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[Enduin]

Somewhere in ME3 it is also explained very briefly that

Spoiler

the Reaper shell we see is an exoskeleton that's based on the first race they consumed, their creators. It's like armor. Presumably the dumb terminator baby human would've been placed INSIDE the insect like shell.

This might've been in the Leviathan DLC.

90% sure it was as I recently replayed ME3 a month ago and pretty sure that was part of the convo with the Leviathan.

 

[Freeman76]

Yep, almost entirely agreed. Mass 2 is certainly the worst from a story standpoint, but I can't decide if Mass 1 has a better story than 3. Mass 1 certainly has absolutely perfect pacing, with every planet story not only being relevant to the main plot and providing exposition (amazing how rare this is in Bioware games, and the reason I hate DA:O) but also the buildup of mystery between who the Protheans and the Reapers are, and how Saren is just a pawn in a much larger game. Problem is... Saren only needs the Conduit for backdoor Citadel access because he was branded an outlaw and stripped of his Spectre title for his actions on Eden Prime while... searching for the Conduit. Hmm.

Of course Mass 3's ending looks horrendously bad at face value, but the Indoctrination Theory is pretty undeniable (the artists placed those sound effects and smoke tendrils there for a reason, and that boy only Shep can see looking identical to Space Jesus... yeah) and makes it a fantastic finale, with the caveat that you need to headcanon the closure. Everything up to that end point is incredible, seeing how Garrus and Liara react to witnessing the destruction of their home worlds, curing the Genophage, settling the Quarian/Geth conflict and restoring access to Rannoch... holy crap that was all so good. I just can't work out if the ending blunder is bigger than Mass 1's blunder of this whole trilogy-spanning story starting off with a gaping plot hole.

I think my biggest takeaway from all these reviews of Andromeda though is that this is basically Mass Effect 2... 2. All the focus on improving combat and moment to moment gameplay, no focus at all on writing. I think Mass 2 should have received a similar score, and I honestly feel like anyone worried about these scores who loved Mass 2 and didn't even notice the complete absence of story should really consider that they might end up loving this game despite the flaws.

ME2 is easily my favourite game in the series but I loved the story and characters which definitely added to it. I actually cared enough to want to keep everyone alive and do whatever it took to achieve that. I havent seen anybody compare this with 2 apart from you though, if reputable sources had made that comparison I would buy it day one, no question.

 

[CrichtonKicks]

I think my biggest takeaway from all these reviews of Andromeda though is that this is basically Mass Effect 2... 2. All the focus on improving combat and moment to moment gameplay, no focus at all on writing. I think Mass 2 should have received a similar score, and I honestly feel like anyone worried about these scores who loved Mass 2 and didn't even notice the complete absence of story should really consider that they might end up loving this game despite the flaws.

I'll give you ME1's plot over ME2's any day but the moment to moment dialogue in ME2 is way better than ME1.

With Andromeda they have put a huge amount of effort into improving the exploration aspect of the game so I don't think it's comparable to ME2 at all.

 

[sangreal]

Well, that's why they are not the good guys.

Sure, but if you feel that way (I agree), then they weren't the good guys in the original plan either. Look at the post I was replying to: "Making the reapers secretly a goody trying to save the universe by destroying every species" <- this is almost exactly how it ends up

 

[Mifune]

ME2 is easily my favourite game in the series but I loved the story and characters which definitely added to it. I actually cared enough to want to keep everyone alive and do whatever it took to achieve that. I havent seen anybody compare this with 2 apart from you though, if reputable sources had made that comparison I would buy it day one, no question.

Still early but it's nothing like 2. It's about as far from Mass Effect 2 as a game can get.

 

[Harmen]

This.

I love all 3 original games (to a ridiculous amount in fact) but I do not at all understand why so many people claim that not only is 2 the best of the trilogy but that it had the best story.

I think 2 is by far the weakest story. The main plot makes little sense and in the end contributed nothing to the lore of the series (anyone remember why the Reapers were secretly harvesting Humans to pre-make a human Reaper before the real invasion?!). The internal story beats are great, I love the Illusive Man and the loyalty missions are awesome (despite being the biggest offense to the trope of wasting time on ridiculous side missions while the whole galaxy needs saving), but the main plot was flawed and the Terminator Reaper was dumb as hell and still makes no sense. Weakest point in the series IMO.

ME 1 had the best story IMO and 3 was the best all round package. Despite the stupid endings (synthesis and control) you can pick if you are indoctrinated (IT for life!), the story is great and wraps up all the best story arcs of the series in brilliant and meaningful ways. Also best combat (up until Andromeda at least).

Yeah, I agree. ME2 had a pretty barebones main story. It felt more like a galactic The A-team saving all kinds of people across the galaxy, with some of them ending up joining you. The whole epic fight against the Collectors/Reapers thing was actually thinly spread accross the game.

 

[B00TE]

Absolutely loving the game so far. Damn flu bogging me down and preventing me from playing as much as I'd like. If the momentum keeps up, I could easily see me dumping 100's of hours into this. Have a few things I'm not a fan of (wonky animations are whatever, but some of the cutscenes walk animations keep making me laugh), but it's not preventing me from having a blast. Playing on Hardcore, feels like a good difficulty so far, using a vanguard profile mostly since I loved it in the MP.

 

[sangreal]

Somewhere in ME3 it is also explained very briefly that

Spoiler

the Reaper shell we see is an exoskeleton that's based on the first race they consumed, their creators. It's like armor. Presumably the dumb terminator baby human would've been placed INSIDE the insect like shell.

This might've been in the Leviathan DLC.

Oh, I didn't play the Leviathan DLC so I missed that. I actually own it, so I guess that gives me something to do while I wait for the andromeda unlock tonight

 

[Blue Ninja]

Yeah, this game is the spiritual successor to ME1, not a sequel to ME3.

 

[KINGofCRA5H]

There's a mission on Eos called

Spoiler

"Defeating the Kett"

but I can't seem to get to it, it's a hazard level 3? If I try and run there I die as soon as I step out of the Nomad. What do I have to get to access this area? I have 80% planet viability and I want to see what happens once it gets to 100%

 

[TwoScoops]

For me Mass Effect 2 was the worst entry:

• Impact of realising all your choices from ME1 count for shit
• Cliched "we're going dark for the sequel" direction, with space gangs making up the factions
• Building on the above, every character has to be "damaged" or dark in some way
• Replacing gun cooldown with bog-standard reloading so now it's like every other game
• No exploring planets in the Mako
• Weak antagonists in the Collectors

Can't fault them for the end mission though. Throughout the entire game it's built up as a suicide mission and I was thinking they can't make it that difficult otherwise there'll break the curve and casuals won't complete it. But they found a way to do it.

Shame the whole "Shepherd can die and it'll carry on to the next game!" feature was total bullshit.

It was easily the worst entry mostly because it had the worst story. The problem with ME2 was that it was a game that didn't need to be made, but was developed because BioWare promised a trilogy.

ME1 ended with the Reapers being rebuked and you and the rest of the galaxy presumably getting ready to gear up for war with them. However, because BioWare needed to make three games, they came up with a ridiculous bridge between ME1 and ME3 which featured Shepard being brought back to life (presumably so they could shoehorn Cerberus into the plot), a weak villain in the Collectors who also just happened to have their own mass effect relay (so they could shoehorn in the suicide mission), and the overarching human reaper plot which was weightless. Other than the suicide mission and the lair of the shadow broker DLC, the game was extremely repetitive in presentation and gameplay.

 

[FlutterPuffs]

Why did that sour you in ME3? I never touched the ME3 multiplayer and the 50% readiness rating made no difference (note: I played a few days ago and apparently they lowered the thresholds for success)

They replaced the war asset system with a viability system, but I don't think MP plays into it. You do get SP rewards from MP through strike missions, but you can send AI instead like in assassins creed

I didnt care much about the MP but my brother loved it, so I had him get it to 100% while I went to work.

Unfortunately, I had to stop playing the game for a few weeks because we had a big event at work going on, and I came back to the Readiness back to 50%. Yeah, I know it doesnt make much of a difference, but to get so close to finishing it with the best ending only to have a stupid concept that punishes people for not playing it constantly was bullshit.

 

[renegade_dewitt]

I am still confused, sorry if it has been answered.

I am looking for the physical standard edition of this game for PC. I see that Amazon is selling this version of this game, but I want to be able to walk into a brick/mortar store (like Gamestop) and pick up this game tomorrow. When I check Gamestop's website, it looks like they are only selling the digital version of the game. Are they not selling the standard physical copy of this game?

Is Amazon the only place where I can get the standard physical copy of this game for PC?

Thanks!

 

[sangreal]

Yeah, this game is the spiritual successor to ME1, not a sequel to ME3.

Well, it's definitely not a sequel to ME3 -- the 600 year time skip and galaxy shift starts from before ME3. They completely wrote it out of the series

 

[ArsGoetia]

Does anyone know if you can change the difficulty mid-game?

 

[Darkstorne]

I'll give you ME1's plot over ME2's any day but the moment to moment dialogue in ME2 is way better than ME1.

Calibrations, dude. Calibrations. Characters were great, but I think nostalgia is confusing people's memories of the dialogue in this game outside of the excellent loyalty missions (another of Andromeda's highly praised points):

 

[Freeman76]

Still early but it's nothing like 2. It's about as far from Mass Effect 2 as a game can get.

I had my suspicions the guy was talking rubbish by the nature of his post anyway, thanks for clarifying.

 

[amoebae]

Does anyone know if you can change the difficulty mid-game?

I believe so. You could change the difficulty at any time, even during combat, in the OT, and I believe they intended to keep that same mechanic.

 

[zebez]

It was easily the worst entry mostly because it had the worst story. The problem with ME2 was that it was a game that didn't need to be made, but was developed because BioWare promised a trilogy.

And it still is my absolute favorite among the trilogy. I loved ME1, ME2 was even better in every way. ME3 was pretty good, but it felt like a sequel to only ME1.

 

[xZoneHunter]

Anybody who already finished the game can give some incentive on length?

 

[Phamit]

Sure, but if you feel that way (I agree), then they weren't the good guys in the original plan either. Look at the post I was replying to: "Making the reapers secretly a goody trying to save the universe by destroying every species" <- this is almost exactly how it ends up

I honestly don't know anything about the dark matter plan, I never wanted to read anything about it. The bits from the Tali Mission sounded cool, but if it would end up as Reaper magic/tech whatever than I could live without it

 

[GenericBadGuy]

Got to play a few hours before work today thanks to South Korea. Ran into too many buggy situations for my taste in that timespan, which now has me saving very often. More than once characters were suddenly conversing about events that happened an hour ago as if they were happening now, I had a hard crash which then didn't reset items to their original positions upon loading, and I had to spend a solid chunk of time just sitting down and trying to figure out how to navigate the UI to do what I want. I also ran into an invisible wall that should just plain not exist - a garage door opening big enough for the Nomad that even had tracks going into it was magically sealed, sending me suddenly clipping through the ceiling.

Early puzzle spoilers:

Spoiler

I also ran into Sudoku for the first time, and as someone who isn't familiar with the normal puzzle game they did a terrible job of explaining it. I assumed they meant each row and column in each individual box, and not the entire screen. And what was with the sudden Sudoku anyway? While you scan runes here and there no one mentioned suddenly having to play Sudoku.

Anyway when I can jump back in I unfortunately feel like I need to keep my eyes peeled for possible jank to avoid breaking something, which is taking me out of it. What I saw that I liked is enough to keep me going though, and multiplayer remains great.

 

[Blue Ninja]

I played another round of multiplayer before my trial ended, but I'm still not really feeling it. I'm often just fighting the controls, especially with melee on Y. Weapons don't seem to do much, even on Bronze, and our team got wiped on the Ascendant again.

I'm guessing I just need to get that click for the game's combat flow.

 

[ForboJack]

The German Gaming 24/7 Streaming Channel RocketBeansTV just streamed the first 1+ hour. It was played by Nils Bornhoff a real fan of the original trilogy. Before he started he said he knows about some bad reviews, but that won't ruin his enjoyment, since he wanted to give the game a fair chance regardless of what others said.
Here is his face after that said first look:

 

[sangreal]

Early puzzle spoilers:

Spoiler

I also ran into Sudoku for the first time, and as someone who isn't familiar with the normal puzzle game they did a terrible job of explaining it. I assumed they meant each row and column in each individual box, and not the entire screen. And what was with the sudden Sudoku anyway? While you scan runes here and there no one mentioned suddenly having to play Sudoku.

The first time I played sudoku I tried to hit A to change the runes since it wasn't really explained and it forced another battle

 

[dankir]

My collectors edition is shipping, can't wait!

How's the music by the way? I still listening to the OST from the first 3 games pretty regularly.

 

[_DrMario_]

12 hours in so far it feels like in 95% of the conversation in this game you get the two choices of answering "logically" or "emotionally" with no visible effect on the conversation either way.

The more I play the more stuff I find to be disappointed about, aside from the combat.

 

[Mifune]

I can't get over how bad the side quests are in the first half-dozen hours.

There's one where you are asked to return half of a pendant to its sibling to commemorate where its owner died. Okay, that could be interesting, I said. Maybe there will be a grave or some kind of shrine to the fallen. So I find the spot marked on the map where this other half of the pendant is supposed to be, and all it is is a glowy spot onscreen - no body, no shrine, not even another half of the pendant. The quest design here (or complete lack thereof) boggles the mind.

I've said it before but so many of this game's quests totally feel like MMO or free-to-play shit with story stuff shoehorned in afterward.

 

[sangreal]

I can't get over how bad the side quests are in the first half-dozen hours.

There's one where you are asked to return half of a pendant to its sibling to commemorate where its owner died. Okay, that could be interesting, I said. Maybe there will be a grave or some kind of shrine to the fallen. So I find the spot marked on the map where this other half of the pendant is supposed to be, and all it is is a glowy spot onscreen - no body, no shrine, not even another half of the pendant. The quest design here (or complete lack thereof) boggles the mind.

I've said it before but so many of this game's quests totally feel like MMO or free-to-play shit with story stuff shoehorned in afterward.

that's not even a side quest though, it's listed as a 'task'

(but I agree with you on how stupid it is -- you can't even follow up with the guy and get a thanks)

 

[renegade_dewitt]

I am still confused, sorry if it has been answered.

I am looking for the physical standard edition of this game for PC. I see that Amazon is selling this version of this game, but I want to be able to walk into a brick/mortar store (like Gamestop) and pick up this game tomorrow. When I check Gamestop's website, it looks like they are only selling the digital version of the game. Are they not selling the standard physical copy of this game?

Is Amazon the only place where I can get the standard physical copy of this game for PC?

Thanks!

Can anyone answer this question for me?

 

[Mifune]

that's not even a side quest though, it's listed as a 'task'

(but I agree with you on how stupid it is -- you can't even follow up with the guy and get a thanks)

Oh yeah you're right. But the quests - like the murder one - aren't really much better just longer and involving more locations.

 

[nOoblet16]

How the fuck is this wrong? I've been stuck here for a while now

 

[sangreal]

Oh yeah you're right. But the quests - like the murder one - aren't really much better just longer and involving more locations.

at that one gives you a choice which in the past games would have far reaching implications. Based on the reviews saying choices don't matter in this game though, it's probably meaningless. I don't think it is even recorded in 'the journey so far'

 

[GenericBadGuy]

Was the N7 Hurricane a DLC weapon? If it isn't, I strongly suggest you craft that as your first weapon. Thing is ridiculous. I then played around with it (this took a long time to figure out how in the UI) in its next iteration by making it fire seeking plasma bolts instead of bullets. It turns your weapon into one with 100% accuracy just slower bullets, unless enemies are behind a wall or dodge.

I also strongly recommend the Raptor sniper rifle, which can be bought very early on. A sniper rifle with a 15 round magazine that fires as fast as you click the trigger.

 

[Lime]

I have a dumb question: Will the pre-order bonuses not be available any more once the game launches? Will it be impossible to get the Deep Space explorer armor be unavailable to later buyers? I can be OCD like that.

 

[jdstorm]

Just a few quick things on Mass Effect 1.

Mass Effect doesnt start with a plot hole because

Spoiler

The Protheans had hidden what the conduit was from the reapers. This was unknown technology that might be able to harm them, so thay had to have Saren investigate it. Sure it turned out to be mostly nothing, but the initial act of investigating the conduit is 100% plausible for both sides

 

[LaunchpadMcQ]

How the fuck is this wrong? I've been stuck here for a while now

In the center cross, you have two of those right triangle looking thingies.

EDIT: actually, I may not know what's going on. The top right shape has two repeating shapes set at the start lol

 

[sangreal]

In the center cross, you have two of those right triangle looking thingies.

EDIT: actually, I may not know what's going on. The top right shape has two repeating shapes set at the start lol

it should be columns and rows only. if those outlines matter, fml

 

[ForboJack]

How the fuck is this wrong? I've been stuck here for a while now

Here you go:

 

[sangreal]

Here you go:

but if those outlines matter than the top right is wrong

edit: I see it does say highlighted shapes cant include repeats... but it starts that way?

 

[ChubbleDucks]

How the fuck is this wrong? I've been stuck here for a while now

The centre area that looks like a + (dpad shape) has the same icon twice.

 

[EatChildren]

So is this playable via VPN?

 

[Silvard]

What should I do while I wait for my preload to unlock?

 

[PtKid]

I am wondering whether if i should cancel my pre order or not, however that is very dependent on how the game treats length and side content.

Anyone that has played it could tell me how long the main story is? Also are "side quests" worth doing or are they similar to "tasks"?

For those that played Horizon Zero Dawn, how would you compare these quests to say the errands on horizon?

Thanks

 

[jdstorm]

How the fuck is this wrong? I've been stuck here for a while now

Bioware seem to have an ideal solution that they want. Start by switching the red glyphs on the top row, then adjust accordingly.

 

[ForboJack]

but if those outlines matter than the top right is wrong

edit: I see it does say highlighted shapes cant include repeats... but it starts that way?

Oh, you're right. looks like they fucked this up

 

[diaspora]

So is this playable via VPN?

Yes

 

[xkramz]

anyone got it from GMG? did ya get ya codes?

 

[nOoblet16]

They did a poor job highlighting the thing, I barely even noticed it.

I'll try some more, probably need to change everything.

Bioware seem to have an ideal solution that they want. Start by switching the red glyphs on the top row, then adjust accordingly.

The red ones are fixed...the blue ones are the ones you control.

 

[Dineren]

Was there a site for sharing custom characters? I thought I remember reading about it somewhere, but I can't find it.