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Mass Effect: Andromeda | Review Thread (READ MOD POST)
- Thread starter kubus
- Start date
yeah he started recently on Hololens. I could imagine it's more refreshing to work in product development than game development. Besides, he still has the money and airfield though :lol
He was able to escape and pass the torch on unlike Kojima lol, but I imagine he might feel a little verklempt about ME:A.
Any details about PS4-Pro?
People get too emotionally invested in games/series/hardware.
PanicFreak
Member
I'm still going to get it but these reviews are disappointing. I just hope I have a better time with it than the reviewers.
peanutbutterlatte
Member
Yeah it seems like Biowares complete failure to tie together an epic narrative in the original trilogy has simply made them not bother in this one?
Garrett Hawke
Member
was it older than this? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=opOdFKObpeM
The reviews are quite polarising no? I imagine this game would have hit the upper 80s if it got the technical issues right.
Personally I think it will sell well regardless of opinions, Mass Effect has that kind of draw. If Bioware are smart they will get to updating and addressing these issues immediately and put out some awesome DLC for later this year. Much like Witcher 3 did, that had many new animations added, a UI overhaul and many more.
I think another thing to consider here is that the team that worked on this is pretty much new to this franchise.
Personally I think it will sell well regardless of opinions, Mass Effect has that kind of draw. If Bioware are smart they will get to updating and addressing these issues immediately and put out some awesome DLC for later this year. Much like Witcher 3 did, that had many new animations added, a UI overhaul and many more.
I think another thing to consider here is that the team that worked on this is pretty much new to this franchise.
Well I cannot say I am surprised by the scores. Everything leading up to this has indicated that it wasn't going to hit the same heights as its predecessors.
Still think I am going to pick this up though as 75 isn't a complete train wreck. While disappointing, I just miss the Mass Effect universe so it will take a game breaking bug to turn me away.
One cause for optimism though is quite a few say its possibly on par with the 1st game. As thats my favourite of the series, there just may be something there to keep me hookeded despite its obvious flaws.
Still think I am going to pick this up though as 75 isn't a complete train wreck. While disappointing, I just miss the Mass Effect universe so it will take a game breaking bug to turn me away.
One cause for optimism though is quite a few say its possibly on par with the 1st game. As thats my favourite of the series, there just may be something there to keep me hookeded despite its obvious flaws.
Conkerkid11
Member
Destiny is like the most popular game on GAF, was new IP, and has probably the best combat in an FPS.
Destiny also has better visuals, characters, and animations than ME: A. Destiny's mostly lacking in story and writing. ME: A's writing exists but is lackluster.
Considering how good Destiny became - it's a good comparison and I hope this improves too!
Scores are much lower than I would have hoped, but I didn't cancel the preorder...mostly because it already shipped. I've never been too keen on review scores but, rather, player impressions, so we'll see what myself and others think. I loved the trilogy last gen, my favorite game was Mass Effect 1, so if this has many shades of that, I feel like I will enjoy it.
If not, I'm still really loving Horizon and when I'm done with that I'll pick up Zelda and play that first instead.
If not, I'm still really loving Horizon and when I'm done with that I'll pick up Zelda and play that first instead.
hydrophilic attack
Member
GlamFM
Banned
No idea.
SomedayTheFire
Member
on launch i'd say Destiny was a bigger disappointment but Destiny did turn it around quite well.
PatientGamer
Member
Well that's a no-buy from me then. Maybe when it's at bargain bin prices or gets added to PS+ in the future. Wasn't expecting such a fail. Thought it would get maybe an 83-86.
The Futurist
Member
Damn it...
Will still get around to playing it but it's disappointing for sure.
Will still get around to playing it but it's disappointing for sure.
It's a weird one; looking at some of the high reviews they don't seem to match the score they got. 9's read like 8's and 8's read like 7's...or maybe I didn't get the memo about the new baseline...
Conkerkid11
Member
That's because Destiny was mostly structured like an MMO and its DLC expanded on it as such. ME: A's DLC's just gonna be some extra quests.
Suzushiiro
Banned
Digesting the reactions more, it really does seem like the "direct-to-video sequel" line is pretty much on point in terms of overall quality and who will like it in spite of said quality.
Yeah, that's the thing- there are a lot of games where you could put the blame for most of their issues at EA's feet, particularly DA2 and ME3. Here it seems like EA gave the team all the resources they needed and the result is a product that's significantly worse than the games that they gave less than half as much dev time to. The only real mistakes EA made here were releasing the game within 30 days of Zelda, Horizon, Nier, and Persona and not going full AC Unity and not letting anyone get their hands on the game until launch day.
Yeah, that's the thing- there are a lot of games where you could put the blame for most of their issues at EA's feet, particularly DA2 and ME3. Here it seems like EA gave the team all the resources they needed and the result is a product that's significantly worse than the games that they gave less than half as much dev time to. The only real mistakes EA made here were releasing the game within 30 days of Zelda, Horizon, Nier, and Persona and not going full AC Unity and not letting anyone get their hands on the game until launch day.
Because they put this game to sale , showing no respect for fans and their consumer (even with the problems being pointed out earlier like animations , etc)? The last word will always be from the publisher, perhaps they thought they could get away with this ...
I don't understand this assessment.
semiconscious
Member
unfortunately, depending on sales, i think the lesson ea could just a easily take from this: 'if we have to spend even more money on this franchise in order to create something 'acceptable', well, screw mass effect!'
...
D
Deleted member 752119
Unconfirmed Member
I mean I am disappointed that it's apparently not nearly as good as the trilogy. But a 75 is still a 75. I'm disappointed it's a 75 type game instead of a 85-90+ type game, but that doesn't make it a 60 for more.
It is coming out at a crowded time though, so I get many people skipping it now. As I said in the other thread, it's a good time for me as I've beaten the Q1 games I cared to play (beat Horizon and Zelda this past week), don't care to pay Persona 5 any time soon (if ever) and the next game other than this that I'll buy is MK8 Deluxe. So I'm still looking forward to firing this up tomorrow.
shawnoftheshred
Member
Played the 10 hour trial and was expecting 81-ish metascore (felt like, coming out so close to such revered games would make the problems stick out even more), but also knew that with all of those problems (the mediocre UI, the inflexible character creator, the janky animation, some iffy writing and the fact that, so far, dialogue choice seems mostly superficial), it was scratching an itch that made me want to play more as soon as the trial ended. That said, I hope these middling reviews are a wake up call. I feel like The Division and Destiny launched to okay reviews and really turned their games around over time, and I hope that EA listens and makes adjustments where they can.
The one thing that really has me wary, though, is that some reviews point out a lack of substantial new alien races. That's disappointing. One of ME and ME2's real strengths for me was that constant want to meet new races and personalities. That, more than the story, was what propelled me forward and allowed me to ignore some of the problems with the overall plot/game. The 10 hour trial didn't make a strong impression there and knowing it's not going to get much better is a bit of a hit for sure.
Still, excited to dive in tonight and pick up where the trial left off.
The one thing that really has me wary, though, is that some reviews point out a lack of substantial new alien races. That's disappointing. One of ME and ME2's real strengths for me was that constant want to meet new races and personalities. That, more than the story, was what propelled me forward and allowed me to ignore some of the problems with the overall plot/game. The 10 hour trial didn't make a strong impression there and knowing it's not going to get much better is a bit of a hit for sure.
Still, excited to dive in tonight and pick up where the trial left off.
Mercador
Member
As far as I know, this one was under Montreal office direction. I wonder if any folks of the original trilogy were there to help them out. It looks like the Montreal dev team was a junior one that got the contract to reboot Mass Effect. It's difficult to think that the game was green lighted with such bugs, animation and the like. And as reading reviews, even the game is bareboned, dull. It looks like the game have no soul, just a rehash from the old ME.
Maybe EA thought that even if the team is a junior one, they couldn't miss something with easy blueprints to reproduce. Did they change all the game at mid-course ? Because the game seems rushed though they got 5 years to do it.
Then, what Bioware Edmonton is working on? A new Dragon Age ?
I'm only speculating but maybe the project simply was unsalvageable? Maybe EA had already given them delays after delays? Maybe it was just a money sink where things never got fixed, so they decided to ship it?
The other solution would've been to scrap the whole project, take the hit, and let Andromeda go sleep with Jesus Bynum.
Vincent Grayson
Member
Horizon is every bit as impressive as Witcher 3 IMO, and in many ways, moreso. Sure, the RPG mechanics are not deep in Horizon, but I found W3's progression to be pretty bland overall, so it's a wash for me.
cjtiger300
Member
Pretty much been on a media blackout for this game. Already preordered on PSN. Hoping that didn't backfire, lol. The choices for space operas is slim as hell and I want to play one so I'll probably still enjoy it. This gen has been noticably more harsh on games that haven't innovated past last gen features. Sounds like that is the case here, so I'm not surprised by the score. I'll still be playing it at midnight.
Soul of the Beast
Member
As a fan I am totally disappointed but I really hope this isn't the end for Mass Effect.
Here's hope for Re-Rebooting franchise.
Here's hope for Re-Rebooting franchise.
Jack The Nipper
Banned
Why didn't the dev just say you know those large worlds in DAI wasn't so fun, we feel we should change it up
Re: narrative, I think it has more to do with risk aversion than talent. PoE and Tyranny made idiosyncratic choices with their narratives that some people loved and some people hated. With a AAA budget you can't afford to alienate large market segments, which often leads to falling back on increasingly tired formulas. Space Jesus worked before so why mess with success, who cares if you don't actually have a compelling Space Jesus story to tell.
Of course that still doesn't explain the very low quality of some of the dialogue we've seen in ME:A. Passable dialogue shouldn't require the muses's touch.
Time to go to a new galaxy!!
Because that's not how AAA game development works
D
Deleted member 752119
Unconfirmed Member
unfortunately, depending on sales, i think the lesson ea could just a easily take from this: 'if we have to spend even more money on this franchise in order to create something 'acceptable', well, screw mass effect!'
To be fair, they could spend less money by focusing on telling a great story and making the game linear and less expansive. Mass Effect doesn't really need to be some huge, super long open world game. Bioware was at their best with things like KOTOR and the ME triology that gave players some freedom on what order to tackle main story areas but otherwise was pretty linear.
John Petrucci
Member
It makes me wonder if they hadn't done what they did to themselves with the ending of the trilogy...how long could they have successfully ran with Shepard as the main protagonist and just kept slightly adjusting formula?
I wonder how long people would've just kept eating it up if they had figured out a way to go that route instead of basically forcing themselves out of the Milky Way post trilogy and doing the reboot.
Yeah, I wonder if this is finally the thing that gets them to stop remaking the same game over and over and actually take a risk trying something new. It just feels predictable and lazy at this point.
NinjaCoachZ
Member
Touche.
Yeah, that's pretty much exactly it. It'd be like if I was a food critic, I went into a restaurant, looked at a plate of spaghetti and gave it an award for Most Anticipated Meal.
Obviously I'm "intentionally" being "over-the-top" and "humourous" with this comparison but when you sit down and think about it, the fact that we do this with games and everyone basically rolls with it is pretty weird. I don't know if this practice will stop anytime soon though.
Sub_Level
wants to fuck an Asian grill.
After the early access it was a hard pass for me. Got a full refund on Origin. Was completely let down.
For those jumping in, I hope they mitigate the multiplayer lag issues. That was the main thing preventing me from enjoying what could potentially turn out to be a fun mode.
For those jumping in, I hope they mitigate the multiplayer lag issues. That was the main thing preventing me from enjoying what could potentially turn out to be a fun mode.
You just defined Horizon Zero Dawn. Except for deep RPG mechanics, which Horizon is more streamlined in favor of a fast paced combat.
Audioboxer
Member
More RPG games need to allow you legitimately to play as the baddies. KOTOR was the best at allowing a legitimately story affecting bad playthrough lol.
At least it does something a bit different than the constant hero trope, while still allowing that to exist if you want a run of the mill hero playthrough.
That was Bioware at its best.
At least it does something a bit different than the constant hero trope, while still allowing that to exist if you want a run of the mill hero playthrough.
That was Bioware at its best.
cjtiger300
Member
100% agree. Horizon was amazing. The story is fantastic and it answers almost all your questions by the end. Loved all my time with and it never felt like a chore. Hell, I rarely fast traveled because the combat was so fun.
Obliterator
Member
I mean, dude that's how game development works. Any game you've heard thats been in development "For 5 years" started that in pre-production with full scale development being shorter. Guerrilla made Horizon in the same time frame, and had to literally change the entire way their studio and engine operated to create an open world RPG. Nintendo put out Zelda in the exact same amount of time.
Again, the ME:A had as much time, or more than almost every modern AAA game dev cycle. Its no ones fault other than the Bioware team themselves if they weren't able to create a product up to franchise standards.
Broadbandito
Member
game is p2p and a higher pool of possibly players will definitely smooth out the experience.