pre-scripted cutscenes
• PC gamers are probably able to adjust their FOV
• Mechanically, power cells work like grenade ammo did in ME3
• We’ll see a mix of old, new, and revised powers. Pull, for instance, incorporates elements of Lift
• Generally speaking there are counterbalances built into the crafting system to prevent you making super OP weapons
• There’s aim assist, and you can disable it if you wish, on all platforms
• You can keep playing the game after finishing the main story - the majority of content including loyalty missions remains available
• Digital copies of the game will definitely have pre-load. Exact date currently uncertain but it will be close to launch
• We still need to strip away barriers and shields before the “fun” part of using biotics on enemies begins
• SMGs are still in the game, filed under the “pistols” category along with hand cannon pistols for the sake of simplicity
• If you want to you can keep leveling up til you max out every skill, but we’ll likely need to start NG+ at least once to pull that off (Ian later tweeted that it might be possible to do it in one run, but he doubts it, and added that you’ll likely need more than one run to pull it off ). You can do more than one NG+ with the same character
• More info to come on modding and crafting
• There’s definitely no first person view
• Drack was described as “grizzled” and someone who loves to blow things up
• Supposedly nobody knows how long krogan can live as they do not tend to die of old age
• vfx and colors for abilities are set, we don’t select those
• Dpad and left analogue stick both work when navigating through menus
• Cora and Drack are a fun combination in combat, especially if you spec him for fire priming and her for charges that detonate combos
• If I’m interpreting the tweets right, the meeting Drack scene was one of a cinematic designer’s favorite scenes to work on . Tom Taylorson commented that it was one of the easiest scenes to voiceact for (just ‘obvious’ how to perform due to the awesomeness of the writing)
• There’s no crouch button, you automatically crouch when you take cover against something low
• We can switch profiles in the field. They’ll be showing more about the Favorites feature in the next gameplay vid
• The game is SLi friendly (edit: I think this means SLi compatible, it’s a specs thing, see here/here)
• Jason Eldred (gameplay designer) is the person to thank for Ryder being able to hold and control Pulls. Apparently he’s done some really cool stuff with the powers
• In multiplayer there are only drops, not a crafting system like in DA:I. You can apply mods to weapons, but it is not crafting exactly
• When you start NG+, your level carries over, along with most of your non-narrative progression
• Some weapons and armor are only craftable for narrative reasons, but most drop as loot
• Squad commands will be covered in the next gameplay vid
• Adjectives which most describe Cora in Andromeda, per her writer: “ Professional, supportive, fearless.”
• Seems the game’s ESRB rating has been updated a bit. “Partial nudity” now reads just “nudity”
• In multiplayer you can reach max level and then start again from level 1 if you want. Q. “But will this promotion give u any benefits (like ME3MP N7 rating or DAIMP stats; maybe achievements)?” -> A. “No, we'd call this "resetting." We don't do promotions, but we have another mechanic that serves that role”
• You can’t really get stuck in cover as it is now not magnetic but all very fluid and smooth. To enter cover all you have to do is approach with your gun drawn - “Your body animation and an icon in the HUD help msg that you're in cover.”
• Peebee’s writer (who wrote the Sith Warrior storyline in SW:TOR) says that there are some similarities between Vette (SW companion) and Peebee but that Peebee is a very different character
• Peebee’s writer wrote another character in the game too
• You can swap camera shoulder whenever you want for optimal visibility
• Characters pop in and out of the Nomad as opposed to an exit/enter animation. There used to be such an animation in development but it was removed as they found it annoying
• Using the Nomad with 4 or 6 wheel changes the way it feels and handles, especially on steep inclines
• There’s an answer to why the N7 Piranha, a weapon that was designed for the Reaper War, appears in the game
• Q. “Through crafting, can you use resources to upgrade your gun to higher levels? ie level up a Mattock I to a Mattock IV?” -> A. “ Yes and no. You don't "upgrade" a gun from III to IV, per se, but you can outright craft a IV.”
• Ryder holds the foregrip of SMGs properly (in contrast to the original trilogy); the animation team did some extra magic for SMGs
• Q. “So what are the chances Cerberus will be in the ME:A timeline?” -> A. “Low.”
• Aaryn Flynn re-emphasized that there are relationships that do not culminate in sex
• High impact sniper rifles are definitely in the game
• Loot/crates in multiplayer is ME3-style. They say they’ve made improvements to the rng (for drop rates etc)
• Keep an eye on IGN for upcoming Andromeda coverage

Previews tommorow?

Yep.

9 AM eastern.

They got several hours of hands on.

*Everything* is up for discussion - missions they played, including side missions, gameplay, lore, all six squadmates, how the game begins (but not how Ryder becomes the Pathfinder).

 

[A-V-B]

You can keep playing the game after finishing the main story - the majority of content including loyalty missions remains available

Wow. Open world in principle. Unending gameplay milieu first, story second.

 

[Ridesh]

 

[Squire]

Wow. Open world in principle. Unending gameplay milieu first, story second.

Big judgement to make when you know very little about the narrative structure of the game, but I guess that's what happens when so many games come down to saving the planet/universe/reality itself and lead themselves down a dead end.

 

[Sou Da]

Wow. Open world in principle. Unending gameplay milieu first, story second.

Doesn't this just mean that the main plot is smaller scale then? Weird reaction.

 

[Enduin]

.

Really nice shots. Best one of Sara by far.

 

[A-V-B]

Big judgement to make when you know very little about the narrative structure of the game, but I guess that's what happens when so many games come down to saving the planet/universe/reality itself and lead themselves down a dead end.

It's not a judgement, not negatively. One of the main tenets of an open world game, in my experience, is that the game doesn't have an "ending point." The game exists for the sake of the game, and basically never ends. I guess this makes simulation games open world, too? To a certain extent?

But anyway, in other ME games when the main story ends, that's it. Story dictates the ending point. So it's a bit of a shift in design philosophy. I'm not criticizing it. Just wasn't expecting it.

 

[Crazy Diamond]

They should have shown this off way earlier. It looks great. The biotic pull looks like a blast to use. Not getting it day one anymore, but I know once I pick it up, I won't be putting it down for a very long time.

 

[Sou Da]

Really nice shots. Best one of Sara by far.

Also a nice look at the customized haircuts

 

[Squire]

It's not a judgement, not negatively. One of the main tenets of an open world game, in my experience, is that the game doesn't have an "ending point." The game exists for the sake of the game, and basically never ends. I guess this makes simulation games open world, too? To a certain extent?

But anyway, in other ME games when the main story ends, that's it. Story dictates the ending point. So it's a bit of a shift in design philosophy. I'm not criticizing it. Just wasn't expecting it.

Fair enough, but I think it's a stretch to say it indicates some change in design philosophy. You can write stories that don't have hard end states, so I don't see why the thinking needs to go beyond that. It ends the way it does because that's how it's been written.

 

[Slaythe]

Is that a CC ?

 

[Enduin]

Is that a CC ?

Nah, that's Dad Ryder.

 

[Slaythe]

Nah, that's Dad Ryder.

Wow. What if you make your CC black, does dad ryder change too :O ?

 

[A-V-B]

Fair enough, but I think it's a stretch to say it indicates some change in design philosophy. You can write stories that don't have hard end states, so I don't see why the thinking needs to go beyond that. It ends the way it does because that's how it's been written.

I'm not sure it's down to the writing. I'm guessing here they made this design decision WAY back, and wrote a lighter story to accompany it.

I mean, you usually don't write the whole story first in a video game. Trey Parker and Matt Stone talked about it. When they tried to write the story of South Park Stick of Truth first, it ended up being a problem. Basically the mechanical design of the game had to contort itself around the script.

I think people at Valve talked about this approach, too. That story develops organically based on what kind of game you want to make. (Which is also why the HL3 story is possibly lost forever because Laidlaw won't be around to develop it.)

 

[Enduin]

Wow. What if you make your CC black, does dad ryder change too :O ?

Yes, or at least in principle. They've confirmed that you can customize both Scott and Sara Ryder and both character's appearances will affect Alec Ryder's appearance, though whichever of the siblings you choose to play as will be the greater determining factor.

 

[Rellik]

Dpad and left analogue stick both work when navigating through menus

Thank God!!

I've been replaying DA:I lately and it still winds me up that i have to use the analogue stick.

 

[Slaythe]

Yes, or at least in principle. They've confirmed that you can customize both Scott and Sara Ryder and both character's appearances will affect Alec Ryder's appearance, though whichever of the siblings you choose to play as will be the greater determining factor.

Wait what ?

I actually have not kept up with this game at all because I like going blind and don't like watching too much trailers.

The male and female avatars both exist at the same time ?? And you can only play one ?

Can you make them different race or they have to be the same since they are siblings ?

Interesting.

On an unrelated note, melee is still in the game right ? I liked the sword attack in ME3 .

 

[Ridesh]

Wait what ?

I actually have not kept up with this game at all because I like going blind and don't like watching too much trailers.

The male and female avatars both exist at the same time ?? And you can only play one ?

Can you make them different race or they have to be the same since they are siblings ?

Interesting.

On an unrelated note, melee is still in the game right ? I liked the sword attack in ME3 .

Watch the video dude.

 

[amoebae]

Is that a CC ?

That's daddyRyder

 

[dEvAnGeL]

honestly speaking, i truly hope we get an optimized pc game, frostbite is actually "good" on pc but not everyone is DICE so yeah, still holding onto my 980Ti hoping it will give high and ultra settings for this game

 

[Sterling's_Gold]

Thank God!!

I've been replaying DA:I lately and it still winds me up that i have to use the analogue stick.

That was incredibly annoying in Inquisition.

Now I just hope that jump and interact are not the same button. Was awful in Inquisition as well (and FFXV).

 

[adj_noun]

The male and female avatars both exist at the same time ??

And you can only play one ?

Can you make them different race or

they have to be the same since they are siblings ?


On an unrelated note, melee is still in the game right ? .

Yes, yes, nah, yes, yes.

 

[fastmower]

Nice shots but the eyes are still not impressing me. Too bad as the eyes are the most important part of the face, IMO.

 

[Slaythe]

That was incredibly annoying in Inquisition.

Now I just hope that jump and interact are not the same button. Was awful in Inquisition as well (and FFXV).

It was intolerable in FFXV because the japanese version has it mapped on O...

They reversed controls in the NA / EU version and the game shipped with this god awful jump confirm button.

Nier kept O as confirm button so the issue doesn't exist.

Yes, yes, nah, yes, yes.

Awesome !

Nice shots but the eyes are still not impressing me. Too bad as the eyes are the most important part of the face, IMO.

Well they have some of the worst looking character "models" in terms of rendering, but I think in terms of style, they're decent.

I see it like a cartoony kind of thing more than a realistic approach.

Stuff like that is Star Wars Rebels kind of design .

 

[daftstar]

Who is this?

 

[X-Frame]

Who is this?

First instinct was a MP character.

 

[Slaythe]

Who is this?

Obviously Kai Leng !

 

[amoebae]

honestly speaking, i truly hope we get an optimized pc game, frostbite is actually "good" on pc but not everyone is DICE so yeah, still holding onto my 980Ti hoping it will give high and ultra settings for this game

I still have a 980Ti as well, and I'm not overly worried. That said, if the rumoured 1080Ti looks especially must-have I might be tempted...

 

[daftstar]

First instinct was a MP character.

Yeah most likely. It's strange though I don't remember ME3 MP humans without helmets. Could be a new feature I guess?

Obviously Kai Leng !

Not gonna lie I considered that for a second lol

 

[Sterling's_Gold]

Obviously Kai Leng !

What type of cereal would one find on an ice planet?

Bioware did promise that side quests would be meaningful

 

[mosdl]

Who is this?

I assume the game has temporary companions who fight along your main crew, could be that.

 

[BigTnaples]

Holy shit. Where are these screens coming from?

 

[Tertullian]

https://twitter.com/tibermoon/status/834550938388021248
https://twitter.com/tibermoon/status/834552216765730816

Damn.

I could be okay with removing the ability to micromanage squadmate power use, if the squadmates have very intelligent AI, and we are given a very flexible and consequential system for dictating their tactics on a more general level. However, their AI is garbage in all the gameplay footage we've seen, and I have no confidence whatsoever in Bioware's ability to design a good squadmate tactics system (one that gives a lot of options, which are worth switching up and are all good in different situations). We'll see if their next video can change my mind, but I doubt it.

And as for that explanation of making you completely switch loadouts to use more than three powers: it's just nonsense. "More responsive controls": having to press two buttons instead of one to use a power doesn't make the controls more responsive. "More visibly present squadmates": making powers you have more obnoxious to use has nothing whatsoever to do with how 'visibly present' your squadmates are, whatever that means. "More frequent powers": powers taking more button presses to use makes powers less frequent, not more frequent. "More varied power input (tap vs hold)" has nothing to do with forcing you to switch loadouts; intelligent players are capable of mapping holdable powers to buttons that are easily accessible. "Easier use of self-combos": again, making you waste your time pushing a button just to get access to a power you need makes self-combos harder, not easier.

I'm still excited for combat in Andromeda. But they've murdered tactical pause - the most distinctive, interesting thing about Mass Effect's 3rd person shooting, a system that no one ever had any problem with in ME2 and ME3 - and they've replaced it with... arbitrary extra button presses just to get access to your abilities? Shitty controls, particularly on PC where it would be trivial to let you map all your powers to different buttons and let you switch profiles the way you want to? Less interesting decisions with respect to your squadmates? It's just baffling.