Edit: A camp is also useful as a backdrop for the protagonist and the LI to spend some quality time and conversation together, as a respite during a dynamic duo mission or assignment. Not a sex camp, but a friendship-bonding point. They could talk about their personal backgrounds, the mission, and life in the new galaxy. There is so much that we could learn about our characters, and we can make some choices too.
don't you want to play in a world.that feels alive?Yeah, who cares about day and night cycles, it's not like there's potential for new tactics and/or mechanics, enemy encounters, gorgeous visuals, ect.
I want day and night cycle...imagine to explore a planet in the night...the vistas will be awesome...auroras,stars,moons,etc...
I'm indifferent to day/night cycles myself. The progression of time is just never going to be consistent anyway, seeing as how time bends to the players' whims anyway. In the game, unless there's a countdown, time stands still for the player. So, we can have a cycle to have the sun rising and setting, but our character will never grow tired or have to sit down. S/he'll just be like:
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But I'd also be wary of how the rest of the game works around this, especially if we deal with things like colonies/settlements. Would NPC's we can interact with only be available in intervals, or would they always just mill about endlessly day and night? I kinda like how DA2 got around this by allowing us to set the stage ourselves rather than the clock ticking along.
Pokémon does night and day quite well, just saying
don't you want to play in a world.that feels alive?
....Yes?
Will Andromeda have day/night cycles or will the time of day/night somehow remain perpetually still? If a day/night cycle does Indeed exist to what degree will it be? Will it be like the Witcher 3/Fallout 4, or will it be [that when] you return to the ship - time advances?
I've read all of the comments in this thread (to this point) and I'm still a bit confused about what is meant by a day/night cycle as it is used in a game.
My only gaming experience is with ME and all I see is that time is linear but not specified, and the time of day is only relevant to a specific mission's locale based on the angle of the star on a planet's surface - for the most part. The game is played in relative time, in a generality of time, but not in exact time. When does time really matter beyond a sequence of limited connected events? The passage of time can be indicated by fade-to-black and fade-to-light, major way-point missions occur in a somewhat relative order, and the game's setting is indicated by the years, months and dates of major events. Other than this, I am not aware of 'exact' time, and certainly not when aboard the Normandy; the time of day (the ship's time) is irrelevant. There weren't any clocks either. Shepard didn't age in any appreciable way over the course of the Trilogy, like showing gray hair, more wrinkles, skin aging spots, etc. I've always assumed that standard galactic time was only used as a common reference point as related to the whole galaxy, but local time on a planet (day, month, years) was very different.
I like to see missions occur in a variety of lighting conditions, so long as the lighting during evening hours and indoors has enough light to see what's going on. Note: The low lighting inside Prometheus Station (Overlord) made the combat quite a challenge. In regards to using a camp site, it would be interesting, and probably more difficult, to have hostiles moving on the periphery of a camp fire, where darkness and flickers of light can make it difficult to see where they are in the surrounding space.
Q. What does a day/night cycle actually mean to a game when we can complete many assignments and missions in a random order?
Day/Night dynamics might be cool, but only if scripted, I feel. It is mostly an annoyance to fight in the dark.
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This video kinda confirms the day/night cycle.
This might be from their new IP tho
They had moved to talking about the IP when they started showing that footage with the day/night cycling so I'm guessing that's from where the footage came. I'm curious about it now, though! That looked an awful lot like an ME1 capsule from Eden Prime like the one where the scientist is freaking out at the very beginning but it's clearly abandoned and rusting. Is the new game some post-apocalyptic thing? Did it get abandoned in the hills somewhere and holds a terrible secret? What is it?!
This might be from their new IP tho
I doubt it. I just can't imagine that this new IP is far enough in development to have decent in game content.
However, I wouldn't be surprised if day/night cycles were an already implemented feature in Frostbite, so seeing a time-lapse in a promotional video doesn't necessarily prove that BioWare specifically built a day/night system for Mass Effect. The effect could have just been used to add some flare to an otherwise static shot. Of course, I'm inclined to side with the simplest explanation that the shot exists because the next Mass Effect will have day/night cycles.
I'd be fine with day/night cycles in ME:A. I'd also throw in detailed, animated skyboxes to liven things up.
I don't see anything wrong with decently paced day/night cycles.
Dying Light is a prime example of time passing too quickly for my liking. I thought I'd enjoy it but I didn't. If MEA has at least half the time speed, I'd definitely enjoy it.
I'm okay with there not being day and night cycles. Presumably the main character would just be landing on uncharted worlds for a few hours before returning to ship, rather than spending days, weeks, or months ashore.
If we had day/night cycles, they would be different for each planet. It might be interesting, but I'm not sure exactly how. Generally, the cost of dynamic world shadows i.e. performance loss, inconsistent lighting (which can hurt the artistic cohesion), etc. isn't worth the novelty of time passing. I'd rather they just stick to one ambient light level that most complements the environment and leave it at that.
Sit around a on a likely hazardous (and not air-filled) planet in stuffy armor rather than our furnished ship or the Mako?
Unless it fits a certain quest (like in Dragon Age: Origins when the "zombies" attack Redcliff village and it's night and you spent the day preparing (frankly that's something I am missing in ME, missions where you have to defend something and can use traps and such)), then a forced cycle for that quest/mission is ok...otherwise I agree that such a cycle is too much work for what it offers in return 
greetings LAX
ps: Indeed, why would you want to camp if you can return to your vehicle or the ship? (It's not like the new character is a long time explorer or archaeologist who needs to stay on site for weeks/moths or even years!)
Is NPC availability necessarily an issue? Usually games that are running NPCs on schedules let the player advance time at will.
Fair point. I forgot that FO4 allows you to sit on a bench for 6 hours in speedy time.
You can also sleep with your significant other, if you have one, or just sleep alone. I don't like traveling at night so I sleep or find a bench. I actually enjoy having this in the game.
I do enjoy having the day/night cycle in FA4. I've also played FA3 and NV on the setting where you have to sleep, eat and use a doctor if you are wounded. I don't do this often because it's hard and usually I just want to play on normal settings, or easy. Give me water or a quick simpack or med gell and heal that gunshot wound. I do have a mod for Skyrim that requires this, Makes killing those bears a more reasonable thing to do.
But I don't care one way or the other for MEA. Going to different planets or maybe a different part of the planet where the day and nights are 6 months long would give people a day and night sky to check out.
I actually liked that FO:NV's hardcore mode required me to eat, drink, sleep, and keep my radiation low in order to survive, but I'm not sure that would make as much sense in Mass Effect where you spend most of your time on ships or in ground environments where either resources aren't an issue or you don't have to stay there for very long.
I wouldn't have minded the option to have Shepard occasionally sit down or take a nap in the CO's quarters, if only to simulate passage of time. I guess we otherwise have to assume that sort of thing takes place while you're in the galaxy map.
I've read all of the comments in this thread (to this point) and I'm still a bit confused about what is meant by a day/night cycle as it is used in a game.
My only gaming experience is with ME and all I see is that time is linear but not specified, and the time of day is only relevant to a specific mission's locale based on the angle of the star on a planet's surface - for the most part. The game is played in relative time, in a generality of time, but not in exact time. When does time really matter beyond a sequence of limited connected events? The passage of time can be indicated by fade-to-black and fade-to-light, major way-point missions occur in a somewhat relative order, and the game's setting is indicated by the years, months and dates of major events. Other than this, I am not aware of 'exact' time, and certainly not when aboard the Normandy; the time of day (the ship's time) is irrelevant. There weren't any clocks either. Shepard didn't age in any appreciable way over the course of the Trilogy, like showing gray hair, more wrinkles, skin aging spots, etc. I've always assumed that standard galactic time was only used as a common reference point as related to the whole galaxy, but local time on a planet (day, month, years) was very different.
I like to see missions occur in a variety of lighting conditions, so long as the lighting during evening hours and indoors has enough light to see what's going on. Note: The low lighting inside Prometheus Station (Overlord) made the combat quite a challenge. In regards to using a camp site, it would be interesting, and probably more difficult, to have hostiles moving on the periphery of a camp fire, where darkness and flickers of light can make it difficult to see where they are in the surrounding space.
Q. What does a day/night cycle actually mean to a game when we can complete many assignments and missions in a random order?
Well, i play Skyrim and FA4 and I can do all of the jobs in any order I want, if I do them at all. If I get to the place at 9 am it's daylight. If I get there at 9 pm it's dark. The stars are beautiful in both games and the weather changes. I have a flash light which I turn on and off because it does make a difference if your sneaking. Inside large buildings it's usually dim since there isn't a lot of electricity in most places.
However, one of the skills you can choose is sneaking and with enough point in it you probably won't be be noticed by anyone. I have never bothered getting to this point.
It's a totally different feel and I enjoy both styles. Sometimes I'm in the mood for some structure where I will finish the game and sometimes I'm in the mood for a free roaming open world type game which I may or may not ever actually finish because I'm having too much fun exploring. I have finished FA3 4 times and FANV2 times. Skyrim I'm way to busy being a bard and playing the flute for my room and board and FA4 I'm not sure yet. I've finished some of the main story line but not all of them and I have 5 characters going.
I do tend to have more than on character going on at a time no matter what the game is.
Does this help in the explaination?
I doubt it. I just can't imagine that this new IP is far enough in development to have decent in game content.
Why would you want to camp if you can return to your vehicle or the ship? (It's not like the new character is a long time explorer or archaeologist who needs to stay on site for weeks/moths or even years!)
A mission can easily use a campsite if the story includes a reason why the ground ship is NOT able to return to orbit or can't be picked-up. In Star Trek, how many times did the transporter fail? I lost count. 
We'd have to survive the night until a return to the ship is possible. Campsites are an easy story element to write.
Perhaps the squad has to hole up in a protected area inside a building for the night because an earthquake damaged their escape route, and they have to wait for rescue; in the mean time they have to continue the fight, or deal with hazards, until the rescue party arrives. Perhaps a squadmate is injured and cannot be moved, and the Mako is too far away and the situation is too hazardous to get to it. There's all kinds of situations that make a campsite scene very plausible.
A mission can easily use a campsite if the story includes a reason why the ground ship is NOT able to return to orbit or can't be picked-up. In Star Trek, how many times did the transporter fail? I lost count.
Perhaps the squad has to hole up in a protected area inside a building for the night because an earthquake damaged their escape route, and they have to wait for rescue; in the mean time they have to continue the fight, or deal with hazards, until the rescue party arrives. Perhaps a squadmate is injured and cannot be moved, and the Mako is too far away and the situation is too hazardous to get to it. There's all kinds of situations that make a campsite scene very plausible.
As long as these are scripted, including dusk and everything, then that is fine, as the level will be designed to be played in low light/darkness, and there will be conversations around the campsite.
If it is a full day night cycle mechanic such as in Fallout, then that will be annoying, and there will not be much point in having campsites.
Day and night cycles would be difficult to make if we're going to be on so many planets. Unless it serves a focus like a zombie planet, I have to say don't do it. And definitely not for everyone. Vary them, by all means. The Frostback Basin was gorgeous with the twilight sky, but day/night shouldn't be a high priority.
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