Think people are taking this "Hiatus" thing the wrong way

You're right in that live services is a focus to EA, and wrong about story driven RPG. There's two things MEA wasn't in the financial results; it wasn't a financial failure, because that would have been reported as a loss, and it wasn't a break out hit, because that would have been mentioned. If MEA hit expected targets, and it looks like the game did that, then EA will continue the franchise based on the assumption that it's a guaranteed earner in whatever financial quarter it's released in.

EA has made no secret in the last three years that it's focus has been more and more on live service games, but as long as there's a market to be bled dry in RPG's and single player games they'll keep producing for that market as well. When cost begins to exceed, or break even, on returns then that will change, I suspect.

To be fair I didn't say MEA was a financial fail,the point is that there are far,far easier ways for EA to make money......what does piss me off is that EA's "online service" mentality has a direct effect on established brands like Mass Effect.The quality/passion/drive has gone.

That's what Obsidian Revival is about in 2015-2017. They pushed out three titles in different settings on a twenty years old engine that completely bypasses animations and 3D art costs, and with limited investment in VA. The initial niche reception was fairily decent, but you sure won't find high traffic forums ablaze about it. The trade off is that it's THREE titles in different setting each in two years. I don't like two out of three by descriptions, but I can chose out of THREE. With AAA games, i am lucky to get one game every four years, and picking and choosing is not happening. If I did not like a game or the setting is meh, well, wait three years....

I honestly can't think of any significant or memorable gameplay/story branching elements in Andromeda.ME1 had Ashley and Kaiden and the bomb,I killed my Krogan team mate and the Rachni queen etc.DAO had different starting points,I killed Liliana and I sacrificed my self at the end.DA2 had a family impact with regards to templar/mage conflict and I always end up killing a few of my companions at the end.
Some of these choices should have had a real impact later on in the franchises but Bioware didn't follow through (ME3 war assets) but at least there were choices,some form of branching.The hope was Bioware would evolve the story branching mechanic but instead it was CDRED's Witcher that took things to the next level.

branching for me is about seeing a major alternative part of a storyline.

consequences in MEA are muted in respect to companions, compared to DA2 or ME2, and that is the company's direction starting with Inquisition, because they have too much troubles on sequels. So more characters now have plot armor.

in Andromeda the medium level characters will die or show disloyalty instead of the key ones, i.e. All the pathfinders, Dunn, Sloane (Reyes notably is reserved for more development), Akksul. It is less obvious, but it is there. I for one cannot ever kill Salarian PF or turn Avitus into a useless drunk. 

it's a hard choice. Just now I was talking about "who we want to return in DA4" thread, and I thought it makes a perfect sense for all Tevinter/Qunari to be back, but 3/4 cannot, because they can be dead in someone's games.

so, either BioWare stop capitalizing on the soap opera/serialization when the story about the same Main, the same cast never ends, or they have to start making more compelling disposable characters (each of which is bound to gain immediate passionate following). Either did hurt in the past, and will hurt again. We shall see what direction will win.

Personally, I do want Jaal drop dead if PC listens to him, Drake quit over the scouts. I also want every game move forward in time to allow for a new cast/new plot. I don't like compromizaes DA series made, and how the world shattering crises are just happening every decade. I applauded to their ability to pull it off on Shepard in MET, but it cost them, along with the appauling reception of the crowning and perfectly aligned with that design endings of ME3. Player base is ever unable to get it that tastes differ, and nope, the "majority" is not behind you, specifically, and that all things they like if continued consistently and true to the idea will lead to thing they rabidly do not want.

they want a complex, heart-wrenching story with multiple characters where everyone is totally mortal, that is serialized, and that gets a happy ending every darn time for their favs while their hated ones burn in flames of hell. And that's that gets preserved in the next game. Hop, hop, BioWare.

Ugh...any other analogy other than ingesting a whole box of salt would've been welcomed. The thought of that makes my stomach turn over.

Well put it this way,I would not be surprised if we see a FPS Mass Effect game,cos we all know they have been toying with the idea but we shall see.

Nah,that's crazy talk......passion,creativity and drive are the foundation of all our fav games....when game developers do things right they leave you with unforgeable feelings and memories,the guys make magic.

Honestly, I think you'd see a Mass Effect MMO before an FPS.  If the game ever went to an FPS I know I wouldn't play it.

I don't think Bioware is able to produce the type of game "old school" Bioware fans are accustomed to any more,but I enjoyed DAI's Trespasser DLC  so there is some hope in me that the DA franchise can earn Bioware some praise.

For me it's all about immersion and escapism,good characters,engaging story and the ability to make an impact on the game world.Romances,factions,persona's,story branching are all anchors that keep me engaged in any given RPG......some thing that Bioware delivered every time until DAI and MEA.



 
 

Same for me, and I want Trespasser DLC to burst into green flames of doom, disappearing from the world in a show of putrid sparks, one of which hits me and erases my memory of it. Trespasser for me is like MET endings for the majority of the Bio-fanbase. Inquisition, I did not like; Trespasser I truly hated, and I do not use this word lightly even on the Internet.

How can you hate on Trespasser???I thought it was pretty engaging and for the first time I saw my Inquisitor show a bit of rage,quite refreshing....hell,I even lost my arm,different.

I assume you were a Solas fan??