Starlance

Mass Effect: Andromeda

“Very well, coordinate loading the wounded with my engineer, Erin. She’s at the Kryik, pale skin, perpetually annoyed, you’ll know her when you see her. In the meantime, I’ll take a small squad and take a closer look in that direction.” he gestured towards the woods. “From the air, the foliage there seemed thicker. Contact me if I am needed for anything. If the Kryik is needed, Erin Morano is in charge in my absence.” he finished, turning away from the group and opened a line to Taras and Jouric.

“Jouric, Borodin. Meet me at the south side of the perimeter, we’re going to take a more thorough look through the forest on that side. If I was a mysterious night critter that just pissed off several thousand aliens, I’d probably be hiding there. No flamethrowers or incendiary devices, we’re not here to burn down the entire planet. Not yet, anyway, who knows what the next week might bring. Just remember we’re first and foremost trying to get our bearings straight, but I wouldn’t rule out combat.” He finished and leaned against a rock formation, waiting for his team to show up.

Mass Effect: Andromeda

@Burning Kitty Alright, changed that.

Mass Effect: Andromeda

Avitus listened to the rundown of the ark survivors situation before responding. “Yes, we’ve encountered that cloud, too. The Scourge, we call it. When Natanus hit it, Macen- Our Pathfinder was injured. He died while trying to transfer our SAM to me. That damaged the SAM and made it focus on Barro’s last orders: Get the Natanus to our golden world and find me. Pushing through the Scourge tore the Natanus to shreds, nearly a quarter of the stasis pods are gone. Worse yet, what was our golden world six hundred years ago is now an asteroid belt. The other worlds are not much better, I’m afraid. I wish we had more good news to raise your spirits.”

Avitus activated his omni-tool and connected with the Kryik’s chief medical officer. “Verrikan? Break out the medical equipment, I’m afraid we’re sending a lot of wounded your way.” Then he switched to Morano. “Erin, start moving cargo from the main cargo bay into smaller storage compartments, even my cabin if necessary. We have a lot of tired people and they need some room to rest. Just keep the halls clear and mind the ship balance.”
“This is a pathfinder ship, not a hotel. How are we supposed to accommodate Hanar? And the Elcor? Even with all the supplies unloaded, there’s not much more room I can squeeze out of this.” Her voice came through.
“Didn’t the STG teach you anything? Adapt and overcome.”
“I can’t inflate the ship, it’s fragile enough as it is.”
“You helped steal plans for a secret frigate and managed to keep the Nexus from falling apart, yet you can’t find a bit of space to cram a few extra starving Elcor into? You’ll manage, even one is a victory.” He turned back to the group.

“I know it’s a long-term plan, but what about the Keelah Si’yah when we leave? Leaving so much of our technology in the hands of potential enemies is as far from a good thing as it gets, but stripping it would take forever. But the extra resources would certainly be of use, especially for new settlements.” Avitus paused before asking an uncomfortable question. “How many survived?”

Mass Effect: Andromeda

Headcount?

Mass Effect: Andromeda

As for Battlefield 1 never got into that franchise, so no clue what you are talking about.

@Burning Kitty

DiCE claimed it would be an authentic WWI game rooted in history. To make a long story short, they rewrote four years of history and tried to pass it off as the real deal. (half the soldiers on all sides are black, all sides make use of all vehicles, 30 pound machine guns are being used as if they were assault rifles...)

Might if I knew what it was.

@Burning Kitty

Expansion pack for the first CoD (WWII), but if you don't like recent history I can see why you never heard of it.

If I am going to play a historical based game it has to be set in the times of the knights.

@Burning Kitty

Heard of Kingdom Come: Deliverance?

Mass Effect: Andromeda

IW reminded me a lot about Battlestar Galactica. Sadly, I didn't get to play it. Don't personally feel the love for Ghosts, but to each their own.

I'm glad the next CoD goes back to WWII, but after seeing black women in SS uniforms, I expect a Battlefield 1 situation all over again. SP could still be good, but the past four or so years don't leave much room for hope.

Sometimes the same thing can be fun, you don't have to learn new game mechanics.

@Burning Kitty

No, but when well-known bugs, questionable design choices or other issues carry over to the other games, that tends to be the opposite of fun.

I couldn't stand COD before Modern Warfare.

@Burning Kitty

No love for United Offensive?

Mass Effect: Andromeda

Shooters feel like they're just reskinning themselves to make it all shinier and prettier. "Go hear and kill anything moving between you and it." Gets dull after a bit....

@Kazemitsu

Not just shooters. The only difference between NFS: Most Wanted and NFS: Carbon was it was night instead of midday.

That is why mod support can only help a game. Take the ArmA series for example. With built-in mission editor and a larger-than-pronounceable number of add-ons and mods, there's always something new. That, or characters, as Burning Kitty said.

About the reskinning part, here's a thing: Since Call of Duty 4 (Modern Warfare, and I'm being generous here), they were basically just a reskin, and were getting their fair share of flak for it. Then Infinite Warfare came along and did something new for that series (setting, fighter sequences, specialist difficulty, even a form of 'galaxy map') and all I heard was "I don't like it, it's not Call of Duty anymore."

Sometimes It feels like people WANT the same stuff all over again, for reasons beyond my comprehension. Not saying figuring out how to make a game different, yet similiar is easy, but usually it looks like the developers aren't even trying. Or the developers want to change something, but publishers won't let them (see Armored Warfare).

There was also all the asari look exactly alike except Peebee.

@Burning Kitty

Wait, people complained about that? Fortunately, I didn't notice that particular type of whining.

Mass Effect: Andromeda

bleedingcool.com/2017/08/19/bioware-c…

Another game developer I will never support again.

@Burning Kitty

Given the shitstorm surrounding the game, I'm not surprised. Sure, they made some bad decisions (Manveer, for start), but the only criticism I heard was always "It has ugly face animations." Granted, I never played the game, but I didn't notice any other major problems.

Meanwhile, Ghost Recon Wildlands became the top selling game of 2017 despite only having one good thing about it in my opinion. Poor Tom Clancy is spinning in his grave like a dynamo. Sadly, we live in a world where decent or good games often go unnoticed while trash lives on solely because it's made by Ubi.

Mass Effect: Andromeda

When Avitus learned of the Quarian distress call, he brightened up at the possibility of good news. Hope did not last long as the transmission turned out to be a warning, urging them to stay away from the Keelah Si’yah. The Initiative responded by ignoring the Quarian warnings and throwing almost everyone at the problem. He understood why, the tech savvy Quarians would likely be a big help if they could find them in time. Five months later, they were no closer to finding the lost ark than when they started until luck finally smiled upon them when a faint trace was picked up. It took another month to actually find the ark. When the news reached them, Avitus ordered the Kryik back to the Nexus to restock, including a larger-than-usual quantity of dextro-based foodstuffs and medical supplies and promptly headed to the ark’s position. A lot could go wrong, but with Ryder at the helm of the operation, Avitus felt optimistic. An unusual occurrence this past year.

Their arrival was reminiscent of the Relay 314 incident. They got the jump on their unknown foe, guns blazing, sending them back whatever hole they crawled out of in the first place. Of course during the Relay 314 incident, the Humans came back with vengeance and there was no reason to believe this would be any different. It was up to them to hold down the fort, giving the Keelah Si’yah survivors some extra breathing room. As soon as the gunfire died down, the relief ships touched down, greeted by the ark survivors. As soon as the crews got somewhat organised, he joined the other two Pathfinders and the ark captain.

“Captain, Pathfinder Kirtan. It feels like 600 years since I saw a dextro who wasn’t a Turian. I just wish the circumstances were not as grim, both here and the rest of Andromeda.” he turned to Sara, “And Ryder, of course. Shouldn’t forget the hero. So, what’s our plan?” He turned back to the Quarians “What is the opposition like, who are they? How much do you have left in terms of supplies? How many casualties? What about the ark, is it salvageable?”

Mass Effect: Andromeda

Ok, I'll stick him with the Turian pathfinder then unless that person objects.

@Lurking Krog

No objections. On the contrary, pairing a Krogan with a Turian team leader and a Salarian squadmate could be VERY interesting.