[Megathread] Mass Effect Andromeda

[Elim Garak]

Dude.. Jardaan were barely Type 1. And i don´t remember Leviathats being capable harnessing energy output of whole galaxy.

Jardaan were approaching Type 3 by operating on the scale of an entire cluster with a black hole in the center of it - a dwarf galaxy.

Leviathans were operating on the scale of the entire Milky way galaxy. They created Reapers who basically turned Milky Way into Living Matter Factory, which they harvested to build more Reapers. Living Matter production requires solar and planetary energy and as I said they were operating on the scale of the entire galaxy, effectively harnessing its energy. Also their Mass Effect technology allows them to approach Black Holes and Collectors were using one for a base of operations. And that's just based off what we know about them.

[Skorpionss]

So I played up until I got Tempest but I have to ask... why in the world do people say the Gameplay is better?

You can't pause/issue spells to your squadmates and the cover system feels really weird. Honestly I look at ME3 and I think it's better in almost every way.


I'm playing on Hard ( not Hardest, though I'll probably switch to it once Hard becomes too easy ) and I'm starting to think I would've preferred Andromeda to be made with ME3's engine.


The levelling looks really good though.

Well because I never used that, so having the AI smarter and more fluidity to the combat is better... if that's what you wanted from it then sorry...

[pateuvasiliu]

Well because I never used that, so having the AI smarter and more fluidity to the combat is better... if that's what you wanted from it then sorry...

Some of us like playing on the hardest difficulties

Two years.

Well fuck

[Lahis]

Two years.

Though we don't know how much of that was actual dead-dead and how much of it was coma.

Gotta say though, Project Lazarus had some sick recuperative tech. Shepard had spent last two years on operatign table, but when she woke up, she sprang right back into action without breaking a sweat.

[frogger237]

Got mine. He seems pretty great. I invested into Barricade/Incinerate first.

Having avoided playing humans in MP, I was really enjoying using Barricade with allies. Had to remind some of them that mine provides a damage bonus for our weapons though. Keep getting silver/gold Support medals and we all bunker down behind it, and mow down enemies. Throwing it down on a device and hacking it safely was awesome.

Remnant AI is decent, just have to remember to keep ordering it around. It seems to function as a good distraction, look forward to making it a Primer at rank 6.

Currently using the Black Widow on him, very satisfied.


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Anyone noticing weapons having fluctuating damage?

During my matches today, my Black Widow was going from 1 shotting Marksmen to requiring 2-3 shots. It felt very random. All the shots were head shots. Felt very confusing.

For some back ground, I always made sure I had the same Consumables and I used the same character/abilities. Also sure other players didn't lead to it, as the fluctuating damage happened on some fresh spawns too. Some would be 1 shot, some not.

Yeah after this last patch my Ishray will sometimes oneshot a sniper with a headshot and other times require two hits. I've also had the cannon fodder guys take 2 body shots when normally I can just one shot em. I tested this without consumables in a bunch of non apex bronze missions with the same character.

[pateuvasiliu]

Though we don't know how much of that was actual dead-dead and how much of it was coma.

Gotta say though, Project Lazarus had some sick recuperative tech. Shepard had spent last two years on operatign table, but when she woke up, she sprang right back into action without breaking a sweat.

If that is really the true Shepard.. for all we know, the ME2-3 Shepard is a clone.

[Adam Jensen]

If that is really the true Shepard.. for all we know, the ME2-3 Shepard is a clone.

Well . . . Cerberus did make a Shepard clone who tries to take over as Shepard in the Citadel DLC.

[zealo]

If that is really the true Shepard.. for all we know, the ME2-3 Shepard is a clone.

That still doesn't explain how this "clone" also got shepards memories. It's a cool video game opening sequence, but it's total bullshit from a science point of view, like many other things in Mass Effect.

Well . . . Cerberus did make a Shepard clone who tries to take over as Shepard in the Citadel DLC.

This clone also didn't have shepards memories, and according to the clone itself the clones were mostly created for spare body parts.

[Jastall]

You misunderstand, nowhere did I focus my arguments on the premise that the game is being "unrealistic", heck that is a stupid argument indeed, especially that it's about Mass Effect since you so astutely pointed out. The gripe and argument is that those things I mentioned are physically impossible. Matter does not bend the way Bioware think it does.

They might as well have written that Ryder farted, and voila, terraformed atmosphere!

You CAN terraform, but the process takes decades, or hundreds of years.

I'm not that familiar with cryogenics, I'm just a plants guy.

It's not like they pull a Star Trek and have a magical device that can instantly turn a barren moon in a lush paradise or vice versa. The extent of the terraforming you see happen on Eos is radiation starting to dissipate, whoopee doo. Given that the Vault is obviously a very extensive installation, and that the Remnants have Sufficiently Advanced Technologytm in spades, being able to affect the atmosphere in such a way in a short timeframe isn't out of the ordinary for space opera-brand superscience. We don't know the specifics, sure, but it's definitely explained about as much as any supertechnology is explained in any sci-fi setting.

Eos's atmosphere was already breathable. It already supported life. All the Vault did is scrub large amounts of radiation so the planet isn't something out of Fallout, and it doesn't even happen instantly for most of the playable area. If that's your breaking point for sci-fi, I struggle to think of how you can enjoy the genre at all.

And it's still far less stupid than Cerberus outright resurrecting someone who died, spent days if not weeks as a corpse, and ended up being, in Jacob's words, ''meats and tubes'' before they were even delivered to Cerberus's magical operating tables.

[Adam Jensen]

It's not like they pull a Star Trek and have a magical device that can instantly turn a barren moon in a lush paradise or vice versa. The extent of the terraforming you see happen on Eos is radiation starting to dissipate, whoopee doo. Given that the Vault is obviously a very extensive installation, and that the Remnants have Sufficiently Advanced Technologytm in spades, being able to affect the atmosphere in such a way in a short timeframe isn't out of the ordinary for space opera-brand superscience. We don't know the specifics, sure, but it's definitely explained about as much as any supertechnology is explained in any sci-fi setting.

Eos's atmosphere was already breathable. It already supported life. All the Vault did is scrub large amounts of radiation so the planet isn't something out of Fallout, and it doesn't even happen instantly for most of the playable area. If that's your breaking point for sci-fi, I struggle to think of how you can enjoy the genre at all.

And it's still far less stupid than Cerberus outright resurrecting someone who died, spent days if not weeks as a corpse, and ended up being, in Jacob's words, ''meats and tubes'' before they were even delivered to Cerberus's magical operating tables.

My NG+ is right now on the quest where it says "Wait for Eos's radiation to clear" so lore-wise, the radiation doesn't disappear immediately.

I mean sure, you can immediately step out of the area around the vault and not worry about radiation. But there are still pockets of heavy radiation you can't remain in for very long for a while and one can argue that the area around the vault is clear due to proximity to the vault.

[Skorpionss]

Honestly, I think Andromeda suffers from the same balance issues as most other open world games do: the amount of options you have at your disposal. It makes the game a lot of fun, but it also kind of takes away challenge from the single player.

For example, you can obtain weapons in the following ways:
- Quest rewards.
- Mob grinding.
- Crate looting.
- Shopping.
- Crafting.
- Playing multiplayer and opening boxes.
- Sending out APEX teams and opening boxes.
- Some Nexus abilities (?).

Yeah, on normal that would be the case, on insanity the only viable option is crafting, unless you like playing underpowered characters because every piece of loot is just the basic item with no augments.

[DaveL]

Jardaan were approaching Type 3 by operating on the scale of an entire cluster with a black hole in the center of it - a dwarf galaxy.

Leviathans were operating on the scale of the entire Milky way galaxy. They created Reapers who basically turned Milky Way into Living Matter Factory, which they harvested to build more Reapers. Living Matter production requires solar and planetary energy and as I said they were operating on the scale of the entire galaxy, effectively harnessing its energy. Also their Mass Effect technology allows them to approach Black Holes and Collectors were using one for a base of operations. And that's just based off what we know about them.

Operating (occupying) space and Harnessing power of stars and galaxies are two different things.
Leviathans shown no capability of interstellar travel. Also they did not created the Reapers. It was the AI who done that for them (the Crucible).
Jardaan only shown they can terraform planets in a very short period of time. And of course, creating contrstructs out of almost nothing (no info on how are Remant bots created).
Taking picture of Meridian and Meridian engine, on scale of power requiements and power harnessing, shows more like type 0.9. No sings on how and if they tapped stars for their power. The Kardashev scale measures power requiements of entire civilization. Taking in they could terraform and build "shield world".. Wich requies a star on very "pocket" size (can be seen inside meridian engine-unclear if its an proper star). So therefore.. "almost" level 1. Not even level 2 wich "harness the total energy of its planet's parent star (the most popular hypothetical concept being the Dyson sphere—a device which would encompass the entire star and transfer its energy to the planet(s)).". But surely not even close level 3. Wich requies harnessing power (and therefore having such power consumption) of entire galaxy.

However, if we use Robert Zubrin´s scale (wich is more usefully adapted Kardashev´s scale), The Jardaan and the Leviathans indeed are level 3. But in that effect its only about civilisation and colonisation spread.

[frogger237]

Havarl, Aya and Voeld all suffer from one glaring issue, the Angara. I don't understand how this species made it past the concept stage. Not only do they look, horrible, literally the worst designed race in the history of bioware. Their whole lore, is just the most tedious and weak crap I've ever been served. This whole "bio-electrical field" thing they keep talking about, where is it? What purpose does it serve? They're supposedly more "emotional" like some kind of reverse vulcan, but they don't show it! Apart from some cringeworthy HUG every now and then or suddenly crying at a "pivotal" moment, they act exactly like everyone else. It doesn't help the issue that since this is "their" cluster, we keep getting told to Bring JAAL along, who's just the most uninspiring, boring and at times extremely confusing character. (That part when he and Liam are barechested on the Tempest, can someone explain what the hell happened, because I didn't understand ANYTHING?) Jaal is in many ways Javik's catastrophically crippled little brother.

Yeah Angara are prob the shittiest race they have created sofar. Especially when you get into Aya and see that mural of them that looks badass and shows you what they could have been.

[Adam Jensen]

Yeah Angara are prob the shittiest race they have created sofar. Especially when you get into Aya and see that mural of them that looks badass and shows you what they could have been.

They did the whole "hunch back" crap that Blizzard did with orcs. That annoyed me.

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Yeah, on normal that would be the case, on insanity the only viable option is crafting, unless you like playing underpowered characters because every piece of loot is just the basic item with no augments.

Not even sure if I want to play insanity. I played ME3's insanity, but tbh, insanity was the only difficulty that ever presented a challenge, and even then, was only difficult in a few fights (the final fight in London with, what was it, six banshees?) But on Hardcore, one level below MEA's insanity, mobs are already feeling bullet spongy and I don't relish the idea of unloading entire clips into mobs just to kill them.

Survivability, I think I could do it. I just don't want to spend so much time and ammo on every single creature.

[mickybrighteyes]

Two years.

actually that's two years from getting spaced to waking up during the intro and running into Jacob. Technically they were 'alive' during those 2 years in varying states of health, as evident from the briefly gaining a short duration of consciousness before going back under. It was not stated how long Shepard was dead, only the duration from the Normandy's crash and consciously running into Miranda and TIM

[Elim Garak]

Operating (occupying) space and Harnessing power of stars and galaxies are two different things.

When I said operating , I didn't mean occupying. I meant using.

Leviathans shown no capability of interstellar travel.

Wot? They were the APEX race of the galaxy. There are cave markings on various planets depicting them visiting the primitives.

Also they did not created the Reapers. It was the AI who done that for them (the Crucible).

They created the AI, they provided the AI with the technology. They were turned into the first Reaper.

Jardaan only shown they can terraform planets in a very short period of time. And of course, creating contrstructs out of almost nothing (no info on how are Remant bots created).

They are shown to terraform an entire Helios Cluster (the Monoliths and Vaults are all interconnected in interstellar manner) and creating Sentient Species. That is beyond Type II to begin with. And then they've built Meridian which is a Dyson Sphere for all intents and purposes. That's Type II stuff.

[rhorle]

Leviathans shown no capability of interstellar travel. Also they did not created the Reapers. It was the AI who done that for them (the Crucible).

There is a reason why the Levithans are still alive. Some of them were able to hide from the Reapers and stay hidden all of these years. They wouldn't have been able to to do that if they could not travel between stars. Because you know the Reapers could just "nuke" the planet and kill all Leviathans. And if you require proof just watch https://youtu.be/lEqlG6bhZ80?t=206 I have it start at the relevant proof part but it explains more about the Leviathans.

Yes they did not directly create the Reapers. But they created the program that created the first Reaper (out of leviathans). So it really is just a semantics point. Is the tool, or the one who uses the tool, responsible for creation of an object? Using your logic there is no such thing as a craftsmen because they never create anything. Their tools do. The Leviathan were such a civilization where an AI would be seen as a tool to create what they wanted. They were just arrogant enough to forget certain fail safes.

The game states that the Remnants, or those who built them, are a type 1 civilization at the very least. We can be certain that the Remnant builders are several orders of sophistication above the Initiative's technology. Interlinked cluster-wide planetary engineering is beyond the logistics or budget of any known species. The energy requirements alone suggest a Type I civilization on the Kardeshev scale. http://masseffectandromeda.gamepedia.com/Remnant#Creators

[Sixnalia]

Some of us like playing on the hardest difficulties

To be honest, pausing the game to issue commands isn't a requirement to do "the hardest difficulties". Making it seem that way, and indirectly saying those who don't do not play on that difficulty seems a bit of a stretch.

But I fully understand where some people want as much control of a situation as possible, with this element being removed in ME:A. I would have liked an extra few keybinds to command my squad to use abilities in real time.
I have felt the annoyance of Cora biotic charging a target and causing me to miss a headshot. (Shakes fist)

Those of us who chose not to use it, never felt the impact. Which mean we don't see the point of the complaints, mostly due to never having experienced it.

But those who did, such as yourself, have felt it.

I don't see the point of removing something that was optional either, that allowed people extra control and a different playstyle approach. It would be nice if they added it back, as I'm sure there are plenty that did play that way.

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Currently I'm using Vetra and Drack with their Rank 6 ammo modifiers so their shots have a high chance of priming. It's been working out fairly well, especially when I can tell them to focus a specific target and I know it will be primed in seconds, normally.

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As to the difficulty discussion. I really didn't enjoy bullet sponge world during my Insanity playthrough. It narrows your builds down a lot, to make something to let you NOT spend 5 minutes shooting a single fiend down.

On my third playthrough doing Casual difficulty and the difference is night and day for my enjoyment.

I feel the difficulty increase should have more to do with enemy accuracy, AI strategies, and more high ranked enemy spawns. Health and Damage shouldn't be increased to that extent, as it made the "difficulty" of Insanity feel very artificial.

[Mirishka]

If that is really the true Shepard.. for all we know, the ME2-3 Shepard is a clone.

Nope, the one that wakes up in ME2 is indeed the real Shepard. In ME3, we see the clone they made as a failsafe, in case the original couldn't be salvaged (and also for potential organ harvest).

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actually that's two years from getting spaced to waking up during the intro and running into Jacob. Technically they were 'alive' during those 2 years in varying states of health, as evident from the briefly gaining a short duration of consciousness before going back under. It was not stated how long Shepard was dead, only the duration from the Normandy's crash and consciously running into Miranda and TIM

There were some comics and such which made it clear several months had passed between Shepard's death and the actual recovering of the body by Cerberus.

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I feel the difficulty increase should have more to do with enemy accuracy, AI strategies, and more high ranked enemy spawns. Health and Damage shouldn't be increased to that extent, as it made the "difficulty" of Insanity feel very artificial.

Sadly this is how most games handle it. I switched FO4 to the second-hardest difficulty a few hours in, and suddenly normal raiders were surviving 4 or 5 shotgun blasts to the face. I hate bulletsponge mechanics like that.

I'd rather difficulty affect the number of powerful enemies (leader units, commanders etc), and the speed at which they do things like take cover, run away from grenades, etc.

[Teishou]

'Sup guys? I'm new here.

Currently on a NG+ with Peebee and Vetra at my side. I'm really loving everything that's going down in this game, and my only real irk is when Sam constantly tells me how to mine or the temperature around me. I'd like to think I'm pretty easy-going, so I don't really mind what all goes on in the game so long as it gives me a good time.

Cheers!