Mass Effect Andromeda (2016)

[Yakk]

W. T. F. HAPPENED?!?!

This is absolutely hideous animation, if you could call it that, I'm speechless.

 

[cbrunny]

So... its out... but its not out... and there are people playing it right now... but also no reviews...

 

[Zenoth]

Five. Years.

We've been waiting for a new Mass Effect game for quite literally FIVE YEARS.

And this is what we end up with. I honestly cannot find words to describe how I feel right now. I can't... I just cannot. This cannot be. This isn't happening.

http://www.gamesradar.com/mass-effe...etting-compared-to-pingu-robots-and-gorillas/

And, ironically enough:

http://www.gamespot.com/articles/ea-says-it-would-delay-mass-effect-andromeda-again/1100-6445017/

Then DELAY IT.

If I was EA right now I would PAY them to NOT release that turd until another year of work.

 

[cytg111]

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=232182594&postcount=888

This may be down to sheer randomness, but the eye movement there.. nice

Damnit. Ill probably buy it anyway....

 

[Carfax83]

Well people can say what they want about the animations, and they would probably be right for the most part. But the graphics are another matter entirely. The graphics on PC are INSANE!. This game fully unleashes the Frostbite 3 engine, which has been limited for the most part by DICE's focus on multiplayer:

 

[local]

LOL, did they just say screw it the alpha version animations are fine? While I did oddly enjoy the MP in ME3 there is no way in hell I am buying this for a long time, maybe never.

 

[GodisanAtheist]

Although I more or less gave up on day 1 purchases after ME3 (so I don't really have a dog in this fight) I'm willing to bet the early release version of the game is 3 months old and the team has been working on a day 1 patch to polish in the meantime.

Bioware, in trying to create cinematic experiences and biting off more than they can chew, has always had weird/silly facial and character animations in ALL of their games. Ridiculously over used recycled animations as well.

I'll wait until we hopefully get a GOTY edition of the game with all dlcs for $30 before jumping in the deep end.

 

[Jaydip]

People who are playing early access already have the day one patch installed,

 

[GodisanAtheist]

Well, so much for that!

 

[moonbogg]

I was very much looking forward to this being my first mass effect game. I was dying to just watch it put my new 1080ti on BLAST and enjoy the hell out of myself. But now, all I can do is paste this youtube link.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IR5XwhExDeo

 

[escrow4]

I was very much looking forward to this being my first mass effect game. I was dying to just watch it put my new 1080ti on BLAST and enjoy the hell out of myself. But now, all I can do is paste this youtube link.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IR5XwhExDeo

You ain't a gamer if you haven't played the first two at least twice . . . .

 

[moonbogg]

Holy
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p-msmx9yW5Q

.... it is retarded.. dammit

You almost made my SPIT on my fancy PCMR gaming monitor with this video. Holy crap this is hilarious, lol! I have a question. When is this game released? If its coming April 1st, then all of this would make sense. They come out with a legit, awesome game and have a good LOL at everyone for trolling us with a great April fools joke?

 

[Borealis7]

and whats with all the smiling?? did Disney buy the Mass Effect franchise too?

 

[cytg111]

I was very much looking forward to this being my first mass effect game. I was dying to just watch it put my new 1080ti on BLAST and enjoy the hell out of myself. But now, all I can do is paste this youtube link.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IR5XwhExDeo

I've seen this 1000 times before.. never gets old though

 

[cytg111]

and whats with all the smiling?? did Disney buy the Mass Effect franchise too?

And the comparison to Witcher3 ... I want RED to make ME5

 

[cmdrdredd]

You almost made my SPIT on my fancy PCMR gaming monitor with this video. Holy crap this is hilarious, lol! I have a question. When is this game released? If its coming April 1st, then all of this would make sense. They come out with a legit, awesome game and have a good LOL at everyone for trolling us with a great April fools joke?

The game is to be released this coming week. The game is finished, the people playing early access are playing the full game (with a time limit). Any problem animations and dialog or poorly laid out story elements are going to be there forever.

I've read a few previews for the early access and it's not good. Cliche'd story, bad voice acting, weird animations with ok combat. Someone compared the system to DA:I in terms of the questing which would mean lots of fetch quests as filler. Resource gathering is supposed to be particularly drawn out. My biggest problem is with how they build characters. In many games today and even the previous ME games, characters revealed themselves through dialog and action. What I mean is you got to know their personality over time and they didn't spit it out to you. In this game from what I've read, characters tell you about themselves right off the bat so you know if someone is going to be a sarcastic a-hole or if they are lazy, or if they are a loner right away. No getting to know them through the dialog options like before. Literally the character tells you their personality without allowing any emotional connection to them. It's almost robotic to me. One of the things that I really liked about Bioware games in the past was the ability for them to build an emotional tie to a character and reveal their personality through the actions you take and their response to it. How would it feel in Knights of the Old Republic to have a Jedi character say "I'm a good guy, I don't like people who do evil things. There is no grey area for me."? That would totally ruin any character building between the player and the party member. You'd immediately expect them to dislike any decision you make that is a bad guy choice and there would be no learning this over time.

 

[zinfamous]

Although I more or less gave up on day 1 purchases after ME3 (so I don't really have a dog in this fight) I'm willing to bet the early release version of the game is 3 months old and the team has been working on a day 1 patch to polish in the meantime.

Bioware, in trying to create cinematic experiences and biting off more than they can chew, has always had weird/silly facial and character animations in ALL of their games. Ridiculously over used recycled animations as well.

I'll wait until we hopefully get a GOTY edition of the game with all dlcs for $30 before jumping in the deep end.

I don't recall this ever happening with ME games. I think early on, it was possible to get ME1 and maybe ME2 for like 5 bucks on sale, when they could be purchased on steam, prior to the existence of Origin. I think you can still get ME1 and 2 there, but I don't think there are any GOTY editions. I think the best sales for ME2 and 3 have only ever been 15 or 20 for vanilla, then the DLC forever remain at $15-20 each. It's completely ridiculous, especially as it seems that if what I am reading here is true, that the games are becoming more multiplayer focused with thinner and thinner SP games. IF that is the case with Andromeda, I will never buy it. I can't fathom why any ME game would ever have multiplayer. It sounds ridiculous.

 

[zinfamous]

The game is to be released this coming week. The game is finished, the people playing early access are playing the full game (with a time limit). Any problem animations and dialog or poorly laid out story elements are going to be there forever.

I've read a few previews for the early access and it's not good. Cliche'd story, bad voice acting, weird animations with ok combat. Someone compared the system to DA:I in terms of the questing which would mean lots of fetch quests as filler. Resource gathering is supposed to be particularly drawn out. My biggest problem is with how they build characters. In many games today and even the previous ME games, characters revealed themselves through dialog and action. What I mean is you got to know their personality over time and they didn't spit it out to you. In this game from what I've read, characters tell you about themselves right off the bat so you know if someone is going to be a sarcastic a-hole or if they are lazy, or if they are a loner right away. No getting to know them through the dialog options like before. Literally the character tells you their personality without allowing any emotional connection to them. It's almost robotic to me. One of the things that I really liked about Bioware games in the past was the ability for them to build an emotional tie to a character and reveal their personality through the actions you take and their response to it. How would it feel in Knights of the Old Republic to have a Jedi character say "I'm a good guy, I don't like people who do evil things. There is no grey area for me."? That would totally ruin any character building between the player and the party member. You'd immediately expect them to dislike any decision you make that is a bad guy choice and there would be no learning this over time.

IF all true, then I think it's safe to say that Bioware is forever gone and has been completely assimilated by EA. That's a shame.

 

[GodisanAtheist]

I don't recall this ever happening with ME games. I think early on, it was possible to get ME1 and maybe ME2 for like 5 bucks on sale, when they could be purchased on steam, prior to the existence of Origin. I think you can still get ME1 and 2 there, but I don't think there are any GOTY editions. I think the best sales for ME2 and 3 have only ever been 15 or 20 for vanilla, then the DLC forever remain at $15-20 each. It's completely ridiculous, especially as it seems that if what I am reading here is true, that the games are becoming more multiplayer focused with thinner and thinner SP games. IF that is the case with Andromeda, I will never buy it. I can't fathom why any ME game would ever have multiplayer. It sounds ridiculous.

-you're right, ME never received a comprehensive GOTY edition. However, we got a GOTY edition for DA:I, so I'm holding out hope that the same business model carries over to ME:A
I actually ended up getting da:I standard when it was 20 bucks, then the GOTY edition later when it was 30 bucks so EA basically got the full game price out of someone who would never pay that much normally.

 

[cmdrdredd]

IF all true, then I think it's safe to say that Bioware is forever gone and has been completely assimilated by EA. That's a shame.

It's only an opinion but the general feeling I get is that EA is pushing frostbite based games out and the quality of the rest is suffering. Visually the game looks great with HDR but the little things that make up the meat of the game stick out.

 

[Yakk]

It's only an opinion but the general feeling I get is that EA is pushing frostbite based games out and the quality of the rest is suffering.

Well... it's because the Frostbyte engine lighting algorithms are so good it is a LOT more work for the artists and animators to be able to meet the level of quality that *should* go along with such an advanced engine. Frostbyte is very close to full movie CGI and that takes time for the artists to create content that looks good at that level of detail.

Looking at the train wreck that is the character animation in this game I'd say it's their other graphics developer tools that are not up to par yet.

 

[NoSoup4You]

Deep breaths, y'all. It's probably a fine game, none of the Mass Effect games have been consistently good with the facial animations anyway.

 

[cmdrdredd]

It's not just the animations though. Dragon age had lots of fetch quest filler stuff and this seems to be similar from what I've been reading plus the poor voice acting, cringe worthy story and dialog elements. It just doesn't seem like the game we were hoping for.

Again it is not just facial animations that are bad from the reports from people who have played the first 10 hours.

 

[Elixer]

Yeah, the only sane thing to do right now is to wait for NexusMods to fix the broken character models/animations.

It is like all the females got hit with a ugly stick, and then, to make matters worse the whole animation system is really broken.
This is NOT a AAA game, more like a AAA budget, and a C game.
I know gfx are only a part of this, but, come on, you are playing along, and you stop and laugh at how dumb the models are acting?

I guess sales of the Witcher 3 will only get better now.

Waiting for this to go in the bargain bin.
Seriously, what are they doing?

I would inline this, but, it is a bit big... it shows what 10 years have done to Bioware's models.
https://media2.giphy.com/media/4eWjrHm6O4DK0/200.gif#10

 

[Zenoth]

Yeah it's horrible, not sure what's going on over there.

The damage is done anyway, first impressions and all this animations mess (and other negatives like the dialogue quality) is what most of us will remember Andromeda for, regardless of how (and if) they "improve" it over the next year of support. The franchise is gone, so is BioWare. They have attained a new low with this... and I honestly, genuinely thought that it was simply impossible to do something like that after ME3, considering how terrible that one was; I thought that to make something worse you'd actually have to try to do it on purpose. Looks like they've surpassed themselves again at BioWare.

Anyway, I must say I wanted to buy it for the multiplayer but since I cannot support a "company" trying to sell a 'triple A' game that's clearly unfinished (despite how they've supposedly been working on it since 2012... which I cannot feasibly believe at this point; clearly there's no way there's any signs of FIVE years of work into that turd) anymore I've canceled my purchase. I did have genuine hope for both the franchise and BioWare as a company with this. I truly thought that they would do the franchise justice and that Andromeda would literally be talked about (positively) for the decade to come. Apparently we can't even have hope anymore in this industry. All we can do now, really, is to actually expect the worst possible and THEN, just maybe, be surprised of the opposite.

I'll keep playing Breath of the Wild, return to my newly-started Fallout 4 game with new mods and I'll give a try to Nier Automata next week. I'll wait for Andromeda to be forgotten about and for its price to go down the drain in about two months max. Since EA and BioWare want to sell us an unfinished, glitchy game I'm saying "fine", but I'm not gonna give you more than $20 for it (and that's Canadian dollars for me).