[Megathread] Mass Effect Andromeda

[Ilikegreenfire]

Hey folks, if you want to discuss major/minor plot developments, especially ahead of the games official launch, please use spoiler tags to avoid spoiling anything for folks following the thread who don't want any plot info : )

[spoiler][ /spoiler]



They were not great. Dunno if they were as bad as some of what's shown in ME:A, but largely those games got by without too many criticisms about animations (same with ME1-3) because either the game was good enough for folks to overlook them, or there were other, bigger problems to complain about (DA2).

Also, the standard for quality has gone up considerably with the generation shift.

My bad i though i put them in, guess i need sleep.

[MonsieuRoberts]

Nope.

DA2 has some pretty fugly textures (Specially for the fingers) but the facial animations are actually amazing. There's a world of difference between playing a sarcastic hawke and a violent hawke based almost entirely on facial language. Even when using the same model, they seem like different people.

As for Inquisition, other than some funny-looking hair colors (and only for player-made Characters, I never noticed this on NPCs) the game looks absolutely gorgeous. Asides from the weirdo glitch here and there.

Pretty much my only beef with the visuals in Andromeda are centered almost entirely on the eyes. Just the eyes. And not even the eyes of everyone, just the eyes of SOME of the humans (Such as Default Ryder, male and female, and SPECIALLY Foster Addison, who seems like the most glaring example).

I have no idea whatsoever why everyone is bitching so much about the body animations during actual gameplay. The running, walking, and jumping animations look good on Ryder, as do the animations for the sideways and forward jetpack boost. Animations for melee combat feel meaty and possessing actual impact to the punch (Something that I found lacking in ME3's melee moves other than Nova). In some cutscenes some characters do exhibit some weirdo movements, but nothing deserving the level of pitchfork&torches style of rage I've seen here and elsewhere.

I agree with the eyes. Egg-white sclera stand out to me, and it seems to more prevalent on some NPCs like you mentioned.

I've seen some janky animations during gameplay, like glitching into the side of a cliff as you hoist yourself up, or feet disappearing beneath the ground momentarily, shoulders dislocating themselves for half a second, etc. That kind of stuff...well, it's in tons of games, and I'm used to it since most of what I play is in beta. This isn't Uncharted we're playing (although in a lot of ways I think we expected it to be of that quality & caliber) but I want more than dolls for NPCs.

Do you think the team's inexperience with Frostbyte vs Unreal could have something to do with this? It's just speculation, but maybe more time spent "reinventing the wheel" in Frostbyte lead to less attention given to something that, in this series more than others, is actually a pretty integral part of the gameplay; Character interaction?

Ah, we won't know for a while. One day a dev will be on a podcast somewhere and give us all the details.

[Edge-]

As for Inquisition, other than some funny-looking hair colors (and only for player-made Characters, I never noticed this on NPCs) the game looks absolutely gorgeous. Asides from the weirdo glitch here and there.

Graphical fidelity, yes. Art style etc....IMO not so much.

The cutscenes in DA:I are rife with all kinds of the awkward animations we're seeing in ME:A so far. I'm still playing it now, and while I'm mainly working on side missions (so I'm seeing few cutscenes), the existing cutscenes I've seen are absolutely filled with these kinds of issues.

The female character hunched over as if she's Igor's hunchbacked sister.

Awkward arm positioning well behind where your arms normally rest when standing idle/walking.

Major characters literally placed inside objects like tables so they clip through them.

A just-below screen handshake that clearly has neither character actually touching, with this being painfully obvious when you see the tops of their hands clip the bottom of the screen.

Just off the top of my head, I'm sure when I finish all my side-mission stuff and get back to the main story I'll find plenty more incredibly awkward animations and issues as well. Which is a shame, because while I continue to strongly dislike the art direction for BW games, the jump to Frostbite did wonders for the graphical fidelity and goodies overall, which further highlight the animation issues.

I still don't know why it's taken this long for the animation issues in BW games to start being noticed by folks and called out, because seriously, they've been very spotty since the start. Granted, the faces in ME:A are far worse than they've ever been, which may very well be the primary cause.

It's less about the animations during gameplay (which are mostly solid, or at least are fast enough that any awkwardness is easily missed) and more about cutscenes, hence why most of the criticism cited is during the cutscenes where the camera does a ton of close ups that really highlight any small issues. This is why a lot of games will keep cameras panned out a bit further, because it puts more focus on the overall scene than the characters, and allows for some of this kind of jankiness to pass unnoticed or at least makes it less obvious.

[Tankitbetter]

Is anyone here actually playing the game? The memes are entertaining, but the game is genuinely fun.

My only real complaint is the menu. The UI is just annoying as hell.

[MonsieuRoberts]

I just watched some of Totalbiscuit's multiplayer livestream, and it seemed like a helluva lot of fun too.

I watched it too! I'm gonna be all over Multiplayer, it looked awesome!

- - - Updated - - -

Is anyone here actually playing the game? The memes are entertaining, but the game is genuinely fun.

My only real complaint is the menu. The UI is just annoying as hell.

Is it super console-centric, or just unresponsive/confusing? I heard we have to use spacebar to confirm things which is completely out of left-field to me. I also saw some strange concave text scrolling which I wasn't really a fan of.

[Edge-]

Is anyone here actually playing the game? The memes are entertaining, but the game is genuinely fun.

My only real complaint is the menu. The UI is just annoying as hell.

Apparently combat is getting pretty universal praise from folks so far. Other areas are a bit more mixed, but that's seemed to be the consistent high point for the game from everything I've seen.

[Sunseeker]

I didn't play DA:I or DA2: Were the animations like Andromeda?

Honestly it's been so long I can't recall. DA2 uses the same engine as ME2&3, but DA:I uses the Frostbite engine like ME:A. DA2 was porbably on par, visually, with ME2 or 3. The complaints about the game centered around other aspects than the animations.

[I Push Buttons]

If anyone wanted to get some extra rewards before the full game launches (and after), make sure to install APEX HQ, the little companion app for Andromeda's multiplayer.

Here's the site:
https://apexhq.masseffectarchives.com/en/

If you are in Canada, Ireland, and a couple other Eastern European countries you can already install it, everywhere else has to wait until the 20th to legit install it.

You can download it manually, just put it on your phone and run it with some file explorer app if you don't want to wait (this is the android one), there's no region restriction doing it this way so anyone can play it early:
https://docs.google.com/uc?export=do...1pUX29VX3M1UTQ

But yeah, its basically the same thing as sending strike teams from the Tempest in single player, only you do it from your phone. Can get some multiplayer and single player rewards from it.

[Sunseeker]

Apparently combat is getting pretty universal praise from folks so far. Other areas are a bit more mixed, but that's seemed to be the consistent high point for the game from everything I've seen.

I'll agree to that. Aside from not having a keybind to enter/exit cover, combat is pretty amazing.

[Jastall]

Apparently combat is getting pretty universal praise from folks so far. Other areas are a bit more mixed, but that's seemed to be the consistent high point for the game from everything I've seen.

I find that combat in the ME series has consistently been improving (contrarily to Dragon Age which was more... ups and downs, let's just say). ME1's combat was hot garbage that keeps me from replaying the game to this day. ME2 was overly simplified Gears of Mass Effect unless you played Vanguard. ME3 hit the sweet spot between reliance on cover and power/mobility usage. From what I've seen, ME:A is ME3's combat, with more skills, better mobility and better gunplay. I am absolutely down for that.

Does feel weird that the one aspect of a Bioware title that is getting acclaim from nigh on everyone is its combat.

[Sunseeker]

Is it super console-centric, or just unresponsive/confusing? I heard we have to use spacebar to confirm things which is completely out of left-field to me. I also saw some strange concave text scrolling which I wasn't really a fan of.

Sadly, my first thoughts on using the menus were "CONSOLE PORT! HOOOOOOO!" You can click on almost anything, but every major button has an associated keybind. So you can either click on the Select button, or press Space. That sort of thing.

[I Push Buttons]

I'll agree to that. Aside from not having a keybind to enter/exit cover, combat is pretty amazing.

Yeah that really threw me off at first, I kept hitting the buttons for taking cover in a lot of the other games I played recently causing me to inadvertently do a lot bullshit rather than take cover :P

[MonsieuRoberts]

Sadly, my first thoughts on using the menus were "CONSOLE PORT! HOOOOOOO!" You can click on almost anything, but every major button has an associated keybind. So you can either click on the Select button, or press Space. That sort of thing.

As long as I can click I'm fine, unless the UI has severe difficulty with mouse-over vs clicking. That's not usually a things though except in games with real bad UIs. (Black Desert is a standout for this sort of crap)

[Ilikegreenfire]

huh, that's good to know. And that number seems far more reasonable for a sustainable population, provided their aggression is kept in check.

Even 40 gives them immense population growth, tho if females can self regulate egg production it shouldn't be an issue, have your one or two viable eggs a year and stop producing.

The 40 lets them still be the same aggressive violent warrior race they have always been but at least their groth wont be a massive problem.

[Sunseeker]

Yeah that really threw me off at first, I kept hitting the buttons for taking cover in a lot of the other games I played recently causing me to inadvertently do a lot bullshit rather than take cover :P

Yeah, one thing that really bugged me about going from ME1 to ME2 was the change in what a lot of buttons did. ME:A is pretty consistent, but the spacebar still throws me.

[Edge-]

But yeah, its basically the same thing as sending strike teams from the Tempest in single player, only you do it from your phone. Can get some multiplayer and single player rewards from it.

Oh nice, I saw the app mentioned elsewhere and guessed it may be for this but hadn't had time to read anything. Nice to know it does handle strike team stuff, will be nice to send folks out from there while at lunch rather than needing to wait until I get home or something : D

[Notshauna]

Yeah, one thing that really bugged me about going from ME1 to ME2 was the change in what a lot of buttons did. ME:A is pretty consistent, but the spacebar still throws me.

It's also due to the fact that many of the default keybindings in Mass Effect 1 are extremely strange. Grenades on R, quicksave on F6, put weapons away on Q, you get the point. But, I'd be lying if the first 5 minutes in Mass Effect 1 doesn't involve accidentally throwing a grenade at someone and the first 5 minutes in Mass Effect 2 has me unable to open doors.

[Sunseeker]

It's also due to the fact that many of the default keybindings in Mass Effect 1 are extremely strange. Grenades on R, quicksave on F6, put weapons away on Q, you get the point. But, I'd be lying if the first 5 minutes in Mass Effect 1 doesn't involve accidentally throwing a grenade at someone and the first 5 minutes in Mass Effect 2 has me unable to open doors.

Yep. My biggest foe right now is my habit of using "esc" to exit out of anything I've entered into...and all it does is bring up the menu. lol.

Also: scanning is stupid easy. Not very engaging, but not intrusive at all into gameplay. It's totes easy to just pop that thing up, spin it around and move on. I'm very happy to not be picking every god forsaken piece of elfroot or dragonstone.

[Derah]

Yep. My biggest foe right now is my habit of using "esc" to exit out of anything I've entered into...and all it does is bring up the menu. lol.

Also: scanning is stupid easy. Not very engaging, but not intrusive at all into gameplay. It's totes easy to just pop that thing up, spin it around and move on. I'm very happy to not be picking every god forsaken piece of elfroot or dragonstone.

So its more akin to the scanning in ME3 than in ME2? that's good to know.

[Sunseeker]

So its more akin to the scanning in ME3 than in ME2? that's good to know.

I actually don't remember ME3 scanning.

The gist of it is you have a wrist-mounted scanner. Activating it pops up a little hud that takes up about 80% of your screen but it's an in-game object. You can rotate your character around, move (slower) and scannable objects will light up. You have a pretty good range on scanning stuff.

EDIT: I realized you may have been talking about planetary scanning, I didn't try that last night, so I don't know.