[Megathread] Mass Effect Andromeda

[Derah]

Isn't this old news by now?

Yes, the internet is populated by idiots who hide behind anonymity and think they can do whatever they want. There is nothing we can do about that other than report to the proper authorities for the more serious ones. Jim Sterling got death threats too for giving Zelda BotW a 7/10.

I was mostly bringing it up, because so many people brought up that unsubstantiated rumor here (including self-appointed "experts") that only one animator with zero experience had worked on the animation on Mass Effect Andromeda, when in reality, it was completely false.

In other news, I did a rough estimate based on the speed at which my game is downloading. Currently at 35%. At this current speed, I estimate that I'll be able to play it by friday afternoon.

This is officially the longest week of 2017 for me.

[Mirishka]

I was mostly bringing it up, because so many people brought up that unsubstantiated rumor here (including self-appointed "experts") that only one animator with zero experience had worked on the animation on Mass Effect Andromeda, when in reality, it was completely false.

In other news, I did a rough estimate based on the speed at which my game is downloading. Currently at 35%. At this current speed, I estimate that I'll be able to play it by friday afternoon.

This is officially the longest week of 2017 for me.

You can start playing the game at around 40% install, btw.

[nekobaka]

Had the tampering issue happen once with potentially related was the display FPS command which worked fine during trial and a various reloading and mission checkpoints. Was able to reload no problem. Hope you can fix your issue. I also hope mods will be allowed after.

[May90]

Auto saves are frequent enough for this to not be much of an issue during regular exploration and manual saves still exist, the problem is imo rather that the game can be kinda cranky about giving you checkpoints during non main story missions involving combat and waves of enemies, and that it disables that manual save button in these missions even if you're not fighting anything at the time.

There is a mission with enemy dropships on the ice world with about 10 fairly substantial waves one after another if you count the bunch already on the ground that spawns as you get into near melee range, and Insanity mode isn't a pushover either. Not a single checkpoint throughout most of it.

The biggest problem I have is not with having to reload upon dying, but with distractions that have me do something in the middle of the conversation/cutscene, so I miss a few crucial parts. In the past, I would save before every conversation and simply reload the save in case this happens... As it is, given that the autosave may have been made 10 minutes back, I am strongly discouraged from doing that, and have to accept that I am going to miss some things.

For example, just when I was watching the long cutscene after the long final fight on Habitat 7, I had to alt-tab and respond to a few messages. I am not going to replay the whole section, and the game doesn't tell me explicitly at what point the last autosave took place. So, I had to grit my teeth and move on, watching that section of the cutscene on Youtube.

Can't say it is THAT much of an issue, it is just an unnecessary annoyance they could easily do without. I am genuinely interested in their reasons to remove quicksave from the game and to not let the player do manual saving during the priority missions... I can somewhat understand such design in Doom, a game in which combat and difficulty are the prime features of the game, and save-abusing would break the balance completely. But these features not being present in a story-based game, which even features Narrative difficulty intended for those who don't care much about the balance and the combat - come on!

[Derah]

You can start playing the game at around 40% install, btw.

But is it really playable in that state?

Because blizzard says the same, when downloading their games, once the bar is yellow the game is technically "playable", but for me, its anything but. Textures fail to load, complete audio clips are missing, loading screens take anywhere from 10 to 30 minutes, etc. And its not limited to online games like Wow, or Diablo, even purely single-player games like starcraft behaved this way when I tried to play them before they were fully downloaded.

Is andromeda going to be in the same state if I try to play at 40%? because if so, I prefer to wait and have an ideal first few hours, than have my first initial hours marred by missing textures, no audio, crashes, etc.

[Lahis]

But is it really playable in that state?

Because blizzard says the same, when downloading their games, once the bar is yellow the game is technically "playable", but for me, its anything but. Textures fail to load, complete audio clips are missing, loading screens take anywhere from 10 to 30 minutes, etc. And its not limited to online games like Wow, or Diablo, even purely single-player games like starcraft behaved this way when I tried to play them before they were fully downloaded.

Is andromeda going to be in the same state if I try to play at 40%? because if so, I prefer to wait and have an ideal first few hours, than have my first initial hours marred by missing textures, no audio, crashes, etc.

Most streaming installs start from the beginning portion of the game, but with your connection I wouldn't gamble it at 42% yet. You'll likely have low res textures and the download speed just can't keep up with your playing speed if Nexus/Eos/some other later parts aren't finished downloading and installing yet.

[Derah]

Most streaming installs start from the beginning portion of the game, but with your connection I wouldn't gamble it at 42% yet. You'll likely have low res textures and the download speed just can't keep up with your playing speed if Nexus/Eos/some other later parts aren't finished downloading and installing yet.

I see. Then I guess I can wait until the installation is at 60% before giving it a try then, at 60% I'd like to think that at the very least, the trial portion of the game (Habitat 7, Nexus, Eos) are 100% installed, and those should provide me with enough content to wait out the remaining 40%. I tend to be a VERY thorough completionist.

- - - Updated - - -

Anyone knows what the "Deep Space Pack DLC" is about? I have it on my download queue, and I have no idea why. Google yields nothing.

[Darkeon]

Anyone knows what the "Deep Space Pack DLC" is about? I have it on my download queue, and I have no idea why. Google yields nothing.

The Pre-Order bonus item is called "Deep Space Explorer Armour"; So it might be that.. not 100% sure though, so if someone has a clearer answer please do correct me.

[minteK917]

What can you tell me about the exploration aspect, and the similarities with DA:Inquisition? I loved Inquisition, but when I played the trial, the game didn't give me Inquisition vibe, it gave me ME1 vibe (which I think is cool).
Does the game have that ME1 feeling throughout the whole game? Did you find the new galaxy as interesting to explore?

Also, how much do you think is the length of a playthrough? My 2 playthroughs of Inquisition were 120+ hours each (without the dlcs), is that possible here?

Its much better then inquisition when it comes to actually exploring. A good way to describe it would actually be not doing the mistake DAI did with side quest. Theres really not much of go collect X crap. Usually collect X crap is just things youll do yourself for craft along the way to more interesting side quests (mostly more interesting then the main arc as well).

This feels like ME1 in the way that planets are mostly open space for you to visit. Each planet has multiple zone you can unlock and visit. But its much more refined and these place changes as you solve their problems, growing your colonies.

There is two plot, one thats really boring and youll consider the main arc with a boring bad guy. The other is just your pathfinder fixing shit and making colonies grow. That second plot is actually enjoyable and mostly achieved throught side quests, which are often way more interesting then the main plot.

To be honest had the main plot just been about making those colonies the game might have been better even. It would be a totally different kind of mass effect, but since their attempt at mass effect style story ends up pretty uninspired and boring, i think a different style would have served the game better. Its clear they put alot of effort into the side quest and the colonization aspect of the game.

[Deleted]

I think my Ryder looks fine.

[MonsieuRoberts]

10 hours in and I'm still surprised by how many of these colonists enjoy staring at their own eyelids mid-conversation. Still totally enthralled by the combat though. I can't wait for bigger, badder mixes of enemies.

Any word on when the first bug fixes will hit? I still sorely miss Quicksaving.

[Derah]

Still totally enthralled by the combat though. I can't wait for bigger, badder mixes of enemies.

Wait till you get your first encounter with an Architect. I myself, can't wait to tackle one of those bad boys to the ground.

And if you're sitting there, scratching your head, going "What's an architect?" Here's your answer:



THAT's an architect.

[MonsieuRoberts]

I'm gonna shoot so many bullets.

[I Push Buttons]

Wait till you get your first encounter with an Architect. I myself, can't wait to tackle one of those bad boys to the ground.

And if you're sitting there, scratching your head, going "What's an architect?" Here's your answer:


THAT's an architect.

I'm fighting the Eos one right now on Insane.

It takes so effin long and I keep dying deep in the fight and needing to start the whole thing over. " :'(

I am soldier with a maxed out turbocharge, maxed out AR, etc... A tier 3 N7 Valkyrie (two shot burst assault rifle that does 180 damage per shot with the mods I have on it)... And even with that stuff it takes me a solid 5 or 6 magazines to break his leg one time... And you have to do it TWICE... PER PHASE. And then another 2-3 mags to break his mouth. And I have been through three phases (I assume that's all of them, one per leg/tentacle). AKA that's a lot of fokin bullets.

The first two phases haven't been that hard because when he spawns a bunch of Remnant robots, he stops doing stuff until you kill them. In the third phase though... He spawns even more robots AND keeps shooting at you while you fight them.

And if you get caught out when he does his machine gun thing you get legit one shotted. And you can't just chill behind a wall cowering and killing the robots away from him, because his little nanite looking blue ball of death he shoots goes through walls.

Shits getting frustrating. He better drop phat loot.

EDIT:
Get fucked.

The loot was not phat tho :'( Not for a soldier anyways.

[Sunseeker]

The Pre-Order bonus item is called "Deep Space Explorer Armour"; So it might be that.. not 100% sure though, so if someone has a clearer answer please do correct me.

It is, some of the DLC is named very oddly. But fuck if I know where to find it in game. It's not in my wardrobe, it's not in my schematics, it's not in my research and I don't see it on the vendors, also pretty sure it didn't show up in my mail either. I also apparently can't find a picture of it online, so I don't even know what to look for!

[I Push Buttons]

It is, some of the DLC is named very oddly. But fuck if I know where to find it in game. It's not in my wardrobe, it's not in my schematics, it's not in my research and I don't see it on the vendors, also pretty sure it didn't show up in my mail either. I also apparently can't find a picture of it online, so I don't even know what to look for!

Go to your desk in your room on the Tempest (right side when entering). There is like a special delivery thing that gives you all the pre-order/deluxe weapons and armor.

[May90]

I can't help it, but whenever I look at Liam, I think of Tosh from Starcraft. And expect heavy Jamaican accent. Although his personality seem more like that of Vega... Dang it!

And Ryder's voice sounds very much like Femshep's. Might be just me, but I still have the impression of playing Shepard from Mass Effect 1 all over again.

[MonsieuRoberts]

I was feeling that there's something wrong with the Nexus, and I just nailed it; There's no ambient music. Just the sounds of colonists.

Doesn't evoke that same feeling of being lost in the Citadel without the ambience. It's such a "Mass Effect" thing, the synth music:



God, it gives me chills. So good.

Edit: I had to go find Noveria's ambiance too. :>



I haven't listened to the Andromeda OST 'cause spoilers, but I hope there's at least 2-3 good tracks.

[istroxpro]

due to retarded animation pathfinder is now a synonim to autie.

[Deleted]

Because its relevant.

Summary: A LOT of people have been dropping very unsubstantiated rumors that there was only 1 animator in Andromeda, and she was unexperienced, and this is why the animations are of such a poor quality. This alone is bad enough, as none of it is true, the animator in question is an employee of EA, not Bioware, and Andromeda had a large department of animators working on the game.

But on top of that, toxic, insecure, cowardly little sociopaths, decided to kick things up a notch, and bombard this woman with harassment, death threats, and far more flung her way. Because she's a woman, no other reason. They just decided to project their insecurities into a witch-hunt and put the blame on someone, facts be damned.

So there, the whole "bioware hired a single unexperienced woman to animate their shit" is nothing more than a false and unsubstanciated rumor instigated by insecure little twerps who know as much about their shit as those who kept preaching that Manveer was also lead writer when he in fact never wrote a scrap of line in any bioware game to date.

Because she´s a woman? tinfoil? but you are right. there cant be a single person responsible for everything.

and thx for your anwsers