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Another MP teaser; showing off the "Bonus Stats". Another dev explained it with this:

This is our "prestige" mechanic. Ex: Playing any character /w the Shields bonus stat can earn you +Shields for ALL your chars, up to a cap.

Also, this for anyone who hated the MP affecting SP in ME3.

MEAMP doesn't impact the SP story like it did in ME3, no. But there are bonus SP rewards which you can earn by playing MP (or other ways).

And another Gameplay Series video focusing on exploration:



The most important thing there obviously being that you can open up the windows on the bridge and see 3d real time space environments around you. That is just so bloody cool.

On the 5th day of MP-mas, the MP dev team gave to you: a new feature in MEA - Missions. Your link between MP/SP. Play & get rewards in both.

but the rewards under 'Pathfinder Rewards' are things you can get to help your pathfinder in SP.

I've read that MP won't effect SP as far as completion is concerned. You only get gear and items from MP to use SP, which I think is pretty neat.

I hope the new ME won't be focused on explorating planets but on the story. The first episode suffered from those boring MAKO sessions, I don't want an open world game, or something similar.

 Blackie wrote:
I hope the new ME won't be focused on explorating planets but on the story. The first episode suffered from those boring MAKO sessions, I don't want an open world game, or something similar.

Well, then prepared to be disappointed. The basis for this entire game is centered around exploration of a new galaxy - and the dangers inherent in that enterprise.

 Frankenberry wrote:
I've read that MP won't effect SP as far as completion is concerned. You only get gear and items from MP to use SP, which I think is pretty neat.

There's a bit more information on the "Missions" aspect.

You can choose to send AI "Strike Teams" to fulfill the missions, netting you the single player reward only.
If you choose to do it as a MP Strike Team? You get the MP and SP reward.

 Frankenberry wrote:

 Blackie wrote:
I hope the new ME won't be focused on explorating planets but on the story. The first episode suffered from those boring MAKO sessions, I don't want an open world game, or something similar.

Well, then prepared to be disappointed. The basis for this entire game is centered around exploration of a new galaxy - and the dangers inherent in that enterprise.

Well ME 2 & 3 are my favourite games of all times, and I think nothing would be at their level. Ever.

But I would certainly enjoy a game based on the ME world with a nice story. The plot and dialogues are the most important things in the original trilogy, I'm still hoping that the new episode will be focused around them. The exploration of the new universe as an important part of the game is inevitable but let's keep the ME style, no one wants skyrim based in the galaxy with vehicles. Or at least not in the ME franchise.

 Blackie wrote:
I hope the new ME won't be focused on explorating planets but on the story.

The exploration elements are currently the only thing of real interest to me (depending on how they turn out of course). I have little time for the apparently lack lustre combat or the risible soft porn that Bioware seem to be so proud of.

This really complicates things. You can play as a non-human? Too many choices! Not sure what I'll do....
Since the System Alliance got blown up I guess I don't owe them anything. It's a brand new galaxy so probably don't need to worry about the old galaxy politics too much...maybe Alien is the way to go...

I think the playing as aliens is multiplayer only, like Mass Effect Three?

As far as I know, you're playing as one of the Ryder twins in single player, who are human.

 KamikazeCanuck wrote:
This really complicates things. You can play as a non-human? Too many choices! Not sure what I'll do....
Since the System Alliance got blown up I guess I don't owe them anything. It's a brand new galaxy so probably don't need to worry about the old galaxy politics too much...maybe Alien is the way to go...

The screenshots are from one of the developers doing "Multiplayer-Mas"(MPmas). You can only play as aliens in MP.

I had hoped that with the conclusion of the Shep trilogy that they'd allow an alien player character but those hopes were dashed long ago. It's not a deal breaker for me by any means but just something I'd have preferred an option for especially given that this is likely to be a multichannel saga as well. Ymmv.

 warboss wrote:
I had hoped that with the conclusion of the Shep trilogy that they'd allow an alien player character but those hopes were dashed long ago. It's not a deal breaker for me by any means but just something I'd have preferred an option for especially given that this is likely to be a multichannel saga as well. Ymmv.

I wonder if since this is supposed to be their new ME series (trilogy maybe?)the next installment might follow an alien pathfinder? There are supposed to be other Arc's around with their own pathfinders and such so I guess it's a possibility. And with the patented Bioware 'story carry-over' you could even have all the teams interact with each other in the later expansions.

Then again, it's wishful thinking on my part, but I thought it made sense at least.

 warboss wrote:
I had hoped that with the conclusion of the Shep trilogy that they'd allow an alien player character but those hopes were dashed long ago. It's not a deal breaker for me by any means but just something I'd have preferred an option for especially given that this is likely to be a multichannel saga as well. Ymmv.

I'm not really surprised. The more Bioware can restrict the choices you make in character creation, the more freedom they have when writing the game.

Maybe one day return to the milky way with Liara's daughter as the main character.

Which of course could also be Shepard's....

 Compel wrote:
Maybe one day return to the milky way with Liara's daughter as the main character.

Which of course could also be Shepard's....

Why though?

Eumerin wrote:

 warboss wrote:
I had hoped that with the conclusion of the Shep trilogy that they'd allow an alien player character but those hopes were dashed long ago. It's not a deal breaker for me by any means but just something I'd have preferred an option for especially given that this is likely to be a multichannel saga as well. Ymmv.

I'm not really surprised. The more Bioware can restrict the choices you make in character creation, the more freedom they have when writing the game.

Yes and no. It's more "freedom" on the exact same budget. The cost of occasional minor to moderate one time animation changes (depending on which race) as well as additional voice acting costs is what it would take to enable alien player characters. I don't believe those would be a significant bump to an already AAA budget but I also don't know if they'd pay off in extra sales (would it get more folks to buy?). I would hope the latter is true given the popularity of multiplayer alien characters but that could also be because those alien characters also have different powers (a big confounding factor). It doesn't impose limitations on their freedom if they're willing to adjust the budget accordingly.

Frankenberry wrote:

 warboss wrote:
I had hoped that with the conclusion of the Shep trilogy that they'd allow an alien player character but those hopes were dashed long ago. It's not a deal breaker for me by any means but just something I'd have preferred an option for especially given that this is likely to be a multichannel saga as well. Ymmv.

I wonder if since this is supposed to be their new ME series (trilogy maybe?)the next installment might follow an alien pathfinder? There are supposed to be other Arc's around with their own pathfinders and such so I guess it's a possibility. And with the patented Bioware 'story carry-over' you could even have all the teams interact with each other in the later expansions.

Then again, it's wishful thinking on my part, but I thought it made sense at least.

That's a good point and one I hadn't considered but that only opens up two races iirc (Kan will have to fact check that). I doubt it'll happen though as I suspect they (and their fans) want both plot AND interpersonal choices like romances to carry over to future games. The time to have done it would have been with this initial title and unfortunately (for me) they didn't.

I'd not be surprised if any MEA follow-ups do switch over to a different character, as Dragon Age does. Doing that would give them a chance to go for a very different feel in the second, jump the timeline forward enough that the colonies you're establishing in Andromeda have been fully established come to life, so rather than importing a character, you're importing your version of the setting as a whole, and you get to see everything you did in this game come to fruition in the next.

If Andromeda is anything like as big as Dragon Age Inquisition (and it's purportedly bigger, at least in total landmass), chances are you'll have been with Ryder as long as most people were with Shep over the course of the first 3 games (unless you're talking 100% completionist runs, of course) by the time you're done with it. Obviously in-universe the timescale isn't as long, but there's enough scope in this one game to have Ryder and crew develop their own arcs extensively, leaving room to move on to a different character in the next.

I'd love to see playable alien races, and I do think it's doable. DAI has 4 voice actors for the player character, and enough ME races sound similar enough that 2 male and 2 female would probably be enough to cover at least the option for Human/Turian/Asari/maybe Salarian and Quarian (though you'd probably need to put the dialogue through filters for those last two). You could have the odd line be race-specific, and the rest shared, and I think that would be enough. Of course you've then got to massively increase the number of character models and animations, but again, DAI did an ample job of managing 4 playable races in that regard.

 Frankenberry wrote:

 Compel wrote:
Maybe one day return to the milky way with Liara's daughter as the main character.
Which of course could also be Shepard's....

Why though?

Because I'd like it and I'd enjoy it... Which is kinda the primary response for 'why though?' when it comes to any hobby or interest I take part in...


Structurely and 'bioware formula' wise, a lot of Dragon Age Inquisition was very much nailed down. Open world but not too open world, character freedom but not 'too' free. It even managed to give quite a satisfactory conclusion in both the main game and the extension in Trespassers DLC. The main thing was it never really quite captured peoples imagination as much as Mass Effect did.

I imagine Mass Effect Andromeda will go more Dragon Age's route and have different central characters for each game because, as far as I can see, it is essentially a soft reboot. It used to be that my go-to thing was Stargate SG-1 versus Stargate Atlantis. However, thinking about it more, I'm saying that it's probably closer to "The X-Men Trilogy" versus "X-Men First Class."

One of the major weaknesses of such an approach, however, is it limits your character arcs to single games.

Some of my favourite moments from the Shepard trilogy were to do with the relationships (not just romantic, either) that were forged over multiple games. Seeing Tali grow and change as a person over the story, becoming more confident in herself and her opinions on Geth change evolving as she learned more about them and the history of her own people through a different lens. Seeing Garrus fully develop into the soldier he had to potential to be, yet still maintaining that wit and awkwardness. Wrex turning the vision and ambition he had for a Krogan revitalisation into reality.

Sure you can do stuff like that with new main characters in each game but it isn't the same as each character is typically encountering those people for the first time, so they cannot comment on how they've changed. Keeping one main character throughout a story arc keeps the characters and players knowledge about those they meet on the same page.

I'm not convinced of that argument, for example, look at Leliana in Dragon Age Inquisition. Or Varric.

Heck, even extend that out to Hawke...

I think the thing to keep in mind there is that games these days can be many times the size and length of what they were back in the ME1-3 period. In fact, I'm pretty sure I've read somewhere from one of the MEA devs that even the least chatty squadmate has as many lines as Shep did over the course of the whole trilogy (can't think where I saw that now, but it's definitely sounding familiar, if anyone else has seen the source please link it).


MEA will at a bare minimum probably sit around 40-50 hours, probably longer to 'complete' including side content, and that's easily enough time to tell a fair few stories. And even if they do leave Ryder behind, Turian, Krogan and Asari lifespans mean the supporting cast could stick around even if the next game is set decades later.

 Kanluwen wrote:

 KamikazeCanuck wrote:
This really complicates things. You can play as a non-human? Too many choices! Not sure what I'll do....
Since the System Alliance got blown up I guess I don't owe them anything. It's a brand new galaxy so probably don't need to worry about the old galaxy politics too much...maybe Alien is the way to go...

The screenshots are from one of the developers doing "Multiplayer-Mas"(MPmas). You can only play as aliens in MP.

Ah I see. Ok, crisis averted....back to plain old human...

 warboss wrote:
The cost of occasional minor to moderate one time animation changes (depending on which race) as well as additional voice acting costs is what it would take to enable alien player characters.

It's more than just minor animation changes and extra voice acting, though. As an extreme example, assume that the two racial choices are human and krogan.

Now go start a conversation in-game with an NPC krogan about krogan reproduction issues. If you stay in character, then you're going to have a *very* different conversation based on which race your main character is. Same if your character is a salarian (since the salarians were the ones originally responsible for creating the problem to begin with).

Eumerin wrote:

 warboss wrote:
The cost of occasional minor to moderate one time animation changes (depending on which race) as well as additional voice acting costs is what it would take to enable alien player characters.

It's more than just minor animation changes and extra voice acting, though. As an extreme example, assume that the two racial choices are human and krogan.

Now go start a conversation in-game with an NPC krogan about krogan reproduction issues. If you stay in character, then you're going to have a *very* different conversation based on which race your main character is. Same if your character is a salarian (since the salarians were the ones originally responsible for creating the problem to begin with).

Or anyone else talking with a Quarian. Weren't they considered to be a second-class citizens up until the end of ME3? They'd probably lose their budget on voice acting alone if they implemented every possible race (I'm looking at you, Volus)

 Compel wrote:

 Frankenberry wrote:

 Compel wrote:
Maybe one day return to the milky way with Liara's daughter as the main character.
Which of course could also be Shepard's....

Why though?

Because I'd like it and I'd enjoy it... Which is kinda the primary response for 'why though?' when it comes to any hobby or interest I take part in...

That cleared things up, thanks.

Has it been mentioned anywhere if there are going to be heavy weapons in MEA? Had some fond memories of the flamer in ME2.

Eumerin wrote:

 warboss wrote:
The cost of occasional minor to moderate one time animation changes (depending on which race) as well as additional voice acting costs is what it would take to enable alien player characters.

It's more than just minor animation changes and extra voice acting, though. As an extreme example, assume that the two racial choices are human and krogan.

Now go start a conversation in-game with an NPC krogan about krogan reproduction issues. If you stay in character, then you're going to have a *very* different conversation based on which race your main character is. Same if your character is a salarian (since the salarians were the ones originally responsible for creating the problem to begin with).

I said minor to moderate and the moderate was specifically referring to the worst case of the krogans. Even with the krogans, most of the animations in ME3 work well enough for even them. If you go into 3dsMax, download the extension for importing unreal 3 files, and see what models use what animations in ME3, you'll see that is the case; that's what I did years ago when ME3 came out. Most of the krogans' animations are the same as the humans in ME3 multiplayer with the notable exception of the melees. They're not perfect mind you as the weapons clip into the body due to the additional bulk but a talented animator could easily make several of those animations work just fine in a single day. The skeletons for krogans other than their legs are roughly the same but just bigger and generally work with normal animations for the most part. As for asari and salarians, they use the same ones and I don't recall them having any issues. People have been plugging in quarians, asari, and occasionally salarians for Shepherd in earlier Mass Effect games for years without even changing anything else and they generally look fine except for running animations and occasional clipping due to difference in limb length. Now, just looking "fine" isn't enough for a player character from a professional developer but that's where the $10+ million budget (usually double or triple that) comes in. Compared with the overall cost of the game, tweaking animations to account for other races is a comparitively trivial expense. Hell, they're already making lots of alien animations for multiplayer and can reuse them as well (which is what ME3 did too). I'd agree with you if they were incorporating the hanar, volus, and elcor though as they wouldn't be able to reuse most assets for them.

As for the conversations, I've already pretty much said that they'd have to record additonal dialog for each race and maybe even use different voice actors for some races while just applying voice filters for others.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 Tactical_Spam wrote:

Or anyone else talking with a Quarian. Weren't they considered to be a second-class citizens up until the end of ME3? They'd probably lose their budget on voice acting alone if they implemented every possible race (I'm looking at you, Volus)

I think you overestimate how much most voice actors make (last I checked they were on strike for that reason among others). They don't need an A-list voice actor or even a B-list normal actor for alternate alien races.

 warboss wrote:
I said minor to moderate and the moderate was specifically referring to the worst case of the krogans. Even with the krogans, most of the animations in ME3 work well enough for even them.

*snip*

As for the conversations, I've already pretty much said that they'd have to record additonal dialog for each race and maybe even use different voice actors for some races while just applying voice filters for others.

Umm...

Actually, I'm not talking about animation at *all*. I'm completely ignoring it as an issue.

What I'm talking about is conversations. And it's not just a matter of recording different voice actors giving slightly different variations of the same lines. It's conversations that run in *entirely* different directions because of the people who are talking. Shepard trying to talk Wrex down about the Genophage gets a rebuke because Wrex views him as an insensitive idiot. A salarian trying to do that would be called a hypocrite and be pretty much guaranteed to come to physical blows no matter how many points he had in conversation skills.

Eumerin wrote:


Umm...

Actually, I'm not talking about animation at *all*. I'm completely ignoring it as an issue.

You quoted the part of my post that specifically refers to animation changes and lead your own by telling me they're not just minor animation changes. I was responding to that part of your post as I generally agreed with the rest so I'm not sure why it's an issue.