Mass Effect: Andromeda's Dialogue System Sounds a Lot Better for Role-Playing

We've known for a long time that Mass Effect: Andromeda won't have the trilogy's Paragon and Renegade dialogue system - and that's probably a good thing. In the original three games, Commander Shepard's personality was shaped by either being an agent of righteous justice or a ruthless operative who got the job done no matter the cost. It was a cool concept back in the day, but in practice, all it ever really did was limit you to one course of action - stray from your Paragon or Renegade roots and you wouldn't have enough influence in that area to successfully persuade characters in certain important situations throughout the story.

BioWare arguably handles things a lot better in its other current property: Dragon Age. In Dragon Age, dialogue choices allow you to react to each event accordingly, as you're not bound to a certain perspective. Fortunately, this sounds like the kind of system that Andromeda will have.

Speaking to the Official Xbox Magazine, director Mac Walters explains what the developer is trying to accomplish with its latest project. "So, Paragon and Renegade is gone. The reason they're gone is because they felt very Shepard – they were very tied to the Shepard character, so they didn't really make sense if we weren't going to have Shepard as our protagonist," he begins.

"What we have now is based more around agreeing and disagreeing. The reason I like that is because in the trilogy it's like, 'I'm gonna play Paragon,' and then you know which way you're moving the stick on every conversation. You don't have to think about it, because you're just going to hit Paragon every time," Walters continues - and he's right. Hitting the same options again and again to increase your Paragon or Renegade score isn't exactly deep role-playing, is it?

"With agree and disagree it changes by the circumstance and it changes by the character you're talking to, so you have to actually be more engaged in what's going on, to know if you're going to do that [...] I think that gets back to that more traditional role-playing sort of feeling which is less about 'Do I want to be good or bad,' and more about 'How do I want to express myself?'" he concludes.

Again, it sounds good to us; a black and white morality system doesn't give you all that much freedom when it comes to defining your character, and if Andromeda can offer up engaging writing and tough choices, then we should be in for a role-playing treat.

Does this new system sit well with you? Choose an appropriate response in the comments section below.