Mass Effect: Andromeda - Interview

Farflame spotted this GodisaGeek interview with Fabrice Condominas:

Interview with Fabrice Condominas, Producer of Mass Effect: Andromeda

[…]

Was there much worry in moving away from Shepard, given how popular the character was?

I wouldn’t say worried. Anxious, probably. You get a lot of pressure, expectations, and all that. But it was necessary. As simple as that. I think at some point, it’s better to end the trilogy and say it was always a trilogy than to keep going and dragging that story out until people stop liking it. So I wouldn’t say worried, but certainly a bit anxious and nervous doing it. We barely had any doubt it was the right decision.

I played as FemShep in the Mass Effect trilogy and Pathfinder doesn’t seem to be quite as strong or badass. Was this deliberate? Was there a feeling of ‘we can’t repeat the same character’?

It’s not only that, it’s that we started from scratch. We wanted our character to reflect that. What is important is when your character arrives in the galaxy, the player doesn’t know anything about the galaxy and the character doesn’t either. That was important. So whether you decide your character is an incredible bad-ass soldier or a softer explorer, that was your choice. The important point for us, narratively, was that you started the same level as your character and you always have the same level of knowledge as your character. So on that basis, you cannot start the game with someone like Shepard, who obviously is experienced because otherwise you create a disconnect from the beginning.

I noticed Renegade and Paragon has gone, and has been replaced with new dialogue options like intellectual, professional, and so on. Why make the change?

What we wanted to move away from was any binary choices. What we found out, during the trilogy, was that offering binary choices kind of forced people to take a stand. What happened was when players decided what side they were on, they stuck to it. Then they, for example, they will stop reading the dialogue, they’d just pick the side they wanted to be on. We wanted the player to feel the freedom to make the choice they wanted to make without feeling judged. We also removed it because people on one side will judge people on the other side. We wanted to completely remove that feeling. So that forces us to get out of the binary system. And then when you need more than two choices, the resulting question was okay, how do we do it? And another dimension is when you want to build personalities and characters, it’s not only about what you say, it’s how you say it. That notion of tone becomes central to our choice. We also wanted tone to be part of what defined the choice and the relationships because two characters can say the same thing but depending on tone, it can be perceived very definitely.

[…]

More information.

Shepard??? Unless I can name my character Bubba Jones, it ain't a real RPG.

Originally Posted by mesmeris
Shepard??? Unless I can name my character Bubba Jones, it ain't a real RPG.

How would you make a Shepard's pie if your name is Bubba Jones?

When we go to Comic-Con, the amount of people that stop to say negative things is very minimal. I was in London when we were doing a press event years ago and someone stopped by and said “I hated the Mass Effect 3 ending and you ruined my life and I will never play a BioWare game again,” and all that. And at the end he asked me what I was doing in London. I said I was promoting the DLC. And he said “oh yeah, I’m going to buy the DLC” [laughs].

Classic. Fans do this all the time. Overreacting (both ways) seems to be rather common.

What we wanted to move away from was any binary choices.

Moving from binary choices onto quaternary choices. Wow. Somebody give them a medal.

Originally Posted by luj1
Moving from binary choices onto quaternary choices. Wow. Somebody give them a medal.

Based on emotions, so you still have no idea what the character is will actually say.

The important point for us, narratively, was that you started the same level as your character and you always have the same level of knowledge as your character. So on that basis, you cannot start the game with someone like Shepard, who obviously is experienced because otherwise you create a disconnect from the beginning.

I don't understand this. Whether it's Shepard or Ryder they are both new to the Andromeda Galaxy and both know the same, which is bugger all, surely? The only difference is you know why Shepard would be in a leading position, while with Ryder the only guess would be having well connected parent.
Or is it about personal experience, and most players are not highly trained soldiers? But on the same account, I believe most players have zero experience in arriving to another galaxy on faster than light ship after centuries of cryosleep.
And at the same time while Shepard was experienced with the first Mass Effect world, having high rank and all, and the player knew nothing about this particular Milky Way, there was no disconnect, from beginning or otherwise.

To me it's actually a plus that it's a new character. Series is called Mass Effect, not Shepard.

Originally Posted by wolfing
To me it's actually a plus that it's a new character. Series is called Mass Effect, not Shepard.

Totally agree.

To me its a plus if I begin as a tabula rasa, not some bad ass soldier with a history.

C

Originally Posted by wolfing
To me it's actually a plus that it's a new character. Series is called Mass Effect, not Shepard.

And that's exactly what I said, that it has to be Shepard, rather than other character.

My reaction on the interview:
meh.

Seriously, will Bioware actually reveal something (except banging everything that moves) that will make me say "hell yes!"?

Originally Posted by joxer
Seriously, will Bioware actually reveal something (except banging everything that moves) that will make me say "hell yes!"?

What would make you go "hell yes!"?

Plenty of things, but lemme remind you on a few:
- no mushrooms caused abominable UI
- no unstoppable trashmob respawns
- no N4S races
- no MMO/phone bullshit
- no horrible hair!

Originally Posted by azarhal
What would make you go "hell yes!"?

You really had to ask that?

Originally Posted by BoboTheMighty
You really had to ask that?

I was expect something cool you know, not just his usual rambling about hair and mob respawn.

What could that possibly be? How to add something cool on the construction if it's foundations are shakey and can break any moment?
I mean, it wasn't me who decided to allow Overload skill on any kind of character. Try to imagine playing Baldur's Gate where everyone in your party can lockpick anything. What's the purpose of locked containers then? Just as the question rises what's the purpose of armored trashmobs if everyone will just Overload them? Can you understand me now at least a bit?

Originally Posted by azarhal
I was expect something cool you know, not just his usual rambling about hair and mob respawn.

Well he included no N4S races this time. You learn something ( even more crazy) about Joxer every day.

Originally Posted by BoboTheMighty
Well he included no N4S races this time. You learn something ( even more crazy) about Joxer every day.

He probably owns all the games.

No, I don't. I'd rather throw my $ on horse armor.
For whatever reason I'm so sick of that games industry garbage for more than a decade now. I don't hate it passionately as phonegames and scams though. Yet.

While I might sound completely crazy, while I'm old as a bible (calm down, Corwin is a year or two older than me ), I didn't lost the touch with trends:
https://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/22/b…cars.html?_r=0

Carracing or fasttravel option in videogames? I'd take the latter any day. Aka, please don't waste my time.

Originally Posted by luj1
Moving from binary choices onto quaternary choices. Wow. Somebody give them a medal.

Originally Posted by Maylander
Based on emotions, so you still have no idea what the character is will actually say.

I seem to recall that Dragon Age 2 and Dragon Age Inquisition started the new trend of choices. By that I mean more choices then just good, or evil in your conversations.

Still just like Fallout 4 you have no idea what your character will say though.