I really want this but i'll probably wait until June and convince my wife to get it for my birthday, by then they should have ironed out the bugs.
Gaming Mass Effect: Andromeda (PC, PS4, Xbox One)
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I've heard a lot of people say that EOS is by far the worst planet.
Eos is the first world you visit properly. Once you start exploring further planets, the story and characters open up a lot more. The loyalty missions are very fun and old school mass effect on-rails, they don't really kick in until you're halfway through.
The improved animations and eyes make a huge difference, why the feck wasn't it like this at launch? It may be anecdotal but as far as I can tell most of the critiquing of this game started after that initial gameplay video that first showed the dodgy animations. Had they looked like this to begin with I'm not certain that the severity of the hate would have been as much as it came to be. Am I naive, or handsomely brilliant?
That much is obvious, imo.
What about me being handsomely brilliant?
Sure.
Lol banter.
So is this worth buying now that they've somewhat fixed the animations? Is it enjoyable?
Imo it's quite fun after the first vault, which is for some people insane reason the point where EA deciding to embargo the gameplay footage before launch - so all you could see before that was the janky animations, shit environments and boring characters. Bad dialogue aside (which is very rare to be fair) the interactions with your crew are quite good, and some of the characters have potential to be good if they continue their development through the trilogy (Drak is a great veteran Krogan, Peebee is quite funny and competitive, Jaal is my fave). There's still some crap characters but they're mostly in the Nexus.
If I'm honest though I would suggest you only buy it if you don't have anything else on your list at the moment, if so wait for a price cut.
I don't really like the two planets I've been on. Eos looked nice but it's just a big empty desert from what I've seen and Harvarl looked ugly/too dark and the framerate was terrible which probably made it feel worse than it is. I'm not sure going open world was a good idea for ME. The main quest on both areas were boring too I thought. Maybe I'm just tired of the ancient alien stuff
One of the side quests I got on Harvarl was to go around and scan 10 pieces of debris on the map...I thought they said they weren't going to include the terrible parts of DA:I. I don't understand how anyone could enjoy the scanning parts of these games.
Most of the characters I have met are kinda shit (the Krogan guy was good). I find myself skipping a lot of the dialogue which I never did in any DA or ME game before. It's been a frustrating experience so far.
Were the old Mass Effects this quiet either? There's a big lack of music imo and the atmosphere feels dead in places.
And the new weapon and armour system seems terrible. I don't think you can find it anymore but need to scan for materials and then go through these shitty menus to craft something. I preferred just finding weapons and seeing what I enjoyed to use.
Would not recommend
Edit - I also don't think you can do renegade stuff anymore. Instead of paragon/renegade its funny/serious. Kinda like Fallout 4
Ryder doesn't really feel like your character like Shepard did. Maybe it opens up later
One of the side quests I got on Harvarl was to go around and scan 10 pieces of debris on the map...I thought they said they weren't going to include the terrible parts of DA:I. I don't understand how anyone could enjoy the scanning parts of these games.
Most of the characters I have met are kinda shit (the Krogan guy was good). I find myself skipping a lot of the dialogue which I never did in any DA or ME game before. It's been a frustrating experience so far.
Were the old Mass Effects this quiet either? There's a big lack of music imo and the atmosphere feels dead in places.
And the new weapon and armour system seems terrible. I don't think you can find it anymore but need to scan for materials and then go through these shitty menus to craft something. I preferred just finding weapons and seeing what I enjoyed to use.
Would not recommend
Edit - I also don't think you can do renegade stuff anymore. Instead of paragon/renegade its funny/serious. Kinda like Fallout 4
Ryder doesn't really feel like your character like Shepard did. Maybe it opens up later
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If you liked the previous ME games, you'll most likely like this as well. I see a lot of people critising squad mates not being as strong as the ones in OT, but I think a lot of people forget that OT had three games to build them up - we only had one in this series so far. I think the they're pretty decent, and the loyalty missions are generally excellent.
But as @Mr Pigeon said, unless you really want it, it might be worth waiting for a sale. Dragon Age Inquisition went on sale very quickly (I got it for 33% during Christmas - a month after release). DAI was much better received, but I guess ME is a bigger seller - but I'm 99% sure it'll go on a pretty good sale during summer.
Are you on PC? I didn't have any performance issues at all, so you might just have your graphics set too high.
Nope they weren't and it's a common complaint with Andromeda, so you're definitely right on that. Could use some ambient music in a lot of places.
What? You find a ton of weapons and armor. Unless you play on high difficulty you don't need to craft anything. I found that you get more than plenty materials for crafting though, as long as you're not expecting to craft everything. I crafted an armor set and two weapons - the only thing I was lacking for a while was milky way research for the weapons.
They removed the shallow paragon/renegade system and replaced it with this, yeah (emotional/logical and casual/professional). Supposedly your character adapts to your choices throughout the game - i.e. if you constantly pick "professional" he'll have a more professional delivery of regular lines as well. This was supposedly also what might have fecked up the animations a bit, as they didn't give the proper attention to all paths (logical/professional Ryder was generally pretty polished, and it was generally people picking emotional/casual that had weird facial animations).
I'm genuinely not sure about the Ryder/Shepard comparison. For a fair comparison I think you'd compare Ryder to how Shepard was after ME1 (or some way into 2, I guess) and I have a really hard time doing that. I don't really have any big issues with Ryder as a character though - I think he works fine, but that's always going to be subjective, and of course fans of the series will have a very favourable view of Shepard, which makes him hard to beat.
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@Wowi No playing on PS4
I don't recall finding any weapons yet. Maybe I didn't notice I got them as I just quickly press "take all"
Will need to check as I'm sure I still only have one assault rifle available after 10 hours played.
Also on the renegade/paragon thing. There doesn't seem to be any actions to do. Like before there was L2/R2 to decide if you would do something good or bad which I enjoyed but I haven't seen any of those options yet. Even if the old system was shallow it at least felt different and would make you think what decision to take. This new system feels streamlined in a bad way where you know both options will result in the same thing
I don't recall finding any weapons yet. Maybe I didn't notice I got them as I just quickly press "take all"
Will need to check as I'm sure I still only have one assault rifle available after 10 hours played.
Also on the renegade/paragon thing. There doesn't seem to be any actions to do. Like before there was L2/R2 to decide if you would do something good or bad which I enjoyed but I haven't seen any of those options yet. Even if the old system was shallow it at least felt different and would make you think what decision to take. This new system feels streamlined in a bad way where you know both options will result in the same thing
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Ah, my condolences.
Weapons and amor should be dropping throughout the game, like the mods do. You can also buy from vendors.
There are interruptions/actions in this game as well. On the contrary, I think the paragon/renegade system didn't make you think - more often than not you'd either be doing a paragon or renegade play though (not only for RP reasons, but also for unlocking skills), so you just picked that option regardless of the context. I personally didn't love the paragon/renegade system because it was too simple - I enjoyed the Witcher series because it didn't have such black/white dialogue options. There are still plenty of choices in Andromeda, but you have to rely more on your own interpretation of the situation than plain good/bad.
Both options definitely won't result in the same thing. If we're talking actually choices (like during or at the end of a quest), the outcome can vary a lot. If we're talking about whether you use casual or professional lines, people will react differently to you depending on your approach.
The only (I think) interruption I've had in 9 hours is to jump into a gravity well first (instead of last I bet)
Comparing the game choice options to Witcher 2 or 3...from what I've played of Andromeda it seems ridiculous to even compare them so I think I need to play some more. This game is closer to Fallout 4 than it is to any Witcher game imo
Also I took the paragon/renegade options without any consideration for the bar that fills up or any powers that it gains which is probably why I prefer it. I only played it on normal so getting better powers wan't really a big deal for me
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This aspect really infuriates me, since when you start the game you're welcomed by what is, and there's no disputing it*, an incredible title track.
*yes I'm fully aware that music is subjective but I demand artistic license to use a little hyperbole.
How far are you in? I've had a few "interruptions" where I could press R1 to use actions.
The Paragon/Renagade system was shite. I played the trilogy in the build up to Andromeda's launch and instead of playing how I wanted to I felt restricted by the good or bad options depending on how I wanted to fill up the conversation bar to ensure I passed any upcoming charisma checks. I enjoy the freedom in this game of picking what I feel fits the particular situation without worrying if it prevents me in future conversations.
Eos and Havarl are the worst planets by a mile. Eos gets a little more stuff after you've done the vault and gotten the outpost up, quests and such.
Voeld, Kadara and Eladeen are all much better than either of those two.
e: There will probably be a fair amount of people who'll do Eos, go to Aya for some exposition, go to Havarl and then just never play again, thinking it'll never improve.
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Thanks guys! I've never played the ME series to be honest, but the build up to this looking interesting, when you look past the horrible animations.
I'll have to take a look when the price drops. I have plenty of games I need to complete to be honest. They just sit there collecting dust, I probably ought to get around to doing that.
Good idea, get to it!
Yeah, there aren't many early on and they usually stack up a bit on quests, in that you'll get a few in a row and then spend a long time without any. I think that's quite similar to OT though.
My point was that this system itself is more like Witcher - I didn't mean to compare the quality.
By far the most people played it the "optimal" way though (going one route or the other). Aside from unlocking skills, you'd also run into issues where you didn't have enough points in either path to use future conversation options as @Mr Pigeon rightly pointed out, so the developers clearly wanted you to stick to one route and they changed it for this game to get away from that.
The game is actually far too long. I swear I must have put in at least 70 hours already and there are still a ton of quests left. I think it would have been a far better game if it were the same length as the original trilogy so they could have created a much more meaningful world.
I liked what I believe was the idea behind the paragon/renegade system (a hero's actions being guided by ethos or code) but it was definitely poorly implemented. Ideally, I'd want something that ties together and fulfils the potential of DA's approval system, TSL's influence system and ME's paragade system with the dynamism of the latter games and without the stiltedness but that might actually be impossible.
I just got to Voeld and I like it much better than Eos or Havarl. Hate the Mako though, wish the map was smaller and you could just get to places on foot instead like DA:I
I like long games, good value for the money for me.
Ghost recon wildlands is another long ass game, that has been very solid as well
I assume it's mostly sidequest stuff? Looking at HowLongToBeat.com (which is normally reliable) it has the main plot at 20 hours, which is equivalent to ME2 + ME3 (24 hours) and ME1 (17 hours). Main + Extra is down for Andromeda at 56 hours, contrasted to the 29-35 hour lengths of the original trilogy.
Yes, shit loads of side quests. A never ending amount. I've given up most of them now and will just finish off the loyalty missions and then the main quest.
Finished the main story (my save file says I'm 96% done). I've already said it, but I do like this game. Suppose I'd have to to have ~60 hours put into it.
However, these missions that require you to find things but don't tell you where the things are and/or how many of the things you've got/need to get can go feck themselves. I'm not driving around Voeld for hours letting Sam's constant "IT'S COLD. IT'S WARM. IT'S COLD AGAIN. MINE HERE" nonsense drive me insane.
However, these missions that require you to find things but don't tell you where the things are and/or how many of the things you've got/need to get can go feck themselves. I'm not driving around Voeld for hours letting Sam's constant "IT'S COLD. IT'S WARM. IT'S COLD AGAIN. MINE HERE" nonsense drive me insane.
Small tip: You can go to the same camp repeatedly to find objectives. As in, if you find a camp that has an objective you can fast travel back to a forward outpost, go to the same camp and find an objective again (either the same task or a completely different one). I actually like the concept - I think the idea was that you should complete the tasks while you were exploring the planet. They're also labelled "task" to differentiate them from actual quests, so they give very little reward but add a bit of flavour to the exploration. The problem is that on certain planets you don't seem to find all the objectives, unless you hit the same camps multiple times which is just horrible game design.
I was a massive fan of ME2 and 3 but tho she game so far has been very, very ,very disappointing. I haven't finished it yet but I feel like it's starting to wrap up and if so this game seems so much smaller than ME2 and 3.
The only Character I like is Drak and I think gathering your crew came far too easily and none of them seem to have any decent back story or redemption to them. The characters in ME2 were so much better and the new guy is no Shepard. Jack the enhanced Biotic, the Asari Matriarch or her daughter. The dying assassin. None of it feels as good and it's all quite generic. I hoped they would introduce new characters.
I don't feel like your decisions have that much of an impact as in the first games. They felt life or death and this feels like a stubbed toe is the worst you're going to get.
Then there is the whole shoddy cut scenes. Sometimes you walk in to a room where you're supposed to have a conversation and it seems to jump in to the dialogue before the video starts and it seems like you've missed stuff.
Then their are the horrendous faults like knocking people off platforms with combos and then not being able to progress if they are still alive. (It's and issue from a vault level)
Also I've completed Peebees loyalty mission and she has full loyalty and it's still showing as needed to be done.
The menu's are horrible also you can't seem to upgrade your squad mates armour, guns so on and now they are all maxed out they keep collecting skill points but have nothing to spend it on.
The 1st mass effect was kind of rubbish then the other two saved it although the story in the first one kept it going. I just hope they fix this. Never mind the laughable graphics. The actual bad guys seem quite poor also. I remember those banshees in the first trilogy being a nightmare but now everyone except the end boss kind of dudes are simple.
Overall pretty disappointed.
The only Character I like is Drak and I think gathering your crew came far too easily and none of them seem to have any decent back story or redemption to them. The characters in ME2 were so much better and the new guy is no Shepard. Jack the enhanced Biotic, the Asari Matriarch or her daughter. The dying assassin. None of it feels as good and it's all quite generic. I hoped they would introduce new characters.
I don't feel like your decisions have that much of an impact as in the first games. They felt life or death and this feels like a stubbed toe is the worst you're going to get.
Then there is the whole shoddy cut scenes. Sometimes you walk in to a room where you're supposed to have a conversation and it seems to jump in to the dialogue before the video starts and it seems like you've missed stuff.
Then their are the horrendous faults like knocking people off platforms with combos and then not being able to progress if they are still alive. (It's and issue from a vault level)
Also I've completed Peebees loyalty mission and she has full loyalty and it's still showing as needed to be done.
The menu's are horrible also you can't seem to upgrade your squad mates armour, guns so on and now they are all maxed out they keep collecting skill points but have nothing to spend it on.
The 1st mass effect was kind of rubbish then the other two saved it although the story in the first one kept it going. I just hope they fix this. Never mind the laughable graphics. The actual bad guys seem quite poor also. I remember those banshees in the first trilogy being a nightmare but now everyone except the end boss kind of dudes are simple.
Overall pretty disappointed.
Yeah, I did see on a few Youtube videos that people were commenting things like "this wasn't there for me, but another thing was." I also found on one of them that I went to every location the item could be at, and they weren't at any, then I went back to the first one and there was one there all of a sudden.
@Andersons Dietician I did notice that there weren't many major moments in this one in terms of consequence. I'm wondering if the sequel (which I'm assuming is happening) will be where it really kicks in. Almost in a "oh, you thought you'd gotten away with that" way.
I did have an idea for the sequel, which I'll stick in a spoiler because it does confirm that a character survives the first:
What if Drack dies, somewhat near the start, and is replaced by Vorn, the botanist? It'd be a new thing to have a Krogan on the team who's more brain than brawn.
I finished the main story last night and there has to be a sequel. As there are a few things that have been left open.
I felt like the game was too easy in terms of puzzles and things and I found near the end the constantly having to go back and forth to planets for one tiny conversation really annoying.
Also I mentioned in my first post on it that I'm sure something is wrong when my video sequences cut in.
The final battle as well seemed very lack lustre and anti climactic and to be honest I was quite disappointed no one died. I was purposely selecting Liam and Jaal for missions I thought might have someone die and was left disappointed as I hate those two characters.
I've used a Kroger in every game as my main homie so for me what you've suggested would be an intresting twist but not sure I'd like it.
Have to say I saved the VI on Voeld and nothing ever really seemed to happen with that. Guessing that is part of the next chapter and with the Quarian Ark distress or warning beacon could be intresting how that develops
I've used a Kroger in every game as my main homie so for me what you've suggested would be an intresting twist but not sure I'd like it.
Have to say I saved the VI on Voeld and nothing ever really seemed to happen with that. Guessing that is part of the next chapter and with the Quarian Ark distress or warning beacon could be intresting how that develops
Taken to playing the multiplayer which can be entertaining. Came across some guys last night and I don't use a microphone which is probably a good thing as they were useless.
One of the wave missions was to get packages to a certain location. I had cloak matrix so I got two out of the way. Went for a third and someone beat me to it but instead of Husseling to the drop he just started cowering in a corner. Actually all 3 of them did. I kept cloaking them and shooting him in the face with my shotgun like I was Lassie trying to tell him little old Timmy had fallen down the well and to follow me.
Now whilst all this is going down I'm carving a path like I'm Moses through the Red Sea but this time the Red Sea is actually outlaw blood and I've never scored as high as these fools were cowering in a corner and I got gold, shotgun,mele,kills,objective,support and they kept dying so I got a silver aid and support badge also. I beat the closet one by 12k points.
Anyway time is running out and eventually these guys make their way to the drop zone as I'm in the middle of a massive shit storm. Still they are near it but don't seem to be doing anything and we are in the last minutes and still have another package to get. I jump over the wall and they are struggiling with one sniper so I avenger strike the fool and eventually these fools get to the platform then I cloak sprint to the last one then fight my way back with seconds to spare.
Sorry these guys really frustrated me and I'm still not over it.
The Anagran avenger is one heck of a character, I just cloak run about and Melee everything that comes my way from mechs to those lizard dog things. The character is insanely powerful. I just need the juggernaut item and hopefully a higher level version so I can max out a skill thread where I can get a melee bonus for every kill or melee hit.
One of the wave missions was to get packages to a certain location. I had cloak matrix so I got two out of the way. Went for a third and someone beat me to it but instead of Husseling to the drop he just started cowering in a corner. Actually all 3 of them did. I kept cloaking them and shooting him in the face with my shotgun like I was Lassie trying to tell him little old Timmy had fallen down the well and to follow me.
Now whilst all this is going down I'm carving a path like I'm Moses through the Red Sea but this time the Red Sea is actually outlaw blood and I've never scored as high as these fools were cowering in a corner and I got gold, shotgun,mele,kills,objective,support and they kept dying so I got a silver aid and support badge also. I beat the closet one by 12k points.
Anyway time is running out and eventually these guys make their way to the drop zone as I'm in the middle of a massive shit storm. Still they are near it but don't seem to be doing anything and we are in the last minutes and still have another package to get. I jump over the wall and they are struggiling with one sniper so I avenger strike the fool and eventually these fools get to the platform then I cloak sprint to the last one then fight my way back with seconds to spare.
Sorry these guys really frustrated me and I'm still not over it.
The Anagran avenger is one heck of a character, I just cloak run about and Melee everything that comes my way from mechs to those lizard dog things. The character is insanely powerful. I just need the juggernaut item and hopefully a higher level version so I can max out a skill thread where I can get a melee bonus for every kill or melee hit.
Series is on hiatus. All the Montreal staff are now supporting Star Wars Battlefront 2.
Not really good news as series that be put on hold by EA tend to be on hold forever.
Disappointing news if true. Would be sad to see two of my favourite series ME and Deus Ex not having another game.
Not really good news as series that be put on hold by EA tend to be on hold forever.
Disappointing news if true. Would be sad to see two of my favourite series ME and Deus Ex not having another game.
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Down to 29.99 now is it worth picking up?
I quite enjoyed it to be honest, found the story decent enough.
Basically stick to the loyalty missions and the main story and it is a blast, ignore the rest it is filler.
Everyone has a different view of course... but it pains me to say no.
I was a massive mass effect fan last generation - I even took a day off work to play andromeda (always take 1 day a year for 'gaming') but I was so disappointed with andromeda. A massive let down. I made it fairly far but I couldn't continue anymore, too many things bugged me.
Now playing horizon zero dawn instead and deeply regretting wasting my gaming day on andromeda - horizon is incredible.
I watched the ending of andromeda online just so I could see how it finished. I hope the mass effect franchise isn't dead - hope it comes back from this.
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Cheers!
Cheers for the response what was it that particularly put you off it?
Massive fan myself but I've heard mixed reviews.
From what I read it's only the Andromeda series being put on hold due to the lukewarm reception, they'll pursue other ME games.