Mass Effect Andromeda

[fistfulofmetal]

I haven't played Andromeda yet so I can't speak to the quality of the game. I do know that the animation stuff that people go on about doesn't bother me at all. If you are going to start basing your enjoyment of games on janky animations then you might as well quit the hobby. Not saying some other people don't have legit criticisms.

I don't agree with this. These games are roughly 60-70% interacting with NPCs. If that core pillar of gameplay is rife with weird animation issues, bad voice acting and writing, characterization, boring lifeless characters... then it becomes a not very fun experience. I didn't jump into Mass Effect 2 because of the awesome cover shooting. I can do that in any number of games. I'm there to see and interact with weird and awesome characters in a cool scifi setting. Mass Effect was pretty unique in that regard.

From the jump ME1 and 2 had that. You didn't have to deal with dull robots. That's all this game has been so far with no indication of change.

[Positive Touch]

I felt like beyond the fact that the sidequests were just boring, everything was just sloppily arranged on the map so there wasn't a natural difficulty curve. your stumble into a quest that you couldn't finish for another 15 hours. and the level select screen didn't have a recommended level label, so I'd get started on a map only to realize 45 minutes in that I couldn't survive it.

[Stoney Mason]

I felt like beyond the fact that the sidequests were just boring, everything was just sloppily arranged on the map so there wasn't a natural difficulty curve. your stumble into a quest that you couldn't finish for another 15 hours. and the level select screen didn't have a recommended level label, so I'd get started on a map only to realize 45 minutes in that I couldn't survive it.

Agreed.

I restarted the game once after getting pretty far because I lost my save file. On a second playthrough I enjoyed it more because I understand what to do and what not to do. It doesn't excuse it. It's definitely a bit of a mess in that regard.

[Stoney Mason]

I haven't played Andromeda yet so I can't speak to the quality of the game. I do know that the animation stuff that people go on about doesn't bother me at all. If you are going to start basing your enjoyment of games on janky animations then you might as well quit the hobby. Not saying some other people don't have legit criticisms.

I don't agree with this. These games are roughly 60-70% interacting with NPCs. If that core pillar of gameplay is rife with weird animation issues, bad voice acting and writing, characterization, boring lifeless characters... then it becomes a not very fun experience. I didn't jump into Mass Effect 2 because of the awesome cover shooting. I can do that in any number of games. I'm there to see and interact with weird and awesome characters in a cool scifi setting. Mass Effect was pretty unique in that regard.

From the jump ME1 and 2 had that. You didn't have to deal with dull robots. That's all this game has been so far with no indication of change.

I said bad animations. Which is what I meant solely. I didn't say bad voice/bad writing/bad characterization, etc. (That being said I think Final Fantasy 15 was pretty rough on all those accounts and still enjoyed it.) If the game has an issue on those fronts then that's an issue. When I play it and if I feel that then I will say it. And if you say that's how you felt about it then that's valid for you. I'll make the call on those specific issues when I play it. I was targeting animations. Lots of games have had jank animations. I don't care about that.

Everybody is always free to have their individual take on games and which aspects are good/bad/deal breaking. It's their personal enjoyment that is at stake.

This is me posting about final fantasy 15 on the bore.

There are elements of the game that look nice but there are equally elements of the game that look kind of shitty. And in general I think the story and the dialogue are kind of awful. I think the world building elements and immersion are kind of nice though which are separate things.  It's a testament to the gameplay and the variety of activities and quests that I find the game enjoyable when I don't really care about the characters or the stories in a JRPG. 

I keep bringing up this game not to try to lift up Andromeda but to say that sometimes the enjoyment of a game isn't simply a summation of technical points. If I play it and I think it sucks I'll say so and why. Same as if I think its mediocre or good. You've had a chance to play it so certainly you have an opinion based on your actual experience.

[Boredfrom]

People are more than willing to ignore bad and janky animations if doesn't break immersion or gameplay flow. The first three ME had a lot of jank but people were able to tolerate it because it was at least good enough. The reason that people are complaining about MEA is that is perceived to be even good enough for the standards of the original trilogy.

[bluemax]

Why didn't they get EA Sports' team to help them? IIRC, A.N.T. was the animation system DICE picked up for Frostbite 2 (and on). Since EA is making DICE and the Frostbite team their in-house engine... surely, they had animation support teams?

I actually interviewed with an EA Sports central tech team that was going to be housed inside Bioware Austin. The thing I learned from that experience is that despite obvious overlaps, there wasn't as much technology sharing as you would expect (Although that team was supposed to fix some of that for sports titles).

[thisismyusername]

That's dumb as hell. The animation systems should be tied to their "middleware" engine/Frostbite team. Those folks fly out to studios and help the teams under EA get to grips with the "DICE way" of using Frostbite and help them solve how to put non-FPS genres on the engine.

[benjipwns]

Animations and a lot of art can often just be bad design choices, not necessarily technical issues. Frostbite wasn't so dangerous to them that they couldn't pull off Inquisition in like two years on it. And do it for both last gen and current gen platforms. And EA has had practically every other similar studio in the company put out a game or six on Frostbite at this point for current gen consoles. And I haven't heard it's a tool mess anymore since they got through 3, which was probably a requirement of the entire company taking on the engine. (Which was EA's plan for Renderware a decade ago but nobody in the company wanted it anymore, not even Criterion.)

I've seen otherwise good animation systems implode because the people making the models ignored half the rules about how they'll interact with everything else. So they change some variable to make it not happen 90% of the time instead of redoing the models and ship.

[MMaRsu]

Well its no surprise since this game was done by a team that havent ever delivered a real game before, only dlc and mp mode

[Cerveza mas fina]

So it looks like they made Dragon Age: Inquisition, but in space. Bummer.

bioware is truly dead and buried if true

Id rather boot up ME1 again and dream of how great the series could have been

[fistfulofmetal]

The thing that really bugs me is that this game barely has a hook. It's opening hours are so dull. It doesn't present an interesting scenario, not really. And the characters are all generic every-men. It's almost like the game has been Uncharted-ed. That style of character works for that series but here it brings everything down.

Within the first hour or so of ME2 it hooks you and presents several distinct characters with distinct characterization. I couldn't tell you a thing about the characters so far in ME:A.

And the style is so plain. God, fucking look at the opening of ME2 with the cool as shit Illusive Man set, the great punchy scene of the Normandy being under attack. Compared to what happens MEA... it's similar but feels so lifeless. UGH.

[Let's Cyber]

I love ME2 but let's not look to the opening of ME2 as a sustainable/replicable example here. It was shocking for the sake of being shocking and wouldn't have worked if not for ME1. It is the video game equivalent of Nightmare on Elm Street 4 where they kill off all the characters from Dream Warriors.

"YOUR SHIP IS GONE.  MOST OF YOUR CREW HAS DIED!  YOU HAVE DIED!!!!"

3edgy5me

[fistfulofmetal]

Even then, looking passed the content of the intro and opening hours. The friggin style and confidence the game opens with is so good.

Hell, even look back to ME1. Arguably the opening of ME:A is meant to be more directly​ reminiscent to ME1. They basically follow the basic same beats. ME:A is laughable is comparison. It feels like a an amateur production when put up next to any of its predecessors.

[Freyj]

another skipped bioware game?

[Cerveza mas fina]

Even then, looking passed the content of the intro and opening hours. The friggin style and confidence the game opens with is so good.

Hell, even look back to ME1. Arguably the opening of ME:A is meant to be more directly​ reminiscent to ME1. They basically follow the basic same beats. ME:A is laughable is comparison. It feels like a an amateur production when put up next to any of its predecessors.

so its like da2 with dai gameplay

[archie4208]

And here I thought Persona was the only awkward high school years simulator.

[Beezy]

Ugh... is multiplayer still great?

[Let's Cyber]

Ugh... is multiplayer still great?

I've a watched enough footage to say it is very comparable. The setup (wave based 4 player horde mode) is exactly the same, except 7 waves instead of 11.  It is just important to keep it mind it is much closer to Vanilla ME3 MP than the end result after all the DLCs. Most the streams I've watch, the players have shitty weapons and are using low level characters for obvious reasons so it is hard to judge completely.

The combat seems to be the strength of the game and the new powers are pretty cool. If you can pull off some of the cool shit I've seen in SP in the MP, I don't think there is anything to worry about.

[fistfulofmetal]

I've seen a lot of opinions that the combat was one of the best parts. I ...don't agree? I find it to be super clunky, and not just because of the lack of snap-to cover. The movement feels swimmy. ME2 was super snappy and quick.

And I found it far easier to control and manage my AI partners as well.

[Shuri]

Those terrible impressions made me cancel my pre-order. I was a huge fan of the originals but I'll be skipping that one.

[Joe Molotov]

What are the main complaints, other than the character animations being super jank?

[fistfulofmetal]

What are the main complaints, other than the character animations being super jank?

The storyline and presentation are incredibly dull. It lacks a spark that hooks you in and drives you forward. This game completely fails the promise of a new start by immediately dumping you in a familiar situation, except now all of the characters are lifeless. Seriously, they are all shells devoid of any notable characterization.

I mean, it seems to be attempting to present the characters are more every-men/women. Almost Uncharted-esque. It's reminiscent to what Gears of War 4 attempted to do, and while that game has it's own host of issues with paint-by-number characters it at least sort of felt sincere. Kinda of? Here there's no sign of that.

Within the first 20 minutes of the game, this expert Pathfinder group lands on a planet in this new galaxy and immediately starts describing the terrain and architecture as Alien. Then they proceed to bust out their guns and shoot anything that moves without any thought. One of the characters, who is described as a Crisis Manager, loses his shit and dumps his rifle into the corpse of a fallen foe while your character asks "Are you done?" He shoots another burst and responds, "I am now". It's some of the most pedestrian and amateur writing I've seen in a big budget release. It's manages to alienate the main characters and paint them as unlikable colonial douchebags.

That's just some of it honestly. All of the things that make Mass Effect good simply aren't here.

[Boredfrom]

I remember that very early after the first teaser that Bioware said that it wanted to be a western of sorts, so I was worried that large part of the game will be uncritical of colonialism given how  hard the writing of their games has declined.

[Let's Cyber]

Review embargo is up in a few hours.

[bork]

That's just some of it honestly. All of the things that make Mass Effect good simply aren't here.

And yet here I am, enjoying this EA Access trial. 


I think I'm probably going to buy this now.  I wanted a new Mass Effect...this is a new Mass Effect.  Doesn't do much different, but it's fun going along, shooting up shit, and getting engaged in the story, even as by-the-numbers and cheesy as it can be.

Still haven't encountered any animation glitches, but some of the facial expressions that the characters unintentionally make had me laughing.  It's a plus in my book. 

[Great Rumbler]

I just want my 70s/80s-style pulp scifi, doesn't have to be Shakespeare or anything.

[Positive Touch]

I still wanna wait and see too, because people swear me3 and dai were the worst atrocities in modern history, and yet...

[Great Rumbler]

DAI was fine, it just got completely clobbered not long after it came out by Witcher 3.

[Let's Cyber]

So reviews are out and...

spoiler (click to show/hide)

they are fucking ROUGH but...

[close]

the combat is being praised, suck it haters.

  Mass Effect Multiplayer stays winning. 

[FatalT]

So reviews are out and...

spoiler (click to show/hide)

they are fucking ROUGH but...

[close]

the combat is being praised, suck it haters.

  Mass Effect Multiplayer stays winning. 

Well, fuck. Looks like I'll Red Box this after all. I was mainly wanting to check it out for the multiplayer and if the rubber-banding from lag is fixed then it should be pretty amazing. Also I played about two hours of Mass Effect 1, one hour of Mass Effect 2, and only the multiplayer portion of Mass Effect 3. I guess I'm not the target audience for this game.

[Let's Cyber]

Well, fuck. Looks like I'll Red Box this after all. I was mainly wanting to check it out for the multiplayer and if the rubber-banding from lag is fixed then it should be pretty amazing. Also I played about two hours of Mass Effect 1, one hour of Mass Effect 2, and only the multiplayer portion of Mass Effect 3. I guess I'm not the target audience for this game.

Being p2p, the rubberbanding will always be a issue on some level unfortunately.  I was disconnected from ME3 MP mid-match a lot.  Probably missed out on several million credits as a result of their shitty netcode.

My worry now is that the poor reviews hurt sales and EA decides not to work on a lot of MP DLC. Post launch support is part of what kept ME3 MP so fresh and enjoyable for such a long period of time.

[Let's Cyber]

Impressions are pretty varied but a rough estimate of the reviews seems to be-

Good: Combat, awesome looking Environments
Decent: (Most of) the Squadmates*, main story beats
Bad: Lack of team customization. Writing and Voice Direction, Animation, non-squadmate side characters. Lots of bugs, glitches and jank. FPS drops.

Non-fans buying this for the single player might want to wait for a hefty discount and for a few patches to get pushed out.

* As for the squadmates, some of the reviewers didn't like...

spoiler (click to show/hide)

Liam or Peebee. Sounds like Liam is boring a la Kaiden/Jacob and Peebee is just annoying.

[close]

[MMaRsu]

So reviews are out and...

spoiler (click to show/hide)

they are fucking ROUGH but...

[close]

the combat is being praised, suck it haters.

  Mass Effect Multiplayer stays winning. 

 

uhuh

[Let's Cyber]

It's p2p breh. You can find For Honor vids showing the same type of shit.

ME3 MP had a lot of frustrating issues too. Like I said, I had a lot of disconnects and it was far from perfect. Doesn't mean you couldn't find stable games and it doesn't mean it wasn't a great horde mode.

[MMaRsu]

Meh. If I wanted to play a mediocre horde mode there are plenty of games to do that.

[Rufus]

* As for the squadmates, some of the reviewers didn't like...

spoiler (click to show/hide)

Liam or Peebee. Sounds like Liam is boring a la Kaiden/Jacob and Peebee is just annoying.

[close]

Carth #5. The boring everyman surrounded by superhumanspeople.

[bork]

I just want my 70s/80s-style pulp scifi, doesn't have to be Shakespeare or anything.

Yup.  Like, I dunno.  Maybe I just need to go back to the original trilogy again, but everything about this game that I've played is fine.  The story/dialogue criticisms are ridiculous.  I've had fun playing it.  If anything is a negative, it's that this feels ultimately like more of the same.  It would have been nice to have had a whole slew of new races and stuff like that, but as is this game has felt like Mass Effect 2/3 from a game play standpoint, but with some stuff from Mass Effect 1, like the rover, added back in.  If you've been wanting to return to Mass Effect and are fine with this, this is your game. 

It ain't perfect -far from it- but everything I keep seeing is way too critical.  This is pretty much a no-brainer to me- if you're interested in this game, don't go waste sixty bucks on it.  Sign up for EA Access, pay five bucks, and see how you like it on PC or Xbone.

[fistfulofmetal]

Some people put more thought into critically analyzing the media they consume. That doesn't necessarily mean that their criticism is entirely thoughtful or original, but not everyone just shrugs and goes "whatevs!". It's perfectly fine for you to approach it that way, however.

From my perspective, Mass Effect is a super important franchise and a huge tentpole for last generation. The release of this game should be a huge event for this console cycle but instead it's just being plopped down in front of us like a wet fish.

It's deeply disappointing, but not unexpected after Mass Effect 3.

[fistfulofmetal]

Like, I legitimately think Mass Effect 2 is one of the greatest games of all time. It's a hugely important game.

To see the newest entry be reduced to shrugs bums me the heck out, because it's important to me.

[bork]

Some people put more thought into critically analyzing the media they consume. That doesn't necessarily mean that their criticism is entirely thoughtful or original, but not everyone just shrugs and goes "whatevs!". It's perfectly fine for you to approach it that way, however.

I don't want to make it seem like I'm just going "whatever!" and shrugging off its faults.  I'm just saying that I like the story and gameplay enough that the game still has drawn me in and I'd like to play it.  I might change my mind as I play more.  Again, I like the game for what it is-- more Mass Effect.  Maybe people were just expecting too much from this?  I was actually the opposite and didn't care about it much until last week, when all of a sudden I got really interested in checking it out.

It's deeply disappointing, but not unexpected after Mass Effect 3.

It shouldn't be unexpected.  This was made by a brand new team.

Like, I legitimately think Mass Effect 2 is one of the greatest games of all time. It's a hugely important game.

To see the newest entry be reduced to shrugs bums me the heck out, because it's important to me.

Maybe you were just too hyped for it?  I was that way with Senran Kagura PBS recently. 

[fistfulofmetal]

I wasn't really hyped. It didn't look good from the first stuff they showed, but I was being cautiously optimistic. Regardless of my hype level when I put the series up against the latest entry it's a supreme disappointment.

[Positive Touch]

usgamer (one of the few sites I read) has their review up, and they say that the game is competent and has a ton of content, but ultimately it isn't very ambitious in story or scenarios. boring villian and a lot of choices that don't matter much. also said  the menus and systems were overly convoluted.

ultimately it sounds like I'll still have a good enough time with it, but it's disappointing its not a wild as the original trilogy. there was a ton of variety in those games, from scenario and backstory, to story variations, to combat approaches. hope this doesn't bomb so hard that it fucks up chances for improvement.

[sarslip]

shinobi simply didnt realize he was meeting with EA agents 

spoiler (click to show/hide)

https://www.masseffect.com/buy

[close]

[bork]

https://www.kotaku.com.au/2017/03/mass-effect-andromeda-is-a-game-to-get-lost-in/

This guy likes the game and said it really takes a long time to get going...way past what th h ed trial offers.  He also noted that there is a new alien race in the game native to Andromeda.  I swear I saw some reviews saying this weren't any. 

[FatalT]

It's p2p breh. You can find For Honor vids showing the same type of shit.

ME3 MP had a lot of frustrating issues too. Like I said, I had a lot of disconnects and it was far from perfect. Doesn't mean you couldn't find stable games and it doesn't mean it wasn't a great horde mode.

You're damn right about that. For Honor pissed me off to no end when I rented it. I finished the story mode on Hard difficulty and played a good bit of the multiplayer. Going from offline to piss-poor online was infuriating, especially with cheap mechanics and starting areas where you can be shield broken and thrown off a ledge. I still want to own it though, just because it's a unique game that I haven't played anything like before.

Meh. If I wanted to play a mediocre horde mode there are plenty of games to do that.

Please name a few. I've been enjoying the hell out of Ghost Recon: Wildlands (not horde mode but eh, 4-player co-op) and am checking out Warhammer 40,000: Eternal Crusade on Steam since it went free-to-play and has a co-op horde mode. It's allegedly coming out on consoles but I dunno when, especially since it's having servers issues like crazy after going free-to-play on PC. I've been wanting to get Warhammer 40,000: Vermintide but I'm not sure if anyone actually plays it on PS4 or not.

Also keep in mind I mostly play games on PS4 now-a-days because I've been too poor to upgrade my PC's CPU, which is bottle-necking the hell out of games for me. Eternal Crusade is unoptimized garbage but it runs like dog shit even on low settings at 720p. Granted I only have a GeForce 750 Ti but still.

I was excited when PayDay 2 came out on PS4 but then the developer turned to garbage and didn't support it on consoles and turned the PC version into garbage (but apparently it's better now?). Space Hulk: Deathwing looked awesome as shit but apparently when it released on PC it was buggy as hell and had massive issues although I'm not sure how the PS4 version is.

I thoroughly enjoyed Alienation and bought all the DLC for it but that's a totally different style of game, top-down/isometric instead of First or Third-person. Helldivers was pretty neat too but annoying because of friendly fire.

[Let's Cyber]

I've seen a lot of opinions that the combat was one of the best parts. I ...don't agree? I find it to be super clunky, and not just because of the lack of snap-to cover. The movement feels swimmy. ME2 was super snappy and quick.

Transferring that same movement style to Andromeda would have felt unbelievably slow and plotting in these new open arenas. 

After a few hours of MP games, I can't imagine going back. The "snappy"ness you're referring to would be a hindrance when you have these new mobility options. Boiled down, the maps in ME2 were a series of corridors and waist high cover. Snapping to the cover was a necessity just based on the constrained level design.  Now?  You can leap up 15 feet and then slide in any direction you want in midair. Fuck being constantly glued to boxes, you're god damn super hero now.  You should be jumping and sliding your way out of trouble most of the time.  It is a different, faster style of play to be sure but I really don't understand how this isn't a massive improvement. 

[FatalT]

After a 45 minute multiplayer co-op mission, I'm stuck at a loading screen where I can hear one of the other 3 people saying his screen is at "Waiting for 3 other people."

Will I get XP or loot for the past 45 minutes i put into the game? Doubtful. Fuck Mass Effect: Andromeda.

Jesus fuck I'm glad I had a free Red Box rental for this piece of shit. It's going back ASAP.

EDIT: I'm not so pissed off now because thankfully my progress saved but damn, that had me going hard for a bit there.

[fistfulofmetal]

There's no excuse for removing the ability to stop time and issue commands to your squad. No excuse.

[FatalT]

Okay after seeing "Andromeda Point,s" "Mission Points," and one other points I can't even try to defend this multiplayer micro transaction fest anymore. What the fuck?

[bork]

Haven't purchased Andromeda yet.

Decided to play Mass Effect 3 for now, since I never finished it. Playing it on PC- whereas Andromeda works with controllers normally, the older games don't because Bioware was fucking stupid back then, so I'm having to download a mod manager and a controller support/in-game 'wheel' mod to get shit working.

Doing this on my GPD WIN for handheld ME action. I should be able to get 20-30 FPS on it.

[Joe Molotov]

More like Mass Flaccid, amirite guys?

[FatalT]

Double post but I don't even give a shit.

I gave Mass Effect:Andromeda's co-op mode a fair chance. About 5 hours worth of a fair chance. It's not fun and seems to push you to purchase the micro transactions for more characters/better gear or to grind the hell out of it. I can't handle a game like that when I'm not having fun. Out of the bronze difficulty (easiest) missions I've done throughout the night, only ONE has managed to extract after finishing the six waves of random missions.

This is bad game design. This is game design that wants you to open up your wallet beyond the $60 for the good stuff. I'm done with the multiplayer because it's a cash-grab grinding waste of time that quite frankly is not fun to me.

I'll try the single player more since it's not due back until 9:00 PM on Wednesday but honestly I kinda wish I would've rented Horizon: Zerp Dawn or Ghost Recon: Wildlands again, or hell, even For Honor with its horrible P2P net-code.

At least I had a free credit from Red Box to rent this turd. If the single player campaign changes my mind I'll chug a 40 oz of Miller High Life while Live-Streaming on Facebook but that won't happen because the game is an utter disappointment.

EDIT: Not even being intoxicated makes this game bettter and that's an accomplishment.

[MMaRsu]

Try Horizon Zero Dawn, I'm 100% sure you wont be disappointed. This game looks and sounds like shit.

[FatalT]

Try Horizon Zero Dawn, I'm 100% sure you wont be disappointed. This game looks and sounds like shit.

I rented it when it first came out and made it to the second cauldron and the sun tower. I didn't give it my full attention like I should've but it was definitely enjoyable. Granted I enjoyed Ghost Recon: Wildlands more just because shoot-bang was more appealing to me than taming robot dinosaurs and only having a bow. I'll definitely re-rent Horizon soon, maybe tomorrow.

[Stoney Mason]

About 10 hours in so far.

My initial thoughts. As with anything take my opinion with a grain of salt. 

I'm enjoying myself so far. Whether that's the same level of enjoyment from the earlier games I'm not sure. Mass Effect 2 & 3 were legit great from the start. This one is slower. So in that sense for me more like its closer to how I felt about Mass Effect 1 which I liked but always had issue with. I am enjoying myself but it definitely takes longer for the plot to flow and invest yourself in.

I like the feel of being an explorer and doing explorer shit. In general.

The combat is strong imo. Also more difficult than the original games. I played ME 3 on insanity on PC and it was kind of a cakewalk. I'm playing on hardcore here and having a more difficult time of it as in I die sometimes. The enemies flank a lot more and its less easier to just stay in cover and pop shot as some cover is destructible. The dash move is well done and I like the jumping stuff.

Graphics are meh. It's no worse than many games but its certainly not a topper in this category. It doesn't look as good as say the Alot of Texture mods I played ME 2 and ME 3 on PC recently. That's not a big deal to me personally as I'm not a graphics guy but my ex-development side wonders how they used the frost bite engine and weren't able to deliver something beautiful in that regard especially with so much dev time. In that regard this is the bigger disappointment to me rather than animations. Yeah the animations are lacking when it comes to facial expressions. The originals also lacked expressive emotional faces in most cases but the base face textures and such and camera angles kind of defined Mass Effect. Especially for a game where you spend so much time talking to people. They needed a leap in tech here and they failed in this regard. Unfortunate.

I can't speak to writing, characters, or stuff like that yet. For me it takes dozens of hours in a game before that stuff starts to be something I can get a solid impression on. Whether these characters will hook me or not I couldn't say at this point. 

I don't how like they have done the save system. There are times when you can't save the game and you have a few extended combat sequences. If you die in one of them it throws you back to the very very beginning of the section. Just having finished Mass Effect 3, I can say this was very rarely an issue. It's already been more of an issue early on in andromeda than it was in the entirety of ME3.

One final nitpick or complaint I have is that the original Mass Effect series had this strong pulpy 70's nerd sci-fi feel to it. That feeling got less and less each Mass Effect game afterwards as the experience became more mainstream and modern but it was still always there in touches even as it decreased. Andromeda is the final end result of them ditching that aesthetic and tone. I miss it. It gave it heart and soul that was unique in videogames.

So that's it. I'll post more later when I'm deep in the game and then maybe something when I'm done. For me its not a disaster of game that I started to fear based on impressions. I'm certainly enjoying myself playing.But its also not the amazing immediately best of gen experience Mass Effect 2 and 3 felt like right off the bat. We'll see how I continue to feel with more time.

[bork]

What are some good mods for Mass Effect 3?  Holy shit does it look dated as fuck on my PC.

[tiesto]

One thing I noticed is that they took out the galaxy map music from the first 3 games... that's more upsetting to me than the awful animation.

[Stoney Mason]

What are some good mods for Mass Effect 3?  Holy shit does it look dated as fuck on my PC.

A lot of people dig this one.

http://www.nexusmods.com/masseffect3/mods/350/?

I liked it also but its not mandatory or anything. It just makes the scanning stuff and ship stuff feel a little more immersive.




http://www.nexusmods.com/masseffect3/mods/344/?


This one adds some of the bonus powers from MP into singleplayer which is fun. Get both packs.

http://www.nexusmods.com/masseffect3/mods/344/?




You definitely want this one. It has to be installed last. Makes game look better. The install process is a bit of pain and takes a little bit of time but I think its worthwhile. Make sure you read the instructions on how to do it.

http://www.nexusmods.com/masseffect3/mods/363/?


There are a couple of mods to alter the ending. One called Mehem, and the Other called Jam. I admire the passion but really they are just editing cutscenes for the most part so rather than use them you could just look up a video of them.


I think the 3 mods I listed give a nice enough paint of coat to the game.



You can download saves with all of the stuff here if you don't have one.

http://www.masseffect2saves.com/


edit: Oh yeah, this helps with the lighting a bit.


http://www.nexusmods.com/masseffect3/mods/417/?

Use the ENB and SweetFX for Mass Effect3 Main file and not the reshade one if you use it.

[Fortus]

One thing I noticed is that they took out the galaxy map music from the first 3 games... that's more upsetting to me than the awful animation.

This touchs on my major gripe with the game so far. The soundtrack...or lack thereof. The original trilogy was chock full of memorable, evocative music. Andromeda doesn't really have a 'sonic' signature sadly. I'm enjoying my time with the game but they dropped the ball big time with the music

[bork]

Bought Andromeda last night and resumed playing from my EA Access trial session.  Enjoying it.  The game is fun.