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 Frankenberry wrote:

 Kanluwen wrote:



Don't need to say anything more. Great to see some concepts realized finally.

What concepts?

Some unreleased material from the ME3 multiplayer. That Pathfinder armor and the UAV/drone that was getting "thrown" airborne?

That was part of a multiplayer pack that never was finalized or materialized because of the launch of the next-gen consoles. It was going to be 20ish new characters from what I was told at the time.
The Pathfinder armor and the UAV were for the N7 "Ranger" Infiltrator. The Drone was going to be something they launched and which could mark enemy units and generate a continuous scan pulse for your team. Could also be piloted by the Ranger themselves and gain offensive tools in the form of a rapid fire cannon ala the Cerberus turret or a 'bomb' loadout where it could rain Cluster Bombs(read: what the N7 Destroyer had) on the field that had varying charges(some had Fire, Cryo, Electric, etc) so they could detonate or prime for powers.

Please don't ask for more details, as I can't discuss that. I don't have the same in with the BioWare studio that I used to, nor do I have access to all of my old information from that timeframe.

Just can leave you with that bit. The remaining information was all technical information, nothing exciting.

Also, it looks like it's legitimately hundreds of years in the future (from the ME trilogy) - that's an interesting choice, since it looks like they decided to keep the same tech, weapons, and overall ship design.

Again, there's a reason for that.

It's a slow colony ship. The Andromeda Initiative launched the ship 600 years prior to the game. That puts us smack dab at the start of the Reaper War it seems.

Additionally, those Cerberus ties are looking more and more likely now. Not many places could create a Normandy like vessel...

Could it be perhaps another galaxy where AI "won" and there's no reapers?

I get the impression that the slow-colony ship was launched before the Reaper War (I still think between ME1 and ME2 myself), perhaps as part of a "hey everyone, lets get all the species to work together" idea (or hey... an initiative) - So they send delegates from all the major races.

Naturally, technology hasn't 'really' advanced for them, because they've spent the past few centuries, well, unconscious.

Maybe the game is set a generation or so after 'seeding' this new galaxy (where the original AI who conquered it are woken up due to shenanigans).

Or even just a few years.

The Hyperion, would be the equivalent of the Citadel and all the races have their own enclaves in different planets of the galaxy.

Mass Effect Andromeda: Deluxe Edition Product Description wrote:
Deluxe includes: Pathfinder Casual Outfit, Scavenger Armor, Pathfinder Elite Weapon Set (4), Pet Pyjak (Monkey), Digital Soundtrack, Multiplayer Deluxe Launch Pack $5 Value
Battle like never before. New additions like destructible environments, boosted jumps for added verticality, and all-new weapons and Biotics make combat more thrilling than ever
With amazing weapons, powers and tech, and much more flexible skill and weapon progression tree-you can replicate your play style to make you unstoppable against new, powerful alien enemies

YAY! MULTIPLAYER!

 Compel wrote:
Could it be perhaps another galaxy where AI "won" and there's no reapers?

I get the impression that the slow-colony ship was launched before the Reaper War (I still think between ME1 and ME2 myself), perhaps as part of a "hey everyone, lets get all the species to work together" idea (or hey... an initiative) - So they send delegates from all the major races.

Naturally, technology hasn't 'really' advanced for them, because they've spent the past few centuries, well, unconscious.

Maybe the game is set a generation or so after 'seeding' this new galaxy (where the original AI who conquered it are woken up due to shenanigans).

Or even just a few years.

The Hyperion, would be the equivalent of the Citadel and all the races have their own enclaves in different planets of the galaxy.

Yes, exactly even though its 600 years in the future they'd still have the same tech from ME3. I think we might have a run in with some of the locals of Andromeda. There's probably aliens there and they would see the Milky Wayers as invaders.

 Kanluwen wrote:

Additionally, those Cerberus ties are looking more and more likely now. Not many places could create a Normandy like vessel...

I find it highly unlikely that Cerberus is behind this. For something of this size, Cerberus probably would have encouraged a human-only crew. But there are Milky Way non-humans visible in the trailer - at least two Asari, and one salarian. And as for who might create a new Normandy-like vessel... remember that the SR1 was built by Earth. Cerberus isn't the only organization that can build a ship like the Normandy.

Not only that but the Normandy was the first ship made as part of an alliance between humanity and the Turbans as a process of repairing ties after the war.

Which is why I have the theory of "go bigger" - and go for a uniting proves of all the council races as the next big endeavour to further sciences and cooperation.

Again, I'm thinking of Stargate Atlantis

 Compel wrote:
Not only that but the Normandy was the first ship made as part of an alliance between humanity and the Turbans as a process of repairing ties after the war.

Which is why I have the theory of "go bigger" - and go for a uniting proves of all the council races as the next big endeavour to further sciences and cooperation.

Again, I'm thinking of Stargate Atlantis

The thing to take into consideration is the website has a timeline. Andromeda Initiative was privately sponsored with no input from Systems Alliance.

 Kanluwen wrote:

Mass Effect Andromeda: Deluxe Edition Product Description wrote:
Deluxe includes: Pathfinder Casual Outfit, Scavenger Armor, Pathfinder Elite Weapon Set (4), Pet Pyjak (Monkey), Digital Soundtrack, Multiplayer Deluxe Launch Pack $5 Value
Battle like never before. New additions like destructible environments, boosted jumps for added verticality, and all-new weapons and Biotics make combat more thrilling than ever
With amazing weapons, powers and tech, and much more flexible skill and weapon progression tree-you can replicate your play style to make you unstoppable against new, powerful alien enemies

YAY! MULTIPLAYER!

Here's hoping it retains it's player base for a bit longer than ME3 did - I LOVED the MP for that game, just could never find any games.

 Frankenberry wrote:

 Kanluwen wrote:

Mass Effect Andromeda: Deluxe Edition Product Description wrote:
Deluxe includes: Pathfinder Casual Outfit, Scavenger Armor, Pathfinder Elite Weapon Set (4), Pet Pyjak (Monkey), Digital Soundtrack, Multiplayer Deluxe Launch Pack $5 Value
Battle like never before. New additions like destructible environments, boosted jumps for added verticality, and all-new weapons and Biotics make combat more thrilling than ever
With amazing weapons, powers and tech, and much more flexible skill and weapon progression tree-you can replicate your play style to make you unstoppable against new, powerful alien enemies

YAY! MULTIPLAYER!

Here's hoping it retains it's player base for a bit longer than ME3 did - I LOVED the MP for that game, just could never find any games.

Really?

Because it was in the top 10 for player activity on XBL for at least a year and a half after its release.

Hell, as of Monday with it becoming a Backwards Compatible title?

I was able to find games in under five minutes!

Were you on PC, PS3, or 360?

 Kanluwen wrote:

 Frankenberry wrote:

 Kanluwen wrote:

Mass Effect Andromeda: Deluxe Edition Product Description wrote:
Deluxe includes: Pathfinder Casual Outfit, Scavenger Armor, Pathfinder Elite Weapon Set (4), Pet Pyjak (Monkey), Digital Soundtrack, Multiplayer Deluxe Launch Pack $5 Value
Battle like never before. New additions like destructible environments, boosted jumps for added verticality, and all-new weapons and Biotics make combat more thrilling than ever
With amazing weapons, powers and tech, and much more flexible skill and weapon progression tree-you can replicate your play style to make you unstoppable against new, powerful alien enemies

YAY! MULTIPLAYER!

Here's hoping it retains it's player base for a bit longer than ME3 did - I LOVED the MP for that game, just could never find any games.

Really?

Because it was in the top 10 for player activity on XBL for at least a year and a half after its release.

Hell, as of Monday with it becoming a Backwards Compatible title?

I was able to find games in under five minutes!

Were you on PC, PS3, or 360?

360.

I realized that at the time I was working 3rd shift and I'm not sure how their matchmaking works (most games have theirs based on locale), so it could have just been bad timing on my part.

But now with the back-compat on the Xbone, I think I'll give it another try - is the installation permanent, i.e. until I remove the files? I only ask because after I installed another back-compat game and removed the disc, the installation disappeared.

Was on PC, could play the game perfectly fine last week and found matches quickly and easily.

Ya, ME3 multiplayer was huge. I don't even like multiplayer and i played quite a bit of it. Never didn't get a match once.

I thought this video might be of interest.

The second half of it is the same cinematic trailer that's already been linked. But the first half is some background on the Andromeda Initiative.





A few items -

- The founder of the Initiative is apparently human (though since we never see under her helmet, she might be an Asari).
- There are four "Ark" vessels. Each ark is crewed by a different alien species, and each is supposed to locate a world will make a suitable colony world for the ship's crew.
- There's a fifth vessel, referred to as the "Nexus". Presumably the Nexus is supposed to act as the central coordinating hub for the members of the Initiative.
- The trip from the Milky Way to Andromeda is confirmed to take 600 years.


The other alien races that are crewing the Ark vessels aren't identified in the video. The three Citadel Council races make the most sense. That begs the question of whether Bioware is going to not include any other races - including the Quarrian (who are popular among the playerbase). But nothing rules out the possibility of other races providing small contingents that travel onboard the Nexus.

I can't see them cutting it down to just the humans, Asari, Turians and Salarians. In fact, I think one of the earlier trailers had at least one Krogan in it, and I doubt the Quarians are going anywhere. Geth are almost certainly out, and I don't really expect to see Batarians, Volus, Hanar or any of the other minor races, but the Krogan and Quarians are too iconic to sideline.

Thinking about it, I can see why there wouldn't be Quarian or Krogan arks though; assuming this takes place before ME3, the Krogan aren't in need of a home as they're still dying out, and the Quarians are a spacebound race anyway, they don't need a new homeworld as they still expect to retake Rannoch from the Geth. I imagine some will leave aboard the Nexus (which looks to be this game's Citadel) simply out of curiosity, desperation in the face of Reaper invasion or just because they want to be a part of this.

Interesting that the trailer mentioned establishing colonies and engaging in diplomacy between the vehicle and combat training, almost suggests those are going to factor into the game mechanics. I'd love to see a 'settlement' system where you can establish a colony yourself and have to manage that, and a greater focus on negotiation (as a skill equally weighted with combat rather than just a narrative device) would be cool.

They better have all the races in it. I love all the different species in ME. Seems unlikely there would be any Geth though even Krogans seems pretty unlikely.

I imagine that given the love the playerbase has shown for all of the ME races, most, if not all, will make an appearance. Maybe not in great numbers, like the humans, but certainly in some specialized role.

The more and more I hear/read about this story, the less inclined I believe it to be before ME3. I mean there's still room for it to work (and would explain why the races were so unprepared for the Reapers - outside of their arrogance, given the scope of this undertaking), but I feel it makes more sense post-ME3.

Doesn't matter, the hype train is boarding, and I'm sitting in first class.

 Frankenberry wrote:
I imagine that given the love the playerbase has shown for all of the ME races, most, if not all, will make an appearance. Maybe not in great numbers, like the humans, but certainly in some specialized role.

The more and more I hear/read about this story, the less inclined I believe it to be before ME3. I mean there's still room for it to work (and would explain why the races were so unprepared for the Reapers - outside of their arrogance, given the scope of this undertaking), but I feel it makes more sense post-ME3.

Doesn't matter, the hype train is boarding, and I'm sitting in first class.

You don't have to believe it or not. There's a timeline on the website that lays everything out.

The Andromeda Initiative launches(as in the Arks and the Nexus begin their journey) in 2185--that is pre-ME3.
It then takes 600 years for the ships to finally arrive, putting you at so far post-ME3 that you're going to be starting fresh with everyone but the longest lived alien races, even if we weren't looking at a whole new galaxy.

Who wants to bet Liara shows up in some sort of communication from the Milky Way? She's young enough to live 600 years more, right?

Yeah, she was 'only' 50 in Mass Effect 1. At 650 or so, she'll be maybe starting to think about considering a midlife crisis or raising her Shepard asari babies...

I do wonder if there will be any kind of communcation between the Andromeda lot and the original civilisations. The fact they had instantaneous galaxy-wide comms in the original trilogy would suggest distance certainly isn't a problem with their quantum entanglement systems, but I wonder if that'll extend to the next galaxy over or whether they'll keep it entirely separate just for the sake of simplicity and to create the 'frontier' feel.

I wouldn't mind a Liara cameo, it's the most simple and logical way to call back to the originals and wouldn't tread on the toes of any individual playthrough, as so far as I know, she can't die in any ending other than the 'do nothing, and everyone is screwed' one, which I'd assume very few people left as their actual end.

Well, one of the endings of the game did have the Reapers kill everyone.

Bit of info on one of the new races:

One of the Mass Effect devs was kind enough to retweet a fan-created graphic of the timeline for Mass Effect.

 Kanluwen wrote:
One of the Mass Effect devs was kind enough to retweet a fan-created graphic of the timeline for Mass Effect.

Well that certainly explains a few things.

I might have missed it somewhere, but do any of the novels or game aides mention this expedition anywhere?

Edit: Maybe I'm stupid (chances are one of you will point this out), but what's with the diverging red/blue/green timeline choices for the end of the Reaper War and the main timeline choice where the galaxy is cleansed? Is this sort of a 'what you chose will be the background for Andromeda' kind of thing or is Bioware saying that regardless of your choice, everyone loses?

The Andromeda Initiative is never mentioned. Which, IMO, leads a bit more towards supporting my bit about Cerberus involvement.

The red/blue/green timeline is the end of the Reaper War(aka: Shepherd's War)...but the bit in 2386 is a bit interesting to figure it out.

 Kanluwen wrote:
The Andromeda Initiative is never mentioned. Which, IMO, leads a bit more towards supporting my bit about Cerberus involvement.

The red/blue/green timeline is the end of the Reaper War(aka: Shepherd's War)...but the bit in 2386 is a bit interesting to figure it out.

The colors match up to the endings in ME3 that are based on which option Shepherd chooses. There's a fourth option, though - i.e. Shepherd never makes a choice and the Reapers kill everyone. I'm pretty sure that the main timeline branch (i.e. the one that isn't a new color after 2186) is meant to represent that option. Presumably it takes the Reapers 200 years after winning the battle at Earth to finish wiping out the various sentient species in the Milky Way Galaxy.

Well I guess all Civilizations were destroyed in ME3 just through the carnage of The Reaper War regardless of which ending you chose. That does''t mean there's no intelligent life left just Civilization as they all knew it has been destroyed.

Well, it would certainly nuke the chances of encountering any of the main characters from the ME trilogy if BioWare runs with the Reapers win/Fallout from the war destroys the remaining races.

Although, I don't think they'd do that.

I just get such a mass sense of:

"We ****ed up the ending of Mass Effect 3, so we're going to ignore it entirely" situation. - Lots of Undrentide flashbacks with this one.

 KamikazeCanuck wrote:
Well I guess all Civilizations were destroyed in ME3 just through the carnage of The Reaper War regardless of which ending you chose. That does''t mean there's no intelligent life left just Civilization as they all knew it has been destroyed.

?

That's only in the "Shepherd didn't stop the Reapers" ending. Note how the dot on the timeline associated with that particular event is only on the base timeline, and not on any of the ones that match up to the infamous three colors. It evidently takes 200 years for the Reapers to finish their sweep of the Milky Way (and the fact that the "reaping" takes a while has been alluded to as far back as the original game).



Edit - Not that the state of the galaxy at the end of the Reaper invasion is likely to make much difference. The only communication system that *might* work between the Milky Way and Andromeda Galaxies is the quantum entanglement system. And that requires very specific devices on each end that are essentially linked specifically to each other and only to each other. It wouldn't be that big of a leap to guess that even if Shepherd stops the Reapers, any quantum entanglement devices that could communicate with the Andromeda Initiative were destroyed during the chaos of the Reaper attacks.