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 Conrad Turner wrote:
@ Mr Nobody.

How people view your character in multiplayer depends a lot on the character level and your MP experience ( Your "Apex Rating")

If you are trying out for the first time, the best advice I got was that Bronze is for anyone, silver for characters level 10 or over, gold for 18+ characters. They cap out at level 20.

The higher your Apex rating, the more you have played on any character, and across all characters. Higher Apex ratings will allow you to move up earlier, as will having higher numbers after your character class.

The first time you gain a card from a box it is, IIRC a <character class> -1, the more times you get that card in the boxes, the higher that number gets, up to <character class> -10. The higher that number, the better that character is overall, and the higher it's level, the more points you will have been able to put into skills.

The only games I've ever attempted were bronze matches and they never work. I have a suspicion that it might be a connectivity issue. In the character selection, my space is left blank, as if nothing is selected. I am then sent into a loading screen when the games starts, which takes me back to the title screen, telling me I have "lost connection with the server".

Definitely a connectivity issue then. I get the same myself at times.

Also, don't forget you can still send strike teams instead to get the Apex rewards. It's not a guaranteed win, where if you play yourself you can replay until you complete the mission, and it's no fun, but if you can connect enough to use them, at least you'll get the rewards some of the time.

Beat the game the other day. I have to say I really enjoyed it, the last fight felt properly urgent and chaotic and I was invested in seeing the fight through.

The character interaction between the team is definitely some of the best, if not the best in the series. I'd also say this is the first game where I didn't have a set team because I didn't hate any character (looking at you Ashley and Kaiden). I also enjoyed the slightly greater humor of Andromeda. There was a slight essence of MCU style laughs sprinked in and I liked it.



Despite the internet's mad rush to give the first "lol bad" review of Andromeda I personally feel it is at least as good as ME:1. But then again I don't hate ME:3...

 BrotherGecko wrote:
Beat the game the other day. I have to say I really enjoyed it, the last fight felt properly urgent and chaotic and I was invested in seeing the fight through.

The character interaction between the team is definitely some of the best, if not the best in the series. I'd also say this is the first game where I didn't have a set team because I didn't hate any character (looking at you Ashley and Kaiden). I also enjoyed the slightly greater humor of Andromeda. There was a slight essence of MCU style laughs sprinked in and I liked it.

Spoiler:

However, it was plenty serious as I don't feel the choice you make between Krogan Scouts or the Salarian Pathfinder has a right choice and made me feel like there was no good option.

I tend to pick squadmates based solely on their in-Nomad banter. Cora/Drack, Drack/Vetra and Cora/Jaal are the funniest combos I've found, but nothing beats PeeBee/Jaal's exceptionally awkward and yet utterly hilarious exchanges... I also like the crew moving around and talking to each other on the Tempest between missions, makes them feel a lot more like a team while the original trilogy basically kept everyone confined to their exact spots on the ship.

And I still can't get over how much fun the Nomad is compared to the original Mako - especially when driven with the gold or platinum skins. Prefer the gold, myself, and the upgrades are a definite 'must have'.

 BrotherGecko wrote:
The character interaction between the team is definitely some of the best, if not the best in the series. I'd also say this is the first game where I didn't have a set team because I didn't hate any character (looking at you Ashley and Kaiden).

Yeah, the team mates were great. I was actually thinking earlier today about how ME2 and ME3 had somewhat uneven levels to the team mates in the game. In ME1, the only person I was not particularly keen on was Kaiden. But ME2 and ME3 had team members that I would have been quite happy to ignore except for the "must complete everything" element (or the "force me to have this conversation right now with someone I couldn't care less about" scenes).

In ME:A, I like all of the members of my team. Even if I'd like to throttle some of them from time to time.

Mind you, I didn't romance *any* of them. But I liked them all.

I did keep Jaal almost the entire time. I liked his out of place but in his own home feel and how it interacted with the Milky Way new comers. Usually I'd just run the Krogan and the Turian but I mixed it up a lot. Liam and Vetra's conversations are interesting. Jaal and PeeBee are hilarious.

I look forward to the other Milky Wayers showing up with maybe a Geth or two in tow. Also some more Andromeda species would be nice.

IIRC, the first story DLC is supposed to release next month. No word yet on what it's about, though.

Personally I really cannot stand Liam, on occasion I would really dismiss him from the crew if it was an option, for his antics and lack of discipline, even though his loyalty mission is really funny, I feel the character is really badly written... I simply cannot connect with him...

I like Liam, not that i have him in my team, but yeah, i like Liam.

I'd probably be really irritated with him if he was part of Shepard's crew but he fits in the context of Ryder's as essentially a 'normal guy.'

Shepard's group is the last best hope to save the galaxy. Ryder's, are essentially just a group of explorers. Sure there's a lot riding on them long term. But day to day, they're just people with various talents and skills. And i don't think Liam's crisis response skills are a mismatch to his personality or the like.

So yeah i like him.

My problem with Liam and his arc is that he keeps screwing up, telling you he won't do it again, then doing it again. Even at the end of his loyalty mission, he says he's not going to do anything else stupid but there's no guarantee of that! I actually think that mission is one of the best, but it's a slog through stupidity to get there.

Jaal is just the best. Feature him heavily in DLC or make sure he sticks around for the next game and we could be looking at the new Garrus...

He disrespects authority, disobeys direct orders, does constantly things in the back without asking permission and he is irritating all other party members.



Jaal is adorable in his insecurity, but none is more adorable than Fem Ryder in her social awkwardness, I really love her she is so cute.

 Paradigm wrote:
My problem with Liam and his arc is that he keeps screwing up, telling you he won't do it again, then doing it again. Even at the end of his loyalty mission, he says he's not going to do anything else stupid but there's no guarantee of that! I actually think that mission is one of the best, but it's a slog through stupidity to get there.

That, and Movie Night, which is another quest that Liam starts.

Ok, so I am doing something wrong, but I am getting a bit frustrated with something.

I just hit level 41, and it feels like I am acquiring skill points faster than they can really be used. I'm going combat & tech, and I got the things I really wanted: the combat VI, incinerate, and the assault turret. Great. Then I got the stuff I wanted out of combat: Combat Fitness, Sniper Rifles. Great.

Then I got stuff I sort of wanted: Assault Rifles, Shotguns.

Then I started getting stuff I could sort of use: Tech support, Offensive tech, Auxiliary systems.

Now I no longer have anything I can really use but I am still getting skill points and I am pretty sure I am not going to beat the game until around level 60, so I am going to have a huge pile of skill points. What am I supposed to do with them?

I can dump them into other offensive skills in the tech tree, like Tactical Cloak or Flamethrower... but I can only equip 3 things, and I am happy with combat VI/incinerate/turret. So i would literally be buying skills I can't equip and I won't really use.

There is no way to unlock a 4th skill, as far as I know... so what are you guys doing? I imagine you can create different stuff with profiles, like a Biotic/combat soldier profile in addition to my combat/tech infiltrator. I assume somehow you can have presents with those 3 skills for that profile (I don't know how to do that).

The problem with hypothetically switching between biotic and tech is that my armor is selected to enhance tech and combat, so I would get no gain from my armor if I started doing biotic stuff.


so.... what should I be doing? Other than, I suppose, beating the game by around level 40, in which case this problem wouldn't have appeared.

With Favorites you can change on spot what skills you want to have and that includes profiles, gives an interesting edge in combat so you could start as infiltrator sniper change to charging biotic and once you are close change again to a close range skillset.

Yes, some will stick to the same 3 skills (and profile) and be fine with it so levelling up only gives you HPs and spending skills at random levels up your profile, but for others it offers variety.

Yeah, favourites are way too useful to ignore. The game doesn't really explain how to use them well, but basically you press the back/menu button while on the Skills or Profiles page and can then save your current loadout of skills and profile to one of 4 slots. In combat, bring up the weapon wheel then press X (or the equivalent on a PS controller if you're using that) and you can select which Favourite to switch to at any time.

So for example, you could have an Engineer profile with VI, Turret and Incinerate so you've got bonuses to construct health. Then you could switch to, say, Concussive Shot, Flak Cannon, Incinerate loadout with the Soldier profile to really crank up your damage output against tough bosses. Then you could have a Tactical Cloak, Flamethrower, Cryo Beam setup with the Infiltrator profile to stealth in then wreck stuff at short range. And that still leaves you a slot free.

For example, my last game went pure tech/combat with no Biotics, and I had:
Tac Cloak, Flak Cannon, Concussive Shot, Infiltrator- Basically, keep using the decloak to maximise Flak Cannon damage
Flamethrower, Flak Cannon, Concussive Shot, Soldier- Main damage dealing profile for getting through big mobs or tough bosses
Assault Turret, Remnant VI, Tactical Cloak, Engineer- Set up the turret and VI from different angles, Tac Cloak, hit enemies from all sides
Flak Cannon, Flamethrower, Tactical Cloak, Soldier- Basically an all rounder.

I finished the game at level 51 and had most of these skills up to the level I wanted them, along with Pistols, Snipers, Assault Rifles, Combat Fitness and possibly Tech Support (not necessarily maxed, as some of the 5th and 6th tier entries didn't appeal that much when those same points can get you the first few ranks of another skill), so it's not like I was sacrificing effectiveness for variety.

Incidentally, both my playthroughs hit the final mission at Level 50, so that's probably where you'll be at the end of the game. That gives you 10 levels to diversify your power set before then if you want to play with other stuff. (and don't forget the Respect in the Tempest Med Bayif you want to totally rebuild your character)

I wonder how many playthoughs you need to hit the lvl cap of 132.

I'm at level 63 now, still don't think I'm too close to the final mission. I've got my standard infiltrator profile plus an engineer profile that I regularly use.

One thing I'm living myself though is that I didn't look closely at the biotics earlier. Turns out barrier isn't an activated skill and provides just a straight up shield bonus all the time. Trust me to find that out just as leveling really slows down.

There's also what seems to be a bug from level 60 to 70 which stops equipment from spawning, including in the shops. It's as if tier 8 equipment just doesn't exist in the game world. So it's a really good idea to hold onto your tier 7 mods.

Yes, many bugs including things that do not update the quests or do not allow the quests to finish, I have one suspicion that some are completed according to doing certain other quests.

Don't know the developers didn't expect players to do quests and planets in their own priority and not what they thought was the proper pace? seems like it on many occasions.

Thank you all for the tips, especially

 Compel wrote:
One thing I'm living myself though is that I didn't look closely at the biotics earlier. Turns out barrier isn't an activated skill and provides just a straight up shield bonus all the time.

that one. I didn't know that either so working on it now.

Also setting up some favorites.

 PsychoticStorm wrote:
Yes, many bugs including things that do not update the quests or do not allow the quests to finish, I have one suspicion that some are completed according to doing certain other quests.

Don't know the developers didn't expect players to do quests and planets in their own priority and not what they thought was the proper pace? seems like it on many occasions.

i already found at least one quest that I broke without warning: specifically, I got some minor question from an NPC that was on a faction, and then I did another question that wound up causing a rival faction to take over - the original quest giver had despawned. I would have liked some warning that would happen, like with previous Mass Effect games when you close off some quest lines.

Amen to that.

There was one quest where you needed to look in the Atrium of the Ark for an ingredient, didn't really think much of it, but now I can't finish it.



So in my second play-through I'm doing the missions in the order I'm finding them, prioritising the side missions and loyalty missions above advancing the plot. I'm also sending strike teams from the point I get access, not leaving them and MP until almost the end of the game. nice bonus that you keep the strike teams from the previous play-through, even though you have to research everything all over again. I'm able to hit hard from the get-go and am going to train a couple more teams to do the bronze missions, my previous teams can handle the silvers, and I'll take on the golds in MP.

Also need to dismiss my most powerful team. It's the only one with any negative traits, and that's really affecting the team's chances in gold missions. My second team are still a couple of levels below, but are almost overtaking them in success chance on gold missions as they have no negative traits at all.

TIL that you can deconstruct old armors and get your mods back.

Doing missions on the order you get them is no guarantee, I had done murder case before I went to the first remnant site and get chatter about what Peebee said and I had not met her yet.

Another time I got call for stuff happening on Eos and Harval that I had already done, because I just finished the planet since I was already there.

Oh boy! I have watched some fun in my time, but heck I like this and urge you all to try it.

Revenant AR with sticky grenade upgrade.

High volume of fire where each and every bullet is actually a grenade which sticks where it lands, no wonder I can't get one in MP! And it wreaks havoc on the larger stuff. Orbs go down, and Kett die - even if the orb returns and the shields go up, grenades are inside and still going off!

Mind you, I have been having trouble since I started using it, don't know if it's just a bug, or caused by the weapon. Can almost get an Architect down in 2, but it doesn't go to the third location, just hovers in the sky.

1.06 to be released today for anybody interested, no patch notes yet, but at least one unfinishable side quest was mentioned fixed and some cosmetics.

Just read the patch notes. It's essentially a check list of buggy stuff that happened to me in my play through. It includes the no items after level 61 bug.

http://blog.bioware.com/2017/05/09/mass-effect-andromeda-patch-1-06-notes/

Apparently the franchise is on hold...

http://kotaku.com/sources-bioware-montreal-downsized-mass-effect-put-on-1795100285

No idea how this might affect upcoming DLC.

It means Bioware is dying. Won't be long until EA shuts them down properly.

 Gamgee wrote:
It means Bioware is dying. Won't be long until EA shuts them down properly.

That's.. not even close to what's going on right now.

That's just one studio of Bioware's and it's pretty much their D-team. Bioware Montreal was essentially made to support the other studio's by giving extra gruntwork to start with, but then suddenly they decided to go from 'Helped make ME3' to 'Start a whole new trilogy of it while that studio is working on a new IP by yourself.'

So if it comes down to it. We'll see Montreal likely either regulated back to support or shut down with Mass Effect going to one of the other Bioware groups.. All of which are currently busy (One with Dragon Age, one with new IP, and the last is working on Star Wars)

Now if Edmonton is the one being shut down, then you know Bioware is dead.

That's still a shame, I honestly didn't think Andromeda had done that badly. There was a lot of very loud criticism, but people who actually played the damn thing seemed to enjoy it, by and large, and I thought the sales figures were still decent.

The only way there's an upside to this is if the resources and manpower are being pulled to work on that rumoured Bioware KOTOR reboot, and even then, I still hope we get at least some story DLC for Andromeda in the mean time.