109 réponses à ce sujet

[Revan Reborn]

As everybody should know by now, BioWare confirmed the moment the E3 2015 trailer was released that the person clad in N7 armor was not our protagonist:

 

 

Also, note how BioWare cleverly uses Johnny Cash's "(Ghost) Riders in the Sky" (likely alluding to Ryder).

 

What is also interesting, however, is that we know our protagonist is also somehow affiliated with the N7 program:

 

 

How would everybody feel if it turns out "Ryder" is actually a rogue N7 operative and is the antagonist of the game? This wouldn't be too unreasonable considering this would follow rather closely to the plot of ME1 where Saren was a rogue Spectre. In fact, Saren wasn't the only rogue Spectre to even appear in the ME trilogy (LotSB DLC). It seems to be a recurring trend.

 

I could envision a scenario in which the ARK has been traveling for centuries to make its arrival to Andromeda. Due to unforeseen events that happen aboard the ARK as well as dwindling supplies and critical repairs that need to be done to keep the ship functioning, there is a schism and a conflict ensues.

 

It would be interesting if "Ryder" was the leader of this rebellion and decides to leave the ARK for dead by going to create what he believes is the ideal future for the Milky Way races. You, the protagonist, are tasked by what remains of the loyalists to the N7 program to bring Ryder in for justice as well as discovering the Andromeda galaxy for a new home.

 

I wouldn't even be surprised if Ryder ends up being someone who our protagonist knows quite well (possibly a good friend or mentor) making the betrayal that much deeper. Any thoughts?

[Master Warder Z_]

Sounds too much like Call of Duty: Ghosts.

 

Is Ryder also going to survive a gunshot to the heart and still be in condition to drag the PC away at the end credits to brainwash him?

[wright1978]

I wouldn't even be surprised if Ryder ends up being someone who our protagonist knows quite well (possibly a good friend or mentor) making the betrayal that much deeper. Any thoughts?

I wonder if they might go even further to try and create a connection by making Ryder related to our protagonist. Ie brother/sister.

[Revan Reborn]

Sounds too much like Call of Duty: Ghosts.

 

Is Ryder also going to survive a gunshot to the heart and still be in condition to drag the PC away at the end credits to brainwash him?

I never played Call of Duty Ghosts. I stopped after Call of Duty Black Ops. I'm just merely speculating based on what we know and the possibility we may not even be Ryder. The fact that (Ghost) Riders in the Sky was used in the video showing off a character who wasn't the protagonist could be alluding to the fact that the person who was shown is Ryder. We'll have to wait and see, but I wouldn't be surprised if Ryder was the antagonist and we had to go after him and bring him to justice.

 

I wonder if they might go even further to try and create a connection by making Ryder related to our protagonist. Ie brother/sister.

I was actually thinking this, which could be really interesting. It's certainly not something I would be opposed to and would create a conflict of interest within the player of how exactly to handle Ryder.

[Akrabra]

I wonder if they might go even further to try and create a connection by making Ryder related to our protagonist. Ie brother/sister.

I do like this concept, but they need to really build it up to make you care, either hate them or love them sort of. And a redemption angle is always nice. Want a villain that has some depth atleast and a reasoning behind what they do. A personal connection could help make that stronger. 

[Prince Enigmatic]

It would be great to have a more clearly defined antagonist, with depth and a capability to understand why they are doing the evil deeds that they do. I feel like Saren was a great example of this, and arguably there hasn't been one quite like Saren since in the trilogy since there really isn't a primary antagonist in the same capacity as Saren in ME2 or 3. 

 

It would also be interesting if the protagonist and the antagonist, whoever they may be, have a connection from the beginning, and I like the idea that they have different ideas about humanity's place and future in Andromeda. 

[heinoMK2]

I wonder if they might go even further to try and create a connection by making Ryder related to our protagonist. Ie brother/sister.

Another game about family issues? Please, no.

 

What i would find interesting is a scenario where we are actually - unknowingly - a second group of refugees/explorers who get to Andromeda. The antagonist might be a leader of the first one who had to make some really though choices and got himself and his people into an alliance with some species that aren't exactly best friends to have - with us being on the other side of the fence, so to say.

[Revan Reborn]

It would be great to have a more clearly defined antagonist, with depth and a capability to understand why they are doing the evil deeds that they do. I feel like Saren was a great example of this, and arguably there hasn't been one quite like Saren since in the trilogy since there really isn't a primary antagonist in the same capacity as Saren in ME2 or 3. 

 

It would also be interesting if the protagonist and the antagonist, whoever they may be, have a connection from the beginning, and I like the idea that they have different ideas about humanity's place and future in Andromeda. 

I agree. What made me hate Saren but sympathize with him at the same time is what he was doing made sense. Unlike Shepard, he recognized beating the reapers wasn't a likely scenario. He thought he could broker some kind of compromise where he could "save" the galaxy by appeasing the reapers. It obviously didn't work, but it made Saren multi-faceted and gave him a level of legitimacy none of the other antagonists had. It would be great if MEA were to turn Ryder into a similar kind of character for the protagonist to grapple with.

 

Definitely, whether a sibling, friend, mentor, etc., this relationship would have to be established from the very beginning. That would make the betrayal that much more impactful and engaging for the player to witness. We would be able to understand Ryder's rationale for going his own direction, but we would have our separate philosophy and that would come into conflict. I believe there's a lot of potential for great storytelling there if this was the direction BioWare actually went.

[UpUpAway]

No matter how Bioware actually writes this plot... I think there's going to be a whole lot of people here who have already set themselves up to be disappointed that it's not whatever plot they've already speculated it to be.  Reading so much into such meager scraps of info is, well, a speculative practice, IMO (just saying).

[Revan Reborn]

No matter how Bioware actually writes this plot... I think there's going to be a whole lot of people here who have already set themselves up to be disappointed that it's not whatever plot they've already speculated it to be.

On the contrary, I just hope whatever BioWare comes up with is great. I don't really care whether my speculation is right or wrong. I am just combining the evidence we already have and putting forth some possibilities of what the plot could actually be. Ideally, whatever BioWare actually comes up with would be far grander than what anybody suggests on BSN.

[MegaIllusiveMan]

An interesting idea... But that leaves something very important on the air:

 

if the Character in the trailer isn't the protagonist, why they focus the Launch Trailer on him/her?

 

Plus, who was with him then and how will they be important to the plot? There are clearly some "Squadmates" there.

[Revan Reborn]

An interesting idea... But that leaves something very important on the air:

 

if the Character in the trailer isn't the protagonist, why they focus the Launch Trailer on him/her?

 

Plus, who was with him then and how will they be important to the plot? There are clearly some "Squadmates" there.

BioWare confirmed in the stickied thread above that the character displayed in the E3 2015 trailer is not the protagonist. As for what his importance represents, I think he may actually be the antagonist to the game. As far as his crew, who knows? We just don't know enough.

 

This theory would certainly be in line with BioWare's confirmation that this will be a much more personal story. I could see Ryder being someone who was close to us and then everything just gets torn apart.

[Prince Enigmatic]

No matter how Bioware actually writes this plot... I think there's going to be a whole lot of people here who have already set themselves up to be disappointed that it's not whatever plot they've already speculated it to be.  Reading so much into such meager scraps of info is, well, a speculative practice, IMO (just saying).

 

I feel that the older any franchise gets, the greater expectation gets with each new entry. Couple that with individual ideas about what the next entry should be, how the story should be told etc. it's inevitable that not everyone is going to be happy with the finished product. I also feel that with the Mass Effect 3 ending still influencing some people's overall view on the franchise, Mass Effect: Andromeda is guaranteed to be reviewed with extra scrutiny. 

 

 

An interesting idea... But that leaves something very important on the air:

 

if the Character in the trailer isn't the protagonist, why they focus the Launch Trailer on him/her?

 

Plus, who was with him then and how will they be important to the plot? There are clearly some "Squadmates" there.

 

I also find this quite perplexing. It is certainly generating a lot of positive speculation about just who our protagonist is, same with the antagonist. I find it quite clever on BioWare's part myself, though I am sure some may disagree.

[NewBlue]

WHAT IF, it's all a trick. A switcharoo in with them actually meaning, "Oh you're not just the protagonist you can also be the antagonist" Or preferably "There is no protagonist" They're finally listening to the fans in the sense that the Mass Effect series needs more shades of gray 

[Revan Reborn]

WHAT IF, it's all a trick. A switcharoo in with them actually meaning, "Oh you're not just the protagonist you can also be the antagonist" Or preferably "There is no protagonist" They're finally listening to the fans in the sense that the Mass Effect series needs more shades of gray 

Given the fact that every BioWare game has always made the player the hero, I find this incredibly unlikely.

[Killroy]

Is Ryder actually the antagonist of MEA?

Maybe. I mean, he does look like a Reaper, eh Revan?

[NewBlue]

Given the fact that every BioWare game has always made the player the hero, I find this incredibly unlikely.

Very true, but the concept of the anti-hero has become very popular recently. I wouldn't be surprised if Bioware saw that opportunity and ran with it. Gaining more popularity from the people who don't always want to be a hero and also simultaneously acknowledging one of the fans biggest gripes since ME1

[UpUpAway]

I feel that the older any franchise gets, the greater expectation gets with each new entry. Couple that with individual ideas about what the next entry should be, how the story should be told etc. it's inevitable that not everyone is going to be happy with the finished product. I also feel that with the Mass Effect 3 ending still influencing some people's overall view on the franchise, Mass Effect: Andromeda is guaranteed to be reviewed with extra scrutiny. 

 

 

 

 

No disagreement here... It seems to be getting to the point though where the weight of credibility being placed on a couple of trailers and a few art pics (in this and other threads) might sink the ARK before it even gets out of dry dock.

[Heimdall]

An interesting idea, though mostly speculative

 

I'm kinda coming around to the idea that our character and the antagonist will be siblings with their appearance being variable like the Hawke family in DA2.

[Revan Reborn]

Very true, but the concept of the anti-hero has become very popular recently. I wouldn't be surprised if Bioware saw that opportunity and ran with it. Gaining more popularity from the people who don't always want to be a hero and also simultaneously acknowledging one of the fans biggest gripes since ME1

To some degree. People don't mind a person who is more of a vigilante who doesn't exactly play by the rules. That doesn't mean they have to be bad, however. People just want more depth and a more believable narrative rather than a Disney story. I doubt MEA will be the start of that experience, but I'm hopeful, at the very least, BioWare tossed the cringe-worthy Paragon/Renegade system out the window.

[Akrabra]

What would it take to makeit like the Fallout 4 approach? The character you don't play, either male or female is the antagonist? How much extra voice acting would that require etc. Atleast i think that would be interesting. 

[Revan Reborn]

An interesting idea, though mostly speculative

 

I'm kinda coming around to the idea that our character and the antagonist will be siblings with their appearance being variable like the Hawke family in DA2.

I actually felt the family dynamic to DAII added a lot to the story. I wasn't entirely thrilled by the mother's inevitable death, but overall it was a much more personal story that really did add to the sense of attachment. I think it would be great if MEA certainly was taking queues from that story as well as taking it in new directions if Ryder turns out to be the antagonist and related to the protagonist.

[Revan Reborn]

What would it take to makeit like the Fallout 4 approach? The character you don't play, either male or female is the antagonist? How much extra voice acting would that require etc. Atleast i think that would be interesting. 

That's an interesting idea, but the VO and the cost it would require would be the issue. You'd end up doing double the VO work for the male voice and female voice. It's certainly not a bad idea, but I'm not sure BioWare would be able to fit that idea into a workable budget EA provides them with. Either way, I think pursuing some sort of relationship between the protagonist and the antagonist would be work exploring.

[Heimdall]

What would it take to makeit like the Fallout 4 approach? The character you don't play, either male or female is the antagonist? How much extra voice acting would that require etc. Atleast i think that would be interesting. 

Depends on how many lines the antagonist has.  If it was like Loghain or Saren, being largely absent most of the plot, it probably wouldn't be prohibitively expensive to tap the voice actor for another performance (Assuming same voice actors).  Animations would probably be just a matter of swapping the models out.

 

Though I don't think such an approach would be worth it or add much more.

 

I actually felt the family dynamic to DAII added a lot to the story. I wasn't entirely thrilled by the mother's inevitable death, but overall it was a much more personal story that really did add to the sense of attachment. I think it would be great if MEA certainly was taking queues from that story as well as taking it in new directions if Ryder turns out to be the antagonist and related to the protagonist.

I agree, though in relation to your resonse to Akabra: what if they were twins?  What if the antagonist boasted a slightly altered face to your created character?  ...Might be too close to Citadel now that I think about it.

[Akrabra]

That's an interesting idea, but the VO and the cost it would require would be the issue. You'd end up doing double the VO work for the male voice and female voice. It's certainly not a bad idea, but I'm not sure BioWare would be able to fit that idea into a workable budget EA provides them with. Either way, I think pursuing some sort of relationship between the protagonist and the antagonist would be work exploring.

The voicework is the only problem, but how many lines does a villain like Saren have? Or Loghain? Is it really that much of a stretch? It would need a great buildup though, something Fallout 4 lacked. Atleast an hour or two to get you invested, and make the conflict personal and more. A civil war on the Ark? Nothing needs to be"I am the hero i need to stop this threat". It can simply be "I need to win this fight by any means necessary".