Which aspects of Mass Effect (and RPGs in general) are the most important to you?

Gameplay, World Building, QA.

Citadel and all that is gone. Gotta prove the new locale can be just as good.

1. Backstory, lore and worldbuilding.

No question about it. What makes me flip my shit about ME is the lore and how incredibly well done the world is brought to life through little details. The places you visit almost feel like real places and have so much history to them.

2. Companions, character sub-plots and romance arcs.

Mass Effect wouldn't be the same without it's mind blowingly good cast of squadmates. Period.

3. Graphics and visual aesthetics

Same again, Mass Effect wouldn't be the same without the art design and look the game has. To clarify I don't care about the graphics per se, just the visual aesthetic and art design. To put an example, a lot of people said that Andromeda is looking very much like a Mass Effect game, I know that is not only because of the art direction but it is a big factor. I love ME's looks.


Honorable Mention: Sound design, music and voice-acting

Had to edit this in as well because sound design is almost on par for visual aesthetics for me. In some games sound design would be above visual aesthetic but I couldn't say for sure in Mass Effect. Again, all the sounds of the franchise are very unique and make you think instantly of ME, especially with the electronic music which I love when it's used in the games, especially in the first Mass Effect. The voices of the characters and aliens, weapons, environments, the sound of life on the Citadel, the sound of the Reapers in ME3. I feel like ME is underrated when it comes to sound design. Definitely not the best franchise out there (Bioshock and Transistor are much better IMO) but I feel like it's definitely underrated. Sound design almost ties with visuals for me.

So for me my options go as follow:

1. Companions/ characters/ character arcs. Now not so much about the romance per se but I find for myself as someone who absorbs entertainment and hopes to create his own one day, I find character is the most important thing in fictional works. Probably in one's day to day too. Characters are our conduits to the world around us and our way of getting into a story. After all we never really care about what happens to a world or a city or a continent, but we care about what happens to characters. They suffer, and we are invested into them, we suffer right along with them. And a game with a great cast can make up for a game with a mediocre or just 'solid' story a lot more then a mediocre cast can make up for a great story. Ala DA I/ ME 2 and ME 1 respectively.

2. Gameplay: Why we play games instead of watching movies or reading books. To engage in the gameplay. This can be anything from great crafting or gun play to even a properly integrated dialog system.

Customization: Almost put 'plot' here, but you know, it is a joy as a aspiring writer it is fun, not to mention something worthy of practice, to create a character from beginning to end, shaping how they look, and the choices they make in the game from big world shaping interactions to even the smallest dialog options in a meaningless cutscene. Giving them an arc, creating them. This is why we play RPGs.

Characters, backstory and gameplay (specifically flexibility of playstyle, which is why I'm worried about the whole 3 powers/lack of a power wheel thing).

ME2 was my first entry into the series and the characters and world building just blew me away.

Companions, character sub-plots and romance arcs - Characters and my relationships with them are what really make me care about the setting
The main plot and story - Stories and how I can influence them keep me engrossed in the game.
Gameplay, mechanics and level design - Ultimately, the bulk of (almost all) games is, well, the gameplay. And, no matter how good the previous two are, if the game isn't fun to play, I'm not going to play it (case in point: The Witcher games. Utterly unfun gameplay means I've not completed either the second or third game despite how good they are in other aspects)

Honourable mention (not selected because part of it is essential and part isn't): Customisation - Customising my character's abilities and even to some extent appearance are definitely things I enjoy having, but ultimately they're not a deal breaker. Being able to customise their personality though, is what makes an RPG an RPG.

Tough one for me, but I have to go with main story, characters and backstory.

If all the above excel, usually it's enough to help me ignore poor gameplay, which I don't think will be the case with Andromeda, but it's how I managed to get through Mafia 3 for example, so those three are what I am hoping to be the jewels in Andromeda's crown.

Good poll!

I'm going with main plot, gameplay and customization.

- If I don't care for the main plot, I'm not likely to finish the game unless other aspects of it (gameplay and companions for example) are absolutely stellar.

- Gameplay is what I'm going to do most of the time - if it's not fun and well designed, the game becomes a chore, where I slog through unappealing gameplay just to get to the next story part.

- And finally customization. I really enjoy building my character in both the skills and equipment departments. I don't just want to kill stuff, I want to kill it with style!

Honorable mention: companions. I'm a lone wolf at heart, but I do enjoy some good company now and then. I don't require it in a RPG, but I sure welcome it if available.

I'm 100% interested in the MP, and all I've seen so far of the gameplay looks very interesting. Like ME3, I think I will do one playthrough, and once it's finished, fully commit to MP, with occasional comebacks to SP.

The SP doesn't interest me as much; I feel like the ME trilogy was its own very coherent thing, with a very solid theme (each major races had its own "I want to leave or create something for future generations and the Reapers are going to destroy that" - Geth, Krogan, Quarians, Asari...).
So everything in the SP is lots of welcome bonuses to the MP, and I have no severe expectations. With Yanick Roy (who is behind Omega DLC - a piece of DLC I didn't like at all) and Mac Walters (behind some of ME3 writing), I tend to keep my expectations very low. I don't know if Patrick Weekes is still in ME:A but I liked his writing and characters in both ME3 and DA:I.

I'm curious about how they will give a sense of "space" this time though, because ME2 and ME3 (even ME1) didn't feel like "space operas" to me.

This^

1- The main plot and story
2- Companions, character sub-plots and romance arcs
3- Customization options

Main Story
Sound, Music, and Voice Acting (a game can be bad but still have amazing music and talent!)
Characters and companions