Everything we know about Mass Effect Andromeda from E3 2016
-The new ship is called the Tempest. It’s small enough to land on planets
-Asari, Salarians, Krogan etc are all in Andromeda
-The Mako has a boost feature
-Biotics are back
-You can switch shoulders during combat
-Facial animations are smoother/more detailed
-There is more than one Ark
-Before leaving, the Arks were located above Earth
-Passengers on the Ark have been kept in some kind of stasis during the journey. Female character is first to wake up
Mac Walters (YouTube Live at E3)
-Characters are a huge focus, Frostbite allows them to create more detailed characters
-The dialogue system will be familiar but they want to push the envelope with new mechanics
-There will be an ‘evolution’ of the morality system
-The protagonist’s name is Ryder
-The woman at the end of the EA Play video is a FemRyder
-The goal of this game is to move forward. There will be callbacks to the trilogy however
-Ryder has a family. This family ties into the storyline (Maybe siblings, parents etc)
-ME3 multiplayer was a surprising success but they understand that fans didn’t like how it tied into the single player, aims to improve this
-Development in the game is in the final stretch, they only want to show stuff that’s totally finished and polished
-The Mako is the only vehicle in the game
Polygon and IGN interviews with Mac Walters/Aaryn Flynn (Article 1) (Article 2) (Article 3)
-Mass Effect 3’s ending and your decisions won’t affect Andromeda
-Relationships and romances will be more realistic
-Friendships and romances will take into account character temperaments. Some may be harder to talk to.
-Romance won’t be limited to checking in a few times, then getting a romance scene.
-Mass Effect Andromeda is a story about becoming a hero
-The characters will be much younger and untested, drawing from themes of feeling out of depth or like an outcast
-Humanity are the aliens this time, it’s the story of a stranger in a strange land
-BioWare are aiming for a character that is more than just a typical space marine, someone who recognises the impact their presence is having
-Instead of your character already knowing a lot about the Galaxy like Shepard, you’re going to be discovering all of this stuff with them
-You won’t have the kind of support Shepard would have. You’re not exactly a Spectre this time
-The story of the game will be more personal this time, even though the scale is still grand
-The trilogy will act as a foundational background, but won’t be a focus. There will be explainations for new players on what Krogans are, what mass effect field are etc.
-The trilogy was about a cinematic, grand, space opera with a titular character. With Andromeda they want to move away from this
-Instead of saying “You are this person” it’s about saying “This is your role and this is the way you can play it”
-Andromeda will still be a human centric story, as it gives the player a foothold in the alien narrative
-In ME1, humans found themselves to be the underdogs in a larger galaxy, and this is ultimately a core theme of Mass Effect, not just the trilogy
-BioWare kept trying to solve the vehicle problem in the trilogy, but this time they’ve made it a core focus and tried to fix it early in development
-The online component will have no impact on the main story this time. There will be more positive ties between the singleplayer and multiplayer
-The core elements of branching dialogue, relationship building, exploration etc will remain intact
-Andromeda will feel like you’re playing Mass Effect for the first time, as the setting/characters are new and unfamiliar, yet nostalgic to returning fans
Yanick Roy (Translation Here)
-RPG elements are of course still there, allowing the player to control the story their way
-BioWare aren’t worried about moving on from Shepard, they believe that as long as all the core elements of Mass Effect are there, people will play it
-There will be companions with 'loyalty’ missions and new ways to get to know them
-The multiplayer will be similar to ME3’s but with more freedom, dynamic gameplay and 'chaos’
-There will be more customisation than we’ve seen before. We can “own” our environments
-Andromeda is their biggest game ever. Exploration is a major factor, similar to what they tried to achieve in ME1
-Planets will have essentially one biome, inspired by planets from things like Star Wars
-There will be different ways to communicate with the races of Andromeda. Diplomacy, aggressiveness, combat etc
-The order in which you do quests/talk to people may also influence opinion of you and humanity
-We will be able to choose male/female, but they want to go a little bit further with this. More details to come soon
-The female Ryder isn’t exactly the default face. There is a bit of a twist this time around but they can’t say more yet
-The protagonist’s role will be vast, their goal is to find a new home for humanity and the other races accompanying them, requiring a character of many qualities
-There will be references to the trilogy, but not so much as to flood new players with information
-The way the translators will understand the languages of the Andromeda species will be explained
Aaryn Flynn (PlayStation Access) (Inside Playstation)
-The trip to Andromeda has taken a really really long time (hundereds of years)
-The game draws parallels to today’s space exploration advancements/themes
-The N7 character has nothing to do with Shepard
-New species. Some old, some new, some completely mysterious
-Choices will affect the species you encounter
-Planetary exploration is essentially the same mechanic as ME1, but much MUCH bigger/better with more freedom
-There’s much more to the Tempest than meets the eye
-The 'Ark’ is a huge part of the story, not just where Ryder wakes up
-Main character will be human, you can choose to play as a male/female Ryder
-There is a sense of continuity in the Mass Effect universe, despite starting fresh in a new Galaxy
-Mass Effect Andromeda is story/characters first, then with a large focus on seamless loading, exploration
-Frostbite has forced them to rebuild everything from the ground up, it’s a clean slate in more ways than one
-Mass Effect VR is a possibility
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