Mass Effect: Andromeda | Official Thread

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Originally Posted by Formalhaut

Isn't there a (sigh) Day One patch as well? Maybe they'll fix those animation issues?

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Patches are very unlikely to fix underlying animations. If there's a bug with it like a characters jaw flapping about so hard it falls off, then sure. But just low quality animations will most likely stick around. The data for things like that is fairly large and it's difficult to get tech to generate what you need automatically to a good standard. I think when you're actually in the game it won't be too much of a concern; this is something that the original ME trilogy, Deus Ex and other games (especially RPGS) have had and for the most part players are able to quickly adjust and tune it out.

So, ermmm...

I played for a couple of hours and I can't really say I'm feeling it at the moment.

Aside from the uncanny valley dialogue animations (which don't actually bother me that much) and the teenage level dialogue itself as RPS pointed out... the game just handles weirdly.

The cover system feels janky as smurf, sometimes you'll be in a place where you should go into cover but Ryder just stands there like a plank. There's no easy way to switch direction when aiming from cover, and you just sort of glide along the terrain. If you run and gun and jet pack in the air like all the combat footage so far has suggested doing, you just get destroyed in a few seconds. Maybe it's just a symptom of only being level 2, but the combat just honestly hasn't felt all the great at the moment. It seems to lack any sort of feedback, you can unload an entire assault rifle clip into the head of one of the alien dudes and they don't even flinch, just feels like shooting into a bullet sponge.

I'll try it a bit more after work tomorrow, but right now my current experiences haven't converted me from "let's pay €4 for a month of Origin Access to try it" into "okay I'm buying this." If anything I feel like I've saved myself €50 of disappointment at the moment.

(Oh and yeah, the PC menu UI is just the console UI - so even though you have a mouse and keyboard at your disposal, the menus etc aren't optimised to take advantage of it at all... I feel like this is becoming a cardinal sin in PC gaming these days.)

EDIT: I also had to uninstall the software for my mechanical keyboard and mouse just to be able to launch the game as well. :/ It'd just get stuck on a black screen with the software running.

Console UI in a PC game? smurf off BioWare. It'd take all of a day for one guy to make a PC optimized menu system and UI.

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Originally Posted by Del Murder

DAI had a tactical mode where you literally control the flow of combat and could move time at your own speed. On PS4 you would get it by pushing that big giant button in the middle of the controller.

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Yes, but the nature of the combat is extremely important to whether/how well such a system works. In Origins it works great because you have a vast array of possible skills, there are often environmental factors in play, and thanks to a good combination of enemy types who have different abilities themselves, you're encouraged to switch up what you're doing. A fight against an Ogre is very different to a fight against half a dozen bandits, which is very different again from a fight against a couple of mages and whatever demons they've called forth.

DA2 doesn't succeed to the same extent but it still has enough variety in skills and enemies, combined with abilities that are just plain fun to use, that it more-or-less pulls off the same thing. It's a bit weaker, but not devastatingly so, though personally I only very rarely pause combat in that game outside of aiming my spells.

Inquisition's problem is that you have fewer skills, but more importantly, you have vastly fewer combat situations to actually use them in. Fights hinge entirely on the fact enemies have a lot of HP; beyond that there are very few which are actually different from each other. Fighting a mage isn't different from an archer, fighting bandits isn't different from fighting darkspawn, fighting demons isn't different from fighting wildlife. Everything is fought in essentially the same exact way; keep shields/barriers up, wear down health until the thing finally dies. Level 4 in the Hinterlands or level 25 in Descent, it's the same trout throughout. It gets a little better with the modifiers but not by much, not nearly enough. The absence of pausing in combat isn't because the game lacks it, it's that the game doesn't give you a reason to actually need or want to do it. You don't need to give a trout about which spells to use because fights last so long, and spell cooldowns are so long, that you're better off throwing everything at enemies rather than worrying about weaknesses and strengths. You can't worry about positioning because most of the fights take place in areas so large that positioning is not a realistic factor; you either close the gap or hit from range, that's all there is to it. There's no real element of cover, no ability to split large enemy groups up, no spell like Grease that will put a third of your enemies on their ass while you deal with the rest, etc. etc..

I obviously can't speak for Pike but for me, the only thing slowing/pausing combat in Inquisition does is make a long-ass fight take even longer. In the other two you could take on things well above your pay grade if you know what you're doing and use skills and spells and items well. In DAI, you can either beat something or you can't; you'll outdamage them or they'll outdamage you. I can't remember any fights at all which hinged on preparation, planning, or using abilities in clever ways, only a DPS race. (Maybe throwing bee jars to weaken armor.) The only thing you learn is how to judge from the first few seconds of a fight which will prove true. There is no element whatsoever of mastery in the game, no sense of growing power (barring a couple of OP specs like Knight-Enchanter that do mix things up a bit), no sense of mastery either as a character or a player, no fundamental difference in what you're doing or the tools you're doing it with between the first hour you spend with the game and reaching the end of a 100% playthrough.

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Originally Posted by Vivi22

Console UI in a PC game? smurf off BioWare. It'd take all of a day for one guy to make a PC optimized menu system and UI.

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While I don't disagree that PC requires a platform appropriate UI, it would be a fairly substantial time investment (which they should totally do). I assume Bioware's UI tech is better than ours but ours takes weeks​ to implement simple stuff! Hence why we don't even have mouse driven menus. Grrrrr

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Originally Posted by Aulayna

It seems to lack any sort of feedback, you can unload an entire assault rifle clip into the head of one of the alien dudes and they don't even flinch, just feels like shooting into a bullet sponge.

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Oh dear, I loathe the lazy bullet sponge artificial difficulty trick that many games pull. If I pull off a sick headshot I want that head to explode, not take off a quarter of the enemy's life. Welp, looks like I'm playing this on Easy or even Narrative 'cause I ain't got the time or motivation for that trout.

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Originally Posted by Del Murder

DAI had a tactical mode where you literally control the flow of combat and could move time at your own speed. On PS4 you would get it by pushing that big giant button in the middle of the controller.

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I guess what I'm trying to say is that it felt like there was no real need for it though. When I first started playing DAI I used pause a lot because I figured, that's what you do in the first two DAs and in BG and similar games. You pause a lot. Then I realized you don't have to, you can pretty much just hold your button down and coast to victory (with a few exceptions, i.e. the Descent which is why that was a GREAT DLC). It felt really weird to me and took away a lot of what I liked about prior games in the series/genre.

Also a lot of what Mister Adequate says is very true. I LOVED playing mage in the first two games because you would get all these ridiculous spells and every time I leveled up I was super excited to get a new spell. Even at the end of the game I was learning neat new spells that would change my battle tactics.

With DAI, playing a mage throughout the entire game was just keep barrier up, press a button to win. None of the spells you got as the game progressed really felt any different to me. Oh maybe the spell you cast is a different color this time?

I know hardly anyone here agrees with me so I should really just stop talking. And again, it's not like I'm trying to say it was a bad game. But for me personally, it removed so much of what I liked about prior games in the series, as well as the genre of squad-based RPG combat as a whole, that I really, really had a difficult time enjoying it.

(the whole thing might have been salvaged for me if the characters had been engrossing, but I found them to be the weakest in the series overall, so... that didn't help either :tongue: )

Completely unrelated to the ongoing discussion, but this is my Ryder I made.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/C6_wU6PWsAA5-2g.jpg

She looks a bit like Emily Blunt

Not surprised about the animation clunks. The bioware games tend to get that bad a lot. Very clunky. Really with their female counterparts, they don't even bother making more female animations and give them the male animations. It gets awkward.

I noticed the facial animation is different than the past games. I think they're going for a style this time idk.

Curious about the combat though. I'll be interested to hear more about it.

While I hear the Day One patch will give you more customization options for your character, I was kinda disappointed for my Ryder (if you ship Destiel in Supernatural, then he looked like their kid :p). He looked too gruff so I ended up going with default thought he's pasty af in some lighting.

Going from ME2 Spacebar for cover to Andromeda Spacebar for jump made the first few fights ummmm...Awkward? Run to cover! *Jumps in the air like he doesn't care* I do agree that the enemies in the prologue are bullet sponges but my biotics did well to damage them like basic Pull took half their health. Cool trick: when you unlock Throw, hold the Pull key and the enemy's body is dragged to you then you can use Throw to throw it at another enemy.

Honestly I found DA:O gave you too many spells. Like gah which spells do I use? A lot of them seem really situational as well.

I can see what you're saying Pike. Inquisition is the easier game. Heck I can even play it on Nightmare with trials, while I can at best play the other two on normal. I think the crafting system in Inquisition is OP though, that helps. I found Inquisition combat to be engaging, but it does eventually become rote, particularly post-build where you have everything. Enemies could have more oomph to hem, which the trials partly addressed.

Honestly, I think the main thing missing is tactics. You can't really customise the A.I very well, which is a shame.

http://www.pcgamer.com/we-have-mixed...ect-andromeda/ More people not entirely taken with the game.

Yeah I'm majorly turned off by a lot of the impressions so far. Seems like this game just isn't living up to the hype, unfortunately.

Honestly, anyone who has XBone or PC should do the Trial if on the fence. Best way to see and it is like 5$ for a month, cancel anytime, and get you get 10% off all purchases (Origin at least).

http://i.imgur.com/Rq9zqLP.gifv

GotY

Lmao

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Originally Posted by Psychotic

http://i.imgur.com/Rq9zqLP.gifv

GotY

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Might be worth the price of admission just to watch that trout all day to be honest.

Indeed, I'm going to be pissed off if my copy isn't broken.

i'm in tears

http://i.imgur.com/EnBzCrz.gif

NOOT NOOT

https://www.forbes.com/sites/insertc.../#4044aa0e690e

ahh i like what he says there at the end in that article

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My advice?

- Take first impressions pieces with a grain of salt, my own included.

- Remember how slow the first few hours of many huge RPGs are.

- If you play the Early Access preview, do not judge the entire game based on Eos.

- Wait for full reviews to get the best sense of the game. Mine may be late as it is mandatory for me to do all sidequests and talk to all the people.


Everyone just…calm down. Not to say there aren’t good and bad things to say about the game in these early previews, but this is turning into a viral fire-tornado rather quickly, which I think could have been avoided.

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I'll be in my cold dead space grave before I stop slathering myself in online video game drama

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Originally Posted by Mister Adequate

I'll be in my cold dead space grave before I stop slathering myself in online video game drama

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Sounds sticky.

I for one like to be more optimistic about things. Everything. Movies. Books. Everything. Positivity is much more enjoyable than negativity for me.

Personality differences I guess :)

That Forbes article sounds fair.

To be clear, those animation issues do seem pretty funny. Hopefully they can at least be tweaked, if not outright fixed. Here's hoping!

Experts: how tough is it to animate faces? I'm guessing it is difficult. Because faces.

Oh yeah the animations seem silly but that's been a reoccurring problem with bioware. It's bothersome they haven't fixed it yet.

I'm still hopeful for the gameplay and story though :D

Looping animations were the most obvious thing to me in Dragon Age: Origins. Animations are not BioWare's strong point.

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Originally Posted by The Summoner of Leviathan

https://www.forbes.com/sites/insertc.../#4044aa0e690e

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That dude is just being reasonable because it's controversial not be controversial right now and he wants the clicks.

listen if this game doesn't have the Bioware Finger Guns in it I'm getting a refund

I'm fairly chill about the weird animations. Yeah they're a big studio and it's 2017 and so on and so forth. But I still happily load up the original Deus Ex from time to time and get completely absorbed in it. That game has aged badly but the terrible animations and unchanging low-resolution expressions are the least of my concerns there. I expect better from Mass Effect but it not being better isn't really a problem for me.

I'm less chill about the writing I've heard so far which is certainly not great. And some of the acting - Natalie Dormer is a wonderful actor but maybe not a voice artist. I was glad to see the conversation system isn't as terrible as I thought it was going to be though - they give you the same options you always had plus an idea of the kind of tone that line is going to take. I thought they were JUST going to give you a list like "'Professional,' 'Flirty,' 'Casual,' with no idea what the actual line would be. Fortunately that isn't the case.

I've never played a Mass Effect game before. How is the combat like?

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Originally Posted by The Summoner of Leviathan

While I hear the Day One patch will give you more customization options for your character, I was kinda disappointed for my Ryder (if you ship Destiel in Supernatural, then he looked like their kid :p). He looked too gruff so I ended up going with default thought he's pasty af in some lighting.

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Love the Destiel reference, hate that you effectively killed their Mass Effect lovechild. :stare:

Me and Formy have already pre-ordered, so we're stuck with the game now even if it is pure trout. :gator:

I'm not really worried though, to be honest. Haven't bought a game yet which I didn't enjoy on at least the first playthrough, even if they weren't necessarily worth repeat-playing. Basically, my taste in game-buying is flawless and I have absolute confidence in it. :smug:

Destiel Love ChildAttachment 71854

Latest RPS article gives the early access game a mixed review and says it's very similar to Inquisition, and that one's enjoyment of Andromeda will probably be similar to how much they liked Inquisition. Which I was afraid of, so ultimately for me as someone who didn't get much out of Inquisition this is probably going to come down to how enjoyable the combat is. (Or alternatively, if any of the characters can successfully REALLY suck me in.)

Link for the curious: https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/201...meda-problems/

I really liked DA:I sooo... :x

Especially after the fixed the Dorian bug I encountered. Lol.

As long as I'm not finding a random datapad in the wilderness, I'm game.

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Originally Posted by Psychotic

http://i.imgur.com/Rq9zqLP.gifv

GotY

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That is how I run to the toilet after I've had KFC the previous night. Most relateable ME game yet.

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Originally Posted by Pike

Latest RPS article gives the early access game a mixed review and says it's very similar to Inquisition, and that one's enjoyment of Andromeda will probably be similar to how much they liked Inquisition. Which I was afraid of, so ultimately for me as someone who didn't get much out of Inquisition this is probably going to come down to how enjoyable the combat is. (Or alternatively, if any of the characters can successfully REALLY suck me in.)

Link for the curious: https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/201...meda-problems/

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Wow that article pretty much echoes how I feel now I've sunk nearly the maximum allotted time into the trial. I'll probably still pick it up just for the story, and on that note pretty much point 14 of that article is how I feel right now.

Like really, nothing has been THAT bad (well aside from a few immersion breaking "wtf" moments with Ryder's facial expressions), but nothing has been notably great either. If I think of it as not a Mass Effect game to remove my pre-conceptions, and just think of it as a sci-fi game, it's okay. It's not revolutionary, but it's not terrible, it's just very... muddled.

It kind of blows my mind how many people are saying "It's like Dragon Age Inquisition!" as a negative. I freaking loved that game. But it does sound like the game isn't going to come anywhere near living up to the hype surrounding it, and that is a shame. I had planned on pre-ordering it but now...I don't know. What concerns me most is people talking about how unlikable your companions are. The cast of companions in the other ME games were great and I had a blast talking to them and I found myself genuinely interested in learning as much about them as possible.

Monday is when the reviews come out. Should be interesting.

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Originally Posted by DMKA

It kind of blows my mind how many people are saying "It's like Dragon Age Inquisition!" as a negative. I freaking loved that game. But it does sound like the game isn't going to come anywhere near living up to the hype surrounding it, and that is a shame. I had planned on pre-ordering it but now...I don't know. What concerns me most is people talking about how unlikable your companions are. The cast of companions in the other ME games were great and I had a blast talking to them and I found myself genuinely interested in learning as much about them as possible.

Monday is when the reviews come out. Should be interesting.

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I don't get why people are complaint about companions since in the trial you only get 3 and have minimal interaction (typical basic background info and some banter) with and are introduced to two others who don't join you yet. It leaves one not even introduced and basically the SP block prevents fro the relationship you do have from evolving.

They could have done the embargo thing better. Because before the embargo is lifted all we have are vague first impressions and rumors that can spin and spin. It's a rather odd thing they've done.

Review embargos are stupid in general. Either the game is good or it isn't and all embargos do is hurt the people who pre-ordered when it turns out the latter is the case.

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Originally Posted by Vivi22

Review embargos are stupid in general. Either the game is good or it isn't and all embargos do is hurt the people who pre-ordered when it turns out the latter is the case.

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Review embargoes that go up to the release date are stupid. The ones that open up a few days in advance are fine in my view, as it gives all reviewers the same period of time to play the game and write the review without having to worry about rushing out something half-baked in order to get the clicks for being 'first'.

I actually really enjoyed Dragon Age Inquisition, for all it's flaws.

My 10 hour trial has finished now and I'll pick up the full game. The story is enough to make me want to continue and combat gets a little better once you have some more abilities unlocked. It still irks me that where you shoot something doesn't really cause much reaction, there's no staggering or anything. Yet if you zap something in the face with overload it'll cause it to stagger. I guess it's this way to make biotic powers feel worthwhile, but sometimes you really do just feel like you're sinking bullets into a sponge that waltzes relentlessly toward you until it hits a fixed health percentage and then hides in cover.

One thing I do really like is that you can interact and have meaningful conversations with all of the Tempest crew, there's no generic engineers walking around or anything of the sort. Tying into this, the removal of Paragon/Renegade makes dialogue feel a bit more natural rather than just defaulting to one of 2 options because that's what you're doing that playthrough.

How would you say the quality of the writing/acting is overall? I've only seen about 20 minutes of gameplay, and that's probably the area I'm most concerned about.

It's variable. Some of the writing and voice acting is atrocious, then there are moments of brilliance, but for the most part it walks the line of "acceptable." On average I wouldn't really say it's any better or worse than previous ME games from an acting point of view.

The writing is up for debate, I do feel that the writing itself isn't of the quality of the previous games. A fair few times I have questioned the way some characters react to things and right now it feels a lot more "popcorn flick" than space opera. I'd honestly wait for reviews of the full game if it's a concern, the content of the trial isn't really enough to get a firm picture of any nuances etc.

ME: 3 was probably the worst game for restricted 'obvious' conversations. I'm playing it now as a matter of fact and I frequently only have two choices - the clearly paragon and the clearly renegade choice.

I hated those moments during cutscenes when you were supposed to hit a paragon or renegade option but I didn't notice it until it was too late because I was way too engrossed in what was going on. Yet at the same time, that's a testament to how interesting and well written everything was in the first three games. I genuinely cared about conversations and how my characters were treated, so much that I completely lost sight of the more nuanced gameplay instances when conversation and story progression was taking place.

I really hope that's the case with Andromeda.

What's going on the behind the scenes with this game? Some more SJW nonsense?

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Originally Posted by Squall Leonhart Loire

What's going on the behind the scenes with this game? Some more SJW nonsense?

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You, as a Vorcha, should check your privilege before saying things like this.

I forgot to add, if you liked ME3s Multiplayer (which I loved), then you're in luck as Andromeda is pretty much more of the same.

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Originally Posted by Aulayna

I forgot to add, if you liked ME3s Multiplayer (which I loved), then you're in luck as Andromeda is pretty much more of the same.

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Is playing as a bright pink Geth called Julie possible? I need to know.

I think I'm honestly going to pass on this game.

No real reason or motivation to play it right away, especially when initial feedback seems to be mixed. Maybe if it ends up getting decent reviews I'll pick it up down the line, but right now I'm pretty disinterested.

I also don't have any interest in the Dragon Age series, so the comparisons to Inquisition are kind of irrelevant to me.

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Originally Posted by Squall Leonhart Loire

What's going on the behind the scenes with this game? Some more SJW nonsense?

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Yeah a bunch of scumbags have organised a hate campaign against a woman who was apparently one of the lead animators of Andromeda.

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Originally Posted by Fox

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Originally Posted by Squall Leonhart Loire

What's going on the behind the scenes with this game? Some more SJW nonsense?

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Yeah a bunch of scumbags have organised a hate campaign against a woman who was apparently one of the lead animators of Andromeda.

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Awesome. I love SERIOUS BUSINESS internet drama.

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Originally Posted by DMKA

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Originally Posted by Fox

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Originally Posted by Squall Leonhart Loire

What's going on the behind the scenes with this game? Some more SJW nonsense?

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Yeah a bunch of scumbags have organised a hate campaign against a woman who was apparently one of the lead animators of Andromeda.

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Awesome. I love SERIOUS BUSINESS internet drama.

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Go to the ME subreddit, it is filled with butthurt and salt, you will find plenty drama there, lol.

Ahh yeah just read how they're harassing a female dev accusing her of the animation glitches.

People are trouts.

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Originally Posted by Freya

Ahh yeah just read how they're harassing a female dev accusing her of the animation glitches.

People are trouts.

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Stay classy internet. Stay classy.

You guys wanna team up and send her a joint hate message from Eyes on FF as a whole? I don't know who she is or what she's done, but if the internet is doing it then who are we to argue?

I know that's sarcasm, but personally, I'd rather introduce the back of their heads to my fist via their face.

Sure, whichever, let's just pick one and do it.

Face smashing it is. Don't stop punching until there's no one left to internet anymore!

I'm watching Totalbiscuit streaming this at the moment. I have to say I'm not sure I can get over this level of writing. Unless it gets MUCH better. For example (spoiler from the first couple of hours):

(SPOILER)When Ryder's father dies and she's being told about it. Cora says something like: "I'm afraid your father is dead. That must be a real blow" That must be a blow. Uh, yes. Yes Cora I do think that qualifies as a 'blow,' could you not muster up just a tiny bit more believable human emotion please? You've just told me of my Father's demise in the same tone that you might inform someone that we're out of chocolate chip ice cream.

Let's just say I'll be looking for the reviews to say "It really finds its feet and becomes less consistently cringeworthy later in the game" before I decide to drop full price on this.

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Originally Posted by Fox

I'm watching Totalbiscuit streaming this at the moment. I have to say I'm not sure I can get over this level of writing. Unless it gets MUCH better. For example (spoiler from the first couple of hours):

(SPOILER)When Ryder's father dies and she's being told about it. Cora says something like: "I'm afraid your father is dead. That must be a real blow" That must be a blow. Uh, yes. Yes Cora I do think that qualifies as a 'blow,' could you not muster up just a tiny bit more believable human emotion please? You've just told me of my Father's demise in the same tone that you might inform someone that we're out of chocolate chip ice cream.

Let's just say I'll be looking for the reviews to say "It really finds its feet and becomes less consistently cringeworthy later in the game" before I decide to drop full price on this.

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Yeah, this is very concerning. The game seems like a comedy of errors at this point. Bad writing that gets delivered with bad voice acting (aside from a few characters supposedly) through bad animations. These all hurt a game's ability to tell an interesting story.

A major problem is that the first section of the game is riddled with things that will push fans away. So even if the rest of the game might get better, a lot of people might not want to see it through to that point.

To be fair I thought it was troutty dialogue too but:

(SPOILER)Cora trained with Asari Commando's and rarely shows any kind of emotion other than a brief moment of anger in private. In one of the private conversations on the Tempest later on, she even talks about how her training got her to leave her emotions and feelings behind etc. Her entire character is very blunt and by the book and emotionless, which kind of explains her earlier behaviour. She is pretty much the polar opposite of Liam, for example, who is very empathetic etc.

Reviews are out now. They range from alright to good. It currently stands at 75 on Metacritic. Apparently it does get better after the initial hours. it's not a bad game but it has disappointing technical problems and writing that jumps around from sorry to solid.

Well I'm still hyped. I don't want to read any reviews or let the recent backlash shape my perception of the game. If I hate it once I'm done with it then I'll be disappointed, but the possibility of space adventures is too great to pass up.

75 on Metacritic. Just to compare that to the scores the game got on PS3...ME1 had an 85, ME2 had a 94 and ME3 had a 92.

Critically, this game is a major disappointment compared to its predecessors. I think reviews are important in this instance because its the 4th game in the series and doesn't hold up nearly as well.

Bloody hell, even IGN gave it a 7.7. IGN. For a triple A game that's basically a 2/10 from them.

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Originally Posted by Psychotic

Bloody hell, even IGN gave it a 7.7. IGN. For a triple A game that's basically a 2/10 from them.

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Just read this bit from Venture Beat which gave it a 55/100:

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Games have to fit into our lives, and that’s not always fair. Mass Effect: Andromeda might’ve worked a decade ago on the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, but it doesn’t work in a world that is delivering games like Horizon: Zero Dawn, Nier: Automata, and The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. In this reality, BioWare’s latest role-playing game is old, broken, and often boring.

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Brutal.

wait a smurfing minute

no hanar and no elcor?

pre-order cancelled fu bioware

Quite a shame that after five years they couldn't really manage greatness. Annoying thing is many of these flaws seem like they could be easily corrected with more time to iron out the kinks.

Time to iron out kinks is not something that triple A publishers believe in. Why fix before release what you can promise to fix with a patch a month later then never bother delivering on?

Maybe they think fans will hate it if a game is released too late? I don't know, but personally I'd rather developers took the time to make a game right than try to rush it, yes after five years of development. As long as they vocalise why they're delaying a game to fix technical issues or brush up a mechanic, I'm perfectly happy.

Honestly, I'd guess their only concern is money. Missing a launch date can hurt sales, taking the time to fix these things will cost a ton of money the longer they go without releasing, and since it's March I wouldn't be surprised if some executive somewhere was pushing to get it out the door so they don't miss their quarterly revenue targets.

Just thinking back to Half-Life and Half-Life 2, both games ended up delayed and heavily reworked before they released, and unless I'm mistaken, Half-Life 2 was actually costing $1 million a month to work on for the year it was delayed to make it not suck. And that was a game released almost 13 years ago and with a team that had to be substantially smaller than the team making Andromeda. Most companies would look at costs running into the millions each month you delay and unless the thing is literally unplayably broken they won't bother. Unless you're Ubisoft of course, then you just release the unplayable game anyway because fans love it when you release broken games and never fix them.

I suppose there's a balance between running costs and the cost of reputation for releasing a less-than-stellar game.

From where I'm standing with reviews hammering it and fan reaction sadly predictable (let's blame a woman!) I'm not sure they made the right call with pushing forward and releasing it in March.

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Originally Posted by Formalhaut

Quite a shame that after five years they couldn't really manage greatness. Annoying thing is many of these flaws seem like they could be easily corrected with more time to iron out the kinks.

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Except a lot of people seem divided about the story, writing and gameplay. You can't really patch those issues.

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Originally Posted by Scruffington

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Mass Effect: Andromeda might’ve worked a decade ago on the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3

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So what's the argument here? That new games that aren't different enough are bad?

Honestly that quote makes me want to buy the game a lot more. :p

Quote:

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Originally Posted by DMKA

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Scruffington

Quote:

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Mass Effect: Andromeda might’ve worked a decade ago on the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3

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---

So what's the argument here? That new games that aren't different enough are bad?

Honestly that quote makes me want to buy the game a lot more. :p

---

Uh..I thought the point was pretty straightforward and obvious.

It's an outdated game that doesn't hold up to today's standards. In a world where Breath of the Wild, Nier: Automata and Horizon: Zero Dawn exist, Andromeda just seems old and nowhere near the level of a good game released in 2017.

Especially not in regards to open-world aspects.

I'm still excited. Can't wait for Thursday :D

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Scruffington

Quote:

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Originally Posted by DMKA

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Scruffington

Quote:

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Mass Effect: Andromeda might’ve worked a decade ago on the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3

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---

So what's the argument here? That new games that aren't different enough are bad?

Honestly that quote makes me want to buy the game a lot more. :p

---

Uh..I thought the point was pretty straightforward and obvious.

It's an outdated game that doesn't hold up to today's standards. In a world where Breath of the Wild, Nier: Automata and Horizon: Zero Dawn exist, Andromeda just seems old and nowhere near the level of a good game released in 2017.

Especially not in regards to open-world aspects.

---

If I'm being perfectly honest I don't actually buy into the notion that games this generation are that much different than games from last generation. Same stuff with better graphics for the most part. I just can't take a criticism like that one very seriously.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Psychotic

wait a smurfing minute

no hanar and no elcor?

pre-order cancelled fu bioware

---

what in the smurf is this are you kidding me

what next no volus?

Some mixed reviews but even that itself is disappointing considering the reception to the rest of the series. I liked that quote Scruff posted as it lays out the harsh reality regarding the evolving standard games are measured against. If you are making the next entry in a big name open world RPG then you can't simply just beef up your combat and create bigger worlds to explore and expect aspects like characterization, quest design, and storytelling to be looked over.

Looks like I'll be playing Horizon and Zelda first!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Mister Adequate

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Psychotic

wait a smurfing minute

no hanar and no elcor?

pre-order cancelled fu bioware

---

what in the smurf is this are you kidding me

what next no volus?

---

no vorcha no drell no quarians no lib dems it's a bloody disgrace

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Vivi22

If I'm being perfectly honest I don't actually buy into the notion that games this generation are that much different than games from last generation. Same stuff with better graphics for the most part. I just can't take a criticism like that one very seriously.

---

That's not the argument being made here.

The argument the author is suggesting is that Andromeda doesn't stand out in 2017. There are 2 fantastic open world games that just came out in the last month alone. Why should anyone waste their time playing Andromeda when there are much better open world RPGs out there right now?

Also, open worlds in games have only become a huge trend in this generation. Last gen we only really saw Skyrim and the GTA series.

This year has had a crazy number of good titles. Yakuza 0, Resident Evil 7, Tales of Berseria, Nioh, Horizon: Zero Dawn, Zelda: Breath of the Wild and Nier Automata have all come out in 2017 alone. I personally don't see any reason to choose this game when there are much better alternatives out there. Hell, Andromeda isn't even being made by Bioware's B team. It's supposedly made by their C team. So it isn't even the same development team that made the past titles.

I feel for the Mass Effect fans though. Unfortunately it doesn't seem like they're getting the game they deserve.

EDIT: I should have corrected myself to say "I think the argument the author is suggesting" instead of "that isn't what the author is arguing." My bad. Also, I agree with Fox's post.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Vivi22

If I'm being perfectly honest I don't actually buy into the notion that games this generation are that much different than games from last generation. Same stuff with better graphics for the most part. I just can't take a criticism like that one very seriously.

---

Perhaps not so different now, but certainly there has been a lot of change since the start of last generation. The jump in production quality and shift in mechanics from Mass Effect 1 to Mass Effect 2 is very significant. And the review says "Andromeda may have worked a decade ago on the PS3 and Xbox 360" - a decade ago was 2007. Pre-Mass Effect 2*
*Pre-Mass Effect 1 technically, which was a November '07 release

Just like I would have had a much higher opinion of FFXV if I had never played any other Final Fantasy game, or The Witcher, or Zelda, or Dark Souls etc. To say Andromeda would have felt like a better game if it existed in a world where Mass Effect 2 and 3 hadn't been made is a reasonable point.

What are Bioware's A and B teams working on?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Del Murder

What are Bioware's A and B teams working on?

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Bioware's A team is the Edmonton team, who made the original Mass Effect trilogy as well as the Dragon Age series.

Bioware's B team is the Austin team, who is responsible for SWTOR. They also helped with the production of Inquisition and worked on the new IP Shadow Realms before it got cancelled.

This is developed by Bioware's C team, the Montreal team. It was originally established back in 2009 to help the main Bioware team as necessary. They haven't made anything before Andromeda.

Apparently Bioware's A team is working on a new IP, but I'm not sure.

I wouldn't give such an important entry in the series, tasked with leading Mass Effect into a new direction and a new galaxy, to a relatively untested team, in my opinion.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Scruffington

Also, open worlds in games have only become a huge trend in this generation. Last gen we only really saw Skyrim and the GTA series.

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This is not even remotely true.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Vivi22

This is not even remotely true.

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This is 100% true.

This gen alone we've had Xenoblade Chronicles X, Final Fantasy XV, Metal Gear Solid V, Watch Dogs 2, Witcher 3, Zelda: Breath of the Wild, Horizon, and Fallout 4. Every single one of those games is pretty much critically acclaimed, and they are all open world games.

Final Fantasy XIII was not open world. Metal Gear Solid 4 was not open world. Skyward Sword was not open world.

These are three massive series that were not open world last gen, and have become open world in the current gen with their latest installments. It is a fact that open world games have become more prevalent this generation compared to last generation.

If you ignore the plethora of open world series that have been around for years then sure. A handful of major series going in a more open direction does not make the statement that open world games only became a trend this generation of that it was really only GTA and skyrim before true. Nothing about your statement as you worded it is true.

If you don't believe me then feel free to see the following series that aren't GTA or skyrim:
-Assassins creed
-just cause
-batman Arkham city
-saints row
-yakuza
-fallout
-oblivion
-infamous
-prototype
-mercenaries
-Minecraft
-every Spiderman game since Spiderman 2
-every mmo ever
-red dead redemption
-red faction
-watch dogs

Im not even close to through all of the open world games and series from last generation but I'm getting tired of listing them and I've clearly made my point. Open world games aren't just becoming a big trend now. They've been a big trend for more than a decade now.

And if we're being honest, Zelda has always been open world. Not at the scale that breath of the wild was perhaps, but it's always had a big, open, non linear world to explore in all of those games.

Yeah, open world is definitely not a new trend for this gen and definitely came up big time in the last gen. What may have changed in this gen are the expectations for open world games to provide multiple gigantic areas to explore that are loaded with content, which become more plausible with advanced hardware. And also that every non-handheld RPG now needs to be an open world game.

This is what all Bioware teams are currently doing:

Attachment 71859

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Vivi22

Im not even close to through all of the open world games and series from last generation but I'm getting tired of listing them and I've clearly made my point. Open world games aren't just becoming a big trend now. They've been a big trend for more than a decade now.

And if we're being honest, Zelda has always been open world. Not at the scale that breath of the wild was perhaps, but it's always had a big, open, non linear world to explore in all of those games.

---

I didn't say "open worlds have only become a trend in this generation." I said "open worlds have only become a huge trend in this generation."

I stand by this statement. A lot of games you mentioned either weren't hugely successful or started out on earlier generations (or are current gen). Just Cause, Red Faction, Prototype, Spiderman, Mercenaries...none of these series have even come close to the success that Skyrim or GTA had. Of course, series like Assassin's Creed and Minecraft were both hugely successful. So was Arkham City.

Last generation had Bethesda and Rockstar at the forefront of open world game development. Rockstar is pretty much one of the main pioneers in this area with their GTA formula.

My main argument is that two of the biggest games last generation, Skyrim and GTA V, were open world. Their success has inspired many developers to take their games open world in this generation, with the primary successful examples being Horizon and Breath of the Wild.

And no, Zelda has not been open world in the sense that you're referring to. The original Zelda was open world, but the 3D Zeldas have generally guided you through dungeons in a set path.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Del Murder

Yeah, open world is definitely not a new trend for this gen and definitely came up big time in the last gen. What may have changed in this gen are the expectations for open world games to provide multiple gigantic areas to explore that are loaded with content, which become more plausible with advanced hardware. And also that every non-handheld RPG now needs to be an open world game.

---

The number of open world titles has increased this gen. Same as the number of successful open world games.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Formalhaut

Quite a shame that after five years they couldn't really manage greatness. Annoying thing is many of these flaws seem like they could be easily corrected with more time to iron out the kinks.

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To be fair it was already delayed from mid-2016, to late-2016 until Q1 2017 and it's basically come out at the end of Q1 2017. It's not excusable by any means and I daresay EA pushed it out the door.

But likewise, FFXV, which most people feel could've done with a couple more months in the oven, was also pushed out after being delayed.

It's sadly becoming a bit of a trend with AAA games in recent years.

This current console generation (PS4/XB1 - and loosely, the Switch) has had a serial lack of solid-AAA games that haven't missed the mark or required substantial post-launch support to bring them up to par.

VPN time!

Put spoiler tags in this one, although it isn't too spoiler-y to me. Just a flirting scene with Ryder and another character. Highlights some of the complaints others have had about bad writing and voice acting.

(SPOILER)

My god...this is just awful.

Driving around in the Nomad looks fun. Like all the good parts of the Mako!

I did however see weapons labelled like: "Common weapon" "Rare weapon" "Super rare weapon" and I died inside a little bit. This system sucks in MMOs, why would you bring it into single player games? Hopefully there's not too much managing of trash weapons.

I can understand letting the C-Team play with this one. The A team wanted to be done with Mass Effect as a trilogy and move on. And the B team has been busy in their own world. People want more Mass Effect, who else are you going to give it to? Though I believe there are two A teams. Pretty sure Edmonton splits up and shares people. I don't think Dragon Age and Mass Effect were always made by the same people. They probably shared a lot, but it's nothing like ... say Namco's Tales team(s) and Soul Calibur team (if they still exist?) who were pretty much in their own little bubbles making their own respective games

Either way, it sounds like it's Dark Souls 2, and a new team is cutting their teeth. So I guess the future may be a lot more interesting now that they've learned some hard lessons. But I have absolutely no doubt EA was involved in making it a wreck or demanding they push it out early. It honestly wouldn't surprise me that it was delayed so much because EA was demanding some ridiculous online thing. I can't remember but maybe multiplayer was never going to be implemented in this one and possibly they were forced to work on that instead of the base game. It's EA being EA, just like Konami, Ubisoft, WB, and the European branch of Square Enix. Impatient, unrelenting, and greedy. /rant

Either way, it's one of the games I was going to buy twice, so that my girlfriend and I weren't competing for time on it. But I think I'll let my reserved copy sit in the store for a minute and see how the game fairs with her. I still have Gravity Rush: Remastered and Horizon: Zero Dawn to complete before another big game anyway. Plus I may dabble in Torment: Tides of Numenera instead. But I won't forsake Mass Effect. I'm just in less of a hurry to acquire it myself

Edit: Game acquired by girlfriend. Install over, waiting for updates. First impressions incoming. Though I can't promise to speak them here, and not just experience them. But now I'll see what all the fuss is about

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Psychotic

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Mister Adequate

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Psychotic

wait a smurfing minute

no hanar and no elcor?

pre-order cancelled fu bioware

---

what in the smurf is this are you kidding me

what next no volus?

---

no vorcha no drell no quarians no lib dems it's a bloody disgrace

---

tbf farron's canonically going extinct but the other trout here is enormously smurfed up, especially as only two new races exist

(SPOILER)One of the earliest dialogue conversations in the game does mention other Arks departing the Milky Way after the Human/Krogan/Solarian/Asari Arks had already departed. So if there are sequels, I guess we might see those races in future games.

I VPN'ed in to unlock the game early, I'm enjoying it.

Took me like an hour this morning to get my custom ryder. Then in the actual game her chin/mouth is too close to her nose and her eyes are too deep in. If she doesn't talk or emote she looks fine but ughhh I wish custom creation would allow some different lighting and stuff before it confirms. Every game I do that. Looks good then the actual gameplay I'm like, ughh I messed something up, let me fix

I hate everyone in America who has this game today.

Apex App let's you do Strike Team missions from your phone, fyi. :D

The girlfriend seems to be enjoying it as well. Impressions from what I saw:

The dialog was better that what I was expecting the way critics were making it sound

People said Horizon Zero Dawn had a bad case of "BioWare face". Surprise surprise a BioWare game has a bad case of BioWare face

Animation was a tad off. It has a lean when you walk into a turn. I've seen plenty of games poked fun of fire having this but the only one I've played that I remember is Grand Theft Auto 4. So I guess if it didn't bother you there it shouldn't bother you here

And glitches seemed standard Mass Effect fare. Minimal and more amusing than anything

But this is all from minimal exposure. Take with a grain of salt

A former Bioware employee gave some disturbing insight into Andromeda's troubled development.

While it may be a rumor, we've already heard about the game having development issues. And if you just look at the comparison between the leaked April 2016 footage and the final release footage...the game's animations and overall quality got significantly downgraded.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Scruffington

A former Bioware employee gave some disturbing insight into Andromeda's troubled development.

While it may be a rumor, we've already heard about the game having development issues. And if you just look at the comparison between the leaked April 2016 footage and the final release footage...the game's animations and overall quality got significantly downgraded.

---

Fascinating and disturbing. I'd be inclined to blame EA yet again, and they may have put someone disastrous in charge (I'm not sure), but I know how office politics work in general, and this could be out of even EA's hands. It just takes one douche bag up top to play favorites down below, and things quickly spiral out of control like that

I can believe this stuff happening, but I still don't get why that would cause a down-grade. At worst it should merely cause a plateau of progress where things stop looking better, but why should things start getting worse? I guess the leaked footage may have ran on a monster of a computer and massive sacrifices may have had to be made to optimize, but it reminds me of Watch Dogs. And that game ended up running worse for being downgraded. Which also made no sense. I guess I'm just confused and sad for BioWare v3.0

welp, more controversy because Bioware made FemRyder ugly. This is from a Sun article mind you, so take it with a grain, nay, an ocean full of salt, but it amused me. MRAs are saying that they made her ugly so as to be not sexualised and politically correct, and SJWs are saying they did it as part of the "othering" of women, a case of smurf you we only want to put time into making the male characters - ie Male Ryder - look good.

The truth is they did it because they only know how to make potato people. :shobon:

Interestingly they've already patched her appearance, drastically changing her nose shape and also I think her eye colour. I have never seen that before, a character's appearance being radically changed from all the marketing material at the last minute. I mean sure we've all heard of black haired Tidus, but it wasn't black haired Tidus on the game's cover.

Wow really? They're mad that the fem ryder isn't model quality?

Have a look a this:
https://hackerbot.net/images/imgsrc/...ces-hacked.jpg

They literally and intentionally made female characters look unattractive.

Remember when BioWare games were good, had beautiful women and good stories... good animation.... and character.

I miss those days. :(

feelsbadman

So you're one of those people bitching about the looks.

Dude, women don't have to be your definition of beautiful. Plus with character creation, you can make it however you want, so what does it matter.

And even then, I don't even find the first one ugly either. Move along

I mean, seriously. There's character creation. If you're not happy with the default look, you can literally change it to however you please.

Honestly I couldn't care less if Fem!Ryder didn't conform to the traditional norms of feminine beauty or not. Really couldn't give a damn.

EDIT: I'm reminded of the same sort of people saying things like 'oh the romance options for [x] gender are way worse than the other gender. Ugh, so annoying'.

Really the most petty of complaints. It shows you about the state of gaming that 'the looks of a woman' is being chalked up as some major flaw in this game.

And and and and and and 'dicking around in photoshop' =/= building a movable, customisable face in a 3D game engine.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Danklord

They literally and intentionally made female characters look unattractive.

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Both literally AND intentionally? So not figuratively and intentionally. Interesting.

1) What does it matter if they did?

2) They probably didn't.

3) If you're playing for the sexy women, may I suggest Senran Kagura? Their clothes come off when they lose in combat.

To some extent I actually agree that I dislike Fem Ryder's appearance.

However, my issue with it has nothing to do with beauty or anything like that at all. My problem is that the in-game model doesn't actually match the real model.

Compare her to Mass Effect 1. Commander Shepard looks identical to the real-life model he was based on (Mark Vanderloo). However, Jayde Rossi (the real-life model that Fem Ryder was based on) looks nothing like her in-game model. I don't particularly mind if a game decides to create an original character design, but if you're going to use a model...I think you should do a good job replicating what they look like. I thought Commander Shepard was an accurate and faithful recreation of the real person in video game form, which made me see Shepard as more of a real person.

However, the game has far worse issues than just Fem Ryder's appearance.

Male Ryder is pasty af and sometimes goofy looking. But he's cute anyways.

https://twitter.com/ugobananas/statu...89356888858625

Can we organise a gofundme for this fella?

bahaha that's great

I can't stop reading about this. And yet again I am reminded of the sentiments in this.



How fortunate that I am soon going to get my hands on a game that gives me an opportunity to do just that. :)

Are you just seeing it on Twitter? I didn't see anything it in the r/masseffect subreddit so I'm assuming it's elsewhere

Yeah that's probably not intentional. They just suck at developing. Why wouldn't a developer want to ensure their female lead is beautiful?

Are you not able to customize Ryder's looks? In Dragon Age Inquisition you had a lot of options and my character was a cute little elf mage.

You are. You get to pick out of a bunch of preset heads and then tweak the preset.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Del Murder

Yeah that's probably not intentional. They just suck at developing. Why wouldn't a developer want to ensure their female lead is beautiful?

Are you not able to customize Ryder's looks? In Dragon Age Inquisition you had a lot of options and my character was a cute little elf mage.

---

You're able to make a custom Ryder. However I think the custom options look terrible for the most part. Especially the hair.

Was male Ryder fashioned after a model?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Vyk

Was male Ryder fashioned after a model?

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Yes, a fashion model by the name of Steven Brewis, who is from my hometown none the less.

I have to agree that the default female Ryder is ugly as hell. I remember when I first saw her in a trailer I couldn't believe how hideous she was. Thank God you can change her appearance.

I'm happy enough with my own Ryder (also proof that yes, you can make "good looking" characters).

Attachment 71860

For some reason my Screenshot wasn't working but I did snap a picture with my phone to send to my sister lol

My Fem Ryder is a babe too

Attachment 71861

imagine being so deluded that you honestly believe bioware are deliberately making bad games instead of being world-shatteringly incompetent

like whenever comes out with that i instantly know they haven't actually played bioware games before because the last one that wasn't a hot mess was made on the smurfing infinity engine

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Aulayna

I'm happy enough with my own Ryder (also proof that yes, you can make "good looking" characters).

Attachment 71860

---

Good job. She's a cutie. :love:

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Mister Adequate

imagine being so deluded that you honestly believe bioware are deliberately making bad games instead of being world-shatteringly incompetent

like whenever comes out with that i instantly know they haven't actually played bioware games before because the last one that wasn't a hot mess was made on the smurfing infinity engine

---

Yeah, that's why I just raise an eyebrow at all the bitching I see about ugly character models and wonky animation followed by "It's over Mass Effect is RUINED!" I'm like "Uh...so you never played the original trilogy then?"

Bioware has made great games, don't get me wrong. I absolutely love both Mass Effect and Dragon Age, but the character models and animations certainly aren't what made those games great. They've almost always been the weakest point honestly. :p

Don't forget the character models for Baldur's Gate were ugly little mutants that vaguely looked humanoid. Glad we didn't worry about it back then

Quote:

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Originally Posted by DMKA

Yeah, that's why I just raise an eyebrow at all the bitching I see about ugly character models and wonky animation followed by "It's over Mass Effect is RUINED!" I'm like "Uh...so you never played the original trilogy then?"

Bioware has made great games, don't get me wrong. I absolutely love both Mass Effect and Dragon Age, but the character models and animations certainly aren't what made those games great. They've almost always been the weakest point honestly. :p

---

Right, but the character models and animations also aren't what made the game bad either. Which is the case for Andromeda.

The animations made the characters, and ultimately the story, much more believable in the original Mass Effect trilogy. In the case of Andromeda it appears that the bad animations, bad writing and bad voice acting are all flaws.

All of those issues hurt a game's ability to tell a convincing story. And dialogue/story is the main reason people loved the original Mass Effect trilogy.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Vyk

Don't forget the character models for Baldur's Gate were ugly little mutants that vaguely looked humanoid. Glad we didn't worry about it back then

---

talk trout about my sister-wife imoen again, and you'll reap the goddamn whirlwind

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Freya

For some reason my Screenshot wasn't working but I did snap a picture with my phone to send to my sister lol

My Fem Ryder is a babe too

Attachment 71861

---

URRGHH FREYA WTF dude she looks like someone poured Gatorade over a bowl of lumpy porridge

You made her this rancid on purpose didn't you?

It isn't as if BioWare hasn't always been on point with their characters. Kaiden in ME: 1 was nice but admittedly plain and unassuming throughout the entire story. He only really became good in ME: 3. Ashley had that whole 'space racism' thing going on, though they did a better job with character development.

She's beautiful Paul! I love her blue hair. Step off!

Also.scruff, I'm 5 hrs in now and absolutely enthralled with the story so far.

You can say the writing and story is subpar but one, you haven't played it at all yet, two, others are actually enjoying the story, three, you haven't played it!

Like I'm for complaining about the actual faults, the animations are not so great.

To be fair, nearly every game characters are stiff moving in. Bioware did it, XV did it. Why can't anyone make them look not stiff? It bothers me in every game now.

But you haven't played it yet scruff, you haven't formed any opinionew on it outside of what others say. I promise it isn't as bad as those others are saying.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Freya

To be fair, nearly every game characters are stiff moving in. Bioware did it, XV did it. Why can't anyone make them look not stiff? It bothers me in every game now.

---

I'm convinced that the only triple A companies who can competently animate are Nintendo, Naughty Dog, Blizzard, and Valve. Everyone else is pretty trout at it.

Also, get bent Paul. :p

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Vivi22

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Freya

To be fair, nearly every game characters are stiff moving in. Bioware did it, XV did it. Why can't anyone make them look not stiff? It bothers me in every game now.

---

I'm convinced that the only triple A companies who can competently animate are Nintendo, Naughty Dog, Blizzard, and Valve. Everyone else is pretty trout at it.

Also, get bent Paul. :p

---

You seem to be under the weird misconception that Valve make video games

Amusing that you can call Zelda out for being repetitive and have issue with durability and stamina and doing the same shrine dungeon 12 times and people are like "yeah it may look bring and annoying at times but you have to play it to understand" and then turn around and criticize this game after not touching it and swearing it off

Edit - I am sad about all the things wrong, but my girlfriend is still completely immersed

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Fox

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Vivi22

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Freya

To be fair, nearly every game characters are stiff moving in. Bioware did it, XV did it. Why can't anyone make them look not stiff? It bothers me in every game now.

---

I'm convinced that the only triple A companies who can competently animate are Nintendo, Naughty Dog, Blizzard, and Valve. Everyone else is pretty trout at it.

Also, get bent Paul. :p

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You seem to be under the weird misconception that Valve make video games

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They used to. And when they did they made about one a year and they were awesome.

Then they developed a baffling fear of the number three. That or a money printing factory, one or the other.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Vyk

Amusing that you can call Zelda out for being repetitive and have issue with durability and stamina and doing the same shrine dungeon 12 times and people are like "yeah it may look bring and annoying at times but you have to play it to understand" and then turn around and criticize this game after not touching it and swearing it off

Edit - I am sad about all the things wrong, but my girlfriend is still completely immersed

---

I haven't sworn off it, though I have said "eh, not really interested yet". It's on my list, but my budget is only so big, and there are other games ahead of it.

At risk of sidetracking, I will say that Breath of the Wild is not really that repetitive. Except for the combat shrines, I don't think it's fair to list ANY of them as "the same dungeon multiple times", as the diversity in the puzzles and mechanics of them is actually quite surprising. Plenty have unique quirks or demand thinking of new and unique uses for your abilities. The fights are usually staged in ways that give you a lot of interesting and unique ways to take them down, and there is a decent selection of enemies as well (though, sadly, some old staples are missing). There are probably a dozen or more different styles of puzzles to find Koroks, and most of them are unique as well (or involve reaching a particular part of unique terrain). The diversity of the content is really quite surprising to me, especially compared to every other open-world game I've played.

I just never really got hooked in to Andromeda. I didn't even know about most of the development troubles the game experienced until the past couple of days. The most I'd seen of it was a couple screenshots, which, honestly, didn't make the game look that appealing. I think they might have pushed graphical fidelity too far without balancing out their modeling skills, as a couple of the characters just look a bit "off". None of them particularly appeal to me, and, as I've not seen any trailers or anything but screenshots, there's not a lot else to go on. I wouldn't even say that the characters are "ugly" because, frankly, they always have been. I mean, name me one character in Mass Effect that's visually appealing. The closest is probably Garrus, but even he's ruined by the texture issue that plagued the PC port (which is the only version I played) and made the close ups of him all use the lowest-rez textures (there's a mod to fix this, but I'm lazy). They got better as the series went on, but this does strike me as a typical "we've pushed too far towards photo-realism without having the design chops to pull it off".

There's not been anything big about the story that's hooked me either. From what I can tell, we take a trip to the Andromeda galaxy. And...explore? Anything else? I don't know. I haven't seen anything else mentioned. But, abandoning the characters and worlds and history of the series for something completely new and unrelated didn't particularly interest me. I wanted more Mass Effect because I wanted more of the series, not something else that just shares the name. Though, admittedly, they so thoroughly destroyed the series at the end of ME3 that I'm not sure they could anything else with it.

I don't know. I'm interested. I want to play it. In a casual, thrown off "yeah, it'd be fun" kind of way. But I'm not interested enough to want to buy it. Maybe if it goes on sale sometime when I don't have other games I'm playing. It's weird to think about, because I got kind of freakishly obsessed with the original trilogy.

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Originally Posted by Skyblade

I mean, name me one character in Mass Effect that's visually appealing.

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Blasto.

Now that I'm at a computer again.

WHAT IS WRONG WITH MY BLUE HAIR. I think it's amazing. I want to now dye my hair blue.



Honestly the crazy colors look okay and the browns/blacks look okay but the red and blondes do not look good.

It looks like cotton candy

Because the style demands to speak to the manager while the colour will ~*rawr*~ ^_^ at you if you follow them on DeviantArt.

Why you gotta bring up past kaycee like that

here's another angle of my fem ryder I apparently took last night with my phone.

https://scontent.ftul1-1.fna.fbcdn.n...4e&oe=58D48495

It frustrates me that my screenshot isn't working. I think I can use the Nvidia gameready thing to overlay screenshot it. I'll have to fiddle.

The auto detect though had me at 900p resolution yesterday morning and i was all WAAAH. Had the BF fiddle with it and now i'm running it on ultra. So woo!

I'm sorry. Your mom-of-three, everybody-in-the-minivan-we're-going-to-Target days were truly your darkest.

For some reason though, the game wouldn't make Dad Ryder actually match my Ryders and I got black dad. I messed up my first creation and he was black in that one. Then in this one, he was a black dad too. Guess my ryders are biracial. It's whatever, just found it funny. He had the correct eye color though!

Maybe skin tone is determined by what preset you decide to edit? I know Dragon Age II had a similar thing with your siblings.

I thought that too but I picked a different preset the second time and got black dad again.

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Originally Posted by Freya

Also.scruff, I'm 5 hrs in now and absolutely enthralled with the story so far.

You can say the writing and story is subpar but one, you haven't played it at all yet, two, others are actually enjoying the story, three, you haven't played it!

Like I'm for complaining about the actual faults, the animations are not so great.

To be fair, nearly every game characters are stiff moving in. Bioware did it, XV did it. Why can't anyone make them look not stiff? It bothers me in every game now.

But you haven't played it yet scruff, you haven't formed any opinionew on it outside of what others say. I promise it isn't as bad as those others are saying.

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I don't really want to spend $90 CAD on a game that hasn't interested me in any of the 2+ hours of footage I've seen so far.

Don't get me wrong, I love Mass Effect. I still plan on replaying the original trilogy this year. And I truly wanted Andromeda to be a success. But I honestly think I've seen more than enough to form an opinion about this game.

At the very least, I may give this a try when it goes down in price to like $30 or $40. Unfortunately I'm not sold on the game right now, especially when there's so much else to play.

Also, you should look at some Naughty Dog games. They are basically the benchmark for good animations, especially facial animations.

it drives me bonkers on the animation thing. SE does it a lot too. They'll have good textures and everything and then the characters move so awkwardly. Takes my immersion out of the experience.

I've played the first uncharted? I have the trilogy so i'm just now working through them on PS4

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Originally Posted by Aulayna

I'm happy enough with my own Ryder (also proof that yes, you can make "good looking" characters).

Attachment 71860

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Great job with your character Aul. :up: Beautiful yet clearly ready to kick your ass if needed.

As well as Emily Blunt, Aulayna's Ryder looks a little bit like Pumpkin too!

Okay got Eos done! Or well got it started?

thoughts on Eos mission

That was actually super fun. The remnant stuff was a bunch of fun, I'm super curious who the smurf the remnant are though. A little bit of jump puzzleish and that crazy mad dash from the death cloud. Not sure how I feel about peebee. Also I'm Hella bad at driving the nomad. I put my bling bling gold skin on it though. So I'm rolling up like a badass.

Attachment 71862

Here is my Ryder!

Not really what I'd planned on, but I felt attached to this preset after I'd played around and I love her now!

Before I figured out you had to pick a preset head, I was also stuck on the asian one. The one I created was really great too. I was impressed! The creation itself is a bit flawed but the asian ethnicity sets are really well done. Your ryder is goregous

She looks so orangey though :( and not in a good way - it really sticks out sometimes. Don't know how much of a fan I am of the new style...

so far I love Liam he might be my romance pick... also that krogan voice please tell me I'm not the only one who was SHOOK.

I am also pretty fond of Liam! :kaoclove: There's that alien dude though I haven't met. So I'm not going full Liam until I meat Jaal.

Which krogan are you talking about? The Lady Krogan at the Nexus?

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Originally Posted by Skyblade

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Originally Posted by Vyk

Amusing that you can call Zelda out for being repetitive and have issue with durability and stamina and doing the same shrine dungeon 12 times and people are like "yeah it may look bring and annoying at times but you have to play it to understand" and then turn around and criticize this game after not touching it and swearing it off

Edit - I am sad about all the things wrong, but my girlfriend is still completely immersed

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I haven't sworn off it, though I have said "eh, not really interested yet". It's on my list, but my budget is only so big, and there are other games ahead of it.

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Totally agree, too many things to spend money on to take a gamble on something you're not sold on. My thing is, Zelda fans are trying to sell Zelda on people who were not sold on the dubious 10/10 best game ever made scores

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At risk of sidetracking, I will say that Breath of the Wild is not really that repetitive. Except for the combat shrines, I don't think it's fair to list ANY of them as "the same dungeon multiple times", as the diversity in the puzzles and mechanics of them is actually quite surprising. Plenty have unique quirks or demand thinking of new and unique uses for your abilities. The fights are usually staged in ways that give you a lot of interesting and unique ways to take them down, and there is a decent selection of enemies as well (though, sadly, some old staples are missing). There are probably a dozen or more different styles of puzzles to find Koroks, and most of them are unique as well (or involve reaching a particular part of unique terrain). The diversity of the content is really quite surprising to me, especially compared to every other open-world game I've played.

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This part is actually what I was really talking about. Zelda may look repetitive and samey to the un-sold people, but it's a totally different story when it's in your hands. And that seems to be the same thing going on with Mass Effect, and it's definitely what went on regarding detractors to Horizon Zero Dawn. They had quirks, but they tended to not matter to the people playing them and enjoying them.

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I just never really got hooked in to Andromeda. I didn't even know about most of the development troubles the game experienced until the past couple of days. The most I'd seen of it was a couple screenshots, which, honestly, didn't make the game look that appealing. I think they might have pushed graphical fidelity too far without balancing out their modeling skills, as a couple of the characters just look a bit "off". None of them particularly appeal to me, and, as I've not seen any trailers or anything but screenshots, there's not a lot else to go on. I wouldn't even say that the characters are "ugly" because, frankly, they always have been. I mean, name me one character in Mass Effect that's visually appealing. The closest is probably Garrus, but even he's ruined by the texture issue that plagued the PC port (which is the only version I played) and made the close ups of him all use the lowest-rez textures (there's a mod to fix this, but I'm lazy). They got better as the series went on, but this does strike me as a typical "we've pushed too far towards photo-realism without having the design chops to pull it off".

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Yeah, I wouldn't want to force a game down anyone's throat who's not interested. I was merely asking that people give it the same reasonable doubt Zelda fans are asking for. Breath of the Wild has far from sold me. And the legions of 10/10 scores actually make me a lot more skeptical. No matter how much you enjoy a game, to call it the best game ever made, or try to explain how perfect it is when there are noticeable flaws that could be addressed, which don't even detract from the enjoyment of the game; they just exist. It just seems like Zelda was reviewed by Zelda fans, and not even objective Zelda fans. Meanwhile Mass Effect was reviewed by not-fans. IGN, GameSpot, and Game Informer are all notorious for having their reviews bought, and having Nintendo fans inbiasly review Nintendo products, and then having Call of Duty dude-bros review other product, and not even be fans. Reviewed by people who don't get certain games.

One recent example I can think of would be IGN's video review of Resident Evil 7, was obviously not done by someone who's played most of the series. They complain about repetitive bad-guys as if the previous games didn't have that. Or the obtuse puzzles, as if the previous games did not have that. Imagine the backlash if someone reviewed a Zelda game as if it were the first Zelda game they ever played and pointed out all the ways it could have been like other games

I can think of two actual journalists who actually critiqued Zelda without just blindly praising it. And their gaming tastes are more in line with mine than most of the fake reviewers out there working at Polygon, IGN, and the rest. And they didn't hate the game. They enjoyed it. But it wasn't perfect. No game should ever be considered perfect. And even when reviewed by fans, they should at least try to be objective. It seemed like there was way too little objectivity regarding Zelda, and way too much critical objectivity regarding Mass Effect

And back on topic, the more I watch my girlfriend play Mass Effect, the more I know I'll enjoy it. Which is reassuring. Also it has Sudoku puzzles. Which is awesome. I just got done helping her solve one

But thank you Skyblade. I know you're a super-fan, but I also know you're reasonable and objective and can understand people's skepticism even though you know there's no reason to be skeptical. We're just human

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Originally Posted by Vyk

Also it has Sudoku puzzles.

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2.5 million light years and there's ​STILL NO ESCAPE

Who knew that my obsession with late night sudoku puzzles would save a galaxy.

Oh God I hate Sudoku.

NOOOOOOOO. :eek:

ahahaha Renly and Margaery are on the crew, I like it.

She rejected me ughhh..

I'm taking the Captain Kirk approach, hit on everything. Several rejections later, a few have shown interest.

Why can't I flirt with the salarians or krogan though? Lame

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Originally Posted by Formalhaut

Oh God I hate Sudoku.

NOOOOOOOO. :eek:

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It's barely Sudoku :) it's only 1-5. Or at least the one I did was. But then again it only gave like four symbols so it was still pleasantly challenging

Sunk a lot more time into this tonight.

Last night I was feeling it was a 6/10... I've moved more towards 8/10 as the story has progressed. This game is great, a few minor glitches here and there but seeing familiar species etc brings so much joy to me.

Gave multiplayer a whirl. Everyone died. Ah, memories. :) I got a Krogan in my first pack though! I also love that everyone is there in like really boring grey armour and my dude is just standing on the end in bright neon purple looking very pleased with himself.

Also got some lovely animation and general world interaction glitches too. Particularly loved a Turian NPC teleporting in and out of a wall on the Nexus.

I've had a few conversation glitches. Where you start talking to them but it focuses on a place they aren't in? So then you're talking to a wall or something. Did it to me with Peebee but then it had a close up of her face and her fiddling with something in her place and then suddenly when it went back to the wall, she was in frame. Things like that.

My biggest what an idiot moment so far was forgetting how easily some things are solved by jumping. It happened on Eos, at the building where you have to turn off the generator to take the shields down. I tried shutting down all three shield generators around the place but that didn't work. I tried coming to the building from the other side, using muh truck to drive up the cliff, and actually found a place that would have worked if the game didn't automatically black out and set you back. Then I even ran, jumped over the gap into the tiny window you see, and went inside. You couldn't make it far in there because of the shield dome in the center. It took a while before I figured out I could just jump on the roof of the building and cross to the other side.

My Ryder

To be fair, that's something I would totally do. New game mechanics are ripe for moments of flailing.

Or ryders have the same scar, tuh!

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Originally Posted by theundeadhero

My Ryder

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Looking good, I like the eyes.

I think I must be the only EoFFer playing as male Ryder. I didn't even make a custom one, I'm just using the default one as he looked a lot better than any of the freakshows I could make.

Bubba and TSoL are also playing default male!

My twin ryder is custom too, he has a smurfboi haircut and isn't crazy colors like my fem but he doesn't look bad? A lot of hte presets before you fiddle on males were bad though. It was easier on Female

I don't think I could ever use a default face. I don't know, I just love Character Creation too much, even if I spend half an hour getting just the right bone structure.

I like to imagine the scar came from the time she was mauled by a tiger as a teenager.

Tried multiplayer and that's hella fun!

You get extra bonus packs for owning ME3 and DA:I

Just encountered a harmless and silly little glitch (no spoilers, I promise)

https://twitter.com/unknowinglycrab/...61156438147075

Oh Bioware. :flirt:

EDIT: ahahahah right after I uploaded this I then talked to Vetra next to him, the screen went black and I was talking to nobody. And then it teleported me halfway across the ship. Wowzers.

Sounds like normal space behaviour

Yup, default male for me. My play time is pretty limited and I wasn't prepared to spend an hour of it creating some freak show candidate. He's no Shepard, but default Ryder is pleasant enough on the eye.

Only a couple of hours in but enjoying it so far. (SPOILER)Daddy pathfinder is dead and I also failed in finding Greer and the poor bastard had been horribly mutilated on some operating table. Whoops, sorry pal.

So i was on Veold and

(SPOILER) I found a remnant Architect and holy crap was that a long and intense fight with a giant robot in the freezing weather. That was intense, i was just doing a damn side quest

I dont' have time for a 20 minute video, you're insane.

I am pretty far into Andromeda and will admit that the game needs some patching on the glitches and the whole save thing. Just annoying things that aren't game breaking but annoying.

The writing isn't not bad. If someone is telling you the writing is bad then they probably haven't spend enough time on the internet to come across truly bad writing. The writing is decent, sometimes having really strong moments but usually just average writing. As a series that is big on storytelling and dialogue people might say it is bad but it is really not that horrible. Moreover, comparing the emotional investment you have in characters that you have known over the arc of a trilogy to the cast of single game, kinda foolish.

Andromeda is much more organic. Your squadmates develop relationships and have conversations outside of you. The worlds are huge and plenty to explore. They feel much more lived in and organic. Things are not so centered on the player as much. This allows for the feeling of exploration to be there. I have spent as much time pushing the "main plot" as doing side quests and other things. And while there are still plenty of fetch quests that riddles the genre (usually labelled as tasks) the bigger planetary and personal missions are pretty well done and give you a good sense of satisfaction.

Oh, and the combat is amazing. I am a biotic god that all cower before me. Though I feel the leveling a bit too fast paced. I am already at 32 and according to the game I am not even half way done. Usually by this level in ME games I am at the end. So leveling pacing is weird like it was in FFXV.

Oh, and I am disappointed for the gay romance options. I don't have a squadmate as a choice. I get one crew member and someone on another planet who is missable. Both humans. No alien sex for me. I am disappointed mostly because it was their Montreal studio that made this game. Montreal is one of the most queer-friendly cities in the country but apparently their other studios that are in the heart of conservative areas can do better for LGBT romance. Go figure.

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Originally Posted by Freya

I dont' have time for a 20 minute video, you're insane.

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It's basically a showcase of all the bugs, glitches, wonky animations, dialogue and other things wrong with the game.

Some of the bugs and glitches are hilarious.

Girlfriend just finished the game a few hours ago. And only ran across a few bugs. Certainly they detracted a little, most were amusing to her however, and none of them were game-breaking

Also she enjoyed it enough to immediately start another game. It should also probably be noted that she got distracted from Horizon: Zero Dawn to play this game. It's certainly not a disaster of technology, and is capable of being highly enjoyable. And like previously mentioned, the writing isn't nearly as bad as people make it out to be. Especially once you get past the beginning

The bits and pieces I've seen through her have me anticipating my own playthrough once I'm done with Horizon, Gravity Rush, and Nier

I've clocked around 20 hours of Andromeda, I'm at about 21% completion.

Aye there are bugs - no trout, but if you let that put you off what is an amazing game then well, your loss honestly.

I love that it's different to the original trilogy, I love the interactions, I love listening to my squadmates chat when I'm driving the NOMAD. There's LOTS to love in this game, there's some things that aren't great, but mostly this has been a really enjoyable gaming experience for me and for the most part the game looks STUNNING.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Freya

So i was on Veold and

(SPOILER) I found a remnant Architect and holy crap was that a long and intense fight with a giant robot in the freezing weather. That was intense, i was just doing a damn side quest

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Oh man yeah I just randomly came across that last night too, that was some proper (SPOILER)Shadow of the Colossus trout right there. It was really tricky balancing my temperature with being in cover/being in good positions to open fire on the bastard whenever it was weak. A really good and well thought out boss battle imho.

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Originally Posted by Scruffington

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Originally Posted by DMKA

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Originally Posted by Scruffington

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Mass Effect: Andromeda might’ve worked a decade ago on the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3

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So what's the argument here? That new games that aren't different enough are bad?

Honestly that quote makes me want to buy the game a lot more. :p

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Uh..I thought the point was pretty straightforward and obvious.

It's an outdated game that doesn't hold up to today's standards. In a world where Breath of the Wild, Nier: Automata and Horizon: Zero Dawn exist, Andromeda just seems old and nowhere near the level of a good game released in 2017.

Especially not in regards to open-world aspects.

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To be honest, "open world" has just become this decade's "third person cover shooter". It's a bullet point that must be found on an triple-a game's box or store page just to make sure they're "with the times". Being open world is no goal in itself. It should only be done if the game actually benefits from it. Far from all do.

(SPOILER)I've only stumbled across one of the Remnant Architects on Eos so far, but yeah, intense fight!

That's sad about the gay male options. In ME: 3, the only choices were both human as well (not that I'm complaining about Kaiden and Cortez), though at least one of them was a squadmate; assuming you saved him, of course.

Annoying that neither of the options are squadmates, either. I'm not sure why that should bother me, but a squadmate romance elevates it to a higher level of status, at least to me. Hopefully the non-squadmate romances are all fully fleshed out.

FWIW on my recent ME3 playthrough I had a relationship with non-squadmate Traynor and it was actually a really sweet and fun relationship. I actually liked the non-squadmate dynamic of it too, keeping business and pleasure separate (kinda). Give it a whirl sometime!

I don't know who I am going to bang in this one. I hit on everything and everyone going. Cora recently made a "Peebee? Really? Don't ruin something special" comment to me so I guess I'm making progress on two fronts there. :shobon:

Peebee never stops flirting. And my default reaction is to flirt back. I'm like damn girl.

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Originally Posted by Aulayna

(SPOILER)I've only stumbled across one of the Remnant Architects on Eos so far, but yeah, intense fight!

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(SPOILER)There's one on Eos too? Oh man.


So I also got my outpost before even doing the Vault on Veold. So I still have the vault. I started it but ugh that jumping around but losing lifesupport thing suckkkks

I didn't know there was one on Voeld either, so xD

I'm running a real risk of burning myself out on this like I did with Dragon Age Inquisition. I had to force myself to leave Eos behind despite having unfinished tasks there, I combed most of Havarl clean and now I'm running around doing side stuff on Voeld.

I ended up doing similar on DAI which I clocked hours in but never ended up finishing.

Yeah that happens to me too. I think what's actually helping me is I haven't been able to sit and marathon things out. At most i've been able to spend playing at one time is MAYBE 3 hrs at one time. It's preventing the burnout from creeping in I think.

I really struggled to get into DA:I when I was trying to clear all my sidequests early on. As soon as I sacked off the Hinterlands and just focused purely on story and character quests I had a lot of fun with it. I haven't quite reached that level of fatigue with Andromeda though.

I really appreciated that not every planet is driving around from place to place in the nomad. I like the on foot exploration better.

big Voeld spoilerDid you let the Ancient AI live or did you kill it? (SPOILER)If you didn't kill it, did you give it to SAM or the Angara?

What weapons/skills are people using?