ME:A - Nvidia CES 2017 Trailer (Now HQ!)

Thing I noticed: The music is really good. It sounds not-generic as in, it's the usual orchestral spacy synthy stuff but the motif isn't completely by the book or wannabe Hans Zimmer and it doesn't sound like it's trying to be Deus Ex Human Revolution.

This'll be great. BioWare didn't fail me with DA:I either though I hope this game has more variation because DA:I was a bit too much bombastic, loud, orgasmic, climactic (and that's all the adjectives I could come up with for now).

Or maybe different things matter to different people differently That's allowed, you know, it's a forum. I'm sick of this attitude that any sort of criticism of the game, even of systems we know a fair bit about, is pedantic and childish. Personally, I'm quite disappointed in the 3-slot limit. It "ultimately matters" to me.

I'm not concerned about Ryder being able to use all kinds of powers; that makes sense. I'm concerned about the huge logical gap of them or their omnitool somehow forgetting how to use powers to accommodate others, which is the exact logical problem DA:I's 8-slot limit had. Are omnitools low on storage these days? Because we used to be able to load up quite a few tech powers to them even in gameplay - logically, you could probably have as many as you wanted in-universe. And this isn't even talking about Ryder forgetting powers.

A hypothetical:
Ryder uses Flamer, Energy Drain, and Throw, but in order to use Overload, has to forfeit one of those abilities. I'm sorry, but that doesn't make any sense no matter how you slice it. Since she's only using 1 biotic ability and you could use 3, it can't be too much for her implants/body. Since you could use 3 tech powers, her omnitool can't possibly be out of space (even if that did make sense in itself). Therefore there is no logical reason she couldn't use Flamer, Energy Drain, Throw, and Overload at the same time without "swapping profiles".

So in that sense, it "breaks lore". I'm more concerned about it being a lot less fun than it could be without a restriction, though. What's the point of going classless and encouraging cool new build possibilities if we can only have 3 powers? That doesn't allow for almost anything we couldn't do before. This has negated my excitement for the classless approach. As long as Ryder has eezo nodules and implants, they should be able to use any biotic technique they've learned. As long as they have an omnitool, they should be able to use any tech ability assuming it has storage space (but even then, it might link to the Tempest computer like EDI's body did).

Basically, I just find this newfound restriction incredibly backwards and contradictory when it comes to supposedly having more freedom this time.

Yes it was. Someone who specializes in combat powers/implants is classified as a Soldier. Ditto for tech and Engineer and biotics and Adept. A Sentinel is someone who uses a lot of tech and biotics, a Vanguard uses combat powers/implants and biotics, and an Infiltrator uses combat powers/implants and tech. The only thing missing was a mix of the 3, which ME:A adds with the "Explorer" profile.

And as far as I can tell, it still is a lore thing, since this profile-swapping is Ryder-specific and the squadmates will have traditional classes as far as we've been told.

To be fair, gameplay videos are generally on easy modes and "go through the motions" to show off specific things. I'm not saying it couldn't have been more interesting and definitely longer than 45 seconds, but still.

DA:I had 8, and they could have had more if they got more creative. Regardless, you don't need that many hotkeys if you use the radial menu for powers in addition, which is what ME1-3, DA:O, and DA2 did. I just can't see the advantage of imposing a limit when you previously didn't have one That isn't freedom.

I saw the Nexus, not a derelict vessel/station. Which is an interesting place to keep it: an asteroid field. Are they employing Han Solo logic? "They'd be crazy to follow us, wouldn't they?" I suppose that's one way to project the station Not great for the ships that routinely dock with it though.

That's basically the explanation, yes. The Soldier profile says "This profile optimizes Ryder's body for superior mastery of armour and weapons"... which would be fine if you were a specialist. I don't understand how Ryder gets their entire body (and apparently mind) realigned on-the-fly, though Handwaves will surely ensue. I can handle some amount of that in scifi, but this isn't anything we've seen before in ME. If we can do this kind of thing, there's absolutely no excuse for not letting you use the character creator mid-game

And yes, SAM is probably partly responsible for this procedure.

Keep in mind that Infiltrator =/= sniper, even if that's the standard. They're (probably) not going to make you use certain weapons unless they're temporary pick-ups like the targeting laser. To be honest, I don't think we'll ever be at any large disadvantage using any profiles, but we'll see.

That was certainly a fun aspect that added longevity to MP, and part of the reason people wanted different playable species in singleplayer, too (though I'll nitpick that krogan are only slower walking and faster running, and batarians can run, but they can't roll-dodge, presumably because of their spike-armour). Movement speed increase was certainly a fun feature since it included all animations; running, switching weapons, melee, etc. I hope the profiles allow for movement speed bonuses. It would make sense if Soldier had them by default, and would actually make the class a bit more unique and interesting, I think.

Yeah, so far I've barely seen squadmates do anything in the ME:A videos, but we haven't seen much uncut stuff. I hope they're more useful than before, but since we have less control over them I think they'll be even less useful since we can't plan combos anymore.

I disagree, I think it's one of the most valid things to criticize that we've seen/heard of so far. And you're wrong about that second part, as mentioned above. Consoles had access to skills via the radial menu as well as hotkeys, so there was no difference between console and PC versions of previous games and that is no reason to limit skills this time.

Definitely cool to see the Tempest flying around, although I guess that salarian pilot isn't huge on safety considering how close to those asteroids we're getting Speaking of which, was the salarian pilot the one who asked Ryder if he was okay in the beginning of that video? It didn't sound like SAM.

I like them too, I wish the starboard ones were green though, like real life. At least they're a different colour though (white?).

The angle of descent of the Tempest is also jarring at first if you're into space stuff, but I suppose they'll have much better heat-shielding in the future that would allow for a steeper, faster descent.

I still think the Tempest looks a bit squished, but pretty cool nonetheless And yes, Rogue Academic is a rather cool title. Reminds me of a conversation with Dorian. "Are there rebellious archivists?"

You guys and fancy ranks! I haven't even achieved Academic yet. I guess that makes me a... Listless Interloper, level 21? Or something Will probably level up and join your ranks soon, though.

Well, if she died from something she wouldn't have in a hardsuit, then at least I know that Bioware understands how dumb her outfit is Why don't they just give her something better and save that outfit for her casual look, if they're so attached to it? I'm sure they could come up with something in a similar style.

I suppose I was unclear. I was referring to passives. I was worried that those would be mostly controlled by which profile your powers give you rather than chosen, however after rewatching the video I do see that we can level up passives manually. So that's good.

You're right, but I wasn't trying to imply that they were, rather say that I should have expected less control in general in ME:A given we got less control in DA:I than previous titles, like removing allocated stats.

Speaking of ME fields protecting things, I was confused about the Nexus briefing saying the stasis pods are protected with them. What do they do, exactly? Why would you need shields on them?


Additional random thoughts about the video:

- One of the descriptions in the demo says "EMP Pulse". Grr... Bioware, where are your editors?

- Wow, Cora's icon look way different! Her face-shape, her hairstyle... I can't tell if she's supposed to have a Cressida-style half buzz-cut or not. Hopefully we can actually see Liam and Cora soon so we can stop guessing from strange icons

- Scott gave me a better impression with his voice than in the PS4 demo, not that it makes a huge difference to me. Good, though, and I guess I'll hear him as an NPC.

- They changed "Flamer" to "Flamethrower".

- The FoV is still way too close to the character while aimed. I really hoped they'd adjust that since I found it covered half of your screen in ME3, leaving you half-blind and worse with large characters like krogan. Hopefully that's an option.

- Does Ryder say a line whenever you choose a new powerset? "Anyone order a friendly Observer?" after purchasing the retrofitted Observer. Could be fun. Hopefully there is some degree of combat dialogue. I wonder if companion lines are disabled for demos.

- The omniblade melee looks very fast.

BansheeOwnage : it is the salarian pilot that talks to Scott in the trailer.
While companions will fall in the traditional 'classes' in terms of their powers being kits based on the six, it should be noted that from ME2 they never referred to their classes with the names of Shepard's and now the profiles. So it was unclear Iif the classes are actually referenced in-lore until Liara in ME3 mentioned it.
While I do agree with your point, considering a bigger loadout was possible, the problem of 'forgetting' to use some skills was kind of present in ME2-ME3 as well, not only with the bonus power but with the respect option, that lead us forget some powers in exachange of others in the class, if we'd do so. It's not the same thing, but a problem like this was present already.
About Scott, I thought he was referencing to the Observer enemy with that line.

As a final note, Bioware and Ian are been secretive on the three powers loadout being official. I wouldn't get my hopes up, but it seems weird they didn't confirm, given how (apparently) clear this is.

staci. ‏@ilbloccocreati
Will squadmates interact with each other during missions and will the subtitles be able to tell me who is speaking in ME:A?

Mac Walters @macwalterslives
Yes. And yes... if you have them on.

I'm almost certain that that was confirmed in one of the articles. Considering how popular it was for fans and devs alike in ME3 and DAI, makes sense they would continue to do that. 

Bioware is at fault they created those entitled fans because of the way ME was set up as a player story had it been set up like The Witcher those fans would have no power they would only cry so yeah i hate that fans like 

you have a choice and no one is forcing anything on anyone 

well then cry babies of NPCs would be pissed Bioware doe snot have the balls to make a solo game 

I'm just wondering how they could possibly think Shepard had no personality.

If they wanted to be real about then the Commander of a Starship would be in charge of his ship oh wait Shepard was not he always had a puppet master in hackett to answer to in ME 1 in the real Military a commander of a ship when he assumes the Captain Chair can do what ever he wishes with in  the rules 

1)I was talking of a commander in general. Your point is completely irrelevant to what was discussed.
2)Putting aside Shepard's Spectre situation who would've let him being indipendent from the alliance (and indeed you're free to ignore Hackett's quests without consequences), the Normandy was supposed to be part of Hackett's fleet, under his command. The Captain, intended as a rank in the Alliance, doesn't let you do whatever you want within the rule. You're still under command of your superiors, that assign you missions. If a ship is independent, then yes, its Captain is free to whatever he wants while respecting the rules.

"Duh!, that's what medi-gel is for" she said... , Now the squad have 2 members...