The Mass Effect: Andromeda EA/Origin Access Will Limit Your Access to the Campaign

[ffronw]

The Mass Effect: Andromeda EA/Origin Access Will Limit Your Access to the Campaign

EA and Origin Access members will get access to 10 hours of Mass Effect: Andromeda early, but their campaign progress will be limited.

We've known for a while now that EA and Origin Access members will get 10 hours of early access to Mass Effect: Andromeda [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/169343-Mass-Effect-Andromeda-10-Hour-Early-Play-for-EA-Access-Origin-Access]. We didn't know what form that 10 hours was going to take until this past weekend. You'll be able to play all the multiplayer that you want, but you will only be able to progress to a certain point in the campaign before you're blocked from continuing.

The news comes from a Tweet by Andromeda producer Fernando Melo. Over the weekend, he wrote,

[tweet t=https://twitter.com/DiscoBabaloo/status/838192831890087938]

So you can replay the limited portion of the campaign you have access to, but that time spent replaying will count as part of your 10 hours.

Also over the weekend, Melo showed off a few of the rewards you can earn in multiplayer missions. These "Pathfinder rewards" will basically grant you loot boxes. As you can see in the tweet below, there are at least two types of boxes: the Gold Item Loot Box and the Research Data Loot Box (Melo also tweeted [https://twitter.com/DiscoBabaloo/status/838554299806404609] that there will be no microtransactions in single-player).

[tweet t=https://twitter.com/DiscoBabaloo/status/838545536626081792]

If you're groaning about having to finish multiplayer missions for single-player rewards, fear not. Lead Designer Ian Frazier tweeted last night [https://twitter.com/tibermoon/status/838562308834066432] that you'll be able to send AI strike teams to finish those missions to earn the rewards in single-player, or you can choose to complete them yourself in multiplayer to earn rewards in both modes.

Mass Effect: Andromeda will launch March 21 for PC, PS4, and Xbox One.

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Permalink

 

[Sniper Team 4]

Hold it. I do believe the game releases this month, March 21st. Not April.

I wonder how far they will actually let you go in single player. I highly doubt it's all the way up to a ten hour point, but if it's only, say, an hour I'd feel kind of cheated. But I don't have Origin, so I'm waiting either way.

 

[mad825]

And this is why the majority of release dates are bullshit. Even though the consumer base is opting for digital distribution, it still has all the bells and whistles to manipulate them.

 

[008Zulu_v1legacy]

Sending AI to complete multiplayer for you... I thought onling gaming frowned upon bot usage?

 

[Saelune]

Whatever happened to that Mass Effect game? That was alot of fun. Shame they never made more.

What? But they made 2 sequels and working on a new one?

No, those are different games. I still want a sequel to Mass Effect.

 

[josemlopes]

If the trial is limited in content why not just use a normal demo?

 

[FalloutJack]

Not that I was planning on getting this game, but I detest any interference with single player, overall. So basically...no. No, and fuck off.

 

[gigastar]

Good job EA. Totally making that pre order and subscription service worthwhile.

Hold it. I do believe the game releases this month, March 21st. Not April.

Lets be real for a moment, does anyone really care that its even coming out?

 

[Lightspeaker]

(Melo also tweeted [https://twitter.com/DiscoBabaloo/status/838554299806404609] that there will be no microtransactions in single-player).

I find it very distasteful that they specify "no microtransactions in single-player". As if its a given that OF COURSE they'll be in multiplayer but that single player microtransactions were, of course, a possibility. I know they had them in ME3 Multiplayer but still...

Not that I was planning on getting this game, but I detest any interference with single player, overall. So basically...no. No, and fuck off.

It's likely to help stop people from ruining the story for everyone else.

Fans will google the game a lot before release, increasing the chance of spoilers.

But this wouldn't be the Escapist without commenters overreacting about almost everything.

Pretty sure when he says "interference" he means the multiplayer/singleplayer crossover.

And tbh the automated system they mention makes it sound like the DAI thing which...wasn't great. :-\

 

[weirdee]

Sending AI to complete multiplayer for you... I thought onling gaming frowned upon bot usage?

this would only be the case in competitive multiplayer

 

[Elijin]

I don't understand the problem.

Its an early access / trial. Understandable they're limiting what you can do. Nor do I see the problem with missions. For those who don't want to play MP, it will obviously be a squad management vs time thing, where you pick a squad and send them away to complete a mission. It will take x amount of time, and may have varying chances of failure or extra loot based on the level of that AI squad, which will probably increase as more missions are completed this way.

Its....its a pretty inoffensive feature to get upset about. But hey, this is Mass Effect and Escapist, I don't know what I expected.

 

[loa]

Does that thing have a demo?
Because this is what we call a "demo".

 

[Anomynous 167]

I don't understand the problem.

Its an early access / trial. Understandable they're limiting what you can do. Nor do I see the problem with missions. For those who don't want to play MP, it will obviously be a squad management vs time thing, where you pick a squad and send them away to complete a mission. It will take x amount of time, and may have varying chances of failure or extra loot based on the level of that AI squad, which will probably increase as more missions are completed this way.

Its....its a pretty inoffensive feature to get upset about. But hey, this is Mass Effect and Escapist, I don't know what I expected.

Aye, for that matter I didn't know what "Ea/Origin Access" was and the article just looked like a fumblely title saying that those with Origin accounts won't be able to finish the game. Which sounded confusing for why'd they do that.

As for the Multiplayer thing and sending in AI teams. It reminds me of Yatzhee's idea on what to do with Witcher 3's sidequests on his Extra Punctuation. http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/video-games/columns/extra-punctuation/17273-How-You-Fix-RPG-Sidequests

 

[008Zulu_v1legacy]

Although, it's hard to imagine the multiplayer content adding anything substantial to the singleplayer campaign. Especially if playing multiplayer isn't even needed.

In ME3, if you did a lot of MP, the War Bonus it added meant you could skip a lot of the side-quests in game. Perhaps MEA uses a similar function.

 

[major_chaos]

I still want a sequel to Mass Effect.

What about ME1 drives people like this? I can't imagine it was the puddle shallow RPG elements, or the godawful dud of a combat system, or the tedious completely unrewarding inventory management, or the shitty sidequests that all took place in the same 3 recycled buildings, or the complete nonentity's that were the supposed to be the antagonists till the second to last mission, so what was it?

Lets be real for a moment, does anyone really care that its even coming out?

You are gonna be super dissapointed on the 23rd unless the reviews end up unexpectedly dire. No one outside of here /v/ r/games, ect. actually cares about the "ermahgerd Bioware sux now" club. The mainstream audience that makes up the bulk of AAA videogame sales is still super hyped for a new Mass Effect.

OT: Good? Why are people complaining about this? It's hard enough to avoid dickweeds spamming spoilers all over the place, last thing we need is to give them a head start. Worst case scenario I blitz through the available SP content in a few hours, but if the MP is anything like ME3's then I could easily spend 10 hours on that alone.

 

[pookie101]

what i expected with it gated off and yay dont have to do multiplayer but i can send ai to do it instead.

they just released the last AI video so if you plan to get the game at some point, dont forget to watch the 6 videos on the mass effect website where you will get a helmet you will put n your character once and never touch again

personally im slightly optimistic to see the finished result and thats even with the ending of ME3 and how mmo like dai turned out... please no war table where the ai has all the fun and you get to see the clock count down

 

[Dalisclock]

Whew. I was worried you had to have EA Access/Origin to unlock the campaign. It turns out it's just a glorified Demo.

And also, thank god for not having to play MP to advance the SP mode like ME3 tried to do.