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Mass Effect: Andromeda - Previews and hands-on impressions

S

shinobi602

Member
New Screenshots:

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Giantbomb Video: http://www.giantbomb.com/videos/unfinished-mass-effect-andromeda-02222017/2300-11888/

Kinda Funny: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EkNqV5n9OnY

Eurogamer Video: 15 Things You Didn't Know About Mass Effect Andromeda

IGN: http://www.ign.com/articles/2017/02...-hands-on-3-hours-of-spoiler-free-impressions
From the very beginning, Mass Effect: Andromeda presents a strong, dedicated focus on customization, creatively expanding on some of the series' staple RPG elements. I played three early hours of the game last week, and here's everything I learned about the upcoming sci-fi RPG, excluding extensive character and narrative-based information, because we don't want to spoil anything.
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PlayStation Lifestyle: http://www.playstationlifestyle.net...ndromeda-preview-new-beginnings-ps4/#/slide/1

Eurogamer: Far more than just Dragon Age Inquisition in space

Rock, Paper, Shotgun: After five hours with it, Mass Effect Andromeda looks to live up to its predecessor
I went into the Andromeda preview feeling trepidatious. I came out excited and anxious to play more. Most important is that it feels like Mass Effect, and it looks like it's building on the best aspects of the previous games. Speaking with Condominas, it's clear this is their aim. ”The trilogy had a narrative constraint, but when we start from scratch, when we don't have that story anymore, our first reflex was to say ‘what are the best elements of all three games that we can bring and put together'. So obviously the exploration, the Nomad, all those notions are from Mass Effect 1; the loyalty missions from Mass Effect 2 and the character bonding; and the more action based gameplay of Mass Effect 3. We tried to bring all that together. But they were three different games, suddenly having to balance that into a single game... It takes five years."
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Game Informer: Five Things We Loved About Our Hands-On Time With BioWare's Space Epic
I admit that I sat down to play Andromeda with much trepidation. Mass Effect 2 is, after all, my favorite game of all time. Seeing BioWare in the unenviable position of having to carry the series in a new direction while also upholding the legacy of the series had me wondering if the developer could pull it off. Now, with three hours of the game under my belt, I feel pretty excited about Andromeda for a number of reasons.
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VentureBeat: Mass Effect: Andromeda has big gameplay changes, an epic story, and a new galaxy
I enjoyed my brief interlude with Mass Effect: Andromeda. There was enough to see in this preview to confirm that BioWare has preserved a lot of what was fun about the original series while changing things for the sake of better gameplay.

I have seen just an hour or two of what is likely to be a very long game. But so far, I like what I see. The game is carrying on a tradition that should make die-hard fans happy and hopefully generate some new fans as well.
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PCGamer: Mass Effect: Andromeda hands-on: bigger, flashier, and very familiar
The spaceport bustles with life, with Krogans and humans and Asari milling about, and as I jog through town I spot a couple potential sidequests, including an intriguing murder mystery. I walked off the Tempest, Andromeda's take on the Normandy, with two crewmembers, a Krogan named Drack and a female Turian named Vetra, who tell me they have some business to take care of and the less I know, the better. It's an intriguing story moment that I hope Andromeda is full of—the hint of companions having their own shit going on broadens Andromeda's world. Not everything revolves around your actions. And maybe sometime I'll get pulled into those conflicts.
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B

black070

Member
This will dictate whether I preorder this digitally now or whether I preorder this digitally now..

I'm going to preorder this digitally now.
 
BigTnaples

BigTnaples

Todd Howard's Secret GAF Account
Hoping we hear some good things.


Getting more hyped but still have my reservations.


Has anyone confirmed if the voiced Codex is returning? And is it the same iconic voice from ME1-3/Crackdown?
 
B

BossDarkseid

Member
BigTnaples said:
Hoping we hear some good things.


Getting more hyped but still have my reservations.


Has anyone confirmed if the voiced Codex is returning? And is it the same iconic voice from ME1-3/Crackdown?
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Iirc they said no voiced codex because there's just too much stuff. I think it includes a bunch of the relevant ME1 and ME2 Codex so that might be the same.
 
C

CHC

Member
Definitely one game I would not mind seeing more of. Despite being sort of ambivalent about the trilogy, I have this weird and inexplicable nostalgia for its world and characters. Like, I want to go back there even though I wouldn't place any Mass Effect near the top of my all-time list.

If they can make good on their "less filler" claims, that would be great.
 
T

Tovarisc

Member
S

Sora the Cat

Member
Hoping for great previews, this will be my first ME game. I know they are awesome but I Don't have time in my life to play the trilogy first :(, sorry.
 
prag16

prag16

Banned
Kind of wanted to go on blackout about now... but I never have the self control so I will drop all pretenses and dive in.
 
P

Paganmoon

Member
If anyone finds a good preview to help me decide between getting the PS4 (got a pro), and the PC (GTX1080) version, please let me know.
 
L

Lime

Member
Zombie James said:
Oh what the fuck...
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Here's the PR reason why:

But sometimes it felt vital - especially on the game's hardest Insanity difficulty.

"This is why we kept the weapon wheel to pause combat," Condominas continued, "and then for the squad - there's another reason which is more mechanical. So already we're not happy with how it feels, but then as we're going down the path of adding jump and evade, you need balance. At that point, we took the decision that a couple of things needed to go away.

"So we decided to take these things which were actually the best and the worst," he continued, referring to the jump and evade on the one hand and the power wheel on the other, "and just remove [the latter]. Also, because we wanted to go more open and diverse in our combat spaces, the level of the AI increased considerably - including the squad. So it was less needed."
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Unless it's a technical issue, I don't see a reason to have it removed.
 
H

Heckler456

Banned
Zombie James said:
Oh what the fuck...
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I think they made the right decision. Having to constantly use the powerwheel interrupts the flow of combat, and I feel like what they achieved with the wheel can be achieved without it, in terms of combos.

Lime said:
Here's the PR reason why:



Unless it's a technical issue, I don't see a reason to have it removed.
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There's no reason for them to have to remove it. If it was possible in the original trilogy, it sure as hell is possible in this game.

Which only leaves one reasonable conclusion to draw: they believe the game is better off without it.
 
N

Nightengale

Member
I'd appreciate it anyone could tell me which previews discussed the character and sense of the story.

The biggest lack of excitement for Andromeda ATM for me is how none of the marketing has sold me on the characters at all. I would love to read and see previews that talks more on how the characters are written.
 
T

Tovarisc

Member
Heckler456 said:
I think they made the right decision. Having to constantly use the powerwheel interrupts the flow of combat, and I feel like what they achieved with the wheel can be achieved without it, in terms of combos.
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When you swap skill set you put swapping to X seconds long CD, you can't swap constantly and combo that way. You have to make 3 active skills synergize with each other.

When trying to combo with AI you now need "enable" it with some sort CC ability, tag CC'd enemies and hope squad AI can follow through.
 
ajanke

ajanke

Member
Seems like the state of the game that they played had some work that still needs to be done. Hopefully they get it polished for the upcoming release date. I don't want to know anything about the story until I launch the game.
 
W

Widge

Member
Nightengale said:
I'd appreciate it anyone could tell me which previews discussed the character and sense of the story.

The biggest lack of excitement for Andromeda ATM for me is how none of the marketing has sold me on the characters at all. I would love to read and see previews that talks more on how the characters are written.
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The Eurogamer preview up above goes into it.
 
A

AngryMoth

Member
The thing I need to see that would get me interested in this game is a bunch of awesome designs and backstory about new alien races that inhabit andromeda. Feel like most the characters I've seen in trailers and stuff have been existing races, but maybe I've missed some stuff since I haven't been paying too close attention admittedly.

Would like to know more about the story beyond the basic premise of discovering a new galaxy too.
 
M

Metroidvania

People called Romanes they go the house?
Zombie James said:
This is my biggest concern. I hate the removal of a tactical aspect of the combat and having it replaced by AI. The sound of this is a major turn-off to me.
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As far as we've been able to see, I'm guessing that depending on how you spec your squaddies, 'tagging' the enemy with a primer already used by Ryder triggers (if possible) one possible combo detonator, and vice-versa if you haven't done anything.

But yeah, it's prob my biggest combat fear.

Even if they kept the squad power wheel out, why not at least let you also hotmap one skill to use on-command? (I'm guessing it's at least possibly a button availability issue, but even so)
 
S

shinobi602

Member
Ridesh said:
Previews are good as expected, but the performance issues mentioned by IGN got me a little worried...
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I'm told the preview build they played was a week old and even since then there were about a thousand bugs since worked on. There's a day one patch to address lingering issues. Hopefully it'll be great by launch :)
 
T

texhnolyze

Banned
Burbeting said:
Does removal of power wheel mean that I would have to rely blindly on squad AI working?
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Zombie James said:
This is my biggest concern. I hate the removal of a tactical aspect of the combat and having it replaced by AI. The sound of this is a major turn-off to me.
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You can still order your squadmates, like to attack or take cover, even to initiate combo. All explained in the just released gameplay video.
 
L

LogicStep

Member
I can't wait for this game! Reading some of these previews this game sounds soo good! Looking forward to actually playing more than once.
 
T

Tovarisc

Member
shinobi602 said:
I'm told the preview build they played was a week old and even since then there were about a thousand bugs since worked on. There's a day one patch to address lingering issues. Hopefully it'll be great by launch :)
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Hopefully hitchy performance on week old build doesn't mean insane system requirements or my i5 6600K will start weeping.
 
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