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I played 3 hours of Mass Effect: Andromeda - Thoughts so far

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V

vivekTO

Member
shinobi602 said:
There's actually a nice system similar to Horizon! Quests are broken up into main quests, loyalty and sidequests, and "tasks" which are smaller, generic things (I assume).
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Thanks.

I think we need to create an early impression thread or a mod could change this thread into it, that way people will stop focusing on The motives of the OP and will discuss the Game actually. Anyone??
 
J

Jakoo

Member
shinobi602 said:
So, to continue, as a *huge* Mass Effect fan that's been following the series since the very first trailer went public in 2005, it feels like Mass Effect to me.
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This is exactly what I want to hear. Thanks for your detailed write up Shinobi.

I am curious about what the performance is like on the regular PS4 and a few more impressions before I preorder though. The trailers have been too all over the place for me to know for sure.
 
Ivory Samoan

Ivory Samoan

Gold Member
shinobi602 said:
Hmm, I wasn't paying a *ton* of attention to the XP gains on the side of the screen, but it's certainly more in line with ME1/ME3. I got XP after killing groups of enemies, discovering things in the environment. Very happy it's not arbitrary like ME2 (gaining a ton of XP after finishing a mission)
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Awesome impressions Shinobi! Great stuff mate.

This part in particular tickles my stoked vibes, that was my #1 bugbear with ME2, made me yearn for ME1-3 style XP gains, it's a thing I need in my RPGs.

Can't wait for early access......this blitz from EA marketing I think might actually be genius, where as it felt 100% bungled about 1 month ago.
 
V

Van Bur3n

Member
How was squadmate AI in combat? I was liking everything I saw about this game's combat up until hearing you no longer have control of their powers, and instead they now only play the role of primers and detonators. This put me off quite a bit.

How reliable are they in these new roles? Are they too intrusive when you're trying to use your own powers? Do they not do enough on their own?
 
Z

Zesh

Member
The bit about the side quest actually having some narrative to it excites me the most, as side quests are what I was most worried about after DA:I.

Thanks for the impressions.
 
L

Lingitiz

Member
Lakitu said:
Can you summarise?
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He's having a hard time getting into it because of the feel of the combat, animations, and AI. Thinks the basic shooting system is really unsatisfying and soft cover sucks. It has very simple encounters, unresponsive base movement and slow animation startup. It sounds like he thinks overall that the mechanics are dated and that other people in the office with past series experience are willing to overlook these things, whereas he isn't because he hasn't played the past games. He says the UI and menus are really overwrought and hard to get anything done in an efficient manner.

Says the story is totally uninteresting to start. He also said the early setup is poor, predictable, and the stakes are really unearned, although the dialogue and typical Bioware structure seems fine.

Last note is that other people he's talked to say PC is the way to go, unsurprisingly.
 
L

Lakitu

st5fu
Lingitiz said:
He's having a hard time getting into it because of the feel of the combat, animations, and AI. Thinks the basic shooting system is really unsatisfying and soft cover sucks. It has very simple encounters, unresponsive base movement and slow animation startup. It sounds like he thinks overall that the mechanics are dated and that other people in the office with past series experience are willing to overlook these things, whereas he isn't because he hasn't played the past games. He says the UI and menus are really overwrought and hard to get anything done in an efficient manner.

He also said the early setup is poor and the stakes are really unearned, although the dialogue and typical Bioware structure seems fine.

Last note is that other people he's talked to say PC is the way to go, unsurprisingly.
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Thanks!
 
A

Apoleptica

Banned
Shinobi gave Dragon Age Inquisition a stamp of approval as well, and that game was a slog. I'd suggest people wait past the honeymoon period with this game before buying.
 
O

OrbitalBeard

Member
Apoleptica said:
Shinobi gave Dragon Age Inquisition a stamp of approval as well, and that game was a slog. I'd suggest people wait past the honeymoon period with this game before buying.
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To be fair, tons of people did. My fear is that this is Inquisition in space, but I'd be very happy to be wrong about that.
 
C

Crossing Eden

Hello, my name is Yves Guillemot, Vivendi S.A.'s Employee of the Month!
OE948Je.gif
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This actually is way better than I expected for facial animation of custom characters. Yay.
 
S

ScaryShark

Banned
Thank you for this write up!

I've really appreciated your hints/info over the past year on the game. You're a great twitter follow too. It's made the wait for Andromeda a bit more palatable.
 
B

Buckle

Member
Apoleptica said:
Shinobi gave Dragon Age Inquisition a stamp of approval as well, and that game was a slog. I'd suggest people wait past the honeymoon period with this game before buying.
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As someone who enjoyed Inquisition and can't wait for the next after playing Trespasser, not seeing a problem.

DAI isn't objectively a bad game. There are a lot of people that loved it, warts and all.
 
S

ScaryShark

Banned
peanutbutterlatte said:
Oh come on guys

Any GAF poster could reccommend this game and I'd still wait for a consensus. It's just the smarter thing to do after ME3.
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The consensus for Mass Effect 3 was 90+ on metacritic. If the ending was that big of a deal for you, is the 'consensus' really going to matter for this?
 
BiGBoSSMk23

BiGBoSSMk23

A company being excited for their new game is a huge slap in the face to all the fans that liked their old games.
Does the gameplay feel like a power trip as opposed to frantic yet balanced?

The reason I ask this is because the gameplay previews show the MC jetpacking and casting all sorts of "tech spells", while the enemies pew pew at you from cover.

Is there enemy variety, even in regards to moveset and arsenal among the grunts?
 
N

Nabbis

Member
Apoleptica said:
Shinobi gave Dragon Age Inquisition a stamp of approval as well, and that game was a slog. I'd suggest people wait past the honeymoon period with this game before buying.
Click to expand...

It was like having sex for the first time. First you think it was the most awesome thing in your life and then in retrospect it was just horrible.
 
S

SprachBrooks

Member
Nabbis said:
It was like having sex for the first time. First you think it was the most awesome thing in your life and then in retrospect it was just horrible.
Click to expand...

Speak for yourself. (But generally, you're right –– everything that came after it just illustrate how deficient that game was.)
 
S

shinobi602

Member
Rapier said:
Does the gameplay feel like a power trip as opposed to frantic yet balanced?

The reason I ask this is because the gameplay previews show the MC jetpacking and casting all sorts of "tech spells", while the enemies pew pew at you from cover.

Is there enemy variety, even in regards to moveset and arsenal among the grunts?
Click to expand...
I haven't gotten far enough to see a ton of enemy variety, just the standard Kett grunt soldier, their doglike pets, and the bigger Kett guys that hold something like mini guns so to speak. I'm playing on normal first so it's not been too difficult (similar to past ME games).

That said I've played MP and there's a ton of enemy variety. Some sit back and hit you, others rush you, some have crazy bubble shields, projectile attacks, cloak, or one hit kills. I'm sure that'll translate over to the single player once I encounter them. I don't see how it wouldn't.
 
B

Brokun

Member
How much agency does the player have during conversations? One thing that bothered me about Mass Effect 3 a lot is that the majority of conversations would carry on without player input or choice as opposed to ME1 and 2.
 
A

Apoleptica

Banned
OrbitalBeard said:
To be fair, tons of people did. My fear is that this is Inquisition in space, but I'd be very happy to be wrong about that.
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I was one of those people, I wanted to love it. I was a big fan of the original Dragon Age and previous Bioware games. I even waited after reviews came out. The game unfortunately didn't deliver. After that and Mass Effect 3 I'm more wary of bioware games now. I'm still hoping ME:A is good as I'm a huge fan of science fiction.

Xando said:
Dragon Age won multiple GOTY awards so i guess this is a pretty good thing?
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It didn't really have much competition to be honest.

Impulsor said:
It was a slog, for you.
Click to expand...

For me, and many others.
 
D

Darkstorne

Member
Lingitiz said:
It sounds like he thinks overall that the mechanics are dated and that other people in the office with past series experience are willing to overlook these things, whereas he isn't because he hasn't played the past games. He says the UI and menus are really overwrought and hard to get anything done in an efficient manner.

Says the story is totally uninteresting to start. He also said the early setup is poor, predictable, and the stakes are really unearned, although the dialogue and typical Bioware structure seems fine.
Click to expand...

These are my main fears, perfectly summarised, and the reason I'll be reading a LOT of reviews before buying this game.

Something that's been REALLY bothering me ever since I played Mass Effect 2 and immediately felt like I was going through the motions is this over-reliance on the "Bioware structure" and how pretty much everyone has been willing to look past it for years, critics and gamers alike. I feel like we're finally getting to the point where critics are not going to let it slide much longer, but for the most part gamers are still oblivious to the dated systems and flaws, many of which are so obvious that most people don't even notice them.

I've already seen one of my biggest Bioware pet peeves in a gameplay stream of Andromeda: player calls down a drop pod interface in the wild, used for various functions like changing loadouts. Uses said drop pod to switch out one of their squad mates (Liam) for the Turian squad mate instead. Liam vanishes, Vetra takes his place. WHY ARE WE STILL DOING THIS!? How about instead of sodding off back to the Normandy 2.0 you remain useful and we make this a four man team? How about everyone comes along instead of two thirds of my squad mates twiddling their thumbs on board the ship while Ryder/Shepard and a mere two other squaddies engage in a mission of such importance that literally the entire galaxy is hinging on its success!?

I mean... fuck. It gets to me waaaay more than it should, and I know a lot of people say "gameplay trumps immersion", but for a good developer this REALLY shouldn't be a binary choice. They're not restricted by hardware that can't render more than three squadmates on screen at a time anymore, or process all of their AI simultaneously. I swear to god they're so stuck in their "Bioware structure" rut that they've become completely incapable of considering a game design that moves things forwards for once. Part of me really hopes this game gets roasted for relying on this crutch, because it's becoming pretty clear to me that until Bioware gets that crutch pulled out from under them and cracked over their collective heads they aren't going to let it go.
 
N

nelsonroyale

Member
Thanks for the impressions Shinobi. I am conflicted on this one, since I played all the previous games but was not a fan of ME 2 and ME3, mainly because of the very limited exploration in either. They didn't really feel like voyages of discovery. I am not sure what to think of this one yet.

Mifec said:
In what? Making boring sidequests and mmo exploration? I replayed it in January.
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Yeah, I completed it when it was released, and it felt like a very average experience. My main issues were around the points system to access missions, the quality of the side missions, the sparse world, and the poor story, particularly the villain who was a howler.
 
G

gogojira

Member
Thanks for the impressions, got it preordered but unfortunately can't start until I wrap up my journey in Hyrule. Too many good games!

I think what I'm most hopeful for is feeling less like I'm running through a series of corridors like I did in ME3. I'm hoping he various planets we visit have some wide open terrain to explore.
 
OmegaDL50

OmegaDL50

Member
gogojira said:
Thanks for the impressions, got it preordered but unfortunately can't start until I wrap up my journey in Hyrule. Too many good games!

I think what I'm most hopeful for is feeling less like I'm running through a series of corridors like I did in ME3. I'm hoping he various planets we visit have some wide open terrain to explore.
Click to expand...

Tell me about it. I still have yet to finish Yakuza 0, Nioh, and Horizon...and now a new Mass Effect game is dropped on us.

Worse still I never finished the KH games and KH 1 + 2 compilation is coming out at the end of the month on the 28th, and then a few days later is Persona 5 on the 4th.

There is too many damn games coming out and not enough time. 2017 is unreal.
 
A

Azerth

Member
shinobi602 said:
*****Potential spoilers*******


So some background: I'm playing a copy of the game on my PS4 Pro and have the latest patch update (1.03). Played for a little less than 3 hours last night before I realized it was 3 AM and I had to be at work by 8 😂.

First off the performance is great. I'm no Digital Foundry but it seems to hold a steady 30FPS 99% of the time. There was some slowdown during the very first planet I landed on (Habitat 7) because of some effects going on, but quickly went right back up. There were no slowdowns during firefights, biotics, shooting, or anything else like that which is great.

I only noticed two instances of weirdness. One was during a conversation I was in and Liam's left arm was held up in a position as if he was using his omnitool and his head was tilted towards me the whole time. It was actually more funny than anything lol. The other was when I was walking around the first area on the Nexus and a Turian popped in out of nowhere, however I think that was just because I was panning the camera really fast. These things come off as forgiveable to me because of the size and scope of the game. They never hindered my feelings about what I was playing. I absolutely adored something like The Witcher 3 even with all of its hiccups so I don't really focus on these things as much as others might.

So, to continue, as a *huge* Mass Effect fan that's been following the series since the very first trailer went public in 2005, it feels like Mass Effect to me. I hold the series dear, so I was slightly worried if the game could reignite that feeling I had with the first game. So far, it does. Since I was playing really late at night and had work early this morning, I didn't mess around with the character creator so I went with default Scott Ryder. I usually always use defaults first and then custom characters in later playthroughs.

I felt the game started off on a strong "THIS IS A NEW MASS EFFECT" note. What I mean is that it felt similar to the original Mass Effect where you start aboard the Normandy, talk with a few people, meet Anderson, shit goes sideways you're down to Eden Prime. I was awakened on the Hyperion, conversations happen, shit goes down, and I met up with my dad to see what happened. The golden world we were supposed to colonize, Habitat 7 (let's call it H7 for short) looks like nothing we thought it would in scans, so we head down. Before that though, I got a chance to put on my armor with other bloaks in a sort of locker room, chat them up to see what's on their mind, and make a stop to see dad's "lucky rock" before heading down to H7. The whole time, Scott Ryder was actually fairly expressive in his face during most conversations. Not as good as something like Horizon's Aloy, but then again you have to remember they have to account for tons of variation in custom characters vs one singular character like Aloy. Facial animation isn't the best by any means, sometimes robotic, but for a game of this size and scope I found them fine. If you're used to things like creepy Shepard smile and all the weirdness in the trilogy, you'll be fine with this. What I liked so much was that conversations amongst the crew, Ryder, Cora, etc felt *natural* and flowed nicely instead of feeling like recited lines.

So I took a shuttle down to H7, and I was in gameplay camera the whole time inside the shuttle. I actually loved that it wasn't a cutscene but rather in-game. It drew me into the scene much more. Of course something happens on the way down and I was thrown in a little gameplay sequence of falling down to the planet's surface. It was an awesome little moment.

Once on the surface, H7 felt really alien and otherworldly. There were large rock formations floating in the air with forms of electric current flowing through them, strange looking plants and fauna, lightning strikes. The lightning almost killed me at one point. You can tell where lightning was about to strike by seeing small amounts of rocks on the ground start to float in a specific spot, followed by electricity building up. I immediately got Eden Prime vibes, though H7 feels much more alien. I was cut off from the rest of my crew, and I had to explore the environment to find them and find where my father is.

Scanning is actually fun and feels worthwhile to me because I enjoy learning more about the world. I scanned weird plants, little containters or pieces of tech, alien structures and Ryder and Liam would comment on each, giving narration and backstory that I felt was rewarding. I was surprised by how large the prologue area was (H7). It was fairly intricate in design, with lots of little nooks and crannies, so I felt compelled to explore more. This is when you first meet the Kett. The Andromeda Initiative established that first contact protocol dictates peace unless fired upon or attacked first. These two Kett were surrounding a fellow crewmate that had crashed, and I was given the option to approach with my hands up in peace or take no chances and attack them. I decided to approach peacefully, they took notice of me and started shouting in their language which sounds really neat and alien. One decided to attack the other crewmate so I said the hell with that and shot 'em up lol. It was another cool moment that made me feel like I'm actually in a whole new galaxy and I don't know what the hell's going on, are these aliens friendly or hostile, etc.

So I continued to explore the area and there's loot! Glorious loot. It didn't feel like redundant like ME1 (here's a 30th Stiletto pistol!), rather they were things like weapon mods, resources (that you can trade in with merchants later), etc. Mainly, not junk. I was immediately hit with optional side tasks to do on top of the main quest of finding my dad and my team. These ranged from investigating a cave, a crashed alien ship, a building/structure, etc. They were off the beaten path, and I was immediately thinking "please don't be like DAI, please don't be like DAI". So I approached the crashed ship and there were little things scattered around that told their own little back stories and when I investigated the ship, Liam and Ryder again both commented on it and what it might be. I continued and found that cave, again completely optional, wondering what could be inside. Turned out that among all the death and destruction of the planet, there was life inside. An old tree endured, green, surrounded by vegetation and plant life. I scanned it and the surrounding and again Ryder and Liam had a conversation together about it.

The next stop was that old building/structure I mentioned. I was thinking it would probably be a room or two but no, it was fully rendered inside with hallways, multiple rooms, a locked door and alien technology scattered around. There was a lot of narration in here and some discoveries made. These things put a smile on my face because they genuinely didn't feel like throwaways. I'm really big on story in my games and I loved that I got a lot of narration and conversation out of each. I feel like BioWare stepped up their game in terms of environmental storytelling. Felt rewarding.

Gameplay animations when exploring and in combat are a big step up over previous games. My Ryder's body would tilt and his gait would change naturally whenever I'd switch direction while jogging or going up and down steeper inclines.

There was also a little moment where I was being a little wreckless, jetpacking boosting everywhere, and almost fell off a cliff. Liam saw that and said "Whoa! Watch your step there!" out of nowhere. I could have never done that and heard that line. Really cool.

So to continue on, I found my downed crew and we were then attached by a Kett dropship. Things get dicey if you try to attack them rambo style out in the open. They can quickly focus on you and take you out, so I tried to play strategically, using cover. Cover is dynamic now and I had zero problems running, getting up close to cover and seeing Ryder automatically duck down. Good stuff. Mobility is the biggest difference in combat. The jetpack is a ton of fun to use, especially combining it with a downward nova strike. Love seeing enemies go flying with that. Combat just feels a lot more satisfying, and has that "umph" so to speak.

I won't get into spoilers about what happens later in the mission, but I also want to note that during a conversation with his dad, Ryder would naturally bring up those discoveries I made (that were completely optional) and dad Ryder would comment on that like "Huh, nice job" etc and it flowed well. It was a neat moment that made me feel good about exploring off the beaten path.

There was a bunch of combat in another structure that felt well designed with lots of spaces for cover and pathways to flank enemies. Also good stuff.

I probably took longer than most in this whole area because I loved taking in *everything* there is to see and exploring every damn nook and cranny lol. With that mission over, I found myself back on Hyperion chatting with Cora and Liam. I will say these two are immediately much more likeable to me than Ashley and Kaidan, and I didn't mind the latter two really. Liam is charismatic, willing to take risks and kind of just goes with the flow. Cora is more rigid and wants to get things done, but I was pleasantly surprised by how soft she would be in some situations. The dialogue all flowed well.

I got to the Nexus after all that (basically this game's Citadel) and had to call it a night. And speaking of the Nexus, I'm a little disappointed that there's no ambient music while walking around. Bioware's said that was a conscious decision by design. The themes from the trilogy like the Presidium, the wards, C-Sec etc becamse iconic for me and I remember them fondly. They really helped set the tone and atmosphere of the Citadel so it's sad there's nothing like that here.

All in all, I can't wait to continue on later today. It was pretty addictive, and as a Mass Effect fan that loved the trilogy and was hoping this would turn out well, I'm so relieved. It's Mass Effect. 100%.

Also side note, the music in general is fucking awesome. Lots of synth, some bass. Oozes a bit of ME1.

Feel free to ask questions!
Click to expand...

Can you say how many gigs the game is?
 
G

gogojira

Member
OmegaDL50 said:
Tell me about it. I still have yet to finish Yakuza 0, Nioh, and Horizon...and now a new Mass Effect game is dropped on us.

Worse still I never finished the KH games and KH 1 + 2 compilation is coming out at the end of the month on the 28th, and then a few days later is Persona 5 on the 4th.

There is too many damn games coming out and not enough time. 2017 is unreal.
Click to expand...

I've yet to even pick up the three you listed, two of which I consider must-plays. And Nier just released, too. :|
 
W

Wedzi

Banned
shinobi602 said:
All in all, I can't wait to continue on later today. It was pretty addictive, and as a Mass Effect fan that loved the trilogy and was hoping this would turn out well, I'm so relieved. It's Mass Effect. 100%.

Also side note, the music in general is fucking awesome. Lots of synth, some bass. Oozes a bit of ME1.
Click to expand...

My man. Scrolled down the the bottom just to get the jest and all I needed to read is right there. God Damn I'm ready. Gonna play through some of ME 1 this week to prepare myself.
 
R

RedlineRonin

Member
Thanks for the write up, Shinobi. I was in long before reading this (also a huge ME and BW fan) but it's good to know that the gap since the original trilogy, Casey Hudson no longer at the helm, and the shift towards the "DA:I model" hasn't diluted what made the series great.

I think I might need to get on that PC origin access trial so i can get after this on Thursday. Man, this March is too good to be true.
 
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