Mass Effect: Andromeda (PC/Mac/PS4/XB1)

[tyven]

Man why can't these bozos drop a mass effect without DRAAAMAAA

[Anoat]

Huh I didn't notice it at first in multiplayer but I had some Loyalty Reward free packs for owning Mass Effect 3 and Dragon Age: Inquisition so definitely remember to check those fam. Apparently there is also a tutorial MP mission you can do for a free pack. I never saw these until it was too late lol

[Weltall]

Late to the party, but I really hope this isn't as bad as it looks. Because it looks just awful. I'll probably hold off and get Nier first.

[Krandor]

Unless your only option to play is on PS4, it's actually cheaper to get a one month subscription to Access, give the trial a spin, and then buy it if you like it (since Access members get a 10% discount) as opposed to buying the game outright.

[Andalusian girls]

Then you've got people saying dumb shit like "well mass effect 1/2/3 didn't look any better!"

A) they did
B) I have a certain expectation for people to improve their skills over time and adapt to new methods and technologies thus creating a better product

It's not the same people working on these games, yes, but honestly I don't see why people working for the same AAA development company should be held to different standards to such an enormous degree, and if that were a consideration for these people to begin with they wouldn't even have grounds to make these arguments. In most fields of work and study you are expected to keep up with the times and constantly better yourself to remain with the pack, not stagnate and accept "good enough".

animations aside there is absolute regression with a number of systems. the character creation system is far more restrictive than Inquisition's, the planet-scanning minigame is an unrewarding time-consuming abortion that makes me pine for Mass Effect 2's, the active quest system is an unintuitive mess and has the game literally switch which quest you're tracking without warning.

a lot of these quibbles are minor, of course, but as you say you expect a development team to improve their systems over time not make them worse. but then this isn't really the same development team.

I have and will continue to make it well-known that I consider this game's SP and all related problems an afterthought so lemme pose this question.

If the janky animations on humans were NOT in your first looks at the game, and instead buried more towards the end, would that make the issue less of a controversy? I mean you still have the problem of faces but to me it seems like most of the reason people are up in arms about this is that it's right there in your first hours/minutes of the game and impossible to ignore.

I do understand the whole triple A budget = seemingly subpar product thing, even if I don't necessarily agree with it. I've come off the heel of several games that had what you might describe as the best of last gen's graphics but phenomenal gameplay and story. So I'd be willing to take a quality bump to how baby's-butt-smooth my player's face is if the rest of the game is polished to a lens flare-inducing shine.

Or in short, give me ps1 graphics for all I care as long as the gameplay is top notch.

i'd take lesser graphics over these immersion-breaking animations any day of the week.

but you're mostly right, if there was a spectacular story and characterization underneath all the muck i'd probably be playing the game (even if the latter was undercut by everyone looking like a fish-lizard symbiote with lazy eye). but at least in the early hours the writing is mediocre to cliched and the characterization is boring to boring and harmed by a lot of the voice-acting.

Spoiler: show

Liam's defining early hours character moment is continuing to shoot an already dead alien in a fit of soldierly rage? the earliest scene of the antagonist is a dialogueless scene where he makes a grimacey face because his plans were foiled by the protagonist? your stern-but-distant father gives you a 'your mother would be proud of you' before his fatal mission? how did this shit get in the game

[Andalusian girls]

OH AND YOU CAN'T MANUALLY SAVE ON PRIORITY MISSIONS

2017 WELCOME TO THE CHECKPOINT SYSTEM MOTHERFUCKERS

[Destinye]

animations aside there is absolute regression with a number of systems. the character creation system is far more restrictive than Inquisition's, the planet-scanning minigame is an unrewarding time-consuming abortion that makes me pine for Mass Effect 2's, the active quest system is an unintuitive mess and has the game literally switch which quest you're tracking without warning.

a lot of these quibbles are minor, of course, but as you say you expect a development team to improve their systems over time not make them worse. but then this isn't really the same development team.



i'd take lesser graphics over these immersion-breaking animations any day of the week.

but you're mostly right, if there was a spectacular story and characterization underneath all the muck i'd probably be playing the game (even if the latter was undercut by everyone looking like a fish-lizard symbiote with lazy eye). but at least in the early hours the writing is mediocre to cliched and the characterization is boring to boring and harmed by a lot of the voice-acting.

Spoiler: show

Liam's defining early hours character moment is continuing to shoot an already dead alien in a fit of soldierly rage? the earliest scene of the antagonist is a dialogueless scene where he makes a grimacey face because his plans were foiled by the protagonist? your stern-but-distant father gives you a 'your mother would be proud of you' before his fatal mission? how did this shit get in the game

Hmmm...I don't know, there's quite a lot of games that deemed "most amazing game ever/best game ever/one of the best in the x genre!" and it misses quite a lot of modern systems or is literally a copy of every other game that came before it, so I guess a regression doesn't matter much when people will deem games that clearly aren't up to actual standard, amazing.

As for the writing, quite honestly, while ME trilogy was good, it was too heavily cliched, it was just better written cliche lol.

[Odesseiron]

After playing a bit more, this has turned into "not a priority purchase". Sucks, but plenty of other things to play while waiting for this to drop in price or CPY to crack.

[Siya]

Everything in this scene feels off.
https://gfycat.com/QuerulousScaredAuk

Also a lot of scenes from this guy talking about it https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ysbopg5A9uI

[Weltall]

Everything in this scene feels off.
https://gfycat.com/QuerulousScaredAuk

Also a lot of scenes from this guy talking about it https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ysbopg5A9uI

The fuck did I just see...lol

[Anoat]

OH AND YOU CAN'T MANUALLY SAVE ON PRIORITY MISSIONS

2017 WELCOME TO THE CHECKPOINT SYSTEM MOTHERFUCKERS

I thought I read the devs said they plan to patch that but it won't be in the day one patch.

Character animations aside, I only ran in to one annoying glitch during my trial. At some point on Eos, I picked up some stuff from mining. The last thing I got was iron, so "IRON +17" popped up on the side of my screen and wouldn't disappear. I left the planet and went back to the Tempest, and it stayed. I went back to Nexus, and it stayed. I went through all the menus, and it stayed. I had to exit back to the main menu and then reload to get it to go away. Incredibly annoying.

[6souls]

PS4 Vs XBone
1080p gameplay 900p CS | 900p gameplay 756p CS
Both have pre-rendered FMV @ 1080p
Nearly identical FPS (24-30), but XBone has more screen tearing
CS transitioning is choppy

DF is playing with the Day 1 patch installed.

[-Zer0-]

Wonky animations and SP issues aside, how's MP?

[Anoat]

Greenmangaming has the PC version for $49.99 if you are looking to save a few bucks.

[Insanecyclone]

[6souls]

[Tarage]

Greenmangaming has the PC version for $49.99 if you are looking to save a few bucks.

I've already decided I'm going to pirate it. I'm not giving them a cent.

[Obsidian]

"I've already decided I'm going to enjoy their hard work for free because I don't think it's worth full price."

You work in games? lol.

[Krazy]

To be fair, it doesn't seem like they worked too hard.

[Tarage]

"I've already decided I'm going to enjoy their hard work for free because I don't think it's worth full price."

You work in games? lol.

Yep. And if I make a shitty product that fails at what it sets out to do, I don't expect to get paid for it.

Besides, the programmers and artists have already been paid. The only people standing to lose money are the people who likely rushed the production and made the decisions that sunk the game in the first place.