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Mass Effect Gameplay Impressions Game Informer Show First hour spoilers

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cleveridea

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Game informer impressions, first hour spoilers

Surprised how much it looked and felt like Mass Effect despite all the changes like no classes, no paragon/renegade, more open world angle. Developed by 3 studios, ie helped by 2. They saw the first hour of the game, early state.

Reminded of first ME your on a ship with humans going down to a planet, ie not a large group of aliens together at the start as per ME1. Easy setting for people that haven't played the prior trilogy, eases people into the world.

Strong sense of ME1, new beginning, new vehicle nomad (vs mako) skill progression reminds of ME1 in being more complex with a broad spectrum of abilities to choose from all classes, in game respec due to the Arc having examplar pathfinder (that role has special abilities to reconfigure their skillset)

Twins default sarah and scott ryder can choose how both twins and the father look, storyline of twin becomes important later in the game, and can interact and converse with twin, and a ryder family mystery part of the plot

"oh this is dragon inquisition" comment after walking out of the bioware office, due to top level philosophical level approach with open world gameplay elements, more places to explore, more optional content, squad loyalty missions which are optional and dont affect ending, entire planets optional but looks like fewer planets than ME1 but are large like dragon age size levels and provide a large level of variety

nomad is exploration only (no guns) and team talks to each other as you drive, team consulted with need for speed team for the driving. they saw a planet, surprised how big it was, sand planet was like ME2 mission where you take damage being in the sun, so can be environment hazard or more localized hazards like acid pool, wildlife and aliens fighting each other, super bosses on certain planets like dragons of DA inquisition where you may have to come back after levelling up

Space "is its own level" - sense of looking out a window to see the planet you are visiting for more continuity, seamless transition from bridge to going there (ie no loading) then drop to the surface, go in nomad and drop is seamless (virtually no loading) for better immersion. Tempest is smaller and more intimate place, no loading and elevators, eg the walk down from bridge to nomad has no interruption

game informer will release a video covering the new alien race the Kett in detail

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uL2RQpyKg04
 
"oh this is dragon inquisition" comment after walking out of the bioware office
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Dr.-Who.gif
 
Good stuff, thanks for this.

That DA comment doesn't bother me, as Mass Effect has completely different mechanics for game-play.
 
Well, I can say I'm much more interested in the ME1 comparisons that the DA:I ones besides, DA:I's approach wasn't all that bad, it was the (optional) collectible fetch quests and rifts that ruined the experience for the most part and BioWare already said they would be avoiding them. If they manage to offer a cool sidequest in each planet it'll be pretty cool.

Sounds good to me.
 
Those ME1 comparisons...

No game has ever nailed the sense of wonder and exploration in the sci-fi sense like Mass Effect.

The dream is real.
 
What did they mean "oh this is dragon age inquisition"? Did the gameplay remind them of DA:I?

I'm probably in denial

edit: sorry misread that
 
A-V-B said:
Dr.-Who.gif
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What's bad about a more open world design with more optional content? I'm sure they've at least tried to take what Dragon Age Inquisition did WELL instead of what they didn't do well. And so far, everything I've heard seems like they're succeeding in that.
 
Heckler456 said:
What's bad about a more open world design with more optional content? I'm sure they've at least tried to take what Dragon Age Inquisition did WELL instead of what they didn't do well. And so far, everything I've heard seems like they're succeeding in that.
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post-38723-Morpheus-show-me-gif-Imgur-KFiG.gif
 
ciddative said:
Not without cause. I vividly remember the hype and promises made pre-DAI, and the disappointment afterward

Here's hoping the multiple dev studios, Mac Walters, and the ease of reskinning DAI don't mess this up
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Yeah plus that first trailer of the game that came out really looked like DAI environments, which makes sense give its using the same engine (frostbite)

Certainly a lot of changes will be there with ME Andromeda, TBD if thats good or bad
 
Unpopular opinion on GAF: I actually like Inquisition so that doesn't bother me. Side stuff is exactly that - side stuff.

It's a shame Mass Effect is still stuck to having the player's only avatar option be a human.
 
Ushay said:
Good stuff, thanks for this.

That DA comment doesn't bother me, as Mass Effect has completely different mechanics for game-play.
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Thanks. I am very optimistic for this game, I mean it could go all wrong but I actually think its good that they are really changing all the basic systems, like no classes for example
 
Wonder in what way about the DA comparisons. I didn't mind the numerous fetch quests to make it seem like they were padding the game play so I took it for what it was. I guess I'll find out for this one. But any ME 1 comparison is also all right by me.
 
the_sun_king said:
Unpopular opinion on GAF: I actually like Inquisition so that doesn't bother me. Side stuff is exactly that - side stuff.

It's a shame Mass Effect is still stuck to having the player's only avatar option be a human.
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1) Afaik you had to do a certain amount of sidestuff to gain power to progress the main story
2) People aren't complaining about sidestuff existing, but about sidestuff being 99% shitty mmo kill 20 enemies, collect 10 shards type of missions with no narrative payoff
 
If they went into this with Inquisition in mind then shit. I can see why they'd do it though. Didn't Inquisition win the game of the year award? That kind accolade propably sells copies so maybe they wanna replicate that?
 
Springfoot said:
Can someone explain what the hell the bolded part means (or what part of the 90 minute video it's in so I can figure it out through context)? It's like nebulous nonspeak, and I have no idea what it's supposed to convey. Or is the "top level philosophical approach" just an artsy-fartsy way of saying standard open world quest fluff we've come to expect from single player AAA?
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The video is clearer. "Top level, philosophically speaking, they seem to be tackling the change from ME3 to ME:A in much the same way that DA2 to DA:I happened, in that they're "opening things up more, more things to do and places to explore, more optional content.""
 
Inquisition is bloated with issues, but man I feel the moment that name is mentioned the response here is instinctively reactionary and blinded and stifled of further discussion. "Inquisition" can mean a ton of different things, good and bad (and horrendous). I don't feel every staple of Inquisitions vertical slice is objectively sour; I like the idea of several large, open-world like playspaces and I feel that fits the Mass Effect setting with great context and relevance. Actually having these spaces is not the problem, it's how they're filled and what leads the player through the game. That was where Inquisition faltered, and funnily enough the opposite is where the original Mass Effect fumbled too. Both have several large playspace zones on planetoids. Mass Effect's were drab and empty and generally pretty lifeless. Inquisition's were bloated and made up of grindy, MMO-lite style checklisting shit.

It sounds to me like Andromeda is just taking the template that was established all the way back in the first bloody game and infusing it with lessons learned from Inquisition, particularly making these zones more interesting but hopefully avoiding the bloat.

I get that it's hard to trust BioWare, but folk should relax until we see the damn game in motion.
 
EatChildren said:
Inquisition is bloated with issues, but man I feel the moment that name is mentioned the response here is instinctively reactionary and blinded and stifled of further discussion. "Inquisition" can mean a ton of different things, good and bad (and horrendous). I don't feel every staple of Inquisitions vertical slice is objectively sour; I like the idea of several large, open-world like playspaces and I feel that fits the Mass Effect setting with great context and relevance. Actually having these spaces is not the problem, it's how they're filled and what leads the player through the game. That was where Inquisition faltered, and funnily enough the opposite is where the original Mass Effect fumbled too. Both have several large playspace zones on planetoids. Mass Effect's were drab and empty and generally pretty lifeless. Inquisition's were bloated and made up of grindy, MMO-lite style checklisting shit.

It sounds to me like Andromeda is just taking the template that was established all the way back in the first bloody game and infusing it with lessons learned from Inquisition, particularly making these zones more interesting but hopefully avoiding the bloat.

I get that it's hard to trust BioWare, but folk should relax until we see the damn game in motion.
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This is easily my biggest fear for this game. Man, I really hope it isn't the case because I can't stand that kind of open-world design. ME deserves better.
 
Dragon Age Inquisition is a blueprint of how not to design open world content. If they really are following that approach then I fully expect each planet to have the same set of filler side "quests" in them:

"Ancient Knowledge: Collect 15 Hidden Alien Cubes"
"Securing the Outback: Kill 40 [Enemy Type]"
"Chain of Command: Eliminate the Four [Enemy Type] Captains"
"A Brave New World: Discover 30 Points of Interest"
"Breaking Ground: Survey 10 Mining Sites"
"Colonial Expansion: Take Over 3 Outposts"

Now if what they meant to say was "we're trying to deliver on what Inquisition was trying to accomplish but failed to do", then sure, let's see what they've come up with. But Inquisition missed the boat so badly that it's hard to imagine how this could possibly be that radically different. Open world design is just a marketing bullet point nowadays; more often than not it just adds empty space and filler rather than meaningful content.
 
Mass Effect 1 uncharted worlds were just like Dragon Age's zones or the checklist content in many other open world games. I never really got the love for it given the vitriol this kind of content receives in other games.

Apparently it is different when you're collecting 8/15 Salarian medallions under a red tinted alien sky to the soothing tune of a synth soundtrack 😂😂.

If they have fixed the mako problem and continue to improve combat I'm not going to be that upset either.

Also Mass Effect 2 forever!
 
Some of those impressions seem contradictory.

"Looks a lot like Mass Effect"
"Oh it's Dragon Age: Inquisition"
 
More DA: I Doesn't really bother me... I got the fuck out of the Hinterlands fast and I don't mind the occasional Fetch Quest. (i say occasional because I am not a completionist and don't feel obligated to doing more filler beyond what I give a shit about)

With that said, none of what was said confirms that it's going to be a Reskinned DA:I. If it feels as much like ME1 as they say it does, I will be more than content.
 
As someone who played all the previous Mass Effects on easy, I don't want more empty places to explore and things to shoot. Less shooting more talking! I wanna explore a city and learn about the complexities of space politics and read the codex. I hope there's enough of that sort of stuff in the game.
 
Interesting to have classes ditched. Having locked in classes was kind of annoying with so few skills, particular if you didn't care for one or more of them (i.e. different ammo types, particular adept skills like shockwave). I like the idea of having all skills available but only opening if you go a particular direction with your build.
 
Tonky said:
Some of those impressions seem contradictory.

"Looks a lot like Mass Effect"
"Oh it's Dragon Age: Inquisition"
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Why not watch the part of the video where he says it is like DA:I or read the parts of the thread that talk about that part of the video?
 
Overall actually this sounds pretty good. Hopefully though they learned from DAI and it's not going to be a complete MMO style collectathon.
 
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