[Megathread] Mass Effect Andromeda

[May90]

I think a degenerate species that needs wheels is a bit of an immersion breaker. I'm still not entirely sure how some races ever evolved to be space faring tbh, given a certain lack of motor skills.

Well, maybe that was a poor suggestion. But still, there are so many ideas the writers could follow... Yet we see the same thing everywhere: Mass Effect, Star Wars, Star Trek, Avatar, Starcraft - everything is always some combination of elements we have on our planet. For me personally, it is quite an immersion breaker, when I land on a planet 2.5 million light years away from Earth, and see what looks like "Earth on steroids".

Regarding races evolving to be space faring, the only race I would imagine it would be hard for is the Hanar. I suppose they had to create an immense amount of automation to be able to build anything at all.

[OmniSkribe]

Regarding races evolving to be space faring, the only race I would imagine it would be hard for is the Hanar. I suppose they had to create an immense amount of automation to be able to build anything at all.

Since we know almost nothing about Hanar, why couldn't they use Zerg-like living ships? Even Star Wars made it with recent Rebels cartoon where Space Whales could warp around galaxy without any tech.

[Elim Garak]

Well, maybe that was a poor suggestion. But still, there are so many ideas the writers could follow... Yet we see the same thing everywhere: Mass Effect, Star Wars, Star Trek, Avatar, Starcraft - everything is always some combination of elements we have on our planet. For me personally, it is quite an immersion breaker, when I land on a planet 2.5 million light years away from Earth, and see what looks like "Earth on steroids".

Well habitable planets tend to be similar, because in order to be habitable they must fall within certain parameters which are universal due to isotropic nature of the universe.

It must be a rocky planet with liquid water. And as far as milky way species go it must have Nitrogen+Oxygene atmosphere. Hence AI arrives into Helios Cluster where there are habitable planets for Milky Way species. And it is no wonder that there are Andromeda species similar to us. Same input same output. Not to mention that Helios cluster was terraformed that way by Remnant species, and Angara were specifically created by them

But Kett race is a very different concept, they adsorb genetic traits of other species, Exaltation and all that and they come from outside the cluster.

So far scientifically it is all very consistent.

[Deleted]

The metric ton of quests is kinda pissing me off. And even after you did those quests, more pop up on the same planet. I see why the game has 100+ hours, you just do shit over and over.

Also the outpost system reminds me of the Fallout 4 settlements but instead of wasting hours building shit and then baby sitting the settlers so they don't get kidnapped, now you just do a shit ton of quests.

[Nazrark]

It makes sense that creatures that use leg movement are more prevalent than other species. Even the most out there species still have legs. Tholians are crystalline but still have legs. As far as I know, the only intelligent life not to have use of legs are Hanar and the Aquatic Xindi. Both never evolved the need to have legs. If the flying Mantis creatures in Andromeda evolved into a society, they would need a way to perch in order to socialize. There would be need to be environmental factors or the natural ability to levitate.

Someone also said that there is Space Whales in Star Wars that have a biological Hyperdrive. If they haven't evolved much, that may be where the technology first got it's start.

[Ilikegreenfire]

Ah I had the bulb, but didn't get the plant to bring it back to where I got the bulb.

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Not buying that. Besides shuttles have shields as well, again these work for interstallar travel. It's also not like your Nomad is impervious to damage/attacks and neither is a it stealthy at all (in fact the word stealth does not exist inthe game besiddes explaining why my mission starts right inside the enemies base). The only reason is gamey-mechanics.

Habatat 7 brought down a large kett ship and multiple shuttles. Just because something is space worthy doesn't mean it is impervious. Eos has radiation and sandstorms that can fuck shuttles. Volde has snowstorms ext. A shuttle is easy traceable compared to a ground vehicle. Then we have things like anti air cannons and other shuttles to contend with. The nomad is also better at cave exploration, there are plenty of lore reasons to use the Nomad over a shuttle, even if you don't want tp see them

[Deleted]

Is there a benefit to playing Multiplayer for Singleplayer? I thought I saw something about strike missions?

I've been watching some random guy stream MP and it looked really cool. Generally, I avoid it in cover-based/3rd person shooters because it's mostly underplayed and not very decent, but this one looks like it's worth it.

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The metric ton of quests is kinda pissing me off. And even after you did those quests, more pop up on the same planet. I see why the game has 100+ hours, you just do shit over and over.

What annoyed me yesterday is that I talk to an NPC, he/she gives me a quest, and upon talking to the NPC again right after that I get a different dialogue and a new quest.

I'm not going to initiate interactive dialogue with every NPC multiple times to see when they start repeating what they said, but I generally complete my games close to 100% all the time.

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Well, maybe that was a poor suggestion. But still, there are so many ideas the writers could follow... Yet we see the same thing everywhere: Mass Effect, Star Wars, Star Trek, Avatar, Starcraft - everything is always some combination of elements we have on our planet. For me personally, it is quite an immersion breaker, when I land on a planet 2.5 million light years away from Earth, and see what looks like "Earth on steroids".

Because that's the extent of our current scientific understanding of carbon-based lifeforms. The general assumption in astrobiology right now is that extraterrestrial life is likely carbon-based as well.
Silicon-based lifeforms might be a hypothetical possibility except for the lack of empirical data about its potential existence, while carbon has been found in abundance on meteorites etc. (Star Trek did include a silicon-based species, the Horta).

It doesn't break immersion for me if it's the leading hypothesis. The exact opposite would be a thorn in my eye.

There's also no reasonable ground to assume that the Andromeda galaxy would abide by entirely different rules than the Milky Way galaxy.

[Cosmic Janitor]

Habatat 7 brought down a large kett ship and multiple shuttles. Just because something is space worthy doesn't mean it is impervious. Eos has radiation and sandstorms that can fuck shuttles. Volde has snowstorms ext. A shuttle is easy traceable compared to a ground vehicle. Then we have things like anti air cannons and other shuttles to contend with. The nomad is also better at cave exploration, there are plenty of lore reasons to use the Nomad over a shuttle, even if you don't want tp see them

Most of these "reasons" are just garbage. A shuttle has the same size, can operate anywhere and has shielding. The storms on habitat-7 have no relevance here, since the nomad did not operate there when these happened, it's rather questionable if the nomad would stand any chance on habitat-7. The nomand also can't handle any of the dangerous (lvl 2&3) hazards properly, there no reason to believe it has any advantage over a shuttle which shields you from cosmic radiation, the temperature of space, etc. You can also fly a shuttle very low to the ground, not to mention everyone and their mother does that all the time on these planets. The Normandy also had a shuttle, you just didn't get to control it. These "reasons" are just grasping at straws to explain something that makes no sense from a lore PoV, yet have all to do with gameplay :P.

Weebee's loyalty mission's start would also be a non-issue if we had a shuttle in our hangar instead of a useless dune buggy.

[May90]

Since we know almost nothing about Hanar, why couldn't they use Zerg-like living ships? Even Star Wars made it with recent Rebels cartoon where Space Whales could warp around galaxy without any tech.

It is possible. After all (if I'm correct), Hanar lived underwater on their home planet, and underwater very large living creatures can exist.

Well habitable planets tend to be similar, because in order to be habitable they must fall within certain parameters which are universal due to isotropic nature of the universe.

It must be a rocky planet with liquid water. And as far as milky way species go it must have Nitrogen+Oxygene atmosphere. Hence AI arrives into Helios Cluster where there are habitable planets for Milky Way species. And it is no wonder that there are Andromeda species similar to us. Same input same output. Not to mention that Helios cluster was terraformed that way by Remnant species, and Angara were specifically created by them

But Kett race is a very different concept, they adsorb genetic traits of other species, Exaltation and all that and they come from outside the cluster.

So far scientifically it is all very consistent.

It makes sense that creatures that use leg movement are more prevalent than other species. Even the most out there species still have legs. Tholians are crystalline but still have legs. As far as I know, the only intelligent life not to have use of legs are Hanar and the Aquatic Xindi. Both never evolved the need to have legs. If the flying Mantis creatures in Andromeda evolved into a society, they would need a way to perch in order to socialize. There would be need to be environmental factors or the natural ability to levitate.

Someone also said that there is Space Whales in Star Wars that have a biological Hyperdrive. If they haven't evolved much, that may be where the technology first got it's start.

Because that's the extent of our current scientific understanding of carbon-based lifeforms. The general assumption in astrobiology right now is that extraterrestrial life is likely carbon-based as well.
Silicon-based lifeforms might be a hypothetical possibility except for the lack of empirical data about its potential existence, while carbon has been found in abundance on meteorites etc. (Star Trek did include a silicon-based species, the Horta).

It doesn't break immersion for me if it's the leading hypothesis. The exact opposite would be a thorn in my eye.

There's also no reasonable ground to assume that the Andromeda galaxy would abide by entirely different rules than the Milky Way galaxy.

Well, first of all, the only reason we expect extraterrestrial life to be carbon-based is that we don't know any other kind. It is an assumption coming purely from our lack of experience. I don't think any serious astrobiologist will expect it to be the only, or even the dominating, kind of life in the Universe.

Then, this, after all, is science fiction. Since we can hypothesize countless different life forms, the writers have a lot of room for improvization. I understand the general argument that, since humans became the most successful species on Earth, and they became one for certain biological reasons, most other intelligent species getting to the point of spacefaring should be somewhat similar - but this argument, again, only holds ground in assumption that life mostly occurs on Earth-like planets with Earth-like element distribution. This is not a very good argument to apply to science fictional worlds.

Even in Mass Effect Milky Way, we have so many principally different species...

- Leviathans (huge amphibian creatures able to influence other living beings through quantum entanglement transmitters)
- Rachni (hive mind insectoid creatures able to survive in virtually any conditions)
- Thorian (diffused plant controlling other living organisms through airborne spores)
- Hanar (floating creatures with medusa-like biology)
- Elcor (I won't even pretend I understand their biology)
- Humanoids (having a lot of unique characteristics, such as Asari natural in biotics and able to reproduce with virtually any intelligent beings, or Krogan with extreme regeneration abilities)
- Geth (purely synthetic beings with collective consciousness)

Given this variety, I really would like to see something unique in Andromeda. Not another humanoid species with two genders, hierarchical society, Earth-like plant life... There are many ways to make it scientifically sound, too. I understand that it is easier to relate to humanoids than, say, to some weird intelligent clouds of dust, but this is Andromeda, another galaxy, we want it to be truly alien, nothing like what we know.

[nekobaka]

Just did Cora's loyalty mission. I accepted the screwy pathing for NPCs creating some comical things along with over accentuated mouth movements. The eyes on this mission though was way screwy though and screams I dont care enough. Ian S. Frazier said they completed the pre-buff insanity run and yet this stuff goes past.

I think Naughty Dog is right in that the team over estimated the time they had to polish while at the same time the fan base is taking such commentary too positively as an excuse. I can excuse devs not wanting to be dishonest with the possibility of making marketing material look far better than actual content while at the same time I cannot excuse what I just witnessed in a main story line.

[Elim Garak]

Given this variety, I really would like to see something unique in Andromeda. Not another humanoid species with two genders, hierarchical society, Earth-like plant life... There are many ways to make it scientifically sound, too. I understand that it is easier to relate to humanoids than, say, to some weird intelligent clouds of dust, but this is Andromeda, another galaxy, we want it to be truly alien, nothing like what we know.

Keep in mind that in Milky Way we had access to Mass Relay Network and thus the WHOLE galaxy.
In MEA we are slaves to the FTL drives and are confined in the Helios Cluster, hence we only meet a single sentient species native to the Cluster. It is similar to Milky Way species, each species is native to some cluster (there might be exceptions of course) and only thanks to MR they could interact and migrate.

This is very consistent in Mass Effect universe. It would've been rather weird to see many drastically different species in just this one cluster.

Another thing to keep in mind: Milky Way was designed as an "organic life farm" by Reapers, so this diversity of species might be artificial. And even in the times of Leviathans, when they were the APEX race there were humanoids all over.

Perhaps in MEA2 we will see some diversity

[Deleted]

It is possible. After all (if I'm correct), Hanar lived underwater on their home planet, and underwater very large living creatures can exist.





Well, first of all, the only reason we expect extraterrestrial life to be carbon-based is that we don't know any other kind. It is an assumption coming purely from our lack of experience. I don't think any serious astrobiologist will expect it to be the only, or even the dominating, kind of life in the Universe.

No no no. The reason the general assumption right now is that other life forms are likely carbon-based as well, is because there is no data pointing to other possibilities strongly enough. The laws of physics apply to stars and planets in Andromeda, just like they apply to objects in the Sagittarius-Carina cluster of our own galaxy, or anything in our own solar system.

On terrestrial earth-type planets (anything we visit in the game) the possible lifeforms are dictated by the environment, which is based on a silicon-oxygen framework. Under the moderate temperatures that promote earth-type environments (with an oxygen-based atmosphere), silicon is oxidized and bound in inert structures like rocks. So we need to look at remnants of a state where silicon is freed up/reactive under high temperatures, billions of years ago on Earth. However, basalt fossils show no traces of any life at all.

It might be possible on planets/moons where there are no traces of oxygen in the atmosphere and where water is frozen solid, but even then it highly depends on the abundance of carbon compared to silicon. Another possibility is in extremely hot hydrogen-rich conditions, but those conditions would never "welcome" exploration of carbon-based life. We would be incinerated before we even got close to a condition that is conducive to silicon forming stable polymers.

Sci-fi portraying only carbon-based life is not a stretch of imagination, nor is it carbon chauvinism. It's, with our current knowledge and what we know of the laws governing nature, simply the most reasonable hypothesis supported by the data we have, and even if it did exist we would never be able to meet it/visit it because the conditions that support potential silicon-based life are beyond hostile.

Good sci-fi follows several laws of nature, and the ones they break need to be explained by an acceptable range of technological advances, not biological magic.

[May90]

Keep in mind that in Milky Way we had access to Mass Relay Network and thus the WHOLE galaxy.
In MEA we are slaves to the FTL drives and are confined in the Helios Cluster, hence we only meet a single sentient species native to the Cluster. It is similar to Milky Way species, each species is native to some cluster (there might be exceptions of course) and only thanks to MR they could interact and migrate.

This is very consistent in Mass Effect universe. It would've been rather weird to see many drastically different species in just this one cluster.

Another thing to keep in mind: Milky Way was designed as an "organic life farm" by Reapers, so this diversity of species might be artificial. And even in the times of Leviathans, when they were the APEX race there were humanoids all over.

Perhaps in MEA2 we will see some diversity

I don't find it surprising that we find humanoids and Earth-like planets in Heleus cluster. What I find surprising is that this is the only intelligent species and ecosystems we find. When the first intelligent species we meet looks very similar to us, on the planet with the vegetation very similar to ours, then it becomes hard for me to suspend my disbelief. Again, I understand their and your reasons for it, and I agree with them - it is just that a lot of opportunities are missed by taking such an obvious approach.

It only took me a couple of minutes from meeting the first Angara (AFAIK, it was first contact) to chatting with two of them as if they were my best buddies from Earth. Even as humanoids, we are not supposed to be able to so easily understand each other. This is not Mass Effect 1, where humanity has been a part of the intergalactic community for decades and learned to understand everyone, this is first contact, two species with completely different biologies, societies, histories, languages. There is just no way for it to be that simple.

No no no. The reason the general assumption right now is that other life forms are likely carbon-based as well, is because there is no data pointing to other possibilities strongly enough. The laws of physics apply to stars and planets in Andromeda, just like they apply to objects in the Sagittarius-Carina cluster of our own galaxy, or anything in our own solar system.

On terrestrial earth-type planets (anything we visit in the game) the possible lifeforms are dictated by the environment, which is based on a silicon-oxygen framework. Under the moderate temperatures that promote earth-type environments (with an oxygen-based atmosphere), silicon is oxidized and bound in inert structures like rocks. So we need to look at remnants of a state where silicon is freed up/reactive under high temperatures, billions of years ago on Earth. However, basalt fossils show no traces of any life at all.

It might be possible on planets/moons where there are no traces of oxygen in the atmosphere and where water is frozen solid, but even then it highly depends on the abundance of carbon compared to silicon. Another possibility is in extremely hot hydrogen-rich conditions, but those conditions would never "welcome" exploration of carbon-based life. We would be incinerated before we even got close to a condition that is conducive to silicon forming stable polymers.

Sci-fi portraying only carbon-based life is not a stretch of imagination, nor is it carbon chauvinism. It's, with our current knowledge and what we know of the laws governing nature, simply the most reasonable hypothesis supported by the data we have, and even if it did exist we would never be able to meet it/visit it because the conditions that support potential silicon-based life are beyond hostile.

Good sci-fi follows several laws of nature, and the ones they break need to be explained by an acceptable range of technological advances.

That is simply a flawed reasoning. "We have no evidence of a non-carbon-based life not existing, hence let's assume it does not exist". This isn't how science works. We don't know anything about the conditions in which life can form and what life can form, we only have one evolutionary path known to us, so the only thing we can say is, "This evolutionary path can happen under these conditions". There are no further claims we can make at this point. We haven't even defined properly what constitutes life yet.

It doesn't have to be carbon-based or silicon-based life. It can be something completely different. Liquid helium mixing with metals to produce an intelligent jelly-like being is not an impossibility, nothing from our current knowledge prohibits such a being from existing on a very cold planet with high atmospheric pressure.

Even within our own ecosystem, mere lack of the meteor collision 65 million years ago could lead to a completely different evolutionary path, with reptiles (or however dinosaurs would be classified as nowadays), rather than mammals, forming the first intelligent species. There is a myriad scientific possibilities, and in science fiction multiply it by 10e100.

[nekobaka]

Not sure if answered later in the story. At least in this section of the galaxy a large part of the story is about the manipulation of not only the planets but the living animals on said planets.

[Deleted]

Not sure if answered later in the story. At least in this section of the galaxy a large part of the story is about the manipulation of not only the planets but the living animals on said planets.

What else are we humans supposed to do, coexist in peace with nature? Come on

[nekobaka]

What else are we humans supposed to do, coexist in peace with nature? Come on

Given the trailer music we are supposed to pillage everything and make it our own because we are human. Along with all those other things we do as humans.

[I Push Buttons]

Is there a benefit to playing Multiplayer for Singleplayer? I thought I saw something about strike missions?

I've been watching some random guy stream MP and it looked really cool. Generally, I avoid it in cover-based/3rd person shooters because it's mostly underplayed and not very decent, but this one looks like it's worth it.

You get crates with materials/credits/loot in them, but its not really worth. Like not worth it to go out of your way to play multiplayer just to get them that is and not because you actually want to play.

The credit boxes, whether bronze/silver/gold, almost always give you ~30 credits. The material boxes almost always give you like 15-30 of some random common material, and the loot boxes just give you a random weapon.

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Keep in mind that in Milky Way we had access to Mass Relay Network and thus the WHOLE galaxy.
In MEA we are slaves to the FTL drives and are confined in the Helios Cluster, hence we only meet a single sentient species native to the Cluster. It is similar to Milky Way species, each species is native to some cluster (there might be exceptions of course) and only thanks to MR they could interact and migrate.

This is very consistent in Mass Effect universe. It would've been rather weird to see many drastically different species in just this one cluster.

Another thing to keep in mind: Milky Way was designed as an "organic life farm" by Reapers, so this diversity of species might be artificial. And even in the times of Leviathans, when they were the APEX race there were humanoids all over.

Perhaps in MEA2 we will see some diversity

Near the end of the story spoilers:
Technically we don't meet any species "native" to the cluster.

EDIT:

On that note, another complaint about the game I had involved that revelation.

I had Jaal and Peebee in my party... Mere moments after realizing his species was created by the Remnant, having an identity crisis, fearing the future, asking how his people will take it, etc...

Right when the cutscene ends Peebee says something like "blahblahblah if you need to talk about it I am here for you..." And Jaal responds with something like "now you care about me because I am some remnant tech you can study...? And Peebee freaks out apologizing like "no that's not what I meant!" And Jaal is like "hahaha gotcha!"

I was like WTF? Totally broke the seemingly intended emotional intensity that was meant in that moment and had me facepalming.

[MrTharne]

Starting to play MP. From what I read, weapon balance in MP is not the same than SP and it's kind of a mess (Raptor is the best "AR" and Vanquisher is stronger than the BlackWidow).

Also bought the Halberd(?) AR in SP and my god it's fucking amazing.

[Deleted]

Starting to play MP. From what I read, weapon balance in MP is not the same than SP and it's kind of a mess (Raptor is the best "AR" and Vanquisher is stronger than the BlackWidow).

Also bought the Halberd(?) AR in SP and my god it's fucking amazing.

Vanquisher is totaly overpowered. have rank 1 in MP and im 1shoting gold dif. They have to cut like 1/3 of dmg on that weapon.

[Nazrark]

@May90

From what I've learned by finishing the game. It will change your perspective on Andromeda as a whole. Opens up a wide range of options. Good and bad.