For those on the fence...

I posted this here but I'll repeat it-

'Unfortunately, everything I've seen of ME:A so far makes it look like 'an action game with "RPG elements" (some selectable dialogue and an inventory)'.
I want to be wrong.'
A third-person shooter is not what I want from the ME franchise and that's what this looks like. So I'm on the fence until I can see some spoiler-free reviews.

ok I try that. Thanks for the help

I like to wait until after release as a general rule... just in case there are game-breaking bugs.  I'd rather give the developer some time to make that first patch or two available.  I hate buying a game and then having to wait for a patch to be able to actually play it.

Why am I unsure?

1) The abomination that is ME3
2) This miraculous "ODSY drive" which can traverse galaxies but was never used to explore THIS galaxy
3) The miraculous Autobot Implant that lets Ryder be anything and lets an AI have control of his/her biological functions (no way THAT can go horribly wrong, amirite?)
4) The apparent fact that the AI is a Great Hipster Migration because the Milky Way is SOOOOOO Mainstream.
5) Three power limit (But you can TOTALLY switch your loadout on the fly with no problem.  Trust us)

What can assuage the fears?

1) Disavow ME3.  Make it noncanon
2) Come up with some kind of logical reason why there was no huge colonization wave in the Milky Way with the discovery of the ODSY
3) Sheesh, I dunno.  Give it some serious drawbacks?  Make it something that's actually controversial in the story and not just an excuse to "streamline" the game?
4) A reason beyond "Because it's there" to explore a new galaxy when the Milky Way is still 99% unexplored itself.
5) A really freaking good gameplay video that addresses this

For those worried BioWare has lost their way, think about the fact that this was almost 10 years ago


But since then they've produced Mass Effect 2, DA2, ME3, DA:I.

But Joel (MEA Art dude) was lead artist on the Sonic Game xD 

I'm on the Fence but am someone who pre-ordered DA2, DAI, and ME3. I also completed DAO/Awakening, ME, and ME2. I discovered BioWare pretty late - in 2010 due to random articles about its romance systems.

Why I'm on the fence: There seemed to be a lot of internal turnover and disruption during this game's development and I'm honestly uncertain how this game will turn out. I'm also waiting on reviews because while I loved cinematic, story-centric games (ME3 being my absolute favorite), DAI was a huge time-sink and felt like a mediocre single-player MMO. This is not an experience I'd want to repeat, at least not at full price.  Given that games now go on sale shortly after release, I prefer to wait on this one.

I had been on the fence about DAI also but ultimately pre-ordered due to the presence of characters like Leliana, Cullen, and Varric. I was also intrigued by characters who made brief appearances like Cassandra, and was curious about Dorian and Sera.

ME:A lacks this for me - I'm not particularly excited about any of the cast and obviously have no prior attachments since they are all new. I'm not even sure who the romances are going to be for me (M/M) and this is also a big selling point for BioWare games for me.  Without any "must-have" preorder exclusives, I feel no need to pre-order at this time.

TL/DR

- Waiting on reviews to see if this is really DAI in space.
- Waiting on spoilers about who is M/M romance options.
- No Compelling Pre-Order content.
- Games go on sale very quickly these days.

I'm still a bit on the fence if I will buy it at a release, or wait half a year for the price to drop. Waiting would come with a bonus of patches and possible DLC released. SWTOR will get an update at April and I was thinking getting 60 days of sub for that, and if I do that, then MEA has to wait. On the other hand, state of SWTOR is so abysmal that giving that game even a cent anymore would make me feel like gambling addict with a Stockholm Syndrome, so maybe not. So, I'm not so worried about the bugs, gameplay etc. Me fencing is mostly a personal matter.

And here is the truth: It is on the shoulders of Jaal.
If they tell that he is LI for male-Ryder too:

I think I'm skeptical of MP because... DA:I. They've rebuilt every mechanic from scratch, maybe reused a few animations, but we can't just assume the MP will be an upgrade to ME3's MP mechanically or in terms of gunplay or balance or even modes. It's definitely comforting Montreal is making the game but I worry because they made ME3MP on top of a game that was primarily made by BW Edmonton. This time they're making an MP mode to a single player they're directing themselves. I'm just slightly skeptical about how that works out. I don't think the little pre-order trailer footage looked too hot but it's also not much to go on.

I want to thank everyone for the fantastic responses so far! You have all given me a lot to think about, and for the people who were "instabuy" or "never buy", I think it has potentially given good insight to them as well as to why people might have trepidation about the new game.

Thank you also for this having been very non-adversarial.

Because they kept on Mac Walters, allowing him to unilaterally sink the quality of the franchise's story and lore to that of his shitty comics.

I don't understand this. Hasn't this been the case with the series since ME2?

I'm not on the fence for similar reasons.

They just make that big mac look so fucking delicious.