Mass Effect: ANDROMEDA

[HotRod]

So, the first teaser trailer is out and it looks like the leak was at least partially true if not 100%. The next Mass Effect game takes place in the Andromeda galaxy. I'm ok with this all long as they have a damn good explanation as to how we got there. Other then that what more can be said? Its a very nice trailer made in-engine but showing no gameplay. Looks like we will have to wait till N7 day for more info. Anyone have any thoughts to give?

https://youtu.be/uG8V9dRqSsw

 

[Hartzilla2007]

The next Mass Effect game takes place in the Andromeda galaxy. I'm ok with this all long as they have a damn good explanation as to how we got there.

Well all you really need is two Mass Relays, I mean if the Citadel and the Alpha Relay could allow ships to reach the Milky Way from the space between galaxies its not too much of a stretch to believe the could be used for intergalactic travel, especially with enough time passing since Mass Effect 3.

 

[HotRod]

Only problem I see with that is that if there are relays in Andromeda, then that means the Reapers were there as well. Plus judging from the armour and weapons, it doesn't seem that far ahead of Mass Effect 3. Either way, it's gonna be a long wait till holiday 2016.

 

[MacLeod]

Assuming the release date doesn't slip.

 

[Hartzilla2007]

Only problem I see with that is that if there are relays in Andromeda, then that means the Reapers were there as well.

Which probably wouldn't be too much of a problem seeing as regardless of the ending the Reapers aren't a galaxy razing threat anymore.

Plus judging from the armour and weapons, it doesn't seem that far ahead of Mass Effect 3.

On the other hand the Omni tools and galaxy map seem more advanced, I mean the new one gives has video images from the planets in question, and seems like a full room display, whereas the Omni tools have gone to being practically invisible now.

 

[Reverend]

It's already established in the lore that you don't *need* relays for FTL travel. It's just they they're faster and much more efficient at long distance because ship's FTL'ing it in open space are limited by their need to periodically discharge their engines before they literally cook the crew alive.

Indeed, we saw that between Arrival and ME3 that the Reapers weren't restricted by being denied access to the relays (first the Citadel itself and later the Alpha relay) it only slowed them down.

Also worth remembering that half the point of the relay network was specifically so that the emergent space faring races wouldn't bother exploring other avenues of FTL travel, making the harvest cycles more efficient and technological progress more predicable.

Whatever colour you picked at the end of ME3, there's going to be plenty of reaper tech and refined eezo lying around for the milky-way races to reverse engineer and produce their own trans-galactic engines.


That's not to say that there can't be relays out there. Indeed, if this really is about an effort to explore and colonise Andromeda then part of the plot could be the building of a new network that links the galaxies together.

You'd only need one long range ship to make the crossing (even if it takes centuries, that's not much of a problem if it's crewed by Asari & Krogan) and build the first relay. Once you have that beachhead other ships can start pouring through and spreading out system by system.


ETA: On the off chance anyone is an any doubt as to the time frame, there's this article just posted on the Bioware Blog. (emphasis mine)

While we aren’t ready to go into too many details just yet, as you saw in the trailer and can tell by the name, this game is very much a new adventure, taking place far away from and long after the events of the original trilogy. You will play a human, male or female, though that’s actually not the character you saw in the trailer (more on that later). You’ll be exploring an all-new galaxy, Andromeda, and piloting the new and improved Mako you saw. And through it all, you will have a new team of adventurers to work with, learn from, fight alongside of, and fall in love with.

I'm not too crazy about the new PC being strictly human. I had hoped at least Asari and Turian might also be options.

Still, it's interesting that they point out that the character we saw isn't actually the PC. Could Shepard be alive after all, at least in some form? Aside from the N7 marking, that's pretty much the same pose and shot they used for the first ME3 teaser. Honestly I doubt it, but still....

 

[-Brett-]

The human only PC is kind of disappointing. I get why they did it with the trilogy, but now, with the hiatus and The Next Generation style soft reboot going on, this seemed like the perfect time to add the feature.

If N7 guy isn't the player character, I'm guessing he's the mentor type that gets killed or otherwise taken out of action so the player character can take over and save the day.

 

[Skywalker]

If this is centuries after ME3 then that could be more than enough time for the Milky Way races to finally figure out how to build their own relays. Couple that with natural ambition (and trillions of beings' need for resources), it's not out of the realm of possibility that they'd then start expanding the relay network beyond the Milky Way and out into the Magellanic Clouds and the other small galaxies in our local group, and eventually out to Andromeda.

 

[SPCTRE]

Mass Effect: TNG confirmed

next up: Mass Effect: Numbered Space Station

 

[Jono]

Can't wait to see what Dylan Hunt gets up to.

 

[Reverend]

If this is centuries after ME3 then that could be more than enough time for the Milky Way races to finally figure out how to build their own relays. Couple that with natural ambition (and trillions of beings' need for resources), it's not out of the realm of possibility that they'd then start expanding the relay network beyond the Milky Way and out into the Magellanic Clouds and the other small galaxies in our local group, and eventually out to Andromeda.

Hubris might also be a factor. With the Reapers out of the picture one way or the other, the milky-way races must feel like the universe holds no more terrors for them...right up until they wake-up something much worse in Andromeda.

 

[SPCTRE]

Can't wait to see what Dylan Hunt gets up to.

 

[Gingerbread Demon]

[yt]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uG8V9dRqSsw[/yt]

Trailer doesn't look that exciting. meh

 

[John Clark]

It's still probably a must buy for me, though I'd have preferred to have more race options for the player character

 

[TheGodBen]

The Johnny Cash song was a bit too on the nose with its allusion of this being a sci-fi western, but I'm glad that they're taking the series in that direction. Exploring space, out on the frontier, far from home... this may just be the best Star Trek game never released.

 

[Skywalker]

If this is centuries after ME3 then that could be more than enough time for the Milky Way races to finally figure out how to build their own relays. Couple that with natural ambition (and trillions of beings' need for resources), it's not out of the realm of possibility that they'd then start expanding the relay network beyond the Milky Way and out into the Magellanic Clouds and the other small galaxies in our local group, and eventually out to Andromeda.

Hubris might also be a factor. With the Reapers out of the picture one way or the other, the milky-way races must feel like the universe holds no more terrors for them...right up until they wake-up something much worse in Andromeda.

Oh, absolutely. I still feel like the Destroy ending is the only truly viable road for BioWare to take, and they can easily retcon that the geth survived somehow if they want to do so. After surviving the Reapers, who controlled and exterminated countless species in the Milky Way for a billion years, I don't doubt that the survivors developed some sense of invincibility (and, no doubt, more than a little arrogance). "If we can survive the Reapers, we can survive anything."

I'm still not entirely sure if I'm going to bother playing this, simply because ME3 left such a bad taste for me, but I do like that BioWare has put a good amount of distance (both physical and chronological) between the Shepard trilogy and Andromeda, and that they appear to be taking their time with this one. (The Holiday 2016 release date implies it'll be another year and a half before we see this.) I'll keep an open mind, at least, and hope for the best.

 

[Reverend]

If this is centuries after ME3 then that could be more than enough time for the Milky Way races to finally figure out how to build their own relays. Couple that with natural ambition (and trillions of beings' need for resources), it's not out of the realm of possibility that they'd then start expanding the relay network beyond the Milky Way and out into the Magellanic Clouds and the other small galaxies in our local group, and eventually out to Andromeda.

Hubris might also be a factor. With the Reapers out of the picture one way or the other, the milky-way races must feel like the universe holds no more terrors for them...right up until they wake-up something much worse in Andromeda.

Oh, absolutely. I still feel like the Destroy ending is the only truly viable road for BioWare to take, and they can easily retcon that the geth survived somehow if they want to do so. After surviving the Reapers, who controlled and exterminated countless species in the Milky Way for a billion years, I don't doubt that the survivors developed some sense of invincibility (and, no doubt, more than a little arrogance). "If we can survive the Reapers, we can survive anything."

I'm still not entirely sure if I'm going to bother playing this, simply because ME3 left such a bad taste for me, but I do like that BioWare has put a good amount of distance (both physical and chronological) between the Shepard trilogy and Andromeda, and that they appear to be taking their time with this one. (The Holiday 2016 release date implies it'll be another year and a half before we see this.) I'll keep an open mind, at least, and hope for the best.

As much as I disliked the ending (even after the extended cut) I'm honestly not put off from the franchise or Bioware in general. The vast majority of the game is *very* good and IMO the main problem with the ending (basically everything after the last Kai Leng fight) is that it felt overly rushed and not thoroughly thought through.
I think their fundamental error (and it's a biggie) was that they forgot they they weren't just making the ending to a single game, but to a whole trilogy.

Short version: I've played a lot of *bad* games in my time, but I don't count ME3 among them.

As for the long term consequence of the three main end-states; yeah, Destroy is far and away the preferable option. Control is manageable, but makes it difficult to come up with a new threat if there's this swarm of reaper watchdogs ready to jump on anything that could arise.

Synthesis...I think they painted themselves into a corner with that one. Aside from the concept being (still) chronically ill explained, it claims to fundamentally change the nature of all life in the milky-way, right down to single cell organisms. There's just no way to incorporate that without either making an entirely different game for that outcome (obviously out of the question) or severely playing down the significance, which would be a colossal cop out. Plus you still have the problem of the reapers still existing.

The Johnny Cash song was a bit too on the nose with its allusion of this being a sci-fi western, but I'm glad that they're taking the series in that direction. Exploring space, out on the frontier, far from home... this may just be the best Star Trek game never released.

If they're really going with the western-ish themes then it's almost verbatim what I had hoped for after finishing ME3.
I can't be arsed to go digging up my old posts from a few years back, but I think the general gist was "a Firefly/Cowboy Beebop/Alien style setting for the ship and crew, if they worked for IPX from Babylon 5."

 

[Gingerbread Demon]

The Johnny Cash song was a bit too on the nose with its allusion of this being a sci-fi western, but I'm glad that they're taking the series in that direction. Exploring space, out on the frontier, far from home... this may just be the best Star Trek game never released.

I liked the chosen music but it just didn't gel for me. Seemed like 3 years has passed and this is all they have?

 

[Gingerbread Demon]

Of all the 3 endings Synthesis is the one I liked the best. Yes the reapers still are around but like the Control ending they are in a more manageable form now and not wanting to kill everyone. Plus with them onside imagine the potential for exploration of OTHER galaxies.. It would be awesome having a reaper as squadmate..

 

[Reverend]

Of all the 3 endings Synthesis is the one I liked the best. Yes the reapers still are around but like the Control ending they are in a more manageable form now and not wanting to kill everyone. Plus with them onside imagine the potential for exploration of OTHER galaxies.. It would be awesome having a reaper as squadmate..

No, that would suck. You can't make your side feel too powerful or else there's not sense of danger. The only way around it is to have this new threat obliterate all the surviving reapers in the opening salvo, which would only serve cheapen the previous games and raise the stakes to such ludicrous proportions that you'd never be able to pay it off.

And as for making the reapers manageable, I think "destroyed" is about as manageable as they can possibly get. There's no guarantee that Catalyst-Shepard (especially renegade Catalyst-Shepard) won't go all homicidal thanks to an existential revelation about the fleeting nature of existence or some-such. That's not managed, that's a Sword of Damocles.

And again, synthesis was so poorly defined that there's no telling what's going on with it. Joining with the reapers means joining with the collective intelligence of the thousands of ancient species that were harvested. How can the younger races join with something like that and not be consumed by it? It's quite literally like mind melding with Cthulhu.