Andodalf
Banned
No, Shepard won't be the MC here.
Can we get a separate thread who for people who just want to jerk off to "EA Bad"? There's actually things to discuss here besides shit you post in every single goddamn thread
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Mass Effect Reveal Trailer - The Game Awards 2020
- Thread starter Grand Theft Scratchy
- Start date
No, Shepard won't be the MC here.
Can we get a separate thread who for people who just want to jerk off to "EA Bad"? There's actually things to discuss here besides shit you post in every single goddamn thread
ForestVSea
Member
mass effect and starfield , should be a Good time for space rpg fans
Humdinger
Gold Member
I understand all the negativity and pessimism, but I feel more optimistic. I'm glad to see the trailer, although it'll be years before we know whether the game is solid. I'm looking forward to finding out more, though. Apart from Andromeda, I really enjoyed the Mass Effect series, and there hasn't been anything like it since.
Ascend
Member
I tried understanding as much as possible what is being said in the trailer...;
We know now that in the early years of the 20th century, this world was being watched.
? copy. ? houston ? for landing, over.
Arcturus station, unknown vessel approaching, (we need)/(initiate) first contact protocol
Humanity now stands as partners of the galaxy
Ark6 is away, god speed
? fighter, we're gonna take down the dreadnought
All personnel abandon ship
Engines are going critical
[Reaper noise]
Is anyone receiving this?
We've lost Contact
??
We know now that in the early years of the 20th century, this world was being watched.
? copy. ? houston ? for landing, over.
Arcturus station, unknown vessel approaching, (we need)/(initiate) first contact protocol
Humanity now stands as partners of the galaxy
Ark6 is away, god speed
? fighter, we're gonna take down the dreadnought
All personnel abandon ship
Engines are going critical
[Reaper noise]
Is anyone receiving this?
We've lost Contact
??
FrozenFlame
Member
Bingo. Memory kinda foggy but I remember the ammo system beingy biggest grip regarding ME2. I barely used the special weapons due to the ammo being scarce and having the mentality of "saving for the final boss".
Slings and Arrows
Banned
Yeah it ruined it.
Building a team in me1 was cool. I was space mage, turian (sp?) was my sniper guy and that Krogan (wrex?) was my shotty charger. Worked great.
Me2 was basically gears of war in space. Three of us using assault rifles as they were the best way to cut through people. Well boring and it ruined the combat.
I remember ME1 requiring tactical choices in combat. Me2 and 3 was just a pop n shoot fest. Hide behind cover, shoot, hide and reload, shoot.... Yawn
Madflavor
Member
I hated ME3's ending with a passion, and how Bioware treated the fans who didn't like it. But I stuck with them and got excited for DA:I. It was just okay. I got excited for Andromeda to rekindle my love for Mass Effect. It failed colossally and hilariously. I remained cautiously optimistic for Anthem. It was a trainwreck. And all the while this has been happening, more and more of the Oldguard from Bioware have been leaving the studio, and more and more do we hear of how toxic the work environment is over there.
Do I want the direct sequel to the ME Trilogy to be outstanding and restore the franchise to glory? Absolutely. But bro no offense, suck my balls if you don't like my earned pessimism with this one.
martino
Member
i so understand this position.
Stilton Disco
Member
Most of those complaining about ME2's 'flaws' were more whinging about the shift in tone and change of narrative delivery, from overarching bombastic space opera to character focused short stories, with a light connective plot.
Because let's not pretend ME1 wasn't riddled with flaws and problems that ME2 vastly, vastly improved upon.
The shitty combat qnd Mako controls are the most obvious, but dull side stories, lack of narrative choice, pointless barely different loot, terrible to navigate menus, tedious environments, bare bones character interactions and poor level design were all rife throughout the first game.
ME2 is far from perfect, and in some ways over corrected from the first title, but anyone acting like it's not at least on a par with the first game, if not improving upon it in many ways, is letting nostalgia or sheer narcissism blind them to the fact that personal preference is not the same thing as quality.
Moogle11
Banned
Same. And I still mostly enjoyed Andromeda, glitches aside. Main plot was just ok at best, but the squadmate loyalty quests were still very good IMO. Tin kf crappy, filler sidequests too, but most of those were in their own section of the missions list and could be easily ignored. Gameplay and combat was otherwise great.
Bioware is definitely a shell of their former selves, but if they put their main team in it the graphical bugs etc shouldn't be there Anthem looked very good, it's issues were a bland story and terrible endgame for a looter shooter. Main issue is needing good writers for this and DA4 as the storh was always the main draw for me.
So I won't get my hopes up by any means, but I'll at least hold out hope that this ends up decent. If it's even just better than Andromeda I'll be relatively pleased as there's just nothing else that scratches the same itch for me as this series.
Stilton Disco
Member
If you don't play as Shepherd this will be DOA.
They already proved they couldn't make a new protagonist anyone gave a shit about, and it's Shepherd's story they need to get the audience back from.
Even one of the old squad mates like Liara won't cut it, since you'll just be annoying people who didn't like her, or who will be upset that thier favourite character isn't the MC.
They need to swallow their pride and bring back Shepherd, or they are proper fucked.
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Ascend
Member
It improved gameplay, characters and graphics at the cost of coherency, plot, logic, world building and immersion.
ME1 definitely had its flaws, like the long elevator rides and every base in space looking the same inside. We all know that this is primarily due to a technical limitation of Microsoft forcing developers to have the whole game on a single 6.8GB DVD. The concept of ME1 was littered with ambition and passion.
ME2 on the other hand had that 6.8GB limit removed, and yet it is more a corridor shooter than anything else. ME2 got the same treatment as DA2. Somehow people see the flaws of DA2 but not ME2.
Everyone loves to mention the Mako, but no one ever mentions planet scanning in ME2, which is at least ten times worse.
Riven326
Banned
Yeah. I was 19 when I played the original in 2007. My favorite franchise by far. The only problem I have with this is that it's "BioWare" making this game. It's like asking a longtime fan of some legendary rock band to be excited for the next album when the only original member left is the goddamn drummer.
EverydayBeast
ChatShitGPT Alpha 0.001
Mass Effect had fatigue and it's allowed to return.
FearlessBelgian
Member
I don't know about you but I don't trust Bioware personally anymore, their last games were all very disappointing... I have the feeling that the Bioware we knew in the PS3-360 era doesn't exist anymore...
ripeavocado
Banned
Finally someone said it.
Bradamante3D
Member
Then let's hope EA doesn't have a veteran team of Anthem developers working on Anthem 2. Otherwise Crowbcat has to do a downgrade comparison video again ...
Ascend
Member
Ok... So... What is said in the trailer is basically a history recap;
0:08 - We know now that in the early years of the 20th century, this world was being watched. (War of the Worlds)
0:16 - Roger Copy. Eagle Houston, you are go for landing. (Apollo landings)
0:21 - Arcturus Station, unknown vessels approaching. Initiate first contact protocols (First Contact War)
0:27 - Humanity now stands as partners of the galaxy (Humanity meets Citadel Races)
0:32 - Ark 6 is away. Godspeed (Quarian Ark leaving Milky Way towards Andromeda)
0:39 - They're gonna take down that dreadnought (Beginning of ME3 during earth invasion)
0:42 - Engines are going critical. Abandon ship (not sure)
0:47 - Is anyone receiving this? We've lost contact. (not sure)
0:52 - You're not leaving us all behind (part of ME3 extended cut dialogue)
0:08 - We know now that in the early years of the 20th century, this world was being watched. (War of the Worlds)
0:16 - Roger Copy. Eagle Houston, you are go for landing. (Apollo landings)
0:21 - Arcturus Station, unknown vessels approaching. Initiate first contact protocols (First Contact War)
0:27 - Humanity now stands as partners of the galaxy (Humanity meets Citadel Races)
0:32 - Ark 6 is away. Godspeed (Quarian Ark leaving Milky Way towards Andromeda)
0:39 - They're gonna take down that dreadnought (Beginning of ME3 during earth invasion)
0:42 - Engines are going critical. Abandon ship (not sure)
0:47 - Is anyone receiving this? We've lost contact. (not sure)
0:52 - You're not leaving us all behind (part of ME3 extended cut dialogue)
It improved gameplay, characters and graphics at the cost of coherency, plot, logic, world building and immersion.
ME1 definitely had its flaws, like the long elevator rides and every base in space looking the same inside. We all know that this is primarily due to a technical limitation of Microsoft forcing developers to have the whole game on a single 6.8GB DVD. The concept of ME1 was littered with ambition and passion.
ME2 on the other hand had that 6.8GB limit removed, and yet it is more a corridor shooter than anything else. ME2 got the same treatment as DA2. Somehow people see the flaws of DA2 but not ME2.
Everyone loves to mention the Mako, but no one ever mentions planet scanning in ME2, which is at least ten times worse.
I think people were probably enamored with all the stuff about consequences of your choices from the 1st game affecting the 2nd or something. As someone who never played ME1 but beat ME2, that game was just crap. I think almost everyone in my crew died at the end and I couldn't have given less of a shit.
Javthusiast
Banned
It's fucking nothing gif here.
Stilton Disco
Member
Coherencey I will grant you, but as a trade off for better characters and multiple excellent short stories, I personally vastly prefer that approach. It is very much an anthology game. As such, plot is very much a matter of taste. The overarching Collectors plot may have been flimsy, and a step down from the elaborate murder mystery of the first game, but several of the side stories are at least on a par quality wise, with far more variety while dipping into different genres.It improved gameplay, characters and graphics at the cost of coherency, plot, logic, world building and immersion.
ME1 definitely had its flaws, like the long elevator rides and every base in space looking the same inside. We all know that this is primarily due to a technical limitation of Microsoft forcing developers to have the whole game on a single 6.8GB DVD. The concept of ME1 was littered with ambition and passion.
ME2 on the other hand had that 6.8GB limit removed, and yet it is more a corridor shooter than anything else. ME2 got the same treatment as DA2. Somehow people see the flaws of DA2 but not ME2.
Everyone loves to mention the Mako, but no one ever mentions planet scanning in ME2, which is at least ten times worse.
Logic is also a very dodgy road to travel down with some of the leaps of nonsensical illogic just as present in the first game.
The series was science fantasy since day one, with biotics basically being magic, element zero a universal plot macguffin and Saren's plan, the Thorian, Rachni and Prothean plots all requiring massive suspensions of disbelief and unbelievable coincidences to work, leaving major explanations for how things worked deliberately left mysterious because it was just bollocks.
As for world building and immersion, well that's soemthing ME2 passes on the first game from a great height on.
ME1 was great at the big ideas and flashy lives of rhe people at the top of society, but ME2 showed us the darker underbelly of the universe, from Omega and it's seedy underbelly outside Council space, through dodgy dealings and assassinations, exploration of Asari legends and law enforcement, lost colonial missions, seeing the universe from the Geth's perspective, going through Korean puberty rites, Quarrian special ops missioms and court drama, going full Batman with Garrus against the Galaxies gangs and learning about rhe genophage and how Salarian's see their role on the galactic stage, ME2 took the pretty but static image of a clean, star trek like future and showed us the seedy dirty underbelly that stretched into every dark corner and good intentioned road to hell imaginable.
World building is arguably ME2's greatest strength infact, because it sacrificed it's main plot for it.
And for me, that's far more immersive. ME2 made a deep, detailed, living breathing setting, that showed you how the people below those top few elites or dramatic individuals on the edge of society actually lived.
Sure, it was a corridor shooter, but so was the first game, it was just that it's corridor shooting was shit.
And everyone always brings up how shit planet scanning was. Its was such a notoriously awful part of the game it even gets referenced in the Commander Shepherd song.
kyussman
Member
At the very least they have a great framework to work within....the universe they created for Mass Effect is there waiting to be explored,the gameplay is now very solid(the gunplay in Andromeda was great)......they just need to come up with some interesting characters and tell a solid story....sounds easy when put like that,lol.
Nobody_Important
“Aww, it’s so...average,” she said to him in a cold brick of passion
I have several questions based off the teaser.
1) Liara has obviously aged and for an Asari that is saying ALOT. So why has it taken her so long to to locate Shepard's helmet? It's on Earth. It shouldn't take hundreds of years unless something got in the way.
2) If this is a "will continue" ME4 and you are showing me the N7 logo then that to me implies Shepard's story will continue. But how is that possible? As we just saw a minimum of hundreds of years has passed. Shep is cold and dead by now. What is bringing him back from that?
3) Not only that but if hundreds of years have passed then based on the lore the only people who would be left is Grunt and Liara. Can you really call that a continuation?
4) And if I am just 100% wrong and Shepard is not involved then why in the hell say "will continue", show us a character that is very much associated with a particular story, and show us an insignia that is the iconic symbol for one character in particular?
5) Everything being destroyed implies the destruction is being from ME 3 is the "canon" ending. So what would a Mass Effect game even look like without the relays?
6) Also if destruction was a the canon choice does that mean that stupid as fuck meeting with space baby Jesus was real? How are they going to explain that away?
I love Mass Effect so fucking much. It's what made me a lover of RPGs. But I need to know what the fuck is going on before I can get hyped.
1) Liara has obviously aged and for an Asari that is saying ALOT. So why has it taken her so long to to locate Shepard's helmet? It's on Earth. It shouldn't take hundreds of years unless something got in the way.
2) If this is a "will continue" ME4 and you are showing me the N7 logo then that to me implies Shepard's story will continue. But how is that possible? As we just saw a minimum of hundreds of years has passed. Shep is cold and dead by now. What is bringing him back from that?
3) Not only that but if hundreds of years have passed then based on the lore the only people who would be left is Grunt and Liara. Can you really call that a continuation?
4) And if I am just 100% wrong and Shepard is not involved then why in the hell say "will continue", show us a character that is very much associated with a particular story, and show us an insignia that is the iconic symbol for one character in particular?
5) Everything being destroyed implies the destruction is being from ME 3 is the "canon" ending. So what would a Mass Effect game even look like without the relays?
6) Also if destruction was a the canon choice does that mean that stupid as fuck meeting with space baby Jesus was real? How are they going to explain that away?
I love Mass Effect so fucking much. It's what made me a lover of RPGs. But I need to know what the fuck is going on before I can get hyped.
prag16
Banned
Decent teaser I guess, but doesn't tell us much..
Point 5 is also one of my first thoughts upon viewing (and the original ME3 ending moreso than even the extended cut possibly).
I didn't get this from the trailer (I'll watch it again, but what makes you say this with confidence?).
Point 5 is also one of my first thoughts upon viewing (and the original ME3 ending moreso than even the extended cut possibly).
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Fox Mulder
Member
a new mass effect from current day BioWare?
Musky_Cheese
Banned
Nobody_Important
“Aww, it’s so...average,” she said to him in a cold brick of passion
Watch in 4k and zoom. She has crows feet and other wrinkles. And for an Asari that is crazy because they live to 1,000 years and do not show aging for quite a while. Keep in mind she was over 100 at the start of ME1 and was considered "little more than a child" by her races standard's.
Which means we are looking at a substantial timeskip.
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Astral Dog
Member
woah Andromeda 2 for the last big reveal this thing delivered 
Stilton Disco
Member
Then there's zero point in making the game.
Without continuing our Shepherd's stories with the characters and setting that made these games popular, they may as well just be making Andromeda 2.
They fucked their golden goose with ME3's ending.
The only way to unfuck it, is to make that not the real ending.
Hundreds of years later with no Garrus, Tali, Joker and the rest, and it's not a real continuation.
I'm not saying you're wrong, but if you aren't, then Bioware have failed before they've even really begun.
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prag16
Banned
What the devil, you're right. I'm on a 1440p monitor, but I looked again and it was enough to lean in and see what you're talking about clearly. Definitely doesn't look like what someone at most in their '20s' on a human scale should look like. Would definitely indicate a time skip of a few hundred years at minimum. Unless that aspect of the teaser turns out to be a red herring, and the final game in 3-4 years features a more spry Liara. I guess we'll eventually find out.
Humdinger
Gold Member
I only played about 10 hours of Andromeda. I wonder in retrospect whether I gave it a fair shake. After the game released, there was so much antagonism towards it. I'm sure my outlook was affected by all the negativity, gifs, and complaints. I might give it another shot one of these days. I've found that when I lower my expectations, I can often enjoy games that plenty of other people find horrible.
Re. guarded optimism about the next game, another reason I have is that, in the past, Bioware has shown an ability to incorporate fan feedback. We know they got a ton of negative feedback about Andromeda. They really got roasted. Perhaps they will take in some of that feedback and make the next game better, more in line with what the fans want. That's my hope, anyway.
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Ascend
Member
That's fair enough. However, despite plot being a matter of taste, it's quite clear whether a plot has depth or not. In ME2, there was not even a basic plot twist.
Really? It was all quite well explained in ME1 in my view. Then again, I literally went through the whole codex in the 1st game. Biotics being space magic is a given. Element zeros is the basics of the whole universe and what the game is pretty much named after. It's basically like the force in star wars. But not everything has to be defined to work well. The Thorian always remained a mystery. The Prothean are there to be a deceiving plot device, as a way to hide the reapers so to speak. The Rachni are quite well explained.
Have you checked out the Mass Effect Wiki? It has all relevant and canonical info on the universe. Here's one for element zero, and you'd be surprised how much was explained in the codex entries.
Element Zero
Element Zero, also known as "eezo", is a rare material that, when subjected to an electrical current, releases dark energy which can be manipulated into a mass effect field, raising or lowering the mass of all objects within that field. Eezo is generated when solid matter, such as a planet, is...
masseffect.fandom.com
Well, here we will simply have to disagree. Want to know when my immersion was broken forever in ME2? The plague zone on Omega being accessible with the plague active, while after the issue was resolved, revisiting the place was off limits.
Not to mention the little things of having to take off and land multiple times because the game teleports you everywhere.
It was quite clear from the first game already that the universe was not this over the rainbow pony land...
That's not a great testament to be honest. ME2 gave some additional details on the world that ME1 had already built. And ME2 also had multiple elements that pretty much dismissed things in that world, like guns now requiring ammo, which is a key canonical downgrade.
And from a plot perspective, i.e. the main overarching narrative, ME2 progressed it by zero.
I honestly don't see much here that wasn't already present in ME1.
It had vehicle missions, which ME2 removed, for one.
But most of the ME2 flaws were turned into something funny or a meme that paints everything in a positive light. Prime example? Garrus and his calibrations. That's the primary sign of a game being overhyped.
Nobody_Important
“Aww, it’s so...average,” she said to him in a cold brick of passion
I don't disagree. I don't like the idea of such a large timeskip either. Shepard's story IS Mass Effect. And yes technically I guess we could be seeing another Lazarus Project on the horizon, but that just seems like a bad excuse for Shepard's return.
And yeah we watched Shepard's corpse crash down to a planet from space and get rez'd like it was no big deal. But in ME3 he was DEAD DEAD in space with Anderson and then had a chat with Space Jesus. To bring him back from that just feels insane. So idk wtf they are going to do.
I do not envy that writing team and the uphill climb they have been given.
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Ascend
Member
Give Andromeda a chance. It's not as good as any of the original games in the trilogy, because it drags on quite a bit later on. But it is an ok game in its own right.
Moogle11
Banned
10 hours was probably enough to get a sense of it. But yeah, I think one can curate a decent experience with it if they enjoy the combat and cast of crew members. The loyalty missions are solid, main story ok. Just don't waste a bunch of time getting planets all 100% viable or doing all the meaningless tasks in the one minor quest section of the missions/sidequests list.
That said, nothing wrong with just not bothering as I know many don't want to have to curate a decent experience with a game. It's definitely mediocre as a whole. I'm just a huge fan of the trilogy (also loved 3 and didn't mind the ending even before the patch to expand it) and love space opera type things in general so I'm going to enjoy even a mediocre entry in the series/genre. It's definitely not something that people in general are missing out on by not playing/finishing otherwise.
Ascend
Member
I do not think we will be seeing Shepard return, nor do I think that we should.
At the end of the trailer we have an old Liara.
At the end of the trailer, we have a Salarian on the left, a Krogan on the right, and what seems to be an Angaran in the middle.
At the beginning of the trailer we have two galaxies.
This seems to take place mainly in the Milky Way after Andromeda.
prag16
Banned
Yeah. If you play Andromeda as a 30-40 hour game cherrypicking the best content, it should be a good experience for most who enjoyed the trilogy. If you play it as an 80 hour slog, may God have mercy on your soul.
Ascend
Member
Indeed... Don't play the game like a completionist. Focus on the main story and the characters, and basically forget the rest.
IbizaPocholo
NeoGAFs Kent Brockman
Zambayoshi
Member
Probably because she and Shepard need to be reunited in order to make blue babies
But also because she's the Shadow Broker.