Andromeda - Collected Ideas & Suggestions

I've skimmed through some of the ideas, and I might have missed them or something but I jotted these ideas down a while back:

More emotional *depth* to main character Ryder, for the love of gods. Please sort Sara’s animations out...

New aliens is a must – I imagined one recently where they’re natural hermaphrodites, kind of like the ones in ‘Player Of Games’ by Iain M. Banks, or where they could switch genders at will. That would be one weird cultural idea with potential. Perhaps we could see trans representation on the human side whilst I’m going on about gender identity, here. Hell, could there be a romance option for one?

Focus on the other the sibling as well: One shower thought that I had not long after finishing Andromeda was the need for more content to the other twin. Andromeda obviously made that very possible given how significant he/she already became near the end of the main story. Jaal and Liam were amusingly right in contemplating the idea of “another one.” It’s got real potential. There might be a risk of convoluting the game with so many more variables if it was multiple choice dialogues from two characters, but Witcher 3 managed to get away with it in terms of Ciri. I’m sure Bioware can get away with another Ryder playing a bigger role, too. Also, I noticed that in my playthrough that Cora was asking a lot about Scott and how he was, so I get the sense that the game *really* wants her and Sara’s brother to be an item. It might be ambitious, having two non-linear influences in the game, but I’m sure Bioware could pull it off.

An exploration of Kett culture: So these folks, in the grand scheme of the entire game, weren’t a very pleasant bunch. But it’s another civilisation all the same that could really shed some unusual – albeit conflicting perspective in Andromeda. It’s pretty clear that they’re an interstellar empire of sorts, and there was something faintly Giger-esque about them in the way they and their technology looked. One idea I had was of a character/companion from the Initiative who has survived the captivity of the Kett, but was partially exalted in the process. And in that process, it was interrupted by some intervention by the Pathfinder, or prevented to a degree due to its own physiology. It could be another human, maybe, given our morbid inclination to see human flesh melded to all sorts of sci-fi aesthetics. That character then has some kind of “Odin’s eye down the well” perspective. The character is half blind but perceptive on a near-telepathic level in relation to the Kett. And it could show as well, because there could be partial mutations to this character that are not quite complete, being resisted by the character or even used for an advantage in the story. This would all present an incredible distinctiveness to the Initiative. I realise that the Geth were given this approach in a similar way during the second and third part of the original trilogy when we think about Legion. But this is an organic culture we’re talking about, and they would have had a natural evolution of sorts.

Perhaps some very careful insight into the events of the Milky Way: I noticed that at the beginning of the game I basically had the choice of starting the story with a historic perspective to a female or male Shepherd. I kind of appreciate that the impact of the trilogy was extremely limited, but at the same time my curiosity nagged at me as to what would have happened. So, how about a little more simulation of the choices one made at the very end? You know, Synthesis, Destroy, Control and Harvest? I mean it was a galactic event, after all. *Someone* must have noticed from a neighbouring galaxy... Perhaps even the Jaardan, given how advanced they seemingly were/are? On a similar note, there could be more memories/flashback to Alec Ryder, maybe even where you briefly control him back in the Milky Way and mingle with some of the old school characters, perhaps even Shepherd her/himself? Might be going too far, but it wouldn’t be totally terrible with someone like Liara who was already corresponding with Alec to some degree. This could instead involve shadowy elements like Cerberus and the Illusive Man. The suspicion that he might have been one of the benefactors bounces around the fandom, although short of working cross-species in order to throw the Alliance and other parties off of their scent, there’s little logic to Cerberus helping to fund the Initiative. It’s an idea that could be explored either way.

I’m sure there are an infinite amount of ideas flying around at Bioware at this stage, and I know there are other huge projects on i.e Dragon Age, Anthem (can’t say I’m interested in this one purely on the basis that I hate most multiplayer online games). If someone from Bioware is reading this far, then thanks for sparing a glance to this slapdash essay of a closet geek with too much time on his hands. As mixed as my feelings towards Andromeda were, it obviously made an impact on me enough to jot down some thoughts.