How 'alien' is Mass Effect Andromeda going to be?

Another point is that evolution in our planet seemed to follow some kind of logic. Like symmetry, for example. We don't have a lot of asymmetrical evolved species, as far as I know. Also, the reason we have 4 limbs, and not 8 seems to be that evolution "understood" that getting energy to feed unnecessary limbs is not a good idea, and so on. That is why I accept finding a lot of "humanoids" in Andromeda. I'm okay with the grand majority of the new species being similar to ourselves. That said, I still hope that we may find a lot of stuff that somehow managed to survive, maybe because there is an ecosystem where that kind of crazy species would thrive.

I enjoy Lovecraftian elements to my science fiction and fantasy settings as well, and prior to the Catalyst showing up and completely butchering the Reapers' previously established character I found them to be fascinating villains. That being said, I do feel that BioWare could have explained the nature of what the Reapers were without actually "explaining" them.

What I mean is that this being a science fiction universe, people are going to want explanations and reasonings behind why things are the way that they are, and as such a blanket statement of "Beyond your comprehension" wouldn't fly. That being said, they shouldn't have spelled out word for word the exact nature of the Reapers/Catalyst and the purpose behind the cycles. Not only is it rather illogical to expect to have everything about a billion + year old conflict neatly laid out in precise detail, but it just defeats the point of the Reaper's characterization. Personally, I think it would have been better if the galaxy discovers that the cycles are indeed the result of a program or machine directive, seeing as how the Reapers themselves are create beings, but that no one, not even the Reapers, knows why such a directive was enacted in the first place.

No creator race to magically show up and explain everything. No bulleted list buried in the depths of the Reapers' code with detailed information on their true function. Just an ancient order to harvest the galaxy every 50,000 years. Why were the cycles enacted? Was it because of a synthetic uprising? An ancient species that decided to commit self genocide, but ignored the repercussions of leaving their murder weapon on autopilot after they were gone? No one would know and it would maintain that fear of the unknown that the Reapers' fostered. Speaking of which, such an "explanation" for their motivations could also be worked into the underlying themes of control vs. forging ones own destiny. Maybe Harbinger and other Reapers like him viewed the cycles as a sort of divine mandate, the goal that gives them purpose. Maybe their single minded pursuit of a directive even they know nothing about is what truly sets them apart from the species of the galaxy who choose to fight back and try to innovate solutions. Etc.


But anyway, back to the topic of Andromeda's 'alien' elements, I wouldn't mind seeing some more Lovecraftian depictions in the new galaxy.

It's gonna be humans in funny suits. It's always humans in funny suits.

With some odd exceptions (Thorian, things like that)

I agree....I think the Khet are already being tagged as one of our major villains in the game and it's true that this series have kept it very star-trekish with it's theme, albeit a bit darker with it's earlier concept of the reapers. For this game I don't see EPIC major universal ending alien apocalypse. I'm getting an action packed sci-fi space themed journey.

And as other have mentioned, any aliens that are not on the order of having a similar human build looks to be regulated towards a wild beast or animal. 

I never saw any of those aliens as intentional "joke races" in the first game; certainly not to the meme/caricature status they were reduced to in subsequent titles.


I didn't find the Volus ambassador's complaint on the Presidium to be all that funny to be honest. He was rude and sarcastic with Shepard, but nothing about his dialogue came across as intentionally comedic. Really, I felt he had a legitimate gripe considering how both his species and the Elcor had been a part of the Council races for over a hundred years and that they had only recently been granted embassy status, and then, to top it all off, both the Volus and Elcor ambassador had to share a space. Meanwhile, our human ambassador gets an entire office to himself, granted after only around thirty years of membership, and Udina is still whining and complaining over the fact that he doesn't have more authority and/or that humanity hasn't been made an inner Council species or given Spectre status. I can find the Volus' snarkiness to be understandable in that light.

As for the Elcor, the lore specifically states that they talk in that fashion for other species' benefit, to help avoid confusion. It was an interesting take on their species; one that had a range of body language and expression that: "made a human's smile seem as subtle as a fireworks display". They had a lot more depth than what they initially came across as, but the writers apparently fell into the same assumption that most players did in later titles, namely the one that believes they are dim-witted and only good for a comedic foil because they "Talk Funny".

And the Hanar were very interesting as a species before their poster child became Blasto: The Meme Factory. The whole dynamic with their face and soul names offered insight into a species with a deeply rooted duality to their everyday lives. Also add in their penchant for extreme politeness, even against those they hate, and the species becomes a lot more nuanced than the whole "big stupid jellyfish" stick they were branded with going forward. Plus, the religious zealot on the Presidium wasn't that comedic, that particular Hanar was just stating a fact about it's own species; namely that they were uplifted by the Enkindlers aka Protheans. If the game is going to jump on the Hanar's case and assign "big stupid jellyfish" to them because of a religious connotation to the Protheans, then I propose that we should start calling the Asari "scaly dumb bimbos" every time one of them says "By the Goddess" since their whole species was uplifted by the Protheans as well. After all, the Hanar were honest and upfront about their Prothean influence.

Personally, the look, aesthetic design, appearance etc. of any and all new alien races only goes so far for me.

It can look cool, and distinctly alien to what we've come to expect or seen before, but if, like Vortex13 has iterated before here, its just a mindless killing machine, an enemy or boss for us to shoot at, then the design of the alien is only one half of the glass filled, the other completely neglected, that of what it is the alien sees, thinks, feels. Whether they are sapient and have a different or wholly unique intelligence, one human minds are incapable of understanding. Something completely far and beyond anything we've come to see, or expect. If that can be offered, then I wouldn't mind if the design leans more towards the humanoid aliens we've seen in the past, as a new alien species that's sapience and intelligence and culture is so advanced or different, or beyond human understanding, then that seems infinitely more interesting and engaging to me, than a funky looking alien grizzly bear we shoot at.

Here's hoping that we will be getting more aliens like the Thorian and the Rachni in the new title; if only to break from the monotony of rubber fore-headed humanity.

I feel fairly confident in suggesting that if BioWare needs to create some other one-off species as a plot device or to fulfill a story objective, they will.  That's all that either of those species ever really were.

The thorian was invented as a plot device to deliver the cipher to Shepard, and only Shepard.  (Never mind that Shiala also had it, and should have been able to pass it on to others - apparently, giving it to Shepard erased her local copy.)  It also served as an introduction to indoctrination.  Whether any others exist is unknown, but we killed the only one we encountered.

The rachni were invented as the reason for the salarian uplift of the krogan, and a highly evolved species whose existence represents a threat to the other sapient species.  Shepard gets to make a decision about whether to end them, while others mess with them to create shock troops.

You don't mention the Leviathan, but they're also pretty unique in the threat they pose to the other species.  One has to wonder whether the rest of the galaxy will seek to wipe them out after the reaper war.

I agree for the most part.

Still, I have to wonder why the Lore in Dragon Age seems to be more robust than the Mass Effect Lore.

Obviously, they didn't seem to care much about the established lore when they occasionally decided that they had to make whatever point,
but overall, the history of the world, the lore about magic, religion, the Elves, Tevintar, it all seems to be more in depth than the Mass Effect lore.

In Mass Effect different species of aliens are usually the classical "Planet of Hats" trope (for a large part at least), while in DA there's always more beneath the surface.

And I say this despite the fact that at this point I feel somewhat fatigued and disillusioned with the whole DA IP.