***Mass Effect Andromeda SPOILER Thread***

[Alienmorph]

That's a good example, indeed. Why not doing something akin to the "Rachni talk" in Andromeda? Like you have a species of small humanoid and large bug-like creatures that live in symbiosis, and the small guys do the talk for the big ones. Or is that out of the question because bugs don't have eyebrows or some other bullshit excuse like that? Because I saw alot of those in teh last posts here.

[Vol]

Hell, we've already done symbiosis. How about some parasitism? Two species that came together because the one benefits from leeching off the other, and the host species has come to culturally accept it. Now we're getting in some weird, alien stuff!

[Alienmorph]

But that's crazy talk, Vol! All aliens must be humanoid and wear super-clean armors, otherwise they won't look like they belong in ME! We can't have aliens that look aliens in this particular space opera series.

[TheodoricFriede]

Oh gee i wonder who that was directed toward.

[Alienmorph]

Nothing personal, just to be clear, but alot of what you and Madzer wrote in the last couple pages sounded alot like just making excuses for a AAA game company that had both the time and the money to make something better than they did with their new designs. I'd disagree just as much if Vol or Rip or anyone else was saying otherwise.

Good character designs and consistency are both important and hard to achieve, as an artist I know so first hand, even tho of course I've not got any professional experience as huge as working on a ME game would be. But if some certain fundamental stylistic clues are in place, it's possible to dare doing more than just 3 variations of the same damn thing.

[TheodoricFriede]

Nothing personal,

Oh, of course not.

I mean, im convinced that if those designs were in the game, you'd be complaining how out of place they are.

[TTTX]

Oh, of course not.

I mean, im convinced that if those designs were in the game, you'd be complaining how out of place they are.

Hard to say, those are just Concept art, there are somethings that look better in 3D then 2D and vice versa.

Still though considering what we learn about the Kett those other designs would make more sense from a lore stand point considering the Kett have the genetic material of over a thousand species, they should look weirder then they do.

[TTTX]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L0Np1PAWA8c&list=WL&index=12

[Someone With Mass]

In the Milky Way, there were discoveries of a completely virtual race, intelligent biotic bugs that caused debates about uplifting and first contact with the raloi, an avian race that naturally withdrew from the Citadel and downgraded their technology when they learned about the Reapers.

They've all appeared only through text and a handful of paragraphs and I still find them to be infinitely more interesting than the kett. I get that there needs to be an antagonist and conflict of some sort, but the kett were way too simplistic for my taste. There was no nuance when it came to motivations or morality. It also wouldn't have bothered me as much if BioWare hadn't said that the kett would be more than the stereotypical bad guys, which turned out to be a fat lie.

[TheodoricFriede]

In the Milky Way, there were discoveries of a completely virtual race, intelligent biotic bugs that caused debates about uplifting and first contact with the raloi, an avian race that naturally withdrew from the Citadel and downgraded their technology when they learned about the Reapers.
.

There is, NO fucking way that shit is canon.

It never mentioned outside the few sentences of the wired ass Cerberus News Network.

[Alienmorph]

I mean, im convinced that if those designs were in the game, you'd be complaining how out of place they are.

I can tell you already, 100% that I don't like those designs posted earlier. They're way too overcomplicated. What I'm trying to say is that there must be some decent middle ground between those weird things and just doing Protheans and Collectors 2.0. And that I don't think saying "we can only make the humanoid because we can only care of human-like creatures and because otherwise we'd break design consistency" is not that much valid of an excuse in a context like the one ME:A is trying to aim for.

[TTTX]

There is, NO fucking way that shit is canon.

It never mentioned outside the few sentences of the wired ass Cerberus News Network.

They are mentioned in ME3 by the alliance news network in the game so yes they are cannon.

The bird species know as Raloi.

[TheodoricFriede]

They are mentioned in ME3 by the alliance news network in the game so yes they are cannon.

The bird species know as Raloi.

No.
Just no.

I am willing to deal with a lot, but that is beyond what im putting up with.

[TTTX]

No.
Just no.

I am willing to deal with a lot, but that is beyond what im putting up with.

Why?

[TheodoricFriede]

Why?

Because it is the supreme stupid thing.

Its worse than the Tali Photoshop.

Its worse than the "Some qunari dont have horns".

Its just the worst.

If i am the last person standing, i will refuse to accept the existence of this garbage.

[TTTX]

Because it is the supreme stupid thing.

Its worse than the Tali Photoshop.

Its worse than the "Some qunari dont have horns".

Its just the worst.

If i am the last person standing, i will refuse to accept the existence of this garbage.

to be fair, we'll probably never hear about them again, since we'll probably won't return to the milky way anytime soon.

[TheodoricFriede]

Hear about who?

[Vol]

http://masseffect.wikia.com/wiki/Kirik

They were organic bugs that had biotic power, first of their kind discovered.

[Someone With Mass]

In the Milky Way, there were discoveries of a completely virtual race, intelligent biotic bugs that caused debates about uplifting and first contact with the raloi, an avian race that naturally withdrew from the Citadel and downgraded their technology when they learned about the Reapers.
.

There is, NO fucking way that shit is canon.

It never mentioned outside the few sentences of the wired ass Cerberus News Network.

Well, it makes sense. Their understanding of mass effect technology came as a courtesy course on the Citadel that lasted three months. There's no way they can integrate the knowledge to the point of practicality into their society in that short amount of time. They just achieved space flight too, so they probably wouldn't be effective in any kind of combat, no matter the amount of technology given to them. Not to mention the flu virus that was active when they were discovered.

[TTTX]

Hear about who?

the Raloi.

[TTTX]

http://masseffect.wikia.com/wiki/Kirik

They were organic bugs that had biotic power, first of their kind discovered.

they aren't the first though, Rachni beat them in ME1.

http://masseffect.wikia.com/wiki/Rachni_Brood_Warrior

[Alienmorph]

Wouldn't mind something like the Raloi to be canon and in-game. The rest of those is pretty silly tho.

[Vol]

Hah! They forgot their own lore. Though to be fair, you only fight those biotic rachni in one place on one planet with no real direction to it. The one with the soldiers and the turrets you need to hook up to the Mako.

I thought the Raloi were a fine big of side-fluff. Species that underwent the _ideal_ first contact, with the asari, and were caught in an awkward place when the Reapers came.

[TheodoricFriede]

Hear about who?

the Raloi.

I dont know what you are talking about.

[Mazder]

Hear about who?

the Raloi.

I dont know what you are talking about.

Avian aliens talked about in Alliance Daily News just before ME3's release.

They were the ones who had only just achieved Mass Effect level of tech and after a quick first contact basically blew up any link to that level of tech in the hopes the Reapers would pass them by thinking they were too low of a tech level to bother with.

[HellBovine]

Hear about who?

the Raloi.

I dont know what you are talking about.

Avian aliens talked about in Alliance Daily News just before ME3's release.

They were the ones who had only just achieved Mass Effect level of tech and after a quick first contact basically blew up any link to that level of tech in the hopes the Reapers would pass them by thinking they were too low of a tech level to bother with.

They were also mentioned in one of the news net messages you could hear when in the spectre requisitions room.

[TheodoricFriede]

Avian aliens talked about in Alliance Daily News just before ME3's release.

Turians?

[Su37]

No, Raloi.

http://masseffect.wikia.com/wiki/Raloi

[TheodoricFriede]

Im very impressed at how persistent you all are at trying to convince me of something that does not exist.

[magnuskn]

Oh, of course not.

Yeah, it's not as if he called people "insane" or "lunatic".

[TheodoricFriede]

Yeah, it's not as if he called people "insane" or "lunatic".

Coincidentally, if there was someone in this group recently called those things, they'd be doing very little to disprove the statement.

[Someone With Mass]

Meh, my ship of sanity left port a long time ago.

[Alienmorph]

Like Chaos Space Marines like to say "Sanity is for the Weak!" lol

[Vol]

The book is not endearing me to Sloane at all. Tann's talking to her about the plan for survival while the Nexus is all fucked up from hitting the Scourge, he says something to the effect of, "I might need you to cut life support to 10 people to save the engines that keep 10,000 alive, and I need you to back me up if it comes to that." She immediately flips out and goes on about how she'd fight to her last breath to save those 10 lives.

...At the expense of 10,000? What the fuck kind of moral grandstanding is that? It's a hard moral burden, but as a decision, unless those 10 people are supremely vital to operations, how could a rational leader ever pick 10 over 10,000 when there is finite power to be dispersed to life support?

[TheodoricFriede]

Are they trying to make her come off as the hero?

Because yeah, as much as id like to save everyone, it doesn't make sense to save 10 people at the expense of 10,000. It just doesn't.

I honestly want to meet the lunatic that picks Sloane over Reyes for more than just gameplay experimentation. they have to be just absolute catastrophes of humans.

[Vol]

I'm still early in, as I read it a few pages whenever I take a conference call. But she was the first POV character, and her actions are kinda heroic so far. Like breaking her toe trying to get open a stasis pod during the initial emergency, then soldiering through the pain to do stuff and insult Tann when there's about an hour of oxygen left.

Thing is, she wouldn't even be the one making the decision. Tann would, that's his cross to bear. All he was asking was for Sloane to understand why he might make it, and to support him.

Oh and they find Garson's corpse, she's mangled though. Seems very unlikely any current Nexus leaders, other than possibly Addison, were involved in the murder. It would've been from the pre-arrival group who woke up first.

Hi! I ended up with Sloane on my first run. When the QTE came up, I figured he was going to kill her, then attack me, what with the betrayal and all. So while I thought Sloane was a slightly more bearable cunt, Aria-lite, Reyes' motivation thus far had been to form an emotional bond to dupe me with. In the moment, made the snap decision. Turned out alright, she was still a giant bitch, Reyes survived the gunshot because cutscene magic. Going to go with Reyes on my second run tho.

[Someone With Mass]

The book is not endearing me to Sloane at all. Tann's talking to her about the plan for survival while the Nexus is all fucked up from hitting the Scourge, he says something to the effect of, "I might need you to cut life support to 10 people to save the engines that keep 10,000 alive, and I need you to back me up if it comes to that." She immediately flips out and goes on about how she'd fight to her last breath to save those 10 lives.

...At the expense of 10,000? What the fuck kind of moral grandstanding is that? It's a hard moral burden, but as a decision, unless those 10 people are supremely vital to operations, how could a rational leader ever pick 10 over 10,000 when there is finite power to be dispersed to life support?

Yeah, Sloane killed a lot of people for the fuck of it. Some just because they annoyed her. Kinda hard to redeem that. In the Milky Way galaxy, that wouldn't have been that much of an issue, since there are billions of idiots running around. In Andromeda, the Nexus population is not even reaching a hundred thousand if you count all the arks.

Also, if I have understood it correctly, the majority of the Nexus population consists of doctors, scientists, engineers etc and not simply average Joe civilians. Killing of ten to save ten thousand is even more of a no-brainer once you take that into account.

It certainly isn't the A House Divided-level of a moral dilemma.

[TheodoricFriede]

Hi! I ended up with Sloane on my first run. When the QTE came up, I figured he was going to kill her, then attack me, what with the betrayal and all. So while I thought Sloane was a slightly more bearable cunt, Aria-lite, Reyes' motivation thus far had been to form an emotional bond to dupe me with. In the moment, made the snap decision. Turned out alright, she was still a giant bitch, Reyes survived the gunshot because cutscene magic. Going to go with Reyes on my second run tho.

God, i couldnt wait to kill Sloane.

They could have literally included the text "if you let Sloane die, Synthesis is the canon ending, and Liara was your love interest" and i probably still would have killed Sloane.

[Vol]

@SWM: Exactly. It's a hypothetical based on how bad the Nexus conditions are, and her gut response is to declare she'd kill herself trying to save 10 because...reasons. There's infinite moral ambiguity you could introduce into that situation, but they don't. It's outright 10 for 10k.

Whereas if the 10 were the only known living crew who could fix the engines, possibly save everyone, but maybe lose everyone, it would take time, and diverting power to the 10k would kill the 10, but buy time to wake as many as possible, now you have a conflict. _Then_ I could see her point.

@Theo: I was coming literally fresh off the OT when I started ME4, so being less awful than Aria was a low bar to clear. I treated like Morrigan, where I didn't take her attitude seriously. As opposed to Addison, who was infuriating. I saw Sloane in a, "Aw, you're trying your best, huh? Yonnic imagery on your outfit too! Aren't _you_ just the toughest little rebel!" way. Whereas if Reyes had been up front with me from the start, I'd have happily helped him out.

[TheodoricFriede]

@Theo: I was coming literally fresh off the OT when I started ME4, so being less awful than Aria was a low bar to clear. I treated like Morrigan, where I didn't take her attitude seriously. As opposed to Addison, who was infuriating. I saw Sloane in a, "Aw, you're trying your best, huh? Yonnic imagery on your outfit too! Aren't _you_ just the toughest little rebel!" way. Whereas if Reyes had been up front with me from the start, I'd have happily helped him out.

Well my first meeting with Sloane ended with the two of us pointing guns at one another as i backed out of the room after I mocked her throne room...

I also have very little sympathy for the exiles. Im sorry you were hungry and couldn't immediately start fucking. Shit was about to catastrophically collapse. We had to make some hard decisions.

The Krogan got screwed, everyone else deserves what they get. (Usually they get a gunshot wound to the head)

[TTTX]

Well my first meeting with Sloane ended with the two of us pointing guns at one another as i backed out of the room after I mocked her throne room...

I also have very little sympathy for the exiles. Im sorry you were hungry and couldn't immediately start fucking. Shit was about to catastrophically collapse. We had to make some hard decisions.

The Krogan got screwed, everyone else deserves what they get. (Usually they get a gunshot wound to the head)

Not everyone of the exiles, were gun slinging killers like Sloane, some of them were just people who went into a panic because the shit hit the fan and made some dumb desions (+ there is the whole being in cryo for so long did some funny stuff to some them in their brains, which made them more violent then they really were), some of them realized they were dumb and want to come back as we see in Vetra's loyalty mission and it's not like the Leadership on the Nexus is good, after all Tann admits their way of desion making was basically yell and argue at each other until a desion is made and that doesn't inspire confidence people (along with original leadership basically made everything worse atop of that) you are suppose to lead especially during a crisis.

So it's not as black and white as you make it out to be (also they could fuck, they just couldn't make babies for obvious reasons).

[TheodoricFriede]

Yeah, and the Exiles that decide to work with the Nexus on a probation period so they can come back are ok.

The ones that are gung ho on leaving and starting their own shithole outlaw colonies can go fuck themselves.

[TTTX]

Yeah, and the Exiles that decide to work with the Nexus on a probation period so they can come back are ok.

The ones that are gung ho on leaving and starting their own shithole outlaw colonies can go fuck themselves.

again it's not so simple, there are bad blood between the two which makes some people probably not wanting be part of the nexus for a number of different reasons, but still have colonies of their own while wanting to trade and stuff with the nexus and some of the exiles are sick, so they can't think rationally and it's at the end of the day best for the nexus to get as many back or at least work with them that are willing be not hostile to the nexus in order to add to gen pool since that's better in the long run.

[TheodoricFriede]

again it's not so simple, there are bad blood between the two which makes some people probably not wanting be part of the nexus for a number of different reasons

I made clear my plan for those people. Sometimes it really is "that simple."

Also the "sick" people are a tiny tiny tiny minority. Not every exile has a chemical imbalance.

[Someone With Mass]

I wouldn't be surprised if the Terminus Systems were founded on the similar principles of being free or that the leadership at the time didn't do enough pandering to the spoiled little shits that think they should get away with anything just because it's no man's land out there.

Sure, the exiles are free to go wherever they damn want and be butt-pirates as much as they want too. Just as long as they don't expect any help of any kind. They made it abundantly clear that they don't want anything to do with the Nexus and the feeling is 100% mutual. Those who seek revenge against the Initiative for some asinine reason can get fed into a stump grinder and then to dogs. Such idiots would contribute more to the galaxy at large as dog food, anyway.

[TTTX]

I made clear my plan for those people. Sometimes it really is "that simple."

Also the "sick" people are a tiny tiny tiny minority. Not every exile has a chemical imbalance.

if you are like Tann then yes it is that simple.

Me on the other ahdn think long term and don't let what happened in the past blindside me after the whole nexus uprising event because that was a shit show from beginning to end and people was bound to rise up because everything that could go wrong went wrong and it's very easy to they should have done what was best for the Nexus, but with people dead (along with most of the old leadership), along with the planets being a bust and the new leadership doesn't know what to do, that's a lot of pressure (and that's not counting all the other things like them being in a new galaxy, no arks or pathfinder to help them settle and such) people are going to break under all that.
So I'm willing to forgive and forget if they want to come back that's okay and if not well then let's see if we can work together instead because that's better for both of us since it's better to have as many numbers as possible because of survival and the future having as much genetic diversity is best and cutting people off because they were "wrong" is a poor attitude to have.

We don't exactly know how many are sick, but there are quiet a few on Elaaden and that's a problem in the long run.

[magnuskn]

Yeah, it's not as if he called people "insane" or "lunatic".

Coincidentally, if there was someone in this group recently called those things, they'd be doing very little to disprove the statement.

Sure, sure. Project more.

[Mobius_118]

Im very impressed at how persistent you all are at trying to convince me of something that does not exist.

Quit being difficult.

[Raga]

I'm still early in, as I read it a few pages whenever I take a conference call. But she was the first POV character, and her actions are kinda heroic so far. Like breaking her toe trying to get open a stasis pod during the initial emergency, then soldiering through the pain to do stuff and insult Tann when there's about an hour of oxygen left.

I haven't read the book but any "heroic" creds she may earn by romantic grandstanding or breaking her toe are more than undone when she starts breaking the ribs of people who can't pay taxes and throwing dissenters out into a wilderness full of crazy outlaws and no potable water.

Ironically, it makes her a complete hypocrite too as she is doing precisely what she claims the Nexus did: exile anybody who doesn't agree with her.

As for the other stuff, my stance on the outlaws is basically: anybody who wants to abide by the Nexus' laws/directives is welcome to Nexus aid and partnership. If you don't want that, fine, the Nexus won't mess with you *but* you will not be allowed to subsist on stolen Nexus tech or resources. If you want to be independent, you cannot be parasitic (Advent, Kennedy, etc.)

[Vol]

I'm expecting her reasoning for being like that to evolve through the story, because she's starting baseline as a sorta gruff security guard, possibly with PTSD, who resents Tann, and will sacrifice herself for the Initiative. Also a really intense worship of Garson. As in, I'm not sure if it's lesbian subtext or not.