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[branny]

I don't care about the animations or jankiness at all. And it's still too early to pass final judgment on other things like the actual structure of the game being tedious (the trial's only a glimpse) or the clunky UI and slow planet scanning (these can be patched). I just want to see care put into the writing. I can't enjoy myself if I'm always questioning what's being said. ME1 had some plot-related things that required a heavy suspension of disbelief, but it earned that from me as a player because it actually made an effort to take its universe and characters seriously.

You have a trilogy that went through great lengths to provide explanations for all sorts of things like FTL and biotics early on via mass effect fields and whatnot, and then within 20 minutes of starting ME:A you've got characters referring to those space thorns as "dark energy" in a throwaway line, and that's it. Rock formations on the planet are floating, and it's "hey look they're floating" instead of "probably electromagnetic fields interacting with eezo." Even if it digging deeper will show some cracks in the logic, at least there'd be some surface level attempt to provide meaningful insight without relegating all the technobabble to an NPC in the corner of a room to explain stuff. This is the kind of thing that bums me out.

 

[Florida_Man_5000]

Your logic is so flawed it has its own Wikipedia page: No true Scotsman

Oh please, every logical flaw can be found on this page. How about cherry picking or irrelevant conclusion. If GAF had political parties it would be graphics vs. gameplay. We would go in circles for decades (we have).

People focusing on the phrase "true fan" (again not my words), but ignoring the point - the things that made ME great - we haven't had a chance to experience them yet. ME was never a great graphical game. Not even ME1. But ME has a huge devoted fan base. Why? Answer that and then compare that to the Full experience we will get once MEA comes out.

 

[cripterion]

Oh please, every logical flaw can be found on this page. How about cherry picking or irrelevant conclusion. If GAF had political parties it would be graphics vs. gameplay. We would go in circles for decades (we have).

People focusing on the phrase "true fan" (again not my words), but ignoring the point - the things that made ME great - we haven't had a chance to experience them yet. ME was never a great graphical game. Not even ME1. But ME has a huge devoted fan base. Why? Answer that and then compare that to the Full experience we will get once MEA comes out.

I'm sure once people finish the game we will get more discussion about the story as well as spoiler threads and what have you.

 

[cleveridea]

Has anyone ordered mass effect andromeda from GMG and got a code?

Normally I buy steam games on GMG and get the codes instantly, not sure if when they release keys for preorders for origin games...

 

[SomedayTheFire]

Oh please, every logical flaw can be found on this page. How about cherry picking or irrelevant conclusion. If GAF had political parties it would be graphics vs. gameplay. We would go in circles for decades (we have).

People focusing on the phrase "true fan" (again not my words), but ignoring the point - the things that made ME great - we haven't had a chance to experience them yet. ME was never a great graphical game. Not even ME1. But ME has a huge devoted fan base. Why? Answer that and then compare that to the Full experience we will get once MEA comes out.

What's the point in you even mentioning that true fan bullshit then? I'm a Mass Effect fan since the first and have loved all three earlier games. Haven't stepped foot in the community thread. I have played the trial and I'm deeply disappointed in it.

 

[BiggNife]

Oh please, every logical flaw can be found on this page. How about cherry picking or irrelevant conclusion. If GAF had political parties it would be graphics vs. gameplay. We would go in circles for decades (we have).

People focusing on the phrase "true fan" (again not my words), but ignoring the point - the things that made ME great - we haven't had a chance to experience them yet. ME was never a great graphical game. Not even ME1. But ME has a huge devoted fan base. Why? Answer that and then compare that to the Full experience we will get once MEA comes out.

Well, your assumption that people here aren't actual fans of ME and are just feigning fandom to shit on MEA is something that I'm pretty sure you can't actually prove, so it kind of hurts whatever argument you're trying to make. That's why people keep pointing that out.

And to your other point, I understand what you're trying to say here, but the trial is supposed to give an idea of what the full game is like. And what I've played so far is making me think the story in MEA just isn't that good. That's why I'm bummed. Maybe it turns out that after Eos the plot in MEA takes a huge turn and becomes amazing, and if that's the case then awesome. But this thread is about the trial, and we can only critique what we've played of the trial, so that's what people are doing.

 

[The Strokes]

An update on my earlier impressions in bold above, having played 3 hours of campaign and 4 (bronze) MP matches.

MP plays great. So far, I don't like the maps as much as ME3, but they're still good enough so that I have a good time. I'd like to see more enemy variety, hopefully that can be added as free DLC. It would especially be great if Geth and Collectors could be brought it, even if it doesn't make sense for the story, it would be fun to play. I'll definitely be spending a lot of time playing MP.

I'm really liking the story so far. The opening mission felt a bit like Dragon Age: Inquistion, with how the map was laid out, and the icons noting points of interest, but it felt more focused than DA:I. So far, I'm not really a fan of Liam or Cora, but there have been some other characters I've enjoyed.

Overall my impressions of the game today are a lot higher then they were yesterday.

Regarding the scanner, you get a slight notification that you're near something that can be scanned.

I'm just starting this, story looks interesting, certainly less dull that what game previews have shown us.

 

[theBmZ]

I'm only about 3 or so hours in. Just got to the Nexus. The story has me interested. Really enjoying the gameplay so far. The character creator is severely limited. Yeah the facial animation isn't the greatest. But, it's not gamebreaking for me. My biggest problem with the faces are the eyes. They don't look right. They look almost like cartoon stickers. Hopefully this is something they can overhaul. My biggest issue with the game in general is the broken surround sound. It's completely backwards. Does anyone know if BioWare has commented on this specific issue?

 

[jakonovski]

Man, EA Access is a pretty good deal right now even if Andromeda turns out to be poop. Mirror's Edge Catalyst and Unravel here I come.

 

[xeroborn55]

I don't care about the animations or jankiness at all. And it's still too early to pass final judgment on other things like the actual structure of the game being tedious (the trial's only a glimpse) or the clunky UI and slow planet scanning (these can be patched). I just want to see care put into the writing. I can't enjoy myself if I'm always questioning what's being said. ME1 had some plot-related things that required a heavy suspension of disbelief, but it earned that from me as a player because it actually made an effort to take its universe and characters seriously.

You have a trilogy that went through great lengths to provide explanations for all sorts of things like FTL and biotics early on via mass effect fields and whatnot, and then within 20 minutes of starting ME:A you've got characters referring to those space thorns as "dark energy" in a throwaway line, and that's it. Rock formations on the planet are floating, and it's "hey look they're floating" instead of "probably electromagnetic fields interacting with eezo." Even if it digging deeper will show some cracks in the logic, at least there'd be some surface level attempt to provide meaningful insight without relegating all the technobabble to an NPC in the corner of a room to explain stuff. This is the kind of thing that bums me out.

You're overthinking it. Why would they explain why the rocks are floating? That just strikes me as absurd. You need to get a handle on your expectations.

If I want actual good writing I'll read a book. If I want a mindless space romp I'll play mass effect.

 

[cripterion]

Anyone had a bug when meeting Vetra? The subs kept going and the dialog just cut off, the scene get going and and when I was given an answer to choose, it just locked up (the game didn't freeze, the characters just stand there and nothing happens).

Man this game is buggy. They better have another patch in store come release.

 

[robotrock]

So did Dragon Age Inquisition have the buggy facial animations and the kind of weirdly stilted feeling dialogue? I actually don't mind the dialogue in this but it's moreso the way they stitch conversations together always feels a bit awkward.

 

[Asriel]

Anyone had a bug when meeting Vetra? The subs kept going and the dialog just cut off, the scene get going and and when I was given an answer to choose, it just locked up (the game didn't freeze, the characters just stand there and nothing happens).

Man this game is buggy. They better have another patch in store come release.

I haven't experienced a single bug in the game. Just some frame rate issues at times. :shrug:

 

[cripterion]

I haven't experienced a single bug in the game. Just some frame rate issues at times. :shrug:

Well just just alt-f4 the game, reloaded, went back to cargo bay, cutscene starts and has soon as Vetra shows up and says they're 14 months late, no audio. Scene just plays and then locks up once you pick up and answer.
Also I'm pretty sure you must have experienced all the cutscenes bugs as well (disappearing lady behind Krogan, guy with arm clipping trying to put it over the should in the cargo scene, etc..) but maybe you didn't pay them no mind.

Hmmm strange I put Update the game in the Origin client and it is now downloading 1.42GB

 

[Ralemont]

So did Dragon Age Inquisition have the buggy facial animations and the kind of weirdly stilted feeling dialogue? I actually don't mind the dialogue in this but it's moreso the way they stitch conversations together always feels a bit awkward.

It didn't really have the buggy facial expressions but normal convos were far less expressive in general. MEAs faces are much more expressive but that's kind of the problem when there's more that can go wrong.

Yeah DAI had stilted convos, specifically whenever someone different spoke it was like a second pause between lines.

 

[Systolique]

Hmmm strange I put Update the game in the Origin client and it is now downloading 1.42GB

That's the size of the day one patch included with the early access, weird that you weren't able to download it earlier

 

[SomedayTheFire]

Anyone had a bug when meeting Vetra? The subs kept going and the dialog just cut off, the scene get going and and when I was given an answer to choose, it just locked up (the game didn't freeze, the characters just stand there and nothing happens).

Man this game is buggy. They better have another patch in store come release.

Only bugs I've had during dialogue are T pose bugs.

 

[Florida_Man_5000]

Well, your assumption that people here aren't actual fans of ME and are just feigning fandom to shit on MEA is something that I'm pretty sure you can't actually prove, so it kind of hurts whatever argument you're trying to make. That's why people keep pointing that out.

Fair enough, but would a declarative fan of say Zelda not play it because graphics or a fan of Witcher because gameplay? Seemingly only Rockstar can afford the Army needed to be best at both at launch. A declarative fan usually has a sense of which their game excels at and uses that metric for judging worth.

 

[cripterion]

That's the size of the day one patch included with the early access, weird that you weren't able to download it earlier

For real? Damn, might want to restart a Ryder to see if the bugs are actually gone. I started to download the game as soon as it was up.
Only 5 hours left though and I haven't left for Eos on my first save.

 

[SomedayTheFire]

Fair enough, but would a declarative fan of say Zelda not play it because graphics or a fan of Witcher because gameplay? Seemingly only Rockstar can afford the Army needed to be best at both at launch. A declarative fan usually has a sense of which their game excels at and uses that metric for judging worth.

A "declarative fan" (again, nice way to judge others) is allowed not buy a game or wait on it for whatever reason they choose.

 

[RulkezX]

Finished the trial , opinion is pretty much the same as my previous post.

There isn't any question teh facial animation is really bad 9though the faces themselves are good) but the game - outside of the odd cringy line of dialogue - feels exactly like a Mass Effect game.

I really enjoyed my time with it and will be looking forward to playing it again next week.

 

[Lime]

If I want actual good writing I'll read a book..

Why even bother having cinematics, dialogue scenes, manuscripts, voice actors, writers, etc. when writing and narrative don't matter at all and might as well only be in books.

Fair enough, but would a declarative fan of say Zelda not play it because graphics or a fan of Witcher because gameplay? Seemingly only Rockstar can afford the Army needed to be best at both at launch. A declarative fan usually has a sense of which their game excels at and uses that metric for judging worth.

This notion of "true fans" as hyper consumer kings & queens is mind-boggling. Consumerism and marketing have really done a number on you.

 

[His Majesty]

You're overthinking it. Why would they explain why the rocks are floating? That just strikes me as absurd. You need to get a handle on your expectations.

If I want actual good writing I'll read a book. If I want a mindless space romp I'll play mass effect.

and if I want good cinematics and dialogue I'll watch a movie, for a good soundtrack I'll just listen to music

 

[SmoothRunningGun]

I finished the demo. Had a great time. It feels like a Mass Effect game + the new mobility options are a blast.

 

[Carn82]

Why even bother having cinematics, dialogue scenes, manuscripts, voice actors, writers, etc. when writing and narrative don't matter at all and might as well only be in books.

Well, I kinda agree with him. Mass Effect is cookie cutter scifi. And I totally have no problems with that and I can enjoy it immensely. But floating the idea that it's well written and original etc is really pushing it.

 

[Morzak]

The hate for the game is amazing.
The game has some problems, but I still had fun with it. The dialogue is extremely inconsistent but I don't feel that most of it is worse then most other games or previous ME titles, but some like the infamous tired face are really really bad. Facial animations are never really good and can get downright scary at times, but it doesn't kill it for me.

What I really don't like is that they took away the ability to control the squad mate powers, this makes combo setup a pain especially due to the 3 power limit. I really dislike that and it's a shame because the combat outside of that limitation feels really good.

Overall I'm having fun with the game, to say anything about the story is a bit early, characterization is a bit weak up to this point, so that could be an issue going forward.

 

[cripterion]

If I want actual good writing I'll read a book.

 

[Zen Aku]

Fair enough, but would a declarative fan of say Zelda not play it because graphics or a fan of Witcher because gameplay? Seemingly only Rockstar can afford the Army needed to be best at both at launch. A declarative fan usually has a sense of which their game excels at and uses that metric for judging worth.

But neither Zelda or the Witcher biggest weakness are hilariously below standards expected from a developer like Bioware.

 

[xeroborn55]

Well, I kinda agree with him. Mass Effect is cookie cutter scifi. And I totally have no problems with that and I can enjoy it immensely. But floating the idea that it's well written and original etc is really pushing it.

this was my point. pretending mass effect has ever been well written is asinine. its a pandering power fantasy, just like every bioware game.

I still really enjoy it, but come on. from what I've played andromeda is written like a mass effect game, expecting anything other than that is unrealistic.

 

[Alpha Centauri]

You're overthinking it. Why would they explain why the rocks are floating? That just strikes me as absurd. You need to get a handle on your expectations.

If I want actual good writing I'll read a book. If I want a mindless space romp I'll play mass effect.

This post makes my face tired. For many, the Mass Effect trilogy became beloved not for its gameplay, but for its story and characters. You ruin those things, you're going to get a bunch of disillusioned ME fans. How is that absurd?

You don't take the show 'House', reboot it, and make the doctors speak like they never took an anatomy course. This is what you are seeing in the previews. Even if the writing of the trilogy wasn't consistently excellent, making it far worse is a net negative.

 

[Werd]

I still get a black screen when attempting to start the game on PC, and have never had Corsair Utility installed in the first place. Has anyone figured out another potential fix for this?

 

[A-V-B]

this was my point. pretending mass effect has ever been well written is asinine. its a pandering power fantasy, just like every bioware game.

I still really enjoy it, but come on. from what I've played andromeda is written like a mass effect game, expecting anything other than that is unrealistic.

Mass Effect ain't no Arthur C. Clarke, but every game where Drew Karpyshyn was responsible, they were at least quite competently written with engrossing characters and a somewhat complex world with multiple kinds of cultural and political conflicts. Plus a forward-moving overarching threat.

It had a healthy story engine.

 

[SomedayTheFire]

Has anyone else been getting random Drack dialogue on the Tempest? I've gotten a few where he's interacting with Lexi and Cora, despite not actually being on the ship.

 

[cripterion]

I still get a black screen when attempting to start the game on PC, and have never had Corsair Utility installed in the first place. Has anyone figured out another potential fix for this?

I would look into any other software utiliy you have installed.

 

[TI82]

ME was never a great graphical game. Not even ME1.

what...?

Impressive graphics and creativity in design

http://www.extremegamer.ca/xbox360/reviews/masseffectp2.php

It's worth mentioning that this is a beautifully realized game universe. No, it's not quite as colorful and dynamic as Star Wars - honestly, nobody's ever going to beat light sabers, wookiees, and Leia's slave-girl genie bikini. But Mass Effect's version of the galaxy is still captivating. It looks graphically stunning, andthough tech-heads will notice that textures sometimes pop in asplit-second late, nobody will really care.

http://www.gamesradar.com/mass-effect-review/3/

Mass Effect's visuals are excellent. Facial animations are among the best in gaming: Characters move their lips believably with the dialogue, further expressing themselves with subtle tilts of the head or with a slight raise of the eyebrows. Character models are beautifully detailed, such as with your Krogan teammate Wrex, whose every wrinkle and ridge is carefully textured and molded. There are some technical hitches, however. The framerate can dramatically dip at the worst possible times, and there is a lot of texture pop-in. There are also frequent load times--some of them hidden by elevator rides, others popping up in the midst of exploration. Nevertheless, Mass Effect looks wonderful.

http://www.gamespot.com/reviews/mass-effect-review/1900-6183119/

And rather than just being mildly impressed at how pretty the game is, each new planet offers its own specific visual treats - some of the artwork must surely among the best we've been treated to. The facial detail is also, at times, absolutely wonderful, and adds no end to keeping you immersed during all the narrative segments.

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/mass-effect-review?page=3

One of the most artistically and technically beautiful games of all time. Unfortunately, the engine can't keep up and slowdown is rampant.

http://www.ign.com/articles/2007/11/20/mass-effect-collectors-edition-review?page=4

And if I wanted I could go back farther, so wherever this idea of "Mass Effect isnt a graphically impressive game and never has been" idea came from can go back inside the revisionists cookbook.

 

[Trey]

Isn't this T-pose bug the very same bug that contributed to NBA Elite being cancelled? EA...

https://youtu.be/5VPwcYWDNIQ

 

[Jarmel]

this was my point. pretending mass effect has ever been well written is asinine. its a pandering power fantasy, just like every bioware game.

I still really enjoy it, but come on. from what I've played andromeda is written like a mass effect game, expecting anything other than that is unrealistic.

lololololol

 

[bigdaddygamebot]

The hate for the game is amazing.

And yet because you enjoy the game you assume it's people being unreasonable in their hatred for the game and for Bioware. While it seems you cannot acknowledge just how badly Bioware has mismanaged their player base and their IP.

And also that they had an entirely new studio working on Mass Effect and that studio quite possibly did a mediocre to poor job.

 

[TI82]

Isn't this T-pose bug the very same bug that contributed to NBA Elite being cancelled? EA...

https://youtu.be/5VPwcYWDNIQ

Yep, the T-pose bug is the first bug I saw in this game and it was shortly after I started playing and the doctor talks about your sister. Then I had NPCs falling through levels, clipping through themselves in cutscenes, and overall bizarre/bad animations like everyone else.

This game is just so buggy

Edit: Oh forgot the "climbing an edge and falling off forever" thing that repeats itself a ton of times.

 

[jtb]

The Mass Effect series has never been well-written. If you're lucky, you'll get a handful of competently done characters and an interesting quest line or two.

 

[JamesHolden]

And yet because you enjoy the game you assume it's people being unreasonable in their hatred for the game and for Bioware. While it seems you cannot acknowledge just how badly Bioware has mismanaged their player base and their IP.

And also that they had an entirely new studio working on Mass Effect and that studio quite possibly did a mediocre to poor job.

Delusional. Mismanaged player base and IP. LOL. I'm sure you have a real objective perspective. SMH.

 

[bigdaddygamebot]

Delusional. Mismanaged player base and IP. LOL. I'm sure you have a real objective perspective. SMH.

Not even remotely.

There are some developers capable of successfully managing player expectations. Bioware isn't one of them.

There's a reason why a number of people want to keep kicking Bioware even when they are clearly down. It's not just because it's fun and easy to do.

 

[Aeqvitas]

this was my point. pretending mass effect has ever been well written is asinine. its a pandering power fantasy, just like every bioware game.

I still really enjoy it, but come on. from what I've played andromeda is written like a mass effect game, expecting anything other than that is unrealistic.

Thats a reductive statement you can make about every game being a "pandering power fantasy." Its a meaningless statement. Games in general involve control of a character that is vastly more powerful than is realistic to expect. Is everything in every genre pandering? Not everything has to be completely original to have quality, in fact good execution of common themes and tropes is often what makes stories more appealing. The hero's journey is as old as time and has been told thousands of times across thousands of cultures. It isn't pandering to tell a story that follows expected conventions within a given genre. And on top of that bioware has repeatedly put in great twists, even when writing within a generic and established universe created by others (e.g. KOTOR for star wars, Baldur's Gate in DnD)

RPGs in general have to be power fantasies because they generally take place in fantastical settings, whether traditional fantasy or science fiction, and they involve the characters growing more powerful over time. But that doesn't diminish the quality of the writing or story telling in of itself.

Bioware games have by and large had the some of best written characters for the last 15 years. In my opinion nothing measures up to BG2, but its absurd to claim no bioware game has ever been well written. There is a reason a ton of people are extremely attached to bioware games, they have generally set the bar for writing interesting and memorable companion characters. Sure there are highs and lows across the different series bioware has made, but claiming that its all pandering generic drivel is probably one of the most outlandish claims I've seen here.

 

[NoPiece]

You're overthinking it. Why would they explain why the rocks are floating? That just strikes me as absurd. You need to get a handle on your expectations.

If I want actual good writing I'll read a book. If I want a mindless space romp I'll play mass effect.

Unless you want to try and make the case that good writing would make it a worse game, you aren't saying anything other than you have low standards. Which is fine, people with low standards are probably happier because they don't care about what they are missing.

 

[Jarmel]

Give me a fucking break. There are issues certainly with all three but ME1 and ME2 are fine. All three had strong bouts of writingand they certainly weren't drivel. Well except for ME3's ending.

 

[Allnamestakenlol]

Well'p, I've come full circle. I started out with a strong dislike, but am now really enjoying myself. I'll take my crow with some ranch on the side, plz.

Despite having fun, there are plenty of things that really bother me and DO detract from the experience. Here's my list:

- Social animations (body/face) are awful more often than not

- Voice acting quality is very 50/50

- Character creator is reaaaaally limiting, and the presets look awful (why do the multiplayer presets look so much better?)

- My god @ the ugly AF hair options. Oh, and the paint-on facial hair? Fuck that.

- Dialogue writing is pretty suspect at times

- What is up with all the playdough-colored/textured hair on npcs???

- Graphical glitches abound

- Buddy AI is pretty bad sometimes (bad combat decisions, running into things, behaving erratically)

- Performance is all over the place and for no apparent reason

- The UI is far from perfect - barely decent, imo

- Almost 10 hours in and it doesn't seem like they've pushed the sci-fi boundaries much at all. Very, very generic stuff at play.

Edit: With all that said, I've bought the game (cheap from a key seller, mind you).

 

[jtb]

No developer goes to such extreme lengths to make the player character literally Jesus as BioWare does.

That's their first problem, and until they come to terms with that, they'll never be able to break the holding pattern they're in. It's very similar to Blizzard, imo, another company that (once upon a time) was known for having quality storytelling before they completely devolved into embarrassing fanfiction-tier garbage.

BioWare's better than Blizzard. But that's setting the bar very very low.

Give me a fucking break. There are issues certainly with all three but ME1 and ME2 are fine. All three had strong bouts of writingand they certainly weren't drivel. Well except for ME3's ending.

The Mass Effect trilogy barely has a plot throughline across multiple games, let alone within individual games. That's a pretty big hole.

 

[KyleOnTheRun]

Can you tell us how the missions in general are? In the trial we only get to scan glyphs and activate a terminal with a puzzle, shoot baddies and go to a door and it's over. Is there a good variety in the missions so far in those 40 hours?

It's way more in The Witcher 3 school of questing with regards to narrative and lore. Even rote sidequests have something interesting to say, about these settlers/colonists and their struggles. Once you start visiting multiple planets, you start to see the open-world "rhythm" or "seams," so to speak, with repeating activities that increase planet viability and allow settlement. But there's a metric crapload of sidequests with good stories on top of that.

 

[Ralemont]

It's way more in The Witcher 3 school of questing with regards to narrative and lore. Even rote sidequests have something interesting to say, about these settlers/colonists and their struggles. Once you start visiting multiple planets, you start to see the open-world "rhythm" or "seams," so to speak, with some repeating activities that increase planet viability and allow settlement. But there's just a metric crapload of sidequest with good stories on top of that.

Sounds good to me.

 

[jtb]

It's way more in The Witcher 3 school of questing with regards to narrative and lore. Even rote sidequests have something interesting to say, about these settlers/colonists and their struggles. Once you start visiting multiple planets, you start to see the open-world "rhythm" or "seams," so to speak, with some repeating activities that increase planet viability and allow settlement. But there's just a metric crapload of sidequest with good stories on top of that.

Have you played Fallout 4 or Dragon Age: Inquisition? How does it compare structure-wise to those two games? Because it sounds a lot more similar to those two games, with settlement, resource collection, general repetition...