If you were the Creative Director on Andromeda, what would you have done differently?

I'd mostly overhaul the story and the quest design. I'd toss the entire conceit of establishing outposts for the AI, increasing viability etc. In fact, I'd have it so that Ryder and co. don't actually ever meet up with the AI "proper". Instead, the story would revolve around the Tempest crew + a small group of other survivors from the Hyperion making their away through Helios trying to make contact with/find out what happened to the rest of the AI.

As you progress through the game, you would discover pockets of AI survivors from different arks and your choices would determine what happens to them. You'd actually explore the planets you visit instead of being told where to go by all the AI colonists/Angara that have already explored every inch. There would be no collect/find/kill X things fetch quests. Everything you do in the game (even exploration) would be clearly linked with one of your primary goals: (1) find AI survivors, (2) figure out what caused everything to go wrong, (3) find a potential new colony site, (4) survive long enough to do 1-3. One of the key story beats would revolve around first contact and how you handle it and subsequent interactions with the new race. At the end of the game you find out why everything went FUBAR for the AI, and (based on your choices on how to handle the various AI survivors, first contact, etc.) you help to establish a permanent colony in Helios.

I have no idea how to connect all the parts above, but that's what the lead writer is for .

I'd also have the game adopt a more serious (not necessarily dark) tone, to better fit the themes of survival, facing/exploring the unknown outlined above. Jokes are fine, but not to the level that MEA actually did it.

The combat I'd keep mostly the same except I'd add in a greater variety of enemy and encounter types. Also get rid of the 3 ability limit, or at least implement the favorites system so it didn't actually work against the stated goal of fast-paced, dynamic combat.

Tbh while I don't really agree with the whole 'lets rehash Avatar' thing and I'm fully prepared to see the AI as a civilian venture (particularly given the background info we pick up in Ryder Family Secrets).... I do fully agree that the risks the AI took and the decisions they made regarding defence were irresponsible in the extreme. I mean, even in Star Trek, a universe where humanity has literally become a race of pacifists, with exactly the same bleeding-heart-liberal thing the AI brochures have - they still have the sense to recognise that jumping into unexplored territory completely unarmed is simply idiotic.

I can buy the idea that there was some politicking to be done to get the operation up off the ground but literally launching families to an unexplored galaxy with an arsenal consisting of crossed fingers and happy thoughts pushed my suspension of disbelief to breaking point.

-Tone down on the amount of space we have to traverse in the various Open Worlds. Havarl is big enough.
- Change the focus from doing things on a planet and then dumping an outpost when you're ready into helping develop and improve an existing outpost or foothold. That way you actually work for something. And you get visible rewards for the work you do.
- make sure that NPC's actually have schedules and behaviour attached to them so they feel more alive.
- drastically improve on the amount of Flora and Fauna. The 'same beasts are everywhere' trope may be explained lore-wise, but it is just detrimental for the exploration aspect of the game. Why explore when everything's the same?
- Get rid of tasks
- Get rid of zoom-in Dialogue
- Make squadmates expendable. Either by adding an option not to recruit them or by adding an option to lose them in some way.
- Drastically streamline the way you have to craft items but improve on the total amount of choices you have
- Streamline or remove resource mining, it is nothing more than an useless timesink
- Make it so that sidequests have consequences which will be positive or detrimental to the development of your colonies.
- Reduce the amount of architects to 2 at max. (Eos and Voeld for the added layer of difficulty.) Come up with neat concepts for superbosses on other worlds.
- Make sure that 'oversights' like the asari clone army are removed before shipping the game. Reduce the amount of wacky and crazy haircuts and colors to a bare minimum. Check NPC's if they uphold a certain standard of quality, especially when they're featured in a quest in some way.
- Either improve on the amount of different groups you can fight or make sure there is enough variation in one group. There should be way more different kinds of Kett Soldiers as an example. Raiders could use armed Rovers like in Borderlands
- Fit the Nomad and Tempest with armament. Especially the nomad, so that you can have mad-max style confrontations with raiders. Otherwise remove the Nomad because the maps are going to be smaller anyway.
- Focus on the main story. By now you migjt have noticed that I would streamline many things. That is because all the freed-up resources will now be allocated to the main-story. Especially on the Archon and his role in the game.
- Make first contact actual first contact and make it more important for the game. (Bad first contact would be too difficult to make, but what about this? If you F up, the Angara are extremely hestitant to help you. Jaal won't join you (at all or until a later point), the Roekaar are stronger and certain events and missions later down the game go differently. This could, and should be a major moment of the game.
- give Elaaden or Eos another theme so that one of them doesn't fit the desert/arid trope. I likes the way the fire planet looked in the first trailer we had, with the tornadoes. That would be interesting! (I think that's actually Aya right now by the way, might be wrong.)
- Remove the 'vault opening' puzzle where you have to find the consoles, search for stupid glyphs and solve a pace-breaking sudoku on ever planet. Come up with an unique system for each planet which keeps things interesting and new.

Anyway, congratz if you made it this far. Might come up with more things later.

"Ryder, would you kindly touch the console to activate the vault"
"Ok SAM"
"Ryder, would you kindly start turning off the cryo pods"

That's what I would have done.

Truth be told, BioWare is very aware of the "chosen one" trope and does it intentionally. In fact, BioWare has stated that is the foundation for every story they make, and it's true. From Baldur's Gate all the way to Mass Effect Andromeda, every game is about the story of a hero. For better or for worse, BioWare has stated that is its formula and it's not interested in deviating from that narrative structure.

While I personally wouldn't be opposed to what you are suggesting, I never see that happening at BioWare for any of its franchises. Perhaps Anthem might be an opportunity to try something different, but Dragon Age and Mass Effect are forever going to be stories about the player being the hero and central focus.

Yep. That's just what BioWare does. It doesn't bother me all that much, as long as the characters, villains, and the overarching setting is interesting and compelling. Obviously, if BioWare does a really half-backed story, then the faults and limitations of the chosen one trope really stick out like a sore thumb.

Even in the Baldur's Gate games, you are simply one of hundreds of Bhaalspawn.  Special, yes, but not unique.  Not a "Chosen One"


Being the hero shouldn't be a simple matter of "what you represent" or "you have an AI fused to your brain" or even being the spawn of a dead god.  It should not be a matter of destiny or fate or plot armor.  It should be that you are a character wiling and able to do something about a current crisis.

That's true in the more recent games, anyway. The D&D games didn't have the issue since getting together with a merry band of badasses is kind of a thing in the FR.

Is it weird that reading the word 'heroism' brings back memeories of the old BSN?

I just can't remember the dude's name for some reason.

David7204 aka Bob From Accounting aka BabyPuncher

One thing I will say is I wish the stakes of survival were a bit more prominent in the game. Once you get to the Nexus and eventually create a settlement on Eos, the anxiety and pressure of the Milky Way races surviving largely disappears. It would have been nice to see a constant struggle to survive from alien hostilities as well as dangerous worlds. The story could have been an opportunity to really push Ryder to his/her limits, and show why being a Pathfinder isn't a job that anyone would want. Especially after the ending with Meridian, it was just too much of a deus ex machina that I felt took away from the dangers of discovery.