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The Mass Effect Community Thread
- Thread starter shinobi602
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True. Bethesda may have forgotten how to build an actual RPG, but their marketing is spot-on. If it's the other way around for Bioware though, good for us
And that still makes no sense. They'll give information on the game sooner or later and you can choose whether to get excited or not when they actually talk about it. People are acting like Bioware won't give any information until they pay for the game.
Yeah. Father, brother & sister. It's going to be bring a new dynamic to Mass Effect that we never saw in the trilogy. Curious to see how that goes.
Or they let you customize all three of them.
BrassDragon
Member
Who is acting like this? All I see is people commeting on the lack of impact of the reveals thus far.
BioWare isn't being silent at all, they are reluctant to drill down on anything but they're still reaching out - this is not like, say, the next Elder Scrolls that's also several years along in development but we haven't seen or heard anything of note. I don't understand the admonition that we should wait until BioWare is ready to talk - they ARE talking about this game and releasing assets, presumably to hype us up.
Why is it problematic to point out that the hype isn't registering for all of us?
I seriously doubt it. The typical player would rather choose the default character and go right into the action than customizing their own character. Can you imagine having to customize THREE characters? Most people who like to customize their character would give up before even starting to play.
I'm going to guess that you'll just have to customize your main character and that the father & brother/sister will always be the same look. Maybe they'll automatically change the hair color to fit your main character, but I don't expect customization for all 3.
Oh god. I'm going to be on the face creation screen for hours.
Then I'm going to do what I always do: Start the game, play for a few hours, and realize that there's ONE tiny thing that just bugs me too much about the face I created, and start over simply because the face creation tool has terrible lighting that doesn't reflect what the lighting in the majority of the game will be like.
Seriously, if they wanted to do ONE thing to improve face creation, it would be giving us options to adjust the lighting to ensure that the face looks good in all situations.
cartographer
Member
I feel like DA:I's lighting was either intentionally designed to fuck with you or show you the error of your ways right off the bat. From the fade lighting in the character creator to sudden bright everything in the first area... so many wasted characters.
I believe it logs all those characters on the Keep, too, if you want to see how many times the lighting fucked you up.
Xenoblade X does this actually.
I don't think they'll force people to customize the family but maybe give people the option. They let people design their Hawke in Inquisition.I seriously doubt it. The typical player would rather choose the default character and go right into the action than customizing their own character. Can you imagine having to customize THREE characters? Most people who like to customize their character would give up before even starting to play.
I'm going to guess that you'll just have to customize your main character and that the father & brother/sister will always be the same look. Maybe they'll automatically change the hair color to fit your main character, but I don't expect customization for all 3.
My PS3 copy of Mass Effect Trilogy came in, which is nice since that version of ME2 comes with all the good DLC. I can't wait to be disappointed by ME3 all over again!
And now that I've bought that (and will inevitably spend the requisite 20 dollars for Javik and Citadel), Mass Effect Remastered for current gen will doubtlessly happen.
And now that I've bought that (and will inevitably spend the requisite 20 dollars for Javik and Citadel), Mass Effect Remastered for current gen will doubtlessly happen.
George Oscar Bluth II
Banned
Hopefully we can throw people out the airlock in Andromeda.
I wonder if the sibling Ryder is a part of the squad?
I wonder if the sibling Ryder is a part of the squad?
The Lamonster
Member
Or if the whole game is a rescue mission, or a revenge plot for their death
Theodoricos
Member
Ganzlinger
Member
I want this.
DevilDog
Member
Same.
Rellik
Member
Shinobi mentioned it.
I think even someone from Bioware too.
Mac Walters mentioned it.
People got burned because they didn't wait to see if the game was good or not before actually buying it.
Explain how people got burned by the Fallout 4 release. What info did Fallout fail to convey that a normal media cycle would have conveyed by the time of release?
TheUnsunghero26
Member
I hope they let you customize both Ryders. One of the little details I like about Fallout 4 was that you could customize both the husband and wife.
DeadlyParasite
Member
The wait for this game is so brutal I'm stuck in a perpetual trilogy-playthrough loop where I restart a new run as soon as I'm done to pass the wait.
Heckler456
Banned
Speaking about replaying, I did a replay a couple of months ago. I've got some incentive to do another one soon, but not enough to actually jump in quite yet. I'm wondering, how profoundly different would a renegade playthrough end up being?
DeadlyParasite
Member
It's pretty brutal if you hate being mean to your favourite crewmembers, especially in ME3.
Heckler456
Banned
Sure do hate it. Always go paragon for that reason.
JeffG
Member
With ME1 & 2 its quite fun.
With ME3, I stopped playing after the outcome of the Quarians/Geth issue.
Fruitster
Member
Yep, the itch for a new Mass Effect game is ramping up. Replaying the trilogy again too, and there are still no games that have filled the void for me.
DevilDog
Member
I mean, the reason we went full paragon or renegade in mass effect was so that we weren't restricted from narrative choices, and while ME1 gave you some room to maneuver, ME2 required 100% commitment which was quite bad.
I hope they continue building on the ME3 system and expand on the reputation system. I would like the choice of the player to be felt on an organic level throughout the game, kind of like how Life Is Strange did it.
shinobi602
Member
It's ironic that many are mocking the animations in the game when it's all entirely from the ground up. All new animations. They're using a brand new locomotion system in the game similar to the things Ubisoft is trying to push with For Honor. It's the body locomotion with locked feet and natural gesturing system.
You can see it in the way Ryder walks and transitions into different speeds and turns. Animations look much better than any previous BioWare game.
You can see it in the way Ryder walks and transitions into different speeds and turns. Animations look much better than any previous BioWare game.
George Oscar Bluth II
Banned
I like the animation for when Ryder breaks into more of a run. Is it mocap? I saw them using mocap for stuff like biotic abilities in the E3 video.
I think I'll trust random GAF member opinion over yours, thank you.
But yeah, i don't see what's so bad about the animations...it seems some people already decided the game was going to have "bad" animation before they saw anything. Because Bioware, you know.
shinobi602
Member
Mocapped.
That's the thing. Perception differs because "lol BioWare is jank" so even if it has locomotion not existing in any current game, not even Uncharted 4, it's still automatically shit before stopping and looking at what you're seeing. I'm not at all biased but it's tiresome to read after a while.
George Oscar Bluth II
Banned
Nice. It's similar to the regular Shepard run but like an actual person is doing it. Looked quite natural to me. The only off thing about the animations were the breaks in between actions like jetpack landings and running, but those will probably be smoothed over.
DeadlyParasite
Member
Honestly the whole idea that animations being a gamebreaker for some people is weird. People rag on ME3 for having some bad animation but the only thing remotely "broken" is the shepard headtwist bug where your characters head stares off at an 180 degree angle in two specific conversations (Talking to the dalatrass and talking to Liara in her cabin).
For the sheer amount of conversations and dialog in these games you have to kind of suspend your belief "in-the-moment". Even The Witcher 3 which I do like has some animation jank and repetitive conversation animations like Mass Effect but you kinda just ignore it and accept that compromises have to be made in RPG's.
For the sheer amount of conversations and dialog in these games you have to kind of suspend your belief "in-the-moment". Even The Witcher 3 which I do like has some animation jank and repetitive conversation animations like Mass Effect but you kinda just ignore it and accept that compromises have to be made in RPG's.
Poodlestrike
Banned
People are doing the same thing for Recore. When did immersive animations become the one killer feature?
Poodlestrike
Banned
I could maybe get behind that provisionally. It'd be super awkward trying to write the scenes such that both player characters would always be represented, and only having 1 companion would be weird, but if they could work around that...
DeadlyParasite
Member
Honestly I think it would be pretty cool if your sibling doesn't die and actually helps you. The whole family dying thing is kind of overdone and being able to interact or bring them on missions would be different.
Barrow Roll
Member
To be fair, Recore's animations do look really out of place in 2016. If the game is good then it's good, but those jumping and dashing animations are truly bizarre.
EatChildren
Currently polling second in Australia's federal election (first in the Gold Coast), this feral may one day be your Bogan King.
I honestly don't think the animations are that bad considering the inevitably huge scope of the game and comparison to other action RPGs on the market. Obviously it could be better, but the game isn't finished, and pretty much every major RPG has deficiencies in nuanced presentation polish because of scope. It's part and parcel. Like I think The Witcher 3 is a remarkable gold standard of presentation quality for a massive action RPG, but the animations too have their regular moments of oddity and jank. Especially in the otherwise well choreographed cutscenes. The lip syncing doesn't always work, and the character motions rarely match the same standard as a linear, tightly produced title (for very good reasons). Mass Effect just strikes me as the same kind of series, from a developer that's always wrestled a bit with animation quality. And even so, the character control and jetpack looked absolutely fine to me.
The tiresome negative response to the media shown for Andromeda so far I do squarely blame on BioWare and EA's marketing. Look, I get and support the idea of doing a Fallout 4/Nintendo style blitzkreig reveal in the six or so moth pre-release window, but they sadly haven't stuck to their guns and instead tapered into this unsatisfying middleground where refusal to commit to a proper reveal leaves them with limited content to actually show, and said limited content still being the only exposure wary and excited fans have to go off.
Like okay, maybe the game is legitimately well on target for its release window, looks and plays fucking great, whatever. Maybe the project is doing fine. But people from the outside looking in only have one perspective, and fairly so, and that's what they've been shown. The average fan has only been shown unfinished tech demos, art slideshows, and now a fairly dull walky/explory tech vid.
On one hand they want to hide their project for the big reveal. On the other hand they insist on showing something. The balance isn't there, and when we're in an age where people are a bit more wary of muddied pre-release content inaccurately portraying the quality of the end project and state of development, I can't blame them for thinking "This game is in trouble". For many this isn't their first rodeo, and being continually told "No, it's fine, we'll show more later" has a history of bullshit even if it's true in this case.
Hopefully the November 7th blowout does a thorough job of satiating cynicism.
The tiresome negative response to the media shown for Andromeda so far I do squarely blame on BioWare and EA's marketing. Look, I get and support the idea of doing a Fallout 4/Nintendo style blitzkreig reveal in the six or so moth pre-release window, but they sadly haven't stuck to their guns and instead tapered into this unsatisfying middleground where refusal to commit to a proper reveal leaves them with limited content to actually show, and said limited content still being the only exposure wary and excited fans have to go off.
Like okay, maybe the game is legitimately well on target for its release window, looks and plays fucking great, whatever. Maybe the project is doing fine. But people from the outside looking in only have one perspective, and fairly so, and that's what they've been shown. The average fan has only been shown unfinished tech demos, art slideshows, and now a fairly dull walky/explory tech vid.
On one hand they want to hide their project for the big reveal. On the other hand they insist on showing something. The balance isn't there, and when we're in an age where people are a bit more wary of muddied pre-release content inaccurately portraying the quality of the end project and state of development, I can't blame them for thinking "This game is in trouble". For many this isn't their first rodeo, and being continually told "No, it's fine, we'll show more later" has a history of bullshit even if it's true in this case.
Hopefully the November 7th blowout does a thorough job of satiating cynicism.
TheUnsunghero26
Member
Well put. The marketing for the game so far has been... strange, to say the least.
BrassDragon
Member
Quoted for truth. We're all superfans in this thread and we all want the next Mass Effect to be awesome. It's just disappointing to see the marketing fall short of expectations again and again.
A divisive last instalment, uninspired open world mechanics in DA:I, studio and staff reshuffling and a soft reboot of the setting are all reasons to be cautious instead of blindly hyped.
I truly want BioWare to prove all the naysayers wrong. Guess we'll see in November.
DevilDog
Member
Animations don't have to be perfect. They have to be consistent and not produced by an algorythm. I know i always say it but if they reach Life is Strange levels or any telltale games it would be amazing, mainly because this is a heaivly narrative driven game and I would like to be able to read another person's body language.
Ivory Samoan
Gold Member
This is perhaps my #1 wish in video games for 2016.
I want this reveal to knock my socks off, make me rush out and pre-order (which I try to never do now) and fiend for the game in a way only Mass Effect can....BioWare, I have faith.
EatChildren
Currently polling second in Australia's federal election (first in the Gold Coast), this feral may one day be your Bogan King.
I guarantee whatever they show will be met with vocal criticism as that's just a predictable groupthink in response to modern BioWare irrespective of justification. It probably wont be exactly what some people are expecting or want, and others will nitpick at trivialities that otherwise get a pass in competing franchises.
It's more just the woeful marketing leading up to the reveal that I think has scattered reception. When all is said and done an November 7th blowout may make the leadup cynicism redundant. But nevertheless the efforts gone towards keeping Andromeda a secret while in the same breath still drip feeding details has not worked to their favour.
As it stands the game is in such an unusual place. Officially we've have so little confirmed, information mostly comprised of art assets, early tech demos, and lukewarm teasers, coupled with off-hand announcements in interviews (like learning about the Ryder family). For the person, regardless of fan mania, who just want's to know more about Mass Effect: Andromeda, the specifics have been usually inconsistent and muddied in delivery. It's really hard to pinpoint exactly what the project is, and about if you're not following leaks and other details (and who says the leaked content, like the survey, are even relevant any more?) the marketing arm for Andromeda is a mess.
If the objective was to build a Fallout 4 style hype machine and marketing lead-up, BioWare and EA have failed. They were probably off on the wrong foot right at the start when they first announced the game existing at all, given Bethesda cleverly stayed mum on the project (despite its obvious existence) right up until the reveal. At least in Bethesda's case they could leverage the "we're not talking about the future of Fallout", but EA/BioWare couldn't with Andromeda. In their case they had already announced the game, and so fans kept asking to see more of something they new existed. And those somethings so far have been bunk.
They just need to get it done and dusted, basically. Give people/fans something tangible to talk about. And if there are concerns and worries about certain gameplay elements and content, they can be properly addressed and discussed instead the vague nothingness we have at the moment.
It's more just the woeful marketing leading up to the reveal that I think has scattered reception. When all is said and done an November 7th blowout may make the leadup cynicism redundant. But nevertheless the efforts gone towards keeping Andromeda a secret while in the same breath still drip feeding details has not worked to their favour.
As it stands the game is in such an unusual place. Officially we've have so little confirmed, information mostly comprised of art assets, early tech demos, and lukewarm teasers, coupled with off-hand announcements in interviews (like learning about the Ryder family). For the person, regardless of fan mania, who just want's to know more about Mass Effect: Andromeda, the specifics have been usually inconsistent and muddied in delivery. It's really hard to pinpoint exactly what the project is, and about if you're not following leaks and other details (and who says the leaked content, like the survey, are even relevant any more?) the marketing arm for Andromeda is a mess.
If the objective was to build a Fallout 4 style hype machine and marketing lead-up, BioWare and EA have failed. They were probably off on the wrong foot right at the start when they first announced the game existing at all, given Bethesda cleverly stayed mum on the project (despite its obvious existence) right up until the reveal. At least in Bethesda's case they could leverage the "we're not talking about the future of Fallout", but EA/BioWare couldn't with Andromeda. In their case they had already announced the game, and so fans kept asking to see more of something they new existed. And those somethings so far have been bunk.
They just need to get it done and dusted, basically. Give people/fans something tangible to talk about. And if there are concerns and worries about certain gameplay elements and content, they can be properly addressed and discussed instead the vague nothingness we have at the moment.
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