I did an aquatic species in my old race thread that was basically a small ray like organism, which used spider like encounter mechs to operate in outside world.
Concerning Underwater species building tech, there could be alternatives as shown discussed here.
Well humanoid species are probably easier to animate, equip and romance. There's probably a reason why we don't see that many Hanar in the ME trilogy. I wouldn't mind a weird, inhuman jellyfish in my squad, but that might not happen.
Besides they shouldn't be too much like the Hanar either as people would then accuse Bioware of having no imagination and ripping off previous races.
Ideally this race should be somewhere halfway between humanoid bipeds and hanaar. So yeah, mermaids. Or naga.
I really dislike the idea of an alien race's design having to be tweaked to accommodate possible romances with a human personally. Its annoying to see the possibilities of really non-human aliens hamstrung for the sake of blue/green skinned bang buddies.
It must suck to be one of those aliens and encounter humans, only to see that our first reaction is: "Can we f*** it?" 
I really dislike the idea of an alien race's design having to tweaked to accommodate possible romances with a human personally. Its annoying to see the possibilities of really non-human aliens hamstrung for the sake of blue/green skinned bang buddies.
It must suck to be one of those aliens and encounter humans, only to see that our first reaction is: "Can we f*** it?"
Spoiler
Bee's are exception
I really dislike the idea of an alien race's design having to be tweaked to accommodate possible romances with a human personally. Its annoying to see the possibilities of really non-human aliens hamstrung for the sake of blue/green skinned bang buddies.
It must suck to be one of those aliens and encounter humans, only to see that our first reaction is: "Can we f*** it?"
Spoiler
I agree, but these are the realities. I know that my taste does not represent the mainstream views and a game creaeted to accomodate my taste (and just mine) would likely flop.
Like how I always go with the craziest race class (and gender) combination in every game even on non-rp servers in MMOs. Thing is though most people just play human warrior, so creatinng very fantasy /scifi looking playable races is pretty much a waste of development time. a shame really 
What gets me is the whole ''oh well bidepal or vaguely humanoid aliens are unrealistic!!'' shtick. How in the blazes do we even know what is realistic or not when it comes to aliens? You can say you prefer less humanoid aliens, sure, but don't bring realism into this because nobody has a clue if aliens even exist, let alone what they look like.
"but don't bring realism into this because nobody has a clue if aliens even exist, let alone what they look like."
We are the only intelligent life form in the entire universe which is made up of billions of galaxies, yeah good luck with that.
I said in my post that nobody knows how they look but i also mentioned that there are almost no chance that they are are humanoid. I understand that there are reasons some of them look human like for the purposes of romance, animations etc. but i also hope to see more diverse enemies we will be fighting.
I doubt romance is a key factor in the aliens being primarily humanoid by design. The humanoid structure is just an easier, more relatable form to work with, especially if we're to have allies use our weapons arsenal. Even the weird prawns of District 9 are pretty much humanoid (though "romance" does technically exist there, as the film mentions interspecies prostitution lol)
I really want to see a focus on non-humanoids. I know that the animation problems are difficult but I would much rather see something like this:
Some nice examples there, I'd dig an alien like this too.
Shock trooper from Half-life: Opposing Force ^
I would love a Crypt Lord as love interest.
I would like to see two things.
First, like a lot of people mentioned above me, non-human looking aliens. To me asari were and are a silly and childish concept. Like many other species in sci-fi. So I would like to see more "alien looking" aliens, so to speak. Hire creative designers and go wild. I also understand the problem with this approach. Can you guess what that problem is? It can be explained in 2 words: "stupid people"! Haha! Yes, show "too alien" aliens, and the dumb-dumbs of the world will recoil in fear of the unknown, as their tiny brains are incapable of processing and will start to hiss and spit. Result: an unssuccesful game. No one wants that. So a compromise? Hopefully they bring creativity to the table in larger doses. (hanar are a great example... if they had bothered to add in visuals as to how the hanar do stuff like eat, fight, etc, it would have been amazing)
Second, once the first point is being taken care of, I'd like to see aliens with distinctive traits. A human face is unique. I would like the aliens in the game have either a random facial traits generator (not all, some fixed characters would be nice, and this goes for humans too, more "random" people in your game would be a good thing I think) or at least the individuals be unique. And no, different face paint does not count lol.
I really dislike the idea of an alien race's design having to be tweaked to accommodate possible romances with a human personally. Its annoying to see the possibilities of really non-human aliens hamstrung for the sake of blue/green skinned bang buddies.
It must suck to be one of those aliens and encounter humans, only to see that our first reaction is: "Can we f*** it?"
Spoiler
You laugh at that comic, but ME already did the exact same thing to produce the females for TWO of its resident reptilian (avian/ whatever) species.
bewbs
You laugh at that comic, but ME already did the exact same thing to produce the females for TWO of its resident reptilian (avian/ whatever) species.
bewbsSpoiler
moar bewbz
Spoiler
Yeah, no need to remind me 
Sex appeal trumping alien design has got to one of the more annoying aspects of mainstream science fiction; not quite the level of 'humans are special'; but definitely in the top 5.
Why can't we have alien species with drastic sexual dimorphism, or even an approach to reproduction that is entirely foreign to human concepts?
Yeah, no need to remind me
Sex appeal trumping alien design has got to one of the more annoying aspects of mainstream science fiction; not quite the level of 'humans are special'; but definitely in the top 5.
Why can't we have alien species with drastic sexual dimorphism, or even an approach to reproduction that is entirely foreign to human concepts?
Because human/Alien offspring ? ? ?
Because human/Alien offspring ? ? ?
The only Human/Alien hybrid that I will accept as plausible is the the xenomorph chestburster taking on traits of the host species.
I don't think it's so much about sex appeal as it is about the ability to express emotions and therefore be a relatable character for the (human) audience.
I think that's why the "rubber head" aliens remain fairly common even the age of CGI and/or video games, where the restrictions of human actors are no longer a concern. In principle, you could go completely wacky with alien design but in practice, those aliens would never have anything but a minor role (like the Hanar). Talking to Blasto for 5 minutes may be fun but in a really lengthy and serious conversation, most people would get bored very quickly because you don't get a body language display as you can have it with aliens that have some sort of a face.
Even Legion, according to the art book, was specifically designed as a more anthropomorphized version of the geth. His ability to show reactions through e.g. changing the dilation of the aperture of his flashlight was apparently very deliberate.
I also hope we'll see more exotic life forms (still hope we'll see something like my genetically engineered intelligent plant species from the old thread) but I would expect (and wouldn't mind) them to be more of a gimmick with short appearances than an integral part of the story.
The series has already lost its scientific accuracy on the aesthetics of the aliens.
Really? It's science fiction; humans have never encountered any major sentient species in the galaxy in any scientifically provable way, and you're complaining about SCIENTIFIC ACCURACY?!
I'm curious about something Mordin told Shepard during his loyalty mission.
"Human genetic construction, more diverse. Hairs, pigments, height, biotic and intelligence components, Unpredictable that way. Fascinating."
Along those lines.
So, since almost every alien species in the past Mass Effect games were more or less having similar structures, what if we get a species whose genetic construction is almost as diverse or more than humans?
I don't think it's so much about sex appeal as it is about the ability to express emotions and therefore be a relatable character for the (human) audience.
I think that's why the "rubber head" aliens remain fairly common even the age of CGI and/or video games, where the restrictions of human actors are no longer a concern. In principle, you could go completely wacky with alien design but in practice, those aliens would never have anything but a minor role (like the Hanar). Talking to Blasto for 5 minutes may be fun but in a really lengthy and serious conversation, most people would get bored very quickly because you don't get a body language display as you can have it with aliens that have some sort of a face.
Even Legion, according to the art book, was specifically designed as a more anthropomorphized version of the geth. His ability to show reactions through e.g. changing the dilation of the aperture of his flashlight was apparently very deliberate.
I also hope we'll see more exotic life forms (still hope we'll see something like my genetically engineered intelligent plant species from the old thread) but I would expect (and wouldn't mind) them to be more of a gimmick with short appearances than an integral part of the story.
I think that has more to do with the fact that Blasto was a shallow caricature of the Hanar species, specifically put into the game to garner cheap laughs than it was because the Hanar don't have recognizable facial features personally.
Talking with the Rachni Queen, especially if the player decides to leave her to die in ME 3, you can easily get a sense of the sadness present in the character. Likewise, the Elcor diplomat in ME 3 that simply says: "Not Enough" (no descriptor) when asked about how many of his people were able to evacuate Dekuna showed more emotion (so to speak) than a human with a pouty face and tears would have (IMO).
That is related purely through the voice acting though. As I said, it works for a 5 minute dialogue. I don't think it would work very well for characters that have real development and that you interact with on a regular basis and you are expected to form some kind of connection with (like, say, squad mates).
Don't get me wrong, I am all for exotic new aliens. I am just saying, I can see why BW (and basically every other creator of film or video game scifi out there) uses humanoid aliens for major characters. I am also not saying that it can't be done to have an exotic alien in such a position but I think it would be very difficult (and risky) to pull off properly.
That is related purely through the voice acting though. As I said, it works for a 5 minute dialogue. I don't think it would work very well for characters that have real development and that you interact with on a regular basis and you are expected to form some kind of connection with (like, say, squad mates).
Don't get me wrong, I am all for exotic new aliens. I am just saying, I can see why BW (and basically every other creator of film or video game scifi out there) uses humanoid aliens for major characters. I am also not saying that it can't be done to have an exotic alien in such a position but I think it would be very difficult (and risky) to pull off properly.
Get a good voice actor, coupled with excellent writing, and you could pull off Rachni, Elcor, or Hanar companions easily enough. Though you are right that those two elements tend to be in short supply when it comes to dealing with 'alien' aliens. Plus no one wants to take risks, as you said.
I'm sure producers scoffed at the idea of a wheeled garbage can that communicated through beeps and whistles, but Star Wars risked it and R2-D2 has become one of the most iconic and memorable characters in the franchise. BioWare needs to take chances, in exploring and showcasing the unknown; and I don't mean in a "Which trending social issue should we tackle?" way either.
I don't think it's so much about sex appeal as it is about the ability to express emotions and therefore be a relatable character for the (human) audience.
I think that's why the "rubber head" aliens remain fairly common even the age of CGI and/or video games, where the restrictions of human actors are no longer a concern. In principle, you could go completely wacky with alien design but in practice, those aliens would never have anything but a minor role (like the Hanar). Talking to Blasto for 5 minutes may be fun but in a really lengthy and serious conversation, most people would get bored very quickly because you don't get a body language display as you can have it with aliens that have some sort of a face.
Even Legion, according to the art book, was specifically designed as a more anthropomorphized version of the geth. His ability to show reactions through e.g. changing the dilation of the aperture of his flashlight was apparently very deliberate.
I also hope we'll see more exotic life forms (still hope we'll see something like my genetically engineered intelligent plant species from the old thread) but I would expect (and wouldn't mind) them to be more of a gimmick with short appearances than an integral part of the story.
Yes, very on point. There are work-arounds for this though, like with Legion. One can also define a set of "emotions" (add them as a Codex entry on how species X express emotions as humans understand them). For example make a giant scorpion-like species, with multiple jaws/claws/stuff on their "face", and then explain how this species "laughs" by vibraiting 2 specific pairs of thingies on their "face" out of the 12 available. And so on and so forth.
Of course to some that will be too alien as well. Sadly when there's no imagination, things need to be very clear, or some won't understand.
Really? It's science fiction; humans have never encountered any major sentient species in the galaxy in any scientifically provable way, and you're complaining about SCIENTIFIC ACCURACY?!
ugh i don't want to argue with you, just watch this vid, it will explain my view in the matter. there was another vid made by the same guy but i can't find it, also don't ridicule me clod, i didn't expect for a reply, this thread was flooding my notifications
Aliens like the Scramblers from Peter Watt's novel Blindsight would be amazing to see in ME:Andromeda. Something that is intrinsically foreign to our perspectives on the universe, but doesn't fall back on the "beyond our comprehension" copout either.
The Scramblers are great not only because they are 'alien' aliens with a totally different perspective on the universe, but also because their motivations for their actions are understandable, almost sympathetic to a certain extent:
As far as their appearance goes, the closest analog I can think of is the Mimics from The Edge of Tomorrow, except completely organic:
Apart from mere looks, it'd be nice if some of the alien species were more biologically different than humans, like having one that's either hermaphroditic or asexual, or one with reverse sexual dimorphism to humans(ie a species where the female is larger than the male).
Apart from mere looks, it'd be nice if some of the alien species were more biologically different than humans, like having one that's either hermaphroditic or asexual, or one with reverse sexual dimorphism to humans(ie a species where the female is larger than the male).
Agreed, I always found the extreme ends of sexual dimorphism in sci-fi to be an great jumping off point for how 'alien' a species can be. A perfect example of this was the Zuul from Sword of the Stars (seriously the lore in that game is terrific, even if I can't play it to save my life 
).
Basically, the females of their race are non-senitent, highly aggressive monsters that the males use as weapons of war when they are not breeding with them and even then, breeding for that species involves death for most of suitors. Only the strongest telepaths of their species are able to control the females (somewhat) and those with multiple 'wives' are considered the greatest of the Zuul.
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