Mass Effect New Mass Effect confirmed

[J1M]

Bioware still existing in 2029 seems like a bit of a stretch.

EA's killed equally popular companies for less than what Bioware's done and it's anyone's guess why they're still a company. ME3 and Inquisition may've been qualitatively shit but at least they sold well. Andromeda and Anthem sold poorly, everyone hated them, their next big game's in development hell, and yet Bioware shambles on.

What if I told you the salaries of Edmonton game developers are a rounding error and that the Montreal ones are subsidized 40% by the government? That the only real cost of a bioware game is the marketing?

 

[Cohesion]

Free gibs out of nowhere? Sign me up!

 

[HammyTheFat]

Andromeda's biggest problem was that the party members were so forgettable.

Did you mean to say insufferable?

I made it 30 minutes into andromeda before I uninstalled it. The dialogue is so terrible I couldnt justify continuing.

 

[La vie sexuelle]

Andromeda's biggest problem was that the party members were so forgettable.

Did you mean to say insufferable?

I made it 30 minutes into andromeda before I uninstalled it. The dialogue is so terrible I couldnt justify continuing.

Ironically, closer to the end, the dialogue, characters, and plot get a little better. But they weren't worth playing through the entire game.

 

[Atlantico]

It's time to wake up Commander Shepherd, a new crew of diverse and inclusive newbies are ready to scold you and piss on everything you sacrificed for previously.

Even Bioware's idiot management knows they are very close to losing their jobs. Of course there will be a lot of woke stuff, but even they are not stupid enough to deliberately shit on previous games. If they overdo it, they can be sure that EA will kill the studio, unless it does so after the failure of Dreadwolf.

After the success of Baldur's Gate 3 I'm sure no effort will be spared to top its depravity. I also recall nobody in mainstream media dared complain about wokeness in Andromeda, just about its bugs and poor writing.

That aside I'm sure they want to make a good game, but that doesn't mean they'll be able to. Those that once were good may have left the company, or lost their inspiration, and those that are idiots certainly won't fire themselves.

Being woke was the least of Andromeda's problems.

Andromeda's biggest problem was that the party members were so forgettable. The companions are a core part of a Mass Effect experience, and they just weren't particularly memorable.

I have attempted 2 Andromeda playthroughs (one I was probably about 90% complete and burned out, and the other I burned out around 50-60% of the way through) over the years and even now I am having trouble even providing a critique about what specifically was wrong with the companions because they made so little of an impression on me I barely remember them.

I agree with that observation, however it is not *only* because they're bland and uninteresting, thought that's a contributing factor to many of them. The devs are trying to give these characters a long character arc and introduction. Contrast that to the original ME characters/sidekicks.

So in the original ME the characters had surprisingly little depth, they had archetypes. You didn't have to get to know them to know them, after their introduction you knew them. In MEA it is not like that, but that doesn't mean that their attempt at depth is interesting or successful. It's a mixed bag.

Characters like Peebee are actually quite deep and well thought out. The Krogan is a really nice character, he's an old veteran who has seen some shit that would turn you white. I like him. Granted the Angara character is just not good and the Turian is so smart and cool but she is never shown to be smart and cool. They just keep telling us she is. A mixed bag indeed.

It needed to hit it out of the park, instead it was a mixed bag. The writing in MEA is mostly serviceable with rather dramatic peaks and valleys, but the gameplay and game design is excellent. I still cannot explain the hatred it got, because everything it was criticized for and I mean everything should have been said about DAI — a singularity of shit. MEA was fine. Best sequel the original ever got.

 

[Atlantico]

No, the line between Spectre and Commander Shepard with a gun is really thin.

The line between 007 and a crazy lunatic is really thin. But it is meaningful. They fucked it up from ME2 and ME3 which is why those games ruined the franchise.

 

[normie]

ME2 was juvenile from the go. To kill and resurrect Shepard just for the sake of a metaphor about how the sequel's made by different people than the original, and as a weird ritual to assert ownership of the series going forward, set the tone for the retarded shit to come.

 

[Atlantico]

I would probably also cut out planetary "exploration" in their place after ME1, unless I would get some super great idea on how to make it better and not just "drive clockwise around the map" busywork interrupted by some very annoying steep mountains. It was plain shit, I fully replayed ME1 I think at least 5 times and endured the "exploration" somehow, and I loathe the "exploration" utterly. There's no navigational challenge, you can't find hidden shit accidentally, it's just busywork to mark off minerals/insignia/writings on a checklist.

Disagree because it was totally optional. It was just there if you wanted to do it and you didn't even have to commit to all of it. It is a chore if you don't like it and are a completionist I suppose, but I found the exploration real fun and interesting. Loved to see it back in MEA.

A teaser:

They made the character look like Daft Punk and they still won’t go back to the synth score of the first game.

They did in MEA

 

[Atlantico]

Yeah, stakes were lower, but I would say not everything needs to be the "save the universe" type of deal and I thought that the initial mystery of whole colonies getting kidnapped for unknown reasons was p. well done and contributed to the atmosphere nicely.

I agree, but i think the Reaper threat should have ended with ME1. ME2's storyline is fine as it is, but instead of the Collectors doing the kidnapping they could have made it the Batarians, Cerberus, or one of the Terminus Systems factions. ME3 could have focused on preventing a galactic war from breaking out the the Terminus Systems.

I agree, the Reaper threat should have been put on ice. There's a whole galaxy to explore. Hundreds of inactive gates. So many opportunities and perhaps the Reaper plot could have been subtly woven into the background for a re-introduction some five or six sequels down the road. If ever. But the ME series shouldn't be about the Reapers. That's so much wasted potential.

 

[Clockwork Knight]

ME2 was juvenile from the go. To kill and resurrect Shepard just for the sake of a metaphor about how the sequel's made by different people than the original, and as a weird ritual to assert ownership of the series going forward, set the tone for the retarded shit to come.

It's to make Shepard/the player feel indebted to Cerberus. Also provides a good excuse for splitting the party.

 

[normie]

ME2 was juvenile from the go. To kill and resurrect Shepard just for the sake of a metaphor about how the sequel's made by different people than the original, and as a weird ritual to assert ownership of the series going forward, set the tone for the retarded shit to come.

It's to make Shepard/the player feel indebted to Cerberus. Also provides a good excuse for splitting the party.

That's just what the plot becomes after the art fart. The contrivance came first.

 

[J1M]

It's time to wake up Commander Shepherd, a new crew of diverse and inclusive newbies are ready to scold you and piss on everything you sacrificed for previously.

Even Bioware's idiot management knows they are very close to losing their jobs. Of course there will be a lot of woke stuff, but even they are not stupid enough to deliberately shit on previous games. If they overdo it, they can be sure that EA will kill the studio, unless it does so after the failure of Dreadwolf.

After the success of Baldur's Gate 3 I'm sure no effort will be spared to top its depravity. I also recall nobody in mainstream media dared complain about wokeness in Andromeda, just about its bugs and poor writing.

That aside I'm sure they want to make a good game, but that doesn't mean they'll be able to. Those that once were good may have left the company, or lost their inspiration, and those that are idiots certainly won't fire themselves.

Being woke was the least of Andromeda's problems.

Andromeda's biggest problem was that the party members were so forgettable. The companions are a core part of a Mass Effect experience, and they just weren't particularly memorable.

I have attempted 2 Andromeda playthroughs (one I was probably about 90% complete and burned out, and the other I burned out around 50-60% of the way through) over the years and even now I am having trouble even providing a critique about what specifically was wrong with the companions because they made so little of an impression on me I barely remember them.

I agree with that observation, however it is not *only* because they're bland and uninteresting, thought that's a contributing factor to many of them. The devs are trying to give these characters a long character arc and introduction. Contrast that to the original ME characters/sidekicks.

So in the original ME the characters had surprisingly little depth, they had archetypes. You didn't have to get to know them to know them, after their introduction you knew them. In MEA it is not like that, but that doesn't mean that their attempt at depth is interesting or successful. It's a mixed bag.

Characters like Peebee are actually quite deep and well thought out. The Krogan is a really nice character, he's an old veteran who has seen some shit that would turn you white. I like him. Granted the Angara character is just not good and the Turian is so smart and cool but she is never shown to be smart and cool. They just keep telling us she is. A mixed bag indeed.

It needed to hit it out of the park, instead it was a mixed bag. The writing in MEA is mostly serviceable with rather dramatic peaks and valleys, but the gameplay and game design is excellent. I still cannot explain the hatred it got, because everything it was criticized for and I mean everything should have been said about DAI — a singularity of shit. MEA was fine. Best sequel the original ever got.

When your characters are just subversions of other characters, the outcome is guaranteed.

 

[Jaesun]

I liked the premise they were going with Andromeda (lets go back when humanity is populating the stars). And then well.... that was that. I still have a teeny tiny bit of interest in where they are going with this.

 

[Caim]

I liked the premise they were going with Andromeda (lets go back when humanity is populating the stars). And then well.... that was that. I still have a teeny tiny bit of interest in where they are going with this.

I too want to see where they're going with this, but I'm fairly certain they won't be catering to Bioware's strengths.

 

[Iucounu]

So in the original ME the characters had surprisingly little depth, they had archetypes. You didn't have to get to know them to know them, after their introduction you knew them. In MEA it is not like that, but that doesn't mean that their attempt at depth is interesting or successful. It's a mixed bag.

Characters like Peebee are actually quite deep and well thought out.

Some MEA characters seem like archetypes as well. PeeBee seems like a good example of an archetypical "modern woman" in American entertainment (and as such completely unlikeable).

The Krogan is a really nice character, he's an old veteran who has seen some shit that would turn you white. I like him.

I though he was boring and just looked silly with those bone trophies. At least he didn't speak with an effeminate voice like some of the other male(?) Krogans in MEA.

the Turian is so smart and cool but she is never shown to be smart and cool.

That too sounds like an archetypical "strong woman" in modern American entertainment.

They just keep telling us she is.

The same could be said about the Krogan's history (or maybe I just forgot all about it). I recall he mostly discussed his grandchildren during the endless car rides.

The writing in MEA is mostly serviceable with rather dramatic peaks and valleys, but the gameplay and game design is excellent.

Shooting mechanics were OK. Weapon upgrades allowed for some real experimentation in rare cases, like starting with a pistol design and modding it into a decent submachine gun (some untapped potential there, perhaps).

But space travel required too many boring loading screens (with associated cutscenes), which was not a good combination with boring trips across the galaxy just so the female merc could show her new rose garden, and similar silly quests.

Exploration was awful/nonexistent. Boring driving on mostly empty planets to the next quest marker, with little to see or do (as usual when driving ground vehicles in games) except listening to the boring NPC conversations.

 

[Rhobar121]

Removing boring planet exploration in ME2 was the best possible decision.
They knew they couldn't make it enjoyable and worth their time, so instead of wasting time and resources on something that would be crap, they decided to focus on other elements.
If not, they would probably have to cut out some of the missions, companions or other elements and the chance that the game would be better is small.

As ME:A and DA:I and in some ways even Starfield show that exploration for exploration's sake adds nothing to the game unless the game provides a lot of interesting content that you can actually explore.
Exploration in ME:A is almost identical to ME1 (boring as hell), except that you cannot fight from a vehicle.

 

[Silverfish]

The writing in MEA is mostly serviceable with rather dramatic peaks and valleys, but the gameplay and game design is excellent.

Andromeda is underrated in that regard, especially with how freeform and versatile character building was. There was a video series (sadly taken down due to copyright nonsense) where this guy went through the entire game, blind, without ever firing a shot.

 

[Atlantico]

Some MEA characters seem like archetypes as well. PeeBee seems like a good example of an archetypical "modern woman" in American entertainment (and as such completely unlikeable).

Modern woman sure, but not the archetype. I don't think modern writers are capable of writing something they don't know, but Beebee is not an archetype. That's just a meme. The Turian is an archetype modern stronk wimmen. That's a great example of one. Once again, the haters latched on Beebee as if she was going to be another Sera from DAI.

I though he was boring and just looked silly with those bone trophies.

They all do look boring and that's a problem, I agree. It doesn't mean they are boring if you give them time to present their character. While the original ME characters were all archetypes and you knew exactly what they were from the moment they were introduced. That just is not the case with all MEA characters.

But space travel required too many boring loading screens (with associated cutscenes), which was not a good combination with boring trips across the galaxy just so the female merc could show her new rose garden, and similar silly quests.

That's how the game makes the world seem larger than it is. It's a trope you either accept and lean into or you hate it and there's no cure except whatever ADD drug you need. Mass Effect is a slow-paced game. You walk to your spaceship. You need to cross a hall to do it. Enter an elevator. Wait until elevator arrives. Go through another hall and into your ship.

And so on. That's Mass Effect. I totally understand you don't like it, but then Mass Effect is not the game for you. It just isn't.

Exploration was awful/nonexistent. Boring driving on mostly empty planets to the next quest marker, with little to see or do (as usual when driving ground vehicles in games) except listening to the boring NPC conversations.

It's better than the original ME, but I'm not going to defend it. It's just a straight upgrade from what we had before in the Original ME.

 

[HammyTheFat]

Andromeda's biggest problem was that the party members were so forgettable.

Did you mean to say insufferable?

I made it 30 minutes into andromeda before I uninstalled it. The dialogue is so terrible I couldnt justify continuing.

Ironically, closer to the end, the dialogue, characters, and plot get a little better. But they weren't worth playing through the entire game.

How long would have to play to get a companion that doesnt want to make me blow my brains out with their quips.

 

[Caim]

Ironically, closer to the end, the dialogue, characters, and plot get a little better. But they weren't worth playing through the entire game.

The ol' reliable "it gets good 50 hours in".

 

[La vie sexuelle]

Ironically, closer to the end, the dialogue, characters, and plot get a little better. But they weren't worth playing through the entire game.

The ol' reliable "it gets good 50 hours in".

I didn't write that the game was getting good. I only wrote that the end is better than the beginning.

 

[Ryzer]

Ironically, closer to the end, the dialogue, characters, and plot get a little better. But they weren't worth playing through the entire game.

The ol' reliable "it gets good 50 hours in".

I didn't write that the game was getting good. I only wrote that the end is better than the beginning.

Here is a hot take : Mass Effect is shit from beginning to end.

 

[La vie sexuelle]

Ironically, closer to the end, the dialogue, characters, and plot get a little better. But they weren't worth playing through the entire game.

The ol' reliable "it gets good 50 hours in".

I didn't write that the game was getting good. I only wrote that the end is better than the beginning.

Here is a hot take : Mass Effect is shit from beginning to end.

There are different quality of shits, never forget that.

 

[Kem0sabe]

Lots of edgy shit posting about the ME trilogy... But it's still the only space opera we have in gaming, there's nothing like it.

I would have thought the sub genre would be a gold mine for RPGs and action adventure games, but sadly scifi is has long taken a back seat to fantasy.

 

[La vie sexuelle]

Mass Effect is the best space opera of gaming because it is the only one. There is simply no comparison. Therefore, Dragon Age is easier to evaluate because there are many other fantasy RPGs.