Andromeda Initiative briefings (6/6 Golden Worlds and Settlements)

My reaction to this video, like most of ME:A's trailers videos, is pretty much:


It didn't really tell or show us anything new. Meh. Was nice to actually hear one of the characters speak, though. I'm curious about the cast. I mean, it looked nice, but as the "NOT ACTUAL GAMEPLAY" disclaimer reminds us, it's, well, not actual gameplay. And while not unexpected, the "humans humans humans" tone of all of the promos so far is lame. It's not horrible, but it's not exciting.

That would make sense. It can't really happen any other way, or else everyone would either have green lines, or synthesis is non-canon, which Bioware doesn't want to do.

It's funny, when I think of ME3's backlash, I think of a group of fans who was collectively shocked and were desperate for closure, coming up with theories and having interpretations all over the map because of it. I remember people who were emotionally invested in something for years have that rewarded with - well, everyone knows. I don't think of the death threats and the like. I'm not saying they didn't happen, and they most certainly shouldn't have happened, but when it comes to constructive criticism - and when it came to something as crazy as the ME3 ending - a bit of venting, I'm totally in support. Is there a bit of bitterness still there? Yeah. But Bioware has been historically terrible at understanding criticism and why fans want certain things, and mostly unable to even take it in the first place, which I find arrogant and sad. But mostly frustrating, because it means worse games.

So if ME:A is absolute garbage, sure, it won't hurt nearly as much. That's good. But I'd still want a "backlash" in the sense that I want Bioware to see and understand criticism. Not personal attacks, obviously.

That makes two of us. They're extremely reticent to give us even basic setting and premise info

Nah, I doubt it. It most likely means it'll take place in the 2700s. There's no way they leave 4 hundred years after the Reaper War, for a plethora of reasons.

Holy crap, take a look at the scale of that base megatropolis on Luna!  Can someone figure out its rough dimensions?

I hope this won't be another case of adding stuff over the male characters butts but leaving the female butts clear, for obvious, hypocritical, and immature reasons

What's your point, though? Are we not supposed to share our thoughts on a forum about the games? I mean, I think most people don't want them to screw up, and talking about human-centrism and Humans Are Special is certainly a worthy discussion here and elsewhere. As for people who are still bitter about the trilogy ending, like me, what do you want us to do?

Well, the simple answer is "Because retcon" I'll explain more below.

1. Possible, but the trailer seems more like an in-universe recruitment spot. And I have a hard time believing something with that magnitude could even remain secret, with thousands of "our best, our brightest" taking part in it, from multiple species. Especially the advancements to FTL that must occur to make the trip possible in the first place: Upgraded drive cores that do not need to be discharged. That alone would make it impossible to be a publicly-known endeavour and difficult to keep secret.

2. Not true. The opposite of true. The Reaper War is precisely the reason it would be relevant to mention. To know that maybe you're not humanity's last hope for survival, would lift an unfathomably large weight off of the desperate who remain in The Milky Way's defense, particularly Shepard, the spearhead of the resistance. But we know Shepard didn't know about it, because that would have severely altered all of those conversations in ME3 about Shepard's growing hopelessness and slowly draining resolve. I'm not saying Shep should have just been all happy-go-lucky because of the Andromeda Initiative, but it would have helped morale ludicrously. On the other hand, if last year's N7 Day promo is canon, Shep did know about it, and even sent off the crew of the Ark(s). So either way, not much sense is to be had. Not that I can find.

I really don't think it was Nolan North. Just didn't quite sound like him to me. I really want to know who voiced female Ryder though, because it's important to me to have my RPG protagonist have a voice I, at best, find pleasant to hear, and at worst, am indifferent to, because it would be quite annoying to have to listen to that many lines given by someone who makes you cringe I didn't get good vibes from her "We made it", but she was exasperated, muttering to herself, and it's the only thing we've heard her say, so...

Actually it said "Not gameplay", which means it could still be a pre-rendered cutscene. That said, I think it's just a promo, too.

Okay, so am I right in thinking this article is assuming things based on vagueness? Because the bolded paragraph simply must be incorrect. There is no way that was after ME3, because it will inevitably choose a canon ending (or make some non-canon), as well as not make sense given the level of technology shown so far (barring the probably anachronistic Arks themselves). Carnifexes, Makos, Kodiaks, etc. should have been phased out if they left 600 years after the trilogy, not to mention advancements in other ways that would probably render the setting unrecognizable even in terms of culture.

I think the article writers are thinking that promo was post-war, but why I cannot say.

Hooray for that (if that's indeed female Ryder)! Gotta to say I'm pleasantly surprised if so. Though I have to say, I find that weird triad thingy we're discussing quite ugly And I still don't understand N7's weird non-spacey collar flap and N7 being on the wrong side.

That sounds... uncomfortable. But no, that can't be it since it's only on one side of the chestpiece (and it would be terrible armour design in the first place to need binding...).

I thought of that, too. Presumably, the trailer is metaphorical, not literal. Maybe?

I've waited this long... I can wait a little longer.

Ha, for having the same reaction. Also +1 for Liam Neeson, I'm stealing that gif

I'm just happy the boob plate armor is potentially gone.

Lets just all say this as a little comfort chant shall we... there will be no retcon and/or cannon endings... ME:Andromeda will not go anywhere near the endings of the trilogy so....
As they are clearly showing the ship being build in the Sol system close to Earth it has to be well before the Reapers turn up, maybe even before the threat is widely known and may even be completely unrelated...
So I may have to go revise my late night ramblings thread

They should still have them as options for people who want them. 

The guy either was doing the usual clickbait article or simply did not understand what was being said in the video.

There is also the possibility he didn't actually watched the video but i think (hope) this is unlikely...

BansheeOwnage Have you ever played the Uncharted games? I've played all 4 plus the vita game, multiple times. I'm 99.9 % sure that's Nolan North. Him looking at the Helius cluster map just screamed Nathan Drake looking at his map in a journal.

Of course, they will probably confirm on N7 day, we'll see then!

Well, the slagged ruins of what was formerly a ship would take that long to reach Andromeda.  Assuming it didn't drop out of ftl once the electronics fried and the crew got cooked 

Fixed it for you.

That's probably one of the few reasonable ways they could explain it.

Although it does mean yet another "mysterious alien artifact" conveniently showing up to drive the plot.

Yeah, they'd already be falling into the old and tired cliches before we even get to Andromeda. I'd rather the source be Reaper or Collector in origin, since they are at least established so isn't a case of a mysterious alien artifact. 

I was sorta hoping for wormholes myself.  I'd rather just forget Mass Effect and the Reapers ever happened, just make that trilogy noncanon as far as Andromeda goes.

Sadly, I'm unlikely to get my wish on either matter.