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Mass Effect: Andromeda |OT| Ryders on the Storm

I didn't play to the two games, but when I read the positive and negative aspects of DA : Inquisition and ME : Andromeda, which are pretty the same, it seems like they deserve the same score (88 or 74?)... No ?

Based upon what I've played so far, I think that the reviews (7/10 range) are pretty justified, at least if you use the entire 10pt scale. Feels like a solid, decent, "good" game. A 7/10 for me.

Bioware must be somewhat confused though. Inquisition was better in some ways, but this game clearly has better combat, as well as better quests. The fact that many of those same outlets giving this game a 7 or whatever also awarded Inquisition GOTY is odd. I guess 2014 was a pretty weak year for AAA and some standards have been raised since, but it still feels weird to me. Reminiscent of DA2 getting good reviews despite all of its problems, then reviewers giving its DLC low scores in sync with the negativity surrounding the game after people had played it. Despite the fact that the DLC was actually decent and much better than the base game.
 
I didn't play to the two games, but when I read the positive and negative aspects of DA : Inquisition and ME : Andromeda, which are pretty the same, it seems like they deserve the same score (88 or 74?)... No ?

DA:I is pre-Witcher 3, pre-BotW, pre-HZD. The expectations have gone up.

DA:I did a far better job of hooking the player and establishing the stakes. ME:A does an ok job on Habitat 7, but then I think falters badly by sticking you on barren sand world and forcing you to drive around in a slow car and then, once you're done there, sticking you on barren ice world and forcing you to drive around in a slow car.
 

Jocund

Member
I just played the trilogy again over the past two months and disagree. I found the trilogy more heavy and emotionally present, while Andromeda feels simply incompetent at many points. Andromeda is closer to DAI than to ME beyond the superficial elements.

The Trilogy is heavier, yeah, and more consistent. But I think that the writing in Andromeda, on a mechanics level, is stronger. I don't think that BioWare absolutely nail the light adventure angle they were going for, but there have been a lot of times when they accomplish a character moment that I'm like "Yeah, that works." Like I said, the game is inconsistent, and you may have to look for them, but those moments in which the writing is really working for Andromeda's characters are stronger than most of what I experienced in the old Trilogy, which for me was wildly consistent, but fairly standard, content.
 

Mifune

Mehmber
The Trilogy is heavier, yeah, and more consistent. But I think that the writing in Andromeda, on a mechanics level, is stronger. I don't think that BioWare absolutely nail the light adventure angle they were going for, but there have been a lot of times when they accomplish a character moment that I'm like "Yeah, that works." Like I said, the game is inconsistent, and you may have to look for them, but those moments in which the writing is really working for Andromeda's characters are stronger than most of what I experienced in the old Trilogy, which for me was wildly consistent, but fairly standard, content.

I have yet to find a good character moment and I'm 20+ hours in. There are individual lines where I nod and say, "okay that's not too bad." But good? I'm still looking. There's a coat of blandness on everything, from the quest storytelling to the character interaction. There's no style or personality to the writing. Logs written by children to their distant mothers read astonishingly similar to ones written by scientists to their excavation teams.
 

Tovarisc

Member
DA:I is pre-Witcher 3, pre-BotW, pre-HZD. The expectations have gone up.

DA:I did a far better job of hooking the player and establishing the stakes. ME:A does an ok job on Habitat 7, but then I think falters badly by sticking you on barren sand world and forcing you to drive around in a slow car and then, once you're done there, sticking you on barren ice world and forcing you to drive around in a slow car.

DAI also suffers from those stakes. You have this urgency and keep being reminded about it, but it doesn't matter because nothing happens if you don't trigger key quest. Before DAI ME3 was knees deep in same swamp while you supposedly have super high stakes and urgency, but it doesn't matter so there comes certain disconnect.

I like how MEA goes about it. It establishes baseline situation and threats early on, introduces allies early on and then it just is there. You go to planets and you are constantly part of war against Kett as you establish AI presence on them, but without game pestering you 24/7 about some insane stakes and urgency. There is less disconnects between those stakes and how they don't matter because you aren't knees deep advancing critical storyline constantly.

I have yet to find a good character moment and I'm 20+ hours in. There are individual lines where I nod and say, "okay that's not too bad." But good? I'm still looking. There's a coat of blandness on everything, from the quest storytelling to the character interaction. There's no style or personality to the writing. Logs written by children to their distant mothers read astonishingly similar to ones written by scientists to their excavation teams.

Jaal develops a lot as character over the game, has few very good more personal moments. Liam's loyalty mission is good, Drack's is excellent. Drack and Vetra show their maturity and how they care when you squad them up. And so on. There is a lot nice and good character moments.
 
I have yet to find a good character moment and I'm 20+ hours in. There are individual lines where I nod and say, "okay that's not too bad." But good? I'm still looking. There's a coat of blandness on everything, from the quest storytelling to the character interaction. There's no style or personality to the writing. Logs written by children to their distant mothers read astonishingly similar to ones written by scientists to their excavation teams.

See, this just sounds like maybe you're playing a different game to me. There's absolutely solid character moments throughout, from the environmental storytelling in places like the second outpost site, to the main cast of the Tempest who are just fantastic. Seriously, best crew in the series so far.

I have some difficulty believing that there's been nothing in 20 hours unless you've spent the whole time scanning stuff and skipping dialogue.
 

J_Viper

Member
Combat is what places MEA over DAI.

They both have similar issues, but what made DAI's content worse was that even the combat was trash.

If DAI had great combat like MEA, I would've had no problem closing all those Demon Portals or going through a side-quest with boring writing, because I'd least I'd have a combat encounter to look forward to. That's what MEA gets right.
 
I hate how the crafting system punishes you for experimenting. All these weapon types and augmentations, and such limited research points. So much variety, and I keep finding the same 4-5 weapons in the wild and at merchants.

After testing and reloading a few times, I decided to dump a good chunk of my remnant research points into the Equalizer smg. That gun is so sweet with a bigger clip mod. What are your favorite weapons so far?
 

Mifune

Mehmber
See, this just sounds like maybe you're playing a different game to me. There's absolutely solid character moments throughout, from the environmental storytelling in places like the second outpost site, to the main cast of the Tempest who are just fantastic. Seriously, best crew in the series so far.

I have some difficulty believing that there's been nothing in 20 hours unless you've spent the whole time scanning stuff and skipping dialogue.

Actually, wait. There was one moment in Aya where Jaal was like, "Take a break and enjoy the view with me." That was a nice moment.

I listen to all the dialogue, explore all the trees. It's workable dialogue but nothing that makes me sit up and take notice - like the game itself the writing could have used some polish. I spend more time groaning at the writing overall.
 
I hate how the crafting system punishes you for experimenting. All these weapon types and augmentations, and such limited research points. So much variety, and I keep finding the same 4-5 weapons in the wild and at merchants.

After testing and reloading a few times, I decided to dump a good chunk of my remnant research points into the Equalizer smg. That gun is so sweet with a bigger clip mod. What are your favorite weapons so far?

I've been rolling with the mattock assault rifle since EA access, haven't found a weapon yet that's better at what I like about it, slow firing accurate no scope.

Sniper Rifle I built an Inferno and with Pistols I switched from the N7 Eagle to the Scorpion recently.
I don't feel that crafting punishes you a lot. You have the research and materials to craft anything, try it out and if you like it invest in higher tiers.
 

Vamphuntr

Member
Jaal's interaction are very ME1 like to me. He basically explain to you how his society works and what are the important thing in his culture just like Tali and Liara were in ME1.

The main issue with the writing is that sometimes it tries to be serious while it often tries to be light hearted borderline tumblr joke territory. There is a loyalty mission that was really bad to me, it felt like a big joke with you ignoring the bad guy in it for comical relief. Then you have a serious one where a character gets disillusioned about a role model and grows from it. It's really hard to connect both in the big scheme of things the game tries to present.
 

JMY86

Member
I finished up my first playthrough today on PC. I really enjoyed the game despite a few technical warts, I encountered a few bugs and had the game crash on me once during that time. I ended up with 75 hours played and 92% completion, I really didn't see any reason to scan all those remaining planets. I played as an Adept with a few Tech skills for shielded and armored enemies and felt like a total badass comboing fools left and right. I was wooing Cora and PeeBee with my Scott Ryder but in the end there was no contest between the two as Cora biotic charged her way into my heart and my pants. This game definitely has some jank to it but overall my experience was very positive and I hope Bioware will be given the time and resources to really make this a fantastic game. Here is my NG+ Infiltrator or Engineer Sara Ryder:

Hk0z5X8.png
 

Jocund

Member
I have yet to find a good character moment and I'm 20+ hours in. There are individual lines where I nod and say, "okay that's not too bad." But good? I'm still looking. There's a coat of blandness on everything, from the quest storytelling to the character interaction. There's no style or personality to the writing. Logs written by children to their distant mothers read astonishingly similar to ones written by scientists to their excavation teams.

I don't know, I've found a number of them. Saying there's absolutely no style or personality is such a severe statement. There's totally a style. It may not click 100% of the time, but BioWare are definitely trying their hand at something new (light adventure), and I appreciate the effort to attempt something different from their usual high fantasy/space opera shtick.

The problem you have with logs sounding like they have the same author behind them is something that's been present in every game I've played from BioWare. And yeah, it sucks, but isn't exclusive to this project.
 

Mifune

Mehmber
Jaal develops a lot as character over the game, has few very good more personal moments. Liam's loyalty mission is good, Drack's is excellent. Drack and Vetra show their maturity and how they care when you squad them up. And so on. There is a lot nice and good character moments.

Jaal's interaction are very ME1 like to me. He basically explain to you how his society works and what are the important thing in his culture just like Tali and Liara were in ME1.

I'm looking forward to more Jaal. He's easily the most intriguing character. I'm keeping an open mind and all that.
 

RPGCrazied

Member
Played a few hours on PS4. Really don't have a problem, seems like more Mass Effect, except performance. The framerate seems pretty bad in some spots. And the stuttering is annoying. Hope they smooth some of it out.
 

Tovarisc

Member
Jaal's interaction are very ME1 like to me. He basically explain to you how his society works and what are the important thing in his culture just like Tali and Liara were in ME1.

The main issue with the writing is that sometimes it tries to be serious while it often tries to be light hearted borderline tumblr joke territory. There is a loyalty mission that was really bad to me, it felt like a big joke with you ignoring the bad guy in it for comical relief. Then you have a serious one where a character gets disillusioned about a role model and grows from it. It's really hard to connect both in the big scheme of things the game tries to present.

Jaal also gets over that phase and it becomes more personal, closer, relationship between him and Ryder.

That "joke loyalty mission" sticks out even more because rest are quite grounded and serious in their tone.
 
Guys need some advice for those who have played horizon and mass effect. Since I can't get my hands on a switch I'm just gonna either buy horizon or mass effect till I can get a switch. can anyone whose played both make a recommendation? Thanks.
 

Mifune

Mehmber
I don't know, I've found a number of them. Saying there's absolutely no style or personality is such a severe statement. There's totally a style. It may not click 100% of the time, but BioWare are definitely trying their hand at something new (light adventure), and I appreciate the effort to attempt something different from their usual high fantasy/space opera shtick.

The problem you have with logs sounding like they have the same author behind them is something that's been present in every game I've played from BioWare. And yeah, it sucks, but isn't exclusive to this project.

I get that maybe the writing isn't any worse than other Mass Effects (not sure I agree) but is it wrong to expect the storytelling to get more refined in six years or whatever?

Anyway, I have only started the Jaal loyalty missions so am hopeful things will improve on that front. And I actually like the game but the writing is the element that has bummed me out the most.
 

DrCheese

Member
I mean, what were you expecting? Did you really think that the Nomad would just be an Eos thing? Driving it is a major gameplay mechanic, like the Mako in ME1. What you're saying is akin to complaining that Voeld also has shooting on it.

It's padding, driving for 5 minutes between locations is extremely boring. Yes, your squad points out random Kett/remnant bases but they serve little purpose & give no real reward for attacking, so you just drive pass them.

When you do arrive at a location, you either scan for glyphs and play sudoku (Maddening!), push a button or get a billion fetch quests. It feels like the worst of WoW, It's not fun doing the same thing 3/4 times in a row.

ME OT gave me a reason for wanting to keep playing, the story kept going forward & the side quests were genuinely interesting. This is just dull.
Don't even get me started on how naff the convostation options are this time around either. At least in ME OT they felt like they had consquences, this barely changes anything.
 

Tovarisc

Member
Guys need some advice for those who have played horizon and mass effect. Since I can't get my hands on a switch I'm just gonna either buy horizon or mass effect till I can get a switch. can anyone whose played both make a recommendation? Thanks.

It really depends what you look for in RPG.

Horizon is a lot more focused and narrower personal story of Aloy, even when there is higher stakes driving events. Collectibles for everyone, a lot detective vision side quests with few very good gems in there and game has several well written characters. World is nicely designed and gets fleshed out as you progress main story and finds logs (audio & written).

MEA is your usual BW RPG where you are basically tasked with uniting and saving everyone, so story is quite wide and far reaching. Even with its attempt of being lighter and more colorful experience. Ryder isn't as strong character as Aloy and doesn't develop like she does, but MEA offers more, deeper and more varied interactions with side characters (your squad) than HZD.

I like both games a lot, but for different reasons. MEA is this big story where you explore worlds and try save everyone and HZD is this personal story about young woman in world shrouded in questions and mystery about her and the world itself.
 

Jocund

Member
I get that maybe the writing isn't any worse than other Mass Effects (not sure I agree) but is it wrong to expect the storytelling to get more refined in six years or whatever?

Anyway, I have only started the Jaal loyalty missions so am hopeful things will improve on that front. And I actually like the game but the writing is the element that has bummed me out the most.

Not at all! I think they should be doing a better job too. I just think they're showing some signs of growth in a couple places, I guess.

I hope you like the missions. I've only done Jaal's and Cora's, myself.
 

Jumeira

Banned
I didn't play to the two games, but when I read the positive and negative aspects of DA : Inquisition and ME : Andromeda, which are pretty the same, it seems like they deserve the same score (88 or 74?)... No ?
DA:I was a piece of shit and having its taint spread into ME is one of the most tragic things to happen this gen. DA sacrifice is pointless, and the world barely reacts to the changes happening to you. Combat is repetitive mix of unrewarding attacks and my god, closing rifts over and over and over for you to progress. Fuck I hate that game.
 
It's padding, driving for 5 minutes between locations is extremely boring. Yes, your squad points out random Kett/remnant bases but they serve little purpose & give no real reward for attacking, so you just drive pass them.

When you do arrive at a location, you either scan for glyphs and play sudoku (Maddening!), push a button or get a billion fetch quests. It feels like the worst of WoW, It's not fun doing the same thing 3/4 times in a row.

ME OT gave me a reason for wanting to keep playing, the story kept going forward & the side quests were genuinely interesting. This is just dull.
Don't even get me started on how naff the convostation options are this time around either. At least in ME OT they felt like they had consquences, this barely changes anything.

Question, cause I can't remember for the life of me since its been so long but if what choices did you make it the first ME game to that you saw an impact in the first game and not just carry over from the choices you made until ME2?
 
It really depends what you look for in RPG.

Horizon is a lot more focused and narrower personal story of Aloy, even when there is higher stakes driving events. Collectibles for everyone, a lot detective vision side quests with few very good gems in there and game has several well written characters. World is nicely designed and gets fleshed out as you progress main story and finds logs (audio & written).

MEA is your usual BW RPG where you are basically tasked with uniting and saving everyone, so story is quite wide and far reaching. Even with its attempt of being lighter and more colorful experience. Ryder isn't as strong character as Aloy and doesn't develop like she does, but MEA offers more, deeper and more varied interactions with side characters (your squad) than HZD.

I like both games a lot, but for different reasons. MEA is this big story where you explore worlds and try save everyone and HZD is this personal story about young woman in world shrouded in questions and mystery about her and the world itself.

Thank you. I will eventually get both but ME is 47$ right now on amazon so I'll prob go with that. Thanks for the input.
 
DA:I was a piece of shit and having its taint spread into ME is one of the most tragic things to happen this gen. DA sacrifice is pointless, and the world barely reacts to the changes happening to you. Combat is repetitive mix of unrewarding attacks and my god, closing rifts over and over and over for you to progress. Fuck I hate that game.

DAI was a great games with issues that Bioware actually took lessons from. MEA is a worse game for very much different reasons.
 
Not at all! I think they should be doing a better job too. I just think they're showing some signs of growth in a couple places, I guess.

I hope you like the missions. I've only done Jaal's and Cora's, myself.

Drack has an awesome Loyalty mission. They all do in fact. I've enjoy all of them.
 

ryan299

Member
On Kadara trying to activate the vault and nothing comes up at the final console after activating the other ones. Done it 4 times now and no change. Anybody have this happen to them?

My squadmates are still acting like they're in combat but theres no one around
 
Jaal won't engage me in 1-on-1 chats anymore. Something happened that he and my Ryder disagreed upon, and yea, it's tense now.

You ignored his requests for two of his missions one being his Loyalty mission. Don't worry just fly to Aya and talk to him then go back on the ship. That's what did it for me.
 

JarrodL

Member
There are two missions that I suspect might be bugged for me (not triggering).

1) Vetra's loalty mission(s) - she's the only squadmate who so far hasn't given me a single ally/loyalty mission, everyone else has had at least 1-2.

2) Movie night - I've done Suvi's side quest on Aya (buying snacks or something), and heard nothing since then from either her or Liam.

I'm currently finishing main story on Kedara. Can someone who finished the game or completed these specific quests confirm that this is normal, or should I be worried?
 
There are two missions that I suspect might be bugged for me (not triggering).

1) Vetra's loalty mission(s) - she's the only squadmate who so far hasn't given me a single ally/loyalty mission, everyone else has had at least 1-2.

2) Movie night - I've done Suvi's side quest on Aya (buying snacks or something), and heard nothing since then from either her or Liam.

I'm currently finishing main story on Kedara. Can someone who finished the game or completed these specific quests confirm that this is normal, or should I be worried?

Don't worry your fine, also make sure you check your email and talk to all crew members after completing a main story mission or a few side missions (Not tasks). You wanna make sure you spark the convo with Vetra about her
Sister
other then that, just keep talking to her.
 

megalowho

Member
I hate how the crafting system punishes you for experimenting. All these weapon types and augmentations, and such limited research points. So much variety, and I keep finding the same 4-5 weapons in the wild and at merchants.

After testing and reloading a few times, I decided to dump a good chunk of my remnant research points into the Equalizer smg. That gun is so sweet with a bigger clip mod. What are your favorite weapons so far?
I've actively avoided engaging with the crafting system and it hasn't impacted the game for me at all (Normal). I feel what they came up with is both overwhelming and restrictive, plus the menus make it a chore to contrast and compare.

Big fan of the M-37 Falcon series of Assault Rifles. Good hybrid of range and power.
 
You ignored his requests for two of his missions one being his Loyalty mission. Don't worry just fly to Aya and talk to him then go back on the ship. That's what did it for me.

I think it has to do with something that came up on Voeld.

Early Game Spoilers:

Murdered the Cardinal and killed a lot of innocent angara in the facility.
 

Mifune

Mehmber
Not at all! I think they should be doing a better job too. I just think they're showing some signs of growth in a couple places, I guess.

I hope you like the missions. I've only done Jaal's and Cora's, myself.

Fair enough. I don't hate the writing but wish it was better. I'm exploring planets and meeting new alien races - I want goosebumps, damn it!
 

Nester99

Member
I bet a lot of people leave this game off their resume.
The quality is so far below the current standard.

I can look past the horrible art, but the glitches, are endless and so frustrating. so tired of having to amateur quality programming.

People in charge should lose their job.
 
I think it has to do with something that came up on Voeld.

Early Game Spoilers:

Murdered the Cardinal and killed a lot of innocent angara in the facility.

Interesting, cause this effected me when I did both side missions for him and one being his Loyalty mission, cause I didn't listen to him and ignored what he wanted me to do. Yet don't worry, he will talk to you again.
 

DrCheese

Member
Question, cause I can't remember for the life of me since its been so long but if what choices did you make it the first ME game to that you saw an impact in the first game and not just carry over from the choices you made until ME2?

In the first game the more renegade/paragon you became, the more points you unlocked in that tree - http://masseffect.wikia.com/wiki/Morality - It unlocked certain conversation options that wouldn't be available to you otherwise.
 
I bet a lot of people leave this game off their resume.
The quality is so far below the current standard.

I can look past the horrible art, but the glitches, are endless and so frustrating. so tired of having to amateur quality programming.

People in charge should lose their job.

Well damn I wouldn't go that far, I mean to be fair the Original Mass Effect games had there launch problems as well.
 
In the first game the more renegade/paragon you became, the more points you unlocked in that tree - http://masseffect.wikia.com/wiki/Morality - It unlocked certain conversation options that wouldn't be available to you otherwise.

Oh okay ty for the clearly on that sir. This is still within this game. Depending how you approach stuff and choices you make.

For example, in the very first mission on Habitat 7, if you don't explore anything on the planet, you will get different dialogue choices to that of if you did explore when you talk to your father later on, on that planet. There are lots of moments like this.

Oops sorry everyone for the double post.
 

RPGCrazied

Member
Any chance they fix performance on PS4? I noticed they have released a few patches already with performance fixes. Just how bad was this game on launch day?
 
I'm enjoying the game. This is my first Mass Effect game. I tried playing ME3 but I couldn't get into it due to the camera in combat. It's not as bad here.

Writing isn't great but it hasn't made me groan audibly yet so there's that. I'm intrigued by the universe and it's characters but I think it helps in that respect that I haven't played the previous games.

Combat is good although I haven't really played enough to get some of the cool looking stuff i've seen.

Only thing I hate is the controls when not aiming your gun. It has that Witcher 3 issue I had where the devs seemed to have prioritised animations over control. The character needing to take a few steps to speed up and the turning speed are both awful. I've already found myself getting stuck on geometry quite a lot too.

It's a weird choice because I feel like I have more control when aiming my weapon. Movement feels more responsive and I just wish it was like that all the time. It means i'm running around with my gun out most of the time and that restricts FOV.

Overall though, i'm enjoying it so far though. Hoping it doesn't fall flat on it's face though. There's already been a few things which I feel worried about e.g. is planet scanning going to become an unnecessary chore?
 

Madness

Member
Well damn I wouldn't go that far, I mean to be fair the Original Mass Effect games had there launch problems as well.

They didn't have these kinds of issues. It is more than just graphical jank and bugs. It is regressive gameplay things, writing, story, animation etc.

I don't think anyone will leave the game off their resume though. Just because it isn't GOTY Mass Effect game doesn't mean it isn't valuable years of AAA development. A ton of companies would love to hire people who worked on this, development issues and all.
 
I guarantee there's a sequel. If THAT is a mess and bombs, then the franchise is probably due a long nap.

But there's 100% no doubt no ifs or buts gonna be a sequel out in a couple years.

I really hope so, I'm having a blast with this game so far, bugs and all.

That Kadara planet seems like is really lacking polish...

Enemys are in the air, animals stuck in the ground, broken mission markers, very long loading times in the city, constant stutter while driving around.

Not to mention the weird lack of ammo crates in a lot of designated combat spots.

Game is full of bugs; I've had the Nomad spawn inside a remnant vault when I fell off a ledge and respawned, an instance when Drack could not be revived after a Fiend bodied him (remained short of one party member until I switched him out for another one at a forward station), and lastly this beauty on the Tempest after a cryo canister exploded in my face during a loyalty mission...

img_20170327_161121l5pmu.jpg

I had that happen with PeeBee, except that she fell through the map afterwards. Probably went to get a drink.

That cryo bug happened to me as well, though it was from exiting and entering above and below temperature areas on Voeld. I ended up with a frostbitten team whose models were _just_ the ice overlay, resulting in everyone looking like various shades of light blue and teal. Zoning back in and out from the warm/cold spots fixed it, but it was hilarious to see a big frozen Drack inside a warm zone.
 
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