By Dark PhaZe Go To Postur enjoying itof course i am
admit it
it definitely feels different though. humor, storytelling, general structure, and layout - everything is in a different tone.
i do however like how they lined up the MP alongside the SP. There's just too fucking much to do (and the pacing is weird) in SP - some quickmatches between exploring and story really balance it out. And they directly benefit one another too.
I feel like I'm a bit too early in the game to get most out of crafting so far, but I do like the system from the outside at least.
Haven't seen them yet.
I think difficulty has been fine.. Maybe because I don't run biotics lol. I've gotten gun down a bit
I think difficulty has been fine.. Maybe because I don't run biotics lol. I've gotten gun down a bit
Okay, I'll write up a bit since I've finally beat the shit out of everything on the second and third planets. (No I didn't fuck with the architects, I'm playing on insanity and those motherfuckers are only for the people rocking the #1 headband)
Where to start.... this is not a game of the year entry. Its not a bad game at all though. Its also a beloved franchise - and its really a victim of its own success. So.... yeah. Mass Effect A is a really, really solid B or even B+ game. The issues is that all of its flaws smack you right in the fucking mouth from the moment you pick up the controller.
The character creation is the worst in the series. There's no gripping intro. The score, plainly, falls flat in comparison to the previous entries. The lighting is so bad that its confusing. Characters seem to not know where their dialogue cues are during conversations (and its so bad that I've had to turn subtitles off at some points). These new squad members have first introductions that leave them somewhere between Kaiden and ME1 Garrus. Ryder him/herself has none of the confidence or assertion that the Shepherd persona carried and its immediately felt. The first hour or so of gameplay on the world you're dropped into is stuff we've all seen before... and because you're presented with such a massive skill tree you can't help but feel daunted or overwhelmed by the fact that you ain't shit and won't be shit for a long, long time.
It is not the intro that you're accustomed to. Not just for the series (because this is worse than the Eden Prime trip by a mile), but for the state of gaming in general. This was an AWFUL start for anything that you've been waiting more than a few months for. Its plainly bad writing/planning/development imo
very, very slight early spoilers that better depict what i'm talking about and a quick fix that would've made everyone happy: When you finally reach the Nexus after space spelunking, you realize that the people there never even anticipated your arrival. They've been dealing with "tons of issues" for the past 14 months such as leadership dying in an accident, supply shortages, other arks missing, and most importantly a mutiny - we don't know if we can trust you yet new pathfinder *uneasy faces*. Don't tell me that. Let me play that. Let me see that. Instead of fucking around on that planet, let me give more of a fuck about the nexus and what's left of this expedition by making me pick sides on the mutiny. Let me shoot it out in the streets then have to rebuild it once the fighting is over. Show the effects of dead leadership to the player directly. The exiles? You can make me care by putting people on those exile ships that we might be attached to <-------- that last bit kinda is a stretch to another point, you don't really get much out of your crew until much later in the game.
too easy to fix, just bad setup for no reason
But that's the bad news. The good news is, it gets and stays consistently better once the absolutely massive orientation to the new galaxy is over.
Combat is fucking ace. I wasn't the only person who thought the jetpack was ridiculous in the early demos but now I don't want to see another mass effect game without it. There's tons of ways to play, all rewarding as hell. Balancing a few things here and there will come, but there's no glaring obvious way to play even on the highest difficulties which was the biggest issue with ME games in the past. Before, charging at anything bigger than you on hardcore or insanity was guaranteed to put you on the bad side of a worldstar fight comp - now? If you want to be a space ninja on insanity you can do that shit. Again, biggest knock? You can't give specific ability commands to teammates. Huge oversight imo, takes away a lot of the tactical element and forces you to do a lot yourself and center your setup around just having them prime enemies.
*Multiplayer combat? Its.... close to ME3. Its not quite as good and I can't exactly put my finger on why. I think it may have something to do with how they've stretched out the leveling and loot pools a bit, but I can't say why 100%. Its still great, and if you loved ME3MP, you'll love this too. Also, unlike 3, MP and SP tie into and compliment each other. Doing SP stuff can throw some small perks into one of the MP currencies and MP stuff can get you some good gear/resources for SP.
When you progress in the game you're gonna be at a loss with all the shit they give you to do. The sidequests aren't the typical "collect 16 peppermint leaves" or anything. They're nothing special, but at the very least they decide to give you some okay-decent story/lore/worldbuilding to go along with it. That's a hell of a lot better than "Thanks hero! now I can get married to my beloved :D"
and the side missions range from small shit like finding lost teams to breaking what would've been council galactic law in the OG trilogy. You can't be an asshole by punching random people, but you can still let them die, rationalize it, and steal critical pieces of alien culture then ignore their inquiries.
but bah gawd the planet exploration. the first two places you get to play around in are nothing special all that special. but after that? bra-fucking-vo. you can dick around for about days in some of these places. i say days and yal know I have no life at all lol so its deep out there. Its no XCX when it comes to planet design, but its still top tier open world 'splorin. the nomad is a treasure and everything on these planets feels 'right'. plenty of games just throw shit on the map and start the collectathon. scanning is a chore for mission stuff, but i've never needed to hunting for a specific resource at least
The story is aite. Here's where I get thrown by complaints... The story for Mass Effect has never been good. The setting, story-telling for certain things, the aesthetic, a few of the characters? Yeah. That's been good or even great - but mostly its been the only scratch for a certain itch for damn near a decade. Mass Effect 1 has you fucking around with the world's worst space-Bond villain, Mass Effect 2 was decent until you realize that their villain and plot completely torched the future of this particular setting (ask me more about how harbinger fucked everything), ME3 = Uncharted Dead Space 3.
So Andromeda? It falls right in between 2 and 1. Its not bad but people got the nostalgia for the series hard because one reaper said one cool thing.
Audio is all over the place. Game was mixed in a basement. The score is all over the place. One minute its decent the next you're listening to a face animation. I'm more puzzled by this and the lighting than anything else.
i'll write more when i get a chance but i'm honestly playing more than anything else
there's little stuff that i wish the game did better regarding educating the player though. like i really, really wish i knew that dismantling weapons and armor was the key to crafting everything you fucking need and that certain melee weapons have drastically different properties outside of the description.
but i'll post more when i get time adam
Where to start.... this is not a game of the year entry. Its not a bad game at all though. Its also a beloved franchise - and its really a victim of its own success. So.... yeah. Mass Effect A is a really, really solid B or even B+ game. The issues is that all of its flaws smack you right in the fucking mouth from the moment you pick up the controller.
The character creation is the worst in the series. There's no gripping intro. The score, plainly, falls flat in comparison to the previous entries. The lighting is so bad that its confusing. Characters seem to not know where their dialogue cues are during conversations (and its so bad that I've had to turn subtitles off at some points). These new squad members have first introductions that leave them somewhere between Kaiden and ME1 Garrus. Ryder him/herself has none of the confidence or assertion that the Shepherd persona carried and its immediately felt. The first hour or so of gameplay on the world you're dropped into is stuff we've all seen before... and because you're presented with such a massive skill tree you can't help but feel daunted or overwhelmed by the fact that you ain't shit and won't be shit for a long, long time.
It is not the intro that you're accustomed to. Not just for the series (because this is worse than the Eden Prime trip by a mile), but for the state of gaming in general. This was an AWFUL start for anything that you've been waiting more than a few months for. Its plainly bad writing/planning/development imo
very, very slight early spoilers that better depict what i'm talking about and a quick fix that would've made everyone happy: When you finally reach the Nexus after space spelunking, you realize that the people there never even anticipated your arrival. They've been dealing with "tons of issues" for the past 14 months such as leadership dying in an accident, supply shortages, other arks missing, and most importantly a mutiny - we don't know if we can trust you yet new pathfinder *uneasy faces*. Don't tell me that. Let me play that. Let me see that. Instead of fucking around on that planet, let me give more of a fuck about the nexus and what's left of this expedition by making me pick sides on the mutiny. Let me shoot it out in the streets then have to rebuild it once the fighting is over. Show the effects of dead leadership to the player directly. The exiles? You can make me care by putting people on those exile ships that we might be attached to <-------- that last bit kinda is a stretch to another point, you don't really get much out of your crew until much later in the game.
too easy to fix, just bad setup for no reason
But that's the bad news. The good news is, it gets and stays consistently better once the absolutely massive orientation to the new galaxy is over.
Combat is fucking ace. I wasn't the only person who thought the jetpack was ridiculous in the early demos but now I don't want to see another mass effect game without it. There's tons of ways to play, all rewarding as hell. Balancing a few things here and there will come, but there's no glaring obvious way to play even on the highest difficulties which was the biggest issue with ME games in the past. Before, charging at anything bigger than you on hardcore or insanity was guaranteed to put you on the bad side of a worldstar fight comp - now? If you want to be a space ninja on insanity you can do that shit. Again, biggest knock? You can't give specific ability commands to teammates. Huge oversight imo, takes away a lot of the tactical element and forces you to do a lot yourself and center your setup around just having them prime enemies.
*Multiplayer combat? Its.... close to ME3. Its not quite as good and I can't exactly put my finger on why. I think it may have something to do with how they've stretched out the leveling and loot pools a bit, but I can't say why 100%. Its still great, and if you loved ME3MP, you'll love this too. Also, unlike 3, MP and SP tie into and compliment each other. Doing SP stuff can throw some small perks into one of the MP currencies and MP stuff can get you some good gear/resources for SP.
When you progress in the game you're gonna be at a loss with all the shit they give you to do. The sidequests aren't the typical "collect 16 peppermint leaves" or anything. They're nothing special, but at the very least they decide to give you some okay-decent story/lore/worldbuilding to go along with it. That's a hell of a lot better than "Thanks hero! now I can get married to my beloved :D"
and the side missions range from small shit like finding lost teams to breaking what would've been council galactic law in the OG trilogy. You can't be an asshole by punching random people, but you can still let them die, rationalize it, and steal critical pieces of alien culture then ignore their inquiries.
but bah gawd the planet exploration. the first two places you get to play around in are nothing special all that special. but after that? bra-fucking-vo. you can dick around for about days in some of these places. i say days and yal know I have no life at all lol so its deep out there. Its no XCX when it comes to planet design, but its still top tier open world 'splorin. the nomad is a treasure and everything on these planets feels 'right'. plenty of games just throw shit on the map and start the collectathon. scanning is a chore for mission stuff, but i've never needed to hunting for a specific resource at least
The story is aite. Here's where I get thrown by complaints... The story for Mass Effect has never been good. The setting, story-telling for certain things, the aesthetic, a few of the characters? Yeah. That's been good or even great - but mostly its been the only scratch for a certain itch for damn near a decade. Mass Effect 1 has you fucking around with the world's worst space-Bond villain, Mass Effect 2 was decent until you realize that their villain and plot completely torched the future of this particular setting (ask me more about how harbinger fucked everything), ME3 = Uncharted Dead Space 3.
So Andromeda? It falls right in between 2 and 1. Its not bad but people got the nostalgia for the series hard because one reaper said one cool thing.
Audio is all over the place. Game was mixed in a basement. The score is all over the place. One minute its decent the next you're listening to a face animation. I'm more puzzled by this and the lighting than anything else.
i'll write more when i get a chance but i'm honestly playing more than anything else
there's little stuff that i wish the game did better regarding educating the player though. like i really, really wish i knew that dismantling weapons and armor was the key to crafting everything you fucking need and that certain melee weapons have drastically different properties outside of the description.
but i'll post more when i get time adam
By s y Go To Posti dont think i've seen a dy post so longits no game of the year. its good, but has a longer startup than a persona game
tldr?
+ppl can't even complain about the real shit because they're so set on the (hilarious) face glitches
and fuck sudoku. seriously. especially hard reset sudoku.
its like if you never saw earth get rekt in mass effect 3 or saw yourself get thrown into space in mass effect 2
give me that andromeda. i get the whole peace and exploring thing, but there's nothing saying it can't be more badass
By HasphatsAnts Go To PostMostly agreed. I'm more disappointed than Dy, but that's probably on me than on the gamethe spoiled bit sums up my biggest issue with how the game is laid out at times.
its like if you never saw earth get rekt in mass effect 3 or saw yourself get thrown into space in mass effect 2
give me that andromeda. i get the whole peace and exploring thing, but there's nothing saying it can't be more badass
By blackace Go To PostIt kind of sounds like a proper No Man's Sky..the NMS from the early trailers and stuff? kinda...
i'm not sure how to peg this game exactly. ironically its a looooooooooooooooooooot like xenoblade chronicles x. minus the giant robots, bawz fights, and awesome soundtracks. its like there's a hidden jrpg in here somehow and its just odd how it shows its face from time to time.
I can see from my window that my neighbor across the street is playing this game. Feel kinda bad for him.
The ME: A announcement thread is such a shit show right now on the other site.
I can see from my window that my neighbor across the street is playing this game. Feel kinda bad for him.
lmao
wild
lmao
wild
By DY_nasty Go To Postoddly enough, the change that irks me most is the change in tone. i kinda miss the dark humor and i wish there was a way to be an overt asshole like renegade shep. early on, the game is slooooooooooooooooow. worse than the hinterlands. also, scanning is bad. just stretches the game out too much. i hate it.
also kinda odd how some of the best dialogue is in the terminals and not spoken "not to sound elitist, but while its true humans invented yoga, asari perfected it" huehue
combat is a beauty though.
I really hated DAI and I feel like this game is much better paced. The first planet is a wasteland but that's kind of a requirement for the kind of story they're telling.
My friend has been watching me play through pretty much the whole thing and we both agreed the game is garbage for a lot of reasons but the story and characters are surprisingly interesting, especially how Ryder is portrayed. And no matter how garbage it is, it's still better than Inquisition.
I literally don't understand what his loyalty mission is about. Those aren't words/sentences that a real human being says.
I don't really understand 'my face is tired'
What point is she even trying to convey? Would it make some sense if she had a semblance of a facial expression?
What point is she even trying to convey? Would it make some sense if she had a semblance of a facial expression?
Put about 3 hours into the game today. While I basically just got out of the prologue and the hub here are my first impressions.
Like Dy said it basically captures the styling of ME 1 with better combat. Not liking the cover system but might get used to it.
So let me get the horrible out the way. The animations are shit poor, not that they wild out like the gifs we have just like the animators have never seen humans before...
The faces look pretty good until the animations ruin them. All the characters emote like the Joker.
Important person dies
"I am so sorry!"
Get new spaceship
"This is going to be a great adventure."
and the dialogue is bad... most RPGs have bad and cheesy dialogue... But so far the witty banter and whatnot is really really bad and basically shit no one would say ever.
But even with all that the game goes back to the roots of ME. It feels grand. It feels organic (despite the inhuman interactions) the basic plot so far is solid just the finer details to convey it to the user is a bit weak.
I will say that so far it is fun and that's all you can ask for in a game. Dy was saying he can't see the DA:I comparisons and I can kinda see how people can draw them but the setup works so much better for Sci-Fi that it really feels right while DA:I felt disjointed and laborious.
I was reluctant to stop playing and that's a good sign.
On a side note Origin is trash and I wish EA would just do Steam
Like Dy said it basically captures the styling of ME 1 with better combat. Not liking the cover system but might get used to it.
So let me get the horrible out the way. The animations are shit poor, not that they wild out like the gifs we have just like the animators have never seen humans before...
The faces look pretty good until the animations ruin them. All the characters emote like the Joker.
Important person dies
"I am so sorry!"
Get new spaceship
"This is going to be a great adventure."
and the dialogue is bad... most RPGs have bad and cheesy dialogue... But so far the witty banter and whatnot is really really bad and basically shit no one would say ever.
But even with all that the game goes back to the roots of ME. It feels grand. It feels organic (despite the inhuman interactions) the basic plot so far is solid just the finer details to convey it to the user is a bit weak.
I will say that so far it is fun and that's all you can ask for in a game. Dy was saying he can't see the DA:I comparisons and I can kinda see how people can draw them but the setup works so much better for Sci-Fi that it really feels right while DA:I felt disjointed and laborious.
I was reluctant to stop playing and that's a good sign.
On a side note Origin is trash and I wish EA would just do Steam
Finished the main story. Last mission and ending were good. Almost as good as ME2's.
The kett are terrible. The Archon is so unbearably dull and monotone. Think the game would have been much better if they focused more on the exploration/colonization/political aspect rather the big bad guys who are shit reapers. Ending spoilers: should have just binned the kett and had the main story line be about getting to Meridian and past the Remnant defenses to reactivate the vault thing.
Oh, and it was annoying having to jump between planets for single quests. Especially because of the amount of time it takes to fucking navigate the galaxy map.
The kett are terrible. The Archon is so unbearably dull and monotone. Think the game would have been much better if they focused more on the exploration/colonization/political aspect rather the big bad guys who are shit reapers. Ending spoilers: should have just binned the kett and had the main story line be about getting to Meridian and past the Remnant defenses to reactivate the vault thing.
Oh, and it was annoying having to jump between planets for single quests. Especially because of the amount of time it takes to fucking navigate the galaxy map.
By Adam Blade Go To PostLiking it thus far, but yeah…could use more Polish.💩 It's so odd
Some of the voice acting doe…
By DY_nasty Go To Postliam is such a pothead
we gotta vet the crew better
lol
Vet?
"I could kill you in your sleep!"
"Welcome aboard!"
https://www.masseffect.com/news/the-journey-ahead?sf53509845=1
Thank Space Jesus Shepard.
This Thursday, we’ll release a new patch that addresses technical fixes (crashes, improved performance), but also adds a number of improvements we’ve heard you ask for, such as:
Allowing you to skip ahead when travelling between planets in the galaxy map
Increasing the inventory limits
Improving the appearance of eyes for humans and asari characters
Decreasing the cost of remnant decryption keys and making them more accessible at merchants
Improving localized voice over lip sync
Fixing Ryder’s movements when running in a zig zag pattern
Improving matchmaking and latency in multiplayer
Thank Space Jesus Shepard.
Space Sudoku is the dumbest thing in this game.
Very impressive considering all the other dumb things they put in this.
Very impressive considering all the other dumb things they put in this.
By HasphatsAnts Go To PostSpace Sudoku is the dumbest thing in this game.
Very impressive considering all the other dumb things they put in this.
i finally cracked and just found images for all of these puzzles
"SAM, in real time I need you to scan and analyze this complex alien technology, rewire power systems, and translate this language."
SAM: Say no more fam
And yet...when faced with a fucking sodoku puzzle Ryder of course has to do it all himself. There's always cognitive dissonance in videogames, but this is too obviously horrible from a gameplay and narrative standpoint to have survived testing.
The starting 20 seconds of dialogue there is hilarious. Gotta wonder if they actually recorded in the same room ever.
and like what the fuck is going on with the animations, eye shader looks better sure, but like look at 0:43, just freaks out for a split second. The giantbomb review pretty much made go from "will check out on big sale" to "not worth the time".
and like what the fuck is going on with the animations, eye shader looks better sure, but like look at 0:43, just freaks out for a split second. The giantbomb review pretty much made go from "will check out on big sale" to "not worth the time".
That reminds me of an issue that pops up a lot in miniature painting when doing eyes. Too much white leads to models looking perma-surprised. You also want to avoid showing the iris whole, in most cases. Having part of it covered by the eyelid or lower eye socket make it look a lot more natural.
By Phoenix RISING Go To PostWow, those changes . Remarkable the difference polish makes.It's not that much better... because the voice acting and writing is still 💩💩
Beat it. All the whining is so dumb. One of the better casts in the series, best environments and best gun play.
Gunplay is decent... hard to be a good cast when the writing is beyond trash. But maybe my face is tired...
By Hitch Go To Postslackface 😏I was thinking of maybe answering everything in ME:A dialog for a day..
Sounds good to me, pathfinder
I've managed to prevent my Ryder from saying 'we got this' so far, thankfully
I've managed to prevent my Ryder from saying 'we got this' so far, thankfully