What is the most important thing Andromeda needs to get right?

Choices that actually matter.

I'm going to sort of cheat and say "the writing", because for me that includes a good story, good characters, and good roleplaying. That's definitely the most important thing for me, but I'd like everything else to be good too

I can only speak for myself, but for me it is gameplay/combat. That was such a downer for me in DAI. I could've forgiven many other things I didn't like in it, but combat...no. They fucked it up. The filler content was awful too, and I'm an MMO-player who supposedly has a high tolerance for filler quests. Well...no. I don't mind killing 10 rats about 100 times, but I hated collecting shards and whatnots, and I actually never did that. So I really hope they didn't go for similar solution in MEA, where half the game is a filler that could be skipped if only there wouldn't be the requirement for Power to advance your story. So that was about gameplay.

Combat has always been one of my favorite parts in ME-games. I've loved it in every three games. I really hope the changes they've made still keep it funny instead of frustrating. The truth is, big part of the players getting MEA will get it for combat and gameplay as much as for the story, and they better get it right. Those people just don't come to forums. For them this is just another new game they might get.

Weird. I never even had to think about earning Power in DAI. Between doing the main quest line for an area and the stuff you literally run into on the path to doing the main quest, you build up plenty.

I did end up chasing stuff for requisitions and other minor quests, but that was for Influence, not Power. The ME:A equivalent will probably be the colony-building stuff, and I suppose scrounging for crafting materials will be roughly comparable too.

I disagree with this statement on such a fundamental level that I feel compelled to respond. 

TES doesn't have roleplaying dialogue. At least not Skyrim and Oblivion. There isn't really much "dialogue" at all in a TES game. You basically just interrogate characters, and say "yes" or "no" when someone asks you to do a quest. Fallout 3, on the other hand, allows you to define your character's personality through dialogue. It even allows you to make certain "checks" during conversation depending on your skills in various areas, IE, a smart character can say smart things.

Fallout New Vegas took this to the next level. You had so many options in dialogue to define your character that almost nothing was left out. You were able to be sarcastic, rude, evil, gentle, apathetic, concerned, flabbergasted, etc. in almost any conversation. Every single one of your skills could also open up new dialogue options, and there were perks to unlock even more.

Having a high science skill let you talk about technology, having a high gun skill let you display your knowledge of firearms, having a high medicine skill let you talk about diseases, viruses, medicines, etc., having a high explosive skill let you have a vast knowledge of bomb placement, diffusing, types, etc. 

You were able to use your Karma (morality) to have access to different conversation options as well. 

Or, in the end, you could choose to do everything solely for the money. 

Unfortunately, Fallout 4 shits all over this... 

But regardless, Fallout games vastly surpass TES in terms of dialogue and roleplaying. The only exception to this rule I can think of is the addition of Serena (Selena?) in the Dawnguard DLC, who offered the player the option to talk about their family, and had lots of personality dialogue bits. The interactions between Dovahkiin and that vampire girl are better than any other interaction in the game, period. It's almost intimate if you allow it to be, or if you prefer to play as someone super apathetic and disconnected, you're able to do that as well. That's good character building. That's good roleplaying. Hell, that's just decent writing. 

Hopefully future TES games start taking notes from Fallout and Dawnguard. I prefer TES, but they're absolutely abysmal in the writing department, except for certain questlines like the Dark Brotherhood in Oblivion, which is still one of my favorite guilds in gaming. 

Fix'd.

That's fine, but I don't care for the Fallout series nor do I intend to play it. I'll just take your word for it, but my feelings remain the same.

And I disagree, but I won't get into it. It's just my personal feelings. That's all.

Imagine what Mass Effect could have been like if written by the guys at Obsidian.

In all honesty, the gameplay mechanics are the least of my worries for Andromeda. Even DAMP, with it's myriad of problems was still fun to play on a base level; it just buried that under bloated grinding, and tying ability damage to weapon damage. I know that the game will be engaging to play from a straight up combat stand point.



The most important part of the game (to me) is going to be the story, specifically the amount of 'alien-ness' that the setting will have. Sure the game will have characters talking about their daddy issues, it will get all lovey-dovey with the romance options, and will likely touch on some aspect of a social/political idea that BioWare feels like soapboxing about, but what about the actual science fiction elements? I am hoping that BioWare is able to capture that level of nuance that ME 1 had with 'alien' aliens like the Rachni, Thorian, and that game's depictions of the Elcor and Hanar. A universe that doesn't immediately conform to what we would find recognizable or comfortable. Even the uncharted worlds in the first game did a good job at driving home that sense of foreignness; not in the sense that their map layout was any good, or that it was fun to drive the Mako across them mind you. Just that, you go to this barren rock; utterly hostile to life as we know it; and you realize that this is the majority of what's out there in the galaxy, that comfortable, Earth-like planets are in the vast minority, and that the universe in fact doesn't revolve around us.

I am hoping to see more things like that in the writing personally.


EDIT: But if those writing points are "too hard" or "not a high enough priority" for BioWare, then I would respectfully ask that the MP would at least have a kit in the form of a Rachni Brood Warrior, or an Elcor Devastator Solider etc. Something 'alien' I can play as, I'll settle for that.

For me the most important thing is the story, the overall plot and engaging lore.