So let's see... The Milky Way had Hanar Elcor Krogan Asari Quarian Reapers Geth Protheans Turian Human Salarian 8 - 11 Alien Species Andromeda has Remnamt Angarans Some Other One Before Angarans Kett 2 - 4 Alien Species I'd really like to see some more new aliens and if one or two of them can look like aliens that your average human really would be attracted to (and look like they would possibly see humans as attractive) that would be pretty nice as well. But was this a situation where BioWare didn't have time, money, and or ideas for other aliens (we basically only have two here (or 1 depending on how you look at it)) or do you think they were just trying to make our galaxy a special one?

You're comparing apples to oranges. One whole galaxy linked together with mass relays, to one cluster with no way to connect to other clusters. Datapads make references to other races outside of the cluster, the kett make references to the countless other species they've worked into their genetic structure. So it has nothing to do with the milky way being special, or bioware being lazy.

Well we have currently only explored the Heleus cluster. The Andromeda galaxy should be much larger and thus more opportunity for continuity and expansion. Having said that, In all honesty I am not terribly impressed with the writing, storyline, characters, scripts, story related creativity in general. People come and go in companies, so dont know if the previous ME teams are still doing MEA. If we have someone else now writing a new book for lord of the rings, no matter how this person try to copy Tolkien's style, it will still end up very different. Seems like very different people and creativity, sophistication and intelligence of the language use seem very different and unfortunately not for the better.

@PretzleMe wrote: So let's see... The Milky Way had Hanar Elcor Krogan Asari Quarian Reapers Geth Protheans Turian Human Salarian 8 - 11 Alien Species Andromeda has Remnamt Angarans Some Other One Before Angarans Kett 2 - 4 Alien Species I'd really like to see some more new aliens and if one or two of them can look like aliens that your average human really would be attracted to (and look like they would possibly see humans as attractive) that would be pretty nice as well. But was this a situation where BioWare didn't have time, money, and or ideas for other aliens (we basically only have two here (or 1 depending on how you look at it)) or do you think they were just trying to make our galaxy a special one? Currently we have only seen a very small portion of Andromeda in Hellius. We have yet to venture further where no doubt other races reside. Plus there is also the scourge factor, it seems to have wiped out a lot, including whatever species created the remnant. It almost feels as if we have stepped into there after a reaper level purge of the cluster. There was probably others, maybe the remnant was even created by a massive alliance of species, all gone now but where? Many questions still to be answered!

What Arsenic above said!Plus, if you read some of the planet entries, they mention advance species that are extinct. Sure it's not a great addition to his points above, but it's just more proof there are/were more other races out there.Considering how the Kett are divided though across the Galaxy (presumably) it's likely there will be less diversity anyway, because they will have annihilated some species of interest.

I was disappointed at first, but then I realised that in the Milky Way its almost the same. In Andromeda we have one Cluster...in the Milky Way we have the whole galaxy with several clusters, but each cluster usually has only one advanced species.Asari, Turian etc all evolved in another cluster... So I guess with a sequel or DLC where we might get to see other clusters of Andromeda we will see other alien species too 🙂

Is The Milky Way Really That Special or Was BioWare Lazy?

34 Replies

Tuinbonen
8 years ago
Don't think it's a money issue. I thought the previous titles had the same budget. But give it time. If they make another Mass Effect, we might get to see a lot more :D
Anonymous
8 years ago
@PretzleMe wrote:

So let's see...

The Milky Way had

Hanar

Elcor

Krogan

Asari

Quarian

Reapers

Geth

Protheans

Turian

Human

Salarian

8 - 11 Alien Species

Andromeda has

Remnamt

Angarans

Some Other One Before Angarans

Kett

2 - 4 Alien Species

I'd really like to see some more new aliens and if one or two of them can look like aliens that your average human really would be attracted to (and look like they would possibly see humans as attractive) that would be pretty nice as well.

But was this a situation where BioWare didn't have time, money, and or ideas for other aliens (we basically only have two here (or 1 depending on how you look at it)) or do you think they were just trying to make our galaxy a special one?

Currently we have only seen a very small portion of Andromeda in Hellius. We have yet to venture further where no doubt other races reside.

Plus there is also the scourge factor, it seems to have wiped out a lot, including whatever species created the remnant.

It almost feels as if we have stepped into there after a reaper level purge of the cluster. There was probably others, maybe the remnant was even created by a massive alliance of species, all gone now but where? Many questions still to be answered!
onemadvagabond
8 years ago
Andromeda has eight. You left out Human, Salarian, Turian, Asari, Krogan which you put in the Milky Way list.
VladVonCastein
8 years ago
Well we have currently only explored the Heleus cluster. The Andromeda galaxy should be much larger and thus more opportunity for continuity and expansion. Having said that, In all honesty I am not terribly impressed with the writing, storyline, characters, scripts, story related creativity in general. People come and go in companies, so dont know if the previous ME teams are still doing MEA. If we have someone else now writing a new book for lord of the rings, no matter how this person try to copy Tolkien's style, it will still end up very different.

Seems like very different people and creativity, sophistication and intelligence of the language use seem very different and unfortunately not for the better.
Tuinbonen
8 years ago
I kind of wished Bioware didn't remnify the Worm in Elaaden. I would have been a lot more terrified (in a good way) if it was an organic creature.
Anonymous
8 years ago
@onemadvagabond wrote:

Andromeda has eight. You left out Human, Salarian, Turian, Asari, Krogan which you put in the Milky Way list.

Since I was talking about alien species of the galaxy and not aliens featured in the game, they do not count.

In other words, I separated them that way to indicate which galaxy they came from. Then again, in terms of species that seem to have their origins there (Andromeda), one might argue that we only encountered 1.

As far as having only explored one cluster, would still make the Milky Way special since it seems that no race in Andromeda seems to have developed a way to travel all over so that other races would be commingling.

I also think we are underestimating the distances between the different star systems with planets.
Anonymous
8 years ago
@PretzleMe wrote:

@onemadvagabond wrote:

Andromeda has eight. You left out Human, Salarian, Turian, Asari, Krogan which you put in the Milky Way list.

Since I was talking about alien species of the galaxy and not aliens featured in the game, they do not count.

In other words, I separated them that way to indicate which galaxy they came from. Then again, in terms of species that seem to have their origins there (Andromeda), one might argue that we only encountered 1.

As far as having only explored one cluster, would still make the Milky Way special since it seems that no race in Andromeda seems to have developed a way to travel all over so that other races would be commingling.

I also think we are underestimating the distances between the different star systems with planets.

We have encountered the angara who have purposely been hiding and not co-mingling somit stands to reason on their planets we only see them.

Kadara port - previously angara owned.

Voeld - angara

Havarl (sp?) - angara

Aya - angara

And serveral other planets vastly uninhabitable until we fixed them.

We really have not explored far yet at all.

In the kett base there was several unknown dna samples along with the angara ones which would suggest other species further out.

It does seem as if they tried to limit models as much as possible for Andromeda, that could have been due to budget restraints, time and the sheer size of the game. A lot don't realise they started this game almost from scratch and that takes a lot of time and work. Theyve created entire worlds, weather particles and all. Now the base is there the future games will be easier to add to.

The worlds are almost mmo sized and super emmersive.

This game probably really needed another year or even two of production time. Would love to have seen what they could have done with that. 5 years production time for a game from scratch is very average these days.
Arsenic_Touch
8 years ago
You're comparing apples to oranges. One whole galaxy linked together with mass relays, to one cluster with no way to connect to other clusters.

Datapads make references to other races outside of the cluster, the kett make references to the countless other species they've worked into their genetic structure.

So it has nothing to do with the milky way being special, or bioware being lazy.
Anonymous
8 years ago
What Arsenic above said!

Plus, if you read some of the planet entries, they mention advance species that are extinct. Sure it's not a great addition to his points above, but it's just more proof there are/were more other races out there.

Considering how the Kett are divided though across the Galaxy (presumably) it's likely there will be less diversity anyway, because they will have annihilated some species of interest.
Anonymous
8 years ago

@Arsenic_Touch wrote:

You're comparing apples to oranges. One whole galaxy linked together with mass relays, to one cluster with no way to connect to other clusters.

Datapads make references to other races outside of the cluster, the kett make references to the countless other species they've worked into their genetic structure.

So it has nothing to do with the milky way being special, or bioware being lazy.

I was comparing one space game to another, that also was made by the same company. As I implied before, they could have had another race here, also develop a method for them to move around in fashion similar to Mass Relays.

Also, they could have easily been trying to be lazy.. If I'm making a new story and I don't want to feature as many races as I did in my past one, it doesn't mean I won't come up with a good/feasible reason to explain that aspect of the new tale.

@Nykara360 wrote:

We have encountered the angara who have purposely been hiding and not co-mingling somit stands to reason on their planets we only see them.

We really have not explored far yet at all.

Think about it like this, if the Angarans had come to the Milky Way to look for a new home, even if they had only happened upon Earth and its surrounding star systems, they would have encountered a multitude of races. I agree that the game feels like it needed more development. Especially when I look at the dialogue, there were parts where I got to then end and felt like, "Wait. Was that it?" and not in a way that you can tell there will be a sequel (though sometimes sure) but in a way that had me look on youtube to make sure I did the whole relationship or what have you, lol.

I wasn't saying they didn't have in game reasons that work. All I was asking was if their were very real life circumstances that could have influenced that story. It's fake so they could have done anything they wanted.

Granted we visit well over 50 planets, could it have made sense that we encountered more aliens? I think so. So why didn't we? Now if you believe the story wasn't effected by "external" factors or desires (such as a desire to not have as many aliens in it right now because they didn't feel like doing all that work) then that's your opinion. I wasn't sure so I asked what I thought was a reasonable question.