Rework: Mass Effect Andromeda - Part 2

You came back! I mean, ahem, of course you did. Welcome back to part two, everyone.

Character Alterations - Fine Tuning

RYDER: In principle, I admire what they aimed to do with Ryder as a new hero, in contrast to Shepard. I consider it a mild success that grew into a deafening misunderstanding of tone. It makes sense though. Shepard was already established as skilled and noteworthy by the time he was a Spectre. Why not take the opportunity to build someone's story from scratch in an endearing way with fumbling starts? It certainly breaks the mold except... 

As the late Rodney Dangerfield would phrase it, Ryder gets no respect. As a replacement Pathfinder, Ryder has no experience and often flounders nonsensically as they figure out the plot. Excuse me, I misspoke. I meant to say, as SAM (his artificial intelligence) figures out the plot. Ryder flies by the seat of his/her pants, treating serious problems flippantly with little to no options to play it one hundred percent straight faced.

Your talk options at most are casual, professional, logical, and emotional. It seems comprehensive but it doesn't affect all that much within the game world. It all just boils down to whether you're saying yes to someone or "maybe later." There's a cool codex profile of Ryder's personality as you build it but it doesn't amount to all that much besides flavor. No matter how that tastes, Ryder seems more like parody character than a Pathfinder. Sarcastic Hawke had the same issue in Dragon Age II with flippant or mocking dialogue. But in Dragon Age, that's how you chose to interact with the world, where upon the characters will remark that it's your personality driving your actions. But the whole tone of Andromeda reinforces Ryder's casual behavior without pausing for laughter.

At best, this is the personality you as the player already wanted. At worst, the rest of us are forced to be railroaded into what the story thinks Ryder should act like. It's not a new problem in Mass Effect (ME3) but it is an irritating one that hasn't been squashed for some reason. The player should decide how to act/feel within the thought out constraints of the game (within reason of course, games have limits).

There are moments that shine with true agency but more often than not, someone will just respond with a snide comment that your Ryder will agree with or ignore at best. I told Liam during his loyalty mission that I didn't approve of his reckless actions (as his boss) and then he called me a jerk for saying so. I don't know about you, but I've never talked to my boss like that after getting criticized for something that was my fault.

Admittedly, this is a bigger problem with Andromeda's tone than anything else. But we'll get to that later.                    

OLD CORA: I had really high hopes for Cora that were immediately dashed within hours. At a glance, Cora seems to be every human female companion Mass Effect has ever had rolled into one woman. Ashley's military discipline and love of poetry and philosophy, Jack's loner attitude and biotic power, Miranda's self-held expectations on her ability and devotion to the cause.

But instead of reaching the heights these women did, Cora is just written as an Asari fan girl who wants to belong somewhere. She's constantly being snubbed for the promotion she deserves because we as the player have to feel important. Cora flounders slightly less than Ryder does but like everyone else, they act like they have no idea what they're doing most of the time. I get that it's a new galaxy but you guys were the supposed to the best and the brightest who were brave enough to come out this far, what's with the lack of confidence from career soldiers and scientists? Everyone has a bad day, but Cora seems like she's had a bad life and she can't figure out why.

Here's a hint: Stop following in other people's footsteps. You're supposed to be pioneers, so stop pandering to rules and procedures that don't work.

NEW CORA: Cora's abilities are the same, she still goes by the book but her book is different this time around. She's a career soldier/biotic who found acceptance in the Alliance but quickly grew agitated with their outdated procedures. Her independent mind and challenges to authority got her traded off to an exchange program with the Asari military (which she is already established as having experience with, in game). Cora adapted well but in time had similar issues to before. In game, it's never explained why they let her go aside from the fact, "she didn't belong."

*Many Asari Matriarchs are patient and stuck in their ways. There's even a comment by one in ME2 that despite being democratic, the Asari can be super stubborn and often laugh off outlandish or innovative ideas.

I think Cora would be much more interesting if she was mix of Asari philosophy and human self-determinism. Think Samara, but more impatient and snarkier. In this version, Cora is your CO, end of discussion. She outranks you in experience and training so no ounce of nepotism from your father's side is going to change that. She joins because she's in line with the Initiative's goals and progressive attitude. Her romance is slow and she acts with a wisdom beyond her years. But she's still only human (I'M ONLY HUMAN, AFTER ALL) and has desires like anyone else. She'll learn to confide in Ryder and slow down for the sake of social interactions that keep the team tighter than any inspirational quote or psalm.

Her loyalty quest is the same (because finding that Asari ark is important) minus her attitude. In the new version, she's finally taking the opportunity to be teaching others instead of being told what to do. You as Ryder can either support her superior reasoning or cause less friction by listening to the Asari Pathfinder instead. It's not insubordination if they're the same rank in theory as Cora is your Pathfinding team CO. You're still the actual Pathfinder in name and role. We'll get to that later too. 

                           

OLD LIAM: As much as I personally hate Liam, I'm not tweaking him all that much. Liam is supposed to be a people person who knows how to respond in a crisis. Except he comes off like an immature idiot who think everyone's being cynical when really, everyone's just being a realist. He says he was happy back home and yet he left his home forever for a new galaxy he can't come back from. He's either really stupid or lying, and he's not lying. I don't think he's a bad character, just written insufferably. So many of these characters are supposed to be one thing but then none of them know how to actually do that one thing they're good at.

Liam's loyalty mission is going behind your back to give secret Initiative codes to some alien he wants to earn good will with. He thinks by breaking away from procedure, he can foster better relationships with new factions. And then everything goes horribly wrong. I'm not even going to mock his efforts all that much just because it's so obviously ridiculous. The entire mission is trite and nearly gets you killed but the tone is written as a fun and whacky adventure (oh that Liam and his breaking super important rules that almost murdered us all). Admittedly, the level design here is the best in the game.

NEW LIAM: Simply put, Liam is a bit older and less of an obviously insecure dreamer. He's still an insecure dreamer working in crisis response but now he's actually good at staying cool under pressure (you know, that thing that people in emergency response jobs know how to do). His reasons for joining boil down to wanting to protect people. He recognizes the funk that the galaxy is in and he wants a change while also trying to stay useful. He doesn't want to be babied but he's open to forging new relationships and possibilities. Like everyone, he needs to blow off steam so his conversations (off the field) often drift towards retiring and living an idle life where everyone can get along. Liam's experience and training tell him that's impossible but it doesn't stop him from daydreaming in his off hours.

Contrast to his original version, this Liam is more obviously conflicted and able to draw sympathy on two fronts; being more capable when you need him but also feeling sorry that his PTSD'd mind can't escape these bleak scenarios. Liam, in game, has a conversation about a friend who dealt with personal trauma. Why not just have him be that friend and write him living with that struggle?

His personal mission would change so that he's going out on a limb for some strangers that need help. Liam requests to accompany the strike team you assign and along the way you discover that it was actually a fake distress signal engineered by slavers (similar to his original loyalty quest). You can choose to encourage Liam's resolve to help those in need or push him to punish those responsible.

Cora and Liam follow a pattern of boring, default companions for Mass Effect. What they need is a little more confidence within their personal roles and less enthusiasm when odds are stacked against their favor. They need to exhibit an exhaustion you can relate to as pioneers while also inspiring you with their innovative tenacity. As the two default companions, they need to be reliable.

Ashley in ME1 was dependable but clearly sparked up some debate about putting your trust in allies of different nations/species. Kaidan was always someone with a patient ear but even he had his frustrations with bureaucracy added to his physiological struggles as a biotic. Liam and Cora brush up against that threshold but their issues seem too baffling and one note to actually relate to. ME1 characters aren't even that well written, they just follow through on simple, believable reasoning and stories. I'm not sure whether my advice here is to aim lower or higher, to be honest. It's more of a tweak I suppose.             

You know, the more I write this down, the more I feel like I actually really like the concepts Andromeda put down. I just think they floundered with the execution of their ideas. Maybe that's me just filling in their outlines with my own ideas and stroking my ego, but it's giving me a deeper appreciation of Cora and Liam; whom some are dubbing the most bland characters Mass Effect has created yet. It's something that the human companions often suffer from in comparison to the more alien characters Mass Effect offers.                           

Ryder's section took a bit longer than I expected. For the next post, I'll try to wrap up all the companion changes and move onto talking about the various factions. Then we'll finally arrive at the plot and straight on until morning!

See you guys then!

- Gabriel A. Franco
Writer, Gamer, Proud member of Huffle N' Stuff
@GabeNStuff