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[hollomat]

Has anyone found ini tweaks or the like to change UI scaling or font size? Playing the PC version on my TV has been a bit of a challenge.. A little too much squinting.


Thanks for your totally-not-a-driveby-shitpost contribution to the OT.

You're welcome. I didn't realize comments were only allowed here if they were positive on the game. I was a huge fan of mass effect 1-3 and really looking forward to this game right up until the point where I started playing it. I've never played a more janky unpolished game.

Most games allow you to get lost in their lore and feel like you're inhabiting the character and the world. The new Zelda and Horizon Zero Dawn are great examples of this. Every single second I played this game I was fully aware I was playing a video game due to the janky animations, numerous bugs and glitches, horrible horrible writing and boring empty world. You're a pathfinder exploring a new galaxy to try to help your people find new worlds to settle on. The first time you encounter an alien race (one of only two in this brand "new" galaxy) you can't understand, your response to them is shoot on site.

More often than not when I opened the map, it was a mess of random textures rather than the actual map. After the one-two punch of dragon age inquisition (terrible game, but amazing compared to this) and mass effect andromeda, I will never buy a bioware game again. Earlier i said it was worth the 6 bucks I paid, but I take that back. That money would've been better spent on almost anything else and certainly my time would've been better spent somewhere else.

In a year of so many fantastic games this is by far the worst I've played and most disappointing. I beat 3 worlds, and they were all equally bland.

 

[Wootball]

I'll wait for a patch that fixes the banter bug. it's so silent nowadays driving around with the nomad or on the Tempest. I don't care if some dialog repeats just DON'T MAKE THE SQUADMATES SILENT

I don't get it - I took Peebee and Jaal and they wouldn't shut the fuck up. I had to switch them just for some peace and quiet.

 

[N7.Angel]

Aren't people being too harsh with the game because of all the amazing RPG/games we got since Witcher 3 ? I don't know if we're biased because of it but MEA is really close from the writing of other ME. Just replay them and you'll see that ME writing was always overrated and pretty much terrible.

 

[Alo0oy]

Do I miss anything if I postpone some sidequests? I want to get a bit deep into the story before sidequesting.

 

[SirPinkyNose]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iDAxIVQE0To

 

[whytemyke]

You're welcome. I didn't realize comments were only allowed here if they were positive on the game. I was a huge fan of mass effect 1-3 and really looking forward to this game right up until the point where I started playing it. I've never played a more janky unpolished game.

Most games allow you to get lost in their lore and feel like you're inhabiting the character and the world. The new Zelda and Horizon Zero Dawn are great examples of this. Every single second I played this game I was fully aware I was playing a video game due to the janky animations, numerous bugs and glitches, horrible horrible writing and boring empty world. You're a pathfinder exploring a new galaxy to try to help your people find new worlds to settle on. The first time you encounter an alien race (one of only two in this brand "new" galaxy) you can't understand, your response to them is shoot on site.

More often than not when I opened the map, it was a mess of random textures rather than the actual map. After the one-two punch of dragon age inquisition (terrible game, but amazing compared to this) and mass effect andromeda, I will never buy a bioware game again. Earlier i said it was worth the 6 bucks I paid, but I take that back. That money would've been better spent on almost anything else and certainly my time would've been better spent somewhere else.

In a year of so many fantastic games this is by far the worst I've played and most disappointing. I beat 3 worlds, and they were all equally bland.

So I suppose we won't be treated to updates anymore on how you're doing in the game?

 

[VenomousCoffee]

Aren't people being too harsh with the game because of all the amazing RPG/games we got since Witcher 3 ? I don't know if we're biased because of it but MEA is really close from the writing of other ME. Just replay them and you'll see that ME writing was always overrated and pretty much terrible.

I think the writing (so far) is much worse than ME 1's--or at least the arc of the storyline and the characterization. While I've been playing, the recurring thought I've been having is that it all feels like the first draft of something better. [All of the line-by-line writing in video games is terrible compared to any decent movie or novel, so let's not get crazy.]

 

[BizzyBum]

Aren't people being too harsh with the game because of all the amazing RPG/games we got since Witcher 3 ? I don't know if we're biased because of it but MEA is really close from the writing of other ME. Just replay them and you'll see that ME writing was always overrated and pretty much terrible.

The Witcher 3 has definitely upped expectations for open world RPG's and just story-driven RPG's as a whole. This game is a flat out joke compared to W3, IMO. However, this game doesn't even come close to the greatness of any of the original trilogy, either.

The only saving graces this game has is that it's pretty and the combat is good. Some of the worlds are nice like Havarl and Aya. Everything else is a dud. The original ME kept me playing and wanting more, this game is just boring to me.

As a big ME fan, I'd go so far to say this might be one of the most disappointing games I've ever played.

 

[hollomat]

So I suppose we won't be treated to updates anymore on how you're doing in the game?

I'll let you know if my father dies and I inherit the role of pathfinder instead of any of the far far more qualified people.

 

[Kevin Shields]

I really had good first impressions but after Eos I'm hitting some bugs and I feel like I'm meandering a bit doing some insubstantial quests. Thinking of trading it in but had some questions to see if things pick up

1. Does the game get more buggy as it goes on?

2. Does the narrative pick up? I'm really curious about the arks, do they come into play soon and are they interesting (spoiler tag obviously)

3. Do the quests get better or are they pretty repetitive? I don't feel like doing what I did on Eos 5 times in a row.

4. Overall, does the game improve from here or if I'm getting a little annoyed now, should I shelv it?

Thanks Gaf!!

 

[RedNalgene]

I'm really enjoying this game but the bugs are starting to creep up and make it less fun. For instance, was playing for about an hour today on Havarl and all of a sudden I couldn't pick up any items, couldn't talk to any people - the circular fill meter would go all the way around but wouldn't trigger anything. I couldn't choose anything in the menus. Then, like 2 minutes later everything I had interacted with triggered. It's like there's a memory leak or something and it slows all the actions down. So I saved, closed, reopened and things went back to normal. PS4 btw.

Will keep at it, but definitely going to be manually saving very frequently going forward.

 

[Ryzaki009]

I'm really enjoying this game but the bugs are starting to creep up and make it less fun. For instance, was playing for about an hour today on Havarl and all of a sudden I couldn't pick up any items, couldn't talk to any people - the circular fill meter would go all the way around but wouldn't trigger anything. I couldn't choose anything in the menus. Then, like 2 minutes later everything I had interacted with triggered. It's like there's a memory leak or something and it slows all the actions down. So I saved, closed, reopened and things went back to normal. PS4 btw.

Will keep at it, but definitely going to be manually saving very frequently going forward.

Same I really like the games but the bugs are just too much. I keep falling on my ship when I reload a save, My turret randomly is following me on the ship it's like how was that not caught?

 

[Madness]

I really had good first impressions but after Eos I'm hitting some bugs and I feel like I'm meandering a bit doing some insubstantial quests. Thinking of trading it in but had some questions to see if things pick up

1. Does the game get more buggy as it goes on?

2. Does the narrative pick up? I'm really curious about the arks, do they come into play soon and are they interesting (spoiler tag obviously)

3. Do the quests get better or are they pretty repetitive? I don't feel like doing what I did on Eos 5 times in a row.

4. Overall, does the game improve from here or if I'm getting a little annoyed now, should I shelv it?

Thanks Gaf!!

1. Bugs are constant from finish to end. Whether you get any is basically lottery. You may get something that requires you to load a save several hours back, glitched sidequests that don't finish, romance options not popping etc.

2.

Spoiler

Yes the other arks come into play. Keep track of some sidequests but you will definitely see/hear more soon.

3. They pretty much stay the same with some narrative differences. Probably weakest aspect of the game is the tasks and sidequests.

4. The game does improve from Eos. You get into the story more, the crew and loyalty missions, better action and planet missions.

 

[J_Viper]

I'm holding off on continuing my play-through till that patch news hits.

Is it recommended to skip any side content that isn't the loyalty missions?

 

[BizzyBum]

Is it recommended to skip any side content that isn't the loyalty missions?

Yeah, unless you like performing quests that are from a 2005 MMO.

 

[Ryzaki009]

I'm holding off on continuing my play-through till that patch news hits.

Is it recommended to skip any side content that isn't the loyalty missions?

If it's not in the allies and ops quest tab yeah feel free to skip it.

Though some quests in the planet tab aren't too bad.

90% of the tasks (it's in a seperate tab from planet quests) are straight up MMO garbage.

 

[abundant]

Is it recommended to skip any side content that isn't the loyalty missions?

Do the following...

a) everything that's under the Relationship tab.
b) unlock and activate the Vaults.
c) the main side mission tied to that planet.

 

[Zakalwe]

Aren't people being too harsh with the game because of all the amazing RPG/games we got since Witcher 3 ? I don't know if we're biased because of it but MEA is really close from the writing of other ME. Just replay them and you'll see that ME writing was always overrated and pretty much terrible.

The original trilogy's writing was far better. It's always been cheesy, but it had actual charm and tragedy before. The character writing was fantastic, and the companion quests contain some of the best video game writing in the industry and remain strong examples of how to do side-quests well.

ME:A is on par in terms of cheesy delivery, but it lacks the character. It feels like it's writing to a template and attempting to emulate what made the writing in ME so much fun, and it too often replaces moments that could be compelling with questionable humour.

It's like they made some kind of ME generator tool loaded with all the previous game's components and just hit randomise. While it's a fun game still despite its problems, here's no /soul/ here, and while that's a fairly nebulous term I'm pretty certain many fans of the original trilogy will get what I mean.

 

[bati]

I really had good first impressions but after Eos I'm hitting some bugs and I feel like I'm meandering a bit doing some insubstantial quests. Thinking of trading it in but had some questions to see if things pick up

1. Does the game get more buggy as it goes on?

2. Does the narrative pick up? I'm really curious about the arks, do they come into play soon and are they interesting (spoiler tag obviously)

3. Do the quests get better or are they pretty repetitive? I don't feel like doing what I did on Eos 5 times in a row.

4. Overall, does the game improve from here or if I'm getting a little annoyed now, should I shelv it?

Thanks Gaf!!

1. Pretty consistent. I've mostly ran into animation glitches, some minor quest bugs that were solved by loading a save, minor combat bugs and interacting with items. Might seem like a lot goes wrong but it's usually a minor inconvenience.

2. Yes but the pacing is all over the place, questing on planets feels like questing in WoW: Cataclysm - you get zones with tons of insubstantial quests that are mostly solved by going to place X and wiping out the baddies. There are some fairly typical Mass Effect story quests sprinkled around but they're few and far between, it's far from a condensed experience that ME2 was.

3. All the planets are literally the same. Establish outpost, activate 3 monoliths, explore the vault, solve the central plot on the planet - usually spans over 2-3 short quests. This is arguably the biggest mistake designers have made. I felt like stopping after I was done with the second such planet and there are 4 + one shorter.

4. If you're already annoyed on Eos I'd turn it in. Combat gets progressively better as you get more options and the crew is pretty cool. Ryder is also not bad imo, but the rest is very, very bland.

 

[semiconscious]

Aren't people being too harsh with the game because of all the amazing RPG/games we got since Witcher 3 ? I don't know if we're biased because of it but MEA is really close from the writing of other ME. Just replay them and you'll see that ME writing was always overrated and pretty much terrible.

if it was only the writing, you might have a point. but this game is loaded with technical glitches/bugs, most of which weren't present in another rpg this same developer released over 2 years ago ...

it's dragon age: inquisition that set the bar for bioware rpgs this gen, afa graphic & performance tech goes. the fact that andromeda falls well below that bar is a large reason for the harshness...

 

[X-Frame]

Anyone using a fun build with the Explorer profile?

I'm getting a bit used to the Charge / Annihilation / Nova build. Explorer profile bonuses actually seem quite good and the Biotic Blink seems very fun.

 

[Blue Ninja]

I'm not finding a decent use for Annihilation. I think I'm just too spoiled by my Backlash/Charge/Pull setup, I hardly ever lose my barriers.

 

[MegaSackman]

Almost a week without playing the game, it bores me just to think about it but I don't have such a bad time when I play it, is just when I stop playing that I don't want to go back.

Anyway I'll play now because I have a lot of free time today, I just put the game, clicked "Resume" and the game crashed... not a good start.

 

[abundant]

I'm not finding a decent use for Annihilation. I think I'm just too spoiled by my Backlash/Charge/Pull setup, I hardly ever lose my barriers.

Annihilation is a God tier ability when you spec it to give you Shields whenever someone dies within it's field. With that, Charge, Vanguard Profile, and a few passives/augments, nothing can kill you, even on the harder difficulties.

 

[Yankee Ruin X]

Does anyone else get a stupid loud low rumble when transferring between planets on the galaxy map?

I have a 7.2 system and whenever the little cutscenes play when zooming around the galaxy map my house shakes due to that really loud low sound. The rest of the game and anything else is fine with the volume my system is set at. I have tried turning my subs down but then i might as well have them switched off with how low I have to turn them down just so that little bit doesn't shake the room. It's really annoying me now the more I play this game especially as I'm doing a lot of planet hoping and scanning now.

 

[Lime]

The way you become pathfinder is the dumbest thing ever and such a missed opportunity. They could've gone so many interesting routes and made it a bunch of interesting gameplay scenarios to establish how and why Ryder is granted the title of Pathfinder.

 

[Cornbread78]

Started this last night finally. Why was Ryder so indifferent about

Spoiler

his father dying?

I mean, it just felt weird.

 

[J_Viper]

Yeah, unless you like performing quests that are from a 2005 MMO.

If it's not in the allies and ops quest tab yeah feel free to skip it.

Though some quests in the planet tab aren't too bad.

90% of the tasks (it's in a seperate tab from planet quests) are straight up MMO garbage.

Do the following...

a) everything that's under the Relationship tab.
b) unlock and activate the Vaults.
c) the main side mission tied to that planet.

Thanks dudes.

The few side quests I had on Eos gave me flashbacks to DAI, so I'll certainly skip the rest of them.

 

[Wootball]

Charge + Annihilation (w/ + Shields for everyone killed in it) + whatever you like will make you OP real quick. You'll have to bump up the difficulty to Hardcore/Insanity if you want any sort of challenge and even then, once you get a handle on how this build works, you'll become too OP even for those difficulties.

OK, so how do I run this build? Activate Annihilation and then charge in before Lancing whoever is left?

 

[Kevin Shields]

Some of the stages of the later missions, story and side, are so amazing. Better than the ones in the trilogy,even.

How late in the game are they?

I'm so torn with this game. I don't want to spend my time doing repetitive missions to get to the good stuff, but I also like the combat and am curious about a few plot threads.

 

[JayB1920]

Thanks dudes.

The few side quests I had on Eos gave me flashbacks to DAI, so I'll certainly skip the rest of them.

I agree do all the quests under allies and relationships tab and then do the main side quest of each planet. Those are all pretty good. Some of the other quests you pick up via emails are ok too. To be fair some of the other quests on other planets arent bad but there is still a lot of filler. There are better ones than what you'll find on eos at least.

 

[CharmingCharlie]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iDAxIVQE0To

Ah good ole MANS1AY3R. The guy knocks it right out of the park absolutely fantastic video. It almost makes up for the travesty that is Mass Effect Andromeda.

 

[Deleted member 752119]

Yeah I'm mostly just doing the ally/squadmate quests and the heleus quests. Tasks I just annoy and just complete some here and there if I end up near markers when doing other things.

I have EOS and Voeld and 100% viability. Havarl (sp?) is around 80%, but I left as I was out of heleus or character sidequests there and had done the main stuff. So I got to Kandara for the first time last night and just messed around for a bit. Think I'm around 34 hours.

 

[Sodding_Gamer]

Is it ever explained how the Angara can speak perfect English and you can understand them and vice versa?

I may have missed some sci-fi magic in a codex or VO? I get that the milky way races can speak our language due to how established all the races were anyway, but jumping into a new galaxy and suddenly everyone is able to communicate I found super weird. I expected a scene of sorts where our squad tries to communicate with this new race. The fact it didn't happen I found super odd. Might be just me though.

 

[b0bbyJ03]

hey all, just came for some quick advice. This is my first mass effect game so im not sure what to do. I'm already 12 hours in and I've kind of been hording points. I've got 15 to spend and so far I've been focusing on Biotics and Combat. Before I started I was advised to mainly stick to the powers I would like to build for a profile and decided to do biotic and vangaurd. So, with that said, whats the best route? do I make make powers like Pull and Throw level up all the way (since I've already invested points in them) or should I be spreading points around more to other powers?

 

[Sober]

Is it ever explained how the Angara can speak perfect English and you can understand them and vice versa?

I may have missed some sci-fi magic in a codex or VO? I get that the milky way races can speak our language due to how established all the races were anyway, but jumping into a new galaxy and suddenly everyone is able to communicate I found super weird. I expected a scene of sorts where our squad tries to communicate with this new race. The fact it didn't happen I found super odd. Might be just me though.

Funny cause it happens with the Kett.

But I think somewhere along the way there is supposed to be some kind of translator doing work?

Yeah I don't know to be honest.

 

[Akai__]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iDAxIVQE0To

My sides. OMFG.

 

[Sir Garbageman]

Eos Siesmeic hammer quest question

Spoiler

Playing on hardcore and getting rocked by the big Boss after you place the third hammer down. I'm level16 I think. Am I under leveled? Should I come back later? Are the rewards worth it to power through the encounter?

 

[Stiler]

Is it ever explained how the Angara can speak perfect English and you can understand them and vice versa?

I may have missed some sci-fi magic in a codex or VO? I get that the milky way races can speak our language due to how established all the races were anyway, but jumping into a new galaxy and suddenly everyone is able to communicate I found super weird. I expected a scene of sorts where our squad tries to communicate with this new race. The fact it didn't happen I found super odd. Might be just me though.

I heard them mention "translators" at one point, so I assume (though it's not made super obvious) that they/you are using tiranslators somehow.

I'm pretty sure it's on Havari, the woman you talk to there for a mission says "Translator maybe broken?" when you make a comical remark.

I do think it was poor writing though not to mention or make anything about it at the first meeting with them, because it makes no sense really. When you meet the Khett there's a language barrier and you have parts where you translate/learn language.

Then you meet these aliens and it's like "hey , how's it going" right off the bat with no language barrier. I mean they could have had like a simple <20 seconds where you have this and then they put a translator in you and bam, explained and no issues.

 

[nillapuddin]

Settling Kadara mission pissing me the fuck off so much

I am literally having to travel back and forth between Kadara Port, the Slums, the Planet surface, and the Tempest back to back to back.

Complete mission with Reyes, go to tempest to get email from Reyes, go to kadara port to see Reyes, to planet surface for mission, kadara port to see Sloane, go planet surface with sloan (mission ends) , go back to kadara port to talk to sloane (WHO WAS JUST STANDING FUCKING NEXT TO ME)

this has been infuriating. So many 'next step' on this chain will not unlock unless you go back and forth over and over. This planet is such a piece of shit.

 

[TC McQueen]

I heard them mention "translators" at one point, so I assume (though it's not made super obvious) that they/you are using tiranslators somehow.

I'm pretty sure it's on Havari, the woman you talk to there for a mission says "Translator maybe broken?" when you make a comical remark.

I do think it was poor writing though not to mention or make anything about it at the first meeting with them, because it makes no sense really. When you meet the Khett there's a language barrier and you have parts where you translate/learn language.

Then you meet these aliens and it's like "hey , how's it going" right off the bat with no language barrier.

For some reason, they don't mention in the dialogue that the Angara met

Spoiler

the exiles

at some point and got translators from them.

 

[ResoRai]

Is it ever explained how the Angara can speak perfect English and you can understand them and vice versa?

I may have missed some sci-fi magic in a codex or VO? I get that the milky way races can speak our language due to how established all the races were anyway, but jumping into a new galaxy and suddenly everyone is able to communicate I found super weird. I expected a scene of sorts where our squad tries to communicate with this new race. The fact it didn't happen I found super odd. Might be just me though.

Some translator I guess. There were a few dialogue lines about how some words don't translate well, but I don't think they show the Angara using any type of device. Unless it translates for them through our omni tool as well?

For some reason, they don't mention in the dialogue that the Angara met

Spoiler

the exiles

at some point and got translators from them.

Oh weird. Was it in the codex.

 

[Sodding_Gamer]

Funny cause it happens with the Kett.

But I think somewhere along the way there is supposed to be some kind of translator doing work?

Yeah I don't know to be honest.

Yeah I guess that's the easiest way around it. Perhaps SAM is doing some space magic to translate them, and then also translate our language to theirs. Should have been a moment there though I think where it is established. Like I dunno, SAM uploading the entire language into his implant so he can then translate back and forth. Just found it strange I guess how nonchalantly it was brushed over when seeing the Angara for the first time.

Also, the Angara (and Kett I suppose) shouldn't be moving their mouths in sync with English language when talking if that was the case, but that's just me being overly pedantic

 

[Roussow]

Man, it's been a while since I've seen an OT so oppressively negative, I've mostly been staying out of it and really enjoying my time with the game independently of the narrative that's built up around Andromeda, I'm not dismissing the criticism, but it's a real shame that not many of you out there are enjoying this as much as I am.

On a positive note, this game just keeps going! I wrapped up all of the loyalty missions, and planned to just push through with the rest of the story -- and then one story mission later a bunch of what must be epilogues to character stories opened up across the cluster, not to mention I've still got to find out what the mystery is at the center of the Alec Ryder memory quest, it's really built up into something fascinating.

How long have I got left, I just recovered the

Spoiler

Salarian arc.

 

[CrichtonKicks]

Oh weird. Was it in the codex.

It's commented in some logs and some dialogue from various Angaran NPCs.

The whole thing is handled really poorly. They initially present this as a first contact situation but then it turns out they have already met humans before.

The same thing with Outposts. The game makes a giant to-do about the establishment of Podromo as a major accomplishment yet we know there are already outposts out there from various exile factions.

I was actually quite flabbergasted to be walking around Eos and meet a random NPC that starts talking about

Spoiler

the nation of Advent, a colony that has already been established on Eos before the Pathfinder even arrives.

It makes the whole thing feel like there were some major story changes a fair bit through development that they didn't have the time or resources to spackle over.

 

[ffejeromdiks]

Is it ever explained how the Angara can speak perfect English and you can understand them and vice versa?

I may have missed some sci-fi magic in a codex or VO? I get that the milky way races can speak our language due to how established all the races were anyway, but jumping into a new galaxy and suddenly everyone is able to communicate I found super weird. I expected a scene of sorts where our squad tries to communicate with this new race. The fact it didn't happen I found super odd. Might be just me though.

The original races in ME never "speak our language", what you hear is all being instantly translated, every race speaks in their native language and some omni-tool science magic filters it all for you, I can't remember if this was in one of the books or a codex but that's the in-universe explanation.

I'm with you though that it's super bizarre that they completely glossed over that though, it worked in the original trilogy cause there was a dense rocky history between the races after first contact, that learning to communicate with one another took time and effort....In Andromeda it's just instantaneous, such a missed opportunity. I thought the way they handled the Kett first encounter was super lame too.

 

[abundant]

OK, so how do I run this build? Activate Annihilation and then charge in before Lancing whoever is left?

Pretty much. Also focus on passives that boost your melee and jump strikes if you want to be completely OP. It got to the point that I had to respec because the game became a cakewalk on the Insanity difficulty.

 

[Sodding_Gamer]

The original races in ME never "speak our language", what you hear is all being instantly translated, every race speaks in their native language and some omni-tool science magic filters it all for you, I can't remember if this was in one of the books or a codex but that's the in-universe explanation.

I'm with you though that it's super bizarre that they completely glossed over that though, it worked in the original trilogy cause there was a dense rocky history between the races after first contact, that learning to communicate with one another took time and effort....In Andromeda it's just instantaneous, such a missed opportunity. I thought the way they handled the Kett first encounter was super lame too.

Ahh right I get you. I never thought that was the case in the original trilogy. Hence why races like the Elcor and Hanar have a certain way of speaking, as that's them talking in English the best they can, and the other races learnt it through us. Again, if what you say is true they could have completely avoided the facial animation debacle by having their faces move how they should when they speak their own language, rather than mimicking English language!! If you get what I mean?!

But yeah agreed on the Kett and Angara encounters. Missed opportunity is an understatement. They could have done some kind of 'Arrival' (brilliant film btw) sort of first contact with them, especially the Kett.

 

[Vashetti]

Posted yet?

Gamerpoop: Mass Effect Andromeda

 

[aember]

Posted yet?

Gamerpoop: Mass Effect Andromeda

Yep, near the top of the page!