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[JeffZero]

Could also just be him lying not to spoil anything.

Spoiler

I'd be surprised if there isn't at least one choice path that can end in a crew member dying if you fuck up enough.

I don't know, maaaaybe. It wouldn't be the first time BioWare has gone this route on this subject, so it wouldn't surprise me overmuch!

(I can't really say anything else as I don't know which BioWare games you've played and don't want to inadvertently spoil one, heh.)

 

[DevilDog]

They may want to gauge reactions to MEA or just don't want to commit into trilogy after doing one where they kept one upping themselves constantly resulting in some ludicrous stuff.

Resulting in a series of absolutely incredible games. If they want to avoid the original trilogy's mistake, one would think planning ahead should be the way to go.

 

[Enduin]

But i wanted this series to be a trilogy. I wonder why they won't do it this time...

Probably because it requires a whole lot more work than a standalone game. At least to do it right.

ME1-3 were great, one of my favorite series ever, but so much was compromised due to them not properly planning things out in advanced. ME1 had no guarantee of being a success and spawning 2 more games despite their hopes for it so you can't really blame them for not knowing exactly what 2 and 3 would be and how it would all mesh together. And anyone who even just played each game once can clearly see that the carry over from one game to another was very muted and required a lot of explaining away for most of the major player decisions and events in past games.

So to do another trilogy they hopefully recognize that means basically planning out all three games from the start which is a whole lot of leg work and commitment and being that this is a new team handling the series, albeit with a bunch of series veterans as well, they probably don't want to dive head first into the deep end like that.

 

[oneils]

That was fun. Enjoyed that.

 

[Metroidvania]

They could do here what they did with DAI, Dragon Age Keep. It's website where you can generate infinite amount of save files to import into DAI. Pick and choose how key moments in previous games went. Build in checks preventing any conflicts and offering options for user. There even is story recap stuff for previous games.

https://dragonagekeep.com/en_US/

Nah, I know about the Keep. I'm talking more 'internal development' aspects.

Like, if Bioware doesn't know what they want to be sticking points as of when Andromeda ships, how will they know what ends up being the 'important stuff' that deserves to be carried over, and how does that tie into the relevance of said plot-point inside the Andromeda game?

It's not 'necessary' by any means, but it definitely was a noticeable difference (to admittedly varying degrees in specific instances) in terms of of DA:I 'remember this' and ME 'remember this' moments that took importing into account.

Basically this:

Resulting in a series of absolutely incredible games. If they want to avoid the original trilogy's mistake, one would think planning ahead should be the way to go.

It depends on if they want to adapt DA's style of 'loose connected overworld where minor decisions may come back, but doesn't (generally) change the world state to the point of entirely different experiences', or ME's more tightly-enmeshed continuation (again, to a varied extent, depending on the specific plot point)

 

[Adam M]

Spring-ish makes me think late May. That'd be a drag.

More like summer then

 

[The Last Wizard]

Holy shit the twins can be different ethnicities like I wanted:O

What about dad!

I still wanna make Asian dad, black son and white daughter. I want them to be his adopted kids!

 

[Heshinsi]

Yes: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/03/02/biracial-twins-lucy-maria-aylmer_n_6787294.html

Yeah but biologically they aren't different ethnicities. Society being dumb doesn't negate that.

 

[Bronetta]

Mac Walters is still on after ruining the ME3 ending? In that case Im out

 

[Schlorgan]

Holy shit the twins can be different ethnicities like I wanted:O

What about dad!

I still wanna make Asian dad, black son and white daughter. I want them to be his adopted kids!

Adopted twins?

 

[MasterMenace]

Mac Walters is still on after ruining the ME3 ending? In that case Im out

Wait he was responsible for that? ugh...

 

[Lime]

Save import in later games "to be determined" is interesting.

 

[Falchion]

Interesting that they aren't sure if your Andromeda save will transfer to the next one yet. So it could just be a one off story.

 

[A-V-B]

Wait he was responsible for that? ugh...

He and Casey locked themselves in a room away from the other writers to create that ending.

Regrettable decision for all sides.

 

[JeffZero]

I'll admit, I was a little bit surprised so many posts were praising Mac as entertaining and no one had pointed out hid involvement in ME3 as yet. It was only a matter of time, I guess!

Guy is still charismatic though no matter what.

 

[Lime]

Mac Walters is still on after ruining the ME3 ending? In that case Im out

He's the creative lead now and the lead writer was the guy who wrote Halo 4. Not sure who is helping with the writing.

 

[Schlorgan]

He's the creative lead now and the lead writer was the guy who wrote Halo 4. Not sure who is helping with the writing.

They've got some BG2 writers on it too, IIRC.

 

[FrontalMonk]

Mac Walters is still on after ruining the ME3 ending? In that case Im out

Wait he was responsible for that? ugh...

He's not "still on". He's the creative director now. He basically got promoted.

 

[JeffZero]

He's the creative lead now and the lead writer was the guy who wrote Halo 4. Not sure who is helping with the writing.

Much of Schlerf's work could have been jettisoned when he departed the project, in fairness. He left a while ago. In any case, Lead Writer is a bit more of a managerial position at BioWare, heh.

 

[Bronetta]

Wait he was responsible for that? ugh...

He and Casey locked themselves in a room away from the other writers to create that ending.

Regrettable decision for all sides.

To add to that, the original writer of the series was Drew Karypshyn who worked on ME1 and ME2. Unfortunately he was pulled off ME3 by EA to work on that failed Star Wars MMO instead.

 

[A-V-B]

To add to that, the original writer of the series was Drew Karypshyn who worked on ME1 and ME2. Unfortunately he was pulled off ME3 by EA to work on that failed Star Wars MMO instead.

Still miss ya, Karpy.

 

[Mediking]

THE SEX SCENES!

 

[Beelzebubs]

People questioning about twins being different races, you know about genetic engineering right? And nobody said their father is their biological one. Could be full test tube grown. This is a sci fi game. Hell look at the Krogans and Grunt

Hell, if they really wanted to use the Andromeda mission to populate another galaxy then they'd need genetic engineering to get a good genetic diversity for population purposes assuming limited amount of humans on that one ship.

 

[Schlorgan]

Still miss ya, Karpy.

He left Bioware altogether at some point, but came back to work on TOR.

 

[Familienoberhauptvogel]

Those asking whether that's possible, technically twins can have different fathers. There's even a word for that superfecundation (not exactly)

 

[Squire]

Not every studio begins working on DLC before shipping. And before you mention Mass Effect 2 and 3, yes, I know, but that doesn't mean it's the case here.

Inquisition is a much better comparison anyway. They didn't add characters to that and just generally didn't do much DLC for it.

 

[JeffZero]

Inquisition is a much better comparison anyway. They didn't add characters to that and just generally didn't do much DLC for it.

Well, they had three full-scale DLCs. I'd say they had a fair bit, all things considered.

But yeah, I agree with what you're saying.

 

[Heshinsi]

I'll admit, I was a little bit surprised so many posts were praising Mac as entertaining and no one had pointed out hid involvement in ME3 as yet. It was only a matter of time, I guess!

Guy is still charismatic though no matter what.

He's actually an asshole. I've met him in person.

 

[Zombie James]

Didnt feel too spoiler-y until...

Spoiler

no crewmembers or companions can die in ME:A? hrmm

Taking the Bethesda path to dumbing down an RPG, I see. Disappointing.

 

[Sou Da]

Inquisition not having character DLC was a response to Javik iirc.

 

[Floody]

I don't know, maaaaybe. It wouldn't be the first time BioWare has gone this route on this subject, so it wouldn't surprise me overmuch!

(I can't really say anything else as I don't know which BioWare games you've played and don't want to inadvertently spoil one, heh.)

True, guess I'm just trying to convince myself more than anything,

Spoiler

as I've always kinda loved that about the ME games, even if the vast majority of choices didn't really have a really bad outcome resulting in a death of squad member, the thought that they might gave them some much more weight on my first playthrough. Think I'll console myself with the thought that there's still ways to really screw over your squad member without actually killing them.

(Probably going a little over the top with the spoiler tag, but better that than spoiling someone else)

 

[Relaxed Muscle]

Marc Walters, you say?

That name, I remember it from somewhere....

 

[CrichtonKicks]

To add to that, the original writer of the series was Drew Karypshyn who worked on ME1 and ME2. Unfortunately he was pulled off ME3 by EA to work on that failed Star Wars MMO instead.

This seems a very slanted take. As far as I know, Drew wanted to go to Austin to work on TOR.

And while TOR certainly wasn't the WoW killer that EA hoped, it's still putting out regular content to this day so I'm not certain I would call it failed either.

 

[Sou Da]

This seems a very slanted take. As far as I know, Drew wanted to go to Austin to work on TOR.

And while TOR certainly wasn't the WoW killer that EA hoped, it's still putting out regular content to this day so I'm not certain I would call it failed either.

Considering that he came out of video game retirement to go back to Bioware JUST to work on TOR to this day, I'd say that's a bit slanted.

 

[Squire]

He's the creative lead now and the lead writer was the guy who wrote Halo 4. Not sure who is helping with the writing.

They've got some BG2 writers on it too, IIRC.

They have a full-time writing team that works on whatever's being made. The only key differentiator at this point is the lead. It's Walters for ME, Patrick Weekes for Dragon Age.

Well, they had three full-scale DLCs. I'd say they had a fair bit, all things considered.

But yeah, I agree with what you're saying.

Right, it would be more accurate to say they took a "less is more" approach with DAI. You got three pretty focused add-ones rather than nearly ten very minor distractions like with Origins. I quite enjoyed it.

 

[JeffZero]

He's actually an asshole. I've met him in person.

Whoa. Weird. He was nice when I met him. We chatted for a few moments. I'm sorry to hear I was wrong about him always behaving politely. :c

 

[JeffZero]

True, guess I'm just trying to convince myself more than anything,

Spoiler

as I've always kinda loved that about the ME games, even if the vast majority of choices didn't really have a really bad outcome resulting in a death of squad member, the thought that they might gave them some much more weight on my first playthrough. Think I'll console myself with the thought that there's still ways to really screw over your squad member without actually killing them.

(Probably going a little over the top with the spoiler tag, but better that than spoiling someone else)

Haha, no, no. I agree wholeheartedly.

EDIT: Sorry for the double post! This phone sucks.

 

[CrichtonKicks]

Considering that he came out of video game retirement to go back to Bioware JUST to work on TOR to this day, I'd say that's a bit slanted.

Exactly. Dude just loves his Star Wars.

EA isn't this evil behemoth behind every decision that people don't like.

 

[SliChillax]

I'm worried about this game. Not saying it wont be good but from what I've seem it doesn't look Mass Effect enough. Might as well use another name for the game.

 

[hateradio]

That was nice. I'm not really sure what to expect from this game.

 

[shinobi602]

I'm worried about this game. Not saying it wont be good but from what I've seem it doesn't look Mass Effect enough. Might as well use another name for the game.

Seems like a strange thing to say. What makes it look so unrecognizable as a Mass Effect game?

 

[Nodnol]

So hyped.

And I've just seen they've added all three titles to the vault in EA Access!

 

[The Artisan]

Didnt feel too spoiler-y until...

Spoiler

no crewmembers or companions can die in ME:A? hrmm

maybe it's a fuckin lie

 

[JeffZero]

maybe it's a fuckin lie

It wouldn't be the first time BioWare has gone this route with its mechanics.

 

[Justice_Bolt]

I'm worried about this game. Not saying it wont be good but from what I've seem it doesn't look Mass Effect enough. Might as well use another name for the game.

Care to explain what Mass effect is supposed to be? Because from the features list it look like a Mass Effect game to me.

 

[Jibbajabbawockky]

Yeah, bummed to know the answer and also bummed about the answer itself.

Yeah... that sort of seems like it makes the whole notion of Andromeda being a standalone game just to focus on Ryder not ring true. Or else you wind up with more of a Dragon Age situation where maybe they're not giving the potential for companions to get offed because they want to avoid a Leliana situation in Inquisition, even though that's a pretty extreme edge case.

If the game is going to be a standalone game, I'd want as much crazy divergence in the choices/consequences side of things as possible, including companions potentially dying or having drastically different fates. BioWare basically saying companions are off limits saps some of the drama out of things, I think.

 

[- J - D -]

Keeping any semblance of hype at arms length. Sorry, mac, you say nice things but we'll see how the napkin unfolds.

 

[Weebos]

There wasn't any character DLC in Inquistion, and there was in DA1+2.

That said, I always want more characters.

I'm worried about this game. Not saying it wont be good but from what I've seem it doesn't look Mass Effect enough. Might as well use another name for the game.

I feel similar, the info in this thread helped, but the first impressions of this game haven't been great.

And the Mass Effect Trilogy are my three favorite games.

 

[Weebos]

.

 

[SliChillax]

Care to explain what Mass effect is supposed to be? Because from the features list it look like a Mass Effect game to me.

Seems like a strange thing to say. What makes it look so unrecognizable as a Mass Effect game?

When I think Mass Effect I think about the citadel, the distinctive architecture of the alien worlds like Illium, Feros, Noveria etc. The typical armour which in Andromeda looks way more futuristic or from a different game. Reapers and Protheans. The retro futurism and 70's sci fi feel of ME1 still missing. Here I see just empty colorful alien worlds.