Mass Effect General Discussion (spoilers)

I thought she didn't run away until after he made Ori? I thought that was why she ran away. Because her father was a megalomaniacal narcissist.

I apparently don't remember the order of events in her backstory very well.

"He made Orianna when Miranda ran away." Miranda took a baby Orianna with her when she ran away. It's the entire point of her Loyalty Mission and her issues with Niket.

Hmm. Oops, I guess? I thought Miranda went back for Orianna after she already ran away, but it's been a while.

Oriana was created to be "Miranda but better", basically. Miranda found this to be really bullshitty so she left, abducting Oriana in the process.

It's the entire reason why Niket sold her out to Henry in the first place. Oriana was likely made to replace Miranda, since she was probably starting to become too rebellious, and Miranda enlisted Niket's help to run away, not telling him that she was taking Oriana with her before she dropped Ori off with her new family and joining Cerberus.

No, the reason she left was because she wasn't a person under Henry; she was just another means of him securing his dynasty/legacy, and she was nothing more than a prisoner under him. She didn't want that sort of life for Oriana, so she took her with her when she ran away. She didn't take Oriana just to flip off her father: she took her to give her a better life. If all she cared for was taking away Henry's legacy she could have just shot or abandoned Oriana and freed herself from having to protect a baby.

edited 4th May '17 2:02:49 PM by ITNW1989

See, I thought Miranda only started getting rebellious after she found out about Orianna. She was daddy's little princess before then.

My bad, then. Here's my thought process: I thought Miranda ran first, then used her contacts within Cerberus to abduct Ori after the fact when Henry tried again. But if I'm wrong, I'm wrong.

I wouldn't call her daddy's little princess. That implies that he actually cared for her. He never praised her for anything and just kept moving the goalpost when it came to her achievements, never allowed her any friends or a social life of any kind. Imagine a life like that and tell me you wouldn't resent your own parents, rich or not.

So I used the wrong phrase. The dutiful daughter, then. There was no hint of rebellion in her until she learned she was being replaced.

So you can give Legion away and leave Grunt in the tank. Are there any other "optional" squadmates in 2?

I was specifically wondering if you can choose not to recruit Tali and what happens if you do.

edited 4th May '17 3:31:04 PM by Nikkolas

You only need the pre-Horizon group. It's a set of missions anywhere else that triggers the Collector Ship mission.

You can forget Kasumi if you want to.

Ok, I apologize if this was discussed on the last page, but I skimmed a bit to catch up.

Is Miranda sterile because Henry Lawson did so as a means of controling her? Or was this a big genetic fuck up and the reason Oriana was created?

I feel like either has perfect validity and can make a strong narrative for the character. Heck, it could be an interesting short story. But, unfortunately, it never gets followed up on at any point so we have no answers.

If its a means of control, that could be possible. Miranda was always a strong agent figure and we don't know much about what she DID back when she was with her father. It could be a means of controling Miranda until it became time to create the dynasty he always dreamed and, well, if she can't get pregnant and he's a rather shady individual, I could totally see him using her to sleep with people to steal secrets. Disgusting thought, but its a bit plausable considering what we know of Henry.

Plus, once she leaves him, this means that there's a lasting if not perminant mark of his control in her body and she can't get rid of it and that just sounds ripe for character conflcits, especially if you're someone who romances her.

If its a means of defect, then Oriana's conception (in both ideas of the word) makes more sense too. Miranda wasn't 'perfect' anymore and her clinging to her pride of 'perfection' seems a lot more understandable with that in mind. She was just another asset to be replaced. Thus, within Cerberus, she gets her job done efficently and makes herself completely irreplacable within the organization. She's looking for stability after having experienced something almost destroying her life from completely out of nowhere.

This then brings her relationship with Orianna to a different level. In other narratives, a character like Miranda would probabaly HATE the replacement, but Miranda tries to rescue her. The instantly maternal/Big Sis/Mama Bear relationship she builds with Orianna could be argued in connection with this discovery that she cannot and might never have children of her own.

On one hand, I REALLY like that we have a detail like this with a ton of different implications. On the other, I HATE that it never comes up again. Particuarly when she had jack nothing to do during Mass Effect 3.

You know, a neoplasm is just a benign tumor that developed later in life. Just like a beauty mark, but in the wrong place.

Also, raw genetics aren't everything. Epigenetics are as important, or even moreso.

... Cryo Grenade'd

Wait and see, Kotaku and Youtubers are clickbait incarnate. Updates will continue, DLC maybe, sequels... in a few years if anything.

Sad to see Mass Effect on ice. I loved Mass Effect: Andromeda. Can't wait for the ssequel.

This smacks a little of Amalur all over again - huge expectations, relying on goodwill even with proven uncertainty (With Amalur it was because it was an unknown IP but with celebrity backing; with ME it was after the lukewarm ME 3)

It sounds a little like normal rotation around studios with a bit of a breather around the series sequels to maybe do some analysis.

Except Amalur was a legal and financial quagmire.

This is true - but it equally had very unrealistic sales expectations heaped on it and the IP was then sequestered. Admittedly some of those rights (STILL) reside with New Jersey or whichever US state owns them now...

Rhode Island. And it's not partial. The IP is wholly owned by "the taxpayers of Rhode Island" (in the custody of the government). That should tell you exactly how screwed up that situation was.

Andromeda just failed to live up to expectations. That happens all the time in this business.

Yeah - just how EA set the expectation was a cause. Amalur had all that excess baggage (And I still have no idea how Rhode Island expects anyone to bother stumping up the 125 mil they expect someone to pay for the IP...)

I have a feeling this is standard hiatus, not quite Deus Ex franchise cryo... or what Squeenix are about to do to IO or the Hitman series....

I wonder why Andromeda failed to live up to expectations?

Maybe it had something to do with Bioware going full retard with the people working on it? IE: Someone who has no game experience as one of the heads of the project^note a professional cosplayer, and they weren't on the design team, a writer who straight-up stated in an interview they were more focused on pushing an agenda than writing a good game. Nah, that can't be it....

Or, you know. Maybe because a lot of fans didn't want Andromeda at all?

Wasn't that professional cosplayer just some sort of rumor or something? Like they weren't actually part of dev team

Also, like, I'm pretty sure I have said it twice to you already that quite lot of people actually like the game Or am I supposed to assume that you are "pushing an agenda" or something here?

edited 12th May '17 10:53:40 AM by SpookyMask

I have a feeling that people like it only because it's an entry in a series they like, and not because it's a good game.