Old Mass Effect Megathread: Original Camera Angles

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Hedrigall: Mar 27, 2008; by vyelkin

Man can you at least wait until I'm home from work and not checking this thread on my phone? Jeeeez Louiiiiise!

# ? Nov 24, 2016 03:58

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# ? May 13, 2024 23:29

Pozload Escobar: Aug 21, 2016; by Reene

I just did a romance for the first time in a Bioware game and it turns out Cassandra from dragon age has some banging titties.

# ? Nov 24, 2016 04:06

Codependent Poster: Oct 20, 2003

Please don't "ironically" post bad fan art.

New details.

http://www.gameinformer.com/b/features/archive/2016/11/23/six-fun-activities-to-pursue-in-mass-effect-andromeda.aspx

quote:

Mass Effect Andromeda features the series� largest universe to date. Previous games let us take on small side quests and visit planets for specific missions, but Andromeda is raising the stakes with less linear planets and hub cities, opening them up for greater exploration and more to do than ever before. �If you look at the trilogy, you see all the hubs we created and the side content that came off the hubs,� says producer Mike Gamble. �That�s one place to put it, but imagine that side content in a place where you�re not limited to keeping your weapon holstered. There are so many different elements we can bring in by putting it on those planets with exploration areas. It makes the number and the type of side quests that we can do that much more interesting, whereas before if you�re on the hub you�re kind of limited to a fetch quest type of thing.�

The planets you explore come in a variety of sizes. According to BioWare, some are bigger than anything it�s done before, so much so you�ll have to drive across them using the Nomad (the new Mako-like vehicle). Other planets are smaller and won�t require getting the Nomad packed up. Planets house a bevy of different discoveries, as you�ll find colonies, hidden dungeons, minerals, and other secrets to unlock on your journey. �This is the biggest we�ve ever gone, in terms of the number of pieces of content,� Gamble says. �Although we have a lot of different areas to go to, we want to make it so whenever you go to those areas, you remember them.� Some planets are on the critical path; others are completely optional. BioWare is providing a lot to do when you�re out exploring, but wants to keep a fair amount optional so the player can choose how much they want to invest in the experience.

When we visited BioWare for our cover story trip, we asked what we�d be able to do in these larger spaces. �There are combat-related encounters, puzzle-related encounters, narrative-related encounters, and a lot of things will happen that add more depth to the critical path,� Gamble says. While BioWare wants to leave some surprises, it discussed some of what you�ll find as you search planets. Here are our biggest takeaways.

Loyalty Missions
As we reported, loyalty missions, which were a highlight of Mass Effect 2, are back. These narrative-focused quests allow you to learn more about the allies around you, having you decide if helping them is worth it to improve your relationship. If you�ll remember in Mass Effect 2, loyalty missions often brought moral dilemmas, such as when Zaeed wants to kill innocent people to ensure he can get his revenge on an ex-business partner. In Andromeda, these will be completely optional, but are worth pursuing if you want to get to know the people around you better. This is the only time individual characters have the spotlight entirely on them, and these missions can provide interesting backstory into how and why they became who they are. �Because they veer off of the critical path, it just allows you to tell very different stories,� says creative director Mac Walters. During our trip, we saw a loyalty mission related to the Krogran and it brought us to a new planet that we wouldn�t have encountered if we just stayed on the critical path. So doing them not only unlocks new story beats, but can lead to interesting, new places to explore.

Navigating With The Nomad
Planets are much more expansive than previous entries. You need the Nomad to make the most out of searching the majority of them. In fact, most planets have some sort of biohazard obstacles, such as sulfur pools and magma flow. The Nomad is essential for protection from some of these threats. With the Nomad, you can boost and jump to get past hazards or fit into nooks and crannies to find hidden items. �A big focus for us is making sure that the Nomad handles better, drives better, cascades better � that it has all the nimbleness that the original Mako did without any of the frustrations,� Gamble says.

Tracking Down Drop Zones
Whenever you enter an area, you�ll want to scour to find drop zones for forward stations. Using this tech, you can reveal all the points of interest on the map. This is also how you establish a fast-travel point, and you can change your loadout here. While the points of interest give you a hint of where you want to explore, BioWare also wanted some surprises along the way and to encourage you to go off the beaten path. �We don�t want to just give you map markers to follow,� Gamble explains. �We want you to explore, and find things, and stumble upon them. We really wanted to do that for players because it teaches them to go outside of the roads, and that is what the game is all about and why we give you the Nomad.�

Taking Out Enemy Bases
As can be expected, not everybody is going to get along and want the same thing in Andromeda. Danger can always be lurking around the corner. As you explore different planets, don�t be surprised if you stumble upon an enemy hideout. �On most planets there is some level of hostile force, and usually that will be represented by enemy bases or hideouts or whatever you want to call them specific to that planet,� Gamble explains. The majority of the planets you visit will feature at least one of these to take down and obtain some worthwhile items. �These bases are pretty lengthy to take out, so if you approach one, you want to be prepared before you into it,� Walters explains. It�s fun, because there�s a combination of systemic and scripted stuff in there. If you tip off too many enemies, the alarms start going off and you have to shut them off. And there�s usually narrative tied around it.� The bases all play into your role as the Pathfinder, but they're an optional activity. �As a Pathfinder the whole idea is exploring and creating viability in this cluster, eliminating those hideouts is a part of that,� Gamble says.

Epic Optional Fights
For those who want plenty of experience and goodies, intense battles are around you to make the most of. Sometimes it won�t just be enemies attacking you. Two factions might be fighting and you can join in, knock them both down, and reap the rewards. Even more enticing is that planets also contain their own super-bosses, which are massive creatures that you can often spot from a distance, always enticing you to test out your skills. These aren�t just battles you can expect to win at a low level or without some serious practice and upgrades. �You�ll find creatures and encounters that are so far overleveled to where you�re at naturally on these areas and you can tell right away,� Gamble says. �We have a lot of other things like that, where you�ll know that you�re not ready for this, but you�ll know you want to come back.� Gamble said the team worked hard to make sure players had some cool things like these to return to after they beat the critical path.

Scanning
You�ve traveled to the Andromeda galaxy, which is completely foreign to you. Part of your task as Pathfinder will be to learn more about every planet you visit. As you explore, you might stumble on technology or rocks that you can scan, allowing you to send the data back to your ship. The more objects you scan, the sooner you have access to better technology, so this will be essential. �Scanning is one of the most important exploration tools you�ll have in the game,� says producer Fabris Condiminas. �You�re in a new galaxy; there are a lot of things where you just have no clue what�s going on. The scanner is a way to capture what is in your environment, send the information back to the Tempest to analyze it, and find those clues that we add to the codex, which might also give you access to crafting pieces, for example.� Crafting allows you to make better weapons and armor.

So far it looks like BioWare is giving you plenty of options for how you want to spend your time in Andromeda. Another thing you�ll encounter is Vaults, which we saw in the PS4 Pro trailer. These are more puzzle-based and tired closely to the narrative, so BioWare is keeping their purpose and function mysterious for now.

# ? Nov 24, 2016 04:47

Drifter: Oct 22, 2000; Belated Bear Witness; Soiled Meat

I'm reading that and it's just like, the same bullshit marketing speak Bethesda did about Skyrim.

# ? Nov 24, 2016 05:14

BrianWilly: Apr 24, 2007; There is no homosexual terrorist Johnny Silverhand

Most of that doesn't sound "new"...in fact, you could tell someone that the article was about ME1 and I doubt they'd catch on for a long time.

But then, I do like the idea of reintroducing some of those features, just a bit more polished and streamlined than they were in ME1. The enemy bases on different planets, for instance, seem reminiscent of the old planetary outposts you would come across...but it'd be cool to mix that with the ME3 combat system. The planet-based mega-bosses sound fun, too...I'm down for hunting some Thresher Maws again.

# ? Nov 24, 2016 05:31

Eponymous: Feb 4, 2008; Maybe I just want to be happy, huh?! Maybe I want my life to not be a trainwreck for five GOD DAMN minutes?!

I mean, they'll probably have some justification in the story, but all this stuff about taking out "enemy bases"... We're totally the invading alien force in this one, aren't we? A terror from beyond the galactic rim, and unstoppable since we're the protagonists.

# ? Nov 24, 2016 05:47

Milkfred E. Moore: Aug 27, 2006; 'It's easier to imagine the end of the world than the end of capitalism.'

Codependent Poster posted:

Please don't "ironically" post bad fan art.

New details.

http://www.gameinformer.com/b/features/archive/2016/11/23/six-fun-activities-to-pursue-in-mass-effect-andromeda.aspx

I just really want something to come out that excites me for this game.

# ? Nov 24, 2016 05:50

Helith: Nov 5, 2009; Basket of Adorables

I'm not convinced that Bioware are actually good enough to pull off everything in that list in a meaningful and genuinely interesting way.

# ? Nov 24, 2016 05:51

Feels Villeneuve: Oct 7, 2007; Setter is Better.

at least they aren't Bethesda

# ? Nov 24, 2016 06:03

Eej: Jun 17, 2007; HEAVYARMS

raiding enemy bases makes me really excited to infiltrate the same prefab two storey warehouse filled with half and full height containers arranged in different ways for a unique experience for each side quest

# ? Nov 24, 2016 06:07

Doctor Spaceman: Jul 6, 2010; "Everyone's entitled to their point of view, but that's seriously a weird one."

Eej posted:

raiding enemy bases makes me really excited to infiltrate the same prefab two storey warehouse filled with half and full height containers arranged in different ways for a unique experience for each side quest

If there's one lesson they learnt from DA2 for Inquisition it's that cut-and-paste environments get boring quickly.

# ? Nov 24, 2016 06:13

Feels Villeneuve: Oct 7, 2007; Setter is Better.

Eej posted:

raiding enemy bases makes me really excited to infiltrate the same prefab two storey warehouse filled with half and full height containers arranged in different ways for a unique experience for each side quest

they really are going after the "mass effect 1 was the best one" crowd

# ? Nov 24, 2016 06:30

Jack2142: Jul 17, 2014; Shitposting in Seattle

Alain Post posted:

they really are going after the "mass effect 1 was the best one" crowd

I will be satisfied.

# ? Nov 24, 2016 06:34

hampig: Feb 11, 2004; ...curioser and curioser...

Alain Post posted:

they really are going after the "mass effect 1 was the best one" crowd

As long as they don't introduce The Worst RPG Mechanics, inventory management and crafting, it'll still probably be fine.

# ? Nov 24, 2016 06:44

Arc Hammer: Mar 4, 2013; Got any deathsticks?

Alain Post posted:

they really are going after the "mass effect 1 was the best one" crowd

Only if there is a quest to chase a swarm of space monkeys five hundred miles overland to discover a silver alien info sphere.

# ? Nov 24, 2016 06:48

Zzulu: May 15, 2009; (â°ËvËâ°)

Bases sound cool. They were a good concept in ME1, it was just kind of boring because each base was so generic and the combat of ME1 wasn't very good.

The combat will be better this time and they said the bases will be a mix of prefab stuff + scripted stuff so that should add some much needed variation. I'm also okay with huge bossfights, you can see some huge tentacle robot thing in the trailer, I want to fight that

# ? Nov 24, 2016 07:02

Hedrigall: Mar 27, 2008; by vyelkin

Arcsquad12 posted:

Only if there is a quest to chase a swarm of space monkeys five hundred miles overland to discover a silver alien info sphere.

Finding that stupid sphere and reading that stupid wall of text "cutscene" was really dumb. But for some reason No Man's Sky turned it into a 30+ hour game :confused:

# ? Nov 24, 2016 07:20

Drifter: Oct 22, 2000; Belated Bear Witness; Soiled Meat

Did you guys think the Dragon Fighting^(tm) in Dragon Age INquisition was particularly strategic, or did you think it was just a long drawn out war of attrition between you and a damage sponge that hopped around and spat fire?

# ? Nov 24, 2016 11:22

Doctor Spaceman: Jul 6, 2010; "Everyone's entitled to their point of view, but that's seriously a weird one."

Drifter posted:

Did you guys think the Dragon Fighting^(tm) in Dragon Age INquisition was particularly strategic, or did you think it was just a long drawn out war of attrition between you and a damage sponge that hopped around and spat fire?

Some of them were kinda strategic, but the lovely camera and controls made it too much trouble to really bother with.

# ? Nov 24, 2016 11:44

BrianWilly: Apr 24, 2007; There is no homosexual terrorist Johnny Silverhand

I didn't have a M-920 Cain when I fought those dragons. :c00lbert:

# ? Nov 24, 2016 12:19

FronzelNeekburm: Jun 1, 2001; STOP, MORTTIME

Chomp8645 posted:

They railroaded people into that choice. Now yeah being in the military doesn't exclude being a engineer or Abused Psyker Experiment but all that poo poo sets a certain tone. Especially seeing as you are the captain of the ship, a role to which a combat officer type role feels perfectly natural, but not so much a techie or pariah-lite-psychic.

On the other hand, it's a rare treat when someone picks an Adept in multiplayer and doesn't have a sniper rifle and an assault rifle equipped.

Some people just refuse to do anything but shoot guns.

Nevets posted:

Have we ever had a mainstream scifi universe that didn't include a sexy alien species whose defining characteristic was being promiscuous/prostitutes/sex slaves/sybarites?

Asimov will satisfy all your too-boring-for-sex sci-fi needs.

Codependent Poster posted:

Scanning

This might be useful.

# ? Nov 24, 2016 12:45

DancingShade: Jul 26, 2007; by Fluffdaddy

Alain Post posted:

they really are going after the "mass effect 1 was the best one" crowd

Happy with that.

# ? Nov 24, 2016 13:06

marshmallow creep: Dec 10, 2008; I've been sitting here for 5 mins trying to think of a joke to make but I just realised the animators of Mass Effect already did it for me

hampig posted:

As long as they don't introduce The Worst RPG Mechanics, inventory management and crafting, it'll still probably be fine.

Sorry to burst at least 50% of your bubble, but crafting has already been confirmed.

# ? Nov 24, 2016 14:02

Mymla: Aug 12, 2010

Drifter posted:

Did you guys think the Dragon Fighting^(tm) in Dragon Age INquisition was particularly strategic, or did you think it was just a long drawn out war of attrition between you and a damage sponge that hopped around and spat fire?

Eh, they were ok for the most part, but the combat worked much better against human-sized enemies.

# ? Nov 24, 2016 14:09

hampig: Feb 11, 2004; ...curioser and curioser...

marshmallow creep posted:

Sorry to burst at least 50% of your bubble, but crafting has already been confirmed.

Ah well you can't have everything. I can still hold out hope that it's a poorly implemented afterthought or maybe just rendered irrelevant by dropped gear so it doesn't take up much time.

Another acceptable option would be if the big boss fights are super fun set-pieces that we're all pleasantly surprised by and they drop crafting trophies and that's all you need!

hampig fucked around with this message at 14:24 on Nov 24, 2016

# ? Nov 24, 2016 14:21

Judge Tesla: Oct 29, 2011

Drifter posted:

Did you guys think the Dragon Fighting^(tm) in Dragon Age INquisition was particularly strategic, or did you think it was just a long drawn out war of attrition between you and a damage sponge that hopped around and spat fire?

If you were a Knight Commander then you just stood there swinging your Magic Sword at the dragon and taking zero damage while all your party members lay dead around you.

# ? Nov 24, 2016 14:39

Android Blues: Nov 22, 2008

The DAI dragon fights had some good mechanics like dodging fireballs and maneuvering around damage fields that ended up being more or less impossible to do on a party-wide basis because of how poorly suited the tactical camera and party AI were for that kind of thing. Even if you turned off AI and positioned your backliners on a hill, you would often find that your archer or mage had galloped into close combat with the dragon while you weren't looking.

# ? Nov 24, 2016 15:05

Android Blues: Nov 22, 2008

Like, once they patched it the tac cam was pretty good in most situations, but the dragon fights just take place over such huge areas that the zoom and pan it offers aren't really adequate, among other issues.

# ? Nov 24, 2016 15:06

exquisite tea: Apr 21, 2007; Carly shook her glass, willing the ice to melt. "You still haven't told me what the mission is."

She leaned forward. "We are going to assassinate the bad men of Hollywood."

The only hard dragon fights in Inquisition were the first couple, after which the snowball effect of epic items + superior materials for OP crafted gear made all the remaining ones a breeze.

# ? Nov 24, 2016 15:13

euphronius: Feb 18, 2009

I like adding scopes and modifiers to guns and poo poo. That's fun

That's about it tho for crafting for me .

# ? Nov 24, 2016 15:40

Professor Beetus: Apr 12, 2007; They can fight us
But they'll never Beetus

Judge Tesla posted:

If you were a Knight Commander then you just stood there swinging your Magic Sword at the dragon and taking zero damage while all your party members lay dead around you.

This is 100% accurate, for anything who might incorrectly think that Judge Tesla is using hyperbole.

# ? Nov 24, 2016 16:03

Potato Salad: Oct 23, 2014; nobody cares

You mean knight enchanter?

# ? Nov 24, 2016 16:09

Ferrinus: Jun 19, 2003; i'm finding this quite easy, i guess in part because i'm a fast type but also because i have a coherent mental model of the world

Drifter posted:

Did you guys think the Dragon Fighting^(tm) in Dragon Age INquisition was particularly strategic, or did you think it was just a long drawn out war of attrition between you and a damage sponge that hopped around and spat fire?

They kind of approached being strategic, but I just couldn't trust my party members to do the things I told them to do enough to make it really click. If DA:I played like DA:O, or like Dark Souls, or like a modern MMO (with party members you just couldn't ever control in the last two cases), then there would've been room for really challenging encounters, but as is the controls were just janky enough that a greater emphasis on dodging aoes or timing cooldowns would've just been frustrating.

That was my number 1 complaint with DA: I (which I liked, and beat completely) in general - the actual gameplay contained juuuust enough instances of unreliable party control, buggy animation, and skill antisynergy that I couldn't unreservedly enjoy the challenge presented by the only-heal-via-potions combat system. I literally would've preferred DA2's control scheme; at least in that miserable pile, my party members would immediately follow any orders I issued to them.

# ? Nov 24, 2016 16:39

Zzulu: May 15, 2009; (â°ËvËâ°)

I played on the hardest difficulty in DAI and some dragon fights were super hard. Mostly they went down with my entire party dying within 10 seconds of engaging the dragon, except the guy I was controlling... Then I'd run around and desperately try to avoid the dragon attacks while finding an opportunity to revive one of my braindead AI companions. Then repeat this for 20 minutes until the dragon died

But I am a sucker for huge bossfights...

With ME3 fighting system + jetpacks + huge bossfights I think they could be a lot of fun in ME4. I think it'll be critical that your AI buddies can handle themselves against the bosses though, otherwise it becomes a chore to micromanage them on harder difficulties

# ? Nov 24, 2016 16:46

exquisite tea: Apr 21, 2007; Carly shook her glass, willing the ice to melt. "You still haven't told me what the mission is."

She leaned forward. "We are going to assassinate the bad men of Hollywood."

Helith posted:

I'm not convinced that Bioware are actually good enough to pull off everything in that list in a meaningful and genuinely interesting way.

You could just replace every line in there with something related to DA: Inquisition and be technically correct about everything. These are the things you say when your game lacks focus or anything interesting.

# ? Nov 24, 2016 16:47

Moola: Aug 16, 2006

I turned the combat down to casual in DA:I because its really boring

# ? Nov 24, 2016 16:49

BexGu: Jan 9, 2004; This fucking day....

Helith posted:

I'm not convinced that Bioware are actually good enough to pull off everything in that list in a meaningful and genuinely interesting way.

The biggest red flag is that they haven't done any video showing off ANY of what the article was talking about. Sure there is something on Dec 1st but words mean nothing until we all see at least of what the article was talking about in action.

# ? Nov 24, 2016 16:54

Mymla: Aug 12, 2010

It gets me every time when people talk about the "companion AI" in dragon age 3 or indeed any RTWP game, as if that's not just a thing you turn off as soon as you're able. Like, controlling the whole party is the entire point of those games.

# ? Nov 24, 2016 16:56

Count Uvula: Dec 20, 2011; ---

Mymla posted:

It gets me every time when people talk about the "companion AI" in dragon age 3 or indeed any RTWP game, as if that's not just a thing you turn off as soon as you're able. Like, controlling the whole party is the entire point of those games.

I'm just gonna go ahead and assume you didn't play DA:I because this doesn't apply to it at all.

# ? Nov 24, 2016 16:58

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# ? May 13, 2024 23:29

exquisite tea: Apr 21, 2007; Carly shook her glass, willing the ice to melt. "You still haven't told me what the mission is."

She leaned forward. "We are going to assassinate the bad men of Hollywood."

BexGu posted:

The biggest red flag is that they haven't done any video showing off ANY of what the article was talking about. Sure there is something on Dec 1st but words mean nothing until we all see at least of what the article was talking about in action.

A reminder that the groundbreaking, highly anticipated, highly influential title No Man's Sky at least had ample in-game footage by this point.

# ? Nov 24, 2016 16:58

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