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[CrichtonKicks]

Agreed. The whole point of the quest is to waste your time. So many elements and quest design seem so stupid and pointless. On a planet? Quest tells you to go to your ship to check your email. What does the email say? Go back to the planet and talk to the person who sent you that email. I've never played a modern RPG that has so little respect for my time.

I may be kind of dense but some of the stuff doesn't even make sense to me. Asari Ark spoilers

Spoiler

I didn't really follow how they found someone from the Ark stranded on Eos but then had to go clear across the cluster to Voeld to pick up the transponder?

 

[Deleted member 752119]

It saddens me to see so many people in this thread try to crap on the writing in ME 1-3 as if that somehow makes the writing in this game OK. Sure, the older games had their problems, but Drew Karpyshyn's work on KOTOR and ME1-2 was universally lauded and beloved by both critics and fans. This new narrative that "Mass Effect writing has always been bad and you're just complaining about nothing" is so off-base and annoying.

For me the writing in ME1-3 is WAY better than in ME:A. I do think the cringey-iest lines in ME:A aren't really worse than those in the old games though, nor really even more prevalent.

They just stand out more as the best parts of ME:A's writing are way, way below the highs from the first 3 games.

 

[Maledict]

The moment to moment character writing in ME2 was fantastic (ME1 less so but still really good) but people have been complaining the about the plot issues in ME1 and 2 since the day they first released. It isn't a new narrative or revisionist thinking.

Plot != writing though, at all. I think you're comparing two very different things there. I mean, I think the over arching plot of ME3 was a mistake from start to finish, but the writing within that was still very good (and in parts, fantastic - Mordin, Thane and Garrus in particular).

And it is absolutely a complete revisionist history to say that ME has always had weak writing. in fact, it's flat out garbage. No-one will ever convince me that Sovereign's conversation in ME1, or Virgils, or the character writing we see in ME2, is as bad as some of the crap in ME:A. It's completely nonsensical, and no-one's ever managed to find any dialogue half as cringey as the usual stuff in ME:A (nevermind the "My face is too tired" or "I'm going to deadname myself to a stranger randomly the first time I see them").

 

[Maledict]

The conversation custscene work and staging in both ME2 and ME3 is outstanding and IMO under-appreciated. Even reasonably mundane conversations could have some pretty striking framing and the characters would move around through the environment during the conversations.

ME:A's conversation moments are really mundane in comparison.

I remember in particular that the conversations with Miranda in ME2 were extremely dynamic, with the camera and the characters moving around the room a lot. As much as I adore Horizon, practically every conversation is just two people facing each other. The original ME had much more believable, motion filled conversations (remember Mordin pottering round his lab as you talk as well? ).

 

[diaspora]

Cluster, whatever. Tempest has to (judging by the animation) engage its mass effect drives to travel between systems. Since when can shuttles that are on brink of destruction do the same?

The Normandy got wrecked at the end of ME2 while surrounded by exploding black holes and still came out from the Omega 4 relay fine. Tracking the course of a beat up ship across a few solar systems is innocuous.

 

[CrichtonKicks]

Plot != writing though, at all. I think you're comparing two very different things there. I mean, I think the over arching plot of ME3 was a mistake from start to finish, but the writing within that was still very good (and in parts, fantastic - Mordin, Thane and Garrus in particular).

I don't know why people make this distinction. It only seems to crop up in videogames. In every other medium that I can think of the "writer" gets credited for both plot and dialogue and you don't get those distinctions. I don't know why we should give games a pass.

And it is absolutely a complete revisionist history to say that ME has always had weak writing.

Weak plot is absolutely weak writing. Doesn't take anything away from the great dialogue.

 

[moustascheman]

Combos are not slower than shooting enemies since they do splash damage, and your squad's warp triggers instantly when they're off screen. It's also not true that the only ability you should use is warp, when there's singularity, statis, energy drain, flashbang etc. You're right that against shielded enemies you have to shoot more, but I don't see that as a bad thing. In ME3 I barely use my weapon at all because my cooldowns are 2s long and I can lift most things. Even on Insanity Husks are a joke because they can't touch you. Having to use your gun in a shooter isn't bad, I found only spamming powers to be boring. It also means that your weapon choices matter, and someone like Zaeed is useful because of Squad Disruptor Ammo.

You're right that certain squad members are terrible, but that is a problem with their design and not the design of the difficulty level. I like that not every power is equally viable.

Husks are actually significantly tougher on insanity because they have armor, making aoe's like singularity and shockwave useless against them, which is really the crux of why biotics are all terrible on insanity due to me2's difficulty. Compare an adept to basically any class other than a vanguard and you'll notice that it's far harder to play an adept since most tech classes and combat builds have a way to deal with defenses (engineers with overload and incinerate, sentinels with overload and warp, infiltrators and soldiers with raw weapon damage). The way me2 is designed is that biotics specialize in crowd control, which only works when an enemy has red health. When every enemy on insanity has an extreme amount of shields or armor, most biotics are devalued since by the time you bring an enemy down to health he's basically already moments away from death.

Warp explosions are very limited since they require you to have lifted the enemy before detonating and are only really beneficial when enemies are grouped together. Combined with the long global cooldowns of me2, and it's simply not worth it since by the time you trigger a single explosion, you could've easily killed most of the enemies with guns, as well as the fact that most enemies might have already exited the effective range of the explosion. Even then, the damage isn't really anything spectacular especially against bosses where shooting and throwing a warp whenever it's off cooldown will definitely deal higher dps then relying on a mook (which your teamates might even kill quicker than you can detonate) for an explosion. When 90% of your powers are useless and really only fancy ways to finish off mooks (which most biotics actually won't do since they don't deal enough damage), adepts basically just become soldiers with warp and gimped weapon damage, where your primary method of dps is shooting everything with an smg and occasionally using warp on armored foes.

You can try a caster-like character as you would with an engineer or sentinel, but you'll find yourself heavily restricted in what you can do. I wouldn't say that insanity makes the game any more tactical by doing this, if anything it makes the game less by not prioritizing the strengths of each power and the usefulness (biotics for aoe, tech for debuff and single target damage) since biotic aoe is basically useless.

 

[Roussow]

Eh, I get it, I get all of your complaints, I think some of the writing knocks have been overstated, but I understand where y'all are coming from.

That said, none of this games issues have stopped me from achieving 100% viability on all of the planets available. Enjoying the hell out of this game, excited to continue the loyalty missions before closing out by mainlining the rest of the story (I feel like I'm like two thirds through, but it's hard to tell) -- just had the mission critical conversation with Gil in engineering. If anyone could give me a rough percentage of how far through I am I would appreciate it.

Also -- How dope was the location that features the Vetra loyalty mission -- the mission was fine and all, but a location like that was so unexpected and had a real cool muted atmosphere.

Spoiler

PLUS LOW GRAVITY NOMAD PHYSICS AWW YIS

 

[Sterling's_Gold]

I remember in particular that the conversations with Miranda in ME2 were extremely dynamic, with the camera and the characters moving around the room a lot. As much as I adore Horizon, practically every conversation is just two people facing each other. The original ME had much more believable, motion filled conversations (remember Mordin pottering round his lab as you talk as well? ).

Since I previously only posted examples of better direction exclusive to ME1 and more bombastic moments, here's a couple of examples from the more subtle work in ME2:

Meeting Mordin on Omega:
It looks like 10x as much work was put into this conversation compared to anything I saw in 80+ hours of Andromeda. Several different angles are used with fast editing to play up Mordin's sharp dialogue and quick thinking character.

Meeting Thane on Illium:
Very smooth camerawork during the initial action scene that flows perfectly into dialogue. I like the shot from behind at 4:10 where Thane explains that he's dying. The lighting in this scene calls to mind the Tyrell corp stuff in Blade Runner.

 

[StrongBelwas]

So I've just got to Eos and as someone who loved ME1-3 I'm pretty sure I'm gonna really enjoy this game.

Don't get me wrong the animations and all that jazz are bad but not enough to ruin the game. The writing so far (and I know I'm not far into it) isn't amazing but doesn't seem any different to whst i remember from the old games.

The biggest disappointment is how little new they did with a pretty open premise.

For example,

Spoiler

landing on H7 and less than 5 minutes in were fighting a new race that walks around and fires guns and just feels so samey. Like I really wish they had handled an enemy species with a little more creativity, at the very least not have us shooting each other 5 minutes in.

I think it's a shame they decided to stick do closely to the story structure of the past games and not take the opportunity to try something different narratively.

That said it's mass effect, more of the same, nothing new and I liked the old mass effect. A 7 seems about right but I think of you liked the old games you will like this one.

 

[Matush]

Wow, just great, got bug in

Spoiler

Kadaras

vault and had to reload save from 2 hours. I guess I will put the game back on the shelf until they patch things out.

Also, is it me or the more you play the more bugs and glitches appear?

 

[Jinroh]

I've just read this article:

https://gamerant.com/mass-effect-andromeda-day-one-patch-sara-ryder-face/

I didn't know there was another Sara Ryder model. I made a custom one so I didn't check, but does the final game feature the cute or the ugly one?

And if we have the ugly one... what happened?

 

[Familienoberhauptvogel]

I've 40+ hours played with default Sara and in no way is she ugly. Animations are off in particular the eyes but that's the extent of the issues.

I remember in particular that the conversations with Miranda in ME2 were extremely dynamic, with the camera and the characters moving around the room a lot. As much as I adore Horizon, practically every conversation is just two people facing each other. The original ME had much more believable, motion filled conversations (remember Mordin pottering round his lab as you talk as well? ).

Bad example as the camera usually was ogling Miranda's ass.

 

[Dre_G_Writer]

Biotic charge + Annihilation + Shockwave + Adept profile =

 

[xealo]

Its a stretch to call the facial structure of the default Sara "ugly". It's just that a combination of both her eyes being off and animation issues makes her look non human often.

 

[Grisby]

The conversation custscene work and staging in both ME2 and ME3 is outstanding and IMO under-appreciated. Even reasonably mundane conversations could have some pretty striking framing and the characters would move around through the environment during the conversations.

ME:A's conversation moments are really mundane in comparison.

Yeah, that's one reason while 2 was such a step up. They nailed the camera work in a way few RPGs have.

Horizon felt so stale in that department and Andromeda doesn't fair much better unless it's a key scene.

 

[Micromegas]

Plot != writing though, at all. I think you're comparing two very different things there. I mean, I think the over arching plot of ME3 was a mistake from start to finish, but the writing within that was still very good (and in parts, fantastic - Mordin, Thane and Garrus in particular).

And it is absolutely a complete revisionist history to say that ME has always had weak writing. in fact, it's flat out garbage. No-one will ever convince me that Sovereign's conversation in ME1, or Virgils, or the character writing we see in ME2, is as bad as some of the crap in ME:A. It's completely nonsensical, and no-one's ever managed to find any dialogue half as cringey as the usual stuff in ME:A (nevermind the "My face is too tired" or "I'm going to deadname myself to a stranger randomly the first time I see them").

Well, Mass Effect 1 & 2 had a real writer, Drew Karpshyn, and a pretty decent novel as a prologue to ME1.

Not sure which interns were responsible for the writing in ME:A.

 

[arhra]

Also, is it me or the more you play the more bugs and glitches appear?

Yeah, the further I've got through the game (100% on the first 4 outpost planets, got as far as the

Spoiler

Krogan colony

on

Spoiler

Elaaden

, and now I'm working on loyalty missions), the more bugs, glitches, and random slowdown I seem to be seeing, even in areas that ran perfectly fine earlier in the game.

 

[terencecah]

Do enemies auto-level?

I like to mainline/critical-path the store and come back for side quests later


Anyway to change the FOV while holding a weapon on PC?

 

[Fatalmephisto]

Erm, I'm not sure what you're referring to, the Codex directly states that

Spoiler

The Jardaan were a faction and/or race that created the Remnant, not an individual.

It isn't actually, similar yes and relatively indentical but Mass Effect 2's galaxy map music has several sections of different tones and is about a minute longer.

Mass Effect 1

vs

Mass Effect 2

For example, in the Mass Effect 2 version starting at 1 minute 49 seconds it has a subtler synth beat that the Mass Effect 1 version does not.

Your right, correction is in order. Well then maybe it was someone from that race. Who knows.

 

[malfcn]

The Keri task was timed? Augh.

 

[DeadlyParasite]

Do enemies auto-level?

I like to mainline/critical-path the store and come back for side quests later

They don't.

And I would be careful about beelining the main story, there are a select number of side-missions that become unavailable if you go past the point of no return.

 

[Nekrono]

So I've been reading about the party banter bug and it makes me wonder if I have it as I can't recall any conversations between my squad while on foot, I only get them while on the Nomad.

Can someone post a video of banter on foot please?

Anyway to change the FOV while holding a weapon on PC?

I've searched and haven't found any. Hopefully BioWare will add it to the game.

I don't like having such a narrow FOV while having my gun out.

 

[CrichtonKicks]

So I've been reading about the party banter bug and it makes me wonder if I have it as I can't recall any conversations between my squad while on foot, I only get them while on the Nomad.

Can someone post a video of banter on foot please?

I had on foot banter on Navarl but that is a non-Nomad planet. On the two Nomad planets that I've been to, I don't recall any banter outside the Nomad with maybe one exception.

 

[RAIDEN1]

Bring on April 4th!!

 

[Sodding_Gamer]

With the lack of music in certain locations like the nexus and tempest, I HIGHLY recommend playing the mass effect: Andromeda playlist on Spotify whilst you're wondering around. Adds so much to the atmosphere. Again Stellardrone is also an excellent artist to listen to in the downtime areas.

Also this might sound ridiculous but I found conversing with the team way more enjoyable by simply listening to their convos rather than intently staring at the screen and seeing their dead faces. I was tidying up my living room and just glancing at the TV to make dialogue choices and I found it way more enjoyable and less jarring. It's why I enjoy the chatting between the team mates on the tempest so much. Can't see the dodgy facial animations that way!

 

[Rellik]

I've had 0 banter on foot. I also had the same exact issue with DA:I on release.

 

[CarbonFire]

I've had 0 banter on foot. I also had the same exact issue with DA:I on release.

Most of the banter happens in the Nomad. I've had occasional banter based on location, but most was only while driving.

 

[Doodis]

Biotic charge + Annihilation + Shockwave + Adept profile = [/QUOTE]
Man, I am really tired of respecing because people keep posting awesome loadouts.

 

[diaspora]

I've had 0 banter on foot. I also had the same exact issue with DA:I on release.

Banter is in the Nomad

 

[semiconscious]

With the lack of music in certain locations like the nexus and tempest, I HIGHLY recommend playing the mass effect: Andromeda playlist on Spotify whilst you're wondering around. Adds so much to the atmosphere. Again Stellardrone is also an excellent artist to listen to in the downtime areas...

yes, friends, we've indeed reached the point where you actually have to play a game's soundtrack independently in order to hear it much of the time while you're playing the game. truly amazing! ...

 

[Jinroh]

She's totally derpy compared to her real counterpart.

So nobody knows?

 

[rockinreelin]

So I've been reading about the party banter bug and it makes me wonder if I have it as I can't recall any conversations between my squad while on foot, I only get them while on the Nomad.

There are but I noticed that it is only in the loyalty missions mostly which are scripted otherwise the open world is pretty much silent for most of the time. Of course Drack has the best lines "Wait, what did you just say?"

 

[Kevin Shields]

Question (early game spoiler) -- just making sure,

Spoiler

but are all the main quests in the game about doing the three remnant pillars and then completing a dungeon for all the main planets?

Cause it's cool this first time, but if this is the game then eh

 

[Familienoberhauptvogel]

Question (early game spoiler) -- just making sure,

Spoiler

but are all the main quests in the game about doing the three remnant pillars and then completing a dungeon for all the main planets?

Cause it's cool this first time, but if this is the game then eh

no but they are repeat on every planet. The vaults are different every time thouhg.

 

[Grazzt]

Biotic charge + Annihilation + Shockwave + Adept profile =

Cooldown is reset after shockwave? how?

 

[aliengmr]

I may be kind of dense but some of the stuff doesn't even make sense to me. Asari Ark spoilers

Spoiler

I didn't really follow how they found someone from the Ark stranded on Eos but then had to go clear across the cluster to Voeld to pick up the transponder?

Spoiler

The Periphone, which I assume was a smaller vessel like the Tempest, tried to lead the Kett away from the Asari ark and crashed on Voeld. Some of the crew survived.

But yeah, it's confusing.

 

[CrazyDude]

Can we talk about how shit the Remnant are? Spoilers for whole game.

Spoiler

Like they give us no explanation on who they are, what happened to them, or why they did what they did. What is the scourge? No answer. Who were attacking them, no answer. I get keeping them a mystery and what not, but they should have given us something. These guys made the Angara, but why? No even a clue. I felt the Protheans were done much better in ME1.

 

[exYle]

Can we talk about how shit the Remnant are? Spoilers for whole game.

Spoiler

Like they give us no explanation on who they are, what happened to them, or why they did what they did. What is the scourge? No answer. Who were attacking them, no answer. I get keeping them a mystery and what not, but they should have given us something. These guys made the Angara, but why? No even a clue.

Pretty sure the Remnant are

Spoiler

not the Jardaan, but rather another of their creations. Like robotic Keepers. Also, game like Mass Effect clearly is not going to answer all of the questions in just one game. So, what you are given about the Remnant is the name of their creators, who have advanced terraforming capabilities and created a sentient lifeform to populate their planets.

 

[ArmGunar]

Just beat the game, almost 64h and 90% completion
It was really cool, not excellent but I overall enjoy the game

I missed the Mass Effect universe !

The problem is the end, there are too many outstanding questions ... I know it's for the sequel :/
For those who finish the game, the remaining mysteries :

Spoiler

- Who are the Jardaan ?
- Why terraforming, what are their goals ? Why create life (Angara) ?
- Are they still alive somewhere in Andromeda ? It would be weird if Jardaan are alive and the Kert Empire didn't know them when you see how far advanced the Jardaan are

- Who are their ennemies who induced the scourge ?
(Both seems very very advanced technologically, hope we'll see more impressive civilization like the city of Asurans in Stargate Atlantis for example)

- Who create the Initiative ? How did he/she know the reapers ?
- Why does Quarian Ark refuse help ? (yes surely in DLC)

For the sequel, I see :

Spoiler

- Empire Kert strikes back
- Conspiracy about the Initiative's creator
- Jardaan's civilization (hope planet/cities/people)
- Jardaan's ennemies (who seems to be as powerful as Jardaan, maybe more ?)
- Quarian Ark (in DLC this year surely)

EDIT : I just think about

Spoiler

Quarian Ark, maybe they are chased by the Reapers (even if they are gone just 4 weeks after the others Arks)

 

[Sodding_Gamer]

yes, friends, we've indeed reached the point where you actually have to play a game's soundtrack independently in order to hear it much of the time while you're playing the game. truly amazing! ...

Haha its not the actual soundtrack on Spotify but a collection of like 100 tracks that are similar to mass effect's electronica,synth and orchestral motifs from the previous trilogy. Due to the fact Andromeda is lacking music in so many areas (and the music that does play is so 1uiet you can barely hear it anyway) this seems to help somewhat I found!

 

[Jaraghan]

Shit. Just realized I can't re-enter vaults to get my missed remnant consoles for the trophy/achievement that requires 20 of them completed. Well, I know what I can get done on my second playthrough.

 

[Dany]

Damn, liams loyalty mission is so funny. Vetra just wants to push Liam and Ryder out the airlock for coming along

 

[Slackbladder]

I've finished the game but before then I discovered the AVP is bugged. I hit lvl 20 and then I started getting more points but I have -3,000 AVP so I can't unlock anything else. Again, a silly bug overlooked because the game was rushed. Frustrating.

 

[Megasoum]

They need to put some deadzone on the leftstick when opening the pause menu...

If I try to mash pause and then A right away to open the map I sometime end up in one of the other menus because the stick was like 1 degree in one of the directions.

 

[His Majesty]

I really enjoyed my play session tonight. After 45 hours new and interesting quests keep popping up and the loyalty missions are great so far. Too bad about all the crashes.

 

[exmachina64]

Damn, liams loyalty mission is so funny. Vetra just wants to push Liam and Ryder out the airlock for coming along

Drack has the time of his life.

 

[Frozenprince]

I hope no reapers show up in this or any future ME games.

They've been done already, please let the OG trilogy just be its own thing and let this fly on its own without being tethered to anything.

Honestly I think

Spoiler

The quarian ark has Geth on it, that's the big "no don't come" thing.

Quarian squad mate or crew member next game plz bioware.

 

[Kin5290]

I've only been able to play for hourlong windows here and there. The opening is damn slow. Also, I personally found some of the writing for the massive expo-dump that you receive upon reaching the not-Citadel to be pretty awful, and not just the meme-worthy stuff like "My face is tired" either (and the lackluster facial animations, which are exactly as bad as people said, don't help matters much).

Take "Now you know why they call it the Scourge". Who calls it the Scourge? Did Nexus crew just suddenly take to calling the dark matter massive area denial weapon they ran into by "the Scourge"? Why would they do that? It's a name that is considerably more religious or mythological than what you'd expect the technologically inclined Council race species to adopt. And it's not particularly descriptive compared to something like "The Web" or "The Net" (or even "The Anomaly"). Or give it a colloquial term like "Darkweb", that understandably is derived "that dark matter web in space". Contrast with "the Citadel" from the original trilogy, which seems much more appropriate when it comes to how people might have started calling the massive alien space station used as a capital for the galaxy's largest polity (in their own languages).

There's also "Exiles". "Exiles" are exiles, lower-case "e", but referring to them as a homogenous bloc with capital E Exiles just really bugs me.

And, I'm really annoyed at the fact that Overload, which I use to strip shields, is a detonator instead of a primer, but Incinerate, which doesn't work on shielded enemies, is a primer and not a detonator. And there doesn't seem to be any Combat primer, which is pretty bullshit.

All that said, I slapped a scope on an Avenger (don't have any Beryllium for a Cyclone, how are those by the way?) and am now having a lot more fun gunning down not-Covenant and not-Forerunners by the platoon. And I think I've passed most of the more egregious "How do you still have this in your game after $40M US and a 5 year dev cycle" bullshit, so it can only get better from here right?

 

[aliengmr]

Spoiler

The whole point of Mass Effect is that it's supposed to present you with tough and meaningful decisions. The end of Jaal's loyalty mission has NONE of the series subtlety, and instead presents it as a binary morality - killing Akksul is wrong in every possible way, and letting him live is simply the "correct choice." In previous Mass Effect games, you could fail loyalty quests by placing the greater good over their desires or make questionable calls without a clear right or wrong answer. Instead, here it's presented as simply "hurr durr Humans evil" if you kill the terrorist who's spent the entire game trying to commit genocide. Killing him is simply wrong in every conceivable way according to ME Andromeda.

So if you spare him, and when Ryder goes "umm, we let this guy who has been trying to kill my entire race go free," Jaal just says "but his PRIDE will keep him in the shadows." Thanks Jaal. Humanity can sleep safely now. This is just fucking awful writing. And to make things even sillier, killing him results in you getting Jaal's loyalty anyways! What's even the point of these "loyalty" missions if your decisions have no impact on your companions loyalty?

ME has literally always been about binary choices. Jesus Shep and Dick Shep. ME has never been known for being morally ambiguous. In this case, I think you missed the point.

Spoiler

Killing Akksul was exactly what Akksul wanted. Jaal warned you that he was going to make you act irrationally. This wasn't about taking down Akksul but getting Jaal's family, which, regardless of the outcome, happens. Then it progresses to the bombs and finally the encounter with Akksul, which is a tertiary part to the entire quest. The quest is pretty much done at this point.

Jaal's going to remain loyal because his loyalty wasn't conditional on the fate of Akksul, it was his family. Jaal doesn't care about Akksul anymore than you do, but he knows what will happen if Ryder kills him.

The whole point was to get the player to either get provoked into firing or not and in that way it was well done. I'm guessing you acted and got pissed when the Angara didn't throw you a parade.

This isn't an example of bad writing. It makes total sense within the story that is being told and sets it up reasonable well. Oddly enough, your explanation highlights the moral ambiguity that you claim is lacking. It's a binary choice but not a clear right and wrong.