DarkeSword Posted June 15, 2015 Share Posted June 15, 2015 EA has announced Mass Effect: Andromeda. Pretty exciting! Looks like we're going to a brand new galaxy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Soul Splint Posted June 15, 2015 Share Posted June 15, 2015 As bummed as I am that we won't be playing as Shepard, and that there likely won't be any appearances by characters from the original trilogy, I am still super-hyped about this. This is one of the very few (if not the only) large-scale game franchises that I take the time to fully explore. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bleck Posted June 15, 2015 Share Posted June 15, 2015 I'll play this if it's a new canon; ending of the third game pretty much ruined the series for me Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Geoffrey Taucer Posted June 16, 2015 Share Posted June 16, 2015 I'll probably buy a PS4 just for this game. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DarkeSword Posted June 16, 2015 Author Share Posted June 16, 2015 Not going to play on PC? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MindWanderer Posted June 16, 2015 Share Posted June 16, 2015 I'll play this if it's a new canon; ending of the third game pretty much ruined the series for me I'm pretty curious about this, too. All three ending choices had major ramifications for every species living in the Milky Way; even moving to a different galaxy wouldn't work around that unless they ditch humans etc. altogether. Which they could theoretically do--there were no recognizable species in the whole trailer--but we do have the return of N7 and the Mako. It would be really hard for them not to anger a bunch of fans by picking one of those three endings as canonical, and equally hard to make it so that the choice didn't matter at all to the plot of the new game. Still, I'm pretty hyped. Looking forward to another $10 game with $15 of "must-have" DLC. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Koriantor Posted June 17, 2015 Share Posted June 17, 2015 I'm pretty curious about this, too. All three ending choices had major ramifications for every species living in the Milky Way; even moving to a different galaxy wouldn't work around that unless they ditch humans etc. altogether. Which they could theoretically do--there were no recognizable species in the whole trailer--but we do have the return of N7 and the Mako. It would be really hard for them not to anger a bunch of fans by picking one of those three endings as canonical, and equally hard to make it so that the choice didn't matter at all to the plot of the new game. Still, I'm pretty hyped. Looking forward to another $10 game with $15 of "must-have" DLC. Bioware had stated shortly after the release of ME3 that they did not want to pick a canon ending. That painted them into a huge corner by pretty much restricting any sequels to be prequels, sidequels or sequels set so far in the future and/or far from the Milky Way that the original trilogy doesn't impact the new entry. I was very much a fan of the first two options, though it seems the popular opinion, and the one Bioware went with, was to go for the third option. I have mixed feelings. Bioware has to distance themselves somehow from the original trilogy to make a sequel possible. If it's set far in the future, then we lose some of what made the setting in the original trilogy so interesting. For example, humans having just discovered life beyond Earth and Mass Effect technology being so new. If it's set in a far away galaxy, then we'll be separating from the politics in the Milky Way that still have plenty of room to explore. Plus the Milky way is huge. I can understand the need to move to Andromeda to overcome their writing obstacles, but it still feels like missed opportunity. The codex had established that less than 1% of the stars in the Milky Way had been explored at the time of the original trilogy. There's plenty more to explore in our backyard without having to metaphorically travel to Australia. I'm nervous/curious why we even need to go to Andromeda in the first place and how we even get there. Mass Effect's lore indicates that if the Reapers were capable of intergalactic travel it would take them a long time. There's a lot that has me nervous about the game. The original trilogy has made such a profound impact on my life that I'm scared that Andromeda won't live up to what made the originals so special to me. Bioware being so tight lipped about it doesn't help the anxiety, though I might be glad they didn't say much yet. From what little they have told us, Andromeda is going to focus heavily on exploration and discovery, and if that's the case then that sounds really cool and I want to discover the galaxy when I play the game, not when they show things off in the trailer. I think I'm going to treat Andromeda like a spiritual successor or parallel universe to the original trilogy rather than a direct sequel. It'll help me stay open minded about it if I encounter bits I don't like when I play it. Nervous but excited. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ Geoffrey Taucer 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MindWanderer Posted June 17, 2015 Share Posted June 17, 2015 Bioware had stated shortly after the release of ME3 that they did not want to pick a canon ending. That painted them into a huge corner by pretty much restricting any sequels to be prequels, sidequels or sequels set so far in the future and/or far from the Milky Way that the original trilogy doesn't impact the new entry. That would be pretty darn tricky. Option 1 destroyed all AI in the galaxy. That means a huge setback to research and the extermination of the Reapers and Geth. But it's possible to just not mention either of those races and figure it's been a while, we re-invented AI since then. Option 2 created an immortal super-being that commands all AI in the galaxy. There's no way the Reapers would be uninfluential in this new world order. And even if Shepard can't control any AI in Andromeda, anything that was ever in the Milky Way would have felt that control before leaving. Option 3 meant that all organic life became semi-cybernetic. Absolutely no freaking way that wouldn't affect everything that originated in the Milky Way, which N7 did. The only thing I can think of is perhaps a "generation ship" left the Milky Way before the conclusion of ME3 and thus escaped its ramifications. Then this could be centuries later but still be unaffected. Plus the Milky way is huge. I can understand the need to move to Andromeda to overcome their writing obstacles, but it still feels like missed opportunity. The codex had established that less than 1% of the stars in the Milky Way had been explored at the time of the original trilogy. There's plenty more to explore in our backyard without having to metaphorically travel to Australia. I'm nervous/curious why we even need to go to Andromeda in the first place and how we even get there. Mass Effect's lore indicates that if the Reapers were capable of intergalactic travel it would take them a long time.The story has to leave the Milky Way because 1) that's the only way to escape the galaxy-spanning effects of ME3, 2) they hadn't explored very many stars, but they had explored all the mass relays, and 3) the developers felt like they already filled out the "map." I personally think it'll be good to get away from the political structure of the first trilogy, and get into a galaxy with new, powerful races. There will still be echoes of those politics, but they'll be in control of only the local government and not the whole galaxy. Koriantor 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DarkeSword Posted June 17, 2015 Author Share Posted June 17, 2015 They could just also just...change their mind. Just because a writer says they don't want to do something doesn't mean they won't eventually do it if it makes sense. Comic book companies do it all the time. Marvel once said that they'd never crossover 616 and the Ultimate universes, and now they're doing Secret Wars. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nabeel Ansari Posted June 17, 2015 Share Posted June 17, 2015 I'm nervous/curious why we even need to go to Andromeda in the first place and how we even get there. Mass Effect's lore indicates that if the Reapers were capable of intergalactic travel it would take them a long time. Well, first of all, if a game announcement is making you "nervous", that's probably a bit of a health concern, but in any case, there's no grounds for the assumption that people in the Milky Way traveled to Andromeda (instead of the game taking place with people already in Andromeda) or that the Reapers are part of the plot. We know nothing of the game's plot, if it takes place before or after Mass Effect, if that even matters, etc. It's sci-fi. You can do everything in sci-fi writing, especially when you have the multiverse theory, the easiest end-all-be-all for retcons. Regardless of how they justify moving to Andromeda, it's not really going to matter, at all. I doubt the story of the new game will try and heavily tie itself to the original trilogy with intergalactic astropolitical theory. It's probably just going to be some dressed up stuff that boils down to "nothing that happened there matters here" and the game story will be self-contained. Or they simply won't address the original trilogy at all, which in my opinion is a far better and smoother option. Easiest way not to have conflicts in your canon is to not have a canon. Since the original trilogy is the only other entry in the franchise, this is still an option for them (it wouldn't be if it there were more games/stories spread across space and time, like in Star Wars Expanded Universe). As the Zelda timeline showed us, trying to connect all your games with whacky theory is a fun exercise for like 5 minutes. If the game doesn't focus on it (i.e. if Andromeda doesn't directly try to tie itself to the trilogy), neither should you, because you're sidestepping the experience the developers wanted to give you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Koriantor Posted June 17, 2015 Share Posted June 17, 2015 I personally think it'll be good to get away from the political structure of the first trilogy, and get into a galaxy with new, powerful races. There will still be echoes of those politics, but they'll be in control of only the local government and not the whole galaxy. I think this makes sense and is the best direction to go in order to distance themselves from the ramifications of the original trilogy as well as focus on exploration and discovery. Moving to Andromeda means that we get to discover a civilization on the galactic scale similar to discovering the civilization in ME1. If we were to discover civilizations in the Milky Way, they wouldn't feel as grand because we're already familiar with our society which is larger than theirs. (Although I do think it would be interesting to discover species that developed independent of the Mass Relay). They could just also just...change their mind. Just because a writer says they don't want to do something doesn't mean they won't eventually do it if it makes sense. Comic book companies do it all the time. Marvel once said that they'd never crossover 616 and the Ultimate universes, and now they're doing Secret Wars. I agree. I was merely explaining some of their possible reasoning. They wouldn't necessarily even need to change their mind. Rather, they could develop games that explore the results of an ending but maintain that all endings are canon. It would just happen to be that one ending would have more story beyond it. I think it would be interesting to see how the war affected galactic politics and how civilization adapts to the broken relay network. Maybe by trying to rebuild the network they encounter species that were outside the relay network. A species could be aggressive and try to seize power, or maybe some would just want to be included in society. You'd get to play a part in the birth of the new galactic civilization. Won't ever happen, but fascinating to wonder about. Well, first of all, if a game announcement is making you "nervous", that's probably a bit of a health concern, Not sure if you're joking or serious... do you think I'm spending my time screaming and rocking myself for comfort? Imagine you really like to drink coca-cola, and then they announce that they're replacing their formula. It would be very natural for you to be nervous about the new coke. Will the new coke scratch the same itch as your trusty old classic flavor? Maybe, maybe not, but it's enough to cause unease. Feeling uneasy isn't necessarily unhealthy. there's no grounds for the assumption that people in the Milky Way traveled to Andromeda (instead of the game taking place with people already in Andromeda) or that the Reapers are part of the plot. We know nothing of the game's plot, if it takes place before or after Mass Effect, if that even matters, etc. We know that the player character is human, humans end up in Andromeda somehow, and it takes place "long after" the original trilogy. Or they simply won't address the original trilogy at all, which in my opinion is a far better and smoother option. Easiest way not to have conflicts in your canon is to not have a canon. Since the original trilogy is the only other entry in the franchise, this is still an option for them (it wouldn't be if it there were more games/stories spread across space and time, like in Star Wars Expanded Universe). I agree with this for most sequels, and is great topic to explore in other discussion. I think it would be interesting to have more sequels that are similar in style and tone rather than direct continuations of the original, similar to the System Shock series -> Bioshock series. It would be very easy to think of ME:A as a spiritual successor to the original trilogy. I imagine that they'll be trying to separate themselves from the original trilogy so much that it'll pretty much be a spiritual successor. Having said that, there are qualities about Mass Effect that make it Mass Effect. The question is, what are those qualities? ...and more importantly, what does Bioware think those qualities are? One of the obvious ones would be the Mass Effect. What about the tone of the series? What about visual style? Is the music style important to keep? The lore? What bits of the lore? Is it important to be the new kids on the block? What about the level of technology (I'd argue that this is a huge part of Mass Effect)? Does it need to be "hard sci-fi" or can it be lax on its explanations/codex? From what we know, it seems like they've determined that exploration and discovery in a well developed environment is an important part of Mass Effect. I am very much on board with this and this makes me excited to play. However, because they're practically trying to move as far away from the original trilogy as possible (without being a parallel universe. It's confirmed that Andromeda takes place long after the trilogy), it makes me wonder what they're going to drop and what they're going to keep. I could tell you what Mass Effect is to me and all of the bits that I think are uniquely Mass Effect, but I'm not the one developing the game. All I can do is hope that Bioware makes decisions that make Andromeda feel like Mass Effect to me... and that's why I'm excitnervous. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nabeel Ansari Posted June 18, 2015 Share Posted June 18, 2015 We know that the player character is human, humans end up in Andromeda somehow, and it takes place "long after" the original trilogy. Humans in Andromeda =/= Humans traveled from Milky Way Like I said, anything goes in sci-fi. Anything we say right now, however within reason, could be just way off the mark. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
big giant circles Posted June 18, 2015 Share Posted June 18, 2015 What exactly was up with the Johnny Cash trailer? That didn't fit at all to me.At any rate, I'm really excited for the next chapter of the Mass Effect universe. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nabeel Ansari Posted June 18, 2015 Share Posted June 18, 2015 What exactly was up with the Johnny Cash trailer? That didn't fit at all to me. At any rate, I'm really excited for the next chapter of the Mass Effect universe. People are starting to do this song music thing for trailers. Pay Day does it with all their new content releases and their composer custom writes all the tracks in various styles. They're quite good, one of them was 60s rock and roll, and they actually recorded it as such and everything. it's kind of an inverse response to the constant wave of Zimmer-esque cello spiccato synth drudgery. It adds human personality to the trailer's atmosphere. It's becoming a trend of its own, but I'm not complaining. The video game era of 2015 is less brown and less spiccatos. Embrace it! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Koriantor Posted June 18, 2015 Share Posted June 18, 2015 What exactly was up with the Johnny Cash trailer? That didn't fit at all to me. At any rate, I'm really excited for the next chapter of the Mass Effect universe. Could be significance in the lyrics. The ghost riders could be a reference to astronauts. Using a western style song hints at exploring the frontier, which seems to be a huge focus for Andromeda. Personally I disliked the trailer music, but I can respect the artistic choice. Johnny Cash is almost the polar opposite of what I think of when I think of Mass Effect music. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moguta Posted June 20, 2015 Share Posted June 20, 2015 Johnny Cash is almost the polar opposite of what I think of when I think of Mass Effect music. Agreed. Of course, I had great love for the Blade Runner-esque electronic music of the first game. Hope more of that comes back! On the other hand, if we get a Firefly-like musical soundscape, I doubt I'd be dissapointed either. The "ark-ship" theory sounds most plausible. And it'll be great to explore a galaxy that it appears humanity hasn't even stepped foot in before -- not just being new to the galactic community a la Mass Effect 1. Koriantor 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Koriantor Posted June 21, 2015 Share Posted June 21, 2015 The "ark-ship" theory sounds most plausible. I've been thinking about it and this is a really great option. Humanity sends a "just in case" ship out to Andromeda and hope the Reapers don't follow. In order for the Ark to arrive at Andromeda in less than 2 million years it would need to travel at FTL speeds, but I'm sure they can write in a plausible explanation that fits the technology of the time. Based on the FTL technology explained in the codex, my calculations show it would be at the very least almost 100,000 years since the trilogy which easily accomplishes the divorce from the original trilogy. With an Ark ship, you can move the time forward many thousands of years, move very far away from the trilogy, and it would make narrative sense. On top of that you could maintain the same level of technology and the same history from the original trilogy while needing only a minute connection to the original trilogy. I would very much be ok with this. Bioware plz. Geoffrey Taucer 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Geoffrey Taucer Posted June 21, 2015 Share Posted June 21, 2015 It would make perfect sense.But.... I'd hope they would find a way to sneak in a couple other familiar races as well. It just wouldn't be Mass Effect without Krogans or Turians or Asari or Quarians. (Or Geth, but that might require a bit too much of a narrative stretch) Moguta 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moguta Posted June 21, 2015 Share Posted June 21, 2015 Definitely, Taucer. I'd be sad if you didn't start out with some aliens in your crew. Let's hope the ark-ship wasn't entirey an N7 human military endeavor. But the entire idea of an ark is to preserve species and biodiversity, so I think it's more than likely we'll see some Milky Way aliens. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
prophetik music Posted June 22, 2015 Share Posted June 22, 2015 didn't they say that dragon age is in the same world as ME and takes place way after the fact, with different races in ME becoming the different races in DA, and the magic being biot/tech powers realized? i mean, there's already direct correlation in the way the ogres look compared to the yahg. the 'creeping death' that comes from darkspawn blood could just be nanobots that carry some sort of crazy programming or something. i wonder if that's just going to remain a theory or if it'll be realized somehow in the game. Nabeel Ansari 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DarkeSword Posted June 22, 2015 Author Share Posted June 22, 2015 That's probably a fan-theory that doesn't really hold any weight. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MindWanderer Posted June 22, 2015 Share Posted June 22, 2015 That's probably a fan-theory that doesn't really hold any weight. Official answer: Dragon Age is also a video game in the Mass Effect universe. I'm sure there will be Turians and Asari, most likely Salarians. Quarians, maybe. Krogans and Geth wouldn't make a ton of sense--the Salarians would prefer the Krogans to just go extinct, and no one at all was pro-Geth before ME3. (Could easily be a stowaway, though.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nabeel Ansari Posted June 22, 2015 Share Posted June 22, 2015 Official answer: Dragon Age is also a video game in the Mass Effect universe. That's not an official answer, it's BioWare guys joking around in an interview. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
prophetik music Posted June 23, 2015 Share Posted June 23, 2015 nah, if you don't immediately brush it away as fanboyism, it makes a lot more sense than you'd think...more so if you look at the characteristics of the character types, what their abilities are, and how they're realized in-game, and if you consider the green ending to be canon. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Koriantor Posted November 7, 2015 Share Posted November 7, 2015 Happy N7 Day guys! Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah! I love this trailer. It looks like you're getting to Andromeda on an Ark ship, which is what I was hoping for. I love they used femshep's voice. I love the early space exploration footage. I really really like the direction it seems to be headed. I love the focus on exploration. I squeed for a good minute after the trailer. I hope they keep the same musical style from the first trilogy. We haven't heard anything on the music, but it was part of what made the series unique. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.