Mass Effect Andromeda first impressions?

Dansen

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Mar 24, 2010
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SlumlordThanatos said:
From what I can tell, reviewer first impressions are rather mixed. Some like it, others hate it (Rock, Paper, Shotgun has almost nothing but bad things to say about it), but there's no consensus, and no indication that it gets better.

I didn't preorder this game, but I'm still looking at reviews with great interest. I want this game to be good, and I can forgive a slow start.
Pretty much in the same boat. I hope it is good cause if it is I will buy the game new to support the team that made it. There seem to be a lot of people, on this board in particular, that have a vested interest in the game being bad though, seems silly.
 

dragoongfa

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DarklordKyo said:
dragoongfa said:
If we have to accept one fact then that fact is this: Bioware as we knew it has long been dead, what we see walking now is the dead body that is walking according to the whims of its corporate puppetmaster.
Does this mean Bioware's gonna go the way of Maxis, Origin, and Bullfrog then?
It will just be the funeral of a stinky body because someone kept heating it up at the morgue long after its death.
 

Loop Stricken

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Completed as much of the first planet as the trial allows. Seems okay, despite a few shonky areas and the humans looking like hot garbage.

My biggest complaint is, so far, I don't really care about anyone. The original Mass Effect had Tali, Garrus, Wrex, and Shepard themself.
This one? I kinda like oh crap I've forgotten the black dude's name is it Liam I don't know but he's the best of them and I forgot his name already.
 

JemothSkarii

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I haven't touched it and I doubt I will. Seems like they're going for a more action based focus a la ME3 so I've dropped it.

However, for a company with a legendary status for writing prowess, backed by one of the biggest publishers, using an engine which has been shown to have amazing potential graphically... visually it looks underwhelming. Disappointing even. Yes you can harp on all day that the staff is basically a bunch of new people and so on. BUT with the amoubnt of time and money invested in the game, with the sheer amount of renown BIOWARE has... there really shouldn't be as many excuses honestly.
I mean, give some great devs that backing and I wonder what they could achieve?

Of course, EA being EA they could have put fistfuls of grubby mitts into this pie and really just messed it up for everyone.
 

oRevanchisto

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Loop Stricken said:
Completed as much of the first planet as the trial allows. Seems okay, despite a few shonky areas and the humans looking like hot garbage.

My biggest complaint is, so far, I don't really care about anyone. The original Mass Effect had Tali, Garrus, Wrex, and Shepard themself.
This one? I kinda like oh crap I've forgotten the black dude's name is it Liam I don't know but he's the best of them and I forgot his name already.
You were introduced to Garrus, Wrex, and Tali within the first hour of ME1 and immediately loved them all?
 

Joccaren

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oRevanchisto said:
You were introduced to Garrus, Wrex, and Tali within the first hour of ME1 and immediately loved them all?
Can't comment as to Andromeda as I don't have EA access, and am honestly not interested enough after 3 to look up videos, but yes. The moment you met each of them, they had a firm personality, and honestly that was the biggest hook for most of the characters; that first introduction to them. Afterwards they were mostly lore exposition machines, except Garrus who was a moral dilemma of law vs vigilantism exposition machine. You meet Tali and you instantly know that she's a shy, but capable, Quarian who wants to prove herself and help fight the Geth. You learn what drives her, her personality, and the sort of person she is. Same goes for Garrus, as he deals with a hostage situation his way. And Wrex, who you are introduced to having an argument with C-Sec, and by the end of half an hour's game time with the three of them you've blasted through Fist's base and learned even more about them.

Everything after was more lore about their people than it was building on their character for the most part, again, except Garrus. Ashley was one that needed time to grow on you, and Kaiden, but even they had their hooks at the start.

Things only get better going into ME2, where even without knowing the characters from ME1 they are given intros where in 30 seconds they just oozed with personality and character. If ME2 did one thing right, it was atmosphere and character. The plot was pretty garbage TBH, but the way it was written... Brilliant.

So, if characters are just bland and boring in ME:A, then that isn't the same as ME1 or ME2, ME3 we'll leave out because it was a huge mixed bag. That said, I don't know how many companions you meet, and I don't know how awful the writing is to start with to be able to make my own judgement yet - but ME1 definitely gave you a good hook to the characters from the start, and built on it with one or two points during the story, that only worked because of that initial hook and investment you got.


On a couple of side topics in this thread:
Nitpicking. I've said this many times when talking about the Mass Effect series, but go read Shamus Young's 50 article essentially fucking thesis on the Mass Effect series. It covers this whole "Nitpicky" thing pretty well. For people who are action and drama first, and feel the focus of the game should be there - like it was in 2 and 3 - then yeah, it can feel nitpicky. For details first people who loved ME1, and its worldbuilding and the way its story was constructed - its not nitpicking, it is entirely destroying half the appeal of the games. Flashy gunplay doesn't make up for loss in story, especially when that gunplay is thoroughly mediocre and at times worse than in 1, though also at times better. Not following the details-first formula of 1, however, is IMO what led to the collapse of Mass Effect as a whole, as they stopped caring about making sense and having a good story, and it all become about action and drama - turning it into a cross of Michael Bay, Shounen Anime, and M. Night Shamalayan works, combining the worst of all 3 to boost the shit out of the drama, at the expense of it all being idiotic nonsense that didn't respect the player, the story, or the series as a whole. Keep to details first and ME2 would have had a relevant plot, Kai Leng wouldn't have been stupid plot magic space Ninja, and almost everything in ME3 would have been different because, fuck, almost all of it was just nonsense.

Hoping Bioware crashes. This is NOT the same as hoping a ton of people lose their livelihoods, any more than driving faster in your car to get somewhere urgently fast is hoping to spend more money on petrol that week. Its an unfortunate side effect, but its not what you're hoping for.
Bioware, however, get no empathy from me. In the ME3 ending thing, they lied to their customers, insulted them, tried to reverse complaints into marketing while not saying anything to those complaining except "Artistic Integrity", and "You just don't get it". They deserve every bit of backlash coming at them for that. Sure, things seriously exploded there - simply talking calmly, apologising that it didn't meet everyone's expectations, and not stirring the pot would have kept it a lot smaller though. The devs, EA PR, IGN and other outlets insulting the fans though, saying that those who didn't like it were just too stupid to get it, and taking the whole controversy and trying to advertise with it?
Yeah, get fucked. Maybe the backlash was a bit much. You made it worse on yourself, and you deserve everything people throw at you.

Plus, honestly, Bioware isn't Bioware anymore. I don't think there are many, if any, of the original, great, staff there anymore - and there certainly aren't any of the original project leads. It needs to die and disappear so that the brand can rest in dignity, and have the studios rebranded to their initial names, and working on new IP that doesn't try to draw people in with name recognition, while having little to do with the games that created that name. No-one needs to lose their jobs, but Bioware should go. Well, at least Mass Effect Bioware.
Dragon Age Bioware has shown competency and willingness to improve. They aren't doing great by any stretch, however they have potential. I'd give them another game to see how things go there, before judging whether the studio is up to snuff with the brand and games or not. ME should honestly have died after 3, and started a new Sci Fi brand instead. Would have been a much smarter move, dodging all the ill will, and it wouldn't have had all the lore and baggage of Mass Effect itself to drag it down.
 

008Zulu_v1legacy

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Loop Stricken said:
>Can't change any graphic settings wihtout changing the preset as a whole
>Loads game with Medium settings
>Game crashes, takes Origin and Firefox with it
It's a badly optimised console port, don't expect miracles.
 

wizzy555

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Is "my face is tired" millennial slang for something? Because I don't actually understand what it means in this context (if any context, do faces get tired?).
 

Bob_McMillan

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wizzy555 said:
Is "my face is tired" millennial slang for something? Because I don't actually understand what it means in this context (if any context, do faces get tired?).
I don't think it means anything else. The facial animations are shitty, so I guess that means their face is tired. Nothing clever behind. I could be wrong though.
 

wizzy555

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Bob_McMillan said:
wizzy555 said:
Is "my face is tired" millennial slang for something? Because I don't actually understand what it means in this context (if any context, do faces get tired?).
I don't think it means anything else. The facial animations are shitty, so I guess that means their face is tired. Nothing clever behind. I could be wrong though.
I don't think this could be it, the writer was unlikely to know the facial animations ahead of time. Unless it's some sort of in-joke - "this character is written to always looks dead-eyed lets make fun of it" or "this character is secretly a geth lets hint at this by making them emotionless".
 

Bob_McMillan

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wizzy555 said:
Bob_McMillan said:
wizzy555 said:
Is "my face is tired" millennial slang for something? Because I don't actually understand what it means in this context (if any context, do faces get tired?).
I don't think it means anything else. The facial animations are shitty, so I guess that means their face is tired. Nothing clever behind. I could be wrong though.
I don't think this could be it, the writer was unlikely to know the facial animations ahead of time. Unless it's some sort of in-joke - "this character is written to always looks dead-eyed lets make fun of it" or "this character is secretly a cyborg lets hint at this by making them emotionless".
Oh, I thought it was just a meme. I didn't know it was dialogue from the game...

Wow, that doesn't say much good about Andromeda.
 

sanquin

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Bob_McMillan said:
Oh, I thought it was just a meme. I didn't know it was dialogue from the game...

Wow, that doesn't say much good about Andromeda.
Yea, it's actually dialogue from the game. In a bit of dialogue that basically goes "I correct your grammar and show some respect to your now dead father! Let me immediately apologise in an emotionless tone and use the excuse that I've been busy and stressed and 'my face is tired'." It was...awkward dialogue to say the least.
 

Chairman Miaow

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sanquin said:
Bob_McMillan said:
Oh, I thought it was just a meme. I didn't know it was dialogue from the game...

Wow, that doesn't say much good about Andromeda.
Yea, it's actually dialogue from the game. In a bit of dialogue that basically goes "I correct your grammar and show some respect to your now dead father! Let me immediately apologise in an emotionless tone and use the excuse that I've been busy and stressed and 'my face is tired'." It was...awkward dialogue to say the least.
It didn't help that the grammar of the sentence correcting your grammar felt really clumsy as well. The whole thing felt like it had been put through google translate a couple of times.
 

Cowabungaa

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oRevanchisto said:
You were introduced to Garrus, Wrex, and Tali within the first hour of ME1 and immediately loved them all?
Hmm, y'know, yeah I kinda did come to think of it. They all had some sort of spark that hooked me from the get-go.
 

Neonsilver

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oRevanchisto said:
Again, you're nitpicking to EXTREME lentghs to the point where I don't even know where to begin. First, however, let me just swat aside your Inquisition hatred. You can hate DAI all you want it doesn't change the fact that a majority of gamers and critics loved the game. It sold very well and won damn near ever GOTY award that year, including DICE GOTY, you know the awards show where actual developers and industry insiders vote. Inquisition was good, just because you didn't like it doesn't change that. But again, you're just nitpicking lore details in Mass Effect for no reason especially when all these "breaking lore" details aren't broken but actually explained. The heatsink swap in ME2 was explained in the game, you can complain all you like about the ass combat system that was ME1 being within lore but they weren't going to let "lore" get in the way of good gameplay mechanics. Also, it's a weird thing to complain about since the old ME1 system is back in Andromeda via weapon mods.
I have to add my piece to that argument. I agree that the writers/creators of a story don't have to be slaves to the lore. However personally I have to agree with Redryhno, that changes to the lore have to be done carefully, if at all. The moment established lore is changed, it rips me out of the story, it breaks the immersion. Depending on the change and the explanation for it, it can ruin the immersion to me for a scene or even for the entire story.
As such I think a good writer stays within the boundaries of his established world. It means he has put a lot of thought into the universe and probably planned ahead, to ensure everything stays consistent. Otherwise it has a deus ex machina feeling, where the writer gets stuck and pretty much waves a hand and says a wizard did it to resolve the issue.

Now I have to get a little nitpicky, while there was an explanation for the themal clips in mass effect 2. It is a stupid explanation. Anyone who fired a gun will tell you that you have to slow down firing anyway, with or without the risk of overheating. Because it's pretty much impossible to aim properly otherwise. Even if you accept the explanation, it's still questionable why the thermal clips are applied to every type of weapon or why you can run out of ammo with one gun, but still have clips for another one.
 

meiam

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Joccaren said:
Plus, honestly, Bioware isn't Bioware anymore. I don't think there are many, if any, of the original, great, staff there anymore - and there certainly aren't any of the original project leads. It needs to die and disappear so that the brand can rest in dignity, and have the studios rebranded to their initial names, and working on new IP that doesn't try to draw people in with name recognition, while having little to do with the games that created that name. No-one needs to lose their jobs, but Bioware should go. Well, at least Mass Effect Bioware.
Dragon Age Bioware has shown competency and willingness to improve. They aren't doing great by any stretch, however they have potential. I'd give them another game to see how things go there, before judging whether the studio is up to snuff with the brand and games or not. ME should honestly have died after 3, and started a new Sci Fi brand instead. Would have been a much smarter move, dodging all the ill will, and it wouldn't have had all the lore and baggage of Mass Effect itself to drag it down.
Important to note, ME:A was developed by a team that's almost entirely unrelated to bioware, it's from bioware Montreal which is very different from bioware Edmonton (the real bioware) for example the only part they worked on for ME3 was multiplayer and they didn't even exist when ME1 and 2 came out. This is essentially nothing more than EA slapping the bioware name on them and handing them a bioware IP. Not that this makes any of it okay.
 

oRevanchisto

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Cowabungaa said:
oRevanchisto said:
You were introduced to Garrus, Wrex, and Tali within the first hour of ME1 and immediately loved them all?
Hmm, y'know, yeah I kinda did come to think of it. They all had some sort of spark that hooked me from the get-go.
Those are some rose-tinted glasses some of ya'll are looking through, hell Tali is probably the most boring character in ME1 next to Kaidan and I'm talking about through the whole game not just her initial introduction. It's only in ME2 that she really comes into her own. I'm gonna call bullshit if say you were truly hooked into characters like Tali and Garrus after your first encounter with them. The only "hook" they had was the fact that they were aliens and thus were interested in learning more about their culture. But, for the most part, their actual personalities could hardly be gleaned from their first meet.