Mass Effect: Andromeda: Redefining Story-Telling
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Whether or not you agree with GamingBolt's take that BioWare's Mass Effect: Andromeda needs to deviate significantly from the gather-companions-then-save-the-world storyline that persists in many of their previous RPGs, it's worth reading through their latest editorial to at least begin speculating on what the game's premise might be. A snip:
There's no easy way to decide how Mass Effect: Andromeda should go about its story. Should it go full open-world sandbox and allow players to craft their own narrative? Should it lead players down a multitude of curated scenarios? Should it approach quests like the Witcher 3 does, balancing scripting and personality with memorable sub-plots? What could Bioware possibly due to redefine story-telling with Mass Effect: Andromeda? There are plenty of ways to go about it and the developer could even pick and choose various practices to cull together some new way of advancing the plot.
Perhaps in this day and age it's just unrealistic to expect a revolutionary new form of story-telling in video games like Mass Effect. You can experiment to your heart's content with games like Her Story and Undertale but how do you possibly apply those principles to the Mass Effect universe without alienating its fans? The last time Bioware experimented with its story-telling and offered a conclusion that fans didn't agree with it earned them near universal hatred. However, Mass Effect did manage to present a third person shooter/RPG title with a comprehensive story and universe to explore. Considering the stories in some games with higher budgets these days, Mass Effect was ground-breaking in retrospect.
