So Mass Effect Andromeda...

[Kerg3927]

It will be Dragon Age:Inquisition in space

This is my expectation.

I LOVED the Mass Effect trilogy, even with its flaws. The overall story was good if not perfect, the characters were great, the gameplay was fun.

But Bioware seems to have taken a drastic turn with DAI. From what I've read, it looks like it will be more of the same with MEA. I expect a massive open world sand box, broken into huge zones/planets. It will be gorgeous, but it will be all about endless hours exploring in the Mako and doing fetch quests rather than riding an intense roller coaster action/adventure story. Like DAI, I expect the overall story to be shallow and heavily diluted by the open world/fetch quest make-it-as-big-as-possible-so-we-can-brag-about-its-size format.

The characters will be more about making progressive political statements and checking the boxes on the politically correct item list rather than making truly interesting, cool, and badass characters that you grow attached to and enjoy developing and taking on missions (like Garrus, Wrex, Thane...).

I will buy it and check it out because I'm a huge fan of the series, but I am expecting the worst. Maybe I'll be pleasantly surprised. I hope so.

 

[CaitSeith]

I'll wait for reviews. I don't think it will have the hype (and the hate) that ME3 had. No idea what kind of gameplay to expect though; but it would be hilarious if it ended up being an open world survival game.

 

[Kerg3927]

Step 6: Andromeda breaks everyone's GOTY brackets by going on to win it all.

I'm sorry, when did Dragon Age: Inquisition "break everyone's GOTY brackets"? Was this on some bizarro earth?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dragon_Age:_Inquisition#Accolades

I thought it was easily the worst Bioware game ever made, and I've played almost all of them.

One good thing though is that at least Garrus wont be back (I hope) easily one of my least liked characters in gaming, felt good killing him off in 2.

You monster.

 

[pookie101]

im worried its going to include DAI's single player mmo aspects

 

[Recusant]

Mass Effect was not an EA game. Oh, sure, they published it, and I'm sure they tweaked it to at least some degree, but by the time they got involved, the game was mostly finished; it bears almost none of their stamp. And it shows: the game asks us to buy into its one big conceit: the titular mass effect. It extrapolates from that, and assembles a world of what is surprisingly hard sci-fi (with the exception of its view of biology, which apparently was informed by some hallucinogen-induced tastes in porn), especially for a video game; it was clearly very thoroughly thought out.

Mass Effect 2 told us that our scars would heal faster and cleaner if we were nice to people, and leave uglier, more visible marks if we were a jerk.

Mass Effect 3 featured a sword-wielding space ninja who magically survived multiple protracted gunfights, and fell so far from the lofty standards of the first game that the terrible ending actually came as a relief.

If this pattern keeps up, Andromeda 3 will be a crossover game with My Little Pony that will threaten to email your browser's porn history to your relatives if you don't buy its DLC.

 

[BloatedGuppy]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dragon_Age:_Inquisition#Accolades

I thought it was easily the worst Bioware game ever made, and I've played almost all of them.

Oh I'm sure it won SOME accolades. GOTY awards are so ubiquitous that almost every functionally made game wins at least one of them from some backwater publication. MysticSlayer was asserting that it broke "everyone's" brackets by winning GOTY, which implies a universal sweep. Even allowing for the usual 300% internet forum hyperbole modifier, this is too much praise for what was essentially a crapsack game.

 

[Bilious Green_v1legacy]

Personally don't care much I was never a big ME fan, but given that the last genuinely good game Bioware made was ME2, I have no expectations that it will be better than middling. I'd say that those predicting DAI in space are probably not far off the money. Of course it will get showered with praise by the gaming press, as most mediocre big budget spectacles do, but I'll be waiting to see what the small handful of critics I actually trust not to bullshit have to say about it. Even then, I might wait for a price drop; after Inquisition I vowed never to pay full price for a Bioware game again.

 

[Saetha]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dragon_Age:_Inquisition#Accolades

I thought it was easily the worst Bioware game ever made, and I've played almost all of them.

Oh I'm sure it won SOME accolades. GOTY awards are so ubiquitous that almost every functionally made game wins at least one of them from some backwater publication. MysticSlayer was asserting that it broke "everyone's" brackets by winning GOTY, which implies a universal sweep. Even allowing for the usual 300% internet forum hyperbole modifier, this is too much praise for what was essentially a crapsack game.

From what I understand, Inquisition did win a fair amount of GOTYs. From what I also understand, this is mainly chalked up to the fact that 2014 didn't see a lot of major releases, and that if Inquisition had been up against 2015's competition, it probably wouldn't have won much.

That being said, Inquisition's the sort of game that pains me because I want to like it, and sometimes I even do - sometimes I love it, even. But those brief spots of excitement are buried under so much tedious crap that it's difficult for me to go "Inquisition is a good game." Bioware announcing that they were keeping DA:I's open-world for Andromeda damaged my confidence more than anything else they've said about it, since the open-world was Inquisition's worst feature, and really brought it down as a whole, IMO.

 

[BloatedGuppy]

That being said, Inquisition's the sort of game that pains me because I want to like it, and sometimes I even do - sometimes I love it, even. But those brief spots of excitement are buried under so much tedious crap that it's difficult for me to go "Inquisition is a good game." Bioware announcing that they were keeping DA:I's open-world for Andromeda damaged my confidence more than anything else they've said about it, since the open-world was Inquisition's worst feature, and really brought it down as a whole, IMO.

I concur. Hearing they wanted to make Andromeda more like DA:I made me cringe.

Unlike you, time has only calcified my dislike for DA:I. All I can remember from my time playing it was a mixture of frustration, irritation and profound disappointment. I could spend a day detailing all the many reasons I think the game was terrible, from story to tone to pacing to game play. I actually find it very difficult to single out things worthy of praise. The graphics are lovely, but feel rather static to me after Witcher 3 (and are plagued with technical issues). The voice acting was spot-on and the music was good. I'll give it that. I liked Solas.

Virtually EVERYTHING ELSE merits savaging, imo. What's so galling about it isn't that it was an ambitious game undone by a lack of developer talent. It's a soulless, designed-by-committee exercise in feature creep and slipshod craftsmanship. They've never had the slightest idea what they want Dragon Age to be, from the moment the franchise was birthed with Origins, and it shows. I wish they'd just retire it already. Give me Jade Empire 2.

 

[Barbas]

I do not care. Mass Effect was an opened and closed book. I enjoyed playing it, but it is done and time to move on.

 

[linwolf]

Don't really care must about it. DA:O is on my favorite games of all time list and ME1 on my favorite rpg list. I have left both DA:I and ME 3 unfinished due to boredom without plans to go back to them. As far as I know what I like and what Bioware likes putting in their games does no longer have any overlap.

 

[Bilious Green_v1legacy]

Virtually EVERYTHING ELSE merits savaging, imo. What's so galling about it isn't that it was an ambitious game undone by a lack of developer talent. It's a soulless, designed-by-committee exercise in feature creep and slipshod craftsmanship. They've never had the slightest idea what they want Dragon Age to be, from the moment the franchise was birthed with Origins, and it shows. I wish they'd just retire it already. Give me Jade Empire 2.

Actually, I think the original dev team knew exactly what they wanted it to be - a modern reimagining of Baldur's Gate for the PC. But when EA arrived, they wanted console focused games for the mass market, rather than for the hardcore CRPG crowd. Ever since, DA has been caught between the vision of its original creators and the corporate executives who only care about console sales. The shift from a mouse based tactical RPG in Origins, through to a controller oriented action adventure game in DAI is a pretty clear medication of the direction EA us pushing Bioware.

 

[BloatedGuppy]

...is a pretty clear medication of the direction EA us pushing Bioware.

EA isn't "pushing" Bioware anywhere. Bioware does not exist as a distinct entity from EA any more than Maxis does. The original creators and staff are long gone. It's EA's RPG division now.

As for DA:O...it was sold to us as dark/gritty/political fantasy in the vein of A Song of Ice and Fire, and when it eventually arrived it was a standard Boy's Own Adventure story about a horde of underground monsters. Every time the series brushes up against something interesting or "mature", such as the Qunari, or the Templar/Mage conflict, it either recoils and takes a hard right turn into "demons are raining from the sky" or it grossly simplifies everything with the introduction of an evil artifact that turned everyone insane or some other gibberish.

The first game is by far the best, but it's always been a cowardly, janky series, and I'm getting really tired of it. I never thought I'd say this, but EA is capable of better work than this. Just put it to bed already.

 

[Hades]

I still can't generate any hype for it. That you're still to play as a human, the most boring race around is a real downer. I really don't see a logical reason for that.

I'm also kinda done with Mass effect. It ended. It ended pitifully too but that's only half the issue. I don't think there's a lot left to do with the Mass Effect universe. You can't top the reapers and focusing on them again is problematic considering star brat crippled their credibility.

 

[MysticSlayer]

I'm sorry, when did Dragon Age: Inquisition "break everyone's GOTY brackets"? Was this on some bizarro earth?

Here on The Escapist actually. I remember during the whole GOTY voting how many people were complaining about Inquisition breaking their bracket every time it won a round. They thought, because of the noise on the forum, that it had no chance of getting far, much less winning, as it eventually did.

Also, is this where we're at with DA:I now? Hand-waving any criticism as the work of a tiny, noisy cabal, and hailing it as an underappreciated classic?

Hardly. I have my own criticisms of Dragon Age: Inquisition. It's more poking fun at the overblown hatred around pretty much anything BioWare now, especially from those eagerly counting down the days until BioWare closes, despite the fact Inquisition was BioWare's greatest success [http://www.pcgamer.com/dragon-age-inquisition-had-most-successful-launch-in-bioware-history/] and that it won about a dozen GOTY awards, was nominated for more, and won plenty of other, lesser awards.

Say what you will about BioWare, but despite their faults, they're not exactly pushing out awful games no one buys or likes anymore. As far as I can tell, the general view of them is significantly more positive than what many "trve, hardcore RPG" fans give the impression of.

 

[BloatedGuppy]

Say what you will about BioWare, but despite their faults, they're not exactly pushing out awful games no one buys or likes anymore. As far as I can tell, the general view of them is significantly more positive than what many "trve, hardcore RPG" fans give the impression of.

I have no time for "trve, hardcore RPG fans" either, and have spent much energy arguing against grognards who seem to feel good RPG development stopped in the late 90's. I also think Bioware is a perfectly CAPABLE developer, if a much reduced one from their heyday. If I didn't feel they were capable of delivering much, much better than their recent efforts, I wouldn't bother hectoring them.

 

[Kerg3927]

I'm sorry, when did Dragon Age: Inquisition "break everyone's GOTY brackets"? Was this on some bizarro earth?

Here on The Escapist actually. I remember during the whole GOTY voting how many people were complaining about Inquisition breaking their bracket every time it won a round. They thought, because of the noise on the forum, that it had no chance of getting far, much less winning, as it eventually did.

Also, is this where we're at with DA:I now? Hand-waving any criticism as the work of a tiny, noisy cabal, and hailing it as an underappreciated classic?

Hardly. I have my own criticisms of Dragon Age: Inquisition. It's more poking fun at the overblown hatred around pretty much anything BioWare now, especially from those eagerly counting down the days until BioWare closes, despite the fact Inquisition was BioWare's greatest success [http://www.pcgamer.com/dragon-age-inquisition-had-most-successful-launch-in-bioware-history/] and that it won about a dozen GOTY awards, was nominated for more, and won plenty of other, lesser awards.

Say what you will about BioWare, but despite their faults, they're not exactly pushing out awful games no one buys or likes anymore. As far as I can tell, the general view of them is significantly more positive than what many "trve, hardcore RPG" fans give the impression of.

Here's how I think it went down...

DAI came out in late November 2014. It was immensely hyped. It had gorgeous graphics. It was huge as promised. And unfortunately this is a day and age where visuals and world size creates more buzz than quality of gameplay. It unsurprisingly sold a lot of copies on launch. It was a massive game that took most people weeks or even months to fully play through. All of the GotY awards were awarded at the end of the year shortly after launch, before the majority of players had fully digested the game. Then came the backlash, which was magnified several months later when Witcher 3 came out, a game that was very much like DAI, but better in every way. But by then, the awards had already been handed out and sales had already been rung up.

Just speculation, but I think gamers will be more guarded in purchasing MAE at launch. And I think critics will be more, uh, critical, because they ended up looking silly after rushing to give out their GotY award to a game that ended up being disliked by a seemingly large percentage of the people who actually played it.

 

[DoPo]

As for DA:O...it was sold to us as dark/gritty/political fantasy in the vein of A Song of Ice and Fire, and when it eventually arrived it was a standard Boy's Own Adventure story about a horde of underground monsters.

Dunno, seems exactly like BioWare to me.

Every time the series brushes up against something interesting or "mature", such as the Qunari, or the Templar/Mage conflict, it either recoils and takes a hard right turn into "demons are raining from the sky" or it grossly simplifies everything with the introduction of an evil artifact that turned everyone insane or some other gibberish.

Yep, BioWare. They have a..."soft spot", let's say for this kind of story. Or you might call all of their stories are that. To be honest, their writing is good but they've been re-weaving the same threads with a different facade for a while. It makes it all so predictable. At least they are willing to leave their safe place with sequels and expansions, yet, amusingly, they always go the more action-y root.

 

[09philj]

Indifferent. I would probably get right back into Mass Effect were I to play it, but equally I don't feel I need to play it. I had an amazing adventure that spanned three games. It's now over. There's no compelling reason to go back.

 

[DrownedAmmet]

It will be Dragon Age:Inquisition in space

This is my expectation.

I LOVED the Mass Effect trilogy, even with its flaws. The overall story was good if not perfect, the characters were great, the gameplay was fun.

But Bioware seems to have taken a drastic turn with DAI. From what I've read, it looks like it will be more of the same with MEA. I expect a massive open world sand box, broken into huge zones/planets. It will be gorgeous, but it will be all about endless hours exploring in the Mako and doing fetch quests rather than riding an intense roller coaster action/adventure story. Like DAI, I expect the overall story to be shallow and heavily diluted by the open world/fetch quest make-it-as-big-as-possible-so-we-can-brag-about-its-size format.

The characters will be more about making progressive political statements and checking the boxes on the politically correct item list rather than making truly interesting, cool, and badass characters that you grow attached to and enjoy developing and taking on missions (like Garrus, Wrex, Thane...).

I will buy it and check it out because I'm a huge fan of the series, but I am expecting the worst. Maybe I'll be pleasantly surprised. I hope so.

Fuck you guys. You are probably right, but fuck I hope you're wrong. I'm still excited for the damn game, I'm just hoping against hope that it's not the same mineral gathering snoozefest that Inquisition was.
I also hope that they don't continue to use that "power" or "galactic rediness" system like in Inquisition or ME3. I want my choices to make an actual difference and not fill some stupid meter