EA/OA Mass Effect Andromeda includes Day1 Patch, no launch day animation improvements

TheYanger

Member
I wish there was a whiter skin option so I can properly make Ronald Mcdonald

If you start with the custom faces your skin tone slider is locked near that. For example, the black female ryder with the neck tat was what I started from, and even if you go all the way left it's still very much a brown woman. I mean, it looked great so I went with it anyway, but that's probably why people feel that way, I know I like to find a good face and adjust from there from the defaults and the white ones both looked awful. Probably not alone on that. I'll post a screenshot later of what I got.

Hair styles are mostly white as fuck, but the faces definitely make better 'black' characters imo.
 

Zen Aku

Member
I'm really struggling to understand the animation complaints. It's terrible compared to Uncharted 4, but compared to open world games of similar scope, it's probably still one of the better examples. There are a ton of different concerns I have with Andromeda, but animations seem like an odd point to attack given the obvious development limitations. The writing is my main issue at the moment
No it's really not. Other open world games have done much better.

If you told me the animation from Andromeda is from 2007 or a budget Steam game, I would believe you. Not from a AAA series.
 

Outrun

Member
That ship has sailed...

What sort of QA does BioWare have that would allow the ship to be launched without a proper shakedown?
 

10k

Banned
Bioware is not gonna go back and redo animations. Get that thought out of your head. CDPR did it but that was only after TW3 sold millions and they had the capital to do it.

EA is not gonna give money to Bioware to fix that. The ship has sailed.
 

Qblivion

Member
I honestly don't give a heck about weird animations or bad graphics. What I need to know is do planets and other things still stutter when you rotate them?
 

10k

Banned
That ship has sailed...

What sort of QA does BioWare have that would allow the ship to be launched without a proper shakedown?
A publisher that wants a return on their investment and was sick of waiting for the game to be released because money > Polish
 

danm999

Member
I'm really struggling to understand the animation complaints. It's terrible compared to Uncharted 4, but compared to open world games of similar scope, it's probably still one of the better examples. There are a ton of different concerns I have with Andromeda, but animations seem like an odd point to attack given the obvious development limitations. The writing is my main issue at the moment

Which open world games of a similar scope?

It looks bad even by Mass Effect standards from the streams I've seen.
 

Metroidvania

People called Romanes they go the house?
I've been playing Mass Effect 2 & 3 recently. They are no where near better and Andromeda.

5qOu2Zd


I mean.....this is one of the worse examples on ME:A's part in terms of facial animations/conversations, but....yeah.

I just replayed ME3, and yeah, there are some rough spots, but the characters don't look like dead-stare robots either.
 
After the first hour or so I stopped noticing the mouth animations. Not even bothered by them now.
Yeah, I'm OK with most of the face stuff, but some of the body animations still bug me a bit.

Lots of people seem to walk around like C-3PO with their arms locked at a constant angle.
Is the story good though?

Just curious because I like a solid story.
I'm only 2-3 hours in, but it's interesting enough to keep me, well, interested.

There are some badguys that I don't really care much about right now, but there's this mysterious energy stuff that I'm curious to find out more about, and there's your basic "ancient advanced alien civilization" ruins that they haven't delved too deeply into.

It's all pretty basic stuff, but I like it enough that I'll probably buy the full game.
 

Alienfan

Member
The go-to example is probably Horizon, which released a few weeks ago. It makes Andromeda look like an amateur effort (which it kind of is). I didn't even like Witcher 3 but it's so far ahead of this game that you'd think they're a generation apart.

This game has characters that look worse than ME1 characters.

Mass Effect Andromeda has poor character models, that I'll agree with. Horizon had terrific character models, but definitely not stand out animations. (plus I'd argue the games aren't apples to apples in scope, one games has a lot more dialogue to animate than the other).
 
Lol this animation gate is absurd. Skyrim had shit animation, did everyone skip it? Zelda barely has any voice acting, barely any Cutscenes.. Doesn't matter one bit.

Play the game To play the game. It's ok to make fun of the animations but skipping it over some odd animations is absurd.
Skyrim also came out nearly 6 years ago, and uses a ridiculously old game engine.

Meanwhile BioWare's using probably the best current gen game engine available, and managed to create a game that looks worse than Inquisition, with the ugliest characters in the series.

Zelda isn't an RPG. Zelda stands on its own two feet through its gameplay. Zelda's characters also don't look like ass. Mass Effect, and hell, BioWare games in general put story and immersion above all, with gameplay being something you simply tolerate.
 
The go-to example is probably Horizon, which released a few weeks ago. It makes Andromeda look like an amateur effort (which it kind of is). I didn't even like Witcher 3 but it's so far ahead of this game that you'd think they're a generation apart.

This game has characters that look worse than ME1 characters.

I believe Horizon has a much longer developing time than Andromeda. And having finishing Witcher 3, I think the characters in it is far, far, far less than Andromeda. They reused the character models, like, a lot. And you have to keep in mind that the artists of Bioware still need to design all of the new species and its citizens in the new galaxy. These are not small works.
 
I believe Horizon has a much longer developing time than Andromeda. And having finishing Witcher 3, I think the characters in it is far, far, far less than Andromeda. They reused the character models, like, a lot. And you have to keep in mind that the artists of Bioware still need to design all of the new species and its citizens in the new galaxy. These are not small works.
Lol
 

Zen Aku

Member
Mass Effect Andromeda has poor character models, that I'll agree with. Horizon had terrific character models, but definitely not stand out animations. (plus I'd argue the games aren't apples to apples in scope, one games has a lot more dialogue to animate than the other).
Then maybe given whatever limitation they have, whether it's budget, time or talent. Bioware should have realistically compromise on the scope of their project in order to meet with some standards. That's what a good developer would do, making sure they still delivering their vision while not compromising a standard they set for themselves and the fans.

From the look of Andromeda, I'm seeing a pretty low standard when it comes to characters and animations. I don't need 1000 half-ass NPCs, I would much rather have 500 well-made ones.
 
Is the story good though?

Just curious because I like a solid story.
Hard to say from only the small bit they allow access to but I'm definitely intrigued so far. There's a lot of rumblings of things happening, just have to wait till Tuesday to dig deeper.
 
Most of the time I don't notice but once in a while they'll be a doozy that makes me go "really?" but it's only for like a minute.
A wonky gait or character walking oddly will stand out to me still, but it's honestly more amusing than annoying.

I did laugh a couple times at some extremely long pauses between characters speaking that led to uncomfortable stares lol.
 

Harlequin

Member
Is the story good though?

Just curious because I like a solid story.

Hard to tell seeing as the trial only includes a small fraction of it. The dialogue has some rough patches now and then and I feel like most of the characters won't be as good or interesting as those in the original trilogy (though they also aren't bad, just a tad more bland IMO) but the plot seems pretty intriguing so far and it's definitely managed to pull me in with its central mystery/mysteries. But, like I said, that's just the beginning of the game. The plot could take a turn for the worse later on or the characters could turn out to be way more interesting than I'm currently anticipating, who knows.
 

Nasbin

Member
After the first hour or so I stopped noticing the mouth animations. Not even bothered by them now.

I do think it's something you get used to over time. If just the animations were bad but the story/writing was killer I wouldn't mind that much. I'm interested to hear how reviewers feel about it after they've beaten the game, so far I'm not really feeling it.
 

danm999

Member
And you have to keep in mind that the artists of Bioware still need to design all of the new species and its citizens in the new galaxy. These are not small works.

This is not the first time Bioware has put humans in its games you know, though maybe I see how you might come to that conclusion from some of the character models.
 

Harlequin

Member
5qOu2Zd


I mean.....this is one of the worse examples on ME:A's part in terms of facial animations/conversations, but....yeah.

I just replayed ME3, and yeah, there are some rough spots, but the characters don't look like dead-stare robots either.

In that scene, her terrible make-up bothers me way more than the facial animations TBH. Should've just left her make-up-less instead of giving her what looks like the result of one of those idiotic "my boyfriend does my make-up" videos.
 

Ivory Samoan

Gold Member
Wondering if I should cancel my preorder... How bad is it?

Not bad at all, the lip syncing is actually super on point, which for me, is actually more important.

They can be as expressive as hell but if that lip sync's off, I'm out generally.
 

TheYanger

Member
If it looks like an amateur effort because the development time wasn't long enough, it probably shouldn't be releasing in Q1 alongside some of the best open world games and RPGs we've had in years.

Also, it seems like Andromeda is reusing a lot of shit. And again, Inquisition looked better. They had to redesign all new netherrealm demons and locations or whatever haha

Inquisition definitely does not look better. ME:A has a few characters with real shit faces (Like whatever her name is everyone includihng you keeps trotting out) and a few noticeably weird animations, but not the majority of either, and meanwhile the rest of the game looks fuckiing gorgeous.
 
Not bad at all, the lip syncing is actually super on point, which for me, is actually more important.

They can be as expressive as hell but if that lip sync's off, I'm out generally.
Yeah the lip syncing is rock solid. It's just the way the mouth is somewhat overanimated at times. It still looks like they're saying the words, just some of the characters are on the extreme side of expressive.
 
Bethesda and Nintendo don't try to sell their games on being 'cinematic' in any way.

Bethesda most definitely sells their games on story and character interaction. That is very much a large selling point to the Fallout and Elder Scrolls games.

I honestly don't give a heck about weird animations or bad graphics. What I need to know is do planets and other things still stutter when you rotate them?

Straight up, the galaxy map in this game sucks from top to bottom. I'm definitely way more positive on this game then most people at neogaf but the Galaxy map sucks here. From the music to the obnoxious movement around the map and stuttering I just hate it.
 

HardRojo

Member
I have yet to play The Last Guardian, FF XV, Gravity Rush 2, Yakuza 0, Nioh, Horizon, Nier, Resident Evil 7, Persona 5 and Crash Trilogy (when it drops), so I can wait and play Andromeda later this year or even next year. I'll be fine.
 

Metroidvania

People called Romanes they go the house?
Ooh yikes.

To be fair, someone did point out that Ashley is in fact sped up a bit, which looks to be the case. But yeah, not great.

In that scene, her terrible make-up bothers me way more than the facial animations TBH. Should've just left her make-up-less instead of giving her what looks like the result of one of those idiotic "my boyfriend does my make-up" videos.

Yeah, the overdone blush doesn't really help either, but it's really the dead eyes with a lack of reflection, too large pupils, and super-bright irises that make her look really weird.

That, and I can see (what look to be) her eyeball veins.
 
Yeah the lip syncing is rock solid. It's just the way the mouth is somewhat overanimated at times. It still looks like they're saying the words, just some of the characters are on the extreme side of expressive.

Not just that, but that facial animations are unnatural in a lot of cases and look like some sort of 1980s android talking
 

Harlequin

Member
I don't agree, and I think a lot of people would disagree with you. Inquisition still looks good despite coming out years ago, this game already looks dated.

"Whatever her name is" is the player character.

In terms of character design and facial animations, DAI looks better but in terms of environments, lighting and shaders (and pretty much anything else that isn't human faces), MEA is leaps and bounds ahead of DAI graphically.

Also, I don't think they were referring to female Ryder but to that one woman you meet on the Nexus. The one in the gif that's been posted on this page.
 

Ryzaki009

Member
A wonky gait or character walking oddly will stand out to me still, but it's honestly more amusing than annoying.

I did laugh a couple times at some extremely long pauses between characters speaking that led to uncomfortable stares lol.

I think if the eyes weren't so odd or if the eyebrows moved it wouldn't be so bad. As it is ugh.
 
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.
What EXACTLY about this that BioWare can't fix? DAI had the same issue, and it never made sense to me.

Are they just copy-pasting assets without even assessing their quality?
 
The worst thing about this game being buggy and full of animation jank, is that now Bioware will have to completely focus on addressing those, which means we probably won't get a few of the much needed QoL changes anytime soon.

Like making SAM's voice a bit more clear, cause I have no freaking clue what he is even saying 90% of the time.
 

ItsTheNew

I believe any game made before 1997 is "essentially cave man art."
Everyone keeps saying this is THIS studios first game. So what is the original, Edmonton team doing then? I understand there was a lot of turnover yadda yadda, but what's the main, flagship studio developing then?
 

Slaythe

Member
That's a toggable feature.

Relax.

Toggable in which way ?

They never wear helmets or always wear one ?

Everyone keeps saying this is THIS studios first game. So what is the original, Edmonton team doing then? I understand there was a lot of turnover yadda yadda, but what's the main, flagship studio developing then?

I think you meant to say this the studio's LAST game.

edit :

They have a shit load of garbage game. They were fused with the EA montréal team.
 

Harlequin

Member
Everyone keeps saying this is THIS studios first game. So what is the original, Edmonton team doing then? I understand there was a lot of turnover yadda yadda, but what's the main, flagship studio developing then?

I think they're working on a new IP? BioWare does have a new IP in the works, I'm just not sure which of their studios is working on it.

Toggable in which way ?

They never wear helmets or always wear one ?

There's an option to have them wear helmets at all times if you've equipped helmets, an option to never show the helmets even if you've equipped them and an option to only show them during gameplay (again, only if they're equipped) but not during conversations.
 
Toggable in which way ?

They never wear helmets or always wear one ?

There is a setting in the options menu that allows you the option of always having the helmet on, off only during conversations, or off at all times.
It is off during conversations on default.
 

Slaythe

Member
There is a setting in the options menu that allows you the option of always having the helmet on, off only during conversations, or off at all times.
It is off during conversations on default.

That sounds incredibly competent. I don't know how it made it into the game given the quality control.
 

Ryzaki009

Member
Toggable in which way ?

They never wear helmets or always wear one ?



I think you meant to say this the studio's LAST game.

edit :

They have a shit load of garbage game. They were fused with the EA montréal team.

In both. You can toggle helmets off, off in conversations (which is the default) or always on.
 

Madness

Member
Everyone keeps saying this is THIS studios first game. So what is the original, Edmonton team doing then? I understand there was a lot of turnover yadda yadda, but what's the main, flagship studio developing then?

A new IP. But Montreal was struggling and there were those departures and Edmonton was brought on to help finish and polish the game.
 
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