Mass Effect: Andromeda: The Thread

Monogram

@Tinuviel said in Mass Effect: Andromeda: The Thread:

@Ganymede Ripped from ME:3, run through a 1990s graphics processor, and then reconverted to modern hardware. Badly. In Russia.

Maybe, but I have heard that working with the Frostbite engine made things a little difficult, I don't know if they could just take an assert that ran on a different engine and slap it onto another.

Also, I could be completely wrong on that, I just /heard/ that using Frostbite was a huge pain in the ass.

Ganymede

@Monogram said in Mass Effect: Andromeda: The Thread:

Also, I could be completely wrong on that, I just /heard/ that using Frostbite was a huge pain in the ass.

You choose fruit, you live with fruit.

Frostbite was built for FPSs, I get that. Their facial textures aren't great, and I suppose my complaint is -- why not? Everything else was fucking upgraded, and the faces for NHL '17 looked a lot better on PS4.

The Witcher III and The Last of Us Remastered looked better, and they are older. I'll give the game a pass because the faces are more customizable in Frostbite, and there is far more dialogue, but it still kind of bugged me.

Monogram

@Ganymede said in Mass Effect: Andromeda: The Thread:

@Monogram said in Mass Effect: Andromeda: The Thread:

The Witcher III and The Last of Us Remastered looked better, and they are older. I'll give the game a pass because the faces are more customizable in Frostbite, and there is far more dialogue, but it still kind of bugged me.

You sure about that? I mean, when I made my Ryder, I noticed a particular /lack/ of choices when it came to making a face. Not when you compare it to the previous titles. Or at least, it just seemed that way.

Speaking of Witcher 3, went back and played it this past week after not touching it for a year. Reminded myself of what a damn amazing game it is. And pleased to know there will be a Witcher 4, just not as Geralt. Likely after Cyberpunk 2077.

Ganymede

@Monogram said in Mass Effect: Andromeda: The Thread:

You sure about that? I mean, when I made my Ryder, I noticed a particular /lack/ of choices when it came to making a face. Not when you compare it to the previous titles. Or at least, it just seemed that way.

I meant "more customizable" relative to The Witcher III and The Last of Us Remastered.

Monogram

Oh well, yeah, in that regard, you're absolutely right.

Vorpal

So... here are my impressions/review of the game.

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

I came to this game with the totally wrong expectations.

In all fairness, it was Bioware itself that gave those expectations to me. The way the game had been marketed so far (as little as it was), with the interviews and whatnot, I heard two common threads going:

"You can explore EVERYWHERE."
And
"You can bang EVERYONE."

I want to say , as a preface, that I am a long-time Ultima fan and player. I love Origin. I also loved Maxis and Westwood. I saw in real-time how these studios were acquired by Electronic Arts and began releasing rushed, incomplete and oftentimes terrible sequels after the acquisition, until EA took the studios to the back shed and shot them dead.

Bioware, so far, seemed to be resisting the taint of EA. But when I saw the very... bizarre releases about Andromeda, I had a fear. A fear that the EA taint had finally taken.Still, I thought to myself, if Mass Effect had to go down the crapper further (after that third game ending, whoo!) at least it looked like it could be a fun, kick-up-your-heels over-the-top ending.

Explore everywhere. Bang Everyone.

Come on, people. If it had been true, think about it: Bioware could have created the first James T. Kirk: Space Exploration and Space Venereal Disease simulator. And that would have been one hell of a hilariously awesome way to go.

Unfortunately, that turned out to be only so many Molyneaux acorns.

What I found was a buggy, mostly-unfinished game with characters giving me the thousand-yard stare, who walked like they hadn't gotten the message that dildos and bedposts are not the same thing, and had the facial expressiveness of Hello Kitty, pretty terrible dialogue... and rather restricted exploration (the hell, that is all we get to see of Aya?) And that 'bang everyone' hilarity I was hoping for, in order for my ~~Shepard~~ Ryder to have a hilarious space harem so I could rechristen the Tempest into the U.S.S. Austin Powers? Yeah. If you happen to want to play a gay male Ryder you get two romance options, the most boring of them all to boot, and not a single companion.

The. Fuck.

Seriously, Bioware, when Saints Row IV can provide me with a wider and more considerate choice gamut (even if it is tongue-in-cheek) than the allegedly 'We are serious storytellers' company, you've got a problem here.

So the rollicking hilarious crash into the sun I was hoping this game would be was just... a crash into the sun.
No, check that, because it wasn't even that spectacular. It was just a crash into a boring brown asteroid with no distinctive features.

In my book, if you're going to go out, you go big, and Mass Effect: Andromeda feels so safe, it could be the goddamned Safety Dance.

The combat is improved, when the camera and the control scheme don't get in the way (or you fall through the floor), but everything else from the story (Chosen One. Again.) to the worlds (one new friendly alien species, and the Kett are such a forgettable amalgam of the previous threats that they are boring), to the architecture (seriously, fuckers? Every bit of architect in this new Galaxy is similar to the architecture from the Milky Way? Can't we have ONE precursor civilization discover the use of curves as a major architectural feature? How about colors other than metallic grey-green?) feels like Electronic Arts definitely was looking at its hands and clapping for safety. The concept sketches show something that was so different, took some risks...

And then, I can already see it, Electronic Arts came in and went "Change baaaad, make everything more like other game!" and that was the end of it. It wasn't as bad as Ultima IX, but the franchise is certainly limping that way. I'd say it has achieved Ultima VIII status. May god have mercy on our souls for the next offering from the hollow husk that is Bioware, full of Electronic Arts' maggotlings. It might just be the thing that outdoes UIX.

The menu system, though, is a dumpster fire.

For the record, I have a history with Electronic Arts, where I have seen their incompetence first-hand. I shared my history on Portalarium's forums, but I have also linked it on Pastebin, so this post doesn't become enormous... buuut I figured it would also give context to how much I do not believe in Electronic Arts, nor in the survival of any company acquired by them.

And I think Bioware has now shown the signs that there's a spot behind the shed marked just for them.

I have to admit that I haven't bothered to play after the patch, because my major gripes aren't with cosmetic issues. I can live with those, I COULD live with those if the game itself made up for it.
But the patch required to bring me back will need to be pretty massive... and it will likely never come.

Ganymede

@Vorpal

What platform are you playing the game on?

The Tree of Woe

@ixokai All other Asari ceased to be interesting to me after the greatness that was Justicar Samara.

We are not worthy.

Vorpal

@Ganymede I'm playing it on the PC. But honestly, my biggest issue is with the story, the way the story is told, the shamefully restricted relationship choices for gay players, and the lack of polish and appearance are only secondary issues to me. I don't care if they make the game look prettier and more polished if it's still the same narrative shit sandwich, if you catch my drift.

Thenomain

@Vorpal

I tried the gay choices in...oh, I can't remember what it was, but it was the same if you were male or female. Who wants that? And yet, this game wasn't finished so I'm disappointed but not surprised that we didn't get more interesting characters.

Monogram

@Vorpal said in Mass Effect: Andromeda: The Thread:

Come on, people. If it had been true, think about it: Bioware could have created the first James T. Kirk: Space Exploration and Space Venereal Disease simulator. And that would have been one hell of a hilariously awesome way to go.

We'll bang, okay?

ArmedCarp

Mass Effect Andromeda is pretty awesome. I just wish the damn font was bigger. I'm in my forties now. Small font is the whole reason I only played about 10 minutes of Witcher 3.

Templari

@Lithium Tech isn't bad, but I find it hard to get away from that remnant drone Peebee makes you.

Ganymede

@Vorpal said in Mass Effect: Andromeda: The Thread:

I'm playing it on the PC. But honestly, my biggest issue is with the story, the way the story is told, the shamefully restricted relationship choices for gay players, and the lack of polish and appearance are only secondary issues to me. I don't care if they make the game look prettier and more polished if it's still the same narrative shit sandwich, if you catch my drift.

I guess? Last time I checked, this wasn't a homosexual/heterosexual free-for-all game, so I honestly can't give two shits as to who or what you can go after. Isn't it reasonable to believe that someone doesn't want to nail Ryder?

(Except Suvi, of course. She and I, we shall be magical.)

The backgrounds are prettier, but the textures are not. I'm playing on the PS4, and what I'm getting looked very polished to me -- far more than Fallout 4, at least. The game's enough to keep me locked into it.

But, sure, FF15's smoother -- much smoother. And The Last of Us has a better story. And I prefer the game controls of ME3 over this overly-complicated hokum-poke-um.

Truly, if I want perfection, I just go and MU*.

Monogram

@Ganymede said in Mass Effect: Andromeda: The Thread:

Truly, if I want perfection, I just go and MU*.

Clearly, we have differing priorities. Because that means dealing with other people.

TNP

Another patch tomorrow, 5/10 around noon eastern.

Tinuviel

@TNP Any patch notes available as yet? I only see a few articles hinting at Multiplayer changes.

TNP

http://blog.bioware.com/2017/05/09/mass-effect-andromeda-patch-1-06-notes/

Thenomain

I will miss the New Email bug. SAM was my AOL.

Monogram

SAM is a dirty liar about mail.