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The Mass Effect Community Thread

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Bombless

Member
The Andromeda facebook account actually posted that "facial animations are still being polished" lol.

Also yay for Avina's return! From watching that video it seemed to me like the ring thing at the center of the Nexus could have been a mass relay but I guess it's just the docking ring.
 

Dany

Banned
ME2 gets pretty tough but it still doesn't quite reach the difficulty heights of 3 which got plain ridiculous at times. I forgot that halfway through 2 there is this "advanced weapons training" that lets you get a weapon. That definitely helps. The idea of going through final stages with pistol and smg is...I mean it's probably doable but not anxious to try. Just got done with this mission:

It was a bitch but got 'ur done.

edit: forgot to mention, I'm using a couple mods. One to shorten loading times and one to skip the hacking minigame. They work great.

I actually found ME2 to be a lot harder than 3. 3 was quite easy on insanity. Javik and Liara were key to my team, Reave/singularity then warp or throw. Or stasis and throw. And I only used the heavy pistol. And I agree, that section in ME2 was the hardest by far.
 

Mindlog

Member
There were some parts on 3 that were kind of hard.
Then I played ME3 MP.


When I eventually came back to look at single player I laughed at how many powers Shepard had. Also laughed at the heavy enemy reveals.
'Oh, no.... A Banshee!'

Get like half a dozen per round while running a Platinum solo.
 

Bombless

Member
There were some parts on 3 that were kind of hard.
Then I played ME3 MP.


When I eventually came back to look at single player I laughed at how many powers Shepard had. Also laughed at the heavy enemy reveals.
'Oh, no.... A Banshee!'

Get like half a dozen per round while running a Platinum solo.

ME3MP was the fucking best despite how clunky everything was held together. It is what I'm looking forward the most in Andromeda.
 

DevilDog

Member
The Andromeda facebook account actually posted that "facial animations are still being polished" lol.

Also yay for Avina's return! From watching that video it seemed to me like the ring thing at the center of the Nexus could have been a mass relay but I guess it's just the docking ring.

Haha.

I don't know how much more polished they'll be tho. Dialogue Animations are probably one of the thigns that get pushed to the ending cycle development. Right?
 

Dany

Banned
Default female Ryder looks fine and normal. I really do not understand the needless uproar regarding that one moment. It isn't perfect, oh well. Ugh
 

Patryn

Member
I'm busy replaying ME3 and I have a couple thoughts:

1.) I think I'm ready to say that I really like Vega. In fact, I think I like him more than most of the ME1 squad members, barring Wrex. Even Garrus back then was fairly shallow and one-note, being all "Screw the rules!"

I'd also put him above several ME2 squad members, such as Jacob and Jack (although she gets way more interesting in ME3).

He provides a nice fresh viewpoint on events, along with a perspective that's a bit more boots on the ground.

2.) With all the brouhaha about animations in Andromeda, it's crazy how clearly rushed ME3 was. Now part of the glitchiness may be due to my playing in on an XBox One, but there's a lot of weirdness and stiffness going on.

Now that being said, I really am enjoying the game. Well, everything except the Star Kid dreams which are still terrible and trying way too hard.
 

Sub_Level

wants to fuck an Asian grill.
Well, everything except the Star Kid dreams which are still terrible and trying way too hard.

On my ME3 replay, I muted all his scenes. And I installed a mod to change the ending so that Shepard never talks to him. It's amazing how much it improves the experience.
 
Man I don't know why I keep going into that ME:A gameplay video thread, morbid curiosity I guess.

I did get a good chuckle though from the poster insinuating that BioWare making serviceable 3rd person combat in ME2 was the devs taking a nod from Call of Duty. I mean if you were going to make any kind of broad game comparison it would probably be to Gears of War given that they share the same engine and relatively same type of cover system.

While I'm probably one of the few people who didn't mind the combat in 1 I'm not going to fault BioWare for attempting to inject some kind of fun into killing enemies.
 

Sub_Level

wants to fuck an Asian grill.
5MhmJr4.jpg


Finished ME2. This is my current shep across all 3 games. 1 has giraffe neck. 2 looks great. 3 is JUST FUCK MY SHIT UP.
 

Yeul

Member
5MhmJr4.jpg


Finished ME2. This is my current shep across all 3 games. 1 has giraffe neck. 2 looks great. 3 is JUST FUCK MY SHIT UP.

I think the thing in ME3 that got to me was everyone had glassy dead eyes and I was just like...sigh you looked so nice in ME2.
 

Patryn

Member
I honestly think ME2 is the nicest looking game in the series.

I also find it funny how I feel like I only ever see people use one of three possibly hairstyles for FemShep, with the one you chose the most popular.

I'll freely admit I used that hairstyle 7 times.
 

Bisnic

Really Really Exciting Member!
I honestly think ME2 is the nicest looking game in the series.

I also find it funny how I feel like I only ever see people use one of three possibly hairstyles for FemShep, with the one you chose the most popular.

I'll freely admit I used that hairstyle 7 times.

Can you blame people when all the other hairstyles are either crap or too short?

I hope Bioware show us a detailed video of the character creation screen before release. I'm curious to see how advanced it is.
 

JeffG

Member
I hope Bioware show us a detailed video of the character creation screen before release. I'm curious to see how advanced it is.
I would be ok with DA:I creation screen with better hair.

and from the looks of the video (and Battlefront) The hair does look better.
 

Fruitster

Member
The eyes in Mass Effect 3 were just odd, they had an unnatural cartoon type quality to them. In Mass Effect 2, and even in the first game the eyes looked vastly better than in ME3. Always curious why stylistically they looked so different. The character's all round (humans) just didn't quite look right somehow.
 

Patryn

Member
I would be ok with DA:I creation screen with better hair.

and from the looks of the video (and Battlefront) The hair does look better.

The DA:I creation screen was terrible because the lighting was terrible.

I wish they'd just figure out that they need to add a slider or setting so you can adjust the lighting when creating a face. So many times I've made a face only to find it looked terrible in different lighting.

The eyes in Mass Effect 3 were just odd, they had an unnatural cartoon type quality to them. In Mass Effect 2, and even in the first game the eyes looked vastly better than in ME3. Always curious why stylistically they looked so different. The character's all round (humans) just didn't quite look right somehow.
The eyes were all terrible because they were all bloodshot. I dunno if they were going for a look where Shep was perpetually sleep deprived or what.
 

Sub_Level

wants to fuck an Asian grill.
I really like how light and agile your character feels in ME3 compared to 2. It's still a little clunky but its far more serviceable.
 

Garlador

Member
The DA:I creation screen was terrible because the lighting was terrible.

I wish they'd just figure out that they need to add a slider or setting so you can adjust the lighting when creating a face. So many times I've made a face only to find it looked terrible in different lighting.

The eyes were all terrible because they were all bloodshot. I dunno if they were going for a look where Shep was perpetually sleep deprived or what.

Yeah... Covering everything in a neon green hazy light really screwed with how you tried to make your character's skin, eyes, or make-up look. It would look fine in the creator, then you boot up the game and you have this shiny, purple lipstick or something.

ME3 had all sorts of utterly bizarre character model changes. My wife got confused with Udina since he apparently started dying his hair. God only knows what their thought process was with Ashley (I got the mod to make her look more like her old self).

Kelly was entirely unrecognizable.

ME3 is still solid, but some of the character model replacements were quite noticeable and distracting, almost in a "we recast Rhodes in Iron Man 2" type of way. They broke faces or characters that were perfectly fine, and then rushed on characters (like Diana Allers) that came across as poorly modeled.

It remains baffling.
(there Dr. Chakwas goes, Benjamin Button-ing her way back in time 20 years in ME3.)
 

diaspora

Member
The DA:I creation screen was terrible because the lighting was terrible.

I wish they'd just figure out that they need to add a slider or setting so you can adjust the lighting when creating a face. So many times I've made a face only to find it looked terrible in different lighting.


The eyes were all terrible because they were all bloodshot. I dunno if they were going for a look where Shep was perpetually sleep deprived or what.

Xenoblade X had the right idea- lets you change the environment in the character creator to see what it'd look like under different lighting conditions.
 
. God only knows what their thought process was with Ashley (I got the mod to make her look more like her old self).

Their thought process was literally to sex her up ("...we let her hair down and gave her sex appeal", from the art of ME book), despite the numerous issues - both characterization and meta-wise - with doing so. I do really like the mod that gives her back her regular look and pony tail, though.

There's some...interesting...insights in that art book - Kaidan got buff and wears armor because he's seen a lot of action and is ready to fight (curious given Ashley's redesign, though he's also clearly designed to be visually appealing), EDI's body "needed" to be sexy, Samara shows skin because the kinetic barrier in her armor protects her, the Asari were deliberately designed to be a race of "beautiful blue alien girls", etc.
 

DevilDog

Member
Their thought process was literally to sex her up ("...we let her hair down and gave her sex appeal", from the art of ME book), despite the numerous issues - both characterization and meta-wise - with doing so. I do really like the mod that gives her back her regular look and pony tail, though.

There's some...interesting...insights in that art book - Kaidan got buff and wears armor because he's seen a lot of action and is ready to fight (curious given Ashley's redesign, though he's also clearly designed to be visually appealing), EDI's body "needed" to be sexy, Samara shows skin because the kinetic barrier in her armor protects her, the Asari were deliberately designed to be a race of "beautiful blue alien girls", etc.

Asari where designed to be blue space babes. Those were the words of the art person from ME1.
Also ashley got a ton of plastic surgery, you can't fool me woman.
 
While pretty short that latest Gamespot interview caught my eye.

Mac says a handful of worlds have been handcrafted with planetwide stories and that crafting while not neccessary to playing the game will make navigating hazardous areas viable. I'm curious what a handful actually means.... 3, 5, 10, more than that? And if that's the case does that mean there's a bunch of non-story related planets that are a hazard to navigate (radiation, lava, etc) but reap some kind of reward for pursuing and exploring?

I think the question I want answered the most is just how large the scope of this game is.
 

Patryn

Member
While pretty short that latest Gamespot interview caught my eye.

Mac says a handful of worlds have been handcrafted with planetwide stories and that crafting while not neccessary to playing the game will make navigating hazardous areas viable. I'm curious what a handful actually means.... 3, 5, 10, more than that? And if that's the case does that mean there's a bunch of non-story related planets that are a hazard to navigate (radiation, lava, etc) but reap some kind of reward for pursuing and exploring?

I think the question I want answered the most is just how large the scope of this game is.
I thought the current rumors is that while they originally had like 100+ planet, they rethought that strategy and chopped most of them in favor of a much smaller number of planets where they could handcraft content. If I'm remembering correctly, I recall someone saying that No Man's Sky's reception and backlash spooked them.

So basically, I'm personally guessing under 20 planets. If you put a gun to my head, I'm thinking 5-8, but rich with content.
 
I thought the current rumors is that while they originally had like 100+ planet, they rethought that strategy and chopped most of them in favor of a much smaller number of planets where they could handcraft content. If I'm remembering correctly, I recall someone saying that No Man's Sky's reception and backlash spooked them.

So basically, I'm personally guessing under 20 planets. If you put a gun to my head, I'm thinking 5-8, but rich with content.

I'd be inclined to agree about the smaller number of planets if it wasn't for the fact that they are pushing the exploration aspect of Andromeda. While exploration of the story planets is guaranteed I feel like leaving out the rest of the helius cluster to wander about in the Tempest would be kind of strange.

Speaking of that, are we going to see some kind of ME1/ME3 systen where there's hidden stuff in the star systems that you can keep an eye out for like space wrecks, stations, and other resources? I want to know about that too.
 

Patryn

Member
I'd be inclined to agree about the smaller number of planets if it wasn't for the fact that they are pushing the exploration aspect of Andromeda. While exploration of the story planets is guaranteed I feel like leaving out the rest of the helius cluster to wander about in the Tempest would be kind of strange.

Speaking of that, are we going to see some kind of ME1/ME3 systen where there's hidden stuff in the star systems that you can keep an eye out for like space wrecks, stations, and other resources? I want to know about that too.
Could easily be justified because they can't explore the whole galaxy because there are no Mass Relays.
 

Sub_Level

wants to fuck an Asian grill.
I bet there will be a point in the story where they find coordinates to a mass relay in a ruin or something.

2 spooky
 

DevilDog

Member
No reapers means no relays though. Unless they decide to just build their own.

Mac definitely said no reapers, but what about the mass effect? Do the species of Andromeda have it?
If so, they maybe kinda sorta have built them if they were massive geniuses or something.
 

Big Nikus

Member
Mac definitely said no reapers, but what about the mass effect? Do the species of Andromeda have it?
If so, they maybe kinda sorta have built them if they were massive geniuses or something.

They said the species of Andromeda are using a different technology.
 
No reapers means no relays though. Unless they decide to just build their own.

It's definitely conceivable that since the council races had the technology necessary for this voyage, Leviathans might have in the distant past also. It was them who created the technologies Reapers were based upon and they presumably were sufficiently advanced to construct Mass Relays - especially if the Protheans were able to pull it off at the end of their civilization.
 

EatChildren

Currently polling second in Australia's federal election (first in the Gold Coast), this feral may one day be your Bogan King.
Copy pasting from the other thread.

By the way, you can spot what appears to be one of the new species in the combat sequence.

1nmsfz.jpg
 

Patryn

Member
It's definitely conceivable that since the council races had the technology necessary for this voyage, Leviathans might have in the distant past also. It was them who created the technologies Reapers were based upon and they presumably were sufficiently advanced to construct Mass Relays - especially if the Protheans were able to pull it off at the end of their civilization.

I would be shocked if there are any references to the Leviathans. Hell, I'm honestly not expecting any references to the Reapers.

I'm guessing they really want to get new people on board with this game (after all, they've been trying to get new people since ME3 - remember all the "It's the best time to start Mass Effect ever!" talk when that game released? The apparent strong push to get reviewers to not import data when reviewing the game?) so they won't want to clutter them with unnecessary information.

And honestly I'm ok with that. The Reapers were pretty much ruined by the end of the trilogy, so let's just move on.
 

Bisnic

Really Really Exciting Member!
The fact that they decided the whole Nexus/Ark thing launched around ME2 rather than ME3 pretty much guarantee we won't hear about the Reapers, even during casual conversations, since they "dismissed" that claim.

giphy.gif
 
I would be shocked if there are any references to the Leviathans. Hell, I'm honestly not expecting any references to the Reapers.

I'm guessing they really want to get new people on board with this game (after all, they've been trying to get new people since ME3 - remember all the "It's the best time to start Mass Effect ever!" talk when that game released? The apparent strong push to get reviewers to not import data when reviewing the game?) so they won't want to clutter them with unnecessary information.

And honestly I'm ok with that. The Reapers were pretty much ruined by the end of the trilogy, so let's just move on.

Oh I'm not expecting them either, but it wouldn't be impossible plotwise if they did want to go that direction. It's unlikely they would want to go that direction, at least for this game, because they're trying to just do their own thing and soft-reboot the series with this entry.
 

Big Nikus

Member
The apparent strong push to get reviewers to not import data when reviewing the game?

lol, really ?

I don't expect any reference to the Reapers or the Leviathans either.
Or perhaps, to sell the new danger they'll say that the Reapers tried to attack Andromeda and were kicked out... that would be awful though. Or hilarious, idk.

edit: top of the page, so here's a romantic moment between Wrex and my maleshep.

"Wrex..."
"Shepard..."
 
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