• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

Mass Effect: Andromeda | Review Thread

Status
Not open for further replies.

aravuus

Member
god damn you just went harder on DA:I than I ever did saw anyone. ruthless. all true but ruthless

Haha, Hari's post made me chuckle, it was just so blunt and brutal.

Can't say I really disagree with them. Some day I will push myself through the main story so I can determine if I hate it the most out of all games ever, or just the ones released on the 21st century.
 

Ryzaki009

Member
9f9c4cadd74ff44c52d5790c1827747b.png

When you blazed as fuck.
 
There are quite a few 7+/10 scores. Doesn't sound like a disaster to me but then again, this is my first time actually going through one of these game review threads.

Sounds like it's good enough to pick up on sale when it's patched.
 

Northeastmonk

Gold Member
A part of me feels like this is because the doctors retired and Casey Hudson left BioWare. I mean, 6's don't mean too much if you enjoy the game or the franchise. Some people ignore technical difficulties and bad narrative. I just wonder what the project would have looked like had key members had stayed on board.

I'm still getting my copy in the mail tomorrow. I didn't follow this game except for the small teaser it had back when they announced development had been started on a new Mass Effect in 2014.

BioWare is known for good narrative. It's sad hearing things are wonky. Maybe it's a solid game either way.
 
There's no doubt all of us who love more character and narrative focused Bioware were screwed over by DA:I's great reception.

But if they can manage to just inject a little bit more narrative content into their open world chores I will be happy. I think what wore me down in those DA:I maps is that some of them had virtually no narrative-driven quests or character interaction or interesting NPCs.
 

emag

Member
Any reviews talking about the large levels and if they are as tedious as DAI

I don't care about animations or stuff like that at all.

Yes. Many of the reviews mention how the large areas and fetch quests are even more tedious than DAI's. And the scanning, mining, and crafting are much worse as well.
 
Shinobi has given his thoughts about the review scores on Twitter if anyone cares to take a look.

Interesting thing that I've noticed was that Bioware was REALLY hyping up their romance scenes, calling them the best part of the game and saying that fans won't be disappointed with them. I haven't seen them yet but according to some comments, looks like they were right!
 
I see some people defending a 75 but the truth is that is actually pretty awful for a AAA game of this caliber with this kind of pedigree, particularly in a loaded 2017 that has already seen many 85+ games in a similar genre. The game might be alright but alright isn't going to cut it. It's a shame, I had high hopes for this one.
 

Brockxz

Member
Wow I'm very surprised at the low scores from IGN, Polygon, and Gamespot! It feels like a new era.

I hope that trend will continue. Because 6-8 score should be awarded to most of the games and 8-9 to really good games but above 9 should be only to rare gems.
 

Gurish

Member
There are quite a few 7+/10 scores. Doesn't sound like a disaster to me but then again, this is my first time actually going through one of these game review threads.

Sounds like it's good enough to pick up on sale when it's patched.

When did you start playing games? 75 is not horrible but it's extremely disappointing for a big and anticipated game.
 

AndersK

Member
There are quite a few 7+/10 scores. Doesn't sound like a disaster to me but then again, this is my first time actually going through one of these game review threads.

Sounds like it's good enough to pick up on sale when it's patched.

Its not a dissaster, really. Its a mixture of alle the games this year being really good, and this being merely okayish. 7,5/10 i a pretty good score, its just lower than the other entries.
 
What I get out of this thread so far is that shinobi is the only player alive that liked the game, all the reviews are dire and that there sure is a lot of people, without having played it themselves, are wallowing like gluttons in their own confirmation bias.

I'm sure the game is problematic but damn, it's always a drama scene with this shit.

Yep and it sucks. This is how I see it.
I talk to Shinobi outside of GAF halls. He is a cool guy to chat with, always willing to talk and I've been asking him about his experience with Mass Effect om and off. Dude still genuinely is loving his time with it. People just can't fathom folks enjoying a game, warts and all. It either makes you a shill, or makes people say they can't take your thoughts on games because you "enjoy" bad games. New flash, everyone enjoys less then perfect games and for various reasons. People need to stop attacking the dude or coming up with crazy ideas about him being paid off. He loves games and shows more passion about the industry and being positive in his outlooks then other more critical people. Yes we need critical folks but we also need people that just love to play some videogame ass videogames because fuck it. It's entertainment, not politics. Supposed to be the stuff that takes us away from the real world problems not add to them with superficial drama.
 

GlamFM

Banned
Shinobi has given his thoughts about the review scores on Twitter if anyone cares to take a look.

Interesting thing that I've noticed was that Bioware was REALLY hyping up their romance scenes, calling them the best part of the game and saying that fans won't be disappointed with them. I haven't seen them yet but according to some comments, looks like they were right!

TH2t9H8.png
 

Northeastmonk

Gold Member
I see some people defending a 75 but the truth is that is actually pretty awful for a AAA game of this caliber with this kind of pedigree, particularly in a loaded 2017 that has already seen many 85+ games in a similar genre. The game might be alright but alright isn't going to cut it. It's a shame, I had high hopes for this one.

Then consider the countless hours men and women put into making these games. It would suck to lose time with your family or other personal matters and then have it be a 75 in an industry that just recently had 90/100's.
 

Bedlam

Member
Shinobi has given his thoughts about the review scores on Twitter if anyone cares to take a look.

Interesting thing that I've noticed was that Bioware was REALLY hyping up their romance scenes, calling them the best part of the game and saying that fans won't be disappointed with them. I haven't seen them yet but according to some comments, looks like they were right!
Mass Effect from now on focusing on the softporn component sounds incredibly sad.
 
That top 20 in that GAF GOTY topic is just painful to read. 2014 was even worse than I remembered. Most of the games there are what I considered average.

the wiiu games are all great but the rest yeah, not so much.


DS2 is by far the worst in the series
Mordor, inFamous, SO, DriveClub, FC4 are average
Danganronpa, DA:I are bad
 

Fbh

Member
There are quite a few 7+/10 scores. Doesn't sound like a disaster to me but then again, this is my first time actually going through one of these game review threads.

Sounds like it's good enough to pick up on sale when it's patched.

For an award winning franchise that had previously released an entire trilogy with an average rating of 90+ it's pretty dissapointing.
It's also made worse by the fact that it's releasing really close to several other high profile releases which have all met or surpassed expectations (Horizon, Nioh, Nier, Zelda)
 

Melchiah

Member
That top 20 in that GAF GOTY topic is just painful to read. 2014 was even worse than I remembered. Most of the games there are what I considered average.

The fall of 2014 was packed with releases, like Destiny, Driveclub and Dragon Age, that I enjoyed greatly. Not to mention Alien: Isolation, which was unfortunately too stressful for me to finish. Different strokes for different folks.
 

shark sandwich

tenuously links anime, pedophile and incels
Just read Ars Technica's review. Honestly sounds better than I was expecting. I will be getting this on PC tomorrow.
 

Lothars

Member
That top 20 in that GAF GOTY topic is just painful to read. 2014 was even worse than I remembered. Most of the games there are what I considered average.
It was a good year for games some fantastic games are in the list. It gets shit on compared to other years but I would still recommend a bunch of games from that.
 

Bedlam

Member
I don't like that he is focusing purely on the numbers here. Games do get the scores they get for wildly different reasons. As the fan of Mass Effect that he supposedly is, what I would like to hear from him are his thoughts on the various areas that received criticism. Bad writing, repetitive missions etc. That's the kind of stuff that any fan of ME should actually be upset about. Why does he still enjoy it? Can he overlook these things? etc. Some "I liked other games that were scored low and didn't like some with higher scores"-comments really don't tell me much.
 
The only one and people said it was decent.
If the music quality wouldn't have been so abysmal in some areas (especially Central City, it makes your ears bleed x_x), I think the game would've gotten much higher scores. The gameplay was still solid and the story, while nothing to write home about, was more than serviceable for a Sonic game. I'd also say it had much better written, 'natural' feeling dialogues than Andromeda, at least from what I've seen so far from the latter. Oh, and not to forget, it was a unique experience and you have to give Bioware the props that they tried and - for the most part - succeeded in transferring the look and feel of the Sonic universe to a genre the series was previously totally unfamiliar with. Mass Effect in contrast always was an RPG series and has a well established formula after 3 entries, so you normally should expect Bioware to expand on that and try something fresh to progress the series further. Instead they're more or less stagnating from a creative perspective, playing it incredibly safe. And even regressing in areas the series was once famous and beloved for (esp. the dialogues).
So when you put everything in perspective, it's much easier to forgive an experimental game like Sonic Chronicles for it's flaws (except for the lackluster music, there's absolutely no excuse for that) than a sequel in a series that was always in the same genre.
 

Tecnniqe

Banned
Bioware would be smart to put Shinobi on the box and in the commercials.

"A 75 to 78 isn't that bad"- Shinobi

That's basically their equivalent of the Breath of the Wild accolades trailer 😂😂😂
Still waiting for a few which could go either way.
 
Shinobi has given his thoughts about the review scores on Twitter if anyone cares to take a look.

Interesting thing that I've noticed was that Bioware was REALLY hyping up their romance scenes, calling them the best part of the game and saying that fans won't be disappointed with them. I haven't seen them yet but according to some comments, looks like they were right!

What did he say? I'm curious.
 
7.5 is a disaster when the rest of the series was in such high regard. Mass effect 2 was one of the greatest games of all time, the step down and the fact the game has bad writing is nightmare situation.

the wiiu games are all great but the rest yeah, not so much.


DS2 is by far the worst in the series
Mordor, inFamous, SO, DriveClub, FC4 are average
Danganronpa, DA:I are bad

And you lost me forever.
 

brian!

Member
Ok so no shade meant by this but why is it important at all what shinobi thinks about reviews or the game, like why is this a topic of discussion? I feel like im missing something here
 

Lime

Member
It's entertainment, not politics. Supposed to be the stuff that takes us away from the real world problems not add to them with superficial drama.

Sorry and this isn't against you, but this is to me such a defeatist and intellectually bankrupt mindset to cultural artifacts. Not saying that arguing about video games over dumb review scores fall under this umbrella, but the whole lowering our standards approach and shutting off your brain and enjoy the popcorn-narrative is just something that irks me a lot. It is almost following Moff's Law:

Of all the varieties of irritating comment out there, the absolute most annoying has to be ”Why can't you just watch the movie for what it is??? Why can't you just enjoy it? Why do you have to analyze it???"

If you have posted such a comment, or if you are about to post such a comment, here or anywhere else, let me just advise you: Shut up. Shut the fuck up. Shut your goddamn fucking mouth. SHUT. UP.

First of all, when we analyze art, when we look for deeper meaning in it, we are enjoying it for what it is. Because that is one of the things about art, be it highbrow, lowbrow, mainstream, or avant-garde: Some sort of thought went into its making — even if the thought was, ”I'm going to do this as thoughtlessly as possible"! — and as a result, some sort of thought can be gotten from its reception. That is why, among other things, artists (including, for instance, James Cameron) really like to talk about their work.

Now, that doesn't mean you have to think about a work of art. I don't know anyone who thinks every work they encounter ought to only be enjoyed through conscious, active analysis — or if I do, they're pretty annoying themselves. And I know many people who prefer not to think about much of what they consume, and with them I have no argument. I also have no argument with people who disagree with another person's thoughts about a work of art. That should go without saying. Finally, this should also go without saying, but since it apparently doesn't: Believe me, the person who is annoying you so much by thinking about the art? They have already considered your revolutionary ”just enjoy it" strategy, because it is not actually revolutionary at all. It is the default state for most of humanity.

So when you go out of your way to suggest that people should be thinking less — that not using one's capacity for reason is an admirable position to take, and one that should be actively advocated — you are not saying anything particularly intelligent. And unless you live on a parallel version of Earth where too many people are thinking too deeply and critically about the world around them and what's going on in their own heads, you're not helping anything; on the contrary, you're acting as an advocate for entropy.

(this is not to engage the whole poster thing that's going on right now, just to comment on a tendency that I usually see when people discuss the reception of film, games, literature, etc.)

EDIT: And don't get me started on the whole "it's entertainment, not politics". That's the absolute worst excuse I hear in other topics.
 

Realeza

Banned
Is the Andromeda developer team completely different from that of the original trilogy? Because this seems to be a major drop in quality. Mass Effect 2 is one of the best games of last gen, and even with all its faults ME3 was still good.
 

marrec

Banned
Mass Effect from now on focusing on the softporn component sounds incredibly sad.

They thought game journalism outlets were getting fucky cause people want porn, when instead what people want is for characters to be suggestibly fucky but never actually fuck.
 

NYR

Member
Glad I cancelled my pre-order, incredibly disappointed at the turn of events and how this game turned out. :(

Scores in the 7 range are good scores, but for a franchise like Mass Effect that's pretty disappointing.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top Bottom