Ivory Samoan
Gold Member
Same boat here: tossed it aside like so many other things.
Kind of wish it was never made/conceived actually :/
-
Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.
The Mass Effect Community Thread |OT2|
- Thread starter Patryn
- Start date
Kind of wish it was never made/conceived actually :/
BrassDragon
Member
Man, I was having similar thoughts just the other week. I don't even mind that Andromeda has technical or design flaws... yeah sure, a home run was preferable but I could soldier through the game long enough to finish once.
But poor execution of the premise, setting, dialogue, characters and protagonist(s) just left me so cold that it's hard for me to remember the details half a year later.
While the engine/pipeline problems and studio politics have been identified as the main culprits for Andromeda's shortcomings, I just don't understand why the world building, antagonists and overall narrative ended up so lacklustre. Inquisition isn't a perfect game in the technical and gameplay department either but worth sticking with because the story is rich, consistent, full of memorable characters and it moves the world in exciting directions.
That Andromeda couldn't muster even that much is such a let down. Truly deflated my enthusiasm for the series.
TC McQueen
Member
Because Bioware doesn't actually do any of the writing before they can get the level creation going, at least going from their old GDC talk on how they made ME2.
Also, I wouldn't be surprised if there was literally no writing done besides basic ideas during that 3 years of flopping around accomplishing little.
I believe Schrier's article said that they came out of those three years only having the idea of the Ryder twins, SAM and then the ending. Everything else came out of the final 18 months.
The engine wasn't the issue. Reading the article it was a problem of BioWare montreal's fucked up priorities. They spent so long trying to make procedural generation and 100km x 100km world's work in the engine without actually figuring out why they needed it. Same with using 3DS Max instead of Maya as Autodesk advised.
JohnnyFootball
GerAlt-Right. Ciriously.
As I've said, my feelings for the game aren't entirely negative. I did like the look and feel of the worlds and did have a pleasant experience when all was said and done.
Unfortunately, the bloat and tediousness of fast travel really knocked the game down a couple of pegs.
Unfortunately, the bloat and tediousness of fast travel really knocked the game down a couple of pegs.
If we're doing retros here, I think my overall feelings on Andromeda is just... meh.
I don't think it was a horrible affront to God, but it's not really a great game. It's far too flawed.
Don't get me wrong; I'm happy that I finished it. I'm just honestly uncertain if I'll ever revisit it. The combat becomes too rote and the game never really pushes you to change up your tactics that much if you don't want to. Combine that with how easy it is to get your desired loadout very early on, and it becomes massively repetitive.
I'd almost want to also partially blame the length, but then I look at Dragon Age Inquisition, a similarly long game, and I love the combat in that game and have replayed it multiple times.
I think it'll just always go down for me as a massive wasted opportunity.
I don't think it was a horrible affront to God, but it's not really a great game. It's far too flawed.
Don't get me wrong; I'm happy that I finished it. I'm just honestly uncertain if I'll ever revisit it. The combat becomes too rote and the game never really pushes you to change up your tactics that much if you don't want to. Combine that with how easy it is to get your desired loadout very early on, and it becomes massively repetitive.
I'd almost want to also partially blame the length, but then I look at Dragon Age Inquisition, a similarly long game, and I love the combat in that game and have replayed it multiple times.
I think it'll just always go down for me as a massive wasted opportunity.
So I just finished my first playthrough of Mass Effect 1 last night, pretty awesome game, I think I did some good choices.
I then jumped right back with Mass Effect 2, I'm doing a Trilogy Playthrough.
And wow, the jump in production is crazy, everything feels smoother, I think I will enjoy this even more.
Although I miss my old crew.
Rex my fave.
I then jumped right back with Mass Effect 2, I'm doing a Trilogy Playthrough.
And wow, the jump in production is crazy, everything feels smoother, I think I will enjoy this even more.
Although I miss my old crew.
Rex my fave.
prag16
Banned
I was one of the most positive posters after release. I gave it a 9 (with the asterisk that this score isn't reasonable if you do all the content; it needs to be played much closer to how you would play ME2/3).
I guess i'm not backing off from the 9 (though it's feeling a little more like an 8 with the benefit of hindsight in some ways), but I still haven't done a second run. Which is crazy to me for a Mass Effect game. BUT when ME3 came out I didn't have any kids yet. I now have two. I have a lot less time for gaming now in general, and I still haven't finished Horizon and UC:LL even though I like both A LOT (though I soured on HZD a bit after trying to return to it after beating ME:A). The rest of my excess gaming time which isn't much has been going to Nascar Heat 2 and PUBG.
So I'm not sure if my lack of a second playthrough is a huge indictment given that (I played through ME1 once at launch and one more years later, ME2 three times at launch and once more years later, ME3 three times at launch and no super late RTTP yet).
Current GoTY top 5:
1. ME:A (sorry guys)
2. PUBG
3. UC:LL
4. HZD
And Battlefront 2 will almost certainly wedge its way into there somewhere. Mario Odyssey will be great but I won't have a switch this year.
Even though I still think highly of ME:A and it was the most fun I had with any game this year while I was playing it, the troubled development was a major problem, leading to some unpolished crap and baffling design decisions which held this back from being truly great.
The combination of both "Blood, Sweat, and Pixels" chapter on Inquisition, and the Kotaku article on Andromeda it seems like the game was a product of BioWare Montreal's own ineptitude. Not EA, not Frostbite.
This isn't Frostbite or EA's fault.
or this
complete fucking ineptitude
...
prag16
Banned
Agreed. Any failings don't seem to have much to do with those latter entities.
VenomousCoffee
Member
The development story of ME:A reminds me of something that has happened at my own workplace: Someone at the top of management decides that you're going to do a certain thing because it will make you known for that thing (for ME:A, big procedurally-generated planets in an RPG) without asking whether that thing will actually benefit your product.
DeadlyParasite
Member
I really doubt it but...
Anyone else nab some of those limited print(only 500 of each) lithographs BioWare's been slowly putting out over the past couple months?
I finally got Drack and Sara, still waiting on Scott and Cora(when they finally release hers).
(Sorry for the shitty pics)
Anyone else nab some of those limited print(only 500 of each) lithographs BioWare's been slowly putting out over the past couple months?
I finally got Drack and Sara, still waiting on Scott and Cora(when they finally release hers).
(Sorry for the shitty pics)
It would appear so. I'm surprised it wasn't more heavily advertised at the time.
Same here lmao
With this it seems like less about management at the top and more of their whole creative direction was predicated on something they never considered as to how it'd benefit the final game or if it made sense.
Same. Especially knowing there probably won't be a sequel so any decisions you make won't matter outside this game.
The game is too big & bloated in meaningless quests & time wasting travel to enjoy it as much as the old trilogy. If you didn't need to go back & forth between a planet and the Tempest/Nexus so many times, you could probably cut the time it takes to complete this game by half.
The only thing I hope for since we probably won't see a new Mass Effect game for another 10 years is to to get that long awaited trilogy HD remaster. Some could argue we already have that on PC with mods, but I'd love to get something official without the need of mods.
prag16
Banned
I don't think this is new; those EXEs have been available from EA since launch; I remember being able to redownload from links like that, direct from their site. But unless particular DLC is "unlocked" you will not have access to them in-game. Maybe this has changed, but the simple availability of the EXEs is not new.
BrassDragon
Member
We crossed proverbial swords over this game a few times but just wanted to say I appreciated your positivity all the same. Was good to have a different perspective and it helped me to hang in there long enough until I had the thing completed.
All in all it's sad this game gave us such a hang-over; it's not really bad but it didn't deliver sufficiently. Feels like it drained the energy out the fan community. While there are some hold-overs, you see that lack of engagement here, on the unofficial BSN forums and in the channels of YouTube commentators.
TC McQueen
Member
Well yeah, the general fandom put all its hopes and dreams on this thing, and when it underdelivered and the single-player DLC was confirmed to not be coming, there's not much for most people to go talk about. You see this with other franchises that have come to less than stellar ends or have been done for years - you rarely talk about them unless there's a reason to talk about them.
I think putting the series on ice was really what killed everything.
If you look at what we were discussing before MEA came out, it was the previous games with an eye towards what we wanted in the next title. Now we know there won't be a next title, so it kind of kills my enthusiasm to talk Mass Effect.
At least I still have Dragon Age, although (bringing this back on topic) I do hope that Bioware starts correcting for what is becoming, in my opinion, their gravest sin: Minimizing the main story of a title.
Going all the way back to Mass Effect 2 and Dragon Age 2, there's been a long pattern of Bioware letting the main story of a game flounder while they focus on side stuff. I'd argue that Bioware hasn't really had a really strong backbone of a main story since Dragon Age: Origins. Ever since then the main story has just been an excuse to get you from point A to point B where they can tell an individual story about that area (and then they fell down and failed at that in MEA). Think about it: Can you, off the top of your head, give an accounting of MEA's main plot general beat for beat? Compare that to ME1, ME2 or even ME3.
Sure, you occasionally get a highpoint here or there, but taken as a whole, Bioware's main stories have had really weak flow lately.
That being said, Trespasser was really good so I have hope.
Honestly, if there was a Dragon Age community thread I'd post like hell in there, but I doubt starting one here in Community would get any traction and I sure as hell am not starting a DA thread in General Gaming. I don't bother reading DA threads in General at this point because they inevitably devolve into driveby shitposting.
prag16
Banned
I do think this played a factor. If the fallout from ME:A was that they were going to retool things for the sequel to make sure they address many of the obvious issues with ME:A, while serving up at least 1 or 2 substantial single player DLC packs then I think even changing NOTHING about ME:A and its reception, sentiment would be very different right now.
Yeah. We'd be having conversations about the numerous loose threads from MEA. But what's the point of even arguing about stuff like
who the Benefactor is? What happened to the Remnant?
I'm sure we'll maybe get answers from comics or something, but I can't bring myself to care.
prag16
Banned
Yep. If the upcoming novel(s) are any good I'll check them out with mild interest. But can't be arsed to dig through comics and crap. I'll read a summary somewhere at most.
So, there's something I wanted to ask you guys regarding Mass Effect 2 and Ashley.
I'm at that Mission Horizon and she just showed up, at first she was happy to see me then I guess I picked the wrong dialogue and she got upset
She didn't want to join me on Normandy, did I mess up bad? Will I never see her again? I dig her and I wanted to see my romance again.
I'm at that Mission Horizon and she just showed up, at first she was happy to see me then I guess I picked the wrong dialogue and she got upset
She didn't want to join me on Normandy, did I mess up bad? Will I never see her again? I dig her and I wanted to see my romance again.
So, there's something I wanted to ask you guys regarding Mass Effect 2 and Ashley.
I'm at that Mission Horizon and she just showed up, at first she was happy to see me then I guess I picked the wrong dialogue and she got upset
She didn't want to join me on Normandy, did I mess up bad? Will I never see her again? I dig her and I wanted to see my romance again.
There is nothing you can say that will persuade her to join you.
You did nothing wrong, keep playing.
So, there's something I wanted to ask you guys regarding Mass Effect 2 and Ashley.
I'm at that Mission Horizon and she just showed up, at first she was happy to see me then I guess I picked the wrong dialogue and she got upset
She didn't want to join me on Normandy, did I mess up bad? Will I never see her again? I dig her and I wanted to see my romance again.
Yeah, there's nothing you can do to convince Ashley (or Kaidan if you saved him in ME1) to join you again. They'll always be against Shepard for working with Cerberus.
EatChildren
Currently polling second in Australia's federal election (first in the Gold Coast), this feral may one day be your Bogan King.
I don't mind how a lot of Andromeda plays, I just feel it burns out its formula super quickly and is exceedingly weak in establishing and developing compelling narrative and thematic hooks. And given the importance of narrative in the series this is a massive detriment for someone like myself.
It's the kind of game I started and sunk a good chunk of hours into thinking that it was far, far from perfect but still enjoyable enough to keep going. But then I...stopped caring. About the side quests, the antagonist, the Nexus, the companions, more or less everything.
I think it upsets me most because it's the one game in the series where the technological and production scope is right where I feel it needs to be to make the Mass Effect I want, but they got it so wrong in so many places that going back makes me sad.
Oh well.
It's the kind of game I started and sunk a good chunk of hours into thinking that it was far, far from perfect but still enjoyable enough to keep going. But then I...stopped caring. About the side quests, the antagonist, the Nexus, the companions, more or less everything.
I think it upsets me most because it's the one game in the series where the technological and production scope is right where I feel it needs to be to make the Mass Effect I want, but they got it so wrong in so many places that going back makes me sad.
Oh well.
Throughout my playthrough I just never really came to care about the characters, or the story, or a lot of the quests even. A lot of it felt underwhelming to me, and by the end of the story I was just waiting for the game to end. Nothing about the Andromeda galaxy really hooked me and made me become invested in it, which is disappointing considering how invested I became in the Trilogy and Shepard's story.
Once news came out that the series was put on ice and that there'd be no DLC that was kind of the final nail in the coffin for me. I tried to create a second Ryder and do another playthrough, this time wanting to cut out a lot of the fat in regards to the more pointless side quests and activities, but when I thought about having to go through a lot of the filler things like the loading times again, it just made me shake my head and decide it wasn't really worth it. The bad performance was another reason, the outpost on Kadara for example, though all of Kadara felt and looked bad performance wise for me at least.
If there is another ME game in the future, I'd personally want it to return to the Milky Way, because again I never really became invested in Andromeda and wouldn't really feel any urge to go back, it didn't leave me wanting more to be precise.
Blue Ninja
Member
I was arguing for a better Fast Travel system since release. Bungie showed how it's done in Destiny 2, really. They cut 90% of the bullshit and the game is better for it.
Reizo Ryuu
Member
Andromeda is probably the only mass effect I'll ever replay.
IMO part of this is in how the game is inherently designed. They establish so many quests that require interplanetary travel for no real reason on top of a travel system that's just straight up laborious and time consuming completely wearing me down and killing the pacing of any story in the quests.
I've already hammered on this point enough but I agree. The 13 step process of getting to other planets fucking cripples the ability to experience what I think could have been fantastic moment to moment game play.
Andromeda, on a pure gameplay perspective feels very nice, and should be very robust. The problem is that its combat encounters don't really evolve to force you to change your tactics. Once you figure out how to deal with enemies with armor and enemies with shields you've basically learned everything you'll ever need to know.
One need only look at the Architects for the clearest example of this. They're supposed to be the giant combat challenge, and the first time it's interesting and fun to learn the needed tactics.
But then you encounter the second one and realize it's exactly the same mechanics. And then the third, and it's the same again, except (depending on the order) maybe you have to deal with an environmental condition. And then a fourth, at which point the fight is extremely rote and boring. Four "super bosses" that are more or less the same experience over and over again.
Compare with Dragon Age Inquisition and its dragons, which each had a (semi) unique gimmick. Some of them armored up at certain points, some had the (super annoying) electric aura attacks, others would call in adds, etc. The point is that the tactics to fight one dragon wouldn't necessarily translate to another.
But going back to MEA, this lack of variety in combat situations means that it gets very old in the 60+ hours it takes to complete the game. It's wholly up to the player to decide to switch up their abilities and weapons simply to create some change.
In addition, since you have access to all abilities with your single character, there's no drive to replay the game as a different class because you can just swap your current character to whatever you want him to be. I think that also plays in the lack of my desire to go back to MEA.
VenomousCoffee
Member
Be aware that they advertised ME 2 from the start as the 'suicide mission' where your teammates can die (which it can be if you make certain choices) and they kept part of the original crew off your team in 2 to guarantee they'd be there for 3.
Ah okay, haven't done a mission like that yet, but I'm sure I will hit that soon. I'm still recruiting people.
But I do love that the stuff I did in ME1 had some impact in 2, like I met people I saved in ME1 just hours ago when I started 2.
I'm still annoyed they didn't make
Wrex playable
Well, at least they kinda make up for it with the Citadel DLC.
It's the last mission of the game, so don't worry about it too much if you just started. Be careful of your choices during that mission though. Like, don't send the mercenary dude into a technical/engineering position.
Yes. You can kill everyone, including Shepard. But of course, if he dies... you can't continue to Mass Effect 3.
But don't worry about it, you REALLY have to work for it for the mission to fail this badly. Like, you can't get such a bad ending unless you choose every worst possible decisions, get as little Paragon/Renegade points by never picking the Red/Blue options and always picking the neutral option when possible, and never upgrade your ship.
The normal outcome is that you'll have some people die.
It takes some work to have everyone survive, but it arguably takes even MORE work to have everyone die. It's highly unlikely you'd hit that scenario unless you were actively making choices to have that happen.
That's part of the reason why I rarely get tired of replaying Inquisition, the dragon fights were really well done and felt almost 'heroic' every time since you're fighting this big and magnificent beast with its own tactics and set of skills. I remember being nervous the first time I fought one, and then feeling like I accomplished something great afterwards when I defeated it. I never got that with the Architects, they never felt like super bosses to me.
VenomousCoffee
Member
Seeing new activity in this thread has me eyeing a trilogy replay even though so much stuff is coming out in the next two months.
VenomousCoffee
Member
I remember that part being tough the first time I played the game. I will say overall, from 1 to 3, Mass Effect games started adding elements to the combat that made it deeper and more rewarding without really telling you about it. 3 does it a lot more than 2, but man, it can be shocking in hindsight.
So I finished Mass Effect 2, hell of a game, hell of a fucking game, will definitely do a second playthrough later on.
As before I started up Mass Effect 3 right away while the memories are still fresh.
Awesome to see Ashley again (with long hair too), and great to have Liara back on the ship.
This game feels like a mix of ME1 and 2, not necessarly a bad thing, they finally added a quick save button after three games, the Normandy is a lot darker than before.
One thing I don't like is the weapon is up all the time, I loved that you could holster your weapon out in the field, now we're straight up Gears of War.
And where the heck is my crew from ME2? I spent all that time gaining their loyalty only to not have them anymore? Maybe they'll comeback later on, I haven't really done any missions, just the prologue and the missions until you get to Normandy.
With that said, I can't wait to finish the trilogy, seeing as this is the finale chapter I'm guessing lots of emotions and going all out on stuff.
Will report back with more impressions as I play.
As before I started up Mass Effect 3 right away while the memories are still fresh.
Awesome to see Ashley again (with long hair too), and great to have Liara back on the ship.
This game feels like a mix of ME1 and 2, not necessarly a bad thing, they finally added a quick save button after three games, the Normandy is a lot darker than before.
One thing I don't like is the weapon is up all the time, I loved that you could holster your weapon out in the field, now we're straight up Gears of War.
And where the heck is my crew from ME2? I spent all that time gaining their loyalty only to not have them anymore? Maybe they'll comeback later on, I haven't really done any missions, just the prologue and the missions until you get to Normandy.
With that said, I can't wait to finish the trilogy, seeing as this is the finale chapter I'm guessing lots of emotions and going all out on stuff.
Will report back with more impressions as I play.
TC McQueen
Member
Some of them do show up later in significant ways, but most of them have limited roles due to Bioware realizing they fucked up by having the Suicide Mission at the end of ME2.
I caved and got Mass Effect Andromeda after my poor experiences with the 10 hour demo.
... I'm liking it more this go-around. I don't love it, but I do at least LIKE it. I don't hate it (yet).
We'll see if that lasts. I'm going to stick to mostly the main missions and keep the fetch quest tedium to a minimum.
... I'm liking it more this go-around. I don't love it, but I do at least LIKE it. I don't hate it (yet).
We'll see if that lasts. I'm going to stick to mostly the main missions and keep the fetch quest tedium to a minimum.
I'd recommend that, and the loyalty/squadmate missions if you want to do those as well since there's some fun and interesting missions with those.
Similar threads
- Locked