Whilst its cool that's your opinion, you have to realise that it is very much a minority opinion. Mass Effects 2 Marketing and trailers were god tier, as demonstrated by both the incredible excitement for the game pre-launch, and the numbers of views they got at the time.
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I'm a Bit Worried about Mass Effect: Andromeda
- Thread starter Alpha Phoenix
- Start date
Whilst its cool that's your opinion, you have to realise that it is very much a minority opinion. Mass Effects 2 Marketing and trailers were god tier, as demonstrated by both the incredible excitement for the game pre-launch, and the numbers of views they got at the time.
SliChillax
Member
I agree, it might have been good when it came out but when I watch it again now I cringe at the editing. This guy makes some awesome unofficial trailers
Mass Effect Trilogy Trailer https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wvqYN2RJfVA
Andromeda Trailer https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MYN08r7-S-8
What does that even mean? Minority = wrong?
Sanctuary
Member
No, but marketing = trying to get as many people interested as possible. Since it seemed to have done spectacularly at that, you can't really argue that it was a "bad" trailer.
And honestly, it doesn't matter how it looks now, if it looked great then. When this gem was released, it didn't look nearly as bad as it does now. Even though it was still silly, it also stuck in your head.
Holy shit. That's a good trailer in hindsight only. If you've never played the games before, it's ridiculously spoilery and lessens the impact of seeing that stuff in game for the first time by quite a bit.
SliChillax
Member
Haha and the ME2 trailer isn't spoilery? The Normandy getting destroyed, showing almost all the cutscenes after you enter the Omega 4 relay. Good thing I never watched that trailer when it came out. Soulja Boy has a lot of fans, doesn't mean his music is amazing, just like that trailer got a lot of people interested.
Ok wow , we see games differently , which is fine .
It's all well and good looking back after a game has been released . But its not a great trailer in terms of well everything.
Captain Tuttle
Member
Sounds good, I loved 99.9% fo ME3 and DA:I
Is that a Salarian talking? And I swear, is Bioware holding back on revealing new species? The only new life form I've seen is the one GI broke a couple weeks back. The kek or something.
It's been confirmed that there will be no main quest gating in Andromeda
I use to love that trailer but now not so much. So much cringe and spoiler
So I went digging and found the trailer from my memories:
https://youtu.be/2gZK15KcA2k
Which totally is "Yo Bioware in SPACE!"
Green Yoshi
Member
Red Dead Redemption 2 is the last thing.
Mass Effect: Andromeda looks like an MMO and the quality of the writing seems to be worse than in Mass Effect 1+2.
I'm in neogaf, gamefaqs or in 4chan?
Looks like an MMO?
Worse writing?
And you got that from the 3 minutes of footage that barely have dialogues and gameplay in them? LOL
I'm more concerned about the story. Will the writing be cheesy and predictable? Will the characters lack depth? Will the choices you make be uninspired?
Oh and the combat must be better than that godawful game dragon age inquisition. What a pile of crap that game was. Story and combat.
I'm waiting for reviews and how well the PC port has been done.
Oh and the combat must be better than that godawful game dragon age inquisition. What a pile of crap that game was. Story and combat.
I'm waiting for reviews and how well the PC port has been done.
Ban Puncher
Member
D
Deleted member 752119
Unconfirmed Member
Looks great to me so far. *shrugs*'
Can't wait to jump into it after Zelda on Switch. Going to be a great March!
Can't wait to jump into it after Zelda on Switch. Going to be a great March!
What puts me off is the possible influences from Dragon Age Inquisition, which is my most hated game since PS2/Xbox generation.
And the fact the father of Mass Effect left BioWare for Microsoft has me feeling a little nervous, combined with what's been seen so far.
I'm a huge Mass Effect fan, but I must admit I'm worried.
And the fact the father of Mass Effect left BioWare for Microsoft has me feeling a little nervous, combined with what's been seen so far.
I'm a huge Mass Effect fan, but I must admit I'm worried.
Shadynasty
Member
This is nothing new OP. Bullshots are the norm with game advertising.
Green Yoshi
Member
I didn't count the minutes, but the video was definitely longer than three minutes.
I mean it's out in two months.
SliChillax
Member
Ahhh brings back good old memories. If I'm not mistaken, the sound at the end when the title comes up was made with garbage trash cans and then modified to sound like that. Ended up being the sound of the Reapers.
I've been dying for a proper space opera game this gen, ME:A is that but I'm waiting on reviews and Gaf/trusted YT impressions.
Very little they show has inspired any confidence for me especially after ME3 and the tepid aftermath reception to Inquisition.
Fingers crossed the team at Bioware can pull this one off.
Very little they show has inspired any confidence for me especially after ME3 and the tepid aftermath reception to Inquisition.
Fingers crossed the team at Bioware can pull this one off.
Ennosuke
Member
Dude, this is exactly my opinion. I am prepared for the worst.
Generic? This looks like a quantum leap over the last trilogy and we will also have far more of it to explore.
If MEA looks like an MMO, then Zelda and Horizon also look like MMO, Zelda being the worst offender.
Then I suppose that it's not about MEA, it's about DAI.
I know it won GoTY here, I never played the game though.
To me it seemed like there was a fallout from a lot of gaffers after launch about certain aspects of inquisition and I just hope those things don't creep into ME: A.
I've had some posters explain their gripes with that game to me, picturing them in this game ain't pretty.
Except, you know, it didn't. Bayonetta 2 won that year.
The only thing it won on the voting thread was like best RPG if I recall.
I'm interested in Mass Effect Andromeda because I'm interested in Mass Effect in general, but I'd be lying if I said I have yet to see a trailer or gameplay demo truly sell me on the game. I keep waiting and waiting and waiting, going in with zero expectations, and always asking "wait, that's it?" and then telling myself "next time. They'll convince me next time."
It's been a very bizarre marketing cycle for this game. Looking back at how much material the prior games received before launch, and how almost all of it whet my appetite and made me MORE excited for the upcoming game (instead of "cautious"), I can only be honest and say that Bioware/EA can and has done better in this area. By leaps and bounds.
I really could go into diagnostic detail of why this is the case. I've said before that trailers and demos are still "self-contained stories" all on their own that viewers expect an introduction to, a climax, and a denouement. Watching the latest Zelda trailer does this perfectly with its slow build to an explosive, bombastic demonstration of great gameplay before calming down into a quiet, sublime resolution. The tonal shifts are graceful and elegant.
Watching every Mass Effect Andromeda trailer and demo is the opposite of this. They're abrupt, poorly edited, poorly explained, lacking in terms of context, substance, or understanding. The CES gameplay literally just "ends" with no build-up or resolution and that innately feels "wrong" to a viewer, as an example.
The prior Mass Effect games - at least in marketing - were razor-sharp in their clarity and focus. "This is the mission of the game - Stop the Collectors/Save the Earth. These are the characters who will help you accomplish this mission - Jack/Thane/Garrus/etc." And they gave all of them just the right amount of time in reveals, interwoven between elegant gameplay slices, that introduced new mechanics to old players and spurred the interest of new players. Music, visuals, gameplay, dialogue, all were edited together to create the right "impression" of the games, even if they weren't altogether authentic, but that's how good marketing works. To create a "feeling" for a game, more than raw data and facts and context-less combat can achieve.
We don't know or care about any characters yet, so it's hard to "feel" for them. We don't know the over-arching plot, so it's hard to "feel" for the main plight when we don't even know it. We don't know how Ryder's sibling or father are integrated in our lives, so we don't care for them yet. We don't know why we should care for any alien world we see yet (unlike, say, "this is Tuchanka, the home of Wrex, the badass teammate you've grown to love"). We just don't have any CONTEXT to care yet.
I get that Bioware/EA are keeping things close to their chest, but at this point I'm buying into a vague Mass Effect pitch, like a skeleton template on Kickstarter that I hope will become something more substantial, rather than a fully-realized experience that's firing on all cylinders for the past several years launching in less than a month and a half.
While I still think EA might finally open the floodgates, I resent that approach too, overwhelming players in the final month or weeks with a glut of information that creates info noise, preventing any one bit of info, any one character reveal, from having the impact it might otherwise deserve. I wouldn't like having the character vids of Grunt, Jack, Miranda, Mordin, or Thane from ME2 just dumped on me in the final few weeks - spreading those out gave each of them an appreciable spotlight and allowed the information to sink in and settle before moving on.
It's the difference between a well-paced, multi-course meal of appetizers, side dishes, main course, and dessert... versus just gorging on a buffet mixing everything together all at once. Believe it or not, there is an art and tact to distributing info and material in marketing.
And in that regard, EA's botched it bad with Andromeda. That's not a knock against the finished game itself by any means... only against the marketing of the game.
The info is coming, but I've grown far too tired of saying "maybe the next reveal will satisfy" for the past three years now.
Not quite... It wasn't even in the top 3.
It's been a very bizarre marketing cycle for this game. Looking back at how much material the prior games received before launch, and how almost all of it whet my appetite and made me MORE excited for the upcoming game (instead of "cautious"), I can only be honest and say that Bioware/EA can and has done better in this area. By leaps and bounds.
I really could go into diagnostic detail of why this is the case. I've said before that trailers and demos are still "self-contained stories" all on their own that viewers expect an introduction to, a climax, and a denouement. Watching the latest Zelda trailer does this perfectly with its slow build to an explosive, bombastic demonstration of great gameplay before calming down into a quiet, sublime resolution. The tonal shifts are graceful and elegant.
Watching every Mass Effect Andromeda trailer and demo is the opposite of this. They're abrupt, poorly edited, poorly explained, lacking in terms of context, substance, or understanding. The CES gameplay literally just "ends" with no build-up or resolution and that innately feels "wrong" to a viewer, as an example.
The prior Mass Effect games - at least in marketing - were razor-sharp in their clarity and focus. "This is the mission of the game - Stop the Collectors/Save the Earth. These are the characters who will help you accomplish this mission - Jack/Thane/Garrus/etc." And they gave all of them just the right amount of time in reveals, interwoven between elegant gameplay slices, that introduced new mechanics to old players and spurred the interest of new players. Music, visuals, gameplay, dialogue, all were edited together to create the right "impression" of the games, even if they weren't altogether authentic, but that's how good marketing works. To create a "feeling" for a game, more than raw data and facts and context-less combat can achieve.
We don't know or care about any characters yet, so it's hard to "feel" for them. We don't know the over-arching plot, so it's hard to "feel" for the main plight when we don't even know it. We don't know how Ryder's sibling or father are integrated in our lives, so we don't care for them yet. We don't know why we should care for any alien world we see yet (unlike, say, "this is Tuchanka, the home of Wrex, the badass teammate you've grown to love"). We just don't have any CONTEXT to care yet.
I get that Bioware/EA are keeping things close to their chest, but at this point I'm buying into a vague Mass Effect pitch, like a skeleton template on Kickstarter that I hope will become something more substantial, rather than a fully-realized experience that's firing on all cylinders for the past several years launching in less than a month and a half.
While I still think EA might finally open the floodgates, I resent that approach too, overwhelming players in the final month or weeks with a glut of information that creates info noise, preventing any one bit of info, any one character reveal, from having the impact it might otherwise deserve. I wouldn't like having the character vids of Grunt, Jack, Miranda, Mordin, or Thane from ME2 just dumped on me in the final few weeks - spreading those out gave each of them an appreciable spotlight and allowed the information to sink in and settle before moving on.
It's the difference between a well-paced, multi-course meal of appetizers, side dishes, main course, and dessert... versus just gorging on a buffet mixing everything together all at once. Believe it or not, there is an art and tact to distributing info and material in marketing.
And in that regard, EA's botched it bad with Andromeda. That's not a knock against the finished game itself by any means... only against the marketing of the game.
The info is coming, but I've grown far too tired of saying "maybe the next reveal will satisfy" for the past three years now.
Not quite... It wasn't even in the top 3.
Generic? This looks like a quantum leap over the last trilogy and we will also have far more of it to explore.
Graphics are awesome but I mean it doesn't have that "kind of retro space opera" look to it. It's not a dealbreaker but the new one looks more like the kind of scifi I see in space movies today.
OléGunner;228414907 said:
Inquisition is pretty amazing, if you ask me. It felt like a truly epic adventure, despite some of the fetch quests that most open world games have. I suspect MEA will have them as well, but it will still offer the most open and beautiful Mass Effect yet, in addition to a brand new storyline. I know I am sure as hell excited.
This is a fabulous post.
Trust me I sure as hell am very excited for MEA.
There's few games out there like it that capture space exploration, relationships, beautiful environments etc. Just feel I should be cautious with the paltry information we have on the game at the moment.
It looks like Mass Effect on steroids to me. Which is precisely what I wanted for this new generation.
As someone who really disliked DA:I and the way ME3 was handled, I was very worried for a long time.
However, I recently began a new DA:I game while bored and I'm now many more hours into the game than I ever have been before... and I'm really, really enjoying it. To the point I might even make a RTTP thread calling it *coughs* pretty damn great.
I mean, the game has flaws but I just love the Bioware world building and character interactions, hell the combat is even fun now (playing on Hard not nightmare makes it feel like so much less of a slog), and I've even started to dip into the online play (the Virtuoso class is easily one of the best things Bioware have designed, I wish it were in the actual SP game...).
Anyway, since playing DA:I again my hype levels have gone up.
However, I recently began a new DA:I game while bored and I'm now many more hours into the game than I ever have been before... and I'm really, really enjoying it. To the point I might even make a RTTP thread calling it *coughs* pretty damn great.
I mean, the game has flaws but I just love the Bioware world building and character interactions, hell the combat is even fun now (playing on Hard not nightmare makes it feel like so much less of a slog), and I've even started to dip into the online play (the Virtuoso class is easily one of the best things Bioware have designed, I wish it were in the actual SP game...).
Anyway, since playing DA:I again my hype levels have gone up.
TharpDaddy
Member
Went back and played more DA:I yesterday and playing it got me excited for how good ME:A is going to look at the least. I forgot how gorgeous Dragon Age: Inquisition was.
Honestly, i'm not too worried. DA:2 is the only game from Bioware I consider a stinker. Every other game, even if flawed, I have enjoyed. I loved ME3 up until the ending, and while that was a sour note it didn't spoil the series for me, or even the game. Even if Andromeda doesn't live up to previous games I expect to really enjoy it.
Honestly, i'm not too worried. DA:2 is the only game from Bioware I consider a stinker. Every other game, even if flawed, I have enjoyed. I loved ME3 up until the ending, and while that was a sour note it didn't spoil the series for me, or even the game. Even if Andromeda doesn't live up to previous games I expect to really enjoy it.
Ennosuke
Member
Totally fine to like DA:I. But for me the story, characters, dialogue... they were all horrible, cheesy and out of a bad fan fiction. And in addition we had those boring and dumb sidequests. Playing the Witcher 3 a couple of months later, made this even more clear to me.
AHA-Lambda
Member
Great post, and the bolded part really sums everything up perfectly. As a fan of the series, even with the misteps taken with ME3, I'm amazed at how little I care about a new installment after it's been so long a wait for a new entry. Similarly, that this can get into gaf's most anticipated top 5 is silly imo
But in someways it really shouldn't be shocking that EA has botched this game's marketing when we've already seen a major blunder in how they handled TF2.
I love both games, and while TW3 is one of the greatest games I have ever played, it still did not take away from my enjoyment of Inquisition. I actually loved the characters and felt like it was an actual journey. But hey, to each their own.
smurphdogg
Neo Member
For me, the best part of ME was discovering the Universe. I don't want that spoiled in trailers before the launch. I want to go in as fresh as possible. I think its exciting that we don't know many of the crew mates or their personalities.
Also I would describe that video as an info dump and not a trailer. In years past it would have been posted in text form on the BioWare Blog with a few choice bullshots, but nobody reads anymore so its a video.
Also I would describe that video as an info dump and not a trailer. In years past it would have been posted in text form on the BioWare Blog with a few choice bullshots, but nobody reads anymore so its a video.
Alpha Phoenix
Member
I think you hit the nail on the head here.
SoRuffShoNuff
Member
We've been getting these complaints ever since they removed that grainy filter. A vocal minority believes that added to the character of the game.
Alpha Phoenix
Member
Inquisition won because it was the only thing there was. There was zero competition in the RPG space in 2014.
And for the last time, it wasn't even "Game of the Year". It was RPG of the year, in a very barren year.
Bayonetta 2 won GOTY in 2014. As it should have.
Personally, I kinda miss it.
Guy LeDouche
Banned
I hadn't thought about the new mass effect until seeing this thread but now I'm really in the mood for a new ME campaign and I think ME:A will be my first game purchase of the year. There hasn't been much of it shown so far but what I've seen looks good and I like that I'll be able to respec abilities and whatnot. Now to wait 2 more months
AHA-Lambda
Member
It didn't on gaf, and even then the awards it has won have been ridiculed here on numerous occassions. 2014 was a bad year for AAA