With the release of N7 Day information, Mass Effect Andromeda is now back at the forefront of the gaming world’s consciousness. With the info releases compiled in our N7 Day coverage, tidbits of information have been rolling in through other outlets like Game Informer magazine and social media communication from the developers themselves. Here are some highlights.
Mass Effect Andromeda Gameplay Info
- The series’ class system has been removed, in favor of a wider skill tree that Ryder can choose specialization
- Specialization results in play style bonuses, giving titles similar to old classes like Adept and Vanguard.
- A narrative reason will allow you to respec.
- Melee items like swords and hammers will be available.
- Combat will use a dynamic cover system similar to Last of Us. The game’s jetpack will allow dash and hover.
- Paragon/Renegade has been replaced by Heart/Head/Professional/Casual. There is no longer a meter to track your choices against, visual or otherwise.
- Squadmate dialogue has been increased. You will be able to speak to your sibling but they will not be in your squad.
- Several squadmates have been named: Cora, Liam, an Asari named Peebee and a krogan named Drack.
- The game’s main antagonists are called the Kett.
- The Nomad is the game’s exploration vehicle. Planet exploration involves combat encounters, puzzles and stories to discover. Some will have bosses you will have to return to later to defeat.
- The Nexus is a location that you can visit, similar to the Citadel. The 4 major races each launched an Ark (Turian, Human, Salarian, Asari). The Arks are lead by Pathfinders.
- New Game Plus will allow you to play as the other Ryder sibling. Players can customize their appearance.
- Multiplayer connects to the main game, though not in a way that affects the game’s ending.
- Same sex and inter-species romance options will be available.
- The Codex will make a return to the game and will be expansive.
- Crafting will be present, players can acquire blueprints throughout the campaign to build weapons and armor.
We’ll update this article whenever any relevant pieces of data come out! It’s a big week for the follow up to the original Mass Effect trilogy and these bits of info should come as welcome news to any underwhelmed by yesterday’s reveals. Thoughts on the next entry in the sci-fi series? Let us know in the comments. Mass Effect Andromeda is scheduled to release sometime in Spring 2017 for PS4, Xbox One and PC.
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9 responses to “Mass Effect Andromeda Gameplay Information Roundup”
Well what I hope is, true open world exploration and seamless transitions from planet to ship like in Mass Effect 1.
I want to be able to walk around our citadel equivalent in a way that makes it feel like a real place instead of little rooms with loading screens in-between them. Again like the first game.
I don’t want our vehicle to have weapons.
I want them to use the system for ammo they implemented for the prothean rifle and the old lancer rifle. It felt like a real upgrade from the original games overheat system. Instead of a weird retcon.
I want weapon skills back just refined. I like the way Deus Ex 1 and Mass Effect 1 handle the idea of weapons as a skill, and I would like to see this refined.
Although I liked taking advantage of the weapon weight mechanic in Mass Effect 3 I always only ever had the full casting speed buff or the exact opposite.
I want that stupid flying around in space thing removed since it conflicted with the lore. The spaceships pinpoint a location and then go blast to that location. Which is why in the first game you just chose a location and went there.
I want more depth in my equipment options. In the second and third game I basically just used weapon damage or cast speed increase armor and then chose the highest damaging/highest DPS weapons. There were weapon mods in ME3, and some were pretty neat like the power damage and speed up for the pistol and SMG. I want more of that. I want armor to influence my defensive stats. I want mods for my armor. I want to have the biotic amp and omni tool as equipment again but with customizability instead of just a straight upgrade. I would like Light, Medium and Heavy armor to return with no skills attached, but have different bonuses and draw backs. Perhaps biotics and tech abilities are better the lighter the armor.
I want biotic and tech resistance as stats back instead of not being able to CC enemies of they’re anything but the absolute weakest enemies or already dead. Not being able to singularity shielded and armored enemies made the adept worse than any other class. I’m not saying they should he as powerful as they were in the first game, but they definitely need a rework.
I want some of the unique abilities from multiplayer back in the main game. I want mehc armor available like the N7 destroyer. I want stuff like defense matrix, the omni shield, supply pylon, biotic sphere, annihilation field, hunter mode, hex shield, biotic focus, shield boost etc.
I want to be able to customize my melee and dodge ability. Each multiplayer class had it’s own unique dodge and melee attack. I want to be able to pick the one I want to use.
I would say, "I want good characters and story," but this is Bioware, they don’t get points for good writing any more. It’s a given. Which is why I focused on mechanics. That’s their weak point in my opinion.
We should make a list of things people are hoping for, and keep a going tally of reveals and how they match those expectations or not, so that there can’t be over-hype
Really, looking forward to this.
I do hope it proves to be as "solid" as the former trilogy was. Do not care this much about its play-style, to be honest.
All i want is the feels, the fun, the romance – was quite groundbreaking back then, so i would really like this to be a part of it again – and last but not least…..Krogans.
I am so scared though just because I do NOT trust EA. I’ll probably preorder anyways, I want to have the game to analyze for better or for worse, but if it is bad… Then… I may never return to the franchise unless I see drastic changes in how EA manages it’s, "developers."
This is actually sounding quite interesting. There may be hope yet!
The sentinel was an odd ball. There was so much overlap in the biotic abilities and tech abilities, both effectively being caster classes focusing on burst damage, combos and CC. So when combining them in the first game it effectively did nothing special except maybe be a better caster with singularity as a bonus power at the cost of a weapon skill. Making them a tank made them better at being a soldier than the soldier on top of having a bunch of damage and CC abilities.
Agreed, although I like that they will still define players as being a particular class (and therefore unlocking class-specific powers) depending on your chosen playstyle. I’m curious to see how this ‘Explorer’ jack-of-all trades class will work and how different it will be from the Sentinel class, given that by ME3 the sentinel was almost a biotic/tech/combat hybrid anyway.
This is the sort info that Bioware should’ve revealed much earlier they also should’ve backed it up with gameplay footage.
Good to see they removed the class system. It felt too restrictive, and hopefully will remove the bonus power system as that made the all biotic adept class for example, not have all biotic powers like it was originally intended to. Bonus Powers/Abilities existing to help make your character more well rounded. For example taking up shotgun on an adept, singularity on the sentinel or what have you.
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