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Mass Effect: Andromeda | Review Thread (READ MOD POST)

Lime

Member
This game also makes me wonder if Bioware will ever learn how to write a second plot. Did they really need to make your character the "Pathfinder?"

I mean, this is basically what Andromeda is about: replicating and carbon-copying the original trilogy:

1. a universal name for the player character (not-Shepard)
2. the not-Mako
3. the not-Normandy
4. the not-Citadel
5. the old grumpy Krogan
6. the lighthearted and naive Asari
7. the 2 human sidekicks
8. the Turian with a visor
9. the not-Space Jesus

and so forth. Even though we are in entirely new galaxy, it's still tired replications of the old game.

So I guess your question should instead be "did they really need to make a game that's replicating the old games?", to which the answer is that Bioware or their writers or their executives are too insecure about experimentation and pushing the envelope, that they simply follow the same formula we've seen over and over again since KOTOR.
 

Grady

Member
What's with the disappointment of big name RPGs this generation. First dragon age, then fallout 4(my biggest disappointment) and now mass effect. Not that the games are necessarily bad, just average at best.
 

Tagyhag

Member
What a shame, some of these reviews aren't fans of the new cast at all which to me is the heart of the ME franchise.

I'll definitely play the game eventually, but I'll wait until all the DLC is out, maybe that'll fix some stuff.
 
The idea of giving out awards to stuff that's not out yet has never really sat well with me. Are games the only medium that does this?

I'm with you. It's a really weird thing to give out an award for. I kind of lump a lot of E3 awards in with this sort of thing. "Here's and award for this thing you're making that could turn out to be terrible". It would be like back in '06 Sony getting an award for the CG trailers they made for Killzone 2 and Motorstorm.
 

Bisnic

Really Really Exciting Member!
More time wouldn't fix the bland story and characters that would mean making a new game

To be frank, I'm not as demanding as some people when it comes to story & characters writing. Lots of people on GAF thought the writing in ME3 was bad, (except stuff like Tuchanka, for example), while I thought it was fine throughout all the game(could have done without Kai Leng or the "star child" though). So I'll wait and be my own judge for that part.
 
What's with the disappointment of big name RPGs this generation. First dragon age, then fallout 4(my biggest disappointment) and now mass effect. Not that the games are necessarily bad, just average at best.

Lack of focus. Trying to be bigger than they need to be. Was FFXV's downfall too.
 

prwxv3

Member
It doesn't help when other developers how also had games of a similar time frame come out recently and have reviewed more favorably with Horizon:ZD and Zelda.

And both those games are really different then there teams predecessors.

So yeah I don't think we can lay much fault with EA, I really wonder if they made a documentary on the games development.

EA is partially to blame. They needed to make sure management were doing their job. Sony's management of Horizon was pretty much flawless (based on the results anyway)
 

Mrbob

Member
Whelp, can say I'm disappointed. First Mass Effect I won't buy and play on day one. I'll go through all the other recent good games which released the past month then come back this summer/winter and hope some issues have been fixed.
 
This game also makes me wonder if Bioware will ever learn how to write a second plot. Did they really need to make your character the "Pathfinder?"

Yep, it's a bit silly to talk about Bioware writing quality when they are giving me the impression of not even trying. When are they going to leave 'the chose one' trope once and for all? From hundreds of possible stories, why doe they chose to tell exactly the same?
 

BigAl1992

Member
After having calmed down, and deciding to cancel my pre-order for this game, I've come to the decision that while I cannot support this game at full RRP, I'll probably buy down the line once all patches and DLC for the game has been released and having dropped in price. In it's current state, this game simply doesn't live up to the reputation of the series, and I'll watch on in curiosity about the behind the scenes story for the development of this game, because how could a game in development for five year turn out like this, when Horizon: Zero Dawn, which was developed in a similar time-frame, and Nier: Automata, which was done in less time and on a much smaller budget to boot, could be released within the space of one month of this game, and BOTH be released to critical and commercial acclaim and this game could not?
 
Shame.. I have no doubt it's an unbelievable ambitious game to make. But it' clear they either needed more time, a bigger team, or... a better team (i can't judge the individuals of course).
 
was like "huh, swear I posted in this thread earlier" and saw the other one got locked.

yeah its not looking good for ME:A

I think Giant Bomb's review is probably going to be negative.

I do wonder how a company like Bioware could have let the game shipped with the jank ass animations it left with. Their E3 showing was quite impressive as was the trailer but the gifs in the other thread are so amusing in that "didn't they look at this and think its fucked up and needs fixing" sort of way; because its bloody apparent it needs to be fixed.

I wonder how it went so wrong. Some day, a post mortem on this game will make for very interesting reading (if it ever makes the light of day that is)

What's with the disappointment of big name RPGs this generation. First dragon age, then fallout 4(my biggest disappointment) and now mass effect. Not that the games are necessarily bad, just average at best.


couldn't finish them games in bold
 

kitzkozan

Member
It doesn't help when other developers how also had games of a similar time frame come out recently and have reviewed more favorably with Horizon:ZD and Zelda.

And both those games are really different then there teams predecessors.

So yeah I don't think we can lay much fault with EA, I really wonder if they made a documentary on the games development.

Horizon ZD and Zelda BOTW couldn't come out at a worst time for Bioware. Both are highly polished and shine in different areas (technical, design, etc) while Andromeda has multiplayer at least lol. This C-team just doesn't have the talent to hang with the big dogs...
 

inky

Member
Seems like characters aren't getting much praise either, which is a big red flag. This "going through the motions" and showering you will all these familiar elements right off the bat seems counter to the possibilities a new galaxy afforded.

Nothing worse than a developer so afraid that they have to tick all the boxes the previous games already did, lest this different and new galaxy actually feels different and new.
 

wmlk

Member
I'm really surprised at how this turned out under what looks like very good conditions.

- 5 years development time (maybe 4 years is more fair)
- critically acclaimed template (ME trilogy)
- proven and capable engine (Frostbite)

I guess the only other variable is the dev team. I don't know much about the development history, so I was surprised to know that not even the Inquisition team worked on this.
 

rdytoroll

Member
Truer by the day. Everything EA touches turns to shit. I weep for Bungie.

sOno3BS.gif
 

usp84

Member
Well this makes it easier for me to wait a few months before i buy.


I wish it was so good that i wanted to play it right now though
 

Tagyhag

Member
I'm really surprised how this turned out under what looks like very good conditions.

- 5 years development time
- critically acclaimed template (ME trilogy)
- proven and capable engine (Frostbite)

I guess the only other variable is the dev team. I don't know much about the development history, so I was surprised to know that not even the Inquisition team worked on this.

Yeah I'd like to know exactly how many people of the new team worked on Mass Effect 1-3, and why they couldn't just use the old team.
 

Natiko

Banned
No problem with the review scores. More makes me wonder about the consistencybin game reviews though. Andromeda likely deserves middling reviews, but the issue is a lot of worse games get similar scores because scores are so skewed nowadays. They tend to just go 9 or higher is great. 8 or higher is good. 7 or higher is decent. Then below 7 is burning trash. Most reviewers don't use the whole scale and that in turn contributes to the fervor over scores because the effective range of review scores is no longer 100 but instead closer to 30.
 
This EA meme is pretty fucking lame to be honest. Enormous budget, long as hell dev cycle. Why is it suddenly the publisher that we are blaming for this one? This game had every opportunity to succeed.
 

Lt-47

Member
I feel bad for the developers who worked their asses off for five long years on this game.

Yeah and something tell me it's wasn't a fun game to work on. I hope Bioware Montreal learn something from this (if they are even given the opportunity to that is...)
 
Don't Mass Effect fans want the best out of their franchise, like the past games?

So why buy this game at $60 first day?
Did Destiny fans believe that? I had fun in my 10 hr trial. Quite frankly I don't trust the game journalist industry. I'll judge it on my own merits. Others will do so. Wallets will speak eventually.
 

Tagg9

Member
Bioware themselves said ME: A started development in 2012. It's been 5 years

You'll have to find me a source for this. I imagine they started doing some early planning in 2012, but it's likely only been in full-scale production for 3 years at most.
 
Don't Mass Effect fans want the best out of their franchise, like the past games?

So why buy this game at $60 first day?

Because from what I've played it' still good. A lot of the issues this game has aren't actually out of line with the rest of the series. Having said that, it's 2017 and this is the 4th entry in a beloved series, so it's not even remotely unreasonable to expect more (new team or not). I don't think anyone would be wrong to feel disappointed with Andromeda but you can be disappointed with something and still like it.
 

GlamFM

Banned
I'm really surprised at how this turned out under what looks like very good conditions.

- 5 years development time
- critically acclaimed template (ME trilogy)
- proven and capable engine (Frostbite)

I guess the only other variable is the dev team. I don't know much about the development history, so I was surprised to know that not even the Inquisition team worked on this.

The relatively late surveys they did might suggest some trouble during development.

Possibly even a reboot. As I´ve said before (hope I´m not annoying) I´ve seen a some prototype footage roughly 2 years ago that was vastly different.
 

PFD

Member
To cancel or not to cancel my preorder, that is the question...

I'll probably keep it because I'm a huge ME fan
 

Ooccoo

Member
This EA meme is pretty fucking lame to be honest. Enormous budget, long as hell dev cycle. Why is it suddenly the publisher that we are blaming for this one? This game had every opportunity to succeed.

Because said publisher said 'fuck it' and is releasing the game in this state
 
What's bizarre to me is quite a few reviews say the game plays it a little too safe in terms of new alien species and their culture/politics, environments and worlds etc.

I mean it's a freakin new galaxy for us to explore, their imaginations should've exploded.
Feels like they could've done a bit more creatively, even going by all the new footage now.
 

BigAl1992

Member
This EA meme is pretty fucking lame to be honest. Enormous budget, long as hell dev cycle. Why is it suddenly the publisher that we are blaming for this one? This game had every opportunity to succeed.

Best guess is that EA still has that "Evil Empire" tag attached to them from the previous generations. If anything, they must've been incredibly patient with Bioware Montreal during the development of this game, and after the review scores for this game, this is going to sting for them as much as us. Personally, I pin this one on Bioware Montreal. This is entirely on them.
 

pa22word

Member
This EA meme is pretty fucking lame to be honest. Enormous budget, long as hell dev cycle. Why is it suddenly the publisher that we are blaming for this one? This game had every opportunity to succeed.

Yeah this game reminds me more of bioshock infinite than something like kotor 2. Ea threw money at the problem in response to the question of "where does mass effect go from here?", and as it turns out money isn't exactly the answer to every possible problem in an artistic medium.
 

Hyun Sai

Member
Definitely a management problem. Don't try to make the game fucking huge if it's the first project of your inexperienced team. It's not like Mass Effect 2 wasn't critically acclaimed by being a corridor shooter on top of recruitment missions. It was such a great experience it's in my Top 3 of last gen games. Spend more time into the characters, story, hire competent writers, whatever...
 
The reviews and Quick Look have confirmed what I already suspected would be the failings of Andromeda. The game has taken a tonal shift away from the more dire and epic conflict of prior games in favor of a lighter tone with more exploration. Without the high stakes and central driving story, what makes Mass Effect a Mass Effect game is simply gone. We can nitpick over the technical glitches all day but that would have been only an amusing side issue if the story had pulled us in. A 75 Metacritic seems about right. ME:A is an 'ok' game that I wouldn't mind trying out at some future date with a significantly reduced price and a hole in my gaming backlog.

I hope EA learns the real lesson of the original Mass Effect for the inevitable sequel. You can mess with amount of exploration or gameplay all you want, but the story is what anchors the series. The stakes need to be raised, and the player's decisions need to have weight. Characters need to be complex and unique enough to be memorable. Finally, for bonus points the game should touch on issues or themes larger than itself.

It feels like we should be in mourning over Andromeda. The Mass Effect we loved is has gone away, and BioWare's recent track record does not inspire high hopes of it coming back. Gaming goes on. Let's be grateful we have the likes of The Witcher 3 and Horizon: Zero Dawn to carry us forward.
 

i-Lo

Member
With TW3 as the only exception, is it possible for other studios to to produce a rpg with great story, worthwhile side quests, deep RPG mechanics, solid combat mechanics, great visuals, great animation and be shipped without brazenly obvious bugs (even TW3 faltered here)?

Or story and quest related aspects isolated from great technical accomplishments due to budgets? For example will it ever be possible to combine say Obsidian's writing & quests in PoE or Tyranny with Horizon's technical achievement?
 
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