I won't lie, I'm dying to see what an Elcor and Hanar in combat would be like. We know in Mass Effect 3 that Elcor fight with VI-assisted cannons on their back and that Hanar can at least hold pistols.
DLC production generally errs on the side of conservative and yeah, the implied species roster for assumed DLC is actually pretty substantial even if they seriously limit how much effort they put into said species. Especially since some can be borderline props.
I think they already have the Elcor redone, the model they used in the Omega ME3 DLC was completely new which would be a waste if it was just done for that one character in a DLC.
They did several other models for that DLC as well. The Adjutant and Rampart weren't used in any other content. The female Turian became the Cabal in multiplayer.
I don't think Hanar models are that odious since it's basically one model that doesn't do much. Drell are like almost entirely human except for the head. Wildcards are the Quarians and Elcor.
Maybe they got some cut content laying around that consists them so all they do is finish that stuff and maybe add things to it, at least content wise it could be a good amount that way.
Travelling to different visited areas in Andromeda
Go to ship
watch ship takeoff sequence
open galaxy map
watch animation of flying to another solar system
choose planet
watch animation of flying to the planet
choose landing location
fast travel to forward station you want to get to
This needs to be addressed. I don't give a shit how BioWare Montreal thinks I should be playing this, if I want to fast travel to another planet's forward station I should be able to, whether or not I see a loading screen is irrelevant.
While in fairness, fast travelling is better in DA:I than most (all?) WRPGs barring Fallout/TES (fuck you Witcher signposts), it's like a 3 click process to fast travel to different areas in Inquisition and like 7 steps plus animations in Andromeda.
Went to check in on some of the old MP crew...
The new old BSN forums are the dumbest trashfire related to Mass Effect yet. Holy shit at least the MP forums used to be a bastion of sanity, but never going back there again.
A giant hegemony struck me as a creatively stifling choice for future content. There's clearly a strong reason for a limited number of events to happen relatively quickly.
Perhaps it was already widely known what the exact name was but someone interestingly went through some of the game files and found a bunch of squadmate code related to "Salen".
I'm guessing they either thought he'd be too close to Mordin in terms of personality or they thought having two Salarians on board would be overkill.
If it wasn't for them
making Raeka's death optional
I'd totally be on board with her being a squadmate in the next game.
Perhaps it was already widely known what the exact name was but someone interestingly went through some of the game files and found a bunch of squadmate code related to "Salen".
I'm guessing they either thought he'd be too close to Mordin in terms of personality or they thought having two Salarians on board would be overkill.
If it wasn't for them
making Raeka's death optional
I'd totally be on board with her being a squadmate in the next game.
At least they don't have the same face. Was this the Asari plan? Stocking up the initiative with 20,000 clones of the same Asari, plus Peebee? No wonder she likes to act like an against the grain renegade.
At least they don't have the same face. Was this the Asari plan? Stocking up the initiative with 20,000 clones of the same Asari, plus Peebee? No wonder she likes to act like an against the grain renegade.
Mass Effect made me realize that I'm just totally fucking done with multiplayer as a concept. I hope Destiny 2 has a decent story, would be a shame for me to skip the next big Sci Fi IP.
Anyway, I'm about 65 hours in, and about 60% or so in terms of completion. Taking my sweet as time with it, which I'm actually quite enjoying. Still loving the game, and really like the story and characters. Too bad they weren't able to knock it out of the park though. I don't even think they could have made a really great Mass Effect game and come out unscathed. They needed to simply reinvent themselves and make an unequivocally stellar game to overcome the stigma that appears to have been the Mass Effect 3 ending, and to a lesser extent, just "Bioware" as a name.
If you don't like the tasks don't do the tasks. The main planet and companion quests are good/great. The only issue is really with the inability to fast travel to different planets.
If you don't like the tasks don't do the tasks. The main planet and companion quests are good/great. The only issue is really with the inability to fast travel to different planets.
Or they could not make garbage tasks and try to improve them... I swear this game was tarnished in the press for the wrong reasons. Yeah the cinematics and animations are bad, but it also has weak and fundamental issues with writing, pacing, level design. The main planets are not great when they are sudoku puzzle 3 monoliths and then run/escape the purification vault and then the the planet danger dissipates, oh and along the way we will throw 50 of the same facilities and enemies and also some random plants and minerals. Rinse, repeat.
I would be extremely wary of the Quarian DLC and I am their target audience for it.
Or they could not make garbage tasks and try to improve them... I swear this game was tarnished in the press for the wrong reasons. Yeah the cinematics and animations are bad, but it also has weak and fundamental issues with writing, pacing, level design. The main planets are not great when they are sudoku puzzle 3 monoliths and then run/escape the purification vault and then the the planet danger dissipates, oh and along the way we will throw 50 of the same facilities and enemies and also some random plants and minerals. Rinse, repeat.
I would be extremely wary of the Quarian DLC and I am their target audience for it.
Or they could remove tasks altogether, they're fairly inconsequential whilst I found the planet/companion assignments to be as good as any other RPG. This game gets shit for the wrong reasons- people bitch about having to go to 2-3 different planets to do a quest when the real problem is that travelling between planets requires sitting through like 3+ animation sequences rather than simply being able to fast travel to another planet's forward station.
Or they could not make garbage tasks and try to improve them... I swear this game was tarnished in the press for the wrong reasons. Yeah the cinematics and animations are bad, but it also has weak and fundamental issues with writing, pacing, level design. The main planets are not great when they are sudoku puzzle 3 monoliths and then run/escape the purification vault and then the the planet danger dissipates, oh and along the way we will throw 50 of the same facilities and enemies and also some random plants and minerals. Rinse, repeat.
I would be extremely wary of the Quarian DLC and I am their target audience for it.
Or they could remove tasks altogether, they're fairly inconsequential whilst I found the planet/companion assignments to be as good as any other RPG. This game gets shit for the wrong reasons- people bitch about having to go to 2-3 different planets to do a quest when the real problem is that travelling between planets requires sitting through like 3+ animation sequences rather than simply being able to fast travel to another planet's forward station.
I mentioned to Mike there needs to be more linearity. They could make quests consequential. It is their choice. You do things that take hours to get 200 credits, or the NPC disappears or you get a random email. That is their quest design. Sometimes it is nice to do something that can have an impact. Something like setting up the HNS signal boosters, have a payoff like more NPC's have dialogue about what you do elsewhere because you set up the receiver etc.
I think why the loyalty missions succeed is the linearity, the continuous pace and story. Think of Lair of the Shadow Broker and why it was so good.
I would have kept the new hold and loyalty system, but each loyalty mission is 3 loyalty mission parts. So rather than say a small little sidequest to take the character to speak to say a Refugee. You have a mission as long and focused as the end loyalty mission itself. Keeps you more engaged with squadmates, the story can be vastly improved for them etc.
Eh, ultimately I find the game's issue is an incompatibility with the quest design and navigation. Going to like 6 planets doesn't bother me if I can jump between 6 different forward stations, but when I have to watch like 3 animation sequences each time I go anywhere (so like 15-18 of them in this case) it becomes a serious issue.
Like shit, I need to hold T to get back to the Tempest, watch it take off, click the galaxy map, click the system I want to go to, watch another animation sequence of flying there, click the planet I want to go to, watch an animation of flying there even if it's skippable now I have to click to skip it, click to land, watch an animation of the planet landing, then travel to the forward station. If the quest needs me to go to 6 planets then... christ.
Eh, ultimately I find the game's issue is an incompatibility with the quest design and navigation. Going to like 6 planets doesn't bother me if I can jump between 6 different forward stations, but when I have to watch like 3 animation sequences each time I go anywhere (so like 15-18 of them in this case) it becomes a serious issue.
Why even have such large open worlds if most just jump from forward station through the all. That is entirely the point. They wanted exploration and yet did not make it fun or even rewarding. Nothing waits for you beyond the ridge than yet another of the same 4 animals you have faced, the same Kett and Remnant asset reuse giving you just crap you don't need in some container.
I agree the loading and transitions are unbearable, none more so than having to go to the Tempest which inexplicably takes off from the planet triggering new animations rather than stay docked on the planet.
Why even have such large open worlds if most just jump from forward station through the all. That is entirely the point. They wanted exploration and yet did not make it fun or even rewarding. Nothing waits for you beyond the ridge than yet another of the same 4 animals you have faced, the same Kett and Remnant asset reuse giving you just crap you don't need in some container.
I agree the loading and transitions are unbearable, none more so than having to go to the Tempest which inexplicably takes off from the planet triggering new animations rather than stay docked on the planet.
You have to manually get to a forward station first to be able to fast travel there. My suggestion has no less "exploration" than the game at present. I'm suggesting rather than go through several steps, reduce the number of clicks and hidden load screens and simply jump to the previously visited forward station.
Edit: Like, if a quest point requires you to be at a crashed ship on Elaaden, you still need to find the crashed ship even if you fast travel to a forward station. All I'm suggesting is to reduce the number of requisite steps in between. Inquisition is a good model to follow in this regard. There you open the map, select a zone, select the camp you made, then click it- boom.
Edit 2: I agree with the second bolded part though, and oddly I think TES5 arguably did a great job with this (despite its other drawbacks). You can just wander around then end up drugged by the Dark Brotherhood in bed.
Eh, ultimately I find the game's issue is an incompatibility with the quest design and navigation. Going to like 6 planets doesn't bother me if I can jump between 6 different forward stations, but when I have to watch like 3 animation sequences each time I go anywhere (so like 15-18 of them in this case) it becomes a serious issue.
Like shit, I need to hold T to get back to the Tempest, watch it take off, click the galaxy map, click the system I want to go to, watch another animation sequence of flying there, click the planet I want to go to, watch an animation of flying there even if it's skippable now I have to click to skip it, click to land, watch an animation of the planet landing, then travel to the forward station. If the quest needs me to go to 6 planets then... christ.
Yeah, I think waiting for a few QoL/balance patches before playing my NG+ playthrough was a smart idea. I still loved what I played on my first playthrough, but there is so much little things that need/should be fixed for a more pleasant experience. Skipping planet to planet animation was a good first step, let's hope they can do more like... I dunno, add an option to land right outside the Kadara slums maybe.
Finished the game. What a disappointment. This is literally the worst ME game out of all four, they even managed to beat ME3 in my books. They should've called it "Mass Effect: Fetch Quest" instead of "Andromeda". There is literally no other quests in this game, even the main quests are all the same fetch quest
(land on a planet, activate _three_ monoliths (why not ten I wonder? someone suddenly felt like it's too much?), activate a vault, rinse, repeat)
.
The biggest shocker for me personally was the loss of _everything_ good from ME2 and ME3. I kinda fully expected them to drop the ball on the ME1's plot and exploration parts so this was no surprise. But the loss of good characters and their backstories _and_ the loss of great main plot missions - this I didn't expect. After completing the game and spending ~100 hours on it the only mission which I remember is the
video night mission, and only because it took me freaking forever to _fetch_ different shit from all around the cluster.
I'm struggling to think of anything good about the game here. Shooting? I don't know, seemed rather mediocre to me. Graphics? Very mediocre both artistically and technically. Driving? Yeah, all the fun of that was killed off by removing the Mako's turret from Nomad.
As it is the game is definitely overrated as I personally would give it 5/10 at best. It's just a total train wreck of a brain dead story, empty characters and boring as hell gameplay - and that's even disregarding a mountain of technical issues. So so disappointed.
Finished the game. What a disappointment. This is literally the worst ME game out of all four, they even managed to beat ME3 in my books. They should've called it "Mass Effect: Fetch Quest" instead of "Andromeda". There is literally no other quests in this game, even the main quests are all the same fetch quest
(land on a planet, activate _three_ monoliths (why not ten I wonder? someone suddenly felt like it's too much?), activate a vault, rinse, repeat)
.
The biggest shocker for me personally was the loss of _everything_ good from ME2 and ME3. I kinda fully expected them to drop the ball on the ME1's plot and exploration parts so this was no surprise. But the loss of good characters and their backstories _and_ the loss of great main plot missions - this I didn't expect. After completing the game and spending ~100 hours on it the only mission which I remember is the
video night mission, and only because it took me freaking forever to _fetch_ different shit from all around the cluster.
I'm struggling to think of anything good about the game here. Shooting? I don't know, seemed rather mediocre to me. Graphics? Very mediocre both artistically and technically. Driving? Yeah, all the fun of that was killed off by removing the Mako's turret from Nomad.
As it is the game is definitely overrated as I personally would give it 5/10 at best. It's just a total train wreck of a brain dead story, empty characters and boring as hell gameplay - and that's even disregarding a mountain of technical issues. So so disappointed.
How miserable that you spent a 100 hours on a game that you seem to say does not have any redeeming qualities. Couldn't you have figured that out around hour 50, moved on, and spared us this hyperbole-laden "review"?
One of these days I'm gonna have to create a thread asking the community here on NeoGAF what exactly "Fetch Quest" encompasses because I feel like the meaning has become so broad, misused, diluted, and all-encompassing that no singular person can offer a definitive and consistent description.
How miserable that you spent a 100 hours on a game that you seem to say does not have any redeeming qualities. Couldn't you have figured that out around hour 50, moved on, and spared us this hyperbole-laden "review"?
If I didn't know better I'd suspect that many of these "I played 100 hours and the game sucks balls" people didn't actually play it for nearly that long, and rather only played long enough to confirm their biases...
I'll be done with my first playthrough in the next couple days. It was a bumpy ride in getting there, but as of right now I think this is going to squeak out a 9/10 score in my book (with an asterisk or two). I don't see anything else this year supplanting it as my game of the year either.
My trust in professional reviewers (and gaf 'consensus') in terms of predicting how much I'll like a game is at an all time low. Ah well.
One of these days I'm gonna have to create a thread asking the community here on NeoGAF what exactly "Fetch Quest" encompasses because I feel like the meaning has become so broad, misused, diluted, and all-encompassing that no singular person can offer a definitive and consistent description.
To be fair, I'm fairly sure my first playthrough of ME2 was 60 hours+, which seems far higher than most people's. Some folks just take longer on games!
(And in my case, obsessively talk to every crew member after every mission...)
How miserable that you spent a 100 hours on a game that you seem to say does not have any redeeming qualities. Couldn't you have figured that out around hour 50, moved on, and spared us this hyperbole-laden "review"?
One of these days I'm gonna have to create a thread asking the community here on NeoGAF what exactly "Fetch Quest" encompasses because I feel like the meaning has become so broad, misused, diluted, and all-encompassing that no singular person can offer a definitive and consistent description.
A fetch quest is a quest which is completed after you fetch something and has almost nothing else in itself. No story, no characters, no new gameplay, nothing. Pretty much all quests in Andromeda are fetch quests.
A fetch quest is a quest which is completed after you fetch something and has almost nothing else in itself. No story, no characters, no new gameplay, nothing. Pretty much all quests in Andromeda are fetch quests.
.
Fetch quests in my mind are quests like those asking to find 20 mineral deposits or 15 alien herbs. And there is like, what, 5 of those quests in the whole game?
Having a minor quest taken from the Nexus that ask you to go talk to an Asari on another planet, where she will tell you to go find her friend who was last seen near some Remnant site(I'm not sure that quest even exist, i'm just throwing some example of what Andromeda mostly have for quests), which will end with some combat and probably a corpse as bad news to the Asari, is not what I would call a fetch quest.
It's not a fetch quest, but I would still count it as filler busy work that adds nothing to the game. That's Andromeda's issue, it's scattered good content amidst tons of really poor, crappy MMO style quests whose only purpose is to elongate the play time. They didn't learn from Inquisition at all (in fact, I actually prefer Inquisitions stuff to this).
It's such a difference from Me2, where every combat encounter was scripted and designed, to then have a game where you mindlessly kill endless goons in the same fashion everywhere.
It took me 100 hours because I don't rush through games, don't play them "day one" and generally don't care about how much time it takes me to complete a game.
Fetch quests in my mind are quests like those asking to find 20 mineral deposits or 15 alien herbs. And there is like, what, 5 of those quests in the whole game?
Why does it matter if it's 20 or 15 instead of 1? It is still a fetch quest if there's only 1 thing to collect to complete it. This "thing" can even not be a "thing" but a poorly written short dialog for example. I still consider this a fetch quest as all I do in it is go and fetch something.
But if you genuinely didn't like the game, why didn't you mainline the story? You could have completed the game and spared yourself about 70 hours of pain by doing so.
Because driving around new unseen areas taking screenshots is pretty much the only fun I've had in the game. Main quest is certainly not worthy of completion imo.
It took me 100 hours because I don't rush through games, don't play them "day one" and generally don't care about how much time it takes me to complete a game.
But if you genuinely didn't like the game, why didn't you mainline the story? You could have completed the game and spared yourself about 70 hours of pain by doing so.
Fetch quests in my mind are quests like those asking to find 20 mineral deposits or 15 alien herbs. And there is like, what, 5 of those quests in the whole game?
Having a minor quest taken from the Nexus that ask you to go talk to an Asari on another planet, where she will tell you to go find her friend who was last seen near some Remnant site(I'm not sure that quest even exist, i'm just throwing some example of what Andromeda mostly have for quests), which will end with some combat and probably a corpse as bad news to the Asari, is not what I would call a fetch quest.
FWIW, I clocked in about 80~ hours on my first playthrough, 90%'d the game and got 100% viability with about 10-15 of the 80 hours being idling as I ran errands/cooked/etc putting the time I actually had playing the game at about 65-70 hours.
It took me 100 hours because I don't rush through games, don't play them "day one" and generally don't care about how much time it takes me to complete a game.
Why does it matter if it's 20 or 15 instead of 1? It is still a fetch quest if there's only 1 thing to collect to complete it.
Looking for (or talking to) someone or attacking an enemy base(which is what most of Andromeda quests are) does not make it a fetch quest. Otherwise, you might as well call every quests or every games fetch quests.
I'm not saying Andromeda was really original with its quests. I mean, most are just that... talking to someone or attacking an enemy base with maybe some scanning necessary, but I would not call most of its quests fetch quests.
Looking for (or talking to) someone or attacking an enemy base(which is what most of Andromeda quests are) does not make it a fetch quest. Otherwise, you might as well call every quests or every games fetch quests.
