Mass Effect: Andromeda

If there's a save import feature, it's probably going to be like the Dragon Age Keep.

Makes the most sense that way, especially if you no longer have the game console the save files were kept on. Which is exactly my situation - I sold my Xbox 360 to a friend, but never bothered with preserving the data on the hard drive since I knew I'd probably never get the chance to re-use any of it again.

Don't forget backwards compat in the Xbox One.

So can we expect a Commander Ryder Is Such A Jerk video after the game comes out?

I highly doubt s/he will be a Commander. Shepard was a Commander (...despite the fact that s/he was way overqualified for the rank - or for any military rank below "Living God(dess)" anyway), so I think this one will be...something else. Captain, LT, Major or Colonel. Something that sounds badass but isn't Commander.

edited 8th Nov '15 8:28:45 AM by Julep

"Commander" is a catch-all term, really.

Commander is the Naval equivalent of Major and the Naval equivalent of Colonel is Captain so those are right out.

"Commander Ryder" wouldn't work, IMO. Comparing the new protagonist to Shepard might not endear them to fans.

Yeah, the Keep is a damn fine parallel of what we should expect.

Actually, considering that Shepard probably has little influence on the plot of Andromeda, it could use the KOTOR 2 conversational method, just by having the player during the dialog mention Shep was male/female and what his eventual role in the Reaper War was.

Holy shit. I got it.

That ship was launched DURING the Reaper War, and was basically a contingency plan for in the Reapers won, large segments of race, enough to have viable populations to reproduce, to find new lives in a different galaxy where the Reapers didn't exist, and that was Shepard's send off to them as they went in cryo for the 80 year trek to Andromeda during whatever FTL method.

edited 8th Nov '15 9:02:02 AM by AnotherGuy

If you rank your protagonist as "Commander", then it will always be compared to Shepard, who kind of is one of the most famous fictional Commanders there is. I don't think all the writers want is for Ryder to be constantly reminded that s/he is not Shepard by the players. If you start anew, you might as well be as different as possible.

Vega is a LT and a possible N7 recruit, so Ryder could be so too.

edited 8th Nov '15 9:22:47 AM by Julep

To be honest I just used Commander just because I didn't know what else to write due to little information... Well, at least this brought some game discussion rather than one over a compilation of a Renegade funny moments video.

Just so you know, a leader of a troop is always a Commander, regardless of military rank. Same goes with a ship's Captain.

People have suggested that the Mass Effect equivalent to the Keep would be something like 'Mass Effect: Data Files" or something equally si-fi.

Alot of people on Tumblr have made 'Tiles' for the ME Love Interests already.

Don't they have that "N7 HQ" thing? Maybe they could integrate that with the Mass Effect equivalent of the Keep.

I just want the Mass Effect IOS datapad back. :`(

RYDER? YOU MEAN BLAST HARDCHEESE?!?!?

The lead writer left Bioware to return to Bungie

The project lead also left Bioware in December for reasons unknown.

The optimistic interpretation is that the writing is done, so they lead writer is no longer needed. The pessimistic interpretation is Troubled Production.

Also, according to an EA shareholder conference, MEA's release window is December 2016 to March 2017.

If nothing solid surfaces by the end of April, I think we can take that as a sign of trouble.

Nothing official but there has been a leak involving a marketing survey:

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2016-03-30-mass-effect-andromeda-marketing-survey-leaks

Some interesting points: we are the invaders - fighting an indigenous species who are "deadly". Not sure how you can be the clean cut hero when you're actively fighting people who were there already...

The usual staples are there - Salarians, Asari etc. But as part of the invasion / colonistation

Seems to be they're trying for a seamless approach, but whether that is just marketing speak or means actual vehicle piloting / landing isn't known.

The rest of it reads like typical marketing - "draw your weapon", "Humanity's survival!" - seems to be still fairly combat focused and driving the human-centric themes of ME 3 to a point, But some tidbits at least.

I'm reaaaaaally hoping that that description turns out to be a headfake. A straight Manifest Destiny plot in this day and age is... yeah

Could be really good, and would make for a great explanation as to why the promo artwork has shown Cerberus making a comeback. Besides, Andromeda isn't "ours" so to speak, and if their level of technological development is similar to ours then it's almost certain that we're gonna end up encroaching on somebody else's territory.

It could also turn out that habitable planets are indeed rare in Andromeda for some reason, or that circumstances are forcing the colonists to mirror U.S. history in a dark way. Ex. the colonists at Plymouth started off being raided by the native Americans, which in turn caused them to take an aggressive stance against them, followed by military expeditions, followed by ethnic cleansings, followed by further expansion, followed by further native aggression, etc.

Please, no. This series doesn't need any more Cerberus bullshit.

Either that or somebody else ends up taking the role of Cerberus. Human vs human conflict is far too tempting to pass up for most writers, and would allow them to cheat with the mo-cap animations (no concerns about a lack of or additional appendages, odd facial movements, odd body motions, etc). Can't do the human pirate/rouge route either, since why the heck would anybody wanna go solo in a potential extinction event?

I have no problem with human vs human conflict, I have a problem with Cerberus. As for why someone might want to go solo in a potential extinction event: because its a potential extinction event. Despair Event Horizon and stuff.

edited 30th Mar '16 11:46:32 PM by TheAirman