Mass Effect: Andromeda in Trouble?

As they said, it's not that strange that the lead writer is moving on this late in development. I mean, the game is coming out at the end of the year. It makes sense that all the main writing would be done by now. We don't even know if ME:A is the start of a new trilogy or going the RvB14 route with an anthology series. As a die-hard Mass Effect fan I'm staying positive about this until we at least see some actual gameplay or story trailer. Everyone hold on tight to the skeptical hype-train!

Burnie, by the way, I repect you as a person, but come on man! The original ending was awful. It was full of circular logic, unanswered questions, plot holes and broke the lore that the universe was founded upon. The Extended Cut made it better and helped tie things up neatly but it still left a lot of people extremely dissapointed.

I'm with you Burnie! I thought the Mass Effect 3 ending was fine. Especially after the extended cut and the addition of the Leviathan DLC.

Also, regardless of this news, I'll wait until I see some gameplay, and honestly, either way, I'm gonna play it because it's Mass Effect.

Firstly: love the Community reference (The Darkest Timeline).

I think it's probably the case that it won't affect Andromeda so much, but may spell an end to the series (or at least, the end of the brilliance). Maybe my view is slightly distorted due to my wish for Andromeda to steal my heart as much as the first three.

Also, I agree with Burnie: I had no qualms with the ending of Mass Effect 3. It actually had me reading a very interesting thread on the possibility that Shepard was indoctrinated throughout the third game. I'm glad there's another die-hard Mass Effect fan that also doesn't hate the ending to 3!

So does that mean Destiny 2 will have a story without the help of dlc?

I have to point this out since it's misinformation passing as the truth: Destiny is not a 10 year franchise, Bungie has a 10 year partnership with Activision, during which time they will release 4 DLC packs (assuming for the first game alone, but it could be per title), and 4 standalone games. After the contract is up, Bungie will retain all rights to Destiny and its merchandising. Please, do not try to perpetuate the idea that it's only going to last for 10 years when they don't even know if they want to continue it past 10 years.

At this point, with ME having been in developement for so long, I honestly think a writer leaving is probably going to have the least impact compared to anyone else leaving. What it really makes me happy about is Destiny getting a real writer so that Destiny 2's storyline isn't the same poorly written sci-fi fanfic that Destiny was.

It sounds more like EA isn't willing to raise these guy's salaries to keep them from taking other offers than Andromeda not coming along well.

I'm with ya Ashley. #6seasons&amovie

First, disagree - the ending for ME3 was thematically detached (the series theme of being able to choose between convincing or forcing issues was lost and the game's themes were about the conflicts between creator and created in both the krogan and geth arcs and the krogan arc not being about synthetics undermines the Catalyst's point while the perfect outcome of the geth arc was a direct repudiation of the Catalyst - and none of that was paid off), dramatically off key (the emotional peak was with the Illusive Man and so it felt like this tacked on piece that emotionally felt separated) and suffered from a heavy dose of Fridge Logic/Endor Holocaust (if getting from the Alpha Relay to the next nearest took the Reapers 6 months, how the heck does Tali get home with no Relays?)

Anyways, the story at hand: I have no concerns about Andromeda from the departures, but it screams longer term issues for BioWare. Maybe I'm not paying sufficient attention to these stories in the past and you do mention that musical chairs are not uncommon at the top levels but it makes me worried about the long term health of these franchises to see people bailing on them.