HAPPY N7 DAY EVERYONE! New trailer just came out and while it doesn't give any firm release date I must say that the Andromeda Galaxy looks damn gorgeous. I'll be in hibernation until Spring.

Also a couple of small details from retailer pages: destructible environments and a deeper skill tree system to use that should allow for more builds.

Looks like an actual villain, which is nice. And I really hope we get some gameplay today too. Either way, excited.

@artisanbreads: Shepherd acquired the levolution skill?

@artisanbreads: I bet there won't be any pre-set starting classes. Also, it seems like the gameplay reveal will be on The Game Awards, which will air on December 1st.

Good info, and I would love the removal of classes. Bringing RPG back to the series is very welcome.

Also: Game Informer coverage. More updating tomorrow. Biggest news today is loyalty missions are back in this game.

It looks like Mass Effect; that's for sure. There's not a lot of info here, but I'm not really excited about more humanoid evil aliens; it just feels so unimaginative. Like we're going to a new galaxy and there's just more evil humanoid aliens? Please don't tell me they want to take over the universe or something.

This looks great. I'd be happy with another Mass Effect of any flavour, but this has such a great premise and they seem to be making some meaningful gameplay improvements.

Looks like Microsoft just updated their backwards compatibility list to include the ME Trilogy.

I wish it was clearer on what the actual story is. The desert looks nice, it's rather Forbidden Oasis. Having beaten ME3 last month, they sure got better at using colors with that engine shift.

@zirilius: Oh man, I've been waiting for them to bring ME Trilogy to Xbox One! I'm curious how they're going to handle disc swapping, though. Or is it just for the digital versions of the game?

huh.

i'm generally a big fan of the series (was waaay into 1 and 2; 3 had it's issues but it wasn't the travesty the internet insisted)- but that trailer didn't move the needle for me one way or another. seems like a generic sci-fi action movie, but then again, the best parts of mass effect (to me) were the world-building, codex, and conversations.

none of that shows well in trailers, so i'll keep an open mind.

@razzuel: Yeah, this is my biggest worry. The concept of a five-year mission-style "explore this new galaxy" is cool enough without anything else to go along with it. Unfortunately, I think BioWare will ruin it by shoehorning in an "ancient evil." There are already a ton of shots in that trailer that make it look like a clone of prior events from the past trilogy, too.

*Sigh* I feel like I should be more excited for this game than I am.

This looks great. Only got through ME1 myself with XBOX doing backwards compatibility I'll probably run through 2 and 3 before the launch of the new game.

Something about the new game looks very Tron, but that might just be me.

I get the feeling this will continue the trend of each newer Mass Effect game getting further from what I want.

Why is it that game franchises with significant story elements feel the need to constantly ramp stuff up and add prophecies and mystical bullshit and stuff? In Mass Effect 1 you just had a bad guy with some power working under the radar to try and maneuver and make a major strike. This looks like it's going to have the stereotypical mysterious race and mysterious device bullshit that has dragged down Halo and Mass Effect lore (at least in my opinion) since the games left the last generation.

They aren't specific enough in the trailer to know if that is in fact what they are going for... but it sorta feels that way.

But if they go back closer to the original game in terms of combat... with some better shooting and more RPG that would be awesome. I hated the progression in 2 and 3.

I'm ready for a new Mass Effect and, hey, sounds like Clancy Brown and I'm down with Clancy Brown.

Not that I don't agree with your premise, but this is entirely inaccurate. The Reapers were there in ME 1. They're there right away on the first planet and throughout. The difference was they structurally had a strong main villain who was the focus, vs the other games which couldn't even bother with that and suffered as a result. You didn't know all that much about them yet, but they were there for sure. I do agree with your premise though and think all sci-fi and fantasy could use way less world is at stake/mcguffin artifact that the evil villain needs/ancient alien race back to destroy us type storylines. But in the end, framing helps a lot. I think Witcher 3 is maybe the best RPG ever and it actually does have that type of storyline going on right in there but it uses it extremely well.

Not sure where this one will go. I'm hoping the villains are more focused on humanity, which has come there upon them, rather than just taking over the galaxy. And it seems your father will play a big part. He's the narrator in the trailer. At least then it can be a more personal story that way.

That was a teaser, not a trailer....

Secondly it STILL looks too much like Gears of War. I feel like Bioware.... or maybe EA.... don't understand why people enjoy RPGs. I'm still interested to see what the new team in Montreal can do with Mass Effect but this "trailer" sure is disappointing.

Great!

I keep forgetting that this game is happening.

I'm not sure what you are possibly basing that on. I think there is actually 2 seconds of gameplay in that trailer.

@artisanbreads: 2 seconds might be generous...

It is indeed Clancy Brown!

Actually each game has a it's own set of villains with the through line that the Reapers are the end game. One is Saren who is indoctrinated by the Reapers and attempts to take over the Citadel. ME2 villain are the collector's who you find out are really Prothean's who've been subjected to experimentation from, you guessed it, the Reapers. ME3 is your fight against the reapers and regardless of what you think about the ending or not at least it ends. The Reapers were always the major threat in the Mass Effect Trilogy and while Saren was one of the better antagonist's of the series he's not the main antagonist.

@zirilius: When I say "villains" I mean a central person/figure. 2 and 3 didn't have that. IMO it pretty much is always better storytelling to have one and that's a big part of why 2 and 3 don't have main plotlines as strong as 1 does. The collectors and reapers are both generic ancient evil alien types that are ultimately boring.

Third, generic bombastic operatic score with giant set piece moments, all I want from Mass Effect is an electronic synth laden sci-fi mystery ME1/2 not ME3.

This is a bad trailer. I was really excited about this premise but I'm worried they're just wasting on ancient evils story #3837.

Where are the characters? The space politics? This just sound like the Bioware story template without any cool or interesting twists.

This video explains the fears I have about this game very well (from one of the best culture analysts on youtube):

Can't wait. So ready for another Mass Effect. Always ready. Stoked!

@artisanbreads: I really wonder how they are going to navigate the minefield of carrying over the decisions from the main trilogy. The setup seems primed to sweep them under the rug which is understandable but extremely disappointing.

I actually found the reveal of the collector's to be pretty awesome. Until that point they are definitely generic though. I could almost argue that the Illusive Man is the main villain of 2 as he basically doesn't care about your life just that you accomplish your mission. You just happen to need his resources and influence to get the job done.

@the_tribunal:With how a lot of that turned out, frankly I am glad they are just moving on. Plus, I know it's extremely hard to make a storybased game that respects decisions in one game itself never mind carrying them over from that many other games. To me that's the least of their problems with ME now. Not to sound too negative, personally I am excited.

@zirilius: Personally I really disliked them and the whole final segment, complete with that reaper within, made me crack up laughing. I thought they set up something awesome with the Illusive Man, and he has cool moments for sure, but they could've done a lot better with him in 2 and 3. One of the lamer parts is that you can align with him in 2 pretty strongly and then by 3 they don't respect that possibility. Not that it would have been easy to figure that out plot wise, but I think it's an example of how they should have dialed the choices back if they couldn't follow through. They should have made him more of an outright villain in 2.

One side thing I will say: I really hope there are some sort of built up settlement type areas in this game with a denser, urban center type feel.So far it all seems desolate space, which makes sense, but I would miss there being nothing like that in this one. Maybe at least a large human ship or something. I want something that feels like the Citadel in ME 1.

This video's part of their Andromeda Initiative website, which you can sign up for to get 'exclusive' briefings and news in the run-up to release, along with some in-game items and such.

I know it's dumb marketing, but this is Mass Effect we're talking about, so I've kinda just gone ahead and signed up anyways?

So bummed out that this is apparently a ship launched post-ME2 (so hundreds of years later from that point of humans are taking over the lead of the galaxy) and that stuff like the Initiative videos make this a human mission of the super-human player-species who are so much better than all the other races and totally not incompetent clowns who generally mess everything up with their bumbling into things they don't understand.

Would be a really good reset to have the ship launched a few years earlier, shortly pre-ME1 (or even go back a bit and put it between Anderson failing to get into the Spectres and ME1) so humanity could just be the upstart and get a good feeling for the other species on the ship as to why they'd ever sign up to work with the crazy humans. But it seems to be more of the way ME fell down: humans as great saviours of the galaxy as an extension of the player character as the one true hero and super-competent decider of everything in reality.

I don't agree with it all but if you want a good essay on exactly how Mass Effect as a series was already well on the turn in ME2 and the ending to ME3 isn't a disaster but just the natural conclusion of where the series was going after ME1 then Shamus wrote a lot. That's a "there's no point anyone else writing anything long-form about where the series seemed to falter after the incredible potential (but weak mechanics) of the first game" essay.

At this point I still know basically nothing about the game, but I really want them to introduce a different companion besides raccoon-asari, because I haven't liked her from the start.

And these antagonists are born from the unholy mix of Warframe and Crysis art design. Very worrying.

Exactly my thoughts on this, too. They seem to be avoiding any worldbuilding, which to me was my favorite part of the Mass Effect series.

Pretty good trailer considering it's a teaser. The graphics are fantastic, and the 2 seconds of gameplay with the giant rock monster thing looks potentially interesting. The things I love in Mass Effect (The relationships between characters and the exploration) never get emphasised this early in the hype cycle, so I wasn't really expecting to see that here. Excited to see more gameplay.

Ugh... I wanted a release date, dangit!

I really wonder if they had different plans with the Illusive Man in ME3 that they just weren't able to execute on. I've read summaries on some some of his backstory from outside of the games and they seemed to have a more developed character who could have gone in interesting ways. He seemed more in control of himself and the events around him in ME2 but they just seemed to toss that aside in ME3 because of the indoctrination nonsense. Such a wasted opportunity. Given what's come out over the years about all of the different possible directions they considered taking the overarching story it's interesting they settled on the one they did.

600 years in the future starting with ME2. I guess I expected them to skip ME3 entirely. The only way to go really.

One question mark with this approach is the tech level. 600 years is a long-ass time. Is the technology far beyond that of the previous games? I wouldn't want that Star Wars Old Republic scenario where all the tech is basically the same just to have the stuff from the movies and add some fan pandering.

@draugen: Spring is vague but I imagine a Q1 2017 release so April or May seem a good way for EA to start. They could also shoot for a Q4 2016 release depending on how holiday sales go. Spring is vague but March/April align with a lot of other big EA releases.

Yeah I agree there was a lot of wasted potential for the Illusive Man after ME2 and agree thought there were setting up him to be more of an outright villain for 3 alongside the Collectors. I think a big reason for this was the departure of David Gaider to SWTOR. While the core story of his was there and in place I think losing him allowed for a lot of inconsistencies in the story.

I really really hope this is good

@hassun: well all their tech was actually stolen/borrowed from the leviathans. Some races in the citadel i believe were council members for longer than 600 years, or something like that. So basically mass effect technology was the end of history tech so to speak.

Wait TW3 didnt have any ancient evils? Were we playing different games? The game was also kind of busted at launch much like the first game was. (but also fixed like the original)

I do have the same fears for Andromeda though. I'm hoping there will at least be some calm before the storm and the ancient evil things arent as generic as they seem.

What are you talking about?

Can't tell if I saw a Reaper in there or not. Can't say that what little story elements that are in there impressed me at all. It seems basic but then again I don't know much about what's going on here. Other than that the visuals and aesthetic look great.

@pyrodactyl: The video you posted where the guy transitions from talking about lazy writing in regards to ancient evils in (fairly recent) Bioware games to then lauding TW3 without mentioning that the Wild Hunt was kind of the same deal was a bit jarring, but then again that whole video felt a bit disjointed. And saying it had the polish of a smaller game wasnt entirely accurate, but it's understandable why the game had quite a few bugs when it came out considering the size of the game and the team that worked on it.

So having had a chance to think about this for a couple of hours -- I think it's really lame they're trying to connect this to the original series in any way whatsoever.

I think the two potentially interesting ways to go with this are either (1) to set the the game in the original universe and actually write their way out of the mess from ME3 or to (2) just set it in the Andromeda galaxy but have no connection to the original series at all.

The post-ME3 story focused on the "what comes after"/post-Reaper rebuild could have been really interesting. You've essentially got a torn to shit galaxy with a millennia long power-structure that's completely broken down. There's a lot of cool places they could have gone with that, especially if they wanted to focus on a more political story. And as far as the endings to ME3 go, I don't think that's as a big a problem as a lot of people think. Given the ending of ME3, it's plausible to think that no one in the galaxy really knows what happened, which gives them some room to fudge things. That, or you just pick an ending. Personally, I've never understood this compulsive need they have to accommodate every choice every player makes ever. I mean, if you haven't played prior games, they start you with a default Shepard who made a set of default decisions, so just do that in a new series. Too bad if people want to whine about it.

As far as the option 2 goes, I'd prefer if they're setting it in a new galaxy that they just start fresh. Explain having the same species and general tech as an alternate universe, convergent evolution, whatever you want. Just start all over again and let the new setting be its own thing. That way you aren't tied to an increasingly unwieldy and convoluted canon. I just don't see a non-stupid way they can connect these two settings.

The way this is being set up just feels like they want to hedge their bets and try to make everyone happy. They kinda want to run far, far away from the shitshow of the ME3 endings, but they also kinda wanna keep people's nostalgic ties to those games. That worries me, because the IMHO recent history of BioWare is trying to make a lot of games that please everyone rather than being their own thing and being the worse for it.

@zirilius: Hopefully this means people will be hopping back into ME3 multiplayer tonight and tomorrow

One Last Ride™

I actually ordered some ME3 discs just for that purpose. God I miss that multiplayer.

Edit: Well shit I should have just done this

@lawgamer: Their initial pitch for Andromeda is the best part of their messaging so far. Having this arc going to this other galaxy solves a large swath of narrative problems while maintaining some of the identity of the series with well established races and tech coming back. It's a brilliant idea but instead of using it as a starting point to establish more complex and fun conflicts with the indigenous population of Andromeda and within the arc itself they seem to be going in this lame ancient evil direction.