Mass Effect: Andromeda

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Sean
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Re: Mass Effect: Andromeda

Post by Sean »

I could never get into Dragon Age as much as I tried. What are the similarities between Inquisition and Andromeda?
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Flabyo
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Re: Mass Effect: Andromeda

Post by Flabyo »

I assume it's the change to a more MMO style set of open areas with fetch questing.

It definitely feels like there's been a design philosophy change at Bioware since they shipped ME3.
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Re: Mass Effect: Andromeda

Post by JaySevenZero »

Flabyo wrote: April 12th, 2017, 8:03 am It definitely feels like there's been a design philosophy change at Bioware since they shipped ME3.
And not one for the better, in my humble opinion.
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Suits
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Re: Mass Effect: Andromeda

Post by Suits »

I wonder if its a case of that only a small percentage of the people that gave Bioware their original reputation are actually left there and newcomers have adopted this reputation by association and are struggling to cope with the pressures and expectations that that name carry.

I've not truly got lost in a Bioware game since ME2 to be honest. I never really got on with Dragon Age, which I put down to the aesthetic and chalked ME3 up as a blip.
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Flabyo
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Re: Mass Effect: Andromeda

Post by Flabyo »

Staff turnover at game studios is usually such that it's rare for game 4 in a series to share more than a handful of staff with game 1. You only really hear about the bigger name people leaving, but sometimes it's someone more unsung lower down that was behind a particular design philosophy.

Fable, for example, may have been a fair bit of Peter, but most of the tone and design philosophy came from Simon and Dene Carter. Dene left after Fable 2 and there are definitely things in the Fable 3 design that Dene would've objected to.

All big studios reach this point eventually, and keeping to a 'house style' does get harder as the original proponents of it move on. (See also Assassin's Creed, GTA, Far Cry, Final Fantasy, Call of Duty...)

There was a great Eurogamer piece on the history of Core Design last year that covers a lot of this.
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Re: Mass Effect: Andromeda

Post by Todinho »

I think loss of key staff is certainlly part of it because other then the 2 founders leaving after Mass Effect 3 they also lost a bunch of other people, like the original creator of Mass Effect and the creator of Dragon Age. And in the case of Andromeda especifically the main writer left halfway through the project.
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Re: Mass Effect: Andromeda

Post by macstat »

Golar wrote: April 10th, 2017, 10:42 pm I've not finished Andromeda yet, in fact I've barely scratched the surface.
You might say, You barely ...scanned the surface 8-) 8-) thank you, ill be here all week :mrgreen:


Also as a person who havent played ME:A ... so take it with a grain of salt, but seeing all the discussions around it i get the feeling that this game is fine (fine as in ok, not fine as in "damn girl youre so fine" ;) ), its just not enough in post Witcher 3 world. CDP raised bar for open world rpg so high that anything less (and especially something as high profile as ME) is going to be considered a letdown. Im sure people wouldnt care about animations if story was engaging. A lot of them tend to forget that earlier ME games werent masterpieces in animation departament, and also featured a lot of wierd glitches. We just dont remember ME for that but for fresh and interesting setting, Shepard, Garrus etc.
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Re: Mass Effect: Andromeda

Post by PapaJupe13 »

I pushed through to the end.
I found that the game got so much better when I just stopped doing side quests.
Instead I made sure to complete all the quests for squad mates under that tab and I made each planet 100% viable. Then I rode the main mission line to the end and it made all the difference. Some of the loyalty quests are the best quests in the game and Movie Night was great.
Still a ton of bugs and glicthes. And the final "boss" fight is a complete joke.
But all-in-all it was worth it.

Now I am on to Persona 5. 4 hours in and that one has already grabbed me.
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Re: Mass Effect: Andromeda

Post by Stanshall »

Flabyo wrote: April 12th, 2017, 4:08 pm There was a great Eurogamer piece on the history of Core Design last year that covers a lot of this.
If this is the one about Tomb Raider, I can wholeheartedly repeat this recommendation. Fascinating, dispiriting and yet ultimately quite uplifting.
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Beck
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Re: Mass Effect: Andromeda

Post by Beck »

I finished this game at the weekend and I think I liked it, it's not as good as 1 or 2 but better than 3 is where I am with it. It felt a lot more than 1 to me which is great as that's by far my favourite.

Pros;
I think it looks great, the space flight especially.
I really liked that Ryder is not another Shepard, Shepard was a bad ass from the get go and seemed like he could do the impossible. Ryder comes across a noob that is fluking it along which was much interesting.
I liked a few of the new cast, Drack, Jaal and Peebee were interesting.
The combat was good fun, albeit I would have preferred being able to command my companions.
I liked the main plot, whilst a little predictable there were some good elements to it. The exhalation stuff was cool and the unknowns about the remnant.
Some of the side quests were great, especially the ones involving the other path finders and the Krogan missions. There was also one about saving a pregnant woman which had me captured.
The nomad driving was fun.
Good trophy list.

Cons:
The facial animations of the humans. It's terrible, it completely broke any immersion I had for my character and her story. Some of it was so cringe worthy that I ended up turning the subtitles on and skipping through dialogue as soon as I had read it.
The crew seemed one dimensional and more of the same.
Too many fetch quests. I am in an age where people can be put to sleep for 600 years and be woken up without ageing, why do I need to run half way across a galaxy to tell someone I've finished a task. Do space phones not work?
The multiplayer / strike missions seem pointless?
Female Ryder, she seems weak in comparison to the limited time I spent with Male Ryder.

I didn't come across that many bugs in the single player, but the multiplayer has been unplayable since the latest patch. I gave up after 5 consecutive game crashes during multiplayer. I also found that whilst the patch resolved some of the weird eye things, it also dramatically reduced the performance of the game whilst driving the nomad. The game seems to stall every 1-2 minutes for up to 5 seconds.

I am a sucker for Mass Effect so this was always a day 1 purchase, however, next time I will wait and I would advise others do the same. This game should not have launched in the state it did. The facial animations is a huge part of these bioware games and without that sense of story this game fell short for me.

I've just started Dragon Age Inquisition after getting the bio ware bug, I'm finding it much easier to enjoy my character and watch the cut scenes.
Todinho

Re: Mass Effect: Andromeda

Post by Todinho »

Yongyea breaks down a kotaku article detaling the development of Mass Effect Andromeda, really fascinating stuff and it really shows why the game lauched as it did, very worthwhile watch:
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Flabyo
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Re: Mass Effect: Andromeda

Post by Flabyo »

It's a sadly very familiar tale to me. Been in a couple of projects in my career that floundered due to changes at the top and not cutting things that aren't working soon enough.
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Re: Mass Effect: Andromeda

Post by Bluebird55 »

I loved Andromeda, especially finishing the Ryder family history mission, man that blew my mind! almost literally! I haven't been that speechless in a LONG time. I loved the plot, the characters, everything - they did get a bit of a hiccup with the facial expressions, I was a bit flabbergasted at first when I played the original trilogy, it felt like they had done it at the last minute, which is not what Mass Effect is famous for. Also, I agreed with some of the reviews that I read where there could have been more than a couple of new races, this is a new galaxy, after all, but hey, this is an Altchise (alternative franchise) after all, they have left the game with loads of questions which means that a sequel (or prequel, not sure how things go these days with new games) could be on the horizon, or even an add on. I can't wait! :D.
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Re: Mass Effect: Andromeda

Post by kintaris »

If like me you've been curious to see what the fuss is about, but not so much as to actually buy the game yet - there's now a free trial across all platforms.
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Suits
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Re: Mass Effect: Andromeda

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I picked this up for £8 in CEX yesterday, so far I’m about 4 hours in......

Didn’t bother with a character creator and just went ‘QuickStart Male Ryder’.

I kind of get the feeling that Ryder’s character/personality is based on the new Captain Kirk :lol: .

Not much more to say on this yet, other than due to me setting such a low bar for it - it’s kind of delivering. So far.
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Re: Mass Effect: Andromeda

Post by KSubzero1000 »

Suits wrote: May 19th, 2018, 6:42 am it’s kind of delivering. So far.
So, would you say it's on a similar level as the original trilogy? Because the coverage I remember when it came out was heavily leaning towards the technical aspects and not the actual content of the game itself. Have all the glitches and bugs been patched yet?
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Re: Mass Effect: Andromeda

Post by Simonsloth »

I thought mechanically that some elements were ok but it felt like they were making another game then changed the textures to make it look like mass effect.

From a quality perspective it’s a solid 6.5/10. It’s enjoyable in parts but feels rushed, unfinished and pales in comparison to the original trilogy.
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Re: Mass Effect: Andromeda

Post by KSubzero1000 »

Interesting, thanks.

My personal experiences with the series are limited to playing a few hours of the first one and getting bored and frustrated with it, but I think it's an interesting universe / franchise with a lot of untapped potential that I wouldn't mind seeing explored in a new fashion. Perhaps a more polished smaller scale RPG with less moving parts, or even a new genre entirely?
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Suits
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Re: Mass Effect: Andromeda

Post by Suits »

KSubzero1000 wrote: May 19th, 2018, 7:38 am So, would you say it's on a similar level as the original trilogy? Because the coverage I remember when it came out was heavily leaning towards the technical aspects and not the actual content of the game itself. Have all the glitches and bugs been patched yet?
Man, I'm still so early in but it's certainly capturing my attention as a space drama.

The original trilogy I adore, the first one especially so.

I really got into the whole political side of the story - loved it and set a benchmark for my own personal space tale tastes.

So far the story is engaging enough for me to keep playing and wondering whats coming, which is all I can ask for at the 5 hour mark.

The straight up omission of particular races is very disappointing, as I really loved their personalities, believes and characteristics. Really big shame.

The technical side of things is lol, but I don't always need Ferrari performance to get an enjoyable experience and so far its not bad enough to put me off it.
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Re: Mass Effect: Andromeda

Post by Simonsloth »

Despite my criticism I finished it and did every side quest so if I did that it must have been compelling in some respects
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