4 Reasons You Might Be Worried About Mass Effect: Andromeda

MORE SHOOTING, LESS RPG-ING

Over the years, Mass Effect has been moving away from its RPG foundations. The series started off as an active RPG, but Mass Effect 3 feels more like an action shooter with a few RPG traces. The trend is clear, and Mass Effect Andromeda seems to follow it. Most of the trailers are focused on showing spectacular set pieces and flashy combat scenes, which are great, but they aren’t showcasing the RPG side of the game. What’s more, the little that was shown of character choices made us worry even more.

Andromeda is getting rid of the class system from the original trilogy. Now we can change our abilities and professions at will, all our pathfinders share the same skills and powers. This doesn’t fit at all in a game like Mass Effect, where the protagonist is meant to be our own, personal avatar, with unique traits we commit ourselves to use in our story. With these changes, BioWare risks overcasualizing the personalization of our character.

However, it seems like EA is the responsible for orienting the franchise to a mainstream audience. In a recent presentation by Blake Jorgensen, EA’s Chief Financial Officer, the company stated that they want to invest most of their revenue into their shooter and action games, including BioWare as a whole in the action genre.

Just remember Dead Space. The first game was an unsettling, visceral survival horror, but by the third entry it turned basically into a third person shooter. Nobody wants that to happen to Mass Effect, but the signs may be pointing to just that.

This post was originally authored by Pablo Seara.

DECISIONS THAT DO NOT REALLY MATTER IN THE END

We know that Mass Effect Andromeda will move away from the classic Paragon/Renegade morality system from the original trilogy, and will instead feature choices with more tones of grey. While this can create a deeper, more complex narrative, we still don’t know anything about the decisions themselves or how seriously the game will implement choice.

Mass Effect should be a story that adapts to our style, with a creative, personalized ending specifically designed to match our choices. BioWare has already proved they can create interesting diverging paths, but they haven’t been able to connect them with completely unique endings for the same game. The only title from the company that comes close to this is the first Star Wars: Knights of the old Republic, with their two different endings based on our light/dark nature.

It is true that the journey is better than the destination, and the plot and characters of the trilogy are great, but we need a well designed system of choices that lead to multiple consequences, which greatly differ from other paths. Mass Effect is ultimately our avatar’s story, so BioWare should include a great variety of branches that reach a truly original ending for our Pathfinder and their team.

NO SEASON PASS, BUT WHAT ABOUT MICROTRANSACTIONS?

BioWare reported weeks ago that Mass Effect Andromeda wouldn’t include a season pass, which is great. They are planning to add more content in the future via DLC, similarly to previous entries of the franchise. However, they have also stated that they are going to include microtransactions.

This downloadable content features card packs, which we can also purchase with in-game currency. They contain new weapons, equipment, characters, etc., which vary in quality. This is not the first time that a Mass Effect game includes microtransactions, since Mass Effect 3 already incorporated these same style of card packs in its multiplayer. It wasn’t a pay-to-win situation, so we should expect Andromeda’s multiplayer to be well balanced… right?

The problem is that EA and their companies are known for their heavier microtransaction policies, found in games like Dead Space 3, FIFA, Madden, NHL, and so on. And this time, EA has more control over Mass Effect than ever before, because of the creation of the new EA Worldwide Studios. This group changes BioWare’s chain of command, which now will be led directly by EA executive Samantha Ryan, instead of BioWare’s current GM Aaron Flynn.

We’ll just have to wait and see how strongly microtransactions are placed into Mass Effect Andromeda.

IS IT TOO SIMILAR TO DRAGON AGE INQUISITION?

Do not get me wrong, Dragon Age Inquisition is a great game. However, in the latest trailers and bits of information, it’s looking like Mass Effect Andromeda is taking more than a little inspiration from the title. Gameplay, animations, graphics and exploration are looking really similar to Inquisition, and this resemblance could negatively impact the final result by fading away the essence of the franchise.

Mass Effect Andromeda needs to present an open world that doesn’t feel like Thedas. The series has an established lore and setting that needs to shine through uniquely presented world and gameplay. This exact problem arises in Ubisoft titles: Assasins Creed, Far Cry, or The Division share many elements, like the style of exploration, worlds, and quests, which feel like repetitive tasks in many cases. They all seem like very similar games, instead of unique propositions with great, original systems that set them apart.

We already know that Mass Effect Andromeda will include a feature similar to the Dragon Age Inquisition’s war table, with missions that run in real time. The exploration of the planets in Andromeda also looks like when we were traversing the different locations of Inquisition. However, we still do not know a great deal about how the side quests work, or if there will be collectibles, among other things.

There is so much we don’t know about Mass Effect Andromeda yet. The sparse flow of information, as we near release, is raising concerns about the actual state of the game for some fans. For now, we’ll have to be patient and wait for juicy details about this long-awaited title, and you can tell us your thoughts in the comments below.