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

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valkyre

Member
Am I missing something with these complaints?

On PC, you've always been able to hotkey biotic powers.

Consoles as well, although due to the nature of the controller you could only hotkey a specific number of abilities.

The complaints about ME's combat evolution in comparison to the -apparently- godlike gameplay, featured in ME1, really astound me.
 

Lime

Member
I might pick it up after all. What I've seen in the trailers seemed pretty standard sci fi military stuff but the feedback on Gaf has been really positive.

It's still filled with militaristic jingo and US/NATO FUCK YEAH values, but the characters and the audiovisual spectacle/presentation really shine through. It also helps that Blur Studios and DIGIC are the ones doing the cutscenes, but the writing and the acting are solid and well-executed (except the villain).

I think RPG developers and others who have an interest in narrative and characters should look at Infinite Warfare and what it does right (and wrong)

Nice: good recommendation Lime: going to get this round Xmas time, TF2 owns my heart for now in the FPS space: have you tried that campaign? It's really bloody good! Very Firefly-esque in parts with the militia lore and such: highly recommended for a fellow Spectre.

I definitely want to try out Titanfall 2's campaign because of the good things I've heard, but I'll probably wait a bit for it to drop in price a bit more. People say that the narrative isn't as strong, but it's more about the gameplay system that makes it good, is that correct?
 

Lime

Member
It's an incoherent, unfocused mess.

Make Marketing Great Again!

Seriously though, why is Daddy Ryder so central in the visual marketing of Andromeda? Will we play as him for a long period of time? Why is he on the cover of the game and in the wallpapers? Does this mean that the two Children Ryders won't be as important? I guess we'll find out, but I still feel after so many trailers and so much various info and leaks I still have a difficult time understanding what the game is about.

Oh cool. No scanning.



Never mind.

This is the scanning that is talked about (I assume)

iqvIbsmSzHKvK.gif
 

Melchiah

Member
Powers are instead hotkeyed for quick use, no longer pausing to bring up a wheel

Same thing popped out to me.
There goes tactical play.

To my recollection the powers were hotkeyed in the multiplayer mode of ME3, and it didn't make the gameplay any less tactical.

Dunno how it's going to be implemented with the powers of AI team mates on a pad though.
 

Sanctuary

Member
Consoles as well, although due to the nature of the controller you could only hotkey a specific number of abilities.

The complaints about ME's combat evolution in comparison to the -apparently- godlike gameplay, featured in ME1, really astound me.

No, no, no. No one is saying that the gameplay in the first ME was godlike. They are saying that because of the horrible gameplay, it's the only "real" RPG of the original trilogy. Can't let such a silly thing as gameplay get in the way of an RPG. That's just crazy talk.

I actually loved the first game. Until the second arrived, and then the only reason I would bother with the first was because I didn't want to rely on someone else's uploaded save, or a save editior for my ME2 starts. It had a better main story, but it was worse in every other way. Biotics were the only way the first game was playable too for me. Ragdolling enemies into space was actually fun, and it was the first game that truly made me feel like a Jedi for once. Take the biotics away, and you're left with an utterly tepid attempt at a TPS.
 
Make Marketing Great Again!

Seriously though, why is Daddy Ryder so central in the visual marketing of Andromeda? Will we play as him for a long period of time? Why is he on the cover of the game and in the wallpapers? Does this mean that the two Children Ryders won't be as important? I guess we'll find out, but I still feel after so many trailers and so much various info and leaks I still have a difficult time understanding what the game is about.

I honestly couldn't identify a single character from any of the trailers besides PeeBee because PeeBee. Daddy Ryder probably gets a little spotlight because he's important to the setup of the story and a common point regardless of your choice of Ryder, so they can feature him in the games establishing shots without giving too much away or showing you a protagonist that looks nothing like your own.

Maybe we'll play as him for the first section of the game?

Also, does anyone get vibes similar to ME2's intro from the cinematic trailers? Maybe that's a common sentiment already shared here ad nauseam.

No, no, no. No one is saying that the gameplay in the first ME was godlike. They are saying that because of the horrible gameplay, it's the only "real" RPG of the original trilogy. Can't let such a silly thing as gameplay get in the way of an RPG. That's just crazy talk.

I actually loved the first game. Until the second arrived, and then the only reason I would bother with the first was because I didn't want to rely on someone else's uploaded save, or a save editior for my ME2 starts. It had a better main story, but it was worse in every other way. Biotics were the only way the first game was playable too for me. Ragdolling enemies into space was actually fun, and it was the first game that truly made me feel like a Jedi for once.

FWIW The atmosphere of the first game during exploration and story bits has always been unequalled in my eyes as well as the story itself. This big new galaxy of limitless possibility was established with such strong sense of place, I felt like I was there.
 

Jebusman

Banned
No, no, no. No one is saying that the gameplay in the first ME was godlike. They are saying that because of the horrible gameplay, it's the only "real" RPG of the original trilogy. Can't let such a silly thing as gameplay get in the way of an RPG. That's just crazy talk.

So is this thread mostly going to be strawman shitposting about the first ME1 now?

I mean, can we not?

Or if you have to, can you at least be the slightest bit genuine in the arguments people put forth?

ME1 probably has the shittiest combat of the whole franchise. And DESPITE this I still hold it up as the best of the franchise because the atmosphere and presentation still outweight ME2 and ME3 (although individual parts of ME2 I feel hold up pretty well).
 
Sounds good, when it comes to the last two, but I'd be more thrilled to hear ME1's story and atmosphere were an inspiration, instead of the Mako.
They are! I was just discussing this with a developer yesterday. Saren was an inspiration for the Kett leader as well (you can see a bit of him in the trailer).
 

Sanctuary

Member
So is this thread mostly going to be strawman shitposting about the first ME1 now?

I mean, can we not?

Or if you have to, can you at least be the slightest bit genuine in the arguments people put forth?

ME1 probably has the shittiest combat of the whole franchise. And DESPITE this I still hold it up as the best of the franchise because the atmosphere and presentation still outweight ME2 and ME3 (although individual parts of ME2 I feel hold up pretty well).

Start? It already started on the first page with people complaining about how every game after the first was bad, and no longer an RPG. I also already posted previously with a "geniune" answer.

I completely disagree that it had a better atmosphere than the sequels too. The Collector missions mopped the floor with most areas in the first game, and for all of the love people want to give the Mako exploration, very few of the planets were anything other than barren husks aside from a few minerals here and an ambush there. Drive your helium filled trampoline with wheels all over just for that, usually doing somersaults along the way, yay, atmosphere! The second game had not just a bigger squadmate selection, they were far more interesting in general, and their side missions were almost all great. The second game also had a better, and more interesting mix of enemies to fight, and the presentation was LEAPS beyond the first game. Aesthetically it blew the first game out of the Milky Way and finally felt realized, and not just some generic Star Trek/KOTOR amalgamation of ideas.
 
no paragon/renegade anymore? nothing of value lost. amazing news. the choices were WAY too binary to begin with, and you were "forced" to choose blue options if you played paragon, or vice versa.
 

Jebusman

Banned
Start? It already started on the first page with people complaining about how every game after the first was bad, and no longer an RPG. I also already posted previously with a "geniune" answer.

I want you to point out a single post on the first page stating that every game after ME1 was garbage. You'll find exactly 0 (or 1 if you 100 post/page it).

What I do see if people that were hoping that Andromeda would be a chance for the series to veer back towards what ME1 was meant to be (a janky but charming tactical RPG shooter hybrid thing), and not further down the shooter first, RPG later focus the series took.

I mean, I won't argue that was a realistic dream, Bioware has made it pretty clear the direction they want to take ever since ME2, but summing up the ME1 fan's opinion as "The game is good BECAUSE the gameplay is bad" is just shitposting.
 

valkyre

Member
So is this thread mostly going to be strawman shitposting about the first ME1 now?

I mean, can we not?

Or if you have to, can you at least be the slightest bit genuine in the arguments people put forth?

ME1 probably has the shittiest combat of the whole franchise. And DESPITE this I still hold it up as the best of the franchise because the atmosphere and presentation still outweight ME2 and ME3 (although individual parts of ME2 I feel hold up pretty well).

Wait, 2 posts about ME1 not being the overhyped hipster thing a lot of people make it out to be and it is considered shitposting?

If that is the case I dont know what to call the shitton of posts about how horrible ME2 and ME3 was.

And please... no ME1 doesnt have the best presentation nor atmospherte. That title goes to ME2... just because a lot of people were overly hyped about ME1 and its premise and because it was the first time you experienced its universe, that doesnt mean that it has the best atmosphere and presentation... thats your nostalgia talking more, rather than being actually objective.

Subjectively you can call it the best game ever, no problem with that, but I am tired of people acting as if pausing the action every 5 seconds is some sort of godlike tactical gameplay, or that if you have more action oriented gameplay, tactics go down the drain...

For example, ME1's tactics are laughable compared to a way more action oriented game like Dark Souls.

It was frustrating as hell, I honestly got 0 satisfaction from the encounters, if you consider anything negative uttered about ME1 "shitposting" then please do the same for the rest of the games in the franchise.
 

Monocle

Member
This game sounds damn good. Almost all of the details in the OP appeal to me.

I think this is probably a day one purchase for me at this point. Before this thread I thought I was going to wait.
 

Jebusman

Banned
if you consider anything negative uttered about ME1 "shitposting" then please do the same for the rest of the games in the franchise.

Reading comprehension.

I was speaking directly to this sentence.

They are saying that because of the horrible gameplay, it's the only "real" RPG of the original trilogy. Can't let such a silly thing as gameplay get in the way of an RPG. That's just crazy talk.

I'm not arguing against all, or even any, criticism of ME1. But trying to sum up people's arguments about WHY they like ME1 as "You're saying it's a good game because everything about it is bad?" is about as disingenuous of a reading as you could take about why people still like ME1 over 2 & 3.

And having played through the trilogy enough times, repeatedly, using every class and permutation of what few actual choices you're allowed to make, I still find ME1 overall the more impactful game. ME2 has some great moments, but it never grabbed me the way ME1 did, and the (improved?) gameplay wasn't enough. I appreciated some of the character writing, and Lair of the Shadow Broker felt like such an improvement over the base game it almost would let me buy into ME2 being the better game.
 

Lanf

Member
They are! I was just discussing this with a developer yesterday. Saren was an inspiration for the Kett leader as well (you can see a bit of him in the trailer).

Yeah, was getting real Saren vibes from that Kett dude. Which is a good thing I guess, Saren was rather interesting.
 

Sanctuary

Member
Reading comprehension.

I was speaking directly to this sentence.



I'm not arguing against all, or even any, criticism of ME1. But trying to sum up people's arguments about WHY they like ME1 as "You're saying it's a good game because everything about it is bad?" is about as disingenuous of a reading as you could take about why people still like ME1 over 2 & 3.

When you read the majority of the posts praising Mass Effect, almost never do they actually give rational dissections. It's always "stripped this", "dumb downed that", not ever explaining what aspects that were removed or altered truly impacted the sequels in a negative way. Rarely do they ever bother to mention the improvements (which by and large was most aspects), and just constantly complain and cry "not RPG". You want to complain about shitposting? Pretty much most of that ends up being about the sequels. You may want to reread my initial post that you quoted if you haven't seen the edit since then. About the only thing that I can say the first game did better was give a straightforward, and more of an "Epic" narrative. Saren and Harbinger were both pretty cool too I guess, but aside from that, I'm drawing a complete blank. And I've finished it around seven times. The ambient music wasn't really "better" as it was simply different, and fit the feel of the first game, just like the music in the second perfectly fit the James Cameron like atmosphere.
 

valkyre

Member
Reading comprehension.

I was speaking directly to this sentence.



I'm not arguing against all, or even any, criticism of ME1. But trying to sum up people's arguments about WHY they like ME1 as "You're saying it's a good game because everything about it is bad?" is about as disingenuous of a reading as you could take about why people still like ME1 over 2 & 3.
You make a sarcastic post about reading comprehension, but you seem not to be able to detect these things in someone else's post...

His post was perfectly fine and as sarcastic as it should be considering the ME1 trend around here. And lets just be honest here... there is a definite trend around here regarding ME1 and then ME2/3.

People have been shitposting regarding those 2 games for years. Even in this very thread people are acting as if ME1 was somehow more "RPG" because... honestly I have no clue why. Maybe the amount of skill points equivalent to 0.3% attribute bonuses scream "RPG" to them, or the fact that the combat has to be paused constantly, screams "tactics and RPG", or because barren tiny planets are supposedly "RPG open world freedom" or the horrible inventory of the same damn 4 things over and over again is somehow "RPG loot"...

Its bullshit I am sorry, none of that means RPG. I can understand ME3 comments about toning down the RPG elements due to the changes in the dialogue system, but ME2 really was excellent.

Also, he did not claim that ME1 was good because it was bad. He said that it had a better overall story compared to ME2 (which is true) and I said the same.

ME1 did have a better story, but everything else is objectively worse. And quite a bit. This isnt shitposting but just a sarcastic reply over the entire ridiculously hipster trend that the oldest a shit is, the better it must be...

Also, Bioware always wanted ME to be an action RPG. And I am glad they did.
 

spekkeh

Banned
A lot of this sounds great. I love the idea that they ditched classes from the start but you can find out what interests you and then develop towards that. I don't like being able to respec later. RPGs without consequences are not really RPGs, but we'll see how egregious it gets. Maybe it's welcome to be able to choose something different.

I hope you can ignore all the crafting bullshit, I'm so tired of crafting getting shoehorned into these games. It's never fun. I'm already not touching the multiplayer because card based currencies can suck a dick.
 
Sounds like the only options are hot keys. In order to do that for consoles and PCs they are most likely streamlining combat options further. This is what's concerning.

Says you can queue up powers and squad orders too, though. And also that you can pause. I'd wager that it's more that they're limiting the number of powers you can have "active" in a build, sort of like they did with DAI.
 

Bubble

Neo Member
Since the Ryder children are twins, I assume you can't customize them too look wildly different, like a black male Ryder and a white female Ryder. I'm assuming the things you can customize on the Ryder you are not playing will be like hairstyle, hair color, eye color and small things like that. Doesn't matter though, I will still end up spending hours customizing a character that I won't even get to play, but that's part of the fun.

And I'm really loving the backstory for the Ryder family. All this family stuff reminds me a bit of Hawke from DA2, which some might not like, but I always felt that it made Hawke a much more compelling character then the generic, blank slate character from Inquisition. It will hopefully lend to more more opportunities for roleplaying moments in Andromeda as opposed to Inquisition, where I always felt the Inquisitor was the same, regardless of what you did and said.

Also, Bioware better bring back the cinematic camera. You could make an excuse for Inquisition, where you had to take the protagonists height and race into consideration, but this time, you're playing as a human, so please bring it back Bioware. When I'm spending hours customizing my character, I would like to actually get a proper look at it in conversations, instead of seeing him/her from a distance. Don't let me down on this, please.
 

Sanctuary

Member
Since the Ryder children are twins, I assume you can't customize them too look wildly different, like a black male Ryder and a white female Ryder.

Why not?

God. I miss Deadspace. :-(

I just had someone play it for the first time two nights ago in 4K. Textures don't benefit all that much, but the game still looks really nice...especially the shadows on an OLED. Easily one of my favorite new IPs of last gen that seemed to follow a similar progression as the Mass Effect games. Thanks EA!
 

10k

Banned
Big men don't cry, Kevin. Big men don't cry. No matter how happy they are. *sniff*

So beautiful.
 
Make Marketing Great Again!

Seriously though, why is Daddy Ryder so central in the visual marketing of Andromeda? Will we play as him for a long period of time? Why is he on the cover of the game and in the wallpapers? Does this mean that the two Children Ryders won't be as important? I guess we'll find out, but I still feel after so many trailers and so much various info and leaks I still have a difficult time understanding what the game is about.



This is the scanning that is talked about (I assume)

iqvIbsmSzHKvK.gif
Well, at least that's better integrated but it still seems like a variant of the scanning gameplay in previous games.
 

oneils

Member
I don't know what to expect from the gameplay footage at TGA. The stuff at the PS4 Pro event was almost like an early proof-of-concept demo; just running through an empty environment and pressing a button at the end, with the squad members never even appearing on screen during gameplay.

I'd like to see a nice meaty demo with some moseying around on the Tempest, seamlessly landing on a planet and zooming around in the Nomad (and eventually shooting guys, I suppose), but at this point I feel like that's expecting too much from this game's marketing strategy. It'll probably just be a cover-based shooting arena with the word 'SURVIVE' blazing in the middle of the screen :p

I think they picked that segment of gameplay because they wanted to show off the visuals without spoiling the story. At least that's what I hope. It probably isn't representative of all gameplay.
 
Sounds good so far while the collectathon of DAI was pointless the companions were an absolute joy and the best in any DA imo so if they nail that again I don't even care much about the rest.
 

Evolved1

make sure the pudding isn't too soggy but that just ruins everything
This is going to sound absurd... but I stopped playing ME when they forced the player to have a stupid-looking heavy weapon on their back at all times. Just annoyed me so much lol.
 
One thing I considered earlier,

If they left around ME2-ish timeline wise — shouldn't this mean that the Ai Krogans still have the Genophage?

Make Marketing Great Again!

Seriously though, why is Daddy Ryder so central in the visual marketing of Andromeda? Will we play as him for a long period of time? Why is he on the cover of the game and in the wallpapers?

I'm assuming that its from the current trend in games where you have a section where you are fully powered/levelled at the beginning of the game so they can do tutorials / demos etc. But also narratively they need a seasoned veteran as the "leader" of a project like the Andromeda Initiative for plausibility reasons.
 

Big Nikus

Member
Do we know who is composing the Soundtrack?

No, they want keep that as secret for now.

I posted this in the Community thread last month but I'll share it again :
https://youtu.be/fxOYT2X7X-A
And more here:
https://loudr.fm/release/otherworldly/KrXCp

These are two tracks composed for a personal project of Sam Hulick (co-composer for the trilogy - we owe him "Uncharted Worlds"). It sounds so good, I'd love to hear stuff like this in Andromeda, it's very reminiscent of the first ME.
Description of the project:
Otherworldly is a sci-fi flavored production, created in the spirit of planetary exploration and discovering new, wondrous worlds.

I really, really hope he's back for Andromeda.
The biggest let down for me yesterday was that we didn't hear any good piece of music in the trailer. Just random "PRRRRONNN" trumpet noises already heard in a million of other trailers. I'm sick of that sound in trailers, it should only be used for parody at this point.
 

Ivory Samoan

Gold Member
One thing I considered earlier,

If they left around ME2-ish timeline wise — shouldn't this mean that the Ai Krogans still have the Genophage?

I've thought about this too; I'm thinking they can get round this using some round tech in Andromeda: makes sense (in a nonsensical, shoe-horned in kind of way) :)
 
A lot of you are asking about the lack of pause and play and powers as well as the conversation cameras.

From what I'm told, you can pause and switch weapons or use consumable items but powers are now in real time.

Concerning the camera being zoomed out like many conversations in DAI, there are some like that in the game but they're not nearly as plentiful. Most are your old fashioned up close convos.
 
A lot of you are asking about the lack of pause and play and powers as well as the conversation cameras.

From what I'm told, you can pause and switch weapons or use consumable items but powers are now in real time.

Concerning the camera being zoomed out like many conversations in DAI, there are some like that in the game but they're not nearly as plentiful. Most are your old fashioned up close convos.

What about squad commands?
 
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