# Mass Effect: Andromeda



## Vintage Paw (Jun 16, 2015)

The first teaser trailer for the new Mass Effect 4, otherwise officially known as Mass Effect: Andromeda.

They're getting around the timeline/reaper/rgb choice problem by setting the story in an entirely different galaxy. That's a great move, imo.

A bit more info here. Not a lot to announce yet, but with a release date of Christmas 2016 it'll start trickling out by the end of the year I'd expect. I don't like it when they announce a release date so far away, because there's so, so much work left to be done but they've tied themselves into that date. I far prefer Fallout 4's approach, announcing a date only a few months away because they know they're pretty much done.

Still. It's Mass Effect so HELL YES I'm excited and I know I'll like it. I'm a BioDrone


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## Vintage Paw (Jun 16, 2015)

Tumblr has dissected the trailer. It has collectively decided we will be fighting PROTHEANS.

skjgnskfgjnbskjgb

It certainly looked like Prothean tech coming out of the sand, and the silhouettes of some of the enemies looked prothean. 

skdjgnskjgbnskjgn

Fascinating. So perhaps some of them escaped their cycle by fleeing to Andromeda, and that's how we get there, by discovering one of their greater inter-galactic relays?

It's N7, so perhaps this is how it played out: we know that when they find new relays they have to send someone through, to test what happens (which is why they knew the Omega relay was a Bad, Bad Thing in ME2 - no one ever came back). So perhaps they found a relay and it wasn't quite like any of the others, so they sent someone through. N7 would be tough enough to take on that mission. You're not going to send some new recruit. And that's how we got to Andromeda. It'd be cool if you get to play that portion, going through for the first time.

It'd be cooler if I find out I'm right. I never am about this stuff


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## moon (Jun 16, 2015)

Hello  Long time..
Protheans you say...hmm interesting
Am hoping this story runs parallel to ME2/3?? They say it's not necessarily a sequel or prequel...
Just because there is a very minut chance that Shep may be in it


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## tiki (Jun 16, 2015)

So excited for this. xbox360 mass effects are also now backwards compatible on xbone.


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## Vintage Paw (Jun 17, 2015)

tiki said:


> So excited for this. xbox360 mass effects are also now backwards compatible on xbone.



They have murmured about the possibility for an HD remake, bringing them up to current gen standards. I'm not sure what level of remake it would entail (not FFVII standards for sure). This is just murmuring though. They're aware people have expressed an interest in it. I doubt they'd go as far as to overhaul the combat system in 1, for example, but graphics and shiny would be done I'd expect.


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## moon (Jun 17, 2015)

EA have said no to a remake
http://m.uk.ign.com/articles/2015/06/17/e3-2015-ea-dashes-hopes-of-mass-effect-trilogy-remaster


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## moon (Sep 10, 2015)

I've been watching this.. I particularly like the bit at 09.39


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## Vintage Paw (Sep 10, 2015)

I'm not far in yet but I have a totally different theory about how humans got to Andromeda. Also, I don't know if he covers this but it doens't seem like it because he just said "we see our protagonist scanning through pictures" - no, we don't. It has been confirmed the N7 in the trailer is NOT the protagonist.

Edit: okay, he did just cover that but in a weird way. Why the fuck keep calling him the protagonist if you then say "by the way, I don't mean he's the playable character" - just say "the N7 in the video."


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## NoXion (Sep 20, 2015)

I loved the first three games. And I think the endings of Mass Effect 3 (the Extended Cut at least) are better than most people think.

So I'm looking forward to this one.


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## Vintage Paw (Sep 20, 2015)

I was one of the silent minority who very much liked the whole of ME3, including the endings. Complaints that they came out of nowhere and involved no closure or consequences were misplaced imo. The whole game was the end, really. Every aspect was a culmination of various things you've done during the other 2 games. You make a final decision about the genophage, shaped by your previous choices wrt Wrex, and which includes more choices wrt Mordin. You have a major impact on what happens in the quarian/geth conflict, and it serves again as a culmination to your views and actions during the previous games. You have closure with Thane, with Kasumi, with Grunt, Jack... all of them. You don't have the same amount of input on each of their fates, but that's kinda realistic, don't you think?

The whole trilogy was couched in terms of synthetic versus organic, blatantly so. Right from events like the first time we unknowingly meet EDI on the moon in ME1, to when we have endless conversations with her about what it means to exist and be human in ME3. Frankly, the ending couldn't have telegraphed itself more had it told you "you alone will decide whether we become synthetic, control synthetics, or destroy synthetics - oh, and you'll mostly kind of die doing so" during the opening fucking section of ME1. The entire existence of the quarian/geth war is about that. As is the genophage to a more oblique extent. Hell, Saren was the ultimate moral neon signpost to all of this flashing like a really obvious flashing thing, continued with TIM and the un-dead cyborg Shepard comeback kid in ME2 -- when we meld our organic beings with synthetic elements, are we still us, and is it moral and ethical to do so, and what might it mean for the future of life and humanity if we do? It really wasn't subtle.

A lot of people have argued the synthetic versus organic thing came out of nowhere and frankly I have no idea what games they've been playing, but it wasn't ME1-3. A lot of people started getting behind a fan theory about dark matter/energy in ME2, and it was pretty interesting, and there was some suggestion that Mac Walters was working something up about it at that time. But that's all it was, a theory. There wasn't a weight of evidence and solid narrative threads linking it in from the opening moments of the first game.

I _can_ understand why the RGB choices themselves might have been surprising and seemed a little anti-climatic. That said, the implications arising from each of them are very interesting and perfectly in keeping with the rest of the series. Many people also took umbrage at the star child, suggesting he too came out of nowhere. Well, no. You have this massive fucking emotional section at the beginning of ME3 that telegraphs that Shep is going to have some kind of emotional connection and trauma relating to this kid who died - that explains why it took on that form. And throughout the game you're constantly reminded that conventional firepower alone will NEVER defeat the reapers, no matter how many alliances you form, no matter how badass you are. They are the reapers. The only thing that offers hope is the catalyst, if only you could find out what that is. It keeps going on and on about this through the whole game. So when you finally find out what it is, you now have all the pieces and you can put an end to the cycles once and for all. How was that a surprise? Every step of the way ME3 was telling you this is what we're working towards.

People, eh?


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## moon (Nov 7, 2015)

What day is it!!! 



saaaaahhahhhhhhhhhh  Commander Shepard!!!  aaaaahahhaah

But they totally stole my video idea, where I used remastered NASA footage and put it to Mass Effect music


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## moon (Nov 7, 2015)

I'm wondering about the possibility of Andromeda protagonist being a Shepard clone..

That would make me very happy..


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## Vintage Paw (Nov 7, 2015)

Oh god, I hope not. I'm firmly in the camp that thinks it's good to break ties. Too much baggage. I adore my Shepard (for reasons I won't go in to) and Mass Effect holds a very, very dear place in my heart, but it feels like the right time to let go and move on.

Happy N7 Day, nonetheless


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## Epona (Nov 8, 2015)

Now see I loved ME1, wanted to love ME2 (and I did in terms of the story), but couldn't get through the bloody thing what with being utterly shit at the combat in it.  So never tried ME3, on the basis that as I couldn't get to grips with the combat in ME2 enough to finish it, it wasn't likely to get any easier.  Iykwim.


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## Shippou-Sensei (Nov 8, 2015)

I feel guilty as fuck about this

I got   fairly heavily into ME1  sunk at least 30+ hours into it.

didn't  start to play  ME2  as  had not finished ME1

got distracted by  newer games.

ME3 comes out


Suddenly hear  that ME3  basically  has  a shit ending.

I feel  deeply conflicted in investing   m y time into a series  that   doesn't sticjk the landiong


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## Boycey (Nov 8, 2015)

Shippou-Sensei said:


> Suddenly hear  that ME3  basically  has  a shit ending.
> 
> I feel  deeply conflicted in investing   m y time into a series  that   doesn't sticjk the landiong



i've played through all 3, the ending of ME3 was (to me at least) a bit meh but then i hadn't got my war readiness thing sorted- apparently you need online to do that well? anyhow, ME2 is great, ME3 is also a great game with some huge cinematic moments. i quite fancy giving it another go once i get a new console.


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## kabbes (Nov 8, 2015)

It had a good ending.  See VP's post just up there ^


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## Vintage Paw (Nov 8, 2015)

It has the kind of ending you'll dislike if a) you like to follow outrage instead of think for yourself, b) you are unable to stand back and see the bigger picture rather than stick doggedly to some very strange expectations, and c) if you didn't pay attention. And I guess d) if making little blue space babies and sailing off into the sunset is your primary objective.

As an entire set piece I think it's excellent.

Film Critic Hulk wrote two very good articles about it in the immediate aftermath that are well worth digging out and reading. They echo my sentiments almost exactly.

It annoys me no end that it seems to have become a universal truth that the ending was shit, when in fact that's just something parroted by the internet rage machine.


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## moon (Feb 4, 2016)

I'm not sure if this has nothing to do with MEA apart from the t-shirt but Bioware have just released it


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## Vintage Paw (Feb 5, 2016)

I hope that music is the new menu music. It's sufficiently Mass Effect, very similar to ME1/3 menu music, but a little different. I approve.


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## kabbes (Feb 5, 2016)

That video has a lot of very high level generic principles but no practical advice for game makers at all.


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## moon (Mar 4, 2016)

So now we have to wait until March 2017! I can't cope..
Luckily I have Elder Scrolls Online which should hopefully see me through..


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## Vintage Paw (Mar 4, 2016)

They've pushed it back? 

Good. They did that with DAI, and frankly I think it could have used at least another 6 months on top of that.

I'd far rather wait and get something better than get my hands on something shit sooner.


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## fucthest8 (Mar 5, 2016)

moon said:


> So now we have to wait until March 2017! I can't cope..
> Luckily I have Elder Scrolls Online which should hopefully see me through..



Good! Gives me a solid nine months at No Man's Sky then 

And what VP said


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## moon (Mar 5, 2016)

Yes, they are saying the 4th quarter of this financial year.
Oh man.. It had better be worth the wait..
.. now back to levelling my stamplar, defending keeps and trying to survive mellee attacks in Cyrodiil


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## BoxRoom (Mar 5, 2016)

fucthest8 said:


> Good! Gives me a solid nine months at No Man's Sky then
> 
> And what VP said



I'm thinking similarly


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## moon (Mar 9, 2016)

Shepard trying to reason with a Reaper


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## Vintage Paw (Mar 9, 2016)

3 BioWare people have left the studio over the past couple of months or so. Latest to announce is Cameron Harris, who was an editor. She's leaving gaming altogether. David Gaider has left to go to work with Beamdog (who did the Bauldur's Gate remakes). I forget who the other person is.

I'd like to think this isn't necessarily a forboding thing... but...

(Gaider didn't work on the ME franchise, just DA. Harris edited across the various franchises. Not sure what the other person did - they weren't one of the BW well-known people.)


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## moon (Mar 9, 2016)

It could be that the game is essentially finished and they are now just tweaking, working on multiplayer/pvp..
Maybe Bioware has become too much of a big beast and people are leaving to join smaller more intimate studios. I would love to have more insight into the early days of Bioware and how Mass Effect was developed, why certain decisions were taken et etc. I guess the studio was smaller and braver at taking risks.
We need more of that I think, although with the increased power of computing and graphics etc it maybe that the workforce needed to fill the potential of most new games requires a massive workforce..


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## Vintage Paw (Mar 9, 2016)

It's not the first one. They might take on extra programmers/artists/writers early in development of a particular game, who are let go once the bulk of production is over (that's standard industry behaviour for most large studios), but the people who have left BioWare recently are long-term employees in more senior positions. Lead writer, creative director, senior editor, etc. They're not the cannon fodder.

The second one is a possibility. I expect it's similar to many things, of not wanting to be entirely defined by one role or by one company. There may come a time when the focus of the studio doesn't match with what you want to be doing personally - maybe you want to focus on something different, and the studio can't help you realise that.

And yes, on the last point, there's little chance that games with the budget of DAI are going to take such extreme risks or go in wildly different directions, because there's too much at stake. And we get it wrong when we think of each game as a stand-alone object. Each game is an iteration on what went before, even when it's quite dramatically different. Knowledge, understanding, engines, techniques, technology that was developed on one game will be utilised and built on in the next, even if to the end user it looks quite different. And of course, with a studio like BioWare, being under EA's wing means there will always be certain restrictions, because EA won't take a chance at losing a huge amount of money. There will of course be innovation and changes of direction, but within the confines of what is reasonably safe. That's just the way it is when you're making games that cost these huge amounts of money. And imagine for a moment what reactions would be if BW went their own way and decided to make something that cost less. People are used to a certain level of polish, a certain scope, a certain quality. That costs money.


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## Vintage Paw (Mar 14, 2016)

This is super awesome news. No idea what projects she'll be working on (I'm going to hazard DA but I could be wrong), but woooooooooooooooooooop!


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## NoXion (Mar 22, 2016)

I'm not too bothered about the date for ME:A being pushed back. I liked ME3 but it was clearly a rush job, plus it gives me more time for me to upgrade my hardware. Getting more RAM will be easy enough but I'll need a new graphics card and a new widescreen monitor which will cost quite a bit more.


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## moon (Mar 29, 2016)

Apparently Bioware are releasing a new IP


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## Vintage Paw (Mar 29, 2016)

Yeah, he is an idiot talking about IP - that's common language for a new franchise, a new title that isn't already part of an established series. Mass Effect is an IP, Dragon Age is an IP, and their new game will be part of a new IP, meaning it's an entirely new thing not related to anything they've put out in the past (so not ME, not DA, not Jade Empire, not KOTOR, etc.).

Anyway, I'd heard they were doing a new IP a long time ago, but there was no information about it at all. Then there was the thing they did, or were doing... can't remember what it's called now, more of a mystery/thriller/maybe-horror thing but totally not the type of game I'd play. They put out some videos and what not about it a year or two ago. No idea what happened to it. I wonder if that's the same thing, or a different thing.


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## moon (Mar 29, 2016)

I don't think he is an idiot.. IP stands for intellectual property..


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## Vintage Paw (Mar 29, 2016)

Yes. And a new franchise is their intellectual property. That's what they call it.

He said in the video for people to call him an idiot if franchises in video games have been called IPs for ages and he just didn't realise. So yes, he's an idiot.


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## moon (Jun 13, 2016)

Some are saying the woman at the end is Anita Sarkeesian..
https://youtu.be/y2vgHOXeps0


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## Vintage Paw (Jun 13, 2016)

Except she looks nothing like her.

Shame there wasn't more information. Still, I'm looking forward to it. I recommend following Lady Insanity (twitter, youtube etc) for speculation, news, and so on.


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## NoXion (Jun 19, 2016)

I'm looking forward to ME:Andromeda as well. I'm loving the facial animations, they look a lot more fluid from what little we do see of them.

As for more information, the good folks at r/masseffect have collected what information there is from various interviews etc on this thread here.


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## Vintage Paw (Sep 7, 2016)

Gameplay footage:



Official video coming in November (presumably on N7 day), and from the sounds of it it'll mark the official official announcement of pre-release launch thingy. You know what I mean. Anyway.

eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!


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## moon (Sep 8, 2016)

I'm keeping an open mind about it, the beginning of the trailer reminded me of NMS a bit, the plants and scanning.
I suspected the release was delayed to tie in with PS4 neo/pro
If it is backwards compatible and they are definitely not planning a remaster of ME1-3 I could possibly be tempted.. 
But I really hate the wastefulness of tech upgrades.. there are already mountains of obsolete/outdated tech in the world, I'm not sure I want to add to it..


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## Cid (Sep 8, 2016)

Mmm... Looking good. I wonder how open er... galaxy it will be? Bioware traditionally have quite linear progress (not played ME:3 and DA:thingy was a bit more open, though still zoned). By linear I mean that there's a definite main sequence of events and that those events can permanently change the game world (counter example: after end-game Elder Scrolls stuff you can quite happily carry on with major side quests etc). Will be interesting to see how that element ties into the idea of exploring a new galaxy, whether this is a more sandboxy ME with some procedural generation. Or whether it will be more along the lines of ME:2, 'finding' pre-defined quest areas at individually designed locations (er... I think that's how it worked, been a while).


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## Vintage Paw (Sep 8, 2016)

They've said they wanted it to be more open than the last 3, but I don't expect it to be that much more open than DAI. 

I have no problem with ME's linearity so far. My biggest gripe was in ME2: the introduction of the before and after mission loading screens and the end of mission "here's your xp and lootz" notification made it feel far too gamey. It's by far the weakest of the trilogy for me, even though it tops many people's list. 

Maybe it's rose-tinted glasses, or the effect of 'first-in-the-series-itis' but ME1 and DAO still come out ahead for me in terms of the overall feeling, even if the mechanics were lacking. The speechifying at the Landsmeet in DAO was excellent (even if it was a god awful slog to get there), and whipped up the tension for the end game. And in ME1, going from Virmire to Ilos (which is the correct order to do things ) is something they've never beaten.

I would like someone to mod a Mako into No Man's Sky... then it'd be just like exploring ME1's uncharted worlds


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## Vintage Paw (Sep 9, 2016)

Mass Effect: Andromeda has two heroes — a brother and a sister



> _Mass Effect: Andromeda _will be a family affair that features not one, but two versions of its new hero, Ryder. In an interview with PlayStation Access, creative director Mac Walters revealed that the male and female versions of the character not only exist in the game world at the same time — they're siblings.
> 
> "What a lot of people don't know, little surprise here, is that these two are brother and sister," Walters said. "And they both exist in the game world at the same time. So if you're playing as the sister Ryder, female Ryder, your brother is somewhere in the universe."
> 
> ...



I like that idea. I wonder if there will be a 'save the sibling' motivation thing going on. I kind of hope not, but maybe it could work. I like that both exist though. 

And N7 man was daddy Ryder!


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## moon (Sep 9, 2016)

Its interesting.. I'm trying really hard to approach this game as a new chapter in Mass Effect and its not easy..
I think they did well to drip feed us info, but its still going to take a while for me to accept it...


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## kabbes (Sep 9, 2016)

Vintage Paw said:


> They've said they wanted it to be more open than the last 3, but I don't expect it to be that much more open than DAI.
> 
> I have no problem with ME's linearity so far. My biggest gripe was in ME2: the introduction of the before and after mission loading screens and the end of mission "here's your xp and lootz" notification made it feel far too gamey. It's by far the weakest of the trilogy for me, even though it tops many people's list.
> 
> ...


How do you REMEMBER these things??


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## Vintage Paw (Sep 9, 2016)

kabbes said:


> How do you REMEMBER these things??



Because ME1 is my favourite game. Ever. For quite a few different reasons, some of which are personal and quite emotional and extend beyond simply playing the game. And I played DAO shortly after playing ME1 and was riding the high. And I'm utterly and completely immersed in Dragon Age lore across the series, the way some people are with TES lore, so I know its stories inside and out. Because Mass Effect and Dragon Age are my favourite franchises. There's no way I wouldn't remember these things.


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## Vintage Paw (Sep 9, 2016)

I'm an anxious person. I don't like going to places on my own, including the supermarket. I went to America on my own, twice, once for a month, to see people I met through loving Mass Effect and Dragon Age.

These games had an actual, real world effect on my life. Of course I remember shit about them!


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## kabbes (Sep 9, 2016)

Vintage Paw said:


> Because ME1 is my favourite game. Ever. For quite a few different reasons, some of which are personal and quite emotional and extend beyond simply playing the game. And I played DAO shortly after playing ME1 and was riding the high. And I'm utterly and completely immersed in Dragon Age lore across the series, the way some people are with TES lore, so I know its stories inside and out. Because Mass Effect and Dragon Age are my favourite franchises. There's no way I wouldn't remember these things.


Mass Effect was just about my favourite thing ever across all media.  I remember it making me feel excited and sad and cheerful and all sorts of things.  I broadly remember the story.  I remember the awesomeness that was Shepard.

I do NOT remember going from Virmire to Ilos though.  I don't even remember that they were called Virmire or Ilos!


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## moon (Sep 9, 2016)

Vintage Paw said:


> I'm an anxious person. I don't like going to places on my own, including the supermarket. I went to America on my own, twice, once for a month, to see people I met through loving Mass Effect and Dragon Age.
> 
> These games had an actual, real world effect on my life. Of course I remember shit about them!


That is amazing


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## Vintage Paw (Sep 9, 2016)

kabbes said:


> Mass Effect was just about my favourite thing ever across all media.  I remember it making me feel excited and sad and cheerful and all sorts of things.  I broadly remember the story.  I remember the awesomeness that was Shepard.
> 
> I do NOT remember going from Virmire to Ilos though.  I don't even remember that they were called Virmire or Ilos!



For shame. Obv not a real fan 

There were 3 main missions that you could do in any order you liked. Feros - the one with the sentient plant under the base; Noveria - the snowy world with the rachni and Benezia; Virmire - the one with the tropical ocean world with the Krogan genophage story, where you have to make the choice between Kaidan and Ashley. There's also the 'rescue Liara' mission but I never count that as one of the main missions because it's shorter and far less involved.

You can do these 3 (or 4, with Liara's mission) in any order. The order does have a minimal impact on some things. For example, if you leave getting Liara until last she's gone a bit mad. I always get her first. Then Feros, then Novaria, then Virmire. Virmire MUST come last. I mean, it doesn't have to, but god it really should.

Making that decision between Kaidan and Ashley is so much more impactful if you go straight on to Ilos afterwards (Ilos where you meet Vigil and find out about the protheans and then eventually go through the portal to the Citadel). The music after Virmire changes when you're on the Normandy, and it just feels so emotional. It just feels _right_ to go on from there, fuelled by your anger and sadness and grief and thirst for revenge, to follow Saren to Ilos and embark on the end game.

There are quite a few really good moments in that game. Nihlus dying at the beginning after you thought he'd be your mentor throughout; the moment you dock with the Citadel for the first time; when you're made the first human Spectre (this is up there with one of my favourite ever moments); the cutscene with Saren throwing things around on the ship with Benezia; talking Wrex down on Virmire; talking to Sovereign!; making that decision on Virmire; confronting Saren on Virmire; the music on the Normandy after Virmire; talking to Vigil on Ilos (the music <3); basically all of the battle of the Citadel; and then when you emerge from the rubble at the end and the credits music kicks in.

What a fucking game.

I sobbed my fucking heart out as those credits rolled the first time I played it. And when the credits ended I started over right away. I love it.


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## Vintage Paw (Sep 9, 2016)

That Sovereign conversation, though.

"You exist because we allow it, and you will end because we demand it."

GOD.

"I am the Vanguard of your destruction."

RAH!


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## kabbes (Sep 9, 2016)

Playing it more than once must help cement the memories.  The only story game I ever played more than once that I can remember was Another World on the Atari ST.


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## Cid (Sep 9, 2016)

I'm kind of tempted to play the first one again, since I clearly remember precisely fuck all about it.


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## kabbes (Sep 9, 2016)

Yeah, me too.

I haven't picked up a console controller in years though.  Playing games on the telly seems like an impossible dream I once had.


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## Vintage Paw (Sep 9, 2016)

I'm hankering after playing it again myself, actually. It's been a while.


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## snadge (Sep 9, 2016)

It looks far too scripted for me, looks great though.


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## moon (Sep 12, 2016)

I would love to replay ME1 but the Xbox 360 version is too broken, I NEED to play this on my ps4...


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## moon (Nov 1, 2016)

ummmm just released..


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## Vintage Paw (Nov 1, 2016)

fdlgkndflgnjs;djgnh;sdjnh;sgnjh

I'm so excited for this game.


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## moon (Nov 2, 2016)

Apparently the voice is of the dad character, the voice acting is quite good too, I was a bit worried after seeing the other trailers but its ok.
So maybe we can play the game as either the dad, daughter or brother?
There is some speculation about the state of earth at the in-game time of the trailer..
Earth is intact and healthy soooooo... either we beat the reapers and took back earth, or the characters of MEA left before the reaper invasion?


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## Vintage Paw (Nov 3, 2016)

The dad's VA is Clancy Brown.

We can't play as the dad I don't think. It's my understanding we choose between son or daughter at the beginning - similar to how you choose between Mr or Mrs Nuclear Survivor at the beginning of Fallout 4. What will be interesting is how the Sibling Not Chosen will be represented in the story. In FO4, of course, the Spouse Not Chosen bites it right at the beginning. I can see them doing some kind of "your lost sibling is your reason for pushing forwards/getting revenge/etc" either because they're killed or kidnapped or somehow otherwise in mortal danger. That would be the obvious thing for them to do, but god would it be cliche. I think it'd be more interesting if they simply went their own way, perhaps leading a separate team of people, who you can liaise with at various points in the story. I could understand why they wouldn't do that, though. BioWare fans are a possessive bunch, and they become deeply defensive about their versions of Shepard (or, in this case, Ryder), so for the game to interpret the actions of the Sibling Not Chosen outside of their control could cause some of the worst fan meltdowns in BioWare history


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## Vintage Paw (Nov 3, 2016)

moon said:


> There is some speculation about the state of earth at the in-game time of the trailer..
> Earth is intact and healthy soooooo... either we beat the reapers and took back earth, or the characters of MEA left before the reaper invasion?



I thought this was blatantly obvious. I always find it amusing how fandom throws KISS out of the window and reaches for all sorts of weird and wonderful explanations for things.

The Andromeda project aimed to send people out of the galaxy as a back-up to protect the races of the galaxy in the quite frankly likely event the reapers were successful in wiping out all life. "We might all die here, but our descendants might live on elsewhere."

It really doesn't matter what state Earth or the rest of the Milky Way was in when they left. By the time they get to Andromeda it's hundreds of years later. It doesn't matter whether you chose R, G or B. It doesn't matter how Shepard died, and how many of her crew went with her. It doesn't matter if the reapers were destroyed or if Shepard acted the twat and refused to pick an RGB. It's a different galaxy, far in the future, and the only link to the past - that we know of - is the memories passed on. 

It's designed this way to get around the problem of having to account for the drastic changes to the galaxy and all life in it at the end of ME3. I always pick G, but I know others who always pick R, or B. What game could account for such huge differences in outcome? Only one that didn't rely on being in that galaxy after the final battle in ME3. That gives a couple of options: set the new games before that point, or set the new games after that point but outside of the galaxy, or set the new games after that point inside the galaxy but sufficiently long after that all points could have diverged - which would have to be thousands of years into the future, at least.


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## moon (Nov 3, 2016)

I think it was just an observation  I also think its ok to speculate as that's all part of gaming and keeps people interested in developments/reveals, great for marketing etc its what keeps a fan base alive.. .
The last thing EA/Bioware would want is for people to not care and just accept everything as a given etc.

It will be interesting to see how the characters deal with the fact that they quite possibly won't know what has happened to earth after their journey.
They may have contact with members of other successful Andromeda Project ships though, some of which could have reached their target sector much earlier and developed colonies etc.
Looking forward to more reveals on Nov 7th!


----------



## Vintage Paw (Nov 7, 2016)

A stream and info coming later today. They officially kick off their 'lead up to launch day' stuff today.


----------



## Vintage Paw (Nov 7, 2016)




----------



## Vintage Paw (Nov 7, 2016)

THAT'S HOW YOU DO A FUCKING LAUNCH TRAILER


----------



## Vintage Paw (Nov 7, 2016)




----------



## Vintage Paw (Nov 7, 2016)

I AM VERY EXCITED


----------



## Vintage Paw (Nov 7, 2016)

Meet Mass Effect Andromeda's Leading Voice Cast


----------



## Vintage Paw (Nov 7, 2016)

The asari's name is apparently Peebee omg


----------



## Vintage Paw (Nov 7, 2016)

canon, afaic


----------



## Vintage Paw (Nov 7, 2016)

The Andromeda Initiative sets off on their journey the same year as the events of Mass Effect 2 are happening - 2185. 

That's even more useful than what I suggested before. Not only do they not have to account for the RGB ending, but a whole slew of other things you choose during ME3 - like what's going on with the genophage cure, or with the status of the quarians and geth. It means the problems can be referenced in ME:A and you can head-canon your own answers as to what happened, rather than the game having to incorporate them.

Wise, wise move.


----------



## moon (Nov 8, 2016)

My first thoughts are that it seems slightly generic  But I think that has a lot to do with the music used in the trailer.
The music will make or break this game for me.. I have high hopes though..
That's all I can say right now...


----------



## NoXion (Nov 19, 2016)

Mass Effect Andromeda's New Approach To Romance - Game Informer

While I enjoy the romance aspect of the first three games, it sounds like it's going to be even better in Andromeda. Reading the article makes me excited, even if they don't up delivering on all fronts I can tell they're putting more effort into things this time, which might also explain the long-ass development cycle.

Here's hoping for a romanceable Krogan...


----------



## Vintage Paw (Nov 19, 2016)

Well that's gaming for the entirety of 2017 sorted for me.


----------



## Vintage Paw (Nov 19, 2016)

I'LL BE IN MY BUNK


----------



## fucthest8 (Nov 20, 2016)

Vintage Paw said:


> THAT'S HOW YOU DO A FUCKING LAUNCH TRAILER




OhboyOhboyOhboyOhboyOhboyOhboyOhbiyOhboyOhboyOhboyOhboyOhboyOhboyOhboyOhboyOhboy


----------



## Vintage Paw (Nov 20, 2016)

It's going to be a long, dark winter waiting for this. (And also because my winter depression proper kicked in yesterday, woo)


----------



## Vintage Paw (Dec 2, 2016)

Gameplay video:


----------



## Vintage Paw (Dec 2, 2016)

It looks beautiful. I am so looking forward to taking screenshots, lol.


----------



## moon (Dec 2, 2016)

Someone who worked on No Man's Sky was definitely involved with MEA...


----------



## Vintage Paw (Dec 2, 2016)

Eh?


----------



## moon (Dec 3, 2016)

Some visual elements that seem unique to NMS also appear in MEA, small small details (not the whole look and feel obviously) in texture, form, colour and movement and they only appear in a tiny number of visual assets.


----------



## Vintage Paw (Dec 3, 2016)

What in particular? And what makes you believe it's anything other than borrowing from a specific popular aesthetic, but rather that someone from Hello Games must have worked with BioWare?


----------



## moon (Dec 3, 2016)

I'm not going to justify my opinion to be honest, tired of that, I work in a visual field which involves dissecting stuff like this and I'm good to leave it at that.
I said above that it seemed unique to nms, if it was a popular aesthetic I wouldn't have mentioned it at all.


----------



## Vintage Paw (Dec 3, 2016)

uh-huh


----------



## Vintage Paw (Jan 3, 2017)

A massive dump of information here -- haven't watched it yet, just starting:


----------



## Vintage Paw (Jan 4, 2017)

*Release date: 21st March in NA / 23rd March in Europe *(well, 'begins rolling out' on 23rd in Europe, which will likely mean Friday 24th for us in the UK, as is customary and GODDAMMIT )


----------



## tiki (Jan 5, 2017)

Vintage Paw said:


> *Release date: 21st March in NA / 23rd March in Europe *(well, 'begins rolling out' on 23rd in Europe, which will likely mean Friday 24th for us in the UK, as is customary and GODDAMMIT )



You could still buy from US and use VPN to unlock. Or are you buying physical?


----------



## Vintage Paw (Jan 5, 2017)

I'm probably going to want a physical copy - but I haven't had a look to see what's available. I don't usually care about physical copies but BioWare is my home so...


----------



## Vintage Paw (Jan 5, 2017)

Here's the short bit of footage from the nvidia presentation yesterday:



I never really like these choppy combat videos - it's hard to focus on anything and glean information. This one has lots of stuff about the UI though, and there's lots to be learned by some judicious pausing.


----------



## tiki (Jan 5, 2017)

I hope it has  HDR. I would look beautiful with the art style.


----------



## Vintage Paw (Jan 6, 2017)

Our protagonists:


----------



## Vintage Paw (Jan 6, 2017)

I have finally got around to making an account on the new BSN (BioWare Social Network) now the old official one has gone the way of the dodo. I shall, as a result, resume my previous BioNerd role bringing ALL the news to urban as I find it


----------



## Cid (Jan 12, 2017)

Vintage Paw said:


> Here's the short bit of footage from the nvidia presentation yesterday:
> 
> 
> 
> I never really like these choppy combat videos - it's hard to focus on anything and glean information. This one has lots of stuff about the UI though, and there's lots to be learned by some judicious pausing.




They always seem to be played by people who are utterly dreadful at FPSs too...


----------



## souljacker (Jan 12, 2017)

Mass Effect 2 is free on Origin at the moment, if anyone wants something to keep them occupied until this comes out.


----------



## NoXion (Jan 14, 2017)

Looking forward to it.

Apparently the new vehicle, the Nomad, is going to be unarmed. I was a bit WTF about that, since I'm a PC gamer I can hold out for mods.


----------



## Vintage Paw (Jan 14, 2017)

I guess it means no unexpected thresher maw-style action, which is a shame. Always made me jump, at least the first couple of play throughs until I knew exactly where they were. More games need sandworms. (I'm only just reading Dune at the moment, so until now my only frame of reference for their inspiration was Tremors, lol.)


----------



## NoXion (Jan 26, 2017)

I'm excited now. Look at this fucking trailer:



_"I don't need an army. I've got a Krogan."_

Yes.


----------



## ruffneck23 (Jan 27, 2017)

Does look very good


----------



## alfajobrob (Jan 27, 2017)

As someone on another forum says it looks like a sci fi dawsons creek...fuck bioware for that.


----------



## alfajobrob (Jan 27, 2017)

Fuckin teens...


----------



## NoXion (Jan 27, 2017)

alfajobrob said:


> As someone on another forum says it looks like a sci fi dawsons creek...fuck bioware for that.





alfajobrob said:


> Fuckin teens...



I think you're just becoming old and worse than that, bitter. What's so terrible about having younger protagonists?


----------



## moon (Jan 31, 2017)

Lack of depth?


----------



## Vintage Paw (Jan 31, 2017)

They're in their 20s, they're not 15


----------



## NoXion (Jan 31, 2017)

It's hard to tell because she's a Turian (_"you humans are all racist!"_), but Vetra doesn't strike me as being all that young. As for Drack, he's fucking ancient even by Krogan standards, and this is a race for which there is no known individual who's died of old age.

Shepard was 29 at the start of the original trilogy, which isn't even middle aged.

So I just don't get this "criticism".


----------



## ruffneck23 (Jan 31, 2017)

fair play . you have definitely played them , but hopefully have some faith, if its the same writers , even dawsons creek was good occasionally, iirc


eta sorry was answering to half the dawsons creek comment


----------



## fucthest8 (Feb 10, 2017)

Soon. It's soon. Wibble.


----------



## Vintage Paw (Feb 10, 2017)

I've placed my pre-order today, for the deluxe PC edition. I don't see any point in spending even more on the super deluxe just for some multiplayer boosts, but I'm a sucker for extra armour and that.

I'm really looking forward to it. I was reading a thing last night talking about how they've looked closely at what worked and what didn't work with DAI, and they've looked at what worked for the side-quests in The Witcher 3, to try to make sure there's no more busy work and more substantial side stuff that makes it feel like it counts. There are apparently at least a dozen hubs in the game. 

It unlocks on Origin at 11pm on the 22nd of March. I'll be up all night.


----------



## Vintage Paw (Feb 10, 2017)

Some info gathered together on BSN:



> Play (UK), out since january 26th, spoke with Mac Walters and Fabrice Condominas.
> 
> – The Need for Speed team helped with the Nomand, but they also got help from the PGA Tour (you know, golf) team with 'environments and the quality of the vegetation of the grass'.
> 
> ...


----------



## fucthest8 (Feb 11, 2017)

Vintage Paw said:


> Some info gathered together on BSN:



MUCH WIBBLE


----------



## Vintage Paw (Feb 11, 2017)




----------



## ruffneck23 (Feb 15, 2017)

Origin access has a free 7 day trial , but if you wait until 16th march you can play the first 10 hours for free , and 10% discount if you decide to buy it , ea access is only 3.99 a month or 20 quids a year if you decide to stay , not bad imo


----------



## ruffneck23 (Feb 15, 2017)

Alas ea is evil though , I know this as I was a games tester / qa for them many a year ago


----------



## NoXion (Feb 15, 2017)

As the release date creeps closer I've been getting steadily more excited, tempered somewhat by the possibility that I might have to wait a little while after release before getting (it all depends on my financial situation mainly).


----------



## Vintage Paw (Feb 15, 2017)

I'm keeping my excitement in check. I don't tend to get super excited about game releases anymore - not often anyway. I mean, I'm excited, but I don't have the energy to spend hours on the fan forums anymore, for example. I lived on BSN in the run-up to DA2 and ME2, and it certainly made the whole experience far more enjoyable and exciting, but I don't have it in me these days. I take a look, but I can't let myself get sucked in. Still, I know I do enjoy games more when I get absolutely consumed by the fandom. It's just so hard to keep up these days. 

*is getting old*


----------



## Vintage Paw (Feb 17, 2017)

IM FUCKING CRYING RN

OH MY GOD

THE HYPE TRAIN HAS OFFICIALLY LEFT THE STATION

Wow. Just. Wow. I don't know where to start. I'm almost crying


----------



## Vintage Paw (Feb 17, 2017)

The guns. Ballistic, or plasma heat-seeking, or fucking beam weapons WITH A COOLDOWN just like in ME1 <3 <3 <3

When Ryder picks up the enemy dude and fucking dangles him there before throwing him into the other enemies. OH MY GOD. It's just like me when playing Bioshock. "Dance for me, my pretties."

It looks like SO MUCH FUN. And so much customisation. And it looks really pretty. AAAAAAGHHGHGHGHGHHH


----------



## NoXion (Feb 17, 2017)

Fuck yeah. I was reading on Reddit about some people were grousing that they weren't getting any decent videos about gameplay. Well, I think the above video fits the bill nicely. Better yet, there's more to come.

Personally I want to see more of this base-building business I keep hearing about.


----------



## alfajobrob (Feb 17, 2017)

OK cool.

Unfortunately I can't quite get excited as much for latest release either and the Idea of teens pissed me off as I'm soo far away from it now. I'm a miserable 43 yo....

Bring it on though..


----------



## Vintage Paw (Feb 17, 2017)

I wonder if this base-building stuff is just that you can found a settlement in a suitable area, and that's about it. Since you're the pathfinder, and finding a suitable place to settle is the whole point. I don't think it's going to be Fallout 4 stylee, but I could be wrong. Maybe it'll be somewhere in between: you found a settlement, and you have to do quests to get a stable water supply, to placate nearby raiders, to give the indigenous community smallpox, etc.


(Surely I'm not the only one a little worried about the implications of this frontier malarkey?)


----------



## Vintage Paw (Feb 17, 2017)

alfajobrob said:


> OK cool.
> 
> Unfortunately I can't quite get excited as much for latest release either and the Idea of teens pissed me off as I'm soo far away from it now. I'm a miserable 43 yo....
> 
> Bring it on though..



Teens?


----------



## alfajobrob (Feb 17, 2017)

Saying that I loved playing Ellie in TLOU so maybe even I'm just in a bad mood


----------



## alfajobrob (Feb 17, 2017)

Vintage Paw said:


> Teens?



I probably read the article wrong...soz.


----------



## Vintage Paw (Feb 17, 2017)

The Ryders are in their 20s. They're younger than Shepard was in ME1 (Shep was 28 or 29 I believe), but they're not teens. It fits thematically, imo. They're relatively green (although they do have training), which is representative of going to an entirely new galaxy and knowing fuck all.

I'm going to be playing as default femRyder first, because she looks green as hell and that's exactly what I'll be considering the extent of the new systems in place. (I'm playing vanguard on hardcore in ME3 at the moment, which is a lot of fun - dicey, dicey, dead-a-lot fun - but even though I'm a proficient ME player it's all going to be a new learning curve.)


----------



## NoXion (Feb 17, 2017)

Vintage Paw said:


> I wonder if this base-building stuff is just that you can found a settlement in a suitable area, and that's about it. Since you're the pathfinder, and finding a suitable place to settle is the whole point. I don't think it's going to be Fallout 4 stylee, but I could be wrong. Maybe it'll be somewhere in between: you found a settlement, and you have to do quests to get a stable water supply, to placate nearby raiders, to give the indigenous community smallpox, etc.
> 
> 
> (Surely I'm not the only one a little worried about the implications of this frontier malarkey?)



Yeah, I'm wondering how they will address that, or if they don't, how it will come across. I'm somewhat optimistic given BioWare's reputation. 

I recall the devs saying that the antagonists in this game won't be as black and white as the Reapers were; hopefully this Archon character has a motivation for their actions beyond _"I'm evil, d00ds"_


----------



## Vintage Paw (Feb 17, 2017)

I like the idea that there's dissent amongst the Milky Way ranks too. Why oh why they decided to release the accompanying novel on the same fucking day as the game is beyond me, but my understanding is that it sets the scene for why there's trouble at t'mill.

The first book is called Nexus Uprising.


----------



## NoXion (Feb 17, 2017)

Armoury is looking good. As well as the Milky Way weapons, including the welcome return of the Mattock and the Black Widow, there are the cooldown-based beam weapons of the Remnant (whatever that turns out to be), and the plasma-based weapons of the Helius cluster races; Kett and Angaran weapons and whoever else turns out to be significant.

I'm liking the new approach to skills. I've always wanted to play with a different kind of hybrid skillset than allowed by the rigid style of the trilogy. My ideal build would be a Vanguard with one more tech skill than one would get under the old Bonus Powers system.


----------



## alfajobrob (Feb 17, 2017)

Sorry just got to say...

I love the work you do and effort you put in with threads on these games. I don't post as normally find intimidating but appreciate those who do

I'm just not the sort of a visual person who can create, but I like  the work people do for all the games.

Ta


----------



## NoXion (Feb 17, 2017)

alfajobrob said:


> Sorry just got to say...
> 
> I love the work you do and effort you put in with threads on these games. I don't post as normally find intimidating but appreciate those who do
> 
> ...



While I like to think that I have creative urges (although the actual presence of creativity is debatable), in this thread I'm just being enthusiastic about a series of video games I'm fond of.

I'm honestly starting to wonder if my GeForce GTX 960 which I still need to install will be able to handle it. I tried playing the Doom 2016 demo on my current rig and it was like a feckin slideshow. This game is looking very flash.


----------



## Vintage Paw (Feb 17, 2017)

They've intimated that if you could play Dragon Age Inquisition you'll be fine with MEA. I've got a 980Ti and it runs DAI really nicely all maxed out. I think we're still a good few months away from a pascal being necessary to run all new games at recommended spec, although I expect it'll be a lot more common when next year's crop come out.

The thing about BioWare is they know they have a very large hardcore fan base that aren't always at the cutting edge of technology, and a lot of those play on PC. They want to get the best out of the technology, especially now they're not bothering with the last gen consoles, but I don't think they're going to go out of their way to alienate some of their longest and most staunch fans, even if they don't make up the bulk of their revenue base.


----------



## Vintage Paw (Feb 17, 2017)

NoXion said:


> Armoury is looking good. As well as the Milky Way weapons, including the welcome return of the Mattock and the Black Widow, there are the cooldown-based beam weapons of the Remnant (whatever that turns out to be), and the plasma-based weapons of the Helius cluster races; Kett and Angaran weapons and whoever else turns out to be significant.
> 
> I'm liking the new approach to skills. I've always wanted to play with a different kind of hybrid skillset than allowed by the rigid style of the trilogy. My ideal build would be a Vanguard with one more tech skill than one would get under the old Bonus Powers system.



I loved the Mattock in ME2. I'm using the Saber with my vanguard. I've modded the heck out of my coalesced.bin file though so at this point I'm not sure if it's a base-game weapon or if it's one I've unlocked and brought over from the multiplayer. It only has 8 shots per clip, fires slowly, but packs a ridiculous punch. It's a bit like a long-range powerful shotgun. It's really the only weapon I need, especially since I barely ever use a weapon and just charge-nova-charge-nova everything. (Found the Saber: looks like you get it on Horizon -- I've not done that yet, like I said I've modded my coalesced.bin so I have all the weapons at the start.)

I'm looking forward to the new skills system too. It's going to offer so much flexibility and the chance to try out all sorts of builds. I often take Energy Drain with vanguard -- it works really well at the beginning when charging only refills 50% of your shields and things can get very dicey. Now I've upgraded charge so it refills 100% I've ditched it for Reave, but I might change that at some point if I need to. I always take Liara with me, because Singularity and Warp are absolutely excellent alongside a vanguard. Once I get Kaidan back he'll replace EDI/Garrus, and I'm really looking forward to his cryoblast. But heck, this new Andromeda system is going to be a boon. I can't think of the amount of times I've said, "I'm playing an X because I want to romance Y" - because you want a certain person with you in your squad but you also want your skills to synergise as much as possible. Well now you'll be able to bring whoever the heck you want and tailor your skills to suit. It's a lot more freeing. I saw someone saying it was a bad thing for roleplayers, but I mean, no, it's the exact opposite of a bad thing for roleplayers.


----------



## NoXion (Feb 17, 2017)

Vintage Paw said:


> They've intimated that if you could play Dragon Age Inquisition you'll be fine with MEA. I've got a 980Ti and it runs DAI really nicely all maxed out. I think we're still a good few months away from a pascal being necessary to run all new games at recommended spec, although I expect it'll be a lot more common when next year's crop come out.
> 
> The thing about BioWare is they know they have a very large hardcore fan base that aren't always at the cutting edge of technology, and a lot of those play on PC. They want to get the best out of the technology, especially now they're not bothering with the last gen consoles, but I don't think they're going to go out of their way to alienate some of their longest and most staunch fans, even if they don't make up the bulk of their revenue base.



Never played any of the Dragon Age games, which is annoying because I'm hearing a lot of people comparing MEA to Inquisition.

I was never too bothered by the sidequests in ME3, because most of the time I could do them in between missions where I actually get to shoot things. Having the Expanded Galaxy Mod makes things a bit more interesting as well. It makes the game feel more like it's taking place in the middle of a giant galactic war.


----------



## NoXion (Feb 17, 2017)

Vintage Paw said:


> I loved the Mattock in ME2. I'm using the Saber with my vanguard. I've modded the heck out of my coalesced.bin file though so at this point I'm not sure if it's a base-game weapon or if it's one I've unlocked and brought over from the multiplayer. It only has 8 shots per clip, fires slowly, but packs a ridiculous punch. It's a bit like a long-range powerful shotgun. It's really the only weapon I need, especially since I barely ever use a weapon and just charge-nova-charge-nova everything. (Found the Saber: looks like you get it on Horizon -- I've not done that yet, like I said I've modded my coalesced.bin so I have all the weapons at the start.)
> 
> I'm looking forward to the new skills system too. It's going to offer so much flexibility and the chance to try out all sorts of builds. I often take Energy Drain with vanguard -- it works really well at the beginning when charging only refills 50% of your shields and things can get very dicey. Now I've upgraded charge so it refills 100% I've ditched it for Reave, but I might change that at some point if I need to. I always take Liara with me, because Singularity and Warp are absolutely excellent alongside a vanguard. Once I get Kaidan back he'll replace EDI/Garrus, and I'm really looking forward to his cryoblast. But heck, this new Andromeda system is going to be a boon. I can't think of the amount of times I've said, "I'm playing an X because I want to romance Y" - because you want a certain person with you in your squad but you also want your skills to synergise as much as possible. Well now you'll be able to bring whoever the heck you want and tailor your skills to suit. It's a lot more freeing. I saw someone saying it was a bad thing for roleplayers, but I mean, no, it's the exact opposite of a bad thing for roleplayers.



The Saber is a fun weapon; played the second half of ME3 as a Soldier using one of those. As a Vanguard I prefer to keep my weapons loadout minimal and just carry a high-level Revenant LMG. I then go crazy and just Biotic Charge everywhere. The Prothean implants from the Expanded Galaxy Mod (I strongly suggest you grab this mod if you haven't already!) with the Fury optimisation basically allow me to Biotic Charge/Energy Drain constantly.


----------



## Vintage Paw (Feb 18, 2017)

I'm getting a bit stressed at the moment, because they've removed the pause-issue command function. You can still pause, but only to bring up the faves/weapons wheels, not to issue commands to your squad or to reposition your aim, etc.

I mean, the pause to issue commands feature is the most iconic BioWare combat feature of the last decade. What's the point of having squad mates? Might as well just have a tag-along hired gun who makes an amusing quip now and again.

They say you'll still be able to issue commands on the fly, but I don't know if this goes beyond "take point" or "attack the target I'm pointing at." 

How will we be able to set up combos? 

Say a shielded enemy appears around a corner unexpectedly, and I, as a vanguard, want to pause, assess where my squad are, and if it's safe to do so order one of them to strip the enemy's shields while I trigger my charge to hit it a second later? Can we still do that? Or will there be a god-awful tactics menu like in the DA games, where I have to hope the AI recognises that enemy just appeared and preempts my desire to charge it? 

They say the next video will cover squad commands. Maybe my pessimism is ill-founded and it'll clear up any worries I have, but at the moment I just can't see how they'll achieve t. There aren't exactly a whole lot of buttons available on a gamepad to allow my active abilities plus all my squadmates' active abilities so they can all be fired off fast in succession. 

This type of combat works fine in MP because the format is different and expectations are different. But in singleplayer, it would be akin to having a multiplayer match where no one talks to each other, no one understands their roles, no one understands how combos work and powers synergise, and no one reacts to new threats in the heat of battle. It's a recipe for frustration and takes out all the aspects that made commanding a squad on the battlefield a fun experience for people of all levels.


----------



## Vintage Paw (Feb 21, 2017)

Confirmation from shinobi on neogaf that:



> You can command your squadmates where to go and who to attack, but not their powers.



Yay.

And by yay I mean, oh ffs.


----------



## Vintage Paw (Feb 21, 2017)

And people say gamers are trash:


----------



## Vintage Paw (Feb 21, 2017)

Vintage Paw said:


> And people say gamers are trash:
> 
> View attachment 100938



I take it back. Everything but the OP is trash, trash, trash. Gamers are trash.


----------



## NoXion (Feb 22, 2017)

Vintage Paw said:


> And people say gamers are trash:
> 
> View attachment 100938





Vintage Paw said:


> I take it back. Everything but the OP is trash, trash, trash. Gamers are trash.



I think I'm gonna need more context on this. What's wrong exactly?


----------



## NoXion (Feb 22, 2017)

Vintage Paw said:


> Confirmation from shinobi on neogaf that:
> 
> 
> 
> ...



Ties in with the lack of pausing, which I admit makes me wonder, "why make _these_ changes?".

Being able to pause the action on the fly was absolutely invaluable when playing on Insanity. Especially in ME2's Insanity which is basically masochism in video game format.

I wouldn't have minded this change so much had I been introduced to it early in my Mass Effect gaming career, when I only played the Soldier on lower difficulties and thus hardly needed to use my powers except in the really tough fights. But now I've gotten into other classes, higher difficulties and using powers more, I'm slightly miffed.

Especially since from what I hear we can only have three powers at once or something silly like that?

I just hope it's a question of getting used to the changes. I know I know, it's a new game and the devs will be wanting to do something different rather than just re-tread the mechanics of the previous game, but still...


----------



## Vintage Paw (Feb 22, 2017)

NoXion said:


> I think I'm gonna need more context on this. What's wrong exactly?



The OP was interesting. They declared themselves a 'radical marxist' and proceeded to muse on the idea of the game being that we go to another galaxy and basically colonise it.

A solid foundation for an interesting discussion.

But no.

This is, after all, a gaming forum.

Shitpost after shitpost, including such beauties as "imperialst capitalism is an oxymoron" and "this is a troll thread" and "I hope I can forcibly take over all their home planets" etc. 

However, a couple of people tried to engage with it, and I wrote a couple of, what I consider to be, vaguely interesting thoughts around the subject. I thought it might be redeemable.

But I forgot: this is, after all, a gaming forum.

It has devolved back into shitpost after shitpost.


----------



## Vintage Paw (Feb 22, 2017)

NoXion said:


> Ties in with the lack of pausing, which I admit makes me wonder, "why make _these_ changes?".
> 
> Being able to pause the action on the fly was absolutely invaluable when playing on Insanity. Especially in ME2's Insanity which is basically masochism in video game format.
> 
> ...



I just watched some early demo footage of ME1... back when they intended for you to actually control your squad mates (like in Dragon Age). How different things could have been.


----------



## NoXion (Feb 22, 2017)

Vintage Paw said:


> The OP was interesting. They declared themselves a 'radical marxist' and proceeded to muse on the idea of the game being that we go to another galaxy and basically colonise it.
> 
> A solid foundation for an interesting discussion.
> 
> ...



Ah, I see. That's a shame, and unfortunately very common in science fiction circles I'm afraid. Another board I frequent has had discussions where people ask why the corporation on Pandora in James Cameron's Avatar didn't just slaughter the natives or something like that.

Makes me really hope that BioWare foresaw this sort of thing, and prepared a suitably subtle "fuck you" to that kind of shitheadedness.


----------



## Vintage Paw (Feb 22, 2017)

I won't deny I'm a tad worried about the story.

I pondered on that thread whether in fact they'd come at it by exploring the refugee narrative, that we're fleeing certain death in our galaxy, seeking aid. But all their marketing so far has had such winning phrases as "exploring a new _frontier_" which isn't necessarily a good look.

Now, I've been keeping away from spoilers so I know barely nothing (not that there are any spoilers yet because BW have been ridiculously tight-lipped about the plot) but I believe part of the backdrop to the plot is around the Angaran race, who may or may not be currently embroiled in a holy civil war, which we sweep in and help clear up... so we can settle without aggro... I've also heard the word 'uplift' used.

You can see where I'm going with this.


----------



## Vintage Paw (Feb 22, 2017)

If nothing else, it'll make for some good Kill Screen articles.


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## Vintage Paw (Feb 22, 2017)

There's a BIG dump of info coming tomorrow. Previews of the game were given, presumably to select journos I'm not sure, where they were allowed to play several hours of the game. They're allowed to discuss anything and everything about what they saw, _except_ how Ryder becomes the pathfinder, which is fair enough I think.

I'll post links, and anything I think relevant, but I'll put anything narrative or spoilery being a spoiler tag. Stuff about basic combat systems and mechanics and so on I don't think is spoilery, but if anyone would rather I keep that behind a spoiler tag too please let me know ahead of time, otherwise it's just going in as is, like I've already talked about there being no tactical pause or issuing squad power commands.


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## NoXion (Feb 22, 2017)

Vintage Paw said:


> I won't deny I'm a tad worried about the story.
> 
> I pondered on that thread whether in fact they'd come at it by exploring the refugee narrative, that we're fleeing certain death in our galaxy, seeking aid. But all their marketing so far has had such winning phrases as "exploring a new _frontier_" which isn't necessarily a good look.
> 
> ...



Never heard anything about an Angaran civil war. My thinking on my way home to work today was that if there was any pre-existing conflict in the Andromeda galaxy, it would be between the Angarans and the Kett.


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## Vintage Paw (Feb 22, 2017)

It might be that, I don't know. I know I've read something about the Angarans, and something about holy war. I also know there will be a side plot of some sort that stretches across multiple planets regarding the Kett so maybe they're warring with each other (and it revolves around the Archon). 

Like I said, I've been keeping away from a lot of story info. I've got a bad habit of reading far, far too much about BioWare games before they come out and then wishing I hadn't when I finally get to play - but I'm so terribly, terribly weak-willed...


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## Vintage Paw (Feb 23, 2017)

A list of some stuff that is known so far (info coming mostly from dev twitter feeds). The list comes from tumblr by way of reddit by way of gaf.


“Narrative” is purely the lowest difficulty setting, not comparable to ME3′s action mode which removed dialogue choice in favor of pre-scripted cutscenes
PC gamers are probably able to adjust their FOV
Mechanically, power cells work like grenade ammo did in ME3
We’ll see a mix of old, new, and revised powers. Pull, for instance, incorporates elements of Lift
Generally speaking there are counterbalances built into the crafting system to prevent you making super OP weapons
There’s aim assist, and you can disable it if you wish, on all platforms
You can keep playing the game after finishing the main story - the majority of content including loyalty missions remains available
Digital copies of the game will definitely have pre-load. Exact date currently uncertain but it will be close to launch
We still need to strip away barriers and shields before the “fun” part of using biotics on enemies begins
SMGs are still in the game, filed under the “pistols” category along with hand cannon pistols for the sake of simplicity
If you want to you can keep leveling up til you max out every skill, but we’ll likely need to start NG+ at least once to pull that off (Ian later tweeted that it might be possible to do it in one run, but he doubts it, and added that you’ll likely need more than one run to pull it off ). You can do more than one NG+ with the same character
More info to come on modding and crafting
There’s definitely no first person view
Drack was described as “grizzled” and someone who loves to blow things up
Supposedly nobody knows how long krogan can live as they do not tend to die of old age
vfx and colors for abilities are set, we don’t select those
Dpad and left analogue stick both work when navigating through menus
Cora and Drack are a fun combination in combat, especially if you spec him for fire priming and her for charges that detonate combos
If I’m interpreting the tweets right, the meeting Drack scene was one of a cinematic designer’s favorite scenes to work on . Tom Taylorson commented that it was one of the easiest scenes to voiceact for (just ‘obvious’ how to perform due to the awesomeness of the writing)
There’s no crouch button, you automatically crouch when you take cover against something low
We can switch profiles in the field. They’ll be showing more about the Favorites feature in the next gameplay vid
The game is SLi friendly (edit: I think this means SLi compatible, it’s a specs thing, see here/here)
Jason Eldred (gameplay designer) is the person to thank for Ryder being able to hold and control Pulls. Apparently he’s done some really cool stuff with the powers
In multiplayer there are only drops, not a crafting system like in DA:I. You can apply mods to weapons, but it is not crafting exactly
When you start NG+, your level carries over, along with most of your non-narrative progression
Some weapons and armor are only craftable for narrative reasons, but most drop as loot
Squad commands will be covered in the next gameplay vid
Adjectives which most describe Cora in Andromeda, per her writer: “ Professional, supportive, fearless.”
Seems the game’s ESRB rating has been updated a bit. “Partial nudity” now reads just “nudity”
In multiplayer you can reach max level and then start again from level 1 if you want. Q. “But will this promotion give u any benefits (like ME3MP N7 rating or DAIMP stats; maybe achievements)?” -> A. “No, we'd call this "resetting." We don't do promotions, but we have another mechanic that serves that role”
You can’t really get stuck in cover as it is now not magnetic but all very fluid and smooth. To enter cover all you have to do is approach with your gun drawn - “Your body animation and an icon in the HUD help msg that you're in cover.”
Peebee’s writer (who wrote the Sith Warrior storyline in SW:TOR) says that there are some similarities between Vette (SW companion) and Peebee but that Peebee is a very different character
Peebee’s writer wrote another character in the game too
You can swap camera shoulder whenever you want for optimal visibility
Characters pop in and out of the Nomad as opposed to an exit/enter animation. There used to be such an animation in development but it was removed as they found it annoying
Using the Nomad with 4 or 6 wheel changes the way it feels and handles, especially on steep inclines
There’s an answer to why the N7 Piranha, a weapon that was designed for the Reaper War, appears in the game
Q. “Through crafting, can you use resources to upgrade your gun to higher levels? ie level up a Mattock I to a Mattock IV?” -> A. “ Yes and no. You don't "upgrade" a gun from III to IV, per se, but you can outright craft a IV.”
Ryder holds the foregrip of SMGs properly (in contrast to the original trilogy); the animation team did some extra magic for SMGs
Q. “So what are the chances Cerberus will be in the ME:A timeline?” -> A. “Low.”
Aaryn Flynn re-emphasized that there are relationships that do not culminate in sex
High impact sniper rifles are definitely in the game
Loot/crates in multiplayer is ME3-style. They say they’ve made improvements to the rng (for drop rates etc)
Keep an eye on IGN for upcoming Andromeda coveragennnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn


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## Vintage Paw (Feb 23, 2017)

T														   he formatting and extra Ns are courtesy of my cat, Peggy.


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## Vintage Paw (Feb 23, 2017)

Some new screenshots:


Unsure if customised Ryder or multiplayer character:






Daddy Ryder:





Sara Ryder:





Liam Kosta (squad mate):





A: Liam Kosta
B: Vetra Nyx
C: PeeBee
All squad mates





Cora Harper (squad mate):





[Fun fact: The Illusive Man's last name was Harper]


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## NoXion (Feb 23, 2017)

Damn, DadRyder's looking good. And Cora looks like she's got a fair amount of upper body strength, something you don't see enough of on female video game characters in my opinion.


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## Vintage Paw (Feb 23, 2017)

NoXion said:


> Damn, DadRyder's looking good. And Cora looks like she's got a fair amount of upper body strength, something you don't see enough of on female video game characters in my opinion.



She's a bit vanguardy - described as biotic support, but she can charge and stuff.

Second gameplay video:



They leave squad combos right to the end and don't explain at all how they happen just that they magically do.

This video isn't as exciting as the last one. It leaves me feeling like this favourites system is just going to slow things down in a weird way when they said they got rid of the power wheel precisely to speed things up and make combat more fluid. It seems weird, idk.


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## Vintage Paw (Feb 23, 2017)




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## NoXion (Feb 23, 2017)

Interesting. So it looks like we'll be able to use more skills in a single fight than I thought at first.

I'm looking forward to the next video.


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## Vintage Paw (Feb 23, 2017)

I'm seeing loads of small clips with more gameplay, romance and so on. I'll put any info like that in spoilers. I want to know who can be romanced by whom, but I know some people prefer to go in totally blind.


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## Vintage Paw (Feb 23, 2017)

More daddy and sara


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## Vintage Paw (Feb 23, 2017)

Mass Effect: Andromeda - Previews and hands-on impressions

Previews and reviews thread. gaf is generally good at spoilering things, so I'm hopeful there won't be too many surprises in there that aren't easily avoidable. Click on the links to the individual articles and videos at your own risk. There are already big spoilers out there about what happens to your sibling and so on (which I haven't seen).


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## Vintage Paw (Feb 23, 2017)

Mass Effect: Andromeda Hands-On: 3 Hours of Spoiler-Free Impressions - IGN

A safe one to read.


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## NoXion (Feb 23, 2017)

Vintage Paw said:


> More daddy and sara



You know, I remember when CGI as good as this could only be done as a single pre-rendered still image. Now we have this being done in realtime as part of an effects-heavy game. This stuff has come a really long way.


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## Vintage Paw (Feb 24, 2017)

How Mass Effect: Andromeda’s Characters Deal With Science, God (And Why That’s So Exciting)

This is a good article, no spoilers.


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## Vintage Paw (Feb 24, 2017)




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## Vintage Paw (Feb 25, 2017)

I've imbibed so much information over the past couple of days, there'd be too much to post here.

If anyone's avoiding forums and/or articles because of spoilers but wants a specific question answered, ask away and if I know the answer I'll give it.

I'm still avoiding story spoilers, at the same time as trying to find out any and every single last thing about who we can romance... which is proving almost impossible! We've seen Cora/broRyder in the trailer, but that's all that is officially confirmed. There have been little teasers on twitter about other characters, and it's safe to guess about some. Romances aren't confined to the squad, and there will also be some amongst the rest of the Tempest crew, as well as non-ship NPCs. Some will be a bit like Josephine's in DAI (i.e. romantic and not culminating in sex) and others will be hot and heavy. Some will be flings, some will be serious, some will be flings that can turn serious if you play it right, some won't mind if you pursue someone else, some will very much mind. There have been a couple of leaks, but those should be treated with caution...


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## Vintage Paw (Feb 25, 2017)

Preview reports are generally very positive, with the biggest concerns being about performance (it's confirmed there will be a day 1 patch - Origin Access players will get it early for the trial period) and the removal of the power wheel and its ability to assign squad commands (which is precisely what I predicted - it's going to be a bigger deal for people once they all realise it's gone, but maybe the rest of the combat will be so improved it ends up not mattering - it was enough of a bummer for several reviews to mention it as a negative though).


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## Vintage Paw (Feb 25, 2017)

This is really interesting, from Ian Frazier:



> At the beginning of the game you don't have any sense of class, but if you do choose to do character gen, you choose one of six backgrounds, or trainings, when the game starts. Now what that will do, is take certain abilities that are kind of higher level or specialized abilities, like charge or cloak that pretty significantly impact your gameplay. Normally we require you to invest several points in that tree before you can do it. If you want biotic charge, you have to have invested 9 points into something else on the biotic tree before you can get charge. But if you chose that background—there one where _you are the guy that charges—_then you have that available from the outset and you can immediately start spending points in it. So if you try the different backgrounds you'll see different things locked and unlocked in the trees.



So if you pick default Ryder you don't pick a specialisation (or class, like in the trilogy), and it all slowly unlocks as you level up. But if you customise Ryder you pick a specialisation, say adept, and get access to a higher tier power earlier on, and then continue to unlock everything else as normal.

That's quite nice actually. You can decide to be a blank slate, or you can decide a little bit about backstory training in that way.


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## Vintage Paw (Feb 26, 2017)

Holy shit - with NG+ you can switch sibling and do the character creator again if you want. That's brilliant!


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## NoXion (Feb 26, 2017)

Vintage Paw said:


> How Mass Effect: Andromeda’s Characters Deal With Science, God (And Why That’s So Exciting)
> 
> This is a good article, no spoilers.



This bit was especially interesting:



> Interestingly, Ryder voiced her displeasure about how things unfolded and even made the case for the Kett feeling as threatened by us as we were by them. Andromeda makes attempts at presenting the Kett, and the mysterious Archon leading them, as figures that could also be on a journey that parallels ours. Since the portions of the game we played were devoid of necessary context, it wasn't clear what their motivations were, but I got the feeling the game doesn't want to present them as clear-cut bad guys.



Because it addresses exactly what I was wondering about the Kett earlier in this thread.


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## Vintage Paw (Feb 26, 2017)

There's speculation the Kett are related in some way to the Angara. I can see that - if you look at their designs, under the bony exo-skeleton (which I'm certain I read or heard somewhere that it's armour, but idk) their facial features are similar and they have the same wide neck thing going on, and they have very similar hands (the Angara have very big hands...).

So I might have been vaguely right when I said the Angara were in a holy civil war ... if that war is with the Kett. Since the Kett are all called "Chosen" and shit like that, maybe the Archon is their caliph (this doesn't get any better lol).

Anyway, yes, I was really excited to see that part as well. I've read the Kett are meant to be sympathetic, and I look forward to being able to play a character who actually takes the time to look at that. 

My only reservation about the Kett is they look too much like the bloody collectors. I hated the collectors. What a shit enemy. ME2 dropped the ball on antagonists. Nothing could come close to Saren and Sovereign though.


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## NoXion (Feb 26, 2017)

Vintage Paw said:


> There's speculation the Kett are related in some way to the Angara. I can see that - if you look at their designs, under the bony exo-skeleton (which I'm certain I read or heard somewhere that it's armour, but idk) their facial features are similar and they have the same wide neck thing going on, and they have very similar hands (the Angara have very big hands...).



Ehh, I hope not. If the player has the opportunity to act as a peacemaker between the Kett and the Angara, then not being biologically related would make the act of achieving peace more meaningful in my eyes. Because you'd be bridging a gap between two entirely alien worlds.



> So I might have been vaguely right when I said the Angara were in a holy civil war ... if that war is with the Kett. Since the Kett are all called "Chosen" and shit like that, maybe the Archon is their caliph (this doesn't get any better lol).



Actually, I'm getting more Gnostic vibes off the Kett. Their leader has a Greek name, and has a circular halo-like thing on his head as well as what look like some stubby little horns:










> Anyway, yes, I was really excited to see that part as well. I've read the Kett are meant to be sympathetic, and I look forward to being able to play a character who actually takes the time to look at that.



I'm fairly confident it'll turn out good.



> My only reservation about the Kett is they look too much like the bloody collectors. I hated the collectors. What a shit enemy. ME2 dropped the ball on antagonists. Nothing could come close to Saren and Sovereign though.



Why were the Collectors shit? They came across to me as one of the Reapers' most frightening and effective minions. Story-wise, they kill Shepard and then get to work building a Reaper in the Milky Way's hinterlands. Shepard is revived by Cerberus but then they capture almost all of the crew and nearly the Normandy as well, and unless you build your team right and upgrade your ship then in the final battle they _will_ fuck up your cool starship and ultimate team of badass motherfuckers.

Not only that, but they're one of the hardest enemies overall gameplay-wise (although the Reaper Husks have Banshees, which I consider to be the hardest single unit). I kind of wish that the Black Ark Collectors had been in ME3 singleplayer, because they're fun to fight in the multiplayer and the Armax Arena.


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## Vintage Paw (Feb 26, 2017)

They never managed to create a good antagonist - it was just a bunch of mindless collectors, the leader of whom changed when the last one died and Harbinger ported himself into the next one. Harbinger wasn't a patch on Sovereign, and he certainly wasn't when his disembodied voice was repeating "I know this hurts you" over and over during a fight. I never felt the same level of menace. Saren was excellent writing - the story beats and the cutscenes with him were perfectly paced, showing what he was up to while we were off trying to find out more, showing his frustration, his anger, his menace. He was a proper villain with real presence, and they managed to get some of that humanity (turianity?) into him that they tried with TIM (and failed, imo), where you could see his downfall and actually pity him in those final moments on the Citadel. Even the short time we got to speak to Sovereign had far more gravitas and awe than anything with Harby - it's one of the iconic moments of the series and a damn good monologue.

Whether the collectors were hard to kill or posed a physical threat or even an existential one to humanity isn't important to me. It's about how it's written and portrayed, and they didn't do half as well in 2 as in 1 for me. And god, the baby terminator during the suicide mission - whoever thought of that should be put in the stocks and pelted with rotten tomatoes. Not least because they dropped the idea that they look like the species pulped to create them as soon as that fight was finished. Terrible, terrible, terrible.


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## Vintage Paw (Feb 28, 2017)




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## Vintage Paw (Mar 1, 2017)

One thing I was pleased to note from that vid is the squad have jetpacks too. I saw some people concerned there would be weird spawning because jetpack use would be too complex for the AI but obviously not. You see PeeBee use it at one point.

My overall impression from the combat portions though was "why do I need squad mates?" The player does direct them a bit towards the end, but other than that it's just you out in the field fighting for yourself - or so it seems. I think that's a shame. I mean, before, you could choose to play it that way, but there was also another layer of strategy with the power wheel being able to direct the squad with specific powers to have absolute control of the battlefield, and that's obliterated now. Still, I'm reserving ultimate judgment and it might work really well hands on.


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## Vintage Paw (Mar 1, 2017)

The jetpack looks great though, with that level of manoeuverability.


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## NoXion (Mar 1, 2017)

Vintage Paw said:


>




Saw this video in my suggestions list, but it looked a bit spoiler-y so I avoided it. Have you seen it?


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## Vintage Paw (Mar 1, 2017)

Yep. It's not spoilery. Well, I suppose it depends on what is spoilery for you or not. It doesn't reveal any particular plot points. It has been edited so as to avoid spoilers (it says in the YouTube description). 

You hear a person's name who has something to do with PeeBee, but you don't know who they are or how they know them or what they want. You see their face, but that gives nothing away other than she's another asari. The mission is outside and then inside a Remnant archive or something like that. You're trying to find a way in before the asari does. You fight some Remnant, and you fight a named krogan and some of the asari's other troops, and that's about it. There's very little dialogue. It's mostly just some combat, some scanning, lots of jetpacking.


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## Vintage Paw (Mar 1, 2017)

It's really cool seeing Drack charge in and bash some heads with his big old krogan hammer


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## Vintage Paw (Mar 1, 2017)

Re: spoilers: gaf tells me that one of the troops that dies at the end is a minor recurring character, so you may want to stop watching before you get to the point where you're fighting non-remnant people if you care about that sort of thing. It's not a major character.


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## NoXion (Mar 1, 2017)

The armour SisRyder is wearing in that video looks like Kett technology.


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## Vintage Paw (Mar 1, 2017)

I expect we'll be finding all sorts of new technologies we can incorporate into our crafting.


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## Vintage Paw (Mar 1, 2017)

I'm going to do the Origin Access thing for a month so I can spend 10 hours in the cc before release - and then play with default Sara for my first run


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## Vintage Paw (Mar 1, 2017)

This made me laugh:







Don't stop BioWaring, BioWare <3


----------



## NoXion (Mar 1, 2017)

Vintage Paw said:


> This made me laugh:
> 
> 
> 
> ...


 
Don't laugh. The Air Gap Punch is a deadly Ryder technique.


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## Vintage Paw (Mar 1, 2017)

It's massively slowed down from the very beginning of the 2nd gameplay video. At normal speed it looks just like a normal punch. But gaf gonna gaf and the level of nitpicking is... well, on another level right now.


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## Vintage Paw (Mar 1, 2017)

I really like Sara's voice, what I've heard of it so far. I'm one of those rare beasts who really, really didn't like Jen Hale's Shepard. It was just so goddamned overacted and intentionally "look at me, I can play badass too." I always chose paragon for femShep because renegade brought it out even more and made me feel stabbity. I haven't heard much of Scott's voice at all, but I'm sure I'll like that too.

Both the Ryders' VAs have done loads of interviews in the lead-up. They knew each other and were really good friends beforehand, but were both under NDA, so couldn't tell each other they were working on MEA. Then one day they were chatting about meeting up, and one of them said they were going to be at such-and-such studio in Burbank, and the other said "I'm at such-and-such studio in Burbank tomorrow..." and so they decided to play the game "Are we working on the same game?" So they asked stuff like, "are you voicing a character for a game set in space?" and "Are you working for a company based in Canada?" and obviously quickly worked out they were both working on the next Mass Effect. Then Tom Taylorson says, "Well, I'm sorry, but I'm voicing the male protagonist of the game" and Fryda Wolff is all, "Well, I'm sorry, but I'm voicing the female protagonist of the game" and apparently lots of squeeing and "no way" happened after that.


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## Vintage Paw (Mar 1, 2017)

I'm gonna, I swear I'm gonna: Nvidia GTX 1080 Ti: If you bought a Titan X, look away now


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## NoXion (Mar 1, 2017)

Vintage Paw said:


> I'm gonna, I swear I'm gonna: Nvidia GTX 1080 Ti: If you bought a Titan X, look away now



£450 is still way out of my price range unless I save up. And I'm terrible at that.


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## agricola (Mar 2, 2017)

Vintage Paw said:


> I really like Sara's voice, what I've heard of it so far. I'm one of those rare beasts who really, really didn't like Jen Hale's Shepard. It was just so goddamned overacted and intentionally "look at me, I can play badass too." I always chose paragon for femShep because renegade brought it out even more and made me feel stabbity. I haven't heard much of Scott's voice at all, but I'm sure I'll like that too.



Indeed. I felt the same way about it, though more because I could never think of that voice being anything other than Bastila's.


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## Vintage Paw (Mar 3, 2017)

Exploration gameplay trailer.

Some really, really interesting stuff in there. I love that you can look out of your window and see where in the galaxy you are - that's going to really give you a feeling of being _in_ your location rather than relying on the representation in the galaxy map. Can't wait to take screenshots of it all.

Someone has posted the first 13 minutes of gameplay.

The struggle is real.

"nope nope nope nope nope BUT I WANT TO SEE nope nope nope nope nope"

Going to use every bit of my strength to resist until early access.


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## NoXion (Mar 3, 2017)

Vintage Paw said:


> Exploration gameplay trailer.
> 
> Some really, really interesting stuff in there. I love that you can look out of your window and see where in the galaxy you are - that's going to really give you a feeling of being _in_ your location rather than relying on the representation in the galaxy map. Can't wait to take screenshots of it all.
> 
> ...




HNNNNNNNNNGAaah I do believe that this video has been the one to excite me the most. I'm really liking the opportunity to do some diplomacy. Making a difference to Andromeda through science and trade!


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## Vintage Paw (Mar 3, 2017)

You can wear casual clothing when you go to hubs. That's cool.


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## Vintage Paw (Mar 3, 2017)

NoXion said:


> HNNNNNNNNNGAaah I do believe that this video has been the one to excite me the most. I'm really liking the opportunity to do some diplomacy. Making a difference to Andromeda through science and trade!



Really interested in the "who do you want to wake up" mechanic. I hope it doesn't feel a bit forced, a bit too 'gamey' like many of these kinds of things can. I also hope the "increase a planet's viability score" thing doesn't feel cookie cutter between all the habitats.


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## NoXion (Mar 3, 2017)

Vintage Paw said:


> You can wear casual clothing when you go to hubs. That's cool.



Fuck yes. Being able to walk around Nos Astra while wearing the suit from Kasumi's loyalty mission would have been awesome in ME2.


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## Vintage Paw (Mar 6, 2017)

Damn, and there was me expressing my pessimism that the game might tackle the refugee narrative and not be all colonial

Games preview: Mass Effect: Andromeda is playable at last

brb, fanwanking over bioware


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## kevkaos (Mar 8, 2017)

So looking forward to this was looking forward to the 10hr early trial but there is a catch
More Details On Mass Effect: Andromeda's EA/Origin Access Trial Revealed


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## Vintage Paw (Mar 8, 2017)

They did the same for DAI - you couldn't leave the Hinterlands. It's fairly standard. I'm not too worried. I'll be spending all of my 10 hours in the cc and talking to as many NPCs and squad and crew as I can, lol.


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## NoXion (Mar 11, 2017)

Apparently players will be unable to customise their squadmates' weapon loadout. I was unfazed by the hysteria on Reddit over janky animations, as well as that ridiculous fuss that was made over the apparent proportions of the Andromeda characters compared to those from the original trilogy, but this is the first bit of news about Andromeda that has genuinely disappointed me.

I'm glad that I'm getting this on PC since there's a chance that modders will fix such shortcomings.


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## Vintage Paw (Mar 12, 2017)

NoXion said:


> Apparently players will be unable to customise their squadmates' weapon loadout. I was unfazed by the hysteria on Reddit over janky animations, as well as that ridiculous fuss that was made over the apparent proportions of the Andromeda characters compared to those from the original trilogy, but this is the first bit of news about Andromeda that has genuinely disappointed me.
> 
> I'm glad that I'm getting this on PC since there's a chance that modders will fix such shortcomings.



I really don't understand why have squad mates at all if they serve no purpose. We can't tell them what powers to use during battle, and now we can't give them specific guns? I reckon this is going to bite them in the arse.


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## NoXion (Mar 14, 2017)

Vintage Paw said:


> I really don't understand why have squad mates at all if they serve no purpose. We can't tell them what powers to use during battle, and now we can't give them specific guns? I reckon this is going to bite them in the arse.



The best explanation/excuse that I have seen floating around is that the devs decided to sacrifice players choosing their squadmate weapon loadouts, in favour of optimising squadmate AI with their signature weapons. This rings somewhat true for me because IIRC in ME3 squadmates could be pretty pants at using the more unusual weapons in the game, e.g. the Kishock Harpoon Gun.

Despite this news I'm still excited, or at the very least impatient to get my own hands on the game. I've been finding it harder and harder not to look at the more spoilery videos, such as the introduction to Jaal or the extended look at one of the Andromeda worlds, Eos. My YouTube feed keeps tempting me!

I've also got a new graphics card lying around that I really should install.


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## Vintage Paw (Mar 14, 2017)

NoXion said:


> The best explanation/excuse that I have seen floating around is that the devs decided to sacrifice players choosing their squadmate weapon loadouts, in favour of optimising squadmate AI with their signature weapons. This rings somewhat true for me because IIRC in ME3 squadmates could be pretty pants at using the more unusual weapons in the game, e.g. the Kishock Harpoon Gun.
> 
> Despite this news I'm still excited, or at the very least impatient to get my own hands on the game. I've been finding it harder and harder not to look at the more spoilery videos, such as the introduction to Jaal or the extended look at one of the Andromeda worlds, Eos. My YouTube feed keeps tempting me!
> 
> I've also got a new graphics card lying around that I really should install.



I have some sympathy with that argument. You'd think it would mean they'd get it right in cut scenes... but both Peebee and Cora have been seen with magical Avengers a la the original trilogy... I mean, come on BioWare. But it wouldn't be Mass Effect without the magical Avenger, I guess.

I'm watching this:



Shit, it looks so good. The writing seems to be really well done. Very fun.


----------



## Vintage Paw (Mar 14, 2017)

2 days until early access.

TWO DAYS.

Character creator looks okay. The strangest thing is that once you've chosen your preset face you can't change the eye, nose or mouth style from additional presets, you can only adjust what's already there with width, height etc sliders. That seems a shame - it's going to result in a lot of very samey-looking characters. 

There's lots of colour customisation of hair, lots of scars and tattoos and weird make-up options. Looks like it'll be relatively easy to create a good looking character, or a complete abomination.


----------



## Vintage Paw (Mar 15, 2017)

If you've preordered the soundtrack is available to download now: Improve Your Experience • Mass Effect Archives


----------



## Vintage Paw (Mar 15, 2017)

Early Access Trial unlocks at about 9.30pm tonight apparently. Not sure if that's just for pre-load or to play, but play proper is supposed to be tomorrow. 

Seen some nice custom Ryders from the people who have early-early access. The cc isn't as good as I'd expected as I said above, but it's still possible to do some nice things. Hair is better than DAI, but still lacking in variety and as always the textures are bunk - stick to darker colours is my tip.


----------



## Vintage Paw (Mar 15, 2017)

Shitting hell, track 5 - Khi Tasira - is amazing. It's classic Hollywood. Totally unexpected. Lovely.


----------



## NoXion (Mar 15, 2017)

Vintage Paw said:


> Shitting hell, track 5 - Khi Tasira - is amazing. It's classic Hollywood. Totally unexpected. Lovely.



How distinctive is the soundtrack? 

ME1 had it's own unique style, ME2 was when it started going a bit generic orchestral (although the Normandy Reborn, Suicide Mission and End Run themes were excellent), and ME3 unfortunately continued that trend.


----------



## Vintage Paw (Mar 15, 2017)

NoXion said:


> How distinctive is the soundtrack?
> 
> ME1 had it's own unique style, ME2 was when it started going a bit generic orchestral (although the Normandy Reborn, Suicide Mission and End Run themes were excellent), and ME3 unfortunately continued that trend.



Not as good as ME1 imo. More orchestral again. Some very nice pieces, but it doesn't have that iconic feel of ME1. But then, I listened to ME1's music as I played the game for the first time, and developed an emotional relationship to those pieces - playing the soundtrack blind like this isn't ever going to have the same effect.


----------



## Vintage Paw (Mar 15, 2017)




----------



## ruffneck23 (Mar 16, 2017)

Downloading now , cant get into my proper origin account but managed to remember an alt account I've got so thought whilst i have few few days off why not waste them on this   , loved the other games so looking forward to this one


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## Vintage Paw (Mar 16, 2017)

I've played the prologue. I love it. Love it love it love it.

Although there are things I don't like.

I hate the lack of power wheel. Maybe I'll get used to it. So far, hate it.

The CC has its good parts and its bad. It's easy to make a very good looking character with little bother, but because of the lack of ability to change things like eyes, lips and so on almost all the characters made with the same presets are going to look almost identical. 

Here's my very quick Scott:






Runs great on a 980Ti @ 1440p with everything maxed out. I'm not certain what some of the video input options mean, but I generally left them as they were. It seems to think I have an HDR monitor, which I don't. But I haven't noticed any adverse effects from leaving it as is. It also hotsamples, so once someone's done the hard work of setting up a freecam I'll be able to take some super hi-res shots. Apparently Ansel will work with it too, but I've not used that before and it kills post-processing (because of how it renders the image - it's basically tiledshot like in Unreal Engine, taking multiple shots from around the scene and merging them into one).

The antagonist's intro is great. Got some Saren vibes from the music for a moment there.

Salarians have grown.

Love it.


----------



## ruffneck23 (Mar 16, 2017)

36%  Downloaded , nice that its playable at 42% , not sure il get much sleep tonight


----------



## Vintage Paw (Mar 16, 2017)

I'm not even going to talk about the meltdown BSN is going through right now 

Taken the Tempest out for the first time. Planet scanning... WHY ALWAYS PLANET SCANNING? It's slower and more annoying than ever - but at least it's pretty, I guess. 

It's 5am. What am I doing with my life?

The lighting, tho:


----------



## NoXion (Mar 16, 2017)

Looking good! Since I'm not going to be able to get my hands on the game until the 25th, would you say that it's worth getting, based on what you have seen so far?

Also, what platform are you playing on?


----------



## ruffneck23 (Mar 16, 2017)

Playing at 4k (DSR) on pc, looks great and runs well. Only a couple of hours in but the combat seems pretty good , just about to go into my first proper mission.

Id get it on launch but id also get it from cd keys


----------



## moon (Mar 16, 2017)

Omg omg omg...  your male character looks great Vintage Paw 
Any screenshots of female characters?


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## Vintage Paw (Mar 16, 2017)

I'm on PC. 980Ti and i7-4790 @ 1440p with everything on ultra, including HBAO full, with TAA. Running in windowed mode because that's required for hotsampling - no doubt it would run even better in fullscreen. I've had no problems so far with fps, but I don't monitor it and don't care about 60fps anyway, but it feels very smooth. I had 2 slowdowns: the first during the pre-rendered cutscene where the antagonist shows up for the first time - it felt very choppy but it didn't detract from my enjoyment (great scene). The second was when I was wandering around on the Tempest - I briefly got some low frames, probably because of the lighting and all the HBAO. Not an issue though. On the first planet I got no problems of any kind, and during combat is where it really counts. Fire and biotic effects and the other atmospheric stuff didn't cause any issues.

So far it runs better for me than DAI. But I haven't thrown in ReShade yet - that'll knock off some performance. I'm still looking at getting a 1080Ti when the non-founder partner cards start coming out proper.

You can turn off motion blur by following these instructions:

 

- I'm going to do that before I next play (I have 6 hours left).

moon - this is what you want for a variety of Ryders: Share your custom ME:A characters! • r/ShareYourRyders

There's the new Mass Effect Archives site. You can upload your Ryder when you've finished making them, and once the site goes live you'll be able to get a link to them so people can download them. I expect you might be able to browse the archive from within the cc in-game, but I'm not sure. Since I like creating characters (and I think I'm decent at it) I'm probably going to create a bunch just to upload to the archive for other people.

The diversity of ethnicity is really exceptional. The best BioWare have done so far. Not only in the cc, but in the npcs wandering around as well. Finally some great asian faces as well. There's some whining going on that there aren't pale enough white skintones. ME:A is "anti-white" apparently. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHA.

I definitely think it's worth getting, but I'm a BioDrone, so don't listen to me.


----------



## NoXion (Mar 17, 2017)

Funny thing about skin colour, I remember being disappointed that I couldn't give my BroShep darker skin in ME1. So it seems like Andromeda might have the opposite problem.


----------



## NoXion (Mar 17, 2017)

Actually Vintage Paw , what do you think of the character animations? I see a lot threads on the Mass Effect subReddit about it, and I've just made the mistake of reading a critical thread. Apparently the character on the left in this image is utterly motionless below the neck, despite the fact that you can clearly see her arm moving and her body shifting its weight.


----------



## Vintage Paw (Mar 17, 2017)

They're a bit derpy at times, but there's nothing deserving of "omg, preorder cancelled, literally unplayable111!!!11onez!!"

I outlined in the "what are you playing" thread about what's wrong with the eyes. The eyes play a big part in it.

I'm not especially bothered. I'm more upset about the lack of power wheel, the lack of quick save, the inability to save at all for hours on end during some missions, and the awful UI. But I'll still play the game a lot.


----------



## NoXion (Mar 17, 2017)

Yeah, the lack of a quicksave is a real headscratcher. It used to be the case that you couldn't quicksave on most console games, but console technology has moved on a lot since then - most of them have basically become standardised PCs repackaged into a console form factor. So I really don't understand why that functionality is missing.

The lack of a power wheel means that I'll be playing a Vanguard-type character, since Biotic Charge is the kind of power I enjoy using without pausing.

The first Mass Effect game also had a pretty bad UI as I recall, especially the inventory.


----------



## Vintage Paw (Mar 17, 2017)

ME3 and DAI both have quick save, and MEA was developed for PC first, it's not a port.

Apparently they went through 3 different UI leads for the game, which is why it's an absolute mess. I expect quick save is simply an omission because of that, which wasn't put back in because there were other things to worry about. The UI really is dire, though. 

This sums up the UI problems:



It's going to be really frustrating over time.

But still, I'm itching for launch because I can't wait to play the whole thing ¯\_(ツ)_/¯


----------



## Vintage Paw (Mar 17, 2017)

If you've played the trial, some really interesting story speculation here in this thread (spoilered because obv it's super spoilery):



Spoiler








Thread comments have loads more interesting stuff.


----------



## treelover (Mar 17, 2017)

Playing the trial on PC, looks great, plays great, but 44.00 at present, can't afford that.


----------



## Vintage Paw (Mar 17, 2017)

The data mining continues in earnest. These people are doing the Maker's work, truly.

I'm avoiding everything about real plot and devouring everything about the romances, lol.


----------



## Vintage Paw (Mar 17, 2017)

They're looking into patching in quick save and also saving during priority missions. It won't be in for day 1.


----------



## Vintage Paw (Mar 18, 2017)

Nvidia's Mass Effect: Andromeda 4K trailer is super pretty | PC Gamer


----------



## Vintage Paw (Mar 18, 2017)

Apparently the embargo may have been moved forward from the 20th to tomorrow (the 18th). Spoilers ahoy.


----------



## moon (Mar 18, 2017)

You know what, I think (hope) some of the issues with animations, saves etc could be a marketing trick to get people talking about the game.
And that it will all be miraculously fixed with a day 1 patch...
I want to live in that bubble for a while


----------



## Vintage Paw (Mar 18, 2017)

Day 1 patch was already live with the early access.


----------



## Vintage Paw (Mar 19, 2017)

I am very looking forward to next week but I still haven't finished ME3. Stuff keeps getting in the way. GAh!


----------



## snadge (Mar 19, 2017)

Joined origin for 4 quid for 1 month to try the demo of this game, not a bad deal 4 quid, hope it is ok, will say this though, extremely uninspired at the 43 gb download for a fucking demo and the origin type software is extremely junky.


----------



## Vintage Paw (Mar 19, 2017)

Workaround for priority mission saving:

Change your active objective, and then change it back again. That should create an autosave checkpoint for you.

They're looking on patching in proper saving (plus quicksave) in the future.


----------



## NoXion (Mar 19, 2017)

One... More... Week!

GAH!


----------



## NoXion (Mar 19, 2017)

Also, I recently bought the Mass Effect poster collection to hang up on all four of my bedroom walls. I rarely buy merchandise for anything, even stuff I like a lot. I am now officially a Mass Effect fan.


----------



## Vintage Paw (Mar 19, 2017)

They do some nice lithographs on the BioWare store now and again.

They don't have much at the moment but I expect they'll put something out later on when MEA gets established: Art

They've had really nice ones of particular characters in the past. 

And of course, in the rest of the store, I'm forever pining for one of their hoodies. Dat shipping tho.


----------



## Vintage Paw (Mar 19, 2017)

Embargo apparently lifts in 4 hours.

Korean launch is 3pm tomorrow (our time) - or so I believe (it's 12.00am on the 21st for South Korea). I'm waiting until Tuesday so I can get the game ready driver (which I can only assume will be released then) and can use Ansel for screenshots from the outset.


----------



## Vintage Paw (Mar 19, 2017)

I know so much about this game now thanks to data miners lol. I've listened to all sorts of romance dialogue, seen a bunch of stuff in streams, etc. I have managed to stay relatively free of plot-important spoilers though. I'm glad I waited on it all until I'd played the trial. I just wanted to see the opening for myself, then it was open season lol


----------



## Vintage Paw (Mar 19, 2017)

Something to occupy your time:


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## snadge (Mar 19, 2017)

Well first impressions off demo is not very good, movement is off somehow, the tuck head down and run is disjointed, they look like they have disabilities ( no offence intended). Graphics are okay but nothing special ( 980ti hybrid on ultra). 

I have 10 hrs gameplay will try a few hours tom night.


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## Vintage Paw (Mar 19, 2017)

The running animation is ridiculously better than that in ME3.






They shift their weight depending on the terrain underneath them, which is a really nice touch.


----------



## snadge (Mar 19, 2017)

Vintage Paw said:


> The running animation is ridiculously better than that in ME3.
> 
> 
> 
> ...



Yeah but that is still awful, other games have sussed this out far better, then again it's EA, gimmicks galore.

BTW that is like 50 MPH running lol.


----------



## Vintage Paw (Mar 19, 2017)

Stuff like that doesn't bother me in the slightest.


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## NoXion (Mar 19, 2017)

Vintage Paw said:


> They do some nice lithographs on the BioWare store now and again.
> 
> They don't have much at the moment but I expect they'll put something out later on when MEA gets established: Art
> 
> ...



That reminds me, as I realised something about 20 minutes ago; the poster collection doesn't include anything with Ashley or Kaidan in it!  

I'd really like a Kaidan poster, but there's only one item there and he's not in it.


----------



## ruffneck23 (Mar 19, 2017)

i have been enjoying it, although i did notice the running is off, but like VP it doesn't bother me , but what does bother me is the fact they have made planet scanning worse than before


----------



## NoXion (Mar 19, 2017)

ruffneck23 said:


> i have been enjoying it, although i did notice the running is off, but like VP it doesn't bother me , but what does bother me is the fact they have made planet scanning worse than before



What little I have seen cannot possibly be worse than the ME2 mineral scanning-watching-wavy-lines-peak borefest.


----------



## ruffneck23 (Mar 19, 2017)

unfortunately for me so far, it seems so much more sluggish , even hard work to a certain extent , hopefully I'l be proven wrong and I've not been doing it right 

eta seems like its just not me

Mass Effect: Andromeda planet scanning: it's somehow worse than ever | PC Gamer


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## Vintage Paw (Mar 20, 2017)

The scanning is really weird. The 'scanning' itself is no problem, but rather it's the slow as heck animations as you move from one area of the system map to another, with that tight planetary shot before it zooms slightly out again. I get that they want to showcase how beautiful it is, but I was annoyed by it in the very first system I went to. I can't imagine an entire game of it. And I found some iron, woo! Iron, great, I can make things. It was like 80 units of it or something. What? For all the time it takes and the fact I'm scanning this stuff from space I'd expect 10 times that amount. Grr.


----------



## agricola (Mar 20, 2017)

NoXion said:


> What little I have seen cannot possibly be worse than the ME2 mineral scanning-watching-wavy-lines-peak borefest.



... which was vastly preferable to all that Mako action in ME1.


----------



## NoXion (Mar 20, 2017)

agricola said:


> ... which was vastly preferable to all that Mako action in ME1.



...No. Just no.  The Mako sections had problems with cookie-cutter enemy bases and some of the planets were painful to navigate quickly (I'm looking at you, Nodacrux!), but at least there were enemies to fight (mostly just mercs, Geth and thresher maws but at least they provide something of an actual challenge) and the sections as a whole gave a good change of pace to the game, contributing to that wonderful sense of exploration that Andromeda is now exploiting to the hilt. There's also at least some skills to be earned in learning to handle the Mako, as much as the dudebro gamers may make fun of it now. ME2 scanning is a no-skill minigame that could have been knocked up in Flash for a website in the early 2000s. The planets with side missions that we could land on had some mildly interesting stories at best, and at worst were little more than extremely cut-down versions of the same kind of on-foot missions we played in the main game anyway.

They could have brought back some of that action in the Firewalker DLC, but for some reason the devs opted for boring linear maps and a vehicle that explodes if the Geth so much as sneeze in its general direction. They really dropped the ball on that one.

Planet scanning in ME3 was alright, if a little basic. It was the sort of thing where I could do a quick tour of all the areas recently invaded by Reapers in between missions. Not terribly exciting but at least it wasn't a massive pain in the arse either.


----------



## NoXion (Mar 20, 2017)

Vintage Paw said:


> The scanning is really weird. The 'scanning' itself is no problem, but rather it's the slow as heck animations as you move from one area of the system map to another, with that tight planetary shot before it zooms slightly out again. I get that they want to showcase how beautiful it is, but I was annoyed by it in the very first system I went to. I can't imagine an entire game of it. And I found some iron, woo! Iron, great, I can make things. It was like 80 units of it or something. What? For all the time it takes and the fact I'm scanning this stuff from space I'd expect 10 times that amount. Grr.



Have you used the crafting system much? Do you know what can you do with 80 units of iron?


----------



## ruffneck23 (Mar 20, 2017)

and the reviews are out

Mass Effect: Andromeda review | PC Gamer

Mass Effect: Andromeda Review - IGN


----------



## moon (Mar 20, 2017)

I always really enjoyed planet scanning, looking forward to the game, I've only seen one video and read little about it so it will all be new when I play.
I wouldn't mind having some sort of Kaidan action figure with me whilst I play it... for the memories lol


----------



## NoXion (Mar 20, 2017)

I just had to tell YouTube to fuck off two videos from my feed, that I didn't even have to watch to know they were utter fucking crap. One from some piece of shit called called Swedish Wolf, title was something about BioWare going down the SJW rabbit hole. Obvious shit from a fucking cunt. Another one was from PewDiePie, who I've always thought of as a knobber, which had a low-resolution image in its thumbnail with some Impact font plastered over it, the fucking dickhead is obviously trying to generate views from this overblown animation nonsense. lol meems!  

This kind of crap is really starting to piss me off. The Mass Effect subReddit hasn't been too bad because the mods come down quickly on any nonsense, but with YouTube it's starting to look like the fucking cancer of bigoted stupidity is metastasising from the comments.

I was actually kind of distracted at work this morning because the realisation hit me that Andromeda is coming out tomorrow, so I guess that's why I'm finding it particularly grating.


----------



## Vintage Paw (Mar 20, 2017)

I have seen Cora's sex scene.

They have really, _really_ stepped up their game.

It's the most explicit scene I've seen from them. There is _thrusting_.

What stood out to me is how well it's animated. I have never seen kissing animations as good as that. All in all, it's really well done. Writing's pretty cheesy, but BioWare always lays it on thick with a sentimental trowel. Writing is what you'd expect.

On the off-chance anyone is a voyeur like me:


----------



## NoXion (Mar 20, 2017)

Vintage Paw said:


> I have seen Cora's sex scene.
> 
> They have really, _really_ stepped up their game.
> 
> ...




Damn, that gives me high hopes for Jaal, who I think is the first male alien I've wanted to romance (ahem) on sight.


----------



## Vintage Paw (Mar 20, 2017)

Peebee's is shit though. (Her sex scene. Only seen the one with Sara so far, and the initial fade-to-black one with Scott, which is somewhat better).


----------



## Vintage Paw (Mar 20, 2017)

Jaal is apparently very difficult to romance. His romance opens up later than everyone else's.

There's also a whole huge bunch of confusion rn as to whether he's bi or not.

Data mining the code says yes - both genders have romance flags for him. Theoretically the game wouldn't function with that code there if it wasn't meant to be used.

BUT - loads of websites are saying he's straight. But there's no footage out there of his romance yet. Some people have started a romance with him as Sara, but to my knowledge no one has even tried with Scott yet.

If he isn't, there isn't a single m/m option on the squad. It's also looking like there are only 2 m/m options in the whole game if that's the case - Gil the engineer on the Tempest, and Reyes who is someone on a hub (voiced by dudeHawke with a bad Spanish accent). The amount of women who can be romanced by Scott and Sara combined is through the roof.

Oh wait, but I thought BioWare were SJWs?

There are a lot of sad m/m fans atm. BioWare means a lot to them. You hear endless stories about how the games helped them come to terms with their sexuality, and BW in the past have said how humbled they've been by the messages they've received, quite personal ones discussing how the games have been so important to some people. Doesn't sound like much if you're not a gay kid struggling with shit yourself, but I've made a lot of friends through BW in the last few years and I can attest to how strong the feeling is around this. So imbalance is a real kicker. Still, it's all just a big bag of confusion atm. Not helped by BW consistently saying "we're not releasing romance info before the game is out, find out for yourself when you play" and then revealing 2 straight female romance options in trailers and partaking in a whole lot of queerbaiting and teasing about #prettygoodbanging on twitter. Clusterfuck.


----------



## Vintage Paw (Mar 20, 2017)

NoXion said:


> Damn, that gives me high hopes for Jaal, who I think is the first male alien I've wanted to romance (ahem) on sight.



I can try and find the naked picture of him from in the game for you if you'd like 

His butt is very... pert.


----------



## NoXion (Mar 20, 2017)

Vintage Paw said:


> I can try and find the naked picture of him from in the game for you if you'd like
> 
> His butt is very... pert.



I'd be lying if I said I wasn't interested, but I think I'll leave it for myself to discover in the game, because I most certainly do intend on buying it. Even if for no other reason than to spite the alt-right/GamerGate shitcunts.


----------



## NoXion (Mar 20, 2017)

Vintage Paw said:


> Jaal is apparently very difficult to romance. His romance opens up later than everyone else's.
> 
> There's also a whole huge bunch of confusion rn as to whether he's bi or not.
> 
> ...



Yeah, BioWare have been very coy about the possibility of BroRyder romancing Jaal. I'm really hoping that this just means they don't want to spoil the surprise.


----------



## moon (Mar 20, 2017)

Ok I need to keep away from this thread for a while.. I want everything to be new when I play..
Will post some screenshots tomorrow though lol

1 MORE SLEEP!!!!


----------



## Vintage Paw (Mar 20, 2017)

You can use the VPN now to unlock it, moon - it has launched in South Korea and Singapore. I mean, if you're using a VPN to access it tomorrow anyway (because it doesn't release over here until Thursday - or rather probably very, very late Wednesday night, like 11pm or something).


----------



## moon (Mar 20, 2017)

What is a vpn?
What do you mean Thursday??!!
Omg... faints


----------



## Vintage Paw (Mar 20, 2017)

A VPN is a small program that lets you connect to the internet using a server anywhere in the world. It means that websites you visit are duped into thinking you live there, and not here.

So, because of split release dates (which happen frequently - historically America gets their games on a Tuesday and Europe gets them on a Wednesday and the UK gets them on a Thursday) you can use a VPN to connect to a server in the country that has the earliest release date, then log into Origin, which will read you as living in that country, and let you play the game.

There is no penalty for doing this. EA Community managers have stated that while they don't support the practice they will not punish anyone for it. The only way you'd get in trouble is if you tried to buy a game at a cheaper price by pretending you're in a different region.





Seems like nvidia's game ready driver is out, so I'm going to make a concerted effort to finish ME3 today (I have the party, then I'm off to kill Kai Leng and to Earth), then I'm VPN-ing and playing. Hopefully by tonight.


----------



## NoXion (Mar 20, 2017)

Vintage Paw said:


> A VPN is a small program that lets you connect to the internet using a server anywhere in the world. It means that websites you visit are duped into thinking you live there, and not here.
> 
> So, because of split release dates (which happen frequently - historically America gets their games on a Tuesday and Europe gets them on a Wednesday and the UK gets them on a Thursday) you can use a VPN to connect to a server in the country that has the earliest release date, then log into Origin, which will read you as living in that country, and let you play the game.
> 
> There is no penalty for doing this. EA Community managers have stated that while they don't support the practice they will not punish anyone for it. The only way you'd get in trouble is if you tried to buy a game at a cheaper price by pretending you're in a different region.



So... why do they do this split release date thing?


----------



## Vintage Paw (Mar 20, 2017)

NoXion said:


> So... why do they do this split release date thing?



I don't know. It's from the days of bricks and mortar retailers, and it carried over to digital release as well. It doesn't always happen, but it does most of the time. It's a pain in the arse.


----------



## Vintage Paw (Mar 20, 2017)

I've suddenly lost all excitement now the Prima guide has leaked.

I'll take my time finishing ME3 and see if I'm less salty later on.


----------



## Cid (Mar 20, 2017)

Vintage Paw said:


> I've suddenly lost all excitement now the Prima guide has leaked.
> 
> I'll take my time finishing ME3 and see if I'm less salty later on.



If it's possible to explain in a spoiler-free way, why did it de-excite you?


----------



## Vintage Paw (Mar 20, 2017)

They've fucked over their gay players.

Not something many care about, so don't worry, everything else will be good I'm sure.


----------



## mwgdrwg (Mar 20, 2017)

Oof, just read the Eurogamer review. Guess I'll go back to playing runescape.


----------



## Vintage Paw (Mar 20, 2017)

Polygon's is very balanced


----------



## NoXion (Mar 20, 2017)

I've seen the pages from the official romance guide. I am not happy. My only hope is that they've been wrong before, they might be wrong again.

Fucking WHY?! It makes no sense!


----------



## Vintage Paw (Mar 20, 2017)

I don't think they are wrong. Previewers are confirming it. 

(If you're specifically talking about Jaal)

What makes it so very, very odd is that people I know dug very deep into the code, and the code explicitly had flags for Scott and for Sara. This wasn't audio that was never utilised (as has happened in the past, giving many false hope), but coding that shouldn't have been there if it wasn't meant to trigger. The person who dug the deepest is a game programmer, btw, although they haven't worked with frostbite.

This is the code that modders turn on in order to make straight romances available for gay players. It was already turned on.

It's really confusing. There has to be a missing link somewhere.

Anyway, I've eaten all the chocolate in the house, and now I'm going to go and have the Citadel party in ME3 and cry into my drink with Grunt.


----------



## NoXion (Mar 20, 2017)

Vintage Paw said:


> I don't think they are wrong. Previewers are confirming it.
> 
> (If you're specifically talking about Jaal)
> 
> ...



Well, you did say his romance triggers late, right? Maybe the previewers haven't caught it. At this point I'm grasping at straws, I really am.

Failing that, what're the chances that BioWare will learn from their mistake and have Jaal be romanceable by M!Ryders in later games? It happened with Tali and she turned out to be my favourite romance in the OT. And I guess BroSheps finally got to be able to romance Kaidan in ME3 (gay friend of mine did that in his playthrough IIRC). But you'd think that by the fourth game they'd have have fucking gotten it right by now.


----------



## tiki (Mar 20, 2017)

I'm so upset that I won't be able to romance Cora. Not really excited about the other romance options.


----------



## Vintage Paw (Mar 20, 2017)

It is straws, I think. I've been on an emotional freaking rollercoaster the past few days in the thread that's been trying to piece everything together, and I've remained utterly hopeful right up until the end. The Prima guide, along with several previewers (who travelled to EA/BW a couple of times to play and talk to the devs before release) all saying the same has killed all the hope. It's a done deal I think.

I'm not certain they'll open him up in later games (if there are any - reviews are a bit brutal). Their latest thing is "we will only make someone gay if it makes sense for their character" (because gay people all have some kind of backstory reason to be gay, amirite?) - and they're being quite focused at making sure all the characters state their preference at some point or another so as to avoid confusion, and to apparently make them more 'realistic'. So with that in mind, I think they'll have shot themselves in the foot with that.

But you know, it's the imbalance that gets me, not the exact specifics of who can boink who.

Look at how many women there are in that romance roster. And look how many men. And break it down into who's into who. And then see what kind of character they are - e.g. a squad mate with lots of central story narrative versus a random bloke locked away in the hold or some rando on a planet somewhere.

It's not a good look.

And this is where I get into dodgy territory, but a friend on the thread I've been frequenting had a leak some weeks/months ago from someone who had viewed some of the romance scenes as part of their job (as QA I think). Bit by bit, every single one of the things they said in that leak have come true. The last was that Jaal was straight.

But here's the kicker. They also offered a reason for it, that they'd been told while there. That it was a conscious decision to not have a gay/bi male squad mate, because they didn't want to make straight male players uncomfortable.

Now, we all took that with a pinch of salt and refused to believe it, because this is BioWare, right? And it seems a bit consiraloony.

But every single other thing they leaked has been proven correct.


----------



## Vintage Paw (Mar 20, 2017)

tiki said:


> I'm so upset that I won't be able to romance Cora. Not really excited about the other romance options.



From what I've seen (which isn't everything, admittedly) her romance scenes really are the best in the game. I haven't seen Liam's yet - I'd expect them to be somewhat on a par, if not quite as good. Peebee's aren't as good. The gays are fade to black (to my knowledge) because of course they are. Gays are icky.

Not that I'm especially bothered about seeing tits and ass in space, but I do expect equal fucking treatment for everyone involved.


----------



## NoXion (Mar 20, 2017)

All I can say for the moment is that this definitely upsets me more than the lack of squad customisation. I guess it's because there are plenty of other games where I can get my fix of _pew-pew_ laser action, but very few where I can interact with well-rounded alien characters, as people rather than targets.


----------



## moon (Mar 20, 2017)

I need to ask a question, whilst not reading this thread... 
does anyone remember the leaked me:a footage from around a year ago that I think was part of someone's showreel??
I can't seem to find it and wanted to check the character models and animations because I vaguely remember them being quite good..


----------



## ruffneck23 (Mar 20, 2017)

I was wrong, the planet scanning isnt that bad, i just wasnt doing it right.
Ive also fucked up as i got a key from cd keys, want to continue but the key  wont be sent until Weds.
Might just buy it and give my mate the cd keys key.. but then im a bit pissed at the sec ,so might not


----------



## Vintage Paw (Mar 20, 2017)

moon said:


> I need to ask a question, whilst not reading this thread...
> does anyone remember the leaked me:a footage from around a year ago that I think was part of someone's showreel??
> I can't seem to find it and wanted to check the character models and animations because I vaguely remember them being quite good..



I don't remember that, I'm sorry. 

Honestly, for me animation is on par with what it's always been in a BioWare game. There are awkward moments, there are good moments. None of it has particularly bothered me. We're all bothered by different things though.


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## ruffneck23 (Mar 20, 2017)

I was saying to a mate earlier, I think a lot of the bitching about the game comes from young uns who expect to much, I started gaming with pixels , so all this is great


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## Vintage Paw (Mar 20, 2017)

Former BioWare Emloyee Review of company sheds distuburing light on MEA's development

Pinch of salt and all that, but it makes sense.


----------



## moon (Mar 20, 2017)

It was this clip


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## moon (Mar 20, 2017)

Vintage Paw said:


> Former BioWare Emloyee Review of company sheds distuburing light on MEA's development
> 
> Pinch of salt and all that, but it makes sense.


Yes that does confirm that the earlier animations were better.


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## Vintage Paw (Mar 20, 2017)

It's all just so sad.


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## Vintage Paw (Mar 21, 2017)

One single, solitary arsehole has to come along and give the gays the hope again:



The gays are hurting dude... don't fuck with people.


----------



## Vintage Paw (Mar 21, 2017)




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## NoXion (Mar 21, 2017)

Heh, account suspended. I suppose it's for the best.


----------



## kabbes (Mar 21, 2017)

Jerry Halkins of Penny Arcade is very disappointed


----------



## Vintage Paw (Mar 21, 2017)

It's amazing. They've managed to piss off everyone in one way or another.

And over the romance, 2017 is looking like the year the gays and the 'gaters came together to share a common bond


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## Vintage Paw (Mar 21, 2017)

I've seen all the gay romance now. Reyes' romance has its nice points, but is ultimately woefully lacking in comparison to not only the 'main' straight romances in MEA, but also in comparison to Kaidan's romance in ME3. As is Gil's.

You done fucked up, BioWare.


----------



## moon (Mar 21, 2017)

Who is Bioware now anyway? I thought all the key ME:1-3  people had left and set up a new studio?


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## Vintage Paw (Mar 21, 2017)

The two doctors who founded BioWare left some time ago. Quite a long time ago, in the grand scheme of things. Perhaps around the time EA acquired the studio? I can't quite remember.

The company is split up into 3 main teams, each working on different projects with some overlap. Mac Walters worked on all the games in the original trilogy, and is creative director today. His writing is an exit from that of Drew Karpyshyn's (who wrote ME1 and a couple of early ME novels - Mac wrote a couple of later ones).

There are still a lot of the old names there, but as I understand it they've suffered high turnover in recent years, and certainly in the last couple of years the loss of good people has been dramatic, across teams.

David Gaider was the daddy of the DA franchise. It's entirely down to him that Thedas is as willing to tackle progressive ideas and be as gay as it is. He left the company entirely a year or so ago to work at Beamdog (who had taken on production of Bauldurs Gate stuff). Patrick Weekes used to write for the ME team, but when Gaider left DA he moved over there as lead writer. He's just as progressive and an utterly all-round cool dude, so I have faith DA will continue to push for good content in that regard. Of course, ME lost an ally when he moved. There's only one DA writer who worked on ME - Sheryl Chee - and she is responsible for pushing damn fucking hard to make Vetra - the turian squadmate - bi in this game. It wouldn't have happened without her.

Of course, the politics and priorities of those in BioWare's top management are largely unknown. With BioWare's reputation, it's easy to assume they're totes progressive and cool and so on, but fans are quite naive when it comes to assuming that, imo. Particularly since so many have left the company recently. 

I've gone to bat for BioWare more times than I care to remember. They're still my favourite studio. At the same time, I've criticised them with gay abandon when they've stumbled. The ME team stumbles something chronic, it seems. I'll still go to bat for them when I think it's warranted, because I want them to succeed. It's in my interests for them to succeed, because there isn't another studio out there like them. They've been trailblazers in terms of lgbt content, for well over a decade now. And many on their teams have been outspoken in the media about it as well, which matters.

I think that's why there are a lot of people hurting today. Because BioWare means a lot.


----------



## Vintage Paw (Mar 21, 2017)

NoXion said:


> Heh, account suspended. I suppose it's for the best.



Second tweet was him saying "no, you can't romance Jaal." He asked a dev for clarification. He went on to say he was certain he'd flirted with him a couple of times. Hey buddy, "I think I flirted with him a couple of times" is a bit different to "trust me, you can romance him, I fucked him."

He locked his account to private shortly afterwards.


----------



## NoXion (Mar 21, 2017)

Vintage Paw said:


> Second tweet was him saying "no, you can't romance Jaal." He asked a dev for clarification. He went on to say he was certain he'd flirted with him a couple of times. Hey buddy, "I think I flirted with him a couple of times" is a bit different to "trust me, you can romance him, I fucked him."
> 
> He locked his account to private shortly afterwards.



Is "suspended" the same as "private"? The former word suggests that Twitter themselves took action.

I was still sore about the Jaal discovery when I woke up today. Was thinking about it a lot at work this morning. I think I'm mostly over it now. I kind of surprised myself with how strongly I felt it.


----------



## Vintage Paw (Mar 21, 2017)

NoXion said:


> Is "suspended" the same as "private"? The former word suggests that Twitter themselves took action.
> 
> I was still sore about the Jaal discovery when I woke up today. Was thinking about it a lot at work this morning. I think I'm mostly over it now. I kind of surprised myself with how strongly I felt it.



Oh, I don't know. I just remember him saying he was going to lock his account. Maybe he got into shenanigans.

So I've just found out that Liam has a woeful lack of romance content as well. The only other guy who can be romanced in the game, he's the straight guy on the squad. I thought for sure he'd have content at least almost equal to Cora. Nope. Not even close. Doesn't look like there's a sex scene, just a bit of smooching on his couch.

It's becoming increasingly clear that Cora has had 70% of the romance and animation budget thrown at her. Her naked model is entirely unique and rendered well beyond anything in the game proper. Her sex scene is like a tech demo. "Look at what we're capable of." The only other one that comes remotely close is Peebee, the asari. But that's just in terms of there being naked intimacy - the animation work isn't anywhere near as good and the body modelling is angular and sub-par (more what you'd expect from BioWare of old). 

Cora is clearly their default romance. They obviously wanted to make something erotic and titillating for straight guys (inc. themselves) and threw everything they had at it. And straight women and gay guys (and gay women to an extent - although they get Peebee by proxy because asari) had better well be grateful for their table scraps. "At least we acknowledge you exist at all, amirite?"

I can't help but think there are some in the DA team who are embarrassed to be tarred with the BioWare name today.


----------



## snadge (Mar 22, 2017)

Ok bought it and been playing on korean server through VPN.

This is my first Mass Effect game.

It's a decent game but for the hype I'm not too impressed, Tempest animations look like an interns attempt ( I have seen better 60's manga type animation) and the fucking cut scenes that you cannot skip.

Also I know some of you want this sexual undertone but I don't, it's shit, fucking characters coming on to me all the fucking time, we are fighting for our lives FFS. I want military type discipline, if I want to flirt, I go out in the fucking real world and at least I have an option of saying FUCK RIGHT OFF.

I will also add that you are invincible, even in hard mode, game is far too easy


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## Vintage Paw (Mar 22, 2017)

If you don't want romance, don't play a BioWare game. It's their thing. You don't have to romance anyone, but you're going to encounter opportunities to do so. If it rankles that much, it's not the studio for you.

And if it's too easy, Insanity is your poison of choice.


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## Vintage Paw (Mar 22, 2017)

Well, I have VPN'd. So let's see how it goes.


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## snadge (Mar 22, 2017)

Vintage Paw said:


> If you don't want romance, don't play a BioWare game. It's their thing. You don't have to romance anyone, but you're going to encounter opportunities to do so. If it rankles that much, it's not the studio for you.
> 
> And if it's too easy, Insanity is your poison of choice.




It is my first BioWare game ever.

It is not the constant sexual overtones I am bothered about, it's the teen, clumsy attempt of incorporating it, it is like the dialogue was written by 13 year old girls.

I even had a Tech come up to me and ask about a member of my crew and to say oh he's hot, can you tell him that for me. FFS, as I said pre teen.

Insanity is still really easy, just that the 'baddies' have more hitpoints, the AI is painfully incompotent.

The cut scenes are really bugging me, especially the poor animations of the the Tempest.


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## Vintage Paw (Mar 22, 2017)

I mean, it doesn't sound like you're enjoying it even a little bit. Why keep playing? BioWare games aren't for everyone.


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## Vintage Paw (Mar 22, 2017)

Trying to make a Sara I like:



I like the top one the most, but damn I wish we could edit them once they're in game. I mean you wake up in a medical bay - they could have space magicked some special machine or something in there that you can go to and change your appearance - make it like "hey, you've just woke up from cryo, why don't you go and check yourself over if you want, make sure you're doing okay." I generally just want to tweak a couple of things like move the mouth a touch, eyes a notch closer together, chin down a smidge. It's little things like that that can bug me like nothing else when I have that character for the next 50+ hours (this game's going to take me a long time to complete - DAI took me 200 hours, and my ME3 run just took me well over 100 - I really take my time).

I was going to go with default Sara because I think she's freaking adorkable, but her stiff gravity-defying ponytail will drive me potty.


----------



## DotCommunist (Mar 22, 2017)

Naomi Nagata
similar face to nagata but the hair isn't as good.


----------



## moon (Mar 22, 2017)

I'm so jealous, can't wait to create my character.
VP I prefer your second character.. but obviously you will be living with them for awesome hrs so maybe start another like the first and add the tweaks you need?


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## moon (Mar 22, 2017)

I'm having a new kitchen put in and ME:A seems to have already downloaded to my PS4 but the living room is covered in builders junk and I have no idea when they are leaving.
I'm a nervous wreck lol 
I think the game unlocks at 11pm so it should give me time to clean up etc..


----------



## snadge (Mar 22, 2017)

Vintage Paw said:


> I mean, it doesn't sound like you're enjoying it even a little bit. Why keep playing? BioWare games aren't for everyone.



I'm enjoying the gameplay but not the constant cut scenes that you have to watch and the constant sexual Inuendo, maybe bioware isn't for me, I had no idea of the inuendo content.

It just makes me cringe, I think there are far better games to incorporate it.


----------



## Vintage Paw (Mar 22, 2017)

DotCommunist said:


> Naomi Nagata
> similar face to nagata but the hair isn't as good.



The hair selection and modelling is probably the best they've done in a BioWare game (which isn't saying much), but it's still lacking in texture and in diversity of styles.


----------



## Vintage Paw (Mar 22, 2017)

snadge said:


> I'm enjoying the gameplay but not the constant cut scenes that you have to watch and the constant sexual Inuendo, maybe bioware isn't for me, I had no idea of the inuendo content.
> 
> It just makes me cringe, I think there are far better games to incorporate it.



I can understand that. If you haven't played a BioWare game before you don't know what to expect. They're not trying to be like other games. This is what they're like, and it's why they've got the fan following they have. They change it up around the edges, but the core idea that the game is about relationships (platonic and romantic) and the cast of characters is their central design goal.

Even amongst the bro-ist of gamer bros you hear nothing but their love of the characters. Everyone has their favourites, and it's what ties people to the games.

MEA is taking a more light-hearted approach than the original trilogy, though. The first three games are darker, and while there is humour and it's still all about the characters and relationships, the innuendo isn't as pronounced.

Cutscenes aplenty though, because that's their thing - cinematic storytelling and narrative content.


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## DotCommunist (Mar 22, 2017)

Vintage Paw said:


> The hair selection and modelling is probably the best they've done in a BioWare game (which isn't saying much), but it's still lacking in texture and in diversity of styles.



iirc you spend as much time making a character as you do playing a game lol. Me, I'm all load up on guns and kill your friends. 
Thats why I'm going to re-start ME3 and tackle it with the RPG head on rather than the shooter head.
Also nobody has tried to romance me in my current game so I'm doing it wrong again.


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## Vintage Paw (Mar 22, 2017)

lol - in the trilogy it's almost impossible to _not_ romance Liara. The dev team have a massive hard on for her (to the point where a lot of people are resentful of her even existing heh).

I'd say her romance is the best done out of all of them (for that reason). I'm a Kaidan fan, though. To the bitter end.

BioWare romances are srs business.


----------



## snadge (Mar 22, 2017)

Vintage Paw said:


> lol - in the trilogy it's almost impossible to _not_ romance Liara. The dev team have a massive hard on for her (to the point where a lot of people are resentful of her even existing heh).
> 
> I'd say her romance is the best done out of all of them (for that reason). I'm a Kaidan fan, though. To the bitter end.
> 
> BioWare romances are srs business.



Hehe, maybe I'm explaining wrong, I don't mind the action cut scenes, when your choice of dialogue is answered, I have gone the slapdown route every time, it's the galaxy map, the tempest landing and taking off, if I could cut that out I would be a lot happier with the game, apart from being very badly animated, they just wreck the game for me, there should be a way of skipping them, if there is, I haven't found it yet, the RSI inducing method of upping amount to sell/buy of anything, you can't manually enter a figure, just bloody click, I may even replay it in the mode of superlush, just to see how far the inuendo goes but I could not endure those downfalls, hopefully in a patch there will be options added.


----------



## moon (Mar 22, 2017)

What are the points I can see for sale in the play station store?
Is it for multiplayer?


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## Vintage Paw (Mar 23, 2017)

moon said:


> What are the points I can see for sale in the play station store?
> Is it for multiplayer?



Back in the mists of time before BioWare was bought by EA you had to purchase BioWare Points and then redeem them for DLC via their website. For some ridiculous reason, the points have remained a thing, even though all transactions are now made through Origin. So you have to spend normal money in Origin on BioWare Points, which you then spend on DLC - including whatever multiplayer packs they'll have available. I expect this is the same for Playstation Store? I don't know. It's possible it could be something else.


----------



## Vintage Paw (Mar 23, 2017)

I finally made a Sara I really like (after something like 5 attempts - gdi bioware when will you learn with the unskippable intros?).

Her sliders if anyone is interested: 

 

(she uses preset 7)























Honestly, the more I play it, the more I like the facial animations. There's a lot more emotion in them from moment to moment than in the trilogy. There are some really subtle movements. I like it a lot.


----------



## moon (Mar 23, 2017)

OH MY GOD!!!! Everything  I'm laughing hysterically!!  ITS SOOOO GOOOD!!!!!!
omg omg omg omg
The music!! The feels! The atmosphere, the sound effects, my dad!!
I spent the first mission running behind my dad as he is so damn cool!! And then I started screaming!!  lol
When he said he knew how to stop the storms etc and that cut scene and music, I was jumping on the sofa!!! lol so fantastic!!
Did I mention that I love the music!!
Im gonna grab some screenshots now... I just had to get it all out..
lol
Im going to make a new characher and replay the first mission so I can experience it all again lol.


----------



## moon (Mar 23, 2017)

My character


my dad
 

my brother


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## D'wards (Mar 23, 2017)

moon said:


> My character
> View attachment 102773
> 
> my dad
> ...


Does it look like you, or is it an idealised version, or entirely not like you at all?

In games i generally try and get my characters to look like me


----------



## moon (Mar 23, 2017)

Maybe a very young version of me, I always try to get the lips, nose and skin tone of my characters to match mine, but the eyes are totally different as is the face shape.


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## moon (Mar 23, 2017)

This is the music that I got so excited about... it makes me want to cry, laugh and dance all at the same time


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## Vintage Paw (Mar 23, 2017)

moon said:


> OH MY GOD!!!! Everything  I'm laughing hysterically!!  ITS SOOOO GOOOD!!!!!!
> omg omg omg omg
> The music!! The feels! The atmosphere, the sound effects, my dad!!
> I spent the first mission running behind my dad as he is so damn cool!! And then I started screaming!!  lol
> ...



This may be of interest to you. It made me cry, mostly because I'd just finished ME3 a couple of hours before reading it and was still sobbing anyway.



Spoiler


----------



## moon (Mar 23, 2017)

Ummm does it contain spoilers for me? I want everything to be new you see...


----------



## Vintage Paw (Mar 23, 2017)

And yes, the first mission on Habitat 7 is so incredibly well done. The whole of the prologue is. 



Spoiler



When they introduce the Archon - it's one of the best scenes BioWare has ever made. His subtle movements as he looks at Alec's hologram, when he can't do what Alec did - amazing. And when he turns to leave the room - Darth Archon - classic fucking Star Wars. It's amazing.


----------



## Vintage Paw (Mar 23, 2017)

moon said:


> Ummm does it contain spoilers for me? I want everything to be new you see...



No. It references Alec during that mission, and links it back to Shepard in the original trilogy.

And my spoilers in the post above are about the first cinematic when the big bad is introduced. If you've finished Habitat 7 you've seen it already.


----------



## moon (Mar 23, 2017)

I just read your first post and tears are in my eyes now..


----------



## moon (Mar 23, 2017)

Oh yes and now your second post, I felt exactly that too, it was so awe inspiring.


----------



## Vintage Paw (Mar 23, 2017)

This is my favourite thing on the Citadel:


----------



## Vintage Paw (Mar 23, 2017)

It's amusing that the pathfinding is so bad in this game ^^

I'm not ragging on it - I love BioWare jank. A BioWare game without jank isn't a BioWare game at all.


----------



## moon (Mar 23, 2017)

Lol, what was that video you shared once? I think it was something about Shepard romancing a keeper and was full of bugs.. lol I think it was you that shared it anyway.. I will try to find it
Oh ignore this, it was something entirely different..


----------



## Vintage Paw (Mar 23, 2017)

moon said:


> Lol, what was that video you shared once? I think it was something about Shepard romancing a keeper and was full of bugs.. lol I think it was you that shared it anyway.. I will try to find it
> Oh ignore this, it was something entirely different..



Yeah, they were fan made videos. Absolutely amazing. Thanks for reminding me.



There are a few of them if you go to their videos.


----------



## Vintage Paw (Mar 23, 2017)

This is my fave though:



The prologue to ME:A is good and all, but it'll never beat the one to ME1 ^^


----------



## moon (Mar 23, 2017)

They are so funny, yes that was the one I remember you posted ages ago... Kaaaaidaaan, and the husk lol so funny.
But this has to be my all time fave fan made me video.. 'leave Shepard alone!'


----------



## moon (Mar 23, 2017)

I just had a dance and sing along to the me1 ending song... Chooooooon
(Whilst waiting for the builders to leave so I can play me:a!)


----------



## Vintage Paw (Mar 23, 2017)

ME1's soundtrack is the best soundtrack <3


----------



## NoXion (Mar 23, 2017)

So I thought I would try installing my new graphics card this evening. After spending about an hour and a half in the guts of my fully armed and operational battlestation I discovered that the PSU lacks the right power adaptor for a graphics card I've owned but not installed for months now. Cue me reinstalling my current graphics card and reinstalling the drivers for it, that I had removed in anticipation of the new card.

Ordered an adaptor, but since it might not arrive by this weekend I decided to sign up for the Andromeda trial. At 21% now. I'm excited.


----------



## moon (Mar 23, 2017)

Just re watching the mission now, there is what I think may be a DA:I Easter egg in it, Ryder senior 'lets see what we have' lol
Leliana at the war table lol


----------



## agricola (Mar 24, 2017)

moon said:


> Just re watching the mission now, there is what I think may be a DA:I Easter egg in it, Ryder senior 'lets see what we have' lol
> Leliana at the war table lol



TBH floating rocks and lightning strikes in the prologue probably counts as well.


----------



## Vintage Paw (Mar 24, 2017)

Yeah, it's basically the fade.


----------



## moon (Mar 24, 2017)

Is it true that the jerky animations only affect the female characters?
Cora was jerking like a 1980's body popper from the Bronx last night..


----------



## moon (Mar 24, 2017)

I keep wondering who the rogue N7 operative from the trailers could be, and my worst fear is that James has come back to haunt us


----------



## Vintage Paw (Mar 24, 2017)

moon said:


> I keep wondering who the rogue N7 operative from the trailers could be, and my worst fear is that James has come back to haunt us



It was my understanding the N7 in the trailers was Alec.


----------



## NoXion (Mar 24, 2017)

So after four hours into the trial I've just arrived on Eos. Things are a bit choppy, but I'm putting that down to my cheap graphics card (anyone got any tips for that?). So far this game feels like it's got a lot in it - I've already picked up two side missions to do on Eos. People say it feels like ME1, but to me it feels like its own thing. Animations look alright to me. Loving the new dialogue system, I feel like can actually play a role rather than gather points. Combat is taking some getting used to, died a couple of times.

I'm definitely interested. The story behind the Nexus uprising and why the Kett are interested in the Remnant artefacts being the things that have piqued my interest.


----------



## moon (Mar 24, 2017)

Vintage Paw said:


> It was my understanding the N7 in the trailers was Alec.


I was hoping for that..


----------



## Vintage Paw (Mar 24, 2017)

I've got to the early trial lock part again. I'm excited to finally get in one of those vaults. I've actually done some exploring on Eos this time - I avoided it entirely during early access. I'm getting a bit more confident with how long I can be out of the Nomad (I walked into scourge shit during the trial and didn't realise, so my protection plummeted and I thought that was what it was like normally lol). 

Got ReShade working properly in the game now too, so it compensates for Ansel stripping out all the post-processing when you activate the freecam.

My bb Sara, after meeting Drack:


----------



## moon (Mar 24, 2017)

Yes I ran out of Eos screaming after I realised I couldn't survive there for very long, I'm back on the Nexus now, sorting shit out


----------



## Vintage Paw (Mar 24, 2017)

Just head back to a forward station every so often and it'll regen yours and the Nomad's hazard protection. And avoid level 3 hazard areas. Although I believe they start to clear the more the viability goes up.

I'm really enjoying it so far. Even just driving around with nothing to see is fun. 

Still suck at the combat though.


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## Vintage Paw (Mar 25, 2017)

I'm getting better at combat now. I've got pull, charge and nova. Not sure if I could have something more useful than pull. I need a primer though. I made myself an asari sword. You know, for years my friends would tell me that vanguard is the best class (in the original trilogy) but I never played it because it was scary lol. I loved infiltrator in ME3 - it was basically cheating. I did start a vanguard once, but never finished because I think something else got my attention - I don't think I made it past Palaven. But this last time I played, I played as a vanguard and I loved every second of it. It's hard to imagine playing another way now. I suppose the thing about MEA is that everyone can be a bit of a vanguard, even without taking charge. Now you can jump and melee from the air, everyone's got their own mini nova, and melee in general is more interesting and usable. And the manoeuverability is great, which is something really only vanguards had in the past.

One thing I'm having issues with is crafting. I just don't know what to make (other than my sword). Armour in particular. idk, it takes a lot of resources, which I don't have. But, I have 5000 some credits and nothing to spend it on atm. But I've just established my first settlement on Eos, so I've not done much yet.

The Vault on Eos reminded me of the Deep Roads. I fell in (read: jumped directly into) the omni-lava twice 

I'm back on the Tempest now, after what seems like forever. And yet, I could quite happily stay on Eos even longer. It's quite empty really, but I enjoy driving around it. I feel a lot more confident about my hazard protection now.

I wonder if you can _not_ pick a flirt line but go back and romance the same person later? In DAI if you missed a flirt you were locked out of the romance. I want to keep my options open, and Sara is pretty randy considering she's not had any for 600 years.

Oh yeah, since I was talking to NoXion about the romance stuff before, I came across these on BSN:

 

 

So that's a thing.

However: 



I predict an article that many gg-ers will get cross about, and many BioWare devs will deflect about.


----------



## Vintage Paw (Mar 25, 2017)

Also lol at the RGB dots in that first pic.


----------



## moon (Mar 25, 2017)

So what's the deal with Strike teams and online connection?
I just crafted a Black Widow sniper rifle. Yeaahahaaa, it brought back memories of being the first human spectre... sigh. 
And I'm still trying to get around Eos, it's a flipping nightmare, I made a camp thing, then realised I could fast travel to it and call in the nomad from wherever I left him.  
I am really really really hoping they allow a gun upgrade to the Nomad, that was my fave thing about the Mako..


----------



## moon (Mar 25, 2017)

I love my ME:A character


----------



## Vintage Paw (Mar 25, 2017)

moon said:


> So what's the deal with Strike teams and online connection?
> I just crafted a Black Widow sniper rifle. Yeaahahaaa, it brought back memories of being the first human spectre... sigh.
> And I'm still trying to get around Eos, it's a flipping nightmare, I made a camp thing, then realised I could fast travel to it and call in the nomad from wherever I left him.
> I am really really really hoping they allow a gun upgrade to the Nomad, that was my fave thing about the Mako..



You need an online connection because it's tied to the multiplayer system. You can decide to do the Apex missions yourself, and even if you don't since the system is tied into it you'll need the connection so it can check availability.

There are, I'm afraid, no guns for the Nomad. I'm okay with that, though. I can run over local wildlife, and I like swerving to a stop and jumping out to kill some damned Kett while hiding behind my space car. It's cool 

I'm a bit confused about augments at the moment. So, you can research one, and it'll give you a copy of it in your inventory, but after that you can never craft it again? You have to rely on finding it out and about? That seems utterly ridiculous. If I have the technological capability to craft the first one I have no idea what possible lore could be invoked to justify me not being able to craft a second.


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## Vintage Paw (Mar 25, 2017)

moon said:


> I love my ME:A character
> View attachment 102928



She looks great.

They've done a really good job with the diversity of ethnicities. Finally there are loads of people who don't just look like white people with a tan. They're somewhat lacking with the whole south asian side of things, though, which is a huge shame.


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## NoXion (Mar 25, 2017)

I've met the Angarans and have been tooling around on the planet Voeld.

MESSAGE OF THE DAY: STAY RELAXED AND FUCK THE KETT


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## NoXion (Mar 25, 2017)

By the way, how do I change up which squadmates accompany me?


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## ruffneck23 (Mar 25, 2017)

on the load out screen or at a forward base , you can go in choose your squad and level them up.

Im really enjoying the game now


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## moon (Mar 25, 2017)

Vintage Paw said:


> She looks great.
> 
> They've done a really good job with the diversity of ethnicities. Finally there are loads of people who don't just look like white people with a tan. They're somewhat lacking with the whole south asian side of things, though, which is a huge shame.


Thanks, I just started a new character though, she was inspired by Dr Chakwas, my sorc in ESO and my main DA:I character. Lol
I'll probably play both chars at the same time..


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## Cid (Mar 25, 2017)

On approaching <big thing>, generic creaky ship noises... 

Very early gameplay at the moment. Enjoying it, but fuck you scanning system. FUCK YOU. I am of the completionist (obsessive) ilk and am currently envisioning playing the hole sodding thing wandering around with an orange overlay.

Also so far, so predictable. I quite like my first impressions of the emotional structure though, four basic response works.


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## Vintage Paw (Mar 25, 2017)

One of the fun things with using lots of tools to take hi res screenshots is that sometimes it fucks up and creates accidental art.

I call this one _Havoc





_
(cuz it's Liam, geddit?)


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## Vintage Paw (Mar 25, 2017)

What it was meant to look like:


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## NoXion (Mar 26, 2017)

Aaargh, those fucking glyph decryption things on the Remnant artefacts are driving me nuts. How the fuck am I supposed to make sure that there are no symbols in the same column, row and highlighted area when there aren't enough fucking symbols? Gaaaah.


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## Cid (Mar 26, 2017)

Hmm... First nexus dialogue not so much clunky as Duplo blocks. Yeah.


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## Cid (Mar 26, 2017)

I like Liam though.


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## Vintage Paw (Mar 26, 2017)

NoXion said:


> Aaargh, those fucking glyph decryption things on the Remnant artefacts are driving me nuts. How the fuck am I supposed to make sure that there are no symbols in the same column, row and highlighted area when there aren't enough fucking symbols? Gaaaah.



My sudoku obsession of a few years ago is paying off ^^


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## NoXion (Mar 26, 2017)

Vintage Paw said:


> My sudoku obsession of a few years ago is paying off ^^



I never played that, which is probably why I'm tearing my hair out trying to unlock this Remnant thing on Voeld. Know where I can get some Remnant Decryption Keys?


----------



## Vintage Paw (Mar 26, 2017)

NoXion said:


> I never played that, which is probably why I'm tearing my hair out trying to unlock this Remnant thing on Voeld. Know where I can get some Remnant Decryption Keys?



I've no idea, I'm afraid. I'm not even sure how I got the first one. Did it randomly drop? 

Re: sudoku, it's trial and error. You just keep going with it until you get a couple of lines or boxes that are full and then you can fill in the rest. At least you're not doing it in a book in pen.


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## NoXion (Mar 26, 2017)

Vintage Paw said:


> I've no idea, I'm afraid. I'm not even sure how I got the first one. Did it randomly drop?
> 
> Re: sudoku, it's trial and error. You just keep going with it until you get a couple of lines or boxes that are full and then you can fill in the rest. At least you're not doing it in a book in pen.


 
I think it was a random drop. Maybe I should try bothering the guardians of those other Remant sites some more, see if one of them drops one.


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## Vintage Paw (Mar 26, 2017)

I saw a video of someone killing an architect (I do not know what these things are but they are fearsome) and in the loot box afterwards was a decryption key. If that's the only way you get them... boy.


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## moon (Mar 26, 2017)

I'm currently investigating every nook and cranny on the Tempest, I just found the escape pod and it brought back memories of ME:2 and losing Navigator Pressly 
I'm taking the game very slowly, I'm in no hurry to finish at all, it could last a year.. lol


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## Vintage Paw (Mar 26, 2017)

Yeah, I like taking it slow as well. Although DAI took so long and was such a grind at times it makes it difficult to do numerous runs. For me, at least. I'm a completionist, you see. I find it hard to not do a thing if a thing is there to do. I gave up on the shards in DAI after the first time though. Ugh. Fucking shards. Fuck those shards.

Some people are saying "the game's too short, I finished in 40 hours" entirely missing the fact that a) 40 hours is pretty damn substantial for a lot of games out there, and b) they were roflstomping their way through the critical path and avoiding most of everything else. If you stop and smell the flowers it'll last longer. If you don't, it won't. And c) if they kept adding more and more content eventually you get into the situation where you're choosing between quantity and quality - there are only so many resources, and they already had to put the game back a couple of times. From the sounds of it I might end up a bit disappointed by how short the critical path is, but there's a lot else along the way that makes me feel like the pathfinder striking out in this brave new world and being all colonialist and shit


----------



## Vintage Paw (Mar 26, 2017)

I've noticed a couple of bugs so far - story/mission/dialogue-related bugs.

The game keeps telling me about the angarans but I haven't met them yet. And when I do meet them I know it's meant to be as though I think it's first contact with them. So...

I went back to talk to Tiran Kandros after I'd founded the first settlement on Eos and done all that stuff. He introduced himself to me again as if we'd never met. Exact same dialogue as when I introduced myself to him the first time I got to the Nexus.

I've had 2 driver crashes but I put that down to me pushing my gpu to the extreme. I'm playing with everything on ultra at 1440p with a 980Ti, which isn't that onerous in itself and I rarely get any slowdowns (the odd frame drop on the Tempest). But I use Ansel a lot for the freecam and something about the way it's integrated makes my card push into overdrive. It sounds like a fucking vacuum. And of course I hotsample, which means setting up a shot and then using an external program to temporarily render the image at larger sizes (say 5k), take the shot, then shrink it back down to my native res. And I'm using ReShade, with all its expensive shaders (ambient occlusion and dof). I tell you, I don't need the heating on in this room 

So it's my own fault. And Ansel's.


----------



## Vintage Paw (Mar 26, 2017)

Has it been mentioned on here already? If you use an augment when crafting, when you're done with that weapon/armour don't sell it - deconstruct it and you'll get the augment back.


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## NoXion (Mar 26, 2017)

Vintage Paw said:


> I saw a video of someone killing an architect (I do not know what these things are but they are fearsome) and in the loot box afterwards was a decryption key. If that's the only way you get them... boy.



Haven't even seen on of those yet. I've just had a hell of a fight, clearing out a Kett base with Jaal and Vetra. Being swarmed by waves of Chosen and Anointed (I think Annoying would have been a truer name) and the odd Destined, culiminating a scrap against an Invictor and whatever minions he had left. I think it might have been a better idea tactically to bring Drack instead of Vetra. Although Jaal is proving to be a bit of a brawler even though he carries a sniper rifle.

I'm properly getting into it now. I hope I get the opportunity to properly thank the Angarans. Reading the Kett terminals makes me more curious about their history. All I'll say to avoid spoilers is that they are a deeply spiritual people.


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## Vintage Paw (Mar 26, 2017)

NoXion said:


> Reading the Kett terminals makes me more curious about their history. All I'll say to avoid spoilers is that they are a *deeply spiritual people*.



Yeah, I haven't even met the angarans yet but I have a bunch of speculations based on years of speculating on BioWare games, lol, and I already kind of knew there was a spiritual thing going on (I mean... the names for a start). I have my suspicions about where it's going. 

And I'm going to try to dig out an older post where I made a prediction a while ago, because I think I might have been correct.


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## Cid (Mar 26, 2017)

How do you fast travel? Have I just not unlocked it yet? The Tempest and my outposts have little orange arrows on the map. But they seem to do nothing.


----------



## NoXion (Mar 26, 2017)

Vintage Paw said:


> Yeah, I haven't even met the angarans yet but I have a bunch of speculations based on years of speculating on BioWare games, lol, and I already kind of knew there was a spiritual thing going on (I mean... the names for a start). I have my suspicions about where it's going.
> 
> And I'm going to try to dig out an older post where I made a prediction a while ago, because I think I might have been correct.



Well the first Mass Effect was my first BioWare game ever, so I'm not too bothered if they're relying on tropes that they have employed before. Hopefully that means they'll be at least a bit better at using them this time around.

I know the worlds involved are pretty big - I'm back on Eos doing some housekeeping and I was surprised at how much there was left to do - but reaching out to the Angarans early on seemed like a sensible move, plus it means I get Jaal on my team.


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## NoXion (Mar 26, 2017)

Cid said:


> How do you fast travel? Have I just not unlocked it yet? The Tempest and my outposts have little orange arrows on the map. But they seem to do nothing.



I've noticed that the game can be a literal little liberal with its definition of the player being in combat. Try and find a really quiet area. Also are you clicking on the little lander symbols or on the orange arrows? Make sure you're clicking on the former.

EDIT: wrong word chosen


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## moon (Mar 26, 2017)

Hello, can someone tell me about the phone app please? Is it connected to the strike missions?
Also should I have done the website initiation before playing?
I don't want to miss out on anything


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## moon (Mar 26, 2017)

NoXion said:


> EDIT: wrong word chosen


Yes I did read that sentence a few times wondering how the game would interpret liberalism literally.
Lol


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## Vintage Paw (Mar 26, 2017)

This side mission has me legit questioning everything I thought I knew about myself.

A fucking side mission.

fu bioware



Spoiler


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## NoXion (Mar 26, 2017)

I just heard an amazing bit of banter between Jaal and Drack. It was mostly Jaal talking about his family, but it actually made me stop the Nomad and listen.


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## NoXion (Mar 26, 2017)

Vintage Paw said:


> This side mission has me legit questioning everything I thought I knew about myself.
> 
> A fucking side mission.
> 
> ...



That was brilliant.



Spoiler



I decided to side with the protestors.


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## Cid (Mar 26, 2017)

NoXion said:


> I've noticed that the game can be a literal little liberal with its definition of the player being in combat. Try and find a really quiet area. Also are you clicking on the little lander symbols or on the orange arrows? Make sure you're clicking on the former.
> 
> EDIT: wrong word chosen



Ha, yes, clicked wrong thing.


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## poului (Mar 26, 2017)

My Ryder's haircut is terrible. Really made a pigs ear of the custom character creation at the beginning. Surely there's a hairdressers on the Tempest/Nexus who can sort me out before I venture as humanity's representative again?

Priorities, people.


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## moon (Mar 26, 2017)

Yes my second characters lipstick looks like those false lips you used to get out of Christmas crackers.
I so hope I can change it.. or I may create her afresh..


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## agricola (Mar 26, 2017)

Vintage Paw said:


> I saw a video of someone killing an architect (I do not know what these things are but they are fearsome) and in the loot box afterwards was a decryption key. If that's the only way you get them... boy.



I found one in a normal container...



Spoiler



... though admittedly IIRC it was the one you only have a few seconds to grab when escaping the first Vault.


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## NoXion (Mar 26, 2017)

agricola said:


> I found one in a normal container...
> 
> 
> 
> ...



That was probably the one I grabbed!


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## Cid (Mar 26, 2017)

moon said:


> Yes my second characters lipstick looks like those false lips you used to get out of Christmas crackers.
> I so hope I can change it.. or I may create her afresh..



The lips in general are weird.


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## Vintage Paw (Mar 27, 2017)

Finally met this stud:





(click for 3000x3500@flickr)


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## Fez909 (Mar 27, 2017)

Vintage Paw said:


> Finally met this stud:
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Your flickr username


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## Vintage Paw (Mar 27, 2017)

Fez909 said:


> Your flickr username



It's like a second name at this point - I use it for so many things related to my hobbies lol. No fucker on tumblr seems to know how to pronounce it so they just call me amoe


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## ruffneck23 (Mar 27, 2017)

Origin tells me ive played 41 hours  , although i think / hope im not into the 3rd act yet


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## Vintage Paw (Mar 27, 2017)

ruffneck23 said:


> Origin tells me ive played 41 hours  , although i think / hope im not into the 3rd act yet



I've got ~27 hours and 17% done. Might be 18% now I've met Jaal. Origin lies. Look at your last save game in the load game screen - that's more accurate. I think. Origin tells me I have 50 hours (inc. trial).


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## moon (Mar 27, 2017)

I've barely left the Tempest and Nexus, once the builders have gone I'll be able to go exploring a bit more..


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## Vintage Paw (Mar 27, 2017)

31 hours, 19% complete. 

I spent 45 minutes yesterday agonising over that protest choice. I'm not saying I take this stuff seriously but I take this stuff seriously 

Havarl is the planet upon which I have finally started to feel comfortable with the combat. It's also the planet upon which I suffered my first one-hit Eiroch death. Which was so cool. The way they punch you at the end <3

I haven't used favourites at all yet. I have invested in pull (going to change this out for annihilation at some point probably), charge and nova, and my passives are tooled around shields and melee. The asari sword is the best melee weapon because it grants you invulnerability while the animation plays out, and it also lets you close the gap quickly - acting as a teleport - and you can even move through solid things. I have the augment on my gear that restores 25% of shields on enemy kill, charge restores my shields, and melee restores my shields. The only time I see my shields disappear is if I'm hanging back in cover, which I sometimes do with Remnant because their death lasers scare me. But I do much better against them if I get up in their faces. 

I've also taken some combat points so I can keep the vanguard profile going, and now I have 3 weapon slots and increased carry weight. I have a pistol, AR, and the Dahn shotgun. I might ditch the pistol so I don't keep accidentally selecting it when I scroll to next weapon. I tend to use the AR most, and I don't want to sacrifice range, but the shotgun is amazing. I was considering putting a vintage heat sink on it. It only has 2 shots per clip anyway, and I use it infrequently enough that it would eliminate the worry of having enough ammo on me. BUT I've seen someone using it against an architect and the ability to keep firing off shots seems like it's important. I might experiment.

I can't imagine ever playing without at least some level of biotics. I might go pure adept next time. But sentinel is pretty great too because of the tech armour passive thing from the profile. I mean, I know I can theoretically be all of these things at once, but I feel like I can keep my grounding by specialising. Plus at level 12 I haven't had the points to start putting in to all sorts of different skills, and have been focusing on getting the passives I want and getting all my active skills up to at least level 3 (I just got charge to level 4 last night I think).

Once I start talking about the combat in a BioWare game you know I am in a happy place.


----------



## moon (Mar 27, 2017)

Vintage Paw  Do the skills and crafting seem a bit like ESO to you?
I thought the sword skill you mentioned was a bit like crit charge, plus there is the whole research and deconstructing aspects.
Deltia who was a figurehead ESO supporter and trainer has now publicly stopped playing and is fully into ME:A multi and single player


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## Vintage Paw (Mar 27, 2017)

Not really. It's similar in some aspects to DAI's crafting, but different in others. There are only so many game mechanics that make sense, so there is always going to be some similarity between all sorts of games. Something's going to give you a buff, something's going to debuff, something's going to DOT. There's always got to be a way for you to learn how to craft certain things, be it blueprints or deconstruction or recipes or whatever else. The end result is the same, but each game has its own lore justification that tries to ground it in the world and make it not just seem like a game mechanic to offer you progression of equipment and skill. It's par for the course that some games might feel similar in one respect while not in others, but that's not always necessarily by design (as in, "I know, let's make it feel like X game") but rather because a game mechanic is a game mechanic and unless they're being truly original and innovative there are going to be certain things that appear again and again.


----------



## Vintage Paw (Mar 27, 2017)

If anything, MEA's crafting is an iteration on ME1's system. You could deconstruct items in that game as well, but all it gave you was omni-gel, which was used to override doors and for mini-game stuff (the equivalent of a remnant decryption key letting you bypass stuff). You couldn't craft anything, but there was a loot system.


----------



## NoXion (Mar 27, 2017)

I've just ran into an Architect on Voeld. How do I kill this thing? I'm not getting those little Xs on screen that indicate that one has scored a hit.


----------



## moon (Mar 27, 2017)

I think I know why this game is going slow for me, most of the time I can't get past the menu screen as I just listen to the theme music over and over again on a loop.. lol
Plus the prologue was so awesome and emotionally overwhelming for me that I'm still digesting it.
The builders have gone for a while now so maybe I'll progress a little more despite the above..


----------



## Vintage Paw (Mar 27, 2017)

NoXion said:


> I've just ran into an Architect on Voeld. How do I kill this thing? I'm not getting those little Xs on screen that indicate that one has scored a hit.



You go for the legs, then the mouth, then the legs, then the mouth, then the legs, then the mouth, then it ded. If you're not.


----------



## MooChild (Mar 28, 2017)

NoXion said:


> I've just ran into an Architect on Voeld. How do I kill this thing? I'm not getting those little Xs on screen that indicate that one has scored a hit.



Yeah, legs legs, jumpy jumpy, head head, jumpy jumpy, legs legs, etc rinse repeat.
Jumpy jumpy = you getting out of the way of its attacks.


----------



## NoXion (Mar 28, 2017)

I'm really getting stymied by these sudoku-type puzzles. I've found two more since the really hard one I found on Voeld,, and out of the three I've only been able to solve one. I've found a Remnant Decryption Key since then as well but I want to save it for the one on Voeld. I'm currently saved in a Remnant Vault on Havarl.


----------



## agricola (Mar 29, 2017)

Having played this for quite a bit now, I can only think that the critics didn't play that much of it.  It does suffer by not having the feels that the first three games gave you because of your squad-mates, but in terms of the actual experience it is (to me anyway) as good as any of the first three.


----------



## ruffneck23 (Mar 29, 2017)

agricola said:


> Having played this for quite a bit now, I can only think that the critics didn't play that much of it.  It does suffer by not having the feels that the first three games gave you because of your squad-mates, but in terms of the actual experience it is (to me anyway) as good as any of the first three.


yep , totally get that, yes there are some bugs but overall im having a ball with it ,critics eh   ?


----------



## Vintage Paw (Mar 29, 2017)

If you haven't taken Reconnaissance as one of your earliest AVP perks, take it now. I took it first, and it highlights hidden caches all over the place. I have had a couple of decryption keys from them, and loads of good augments and remnant cores, amongst other stuff. At any rate, you need to take that before you can take the one that gives you 10% extra xp from fights, and you really should be getting that one asap.


----------



## Vintage Paw (Mar 29, 2017)

I didn't think it would ever happen, but I enjoy combat now. I'm having my most fun when I skid up to some kett outpost and slaughter the lot of them. I entirely lost track of time last night, spending hours driving around Eos (after the radiation had cleared). I found some weird Remnant structure in the middle of a lake that I got to, but there was nothing to do there, so I went back again. Loads of stuff like that. One door I couldn't get through inside a tiny vault type thing where you go to find out about the scientist who died on Eos. Got through one door in there and there was a massive fuck off walking Remnant turret bastard. I was very glad for my Dahn shotgun. Couldn't get through the next door though - there were no more consoles. Curious.

I'm mopping up what I can on Eos before I go to Voeld. I've done the first wave of stuff on Havarl, and am waiting to go back until I've done some Voeld stuff.

This game is going to take me ages to finish. Then I'm going to start again with Scott.

Am going to start investing in annihilation soon. I've got pull, charge and nova, and I don't use pull often. I'm waiting until I've got a few more of the skills that reduce cooldowns, since annihilation increases them. My asari sword has a cooldown augment on it, as well as a bunch of other stuff. I feel like a god.


----------



## ruffneck23 (Mar 29, 2017)

Peebee's special project is a great addition to ones squad once fully spec'ed up


----------



## moon (Mar 29, 2017)

I've been developing Energy Drain, I love it, makes me want to explore the tech skill line in greater detail, something I've never done in a Mass Effect game ever..


----------



## Vintage Paw (Mar 29, 2017)

I took energy drain as my bonus power in almost every single run of ME3. On an early vanguard it's almost essential - restoring your shields when you're still squishy and your main attack consists of draining your own shields. Later on when you can get back 100% of shields from charging I got rid of it for reave instead because I had Kaidan to strip shields and there really weren't that many of them, even on insanity. 

I took energy drain alongside pull and charge in this game, but I soon stopped using it. I have passives and evolutions that give extra damage against shields, and I regain shields from charging, using melee, and on each kill, so I don't need it. That's very specific to the way I'm building my character though. It really is one of those staples you can fall back on no matter your focus.


----------



## Vintage Paw (Mar 29, 2017)

If you're playing on PC and you are an obsessive saver like me, backup and delete your old saves once in a while.

I reached the internal limit for number of saves last night but the game didn't warn me and continued to let me save. The little save arrow still showed up and everything. Only, it wasn't creating new save files at all, and I had no idea. So loading the game this evening I see I've lost 3 hours of play.

Deleting the saves from the saves folder in my docs and restarting the game fixed it.

Why they didn't include a warning is beyond me. Every single other game I've ever played ever has had a warning. DA:I had a warning.


----------



## Vintage Paw (Mar 30, 2017)

hoooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo...

So...



Spoiler



I just saved the Moshae and I WAS FUCKING RIGHT all that time ago.



BioWare might as well just pay me to write for them because I know their plot points better than they do.


----------



## Vintage Paw (Mar 30, 2017)

I am having all the speculations. I've decided I know what's going on with the Ryder family. I am going to post my speculations below in spoilers in case I'm right and want bragging rights later on (that and I just really love speculating - I live for it). If I'm wrong we'll chalk it up to me not being infallible lol.



Spoiler



Either:

Jien isn't dead (I have reasons why), or

Ellen isn't dead. I like this one best.

We know Alec's SAM was different to the others. tl;dr version of my theory: Ellen's consciousness was loaded into SAM so her brain/thoughts/her could continue to function (we know SAM can have parts of him locked off so it's no surprise he wouldn't know), and her body was frozen until a cure could be found. This all might have been against her will or without her knowledge. It all ties into what we're doing as Pathfinder with the Remnant vaults because if the Remnant can heal a planet they can heal a person. It might be that Ellen isn't cured at the end of the game but rather as DLC or even leaving it open in the off-chance the Ryders are part of the next game. I'm guessing DLC. There will be the quarian ark dlc, various other dlcs, and the family dlc.

If I'm right, that is.

All this comes from the starting point that I'm obsessed with the idea that somebody isn't dead. I thought at first it was Jien. And while that would be a cool twist, and an interesting one (I reckon she was injured and they're hiding her still being alive because it would further destabilize things after the uprising, since the new leadership would be seen as even more delegitimatised, and Tann was so out of his depth he let it all snowball out of control and now it's received wisdom she is dead), it doesn't provide any kind of emotional resonance. And BioWare love to tug at the heart strings.

I toyed with the idea it could be Alec for about 5 minutes then I tossed that idea to the side. I can't work out why they'd hide him not being dead. Why would it be in his interests? Maybe to provide a way for SAM to pass down to one of his children, but that was all dumb luck on Hab 7 - he didn't know that energy wave was going to knock them both down and give him an opening. And there are too many people involved who would be keeping the secret from Sara and Scott.

As I've been opening up SAM's/Alec's memories (I've just had the one with the Ryder family get-together) I've been more and more interested about SAM and Ellen. And by way of some very circuitous logic that's how I got where I am with my theory.

Edit: Jien stuff - I thought at one point maybe the exiles had her. That she was recorded dead because it would prove further unrest to say she'd been taken hostage. I guess that could still happen. Probably more likely than being kept injured in stasis. Ties in nicely to the uprising stuff. I haven't met the exiles yet, haven't unlocked Kadara. I'll have to wait and see if it proves right. I am pretty certain she's not dead. Her being with the exiles explains it all nicely, actually.


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## Vintage Paw (Mar 30, 2017)

Also, speculation on the kett and the Remnant...



Spoiler



The reason the Archon wants to get in the vaults is it would provide the perfect way to 'uplift' an entire ecosystem on one fell swoop. It's basically like the shroud in the original trilogy, since BioWare loves to recycle its ideas. The kett and the scourge are basically a dark and twisted version of the synthesis ending via salarian underhandedness.


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## Vintage Paw (Mar 30, 2017)

I'm sure you're all ahead of me in the story and know I'm talking out my arse, but don't tell me please - I get most of my enjoyment in BioWare games from speculating wildly and endlessly and modifying my theories the more of the game I see.


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## Vintage Paw (Mar 30, 2017)

Another speculation I'm not at all certain of:



Spoiler



The Archon is Remnant. Not a rembot obviously, but the last of the species that created them. He's like Javik gone wrong. His species used to be able to control entire ecosystems, and their empire/civilisation has disappeared and he wants that greatness again. Only the rembots are like a cross between the keepers and the catalyst/reapers - left behind to ensure Something doesn't happen, or to preserve Something. And the Archon can't get back into what he considers _his_ vaults, in order to create a glorious civilisation again. All this cult religion thing is a means to an end - based in the reality of his desire for a great civilisation but ultimately a way of creating docile and devoted followers to aid his mission.


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## NoXion (Mar 31, 2017)

My most recent save has me at 32% completion, and Origin logs me at 41 hours. This game is big.

Globally the game covers only one cluster, compared to an entire galaxy by the end of the original trilogy, but the planets I've been to feel larger and seem like they have more for me to do. A lot of people deride the long animations that take place when you travel to different places, but for me at least they create a sense of distance that is actually travelled. Something I don't get from the near-instantaneous hopping from one end of the galaxy to the other that use of the Milky Way's mass relay system offers.

I'm definitely enjoying the combat. I'm using the Infiltrator profile and the skills Charge, Cloak and Energy Drain. I'm carrying some kind of Kett sword, an N7 Crusader shotgun with two extra rounds in the magazine, and a modified Mattock with improved accuracy and the ability to penetrate cover.


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## agricola (Apr 2, 2017)

Just finished...



Spoiler



... firstly, wow.  Secondly, I seem to have done it without ever coming up against an Architect (except possibly seeing one on the distance on Elaaden?)


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## Cid (Apr 2, 2017)

Gil is the only gay (male) character right? I mean were I going down that route I'd be doubly annoyed, because the man's a bit of a prick.


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## Vintage Paw (Apr 2, 2017)

Cid said:


> Gil is the only gay (male) character right? I mean were I going down that route I'd be doubly annoyed, because the man's a bit of a prick.



Reyes is bi, but you'd never know if you play as Sara since he mentions his ex-girlfriend (ex-hookup, whatevs). Just as all BioWare bisexual men seem to have to do (with the exception of Anders in DA2, who offended an awful lot of insecure young men).

But yes, that's it. There's quite an uproar about it all. 

There are a whole host of reasons why gay men have been shafted (not in the good way) in MEA. The only ones without a squad mate to romance, the only ones without any unique appearances, the ones with the least amount to choose from, the 2 that are there have very little content (and I'm not even sure Reyes counts as a full romance, and he fucks off half way through even though he's ostensibly a great character with a lot of potential), with Reyes' content clearly being written and even animated for Sara (there are gif comparisons knocking around). 

Then there's the content of Gil's story. I think they thought they were doing a good thing. And I know when I found out about it before release I was quite excited for the implications. But in practice it's fucking shoddy. Scott's not in a relationship with Gil, he's in a relationship with Gil and Jill. Gil never stops talking about Jill. There are some really fucking dodgy overtones about stuff Jill says, and while they've written Gil to say "but hey, we take the piss out of each other it's fine" in reality it's the whole "straight sex is natural because it leads to babies, gay sex is unnatural because it doesn't" connotation. Then out of fucking nowhere this baby stuff happens. I mean, not out of nowhere because it's practically the only thing Gil exists for in the story, but in terms of their relationship the arc is so short, a couple of flirts, a bit of a kiss right before you meet Jill and have to decide on the spot if you're "Gil's man," then a bit of fade-to-black sexitimes, and BOOM! it's all let's be daddies together because Jill said so. 

They even spent all that time and money lovingly modelling and animating Scott's naked arse and the only ones who don't get to see it are the gay guys ffs 

It's compounded by the statement by the producer that they won't create certain characters just to fulfill a quota (fair enough) and that a character's sexuality "has to make sense." The fuck does that mean? Who the fuck's actual sexuality 'makes sense'? Do you have to take a test? "Sorry, Bob, you enjoy sports so you can't be gay - thems the breaks." When you look at the history of gay characters in BioWare games, they're 'the gay character' rather than the character who can fall for the male protag. There are loads of important and interesting stories to tell around this stuff, but when it ends up with statements like being gay has to make sense, then wtf? When are they going to refuse to write a straight character until they can make sure they have a really important and impactful story about problems they've faced being straight? 

In fact, along with Reyes being written for Sara, Vetra's writer had to fight to make her bi, Suvi was originally written as bi (there are screenshots in the Prima guide of Scott in a romance with her), so basically every single female character in the game was written for Scott, and one male character was written for him, badly. 

And the icing on the cake is all the code flags are there in the files for Jaal with both Sara and Scott. Data mining has provided heartbreak in the past, but it's usually come in the form of audio that was recorded just in case and never used. In this case, there was only a little audio with Scott that was never implemented, but all the coding was done. The coding is identical to Vetra's in how the flags check if Sara or Scott and allow progression for both. For exclusively straight or gay relationships, there is only the flag for the appropraite Ryder, and other flags to have the flirt rejection. Add to that, Jaal is the only LI who can't be flirted with by both Scott and Sara. In fact, Sara's initial flirt line is bugged with him as well. Which leads a lot of people to think he was intended to be bi, but was brute force removed at the last moment by removing that first flirt so the rest of the flags couldn't trigger - which inadvertently borked that part of Sara's romance with him too.

I have too much time on my hands, clearly. But I've been 'campaigning' (if you can call it that) for the gay in Mass Effect since the beginning of time, and made a lot of friends doing so. It incenses me to see such a massive fuck up from them.


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## NoXion (Apr 2, 2017)

I've just run into someone with the same hairstyle whose face looks almost exactly like my character's. The really funny part is that he was a dancer shaking his ass off in some sleazy bar on Kadara. I got a good ol' belly laugh from that.


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## agricola (Apr 3, 2017)

Wait, Liam is voiced by the actor that played Fidel in _Death in Paradise?_


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## snadge (Apr 3, 2017)

Well I completed the story line game (level 30) on Normal (tried insanity but the AI is no different just reams of HP to plow through) and must admit it was pretty easy in my ridiculous armour that I crafted ( Remnant Reborn at level 6 fitted with 4 augmentations, fusion mod of shielding and one augment that gives you 25% Shield back after a kill, other 3 were just shield recharge and more shield), just run into the enemy and shotgun them to death, my shield just kept recharging to full lol.

I did enjoy it, pretty different type of game with the dialogue cut scenes, will be finishing off the missions now and making all my planets viable.

Was disappointed with, lots of glitches, facial ticks and glitches, bad hair, bad animation, almost all characters have weird glitches, caught in walls, stuck in dodgy ground, bugs a many, the extremely poorly animated cut scenes of the Tempest.

BTW Jaal has been seriously flirting with my character (female Ryder) but I have been slapping him down (god damn furries), maybe that is the way to get him to bite (sic)?


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## snadge (Apr 3, 2017)

agricola said:


> Just finished...
> 
> 
> 
> ...



I killed 2


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## snadge (Apr 3, 2017)

.


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## Vintage Paw (Apr 3, 2017)

NoXion said:


> I've just run into someone with the same hairstyle whose face looks almost exactly like my character's. The really funny part is that he was a dancer shaking his ass off in some sleazy bar on Kadara. I got a good ol' belly laugh from that.


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## Vintage Paw (Apr 3, 2017)

snadge said:


> Well I completed the story line game (level 30) on Normal (tried insanity but the AI is no different just reams of HP to plow through)



I'm level 35 and I only just opened up Aya fully. 

I'm a completionist.

I had 87% viability on Voeld before I'd done the vault.

I in no way feel the grind from DA:I. I really enjoy driving around in the Nomad, jumping out when I find a bunch of red dots. I'm not religiously doing all the smaller quests in the Additional Tasks folder, but I tend to clear a lot of them just from driving around on my way to something else. I've just got my first loyalty mission (Liam's - really, really looking forward to it, as I watched a stream of it and it's great).

This was earlier yesterday afternoon - I played another few hours last night, but only did the Aya hub stuff.


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## Vintage Paw (Apr 4, 2017)

Mass Effect: Andromeda – The Journey Ahead


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## moon (Apr 4, 2017)

Wt actual f... these could have been addressed at launch...
This isn't the elder scrolls online ffs.. soon they will be asking for a subscription for upgrades no doubt..

Sorry I'm just a bit disappointed with the quality control in the game, it's like they lost the soul of Mass Effect somewhere in the corridors of EA's corporate headquarters.


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## NoXion (Apr 4, 2017)

Vintage Paw said:


> Mass Effect: Andromeda – The Journey Ahead



For some reason when I visit that site, all I get is a blank page, even when I use a proxy. Weird.


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## Vintage Paw (Apr 4, 2017)

Hi everyone,

It’s been two weeks since the launch of _Mass Effect™: Andromeda_ and we’re thankful to the millions of you who have already joined us on this journey. And though the game is now in your hands, it’s really just the beginning.

Since launch, our team has been poring over your comments and feedback, looking to discover what you like about the game, as well as areas we can evolve or improve.

This Thursday, we’ll release a new patch that addresses technical fixes (crashes, improved performance), but also adds a number of improvements we’ve heard you ask for, such as:


Allowing you to skip ahead when travelling between planets in the galaxy map
Increasing the inventory limits
Improving the appearance of eyes for humans and asari characters
Decreasing the cost of remnant decryption keys and making them more accessible at merchants
Improving localized voice over lip sync
Fixing Ryder’s movements when running in a zig zag pattern
Improving matchmaking and latency in multiplayer
There are many more adjustments being made, all of which you can find in our patch notes.

Over the next two months we’ll be rolling out additional patches which will go even deeper and look to improve several areas of the game:


More options and variety in the character creator
Improvements to hair and general appearance for characters
Ongoing improvements to cinematic scenes and animations
Improvements to male romance options for Scott Ryder
Adjustments to conversations with Hainly Abrams
These upcoming patches will also address performance and stability issues. And we’re looking at adding more cosmetic items to single player for free.

For multiplayer, over the same timeframe, we’re going to continue to build on the APEX missions that have been running since launch. We’ll be adding new maps, characters, and weapons. On Thursday, we kick off the first of three new chapters centered around _The Remnant Investigation_.

This is just a taste of what’s in store as we continue to support _Mass Effect: Andromeda_. And as always, you all play an important role in that. We want to hear from you about your experiences, both what you love about the game and what you’d like to see changed. We’re listening, and we’re committed to partnering with you as we continue to explore the Andromeda galaxy together.

Here’s to a great journey,

Aaryn


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## Vintage Paw (Apr 5, 2017)

This is a good article: Underwhelming Gay Romance Options In Mass Effect: Andromeda Disappoint Many Fans

She put a call out to fans asking for input a week or so before she wrote it. (I be amoebae from neogaf)


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## NoXion (Apr 5, 2017)

NoXion said:


> I'm definitely enjoying the combat. I'm using the Infiltrator profile and the skills Charge, Cloak and Energy Drain. I'm carrying some kind of Kett sword, an N7 Crusader shotgun with two extra rounds in the magazine, and a modified Mattock with improved accuracy and the ability to penetrate cover.



I've replaced Energy Drain with the Remnant VI, maxed out with an emphasis on causing damage. This is because my arsenal has improved, I've swapped out the Mattock for a higher level Revenant, and I can carry an extra weapon so I used the R&D terminal to make myself a Widow sniper rifle.

Mind you, I'm now thinking of putting more points into biotics if I can. I'm thinking of starting with Lance.


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## NoXion (Apr 5, 2017)

Also, I've only just realised that you can scan entire systems, as well as individual planets.


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## moon (Apr 5, 2017)

I've been playing on narrative mode for a while because I'm not really a guns person and I don't play Mass Effect games for the combat.
I'm also a bit pissed off that they put so much effort into making the combat good whilst neglecting other areas of the game.
I mean, who thinks the Angarans look like a polished and well executed space race? They look like a plastic toy that might fall out of a box of cereal imo.
Think back to all the amazing races/species of ME1-3 from the Rachni to the Volus, they were all so well thought out.. even the hysterical worm like vorcha seem more developed aesthetically and ecologically (in gaming terms).
I'm still very early on in the game though so hopefully things will improve.


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## Vintage Paw (Apr 5, 2017)

I don't expect we look like a polished and well executed space race to them, either. Sacks of unimaginative meat and water that we are. And jeez, if there's any criticism to be levelled at them for unimaginative aliens it's the fucking asari


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## Vintage Paw (Apr 5, 2017)

I didn't expect a direct statement. This is good.


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## moon (Apr 5, 2017)

Vintage Paw said:


> I don't expect we look like a polished and well executed space race to them, either. Sacks of unimaginative meat and water that we are. And jeez, if there's any criticism to be levelled at them for unimaginative aliens it's the fucking asari


_THEY'RE MADE OUT OF MEAT
Meat_


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## Vintage Paw (Apr 5, 2017)

moon said:


> _THEY'RE MADE OUT OF MEAT
> Meat_



That is amazing.


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## NoXion (Apr 6, 2017)

Vintage Paw said:


> I didn't expect a direct statement. This is good.




I ran into Hainly Abrams while playing yesterday afternoon. Maybe I'm just tone-deaf, but what was the problem with her? I get that some transgender folk are loath to bring up their birth names in this day and age, but maybe 150+ years in the future some of them might feel that they can afford to be a bit more open about such things?


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## NoXion (Apr 6, 2017)

moon said:


> I've been playing on narrative mode for a while because I'm not really a guns person and I don't play Mass Effect games for the combat.
> I'm also a bit pissed off that they put so much effort into making the combat good whilst neglecting other areas of the game.
> I mean, who thinks the Angarans look like a polished and well executed space race? They look like a plastic toy that might fall out of a box of cereal imo.
> Think back to all the amazing races/species of ME1-3 from the Rachni to the Volus, they were all so well thought out.. even the hysterical worm like vorcha seem more developed aesthetically and ecologically (in gaming terms).
> I'm still very early on in the game though so hopefully things will improve.



I didn't think much of the Angarans when I first saw them. What won me over was learning about their culture and history. And getting to know Jaal.


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## Vintage Paw (Apr 6, 2017)

NoXion said:


> I ran into Hainly Abrams while playing yesterday afternoon. Maybe I'm just tone-deaf, but what was the problem with her? I get that some transgender folk are loath to bring up their birth names in this day and age, but maybe 150+ years in the future some of them might feel that they can afford to be a bit more open about such things?



Deadnaming is a pretty awful thing. For her to give her deadname by way of introduction is shitty writing.

The 150+ years in the future thing doesn't work on 2 levels:

1) We're not 150 years in the future and deadnaming is fucking shitty right here, right now, and in some cases a source of trauma for trans people - trans people play games, and people who interact with trans people play games
2) Hainly says she left the Milky Way so she could finally be herself - doesn't sound like humanity had moved on much at all, but none of that matters because point 1.


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## golightly (Apr 8, 2017)

Vintage Paw said:


> Deadnaming is a pretty awful thing. For her to give her deadname by way of introduction is shitty writing.
> 
> The 150+ years in the future thing doesn't work on 2 levels:
> 
> ...


 
I did think that the only way she could be herself was to move to another galaxy was a bit extreme!


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## ruffneck23 (Apr 9, 2017)

I had a rather nice windfall last week so I thought fuck it and got a Samsung 4k telly with HDR , it's certainly looking nicer , il try and grab some screenshots when I get a chance , bit gutted tho as I've nearly finished the game , but tbh I'm happy to start again , but it's really stopping me get a job , although I do have an interview tomorrow


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## Vintage Paw (Apr 9, 2017)

Re: Hainly, here's a good article on trans characters in BioWare games: How Trans Consultants Saved Dragon Age: Inquisition


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## Vintage Paw (Apr 10, 2017)

_Finally_ updated to the latest patch now the camera tools have been updated to match. I was wondering if I'd have to stay on the day one patch for the rest of time 

Click the pic for all my screenshots so far (if you want, like):


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## NoXion (Apr 10, 2017)

I finally worked out how to get screenshots from my game. Here's my Ryder:


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## Vintage Paw (Apr 10, 2017)

Pink eyes ftw 

If you're in any way interested, I wrote a tutorial on how to get good screenshots: The Very Best ME:A Screenshot Thread (with tips) | New BioWare Social Network Fan Forums


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## NoXion (Apr 10, 2017)

Vintage Paw said:


> Pink eyes ftw
> 
> If you're in any way interested, I wrote a tutorial on how to get good screenshots: The Very Best ME:A Screenshot Thread (with tips) | New BioWare Social Network Fan Forums



Actually there were two colour options and I picked red and blue, that was the result.

As for better screenshots, my current graphics card is pretty crappy. I've not been able to install the decent one I've had lying around for some months now.


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## Vintage Paw (Apr 11, 2017)

Ah, ok. No worries. It's still cool that there's Ansel for some freecam stuff, and it can still do hi-res shots whether your system is up to it or not since it just takes lots of tiled shots.

Here's my bb, Sara:






I can never decide on a colour scheme for her casual clothes. I have white, black and blue for her armour.


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## moon (Apr 16, 2017)

Good photo! 
I actually stopped playing this game a while ago lol am back on ESO


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## Vintage Paw (Apr 23, 2017)

PC players might be interested in this mod: Tap Tap Dash at Mass Effect Andromeda Nexus - Mods and Community

It's a small AutoHotkey script that lets you evade by double-tappng wasd instead of using the middle mouse button. I'm about to try it out, since I've started to worry a little about the health of my scroll wheel after many, many evades


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## NoXion (Apr 23, 2017)

Vintage Paw said:


> PC players might be interested in this mod: Tap Tap Dash at Mass Effect Andromeda Nexus - Mods and Community
> 
> It's a small AutoHotkey script that lets you evade by double-tappng wasd instead of using the middle mouse button. I'm about to try it out, since I've started to worry a little about the health of my scroll wheel after many, many evades



This sounds perfect. That's how it works in Brutal Doom, and it's how it should have worked in MEA in the first place IMO.


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## Vintage Paw (Apr 23, 2017)

It seems to be working fine. I had to run the script as admin before it would catch. It'll take a while before my muscle memory readjusts.


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## fucthest8 (Apr 23, 2017)

moon said:


> _THEY'RE MADE OUT OF MEAT
> Meat_



"Who wants to meet meat?"

Brilliant bit of silly writing, much lol.

E2A: Still haven't bought ME:A, being eaten alive by work, escaping into NMS instead


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## Vintage Paw (Apr 23, 2017)

I wrote really shit strike team fanfic for reddit the other day ffs.


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## Vintage Paw (Apr 29, 2017)

Jaal Lithograph


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## Cid (Apr 30, 2017)

I've stopped playing...

...But I still have the apex app on my phone so will have vast amounts of crap when/if I do get back to it.


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## Vintage Paw (May 10, 2017)

Discounted on Origin at the moment: Origin

Also a new patch coming tomorrow. No notes yet.


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## AverageJoe (May 23, 2017)

I just killed Pee Bee's sister..... not sure if that was the right thing to do


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## Vintage Paw (May 24, 2017)

I still haven't finished so I had no idea the person you end up killing was her sister (haven't done that quest yet).

(Don't worry, I'm not chastising you for spoilers. I thought they used to be lovers or something. I know a few spoilers, but I've been intentionally keeping them as vague as possible - but you weren't to know that and it's been out ages now.)


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## AverageJoe (May 24, 2017)

Soz!!!


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## Vintage Paw (May 24, 2017)

It's okay!!


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## NoXion (Jun 7, 2017)

The next patch looks like the one I've been waiting for! Also, fuck posting anything more complex than a short and simple message on a smartphone. That link was supposed to be better dressed.

Edit: Hooray for PC interfaces!


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## Vintage Paw (Jun 7, 2017)

I just came to post the patch notes: Mass Effect: Andromeda Patch 1.08 Notes

I AM SHOOKETH


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## FridgeMagnet (Jul 14, 2017)

Wasn't sure where to put this, but: Bio-ductress (@Bioductress) on Twitter - headlines from Reductress but illustrated with Bioware games. One might think that this was a pretty niche combination but actually I reckon the Venn diagram has a big intersection.


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