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[Mass Effect: Andromeda] Ryders on the Tempest
Sorce
Not ThereRegistered User regular
Not ThereRegistered User regular
Previously on the Mass Effect Thread
Version 1.0 - Mass Effect Andromeda announced, featuring even hotter humanoid ship AI
(OP at least partially stolen from Curly. He carries us through more than just MP.)
Trailers!
E3 2015 - Johnny Cash in Space
https://youtu.be/uG8V9dRqSswN7 Day 2015 - Exploration means being apart, but not alone.
https://youtu.be/Rn98FdSg-FoEA Play 2016 - Andromeda Dev/BTS Preview
https://youtu.be/y2vgHOXeps0PS4 Pro 4k Tech Video - Consoles need max resomolution too, you know.
https://youtu.be/t1hBNALUk4wN7 Day 2016 - Cinematic Reveal Trailer
https://youtu.be/pyZw_oqk7Q8VG Awards 2016 - Official Gameplay Trailer
https://youtu.be/NOIzH6UcoW4CES 2017 - New Gameplay Trailer
https://youtu.be/NK6pgNxyunI1/27/16 - Official Cinematic Trailer
https://youtu.be/NNG_szaXNNUAdditionally, here's a link to the Andromeda Initiative, where more information/videos can be found. Watch all 6 and get an in-game item for your character!
What We Know So Far:
Release date CONFIRMED as 3-21-17, as of the CES Gameplay Trailer
Game Informer Article Update:
Link.RYDER- Ryder is meant to start inexperienced; even in Mass Effect 1, Shepard was already a decorated soldier
- This is not planned as "The Ryder Trilogy;" maybe the character's story will continue, maybe it won't
- You can customize all 3 members of the Ryder family regardless of who you play as, as asymmetrical as you want them to be.
COMBAT- It is intended that the combat will feel the same in both singleplayer and multiplayer
- Global cooldowns are replaced by individual timers, and all of your powers will have hotkeys instead of a select few; no more pausing to bring up the power wheel and aim
- No more sticky "in cover/out of cover;" if you walk up to a piece of cover, you're in cover, and you just walk away to get out of cover
- A jetpack dash replaces the combat roll on the ground, and it can also be used to get over obstacles and get to higher ground; the jetpack also has a hover option
- The new destructible environments means they intend to have it be way less obvious what parts of the map are combat arenas
- Guns won't be completely new; the Avenger rifle and the Black Widow sniper were cited as returning
- Melee weapons will be available, like swords and hammers.
RPG Mechanics- No more class system, all skills from all classes are available to all characters, and you unlock "class profiles" based on how you spec that give bonuses
- Crafting, y'all; blueprints for weapons and armor can be discovered, and you gather up the resources to build them.
STORY- The new race seen in the trailer are the Kett, who are intended to be just as gray as any other ME race, they are not just the villains
- You are the Pathfinder, and your job is to explore the "golden worlds (those determined as possibly suitable for habitation)" and secure a location for humanity.
EXPLORATION- They do not want to call this an open-world game, and instead say maps are similar to Dragon Age Inquisition
- The new Mako is called the Nomad
- Members of the Need For Speed team worked on the Nomad to ensure it was, uh, good
- There are no weapons on the Nomad, it is purely for traversal
- Expect to find actual sidequests on the optional planets, featuring combat and puzzle encounters
- Expect each planet to have at least one dungeon-esque enemy base on it, which will be lengthy and conclude with boss fights
- Ryder is implanted with a scanner, and scanning objects will give rewards such as money, technology, and Codex entires.
LEGACY- They wanted to bring one aspect of each previous game to the forefront for this new game
- Mass Effect 1: The Mako
- Mass Effect 2: Loyalty missions
- Mass Effect 3: Multiplayer
THE TEMPEST- The Tempest is your new Normandy, a scout-class ship that is much smaller and faster
- There are no more loading screens when traveling between levels of the ship
- The Galaxy Map will be a more behind-the-back view rather than the top-down of previous games
- You can actually watch the Tempest travel the galaxy
- If you leave the Galaxy Map and go look out a window; you will see exactly where you left the ship
- They intend on having it feel like actual command of a ship; rather than pressing "land" on a menu and then a loading screen takes you to the planet, you set a course to a planet, arrive there, head to the garage to get in the Nomad, or to the landing bay.
CHARACTERS- The Asari seen in multiple trailers is named Peebee, and she came with on the Nexus mothership, but split off on her own; she cares less about the mission than she does about finding cool new shit
- Liam is a human member of the Pathfinder team, an ex-cop and security officer
- Andromeda will have more romance options than any ME game before, and they are all much more in-depth
- Your relationship with the other Ryder will be a critical part of the game, with several central story interactions as well as numerous optional ones
- Not every romantic relationship will lead to the two of you being together forever, and not all of them will even lead to sex
- They specifically call out the "shooting bottles with Garrus on the Citadel" scene as the kind of moment they wanted to have a lot more of.
MULTIPLAYER- Yes, it's still 4-player co-op where you fight enemies in waves
- Unlocks are still gained from card packs, that can be obtained via in-game currency or actual cash money
- Difficulty, map, and enemy type can still be set for each match, as well as new modifiers to make rounds easier or harder; an example given is decreased health for your entire team for the round with a much higher credits payout at the end of it
- Multiplayer is the story of the Apex Force, a Nexus strike team
- Factions faced will be Andromeda specific, don't expect to fight the Geth or Collectors [until they release that inevitable DLC pack]
- Mission funds are the third currency, unlocked by completing Bioware-made specific multiplayer missions; mission funds can be used to buy specific unlocks you want rather than blind card packs
- The catch is the store will have a rotating stock that will not have everything
- Multiplayer progress will affect the single-player, but not the ending of the game; the multiplayer's impact is described as in the middle of ME3's and DA:I's
- Prestige XP is separate from character XP, and is earned in one pool for each character of that type
- Bonuses gained from leveling up via prestige XP apply to all your characters
DIALOGUE & CHOICES- The Paragon/Renegade system has been removed
- Dialogue choices now have tones associated with them, much like in Dragon Age 2
- Interrupts return, but now without the Paragon/Renegade associations; interrupt prompts will now describe what you will actually do before you do it
- New Game + is returning, and will allow you to switch over to the other Ryder if you'd like
- Post-release content is coming, though they only talk about the multiplayer
ROMANCEMass Effect Andromeda's New Approach To RomanceBioWare is trying to evolve what it has previously done with romances; the team has learned from the original Mass Effect trilogy, and is taking those ideas in more interesting and believable directions. "We've built on it [from the trilogy]," Walters says. "We had a strong foundation for how [romance] was working. For me, typically in the trilogy it was a bit formulaic. You'd talk to them and then get to that one point in the game where there was no going and back and romance was going to happen. That's not real life. There should be some people who just want to hop in the sack immediately. There should people who are interested in a long-term relationship. There are people who aren't interested in romance at all."
BioWare's Andromeda Gameplay Series
Part 1 - Andromeda Gameplay General Overview
https://youtu.be/HrWgLMH8yRUPart 2 - Profiles, Favorites, and Squad Assignments
https://youtu.be/d3q_Nd5arZMOther Parts incoming!
Techy stuff, aka "Resolutions and FPS"
Link.Last I checked, we were like other Frostbite games on PS4 and XBox One - 1080p and 900p respectively. All are at 30 fps. PC has uncapped framerate.
Versions of the Release:
So, quick post rounding up the SKUs.
As far as the game itself, there's three iterations: Base Game, Digital Deluxe, and Super Deluxe Edition. If you want the Nomad a steelbook, there's two iterations; the Model Collector's Edition, and the Remote Control Collector's Edition. Here's the differences:
Base Game just has the game itself, no extras whatsoever. Costs $59.99
Deluxe has the Base Game, plus a bunch of in-game collectibles like armor/guns, a pet Pyjack to punch in the face, and some MP booster packs to start off with. Costs $69.99
Super Deluxe has all the above, plus an additional MP booster pack a week for 20 weeks. Costs $99.99.
Here's what the Digital items actually are:
For the physical items, those are a separate purchase (NO GAME INCLUDED).
Model Collector's Edition. You get a die-cast version of the Nomad (1:18 scale) and a steelbook case. Costs $100.
Remote Control Collector's Edition. You get an R/C car version of the Nomad (also 1:18 scale) instead of the die-cast model, and the aforementioned steelbook case. Costs $200.
So this time around you can spend anywhere from $60 to $300 to get your Mass Effect Andromeda fix, but keep in mind that this doesn't include any kind of DLC/Season Pass, because that stuff hasn't been announced as of yet. At least there's an armor/skin/booster pack when you pre-order!
DLC News: Andromeda is getting DLC, but not a Season Pass.
And one more thing: A supposed leak from April 2015, in case anyone wants to go back and see how accurate it ended up being compared to the release.
The Next Mass Effect Context:
The next Mass Effect game takes place in the Helius Cluster (a cluster of 100s of solar systems in the Andromeda Galaxy), far removed by time and space from Commander Shepard’s heroic acts and the final events of the Mass Effect trilogy. You are a pathfinder, a combat trained but un-tested explorer leading an expedition into the Helius cluster to establish a new home for humanity. As you explore this sprawling series of solar systems (over 4x the size of Mass Effect 3), collecting resources and building colonies, you will encounter the savagery of untamed lands in the form of cut-throat outlaws and warring alien races. To survive and colonize the wild reaches of space, you will need to grow your arsenal, your ship, your crew and make strategic (and often uneasy) alliances to fight against increasingly menacing foes. Along the way, you will encounter the remains of a once powerful and mysterious alien race, the Remnant, whose forgotten technology holds the key to gaining power in this region of the galaxy. As you uncover who the Remnant were, and the mysteries their ruins contain, you are drawn into a violent race to find the source of their forgotten technology that will determine the fate of humanity.
Collect Resources to Fuel your Growth:
Scour solar systems and planets within the Helius Cluster to find valuable resources and blueprints of long forgotten alien technology that will allow you to craft better equipment and weapons, such as improving your leg armor to allow you to jetpack jump, or upgrading your cryo-beam (laser cannon) to target enemies or do area damage around you to clear out close threats. As you build your arsenal and resource infrastructure, you will be able to explore deeper into the increasingly dangerous and resource-rich solar systems of the Helius Cluster.
A Capable Crew:
Throughout the story, you will recruit seven distinct crew members to fight by your side. Each crew member has a unique personality and specific abilities that open up strategic options as you choose which two of them to bring into each mission. For example, Cora has the ability to deploy a biotic shield that protects everyone in the bubble while still allowing you and your squad to fire out of it. Your crew will grow alongside you as you explore the Helius Cluster, and you can choose how you upgrade your crew’s weapons, gear and abilities to increase their individual combat effectiveness. Create the perfect squad to react to any situation and to support your preferred gameplay style.
Your Crew, Your Story:
Your crew members aren’t merely hired guns – they are part of the living universe in the Helius Cluster that develops in response to your actions and choices. Increase each crew member’s loyalty by pursuing missions that are important to that specific character. For example, when a Krogan colony ship has been stolen by one of the outlaw factions leaving the colonists stranded without resources to survive, your Krogan squad mate, Drack, is determined to strike out against them. If you take the mission and help him track down the outlaws’ hideout to return the ship to its rightful owners, Drack’s loyalty toward you and your squad will increase and Drack will unlock a brand new skill tree.
Explore each individual’s backstory and develop your relationship with them through conversations and unique missions. True to Mass Effect, what you choose to say will directly affect your crew’s loyalty and relationship with you, and will open up different conversations and narrative opportunities at the end of the game depending upon how you approach each encounter.
Deployed Strike Team Missions:
The Helius Cluster is 1000s of light years across, and you can’t be everywhere at once. As you develop more colonies, resource bases and settlements, you have to be able to keep them safe. Spend resources to recruit mercenaries and develop an AI controlled Strike Team that you can deploy to take on randomly generated, time-sensitive missions. Strike Team missions take many forms, including settlement defense and Remnant artifact recovery, which will take real-time to complete. Send your Strike Team out on a mission while you continue playing the main game and they will return, 20 – 30 minutes later, having gained rewards such as XP, currency and equipment based on the success of their mission. Spend money and resources to train your Strike Team and acquire better gear for them, which will increase their success rate and allow them to take on more difficult missions for greater rewards.
Active Strike Team Missions:
When you encounter a Strike Team mission in the Single-Player mode, you can leave your Strike Team at their base and decide to tackle the mission yourself with your Multiplayer roster of characters. You also have the option of tackling the mission by yourself, or recruiting up to three friends to play with you. The more friends you bring, the greater the challenge and the greater the reward. These missions will play out using the Next Mass Effect’s multiplayer Horde mode (more details on this later). These missions will include a variety of thematically appropriate objectives, like defending a Settlement against Khet attacks, or recovering a Remnant artifact off of a planet before an outlaw gang gets there first. By taking an active role in strike team missions, you can earn special Single-player rewards in addition to the usual multiplayer specific characters, weapons, weapon mods, and pieces of equipment which can be customized between missions. Additionally, players who join another person’s Strike Team mission will receive bonus in-game currency and multiplayer XP for helping others with their missions.
Multiplayer “Horde” Mode:
The next Mass Effect’s “Horde” multiplayer pits you and up to three of your friends against waves of enemy troops on various battlefields throughout the galaxy. Players fight together to survive increasingly difficult enemy attacks and accomplish objectives, like disabling a bomb near a colony base or assassinating a target. Progress through multiplayer missions to gain XP and earn new multiplayer specific weapons, characters, weapon mods, and pieces of equipment, which can be customized between matches. Multiplayer play will also earn you APEX funds (in-game currency), which can be used to purchase items and gear in the Single Player game.
Establish Settlements:
Search solar systems for rare habitable planets to establish a settlement that could serve as a base for humankind’s new home in the Helius Cluster. As you build permanent settlements, you will make strategic choices on where to focus your new base’s resources. For example: Recon Settlements will clear fog of war from the space map and give the player more strike team missions to choose from, while Mining Settlements will periodically supplement the player’s supply of crafting materials.
Dialogue:
Building upon the rich history of strategic dialogue that has defined the Mass Effect series, you can make meaningful choices in every conversation you have with characters that impact the way your game evolves. The next Mass Effect adds deeper control over your conversations through a greater ability to interrupt and change the course of the conversation as it is happening. During certain conversations, you will be able to take action based choices, such as the option to pull out your gun and force someone to open a door instead of convincing them to do it through conversational guile. Action based choices give you more options for how you approach dialogue with characters in the game and can lead to more extreme outcomes on the story as it evolves around the decisions you make when interacting with a huge cast of NPC characters.
Seamlessly Travel Through the Next Mass Effect Universe:
As you pilot your space ship, Tempest, across the 100s of solar systems that are seamlessly connected in the next Mass Effect, you will encounter new planets filled with valuable resources, intelligent life, conflict, and alien technology that all give you opportunities to increase the power of your character, your ship and your team so that you can build them into a force that perfectly suits your gameplay style. Transitions between activities, like flying your Tempest (space ship) across a solar system to land on a mineral rich planet, then jumping into your Mako (land vehicle) to explore the surface of planet, all happen smoothly without loading screens.
Customize and Share Your Experience:
Discover new things in Andromeda Galaxy, like alien artifacts and natural wonders, that serve as trophies and decorations that you can use to modify the look of your character, Tempest (Space Ship) and Mako (land vehicle). Customize the way your squad and your character look with clothes and aesthetic modifications that you unlock throughout the game. Photos you take from the far reaches of the galaxy can be used to decorate your starship or sold to certain characters.
Remnant Vault Raids: Find and activate Remnant Monoliths to unlock Remnant vaults. Explore abandoned Remnant ruins to find and locate a powerful artifact, but once you remove it you will trigger the vault defenses that will arm traps, activate defense robots and even change the architecture of the vault itself to stop you from escaping. Fight your way out of the vault and you will be rewarded with valuable loot, including powerful gear, crafting resources and Star Keys that can be used to unlock massive orbital facilities in space that grant permanent stat bonuses.
Optional Elite Remnant Vault Raids are scattered around the Helius Cluster located in special orbital facilities that are unlocked by Star Keys. Similar to the standard Remnant Vaults, you enter them to retrieve a special artifact which will trigger the vault defenses that arm traps, activate defense robots and change the architecture of the vault itself to stop you from escaping. However, Elite vaults ratchet up the difficulty of the encounter with increasingly powerful defense robots and traps, as well as roaming outlaws and deadly Khet patrols that are also in search of the elite artifacts. Elite Remnant vaults will test the limits of your combat and puzzle solving acumen, but with greater difficulty comes greater rewards. Gain rare loot, narrative acclaim and huge rewards for completing these daunting challenges.
Khet Outposts:
As you explore planets throughout the Helius Cluster, you will encounter Khet Outposts. These outposts are optional combat experiences where you enter the outpost and fight off waves of enemies. Destroy Khet outposts to earn XP, rewards and thwart their growing power in the region. Your allies will reward you with praise and increased narrative options as you fight to remove the Khet presence from the region.
Drive and upgrade your Mako (land vehicle):
Explore the surfaces of 100s of planets in the Helius Cluster in your versatile land vehicle, the Mako. Whether you are looking for a place to set up a colony, searching for a Remnant vault or attacking a Khet Outpost, you will enjoy getting there in your Mako. Equip and upgrade your Mako in dozens of ways, like adding turbo boosters, upgrading your shield generator or adding a Hostile Detector to your radar to create the ultimate planetary exploration vehicle. Finally, get your Mako looking the way you want with a custom paintjob.
Source
Lastly, Quads.
Sorce on
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MP Stuff, DLC, all that can get posted here.
xbl - HowYouGetAnts
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http://forums.penny-arcade.com/discussion/comment/21546185/#Comment_21546185
Edit: You'll also notice from that thread that Dr. Cambiata's first name was a shout out to Munkus Beaver
But fuck you — no, fuck y'all, that's as blunt as it gets"
- Kendrick Lamar, "The Blacker the Berry"
Also I'm on Priority Palaven right now. I don't think seeing Reapers stomp around a couple miles away will ever stop being super awesome.
Just noticed the Turian frigates resemble the Normandy in general profile, only they're obviously a lot more angular and plated. That's neat, that you can see the resemblance since they had design input.
I'm still not too sold on the retrofit Normandy. Almost tempted to up the gamma so it's a little brighter in here...
"Is it just me or do these Reapers look like Turians?"
I assume he meant the Husks, these new versions 'Marauders' just showed up. ;P
Husks are the human-based ones, Marauders are the Turian-based ones.
Right, but he called them Reapers, not Husks!
This mission ain't going too good. "That blaze of orange? The big one? That's where I was born."
Their faction is called "Reapers" in MP.
But fuck you — no, fuck y'all, that's as blunt as it gets"
- Kendrick Lamar, "The Blacker the Berry"
Got my Turian diplomat, horray. But to get the Turian fleets I need to get the Krogan to go help the Turians. Yeah. That sounds like one hell of a Paragon speech check right there. Maybe I can get them to be friends with the Salarians while I'm at it. :tell_me_more:
ME3 is great that way. The culmination of everything, and one big wave of oppressive "everything is fucked" feelings. That's one of the reasons the citadel DLC is so great too. It's a lighthearted and fun pressure release valve.
"I will take it to the bridge, Joker will want to see it."
This is wonderful.
Speaking of romance, Garrus is back calibrating my giant guns
Can I get the 'visor' helmet again in this game? I liked having that to match him.
I'm so happy for her, she's got people she loves now. She better not die immediately.
Never noticed those gnarly surgical scars on her neck.
I am having to flip between discs 1 and 2 a lot more frequently than I'd like. Are most of these sidequests on disc 2? Maybe I should just focus on the main story for a while...
ed; to avoid triple posting...
just turned in a buncha Citadel quests of found items. I didn't know they were lost until I walked past the person looking for them.
Did a fun sidequest for Kasumi and a Salarian spectre. Goddamned Jellyfish was trying to take down the Hanar homeworld. For a hot second I thought Kasumi had died, but nope, she made it. Won't join the mission, but I guess she's working on the Crucible project now.
Also Thane! He's at the same clinic as Kaidan, and dying any day now. The description of his disease was... unpleasant. But I'm glad he's at peace with it. Dude had some nice perspective on not coming along on this mission, and the reassurance that he'd protect Kaidan while he could was beautiful. I like Thane a lot. Had I met him earlier in ME2, I'd probably have gone with him as the romance option. Guessing it'd end tragically here. :<
I saw 2!
And Michel is taking good care of my guys
There have been some plot developments.
Told the Salarian diplomat to hand em over, but the transfer is hecka tense already. Wrex won't calm down and I'm very worried he's gonna fuck this up.
I missed something prior to that - why did the Asari councillor refuse to attend? Just on principal of negotiating with the Krogan or something?
If you and your dog come across a bear, you may love that dog, but you're leaving it to fight the bear while you run away.
You have to either walk far enough away and come back to trigger the next section of the conversation or you can quicksave and quickload while standing near them.
Downside to saving/loading is that the voice acting usually doesn't kick in for the first part of the next segment. So less useful for a first time run but makes for less running around like a doofus on subsequent playthroughs.
Over the years I've taken many vacation weeks based on game launches, but since I put WoW down, they've been few and far in between.
ME3 was one of those, however.
And ME:A/4 will be as well.
Good thing work is giving me another week of vacation next year, I'm gonna need it.
Points Stuff for ME3, probably the last time.
Some classes very much more broken than others
But pretty much broken across the board
Adept becomes hilariously broken if you have Omega, because Lash is ridiculously OP.
Of course, being competent on MP Gold where you get a third of the powers and a fuckload more of the enemies probably didn't help their case.
Heading to Tuchanka.
also Dalatress wants me to sabotage the cure. That's actually quite a devious plan, would get both teams on board for beating the Reapers. But I wanna say fuck you to that on basic principal.
I always felt a little bad for him back in his Hollywood leading man era. Got the feeling that the industry was pushing him in bad directions early in his career, mostly to create a studio-crafted "redemption" saga after the tragedy of his father's promise and early death.
There's a difference between rad and voice of vega/iron bull
"Had to be me. Someone else might've gotten it wrong."
Bro.
Oh yeah and the mother of all Thresher Maws killed a Reaper or something.
gonna. take a break for a lil' bit.
Kalros: Not today.