http://m.neogaf.com/showthread.php?p=232403623#post232403623
Review roundup. I'll wait for it to hit the bargain bin.
Review roundup. I'll wait for it to hit the bargain bin.
****MASS EFFECT : ANDROMEDA****
- Thread starter AshenEdge
- Start date
The story seems solid but not as good as the original trilogy. There is a lot of story here so far but I think the differences here are because the originals are part of a big space opera where as Andromeda is about exploration and settling. There is no over-arching big baddie about to destroy the universe as far as I can tell. That difference in tone really makes it feel very different. Less great hero saving the universe, more young explorer just well, exploring really.
Human companions seem rubbish so far but some of the aliens have some potential.
I'm not quite sure how the saves work, but the save button is always greyed out for me. It was fun closing it down the first time. It seems to just use checkpoints as such so all my progress is tracking so far.
The face animations are really poor, but I can look past that. Default Sara Ryder is seriously hot; I think I'm in love ha. Otherwise, the graphics look great, especially in the cut scenes. The things I don't like is the shooting feels a bit 'arcady' - The biotic combo message needs to go etc. Also, certainly in the first planet in the game, the graphics seem a bit blurry. Look at the curly plant things - it's like there's a thin layer of vaseline over the entire camera lens...
And the games runs very well on my rig. Not really monitoring FPS, but with all settings on max at 1440p, it's very smooth and playable. I play with i5 2500K, 16GB RAM, 980Ti
That is what has happened since ME, they went down the action route, dumbed gameplay and story down to appeal to the masses.
The story is far from solid if it is worse than ME 2 and 3 imo.
It actually sounds like I would enjoy the exploration part of the game. But it is not enough on its own due to all the other negatives.
Definitely. By then it will be more polished game also maybe.
Yup, and I think original ME has set the bar very high. Fans are going to rip this game apart looking for any mistake or bad point. Similarly, hype will make it even harder for this game to do well, but then on the flipside, some may ignore flaws because it's Mass Effect - I do this myself to some degree. So far it's very different to the original in terms of gameplay and weapons/powers. I'm sure there will be a familiarity when I say I have rocket jumped out of cover MANY times by trying to use the no longer there action menu from the previous three games...
With regards to exploration - I really hope the whole game is not like the first world you arrive on. I didn't not enjoy it as such, but I would get bored quickly if the whole game is just run around an area with a poor map and doing nothing but jumping from rock to rock and scanning stuff. I'll be honest and say I didn't really know where I was meant to be going or what I was meant to be doing for some of the hour or so I spent before meeting up with the PF.
Well it's a game. We seem to be in this gaming era where people are expecting Dostoyevsky as well as all of the other gaming stuff that goes into creating these games. Games like the Witcher 3 and the Mass Effect games are story driven and a lot of money is spent on voice acting etc but ultimately its still a game and my expectations of the story are limited by that.
Nothing wrong with the story in the original trilogy by AAA gaming standards.
I think the exploration side of it may be exactly as you describe. I don't have a problem with it myself as long as the planets are varied. It may be tiresome if you have to keep "fixing" the environment for every new planet though.
Maybe so. But I do think it is a case of ME setting the bar very high with story as someone earlier said, then after everything else in that franchise seems not as good or poor/cheesy in comparison.
I think as your expectations are low it will be easier for you to play and enjoy. But i know when I am playing, in the back of my head I will be comparing it to the original ME, as it is an ME game
Maybe so. But I do think it is a case of ME setting the bar very high with story as someone earlier said, then after everything else in that franchise seems not as good or poor/cheesy in comparison.
I think as your expectations are low it will be easier for you to play and enjoy. But i know when I am playing, in the back of my head I will be comparing it to the original ME, as it is an ME game
Totally agree. And, it's not like me can't still play the first games. It's not like ME:A is here to replace them. Now, ME1, 2, and 3 in Frostbite would be cool. I was not a fan of them moving to it at first, but I'm very impressed at how good it is. When they fix the animations it'll be a lot better.
Maybe so. But I do think it is a case of ME setting the bar very high with story as someone earlier said, then after everything else in that franchise seems not as good or poor/cheesy in comparison.
I think as your expectations are low it will be easier for you to play and enjoy. But i know when I am playing, in the back of my head I will be comparing it to the original ME, as it is an ME game
Me too and this game is not a great comparison so far, just serviceable. It's funny but indie games do story so much better. I guess the writing is generally the key element as opposed to game mechanics and graphics. Even the AAA games that hire known writers to do the story leave a lot to be desired. I think the issue with Andromeda might be that being the Pathfinder may be quite a mundane chore to a lot of players who want to be the universe changing Shepherd.
That's the biggest issue that we might have with Andromeda overall. Being a Pathfinder is just not as interesting as being a Shepherd.
I'm confused by your statement. You say that these games are story-driven, but then you say that your expectations are limited by the fact that it's a game and that we shouldn't expect a great story? Plenty of games get the story telling right. You quoted one of the best of them in your post, The Witcher 3. It has been one of the best story-driven games of this era. Some would say the best of all time, and it tells it in such an amazing way. The original Mass Effect had an amazing story and was such a great experience. If they're not going to equal or better that, then they shouldn't have bothered. But Mass Effect invokes something in those that played the original trilogy and, even though ME3 was a mess-up, those people will probably still give Andromeda a go. EA know this and so the effort put in didn't necessarily have to be 100% to ensure a huge cash gain. I find it a shame that most reviews are echoing this right now. That's not what I wanted from a new Mass Effect.
I didn't have Andromeda on my list as a day one purchase, and I'm sad to say that it still isn't. I shall wait for it to drop in the sale and then I might give it a go. But for me, if I'm to play a new Mass Effect, I expect the story to be top-notch. The original was.
Oh dear, oh dear. What is going on at Bioware? I was going to buy a new GPU for this game alone!
I'm a bit surprised at some of the critical content of some videos as well - I didn't realize Bioware had become so "right-on" and that some of their staff had become more concerned with politics than making great games. It explains a lot of the "what the hell...?" moments in their later output. Hilarious that promises were made about polishing parts of the game which were never delivered.
I'm enjoying The Last of Us Remastered on PS4 Pro instead and I have Horizon Zero Dawn after that to keep me amused. Think I'll give this a miss for now - perhaps they'll redeem themselves with DLC and patches later on. The planet scanning was better in ME2 FGS.
While we're talking about Bioware and their achievements, I reinstalled NWN again recently and am surprised at how busy some of the persistent worlds out there are. The game is still very playable even today and great for a D&D fix. I'm toying with the idea of another KOTOR playthrough as well.
EDIT: What's with eyes rolling all over the place, it's like the characters are having a drug-induced paranoia fit? Oh, and that Krogan voice!
I'm a bit surprised at some of the critical content of some videos as well - I didn't realize Bioware had become so "right-on" and that some of their staff had become more concerned with politics than making great games. It explains a lot of the "what the hell...?" moments in their later output. Hilarious that promises were made about polishing parts of the game which were never delivered.
I'm enjoying The Last of Us Remastered on PS4 Pro instead and I have Horizon Zero Dawn after that to keep me amused. Think I'll give this a miss for now - perhaps they'll redeem themselves with DLC and patches later on. The planet scanning was better in ME2 FGS.
While we're talking about Bioware and their achievements, I reinstalled NWN again recently and am surprised at how busy some of the persistent worlds out there are. The game is still very playable even today and great for a D&D fix. I'm toying with the idea of another KOTOR playthrough as well.
EDIT: What's with eyes rolling all over the place, it's like the characters are having a drug-induced paranoia fit? Oh, and that Krogan voice!
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But you've mentioned the 2 that get it mostly right. Generally in AAA games the stories are just not very good. Even the Witcher 3, which had some great quests with what felt like tangible decisions, is still mostly pretty bobbins. I just don't expect novel level stories in a game which has so many other things to design and think about. They are designing story driven games but that side of it is still not very good. In fact arguably because of it gameplay mechanics are also suffering. The combat in the Witcher 3 for example was pretty poor.
Saying they shouldn't have bothered is a bit like saying don't write fantasy after Lord of the Rings or whatever.
Bit surprised that anyone can say that in all honesty. Lots of inconsequential side quests were very well written in TW3. Lots of LOL moments and raised eyebrow encounters in the environments as well.
Bit gutted about Andromeda and the less than great metacritic score. Just watching reviews I know it'll grate on me. Combat looks awesome but that's not what I played these games for.
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Soldato
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Me too, rather disappointed to be honest.
For me the story of the original Mass Effect is in my top 3 best ever story from any game. It is easily the biggest appeal of the game, so it is paramount they got it right, which again seems they have not.
Reminds me of Deus Ex Mankind Divided, they ****** up the story and it was a forgettable one in the end. If the story was something special I bet people would not have been bothered as much about the consumable DLC stuff which did not really affect the game anyway.
Reminds me of Deus Ex Mankind Divided, they ****** up the story and it was a forgettable one in the end. If the story was something special I bet people would not have been bothered as much about the consumable DLC stuff which did not really affect the game anyway.
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Providing the story is good and hopefully doesn't have a ME3 style ending even with the animations I think I'll still enjoy playing through this, looking at what else is out this year it's another lackluster year for PC gaming in general so I'm going to take my time like I did with TW3 and hopefully get another 90+ hours out of this like I managed with DA:I.
One comment that has me slightly worried is the whole once your 10 hours in things start getting better, surely you want most of the good stuff within those first hours to get people hooked then die down slightly and build up again for the finale.