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[Addictress]

Dear Team,

 

I realize I am a mere peasant in the game developers' eyes as I myself am not a game developer and could never conceive of the difficulty of building such a huge game. But I am a top fan of the Mass Effect series, and I have a message I wish you to consider carefully.

 

Dragon Age 2 and Mass Effect 2 were my favorite. And obviously the first games are special and treasured beyond compare. Anyways, my message is to please not do what Inquisition did, or think about going down that path. The countless, pointless gathering and fetch and kill quests. The incredibly weak and easy ending. The simplified villain. But most of all, the glaring obviousness of the formula. I appreciate the hard work and the beautiful art that went into Inquisition, but I do not count it as a masterpiece in league with its siblings.

 

In Mass Effect 2, every species clearly had a biological interest in surviving. And how especially titillating to be funded by Cerberus, and all the drama that entailed! Both Shepherd's nemesis and savior, with the Illusive Man's face to personalize the drama. So it was fascinating and logical to find and recruit a variety of specialists from different worlds. Inquisition didn't make much sense. Why the team of specialists? A medieval CIA? Quite uncanny. In Origins, you had traditional armies from different lands and nations at your command, and treaties. And friends who followed you and camped with you, because Grey Wardens deserve that kind of following, but they weren't necessarily an official team. They camped with you like a merry ragtag band following a bard on a long journey through the English lands - not that uncanny. Very cool, and very in line with the world. But in Inquisition, you have a surprise fort (built by whom? Who cares?) with random characters who choose to give up everything and join your team? It is not synchronous with the fairytale world and kind of...random. Just didn't feel right.

 

Mass Effect 2 won, big time, with the fatalistic suicide mission concept. Not every game can pull it off. The game itself needs character. It needs to consider that Bioware fans have already probably played the other games. Simply repeating the formula too closely is going to ruin the suspension of disbelief.

 

Also I saw a documentary where the creators of the original Mass Effect say they drew inspiration from 1980s science fiction. Please do that again. Please. Drink wine, not beer. 1980's electronic music - 2001 space odyssey, buttons and computers and MIDI fantasy. Please be as hard-sci as possible, and DO NOT rely on Halo-esque or Destiny-esque space magic that lacks the cynicism of an old nerd. Be more Andy Weir Martian, less Prometheus. The fact that Medi-Gel had a corporation - the fact that the prisons in Mass Effect 2 were privatized - my god, yes... Yes.

 

And I'm sorry, I need to put this in all caps because this is a climax of thought and feeling:

I LOVED THE MASS EFFECT 1 CODEX THAT WAS WRITTEN AND NARRATED LIKE IT WAS A 1990's BRITANNICA ENCYCLOPEDIA CD-ROM, THEREBY MAKING THE PLAYER FEEL LIKE THIS WORLD WAS INDEED HISTORICAL AND PLAUSIBLE.

 

Please remember the 1990's Britannica Encyclopedia CD-ROMS.

 

That's all I have to say. I'm just really scared that Inquisition will rub off on Andromeda or that Andromeda will somehow lack the soul and character of the original series. I anticipate the passionate gaming relationship I will have with Andromeda.

 

Also one day, I will apply to become an accountant at Bioware. I am hoping they won't refer to this letter as it will be read by a team in another country while I will be in the US. Such strong feelings. I'm about to combust!

 

Thank you,

0bsess

[Filament]

As long as Inquisition gets Andromeda a towel I don't have a problem with it.

Or says "I'm so ____ed up."

[Addictress]

As long as Inquisition gets Andromeda a towel I don't have a problem with it.

What.... literary device is this?  "Gets them a towel"?  You mean the revenues from Inquisition would fund the development of Andromeda?

[Filament]

Literary device? ... I guess you could call it slang.

[Addictress]

The universal translator clearly has not installed their language yet. Clearly the pioneers arriving in Andromeda have not studied the languages of the natives yet. Please don't let them speak English. They must be incomprehensible! Incomprehensible I say!

[Hanako Ikezawa]

The universal translator clearly has not installed their language yet. Clearly the pioneers arriving in Andromeda have not studied the languages of the natives yet. Please don't let them speak English. They must be incomprehensible! Incomprehensible I say!

A VI or an AI would be able to completely translate their language in a matter of seconds, then after that translate instantaneously. They wouldn't neccesarily be speaking English, but like in the Shepard Trilogy in most cases it was the alien speaking their native language and then a computer program translating it instantantly.

[Hanako Ikezawa]

Also I saw a documentary where the creators of the original Mass Effect say they drew inspiration from 1980s science fiction. Please do that again. Please. Drink wine, not beer. 1980's electronic music - 2001 space odyssey, buttons and computers and MIDI fantasy. Please be as hard-sci as possible, and DO NOT rely on Halo-esque or Destiny-esque space magic that lacks the cynicism of an old nerd. Be more Andy Weir Martian, less Prometheus. The fact that Medi-Gel had a corporation - the fact that the prisons in Mass Effect 2 were privatized - my god, yes... Yes.

Mass Effect 2 was the biggest offender when it came to space magic, with things like the Lazarus Project where they brought you back exactly how you were from the dead after exposure to the vaccuum of space, burning up in reentry, crashing into the surface of a planet, and everything else that happened between the Collector attack and Cerberus obtaining you because "resources".

Can't speak for Destiny, but Halo is more of a hard science fiction than Mass Effect is.

 

[Addictress]

A VI or an AI would be able to completely translate their language in a matter of seconds, then after that translate instantaneously. They wouldn't neccesarily be speaking English, but like in the Shepard Trilogy in most cases it was the alien speaking their native language and then a computer program translating it instantantly.

The original ME trilogy takes place in matter of one or two centuries from now. They discovered a ground-breaking material, and quantum computing and quantum communications - NOT a breakthrough in software design or anthropology, necessarily. Doesn't matter how advanced programming is - you need to spend time to study all the lingual and cultural variables of an entirely alien race in order to INPUT them into the program so that it can compare it to other races.
Yes, in many things they leaped forwards in technology by hundreds of years, but there were still things that needed progress. Don't overestimate the near future, please. No space magic. That's one of the eyeball-rolling things about sci-fi which completely ruin movies and games for me.

 

The key to good sci-fi is having realistic progress. If one field has a breakthrough, it doesn't mean all the other fields simultaneously have breakthroughs all at the same time. You always need some limitation or some field held back for believability.

 

The main alien races like turians and asari had been around for a few decades between the discovery of the mass relays and the events of the mass effect trilogy, so yes, that was believable.  A lot can happen in even ten years. Especially because the world-shaking magnitude of finding a new alien species and the fact they went to war in the First Contact War means I would believe they could hasten the full understanding of those new alien languages to a span of a mere decade.

[Filament]

So who says it hasn't already been a mere decade, or that the translators aren't as awesome as HI described?

[Addictress]

Mass Effect 2 was the biggest offender when it came to space magic, with things like the Lazarus Project where they brought you back exactly how you were from the dead after exposure to the vaccuum of space, burning up in reentry, crashing into the surface of a planet, and everything else that happened between the Collector attack and Cerberus obtaining you because "resources".

Can't speak for Destiny, but Halo is more of a hard science fiction than Mass Effect is.

oh dear god please don't say that. Halo is more hard sci than ME? You didn't just say that. No.

 

Lazarus Project was pretty space-magicy but they made up with it with the artistic montage in the intro with all the medical equipment and rotating CT scans (just show some montages of CT Scans and you are legit by my standards bro) and by emphasizing the fact that it was just one time it worked and it cost all the dollars in the universe to do - it wasn't a routine thing. Also they made up for it by building up Shepherd's special legendary status by the time of ME2 so it wasn't like this was some random guy.

 

Yes yes I know rotating images of CT scans is a really lame way to combat space magic but I can't describe it - I don't know why but something about that damn awesome montage worked for me okay?

[SerriceIceDandy]

I do largely agree with most of what was written, although each companion in DA:I had a reason to be there. For the most part, every companion isn't a member of the actual political Inquisition (The Inquisitor, Cassanda, Cullen, Leliana, and Josephine), but rather there to assist in some manner that they feel obliged, or they're there for their own agenda (looking at you, Vivienne). 

 

[Addictress]

So who says it hasn't already been a mere decade, or that the translators aren't as awesome as HI described?

Because I'm assuming they just entered into the galaxy that very week - very fresh. Otherwise I won't be interested. I want the frontier/pioneer dynamics! I demand as;kdjhf;aksjdhfsasdfa

[Hanako Ikezawa]

oh dear god please don't say that. Halo is more hard sci than ME? You didn't just say that. No.

 

Lazarus Project was pretty space-magicy but they made up with it with the artistic montage in the intro with all the medical equipment and rotating CT scans (just show some montages of CT Scans and you are legit by my standards bro) and by emphasizing the fact that it was just one time it worked and it cost all the dollars in the universe to do - it wasn't a routine thing. Also they made up for it by building up Shepherd's special legendary status by the time of ME2 so it wasn't like this was some random guy.

 

Yes yes I know rotating images of CT scans is a really lame way to combat space magic but I can't describe it - I don't know why but something about that damn awesome montage worked for me okay?

Have you actually read the lore for the Halo franchise, or just going by the games? I'm guessing you have not, since the lore of the Halo franchise puts the lore of the Mass Effect franchise to shame. Plus even Bioware says Mass Effect isn't a hard sci-fi but is a space opera.

 

No, something looking cool doesn't make space magic justified. The reasons you used like Shepard being special and not just a regular person makes it worse, not better.

[Addictress]

Have you actually read the lore for the Halo franchise, or just going by the games? I'm guessing you have not, since the lore of the Halo franchise puts the lore of the Mass Effect franchise to shame. Plus even Bioware says Mass Effect isn't a hard sci-fi but is a space opera.

 

No, something looking cool doesn't make space magic justified. The reasons you used like Shepard being special and not just a regular person makes it worse, not better.

Well no because I'm comparing the game to the game.  Not the game + lore to the game - lore.

 

Look, I'm not trying to diss Halo. You have a soft spot for Halo. Fine.

 

And okay. Space Opera. Fine.  Is Halo a Space Opera?  No. Also, is Halo a 1980's Space Opera? No it is not.

 

When Shepherd ran around the compound at Luna, I heard his boots quaking the aluminum plated ground. When he stepped outside in the first installment to the exterior of the Citadel, the perspective turned to show his magnetic boots connecting to the exterior walls.

 

These scenes - these bits - were cinematically emphasized, not taken for granted.

 

It's about the cinematics and how they used the cinematics to emphasize certain elements which introduce believability into an otherwise space-magicy space opera. You can have all kinds of space magic but if you don't cinematically frame certain key elements to ground the audience then you lose me in something that is a dime a dozen.

[Sanunes]

The problem I have with "don't be like Inquisition" style posts is many of them seem to be focusing on what a person didn't like and not mentioning what might have been the reason.  Aside from the shard collections most of the quests in the game I am fine with for they are like most BioWare style quests or you could easily avoid them.  The issue that I have is that they are missing the dialogue conversation that comes with it and then I look at the difference between Inquisition and all the other BioWare voiced protagonist games and what I see to be the problem is multiple races and voices.  Now I am not saying that is the reasoning behind it, but I can't find the post but I am pretty sure I read somewhere that 40% of the disk space for Inquisition was the voice acting we had and I believe there would be a lot of work to make sure that every conversation in the game had the humanity that the other games had for each conversation would need to be animated or at least go through Q&A eight times.

 

To me game development really encompasses Newton's Third Law of Motion, so just be prepared for something to happen if you get what you want and you might not like the final outcome.

[Hanako Ikezawa]

Because I'm assuming they just entered into the galaxy that very week - very fresh. Otherwise I won't be interested. I want the frontier/pioneer dynamics! I demand as;kdjhf;aksjdhfsasdfa

At the last N7 Day when showing concept art Bioware implied we are already friendly with a native race so we won't be just showing up. Though that wouldn't detract from the frontier/pioneer dynamic, since the American pioneers and those on the frontier had some native american tribes be friendly. 

 

When Shepherd ran around the compound at Luna, I heard his boots quaking the aluminum plated ground. When he stepped outside in the first installment to the exterior of the Citadel, the perspective turned to show his magnetic boots connecting to the exterior walls.

 

These scenes - these bits - were cinematically emphasized, not taken for granted.

 

It's about the cinematics and how they used the cinematics to emphasize certain elements which introduce believability into an otherwise space-magicy space opera. You can have all kinds of space magic but if you don't cinematically frame certain key elements to ground the audience then you lose me in something that is a dime a dozen.

That's Mass Effect 1, not 2. I don't disagree that for the most part Mass Effect 1 was a lot more grounded than its sequels. But you used Mass Effect 2 as the basis, and Mass Effect 2 threw any notion of hard sci-fi away, like people not wearing sealed suits when walking in places like toxic atmospheres, high pressure atmospheres, or the vacuum of space. Hopefully they go back to Mass Effect 1 in that respect. 

[Addictress]

I marathoned the entire trilogy at once for the first time in 2013, so I guess Mass Effect 2 and Mass Effect 1 blended together for me - the groundedness of Mass Effect 1 blended in with ME2 and it was all one seamless game. So I was already feeling g grounded and then that took cruise control and I lifted off into the cinematics in ME2 from there - a nice ride.

[Addictress]

Unfortunately, much time has lapsed between the Netflix marathon of the trilogy and Andromeda and theyre gonna have to ground me again!!!

[Addictress]

I know we are very demanding with Bioware on what we want with this game, like an overbearing mother and her son

But Mass Effect is like my son, honestly. It is like my son I never had and I expect so much ;__;

[Killroy]

...but this isn't an important letter at all.

 

Wait a second...

 

[SlottsMachine]

 

Please remember the 1990's Britannica Encyclopedia CD-ROMS.

 

I will. NEVER FORGET!!!

[SlottsMachine]

I know we are very demanding with Bioware on what we want with this game, like an overbearing mother and her son

But Mass Effect is like my son, honestly. It is like my son I never had and I expect so much ;__;

 

[Remix-General Aetius]

I will. NEVER FORGET!!!

 

[Addictress]

Oh my god

I just realized how profoundly EA has messed it up

Oh my god

Halo 4??? The writer for Halo 4???


DO THEY HAVE ANY IDEA WHAT MASS EFFECT WAS?? DO THEY HAVE ANY RESPECT AT ALL FOR THE FANS?

They literally have no clue what made this series great. Not a SINGLE clue. And they're MESSING IT UP.

I'm actually panicking. We can't let this desecration happen. We can't. This franchise meant way too much to me

[Hanako Ikezawa]

How is that a bad thing?