[Megathread] Mass Effect Andromeda

[Jastall]

My only gripe is that we only have one Andromedan in the squad. IMO they could have dropped a human to add in another one.

Assuming of course that there isn't a surprise/secret 7th Andromedan squadmate, which is possible. If memory serves, Legion's role as a squadmate was kept under the lid until release. Just hoping they don't make it a DLC like for Javik, that was a kick in the nuts.

[Deleted]

ME1 had 6 squadmates (one corresponding to each class available to you) and one of them even gets killed midgame.

Which leads to this moment of Wrex being a bitch:

[FobManX]

I don't mind smaller squads. 6 is the perfect number as it fills all the classes. I loved the characters in ME2 for the most part but I felt like there were a few too many squaddies.

[Derah]

My only gripe is that we only have one Andromedan in the squad. IMO they could have dropped a human to add in another one.

The main thing is that not everyone likes romancing an alien (Specially when the alien looks distinctively non-human, like Garrus). Some people prefer simplistic vanilla romance with another human being.

Which is why every Mass Effect game is almost contractually obligated to have at least 2 token human members for those who wish a romance without having to bang an alien.

This is also why in Dragon Age, there were also a minimum of 2 human romances in each game, even if several others were elves, or Qunari etc.

Speaking of romances, I'm hoping that they also take an approach similar to Dragon Age 1. That's the only bioware game to date I can remember where you can have casual sex OUTSIDE of romances. Sure there were the basic four (Leliana, Morrigan, Alistair, and Zhevran) but there were also a bunch of optional sex encounters peppered through the game (That elf couple in the forest, that barmaid in redcliff, those two dwarven prostitutes in the Male Dwarf Noble origin, that boy/girl in the human noble origin, that dwarf dude for the female dwarf noble origin, Isabella, the desire demon, that kinky nun in redcliff, to say nothing of the many prostitutes in denerim).

So while there was a clear romance path, there were also quite a few completely casual flings/one-night stands you could have throughout the rest of the adventure. Which is something they never did again. In DA2 they toned this down tremendously. Outside of the standard romances, the casual encounters were only the prostitutes of the blooming rose, and Zhevran in his cameo but that's it. This was toned down even more for Inquisition, where outside of the standard romances, you could only flirt, but that's it. The only implied sexual encounter is during a minor sidequest with an annoying noble.

And on Mass Effect there have never been any casual flings. Random flirts with Kelly Samara and Morinth in ME2, and that incredibly shallow mockery of a romance with Diana in ME3 but that's it for the whole trilogy.

Hopefully Andromeda will allow you to have more casual encounters, alongside the more serious committed relationships.

[Imnick]

6 Squadmates is a good number if it means that they are all well written and fleshed out.
Of course, it doesn't necessarily mean that they are :P

[MrTharne]

Soooooo :



I know who will be my romance in this game :

[Lillpapps]

Will the sibling you don't play as be on the ship as a non useable crew member?

[Ilikegreenfire]

https://www.masseffect.com/news/profiles-and-squads


2nd gameplay video is out, some highlights. Profiles are bound to favorite slots. Profiles have attributes tied to them.

Adept: Biotic Echoes: Biotic explosions set off additional explosions on each enemy they touch

Biotic Jump & Evade, you now use biotics for movement rather than your jet pack

Pathfinder:

Biotic blink: evades now allow you to move a short distance with biotics passing through solid objects.

Twitter says Tech armor is the sentinel profiles special attribute

Sqadmates have 3 active and two passive skills

Squadmates will automatically seek to detonate combos. Player was seen Cryo freezing 2 targets and Cora charged in to blow them up. Cora was seen doing the same again later to a target in a singularity killing him instantly.

[Deleted]

Will the sibling you don't play as be on the ship as a non useable crew member?

They will be romanceable.

[Medusa Cascade]

They will be romanceable.

One can hope.

[Ilikegreenfire]

I may have to break my no banging Aliens vow i made in ME 1 if it means i can bang Margaery Tyrell.... I'll leave sis Ryder to breed the new generation of superhumans.

[Lahis]

Will the sibling you don't play as be on the ship as a non useable crew member?

The sibling you don't choose to play as (that being the gender choise) will emerge from the cryostasis in cripled state. Mentally they are fit to serve on executive/officer level duties on the Tempest, but they are unfit to physically join you on the ground missions, hence the sibling will not be a squadmate.

[Sunseeker]

6 Squadmates is a good number if it means that they are all well written and fleshed out.
Of course, it doesn't necessarily mean that they are :P

It's also a good number if they all have a strong niche. Depending on the choices of the PC and your playstyle, it was pretty easy to never use more than 3 companions ever in pretty much all the ME games.

[May90]

They've had 2½ years to improve it. Plus, the word is that the reason we haven't gotten the exact system requirements yet is that they're still working on making sure the game can run on as many systems as possible.

Well, if we start count in 2012, when ME3 was released, then that's 5 years. But yes, the game looks spectacular even compared to DAI.

Apparently the squadmates will indeed only be six =(

Barring that they add more via DLC (Which fucking sucks. I can't get DLCs easily, and the biggest thing about bioware games is interacting with your crew. Holding cremates behind a pay wall is not cool) these six are all we're gonna get. What a shame.

I think 6 is more than enough. In fact, I don't like having too many squadmates, like in ME2 or DAI, because I feel less connected to each and every one of them. In DAI, some characters, like Vivienne or Cole, I barely cared about, because there is only so much information I can process at a time.

There will be a huge lot of side characters on the Arc anyway, something Bioware does really well: non-essential, but still unique and memorable, characters. Remember Sandal? I want a Krogan named Sandal on the Arc!

[pateuvasiliu]

I love how I, as a PC player with 12 buttons, need to switch between sets of favourite skills.

Console ports hooooooooooo.

[nekobaka]

The sibling you don't choose to play as (that being the gender choise) will emerge from the cryostasis in cripled state. Mentally they are fit to serve on executive/officer level duties on the Tempest, but they are unfit to physically join you on the ground missions, hence the sibling will not be a squadmate.

I am wondering if that is what the line at 38sec from Natalie Dormer video is referring to. Seems sad.

[zealo]

I love how I, as a PC player with 12 buttons, need to switch between sets of favourite skills.

Console ports hooooooooooo.

Bioware hasn't been making games designed for PC first in the better part of a decade now, no news there. At least they came up with a reason to tie it to the gameplay balance seeing as all of them goes on cooldown when switched between sets.

[May90]

Mass Effect 2 and Mass Effect 3 were about spamming 2-3 abilities as pretty much any class anyway. I don't think a large set of abilities fits a shooter game.

Given the ability to switch between various class kits, this is going to be a Mass Effect game with the largest set of abilities so far.

[Endus]

I love how I, as a PC player with 12 buttons, need to switch between sets of favourite skills.

Console ports hooooooooooo.

Having a limited skill set has been a staple of Mass Effect since Day 1. That you can now swap between 4 such skill sets on the fly, putting your skills on CD, is a huge improvement. While it'll certainly work well with consoles, it's a game design choice that makes sense on its own; limiting options is how you force smart and meaningful decision-making.

[DesoPL]

Okay so the Kett are mix of collectors and reapers? That huge armored thing remind me old good fashioned brutes. :P Also funny, that we will have in team Angara guy, i thought even they will be against us.

Too bad there is no from Omega DLC powers, they are my favs.