PleaseDontBanMe
Banned
is it a buy, rent or skip?
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Mass Effect: Andromeda |OT| Ryders on the Storm
- Thread starter Blue Ninja
- Start date
is it a buy, rent or skip?
After arriving at the last mission at hour 18, I went ahead and built all the planets settlements. These are really there to have fun with the combat and wreck through hords of Droids and Kett - there are also some cool stories to be found. Stuff like the Vaults are okay, but super repetitive, that was kinda disappointing.
After having done all that, I did Cora's Loyalty mission - good one. Really enjoyed it.
Will tackle the rest in the coming days.
If I do a FemRyder-playthrough after, a quick and dirty, but well paced - more akin to the trilogy games - 40 hour playthrough is totally possible. Make heavy use of fast travel and you're probably good to go - in that case: Do buy it!
After having done all that, I did Cora's Loyalty mission - good one. Really enjoyed it.
Will tackle the rest in the coming days.
If I do a FemRyder-playthrough after, a quick and dirty, but well paced - more akin to the trilogy games - 40 hour playthrough is totally possible. Make heavy use of fast travel and you're probably good to go - in that case: Do buy it!
whassupbun
Member
I think the loyalty missions and all other side quests that have some real meat to them are actually not bad at all. Not amazing, but not bad either, fairly enjoyable.
It's just that like many others have pointed out, there are also a tons of filler side quests that are inconsequential, and the only reason for them to exist is to pad out the game and waste your time.
I mean, asking the player to travel to several different planets just to scan an object / read a data pad / talk to someone for a few lines of dialogues, then go back again? Think about the loading time in between travelling to different planets > docking the Tempest > fast travelling to mission location > board the Tempest again and fly to the next location > repeat until mission complete. Just typing all that is tedious as hell, imagine doing that in the game. Come on, Bioware, absolutely time wasting, unforgivable.
It's just that like many others have pointed out, there are also a tons of filler side quests that are inconsequential, and the only reason for them to exist is to pad out the game and waste your time.
I mean, asking the player to travel to several different planets just to scan an object / read a data pad / talk to someone for a few lines of dialogues, then go back again? Think about the loading time in between travelling to different planets > docking the Tempest > fast travelling to mission location > board the Tempest again and fly to the next location > repeat until mission complete. Just typing all that is tedious as hell, imagine doing that in the game. Come on, Bioware, absolutely time wasting, unforgivable.
Kadayi
Banned
Spot on post. I agree there's a very good game under there (decent quests, for the most part, decent characters, superb combat, etc), it's just hidden by a lack of cohesion when it comes to systems that create unnecessary time sinks that could have been minimalized with some actual focus on making the game experience tighter, rather than sprawling. In a world of ever-increasing distractions with a myriad number of things vying for our attention, building a game with huge amounts of actual dead time in is just disrespectful of its audiences time.
One of the inherent problems I see is the obsession with the Tempest as a central hub (a mindset hangover from the previous titles) and specifically, the Tempest having to be in space when you access it (why exactly?). As you rightly pointed out, having to go there to check your emails is a redundancy. If SAM can talk to you direct, it makes zero sense that you can't get your emails on the Omni-tool on top. Same also goes for the ships vid-com, something that should/could have been used much much more as both a quest delivery/resolution system. Things like that should be at the very least accessible at the forward stations. That is something that could be patched in surely.
Similarly, if you could access the Tempest without actually taking off, then that would have opened up more opportunities for engagement and possible missions with the whole crew (Kallo, Gil, Lexi and Suvi are all criminally under-utilised). The problem with the Tempest always being in space, is that it creates this bubble of exclusion and separation between the bulk of crew and the local environment. It's only in the passive hubs of The Nexus, Aya and Kadara port that you see anyone outside the ship, and even then it's only your combat companions. However, once you've established Colonies why aren't Kallo, Suvi or your inactive squadmates not out and about? There are opportunities there for quests and all sorts within that frame, that could have added more engagement (Lexi gets kidnapped by the Kett, Gil and Kallo get into a bar fight on Kadara and you have to do a favour for Sloane to earn their release, etc, etc). Also whilst you're off getting into scrapes with Cora and Vetra, Liam and Peebee could be doing something else that leads to a quest, or at least some fun dialogue and interchange through coms.
Also, agree that quest lines needed to be less sprawling. The focus should have been more on a series of events in one planetary location versus these chains that take you halfway across the galactic map and back.
I kind of feel that with the planets, it needed to be a case of staying there until you'd rounded out quests to the extent of establishing a colony and wrapping up any key elements, then moving on, with any returns being for substantive periods versus for this or that random quest. Better bookending really. This would also afford the opportunity to demonstrate the actual growth and expansion of the settlements, which is something that is sorely missing in the current game. Prodomos looks like a basecamp throughout.
Razgriz-Specter
Member
Finished the main story at 65% and 40 hours, despite the bugs I freaking loved this game.
Im in for any story DLC and sequels.
Im in for any story DLC and sequels.
prag16
Banned
There is an instance where, in either Aya or Kadara, Lexi leaves the ship to get drunk at the bar. But yeah, other than that I can't think of any other time they leave the ship other than for the epilogue.
Man Called Aerodynamics
Member
Really agree with these posts on the quest design. I'm approaching hour 60. There is so much great storytelling meat here, great relationships between Ryder and the squadmates, and genuinely interesting stuff going on in many of the quests.
But to get to any of that, you have to go through a questline that has you go to Planet A to scan something, and then to the Nexus to have a 30 second conversation, then to Planet B to clear out one enemy camp, then to Planet C to have another 30 second conversation... on and on.
It's really tiring, and sometimes it doesn't even make sense, as in, I'm looking for a ship that crashed on Kadara, so I have to go talk to a survivor on Eos, who points me toward debris I need to scan on Voeld...? Just made up that example, but many quests feel like that. Like they were determined to shuttle you all over the galaxy for every quest, no matter what.
But to get to any of that, you have to go through a questline that has you go to Planet A to scan something, and then to the Nexus to have a 30 second conversation, then to Planet B to clear out one enemy camp, then to Planet C to have another 30 second conversation... on and on.
It's really tiring, and sometimes it doesn't even make sense, as in, I'm looking for a ship that crashed on Kadara, so I have to go talk to a survivor on Eos, who points me toward debris I need to scan on Voeld...? Just made up that example, but many quests feel like that. Like they were determined to shuttle you all over the galaxy for every quest, no matter what.
On paper it makes sense. They probably wanted to create a interconnected galaxy where the problem of self-contained zones that feel isolated feom each other does not arise. I could easily envision a GAF hobby game designer thread in a what-if scenario where people dream about these huge sprawling quests across the galaxy and everybody agrees in unisono. In practice then it looks more like the occasional tedium in Andromeda.
Blue Ninja
Member
If you could just choose where the Tempest drops the Nomad before setting down, that alone would be pretty great. Imagine traveling to Kadara, having the map open, selecting a Forward Station closest to your nearest objective, and having the Nomad be dropped down right there. That's 50% of the tedium gone. Get rid of those annoying unskippable cutscenes and it's even better.
Being able to check your mail while in the Nomad/on foot would add even more to that.
Lastly, fewer quests that require you to jump from planet to planet.
Being able to check your mail while in the Nomad/on foot would add even more to that.
Lastly, fewer quests that require you to jump from planet to planet.
If you look at the concept art, they initially planned an Omni Glove that opened a map style display. It also showed how each outpost would have had the scientific or military decision and an ambassadorial focus etc. There was even a planned outpost called Texas (maybe H-047c) since you mine it for Helium-3 etc. They wanted Liam to be a Donald Glover type character. Sam would have been a tube on the Tempest and more wisecracking.
You could also scan glyphs or things inside vaults or near Remnant structures to give you friendly Observers etc. Shows a lot of missed opportunities. Can't wait for the new patch. Been about 3+ weeks now and nothing beyond a fix is in the works. MP is easily one of the worst p2p experiences in years for me.
You could also scan glyphs or things inside vaults or near Remnant structures to give you friendly Observers etc. Shows a lot of missed opportunities. Can't wait for the new patch. Been about 3+ weeks now and nothing beyond a fix is in the works. MP is easily one of the worst p2p experiences in years for me.
Lionheart1827
Member
Finally beat the game the other day. Overall I enjoyed it but there were a bunch of things that bothered me about the game, pretty much what others say here:
-The amount of wasted time in cutscenes/loading screens was really annoying. Spanning multiple worlds and loading scenes when a simple vidcon call could update/resolve a quest was such a waste. Its a good thing they added the Skip feature to the galaxy map because some of those sidequests would've been even worse.
-Kadara port > Slums > Kadara open world was very dumb
-Needed a way to board the tempest without lifting off. I know this was probably a loading screen either way, but still, very annoying.
-Too many sidequests. Its good to have a lot of content for the people that want it, but they probably could've cut out a good 3rd of the weaker quest content and made a much better and leaner game.
-And godamnit SAM I dont have any fucking new email at my terminal. Shutup already!
-Also what was up with the omnitool texture in this game? Looked like glowing peanut butter on their forearm when activating it.
My biggest gripe with the game though was the music.
Coming from a series that has notably amazing soundtracks, especially the first two games, it was so disappointing how bland and mediocre the soundtrack is. There were a few tracks that played when battling Kett that was pretty good, and the updated version of Uncharted Worlds was nice to hear, but other than that, WTF? For fuck sakes just get Jack Wall and/or Sam Hulick back and do a proper soundtrack. It was detrimental to the game for me.
Other than those things, I didn't think it was a bad game like people seem to bring up. It definitely wasnt up to the heights of the original trilogy, but it definitely wasn't bad. Also, I didn't see much of a problem with voice acting/animation/lip sync stuff that people were so damn hung up on. It didn't bother me really, with the exception of Addison's opening conversation, which was just, stupid.
Anyway, all in all I'd probably give it an 8-8.5. The combat, world building, and even the characters(which I disliked in the beginning) ended up being pretty good. Again, not original trilogy level, but not horrible. Though Liam was so fucking annoying. I liked the story and how they tied it to the original trilogy. Finding the arks and the loyalty missions were pretty damn good. Major detriment for me was the lackluster music though. I do miss the other races like the Quarians.
-The amount of wasted time in cutscenes/loading screens was really annoying. Spanning multiple worlds and loading scenes when a simple vidcon call could update/resolve a quest was such a waste. Its a good thing they added the Skip feature to the galaxy map because some of those sidequests would've been even worse.
-Kadara port > Slums > Kadara open world was very dumb
-Needed a way to board the tempest without lifting off. I know this was probably a loading screen either way, but still, very annoying.
-Too many sidequests. Its good to have a lot of content for the people that want it, but they probably could've cut out a good 3rd of the weaker quest content and made a much better and leaner game.
-And godamnit SAM I dont have any fucking new email at my terminal. Shutup already!
-Also what was up with the omnitool texture in this game? Looked like glowing peanut butter on their forearm when activating it.
My biggest gripe with the game though was the music.
Coming from a series that has notably amazing soundtracks, especially the first two games, it was so disappointing how bland and mediocre the soundtrack is. There were a few tracks that played when battling Kett that was pretty good, and the updated version of Uncharted Worlds was nice to hear, but other than that, WTF? For fuck sakes just get Jack Wall and/or Sam Hulick back and do a proper soundtrack. It was detrimental to the game for me.
Other than those things, I didn't think it was a bad game like people seem to bring up. It definitely wasnt up to the heights of the original trilogy, but it definitely wasn't bad. Also, I didn't see much of a problem with voice acting/animation/lip sync stuff that people were so damn hung up on. It didn't bother me really, with the exception of Addison's opening conversation, which was just, stupid.
Anyway, all in all I'd probably give it an 8-8.5. The combat, world building, and even the characters(which I disliked in the beginning) ended up being pretty good. Again, not original trilogy level, but not horrible. Though Liam was so fucking annoying. I liked the story and how they tied it to the original trilogy. Finding the arks and the loyalty missions were pretty damn good. Major detriment for me was the lackluster music though. I do miss the other races like the Quarians.
I think the Texas outpost might have been on Havarl cuz there's that one vendor with the southern accent and inexplicable cowboy hat that shows up after you clear the vault.
Why does this happen? He says it every time I'm on the tempest, usually everytime I enter certain rooms.
It's a bug brought on with the last patch. No word on a fix yet.
Because I wanted to do Drak's mission,I wound up in Kadara instead of going to Havarl after clearing EOS and Voeld at 100 %...I can still go to Havarl after right...? I rather do everything before end game,I am not the type that likes to finish off sidequests after I have beaten the main story in a game like this...
Razgriz-Specter
Member
Holy shit at Vetra's Turian impression,
Peebee and Vetra are the OTP.
Peebee and Vetra are the OTP.
Razgriz-Specter
Member
Not really true,
It is no Mass Effect 3 scale but the late game stuff is certainly "epic"
i see two complaints being brought up regularly where i can clearly see why bioware made that choices.
the non-skippable cut-scenes hide the loading screens. they could have added an option to skip when the loading is complete, but probably didn't feel the need to. in the end it's cut scene vs loading screen and they went for no loading screens.
being forced to leave the planet to enter the tempest is bioware cutting cornerns during the design process. i guess memory management to put the whole tempest interior with a look onto prodromos for example would be a big task. it would have probably taken a lot more time to design than to simply stick the tempest into the already existing space you travel in while scanning planets.
the non-skippable cut-scenes hide the loading screens. they could have added an option to skip when the loading is complete, but probably didn't feel the need to. in the end it's cut scene vs loading screen and they went for no loading screens.
being forced to leave the planet to enter the tempest is bioware cutting cornerns during the design process. i guess memory management to put the whole tempest interior with a look onto prodromos for example would be a big task. it would have probably taken a lot more time to design than to simply stick the tempest into the already existing space you travel in while scanning planets.
Razgriz-Specter
Member
What other game did something similar to that issue with the Tempest?
I swear there was a game with exactly that issue.
edit: was it Destiny?
I swear there was a game with exactly that issue.
edit: was it Destiny?
The entire fancy galaxy 3D animation were overdone beyond the needs of load screens. Cut to the chase and show me one map without superfluous zoom in transitions.
Destiny's problem lay in constantly having to 2-step load into the city hub. Andromoda's problem is similar but maginified several times over and even less welcome.
Allow the codex an email, R&D, and vidcon menu to cut the load bloat. I think they wanted reasons for the player to keep visiting the Tempest but it's an annoying place to navigate and feels oddly sterile.
Destiny's problem lay in constantly having to 2-step load into the city hub. Andromoda's problem is similar but maginified several times over and even less welcome.
Allow the codex an email, R&D, and vidcon menu to cut the load bloat. I think they wanted reasons for the player to keep visiting the Tempest but it's an annoying place to navigate and feels oddly sterile.
Razgriz-Specter
Member
I remember it was an issue with Destiny just not 100% if it was the one im thinking of.
I hated having to load into orbit just to go load into a separate part of Earth.
I'm on PC and I can monitor when a game has finished loading and it's not even halfway through those obnoxious landing and departing cutscenes. Not being able to board the Tempest while landed is probably because they made the ship bigger on the inside than outside, just like in the original games.
On a technical level this really felt dated, so many load screens and load masks in tiny hubs when better games are making their worlds more seamless.
Mister_Bubbles
Member
arhra
Member
Destiny had the annoying load to orbit, then load to wherever you wanted to go, but it wasn't quite as bad as Andromeda's load/cutscene to orbit, then multiple slow animated transitions to navigate the galaxy map (which at least now are partially skippable), then load/cutscene to land, then load to fast travel to a relevant forward station (or in Kadara's case, load down to the slums, run over and hop the fence to get to the main open world map, then load to fast travel to a forward station).
But even within the franchise, ME 2 & 3 had the exact same issue.
The first game was the only one where you could board your ship without taking off, and even that was only in certain locations IIRC.
It's just exacerbated by the slow galaxy map navigation in Andromeda, and the number of quests that require a lot of jumping from system to system, etc.
Being able to drop the Nomad to any available forward station straight from orbit would go a long way to improving things, I think, but still wouldn't fix the quest design, which is the real issue.
AgentOtaku
Member
So this is going to be on sale this Sunday via BestBuy for $39.99
Is it finally a good time to pick it up?
QoL patches, tweaks, etc?
Has there been only one patch?
thanks!
Is it finally a good time to pick it up?
QoL patches, tweaks, etc?
Has there been only one patch?
thanks!
Razgriz-Specter
Member
Subjective really, I picked it up this past week after Redboxing it for 3 days and even seeing that $39.99 I don't regret it one bit.
I could look past the little stuff and nothing major ever affected me
(biggest issue was opening a chest on the peak of a mountain, my character climbed on it a clipped through the mountain however I immediately spawned right back,
oh and my character missing from a single shot of one cutscene.)
That is upto you. There has only been the one patch so far and there are still a ton of issues, broken quests, bugs and glitches. It certainly isn't unplayable by any means. The multiplayer is pretty poor p2p. I haven't found a game to be this bad with rubberbanding and drops and disconnects in years, maybe early Xbox 360 time.
$39.99 is a decent price for this though. The cheapass in me says it'll be this price everywhere soon enough, I would still hold off until the second patch to see what exactly they're doing. This next patch has taken them longer than from launch to the first patch, so hopefully it is comprehensive. You can buy if you want to, play a little bit. Will take you 10-15+ hours just to get into the meat of the game as it is.
Razgriz-Specter
Member
Not really but its definitely a bit more of a rewarding feeling if you do the major side missions.
Like
finding the other Arks
No. It doesn't matter nor influence the ending imo
Razgriz-Specter
Member
Well... super small but
you can save a certain character by having all the pathfinders/Arks
Dre_G_Writer
Member
i'd say wait, the price will only get cheaper from here and the game havent been patched heavily yet. Only been one patch, and it was a small one, more like a quick fix and not a solution. Just wait, especially if youre a player that liked the ME3 multiplayer and want to play the MEA multiplayer.
Yu Narukami
Member
Anybody else got a 30% reduction code mailed from Sony Europe?
The first 30 minutes made me wonder if I'd ever give a shit about any of the characters, though I think I felt the same in ME1. After a few hours and now finally starting to explore Andromeda, I'm really, really engaged. I love the world building and discovery theme for the game and so far the side quests have been entertaining.
It's strange. I think it is a massive step down from Mass Effect 3 Multi.
Seems off.. is the best way to put it.
Still, I enjoy it.
Yeah, there is something that doesn't make it quite as addictive as ME3 MP, despite the more versatile gameplay with the air mobility(and nothing looks cooler than landing a jump melee into a group of enemies and killing some of them that way), but I can't quite put my finger on it.
Maybe it's just the enemy factions that aren't as interesting to fight. Or the maps themselves.
It's got some pretty terrible balance issues right now. Most guns, powers, and combos feel really weak. It ends up making the harder modes just more tedious, rather than harder. The loot box unlocks are even worse than in 3, if you can imagine. It's also got tons of technical issues with lag and crashes.
It wouldn't be so bad, but they're really slow to even talk about future patches and what might be in them or when they'll hit. I think they're gonna lose a lot of the playerbase before they can really fix it, at the rate they're going.
prag16
Banned
Granted, I've only played a few hours of the multi, and the ME3 multi I only put around 10 hours into total.
But my take is that increased mobility and fluidity of combat gives this an edge over ME3 for me. I've also been I guess lucky with the connections; haven't seen any significant lag or rubberbanding.
Neither ME:A or ME3 multiplayer heavily grips or gripped me. While fun for what it is, not "addictive" for me in either case.
dreamer3kx
Member
Im around 35 hours in, did a bit of Kadara and for some reason I hit a wall, not sure if its this planet or I just need to take a break, I want to do all the planet side missions, teammate missions and priority ops but man I think the planet side missions are just getting to me, some feel like tasks and others are longer and better but not sure which, Ill see how it goes.
That's...concerning. Considering this was the team behind multiplayer in ME3 I thought they couldn't fuck it up.
Yu Narukami
Member
Pm me if you want my code.
CarbonFire
Member
Kadara in general is a drag. I think the game would have been better with Kadara being like Aya, and skipping the open world part entirely. Or have it be just the port and the slums.
It's by far the least satisfying vault resolution as well, as the effects should have had a huge impact on how the exiles survive on the planet. But nothing really changes and most characters don't even acknowledge the event.