Bioware General (Mass Effect/Dragon Age/Other)

[DarkStorm]

That and she says herself that she wants to know that you actually like her for who she is and not for what she can do as in getting things done with contacts.

I think I missed that, but it makes sense.

All in all, its a good romance. Im not going to say its better than Tali's but...

► Show Spoiler

Its better than Tali's.

She says that when she surprises you with the steak. It's during that scene.

[TheodoricFriede]

She says that when she surprises you with the steak. It's during that scene.

Ahh, i probably count hear her over how endearing she was being.

[DarkStorm]

She says that when she surprises you with the steak. It's during that scene.

Ahh, i probably count hear her over how endearing she was being.

Yeah it is easy to miss, i think its just before she sits down or after she sits down before the interrupt hug.

[Alienmorph]

Well, I will admit Vetra has two major advantages over Tali: less pointles drama (seriously... what's the point on the whole "I might die if I have sex with you" after you signed up for a suicide mission already? Even is she did got sick, she wouldn't drop down 20 minutes after the fact...) and you don't have to wait 3 games to NOT see her face

[Someone With Mass]

Hey, is it possible to romance more than one character? Just got to a part with Peebee, but I want to go for Vetra later at the same time and I don't really feel like screwing it up because I don't know the details on how it works.

[Deano]

Hey, is it possible to romance more than one character? Just got to a part with Peebee, but I want to go for Vetra later at the same time and I don't really feel like screwing it up because I don't know the details on how it works.

https://nowloading.co/p/how-to-have-mul ... da/4229452

[TheodoricFriede]

Hey, is it possible to romance more than one character? Just got to a part with Peebee, but I want to go for Vetra later at the same time and I don't really feel like screwing it up because I don't know the details on how it works.

I was able to have a fling with PeeBee that was ended in favor of Vetra. Doesnt cause any drama.

After you complete her loyalty mission there is a very obvious "yes or no" with Peebee.

[Raga]

Does Vetra's romance have any content other than the few emails and the

► Show Spoiler

steak and mountain scenes

? I actually feel like they really skimped on content overall this time. It never really comes up in banter.

[DarkStorm]

Does Vetra's romance have any content other than the few emails and the

► Show Spoiler

steak and mountain scenes

? I actually feel like they really skimped on content overall this time. It never really comes up in banter.

There is like one or two conversations you can have with her on the lower deck, the left room with all the guns and ammo. But other than that no there isn't much more unfortunately, looks like the gave most of the light to Cora and Peebee and even Jaal to some extent.

[Raga]

Jaal's is pretty barren too. From what I can see everybody gets 1 dedicated romance scene, some emails, and the general loyalty friendship scene gets jerry-rigged into a yes/no question about the romance if you have flirted with someone. It appears irrelevant for like 98% of the rest of the game which is a definite downgrade. It used to come up in banters and such.

[DarkStorm]

Jaal's is pretty barren too. From what I can see everybody gets 1 dedicated romance scene, some emails, and the general loyalty friendship scene gets jerry-rigged into a yes/no question about the romance if you have flirted with someone. It appears irrelevant for like 98% of the rest of the game which is a definite downgrade. It used to come up in banters and such.

Seems majority of their efforts went into the combat, hoping they will work on the other stuff now since thats pretty down packed.

[Deano]

https://www.masseffect.com/news/the-jou ... 53509845=1

http://blog.bioware.com/2017/04/04/mass ... -05-notes/

[Someone With Mass]

https://www.masseffect.com/news/the-journey-ahead?sf53509845=1

http://blog.bioware.com/2017/04/04/mass ... -05-notes/

Well, it sounds good. Let's see if they can hold up to their promises.

[Zero Suit Rosalina]

Damn, I was hoping those character creator changes would be coming out soon. I didn't want to make another character without them.

[Su37]

I'm glad they're allowing us to skip the autopilot sequence. It was a cool concept, but it was just executed so poorly.

[Vol]

Allowing you to skip ahead when travelling between planets in the galaxy map
Increasing the inventory limits
Improving the appearance of eyes for humans and asari characters
Decreasing the cost of remnant decryption keys and making them more accessible at merchants
Improving localized voice over lip sync
Fixing Ryder’s movements when running in a zig zag pattern
Improving matchmaking and latency in multiplayer

Excellent
Meh
Fantastic!
Never was a problem for me
Ditto
Ditto
Good

Over the next two months we’ll be rolling out additional patches which will go even deeper and look to improve several areas of the game:

More options and variety in the character creator
Improvements to hair and general appearance for characters
Ongoing improvements to cinematic scenes and animations
Improvements to male romance options for Scott Ryder
Adjustments to conversations with Hainly Abrams
These upcoming patches will also address performance a

Good
Good
Great
Retarded
Eos tranny? Not surprised.
Good.

Patch 1.05 Notes

Improved tutorial placement

Single player balance changes: Ammo crates, armor, weapons, nomad, profiles, attacks, and progression

Multiplayer balance changes: Weapons, cover, and enemies (check back for detailed notes on balance changes)

Added option to skip autopilot sequences in the galaxy map

Improved logic, timing, and continuity for relationships and story arcs

Improved lip-sync and facial acting during conversations, including localized VO

Fixed various collision issues

Fixed bugs where music or VO wouldn’t play or wasn’t correct

Fixed issue where global squad mate banter sometimes wasn’t firing on UNCs

Fixed issue where player was unable to access the Remnant Console Interface after failing decryption multiple times

Fixed issue where fast travel is sometimes disabled after recruiting Drack until the player reloads a save

Fixed issue where Ryder can become stuck in the start of Biotic Charge Pose

Fixes issues related to some saves

Fixed issue where objective sometimes becomes un-interactable for players in multiplayer

Streaming and stability improvements

Tutorials were fine, not sure what they changed.
Interesting, need specifics.
Important, MP is wonky.
Great!
Great, chronology got weird sometimes.
Great.
Clipping's been very solid for me, but still good.
So the lack of music might have been a bug, heh.
UNC? Regardless, thank God.
Oh, I thought that was intentional.
Good.
Good.
Had save load issues a good few times, so very good.
Never saw this.
Good.

So! All in all, very optimistic patch coming. I think revising content to placate the feelings of delicates is a waste of time, but whatever. Sounds the worst of the jank will be fixed, and we might even get those new asari faces. I'm happy with this.

[TheodoricFriede]

Woah hold on...

Improvements to male romance options for Scott Ryder
Adjustments to conversations with Hainly Abrams

I was NOT expecting that. I assume they are adding some more gay romances. I'm actually all for that because gay men got (or more accurately did not get) the shaft this time around.

I REALLY didn't think they would get that much flak for the Hainly Abrams conversation. It was stupid and awkward, but i didn't think they'd actually do something about it.

[Alienmorph]

Hmm, yes, that's a more than decent roardmap, I'm genuinely curious to see what they'll do. And yeahh... I almost want to say that they should not fix the Hainly Abrams conversation, that's a fantastic example of how NOT write a TG character. I was really bothered by it, but I thought it didn't raise so much of a shitstorm that they actually would have decided to change it. Oh well.

I'm also kinda surprised that they didn't even mention or teased any major DlC.

[TheodoricFriede]

Looks like a good patch. The game desperately needed it.

Still, they hold fast to that plan, and Andromeda will be a hell of a game. I already love it, so it goes from great to greater for me.

[Someone With Mass]

I hope they'll make assault rifles more viable, because I have barely touched them aside from the times in the multiplayer when I felt like fucking around.

The biggest problem for me is that the spray is so goddamn huge that I can't hit anything unless it's right in front of me or something really big like a Hydra or a Fiend. That and the damage makes the DPS so not worth it. One bullet from the Hurricane does 45-something damage. I can do almost ten times as much with one shot from the Carnifex at the same rank. Or in the case of some sniper rifles, twenty times as much damage per shot. With significantly higher accuracy.

[Su37]

I hope they'll make assault rifles more viable, because I have barely touched them aside from the times in the multiplayer when I felt like fucking around.

The biggest problem for me is that the spray is so goddamn huge that I can't hit anything unless it's right in front of me or something really big like a Hydra or a Fiend. That and the damage makes the DPS so not worth it. One bullet from the Hurricane does 45-something damage. I can do almost ten times as much with one shot from the Carnifex at the same rank. Or in the case of some sniper rifles, twenty times as much damage per shot. With significantly higher accuracy.

That's why I use the valkyrie or the mattock coupled with the hornet.

[Zero Suit Rosalina]

I'm also kinda surprised that they didn't even mention or teased any major DlC.

They probably didn't on purpose. With how much people are tearing the game a new asshole, it would be a questionable idea to announce DLC at such a time. Although, I'm pretty sure they are cooking up something.

I missed it the first time but I see that they are adding three new maps to MP. That's nice but I wonder when they'll start doing balance changes. Some things there need changing. Like how weak biotic combos are.

[Someone With Mass]

I missed it the first time but I see that they are adding three new maps to MP. That's nice but I wonder when they'll start doing balance changes. Some things there need changing. Like how weak biotic combos are.

Or how Annihilation Field is pretty much the only way to prime a target that's protected by shields or armor. Really, I would much rather have Warp back instead of Lance, since it's not a poor man's Throw.

[DarkStorm]

More enemy factions and types would be good to down the road.

[FrozenShadow]

In many ways, Vetra is basically ME: Andromeda's version of Tali.

I understand where people are coming from when they say that, but I feel like they are very different romances ultimately. The "drama" of Tali's romance really only comes from the fact that she could get sick. I mean hell, it literally goes "I like you. You like me. I want to have sex with you on the floor of engineering right now, but cant risk getting sick."

Vetra's comes more from the fact that she wants to make sure that you ACTUALLY like her, and its not just some Captain Kirk alien fetish thing. With a very minor undercurrent of her being concerned that her lack of understanding of human culture could be a problem.

Well, you might be right. I can't really say anymore as it's been rather long time since I did ME2 run and my opinion of Tali romance is heavilycolored by years of reading fanfiction. Some of those certainly go much deeper than the game.

Still, Vetra and Tali are similar in that they're both loveable alien geek babes with some self-confident issues (when it comes to their feelings towards your Shep/Ryder), yet total badasses, when it comes to their area of expertise. And most of all, both of them got screwed over by Bioware, when it came to romance scenes.

Still, got to thank Bioware of these two, excellent character and romances for the games.

[Someone With Mass]

More enemy factions and types would be good to down the road.

Or rather expand on the enemy factions that are already there. The outlaws are pretty much the only ones I enjoy fighting because of their diversity, even if they are a bit...stun-locky.

Whenever I'm going up against a kett Anointed, I want to disembowel him and strangle him with his own insides because that fat fuck is the most annoying thing to come out of that faction and it makes me want to secure victory through nuclear fire whenever the kett are brought up. I applaud the outlaws on Kadara for putting that kett's head on a pike.

[FrozenShadow]

More enemy factions and types would be good to down the road.

I highly doubt we will see any at all or a single new one at most.

Creating new enemy faction and units for them takes effort (units movements, animation and so on). It takes even more time and testing to balance them for various difficulties. They also had to do this all, while they are making other DLC additions from maps to paid DLC's.

But most of all, if MP DLC's stays free like they did with ME3, then they don't get any kind of profit for the time and effort of creating new MP factions.

And if that's not enough to make it unlikely, then this Bioware team will only continue to actively support this game for about a year. They will move on, just like they did with ME3 mp. All kind of balance changes and new addition ended after first year of games life. Sure, ME3 mp stayed really active even before launch ME:A, but none one at Bioware cared for cheaters, modders or the like for many years now.

[TTTX]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Rc0T_e4Xuo

[Vol]

Re: Talimance v Vetramnace: Frozen's right, 10 years of memories and fan discussion versus 2 weeks. Vetra's is very solid though, even if it could use some better pacing between "We're in a relationship" and "Wanna come to my nest and preen?"

Re: MP - Outlaws need a buff, they're a bit too easy to handle, other than Berserkers. Kett seem to be a gold standard there, though the dogs are a pain in the ass. Remnant I find kinda annoying, because the mooks insist on hiding as hard as they can, and the Observers are tricky for certain classes.

As a backup, the Avenger X seems to work fine, if you can control the spray. Though for the weight, almost any pistol would be better.

[Vol]

https://twitter.com/tibermoon/status/849306765938315264

Well that's a start. I'd still put banter as a top priority in the audio queue and a toggle on SAM, but hey.

[Someone With Mass]

https://twitter.com/tibermoon/status/849306765938315264

Well that's a start. I'd still put banter as a top priority in the audio queue and a toggle on SAM, but hey.

Temperatures are below freezing, Pathfinder. Temperatures are normal.
Temperatures are below freezing, Pathfinder. Temperatures are normal.
Temperatures are below freezing, Pathfinder. Temperatures are normal.
Temperatures are below freezing, Pathfinder. Temperatures are normal.
Temperatures are below freezing, Pathfinder. Temperatures are normal.
Temperatures are below freezing, Pathfinder. Temperatures are normal.
Temperatures are below freezing, Pathfinder. Temperatures are normal.
Temperatures are below freezing, Pathfinder. Temperatures are normal.
Temperatures are below freezing, Pathfinder. Temperatures are normal.
Temperatures are below freezing, Pathfinder. Temperatures are normal.
Temperatures are below freezing, Pathfinder. Temperatures are normal.
Temperatures are below freezing, Pathfinder. Temperatures are normal.
Temperatures are below freezing, Pathfinder. Temperatures are normal.
Temperatures are below freezing, Pathfinder. Temperatures are normal.
Temperatures are below freezing, Pathfinder. Temperatures are normal.
Temperatures are below freezing, Pathfinder. Temperatures are normal.

And the Normandy crew looked for a mute button for EDI.

[Someone With Mass]

Vetra's is very solid though, even if it could use some better pacing between "We're in a relationship" and "Wanna come to my nest and preen?"

Then again, that's been an issue throughout the entire series. Like when Liara goes from "You're fascinating from a scientific perspective" to "Let's make sweaty love noises" within like four sentences.

Which is why I didn't mind that Tali was not a romance in the first game. It allowed her to grow a character and gave her time to realize that Shep is awesome on more levels than one.

[Vol]

I want a toggle. I don't want to hear a single word from that AI unless it's plot-critical. In fact, I'd also like a toggle for anyone at any single point reminding Ryder to scan the area.

@SWM: Liara's kinda makes sense, in that she's a young adult, bookish, virgin, who was just rescued by a human god of war made flesh, who also has super secret Prothean info in his head that she melded to look at. It could have been expressed better, perhaps, that she's ready for some of that.

Whereas Tali's growth over 3 games gives you some breathing room to fill in the blanks, and read great fanfiction/smut. Then ME3 does a good job showing what their relationship is like, and how we've gone from secret crush to "I want to feel your skin on mine before we go die" to "I love you, you're my home, come back, dammit!"

It's odd though that in general, for such an important, marketed part of their games, they don't really dump resources into them. Guess they don't want to be known as the dating sim company, but eh.

[UNiT]

I just hope the next game doesn't go the Dragon age route and make you play a new protagonist with a new crew. I'dd rather keep developing Ryder and the crew with maybe some additional squadmates.

[magnuskn]

I got pretty big problems with SAM on an ethical level, which is not adressed very well in the game. But, then again, if you look at the Initiative as a bunch of people who had to leave the Milky Way because of their fascination with unethical AI research, then everything makes more sense. It's a wonder that half of their human personal isn't made up of Cerberus personal.

I just hope the next game doesn't go the Dragon age route and make you play a new protagonist with a new crew. I'dd rather keep developing Ryder and the crew with maybe some additional squadmates.

Agree to disagree. I'd happily take two or three of the current crew, but Ryder so far (and I'm now about 50 hours into the game) has left me decidedly cold. I am beginning to doubt that BioWare can ever write interesting main characters again. The companions also seem to have had their rough edges sandpapered off since Mass Effect 3.

Well, at least this game does not have a Sera.

[TTTX]

I just hope the next game doesn't go the Dragon age route and make you play a new protagonist with a new crew. I'dd rather keep developing Ryder and the crew with maybe some additional squadmates.

I don't see ME:A 2 take place like a couple of years after ME:A, it has to take place some decades after ME:A in order to make sure the Milky ways galaxy races (you know there are only like over 100.00 people with the arks from the milky way) have the numbers, ships and such before getting dragged into another war with the Kett or whatever is out there.

[DarkStorm]

I dont' know I played a joking scarastic/logical? I think and I enjoyed my Ryder for the most part. The top right and bottom left on the wheel.

[Someone With Mass]

Yeah, the characters around him are interesting enough, but Ryder himself is not that entertaining. Maybe because there's no "I'll cut your balls off and sell them to a krogan" or "I'm sorry, I'm having trouble hearing you. There seems to be a lot of bullshit on this line."

[DarkStorm]

You guys definitely didnt do the bottom left option enough, there is plenty of that.

[magnuskn]

Yeah, he is mostly bland with a sidedish of sarcastic from what I've gotten. And I have chosen from all around the dialogue wheel according to the situation.

[TTTX]

Yeah, the characters around him are interesting enough, but Ryder himself is not that entertaining. Maybe because there's no "I'll cut your balls off and sell them to a krogan" or "I'm sorry, I'm having trouble hearing you. There seems to be a lot of bullshit on this line."

To be fair, Shepard was a battle harden N7 soldier and didn't have much of a personality outside from the occasional line in ME2 and later in ME3 they got a little more (after all Shepard didn't questions their own death and revival all that much or even if they were the real Shepard in ME2).

Ryder on the other hand is still wet behind the ears and is probably slightly more idealistic then Shepard was.

Shepard also had the advatage of being in 3 games to help players get use to Shepard, who started out being as interesting as a wooden board, after all we didn't play ME1 because of Shepard's personality, but of the universe, characters and such.

I think both Ryder and Shepard have their ups and downs, years of Fanfictions, theories and such have made Shepard more a person then they really were in some areas.

[UNiT]

I just hope the next game doesn't go the Dragon age route and make you play a new protagonist with a new crew. I'dd rather keep developing Ryder and the crew with maybe some additional squadmates.

I don't see ME:A 2 take place like a couple of years after ME:A, it has to take place some decades after ME:A in order to make sure the Milky ways galaxy races (you know there are only like over 100.00 people with the arks from the milky way) have the numbers, ships and such before getting dragged into another war with the Kett or whatever is out there.

If we have to have a new protagonist and crew, ffs at the very least make it so you can choose what race you want to be damn it. Keep the same protagonist or let me choose another one from a pool of races. I don't need another attempt at Ryder 2.0. I'dd rather this one had more development as well as the crew.

[Vol]

So Silver is no fucking joke. One bad player and we very nearly didn't make it. Had to use the Huntress stealth field to spend more time reviving than shooting.

[TheodoricFriede]

Meanwhile, I think Ryder is great. I can literally say exactly what im hoping to say in pretty much every scenario.

[FrozenShadow]

It's odd though that in general, for such an important, marketed part of their games, they don't really dump resources into them. Guess they don't want to be known as the dating sim company, but eh.

Personally I think it has more to do with the fact that having romances in game like this is a true minefield. And Bioware put itself in the middle of it. Simply said, no matter what they choose/do, Bioware can't win with their romances.

Have less alien romance options? -> People complain for not having enough alien characters to bed with.
Have more alien romance option or even any at all? -> People either complain about their very existence in the game or other half blames Bioware for not being "brave" enough with their alien romance scenes.
Have Gay romance options in the game? -> Some people go crazy over them. Either simply by their existence in the game or because gay characters are stereotypical, just there "to please the masses" characters or because wrong characters are gay or even bi as people simply don't buy the idea of certain characters being gay or even bi, because they never were before or they aren't in their minds (granted, less problem with ME:A as all chars are new. It was much different with ME3).
Don't have gay romances at all? -> Again, some people will lose their minds and blame Bioware for hating gays or who knows what else.
Have better romance options for male or female protagonist -> Another shit storm, if this is done. This ranges from the ways of how characters are written to simply how their game models look. Too good looking female romance options for males and feminists will go up in arms. Ugly looking ones and men will complain. Badly written and just for the looks characters (i.e Jacob and Miranda from ME2) and again whining.
Not have any romance options at all? ->Totally unthinkable for any Bioware fans it seems. If they would do this, people would get their pitchforks, baseball bats and so on to give an angry response. Or they simply won't buy the games anymore.
Do some chances to romances from previous games? -> Yet again there are people, who don't like. Either Bioware added/changed too little or then too much.

As matter of fact, I'm genuinely surprised that Bioware even bothers with romances. It's obvious that no matter what they choose, they will always lose and it will have negative effects to their reputation and games. Sure, romances aren't "game breaker" deal here, but it's the part that some people are most vocal of.

So, got to give kudos to Bioware for actually even trying and especially for their attempts to improve these romance options...small steps as they might be, but still.

[FrozenShadow]

I just hope the next game doesn't go the Dragon age route and make you play a new protagonist with a new crew. I'dd rather keep developing Ryder and the crew with maybe some additional squadmates.

I wouldn't be surprised if they did. To me, it looks like they didn't bother to develop Ryder's enough, because they had already planned or even decided for ME:A to be stand alone game or very least one of protagonist. As if this would be the case, there was no point to really try to add depth to the Ryder's.

I don't see ME:A 2 take place like a couple of years after ME:A, it has to take place some decades after ME:A in order to make sure the Milky ways galaxy races (you know there are only like over 100.00 people with the arks from the milky way) have the numbers, ships and such before getting dragged into another war with the Kett or whatever is out there.

This is actually a main reason, why I think Ryder's might be one off characters. If they keep up with Andromeda "world", there is no way to advance the story for just few years. Were are talking of decades perspective here, which makes Ryder's use less likely.

Well, unless they again kill off Ryder's at the beginning of second game then resurrect them again or use Andromeda's equivalent of "freezing" pathfinders, so they can be awaken at later times.

I'd happily take two or three of the current crew, but Ryder so far (and I'm now about 50 hours into the game) has left me decidedly cold. I am beginning to doubt that BioWare can ever write interesting main characters again. The companions also seem to have had their rough edges sandpapered off since Mass Effect 3.

I would say that lack of clear paragon/renegade options are the cause here. This sure makes Ryder lot more bland and less than ideal writing at times certainly won't help. Game really do need paragon/renegade to spice things up and actually make character feel more unique.

This is actually something, they have simply taken steps in totally wrong direction. To me, ME2 was the top of this part. Going full paragon or renegade felt really different and paragade also worked well. But ME3 then got worse and now ME:A even more so.

[FrozenShadow]

Yeah, he is mostly bland with a sidedish of sarcastic from what I've gotten. And I have chosen from all around the dialogue wheel according to the situation.

I think Ryder's favourite movie must have been Rogue One. At times Ryder sounds like K2, even if little water down version.

[cannedcream]

Vetra is a total dork-babe and is my spikey space wife forever, thank you.

Once you go dextro you never... uh... say "next-o"?

Nailed it.

[cannedcream]

I'm glad they're allowing us to skip the autopilot sequence. It was a cool concept, but it was just executed so poorly.

I was actually browsing Reddit during them, they got so tedious.

[Su37]

I was actually browsing Reddit during them, they got so tedious.

Same. I seriously want to know how much of my playtime is just sitting through that sequence.