Mass Effect Retrospective 14: Combat-Shepard vs Ryder

 Welcome back, my beautiful freaks, to Sean's Workshop!

Today, I'm going to tackle Andromeda's combat, and how it differs from the Shepard trilogy's combat.

Before I start in, I'm going to refer to Shepard as "she", since I prefer the female Shepard, and Ryder as "they", since both Scott and Sara exist in the same playthrough.

When it comes to control over your character, you have more control over Ryder, and not in the ways you'd expect. Yes, Ryder has the jump jets that let them dash and jump around the battlefield, but I'm talking about something different. You see, Shepard automatically draws their weapons when attacked. Whether you holstered your gun or not between fights, Shepard automatically draws. Now, I realize that's a quirk of the combat engine, but it makes sense; Shepard is a heavily trained, heavily experienced, special forces soldier. Like Thane says, Shepard's training is so finely honed that entering combat is practically instinct. But Ryder? You have to tell them to enter battle by drawing their weapons, which, in my eyes, means they're a little scared about battle and have to mentally prepare themselves for a second or two, forcing the player to take action.

Ryder, however, is minimally trained. On Habitat-7, Ryder mentions that they've "tackled a batarian pirate in my day", but Ryder is quite a bit younger than Shepard. Practically first enlistment young; early 20s at the most, compared to Shepard being 29 in her first appearance. And for Shepard, that time between an 18 year old enlistment and her first appearance is spent in a LOT of foxhole situations.

That leads into the class system, too. The Shepard trilogy is all about a soldier and her team entering battle with their own strengths and weaknesses complimenting each other. Shepard spent 11 years refining her skill set to a point where she can handle any situation that comes before her. But Ryder is an explorer. Using Sara as an example for a moment, she moved from basic training into a field scientist role as a Prothean researcher. And while Scott spent his time guarding a Mass Relay, the Ryders spent their early careers learning adaptability. That's why Ryder isn't restricted to one specific class the way Shepard is; they're adaptable for any situation they come across as an explorer.

Now that they lore bits are out of the way, it's on to the mechanics. As I said previously, Ryder is more mobile, with the jump jets giving them speed to get around the battlefield in ways that are impossible for Shepard. But that's not without consequence; Shepard dives into cover at the touch of a button, where as Ryder has "contextual cover", where they automatically take cover if they hide behind something that CAN be used as cover. And while the games are designed around these systems, it takes a bit of time to get used to the difference if you're playing them back to back.

The other biggest difference is how powers are handled. In Andromeda, you don't have the power wheel that Shepard has. You select three powers for use in battle at once, and you can swap them out on the fly through the pause menu. That means you have to think carefully about what you're choosing. This makes Andromeda a little less beginner friendly in terms of abilities, because you have to really understand what you're doing compared to Shepard. That makes builds more important in Andromeda, with the profile system giving you access to different builds on the fly.

And the last thing I can think of is vehicle combat; there is none in Andromeda. I'm forced to play Andromeda the way I played the original build of ME1's Mako; get out of the car and fight there, though back in 2007, it was because you got 25% less xp from shooting with the Mako's cannons than with your small arms. The Nomad has no guns, and if you run over any mobs, IT takes damage. The Nomad is not a tank, it's an explorer's vehicle.

Andromeda is definitely a different beast when it comes to battle, though its fun in its own way. Just familiarize yourself on Habitat-7 before diving head first, and you'll be fine.

Next up will be my analysis of the Tempest crew and comparing them to their Shepard Trilogy counterparts, but until then, stay beautiful freaks!

Blog Anniversary Part 1: KOTOR Version 2 Sith Triumvirate Summary

 Welcome back, my beautiful freaks, to Sean's Workshop! Today, I'm tackling the first in the timeline of my abandoned "epic", KOTOR Version 2: Sith Triumverate.

This story began just after the Mass Shadow Generator was activated and the Exile, Vhae Pano in my story, lost her connection to the Force. The main characters were three Jedi followers of Revan whom Revan let into his inner circle just before heading to the Star Forge. These three, already teetering toward the Dark Side, become the three prestige classes from KOTOR 2; a dual wielding heavy armor user that I'll just call Maurader(because I don't remember their names), a saberstaff, stealth based character I'll call Assassin, and the female of the group, a Sith Lord who focused on the mysteries of the Force, though I'll call her Sith Lady instead.

This one was to be a short, lore dump story, where I set up my interpretation of some of the backstory. They headed to the Star Forge, where they got their equipment, save for their lightsabers, which they would just switch out the crystals due to their background as Jedi, since Jedi view the lightsaber as an extension of their soul. 

From there, they would meet Revan's "true master"  Vlad Ragnos, the last survivor of the Sith species. Vlad, the father of Marka Ragnos, has an army of Sith monstrosities made from Sith Alchemy, and after this meeting, Revan revealed his true plans; to make the galaxy strong so they could bring its might against Vlad. However, as we'd find out much later, Maurader is tempted by Vlad's teachings, since his role is that of a brute in Revan's group, and wants to become more.

Here is where they begin Revan's plan. They first "inspect" the Sith Academy on Korriban, which is run by Exar Kun hardliner Jorak Uln. They prepare Uthar Wynn to take control of the Academy, leaving it fully in Revan's control, though Uthar Wynn does meet Revan, though with the mask, leaving a possibility of near recognition of Revan's voice during KOTOR version 2.

I also covered the recruitment of Saul Karath, the loss of Malak's jaw to Revan(which was due to Malak forcing Karath to destroy Telos instead of make it theirs, setting up Malak as the brute to Revan's brain), the building of HK-47 and his killing of a group of Jedi as a test, and him calling Malak a "meatbag", as he reveals in KOTOR. I also had a mission where Assassin infiltrated the Jedi temple and look for suitable Jedi to recruit, though this lead to him being ambushed by a pair of Jedi Temple Guardians and was forced to kill them.

The next bit I had planned was Sith Lady meeting Revan on Korriban just after he defeated Uthar Wynn and redeemed Yuthura Ban, Revan having fully regained his memories at this point(a major plot point in KOTOR Version 2 was Revan's mind was not wiped, but amnesic, and his regaining his memories of a Sith as they gathered the Star Maps), and they spoke of Revan's plans. Revan says that he still intended to go through with his plans, but with a Jedi's perspective. He also apologized for leading them down a dark path, and he'd do what he could to redeem them after this war was over. Sith Lady, still dedicated to Revan's cause, tells her allies of Revan's survival and that he intended to finish what he started, omitting his desire to redeem them when she recounts her meeting.

Curiously, I didn't have any ideas for a Maurader chapter, which is probably I introduced the idea of him being tempted by Vlad. Regardless, they sat back and waited for Revan to contact them again after the events of KOTOR Version 2.

Next month will be KOTOR Version 2 itself, but for now, stay beautiful freaks!

Mass Effect Retrospective 13: Andromeda Review

 Welcome back, my beautiful freaks, to Sean's Workshop!

I know I'm late here, but I've finally gotten around to reviewing Mass Effect Andromeda. So at this point, I'm considered a "second wave adopter", since Legendary Edition brought renewed interest in the franchise, I thought I'd throw my thoughts into the bucket.

Now, I've only managed to get through the game twice; my first time through as an Adept, and my second as a Sentinel. First time through was the "I'm learning the systems, crafting and combat" playthrough, and the second is the "I know the game better and am discovering things I didn't catch the first time" playthrough. 

Mass Effect Andromeda takes place 634 years after the events of Mass Effect 2, in a galaxy far, far away (I know, but I had to do it!). You play as Scott or Sara Ryder,(whichever gender you choose to play as during character creation), fraternal twins of Alec Ryder, the human Pathfinder. Alec was one of the crew to travel through the Charon Relay, and one of the first N7s, though based on the events of the first Mass Effect novel, he wouldn't have been an N7 yet, since Anderson was a member of the first class through the program. As Scott or Sara, you are part of the Pathfinder team, a group who follow the Pathfinder in his efforts to find a habitable , or "golden" world, in the Heleus cluster of Andromeda, for the human race.

Unfortunately, Habitat-7, the golden world meant for the human ark, had been destroyed, and Alec was forced to give up his own life and save his offspring, transferring the Pathfinder authority to them. And this is when the story really begins.

Now, unlike the original Mass Effect trilogy, Sara and Scott both exist in the timeline. The one you didn't pick still exists in the story, albeit at a lesser extent; the opposite gender sibling being in a coma for the first half and inactive during the second half. However, you do play as the other sibling during a short mission late game, and as a plot device during the final encounter.

Now, at this stage, much like my Dark Souls Remastered review, I know I'm late here. All the anger over the story, animations, "Deadname Abrams" and what not have died down considerably. In fact, we're at a "was Andromeda really that bad?" point in history, where any video you find on YouTube is pretty much praising it. People are more forgiving of it than they were in 2017.

What's my view on it? I have fun playing it. The combat is very fun, though I had to get used to it. Getting your build just right is important, since you only get three abilities in battle per favorite profile. You have a LOT more mobility than Shepard ever did, though I understand completely why Shepard and Ryder are different. Shepard is a soldier, dedicated to a certain skillset, trained to fight and kill, with an imposed honor code to not allow them to become a monster, though a Renegade character can turn into one anyway. Ryder, however, is an explorer first and a fighter second. Their job is, to quote Star Trek, "seek out new life and new civilizations, to boldly go where no one has gone before." Ryder picks up abilities that are necessary to survive and explore, not just kill their enemies.

And that's something I remind myself of when I create characters. Ryder is NOT Shepard, and should not be treated as such. And to remind myself of this fact, I utilize certain facets of the character creation and color schemes to create a "theme". Shepard's color scheme is black and red, with the N7 logo proudly displayed whenever possible. Ryder, however, is white and blue. I use the tattoos for Ryder, and a beard for Scott due to a lack of military regs on facial hair, to differentiate that they are civilians, not soldiers, and have a different mindset.

I also like the story, though I can definitely tell they were planning for more. The role as Pathfinder, some plot threads and the setup for the quarian ark, the story of Ellen Ryder...all of these are screaming "we were planning on DLC and a sequel, but due to the failure near launch, we're not doing that", leaving me screaming about the untapped potential.

For the things I don't enjoy, a couple of these things are my computer's issues, and the biggest one is a part of the game design. I have auditory glitches during conversations on the Tempest in some locations, (I'm looking at you, bridge!), and if I don't delete the autosaves after an hour or so, the game will crash due to a lack of memory, though again, these two are issues with my computer, one of which will be solved once I get an external hard drive.

No, what I really don't like is the exploration. I HATE open world games, and Andromeda is that in spades. That said, when I remind myself that the Andromeda Initiative is all about exploration and finding a new home for not only humanity, but all the Milky Way species, it becomes easier to stomach. That said, I spend the first...I'd say 20 minutes of my time on a planet driving to unlock the fast travel points so I can actually enjoy the missions.

I also don't like crafting, but I've found some easy ways to get what I want. First off, I pick up Financial Infrastructure 1 and 2 from the AVP terminal so I have a steady stream of money. Second, I get  Mining Operations, Hunting Parties, Special Forces and Lab Technicians in that order. And finally, instead of selling weapons and armor, I deconstruct anything I don't want in order to get their materials. That gives me what I need to build my gear, though Remnant and Heleus gear is still time consuming, since you don't get a steady stream of research points.

As for companions, they're not as good as the Shepard Trilogy companions, but we don't have three games to fall in love with these characters. Anyone playing Mass Effect 1 in 2007 might have found certain characters wooden or one note. I mean, fan favorite Urdnot Wrex was grumpy and confrontational in his debut game, and Liara was extremely wide eyed and naive in 1, far more socially awkward than I could ever be. But we grew to love them over time because we had the time to do so.

 All in all, I enjoy Andromeda. I'll be doing a full combat engine analysis, as well as one for the characters like I did for the Shepard trilogy. Look forward to that, and stay beautiful freaks!