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2017/03/27 14:36:14
Subject: Re:Mass Effect: Andromeda[Updated OP on November 2nd 2016]
Tannhauser42 wrote: Overall, I'm still enjoying the game a lot, it's just the little things that often stand out to me. There's a lot this game is doing right, and I hope Bioware learns from it.
I hope so. The funny thing is that I've been simultaneously watching the videos and replaying the trilogy over the past month and I've found many of the same issues (albeit to an unknown degree overall) in the original trilogy. One or both characters in a conversation twisting their necks off to a random side, occasional missing characters in dialogue, rare stilted movements, wonky seizure eye movements during dialog, etc.. .but they just didn't pop out for me in the past because they were both rare and more importantly the rest of the trilogy was (relative to the rest of the industry's efforts) IMO so exceptional. I think people's expectations changed and that the industry has progressed beyond the (at that time) high bar that Bioware themselves set years ago. I suppose people were just expecting more from Bioware with almost double the development time and much more powerful hardware (and likely a much bigger budget). On a side note, this is my first full playthough with ME3 since they patched the ending and also my first ever back-to-back-to-back playthrough (my previous two were obviously separated by much longer periods) and I've been finding lots of gems (both humor and connections) that I missed previously. The final Conrad Verner interaction made me laugh alot especially yesterday. They really did a great job with ME3 right up until the end and I'm curious to see how that ending will affect me this time around.
This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2017/03/27 14:37:28
2017/03/27 15:09:19
Subject: Mass Effect: Andromeda[Updated OP on November 2nd 2016]
JSF wrote:... this is really quite an audacious move by GW, throwing out any pretext that this is a game and that its customers exist to do anything other than buy their overpriced products for the sake of it. The naked arrogance, greed and contempt for their audience is shocking.
= Epic First Post.
2017/03/27 15:24:26
Subject: Mass Effect: Andromeda[Updated OP on November 2nd 2016]
What a crap game. The characters and animations of awful. Was this game made by the BioWare interns?
I'd suggest reading through this thread. I've hardly been a defender of this game (and won't be buying it for other reasons) but to say it's crap is missing the forest for the trees. It's certainly the worst game bioware has released in modern times according to the total review scores and it has obvious issues that are absolutely a step back from previous entries in the universe despite a larger budget, more time, and more powerful hardware and substandard compared with other AAA modern rpgs like the Witcher3... but the general consensus is that it is still an above average game overall despite the flaws.
This message was edited 2 times. Last update was at 2017/03/27 15:25:47
2017/03/27 16:02:07
Subject: Mass Effect: Andromeda[Updated OP on November 2nd 2016]
I think the game looks great.. some silly animations aside.. textures are great, scenery is awesome, weather effects, water, all that stuff. I do kinda wish they kept working another 6 months and made it an xmas release though.
I really like the combat too. In other 3rd person shooters like the Division, you have to hide behind stuff and then you get stuck to it and for me anyway I have a hard time unsticking myself when I have to get away from a grenade or something. It' a lot better here, you walk up to something and autoduck. You just back away whenever you want to.
I found a pretty awesome alien sniper rifle of some sort.. The bullets explode on impact
One complaint though are multi-part boss battles.. seems like a lot of times if you die you start over from scratch. Like those big tentacle robot things. you hurt it, it flies away, you chase it and start fighting again. It's a really long fight and if you die near the end of it, you have to start back at your last save. I'd prefer there were checkpoints in the big battles, having to start everything over again after a 10-15 fight makes me just wanna ragequit.
2017/03/27 17:22:53
Subject: Mass Effect: Andromeda[Updated OP on November 2nd 2016]
What a crap game. The characters and animations of awful. Was this game made by the BioWare interns?
I actually found a lot of that pretty funny, although agree that's probably not ideal in this case. The scripting is laughably bad in a lot of instances there, and brought to mind a cheapo 'too-good-for-DVD' film off the SyFy channel, rather than the epic story line and scripting I associate with the original trilogy.
People might find this intresting. Released today, a very through review of the game, highlighting both pros and cons. Be warned though, it's close to 2 hours long.
This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2017/03/27 20:07:59
His pattern of returning alive after being declared dead occurred often enough during Cain's career that the Munitorum made a special ruling that Ciaphas Cain is to never be considered dead, despite evidence to the contrary.
2017/03/28 01:48:12
Subject: Mass Effect: Andromeda[Updated OP on November 2nd 2016]
One complaint though are multi-part boss battles.. seems like a lot of times if you die you start over from scratch. Like those big tentacle robot things. you hurt it, it flies away, you chase it and start fighting again. It's a really long fight and if you die near the end of it, you have to start back at your last save. I'd prefer there were checkpoints in the big battles, having to start everything over again after a 10-15 fight makes me just wanna ragequit.
It's not just the boss battles. It includes a lot of the mission zones as well. For instance, one phase of a particular mission (actually, more than one...) had me clearing a set of buildings and activating triggers scattered around the buildings. Each time I activated one of the triggers, a new wave of enemies would spawn. And as I approached certain buildings on the map, enemies would come running out (apparently spawning inside the building when I got too close, since they weren't visible on the compass before they rushed out). After I died the first time, I was surprised to find myself back at the beginning of the whole sequence. So during a lull in the fighting when I'd wiped out all of the current enemies on the map, I attempted to save. I couldn't. The Save Game option couldn't be selected. You had to complete the sequence without dying (which could take up to half an hour, depending on how quickly you ran through it), or start over from the beginning. When I finished that particular sequence, the game auto-saved (I still couldn't manually save, though).
To add to the obvious frustration problems that this approach has, I ran into another significant issue while playing a similar sequence a little later. One trick that the game uses is to have one or two guys that continuously respawn. You kill the guy, and another one shows up. That's fine when they're coming in through an otherwise locked door on the far side of the area you're in. That's *NOT* fine when it involves materializing out of thin air, in the open, on your flank in the area that you just advanced through while you're now taking fire from the front.
From what I can tell, the game's extended firefights seem to be designed with a "move quickly and rapidly to your objectives and don't get bogged down" design philosophy. On the first segment that I mentioned above (the one where I first noticed that the Save Game option wasn't available), I noticed that reinforcement waves didn't arrive if I used one of the trigger items while I was already involved in a firefight. So if you rapidly bypassed as many troops as possible, and only stopped to fight when you absolutely had to, then you would end up facing fewer enemy troops.
2017/03/28 02:17:54
Subject: Mass Effect: Andromeda[Updated OP on November 2nd 2016]
The burning pits of Hades, also known as Sweden in summer
Nerak wrote: People might find this intresting. Released today, a very through review of the game, highlighting both pros and cons. Be warned though, it's close to 2 hours long.
That's not a review though, it's a first impressions video.
I should think of a new signature... In the meantime, have a
2017/03/28 02:18:51
Subject: Mass Effect: Andromeda[Updated OP on November 2nd 2016]
I just picked up my copy and am at the conundrum of what difficulty to chose. I played through the original trilogy at the hardest setting and was wondering if this is much different. Also, can I change the difficulty once I begin if it proves to be too challenging?
Help me, Rhonda. HA!
2017/03/28 02:58:56
Subject: Mass Effect: Andromeda[Updated OP on November 2nd 2016]
What a crap game. The characters and animations of awful. Was this game made by the BioWare interns?
You know, I thought it was bad, but deeply hoped it was just a couple instances like in the original trilogy, but... ewwwwwwww. What is the script in of this game? Why is the monkey-faced FemRyder always smiling or making some equally stupid face during serious dialog? Why do their eyes move so much? I'm a die-hard ME fan but I can't even stand the storefront appearance of this game let alone actually dive into the story.
H.B.M.C.- The end hath come! From now on armies will only consist of Astorath, Land Speeder Storms and Soul Grinders!
War Kitten- Vanden, you just taunted the Dank Lord Ezra. Prepare for seven years of fighting reality...
koooaei- Emperor: I envy your nipplehorns. <Magnus goes red. Permanently>
Neronoxx- If our Dreadnought doesn't have sick scuplted abs, we riot.
Frazzled- I don't generally call anyone by a term other than "sir" "maam" "youn g lady" "young man" or " HEY bag!"
Ruin- It's official, we've ran out of things to talk about on Dakka. Close the site. We're done.
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Steve steveson- To be clear, I'd sell you all out for a bottle of scotch and a mid priced hooker.
2017/03/28 04:02:50
Subject: Mass Effect: Andromeda[Updated OP on November 2nd 2016]
Gordon Shumway wrote: I just picked up my copy and am at the conundrum of what difficulty to chose. I played through the original trilogy at the hardest setting and was wondering if this is much different. Also, can I change the difficulty once I begin if it proves to be too challenging?
In the original trilogy, you could change the difficulty as needed but it locked you out of difficulty based achievements/trophies as you only got credit for the easiest one used (so playing 98% of the game on insantiy and then using 2% on easy means the whole playthrough counts as easy). I can't speak as to whether that applies in MEA.
2017/03/28 06:53:47
Subject: Mass Effect: Andromeda[Updated OP on November 2nd 2016]
Nerak wrote: People might find this intresting. Released today, a very through review of the game, highlighting both pros and cons. Be warned though, it's close to 2 hours long.
That's not a review though, it's a first impressions video.
Ah yes, sorry. It's based on 20hours of in game time.
Edit: if you wish to skip the analysis and go straight to the conclusion then fast forward to 1:40:45.
This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2017/03/28 09:54:09
His pattern of returning alive after being declared dead occurred often enough during Cain's career that the Munitorum made a special ruling that Ciaphas Cain is to never be considered dead, despite evidence to the contrary.
2017/03/28 13:23:09
Subject: Re:Mass Effect: Andromeda[Updated OP on November 2nd 2016]
Righto, so, I've had a bit of a mixed history with mass effect games so far...I tried a few times, but always struggled to really get into the original, then I really got on board for ME2 for some reason, played the heck out of that and all the dlc's and such...then I skipped 3 entirely...the prothean launch dlc pissed me off, and then I heard about the bollocks ending, and just never bothered with it.
Now for Andromeda...based on my attitude towards 3, I had basically no interest in this game until quite recently, and then started seeing the flood of spam/memes about the dodgy animations and stuff, and was pretty apprehensive...but for some reason I decided to give this one a shot anyway.
...and man I've been playing and enjoying the heck out of this game!...I've already put in about 52 hours, since thursday ...and I've still only explored 2 of the what looks like eventually 5 planets, just about to go start on a third planet now...admittedly, I do play kinda slowly, and very "thoroughly", but man there's so much stuff to do...each planet has so many missions and sidequests and random things to do, and lore to uncover, each planet could almost be a game by itself...I'm loving the general story and cast of characters so far, and man am I loving the combat, specifically the mobility...I'm playing as a vanguard, dashing around the battlefield beating seven shades out of all the enemies, like a bloody superhero, it's a blast!...but then you can easily hunker down behind some cover and gun things down more slowly if you like, that seems perfectly viable too.
I have noticed quite a few bugs, it has to be said...but nothing that's really hurt the game for me...and that infamous facial animation thing that's bloody everywhere now...honestly, I think is mostly down to the facial model they used for the default sara ryder...there's just something generally wrong with that face, and the animations enhance it...I recommend customising your face either way, but specifically if you go with a female character, because if you craft a more...human...face, then the animations won't be nearly as bad imo.
on the whole though, bugs/glitches-wise, with the quantity and type of them, it's probably about on par with the average "new Elder Scrolls/Fallout game" experience...and I have to wonder, if this happened to be a Bethesda game, and not a Bioware/EA game, would people be making such a fuss?
in short, there's a silly amount of dumb bandwagony hyperbole going around, with people trying to milk the glitches for video/page views, trying to turn this into the new "Assassins Creed: Unity" fiasco...which imo, is a damn shame, because it's a bloody good game! - give it a try!
This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2017/03/28 13:24:14
...it's good to be green!
2017/03/28 14:16:41
Subject: Mass Effect: Andromeda[Updated OP on November 2nd 2016]
I totally agree, ZoBo, anyone dismissing it just on the animations and bugs is missing out on an otherwise great gaming experience! There's a ridiculous amount to do (I'm about 35 hours in, only a couple of main story missions left but I want to at the least wrap up all the loyalty missions and outpost quests before I start the final mission), the exploration element hasn't got boring at all as every time you think you've seen it all, something new tends to pop up that you just have to go and investigate.
Vanguard-style combat is indeed very fun, once you get the recharge time on Charge right down and are moving around at ridiculous speeds it's very fast paced, doubly so when you switch over to the Explorer profile with it's Biotic Blink ability. Phase through your cover, hit someone with a Charge, phase back behind another piece of cover or even through the enemy to flank them, follow up with some short range powers (I find Flamethrower pairs very nicely with Charge), great fun. I'm also finding melee very worth investing in; between my level 5 Kett sword that sets targets on fire and my biotic and tech powers, I'm basically only using guns as a last resort/if I need to hold a position rather than play aggressively. I was thinking I might do a 'no guns' challenge playthrough at some point, but now I'm wondering if 'no melee' would actually be a more challenging prospect...
I'm also starting to really like the Tempest crew as characters. They've got a real Firefly-style family feel to them, especially with a few loyalty missions down, the banter as they move around the ship is often hilarious and Jaal is on the way to becoming one of my favourite ME characters period. Actually the Angara as a whole, a truly fascinating culture to hang a lot of the main story around, and a worthy addition to the ME species lineup.
2017/03/29 08:05:11
Subject: Re:Mass Effect: Andromeda[Updated OP on November 2nd 2016]
About the possibility of Quarians and Geth appearing in the game.
Spoiler:
Okay so at the end of the game they tease that a Quarian ark has sent out a warning saying that people should stay away.
This could mean several things.
- Since its a warning signal, I doubt it means they are under attack by the Kett. Otherwise such a beacon would draw the Kett to them. This possibly means that the Ark has either been captured by the Kett or has been left unsafe because of the Scourge and the Quarians have left for a planet instead. A third alternative is that they're worried the rest of the Adromeda Inititative will discover what they are up to, but this again makes little sense because they would be alerting the rest of the Initiative and the Kett.
- Now, a general recurring theme of all the entire initiative is that everything that can go wrong has gone wrong from the Scourge to the Kett to the planets themselves. The Quarians would have ENORMOUS problems dealing with these things due to their fragile physical forms and weak immune systems. Its also repeatedly stated that the Quarians aren't useful in a fight as any small puncture can cause a nasty sickness that leaves the warrior useless. Plus if they have had to abandon their Ark and settle on a hostile world then all of these problems would be magnified ten fold.
- We also see with SAM that they want to push the idea of AI and humans working together in a symbiotic relationship. If you get the Quarians and Geth to work alongside eachother in ME3 Tali even suggests that something very similar is occurring with this helping to heal the Quarians and allow them to live on Rannoch. Plus with the Krogan genophage they avoid repeating the past conflict by arguing that they evolved something of an immunity. So clearly Bioware wants to nod to these issues being settled in ME3.
- This means I am pretty convinced that the Quarians, when they fight the Kett and have to settle a world will build new Geth to help and protect them. However, because they're part of the Andromeda Initiative and so presumably more open minded (as they have given up taking back Rannoch and left the Migrant Fleet); so they actually form a symbiotic relationship with the Geth. Basically it will be a "what if the Quarians hadn't been stupid and tried to exterminate their loyal Geth servants". Legion made it clear that both species could live together if the Quarians just accepted that. Circumstances being as they are, I can't see the Quarians not doing this and it would allow both races to be incorporated into the Nexus.
- Building lots of Geth will enable the Quarian Ark to fight the Kett and they can use more Geth esque implants to improve their physiology similar to what the Pathfinder does; possibly even linking in to the Geth network. If the Quarian Ark has a SAM and a Pathfinder it could be that having an AI to act as an intermediary helps facilitate this. I mean I can't see any better way of pushing the whole Organic/AI symbiotic relationship thing than using those two species to do it.
- It would also pave the way for us getting a Quarian/Geth companion.
As a sidenote: I think it would be really cool if by some random accident (wormhole?) the Quarian Ark arrived a few decades before the rest and so had time to fully settle and build this Geth/Quarian society. Maybe it reaches the point where the line between Quarians and Geth starts to get blurred and goes full trans-humanism? It would be a great way for them to explore things that were brought up at the end of ME3 between the Quarians/Geth but that they were never able to explore further.
Personally I wouldn't want them to make more Geth and then the Geth betray us/Quarians try to kill them. That has been done and I would rather see them both supporting eachother.
Starting Sons of Horus Legion
Starting Daughters of Khaine
2000pts Sisters of Silence
4000pts Fists Legion
Sylvaneth A forest
III Legion 5000pts
XIII Legion 9000pts
Hive Fleet Khadrim 5000pts
Kabal of the Torn Lotus .4000pts
Coalition of neo Sacea 5000pts
2017/03/29 09:07:13
Subject: Mass Effect: Andromeda[Updated OP on November 2nd 2016]
I wanted to play this game, but I can't support such a shoddy release. This is the most disappointing game that I think bioware has ever released.
Maybe once this hits the bargain bin, I will give it a shot. The fact that you can already find discounted copies, means that should not be too long.
In all honesty, there are many games worth playing right now, and if you can wait, you should on this one. I predict it will be down to less than 30 or at the 20 dollar mark before the end of the year.
EDIT:
Here is another video describing some of the issues. There is a bit of language in it.
This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2017/03/29 11:35:10
Umm, I've clocked at least ten hours on the game and done two of the worlds; Eos and Voeld. Its nowhere near as bad as people are making out. Those clips are very selective in terms of the animations and segments of the game. None of these are major enough to detract from a good game. Its certainly better and more engaging than DA:Inq which I put down after a few failed playthroughs after I got bored.
Fundamentally the game isn't like ME2 or ME3 in that it was mostly a series of corridor based linear shooter environments. They really wanted to push the premise of having these big open worlds and about you settling Andromeda in the face of adversity. It isn't about gathering a fire team or fighting a war like those games.
But yeah, the bad is being really blown out of proportion.
This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2017/03/29 11:47:52
Starting Sons of Horus Legion
Starting Daughters of Khaine
2000pts Sisters of Silence
4000pts Fists Legion
Sylvaneth A forest
III Legion 5000pts
XIII Legion 9000pts
Hive Fleet Khadrim 5000pts
Kabal of the Torn Lotus .4000pts
Coalition of neo Sacea 5000pts
2017/03/29 12:34:23
Subject: Re:Mass Effect: Andromeda[Updated OP on November 2nd 2016]
Totalwar1402 wrote: Umm, I've clocked at least ten hours on the game and done two of the worlds; Eos and Voeld. Its nowhere near as bad as people are making out. Those clips are very selective in terms of the animations and segments of the game. None of these are major enough to detract from a good game. Its certainly better and more engaging than DA:Inq which I put down after a few failed playthroughs after I got bored.
Fundamentally the game isn't like ME2 or ME3 in that it was mostly a series of corridor based linear shooter environments. They really wanted to push the premise of having these big open worlds and about you settling Andromeda in the face of adversity. It isn't about gathering a fire team or fighting a war like those games.
But yeah, the bad is being really blown out of proportion.
I don't see how it is being blown out of proportion, when the criticisms are very valid, and quite widespread. This isn't isolated to just a few reviews, Metacritic has an average user score of 4.5. While there is certainly some bandwagoning, saying that it is being blown out of proportion is disingenuous when the response is this large with clear evidence to support the negative viewpoint. The fact that you can find it up to 20% off at release is a troubling sign.
This is a next generation game, and the animations are looking worse than games that came out years ago. It is very buggy, and even the storytellng and dialogue is getting hammered. How is that acceptable for a 60 dollar game? It's not. The only consistently good thing you hear about the game, is that the combat is the best in the series.
I don't see any reason to purchase it at this point. It will be a bargain bin title in 6 months with a price to reflect that.
Sasori wrote: This isn't isolated to just a few reviews, Metacritic has an average user score of 4.5.
]
*snip*
I don't see any reason to purchase it at this point. It will be a bargain bin title in 6 months with a price to reflect that.
You'd probably be better off ignoring aggregated user scores as there are too many people that give games perfect 10's and bottom zeroes just to make their "point" instead of giving it a score actually reflective of the quality instead of the emotion surrounding it. In the end, it is as you said the worst game Bioware has come out with in modern times according to the Metacritic scores but still ends up being above average for the industry as a whole. I agree wholeheartedly that the issues raised are serious (although I don't feel they're game breaking) and have no issue with waiting either (for a multitude of reasons in my case but not just the game's lack of polish). I'm personally hoping that in 6 months when it's likely $40 new as a standard price that some significant portion of the issues will have been patched. I don't think they can patch out everything wrong with it but at least make moderate improvements during that time instead of jumping right to paid DLC.
This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2017/03/29 13:47:58
2017/03/29 13:53:05
Subject: Re:Mass Effect: Andromeda[Updated OP on November 2nd 2016]
Totalwar1402 wrote: Umm, I've clocked at least ten hours on the game and done two of the worlds; Eos and Voeld. Its nowhere near as bad as people are making out. Those clips are very selective in terms of the animations and segments of the game. None of these are major enough to detract from a good game. Its certainly better and more engaging than DA:Inq which I put down after a few failed playthroughs after I got bored.
Fundamentally the game isn't like ME2 or ME3 in that it was mostly a series of corridor based linear shooter environments. They really wanted to push the premise of having these big open worlds and about you settling Andromeda in the face of adversity. It isn't about gathering a fire team or fighting a war like those games.
But yeah, the bad is being really blown out of proportion.
I don't see how it is being blown out of proportion, when the criticisms are very valid, and quite widespread. This isn't isolated to just a few reviews, Metacritic has an average user score of 4.5. While there is certainly some bandwagoning, saying that it is being blown out of proportion is disingenuous when the response is this large with clear evidence to support the negative viewpoint. The fact that you can find it up to 20% off at release is a troubling sign.
Where are you finding it for 20% off?
Genuinely curious, as the closest I know of was EA Access doing something like 10-15% off as a price when you were part of their subscription service.
Their price actually triggered Amazon's "preorder guarantee" and got me a refund because of it.
This is a next generation game, and the animations are looking worse than games that came out years ago. It is very buggy, and even the storytellng and dialogue is getting hammered. How is that acceptable for a 60 dollar game? It's not. The only consistently good thing you hear about the game, is that the combat is the best in the series.
And yet people gush over Skyrim or Fallout being "pinnacles of storytelling" despite basically just being buggy messes at release(even the Skyrim "Complete"/"Remastered" edition was a flipping nightmare) that require mods to "fix" a number of issues.
I don't see any reason to purchase it at this point. It will be a bargain bin title in 6 months with a price to reflect that.
I'm sure it will be, alongside of the most recent Call of Duty and Titanfall 2--all games that got "panned" by metacritic scores and complaints of bugs and the like.
2017/03/29 14:02:33
Subject: Re:Mass Effect: Andromeda[Updated OP on November 2nd 2016]
Where are you finding it for 20% off?
Genuinely curious, as the closest I know of was EA Access doing something like 10-15% off as a price when you were part of their subscription service.
Their price actually triggered Amazon's "preorder guarantee" and got me a refund because of it.
Amazon Prime's price was 20% off ($48) pre-release and is still the same right now if you have prime.
Where are you finding it for 20% off?
Genuinely curious, as the closest I know of was EA Access doing something like 10-15% off as a price when you were part of their subscription service.
Their price actually triggered Amazon's "preorder guarantee" and got me a refund because of it.
Amazon Prime's price was 20% off ($48) pre-release and is still the same right now if you have prime.
And yet people gush over Skyrim or Fallout being "pinnacles of storytelling" despite basically just being buggy messes at release(even the Skyrim "Complete"/"Remastered" edition was a flipping nightmare) that require mods to "fix" a number of issues.
The Fallout that everyone gushes over is New Vegas.. Which was made in less then 18 months by Obsidian, unfamiliar to the engine.. Also at the same time one of the reasons it's the pinnacles of storytelling is because the writing is exceptionally good. Given whats been seen out of ME:A.. The writing is not going to save it.
2017/03/29 15:16:08
Subject: Re:Mass Effect: Andromeda[Updated OP on November 2nd 2016]
Well there you go. Amazon Prime, a subscription service, has it for 20% off.
Whoopity friggin' doo. That doesn't mean it's a bad game.
It was one example off the top of my head that I remembered and not meant to be a comprehensive list. There were other sales at comparable prices both with and without memberships.
I don't think those prices reflect the quality of the game since the sales were likely planned way before issues were raised but rather just the desire to capitalize on day one sales. It's be a different story if they had dropped AFTER the news broke or just after release as with CODIW where gamestop was letting you trade in 6 month old used games for new copies of IW. That was a reflection of value on the quality IMO.
This message was edited 2 times. Last update was at 2017/03/29 15:18:45
2017/03/29 15:17:24
Subject: Re:Mass Effect: Andromeda[Updated OP on November 2nd 2016]
The bugs and animation problems of this game is nothing compared to the day 1 dlc pay wall bs of mass effect 3.
I don't currently have the hardware to play this but after having watched some 4ish hours of let's play I find it very intruiging. Out of Nier automata, Horizon zero dawn, Zelda and ME andromeda (as the big open world games of late) I'm only more intrested in Zelda. The gameplay element of making worlds inhabitable really resonates with me. That being said I was not a fan of the original mass effect games. I played through the first one, completing every mission in the game, and decided not to continue the series. This looks like a very good way to continue the IP and succeded in getting me hooked.
One nerd rage thing: bring back the non humanoid aliens! The Elkor and Volus and such all helped with the sci-fi theme of the first game, why in the world would you cut those out!?
This message was edited 3 times. Last update was at 2017/03/29 15:21:29
His pattern of returning alive after being declared dead occurred often enough during Cain's career that the Munitorum made a special ruling that Ciaphas Cain is to never be considered dead, despite evidence to the contrary.
2017/03/29 15:26:06
Subject: Re:Mass Effect: Andromeda[Updated OP on November 2nd 2016]
One nerd rage thing: bring back the non humanoid aliens! The Elkor and Volus and such all helped with the sci-fi theme of the first game, why in the world would you cut those out!?
Agreed. While the comfort and familiarity of Star Trek style standard bipedal humanoids with bumpy foreheads is welcome in mass effect, I did also appreciate more "alien" intelligent races like the Rachni and Hanar alongside them in ME1. The fact that they went to a completely new galaxy and only found two races is a bit underwhelming (although they can theoretically hand wave it off as being limited to the Heleus cluster specifically).
This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2017/03/29 15:26:29
2017/03/29 15:29:20
Subject: Re:Mass Effect: Andromeda[Updated OP on November 2nd 2016]
Totalwar1402 wrote: Umm, I've clocked at least ten hours on the game and done two of the worlds; Eos and Voeld. Its nowhere near as bad as people are making out. Those clips are very selective in terms of the animations and segments of the game. None of these are major enough to detract from a good game. Its certainly better and more engaging than DA:Inq which I put down after a few failed playthroughs after I got bored.
Fundamentally the game isn't like ME2 or ME3 in that it was mostly a series of corridor based linear shooter environments. They really wanted to push the premise of having these big open worlds and about you settling Andromeda in the face of adversity. It isn't about gathering a fire team or fighting a war like those games.
But yeah, the bad is being really blown out of proportion.
I don't see how it is being blown out of proportion, when the criticisms are very valid, and quite widespread. This isn't isolated to just a few reviews, Metacritic has an average user score of 4.5. While there is certainly some bandwagoning, saying that it is being blown out of proportion is disingenuous when the response is this large with clear evidence to support the negative viewpoint. The fact that you can find it up to 20% off at release is a troubling sign.
This is a next generation game, and the animations are looking worse than games that came out years ago. It is very buggy, and even the storytellng and dialogue is getting hammered. How is that acceptable for a 60 dollar game? It's not. The only consistently good thing you hear about the game, is that the combat is the best in the series.
I don't see any reason to purchase it at this point. It will be a bargain bin title in 6 months with a price to reflect that.
Because its simply a massive game compared to the previous installments. The amount of dialogue, the size and variety of the environments is vastly greater than what you saw in ME2 & 3 which still used copy paste assets thrown together, some of which looked horrible, but had a much smaller play area. Plus it really depends which dialogue you're referring to, some of it is quite cringe worthy and poorly delivered in the original trilogy. Also the animations have never been stellar. Often Shephard would have this constant vacant expression on his face and be granite like as he assured us that this really was his favorite store on the Citadel.
The reason next gen games like, I dunno, Halo Wars 2's cutscenes have very good facial animations is because they use motion capture on a very small number of scenes. They don't have to do thousands of interactions. My suspicion is that they actually tried to increase the amount of emotion in the characters faces and it encountered some hiccups along the way. You just never noticed it in previous titles because there barely was any expressions on the characters faces. But its very unfair to compare motion capture to animation, even if we're increasingly used to this.
This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2017/03/29 15:30:26
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2017/03/29 15:31:57
Subject: Re:Mass Effect: Andromeda[Updated OP on November 2nd 2016]
Nerak wrote: That being said I was not a fan of the original mass effect games. I played through the first one, completing every mission in the game, and decided not to continue the series. This looks like a very good way to continue the IP and succeded in getting me hooked.
They all have their pluses and minuses. In redoing the trilogy recently (ongoing right now as of yesterday for me), I've found that as I went from ME1 to 2 to 3 that I've missed certain things as well as appreciated others. ME2 for instance was a huge graphical upgrade with better combat and dialog choices that came at the expense of sheer size/openness/variety. There was a definite quality over quantity approach shift between the two. Please note that the statement doesn't mean that ME1 lacked quality nor that ME2 lacked quantity but rather a noticeable shift in focus instead of an absolute statement. They're all IMO worth playing (as long as you can suffer through the bad ME1 first hours of drunken space sailor combat mechanics).
This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2017/03/29 15:32:32
2017/03/29 15:51:06
Subject: Mass Effect: Andromeda[Updated OP on November 2nd 2016]
Of the three, Andromeda definitely reminds me most of the first, it has that sense sense of freedom that 2 and 3 kind of lacked (not necessarily a bad thing, but you basically did missions in the order they came up, especially 2 where not doing certain missions by a certain point means people will die) and having half a dozen larger, more developed worlds rather than the (usually well designed but) pretty small levels of 2 and 3. Had ME1 come out in 2017, I think it'd look and feel a heck of a lot like Andromeda does.
Also, finished up Drack's loyalty missions... Sorry, Grunt, you are now my second favourite Krogan...
Spoiler:
In the original trilogy, you spend a lot of time feeling sorry for the Krogan as a species but few actual Krogan characters endear much sympathy in the same way. Half of them are just straight up baddies, and Wrex and Grunt are both really outsiders to their own peopleso you don't get that viewpoint. Drack's perspective, having seen his planet and his race just fall apart and go through disaster after disaster, often of their own making, and taking the trip to Andromeda on his last legs and pretty much ready to die, sets him up as a rather tragic figure.
A lot of his dialogue in his later missions is really quite touching, his dedication to Kesh and to securing the future of the Krogan especially. It's fascinating to see a Krogan who's realised the hard way that some things you can't just fight your way out of.
This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2017/03/29 15:51:19
2017/03/29 15:58:10
Subject: Re:Mass Effect: Andromeda[Updated OP on November 2nd 2016]
One nerd rage thing: bring back the non humanoid aliens! The Elkor and Volus and such all helped with the sci-fi theme of the first game, why in the world would you cut those out!?
Agreed. While the comfort and familiarity of Star Trek style standard bipedal humanoids with bumpy foreheads is welcome in mass effect, I did also appreciate more "alien" intelligent races like the Rachni and Hanar alongside them in ME1. The fact that they went to a completely new galaxy and only found two races is a bit underwhelming (although they can theoretically hand wave it off as being limited to the Heleus cluster specifically).
Well, we found more than two "races"
It's just we only found two sentient races, by the definition of a tool-building/communicating society. We found plenty of aboriginal wildlife though--which in and of itself is impressive given that we seemingly arrived not long after the Scourge occurred, the Kett moved in, and the Heleus Cluster as a whole was in upheaval in terms of the worlds themselves.
bag!"
...and I've still only explored 2 of the what looks like eventually 5 planets, just about to go start on a third planet now...admittedly, I do play kinda slowly, and very "thoroughly", but man there's so much stuff to do...each planet has so many missions and sidequests and random things to do, and lore to uncover, each planet could almost be a game by itself...I'm loving the general story and cast of characters so far, and man am I loving the combat, specifically the mobility...I'm playing as a vanguard, dashing around the battlefield beating seven shades out of all the enemies, like a bloody superhero, it's a blast!...but then you can easily hunker down behind some cover and gun things down more slowly if you like, that seems perfectly viable too.
...it's good to be green! 
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