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Mass Effect: Andromeda |OT| Ryders on the Storm

malfcn

Member
Thanks.



Which Eos monolith, and how was it causing so much trouble?

I'm not sure how to describe it. Rising panels. I'm playing on Insanity, but was being instantly killed. The ai squad was little help.

I eventually sat back and spammed bullets and powers. Always played as Infiltrate but wanted to try something new. No Sniper rifle hurts.
 

Starfield

Member
This game is so amazing I literalyl forgot how to sleep. Seriously, I don't feel anything and I'm playing since 19hrs already
 
Just wondering was there a patch plan to help solve the fps issues on consoles? As much as I am enjoy mp tonight, the fps drops are killing me since they stand out so much.
 
You act like any Mass Effect game is long. ME3 is the longest one. ME1 you can beat in 8 hours. All you have to do is Eden Prime, Therum, Feros, Noveria, Vermire and Ilos. That's 6 main missions, and they don't take long really. ME2 is Freedom's Progress, Horizon, the derelict reaper, the IFF and then bam jump through the relay hello collectors. The only reason it seems long is because it's padded to hell with loyalty missions and shit. It literally has almost no meaningful story progress. In fact if you skip from Mass Effect 1 to 3 you don't even miss all that much. That's how irrelevant ME2 is.

Andromeda is Dragon Age Inquisition without the arbitrary gating system. It's less about the main plot and more about the exploration and characters.

No I know. It's not about length at all, it's about the lack of, I don't know, momentum that the main plot has. I don't need or want a main ME questline to be 50 hours but I just honestly felt like I hadn't really done much of anything main plot-wise and thus am surprised to be apparently one mission from the end.
 
No I know. It's not about length at all, it's about the lack of, I don't know, momentum that the main plot has. I don't need or want a main ME questline to be 50 hours but I just honestly felt like I hadn't really done much of anything main plot-wise and thus am surprised to be apparently one mission from the end.

I can't disagree here. I'm apparently 1 mission away and when the guy said this is the last one I'm now thinking "really? This seemed like maybe 2/3rds of the way through moment"

but I then remembered that the point of this game was to explore and bring these alien races into a new world. And I guess the Kett were just
a rival to your goals
 
I wonder if the reception and reviews for this would be better if the animations and polish was better. I'm really enjoying this game, the side quests aren't as bad as I thought. Still don't know how Bioware with all the AAA resources of EA managed to fuck it up this bad. Mafia 3 with it's lower budget still did better.
 
I spent like 4hs talking with people without even firing a gun. :p

So, the early hours were the worst so far, I always liked the game but it's a little more interesting right now. Story is good and, against my first impression, voice acting is good too.

My biggest complain at first were the dialogues, I hate every joke and option I have to choose, I feel like my Ryder is either and embarrassing idiot or the most naive person in the galaxy, but it improved a little and since I'm mostly interviewing people dialogues tend to be less silly and more informative and interesting.

That's my other complain tho, conversations so far are really rare, most of the time everything feels like an interview, I'm just asking question all the time if I explore most dialogues with every character I meet. If feels unnatural sometimes (especially if I pay attention to people faces, especially Ryder since he looks away all the time but there's no point in talking about animations or stuff, they're bad but not a big deal) but this could be me don't remembering how it was in previous Mass Effects (keep in mind that 2 and 3 are some of my favourites games ever)

I need to battle more tho, not because I want to but because, precisely, I don't, every battle I've encountered so far I feel like the worst soldier of the galaxy, I don't know if AI is too good but they often flank me and I have a hard time to relocate myself to a safer position, my life is drained quick and safety is usually not close or it might be that I find really hard to move around, I feel Ryder too slow and hard to maneuver through the enviroment. Again, it could be that I'm out of practice.

Quest are interesting to look for and exploring it's fun for me, people come and go and you often find them in different places with interesting stories.

The galaxy map is a good idea but it works really bad, this slows and hard transitions feels wrong to me but I like to check every world for minerals and stuff.

I'm having a good time, I expect to give it a longer session tomorrow.

Oh and you were right, Drac is pretty cool, I think I'll use him instead of Vetra. I've just met Jaal, not the biggest first impression but he seems interesting too. I'll keep Cora in my team tho, seems like a reasonable fit to the story and I like the always positive look on her face.
 

Ascenion

Member
No I know. It's not about length at all, it's about the lack of, I don't know, momentum that the main plot has. I don't need or want a main ME questline to be 50 hours but I just honestly felt like I hadn't really done much of anything main plot-wise and thus am surprised to be apparently one mission from the end.

I can't disagree here. I'm apparently 1 mission away and when the guy said this is the last one I'm now thinking "really? This seemed like maybe 2/3rds of the way through moment"

but I then remembered that the point of this game was to explore and bring these alien races into a new world. And I guess the Kett were just
a rival to your goals

It's a pacing issue. The game is poorly paced and it never really gains that sense of urgency, which I feel becomes necessary at a certain point to feel like a climax is approaching. It puts ME2's plot progression into ME1's gameplay loop without making the side content feel justified or necessary. As EatChildren said, ME2 side content felt mandatory, so much so that most people don't know that recruiting the squad and the loyalty missions are optional. That worked brilliantly, because if you just play ME2's mandatory missions it's actually the worst game in the Trilogy. In fact it's basically unnecessary.

This game kinda lets you just go and never really stops you or gives you a sense of progression. Imagine if Inquisition didn't have the power mechanic, it'd likely fee similar.
 

hollomat

Banned
I feel like they've taken the worst parts of each of the first 3 mass effect games and combined them together.

The awful empty open worlds and Mako of Mass effect 1 are back. The terrible scanning of Mass effect 2 is back. The terrible story and characterization of mass effect 3 is back.

I also feel like there's numerous tutorials missing. I had no idea how to do many things or where to go to do many things until I looked it up on the internet. For example, I accidentally held down Y in the nomad cause I though that was the button that gets you out. Nope, thats the abort mission button. Now I have no idea how to find the nomad again.
 
Inquisition is both a good and bad example, considering that act 1 showed so much fucking promise, and then you realize as you beat the game that Act 1 was the peak of the whole game's plot... until the end reveal and the full ending dlc. But it doesn't make up for act 2 and 3 being so weak.
 

Madness

Member
I wonder if the reception and reviews for this would be better if the animations and polish was better. I'm really enjoying this game, the side quests aren't as bad as I thought. Still don't know how Bioware with all the AAA resources of EA managed to fuck it up this bad. Mafia 3 with it's lower budget still did better.

Not really. Animations and graphical jank and bugs show poor QA and technical difficulties. Things like poor writing, poor story, sidequest and level/mission design show that they just weren't as capable of making this game. They came up with the premise but execution is flawed from the very beginning. Just look at how they treat the meeting of the Angara, the situation with the Nexus.

EA was just trying to force Montreal to make another Mass Effect while Edmonton focused on a new IP. But we all saw the development issues.
 
The mining system in the Nomad is not good for my completionist mindset.

I just spent like 20 mins driving around in circles trying to finish off a mining zone on Kadara to gain a grand total of 4 copper lol
 

Laughing Banana

Weeping Pickle
Mannnnn playing anything above Normal just exemplifies how Goddamn terrible your squad mates really are. Lost count on how often Liam just stood there out in the open, painting a target on his arse.
 

Ernest

Banned
Finally got a chance to start it.

So far so good, it's Mass Effect (with slightly dumber dialog), and while the overall graphics look great, what the hell happened to the faces? Seriously, every character's face looks terrible, much worse than the last gen games. What happened?
 

alt27

Member
So I have played about 20 hours or so , maybe more . Some thoughts -

- start is fucking brutal . Terrible intro to the characters and andromeda . Felt like turning the game off at this point . Things got better though as progressed

- animations are really bad . Lip sync is laughable and the character models (especially human ) are ps2 looking . Really detracts from the story .

- the jank in the game is stupid . Full of glitches and random crashes . Just shoddy work from bioware . My most annoying pet peeve is when you interact with a character (not a cutscene) and your camera is set but then you can only look at a restricted view . Sometimes you can't see the person your talking too or they walk away and you can't hear what their saying ! Fucking LOL.

- combat - abilities are fun and their are a Ton of them. Having 3 only or whatever is poor choice , and the actual shooting feels like battlefront though (ugh). Enemy AI is a joke .

- story has me interested at where I'm at (3rd panet- ice one ) but don't know anything about the bad guy really , he's underused . Don't really like the main characters, and none of the crew are jumping out to me at the moment .

- enjoyed some of the loyalty quests and I like the detective style stuff but they haven't fleshed it out much . The planets themselves look great and some of the fights for larger bosses are great . Nomad is frustrating though . Doesn't feel fast .

It's feels like a mass effect , but one released 5 years ago. Bioware got stuck in the past . So much potential , so much wasted . Deserves its 6/10s . That's what I would score it .
 

Shouta

Member
I'm playing on Hardcore my teammates help out a decent amount. I've only had them die a handful of times. Drack seems to be the best overall AI for some reason though.

I'm really surprised this game has a little mention of that super fan from ME, heh. I guess they had to fit it in.
 

Trickster

Member
Mannnnn playing anything above Normal just exemplifies how Goddamn terrible your squad mates really are. Lost count on how often Liam just stood there out in the open, painting a target on his arse.

Use Dracks, dude is a tank that mows through enemies on his own on hardcore. Also has the best dialogue by far.

Just focus on Blood rage and the defensive passive
 

Ascenion

Member
Inquisition is both a good and bad example, considering that act 1 showed so much fucking promise, and then you realize as you beat the game that Act 1 was the peak of the whole game's plot... until the end reveal and the full ending dlc. But it doesn't make up for act 2 and 3 being so weak.

That might be more Corypheus being a shite-tier villain with the depth of a paper bag. At least due to power, Inquisition has a clear act 2 and 3. I couldn't tell you where act 2 ends and 3 begins or even if there is a 3 for Andromeda. It just kinda ends. Inquisition at least demonstrates how to pace a story structured like Andromeda.
 

UberLevi

Member
I'm on
Elaaden
and was talking to a couple of Krogan hunters who
joked about taking me out to hunt Fiends some time.
To which my Ryder responded (paraphrasing),
'How about we go hunting an Architect instead'.
But I haven't actually encountered one of these in-game yet. I'm level 30, should I have fought one by now? If so, where can I go for an encounter?
 

EatChildren

Currently polling second in Australia's federal election (first in the Gold Coast), this feral may one day be your Bogan King.
EA was just trying to force Montreal to make another Mass Effect while Edmonton focused on a new IP.

Your first paragraph is subjective; not everybody agrees with or is down about the game as yourself (and that's not a criticism, it's fine), or on the same scope. It's a discussion worth having, of course.

But the quoted isn't entirely true. Montreal was built up over Mass Effect 2, 3, and beyond primarily with the intention of taking the Mass Effect helm, and there was no reason to believe BioWare/EA wouldn't continue the franchise into the current generation, especially alongside the very vocal demand to see more. The intent for Montreal to continue Mass Effect in some form was widely publicised from very early on, and anybody being hired into the studio shouldn't have been under any delusion they wouldn't be.

Forced isn't the appropriate term here. There was planning and intent with near full transparency. And expectations were reasonable. They weren't "forced" any more than Nintendo "forced" staff to make Breath of the Wild.

What would be more interesting to explore is exactly what happened during the development process; technology and concepts prototyped and penned that were later abandoned, and more importantly why. The extent of Frostbite 3 as a working engine, its toolsets, and any issues Montreal (and others) struggled with relative to the production pipeline with Unreal Engine 3. What writers, creative directors, and designers intended and how closely the final project resembles their vision. What EA wanted versus what Montreal leads wanted, and how we ended up with what we got.

I definitely lean towards a positive opinion of Andromeda, but my criticisms of it can be split between stuff that I feel was incorrectly envisioned and designed from a creative perspective, and stuff that makes me feel production and/or technical issues were encountered. I doubt we'll ever know more, since full transparency and candid expose is so rare in this (and to be fair all creative) industry. But I can imagine it would be fascinating.

I just hope that despite the middling review scores, and mixed reception amongst fans, it sells well enough for EA to justify and greenlight a sequel that can hopefully take technology and lessons learned into a new game.
 

Mossybrew

Gold Member
Not really. Animations and graphical jank and bugs show poor QA and technical difficulties. Things like poor writing, poor story, sidequest and level/mission design show that they just weren't as capable of making this game. They came up with the premise but execution is flawed from the very beginning. Just look at how they treat the meeting of the Angara, the situation with the Nexus.

EA was just trying to force Montreal to make another Mass Effect while Edmonton focused on a new IP. But we all saw the development issues.

Good observations.

The game has been up and down for me. Obviously slow start, it gets better, but I'm on Kadara now and just, starting to "not feel it." Part of it is, there is just too much here. And in other games, I don't mind it. I loved DA:I for example. Here, it just doesn't feel like ME. ME was, tight, but with just enough variation to make it interesting. The world has enough open world games and ME didn't need to become one - and I say that as a fan of open world games. About four years ago I replayed ME2 and 3 and had a great time, totally different build/choices from my initial playthrough. I already know I would never want to replay this game, and I guess that pretty much says everything.
 
Has anyone tried out the Black Widow Sniper rifle? Is it any good?

And is anyone playing as a full on infiltrator/sniper? I was thinking of going that route but honestly, it doesn't seem as fun as playing as biotic, sentinel or vanguard because you won't be taking advantage of the new boosting/dodging mechanic as much.

The Black Widow is sexy. I can one shot the grunts on Hardcore and it has a nice mix of ammo to firepower ratio. I'm also playing an Infiltrator/sniper and the boosting/dodging is still useful since you are constantly wanting to reposition to get better angles on enemies trying to use cover.
 

Madness

Member
Your first paragraph is subjective; not everybody agrees with or is down about the game as yourself (and that's not a criticism, it's fine), or on the same scope. It's a discussion worth having, of course.

But the quoted isn't entirely true. Montreal was built up over Mass Effect 2, 3, and beyond primarily with the intention of taking the Mass Effect helm, and there was no reason to believe BioWare/EA wouldn't continue the franchise into the current generation, especially alongside the very vocal demand to see more. The intent for Montreal to continue Mass Effect in some form was widely publicised from very early on, and anybody being hired into the studio shouldn't have been under any delusion they wouldn't be.

Forced isn't the appropriate term here. There was planning and intent with near full transparency. And expectations were reasonable. They weren't "forced" any more than Nintendo "forced" staff to make Breath of the Wild.

What would be more interesting to explore is exactly what happened during the development process; technology and concepts prototyped and penned that were later abandoned, and more importantly why. The extent of Frostbite 3 as a working engine, its toolsets, and any issues Montreal (and others) struggled with relative to the production pipeline with Unreal Engine 3. What writers, creative directors, and designers intended and how closely the final project resembles their vision. What EA wanted versus what Montreal leads wanted, and how we ended up with what we got.

I definitely lean towards a positive opinion of Andromeda, but my criticisms of it can be split between stuff that I feel was incorrectly envisioned and designed from a creative perspective, and stuff that makes me feel production and/or technical issues were encountered. I doubt we'll ever know more, since full transparency and candid expose is so rare in this (and to be fair all creative) industry. But I can imagine it would be fascinating.

I just hope that despite the middling review scores, and mixed reception amongst fans, it sells well enough for EA to justify and greenlight a sequel that can hopefully take technology and lessons learned into a new game.

Much better point. I love this series. I am just salty as shit because I expected so much more. You have a way with getting the point across far better than me. I hope this criticism spurs them to go all out on the next one, show people whar BioWare is still about.
 

Trickster

Member
I'm on
Elaaden
and was talking to a couple of Krogan hunters who
joked about taking me out to hunt Fiends some time.
To which my Ryder responded (paraphrasing),
'How about we go hunting an Architect instead'.
But I haven't actually encountered one of these in-game yet. I'm level 30, should I have fought one by now? If so, where can I go for an encounter?

I've found one on Eos, Voeld, and have a quest for one on Elaaden
 

EatChildren

Currently polling second in Australia's federal election (first in the Gold Coast), this feral may one day be your Bogan King.

He's right, but unfortunately people will still foolishly expect Naughty Dog standards from games with ten+ times the amount of dialogue.

Much better point. I love this series. I am just salty as shit because I expected so much more. You have a way with getting the point across far better than me. I hope this criticism spurs them to go all out on the next one, show people whar BioWare is still about.

Creative criticisms are the hardest because there's no real way around them, and they're ultimately subjective. I've been moaning about creative direction and handling of narrative beats and themes in the series for a long time now, but I still keep coming back and enjoying what they offer. I kinda feel the Mass Effect I wish existed simply never will, no matter how much I want it, because BioWare isn't interested or capable of making the vision I have in my head. There's ego in expecting them to, but it's healthy to discuss and dissect reasoning for creative choices and why I/you/we feel they don't work (see: paper thin and nonsensical Angara introduction). Maybe writers can learn from this, maybe not. In my brain it's absolutely bewildering that your first engagement with the Kett is handled quite well in my opinion;
immediate exposure to a hostile alien force you have no means to communicate with and responds with hostility to passive body language in a semi-agency driven gameplay sequence
. Yet with the Angara they're
immediately speaking English and referring to you by title and origin as if it's totally natural and normal and nobody questions a single thing
. I can't tell where production faults (eg: ran out of time, never intended to do this) and poor writing/creativity begin and end.

But in the same breath I think people who are really, really disappointed with what we've got have a right to be heard. People clearly wanted more Mass Effect, and Andromeda isn't that for reasons that are more than just "more Shepard PLEASE". There are real criticisms with what we've got, even I don't agree with all of them. I just hope one day we can get some transparency to explore exactly why we got what we got. And again, I hope Montreal get another crack.
 

Renekton

Member
EA was just trying to force Montreal to make another Mass Effect while Edmonton focused on a new IP. But we all saw the development issues.
Bioware has to want to make one as well. As Nirolak mentioned, Bioware is accountable for a lot of things instead of EA alone.

Dat new IP tho.... smells like suits on both sides chasing Ubisoft/Activision semi-MMO money.
 
Better waifu for strait male rider? Cora or Peebee? (someone has to ask)

Personally? Cora. She seems like a solid character considering she was second in command to become pathfinder and instead you were chosen. Outside of a few scenes
of her saying how disappointed she is, she is never aggressive with you and gets over it fairly well. Plus her flirting dialogue with Ryder is much more apparent since even in awkward situations and tough dialogue choices she seems to fall for his charms everytime lmao.

Peebee on the other hand doesn't stop her
I DON'T TRUST ANYBODY AND I'M A LONE WOLF, BUT OH WOE IS ME YOU HAVE STOLEN MY HEART
bullshit excuse until the very end and that is more of a played out trope that I don't want to deal with. I am not going to pursue every character Vince Vaughn plays in a movie.

Sorry if this has been answered already but what species can you romance?

every single species in this game outside of the enemy race you can romance. Which is a shame because if they had left Elcor I would have totally pursued a female elcor romance.
 

timmyp53

Member
Personally? Cora. She seems like a solid character considering she was second in command to become pathfinder and instead you were chosen. Outside of a few scenes
of her saying how disappointed she is, she is never aggressive with you and gets over it fairly well. Plus her flirting dialogue with Ryder is much more apparent since even in awkward situations and tough dialogue choices she seems to fall for his charms everytime lmao.

Peebee on the other hand doesn't stop her
I DON'T TRUST ANYBODY AND I'M A LONE WOLF, BUT OH WOE IS ME YOU HAVE STOLEN MY HEART
bullshit excuse until the very end and that is more of a played out trope that I don't want to deal with. I am not going to pursue every character Vince Vaughn plays in a movie.



every single species in this game outside of the enemy race you can romance. Which is a shame because if they had left Elcor I would have totally pursued a female elcor romance.
Hmmm so only humanoid races? Boooooo
 
Kinda annoying that you have to manually accept your cryo pod resources at the terminal.

If the game is not giving them to me automatically as I play, they should at least stack/accumulate.
 
Your first paragraph is subjective; not everybody agrees with or is down about the game as yourself (and that's not a criticism, it's fine), or on the same scope. It's a discussion worth having, of course.

But the quoted isn't entirely true. Montreal was built up over Mass Effect 2, 3, and beyond primarily with the intention of taking the Mass Effect helm, and there was no reason to believe BioWare/EA wouldn't continue the franchise into the current generation, especially alongside the very vocal demand to see more. The intent for Montreal to continue Mass Effect in some form was widely publicised from very early on, and anybody being hired into the studio shouldn't have been under any delusion they wouldn't be.

Forced isn't the appropriate term here. There was planning and intent with near full transparency. And expectations were reasonable. They weren't "forced" any more than Nintendo "forced" staff to make Breath of the Wild.

What would be more interesting to explore is exactly what happened during the development process; technology and concepts prototyped and penned that were later abandoned, and more importantly why. The extent of Frostbite 3 as a working engine, its toolsets, and any issues Montreal (and others) struggled with relative to the production pipeline with Unreal Engine 3. What writers, creative directors, and designers intended and how closely the final project resembles their vision. What EA wanted versus what Montreal leads wanted, and how we ended up with what we got.

I definitely lean towards a positive opinion of Andromeda, but my criticisms of it can be split between stuff that I feel was incorrectly envisioned and designed from a creative perspective, and stuff that makes me feel production and/or technical issues were encountered. I doubt we'll ever know more, since full transparency and candid expose is so rare in this (and to be fair all creative) industry. But I can imagine it would be fascinating.

I just hope that despite the middling review scores, and mixed reception amongst fans, it sells well enough for EA to justify and greenlight a sequel that can hopefully take technology and lessons learned into a new game.

To be honest I'm actually kinda glad that this game reviewed poorly for a AAA title. It upsets me because I love Mass Effect, but it gives greater impetus for Bioware to overhaul their approach and improve things by taking on new talent and ditching the dead wood like Mac Walters.

I was drawn to Bioware because you could create your own character and really get into making them have their own personality and traits that make them unique. Andromeda seems to lack that aspect of choice and roleplay. My decisions I made in quests all are superficial at best. I really hate that a lot of conversations boil down to 2 options. My decisions don't have any consequences. At all. On the worldbuilding, I mentioned before the nightclub with 20 NPCs in it. It's just lacking in the most obvious ways. On the more positive side, the worlds are frequently beautiful, like the ice planet Voeld and the sense of exploration is well done.

I hope for a sequel one day with their A team on this game. New talent with a new approach. This is a really interesting setting that was imperfectly executed. Problem with Bioware and Bethesda are some of their head writers and designers are simply untouchable even though they're not suited to the position. Example- Emil Pagliarulo. And I mentioned Mac Walters the unapologetic 'speculation for everyone' ME3 ending dude previously.

My views on Andromeda are overall still trending positive, just sad that many things couldn't be done better.
 

Mossybrew

Gold Member
To be honest I'm actually kinda glad that this game reviewed poorly for a AAA title. It upsets me because I love Mass Effect, but it gives greater impetus for Bioware to overhaul their approach and improve things ..

My decisions don't have any consequences. At all.

My views on Andromeda are overall still trending positive, just sad that many things couldn't be done better.

Good post.
 
isn't the next game they're working on a multiplayer focused game?

I mean, if that game reviews well and sells well, don't you see the issue where EA might tell them to focus on multiplayer titles?
 

Staf

Member
Am i the only one getting kind of bored by the sheer quantity of combat encounters? Thinking of turning it down to (very) easy to blast through them.
 
Travel 2.5 million light years to end up spending half your time reading alien emails.

picard-padds.jpg


I exaggerate, but I ain't got time for that shit. I read enough emails at work.
 

Big_Al

Unconfirmed Member
Got around 30 hours clocked so far and I'm really enjoying this quite a bit. It has its flaws but it's got me hooked. I'm so happy to have the open worlds and the NotMako back, I loved that shit in the first game (even if it was just copy paste most of the time) and loving it here too.

What has surprised me the most is how much I love the more light hearted tone present. Some of the dialogue makes me genuinely chuckle and I love that Ryder can be such a smartass. In a way it kind of reminds me of Bad Company 1 and how much I loved the humour in that (though I would say BC1 was funnier)

Fuck most of those 'Additional Tasks' though. I don't mind fetch quests to an extent (or even fetch quests barely hidden as such with a little bit of story) and I'll run about chasing icons on a world map no problem, but for quests that literally say 'scan 16 plants' you can get tee fuck. But at least they're noted as such in their own section.
 
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