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[magimix]

Whelp, Andromeda has entered Mankind Divided territory, where it sits unfinished and I don't really feel a draw to go back.

I will eventually, when I've finished some other games. But yeah. That's my review.

That is about where I'm at. Same with DXMD too, as it happens. Looking back, I *definitely* made a mistake engaging with the side content; it really wore me down, to the extent that I just can't bear to polish off the main quest either (which itself isn't particularly interesting).

There is so much *stuff* in the game, but most of it doesn't mesh together. Like the game couldn't decide what to be 'about'. The premise, the main quest arc, the viability stuff, the party-member character stuff - these aspects felt disconnected from each other. Since it lifts so much from Dragon Age: Inquisition (a game which I greatly enjoyed), the comparison is stark. In DA:I most of its elements came together to form a cohesive whole, being about the Inquisition, its place in the world, your role in that, and your relationships with party members with respect to it.

It is an epic bummer, since I've generally found ME games eminently playable and replayable (I've done over 30 playthroughs of ME2, over 20 of ME1, and over 10 of ME3 - unsurprisingly enough, I rank those games in that order too).

And as much as the combat mechanics are notionally improved in some aspects, the cost was quite high, and in any event, I don't play these games *for* their combat alone. It may not quite even be May yet, but for sure this title is my biggest gaming disappointment of the year.

 

[Bisnic]

They said there would be patches over the next "two months" some time at the end of march/early april when 1.05 was announced.

edit: The week of April 4th:

They said over the next 2 months, multiple patches, and yet we're almost one month later with not a single one in sight.

I'm expecting one major patch in May, hopefully they put everything in there instead of doing this in 2-3 smaller patches or cutting some of the promised things.

 

[Sunset Samurai]

They could've at least

Spoiler

gave us some, background on who the builders could've been. Just a bunch of let's activate their stuff!

 

[BrassDragon]

Whelp, Andromeda has entered Mankind Divided territory, where it sits unfinished and I don't really feel a draw to go back.

I will eventually, when I've finished some other games. But yeah. That's my review.

I had a few days like that, then I decided to power through and uninstall. Just wanted to get it over with and not worry about spoilers down the line.

I blame the unengaging storyline more than anything. Once the Ryder family secrets questline was sorted, there was nothing to keep me interested. The game's 'big mysteries' go nowhere and nobody in the gameworld seems to care about them anyway.

 

[Sir Garbageman]

Quick question. When does the final leg of the movie night quest trigger? It disappeared from my journal, AKA it isn't on hold so just want to make sure my game isn't bugged. Where I am late game:

Spoiler

Journey to Meridian is my next priority quest. Have given Jaal the components for the movie night quest. Regarding side quests have done pretty much everything outside of clearing out and dropping an Outpost on Elaaden and the Drax and Jaal loyalty quests.

 

[Zousi]

Quick question. When does the final leg of the movie night quest trigger? It disappeared from my journal, AKA it isn't on hold so just want to make sure my game isn't bugged. Where I am late game:

Spoiler

Journey to Meridian is my next priority quest. Have given Jaal the components for the movie night quest. Regarding side quests have done pretty much everything outside of clearing out and dropping an Outpost on Elaaden and the Drax and Jaal loyalty quests.

Spoiler

Just follow that final phase of the game and you will eventually trigger two more fetches with Lexi and Liam while you're on the Tempest. After those you're all set.

 

[Razgriz-Specter]

Does the $100 Nomad edition at Best Buy include the game?
tempted to sell my brother my standard edition and buy it if it does.

 

[diaspora]

They could've at least

Spoiler

gave us some, background on who the builders could've been. Just a bunch of let's activate their stuff!

Spoiler

We know they're called the Jardaan and they were driven out of Heleus by the Scourge which seems to be a weapon designed to attack them so they were essentially warring with someone capable to making a cluster almost uninhabitable.

 

[Drewfonse]

I'm on the final mission, and the way the Ryders bare their teeth to show pain and stress is priceless. Makes me burst out laughing every single time.

 

[Vengal]

Does the $100 Nomad edition at Best Buy include the game?
tempted to sell my brother my standard edition and buy it if it does.

I don't believe it does, there was some drama about that last year. One of the collectors also included an empty steelbook.

 

[deafmedal]

I don't believe it does, there was some drama about that last year. One of the collectors also included an empty steelbook.

This is correct. The BioWare store sells a version with the game included. I preferred it this way as it let me get the die cast Nomad and steelbook but buy the game digitally as this is my preference, without buying the game twice.
Kinda down on Bungie not doing something similar for D.2 as I know I will be buying digital. I do not give a fuck about 'digital collectors items' but would like the steel book and shit, they were pretty nice for D.1

Die cast Nomad is pretty fucking neat, I have Funko Peebee hanging out the door

 

[AerialAir]

Also have a 30% off European PSN discount code to spare.

7A42QPQNA6

 

[Drewfonse]

So I just finished it. Some context: I'm a no fluff gamer. I beat BOTW in 40 hrs, Horizon Zero Dawn in 30 hrs, and Nioh in 45 hrs. I love more linear games, but those are few and far between, so I end up playing the big releases, which are typically open world now.

It took me 13 and a half hours, pretty much just going from story mission to story mission. I had a good time. The experience felt like a ME knock off rather than an offshoot, but it still was fun. The story was moderately engaging, although I started glazing over towards the end. The big moments, the ones that were clearly going for the rousing, emotional connection, largely fell flat for me. Part of it was because of the goofy facial expressions. I never thought that something like that would draw me out of the immersion, but it really did. The baring of the teeth to convey tension never failed to illicit a laugh from me.

And Scott's voice actor sounded waaaay too much like Nolan North.

The combat was really fun, and certainly the high point for me. But just about everything else was forgettable. Almost zero chance that I'll replay it, but I don't regret a first run. I know that I probably missed out on fun stuff, particularly the loyalty missions, but...I just had no interest. And I did all of them in ME2, and replayed that game 4 times.

The 7.5 metacritic seems pretty spot on. Fairly disappointed in the overall experience because I had such high hopes, but still moderately fun.

 

[Edwardo]

Lol I was watching TV earlier and a Hyundai commercial came on. I'm sitting here trying to think why the voice over sounded so familiar. Then it clicked and I'm like holy shit that's the Pathfinder, haha.


https://youtu.be/WmWLiPTxHKQ

 

[mbpm1]

The way Ryder yelled during

Spoiler

killing the Archon

is just as hilarious in context as out of context lol.

Wth was that

 

[prag16]

It took me 13 and a half hours, pretty much just going from story mission to story mission.

...

The big moments, the ones that were clearly going for the rousing, emotional connection, largely fell flat for me.

Not that the story is any kind of masterpiece, but if you rushed through the game in 13 hours it means you had no time to get to know the characters and probably didn't do most, if any, of the loyalty mission. So not sure what you were expecting. ME2 was sort of shitty too if you ONLY did the mandatory stuff.

 

[Orochinagis]

The Liam loyalty mission is surely a mocking comedy action quest, the quest even have awful Laughs track.

I wanted to severy punish him but no, there is no option outside more laughs track.

I think Liam is the worst squad member I ever found in a Bioware game, and I cant kick him of my group

 

[Hitta93]

Has the game improved much from the patches?

 

[CLBridges]

Never thought I would say this but, this game is the biggest disappointment for me this gen. My initial hype for a new ME made me overlook a lot of things in game but I can't anymore. The open world design, the vaults, the 'tasks', so dull. I can't even bring myself to finish the game. And to top it off, the constant crashes I get in MP I have hardly any desire to invest more time into it. Damn!

 

[Razgriz-Specter]

I don't believe it does, there was some drama about that last year. One of the collectors also included an empty steelbook.

This is correct. The BioWare store sells a version with the game included. I preferred it this way as it let me get the die cast Nomad and steelbook but buy the game digitally as this is my preference, without buying the game twice.
Kinda down on Bungie not doing something similar for D.2 as I know I will be buying digital. I do not give a fuck about 'digital collectors items' but would like the steel book and shit, they were pretty nice for D.1

Die cast Nomad is pretty fucking neat, I have Funko Peebee hanging out the door

Thanks.

 

[Garnox]

So I'm playing on PC with a 1060 graphics card and haven't had much jankiness luckily like others are reporting.

As far as the game, I just finished it tonight. Almost did all side quests as soon as they were given, so my end game state isn't appearing to offer much else to do and was at 100% viability by end game so now I wait for DLC.

I liked it enough. Thought the ending delivered in the way

Spoiler

ME3 should've as far as seeing your assets utilized. It was cool seeing the other Pathfinders and squad mates joining in and other story choices

Liked seeing the callbacks to earlier games and thought all in all, was a pretty good game. A little too much like DA:I for my taste as far as fetch quests, but still enjoyable. Hopefully they continue the franchise because they have a pretty good foundation to build upon now.

 

[Agent_4Seven]

Has the game improved much from the patches?

There was only one patch - 1.05, which mostly fixed some problems with animations, dead eyes and added broken quest which no one can complete.

 

[Razgriz-Specter]

Spoiler

ME3 should've as far as seeing your assets utilized. It was cool seeing the other Pathfinders and squad mates joining in and other story choices

Honestly that cemented the entire game for me.
felt so

Spoiler

damn proud and in sync with my character, choices and story as when the other pathfinders show up.

 

[prag16]

added broken quest which no one can complete.

Huh?

 

[Hasphat'sAnts]

Finally finished.

Was fine.

Not a disaster, but...

Didn't live up to Mass Effect either.

 

[Agent_4Seven]

Huh?

Let me ask Google for you.

 

[Orochinagis]

I liked it enough. Thought the ending delivered in the way

Spoiler

ME3 should've as far as seeing your assets utilized. It was cool seeing the other Pathfinders and squad mates joining in and other story choices

Mmm? Pretty sure ME3 delivered all your previous choices in previous games, even the Overlord guy appeared too

 

[prag16]

Let me ask Google for you.

No need to be a prick. Linking the relevant result would have sufficed.

That's unfortunate. Good thing it's just one of the shitty filler "tasks". Not sure it'd be at the top of my list of things to mention when somebody asks about what the patch did, but that's me.

I wasn't really affected from what I could tell, but more concerning to me were the people who started getting crashes or worse performance on PC, after the patch. Next patch should be soon at least. Waiting for the right time to start my NG+. Trying to resist jumping back over from Horizon for a little longer. Don't know why exactly but that game's starting to become a bit of a slog for me.

Mmm? Pretty sure ME3 delivered all your previous choices in previous games, even the Overlord guy appeared too

He's likely referring to the finale. In ME3, Priority: Earth didn't do jack shit in terms of showing impact of what you had done during the game (and trilogy). For the purposes of that mission, all it amounted to was a behind the scenes number in an equation (other than maybe one or two glimpses in a cutscene of the space battle). Andromeda did a lot more on that particular front, even if the overall impact still wasn't huge.

 

[Agent_4Seven]

No need to be a prick. Linking the relevant result would have sufficed.

Not my style.

That's unfortunate. Good thing it's just one of the shitty filler "tasks". Not sure it'd be at the top of my list of things to mention when somebody asks about what the patch did, but that's me.

Sure, it's just another BS task but still, how this got through QA (like most of the game's problems) is just beyond me.

I wasn't really affected from what I could tell, but more concerning to me were the people who started getting crashes or worse performance on PC, after the patch. Next patch should be soon at least. Waiting for the right time to start my NG+. Trying to resist jumping back over from Horizon for a little longer. Don't know why exactly but that game's starting to become a bit of a slog for me.

Performance is not good overall and the game should perform a lot better and at least like fully patched DAI on a 1070 / 1080.

I'm not going to start NG+ untill they release all patches and all DLC. There's just zero reasons to do so without all this done first.

 

[Madness]

Not my style.

Sure, it's just another BS task but still, how this got through QA (like most of the game's problems) is just beyond me.

Performance is not good overall and the game should perform a lot better and at least like fully patched DAI on a 1070 / 1080.

I'm not going to start NG+ untill they release all patches and all DLC. There's just zero reasons to do so without all this done first.

The fact containers, loot, merchants, item loot boxes from strike team missions, enemy drops, everything item aka weapon, mods and armor disappears including shop merchants for levels 60 to 71 except salvage is crazy. Level 60 is easily achievable in one run and for sure a NG+ and yet BioWare didn't catch this.

 

[prag16]

Not my style.

Well I mean, it apparently is. That's how LMGTFY type links are typically going to be viewed. You're on the internet. You must know this.

Sure, it's just another BS task but still, how this got through QA (like most of the game's problems) is just beyond me.

It was a hastily put together patch that was pushed out a mere two weeks after release. The QA team likely had a VERY limited amount of time allocated for regression testing. How something like that task quest bug shouldn't be beyond anyone. It happens. (And as usual people are so quick to blame QA for everything.)

The fact containers, loot, merchants, item loot boxes from strike team missions, enemy drops, everything item aka weapon, mods and armor disappears including shop merchants for levels 60 to 71 except salvage is crazy. Level 60 is easily achievable in one run and for sure a NG+ and yet BioWare didn't catch this.

That on the other hand is far more egregious. How they broke that in the first place (let alone without anyone noticing) is indeed kind of embarrassing.

 

[mbpm1]

They didn't get that far along. The whole thing is still a WIP.

 

[The Sum of Zero]

So I guess I should probably hold off a little longer before I restart this (only finished the first story mission), judging from what all I've read recently.

 

[Agent_4Seven]

Well I mean, it apparently is.

Nope (^__^)

That's how LMGTFY type links are typically going to be viewed. You're on the internet. You must know this.

I'll keep that in mind.

The QA team likely had a VERY limited amount of time allocated for regression testing.

See, that's the problem. The QA team should be given at least 5-6 months to test the final build and to ensure everything is right.

people are so quick to blame QA for everything

And they've every right to do so. It's not just QA of course, publisher is also must be blamed for a lot of things.

The fact containers, loot, merchants, item loot boxes from strike team missions, enemy drops, everything item aka weapon, mods and armor disappears including shop merchants for levels 60 to 71 except salvage is crazy.

Level 60 is easily achievable in one run and for sure a NG+ and yet BioWare didn't catch this.

I don't think that's the problem really. I HATE to grind levels.

 

[RSP]

AHHHHH

I finally had time to pick up ME:A this weekend. I didn't even bother with the game and just jumped straight into the multiplayer.

Such goodness! Right away I was feeling at home, getting full extractions and leveling my character. I'm really looking forward to grinding Gold / Platinum challenges as soon as I start to unlock some interesting characters

 

[Kadayi]

Not that the story is any kind of masterpiece, but if you rushed through the game in 13 hours it means you had no time to get to know the characters and probably didn't do most, if any, of the loyalty mission. So not sure what you were expecting. ME2 was sort of shitty too if you ONLY did the mandatory stuff.

Agreed. I guess the posters intent is to somehow shame the developers for making a game that can be beaten in a mere 13 hours if you skip everything but the main missions. Which kind of goes against the entire point of playing games of this sort in the first place.

To my mind, I'd trim a lot of the fetch quests, and a few areas could do with refining (as posted earlier in the thread) but the notion of powering through an RPG as if it was a speed run and ignoring the bulk of it seems antithetical to the intended player experience.

 

[Bisnic]

The fact containers, loot, merchants, item loot boxes from strike team missions, enemy drops, everything item aka weapon, mods and armor disappears including shop merchants for levels 60 to 71 except salvage is crazy. Level 60 is easily achievable in one run and for sure a NG+ and yet BioWare didn't catch this.

I'm not sure I understand? I was able to lvl over 60 and was still getting loot from enemies & containers? It's not something that happens to everyone I guess.

 

[Madness]

I'm not sure I understand? I was able to lvl over 60 and was still getting loot from enemies & containers? It's not something that happens to everyone I guess.

I am almost certain you weren't. It has happened to everyone I know that was over level 60 (at least 4 friends who have bought the game). You were only getting things like materials, credits, or for a limited time level VII stuff. But as soon as you hit 60 or 61 and when it says Research Tier VIII unlocked everything stops and even merchants become empty until you hit 71 and it says research Tier IX unlocked and you start getting level 9 stuff again.

And it isn't even console specific. Affects everyone from PC to XB1 to PS4.

Ian has acknowledged the bug as someone asked him on twitter, so there is a fix incoming. Just sucked when you open and search rare containers and got nothing.

https://mobile.twitter.com/tibermoon/status/850736521963548672

 

[Agent_4Seven]

I just don't understand. What's the point in loot (weapons, armor) in this game? It's useless junk and I always scrap everything even if it's better level. Why? Cuz junk you'll find is PS compared to what you can build yourself using crafting system. Why its PS and why crafting items is better? Well, cuz you can add mods when crafting items two times, you can add special effects, you can enchance you abilities and increes mod slots etc., where as junk from containers you can upgrade with mods only one time and it has less slots for mods too and you can't add special effect and apply better mods to them.

Crafting is VERY IMPORTANT in this game people and loot from containers (weapons, armor) is useless junk! WTF? Am I actually the only one in this thread who understands this, understands how this game works and knows by the fact that all systems in this game very strongly tied together and complement each othere a lot and in so many ways? Wow! Just.... wow!

 

[dreamer3kx]

I just don't understand. What's the point in loot (weapons, armor) in this game? It's useless junk and I always scrap everything even if it's better level. Why? Cuz junk you'll find is PS compared to what you can build yourself using crafting system. Why its PS and why crafting items is better? Well, cuz you can add mods when crafting items two times, you can add special effects, you can enchance you abilities and increes mod slots etc., where as junk from containers you can upgrade with mods only one time and it has less slots for mods too and you can't add special effect and apply better mods to them.

Crafting is VERY IMPORTANT in this game people and loot from containers (weapons, armor) is useless junk! WTF? Am I actually the only one in this thread who understands this, understands how this game works and knows by the fact that all systems in this game very strongly tied together and complement each othere a lot and in so many ways? Wow! Just.... wow!

I dont think crafting is important, you can get by easily with just weapons that you loot or purchase, if you want stronger equipment you craft.

 

[CSJ]

I just don't understand. What's the point in loot (weapons, armor) in this game? It's useless junk and I always scrap everything even if it's better level. Why? Cuz junk you'll find is PS compared to what you can build yourself using crafting system. Why its PS and why crafting items is better? Well, cuz you can add mods when crafting items two times, you can add special effects, you can enchance you abilities and increes mod slots etc., where as junk from containers you can upgrade with mods only one time and it has less slots for mods too and you can't add special effect and apply better mods to them.

Crafting is VERY IMPORTANT in this game people and loot from containers (weapons, armor) is useless junk! WTF? Am I actually the only one in this thread who understands this, understands how this game works and knows by the fact that all systems in this game very strongly tied together and complement each othere a lot and in so many ways? Wow! Just.... wow!

Hyperbole, the post.

Seriously, crafting is useless junk that adds a small benefit, looting gets you by just fine.
I held off crafting a full set of stuff until level 60 something and I went from killing stuff on insanity pretty easily to killing stuff on insanity a teeny bit easier.

I've read your posts before about this, you seem way too invested to come up with a reasoned discussion, it's all generic "they all compliment each other" and there's "lots to do" when in reality, it's the most basic drudgery seen in games the last two decades.
Ohhhh shit, gonna add 4% more recharge speed this looted item can't do!

 

[Agent_4Seven]

I dont think crafting is important, you can get by easily with just weapons that you loot or purchase, if you want stronger equipment you craft.

It's not just about stronger equipment, this stronger equipment can make your character and his abilities better in many ways than one to improve combat a lot and make it a lot better, more enjoyable and intertaning.

Hyperbole, the post.

Seriously, crafting is useless junk that adds a small benefit, looting gets you by just fine.
I held off crafting a full set of stuff until level 60 something and I went from killing stuff on insanity pretty easily to killing stuff on insanity a teeny bit easier.

I've read your posts before about this, you seem way too invested to come up with a reasoned discussion, it's all generic "they all compliment each other" and there's "lots to do" when in reality, it's the most basic drudgery seen in games the last two decades.
Ohhhh shit, gonna add 4% more recharge speed this looted item can't do!

It's not about small numbers. Yes, upgrading armor from level 5 to 6, 7, 8 and so on does not make any scense cuz it's just +1% to each statistic every time (which is stupid as hell btw and they need to fix this), it's about mods that enchance your abilites whether it be the ability to hover in the air for longer, or an insane increase in rate of fire combined with skills, mods and longer hover time which let's you annihilate 2-3 squads in a row. It makes a lot of difference actually and you can't do this shit without crafting system which benefits the combat and your caracter development a lot. And that's just one example.

What I'm saying is that the systems in this game is much deeper that many of you think, and if you can complete the game not using it and it's full potential properly.... it doesn't mean that it's not there, it doesn't mean that it is useless, worthless and so on, it only means that you just don't care about it that much and don't want to dive deeper into it.

 

[diaspora]

I haven't found an AR in the wild better than my crafted Valkyrie IX so...

 

[mbpm1]

I like how beam weapons in this game become blasters from star wars if you just click them rapidly or full on lasers if you hold them down. Just cooler

 

[Bisnic]

I am almost certain you weren't. It has happened to everyone I know that was over level 60 (at least 4 friends who have bought the game). You were only getting things like materials, credits, or for a limited time level VII stuff. But as soon as you hit 60 or 61 and when it says Research Tier VIII unlocked everything stops and even merchants become empty until you hit 71 and it says research Tier IX unlocked and you start getting level 9 stuff again.

And it isn't even console specific. Affects everyone from PC to XB1 to PS4.

Ian has acknowledged the bug as someone asked him on twitter, so there is a fix incoming. Just sucked when you open and search rare containers and got nothing.

https://mobile.twitter.com/tibermoon/status/850736521963548672

I would have to check back again what lvl I was when i finish the game but I guarantee you I was getting loot every time I opened a container or when looting enemies, including worthless gear that I kept on deconstructing like I always did. I would surely have noticed it if something that major was bugged.

I did notice that vendors had almost nothing to sell for me at some point later in the game though, that might be it.

Guess the bug affect everyone, but not always in the same capacity?

 

[diaspora]

I like how beam weapons in this game become blasters from star wars if you just click them rapidly or full on lasers if you hold them down. Just cooler

Have you tried to bind "fire" to scroll-down yet?

 

[mbpm1]

Have you tried to bind "fire" to scroll-down yet?

Nope, what do you mean?

 

[thepenguin55]

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.

I haven't beaten the game but based on the music I've heard literally the only noteworthy track in the title screen track (which I do like).

 

[Agent_4Seven]

The OST is shit in this game and I can barely tell the game has one. It's almost like they didn't even cared that much about it at all. What a shame. Another huge flaw of the game especialy when you compare it to original ME.

 

[mbpm1]

I can barely describe the flavour of the music they did for the game, let alone notes or tunes.

They might as well have had complete silence