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I played 3 hours of Mass Effect: Andromeda - Thoughts so far

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The007JiM

Member
yellow/cyan/magenta endings? Marauder Shields returns?

Thanks for your impressions dude. My copy arrives Saturday i believe. Can't wait to play and creat my own character.
 

Blobbers

Member
how's the writing in general, shinobi?

my tier list is something like
Witcher 3 - excellent, believable, authentic
Mass Effect 2 - servicable
Mass Effect 3, DA: Inquisition - shit

I remember the dialogue in inquisition being very unrealistic, it's like every line followed the same template of say something normal and then follow up with profanity, like "bring me some wood and steel and I'll make you a good sword as hard as a dwarf's cock on a cold night in an elf brothel"
On the other hand Mass Effect 3's dialogue was just boring. I especially remember my interactions with Kaidan.
"Hey, let's do something when we're back on earth"
"Oh we definitely should"
"Hmm, yeah"
"yeah, oh well, hmm"
"hmm, well, maybe we wont make it though"
"you're the toughest person I know, Kaidan"
"hmm, yeah, hehe, you're right Shepard. thanks for the pep talk"
"buckle up, soldier"
"haha, hehe, well, hmm, you're one hell of a guy, Shepard"

So far from what I've seen of ME:A it seem to somewhat fall into the Mass Effect 3 category, which is my main concern with the game at this point. I've already come to terms with the bad animations.
 

branny

Member
Scanning is actually fun
wahUXC6.gif


Not convinced that 3 hours is enough time for any of the things I'm worried about to start being irritating, especially after thinking DA:I started off great, too.
 

VpomRurd

Member
Can you say anything about how experience is earned/rewarded? From various videos I've seen it seems very randomly given, sometimes in combat, sometimes after combat. That's my only major question I have left about this game.

Awesome write-up though, honestly cannot contain my excitement for this game.
 
I've been avoiding a lot with this game because I want to go in fresh. So apologies if you mentioned it, but how is the music compared to the other games? My biggest worry with this game is that the music will be too cinematic, and not enough 80s sci fi synth like the previous games. And/or that there will be many moments of silence with one main piece of music repeating over and over on occasion like DA:I, a game which had and absolutely horribly boring soundtrack compared to Origins.
 

Jarmel

Banned
There were several scenes with strong synth that I heard and it reminded me of ME1. Personally like the music myself, certainly wouldn't say it's bland.
Can you point those out as I'm listening to the combat music in the gameplay footage and while there are some synths it doesn't sound like the 70's vibe the original was going for. I'm finding the music tracks in the gameplay snippets shown as a whole to be extremely lackluster compared to Wall and Hulick's efforts in the OG trilogy.

Not to mention the large swaths of silence in which nothing is playing.
 
I'm excited for the game. I wouldn't exactly expect the OP to be the most critical right now, he's almost been like a community manager for the game before release when there was negativity in threads.

And then there's the regular hazards of impressions during release hype, in this case even before release hype.
 
All I want to know is: Does the game feel like the first Mass Effect in regards to atmosphere? The first Mass Effect's atmosphere was something special.
 
I'm excited for the game. I wouldn't exactly expect the OP to be the most critical right now, he's almost been like a community manager for the game before release when there was negativity in threads.

And then there's the regular hazards of impressions during release hype, in this case even before release hype.

Shinobi isn't a pseudo astroturfer. He states things plainly and will call a game out if there's something he doesn't like. Just because he's not cynical or pessimistic pre release doesn't mean he's blind.
 
Any other notable similarities to ME1 versus the sequels?
Just the overall feeling of the game. ME1 gave me that feeling of being a new guy coming onto the scene and feeling part of something bigger than myself. I felt that way with this so far. Like I said, the first parts on the Hyperion reminded me of starting on the Normandy, talking to some people and descending down to a planet (this time completely alien as opposed to Eden Prime).

And that feeling of seeing a Reaper for the first time on Eden Prime, seeing an unknown force and knowing there's some shit to uncover was all there again. I liked that a lot.
 

DOWN

Banned
lol. Shinobi is one of the most trusted members here.
He is honest, but I think that poster's point may be that those replying as if there was any doubt he would like this particular game are perhaps unfamiliar with his positivity towards the project all along. To suggest the game getting his stamp of approval makes it worthy of purchase as some posters here are, ignores that there was never a suggestion on this forum from shinobi that the game would receive anything but his approval tbh

That said, I personally enjoyed that write up and always appreciate learning about the game features from him knowing he is a fan and friend of the studio who benefits from that and thus is also quite credible
 
wahUXC6.gif


Not convinced that 3 hours is enough time for any of the things I'm worried about to start being irritating, especially after thinking DA:I started off great, too.
Heh, it's fun to me, but YMMV. It's not the most amazing thing but I liked scanning something, getting a little biography on the side with detailed info and having Ryder and crew talk about whatever it was instead of *scan* *+20XP*, the end. I like narration in my RPGs.
 

Bloodsent

Member
Shinobi- Did you get a chance to look at the footage Gamespot put up that was on a vanilla PS4? There have been some callouts as to the fluidity of the footage. Did your experience feel smoother than that?
 

VpomRurd

Member
So you personally can't articulate why you find the mechanism fun other than that you just do?

It's different for different games, but if I had to boil it down to one reason I would have to say it's the discovery I like about it. Especially when there's some text associated with it or dialogue, etc. Not all scanning mechanisms are created equal, however. The one in ME:A looks, to me, like a particularly fun one.
 

VAD

Member
Thanks for the positive early impressions. I'm going from waiting for a sale to wondering if it's worth getting EA Access.
 
Not trying to come at you shinobi but from what I saw you showed no fear of whether andromeda could capture the feeling of the originally trilogy on gaf, maybe I'm wrong. Also you've been one of the biggest champions of the game on gaf, I'm glad you're enjoying it but I feel your biased considering your relationship to the game/studio. Gonna need to hear a lot of opinions. It's just too positive imo.
 

rashbeep

Banned
Unless the music starts blaring really late into that H7 mission, I'm finding the music to sound nothing like ME1. It's closer to the orchestral stuff in ME2/ME3 but not as good and is quite bland.

Yea, nothing I've heard sounds remotely close to ME1. I won't expect that to change.
 

Davide

Member
Oh my God that facial animation is some of the worst I have seen in ages, makes Horizon's look good.

These facial animations vaguely remind me of the Halo CE remastered cutscenes with new models and old animations.

Nice to hear positive impressions though.
 
Just the overall feeling of the game. ME1 gave me that feeling of being a new guy coming onto the scene and feeling part of something bigger than myself. I felt that way with this so far. Like I said, the first parts on the Hyperion reminded me of starting on the Normandy, talking to some people and descending down to a planet (this time completely alien as opposed to Eden Prime).

And that feeling of seeing a Reaper for the first time on Eden Prime, seeing an unknown force and knowing there's some shit to uncover was all there again. I liked that a lot.

tumblr_m09plvItq51rqfhi2o1_400.gif
 

J_Viper

Member
I'm excited for the game. I wouldn't exactly expect the OP to be the most critical right now, he's almost been like a community manager for the game before release when there was negativity in threads.

Yeah, no offense OP, but you seem a bit too close to this game.

It's hard to take any of your impressions seriously.
 
Thanks for the impressions shinobi! This write-up and the multiplayer footage today finally has me genuinely hyped for this game.
 

Rarius

Member
And that feeling of seeing a Reaper for the first time on Eden Prime, seeing an unknown force and knowing there's some shit to uncover was all there again. I liked that a lot.

It's been way, way too long since I've had a "oh god this game is something else".

Eden Prime was one of those moments
 

Lakitu

st5fu
Thanks for the write-up Shinobi.

It sounds good but I can't shake off the Halo 4 vibe I'm getting from it, as in it tries to capture the spirit of the earlier titles but it just feels a little off. Hope I'm wrong.
 
Thanks for the impressions! Your comments on scanning have me the most interested since that's the area of the game I was probably most apprehensive about. If it's flavored with text and relevant to dialogue though that seems like it tackles most of my worries.

Obviously people are coming into this with a certain degree of cynicism but I hope you ignore that and continue to post your impressions as you go. Your viewpoint is as valid as anyone's and probably more valid than most to other big fans of the series.
 
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