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MASS EFFECT: ANDROMEDA – Gameplay Series #2: Characters

B

Bisnic

Really Really Exciting Member!
caliph95 said:
As we know so far, there are likely a lot more.
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"Likely a lot more"? Where are you getting that? ME2 was the only one with a ridiculous number of companions.

Maybe one or two DLC characters later this year or the next, but we're pretty much only at 6 for now.
 
L

lucebuce12

Member
Judging from what we've heard from the devs, each character is more fleshed out than any other companion in previous Bioware games so that's just fine.

Quality > Quantity when it comes to companions.
 
E

EatChildren

Currently polling second in Australia's federal election (first in the Gold Coast), this feral may one day be your Bogan King.
gif5asgw.gif
 
F

Familienoberhauptvogel

Banned
They revealed all DAI companions before the game released. Wouldn't be surprised those are all we get. If it means all of them are as good as the best from ME2 I'd be down with it. Quality over quantity especially since most people are going to default to 2 anyways.

There might also be a bunch of characters you can't take with you like Inquisition had.
 
T

Tyraniboah

Member
Metroidvania said:
Huh.

Gonna be kind of odd if we hit higher levels, and the companions are just sitting there with a whole bunch of level points they can't spend.

Also, if it's really just AI decision-making for the use of biotics, they'd better be way better at that decision-making.

At least the Favorites button also auto-switches profiles, that'd be a pain if it didn't.



I'm guessing it's somewhat similar to DA:I, where you're limited to certain 'base' regions of the map (or maybe the nomad) in order to do so, but I don't think we know for sure.

edit:

Also, while I can't be sure if didn't get destroyed manually, if it didn't, the second the profile switches, the assault drone looks like it explodes.

Probably a good idea to avoid stacking battlefield modifiers, I suppose.
Click to expand...

My guess would be that the squadmates don't get as many points on leveling up as Ryder does.


I like the way this game is looking. I loved the trilogy, but I was not expecting much from Andromeda since a lot of "old Bioware" has moved on. The past two videos have increased my excitement exponentially. I'll be playing just this game for most of the year. Can't wait for multiplayer either


Edit: I'm also hoping we get to see other races from the milky way. It'd make a whole lot of sense to me if the Quarians sent a fair amount of their people over to seek a new home since, at the time of departure, Rannoch was still run by the Geth. I'm sure we'll see Salarians in some capacity. They can leave the Vorcha and Batarians though.

I haven't seen every video for this game so perhaps I missed the inclusion of other races already
 
B

Bubble

Neo Member
6 companions is the perfect amount (8 at max) for me.

I like the companions in ME2 and all, but it felt bloated and too much at times, even without the DLC characters. So Bioware going back to 6 like in the first ME is a good thing.
 
R

RedlineRonin

Member
Bubble said:
6 companions is the perfect amount (8 at max) for me.

I like the companions in ME2 and all, but it felt bloated and too much at times, even without the DLC characters. So Bioware going back to 6 like in the first ME is a good thing.
Click to expand...

Totally disagree. I thought every character was super well developed in ME2 to the point where none of them were throw away. I wanted to take every one of them on every mission because they were that good. I'm honestly kind of bummed there are only going to be six, and they clearly seem to be more limited from a moveset perspective than what they were in previous games
 
T

texhnolyze

Banned
Reading the title, I was too afraid to watch due to spoilers.

But it turned out about combat system still. Looking good, anyway.
 
B

Back-In-Black

Banned
Darkstorne said:
My biggest wish for Bioware games going forwards is for them to find a way to take all characters into battle. They don't have the excuse of "it would be too difficult for the game to render all the characters at once" these days, yet we keep up this tacit agreement to pretend it makes sense to only take two or three companions with us at a time in Bioware games.

"Alistair, Morrigan, Dog, come with me to help defend Redcliff from an invading undead army. Sten, Wynne, Lelianna, Shale, Zevran, Oghren, you guys toast some marshmallows around the fire until we get back."

I was SO happy during Mass Effect 2's grand finale, the suicide mission, because the game found a way to utilize ALL of the companions in that final battle. Even though I only had two in my party, they all made their presence felt, and they were all contributing to the task at hand in a believable way. And until Bioware can figure out a way to make that happen throughout most of a game, their "Bioware model" for game design will continue to feel slightly archaic and stuck in a rut to me. It's like they can't think out of the box any more. Their games will always have multiple companions, with most of them being told to do nothing at all for large chunks of the game for no logical reason other than "vidya games", and their stories will consist of a linear beginning, a multi-choice mid-section, and a linear end.

As much as I love the worlds they create, I'm getting worried with their approach to game design.
Click to expand...

That would be pretty hard to balance.

dave is ok said:
What are the Vegas odds on a day one paid DLC companion?
Click to expand...

Considering Inquisition had none and they realized the mistake of doing that before, close to none.
 
D

Denzar

Member
Un4 said:
No, but the screenshot kinda implies we only have 6 to choose from.
Click to expand...

Sub_Level said:
6 companions would be in line with ME1 and vanilla ME3 so wouldn't surprise me if thats it.
Click to expand...

And none, except for Jaal, look visually appealing to me. Here's hoping their personalities save the day!

Really, really wish there was a Salarian squad mate. Too bad they scrapped the idea of the captain being in your party. I just like the Salarian race design a whole lot.

Is there any news on DLC characters? I'm not a supporter of DLC characters at all. I'm just curious.

Didn't have Zaeed at all during my ME OG trilogy playthrough.
 
Sub_Level

Sub_Level

wants to fuck an Asian grill.
dave is ok said:
What are the Vegas odds on a day one paid DLC companion?

ME2 had Jaeed and Kasumi and ME3 had Javik right?
Click to expand...

Some of Javik was also on disc as salt in the wound. AND he helped flesh out the story, a department in which me3 was lacking. DLC Javik was a horrible decision.

If they do that it will be pretty messed up. I see the chances of that as very low, tho.
 
Zok310

Zok310

Banned
shinobi602 said:
From some personal hands-on, the enemies can be relentless and tough as hell. I bet Mac was playing on "narrative" difficulty here to specifically show off the mechanics and not bother with actually fighting to survive.
Click to expand...

on the narrative setting the ai looks pretty bad, no cover, no abilities being used against you just run up and shoot. The fiend was just a walking cinder block. But that's with any game where the difficulty is set to low or medium. Hard looks like the way to go, hopefully its not the same ai with more shields.

Other than that this game looks wild, can't wait.
 
S

SoRuffShoNuff

Member
Darkstorne said:
My biggest wish for Bioware games going forwards is for them to find a way to take all characters into battle. They don't have the excuse of "it would be too difficult for the game to render all the characters at once" these days, yet we keep up this tacit agreement to pretend it makes sense to only take two or three companions with us at a time in Bioware games.

"Alistair, Morrigan, Dog, come with me to help defend Redcliff from an invading undead army. Sten, Wynne, Lelianna, Shale, Zevran, Oghren, you guys toast some marshmallows around the fire until we get back."

I was SO happy during Mass Effect 2's grand finale, the suicide mission, because the game found a way to utilize ALL of the companions in that final battle. Even though I only had two in my party, they all made their presence felt, and they were all contributing to the task at hand in a believable way. And until Bioware can figure out a way to make that happen throughout most of a game, their "Bioware model" for game design will continue to feel slightly archaic and stuck in a rut to me. It's like they can't think out of the box any more. Their games will always have multiple companions, with most of them being told to do nothing at all for large chunks of the game for no logical reason other than "vidya games", and their stories will consist of a linear beginning, a multi-choice mid-section, and a linear end.

As much as I love the worlds they create, I'm getting worried with their approach to game design.
Click to expand...

That final mission was a 100% focused task with set pass/fail parameters. Making an entire game in the vein of that mission takes away player choice as there are characters that obviously need to do certain tasks. For example if there is a stealth portion you would need to assign the stealthy character to it, if something requires biotics you can't use your weapons expert. Creating an entire game like that INCREASES the linearity.

And you would have to have missions where the group is separated because in the case of ME2 you would have 14 characters on the battlefield at once. You can't have 14 characters out in a battle unless you change the game into an RTS.
 
S

Scrotum Phillips

Member
Looking good. Was worried this would be spoilerish based on the title, but seeing the combat in action is something i really don't mind seeing in advance.

I preordered this and Horizon for that $15 back deal on PSN. It's going to be a hell of a month.

Not related to this video, but are they still planning on doing a multiplayer beta? I filled out pages and pages of questions months ago to sign up and I haven't heard one thing about it.
 
Z

Zyae

Member
so I understand the favorites change your power load outs, but can you change profiles with them as well?
 
digoutyoursoul

digoutyoursoul

Member
Was hoping for a Drell or Quarian squadmate, not feeling the final ones much so far, the Krogan and Asari a little but that's about it.
 
M

matrix-cat

Member
I have no idea why this trailer is called 'Characters' when it's just combat again. Also no idea why they've apparently split the skills up into 'Combat, Tech and Biotics' when all of those are used for combat. Shouldn't it be Firearms, Tech and Biotics?
 
D

DerZuhälter

Member
Why is the trailer called "Characters" when it's clearly just another "Combat" trailer in disguise?

Graphically what's been shown so far looks quite drab in terms of design and look. Don't like it at all.
 
prag16

prag16

Banned
Liking what I'm seeing. Still skeptical about the inability to command squad powers (we'll see how "smart" they are in their situational awareness, etc). But willing to give the benefit of the doubt because the combat looks fun. I was skeptical about the profile/favorites system at first but looks like it should be fine.

DerZuhälter;230860376 said:
Why is the trailer called "Characters" when it's clearly just another "Combat" trailer in disguise?
Click to expand...

This is the "gameplay series" of videos. If you wanted info on story related content with regard to the characters, this probably wasn't the video you were looking for.
 
D

Darkstorne

Member
SoRuffShoNuff said:
That final mission was a 100% focused task with set pass/fail parameters. Making an entire game in the vein of that mission takes away player choice as there are characters that obviously need to do certain tasks. For example if there is a stealth portion you would need to assign the stealthy character to it, if something requires biotics you can't use your weapons expert. Creating an entire game like that INCREASES the linearity.

And you would have to have missions where the group is separated because in the case of ME2 you would have 14 characters on the battlefield at once. You can't have 14 characters out in a battle unless you change the game into an RTS.
Click to expand...

Disagree. It doesn't have to be as scripted as Mass 2's ending was. Just need to find a way to ensure the characters you don't take in your immediate party find a way to contribute in other ways. Maybe some of them stay on the ship and provide recon assistance. Maybe stealthy characters can scout ahead and create the odd distraction in battle. Sniper characters can hang back and provide covering fire every now and again. Even if they just work as low-cooldown super abilities in battles it would help sell the idea of a whole team working together, rather than most of your team doing nothing at all.

I'm not expecting fully scripted events like Mass 2's ending all the time (though building those sections into core story events would be awesome). But I'm also not okay to give them a pass for having you leave two thirds of your elite team back for no good reason at all.
 
J

Jarmel

Banned
That favorite aspect looks really clumsy. Seems like a lot of unnecessary switching back and forth.

It's obviously done to get around the limitations of the controller but is probably going to be hampering on the PC.
 
C

Confidence Man

Member
Disappointing to see only three active skills for squad members. In general I don't like that your character has pretty much no restrictions on what they can do while your party is just backup with a paltry few abilities. Maybe by Mass Effect 6 they'll get back to having your squad be as integral and contributive as the player.
 
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