Baroquemantic
Member
That looked great.
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MASS EFFECT: ANDROMEDA Gameplay Series #2: Characters
- Thread starter Phamit
- Start date
Papacheeks
Banned
How many did ME2 have? Miranda, Jacob, Grunt, Garrus, Jack, Legion, Mordin, Samara/Morinth,Tali,Thane.
ME2 had close to 10 vanilla. ME2 should be the standard to be honest. Especially since you can't choose any race but human for your character.
Man Called Aerodynamics
Member
God it looks better and better with every video.
I would guess that these six are the vanilla companions. That number is right in line with ME1 and 3. Maybe we'll get a couple more down the line as DLC, but maybe not.
It's fine with me, I loved having the huge stable of weirdos in ME2 but there's something to be said for a more focused group too.
I would guess that these six are the vanilla companions. That number is right in line with ME1 and 3. Maybe we'll get a couple more down the line as DLC, but maybe not.
It's fine with me, I loved having the huge stable of weirdos in ME2 but there's something to be said for a more focused group too.
Heckler456
Banned
Those lazy devs huh?
Sub_Level
wants to fuck an Asian grill.
ME2 had too much fluff I feel. Daddy issues and revenge stories repeated across multiple squadmates. Almost like copy and paste.
Thats not to imply smaller squad guarantees better writing. ME3 is proof that it doesn't. But it does mean less repetition in the loyalty missions that are confirmed to be returning.
D
Deleted member 80556
Unconfirmed Member
That looks nice! I've been getting excited for this recently.
This is probably on a low difficulty for showcase purposes.
This is probably on a low difficulty for showcase purposes.
Pretty much. I get the whole quality over quantity argument but at least my first impression of these guys is mostly just "meh". I never really got all the people saying they had reservations about Andromeda but this is the first piece of info that has actually got me a bit worried about the game. Oh well, we'll see.
cripterion
Member
Yeah haven't seen their personality but to me the alien squadmate look like ass. Tali was ok cause she had no face. And Turian females looks really dumb. I dislike Krogans.
Chozo_Lord
Member
The companion count doesn't bother me. First, they are likely to have multiple complex mission associated with them. ME2's companion missions were one and done. Second, I'm assuming this is the first game in a series, so Andromeda 2 could keep all 6 and add 3 more without removing the old ones, and 3 could add 3 more after that, so you'd end up with 12 companions in the 3rd game. And they could all possibly have more character interaction and growth than the original trilogy companions.
nelsonroyale
Member
Hmm thought this would go into a bit of detail on squadmates. Very disappointing to here you can no longer directly command your companions. Of all things, why take this out?
Got to say that fiend wasn't very effective. Just stomping around until it got busted. Quite a contrast to the bigger enemies in say Horizon. Hopefully, there is a reason why it was so docile...
Got to say that fiend wasn't very effective. Just stomping around until it got busted. Quite a contrast to the bigger enemies in say Horizon. Hopefully, there is a reason why it was so docile...
RedlineRonin
Member
Agreed. I'm also sort of bummed that they blatantly showed all six already. It would have been nice to be surprised. That's how it felt with Legion, and I felt like that was a cool surprise.
They had 4 active Powers in ME3 and 1 Passive. Now it's 3 active and 2 passive. So we've lost an active power. The fact that we can't control their Powers makes their limitation somewhat odd, where it at least has a bit of of reasoning for Ryder. Between the 6 companions there will be 18 active powers, but we know there are like 30 active powers in the game. So that's a lot of stuff place on Ryder alone. Which just leads further towards this one man army thing they seem to be going for which I'm not very keen on.
And they each had like 3 dialogues total and never talked to each other on the ship. A dialogue budget is a dialogue budget and I'd rather them do more with fewer characters, to be honest.
I would have liked another Andromedan squadmate, sure, but I'm sure as shit not boycotting the game over this.
Whoops! Thanks for the correction.
FalsettoVibe
Member
Looks good.
Back-In-Black
Banned
How do you know when you haven't played the game? I'm expecting at least one other alien squad mate who they likely won't reveal at all before the game launches. Revealing a new alien squad mate would be to reveal the other alien races in the game.
The Last Wizard
Member
I hate to be a Debbie downer but it's like majority of what they've shown thus far just isn't doing it for me and I consider mass effect to possibly be my favorite franchise. Nothing is evoking the excitement I had when waiting for 1, 2 or 3:/
This is where I'm at. Everything they show fills me absolute indifference.
This does look great but I´m longing for something more story-based, something not mechanic-focused but of creative substance e.g. motives, story themes and a sense of wonder.
Otherwise I fear that we´ll get a game that ticked all the boxes but fails to create the same excitement that the original trilogy created back then.
Otherwise I fear that we´ll get a game that ticked all the boxes but fails to create the same excitement that the original trilogy created back then.
Papacheeks
Banned
You are so full of shit dude. Those characters all had sub story's you could do. You could talk to them, it just depended on where you were in the main story. Just like a lot of the dialogue on the ship.
Especially Samara, Tari, Mordin, Garrus.
Please just stop. I said nothing of the sorts. I'm just reall disappointed and seeing as they have been with holding all this info and up till last month or so been releasing actual gameplay footage it does not fill me with confidence for this game. They had a long time to make this and seems they tried to streamline it as much as they could ti make it a more action experience. Half of the lure were the cast of characters on your ship, and the side stories/mission they had that fleshed them out.
This cast looks generic as fuck.
Familienoberhauptvogel
Banned
ME2 is and will be unmatched for quite some time. It's the best game of its generation and that for a reason.
If we get 6 companions on par with the better ones from ME2 I'm gonna be more than content.
If we get 6 companions on par with the better ones from ME2 I'm gonna be more than content.
Papacheeks
Banned
I have a feeling you will be disappointed. They have already shown a couple and they are standard races we've seen before.
ME2 had to sacrifice pretty much everything else to fit that many in. All of the main plot and exploration elements were super stripped down to fit in content for all those characters. And it worked well for that game! But the start of a new thing is going to have to dedicate more to world building that isn't going to allow for that kind of party focus.
Papacheeks
Banned
How many characters were there in dragon age:I?
But we got a great ship element with being able to just walk around and have all these amazing characters. Yes the world felt smaller because it was more level focused. But some of those levels were huge and had tons of interactions and interesting points of interest.
It can be done they have had tons of time. Feels like they focused more on streamlining combat, and ability management than what matters to me the most which is characters. A lot of what I've seen looks really generic with a focus on just your human character going all gun hoe while your AI buddies just do whatever in the background.
Go back and count the amount of new dialogues you get per character, then. Garrus in particular is infamous for having few dialogues (hence the "calibrations" meme). Yes, the loyalty missions were great, but considering recruitment and loyalty missions are the vast majority of ME2's main plot content, I think it's impressive that MEA is giving us loyalty missions and (presumably) a bunch of main plot missions on top of that.
Functionally, twelve. And you can tell where the dialogue budget went when you go out in the world.
Vigilant Walrus
Member
I dislike these characters a lot. Cora is channeling everything I didn't like about Cassandra (Inquisition). Ugly character model. But I find all the characters boring looking. The Turian and Krogan looks so generic and samey as the old ones. I really couldn't give a less of a fuck about them. And only 6? The only one I think has potential is Liam- He could be a new Jacob who served as a seemingly ordinary squad member. He was just a soldier, but him being more normal and not an alien gave him something of his own.
Jaal, Vetra and Drack are just these samey-looking aliens with a similar silhouette, and harsh anthromorhic designs. Then you got the Asari who is just.. ugh. And then Cora whose character model looks like a creepy porcelain doll.
Motherfucker. Character Writing is Biowares main asset. Their main plot structure is not as good as their character writing. Mass Effect 2 threw a shit ton of characters after you. Even if you found a lot of them boring, you still had some unique ones. There was enough diversity in there for everyone.
I dislike this lighter tone. This "star trek" exploration hopeful beverly hills bullshit. Mass Effect is supposed to be haunting, depressing and about inevitible destruction. I dislike these teenage clowns being given command over endless resources and the only objective being to find a new home while fighting an enemy who is familiar but ultimately just a insignificant struggle.
I understand they wanted to take a different approach, and that another "save the universe featuring new space jesus" would ring hallow, but...
I think the music we've heard so far lacks the wonder, mystique and creepiness of the old games.
The combat does look flashy and smooth. I think the gameplay looks functional.
but it just doesn't feel like Mass Effect to me. It feels like a filler episode of Naruto. Completely pointless just like these companion characters. They hit too close to home but it ends up being imitation. You see Ridley Scott doing the same sort of forced-try-too-hard-nostalgia in Alien Covenant.
Mass Effect is very emo when you think about it. It's very much about hopelessness and impossible choices, and it seems like this is pissing on that. Maybe the game does end up having darker moments- I'm still gonna play it despite being nancy negative, but It's not the direction I'd have taken this game. :/
Jaal, Vetra and Drack are just these samey-looking aliens with a similar silhouette, and harsh anthromorhic designs. Then you got the Asari who is just.. ugh. And then Cora whose character model looks like a creepy porcelain doll.
Motherfucker. Character Writing is Biowares main asset. Their main plot structure is not as good as their character writing. Mass Effect 2 threw a shit ton of characters after you. Even if you found a lot of them boring, you still had some unique ones. There was enough diversity in there for everyone.
I dislike this lighter tone. This "star trek" exploration hopeful beverly hills bullshit. Mass Effect is supposed to be haunting, depressing and about inevitible destruction. I dislike these teenage clowns being given command over endless resources and the only objective being to find a new home while fighting an enemy who is familiar but ultimately just a insignificant struggle.
I understand they wanted to take a different approach, and that another "save the universe featuring new space jesus" would ring hallow, but...
I think the music we've heard so far lacks the wonder, mystique and creepiness of the old games.
The combat does look flashy and smooth. I think the gameplay looks functional.
but it just doesn't feel like Mass Effect to me. It feels like a filler episode of Naruto. Completely pointless just like these companion characters. They hit too close to home but it ends up being imitation. You see Ridley Scott doing the same sort of forced-try-too-hard-nostalgia in Alien Covenant.
Mass Effect is very emo when you think about it. It's very much about hopelessness and impossible choices, and it seems like this is pissing on that. Maybe the game does end up having darker moments- I'm still gonna play it despite being nancy negative, but It's not the direction I'd have taken this game. :/
I'm curious... what make the alien squadmates so boring & generic? Do they need to have a missing arm, a giant scar on their head to stand out to you? What makes the previous Mass Effect characters interesting weren't their look, but their personality.
I mean Wrex's design for example isn't that much more cooler than Drack, it's his personality that people like. Drack could be in the same situation for all we know.
To be honest, once you were done with their loyalty missions, and after you talked to them 2 or 3 times after a mission, they had nothing new to say to you, just "more calibrations" or "lot of things to do".
At least ME3 kept it fresh when every single character had something new to say after every missions. They sometimes talked with each other, moved from one room or floor to another. In ME2, they barely talked about the rest of the team, much less actually talk to them, and never moved out of their room.
I mean Wrex's design for example isn't that much more cooler than Drack, it's his personality that people like. Drack could be in the same situation for all we know.
To be honest, once you were done with their loyalty missions, and after you talked to them 2 or 3 times after a mission, they had nothing new to say to you, just "more calibrations" or "lot of things to do".
At least ME3 kept it fresh when every single character had something new to say after every missions. They sometimes talked with each other, moved from one room or floor to another. In ME2, they barely talked about the rest of the team, much less actually talk to them, and never moved out of their room.
Heckler456
Banned
Nah, it's you who's gotta stop, buddy.
Here are some established facts. We've heard word specifically from them that exploration is a very important tenet in Andromeda, so your "streamlining it to have a more action experience" just doesn't hold any water.
They've also already said that each individual companion was far more complex than any one other companion in any other of the Mass Effect game, so I'm not sure where exactly you get off on calling them "generic as fuck" when, really, we don't know anything about them yet. Which, actually, is as it should be, if you're in fact interested in following along with the story.
But, even if you want to stubbornly stick to your negative Nancy attitude, even then you're still in the wrong. Just having 10 of these types of characters in a game that you're saying is streamlined for action, and where the characters are generic as fuck, wouldn't help it one bit. So why exactly is the number even a sticking point for you, when you have already made up your mind regarding the actual quality of the ones present, even if you genuinely don't know one single iota about how any of them work in practice?
Yup. I just finished replaying ME2, and I was shocked at how quickly I ran through each character's dialogues. I wasn't counting, but I would be very surprised if each character got more than 5-6 non-story dialogue trees in the entire game, and that guess may be high.
What's your issue with Cassandra? Just the model? Because I ended up really liking her as a character. I'm a little worried that what we've seen re: Cora is mostly just emphasizing that she's tough ("When your biotics are honed into huntress-grade weapons people can be weird about it."), which if done poorly can end up feeling irritating or even sexist ("I'm tough just like the boys"), but I had the same vague worry about Cassandra in DAI and she ended up being an interesting, well-rounded character who was not at all defined by the fact that she was a female warrior.
You'd think this man had played the game already.
omg Liam is black so he must be another Jacob!
omg Vetra is a turian that looks like a turian, and Drack? a krogan that looks like a *gasp* krogan?! holy fuck bioware what are you doing
I mean that's what I'm getting about the bitching, because we have barely even heard these characters speak.
omg Vetra is a turian that looks like a turian, and Drack? a krogan that looks like a *gasp* krogan?! holy fuck bioware what are you doing
I mean that's what I'm getting about the bitching, because we have barely even heard these characters speak.
MadLaughter
Member
I think that this...misses the mark, to say the least. The series is about cooperation across racial divides as the only way to thrive against a bigger threat. It's about getting to know people and understanding where they come from and who they are. It's about exploration and the acquisition of knowledge, both for the sake of learning and the sake of survival. It's about Humanity's place in the galaxy, and the overwhelmind theme is "We have a better chance by working together, rather than against each other."
Darryl M R
Member
I enjoyed the new video!
I don't think I will focus on switching profiles a lot especially mid combat but I know others will enjoy and appreciate the feature.
Concussive Shot/Overload/Barrier seems like it will be my go to skills with Explorer as my profile.
I don't think I will focus on switching profiles a lot especially mid combat but I know others will enjoy and appreciate the feature.
Concussive Shot/Overload/Barrier seems like it will be my go to skills with Explorer as my profile.
StereoVsn
Member
And it's further compounded by 3 active skills for you and your Swuad members fully AI controlled only so no way to direct targets or powers. Meh...
Edit:
Yeah, I feel about the same, well, ME wasn't my favorite franchise but I quite liked it. The characters are also not doing much for me in general either. DA:I surprisingly wasn't bad and had a few good characters in that regard.
RedlineRonin
Member
Shinobi answered the question on the last page
SamuelSupreme
Banned
Really wanted a Zoe like squadmate/romance option. Thanks for disappointing again Bioware.
Tertullian
Member
Oh, and the way the guy pronounces "adept" in this video makes me pull my hair out. Between this and Nier: Automata, I'm getting triggered something fierce by official (mis)pronunciations in video games lately.
I'm kinda bummed about the only 6 squadmates confirmation.
I mean it's probably to be expected after all the "there will be less and stuff" talk, but I was still hoping.
Oh well, now I'm praying this is the trade-off for having tons of conversations and several missions per squadmate.
I mean it's probably to be expected after all the "there will be less and stuff" talk, but I was still hoping.
Oh well, now I'm praying this is the trade-off for having tons of conversations and several missions per squadmate.
prag16
Banned
No shit, huh. Some of these hot takes based on very limited information are ridiculous.
Papacheeks
Banned
I take it you didn't watch any of the gameplay videos? Your AI buddies just in the background doing whatever they have written for them to do in combat, not controlled by you.
Which is a huge step back from what I and many fans are use to. The focus seems to just be on your character in combat. Guns seem to be a focus as well with augmentations. I told you to stop because your dumb remark was not warranted. I have a right to discuss the changes they have made to the series and I can not agree with them which others have pointed out in detail. I did not say anything about lazy dev's, I just don't agree with the design decisions that throw away thing's that have come to be a somewhat staple for the gameplay that IMHO defines Mass Effect.
Heckler456
Banned
What?
I called you out on your "10 characters!" thing. How is that even a staple? In actual fact, 6 is far more of a staple than 8-10 ever was.
And what are you talking about in regard to buddy AI? First and before all, you can still control them. Secondly, the only difference thus far is HOW using their powers work. The trilogy had a clunky menu that broke the flow of combat. Andromeda has a more dynamic "priming-detonating" mechanic.
All that being said though, how can you so vehemently disagree with their "design decisions" when you haven't even played the game yet?
Papacheeks
Banned
Your squad mates damage output is not controlled by you in combat, part of the combat in ME1-3 was using the wheel and giving commands the squad not acts out what you choose before you go into battle. You don't bring up the wheel select one of your squad mates and tell them to use one of their bionics to lift someone in the air.
That is gone. You can direct them towards and enemy to defend,attack.
All that is shown in this gameplay is you using your abilities different weapons and bionics.
Doesn't show you out of basic commands issuing their bionics,
All this shows is you doing all damage output with your icons below for your AI showing their health and shield.
prag16
Banned
Yeah, I liked the pause/target/power/etc mechanic as much as the next guy, but it's not like they didn't take years to think this through. We may ultimately end up not liking it in some respects, but these premature definitive strong opinions on the changes don't really have basis.
Seems to me like squad members are basically extensions of the player now? I guess mechanically that's what they are no matter what, but if you can't tell them to do things you are incapable of doing yourself, and they can only react to powers that you have... I mean, they're basically turrets and power buffs, right?
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