[Megathread] Mass Effect Andromeda

[Edge-]

But some people are rating it 6/10, while others are saying hyperbolic comments like "Worse than DA2", or "Not even worth pirating", or, "This game is insulting garbage for mentally retarded people" or "Even No Man's Sky is better".

Granted, I'd rate most BW games at 8's or lower, but a 6 doesn't seem unreasonable given some of the reviews and impressions I've read. Lots of it seems like what the reviewer prioritizes in their scores, because if they were willing to overlook some of the cringey writing because of the great combat, that's going to bump their score up. Others will focus more on the story and presentation over the combat, and that's going to drop the scoore down.

Honestly, I kinda liked DA2 (a lot more than DA:O, at least), and if this can hit that quality I'll be pretty happy. But I don't remember being as distracted by issues in cutscenes in DA2 like I've been seeing with ME:A, for example. That alone is going to hamper my ability to enjoy the game.

There are always going to be loud, vocal haters, even for nearly flawless games. They're stupid, I agree. But pretending like the issues this game faces are minor, and not indicative of some serious internal problems with the development at BioWare is trying to bury your head in the sand.

These quality of animations don't cut it anymore. This falling back on cringey writing isn't going to cut it anymore. Convoluted menu systems that end up being more challenging to navigate than some bosses are to kill are going to cut it anymore.

BioWare seems determined to remain in last generation when it comes to their design/quality, only increasing the scope and scale of their games. And that's just not going to work anymore, because we have huge games with broad scopes that, while not necessarily as big as a game like ME:A (and they don't need to be, neither does ME:A for that matter), have found a way to broaden that scope while ALSO upping the quality. BioWare needs to figure out how to do that if they want to be able to compete this generation, because we're seeing more fantastic RPG's and open world games/RPG's this generation, and if their writing isn't going to be as good as it once was they're going to need to find something else to lean heavily on instead.

[Graeham]

A lot of the bashing is well deserved, especially after the way in which Mass Effect 3's ending was handled and the criticism of Dragon Age: Inquisition. I'm sure this game isn't without its redeeming qualities but I can sympathise with those who have given up on Bioware. I know I have, mostly because the company no longer holds the same values as it once did where game content and production is concerned.

[MonsieuRoberts]

A lot of the bashing is well deserved, especially after the way in which Mass Effect 3's ending was handled and the criticism of Dragon Age: Inquisition. I'm sure this game isn't without its redeeming qualities but I can sympathise with those who have given up on Bioware. I know I have, mostly because the company no longer holds the same values as it once did where game content and production is concerned.

This is what happens when you have a brand new team with nearly no one left from "old bioware" who handled DAO & ME1 around, on top of switching to a new engine that you apparently don't know how to use. That reverence of Bioware from 10 years ago is gone. Let's see if they can redeem themselves with a sequel now that they have a decent grasp of "how to Frostbyte."

I get to play in like 2 hours, can't wait!

[Jastall]

Why do people here go "witcher 3 had that too" when it comes to problems with the game? The most andromeda can compare to are other shooters since the only difference between them is that andromeda has a slightly better story.

It can't ever compare to witcher 3, none of the bioware games can. That game had flaws yes, but it was still crafted together into a top tier game and only improved upon in future updates. They improved an already great game.

Andromeda on the other hand is a rush job made by people that are completely out of touch with what makes a quality game.
Don't hold your breath for any drastic improvements when they don't even understand what's wrong with their game. A few updates won't fix bad game design.

Here's the thing: I don't give a single squiggly flying fuck about what's a ''top tier game''. I care about what games I enjoy, and if I see a problem I call it out, whatever the game is. Witcher 3 might have been a ''top tier game'' (and I enjoyed it a lot) but it still had a pretty mediocre story outside of Kaer Morhen and the Bloody Baron, almost no decisions to make in the main story and even fewer that actually mattered, generic Arkham-esque combat, very little sense of progression so level 1 Geralt fights almost the exact same way as level 40 Geralt, open world exploration that's almost pointless as it rewards very little XP and the loot pales in comparison to Witcher gear, and a UI I disliked; it was mostly fixed by patches, but fuck grid inventories to hell, especially when they clutter up as fast as TW3's does.

These issues didn't stop me from liking the game, but I'm not going to pretend they don't exist because the rest is good. I expect nothing less from anyone who judges Andromeda (or any game for that matter). But I definitely think some games fall under less public scrutiny than others when it comes to their flaws, which helps drive the narrative that they're ''top tier games'' as if that means anything.

Unless a game is Ride to Hell: Retribution level of bad and broken (which Andromeda isn't), I don't think it's very useful to try and establish objective tiers of game quality. At this point it's mostly people banding together to validate their opinions, which is cool but useless to me.

[Pounced]

Terrible Mocap, Terrible facial models for females compared to who they were modeled after... Will not be picking this up.

[Graeham]

This is what happens when you have a brand new team with nearly no one left from "old bioware" who handled DAO & ME1 around, on top of switching to a new engine that you apparently don't know how to use. That reverence of Bioware from 10 years ago is gone. Let's see if they can redeem themselves with a sequel now that they have a decent grasp of "how to Frostbyte."

I get to play in like 2 hours, can't wait!

Yeah. I'll hold out hope that a future game may appeal to me - since I wouldn't want Bioware to vanish completely. Luckily I can replay DAO anytime I like, so it's not as if it is going to suddenly cease to be.

[Lahis]

since I wouldn't want Bioware to vanish completely.

Better hope that the game sells enough to satisfy EA despite the ranking bomb it has received. Otherwise it's bye-bye Bioware.

[Derah]

Yaaaay I got the code!!!!!!! game downloading!!!!!!!!!.

*sighs* estimated time for download = 40 hours.

Fuck me sideways.

[Jastall]

Better hope that the game sells enough to satisfy EA despite the ranking bomb it has received. Otherwise it's bye-bye Bioware.

I doubt it. Bioware survived DA2, it will survive this. And I doubt the sales will be that awful too.

[Derah]

Better hope that the game sells enough to satisfy EA despite the ranking bomb it has received. Otherwise it's bye-bye Bioware.

It would take multiple selling bombs to kill off Bioware.

Inquisition sold well. And was actually rated well too, its just that it had the misfortune of being released only a few months before Witcher 3, which completely eclipsed it in every imaginable way. A similar thing happened to an old game called "Shogo: Mobile Division". Damned good game, very advanced for its time, would have gone on to win multiple awards, but it had the disgrace of being released at the same time as Half-Life 1, which swept the world by the balls, won every award, and left Shogo to languish in obscurity.

When compared side-by-side, Half-Life is obviously MUCH better than Shogo, but when rating Shogo by itself, it was actually a pretty good game for its time, and had it not have the misfortune of being released next to such a strong rival, it would have built itself a much higher fanbase.

The exact same thing happened to Inquisition. Its not the best bioware game, but its WAY far from the worst. People just rate it poorly because it was side-by-side to Witcher 3, one of hte most acclaimed games of all times.

[Thalrion]

It would take multiple selling bombs to kill off Bioware.

Inquisition sold well. And was actually rated well too, its just that it had the misfortune of being released only a few months before Witcher 3, which completely eclipsed it in every imaginable way. A similar thing happened to an old game called "Shogo: Mobile Division". Damned good game, very advanced for its time, would have gone on to win multiple awards, but it had the disgrace of being released at the same time as Half-Life 1, which swept the world by the balls, won every award, and left Shogo to languish in obscurity.

When compared side-by-side, Half-Life is obviously MUCH better than Shogo, but when rating Shogo by itself, it was actually a pretty good game for its time, and had it not have the misfortune of being released next to such a strong rival, it would have built itself a much higher fanbase.

The exact same thing happened to Inquisition. Its not the best bioware game, but its WAY far from the worst. People just rate it poorly because it was side-by-side to Witcher 3, one of hte most acclaimed games of all times.

Imo the problem with DA:I was that it was so...average (well the controls were awful, but everything else was average). Unexciting. The first Bioware game where i just wanted it to finally end.

[Edge-]

Honestly...what I want to see out of BW next is a super tight, focused RPG. Not some overly broad, expansive world like most of the industry is going towards, and something that's clearly problematic for BW when it comes to delivering on a high level of quality across the board.

I'd be really curious to see what a tighter, more narrative driven game without 500 hours of side-mission content would look like. Let them really hone in on the core elements of the game an polish the entire game to a fine shine, since they'll have less of a game to spread their resources across.

I'd be very interested to see how that turned out. Say a ME/DA spinoff that's not part of either main franchise, but tells a smaller story within the universe that accompanies the main series.

[Derah]

Honestly...what I want to see out of BW next is a super tight, focused RPG.

What I wanna see out of bioware next is a sequel to Jade Empire.

That has to be one of their most underrated franchises. I just loved it, it was fun to play, had a good plot, good characters, kickass gameplay, etc.

To see that game on a larger scale would be a dream come true.

[Jastall]

Honestly...what I want to see out of BW next is a super tight, focused RPG. Not some overly broad, expansive world like most of the industry is going towards, and something that's clearly problematic for BW when it comes to delivering on a high level of quality across the board.

I'd be really curious to see what a tighter, more narrative driven game without 500 hours of side-mission content would look like. Let them really hone in on the core elements of the game an polish the entire game to a fine shine, since they'll have less of a game to spread their resources across.

I'd be very interested to see how that turned out. Say a ME/DA spinoff that's not part of either main franchise, but tells a smaller story within the universe that accompanies the main series.

Yeah, I think I'm over open worlds too. They're nice for a change of pace from overly linear games... but now everyone and their cat is making open world games and RPGs. They've lost their magic.

Bioware can handle it. Inquisition's Trespasser DLC was rightfully praised for its tighter story focus, also allowed them to cram some consequences for main game decisions in there.

Also, yes to Derah. Jade Empire was pretty good, probably has the best main plot and villain of any Bioware game.

[Lagmonster]

What I wanna see out of bioware next is a sequel to Jade Empire.

That has to be one of their most underrated franchises. I just loved it, it was fun to play, had a good plot, good characters, kickass gameplay, etc.

To see that game on a larger scale would be a dream come true.

Funny, I'm currently replaying Jade Empire right now lol. (it was free on origin from Access) Just waiting for ME to unlock

But I would love another Jade Empire game

[Archon14]

What I wanna see out of bioware next is a sequel to Jade Empire.

Unlikely, I think they confirmed that Dragon Age 4 is next. Which excites me personally, because the last DLC of DA:I was pretty much a setup for another game.

And unless Andromeda ends up a huge failure, I'm pretty sure they'll want to continue the series as soon as possible (I'm imagining EA breathing down their necks about it).

Tbh, I can't really see Bioware expanding from Mass Effect / Dragon Age sequels and keeping Swtor alive. Not right now, anyway.

[Smitzelplix]

Unlikely, I think they confirmed that Dragon Age 4 is next. Which excites me personally, because the last DLC of DA:I was pretty much a setup for another game.

And unless Andromeda ends up a huge failure, I'm pretty sure they'll want to continue the series as soon as possible (I'm imagining EA breathing down their necks about it).

Tbh, I can't really see Bioware expanding from Mass Effect / Dragon Age sequels and keeping Swtor alive. Not right now, anyway.

Don't forget about Bioware's mystery game that's supposed to be a completely new IP and will be released next year if all goes according to their plans.

[rhorle]

He's designed to look like his VA. That's like, in that VAs contract with everyone. Seriously, check out all the characters he's played.

http://www.behindthevoiceactors.com/...a/Cora-Harper/

Voice actors do not have a requirement that their voiced character needs to look like their real life model. And even speaking specifically about Clancy (http://www.behindthevoiceactors.com/Clancy-Brown/) it still is not the case. Just look at the voice actor for Sara (http://www.behindthevoiceactors.com/Fryda-Wolff/). We know that Fryda was not the model for Sara. This is the second time I've seen it mentioned that Voice Actors have a contract that their character needs to look like them. It was silly and untrue then and is silly and untrue now.

[Archon14]

Don't forget about Bioware's mystery game that's supposed to be a completely new IP and will be released next year if all goes according to their plans.

Never googled anything faster in my life. Interesting.

[Derah]

3% done. Come on!!!!!!! download faster damn you!!!!!!