Sara Ryder 'SisRyder' (Official Thread)

I'm all for some interesting personal struggles for the protagonist in a story, which can come in a great variety of forms (and is something I liked Trespasser for adding to DA:I), but I personally don't think "struggle" = "Tons of terrible stuff has happened/will happen to the protagonist"

I'm fairly neutral about Ryder's age, since a younger or older protagonist each has advantages and disadvantages.

I liked that Shepard felt like she actually existed before I started controlling her, making her seem like a real person in the universe and not only a player avatar. Other the other hand, it made it odd to keep asking questions she should already know the answers to, like basics about the galaxy, tech, or species culture/biology.

An advantage of a younger/less experienced RPG protagonist is that it's easier (by necessity) to show how awesome they are as you go, rather than be informed of it because of events you weren't present for as a player/avatar-driver, as Nashimura pointed out. While not a huge issue, it also makes the inevitable leveling up make slightly more sense. That advantage also pairs with it being more natural to shape your character if they haven't experienced as much in their lives yet. This could also be a minor RP advantage for romance, depending on what you're looking to do (for instance for my comparatively-older characters, I've had to headcanon that they've been very unlucky when it comes to romance since they are still single but would rather not be. The younger they are, the less weird that is).

As long as they don't apply the traits people are worried about Ryder being (naive etc.) onto autodialogue or all options in a scene, it shouldn't be a problem since we'll just get to choose whatever they say/think anyway, as usual.

About the bolded: Someone's either been reading my posts, or great minds think alike
"So even if that turian shot Ryder, it would be more analogous to a warning shot than anything else. And it might not be a smart thing to do, since it wouldn't put her down; she could Nova the whole room, say."

Is it just me, or does it start precipitating only after the Tempest flies over? You know, like rain from a storm cloud... or a tempest?

Super awesome that you can combine the jump-pack with abilities like Charge! I wonder if it breaks Cloak. Jump-Pack, Charge, the Sword... looks like I might have to roll a Vanguard this time! Had lots of fun with highly-mobile melee classes in MP, among others of course.

And that biting-lip shot is super creepy

I definitely hope we can do some stuff like that in interrupts/cutscenes  I don't want everyone to forget about their powers and abilities in them as was common in the original trilogy. Oh, and please don't force our characters to be dumb/hesitant in cutscenes, too, Bioware. That was also fairly common

It does look good! Or... doesn't look... like much at all? Which is good? While you could be right about it making some enemies quite difficult, I've gotten very good at seeing cloaked people from years of playing Halo and Crysis (and Mass Effect of course). I say let them come

I really hope they have a demo like they did for ME3 (not to mention it's the reason I'm here now talking to you all). Aside from bringing in new players, it should hype pre-orderers, lock-in people on the fence (if it's fun obviously) and help polish the game due to more feedback. Seems like a win-win to me.

I very much look forward to snarky/sarcastic/dry/funny options!

I have to say though, that I hope they improve the paraphrases if that's the case, since it's unclear exactly what some of those will end up actually meaning. Classic Bioware, right? But if they don't give us the option to see the full line by hovering over an option, I will be disappoint. It's been suggested for years, and seems like a perfectly reasonable solution to paraphrasing issues.

But why would Fryda need to sound nice for the sarcastic options? Hopefully she does the nice options well /Worried Banshee