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Mass Effect: Andromeda - EA/Origin Access trial coming March 16th - 10 hour trial

Freeman76

Freeman76

Member
HariKari said:
After playing the trial more... this game is good in all the ways that don't matter for a Mass Effect game. I'm really worried for the series if this gets good enough reviews and sells well. The narrative focus will be essentially dead at that point. MP is good but that's not an excuse for having really bad pacing and every human character unlikable.
Click to expand...

Lol posts like this take the piss. How can you condemn something when only having seen a small part of the picture?
 
J

Jharp

Member
I bought the game of GMG and haven't gotten my code yet, but I'm thinking of paying the five bucks for a month of Origin Access just to be able to spend Sunday and Monday getting through the first ten hours. Is that even possible? Get Access, install game, play it until my ten hours is up, and then what? I get locked out, enter my code, and can get back in and access my save? Is it that easy?
 
T

TheYanger

Member
Jharp said:
I bought the game of GMG and haven't gotten my code yet, but I'm thinking of paying the five bucks for a month of Origin Access just to be able to spend Sunday and Monday getting through the first ten hours. Is that even possible? Get Access, install game, play it until my ten hours is up, and then what? I get locked out, enter my code, and can get back in and access my save? Is it that easy?
Click to expand...

Yes, that easy. Just waiting for the GMG code for tuesday as well.
 
P

Phamit

Member
Jharp said:
I bought the game of GMG and haven't gotten my code yet, but I'm thinking of paying the five bucks for a month of Origin Access just to be able to spend Sunday and Monday getting through the first ten hours. Is that even possible? Get Access, install game, play it until my ten hours is up, and then what? I get locked out, enter my code, and can get back in and access my save? Is it that easy?
Click to expand...

Yes.

Origin also offers a free trial for Origin Access at the moment, so if you haven't used it yet, you don't even need to pay the 5 bucks.
 
W

Wallach

Member
TheYanger said:
Yep. standard ass map. Can zoom around, set waypoints, set objectives, etc.

Annoyingly on PC you can jump right to it (M) but still have to exit out the standard menu way like it was a console (can't just hit M again). But, it's there.
Click to expand...

This actually bothered me a lot. Not only is it slow and pointless, the game seems to not actually handle going in and out of that menu very well. There would regularly be brief black screens between the menu closing and returning to the game view, and I also noticed that sometimes the framerate would be a bit lower than normal for a few seconds after backing out of the menu.

Like that is one of the bigger issues they need to address. Probably my most negative individual takeaway from the trial period.
 
A

amiablepercy

Banned
Freeman76 said:
Lol posts like this take the piss. How can you condemn something when only having seen a small part of the picture?
Click to expand...

People condemn prior to investigation because they are chuckleheads. Lol. Who worries about review scores? I mean if people were going into this blind that is one thing but there is a 10 hr trial. No real loss. The commentary on the pacing makes no sense. the quality of pacing is determined after you've consumed the entire (most likely 60+) hour story and game.
 
M

Madness

Member
Watched so much more this game is ME1 meets Halo CE and Halo Reach and Halo 4 (I soecifi picked those game only for a reason, meets Destiny.
 
J

Jharp

Member
Phamit said:
Yes.

Origin also offers a free trial for Origin Access at the moment, so if you haven't used it yet, you don't even need to pay the 5 bucks.
Click to expand...

Is there a specifc way to do this on PC? Trying to join Access says nothing about a trial and just asks if I want to pay monthly or yearly.
 
T

TheYanger

Member
Wallach said:
This actually bothered me a lot. Not only is it slow and pointless, the game seems to not actually handle going in and out of that menu very well. There would regularly be brief black screens between the menu closing and returning to the game view, and I also noticed that sometimes the framerate would be a bit lower than normal for a few seconds after backing out of the menu.

Like that is one of the bigger issues they need to address. Probably my most negative individual takeaway from the trial period.
Click to expand...

Pretty sure it's exactly what I said too, the console versions require you to go to the menu THEN press map, the PC version has a convenient shortcut to the map, but it's somehow not keyed as a shortcut back out, so you're stuck hitting the equivilent of 'b' twice on a controller. Sadly, that means escape, which is literally on the other side of the keyboard.

Like, the port isn't bare bones, but it's got some UI quirks for sure like that. Just like how I get reversed mouse control on the galaxy map. I suspect on a controller it doesn't map that control to the right stick anyway, which is what is inverted when you invert, but on pc it's on the mouse which is equivilent to the right stick, and then you end up with an inverse mouse for some reason on the map. drives me bonkers.

These are minor issues at the end of the day, but god damn someone could've spent an hour fixing these somewhere along the way I figure.

Jharp said:
Is there a specifc way to do this on PC? Trying to join Access says nothing about a trial and just asks if I want to pay monthly or yearly.
Click to expand...
As far as I'm aware the free trial was turned off during this period, typically they offer one but I don't think they were keen on a ton of people using it just for the andromeda trial.
 
G

Grassy

Member
Jharp said:
Is there a specifc way to do this on PC? Trying to join Access says nothing about a trial and just asks if I want to pay monthly or yearly.
Click to expand...

Once you join up to Origin Access you can then go to the trial page and can download the game.
 
P

Phamit

Member
Jharp said:
Is there a specifc way to do this on PC? Trying to join Access says nothing about a trial and just asks if I want to pay monthly or yearly.
Click to expand...

Hm maybe the free trial is region specific.

When I visit origin.com there is banner saying play Mass Effect as one of the first and then it offers me a free trial
 
W

Wallach

Member
TheYanger said:
These are minor issues at the end of the day, but god damn someone could've spent an hour fixing these somewhere along the way I figure.
Click to expand...

I don't know how minor it really is in the grand scheme of things. Like just the hotkey thing on PC where you can instantly go into a panel but not out with the same hotkey, yeah, that is pretty minor overall and you would think is something that can get patched fast. Same with controller setup not even having a map hotkey; I haven't checked the layout yet but surely there is some press-and-hold you can give one of the most frequently used menus.

But like very quickly this game conditioned me to not go into my menus unless I absolutely had to because the menu experience sucks really bad overall. Especially in that when you're done the game really does not seem to enjoy the transition from menu back to gameplay view. That needs to be instant and responsive, but here it feels slow and at least in my experience actually results in consistent framerate dip nearly every time for a few seconds.

That sentiment settled in so quickly it would probably be a real frustration thirty hours down the road. Were it me I would be pretty seriously pursuing man hours here in their first post-release patch towards their menu system.
 
T

TheYanger

Member
Wallach said:
I don't know how minor it really is in the grand scheme of things. Like just the hotkey thing on PC where you can instantly go into a panel but not out with the same hotkey, yeah, that is pretty minor overall and you would think is something that can get patched fast. Same with controller setup not even having a map hotkey; I haven't checked the layout yet but surely there is some press-and-hold you can give one of the most frequently used menus.

But like very quickly this game conditioned me to not go into my menus unless I absolutely had to because the menu experience sucks really bad overall. Especially in that when you're done the game really does not seem to enjoy the transition from menu back to gameplay view. That needs to be instant and responsive, but here it feels slow and at least in my experience actually results in consistent framerate dip nearly every time for a few seconds.

That sentiment settled in so quickly it would probably be a real frustration thirty hours down the road. Were it me I would be pretty seriously pursuing man hours here in their first post-release patch towards their menu system.
Click to expand...

Eh, it's the exact same UI as all of the old games had, I don't remember any quick map button before either but maybe I'm wrong. The difference is that it's EXTREMELY easy to get in and out and pick what you want with an analog stick and A and B like that, but with a mouse and keyboard you're using your left hand to open the menu, your right hand to mouse around to what you want and click, but then your left hand WAY on the upper left to back out, just makes it inefficient. like if you could right click as 'cancel' it would be pretty simple imo.
 
S

SonicXtreme

Member
5vXHB4s.jpg


All in all my trial lasted almost 23 hours, no idea why but I just marathoned mp longer than ever lol
 
RiccochetJ

RiccochetJ

Gold Member
SonicXtreme said:
lol I have the insanity achievement already just from gold matches....wtf why would those be on the same one ....
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They made achievements so that you can get some of them from single player or multi. They did this w/ ME3 too if I recall correctly. I love that they built in an either/or requirement for some of the achievements/trophies.
 
L

Lakitu

st5fu
The Dark Shape said:
(Spoiler tagging these images simply because they show a planet that isn't in the trial version of the game. There are no plot spoilers or anything.)

Turning in for the night. Here's my game time/percentage complete screen to give you an idea of how much material there is in the game:

2NAmKm5.png

In case you didn't think this game looked Mass Effect enough...

COmjG7j.jpg

And finally, I just dig the weather texturing on Ryder's armor.

WC9DLgI.jpg
Click to expand...

How are you feeling about the game so far?
 
A

amiablepercy

Banned
The Dark Shape said:
(Spoiler tagging these images simply because they show a planet that isn't in the trial version of the game. There are no plot spoilers or anything.)

Turning in for the night. Here's my game time/percentage complete screen to give you an idea of how much material there is in the game:

2NAmKm5.png

In case you didn't think this game looked Mass Effect enough...

COmjG7j.jpg

And finally, I just dig the weather texturing on Ryder's armor.

WC9DLgI.jpg
Click to expand...

Beautiful. The weather looks great. So conservatively we are looking at at least 50 hours. Bout what I expected. Since everyone is so keen to compare every feature and detail to Horizon (which I loved) I beat horizon in a little over 20 hours.
 
L

lucebuce12

Member
The Dark Shape said:
(Spoiler tagging these images simply because they show a planet that isn't in the trial version of the game. There are no plot spoilers or anything.)

Turning in for the night. Here's my game time/percentage complete screen to give you an idea of how much material there is in the game:
]
Click to expand...
You should really just link to the images rather than spoiler them.

Spoilered images don't remain hidden when viewed on mobile :)
 
T

The Dark Shape

Neo Member
Lakitu said:
How are you feeling about the game so far?
Click to expand...

I really like it! The writing has seen a major upswing after the growing pains of the first couple hours, and I'm having a blast with exploration and combat.

The companions are still pretty weak for a BioWare game, but the last three you pick up are quite good.
 
C

carlsojo

Member
E

EatChildren

Currently polling second in Australia's federal election (first in the Gold Coast), this feral may one day be your Bogan King.
carlsojo said:
19% at the two hour mark? sooo a 10 hour game?
Click to expand...

No, that's the hour of the day the save file was created. Play time is
19% at 11 hours
.
 
D

Darkstorne

Member
The Dark Shape said:
I really like it! The writing has seen a major upswing after the growing pains of the first couple hours, and I'm having a blast with exploration and combat.

The companions are still pretty weak for a BioWare game, but the last three you pick up are quite good.
Click to expand...

Thanks for sharing these images! Good to see the play time figures. Are you mainly focusing on the main story or exploration and side quests? I can forgive all the animation and dialogue issues if the mystery and discovery involved in the main story remains at Mass 1 levels of epic (Sovereign and Vigil conversations for example), and if the side quests remain as involving as they were in the trial section.
 
I

Iceternal

Member
ScaryShark said:
No. People need to stop confusing the Internet's mob mentality as anything approaching a majority. I know plenty of people who are excited about this game that either don't care about some GIFs or don't even know about it.

4chan/GAF/twitter/Reddit is not the biggest demographic of a game that will sell several million.
Click to expand...


Except you're not taking into account that this has become viral. Pewdiepie's video has been viewed more than 2.5 million times. This is not a small thread on gaf.
 
D

dragonelite

Member
nath999 said:
Took me some time to realize if you don't hear Suvi say annomly detected then just move on to the next planet. The transition from planet to planet is still slow as hell but now less tedious as she tells you right away if you need to scan a planet.
Click to expand...

Same here, she also says it at the system level map.
 
N

nelsonroyale

Member
The Dark Shape said:
I really like it! The writing has seen a major upswing after the growing pains of the first couple hours, and I'm having a blast with exploration and combat.

The companions are still pretty weak for a BioWare game, but the last three you pick up are quite good.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I like what I have seen passed the trial. I ended up pre-ordering it. This as someone who wasn't feeling ME2 and ME3, or DA: I really. This looks better for me, mainly because of the exploration, and I prefer the vibe of this game rather than the Reaper stuff...
 
G

gocubs

Member
So far after close to 3 hours of play I'm enjoying Mass Effect Andromeda. Like picking skills between all the classes and the story is good so far. I have just made it to
Eos
Only things I'm not crazy about are the faces of humans and planet scanning.
 
cripterion

cripterion

Member
Some people were talking about A 5GB patch earlier (dunno if it's in this thread). What gives? I checked on Origin and there's nothing.
 
A

amiablepercy

Banned
cripterion said:
Some people were talking about A 5GB patch earlier (dunno if it's in this thread). What gives? I checked on Origin and there's nothing.
Click to expand...

One of the devs said it would drop day one but carefully cautioned everyone that it does not address some people's model and animation problems but they are figuring out now what to do.
 
D

Darkstorne

Member
amiablepercy said:
One of the devs said it would drop day one but carefully cautioned everyone that it does not address some people's model and animation problems but they are figuring out now what to do.
Click to expand...

They can't do anything about it. New CC options might happen, though to what extent I'm not sure. The animation system would require a complete rewrite though, and then a retool of all the cutscenes in the game. It's not going to happen. At least it will probably become a priority for future Bioware games though.
 
A

amiablepercy

Banned
Darkstorne said:
They can't do anything about it. New CC options might happen, though to what extent I'm not sure. The animation system would require a complete rewrite though, and then a retool of all the cutscenes in the game. It's not going to happen. At least it will probably become a priority for future Bioware games though.
Click to expand...

I mean the animation doesn't bother me on PC and I haven't seen the jank. So I'm not to bothered but if it is 5GB it must be doing something.

As to the animation system It is frostbite, which is part of the problem as EA forces it upon developers, so it wouldn't require a rewrite just a fuck ton of work.
 
cripterion

cripterion

Member
amiablepercy said:
One of the devs said it would drop day one but carefully cautioned everyone that it does not address some people's model and animation problems but they are figuring out now what to do.
Click to expand...

Oh ok thanks.
Curious what the patch will fix/introduce. 5GB isn't so huge but not that small either.

For the record I don't think they'll fix the animations but they could make it so people don't disappear or appear out of thin air, etc...
Would be great if they could fix the eyes too.
 
Aangster

Aangster

Member
Not sure if this is a bug or legitimate oversight, but has anyone noticed that about half the NPCs, including your player character, don't blink in the game world?
 
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