Mass Effect: Andromeda - EA/Origin Access trial coming March 16th - 10 hour trial

X1 Early Access player here...

Played the initial Habitat 7 prologue.

So far, so good. Performance wise, no real major issues. Couple of small glitches/anomalies, but in terms of fps, pop in etc, all been fine.

Animations haven't been any worse than the microscope I've seen them placed under prior to release. In motion though, mid-game, I've found them better than I was expecting. Though, to give some context, I've literally been playing Mass Effect 1/2/3 back to back to back in the last few weeks, up until last night...so everything naturally feels like an improvement.

There's not been an aspect of the experience so far that I'd say was a downgrade or a step backwards from the Shepard trilogy...outside of the narrative. I haven't played enough of it possibly compare it the first three games, but what I will say is....I'm intrigued by the mystery of the plot so far, and Habitat 7 felt very reminiscent of Eden Prime in terms of how it made me feel. There's a sense of wonder to it, not really knowing what's going on, a protagonist being thrust into the unknown.

So far, I personally feel the whole "new galaxy, new challenge" feel and atmosphere of the game has been well handled, but I'm obviously extremely early on. Scott's naivety, Liam's enthusiasm, the air of superiority Ryder Senior exudes...all ties nicely to the "fresh start" the game can offer the franchise. We will see where I'm at in another 20 hours though.

So far, so good, and I'm actually enjoying Scott's voice actor and Liam's character more than I thought I would. The characters and narrative are the biggest deal breaker in this game for me, because through ME1/2/3 I was always able to overlook the flaws of the games for what was one of my favourite narratives to follow and general experiences last gen. In that respect, all the complaints of character models and animations have kinda been met by a shrug by myself, so, so far I've have no problem with what I've experience in the trial so far.

Honestly though, I'm very much enjoying this a Mass Effect fan first and foremost. For a more critical, maybe more honest interpretation, I'd probably look elsewhere.
 
Maybe I'm just stupid, but when I hit "m" on the keyboard to pull up the map and find out where the hell I am, it seems I have to hit ESC to go back to gameplay. That is, I can't just hit "m" again to toggle the map. If this is the way it is, it is unbelievably unintuitive to make you hit another key on the other end of the keyboard just to get rid of an important screen like the map.
 
Kudos to the team for actually making the download play feature work.

When the game was ready to start, it was actually ready to start.

Enjoying it so far, feels a bit like ME1 with the camera pulled back. Too early to judge anything else really.
 
Maybe I'm just stupid, but when I hit "m" on the keyboard to pull up the map and find out where the hell I am, it seems I have to hit ESC to go back to gameplay. That is, I can't just hit "m" again to toggle the map. If this is the way it is, it is unbelievably unintuitive to make you hit another key on the other end of the keyboard just to get rid of an important screen like the map.

This is far more annoying than I thought it would be at first. Needs to be fixed.

Combat is pretty fun, dialogue is bad, faces are.. yeah.

It also looks super pretty maxed out, and the 21:9 support is good. Shame all dialogue and cutscenes are 16:9 though.
 
So im stuck at the quest a new beginning in the part where you have to scan the glyphs? What on earth are you supposed to do? Got the one on top of the pillar and nothing happens. Then I went to the one in the south and got another glyph but still nothing. This game is really frustrating. Why on earth cant it just tell you what to do? Also earlier when you had the defend the village when you get the relays (or something) working my game bugged so that the dude would not open the door even though no hostiles were around. Is the game bugged again or what am i supposed to do?
 
Sändersson;232211557 said:
So im stuck at the quest a new beginning in the part where you have to scan the glyphs? What on earth are you supposed to do? Got the one on top of the pillar and nothing happens. Then I went to the one in the south and got another glyph but still nothing. This game is really frustrating. Why on earth cant it just tell you what to do? Also earlier when you had the defend the village when you get the relays (or something) working my game bugged so that the dude would not open the door even though no hostiles were around. Is the game bugged again or what am i supposed to do?

When you're standing on one of the pillars, aim your scanner at the ground. After that go back to the console and complete the riddle
 
Really? That's my only real compliment is the game actually runs quite well on my PC.

I mean, average framerate isn't bad. But I'd rather have a locked 36 than fluctuating between 40-72. Can't seem to get a locked 60 without either running below 1080p or turning things way down.

I get like 3 fps difference between SSAO and Full HBAO... And no difference between shadows on Ultra or High.
 
This is far more annoying than I thought it would be at first. Needs to be fixed.

Combat is pretty fun, dialogue is bad, faces are.. yeah.

It also looks super pretty maxed out, and the 21:9 support is good. Shame all dialogue and cutscenes are 16:9 though.

It looks inconsistent on high, some things look great but others look meh. The hair in particular looks really poor imo. But I do have a 1070 coming next week so maybe it's better on ultra.


I mean, average framerate isn't bad. But I'd rather have a locked 36 than fluctuating between 40-72. Can't seem to get a locked 60 without either running below 1080p or turning things way down.

I get like 3 fps difference between SSAO and Full HBAO... And no difference between shadows on Ultra or High.
I get what feels like consistent 60fps and I just ran the preset on high?? Idk
 
I finally got it to run and made it to the stopping point without it crashing again... but it kinda sucks having to worry every time there's a cutscene if my computer is just going to randomly shut down.

I'm not sure I want to get the full version, unless they're going to address that issue.
 
When you're standing on one of the pillars, aim your scanner at the ground. After that go back to the console and complete the riddle

So im guessing the game is bugged... again. Great, I got the glyph which the quest tells you to get and when I go back to the console the main character just keeps repeating the same crap again.
 
You guys weren't kidding about the character creator. There seems to be a lot missing but what is especially bad is how all of the presets just looked fucked up as hell. I could be wrong but this was much better in DAI. Jesus.

The presets are absolutely awful. The choices they give you to make your own are very, very slim. No idea why they skimped on an essential part of the game for so many players.

They used an actual model likeness for the default Ryder, why couldn't they do the same for the presets and allow us to tweak from there.

Take a look at the Ryder family creation thread. There are some good ones there.

There's also this.
I found the best Sara

1489704740-oo.png
 
Sändersson;232211879 said:
So im guessing the game is bugged... again. Great, I got the glyph which the quest tells you to get and when I go back to the console the main character just keeps repeating the same crap again.

You need to scan two of them though.
 
The presets are absolutely awful. The choices they give you to make your own are very, very slim. No idea why they skimped on an essential part of the game for so many players.

They used an actual model likeness for the default Ryder, why couldn't they do the same for the presets and allow us to tweak from there.

Yup and weren't they always things like different types of eyes? Or that you could have them close their eyes a bit, rotate eyebrows and so on? None of that. Shit really is missing here.

Take a look at the Ryder family creation thread. There are some good ones there.

There's also this.

Not too bad yeah, i'd like the settings for this one and another one in that thread. :)
 
I think I'm going to wait for drivers and possible 21:9 fix before I burn the rest of my trial.

I'm getting mostly above 60 on first planet (Ultra Setting @3440x1440 w/1080OC 6700kOC) but it does not seem smooth even with gsync.
 
Sändersson;232212165 said:
On the sight where the game points me for that spesific quest there is only one.

Jesus christ this is dumb. I just watched a walktrough and I dont get what im doing wrong.

Ah then you're still at the first one, i guess? I don't know, had no trouble with that one. Hope you figure it out soon!
 
This is the first time for Mass Effect to have such huge open areas, whereas the trilogy was more linear and i just hope they made the right choice here. I don't want to be playing in huge levels where you can basically go anywhere but there's no real reason for it. Where you will be running or driving around, collecting all kinds of shit, have a few random enemies spawning, scanning etc. But so far it definitely seems Andromeda is that kind of game. And in that case it's probably going to be a hate it or love it kind of experience...personally i've had enough of that kind of shit in gaming.
 
The game isn't terrible, but people are tired of Bioware's terrible animations and were expecting a much better character creator after DA:I. Mass Effect is a huge IP that is backed by EA and yet the game feels cheap in many areas. The production values are nowhere near the level of other big budget games, that's just the reality still. Early days but it reminds me of Fallout 4 - dreadful animations and mediocre to terrible writing.

This is the first Mass Effect on current gen and running on the same engine as BF1 - people were clearly expecting something great. Hopefully the full game somehow ends up being much better.

I think this hits the nail on the head.

When I think of Dragon Age: Inquisition, the game definitely had issues, but it's also a different situation in that it launched in 2014. The generation was just starting, it was BioWare's first current gen game, and the generation defining games like Bloodborne, The Witcher III, and Zelda hadn't come out yet. There wasn't much competition in 2014, so it was easier for me to look past the issues with Inquisition.

Mass Effect: Andromeda is launching to a very different landscape. It's 2017, the generation has hit its stride, and there are many great games coming out. When I compare Andromeda to recent games like Zelda, Horizon, Nioh, Yakuza, Nier, and hopefully Persona 5 soon, it doesn't fare well.

The game somehow feels very rushed and unpolished, even after 5 years, and it has the usual BioWare jank. People say that it's Mass Effect and we should expect this, but after so many games and so many years, and when I look at what their competitors are doing, it just gets harder to give them a pass for these issues. I find it hard to imagine the reception of "Dragon Age: Inquisition 2" in 3 years.

I don't think the game is bad, but it also feels very much like just another Mass Effect game, similar to how Fallout 4 felt like another Fallout game, and this time, I don't think it's enough for me. It feels largely like Mass Effect meets Dragon Age: Inquisition (despite the fact that it does improve on some of the flaws of the latter), and I just don't think it does enough to push the series forward. I say this as someone who loved the original trilogy, and played through them over 10 times. I was sure that I'd love Andromeda regardless of the issues that were being pointed out.

Of course, it is still early days, and my opinion could change. I'll still finish the game, and I'll most likely enjoy it, but I really wanted to love it.
 
Just tried multi-player for the first time near the end of my trial and man it's pretty awesome even though I failed. I never tried ME3 multi but heard good things. This combat is a lot of fun when you start getting the hang of it.
 
Ah then you're still at the first one, i guess? I don't know, had no trouble with that one. Hope you figure it out soon!

Yup, cant trigger the cutscene for some random reason. This is the second time a quest has bugged for me during these 5 hours. Im pretty sure im gonna skip this game just because of this.
 
Playing on 4970K @ 4.5ghz / 16GB / 2xGTX980s:

Performance is pretty inconsistent for me at the moment. Things got a bit better once I realised I had to add BF1 SLI bits with Nvidia Inspector though. 1440p on high settings jumps from 25-55FPS randomly. Graphically intense bits something running at the high end of that while not so intense bits tank and then vice versa...

I'm not really sure why we're still needing to disable motion blur via config files. That option belongs in every graphics setting menu. It would be nice if there was a sharpening option too to go with the TAA but hey.

Quality of the animations is very hit and miss and I kept getting stuck on the floor jittering everywhere. Using my suit thrusters got me free though.

The mouse cursor is constantly on screen for me where the crosshair would be during gameplay and cutscenes. It comes free when it is actually needed but it's incredibly annoying.

I don't think there's a patch incoming until after launch now but I'm gonna leave it a few days and see if I can maximise my enjoyment of this trial somehow over the weekend.

I must say I have come to hate what Bioware has become over the last decade and consider DAO their last real RPG. The Mass Effect series is a fun scifi story shooter and enjoy it for what it is, but they annihilated Dragon Age and SWTOR sinks to new lows with every expansion (despite better storytelling). I remain hopeful for this game though, because I'm digging the exploration story concept I've seen in the opener so far. Too early to say but didn't really want to put it down when I did tonight, which is good!
 
Just tried multi-player for the first time near the end of my trial and man it's pretty awesome even though I failed. I never tried ME3 multi but heard good things. This combat is a lot of fun when you start getting the hang of it.

ME3 multi was awesome, I've only played like 4 rounds of this but so far it feels just as good. Non-sticky cover takes a bit to get used to (both in the campaign and multi, but it's more important in multi so far since we're not allowed to go far in the campaign) but otherwise...yeahthis is definitely some Mass Effect ass multiplayer. Good stuff.
 
Thought I was cross post my thoughts from the 'day one patch' thred. Hope thats OK.
OK so I've put about 4 hours into it and I'm really conflicted. The environments look fantastic and the gameplay is tight and enjoyable. I was having freezing and fps drops (PC) however I think that was down to playing it before the trial was fully downloaded as that seems to be gone. It is fun to play (when things are going well) and that is a big factor to me.... However, some of the animations (be it facial or full body), dialogue and bugs in general are really taking away from the enjoyment of the game.

I've just got to Eos (or whatever the 2nd planet it called, sorry if I got it wrong) and during in game cut scene Ryder is not wearing a helmet, neither is Cora or Liam, as soon as I'm back playing a helmet pops on, but only on Ryder. Cora and Liam are more than happy to walk about planet side in a toxic atmosphere. Hell, so is Ryder except when he wants to have a chat (be he indoors or not). I don't care what anyone says, that's immersive breaking.

Addison on The Nexus is downright terrible, she looks like she has been shot with Homers makeup gun, her dialogue sounds like something that has gone through Google Translate 3 times and delivered by someone who is busting to take a shit. I don't care if people think I'm being hyperbolic, it's rubbish and frankly I'm shocked anything to do with this character got through any sort of QA.

When I got to ‘the bridge' of the Nexus some crazy woman with bright orange hair who looked like she hadn't slept in a month started talking. I couldn't concentrate I was too busy looking at Ronald McDonalds drug addicted sister to care what was happening.

I actually think that maybe someone in Bioware thought because these guys have been marooned for 14+ months they are starting to lose it and need to make the characters/NPCs look dishevelled but dialled it all the way to 11.

I know some people will say I'm being over dramatic but I really don't care. I'm no ‘super fan' but I do love the series, hell I think it was ME1 got me into RPGs. I can remember buying it with some trepidation however a few hours into is I fell in love.

That's not to say that it's all doom and gloom, for example when the crew comes together and you get to the Tempest for the first time it really felt like ME1 all over again, I got genuine chills. Unfortunately, 5 minutes later I was on Eos getting pulled right out of because of the issues outlined previously.

Maybe I was lucky but I really don't remember this much jank in ME1 – 3. I remember at the time seeing gifs / memes etc. and thinking ‘damn, I must be so lucky as I've never seen X, Y or Z bug', ME:A however it's like the series is catching up with lost time and throwing all the ‘Bioware jank' I missed in ME 1 – 3. So far I have run into every ME:A shit gif I've seen. I also don't think 'lol Bioware jank' is a good enough excuse if I'm honest.

Again (and I really don't want to come over as an apologist as I might actually cancel my pre order) the gameplay is great as at time I'm wowed by the graphics, environments and aliens look great. This was not ready for release and this is not ‘lol Bioware jank' it's just bad at times.

Fake edit: WOW sorry for long post...
 
Played for an hour anad a half, and I'm super bored. The opening seequences just did not grab me the way the first ME did. The combat is just more of the same, but with a super jump. Passing until a deep discount.
 
Been worried about this game for ages. I'll try and dig through impressions but my fear is this is going to be Mass Effects Dragon Age 2 moment. Hopefully not.

ME3s ending was totally meh, but the journey from 1 through 3 was amazing. Would question how Bioware could fuck it up so badly, but that's Bioware at times. Insane highs and insane lows.
 
Though, to give some context, I've literally been playing Mass Effect 1/2/3 back to back to back in the last few weeks, up until last night...so everything naturally feels like an improvement.

I've been doing the same and I think the opposite. You should check out that comparison gif with Ashley.
 
I'm confused at the people comparing the sense of wonder to ME1, especially after only the first few hours.

In this game,
you have a magical AI designed by your father that somehow manages to decipher and interface with ancient, wholly alien obelisks in a completely foreign galaxy in a matter of seconds. It also just so happens to be the only AI of its kind (for reasons) and somehow can't link with other people (for reasons). Despite literally being data and communicating with the rest of the crew, this magical AI will only tell you private things because you are the chosen one, The Pathfinder, the only human with AI-assisted special eyes who can simply look at a planet and determine its viability, scientific research be damned. Also this very special AI (that totally isn't made out of data) absolutely cannot be copied and redistributed to implants inside of other people (for reasons). What has Alec Ryder even Pathfound yet? Why does this Pathfinder title have so much weight?

The only mystery so far beyond the space thorns being called dark energy by Hyperion's brightest scientists (despite not resembling anything close to dark energy in any sense of the concept) is when will Ryder's Nathan Drake-levels of luck spell doom for the far less fortunate Kett who clearly aren't as privileged to have a Pathfinder of their own. Is it because a couple of other Arks failed to reach the not-Citadel? Is that the mystery and sense of wonder people are talking about?

It's nothing like having bizarre visions from touching distress beacons in ME1 (a burden Shepard shared with Saren), or having face-to-face conversations with indifferent Lovecraftian entities, or trying to solve the mystery of the Prothean's disappearance, or the uneasiness that you get when you realize every alien race is incredibly dependent on technology they barely understand. Granted, not all of that happened within ME1's opening hours, but it's just not comparable to me.
 
It's a shame... Basically what I see is the game got maddened. Alot of the stuff we see is what you see in madden and I think Ea has finally just rubbed off on mass effect in a big way.

I'm still lookin forward to playing it but damn the stuff I'm seeing is a bummer, but maybe a patch will fix some things.

My question is how can a company not care about the back lash?

But basically this is the Sci fi version of madden from what I'm seeing. Especially those bent knees walking animations, those are the same legs in madden when they're running but when players walk their knees are bent and locked like that.
 
I wish the trial ended with you completing the quest rather than stopping you at what seemingly is the home stretch of the mission.
 
I'm confused at the people comparing the sense of wonder to ME1, especially after only the first few hours.

In this game, you have a magical AI designed by your father that somehow manages to decipher and interface with ancient, wholly alien obelisks in a completely foreign galaxy in a matter of seconds. It also just so happens to be the only AI of its kind (for reasons) and somehow can't link with other people (for reasons). Despite literally being data and communicating with the rest of the crew, this magical AI will only tell you private things because you are the chosen one, The Pathfinder, the only human with AI-assisted special eyes who can simply look at a planet and determine its viability, scientific research be damned. Also this very special AI (that totally isn't made out of data) absolutely cannot be copied and redistributed to implants inside of other people (for reasons). What has Alec Ryder even Pathfound yet? Why does this Pathfinder title have so much weight?

The only mystery so far beyond the space thorns being called dark energy by Hyperion's brightest scientists (despite not resembling anything close to dark energy in any sense of the concept) is when will Ryder's Nathan Drake-levels of luck spell doom for the far less fortunate Kett who clearly aren't as privileged to have a Pathfinder of their own. Is it because a couple of other Arks failed to reach the not-Citadel? Is that the mystery and sense of wonder people are talking about?

It's nothing like having bizarre visions from touching distress beacons in ME1 (a burden Shepard shared with Saren), or having face-to-face conversations with indifferent Lovecraftian entities, or trying to solve the mystery of the Prothean's disappearance, or the uneasiness that you get when you realize every alien race is incredibly dependent on technology they barely understand. Granted, not all of that happened within ME1's opening hours, but it's just not comparable to me.

Your post makes it pretty clear that you didn't pay much attention at all.

Also nice spoilers. I'm not a jerk so:
The AI that is illegally developed and breaks all sorts of laws, gee I wonder why that might be kept a secret? Your father essentially created artificial life in SAM, he didn't tell anyone because the council had already shut down his research into this field. Your AI keeps this secret from other people because, well, it's illegal and people would freak out. Sam was literally DESIGNED to make people into super soldiers and that was shot down, it's not that it can't be replicated, it's not it's not supposed to exist. Ryder isn't 'special' other than your father having SAM bond with you, which nearly (does briefly) kills you at the beginning of the game. The only 'private' things the AI tells to you are the things that are related to your illicit junction with each other, or things about your father.

Summation: your complaint makes no sense, because all of the answers to the questions you're asking are literally a part of the very conversation in which those things happen in the first place.

Also not sure how you can think the major mystery thus far is simply the dark energy shit. Like, the mystery is clearly the remnant, the relationship between the remnant and the dark energy/problems on these godlen worlds, and I thought it was clear that the Kett had been trying to study them like we've studied the protheans, and are upset that Alec Ryder was able to access the facility on Heleus 7 so easily. Like, the dark matter has very little shown in the intro bits as far as the mystery goes.
 
So is this a timed 10 hours as in if I spend 9:30 in character creation I can only play 30 minutes, or is it gated at a supposed 10 hour mark?
 
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