Mass Effect - Andromeda (2 Viewers)

[Borden]

Yeah, and that's really what I thought the voice needed to fit it. Not "thick neck" specifically, but a more rugged sense overall.

Yeah, depends on the game for me. Witcher 3, Geralt is pretty good as is, some other games not as much. I don't feel I'm great at making faces myself, but sometimes I don't think it's tough to improve on the default ones, especially if they don't fit their voice. And a lot of games it's easy to make use of faces that other people have made who are better at it.

By the way, I feel the exact same seeing default Shepard videos. They make me realize just how much better I think the one I used fits his voice and character. I think anything like that which doesn't fit our own idea of the character becomes a little less interesting.

Before you even start the game you can customize your character in this one. I built my guy but it asked a few other things that I'm not sure how it would've changed the game. Like what class (Recon, Security, etc.) they would be and a few others that I didn't even look at. Again, this other is right at the title screen. So, I ended up just scrapping it and chose the "Scott Ryder" option. I'm glad I did.

I'm still pretty much in the opening stages so we will see how things turn out but I think my character would've looked too old and I'm not sure if the voice acting would've suited him. There was also was a small conversation that might have been strange if I had chosen a different class. 

I recommend playing the default at this point. 

 

[Insein]

I'm loving this game. I'm up to 20 hrs now and it is a real Mass Effect game. I feel like I've barely scratched the surface. 

There are some funny visual glitches but there are some absolutely beautiful scenery as well. Definitely worth getting.

 

[Borden]

I'm loving this game. I'm up to 20 hrs now and it is a real Mass Effect game. I feel like I've barely scratched the surface. 

There are some funny visual glitches but there are some absolutely beautiful scenery as well. Definitely worth getting.

I'm also digging it. There's a ton of stuff to do. I had sick time I had to burn up so I've dumped a ridiculous amount of time into this game. 

I do criticize how parallel this games story runs to the other, I think criticism of "weak" characters is off base. In a lot of the early reviews/impressions I think people were probably trying to push too hard through the main story, trying to see as much as they could. Also, if someone didn't like the first 3 they probably wouldn't like this one. I liked those games greatly and this one is, so far, also very good. 

 

[thecatch]

Bioware is releasing info on the next major update on Tuesday. 

 

[Borden]

Bioware is releasing info on the next major update on Tuesday. 

**This isn't a comment about your post. 

I hate when companies do this. "We will have more information for you on X date." Just tell people where you're at right now. "As of now we have the following updates/fixes... We are still working on... and hope to have it all in the next patch." 

 

[Borden]

At character level 37 now. The game seems to be getting worse for me from a technical aspect. It's starting to really bog down it spots. It got so bad during one gun fight that I had to stop. I've had to do 3 or 4 missions multiple times now because enemies didn't pop up. Once I had to do a long mission all over again because one of my crew didn't say her dialogue piece "Yeah this is what I needed Ryder." I've also had to fast travel away from a place then come back to get mission interactions to start. I've had two guns that were unintentionally in slow motion. It sucks a lot of the fun out the game when you have to worry if things are supposed to be a certain way and if your progress is going to be received by the game. 

Aside from that  , awesome game. There's a few more quality of life things that I would like to see improved but overall pretty good. I'd like to talk more about the game but I don't want to ruin it for anyone since discovering things for the first time is the best part of the game. 

 

[FreeBaGeL]

I hate wasting time customizing the character. Give me the stock image. Looks good to me and usually better than whatever I can make.

Whenever I'm watching a stream and I see a customer Shepard or Ryder, I'm already less interested. I get why people want to make their own character but it just seems like a waste of time to me when the stock character usually has more detail anyway.

In a game where I spend like 45 minutes of real time driving out into the most barren and distant edges of the planet because my map says there might be a little bit of graphite that I can use to get 1/10th of the way to the wrist armor blueprint I want before having to spend 3x as much time actually developing the blueprint into that piece of armor, 15 minutes at the get-go to make my character look the way I want seems pretty negligible.

 

[Borden]

In a game where I spend like 45 minutes of real time driving out into the most barren and distant edges of the planet because my map says there might be a little bit of graphite that I can use to get 1/10th of the way to the wrist armor blueprint I want before having to spend 3x as much time actually developing the blueprint into that piece of armor, 15 minutes at the get-go to make my character look the way I want seems pretty negligible.

Did you pick this up yet?

 

[FreeBaGeL]

Did you pick this up yet?

Yeah I've been playing it since the pre-release with EA Access and already had it preordered.

 

[FreeBaGeL]

Here's a sadly not so hypothetical scenario for all of you.  Any way to break this loop?

You're out exploring in the middle of the radiation zone.  You see a Kett outpost at the bottom of the hill.  You get out of your nomad to snipe them but as soon as you get out you fall down the hill (it's too steep) while the Nomad stays at the top.  You land in the Kett outpost and kill all the Kett which triggers an autosave.  Now you realize that the hill is too steep to walk back up so you're stranded out in the middle of the radiation zone with no Nomad.  You try and run to a safe zone but you are too far and don't have enough life support.  You die, which reloads you at your last autosave, right after you'd killed the Kett, where again you're out in the middle of the radiation zone with no Nomad and too far from the safe zone to run before your life support expires.  You don't have a recent manual save.

 

[Kanil]

Here's a sadly not so hypothetical scenario for all of you.  Any way to break this loop?

You're out exploring in the middle of the radiation zone.  You see a Kett outpost at the bottom of the hill.  You get out of your nomad to snipe them but as soon as you get out you fall down the hill (it's too steep) while the Nomad stays at the top.  You land in the Kett outpost and kill all the Kett which triggers an autosave.  Now you realize that the hill is too steep to walk back up so you're stranded out in the middle of the radiation zone with no Nomad.  You try and run to a safe zone but you are too far and don't have enough life support.  You die, which reloads you at your last autosave, right after you'd killed the Kett, where again you're out in the middle of the radiation zone with no Nomad and too far from the safe zone to run before your life support expires.  You don't have a recent manual save.

Can you fast travel anywhere?

 

[Chaka]

Oh my!  That sucks.

 

[Borden]

Here's a sadly not so hypothetical scenario for all of you.  Any way to break this loop?

You're out exploring in the middle of the radiation zone.  You see a Kett outpost at the bottom of the hill.  You get out of your nomad to snipe them but as soon as you get out you fall down the hill (it's too steep) while the Nomad stays at the top.  You land in the Kett outpost and kill all the Kett which triggers an autosave.  Now you realize that the hill is too steep to walk back up so you're stranded out in the middle of the radiation zone with no Nomad.  You try and run to a safe zone but you are too far and don't have enough life support.  You die, which reloads you at your last autosave, right after you'd killed the Kett, where again you're out in the middle of the radiation zone with no Nomad and too far from the safe zone to run before your life support expires.  You don't have a recent manual save.

Fast travel from your map screen to, well anywhere you can fast travel. Those forward base pods or your ship. Maybe try on of the pods because they have a "safe" area around them. 

Let me know if this works.

 

[FreeBaGeL]

Fast travel from your map screen to, well anywhere you can fast travel. Those forward base pods or your ship. Maybe try on of the pods because they have a "safe" area around them. 

Let me know if this works.

 I didn't even know you could fast travel when you were on foot.  Can you do it when you're on foot because I remember I tried to "return to ship" but it  was only an option when you were in your nomad or already in a safe zone.

It actually ended up working out as I eventually made the run to a safe zone.  The first time I died about 50 feet short of the safe zone, so I kept re-trying (took 7 tries in the end) while trying to find the right boost+jump combo for optimum speed until I eventually limped into the safe zone with one tiny little sliver of health remaining as I crossed the safe zone wall.

I felt like I was doing a Forza time trial.  It got the point where I knew that if I wasn't at a certain landmark when my life support was at a certain level then I just went ahead and re-loaded right there to try again.

 

[Borden]

 I didn't even know you could fast travel when you were on foot.  Can you do it when you're on foot because I remember I tried to "return to ship" but it  was only an option when you were in your nomad or already in a safe zone.

It actually ended up working out as I eventually made the run to a safe zone.  The first time I died about 50 feet short of the safe zone, so I kept re-trying (took 7 tries in the end) while trying to find the right boost+jump combo for optimum speed until I eventually limped into the safe zone with one tiny little sliver of health remaining as I crossed the safe zone wall.

I felt like I was doing a Forza time trial.  It got the point where I knew that if I wasn't at a certain landmark when my life support was at a certain level then I just went ahead and re-loaded right there to try again.

Ahahahahahahaaha. I'm sure that was annoying but it's really funny.

"Mr. Gel! Why are you coming in through the window?"

"I had to climb the building to get in because the stairs are under construction." 

"Why didn't you take the elevator?"

"####"

 

[Insein]

Here's a sadly not so hypothetical scenario for all of you.  Any way to break this loop?

You're out exploring in the middle of the radiation zone.  You see a Kett outpost at the bottom of the hill.  You get out of your nomad to snipe them but as soon as you get out you fall down the hill (it's too steep) while the Nomad stays at the top.  You land in the Kett outpost and kill all the Kett which triggers an autosave.  Now you realize that the hill is too steep to walk back up so you're stranded out in the middle of the radiation zone with no Nomad.  You try and run to a safe zone but you are too far and don't have enough life support.  You die, which reloads you at your last autosave, right after you'd killed the Kett, where again you're out in the middle of the radiation zone with no Nomad and too far from the safe zone to run before your life support expires.  You don't have a recent manual save.

Fast travel back to the Tempest or nearest drop zone.

I see that was mentioned.

 

[jwb]

Quick tip:

You can save anywhere, except sometimes you can't (like on main missions/vaults... for some reason, the game moves to autosave then.) This gets a little frustrating, especially in areas like the Kett Base on Voelde  - several huge battles in a row without a save... 

They are supposed to patch this so you can save anywhere, but in the meantime, here's a workaround: simply change your current quest. The game will autosave, then you can manually save too. 

 

[Insein]

Quick tip:

You can save anywhere, except sometimes you can't (like on main missions/vaults... for some reason, the game moves to autosave then.) This gets a little frustrating, especially in areas like the Kett Base on Voelde  - several huge battles in a row without a save... 

They are supposed to patch this so you can save anywhere, but in the meantime, here's a workaround: simply change your current quest. The game will autosave, then you can manually save too. 

Yes all strongholds and priority missions you can't save. The checkpoints are unforgiving too.

 

[jwb]

Yes all strongholds and priority missions you can't save. The checkpoints are unforgiving too.

well, I posted my little trick without actually trying it. From comments on the forum I found it on, it seemed to work, so I was passing it on here. But in practice, it's not working on my xbox. Maybe it does work on the PC?

Until they patch this (and I heard they are), my solution is to drop down the difficulty for those missions (I'm playing one above normal - I'll drop to normal when they grey out the save). Not ideal, but I'm done with frustration gaming. At least in Dark Souls (etc) there's a method to the die/try again. In games like this, it's just frustrating. Love the game except for this. Is it too much to ask that we be allowed to save in that pause between huge set-piece battles?

 

[Insein]

well, I posted my little trick without actually trying it. From comments on the forum I found it on, it seemed to work, so I was passing it on here. But in practice, it's not working on my xbox. Maybe it does work on the PC?

Until they patch this (and I heard they are), my solution is to drop down the difficulty for those missions (I'm playing one above normal - I'll drop to normal when they grey out the save). Not ideal, but I'm done with frustration gaming. At least in Dark Souls (etc) there's a method to the die/try again. In games like this, it's just frustrating. Love the game except for this. Is it too much to ask that we be allowed to save in that pause between huge set-piece battles?

All I can think of is that it had to be an oversight. I know they probably want you to be a higher level but there's 1 checkpoint in the middle of a stronghold and you have to go clean through and kill the boss from there. That's just not normal these days.

 

[Borden]

Done. Finished the last story mission and cleaned up the last two secondary missions I had out standing. One was just the Ryder memories thing. The other was a mission that ended with a decision to A) take the info and let the bad guy walk or B) arrest the bad guy. The interesting thing was that the conversation referenced that fact that I had already finished the game.

It's cool that the game changes at least some things but I what makes it's extra interesting is that it was a hint that A LOT more of the decisions I thought were not that important might turn out to be in the next game.

 

[Borden]

After playing the game I would not recommend getting this game until it comes out as a special edition with all the DLC. (I knew this but couldn't help myself.) There's 3 big reasons for this.

1) Ideally the has been fixed/patched for the massive amount of bugs. I ran into 3 crashes where I had to restart the game. I had 3 or 4 times where I missed the dialogue of a character because they didn't pop in. I had more than a few times where mission items/assets didn't pop in. Things like a cup or something stupid not showing up doesn't really bother me but the stuff I mentioned is important. 

2) Wait for the DLC. This game is big but it's not as huge as I first thought and there's lots of systems with almost nothing going on. I also think it will take a DLC level of patching to improve some of the quality of life features. Also, there's a few loose ends that need to be at least explained.

3) If you really enjoyed this game, it's going to be a long wait until the next one. The issues of employee turnover/movement at Bioware for this game likely means that they don't have a clear path into production of the next game. Also, the next game NEEDS to have a better launch. I imagine this game has a large budget and a relatively short tail which makes that initial sales spike that much important. Putting out "just another buggy Mass Effect game" if they follow this path probably won't hit the numbers they'd like. So, a bigger, better game that has to account for former decision and has to be more technically sound, probably going to take some time. 

 

[thecatch]

Bioware is releasing info on the next major update on Tuesday. 

New patch Thursday: https://www.forbes.com/sites/insertcoin/2017/04/04/heres-everything-bioware-is-fixing-in-mass-effect-andromeda/#739ad7b14e8b

for those interested but waiting for the dust to clear and the main bugs to get worked out, it looks like it will take another month or two.

 

[DallasDMac]

New patch Thursday: https://www.forbes.com/sites/insertcoin/2017/04/04/heres-everything-bioware-is-fixing-in-mass-effect-andromeda/#739ad7b14e8b

for those interested but waiting for the dust to clear and the main bugs to get worked out, it looks like it will take another month or two.

Nothing but time. Plenty in the queue already.

 

[Insein]

Been playing about 2-3 hrs a night and still only 45% complete 54 hours played. This game is so damn long. A lot of the side stuff is satisfying too.

The patch was 2.5gb. it did clean up a lot of the issues but there's still bugs just like a Fallout game etc.

 

[Kanil]

Been playing multiplayer a bit the last few nights.  Really fun but I don't know how much replayability it has.

 

[Insein]

Been playing multiplayer a bit the last few nights.  Really fun but I don't know how much replayability it has.

Yea it's basically horde mode. I've already grown bored of it.

 

[Insein]

Still grinding my way through. 100% all the planets now viability wise. Still some side tasks to clean up. Still a bunch of loyalty missions to tackle. Still he main mission to continue. 75 hrs in and only 57% complete.  But it hasn't felt like I've done nothing important. A second play through though may have to wait till next year. This game is long.

 

[bigmarc27]

Hype on this seems to have died off pretty quickly - decent, or forgettable?  I've still got it on my to play list, but it's in the wait til $20 category. 

 

[jwb]

Hype on this seems to have died off pretty quickly - decent, or forgettable?  I've still got it on my to play list, but it's in the wait til $20 category. 

It's more Mass Effect, with much better combat, and better overall mechanics (fun vehicle to drive, no more mindless mining every planet, solid crafting and upgrading, etc.) Some good companions, and some forgettable ones. If you didn't like the old games, you probably won't like this one. If you liked the old ones, it's exactly what you want. 

 

[thecatch]

Still waiting for at least one more patch. No ETA on the next one unfortunately. The discounts are starting to come in so I'd advise continuing to wait until the game is in better shape and it continues to get cheaper. 

 

[Insein]

Still waiting for at least one more patch. No ETA on the next one unfortunately. The discounts are starting to come in so I'd advise continuing to wait until the game is in better shape and it continues to get cheaper. 

If you have a lot of games in the queue already, might as well keep waiting. Once you're in this one, it'll be at least a month of time invested.

 

[Andy Dufresne]

Sounds like I should be glad I had my son wait until school was done for the year before allowing him to play this. 

It would have been all he thought about. 

 

[Insein]

Sounds like I should be glad I had my son wait until school was done for the year before allowing him to play this. 

It would have been all he thought about. 

Definitely smart. If I was a teenager with lads of time, I could easily put 5-10 hrs a day into the game.

 

[Borden]

Definitely smart. If I was a teenager with lads of time, I could easily put 5-10 hrs a day into the game.

When I played I was off work sick and put in 10 hour days. It was glorious. 

 

[Insein]

When I played I was off work sick and put in 10 hour days. It was glorious. 

I'm off work now but I have so much on my honey do list that I've only been able to play a bit during the day.

 

[Bonzai]

Fun game.  I could do that pull/charge/nova combo all day. 

 

[Insein]

So I'm just about at the end but it seems there's still so many side quests that pop up. Love the detail they put into all this. Got the love scene with Peebee and that is topnotch. They went topless this time. 

Sad news though came from EA yesterday. Could just be standard procedure but the majority of the MEA team has been reassigned to other projects. There is nothing on the schedule for DLC and no green lighting of a sequel. It could be another 5-7 years before we get a follow up to this. Which is a real shame since so many of our choices were hard to make but had no immediate consequences for them. We just assume they'll be applicable later. 

I really don't get the hate his game got. I guess in the future EA won't do the free access since they short clips of glitches from that are what stoked the fires of everyone looking to bury this game. It's a great game with tremendous detail but it does have some glitches and quirks like any big budget game these days. Look at Fallout 4 for example.  It was just predetermined by some that this game needs to fail and it's a shame. 

 

[thecatch]

Sad news though came from EA yesterday. Could just be standard procedure but the majority of the MEA team has been reassigned to other projects. There is nothing on the schedule for DLC and no green lighting of a sequel. It could be another 5-7 years before we get a follow up to this.

MEA was made by a different Bioware studio than the one that made the first three. I still haven't played this yet, but given the reception it sounds like a smart move to take it out the MEA guys' hands and give it back to the original developers, if only for PR reasons. Really hope during their down time they realize that open world systems just aren't their thing. 

And it was probably going to be at least a five year wait anyway. They have a new non-RPG IP releasing in two years and another Dragon Age title after that, all of which would have been in line to come out before they really focused on another ME. 

 

[Buckna]

It took 5 years to get this one out since ME3 (has it really been 5 years?!?!), so maybe still some light at the end of the tunnel.

 

[Andy Dufresne]

Well after playing for about 8 hours (I just wandered around the ice planet for a while) and not having more than 5 total minutes of fun with it....I quit.

It's everything I hated about Red Dead Redemption combined with everything I hated about Halo. Walk/ride/talk then walk/ride/talk some more. Oh and wander for minutes on end trying to decipher what the game wants you to do. And then you're suddenly engaged in a grinding, grinding firefight.

And the characters are entirely forgettable except for Ryder which is unforgettably sucky.

My final assessment is that this game is just not ANY fun.

+

 

[thecatch]

Story on why the game sucked - http://kotaku.com/the-story-behind-mass-effect-andromedas-troubled-five-1795886428

latest major patch drops tomorrow. It sounds like it's about as polished as it's going to be at this point, so I'm going to give it a shot. 

 

[Borden]

Story on why the game sucked - http://kotaku.com/the-story-behind-mass-effect-andromedas-troubled-five-1795886428

latest major patch drops tomorrow. It sounds like it's about as polished as it's going to be at this point, so I'm going to give it a shot. 

Great article. Thanks for posting it.

It's pretty interesting how they could have so much changes in direction. I would've liked to have seen what the second one would turn out to be with a clear vision and direction from the start. I have a feeling that they will come back to it at sooner rather than later. 

 

[JerseyToughGuys]

So I'm just about at the end but it seems there's still so many side quests that pop up. Love the detail they put into all this. Got the love scene with Peebee and that is topnotch. They went topless this time. 

Sad news though came from EA yesterday. Could just be standard procedure but the majority of the MEA team has been reassigned to other projects. There is nothing on the schedule for DLC and no green lighting of a sequel. It could be another 5-7 years before we get a follow up to this. Which is a real shame since so many of our choices were hard to make but had no immediate consequences for them. We just assume they'll be applicable later. 

I really don't get the hate his game got. I guess in the future EA won't do the free access since they short clips of glitches from that are what stoked the fires of everyone looking to bury this game. It's a great game with tremendous detail but it does have some glitches and quirks like any big budget game these days. Look at Fallout 4 for example.  It was just predetermined by some that this game needs to fail and it's a shame. 

it just isn't very fun.

 

[thecatch]

Great article. Thanks for posting it.

It's pretty interesting how they could have so much changes in direction. I would've liked to have seen what the second one would turn out to be with a clear vision and direction from the start. I have a feeling that they will come back to it at sooner rather than later. 

The idea of a procedurally generated BioWare game just seems so at odds with the company's historic focus on story and character development that it's hard to believe they ran that far with it. 

 

[Insein]

it just isn't very fun.

Was fun for me. Everyone I've talked to that actually played it for more than a couple hours seemed to enjoy it. But for whatever reason, people bailed early and never gave it a chance. 

 

[JerseyToughGuys]

Was fun for me. Everyone I've talked to that actually played it for more than a couple hours seemed to enjoy it. But for whatever reason, people bailed early and never gave it a chance. 

Is 8 hours enough go gauge whether it is fun or not? (see Andy's comments above)

What's more believable: it isn't very much fun OR it was just predetermined by some that this game needs to fail?

I get that you like the series and wanted it to succeed, but clearly there's a fundamental problem and I don't think its the video game Illuminati behind its failure.

 

[Insein]

Is 8 hours enough go gauge whether it is fun or not? (see Andy's comments above)

What's more believable: it isn't very much fun OR it was just predetermined by some that this game needs to fail?

I get that you like the series and wanted it to succeed, but clearly there's a fundamental problem and I don't think its the video game Illuminati behind its failure.

Honestly no. I mean if you're not having fun then I can't make you keep playing but 8 hours is basically the tutorial.  The game clocks in about 80+hrs to experience a majority of the game. 

I just don't understand how we can have the best combat system in the series, the most beautiful settings, the most exploration, a huge customization system for weapons and armor; all things people clamored for years to get, and this game is not fun to some people.

It's probably because the story is not familiar. Not in the milky way. No Shepard. No reapers. Its like People can't get their hands on the idea of everything being new. 

 

[Andy Dufresne]

Story on why the game sucked - http://kotaku.com/the-story-behind-mass-effect-andromedas-troubled-five-1795886428

Nailed it. It looks poor and is tedious.

 

[Buckna]

Story on why the game sucked - http://kotaku.com/the-story-behind-mass-effect-andromedas-troubled-five-1795886428

latest major patch drops tomorrow. It sounds like it's about as polished as it's going to be at this point, so I'm going to give it a shot. 

Pretty interesting reading. It also linked an older article on Destiny as well, explains a lot about that game and why I found it really disappointing.