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Mass Effect: Andromeda - EA/Origin Access trial coming March 16th - 10 hour trial
- Thread starter Theorry
- Start date
Same for me in australia. Got the Tuesday off when I normally have the Monday and was so excited. Than i realised. Was so upset. Why the hell is this?
MosquitoSmasher
Member
Finally got around to playing the first couple hours.
I guess I was expecting some giant turkey because I'm finding it to be a well-made game. I haven't even noticed the facial animation or animation in general - looks fine to me. Writing is worlds better than ME3 (I'm replaying that at the same time). And even on XB1 I think it looks and runs well.
Combat is a little too loose for me (might have to fiddle with the options) but I love the freedom of movement. In this game I feel like I can actually flank the enemies because Ryder doesn't move through molasses like Shepard did. Auto-cover has worked for me so far and it has also helped rid the game of the obvious chest-high walls. Combat here feels so much more open than it did in the past. And I forgot about not being able to directly command my mates almost immediately. I like it so far.
Now, my biggest complaint is that it's just not very exciting - you could even say it's a bit dull really. The story is intriguing enough but in the early going the whole affair feels workmanlike. The beginnings of ME3 and ME2 feel like big blockbuster movies whereas Andromeda has the start of a thoughtful TV series - patient yet tantalizing. You carefully work your way across a planet, scanning all forms of life in your path, engaging bad guys as you see them. Not exactly earth-shattering stuff but it looks and plays just fine. What is nice, though, is the sense of freedom I get here - lots of intriguing sites to explore and lots of crew commentary on them. It's like ME3 with the restraints taken off - meaning it's nothing like ME3 at all.
And that's just it - Andromeda kinda feels nothing like Mass Effect at all. Not a complaint but an observation. In these first couple hours it feels more like Destiny with ME storytelling. But these are early hours and I expect the game to pick up. Will I be buying it this week? Yep.
I guess I was expecting some giant turkey because I'm finding it to be a well-made game. I haven't even noticed the facial animation or animation in general - looks fine to me. Writing is worlds better than ME3 (I'm replaying that at the same time). And even on XB1 I think it looks and runs well.
Combat is a little too loose for me (might have to fiddle with the options) but I love the freedom of movement. In this game I feel like I can actually flank the enemies because Ryder doesn't move through molasses like Shepard did. Auto-cover has worked for me so far and it has also helped rid the game of the obvious chest-high walls. Combat here feels so much more open than it did in the past. And I forgot about not being able to directly command my mates almost immediately. I like it so far.
Now, my biggest complaint is that it's just not very exciting - you could even say it's a bit dull really. The story is intriguing enough but in the early going the whole affair feels workmanlike. The beginnings of ME3 and ME2 feel like big blockbuster movies whereas Andromeda has the start of a thoughtful TV series - patient yet tantalizing. You carefully work your way across a planet, scanning all forms of life in your path, engaging bad guys as you see them. Not exactly earth-shattering stuff but it looks and plays just fine. What is nice, though, is the sense of freedom I get here - lots of intriguing sites to explore and lots of crew commentary on them. It's like ME3 with the restraints taken off - meaning it's nothing like ME3 at all.
And that's just it - Andromeda kinda feels nothing like Mass Effect at all. Not a complaint but an observation. In these first couple hours it feels more like Destiny with ME storytelling. But these are early hours and I expect the game to pick up. Will I be buying it this week? Yep.
Just finished my 10 hour trial. It's rough around the edges, but I still really enjoyed it and look forward to release.
Animations are definitely rough, but most are passable for me at least. Haven't had any bugs or major issues at all. Performance on my OC'd 5820 and 970 is good. Mostly solid 60fps with sparse but random dips to mid 50s at 1080p. Frametimes I guess are not so great resulting in a fair amount of stuttering. DOF is terrible and artifacting on galaxy map planets and what not is pretty bad. Shadow resolution on character models in general are pretty bad. And definitely weird pop-in of vegetation on Eos. There's just a bunch of weird little things that mar an otherwise great looking game. Still though the worlds look good and the game overall looks nice, a few fixes here and there and things could be really great visually. I also plan to pickup a 1080ti next month so I'll be able to really crank shit up then.
Story was surprisingly light despite 10 hours, most of the time was spent in the field than talking. I didn't exhaust all conversations, but most, and I like pretty much everyone so far. Addison is definitely the only real standout of a shitty character, really shitty character model and animations. I am definitely intrigued by the relative overall plot arc of what happened and what went wrong. I haven't found any of the writing to be blatantly bad. It's been a generally decent, but certainly slow start, that has me wanting to see more.
Gameplay is pretty great. Still getting used to it. Going in as an Adept on Insanity isn't exactly easy. But by the end of my time with the game I was getting the swing of things. That Site 2 battle on Eos was a bitch. I will say though that companions in combat feel basically non-existent. The way they are handled is dog shit and removing our ability to command the use of their powers, and pause the game in order to trigger ours or theirs, on top of the more mobile and open combat basically makes this feel like a lone shooter. It's really fucking dumb. Which is really unfortunate because otherwise the combat feels really great. You could probably complain that some guns aren't as punchy as you'd like and so on, but the moment to moment action and everything is a lot of fun.
There definitely seems to be a lot of game here and a lot of potential. The R&D system seems absolutely massive and almost daunting. The world felt large, but not too spread out or too congested. I don't love the Elder Scrolls style compass and markers, but it wasn't super egregious about leading you by the nose to everything. I'm really excited for and hoping that they nail the feeling of developing these worlds with colonies and outposts, as well as bringing the Nexus online and seeing it go from a shell of an unfinished space station to a lively and bustling hub for Heleus Cluster activity.
Animations are definitely rough, but most are passable for me at least. Haven't had any bugs or major issues at all. Performance on my OC'd 5820 and 970 is good. Mostly solid 60fps with sparse but random dips to mid 50s at 1080p. Frametimes I guess are not so great resulting in a fair amount of stuttering. DOF is terrible and artifacting on galaxy map planets and what not is pretty bad. Shadow resolution on character models in general are pretty bad. And definitely weird pop-in of vegetation on Eos. There's just a bunch of weird little things that mar an otherwise great looking game. Still though the worlds look good and the game overall looks nice, a few fixes here and there and things could be really great visually. I also plan to pickup a 1080ti next month so I'll be able to really crank shit up then.
Story was surprisingly light despite 10 hours, most of the time was spent in the field than talking. I didn't exhaust all conversations, but most, and I like pretty much everyone so far. Addison is definitely the only real standout of a shitty character, really shitty character model and animations. I am definitely intrigued by the relative overall plot arc of what happened and what went wrong. I haven't found any of the writing to be blatantly bad. It's been a generally decent, but certainly slow start, that has me wanting to see more.
Gameplay is pretty great. Still getting used to it. Going in as an Adept on Insanity isn't exactly easy. But by the end of my time with the game I was getting the swing of things. That Site 2 battle on Eos was a bitch. I will say though that companions in combat feel basically non-existent. The way they are handled is dog shit and removing our ability to command the use of their powers, and pause the game in order to trigger ours or theirs, on top of the more mobile and open combat basically makes this feel like a lone shooter. It's really fucking dumb. Which is really unfortunate because otherwise the combat feels really great. You could probably complain that some guns aren't as punchy as you'd like and so on, but the moment to moment action and everything is a lot of fun.
There definitely seems to be a lot of game here and a lot of potential. The R&D system seems absolutely massive and almost daunting. The world felt large, but not too spread out or too congested. I don't love the Elder Scrolls style compass and markers, but it wasn't super egregious about leading you by the nose to everything. I'm really excited for and hoping that they nail the feeling of developing these worlds with colonies and outposts, as well as bringing the Nexus online and seeing it go from a shell of an unfinished space station to a lively and bustling hub for Heleus Cluster activity.
Small patches maybe?
cripterion
Member
521mb update for me.
RipperGrim
Member
I like the music so far. The song playing in the character creator screen especially is good.
I tried making a new game with the default Sara Ryder and it's still the same face as before. So yes, maybe it's only small fixes and improvements.
Ivory Samoan
Member
The flow and general feeling around the game seems to be much more optimistic the last day or so coming up to release: it's been quite the rollercoaster.
Less than 24 hours till it's out guys, hold me GAF.
Less than 24 hours till it's out guys, hold me GAF.
Why they would change her model at last minute after spending months to market the game and her with current one? Even after all feedback this model has gotten.
Cross-Section
Member
It appears that the Corsair and multiplayer audio bugs have been fixed with this latest patch; anybody who still has trial access care to confirm?
Big time. And the subtle, positive hints from a few reviewers who have played significantly more than we have. I'm starting to fire up my hype thrusters.
Admiral Woofington
Member
?? doesn't it release in MORE than 24 hours? I thought it was10 pm CST tomorrow, which translates to 31.5 hours from now
didn't someone post a sara ryder on no internet disc install and it looked much better? they could go back to that.
The Dark Shape
Neo Member
Stick with this game, guys. The story is getting good.
Hasphat'sAnts
Member
Why does the damn game revert my color changes every time I navigate out of outfit color 1,2, and 3?
The UI in this game is maddening.
The UI in this game is maddening.
cripterion
Member
Seriously, it's so dumb. Especially for digital release.
Ryzaki009
Member
Supposedly I can play it at 11am EST and it's almost 4 now so less than a day.
Admiral Woofington
Member
why are some folks able to play it earlier? Proxy method?
With a VPN, you can play it at midnight KST, or UTC+9 (a little more than 19 hours from the time of this post).
Systolique
Member
VPNing to south korea
Poodlestrike
Banned
Yeah. There's a pastebin link the Community thread, but the short version is:
Close origin
Set VPN to South Korea
Open Origin
Open game
Close/switch VPN
Enjoy
DeaDPo0L84
Member
I have so many mixed feelings concerning this game and I haven't even played one second of it personally. I have it purchased and also luckily got Tuesday and Wednesday off so ill be able to dedicate a huge chunk of time to form my own personal opinion. I am bothered by the animations, weak dialogue, cheesy default characters, mp server issues (seriously p2p ahhh), but I still find myself interested cause I loved the previous trilogy.
I feel bad for the main development team cause while I'm sure they were stoked to be told their first full game would be the continuation of a huge franchise, I don't know if they were prepared for just how big a project it would be. I do respect the time and energy they poured into the game and I don't believe for one second they set out to create a shitty game or one with a handful of glitches. I'll go into this as if its a new IP cause in a sense, this is their story they are trying to tell and I'm willing to sit down and see how it plays out. The new cast just like the developers are young in there field and will be learning more and more as time goes on,I can at least give them a fair shake.
I feel bad for the main development team cause while I'm sure they were stoked to be told their first full game would be the continuation of a huge franchise, I don't know if they were prepared for just how big a project it would be. I do respect the time and energy they poured into the game and I don't believe for one second they set out to create a shitty game or one with a handful of glitches. I'll go into this as if its a new IP cause in a sense, this is their story they are trying to tell and I'm willing to sit down and see how it plays out. The new cast just like the developers are young in there field and will be learning more and more as time goes on,I can at least give them a fair shake.
Vic_Viper
Member
Are there any early reviews yet for the entire game? I know reviewers have it but haven't found any reviews for it aside from the trial stuff. I realize there's an embargo, just curious if anyone had released one anyway.
From what people have played so far, I'm wondering how it feels as a whole. Is it just a third person shooter disguised as an RPG? I'm worried that bioware has watered down all the great stuff from ME1 like they did with its sequels, especially 3. Going to wait till some reviews come out from people I know really liked the original series before buying.
Edit: the Animations and jank people are upset about don't bother me in the least. It's what we'll be doing through the entire game I'm wondering about. Just hope it's more than just Gears in Space.
From what people have played so far, I'm wondering how it feels as a whole. Is it just a third person shooter disguised as an RPG? I'm worried that bioware has watered down all the great stuff from ME1 like they did with its sequels, especially 3. Going to wait till some reviews come out from people I know really liked the original series before buying.
Edit: the Animations and jank people are upset about don't bother me in the least. It's what we'll be doing through the entire game I'm wondering about. Just hope it's more than just Gears in Space.
The game is much better to play than to see. I tough it was terrible when looked at the video/gif but when I played it I barely noticed the bad animation. I still would love them to improve the eye textures/shading if at all possible but it's not the end of world.
Damn, I wish other people not sold on the game expressed their worries and skepticism like you do
You have to quit the customization before closing the menu for it to save. It's weirdest thing about the UI so far
Can confirm,
Windows release date: March 20, 2017 5:00 PM EET
Can't wait for tomorrow. :O
Ivory Samoan
Member
I know exactly what you mean re: playing vs watching - actual movement and combat make up (for me) for any jankiness that was in the dialogue stuff, after about 10 minutes I didn't notice the weird animations or such again during my 10 hours.
A few reviewers dropping hints here and there that are sounding more positive than many would expect, it's going to be a wild ride when the embargo lifts on reviews in about 10 hours!
Familienoberhauptvogel
Banned
Went and canceled my amazon uk preorder to go buy the game digitally from Xbox's hong kong store. Ended up costing me a bit extra.
It does. Every time I boot it on XBO the system asks if I'm the owner of that account and tells me how much time is left on the trial.
Man Called Aerodynamics
Member
It does feel as if a lot of the mudslingers have gotten bored and moved on, leaving more of the people who just want to, you know, discuss the game.
Royal_Phalanx
Member
My VPN is ready, hyped for tomorrow
I've only played a couple of hours, but the game feel much more like an RPG then 2 and 3 did (which I still loved btw). I've enjoyed it so far and really looking forward to experience more of it.
That said, always sensible to wait for reviews, I'm just too big a Mass Effect fan to wait.
Familienoberhauptvogel
Banned
This has always been funny to me since ME3 was the evolution from ME1 to ME2 RPG done right. ME1 had it beat in sheer numbers but there was no depth to it at all.
Allnamestakenlol
Member
Encountering weird bugs where my ship crew talk about (and sometimes to) companions that haven't joined the team yet or whom I've even met. Once I even heard a spoken response from a not-yet-companion who wasn't even present on the ship.
DeaDPo0L84
Member
I had a knee jerk reaction when the videos and impressions started coming out. I didn't go near as far off the deep end like a lot of people did. I just came to the conclusion that I'd rather give it my full attention beginning to end and then speak on the quality of the game versus damning it to hell before its even widely available. Evil Within is one of my favorite games and that game has its fair amount of jank and awkward dialogue (admittedly it's funny most of the time), but the overall experience outweighed the issues. I'm expecting the same to happen here.
Admiral Woofington
Member
I did not know you could melee someone you're pulling
that's not melee, that's throwing after the pull
I didn't have throw equipped, I just smacked the shit out of him
His Majesty
Banned
Yep. At least I did the same with Dragon Age: Inquisition. I assume it still works.
Trickster
Member
Alright sweet, will look into how to do it then, found some guide on reddit about andromeda specifically
Pressing the button while you have a target held throws them. Not the skill Throw, with a capital T. Lowercase throw, as in flinging them through the air. Wheeeeeee!
Oh, gotcha
Systolique
Member
It's literally ME1 without the clumsy combat and exploration gameplay, but keeping everything that made ME1 good.
But GAF gotta spread those gifs around and cancel those pre-orders I guess