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

Wow, 3 studios and 5 year and this is the turd they put out. This is more telling of internal struggles than anything else IMO



As many have said you can't really patch over bad storyline and writing. Even the weird mocap may not be fixable. :S

My guess is that they probably rebooted the project 2 or 3 times internally and had to start from scratch each time. In no way is this game representative of a full 5 years of development. If it is, I'd be shocked.
 

Kenaras

Member
I was hoping this would be good, but given what I've seen, I just can't justify $60. I actually thought DA:I and ME3 were both great, despite ME3's ending. Purchased both at full price, and have no regrets. I've never shared GAF's wariness towards BioWare. But this really doesn't look like it's up to the standards of BioWare's other titles.

I'll likely grab it on sale sometime down the road. And I'll continue to be excited about anything developed by BioWare Edmonton; Andromeda really just looks like a case of BioWare Montreal not being ready to handle a game like this.
 

Femto.

Member
Basically an announcement that you wasted 5 years of your life.

Dude, seriously?

I'm not all too excited for this game (probably won't get it) because of the way it turned out, but come on man. Grow up and show some respect. It's obvious this game went through development hell.
 

Jarmel

Banned
It's a fucking PR statement, stop overanalyzing it. You think they feel particularly good right now?

Some of you are acting like marketing is a new concept.
 

BigAl1992

Member
I didn't know that three studios worked on it, i thought only montreal is doing the major work
Montreal
Edmonton
Austin

uNCoQjA.png


Wait a min.... you know guys they really are ME:A

Well then, I guess Bioware loves to indulge in painful BDSM together then.
 

Ascenion

Member
They shouldn't be proud.

Screw this mentality. People poured 5 years of their lives into this game, the should be proud. Maybe it isn't the game a lot of us wanted, and heck yeah it has flaws. But I'm going to respect anyone who puts 5 years into work and produces something to show for their efforts. Some things can be fixed, some likely can't, but don't diminish their accomplishment. At the end of the day that is still what this is. There are and will be worse games than ME: A.
 

Hari Seldon

Member
It's better than Dragon Age II. That game - and I like that game - was obviously compromised by the short development time.

Andromeda is buggy, but it's a complete experience, and there don't seem to be any compromises.

I think expectations in 2017 are much greater than when DA2 launched. Bioware stagnating when the rest of the industry has moved a generation ahead of them is a big problem.
 
So they focused on the gun play and forgot about the story telling. Did they forget the triangle that made ME good

Exploration Story Telling Role Play
 
At least now I can safely consider the series truly dead and move on.

And then replay ME1 another dozen times and pretend it's the only game in the franchise.
 

Audioboxer

Member
I didn't know that three studios worked on it, i thought only montreal is doing the major work
Montreal
Edmonton
Austin

uNCoQjA.png


Wait a min.... you know guys they really are ME:A

I mean, basic PR and a "nice" message to send out.... but, damn, that highlights some serious project mismanagement and this is the best 3 teams could cook up?
 

K.Sabot

Member
That's a real shame, ME2 is one of my all time favourites.

Sounds like a bit more time in the oven would have helped?

Sounds like there was dysfunctional gridlock in development.

More time might have just extended that same gridlock, it already had 5 years.
 

joecanada

Member
It's better than Dragon Age II. That game - and I like that game - was obviously compromised by the short development time.

Andromeda is buggy, but it's a complete experience, and there don't seem to be any compromises.

I would say that bugs and bad animations , dialogue are every bit of a compromise as story length or size.
 

Schlorgan

Member
The Xbox One, PS4 and PC Standard Edition and the PS4 and Xbox One Deluxe Edition are in the Top 20 Best Selling list on Amazon currently.

It'll probably sell fine.
 

Harmen

Member
I didn't know that three studios worked on it, i thought only montreal is doing the major work
Montreal
Edmonton
Austin

uNCoQjA.png


Wait a min.... you know guys they really are ME:A

That actually worries me. A well renowned ip with a fantastic basis to continue on, a big budget, three big studios, 5 years, and then this is the result.

I will probably enjoy it, but I think this game had much, much more potential. And that is putting is mildly.
 

olag

Member
And so my prediction of MEA being mediocre comes true. shame really, I genuinely wanted to be wrong but over the years I've steadily started to learn the harsh truth of video games which is "What you see is what you get."Fans might argue that it gets better later or that wait for more reviews however given the information we already had about the game, the second half of the game was never going to redeem its faults.

A lot of people will say that Bioware did a good job with the combat and that Im overly being harsh by saying this, but I dont think that this Bioware team should allowed to make the next single player potion of the next Mass effect game. Its not just the poor writing, animating, story telling or the poor quest designing which is making me say this, its the fact that they saw fit to strip out the companion AI ability system, a system which became a staple of the series similar to how you could directly control companions in DA.
Effectively they stripped away all the tactical considerations as well as the story considerations that might have been added by having companions with unique and special alien abilities in favour of turning the single player sandbox into Fallout 4. A vapid player driven sandbox where instant gratification is elevated over strategic level design and player+Comapnion AI bonding and development.
 
Three studios of hundreds of people over 5 years made this? That's kinda sad looking at the result of this series.

My theory is that was part of the problem. The game was designed by committee and had to be made in assembly line fashion. The game needed independent parts that could be split up and doled out. They probably also wanted very loosely connected parts so that it'd be possible to cut pieces that were problematic. All this is an anathema to a cohesive story. The result is that the story became more of a framework than a narrative. It was something that could hold up to getting massive resources thrown at it.
 

inky

Member
Where's this five year stuff coming from?

They almost certainly started full production after Dragon Age: Inquisition shipped.

The tweet literally says 5 years. And why should pre-production not count? A lot of stuff happens during that time too, i.e. the whole design of the game and tool development and what not... I don't think anyone was implying it was all hands on deck for 5 years as I don't imagine it is for any game.
 

Ascenion

Member
It's better than Dragon Age II. That game - and I like that game - was obviously compromised by the short development time.

Andromeda is buggy, but it's a complete experience, and there don't seem to be any compromises.

Dragon Age 2 was also more polished given what it was. Andromeda doesn't have any obvious excuses. DA2 is the better game all things considered. The fact they put out a game that good in 8 months is pretty astounding especially considering it had aspects that most people loved (Varric).
 
Reposting because I came in hot before the lock:

Oddly enough, while watching Jeff and Brad play (and shit on) this game for a hour I can´t help it - I´m getting hyped.

I´ll be commanding this ship soon and I´ll be flying through the galaxy to shoot up some aliens.

The setting alone will be enough for me to role-play the shit out of this.

And I´ll probably enjoy it while being disappointed that it is not better.
Oh shit, now I want an endurance run with Jeff and Brad.

Was this really 5 years of dev time? 2 years must have been with two people in a broom closet labeled ME:A.
 
Screw this mentality. People poured 5 years of their lives into this game, the should be proud. Maybe it isn't the game a lot of us wanted, and heck yeah it has flaws. But I'm going to respect anyone who puts 5 years into work and produces something to show for their efforts. Some things can be fixed, some likely can't, but don't diminish their accomplishment. At the end of the day that is still what this is. There are and will be worse games than ME: A.

Is this like giving out participation trophies instead of keeping score?
 

DR2K

Banned
I just don't understand how anyone thought it was ok to ship the game in this state. This is the kind of stuff that ends series. Is EA in such a dire position that it had release this game? A few more months could have gone a long way.
 

Lorcain

Member
It will be interesting to see if sales are affected by the average review scores. I'm guessing it will still sell really well just because it's ME. If it stays around 75 it would earn the disappointing distinction of being the worst critically received game that Bioware has made. Hopefully they can learn from this.
 
The Xbox One, PS4 and PC Standard Edition and the PS4 and Xbox One Deluxe Edition are in the Top 20 Best Selling list on Amazon currently.

It'll probably sell fine.
Can we stop quoting sales in review threads? It's such an obvious attempt to counter criticism.

But if you want to go that route, let's remember Evolve was in the top 10 best selling list of Amazon for some time and reviewed favorably. That didn't translate into good legs.

Let's wait for actual sales before saying something is a success or bomba.
 

joecanada

Member
It's a fucking PR statement, stop overanalyzing it. You think they feel particularly good right now?

Some of you are acting like marketing is a new concept.

I'm not saying we should shame people for saying how they feel , but neither do I accept that it's "just PR" implying that PR is expected to be fluff and bullshit.

"We worked very hard on this game and we realize that not everyone will share our vision for the completed project. We endeavour to keep improving your experience with timely updates and appreciate your support. MEA is a culmination of our hard work these past 5 years and we hope you enjoy it as much as we did making it".

or something along those lines would suffice.... if that is they expected or are seeing the mixed reception. I mean if they truly feel they made a "10" then hey good for them.
 

Lime

Member
I just don't understand how anyone thought it was ok to ship the game in this state. This is the kind of stuff that ends series. Is EA in such a dire position that it had release this game? A few more months could have gone a long way.

5 years of waiting and maybe gridlock where the project never really progressed no matter how much extra time they gave it
 

Shredderi

Member
I'm not too keen on the game but fuck this "they shouldn't be proud" mentality. AAA-game developing is hard and grueling work and for all intents and purposes it does look like a solid game with some pretty solid environmental visuals etc.
 

Blade30

Unconfirmed Member
My guess is that they probably rebooted the project 2 or 3 times internally and had to start from scratch each time. In no way is this game representative of a full 5 years of development. If it is, I'd be shocked.

Yep that is my take as well, considering they barely showed anything after the first reveal (mostly devs videos).
 
My guess is that they probably rebooted the project 2 or 3 times internally and had to start from scratch each time. In no way is this game representative of a full 5 years of development. If it is, I'd be shocked.

Why? 5 years doesn't have to mean full production/development. I can imagine a game like this using over a year of preproduction as the manpower slowly became more available as other products shipped or got canned.
 

emag

Member
It will be interesting to see if sales are affected by the average review scores. I'm guessing it will still sell really well just because it's ME. If it stays around 75 it would earn the disappointing distinction of being the worst critically received game that Bioware has made. Hopefully they can learn from this.

Sonic:TDB (DS) scored [slightly] lower and was definitely a worse game (from what I played of it). I'd take ME:A over DA2 as well, even if the latter scored higher.
 

Pheace

Member
Crap, does downloading an OST trigger the 24 hour Origin Great Game Guarantee? I followed a link to the OST here a day or so ago. Was hoping to keep my options open ;(
 

G-Bus

Banned
Kind of glad I dont prenorder games as this was the next title I was going to jump into

The few reviews mentioning a bit of a slog to get throuugh the tutorial and all the mentions of terrible writing... ehh. Not sure I'll make it to the main part of the game.

I'll wait for a price drop I think.
 

Jarmel

Banned
I'm not saying we should shame people for saying how they feel , but neither do I accept that it's "just PR" implying that PR is expected to be fluff and bullshit.

"We worked very hard on this game and we realize that not everyone will share our vision for the completed project. We endeavour to keep improving your experience with timely updates and appreciate your support. MEA is a culmination of our hard work these past 5 years and we hope you enjoy it as much as we did making it".

or something along those lines would suffice.... if that is they expected or are seeing the mixed reception. I mean if they truly feel they made a "10" then hey good for them.

Does it matter? Do they need to publicly hang their heads in shame at this precise moment? They can read just as well as everybody else.
 

The Dark Shape

Neo Member
I would say that bugs and bad animations , dialogue are every bit of a compromise as story length or size.

If you think bugs and wonky animations are just as bad as repeating the same four or five maps for the entire game... I don't know what to tell you.

I like Dragon Age II. I'm 24 hours into Mass Effect: Andromeda. Andromeda is a better game than DA2 is.
 

Pennywise

Member
My guess is that they probably rebooted the project 2 or 3 times internally and had to start from scratch each time. In no way is this game representative of a full 5 years of development. If it is, I'd be shocked.

https://www.glassdoor.ca/Reviews/Employee-Review-BioWare-RVW11370424.htm

- Lost over 13 leads (game design, art, audio, prog, senior core leads, etc) in 5 years at Bioware Montreal on Mass Effect. Edmonton lost only 3. It is clear that Edmonton has the bigger part of the stick when it comes to purge Leads and Producers who are not aligned with their leadership style.
 

Ushojax

Should probably not trust the 7-11 security cameras quite so much
I just don't understand how anyone thought it was ok to ship the game in this state. This is the kind of stuff that ends series. Is EA in such a dire position that it had release this game? A few more months could have gone a long way.

Presumably EA decided that it would be better to ship a half-baked game and lose a few sales than spend millions more dollars on polish. It's obvious from the incredibly low-key marketing that they had minimal confidence in this game. Every time they showed it off they tried to hide the gameplay as much as they could.
 
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