Why aren't there more mods for Mass Effect Andromeda?

[SkyTem]

I know it probably wouldn't be a popular opinion but the easiest way they could have made a sequel to Mass Effect 3 with all of the races alive afterwards and the warp gates still intact would have been to have the ending where Shepard takes command of the Reapers become the official ending in the following game.  They could have continued with a new story from there.  Just my opinion though

Edited December 17, 2021 by SkyTem

[sen4mi]

21 hours ago, davisev5225 said:

 

The responsibility was that they laid out a particular set of technology, then waved the "Geth magic stick" at it to travel to another galaxy.  As I said previously, they never established that any ships, including the Reapers, could induce the mass effect on their own.  Everything had to use the relays.  Suddenly the Geth could augment a ship's normal FTL drive to create the mass effect, and also make it so powerful that it could jump to another galaxy?  If that was possible, why didn't the Geth do that on their own long before?

 

If you can point to a specific discussion that includes developers from the Mass Effect team(s), I might start to believe you.  Until then, it's a very bad joke.

 

 

My understanding was that the galaxy jump was a consequence of the "geth-like" augmentation of the mass effect relay system.

 

However, remember also that in ME:1, ME:2 and ME:3, you only needed the mass effect relays to jump between clusters. The entire ME:A story takes place within a single cluster.

 

Presumably the on-board AI also extends the range of the "existing FTL" drives. But that seems to have been a limited effect, and I don't remember any jumps in ME:A which were like relay boosted jumps of the earlier stories (other than the implied jumps into the galaxy).

[davisev5225]

14 hours ago, sen4mi said:

 

 

My understanding was that the galaxy jump was a consequence of the "geth-like" augmentation of the mass effect relay system.

 

However, remember also that in ME:1, ME:2 and ME:3, you only needed the mass effect relays to jump between clusters. The entire ME:A story takes place within a single cluster.

 

Presumably the on-board AI also extends the range of the "existing FTL" drives. But that seems to have been a limited effect, and I don't remember any jumps in ME:A which were like relay boosted jumps of the earlier stories (other than the implied jumps into the galaxy).

 

ME:A never discussed augmenting a relay, it was all about the drive core of the arks.  And again, even the Reapers, the "race" that actually controls the mass relays, couldn't create the mass effect on their own, that's why they had the relays.  And every single species that they ever wiped out all depended on the relays to create the mass effect, which is why the Reapers would shut off the relays at the start of their invasion/cleansing.  In fact, part of the point of the relays was to encourage galactic civilization and technology to develop along certain lines that allowed the Reapers to control its evolution.  (This is also why it was such an important plot point that the Protheans had messed with the shutdown code from the Citadel to ensure that the relays would remain active during the next cycle.)

 

The Geth, being a far inferior AI to the Reapers, wouldn't possibly have somehow independently created the mass effect in a drive core on their own, nor could their vastly inferior technological base manage to provide such an effect by smashing disparate pieces of technology together.

 

Also, if you'll recall, the most advanced not-Reapers race the galaxy had known (the Protheans) only barely managed to crack the mass effect and create their own relay, and even then, it was at a vastly reduced scale.  The current cycle races lacked knowledge and understanding of how the mass effect itself worked.  They could create the fields (for FTL travel) and interact with the relays (to jump from sector to sector), but couldn't create their own relays because they had no idea how any of it worked.  Even one of the core elements of mass effect fields, Eezo (element zero), wasn't really understood, all the races were really only scratching the surface of what it could do.  As an example, that's why there was so much mystery surrounding biotics.  Everyone knew that Eezo exposure created biotics, but no one really knew how or why.

So yeah, the ME:A team did an abysmal job trying to ret-con the story and the overall plot to create a contrivance that allowed the core council races to jump to a whole other galaxy just so we could play "Mass Effect: Woke Edition" without any "baggage" from the previous games.  ?

[sen4mi]

4 hours ago, davisev5225 said:

 

ME:A never discussed augmenting a relay, it was all about the drive core of the arks.  And again, even the Reapers, the "race" that actually controls the mass relays, couldn't create the mass effect on their own, that's why they had the relays.  And every single species that they ever wiped out all depended on the relays to create the mass effect, which is why the Reapers would shut off the relays at the start of their invasion/cleansing.  In fact, part of the point of the relays was to encourage galactic civilization and technology to develop along certain lines that allowed the Reapers to control its evolution.  (This is also why it was such an important plot point that the Protheans had messed with the shutdown code from the Citadel to ensure that the relays would remain active during the next cycle.)

 

The Geth, being a far inferior AI to the Reapers, wouldn't possibly have somehow independently created the mass effect in a drive core on their own, nor could their vastly inferior technological base manage to provide such an effect by smashing disparate pieces of technology together.

 

Also, if you'll recall, the most advanced not-Reapers race the galaxy had known (the Protheans) only barely managed to crack the mass effect and create their own relay, and even then, it was at a vastly reduced scale.  The current cycle races lacked knowledge and understanding of how the mass effect itself worked.  They could create the fields (for FTL travel) and interact with the relays (to jump from sector to sector), but couldn't create their own relays because they had no idea how any of it worked.  Even one of the core elements of mass effect fields, Eezo (element zero), wasn't really understood, all the races were really only scratching the surface of what it could do.  As an example, that's why there was so much mystery surrounding biotics.  Everyone knew that Eezo exposure created biotics, but no one really knew how or why.

So yeah, the ME:A team did an abysmal job trying to ret-con the story and the overall plot to create a contrivance that allowed the core council races to jump to a whole other galaxy just so we could play "Mass Effect: Woke Edition" without any "baggage" from the previous games.  ?

 

Yes, the "augmenting a relay" bit was from forum discussions, like I had previously mentioned. However, the story line in ME:A was consistent with those discussions.

 

Anyways... consider, for example:

 

(1) FTL travel independent of the relays existed in ME:1 

 

(2) The reapers were quite destructive but they were also limited in various ways.

 

(3) Individual geth were far inferior to collective geth

 

(4) The ME:A AI was distinct, in a variety of ways, from both the geth and the reapers

 

(5) Labels typically are only partially descriptive

 

(6) There is no number 6.

 

(7) You can make things work even when there are aspects of those things which you do not adequately understand

[davisev5225]

2 hours ago, sen4mi said:

 

Yes, the "augmenting a relay" bit was from forum discussions, like I had previously mentioned. However, the story line in ME:A was consistent with those discussions.

I'm still waiting for a link to one of these alleged discussions.

 

Anyways... consider, for example:

 

(1) FTL travel independent of the relays existed in ME:1

Yes, but only to nearby stars within the same cluster.  Not to other clusters, and CERTAINLY NOT to other galaxies.

 

(2) The reapers were quite destructive but they were also limited in various ways.

... and?  What does that have to do with the discussion at hand?

 

(3) Individual geth were far inferior to collective geth

Yes, but collective Geth never created ship drives that could induce the mass effect on their own, so your argument is moot.

 

(4) The ME:A AI was distinct, in a variety of ways, from both the geth and the reapers

... and?  Once again, what does that have to do with the discussion at hand?

 

(5) Labels typically are only partially descriptive

... and?  For a third time, what does that have to do with the discussion at hand?

 

(6) There is no number 6.

 

(7) You can make things work even when there are aspects of those things which you do not adequately understand

Yes, cavemen can bang rocks together and create fire without understanding why it occurs.  We're not talking about banging rocks together, we're talking about incredibly complex and futuristic technologies that were deliberately designed to be impossible for anyone to understand before their entire civilization was deliberately obliterated.  Further, we're talking about the point in time at which said civilization is about to be obliterated, which by definition, is before they would be capable of understanding the technology behind the relays.  The Mass Effect lore clearly established that no one other than the Protheans ever figured out the relays, and the Protheans did so long after the Reapers started their genocide of the Protheans - basically too little too late.  They also clearly established that the Protheans were more advanced than any of the current races (and the conglomeration of them known as the Council with its collective knowledge), so it would have been impossible for any of the "current" races to create a relay, let alone eclipse the Reapers in technology by rendering the relays obsolete.

 

 

[Celedhring]

Andromeda was fun to play.  But due to game engine it's very difficult to mod from what I understand.  

[PepeLordd]

43 minutes ago, Celedhring said:

Andromeda was fun to play.  But due to game engine it's very difficult to mod from what I understand.  

ever heard of frosty tool suite?

[zorebird]

Took 600 years to get to another galaxy...which is still FTL. That whole concept was pretty vague. Finding a mass relay would have made more sense or outfitting one to make the jump.

My point was devs are often set back by changes made to the games like Cyberpunk.

[Wolf470]

On 12/17/2021 at 6:44 PM, sen4mi said:

 

 

My understanding was that the galaxy jump was a consequence of the "geth-like" augmentation of the mass effect relay system.

 

However, remember also that in ME:1, ME:2 and ME:3, you only needed the mass effect relays to jump between clusters. The entire ME:A story takes place within a single cluster.

 

Presumably the on-board AI also extends the range of the "existing FTL" drives. But that seems to have been a limited effect, and I don't remember any jumps in ME:A which were like relay boosted jumps of the earlier stories (other than the implied jumps into the galaxy).

No pre-existing FTL tech was abused in ME:A...  The jump from the Milky Way was started the year before the ME games started... and ended 600 years later. The internal movement in the cluster was again just standard FTL tech... considering that the shuttles off the Nexus were able to move around the entire are with only a few problems...  and the only Geth tech that was used was used just before the jump (and traded for) was using a relay to magnify an image (telescope) to select the best area to aim for.

[davisev5225]

11 hours ago, Wolf470 said:

No pre-existing FTL tech was abused in ME:A...  The jump from the Milky Way was started the year before the ME games started...

 

You're wrong.  A (very) quick Google search reveals the following:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mass_Effect:_Andromeda#:~:text=Mass Effect%3A Andromeda begins in,strategy called the Andromeda Initiative.

 

ME:A starts between the events of ME:2 and ME:3.

[Wolf470]

On 9/6/2022 at 8:58 AM, davisev5225 said:

 

You're wrong.  A (very) quick Google search reveals the following:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mass_Effect:_Andromeda#:~:text=Mass Effect%3A Andromeda begins in,strategy called the Andromeda Initiative.

 

ME:A starts between the events of ME:2 and ME:3.

Never looked it up and basically the point is the same... It's a 600+ year journey from the Milky Way to the Andromeda Galaxy.

[davisev5225]

5 hours ago, Wolf470 said:

Never looked it up and basically the point is the same... It's a 600+ year journey from the Milky Way to the Andromeda Galaxy.

 

... that started during the events of the Mass Effect trilogy.  That means there wasn't some special new/old tech that they used, it was a MacGuffin from the start.  Just one of the many examples of piss-poor writing by the BioWare Montreal team.

[Wolf470]

On 9/26/2022 at 10:13 PM, davisev5225 said:

 

... that started during the events of the Mass Effect trilogy.  That means there wasn't some special new/old tech that they used, it was a MacGuffin from the start.  Just one of the many examples of piss-poor writing by the BioWare Montreal team.

In canon the only new/old tech was using a mass relay as a telescope and that was because the Geth figured it out... so yes there was no exceptional tech except using FTL for 600+ years... and starting in a six month period in beween ME 2 and 3 when no-one had even had diplomatic contact with the Geth for the entire 300 years of their existence (so how did they get that info on how to use a Mass Relay as a telescope?)  Still I agree with you...