Gaming Mass Effect: Andromeda (PC, PS4, Xbox One)

Revan said:
Kind of agree (although I enjoyed a lot ME2). I kind of preferred the weird gameplay of the first game, mostly because it was novel and to some degree challenging. While the overheating of weapons was a pain in the arse, it made you play a bit more careful than the virtually unlimited ammo in the second and third game. In addition, the emphasis of the gameplay was on making the right upgrades and balancing the team, rather than just being good at shooting. On the second game, just get at least one biotic with you, upgrade the 'slow time' and you're essentially unstoppable.


Indeed. On the entire first two games you hear repeatedly that Reapers cannot be defeated with conventional weapons. But in the third game, the most epic thing is the space battle and you hear (and see) that 4 dreadnoughts can destroy a Reaper capital ship. Totally agree that the second and third games should have been quests for knowledge and a way of stopping Reapers to come (similar how LotR is all about stopping Sauron from coming), not preparing to fight it. Karpyshyn leaving Mass Effect 2 for The Old Republic (and then leaving entirely the company after Mass Effect 2) seems to have affected the story quite a lot.

Mass Effect was essentially KOTOR in the new generation machines and without the Star Wars theme. Which isn't a bad thing.

The problem though is that BioWare have become very one-dimensional on their stories. The baddies rise up, you have the chosen one and his friends who stop them. Baldur's Gate, KOTOR, Mass Effect, Dragon Age: Origin and Inquisition all seem to use this formula. They made things a bit more complex for Jade Empire and especially for the second Dragon Age, but considering that the game sucked (not because of story though), they went to the good vs evil in Inquisition. It is fine, but a bit of an overused formula and make the baddies look much more cartoonish and in essence there are no personal conflicts there.

Obsidian Entertainment have been far better at telling stories (well, at least they tried but them being a small company made half of their games unfinished), and the Witcher 3 went into far more complex stories, so BioWare should go in that direction too (IMO), instead of recycling the same kind of stories all over again. Otherwise, they will be at risk of just becoming a boring company, which would be a shame considering how innovative they have been in the past.
Click to expand...
Karpyshyn leaving really screwed them. The ending of ME3 was the culmination of that. They could tell the smaller stories of the characters ok, but completely lost it trying to tell the overall story. I agree it should have been a quest for knowledge, but ME2 started the build up to a big fight that they could never deliver on. Almost anything would have been better than the ending they produced though. Even not being able to stop the Reapers but still putting up a fight would have been better. ME2 was my favourite game, until the final 20 minutes of ME3 happened. Now the entire series is soiled.

I'd go as far as to say not only have Bioware been one dimensional in their story telling, but they've essentially been making the same game over and over again since KOTOR. Chosen one has to stop all powerful evil threat with his band of knights and rogues by recruiting them, gathering them in his central hub, talking to them there and then exploring a location with a couple of them. Also he can agree with one of them until they send him on a quest to solve their daddy issues, followed by the sweet, sweet dry humping.
 
Art Vandelay said:
Karpyshyn leaving really screwed them. The ending of ME3 was the culmination of that. They could tell the smaller stories of the characters ok, but completely lost it trying to tell the overall story. I agree it should have been a quest for knowledge, but ME2 started the build up to a big fight that they could never deliver on. Almost anything would have been better than the ending they produced though. Even not being able to stop the Reapers but still putting up a fight would have been better. ME2 was my favourite game, until the final 20 minutes of ME3 happened. Now the entire series is soiled.

I'd go as far as to say not only have Bioware been one dimensional in their story telling, but they've essentially been making the same game over and over again since KOTOR. Chosen one has to stop all powerful evil threat with his band of knights and rogues by recruiting them, gathering them in his central hub, talking to them there and then exploring a location with a couple of them. Also he can agree with one of them until they send him on a quest to solve their daddy issues, followed by the sweet, sweet dry humping.
Click to expand...
Yep, no idea why Walters decided that he knows better. The Karpyshyn's ending was supposed to be totally different:

"Dark Energy was something that only organics could access because of various techno-science magic reasons we hadn't decided on yet," Karpyshyn said. "Maybe using this Dark Energy was having a ripple effect on the space-time continuum.

"Maybe the Reapers kept wiping out organic life because organics keep evolving to the state where they would use biotics and dark energy and that caused an entropic effect that would hasten the end of the universe. Being immortal beings, that's something they wouldn't want to see.

"Then we thought, let's take it to the next level. Maybe the Reapers are looking at a way to stop this. Maybe there's an inevitable descent into the opposite of the Big Bang (the Big Crunch) and the Reapers realise that the only way they can stop it is by using biotics, but since they can't use biotics they have to keep rebuilding society - as they try and find the perfect group to use biotics for this purpose. The Asari were close but they weren't quite right, the Protheans were close as well.
Click to expand...

It might have sucked too, but it looks that it makes sense. My problem with ME3 wasn't only that your choices don't matter (I mean, it is a video game and the choices don't matter that much in video games), but that the ending genuinely makes no sense and pretty much contradicts the other games. I mean, just remember the conversation with Sovereign. Or the fact that the Starchild was always in the Citadel so neither Sovereign had to attack citadel (or even more, not exist in the first place at all) or Harbinger trying to create a new Reaper in the second game in order to build a shortcut for Reapers. Simply, the Starchild could have just bring the Reapers to the Citadel and be done with it. Then why Starchild just decides to allow Shepard to destroy Reapers/become God etc, I mean there was no reason for that. Everything didn't make sense there. The all powerful God-like Reapers turned out to be nothing more but puppets of a rogue AI. Disgusting!

Karpyshyn returning to BioWare is a nice thing, but hopefully he gets involved in other things and doesn't continue just for the TOR expansions.
 
fecking hell that sounds so much better than what we got. Apparently Walters and Casey Hudson locked the rest of the writers out of the process for the ending.

When you start poking holes in it, you could be at it for weeks. It made no sense on any level. Not one single thing about those final 20 minutes made a damn bit of sense and was a long series of contradictions to what had been established. The second that Shepard sent his squad away the whole thing fell apart. All that time recruiting them, for what? To send them away at the last minute when if he doesn't get it done they are going to die anyway? Everything from there forwards was just a master class in shitting on your own lore. It did build nicely though, like a crescendo of nonsense. The longer it went on the less sense it made.
 
ME2 was good, but vastly overrated. It did not have the world building story of 1, and the combat was inferior to 3.

I don't have any confidence in the current Bioware team to replicate the epicness of previous endeavors, I just hope they don't foul up the multiplayer which was almost unintentionally great on its first run.
 
Organic Potatoes said:
ME2 was good, but vastly overrated. It did not have the world building story of 1, and the combat was inferior to 3.

I don't have any confidence in the current Bioware team to replicate the epicness of previous endeavors, I just hope they don't foul up the multiplayer which was almost unintentionally great on its first run.
Click to expand...

ME2 was one of the most immersive games I've ever played. That game had a pull on me that few games have had since.
 
Plenty of positive impressions on neogaf - so stoked for this. Got the Friday off work to play all day
 
I've never played any of the mass effect games, but I watched the explorer trailer and was surprised! This looks quite good for someone who's never played the series. I may end up buying it.
 
U6qGkiX.gif

tenor.gif


:lol:
 
:lol: they're going to be such a distraction, I just can't get over how bad they are in a AAA game in 2017.
 
Blind said:
:lol: they're going to be such a distraction, I just can't get over how bad they are in a AAA game in 2017.
Click to expand...
They look worse than in the first Mass Effect games which was released 10 years ago. Surely, they're gonna need to patch it.
 
Going from the facial animation in Horizon to this is going to take some adjusting. Shouldn't be a game-breaker though.

GhastlyHun said:
https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2017/03/14/mass-effect-andromeda-review-opening-hours/

I'll just leave this here... it's not pretty.
Click to expand...
The guy who wrote that said Witcher 3 was like eating cardboard and Mass Effect 3's ending was splendid.

Safe to say he hasn't a clue.

Organic Potatoes said:
ME2 was good, but vastly overrated. It did not have the world building story of 1, and the combat was inferior to 3.

I don't have any confidence in the current Bioware team to replicate the epicness of previous endeavors, I just hope they don't foul up the multiplayer which was almost unintentionally great on its first run.
Click to expand...
Which was a good thing since world building was replaced by relationship building. You're going on a suicide mission with a small crew so the game focused on getting you to care about the characters instead. Which they nailed.
 
There's a 10 hour EA Access trial that starts tomorrow which is tempting but I think with a game like this it's better to hold off until release.
 
I watched the first 45 minutes of the game. It repeatedly made want to strangle kittens and kick puppies.

Notable quotes:
(on the first "new earth") 'Don't breathe the air. I found out the hard way *cough*' So that moron took off her helmet without actually knowing anything about the atmosphere? Yeah, those guys will find a safe 'new home for humanity' for sure... if their blistering stupidity hasn't killed them and every last human first.

(first contact with aliens) 'DO - YOU - UNDERSTAND - ME'
(the universal American approach to communication with foreign people - speak slow and loud. But mainly loud.) Surprise, they don't. Even more surprise - it's another galaxy but the first alien life you meet is humanoid and is carrying projectile weapons which could be the same you are carrying... Yeah, two seconds after you meet your first Andromedanians, you kill them all. Genius comment afterwards: 'They didn't want to talk' and 'Peace is not an option here.'

Really Bioware? This is your idea of exploring a new galaxy?
 
Last edited:
Anyone know what time this hits ea access please/thanks?
 
I hate these NPCs. All stupid haircuts, stupid accents, stupid behaviour, or several of the aforementioned at once. It's all so freaking... adolescent.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.