Mass Effect

[deanb]

 

Bit of a look at ME2, how it changed from the first mass effect based on feedback and a critique of the gameplay.

[Hot Heart]

I don't think there was much new information but it is a good overview and criticism. Despite all the negative points, seeing the game just really makes me want to play it again.

[deanb]

I think most of the criticism comes from time. The Mako handled terribly, but at least it was something, rather than the scanning crap which was just busy work. And over time the "black and white" nature of Paragon and Renegade is seen as quite outdated these days, especially with the likes of Witcher becoming popular. I'd say it's unfair to compare it to modern games, but the point of the video was a "7 years on". ME2 was quite divided at launch too, it removed some of the RPG stuff to beef up the shooty bang bang stuff, but ended up mediocre at both.

[deanb]

 

First 13 minutes of Mass Effect. No idea what's up with their eyes. And hey, Clancy Brown. "Put your hand against that wall Pathfinder".

 

And a tour of the Nexus with some of the things on board like research lab for weapons and such. Looks largely like the Citadel.

[deanb]

http://www.geforce.com/whats-new/articles/mass-effect-andromeda-pc-graphics-settings-4k-screenshots

 

PC Specs, settings and some Ansel screenshots should you be wanting to check the PC side of things.

 

edit: and some upgrades and such for the not-Mako

[Mr. GOH!]

Just earned the free hat. Not sure if it was worth it.

[TheMightyEthan]

Nice, I didn't realize the last video was up.

[CorgiShinobi]

I haven't really watched any Andromeda videos lately. I plan on getting into it, but this way I can be all the more surprised.

[Hot Heart]

This from PAX East was really good.

 

I've noticed some more videos of gameplay popping up from there.

 

It sounds like they're also trying to sidestep some of the colonialism stuff by having the main antagonists, the Kett, as invaders rather than natives also.

[deanb]

Ah, so they're ze Germans.

[Mr. GOH!]

But can they out space Nazi the original space Nazi, Ashley?

[Saturnine Tenshi]

Going to name my PC Jay and romance Peebee.

[Mr. GOH!]

Early previews are decidedly mixed. RPS's John Walker really hated the opening hours, and I trust his judgment on RPGs, generally.

 

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

 

PC Gamer is also mixed:

 

http://www.pcgamer.com/we-have-mixed-feelings-about-the-first-few-hours-of-mass-effect-andromeda/

 

Kinda regret preordering.

[Hot Heart]

I'm hearing more positive things from other places. Ones I trust more, like Eurogamer.

 

John Walker's alright, but he always does these lousy, try-hard exaggerations. Like this stinker of a paragraph.

 

 

 

The first few hours of Andromeda are a gruesome trudge through the most trite bilge of the previous three games, smeared out in a setting that’s horribly familiar, burdened with some outstandingly awful writing, buried beneath a UI that appears to have been designed to infuriate in every possible way.

 

"gruesome trudge through the most trite bilge". Okay. The combat looks far better than he's giving it credit for, also.

 

That said, I am skeptical about the writing quality since this is a different BioWare studio and they have lost a lot of their best writers while putting people like Mac Walters in a more senior position. The "floating rocks!" thing in the opening feels like it was supposed to be a running joke that was poorly executed. Still, the loyalty mission looked entertaining so I think the game gets better anyway.

[TheMightyEthan]

Yeah, John Walker tends to be overly harsh in my opinion.  Though I have seen enough negative coverage elsewhere that I decided to get Origin Access for the month and try out the trial.  Depending on how that goes I may or may not be cancelling my preorder.

[Mr. GOH!]

I'll be getting the trial over the weekend and checking out the game, even though I can't cancel my greymarket preorder.

 

Edit: I've never understood "try-hard" as a putdown.  I have no real issues with Walker's writing style, but I do fear for the writing style in Mass Effect and Dragon Age going forward.

 

The combat may be better, but if "better" means "ever more like a traditional third-person shooter," I won't be very impressed.

Edited March 16, 2017 by Mr. GOH!

[deanb]

http://i.imgur.com/Rq9zqLP.gifv

 

600 years without having a shit you'd walk like this too.

 

Animations looked a bit funny in the reveal trailer too, but I'd figured "meh this is early on they'll sort it come launch" but that's *counts fingers* not long away.

[Hot Heart]

Edit: I've never understood "try-hard" as a putdown.

 

The combat may be better, but if "better" means "ever more like a traditional third-person shooter," I won't be very impressed.

To clarify my comment on Walker, he's always struck me as a Charlie Brooker or Yahtzee wannabe.

 

As for better combat, I mean in that you can level up any powers/skills you wish, so you can experiment with all sorts of styles and that it's a lot more open with the added verticality.

[Mister Jack]

I know graphics aren't everything but good lord, what were those animators doing?

 

[Mr. GOH!]

Played a few hours of the trial. Seems pretty decent. The initial section has some bad writing, but it's still very Mass Effect-y.

 

Facial animation is pretty mediocre. Reminds me of the animations in Horizon Zero Dawn, oddly. Lots of flat expressions and weird eye movement choices.

 

Very minor lore spoilers regarding some of the stuff we talked about in this thread pre-release. It's all from the very beginning of the game and is just about the background lore, not about anything new in Andromeda:

 

 

The game pretty quickly establishes that the quarians have an ark, but it was delayed because it's also carrying hanar and drell and developing a multispecies environment took extra time. No idea if it ever actually set off before ME3.

The krogan don't have an ark, but a ton of them came on the Nexus itself, enough to establish viable colonies, with a little help from increased natural resistance to the genophage among the clan that joined the Andromeda initiative.

Holy shit, I had no idea salarians were supposed to be so tall. I think it was in the lore that they're tall, but they've always been human height before. Now they're as tall as NBA players.

 

 

Combat is more interesting, and it seems like it will take a shitload of leveling if you want to get every ability maxed out. 

 

I am playing it on ultra at 1080p, and it looks pretty good. Closeups of omnitools are real weird, though; they look fuzzy and completely illegible to the point that they don't look like representations of a usable interface. It's clearly an art choice and it's distracting.

 

This ten hour limit thing is aggravating because I feel less inclined to read every codex entry and to explore; I just want to get the most gameplay content I can in my limited play time!

[TheMightyEthan]

I played for about 3 hours last night and would echo Goh's comments.  It's basically Dragon Age: Inquisition, but Mass Effect, which is what I was expecting.  It's also cemented my opinion that John Walker is a grumpy grump, whose descriptions, though based in fact, are so absurdly hyperbolic that they're useless as far as helping others decide whether they'll want the game.

 

That said, I still think I might cancel my preorder because I just don't have the time between Zelda and Persona.  Plus I'm finding that I don't go back to games like I used to, so I waiting for a GOTY edition with all the DLC seems smart.

[Mr. GOH!]

I mean, sure; Mass Effect has nothing on anime schoolchildren, so I get it. And by all accounts Zelda is a pretty great game. Too bad it's only released on shit systems.

 

Kidding aside, the opening two hours of Andromeda have not really impressed me. Neither of the human squadmates are that interesting so far. I am fond of Kumail Najiani as the salarian director of the Nexus, but I think a lot of folks won't like his very Kumail-ish performance. I like Kumail in general, so it works for me.

 

Edit: Also, one of the early main side characters, who is a human, uses the phrase "My face is tired from dealing with goddamned everything" as one of the first things she says. Seriously, the acting, animation, and writing for Foster Addison is truly bizarre.

 

https://twitter.com/Nibellion/status/842294985051521024

Edited March 17, 2017 by Mr. GOH!

[CorgiShinobi]

I think I'll let this one stew for a bit to see if things get worked out post-launch. Just, the animations are supremely awkward. Female Ryder seems to be in a constant state of confusion, like an actor realizing they're in a flop of a film. "Wait, are we really going with this?"

[deanb]

From the reviews it generally it seems it's a game that might have held up if it came out around ME3, but given modern expectations of RPGs, writing, gameplay etc it's a bit dull, tired and subpar. Witcher 3 set a bit of a high bar. Of course this game was knocked out by their B-team, so I can understand the feeling around "it feels like it's a game that was made because someone was "we're missing a Mass Effect in our current line-up". 

[TheMightyEthan]

Eurogamer's tl;dr: "The combat crackles and the worlds are lush, but mediocre writing and tepid quests add up to what is probably BioWare's worst RPG yet."