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[Alligatorjandro]

Sounds awesome

 

[MadLaughter]

https://mobile.twitter.com/macwalterslives/status/795717222207549440?p=v

Peebee confirmed to be a nickname.

 

[Lister]

Remind me, how does FTL travel work in ME again?

I thought only the relays could do what is essentially instanteneous travel, right? But eezo could also do FTL, just not as fast?

Or maybe it's teleportation or some type of space folding with the relays and FTL with eezo.

How fast without the relays through, Interstellar space is vast. Andromed ais over 2.5 million light years away.

So even at the ludicrous 1,000 times the speed of light and ignoring all other issue swith that, including speed upa and slow down time, we're talking over 2.5 millenia to get there.

Everythign from the descrition sound srelaly good though. Hype rising.

 

[Poodlestrike]

What are the chances this plays out like ME3's multiplayer where payment is entirely optional and supplements free content drops for everyone?

I notice in BF1 they have already programmed and positioned the easy adjustment of turning battle packs into a purchaseable good whenever they want.

Wasn't ME3's model wildly successful for them? They'll probably take the same tack.

Remind me, how does FTL travel work in ME again?

I thought only the relays could do what is essentially instanteneous travel, right? But eezo could also do FTL, just not as fast?

Or maybe it's teleportation or some type of space folding with the relays and FTL with eezo.

How fast without the relays through, Interstellar space is vast. Andromed ais over 2.5 million light years away.

So even at the ludicrous 1,000 times the speed of light and ignoring all other issue swith that, including speed upa and slow down time, we're talking over 2.5 millenia to get there.

Mass Relays reduce the entire corridor of space between them to negative mass, thus allowing for effectively instant transportation between them. Non-Relay FTL is achieved by folding space around the ship using Eezo, which is how you got around between relays in ME3. You're right that the distance involved is incredibly massive, though; if they really make it in 600 years, they're probably going to have either some revolutionary new on-ship FTL (unlikely) or they somehow harness a Relay to shoot them most of the distance (more likely).

 

[prag16]

i like the wheel and slowdown of time, I wish (hope?) they kept it in there in some form.

Ordering squadmates around in real-time isn't fun.

Yeah, this is my one concern after reading the OP. The pause mechanic was a fun mechanic; queuing up attacks for yourself and squad mates, or just taking in the lay of the land before engaging enemies.

I agree, doing all that in real time doesn't sound too appealing..

 

[Lime]

Some Russian folks found some Gameinformer screens.

Good to see that the hands no longer clip into the Avenger like in ME1-3 :lol

I hope the hair animates.

 

[Nirolak]

https://mobile.twitter.com/macwalterslives/status/795717222207549440?p=v

Peebee confirmed to be a nickname.

Short for Princess Bubblegum of course.

 

[diaspora]

The conversation with Sovereign is better written than anything that takes place in 2 or 3, the series never managed to reach that height ever again, in fact the series actually ended up retconning Sovereign's excellent dialogue in the sequels.

I know it's a controversial opinion, but I find the combat of ME1 while unquestionably jank as fuck, to be more interesting than any of the encounters in 2/3. Playing a shitty gears of war clone is not exactly what got me interested in the series, I might agree with you if there wasn't SO much of the same repetitive combat it in 2/3, to the point where level design became exclusively linear, funneling you through hour long sub-par TPS levels until you can get to the next piece of story. I feel like an encounter in ME1 could play out in many different ways depending on your choices, I remember outsmarting my enemies and getting myself out of tricky situations, where in 2/3 I just remember one infinite loop of take cover, shoot repeat ad nausieum, and the abilities didn't really change that, the game still played the exact same as a different class.

It's worth mentioning, I've replayed ME1 3 times, twice on 360 and once on PC years later, and I would definitely say it wasn't until I played it with a mouse and keyboard where I actually found myself thoroughly enjoying the combat, which blew me away at the time, as I always thought (like most of you) that ME1's combat was irredeemable trash, to find myself enjoying it was pretty surreal, I even ended up doing a lot of the combat-heavy side quests purely for the fun of it. Having every ability on a hotkey definitely felt like it was the intended way to play it, to the point where I'm shocked I even beat it in the first place, the way it plays on a controller feels terrible and stifles improvisation.

ME1's combat is irredeemable trash and I've only ever played it on PC the several times I did.

 

[Jarmel]

Mako in ME1 you had no reason to ever get out. They want you to actually use your character.

That's the point of indoors encounters. Not to mention they could have structured parts of the levels so the Nomad would be restricted in movement and you would have to get out.

If I have to get out to deal with enemies on the surface in an open area then this is utterly assbackwards.

 

[PeskyToaster]

i hope it doesn't revolve around some ancient evil or anything. I like a more grounded and grey conflict.

 

[Brokun]

The removal of the ability to pause and select abilities/commands and the homogonization of the classes bothers me. Every iteration they remove a little bit more of the tactical RPGness. I will reserve complete judgement until we see more in-depth gameplay (read: not at the game awards) but if this is the direction they continue to head in this may well be my last game in the series.

It seems like Bioware's latest efforts (Dragon Age, Mass Effect) have tried to give their gameplay mainstream appeal, but in trying to appeal to anyone they may end up disappointing everyone.

 

[Yeul]

Thank you for the write up! I can't wait to see these systems in action and become familiar with more of the companions.

Spoiler

Also the character creator.

 

[Tovarisc]

Just me or does planet system sound like scaled up DAI zones?

 

[Lister]

Some Russian folks found some Gameinformer screens.

More here, feel free to make a thread I guess.

https://forum.bioware.ru/topic/31642/

Xcom-3?

 

[Trace]

That's the point of indoors encounters. Not to mention they could have structured parts of the levels so the Nomad would be restricted in movement and you would have to get out.

If I have to get out to deal with enemies on the surface in an open area then this is utterly assbackwards.

You will lol. Might as well get used to it now.

 

[Sou Da]

The removal of the ability to pause and select abilities/commands and the homogonization of the classes bothers me. Every iteration they remove a little bit more of the tactical RPGness. I will reserve complete judgement until we see more in-depth gameplay (read: not at the game awards) but if this is the direction they continue to head in this may well be my last game in the series.

It seems like Bioware's latest efforts (Dragon Age, Mass Effect) have tried to give their gameplay mainstream appeal, but in trying to appeal to anyone they may end up disappointing everyone.

I'm going to disagreee with you here personally because I prefer free-form classes in most of every RPG I've ever played.

 

[KingSnake]

Yeah man, like those famous not-RPGs Shadowrun and GURPS. Who'd ever play an RPG without character classes?

Yeah, how insane from my part to comment about something that existed in the previous games! Unnecessary attitude from your part, really.

Going by responses I received, I guess ME:Andromeda will now be step child of The Witcher and Shadowrun or something. /jk

 

[Staf]

PEEBEE HAHAHAHA

 

[flkraven]

-Since Andromeda is a new galaxy, Ryder can actively scan and discover things in the environments; that gets sent back for analysis and unlocks new technologies for the player

I swear to god, if this amounts to the same thing from DA:I where you just ping like crazy with the stick-button trying to find stuff (ie. herbs, plants, etc) I'll be pissed right the hell off. One of the worst parts of that game was feeling the need to constantly ping while you walked forward.

 

[RecRoulette]

I expect Winston and Peebee fan art to hit the internet by sundown on the west coast.

 

[Lister]

Wasn't ME3's model wildly successful for them? They'll probably take the same tack.



Mass Relays reduce the entire corridor of space between them to negative mass, thus allowing for effectively instant transportation between them. Non-Relay FTL is achieved by folding space around the ship using Eezo, which is how you got around between relays in ME3. You're right that the distance involved is incredibly massive, though; if they really make it in 600 years, they're probably going to have either some revolutionary new on-ship FTL (unlikely) or they somehow harness a Relay to shoot them most of the distance (more likely).

Oooh I like that last option. Could even play some tpe of story role.

 

[Lime]

-There are no loading screens as you move through the ship
-Galaxy map returns but rather than piloting a mini ship on a map, it is more immersive, you select a planet, the game gives you sense of traveling towards that planet, and when you back out, you're immediately at your destination
-You don't pilot the ship manually, but it feels seamless as you go from planet to planet and see them from your bridge getting closer in the window
-They wanted a seamless experience from picking a planet to walking down to your cargo hold, hopping into the Nomad and landing on a planet. There is a landing sequence and you get off the ship. No more loading screens and instantly popping up on the surface of a planet.

Except for the lack of manually controlling the Tempest, these are big and important things for me that I'm happy to hear about. I hope the exploratory nature and ambient synth are up to snuff, that's all I need to be happy.

 

[Lt-47]

I don't trust bioware until I know for sure no inquistion style points are in this game. If I have to get pathfinder points to continue the story by exploring then no thanks.

I hope there is.
There's definitely a colonization aspect to the pathfinder role. And if it's 100% optional it might as well no be here. I love the Inquisition idea, it's a shame that last gen console prevented them to fully realize it

I'm getting Hammerhead flashbacks already.

This is absolutely mindboggling. How hard is it to do vehicle combat Bioware?

Hard enough that most game never let you drive and shoot at the same time. And when they do it's on linear path and/or in hover vehicle to make the control/navigation super easy

 

[Lister]

ME1's combat is irredeemable trash and I've only ever played it on PC the several times I did.

Have to agree. While I think Mass Effect 2 could have kept and improved on a lot of the systems that were ditched, the combat overall was exponentially better in 2 vs 1.

Having RNG in a third person shooter just... doesn't feel right.

Mind you this is aside from being mouse and keyboard, which of course is much better than a gamepad!

 

[jett]

Sounds good but also rather familiar. I don't expect their changes to actually feel monumental, but we'll see. I really hope they've revamped how they design their combat encounters. The way they are in the previous games would feel archaic and tired today, I think.

They've done a really poor job at marketing this game so far. We should've had a combat demo by now.

 

[Raven117]

Loved Mass Effect trilogy. (Despite the ending...I had enough awesome hours of game to placate that).

Sign me up for this day 1.

 

[Poodlestrike]

i hope it doesn't revolve around some ancient evil or anything. I like a more grounded and grey conflict.

From what I can tell, it's more like the ancient (possibly evil) artifacts are part of the conflict between the newly arrived Milky Way species and the existing establishment, which is supposed to be more gray/sympathetic in nature. Hopefully they pull it off.

Just me or does planet system sound like scaled up DAI zones?

I get a similar vibe, though the lack of mineral deposits and promise of multiple types of missions (and previous mention of a lack of fetch quests) has me hoping they won't be so... desolate.

 

[Ralemont]

The conversation with Sovereign is better written than anything that takes place in 2 or 3, the series never managed to reach that height ever again, in fact the series actually ended up retconning Sovereign's excellent dialogue in the sequels.

I know it's a controversial opinion, but I find the combat of ME1 while unquestionably jank as fuck, to be more interesting than any of the encounters in 2/3. Playing a shitty gears of war clone is not exactly what got me interested in the series, I might agree with you if there wasn't SO much of the same repetitive combat it in 2/3, to the point where level design became exclusively linear, funneling you through hour long sub-par TPS levels until you can get to the next piece of story. I feel like an encounter in ME1 could play out in many different ways depending on your choices, I remember outsmarting my enemies and getting myself out of tricky situations, where in 2/3 I just remember one infinite loop of take cover, shoot repeat ad nausieum, and the abilities didn't really change that, the game still played the exact same as a different class.

It's worth mentioning, I've replayed ME1 3 times, twice on 360 and once on PC years later, and I would definitely say it wasn't until I played it with a mouse and keyboard where I actually found myself thoroughly enjoying the combat, which blew me away at the time, as I always thought (like most of you) that ME1's combat was irredeemable trash, to find myself enjoying it was pretty surreal, I even ended up doing a lot of the combat-heavy side quests purely for the fun of it. Having every ability on a hotkey definitely felt like it was the intended way to play it, to the point where I'm shocked I even beat it in the first place, the way it plays on a controller feels terrible and stifles improvisation.

Agreed ME1 combat feels a lot better with KB&M, mostly because you need a mouse's precision to mitigate the clunky aiming and shooting.

I can think of plenty moments in 2/3 that I think are written better than the Sovereign convo, though perhaps not as epic. Plenty of character scenes like Javik's convos, Mordin's loyalty mission, Thane's prayer in ME3, Eve talking about her stillborn/krogan female struggles, Legion explaining the geth in ME2 convos, the integration of Tali's romance into Rannoch, the final convos with your squadmates on Earth, the Leviathan convo at the end of that DLC, etc.

I'm not a big fan of Sovereign in general though. I feel his lines are super generic and blustery.

 

[Lime]

This is a pretty cool picture:

 

[Hello? This is Hailun!]

So it's basically no longer an RPG?

 

[Man Called Aerodynamics]

God everything sounds so good.

 

[Jarmel]

You will lol. Might as well get used to it now.

Well it's good to know Bioware still can't just make a better version of the Mako after three games.

 

[Jawmuncher]

I hope there is.
There's definitely a colonization aspect to the pathfinder role. And if it's 100% optional it might as well no be here. I love the Inquisition idea, it's a shame that last gen console prevented them to fully realize it

I shouldn't be prevented from beating the game because I don't want to do trivial tasks on planets.

Mass Effect 1 had more than enough to it and never resorted to that.

 

[Ridesh]

The Kett are less, eh, weird-alien looking than expected, I like that.

Edit: BTW, it's okay to post these pics?

 

[Poodlestrike]

This is a pretty cool picture:

Yeah, I really like that.

So it's basically no longer an RPG?

Yes, that's why they have skill points, crafting, equipment, and dialogue options. So they can make it a not-RPG.

I shouldn't be prevented from beating the game because I don't want to do trivial tasks on planets.

Mass Effect 1 had more than enough to it and never resorted to that.

ME1 had tons of trivial tasks on planets, what are you even talking about? Collect Matriach Writings and dogtags and fight identical pirates in identical bases, y'all!

 

[truestatic]

So it's basically no longer an RPG?

What is an RPG? Stat and inventory management went out the airlock a long time ago. Where do you draw the line?

This is a pretty cool picture:

At first glance I thought this was a set photo. Then I remembered this isn't a movie. Glorious, I love it.

 

[VenomousCoffee]

Everything sounds awesome. Love it. Day one.

 

[RoboticWater]

I hope there is.
There's definitely a colonization aspect to the pathfinder role. And if it's 100% optional it might as well no be here. I love the Inquisition idea, it's a shame that last gen console prevented them to fully realize it

Blaming last gen consoles is a stretch here.

The Inquisition's progression system was ill-concieved and poorly designed. The concept is sound, but BIoWare apparently couldn't think of the mechanics to make it work. I can't really blame them though, adding a institutional progression system that appeals to a wide audience on top of a AAA RPG with heavy emphasis on production value is nigh impossible.

 

[Tekomandor]

Remind me, how does FTL travel work in ME again?

I thought only the relays could do what is essentially instanteneous travel, right? But eezo could also do FTL, just not as fast?

Or maybe it's teleportation or some type of space folding with the relays and FTL with eezo.

How fast without the relays through, Interstellar space is vast. Andromed ais over 2.5 million light years away.

So even at the ludicrous 1,000 times the speed of light and ignoring all other issue swith that, including speed upa and slow down time, we're talking over 2.5 millenia to get there.

Everythign from the descrition sound srelaly good though. Hype rising.

Standard Citadel FTL drives can do 15LY/day, or about ~5000c. For a sci fi comparison that's somewhere around warp nine point something.

Presumably, they found a fix for the static buildup problem.

 

[Tovarisc]

The Kett are less, eh, weird-alien looking than expected, I like that.

Edit: BTW, it's okay to post this pics?

Harvester with case of bad skin day.

 

[John Kowalski]

That ship has wings on its wings.

The Kett are less, eh, weird-alien looking than expected, I like that.

Looks like some kind of fungal crustacean.

 

[Trace]

This is a pretty cool picture:

One planet, called 'Elaaden', is flagged as a possible habitat zone, however the surface is hazardous (no water, extremely hot)

Looks like that could be Elaaden, unless they have multiple desert planets in the game.

 

[Frozenprince]

Are there Turians?

All I care about.

The "they left earlier than the reapers" thing is a cop-out.

 

[Staf]

What is an RPG? Stat and inventory management went out the airlock a long time ago. Where do you draw the line?



At first glance I thought this was a set photo. Then I remembered this isn't a movie. Glorious, I love it.

It's like porn, you know it when you see it.

 

[Poodlestrike]

Blaming last gen consoles is a stretch here.

The Inquisition's progression system was ill-concieved and poorly designed. The concept is sound, but BIoWare apparently couldn't think of the mechanics to make it work.

Actually, DA:I was supposed to have something more to it in terms of the zone progression that did get cut for memory reasons. Stuff like building up your own bases and fortresses, and dealing with various problems that arise from that. Would have contributed greatly to the sense of progression if you could have seen, say, the Hinterlands change as your fort exerts its influence on the area.

 

[Sou Da]

The Kett are less, eh, weird-alien looking than expected, I like that.

Edit: BTW, it's okay to post this pics?

This makes me thing that huge creature on the other page is also a Kett.

 

[Lime]

Are there Turians?

All I care about.

The "they left earlier than the reapers" thing is a cop-out.

They're in

 

[truestatic]

That ship has wings on its wings.

Winglets are an actual feature of many real aircraft.

It's like porn, you know it when you see it.

As reasonable a definition as ever there was, but I'd counter that if this isn't, then ME2 and 3 probably don't make the cut either.

 

[flkraven]

Are there Turians?

All I care about.

The "they left earlier than the reapers" thing is a cop-out.

I think it's a fair cop-out since they don't need to worry about the final decision impacting this game, which is especially important for those playing on consoles unable to transfer their decisions.

 

[Count of Monte Sawed-Off]

Most of this sounds really good. I hope they pull it off.

Any comments on the character creation and how or if it has been improved?

I just hope they give numerical values or at least a code system, which was notably absent from. DA3.