If so, cool. I really wanted a new canon or default main character since I used dutch model Shepard for most of my Mass Effect playthroughs.

What do you guys think? They seem to make a big deal out of ending the ''trailer'' on this shot so it seems pretty likely this is the new default MC.

Edit: Full video:

That definitely seemed like a new main character shot to me, and I'd be totally down. A total shot in the dark, but I also immediately thought of Claudia Black. That would be a pretty dope voice to listen to across a new trilogy.

Claudia Black has too much character in her voice. By that, I mean that she usually gets cast as the femme fatale or hard-boiled lady. A character like Shepard would need a voice and an actor that can steer more towards more neutral ground.

With that said, I'm all for it. Though that character seems young, so I figure s/he's of lesser rank.

I don't really care what the new lead will look like. If it's a proper Mass Effect game, I'll create my own character. Several times. A couple dudes, a couple girls, hopefully they'll allow non-binary genders as well though I think that's doubtful.

I do wish we lived 10 years in the future though. Right now, it seems some games force pick a female lead specifically to pick a female lead. I get that it's positive discrimination and all that, but I wish we were already at the point of it being a normal thing that didn't need forcing.

I'm just going to recreate the old male Shepard as best i can in the new Mass Effect game, and play as them.

Could be. My MC, however, will look like Denzel Washington with stubble, just like my Shepard.

Seriously. I'm still very miffed that we're once again restricted to that of a human. Not only would it be awesome to play as such an iconic race like an Asari or Turian from a narrative perspective, but this would also force them to actually diversify the appearance of the races courtesy of the character creator. Instead of having all Turians look the exact same minus their skin patterns. Inquisition introduced a lot of variety to how the Qunari could look thanks to its character creator.

Being able to play multiple races would be a terrible idea from a narrative standpoint. It bearly worked in Dragon age and the protagonist in that game was super blend because the writing was spread too tin across different races and origin stories. I much prefer a more focused approach with humans as MC and other races represented through squad members.

I get some people really like their character creators too but I find that I can't come close to matching the quality of a really good default look. I'm glad they seem to be sticking to that default idea for Andromeda. That way I get the best looking character and I see her (presumably) in all the trailers too!

"We at EA have found out that almost 100% of our players are human. We're keen to tap that demographic."

I doubt it, she looks a bit too much like the nerdy/scientist type.

I have made the same MC in every ME game and will continue to do so.

Looks like a rookie scientist, so I guess that'd fit?

Hopefully they go the Dragon Age Inquisition route and let you play whatever you want.

In Origins at least the multiple races were handled really well, because they didn't infringe too much on the overall story but there was still plenty of references and such to still make you feel like you're playing a dwarf or an elf. Not to mention unique dialogue you could choose depending on your race also, as well the added bit of character to sequences like returning to Orzammar as a dwarf - of either Commoner or Royalty origin. We've alreadyhad three bloody games where you play as the most boring race amidst a galaxy of weird sci-fi people, so I would have hoped that anything beyond that would actually allow a little more roleplaying to the proceedings.

@apothaeos: It would silly for them to force you play a race that isn't human. Why would you go Asari, Turian or Salarian over the other 2? Why not Krogan? Humans are the only ones that make sense for a situation where you can't choose.

I want to play as a geth and only respond in left-trigger / right-trigger.

@yummylee: I don't know about you but I remember jack shit about my character in Dragon Age origin. He was a noble black dwarf with dreads, that's about it. Focusing a single species for the role of protagonist enabled Bioware to infuse a lot more personality into Shepard than with the DA:O protagonist. I personnaly like my characters to have some character and it's just not possible when you have to take into account the 3 different ways they might feel about any given issue depending on their species.

Also from gamespot:

The trailer featured a female protagonist waking up in the ship

And

Fans of the series may have discovered that the protagonist of Andromeda will be called Rider. A dog-tag in the N7 Day trailer featured the word "RYDER" or "RIDER."

It is also speculated the main character could be named after Sally Ride, the first American woman in space. This would fit in with the naming of the original trilogy's protagonist, who was named Shepard after the first American man in space, Alan Shepard.

I'd take that gamespot article with a grain of salt. I agree that this image is very likely the protagonist, but that GS article also says the game takes place "millions of years in the future," which is clearly a misquote of Aaryn Flynn saying the game takes place millions of lightyears away in the Andromeda galaxy. I wouldn't really count on it as a definitely source of information.

I definitely think it would be cool to play as another race, but I have to agree with this comparison. As much as it's the weakest overall game in the series, Hawke from Dragon Age 2 is actually my favorite DA protagonist. With that character having a lot more preset characteristics (human from Loethering with an established family), they were able to inject a lot more personality into the character while still giving you freedom to shape him/her in your own way. Jo Wyatt is also an amazing voice actress.

Okay, I laughed.

Because, and I don't want to assume anything about you but, I'm human. That kind of gives that species an edge when you have to decide which one will be the one for your relatable main character.

but how does she dance?

Whether or not the MC has character is down to the writers, not having to account for multiple variables. Yes, there has to be more writing, but there's no reason why a new Mass Effect protagonist couldn't have just as much personality as Shepard despite having to account for whether he or she is an Asari or a Turian. And to be quite frank, Shepard wasn't an especially interesting character anyway. I had much more attachment to the 5 or so characters I made in Origins because how much more malleable they were, as opposed to Shepard who got more and more pre-determined per game. Hell in ME3 Shepard would speak for him/herself for like 40% of the dialogue, which was ludicrous.

They wouldn't even need to hire multiple voice actors like in Inquisition, they could just have the one male, one female, and then apply filters depending on the race. Deepen it up for a Krogan, heighten it for a Salarian ect.

Bet money she dances exactly like Shepard.

@crithon: Like a boss then?

@yummylee: I guess we'll just have to agree to disagree. Bioware doesn't have infinite ressources to make this game and I like that they're focusing on humans instead of spreading themselves too tin.

Doesnt really matter to me since i'll just build my own dude

That was somewhat misleading. You actually have a bit more control over Shepard's dialogue in ME3 than it seems like you do. A lot of the dialogue choices are you choosing a branch for the conversation that results in a back and forth between Shepard and the other character(s). You may only make one dialogue choice that results in Shepard saying a lot more than a single line, but you've chosen the direction the conversation goes. There are certainly instances where Shepard speaks pre-determined dialogue that you have no control over, but many cases of Shepard "talking on autopilot" are actually lines determined by a dialogue choice you've made earlier in the conversation.

With a story about going into another galaxy, they can let you create an alien player-character without needed to craft an elaborate intro or have things be different throughout. It's different than the old Mass Effect, where a big part of the first one was being the first human Spectre, and then having that character's story carry forward into the trilogy.

Asari, quarian, turian, human; they'd all be in the same boat in Andromeda: settlers from the Milky Way. If ever there was a time where it'd make sense to let you create a non-human main character, it'd be here.

So it's the same as it was in DAII then, and I didn't like it in there, either. They tried to frame it as some sort of advancement towards letting you sculpt your character by having it naturally evolve dependant on your choices, but really all they were where instances to take control away from you in order for them to steer the character instead. You played Hawke sarcastically, so now he's going to keep being sarcastic throughout the conversation regardless of whether you want him to or not.

I thought I was done with Mass Effect, but I really like space RPGs with powers and guns so I guess I may be back in.

I think you're really overestimating what adding in multiple races would cost. I'm no game developer so obviously I can't be certain but ,again, most of it would presumably be writing and voice work, and these games always have an astronomical amount of that in there to begin with. What else then? A more expansive character creator? They fitted a rather fleshed out creator in Inquisition, why not Andromeda?

@theht: I'll refer back to my previous comments. In essence what you're suggesting is making the species of the MC not matter. In essence making him/her act like a human with a different character model.

It's either that or you have to handicap all stories to account for how this or that species might react to this or that situation.

You can't say "write more story" or whatever. I'm sure they are using all the available ressources to make this game and I'm glad I'll see more of that labour with a better, more fleshed out main character.

I didn't frame it as anything. I never said it was better or worse than the way dialogue was done in previous games. I was simply explaining that, while it seems like Shepard talks on his/her own very often, a lot of that dialogue is in fact the result of player input.

You could say that exact same thing about the gender of the character, too. Shepard, be it male or female, is the exact same besides whoever he/she can fuck and of course the voice.

@ll_exile_ll:

I wasn't referring to you? By ''they'' I meant BioWare, as I recall seeing an interview where they talked about their new conversation system.

@pyrodactyl: Huh weird, in my neck of the woods most people I talk to LOVE the race diversity in DA:Origins. It felt really amazing narratively to have unique connections throughout the stories that other people didn't and part of that was due to your racial background. My girlfriend watched me start a Dwarf Noble playthrough of the game and was like "Oh so THAT'S who he is!" when she saw Gorim (I think that's his name), who in all games appears as a shopkeeper later on in the game.

Then I go back and there's the whole thing with my brother and she'll tell me at length about how her human noble origin and story was also super relevant to parts of the plot as well.

So...yeah just because you aren't tied to human doesn't mean they can't write a narrative that is deep and relevant to your racial background.

I enjoy seeing multiple races in a game, it's a shame it's not in Mass Effect like it is in Dragon Age but I'm not going to cry over it. I'll still make a custom character and have a great time (fingers crossed).

no big stupid jellyfish option?

looks a bit like Ashley Birch.

She's good! <3 Chloe

My bad, I don't know why but I read "they" as "you."

Blasto the Hanar Spectre is EA's secret Mass Effect spin-off series coming soon.

To be fair my British English probably didn't help matters any =X