Yeah if they simply cut the most banal sidequests without replacement, the review score would go up.
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Mass Effect: Andromeda |OT| Ryders on the Storm
- Thread starter Blue Ninja
- Start date
Cornbread78
Member
Sweet, thanks for the breakdown. I choose
research
Not sure why, but it felt natural picking the left side of the screen, lol.
Agent_4Seven
Tears of Nintendo
93 hours here and I'm not even touched H-047c and Elaaden yet and not finished Drak, Vetra and PeeBee loyalty missions. There's just way too fuckin' much all sorts of side quest in this game and most of them are junk, boring as hell or simply don't have to be in the game at all cuz their sole purpose is to waste your fucking time while you scanning shit.
I mean, it's easy to say that just don't touch this shit and move on but... I can't man... to me it's like fuck everything except story and loyalty missions, but the game also has good content when it comes to side quests too it's just... The main problem here is that you don't know which is good and which is not... well, some of them clearly saying - go here, scan that and you know it's shit right away, but some of them don't and... I mean, you already there, scanning things, so fuck it, I might as well just finish this shit and move on.
This is too much BioWare and for the love of god don't even think about doing the same in the next game! You clearly don't know how to make compeling and really interesting side content for such a huge game for the duration of 100-120+ hours and beyond like CDPR did with The Witcher 3 (230-240 hours!)... so don't even bother waste your time, resources and money on this cuz the game sure as hell won't benefit from this just like we are.
Entertaining people at a wedding in Witcher 3 was not my idea of compelling side content.
About 10 hours into the game and really liking it so far. The menus suck and the character animation hasn't really improved from ME3, but it's prettier overall.
I'm liking the crew a lot. Especially Vetra.
Is there any explanation as to why female Turians were completely absent in ME1-3 but in Andromeda there's suddenly a ton of them?
I'm liking the crew a lot. Especially Vetra.
Is there any explanation as to why female Turians were completely absent in ME1-3 but in Andromeda there's suddenly a ton of them?
Agent_4Seven
Tears of Nintendo
WTF? The wedding is one of the best quests in Witcher 3. Also, I'm not talking about question marks (90% of them are waste of time).
Yeah, I finished somewhere near 80 hours. Took me longer to beat than Zelda BOTW, lol.Gooooodaaaaaaaamn! The game is too fuckin' HUGE!
I could easily complete ME1 and ME2 for the time I've spent with MEA so far.
Massive game like Dragon Age Inquisition although they could cut so many of those side quests out. Subsequent playthroughs should be a lot faster, but to be honest, I'm not starting my female playthrough immediately like I did in the previous three games.
Sterling's_Gold
Member
I think Bioware would be better served to go back to structuring Mass Effect games in the ME1 model, while obviously improving the quality of various aspects. Instead of a handful of gigantic planets full of superfluous busy work which feel more like themepark mmo zones, how about 4-5 "story" planets with linear areas based around hubs (also similar to KotOR and ME2). For exploration, iterate on what was there in ME1: have 10-20 "open-world" areas that are smaller in both scope and content than the planets in Andromeda. You could see this somewhat with H-047c, which felt structurally similar to the Bring Down the Sky DLC.
The planets in Andromeda, while both larger in size and amount of content compared to previous games, actually make the game feel smaller to me, as there is much less variety in locations. They also (like Inquisition) harm the pacing of the narrative. It makes the game feel like mostly "side content" with a tacked on main plot, rather than a story driven rpg with side quests to break up the story/expand the setting.
Oh and btw, the wedding quest in Hearts of Stone was fantastic.
The planets in Andromeda, while both larger in size and amount of content compared to previous games, actually make the game feel smaller to me, as there is much less variety in locations. They also (like Inquisition) harm the pacing of the narrative. It makes the game feel like mostly "side content" with a tacked on main plot, rather than a story driven rpg with side quests to break up the story/expand the setting.
Oh and btw, the wedding quest in Hearts of Stone was fantastic.
I use it alot. Tears through shields something fierce. Downside is you got to be perfectly on target, which sounds easy, but it kinda isn't. Also, it isn't as effective against armor.
Someone give me the quick rundown on this game.
Is it a good game despite the bad animations?
does it have meaningless mmo tier sidequests like DAI?
Is the gameplay fun and an improvement of ME3?
Is the writing as bad as some clips I saw on youtube?
IS ME1 still the best ME?
Is it a good game despite the bad animations?
does it have meaningless mmo tier sidequests like DAI?
Is the gameplay fun and an improvement of ME3?
Is the writing as bad as some clips I saw on youtube?
IS ME1 still the best ME?
lucebuce12
Member
Yes
A few yes, but they're also just classified under tasks and are really meaningless. There are a lot of meaningful sidequests, and quest chains that do give some decent payoff.
Once you embrace the verticality and speed of the combat, HELL YES. Some might find the reduced control over your squadmates to be annoying but this style fits multiplayer better, and makes you feel much more of a badass. And your squadmates are generally strong enough to hold their own if nothing else.
Yes. How bad you find it may vary depending on your sensitivity to such things.
In terms of gameplay, this eclipses it. As an overall game though, I'd have to say that ME1 is better.
There is a solid foundation for a game here, and they clearly had a LOT of good ideas in this game. But the execution is lacking and my guess would have to be time constraints. Half a year more would have given us a much more cohesive and well made game IMO.
I'm ticking slowly up to seventy hours, but I haven't really moved away from my Charge, Nova, repeat Biotic God build. Every time I try something different, it feels much less effective to me. I'd like to switch up my combat play style: does anybody have any suggestions of what works for them?
It's okay, not everyone can appreciate good things.
Thanks for the rundown.I'll probably pick this up now
After I finish ME3 the dlc made that game way longer
This sentence gives me flashbacks of pineapple on pizza threads
Gunslinger
Member
I don't know why BW keeps going for these MMO like sidequests. And unlike MMO the objective for the quests are never around the quest giver but all the way across the map. Makes the side stuff really boring imo.
Blue Ninja
Member
Mass Effect, for me, needs to go back to a more ME2/ME3 model for structure. The open worlds in this one are meaningless filler. So many devs just make a game "open world" to check that box, but they don't stop to think about what makes an open world interesting. It's discovering new locations, finding things off the beaten path, getting to know a location and its people, having the world feel alive around you. BioWare tried here, but they failed - in a rather grand way. For me, this game is everything wrong with open-world design, and I hope the devs stay far away from the formula next time. They can have some smaller planets, less cluttered with meaningless markers. Not like Havarl, where they tried pushing the same amount of meaningless content into a smaller space.
You guys are making me want to replay Witcher 3 now.
You guys are making me want to replay Witcher 3 now.
Nova is crap, use Charge with Annihilation and Shockwave instead, you can charge towards enemies and then instantly detonate them with Shockwave because of Annihilation's AoE auto primer. And then you can use melee and the shotgun to clean up.
Blue Ninja
Member
Breaking a crippled man's leg, how could you.
You totally should play Witcher 3, i'm gonna do it.
I still kill him in the end, though.
Alternatively: Backlash, Charge and Pull. Backlash keeps enemies at bay from a distance, with Pull you can set up one or more explosions and then BOOM.
I also tried Aniihilation/Charge/Lance, with the Lance upgrade that makes it use shields. If you kill an enemy in your field with it, you just get 'em right back.
I never could to be honest. Djikstra is too cool. Until, you know...
Nova also primes when upgraded, so I usually use a detonator on any survivors after slapping that down.
Was kind of hoping for an alternative that lets me change my play style (maybe a little more range; something tech or combat-focused?).
EatChildren
Currently polling second in Australia's federal election (first in the Gold Coast), this feral may one day be your Bogan King.
I am having a really hard time continuing/finishing up this game. It's Mankind Divided all over again for me. When I'm feeling the groove and the overall presentation is hitting the right narrative and design beats, I'm in all the way. But it's so frequently exactly not this that I find myself apathetic and bored with so much of everything that I'm consciously forcing myself forward just to see what's next and finish whatever dull mission I'm on.
I think at this point it's a game that I like, but cannot love, and routinely feel disappointed with. It absolutely does have moments where it hits similar resonant highs as the trilogy's strength, but they're wrapped in too much misdirection and failure to leverage its own premise and concept to give these highs the impact and worth they deserve.
Mankind Divided was similarly resonant with me; a great playing game beating in there, but a dull narrative and pacing that consistently failed to engage me. That's Andromeda.
I think at this point it's a game that I like, but cannot love, and routinely feel disappointed with. It absolutely does have moments where it hits similar resonant highs as the trilogy's strength, but they're wrapped in too much misdirection and failure to leverage its own premise and concept to give these highs the impact and worth they deserve.
Mankind Divided was similarly resonant with me; a great playing game beating in there, but a dull narrative and pacing that consistently failed to engage me. That's Andromeda.
I finished it a little earlier.
It's, uh. The simplest way I can describe it is that it's a crap game that I liked. It has a metric ton of problems and I honestly can't see myself replaying it any time soon, let alone recommending it to other people, but...but yeah. I really liked the characterization and NPC interactivity, and I loved Scott as protagonist (surprising because I wasn't so hot on him at the beginning, but he really grew on me as the game went on). There are some missions that are pretty fun and well designed too (particularly the main story missions and some of the loyalty missions), and the combat can be pretty fun once you start wrapping your head around it. It's just...*everything else* that's terrible. And that "everything else" covers *a lot* of stuff (including the story, the game economy, the game design, etc.), so the volume of bad content probably (considerably) outweighs the good.
But yeah. Yeah, I'd say I liked it.
The sequel to this game could really benefit from the application of a Mass Effect 2-style surgical knife, cutting away the sagging amounts of bloat to deliver a leaner, comparatively more focused experience. I feel like this *could* be a diamond in the rough, much like ME1 was at its time (though this one is considerably rougher, admittedly), BioWare just need to be willing to see it as such and be open to changing how they do certain things in their games.
PS: they, ah, weren't kidding about the sex scenes in this game. I ended up romancing Peebee and I mean, dang.
It's, uh. The simplest way I can describe it is that it's a crap game that I liked. It has a metric ton of problems and I honestly can't see myself replaying it any time soon, let alone recommending it to other people, but...but yeah. I really liked the characterization and NPC interactivity, and I loved Scott as protagonist (surprising because I wasn't so hot on him at the beginning, but he really grew on me as the game went on). There are some missions that are pretty fun and well designed too (particularly the main story missions and some of the loyalty missions), and the combat can be pretty fun once you start wrapping your head around it. It's just...*everything else* that's terrible. And that "everything else" covers *a lot* of stuff (including the story, the game economy, the game design, etc.), so the volume of bad content probably (considerably) outweighs the good.
But yeah. Yeah, I'd say I liked it.
The sequel to this game could really benefit from the application of a Mass Effect 2-style surgical knife, cutting away the sagging amounts of bloat to deliver a leaner, comparatively more focused experience. I feel like this *could* be a diamond in the rough, much like ME1 was at its time (though this one is considerably rougher, admittedly), BioWare just need to be willing to see it as such and be open to changing how they do certain things in their games.
PS: they, ah, weren't kidding about the sex scenes in this game. I ended up romancing Peebee and I mean, dang.
If you're up to it, you can use Remnant VI and the Turret, they can prime and detonate each other's attacks. Use the Tactical Cloak for your character to clean up after them or move more freely. There are a lot of viable tech builds that use Cryo, flamethrower, overload, incinerate...etc.
Unfortunatelt Biotic Adepts suck because they lack good detonators. Their profile is great though, and can work for vanguards in a way.
Now that you mention it, it does have a lot of similarities with MD. Like in MD there is stuff happening, and characters being introduced but i don't care about any of this. And like MD the combat mechanics are great in this game. The difference is that unlike MD the combat overstays it's welcome. There is soooo much of it and the encounters are so extremely samey it gets boring.
Edit: But you really should power through and finish it. I thought the ending sequence was great despite not really caring about the characters or plot.
Haha, I don't think you can. I used to have an armor, I think it was called Helius Champion or something like that. I put a black tint on it but it had neon purple lines running along the body. Looked corny as shit tbh.
Corny? Pffttt that sounds dope
S
Steve.1981
Unconfirmed Member
Bums me out to see so many of my fellow Mass Effect fans not enjoying Andromeda. I'm loving it.
I started (the first few hours) really unsure about everything, basically, but the more time I spend with the game, the more I enjoy myself.
The various little glitches that I periodically run into (like how the triangle "talk" icon is sometimes iffy when I approach a character) are really the only negative I can think of that bring the experience down for me. Game needs a couple more stability patches for sure (though I've still never encountered anything even remotely approaching a game-breaking bug).
I dunno man, I just dig it. Characters are great and get better as you spend time with them, planets are fun to explore (vaults and architect fights are brilliant) with some beautiful scenery and cool little hidden surprises and stuff, plenty of dialogue choices for role-playing your Pathfinder all through the game in big and small conversations (I appreciate this a lot), combat is hands-down the best it's ever been, crafting weapons is fun and rewarding (SMG that fires force lightning anyone? No? How about a machine gun that fires sticky grenades?...), loads of cool-looking customisable armour with various bonuses to suit particular play-styles... I could go on but you get the point.
I think underneath it's issues, this could have been a great game and it's just a damn shame that it released in a sub-par condition because the work that went into it's realisation (and the creators' love of the series and setting) is obvious to me. Not interested in who's to blame, but more dev time to polish up facial animations, bugs and stuff was needed and hopefully hard lessons have been learned.
I started (the first few hours) really unsure about everything, basically, but the more time I spend with the game, the more I enjoy myself.
The various little glitches that I periodically run into (like how the triangle "talk" icon is sometimes iffy when I approach a character) are really the only negative I can think of that bring the experience down for me. Game needs a couple more stability patches for sure (though I've still never encountered anything even remotely approaching a game-breaking bug).
I dunno man, I just dig it. Characters are great and get better as you spend time with them, planets are fun to explore (vaults and architect fights are brilliant) with some beautiful scenery and cool little hidden surprises and stuff, plenty of dialogue choices for role-playing your Pathfinder all through the game in big and small conversations (I appreciate this a lot), combat is hands-down the best it's ever been, crafting weapons is fun and rewarding (SMG that fires force lightning anyone? No? How about a machine gun that fires sticky grenades?...), loads of cool-looking customisable armour with various bonuses to suit particular play-styles... I could go on but you get the point.
I think underneath it's issues, this could have been a great game and it's just a damn shame that it released in a sub-par condition because the work that went into it's realisation (and the creators' love of the series and setting) is obvious to me. Not interested in who's to blame, but more dev time to polish up facial animations, bugs and stuff was needed and hopefully hard lessons have been learned.
CommandThrower
Member
I haven't played the SP in about a week, but last time I played, I think I was 40-50 hours in. I got all the planets to 100% viability, and I cleared the latest story mission involving the
.
I've still got a few "non-task" sidequests to do, and maybe more sidequests will appear the further I get into the actual story. That said, I'm still really enjoying myself. The main plot is kind of...average, I guess--but that's all right. To me, the best parts of Mass Effect are the combat, interacting with your squadmates, and the stories of your squadmates. The main plot was always second to those aspects, in my opinion. ME: A very much succeeds in that regard, in my opinion. I enjoy my squadmates, and their loyalty missions were very fun. Even after completing them, I'm still getting some very nice interactions and story bits involving these characters, and that makes me happy.
Salarian Ark
I've still got a few "non-task" sidequests to do, and maybe more sidequests will appear the further I get into the actual story. That said, I'm still really enjoying myself. The main plot is kind of...average, I guess--but that's all right. To me, the best parts of Mass Effect are the combat, interacting with your squadmates, and the stories of your squadmates. The main plot was always second to those aspects, in my opinion. ME: A very much succeeds in that regard, in my opinion. I enjoy my squadmates, and their loyalty missions were very fun. Even after completing them, I'm still getting some very nice interactions and story bits involving these characters, and that makes me happy.
Uhhhh, what?
Singularly + Throw = boom!! Throw also detonates all the ammo primers as well, and combined with pull you can launch the various canisters as well.
You can evolve them to do serious damage against shields,and with the adept biotic explosions, anointed get taken out real quick.
I agree with all of this.
Its high up there, but speaks to the character development and world building that can occur in a well developed involving NON-combat oriented mission.
Movie Night is an example of this in Andromeda, but it needed more given we needed to get to know these characters.
Still, I liked the game overall though.
MAX PAYMENT
Member
Well said.
I love the game.
Probably because they had no idea how to make them look like until the Omega DLC in ME3.
Choppymushroom
Neo Member
As some others have said, I am absolutely loving this game. The last game to pull me so deep into the lore and universe it has created is the Witcher 3. It is rough around the edges but is just such a great game. This year so far is just too good for games. I haven't even touched Persona 5 yet because I am so entranced in this game.
Stalactite
Member
Great post. I loved it too, and am already planning to replay it sometime this year (after P5).
Throw is boring and not as efficient as a Vanguard with Adept profile, charge itself is a good detonator, and you also have shockwave which works best against clustered primed enemies in close range, and Lance works great for close range headshots.
Meanwhile, Adept as they're inteded to be don't work as well.
semiconscious
Member
i'd suggest taking a break, & playing something else for a bit? i put the game aside (4 planets 100%, 2 loyalty missions done) for persona 5, &, after being away close to a week now, i'm already looking forward to getting back to it once i've finished. i think, owing in particular to the proliferation of quests, & the large number of & lack of variety in combat encounters, that it's just a particularly hard game to play straight through - even for a monogamous gamer like myself, who usually just plays through all games i play
...I don't think I will be playing a pure Adept until they bring back Warp. I want constant and consistent dubstep explosions, plus all the powerful benefits that Warp provides to an Adept.
Also, I would love it if Warp Ammo made a return -- though in their current form I don't really bother with the elemental ammo consumables. They don't last nearly as long as I would like for me to really utilize them. Maybe I am underestimating them though.
It is a good game, 70% of the time. The rest of the time it is a buggy mess.
As far as having menaingless MMO tier sidequests, I'd guess almost half the quests in the game are stupid fetch quests and the like. A lot of them have dialogue and such to go along with them but still feel pointless. The ally quests are the best and are actually really well done. But if you do everything, expect to spend most of your time fetching crates, looking for people and scanning Kett devices.
Drack obviously!
