REALISM: WHAT ANDROMEDA SHOULD BE ALL ABOUT
One of the many reasons many people love the Mass Effect franchise is because of its believability.
There are great storylines, great people to interact with, and great ambience.
I've always appreciated Bioware's storytelling; ME1 was probably the first game that put players at the helm; although it could be seen as primitive from today's standpoint, it did immerse the players in the story and made them appreciate the plot much more than they would have if not for the interactive dialogue wheel as well as the Paragon/Renegade inputs introduced in later iterations. That's probably the reason why many people have experienced an altogether different and more engaging RPG trilogy through the years with Shep and his/her team. Admittedly, the ending of the trilogy was a bit off the mark. I wouldn't call it a devasting flop; and I would certainly not call it a series-killer. The concept of Shepard's sacrifice was executed well, and I felt it was really the only way to go to conclude a plot that had grown to such voluminous proportions over the course of its synopsis. I did however, feel that the ending could have been a bit more dynamic; instead of same reactions and different color pastes, we could have had an altogether different ending; say, we could have had direct input and different choices on the strategy of the final battle on London (I figured being a legendary human commander, we would have had some sort of say, but ... well, no). The choices made throughout the five years could really have been shown appreciation and consideration. Bioware, late as it is (we figure you've already gotten past the foundations and are well into the wrap-up...considering we're only a year away from holiday 2016), here's a brief run down.
1. INVOLVING AND REALISTIC PLOT.
I honestly don't see how I'd get over the original trilogy .... and silly enough I'm waiting for a great remake of the original a few years into the future. I think that'd be a great idea. But since Bioware is going ahead with Andromeda, they'll need to make it right. I personally would really not appreciate an alternate reality timeline or some sort of leave-the-rotting-galaxy-and-go-to-mine-gold-in-andromeda type of plot jump. Milky Way has to be there; and this just has to be an expansion of galactic races onto a new world with their advent in technologies. I mean, if Earth is rotting, how the hell are we supposed to get to the Shepard memorial that's most likely built there?!
2. REAL GRIT, REAL ENGINES, REAL HEAVY BOOMS.
Now THIS IS IMPORTANT.
There was one recurring thing I didn't like about the Mass Effect trilogy. This flaw was most exploited in ME3; during its wide array of space battles and everything. I really enjoyed the militarized armies and the concept of interstellar armed forces coming together. But my god Bioware why are they all white and green and blue and red and toyish? Giant dreadnaughts better sound massive and almost fear-inducing; physics needed to be on a heavier side; military vehicles needed to be felt that way; Makos were silver plated with blue decals, armor was colorful and not really accompanying; Look at a Kwunu. Looks like a dreadnaught size designer chopstick for kids. I'm sure the codex explanations sufficed, but the theme didn't really work out. Just take a minute to remember the final flight scene. If you had a 100percent readiness, you'd see that Alliance fighter pilot gunning down that Reaper baby red eye pod whatsits with a stream of bullets. Listen to that bullet sound; and you'll know just what I'm talking about. Big bad space stuff need to be heavy and loud and imposing. The military rovers and everything need to be gritty, angry, growling, heavy, and occasionally rusty and dirty. I just want the sound job to be done right. Like the Reapers. Both from ME1 and ME3; the Reaper cries were spot on; the echoes were great and you could hear that Reaper yell from the immersive gameplay.
When I looked at the new Andromeda Mako .... it was white, it was shiny, it sounded like a battery powered Toyota concept pod. Not really a forte but I can't say I hate it. I just really wished they'd made these things more realistic.
3. DESOLATION AND VASTNESS.
I honestly think that the huge FTL-typish thing we saw on N7 Day 2014 is the huge FTL teleporter that leads to Andromeda .... link here; http://blog.bioware....1/MEScreen2.jpg..
we also need a real galaxy ... I mean, the original trilogy was great, but the galaxy map? I mean; quit insulting the Milky Way! You get from one end to the other end with simple annoying three second cutscenes and the whole thing looked remarkably like some toy board game. The galaxy is a huge huge place, and I just couldn't get that feel with the original map. Add the context that you are exploring some new galaxy, that element of fear needs to be in there. I can't simply be the adventurous joyride anymore. And by FEAR I don't mean that i-have-a-torchlight-in-a-dark-corridor-and-oh-****-a-zombie-is-crawling-out-of-that-corner fear; I mean the kind of fear associated with adventure; that fear which makes players wonder if this is really going to be round trip or a short, meaningless one way hellride.
4. REAL.
like I wrote above; it needs to be a realistic one; Andromeda needs to design the whole game world based on today and with considerations of the future; stuff that players can look at and think 'Well, that's a spot on idea for sth in the future'. I'd still like Star Trek if it wasn't for the ridiculous person-warp-thing that Spock uses to jump down upon Khan or that rather bewildering time travel concept.
The original trilogy was a great fusion of the sci fi genre that established it as an interesting interpretation of the far away future without too much gimmicks. And although I felt the 2180s timeline was a bit too close to the present for comfort, it was a good undertaking. Oh, and Bioware, no blue tint for biotics please. I mean, you could sort of create visual ripples (like heat waves from overheated rifles during reloads in ME2 and ME3) with different strengths and deepness to depict biotics. Sure, Asaris? That's fine. But Miri turning all blue wasn't a great pro in my book.
That said, I'm waiting for Holiday 2016. Don't even think about a delay 'cause we would have waited for four years straight.
TO BE UPDATED.
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