Jaal Ama Darav (Official Thread)

Can finally answer this!

1. I only played MET for the first time ever last year, so I can't answer that, but If I had played MEA first, I would have loved it and bought MET to learn more about the lore!

2. I can say going into MEA I felt tears of happiness seeing my fav aliens in Frostbite form! My first thought and it's still the same is "this is an ME game and I love it!" plus MEA gave me things I felt lacked in MET and had wanted to be in it, so that also made me happy.

Awesome and detailed response, thank you!  Interesting - so MEA feels like a continuation of ME1 in some ways if ME2 and ME3 hadn't happened? I'm also compiling a list of things about MEA which reminds people of ME1, I don't have much on there so far, but if you'd like to contribute (and everyone else, of course): planetary exploration on the ground with the Nomad, sound effects, equipment and variety of skills, Citadel-esque nature and layout of the Nexus vs. the confined, one-room-per-level style of ME2 and even ME3 to some extent (though in ME3 it's not the space but how it's occupied - the Citadel basically turned into a giant refugee/war camp in some ways); of course, all new and improved, but still reminiscent of ME1. I'm having trouble pinpointing exactly what it is about MEA that really gives me the ME1 vibe apart from these obvious details, but it really does.

I have a reason for asking these questions which I hope to share with you guys soon.

People hate the OST?? I had no idea.
Thank you!

I really wouldn't worry about ruining Jaal. They've done their "worst" already by revamping his character, which is a serious intervention (to clarify I'm not complaining about the result at all, I'm just saying that's pretty gutsy to reach into an existing character and make such big alterations), so I rather think they're done with messing with him - otherwise now two fan camps will go after them with pitchforks and no one wants to see that happen. Besides I've never known Bioware to make DLC's purely to focus on a character relationship unless it was especially plot related and the only two instances are both in DA and pretty damn good, the rest are all about awesome expansions of the actual story. I'm fairy certain it will be a quarian thing, though (and I am not so secretly super excited about the prospect).
Hmm, they did do an expansion on that ending theme, didn't they. I mean, personally I'm in the camp of those people who were totally OK with even the original ending (please don't stone me guys) and I was really satisfied by meeting and talking to every single one of my still alive companions (which was all of them because that's how I roll), especially the final goodbye when my squadmates were shipped off before I went into laser land and got sucked up to the Citadel - very moving, very overwhelming emotionally, the whole experience. I felt it was appropriate that at the end, Shepard is alone like he/she began and after all the totally messed up crazy shit that they went through... I felt like it was a complete relief for my character to finally be able to just let it all go and die. Actually the most traumatic thing for me about the ending was that after everything that happened at the end of the game all of a sudden my character was loaded onto the Normandy where (post-death??) I could finish up any unplayed missions, etc. that aren't story sensitive - I kind of freaked out. The way I saw it was not that all my choices didn't matter (in my eyes, it's a narrative story, having a million endings after the direction of the entire journey was so focused would have felt pretty weird for me), but rather that my character has - after loads of sacrifice and hardship - finally transcended something profound about the entire nature of this corner of the universe which went beyond the understanding of anyone else alive or anyone who had been alive throughout the millennia that passed during the Reapers' many experiments; and honestly, the Reapers themselves were such huge entities (not in body, but in an existential sense) that I don't really see how they could have made more satisfying endings than the three approaches they provided: traditional military defeat, purification of all technology or synthesis (which I think was a fascinating option, it's my personal favorite).

But that brings up an interesting follow-up question: I know many people were massively dissatisfied with the ending and I'm sure that there are as many reasons for it as there are people who belong to that group, so my question is: how would you have changed the ending to make it more satisfying? (If the answer is: "take my choices into consideration more" I'd also be super curious as to exactly how you would envision that.)
Thank you!

Ahhh, the answer I've been waiting for, a non-trilogy viewpoint! I feel your pain with Ashley and Liara, my first ever ME1 PT I "accidentally" ended up dating Ashley (who I despise by the way) and I had no idea how I even initiated the romance, that's one real complaint I've always had about ME1. I mean, now that I've played it so many times I know how to meta it, but... yeah.

That's a very good point about the magnitude of the choices - I'm definitely making note of that. Please do tell more if you continue playing MET, I really, really want to know more about this perspective!
Hmm, lore - you do learn a lot more about some "hardcore ME" stuff in MET, that's true.

Could you give me more details on what things in MEA satisfied you in a way that MET didn't?

1. THE CHOICE HAS BEEN MADE. I was having trouble deciding who to romance and when Jaal was revealed as an option (and revealed in general a bit more) I just knew.
2. He's a little... too human? When he says "OK" to that guy I just sort of winced and thought that maybe that was pushing the whole "my translator interprets alien verbal and body language and came up with the result of 'OK' in this situation" - I'm a linguist, so these kind of things bother me, it's like someone performing a Shakespeare play to glitzy pop music (and I have seen that, it's as awful and cringe-worthy as it sounds - well, I mean, it sounds that way to me because I'm a purist snob, I know this). Other than that, I thought, "good, he's not a fawning softie!" and I was basically just dying to know more. (I got over the linguistic thing, btw.)
3. I try not to have "expectations" in that way. The character and narrative is developed the way it's developed, I was trying my best to be a blank slate ready to be filled by whatever the authors of Jaal designed him to be, so he didn't meet or fail or exceed in that sense. That being said, the little amount of information revealed about him did give me a grasp of what his character was going to be like and despite the sparse amounts compared to other team members, I felt the way I generally do about most modern trailers: I already learned all the essential parts before even getting to play the game, so again, there's nothing to exceed or fail at because I am unfortunately good at deconstructing information like that and getting a pretty accurate picture of personalities. Not that I'm complaining, I picked Jaal that way and I wasn't disappointed by the choice, he was consistent with his introduction throughout I think.
4. Well, his relationship with Peebee pissed me off a lot initially, but mostly I have a problem with her, not Jaal, so I don't think that counts. Other than that... from the perspective of the character himself (not the design of the game or content quantity) I don't really think there's anything that disappointed me. I won't say that I'm disappointed by lack of content because I don't think that should be equated with disappointment in his character - that's partly why this whole PR mess about MEA exists in the first place, mistaking quantity, developmental or technical issues for quality, they are not the same thing.
5. I don't think he needs improvement, for the same reasons as I gave in the previous question. I think he was written as a damn fine character and I happen to like it.

Gwyvian It's like they were trying to make the Angara most relatable to humans out of all the MW species, but I agree that the alien part of the Angara was lacking. I understand they are emotional and expressive, but they still felt human instead of alien. I'm not sure if that was their true intentions, but I think my only issue with the Angara.

brandoftime Tali, Garrus and Thane were the ones Jaal was compared to pre-launch, then reviewers started to say he was like Javik too lol I think he kind of reminds me of all 4 mixed, but still holds his own as a new character and not a copy and paste.

Less ambiguity with the "Shepard lives" ending.

It would have been as simple as showing Shepard on the Normandy with the rest of the crew for like two seconds. (The MEHEM mod did a great job with having Shepard being the one to put Anderson's name on the wall. Simple, effective, great closure.) I understand the arguments for why it's unrealistic for Shepard to live in the end, but 1) they DID open that door and said Shepard could survive and 2) I bent over backwards to have 100% war assets and get the best ending possible. I know they wanted Shepard dead across the board on their end, but they could have thrown a bone towards those who were willing to work for that optimal outcome. When ME1 ended, the final scene was Shepard standing in front of a red/blue planet with a rifle as the music swelled. I wanted something better than a body lying in the rubble for a character that was never going to be playable again.

I think I associated a sense of hope between ME1 and Andromeda because everything feels so innocent and heroic at the end of both games. Andromeda as a coming of age for Ryder and ME1 proving oneself as a specter. Sure, there seemed to be more weight/sadness to the decisions of ME1 but at the end of the game, you felt like Shepard would be able to overcome anything,  even with ME2 you could still overcome all odds through cooperation and smart decisions. Ryder may be a rookie finding his/her way and they may not be an N7, but it was an uplifting feeling I got with Ryder's team and all the alien species working together at the end....something that was robbed at the end of ME3 for me.

As for Andromeda's OST, I've seen quite a bit of people saying they hate it. I don't mean the comments saying that it was too quiet but comments that actually say it sounds ugly or uninspired. I really liked it though. *shrugs*

I can't really pinpoint what it is about Andromeda that reminds me of ME1 so much and I have a hard time articulating my thoughts at times but I hope I made sense.

I just peeked in the twitter thread and I don't care what apology that guy makes, (which I'll admit good on him) it still doesn't make me trust him or his "sources".

1. What was your first impression of Jaal in the trailer?
When can I sit on his face?

2. What was your first impression of Jaal in the game?
Daaaaaamn, he is sexy and now coming down the stairs! OMG is he proposing? Uh no...yeah I will follow your governor. *Internally cries*

3. Did he meet your expectations?
At first, no, because of the whole straight ordeal. That was rectified with 1.08 though, so... *Shuts up*

4. Are you disappointed in anything about in-game Jaal?
When I'm in a committed relationship with him, he blatantly states he wants to fuck Asari for science right in front of me.

5. How could Jaal be improved in future games?
I need more customizations. I want this universe to feel like my own. Why can't I change his outfit colors and weapons? I also want a better explanation about his new role in the Resistance. After Meridian, why is he still on the Tempest? The mission is done. I clearly want him on my ship, but I need more than him just wanting to be there. I don't know nearly enough about the Resistance.

As that one Dev said, "who would push her off?"

Like anyone not interested. That's who.

Yikes.

I've noticed that everyone's answer to this question is remarkably similar....that's saying something right bioware? I mean if all the flirting were to magically disappear in a bug due to the next patch, we wont be angry, promise.