Concern Over Lack of Promotion: Is this Unfounded?

Honestly you must not have been keeping up with it at all then, as the first video that appeared for the game at E3 way back in 2015 showcased a variety of equipment. E3 2016 showcased the inventory and dialogue I believe.

As for the OP's comparison between ME:A's marketing and Horizon: Zero Dawn's there's 1 pretty huge thing to consider with that. By all accounts Sony are majorly trying to push Horizon as their next big exclusive IP so they have been (and will continue to) funnelling in as much money as possible in order to get it over with the fans. Honestly it looks pretty damn good too.

True, but HZD is a PlayStation Exclusive, so I tend to ignore it. HZD, I agree, has the additional advantage of being something totally different, a totally new I.P. OMG robot dinosaurs! Whereas Mass Effect has an admittedly controversial past.

MEA may end up not being the greatest game, but I feel relatively confident it'll blow FO4 out of the water.  Of course, I could give two shits about open world and crafting so that's something I'll largely ignore (unless there's some actual storytelling integrated a la TW3).  The recent trailer has given me some hope since I've seen some improvements made (except for the hair).  If they can get the gameplay mechanics squared away, then if nothing else it'll be fun.  Still not crazy about the "privately funded" aspect of the premise since it'd be like Gates, Buffet, and 20 more of the richest across the world saying their going to take two-thousand of the best and brightest and start a colony on Mars.  Not gonna happen.

I don't care much about story spoilers or character announcements or romance related hogwash.

But I would really like to see 3 - 5 minutes of uncut gameplay - is that asking too much? I want to see how capable the AI is, how your companions act now that you can't really control them anymore. I've seen glimpses that are not encouraging in this department, like AI enemies not reacting to being shot at, enemies with rifles walking slowly towards Ryder instead of seeking cover or doing anything else remotely smart, or two robots getting dropped on top of Ryder (a ridiculous measure to deal with a single combatant) and then dying within seconds, and so on.

I need to know whether I will be playing a colorful explodey mess or a satisfying, well designed combat experience.