Official Mass Effect Topic

[Jonesizzle]

funny thing is is that the original mass effect has it's glaring flaws, and still managed to spring DLC and two other games with DLC. It felt like a mass effect game and pulling the plug on Andromeda like they did, pretty hastily, seemed premature and assholish... I've come to terms that they knew they wouldn't make money off of this game for micro transactions and canned it. maybe I'm a salty mass effect fan, but it is what it is.

[Creed Bratton]

Well I'd say it's obvious that they were expecting to make a sequel and DLCs. But because some folks decided to take the slight issues and create memes to blow them out of proportion, they convinced everyone the game is a solid 1/10. So now we don't get a sequel or DLC.

 

Maybe in 50 years they'll try again.

I don't think that's how it works. The game simply didn't make the kind of money that EA wanted.

 

funny thing is is that the original mass effect has it's glaring flaws, and still managed to spring DLC and two other games with DLC. It felt like a mass effect game and pulling the plug on Andromeda like they did, pretty hastily, seemed premature and assholish... I've come to terms that they knew they wouldn't make money off of this game for micro transactions and canned it. maybe I'm a salty mass effect fan, but it is what it is.

EA has basically admitted that they want all of their games to be huge projects like Andromeda and Inquisition and that they want to rely on microtransactions more. All these people had to do was create a game that was fun to play. But instead they were too preoccupied with finding ways to milk more money out of their customers. Andromeda and Inquisition were grindy games with no real vision of what they were supposed to be. And that was when microtransactions weren't as important to EA. If I were you I wouldn't expect the grind to change. I wouldn't expect the games to be more fun to play. In EA's eyes, if you're having fun then you don't have to purchase microtransactions.

 

Expect the grind to stay the same, or to become worse to incentivize you to spend money on microtransactions. Don't forget that they attempted to do that with Dead Space 3. It didn't work out quite the way they hoped, but they didn't give up on that idea. And they will not give up on it. Ever.

 

So I say forget about EA. Every once in a while they do some evil anti-consumer thing that backfires, then they apologize and say how they'll never do it again only to turn around and to something even worse. Ignore everything that comes out of their studio. You'll be happier for it in the long run.

Edited February 22, 2018 by Darth Yokel

[Misumi]

I enjoyed Andromeda though.

 

[Creed Bratton]

I enjoyed Andromeda though.

 

No you didn't. Now who are you going to believe - my words or your experience? Don't be foolish.

[Misumi]

No you didn't. Now who are you going to believe - my words or your experience? Don't be foolish.

 

Are those my only two options or can I choose Taylor Swift?

[Creed Bratton]

 

No you didn't. Now who are you going to believe - my words or your experience? Don't be foolish.

 

Are those my only two options or can I choose Taylor Swift?

 

I'll allow it. This time.

[Mister Pink]

Returned to Andromeda. Was craving this kind of game while I waited for The Outer Worlds. Haven't played it in over a year. Really enjoying it again. It gets so much flack but I don't care. I never really played the OT, except for ME2. These sort of games weren't my type until more recently in my gaming tastes. So I bought ME1 in a sale on Xbox and will play through the trilogy. 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited October 24, 2019 by Mister Pink

[JareCzech]

I have heard a lot of praise on this series. I gave it a few chances, but it is not for me. Graphics are not friendly for me

[Mister Pink]

8 hours ago, JareCzech said:

I have heard a lot of praise on this series. I gave it a few chances, but it is not for me. Graphics are not friendly for me

Are you playing on PC? It looks gorgeous on console. I'm not a huge graphics guy, so when something remotely nice comes around I love it. I mean, I love nice graphics but it's not such a driving factor that I'll switch exclusively to PC. 

 

Edit: I just realized you are probably talking about the first 3 games as they're quite old now. Meh, some times going back to old games is challenging at first. But I find your eyes adjust and can even appreciate old graphics. 

Edited November 8, 2019 by Mister Pink

[Zello]

18 hours ago, Mister Pink said:

Edit: I just realized you are probably talking about the first 3 games as they're quite old now. Meh, some times going back to old games is challenging at first. But I find your eyes adjust and can even appreciate old graphics. 

ME3 still has great graphics imo. Dated yes but still look decent.

Edited November 9, 2019 by Zello

[trip]

7 hours ago, Zello said:

ME3 still has great graphics imo. Dated yes but still look decent.

It totally does.

 

My problem with Mass Effect is I can't just pluck up and play one entry.  Since your character carries from game to game I have to always start with ME1 and a fresh Shepherd.

[Mister Pink]

Well, I have only played ME:2 and Andromeda. I have the original series ready to play. I'm going to try play the original series before the Series X comes out. 

 

Also, rumour has it a new Mass Effect is in very early development. Also, after a brief stint at Microsoft, original project director of Mass Effect trilogy, Casey Hudson is back at Bioware as general studio manager. 

 

https://www.gamesradar.com/mass-effect-5-guide/

 

[Turan]

I’m playing Andromeda again after putting it down in 2017 because of some frustrations with the game. I still have the same issues with the game but I’m pulling through now. It helps that I’m home more often and I don’t really have anything else to play.

 

Anyway, I’m enjoying the game and it makes me want a newer (and better) space action-rpg game. Could be a Mass Effect game or it could be something new. 
 

Starfield and that rumoured Naught Dog game in space are getting me excited for sure. Can’t wait for those.

 

1 hour ago, Mister Pink said:

Well, I have only played ME:2 and Andromeda. I have the original series ready to play. I'm going to try play the original series before the Series X comes out. 

 

Also, rumour has it a new Mass Effect is in very early development. Also, after a brief stint at Microsoft, original project director of Mass Effect trilogy, Casey Hudson is back at Bioware as general studio manager. 

 

https://www.gamesradar.com/mass-effect-5-guide/

 

I’d like that!

Edited April 20, 2020 by Turan

[Mister Pink]

42 minutes ago, Turan said:

I’m playing Andromeda again after putting it down in 2017 because of some frustrations with the game. I still have the same issues with the game but I’m pulling through now. It helps that I’m home more often and I don’t really have anything else to play.

 

Anyway, I’m enjoying the game and it makes me want a newer (and better) space action-rpg game. Could be a Mass Effect game or it could be something new. 
 

Starfield and that rumoured Naught Dog game in space are getting me excited for sure. Can’t wait for those.

Glad you are enjoying it. Have you ever tried Andromeda multiplayer? I haven't. Wouldn't even know what to expect. 

 

Yeah, it's really filling a gap. There is Statfield but god knows when we'll here about that again. I think Bethesda really are going to try do some quality control and really make sure everything is working well before they release. Starfield has me very excited though of what could be! And knowing Bethesda, we can probably expect it to a be big game. I'm OK, if they cut down on lots of side-quests in order of giving us more detaiild map environments and nicer graphics. Although, it doesn't have to be game-changing graphics, so long as the art direction is nice, I'll be happy. But it's nice when sci-fi games push the limits of graphical performance. 

[Zello]

9 hours ago, Mister Pink said:

Well, I have only played ME:2 and Andromeda. I have the original series ready to play. I'm going to try play the original series before the Series X comes out. 

 

Also, rumour has it a new Mass Effect is in very early development. Also, after a brief stint at Microsoft, original project director of Mass Effect trilogy, Casey Hudson is back at Bioware as general studio manager. 

 

https://www.gamesradar.com/mass-effect-5-guide/

 

This bump almost gave me a heart attack 

[Jason]

By chance I was looking at some old screens earlier and stumbled on my Andromeda screens and I realised just how much I want another Mass Effect game or new sci-fi RPG.

 

I would honestly LOVE a trilogy remaster at this point, especially if it tweaks a few of the niggly bits in the various games. I did play Andromeda but I never did complete it, think I sank like 30 hours into it or something. I dunno with that game my self, it's no where near as bad as people say (except for the UI, which is one of the worst I've experienced ever on PC) but it does have some glaring issues still. The open world-y Dragon Age Inquisition areas just didn't work and I think that's partly why I lost interest in the game, I much preferred the more linear approach in the trilogy with the occasional open area for exploration and the better hubs. The combat is lowkey great tho, the movement improvements really made some cool stuff possible.

 

I hope BioWare figure it back out man cause they've got one of the all time great video game universes in ME.

[Awful Waffle]

Andromeda was great and I feel bad for anyone who allowed the Memetic Troll Train to ruin it for them before they even got a chance to try it.

great story. great visuals. great combat. great characters. great voice acting. beautiful planets to explore. lots of content to play through. different choices to make on both the main and side missions. reasons to replay including new game plus and the ability to research new weapons / armor or continue upgrading your favorite set. Andromeda even has a dedicated modding community.

https://www.nexusmods.com/masseffectandromeda

 

not sure why there's such a love or hate relationship with this game. I think it's awesome.

but I felt the exact same way about Assassin's Creed Unity so clearly I'm the odd one out...

 

 

Edited April 21, 2020 by Awful Waffle

[Creed Bratton]

On 4/21/2020 at 6:38 AM, Awful Waffle said:

Andromeda was great and I feel bad for anyone who allowed the Memetic Troll Train to ruin it for them before they even got a chance to try it.

great story. great visuals. great combat. great characters. great voice acting. beautiful planets to explore. lots of content to play through. different choices to make on both the main and side missions. reasons to replay including new game plus and the ability to research new weapons / armor or continue upgrading your favorite set. Andromeda even has a dedicated modding community.

https://www.nexusmods.com/masseffectandromeda

 

not sure why there's such a love or hate relationship with this game. I think it's awesome.

but I felt the exact same way about Assassin's Creed Unity so clearly I'm the odd one out...

I enjoyed Assassin's Creed Unity after all the patches. It's actually a really solid entry. I did not enjoy Mass Effect Andromeda very much at all.

 

RPG's like Mass Effect live and die because of their characters. And Andromeda had atrocious characters. Not a single one was memorable or interesting. In fact, most of them were literally annoying. It felt like they were written by a talentless high-school fan of the trilogy who doesn't really understand what Mass Effect is about.

 

If you don't have a solid cast of characters, then you better have good gameplay to compensate. Andromeda didn't have that either. I won't even get into the menus and how awful things like crafting and inventory management is. No, the biggest issue is the open-world planet exploration. It exists only so that EA can advertise the game as being open-world. Not only does it not add anything meaningful to the game, it makes it worse in every way imaginable compared to hub-based and level-based world of the original trilogy. Mission design was absolutely horrendous because of it. I guess they wanted to copy Mass Effect 1, which had those planet exploration mechanics, but they made it far, far worse. Mako exploration was mostly optional in ME1, and it was there more as a way to showcase how big space really is. You can't truly get that feeling unless you're on a new planet and you look up and see strange planets, moons and stars. But the open-world of Andromeda isn't exactly optional and you already know that you're in a new galaxy. You shouldn't aim to show people how big the galaxy is. You should aim to show them how strange it is compared to the Milky Way. Instead, we got open-world gameplay that doesn't really make you feel like you're in a new galaxy and that was designed in a very annoying way to make the game feel longer than it really was.

 

Dragon Age Inquisition had a lot of problems similar to Andromeda. But it had a couple of interesting characters and it was a continuation of the story so you were at least engaged in what was going on, so it didn't matter as much. Not that I'd ever play Inquisition again either.

Edited April 23, 2020 by DareYokel

[Awful Waffle]

2 hours ago, DareYokel said:

I enjoyed Assassin's Creed Unity after all the patches. It's actually a really solid entry. I did not enjoy Mass Effect Andromeda very much at all.

 

RPG's like Mass Effect live and die because of their characters. And Andromeda had atrocious characters. Not a single one was memorable or interesting. In fact, most of them were literally annoying. It felt like they were written by a talentless high-school fan of the trilogy who doesn't really understand what Mass Effect is about.

 

If you don't have a solid cast of characters, then you better have good gameplay to compensate. Andromeda didn't have that either. I won't even get into the menus and how awful things like crafting and inventory management is. No, the biggest issue is the open-world planet exploration. It exists only so that EA can advertise the game as being open-world. Not only does it not add anything meaningful to the game, it makes it worse in every way imaginable compared to hub-based and level-based world of the original trilogy. Mission design was absolutely horrendous because of it. I guess they wanted to copy Mass Effect 1, which had those planet exploration mechanics, but they made it far, far worse. In ME1, Mako exploration was mostly optional in ME1 and it was there more as a way to showcase how big space really is. You can't truly get that feeling unless you're on a new planet and you look up and see strange planets, moons and stars. But the open-world of Andromeda isn't exactly optional and you already know that you're in a new galaxy. You shouldn't aim to show people how big the galaxy is. You should aim to show them how strange it is compared to the Milky Way. Instead, we got open-world gameplay that doesn't really make you feel like you're in a new galaxy and that was designed in a very annoying way to make the game feel longer than it really was.

 

Dragon Age Inquisition had a lot of problems similar to Andromeda. But it had a couple of interesting characters and it was a continuation of the story so you were at least engaged in what was going on, so it didn't matter as much. Not that I'd ever play Inquisition again either.

to be fair... my personal bar for story and characters when it comes to video games is very low. I'm gonna go out on a limb and say that most video games feel like they were written by the high school drama club.

video games are not literature and video games are not film. and they likely never will be. not in this lifetime. not given the current trend.

 

it's been a couple years since I played it, but I remember enjoying Andromeda for what it was, and not hating it for what it was not.

I used mods to fix any little gripes I might have had with the UI and gameplay and went from there. to each their own obviously. I think I played through Dragon Age Inquisition exactly twice for what it's worth. and that experience was also augmented by some nexus mods.

[Mister Pink]

22 minutes ago, Awful Waffle said:

to be fair... my personal bar for story and characters when it comes to video games is very low. I'm gonna go out on a limb and say that most video games feel like they were written by the high school drama club.

video games are not literature and video games are not film. and they likely never will be. not in this lifetime. not given the current trend.

Well said. I'm generally not holding characters in games a to the sane high standard I do with cinema or TV. Unless they annoy me in some way or it's GTA and I feel like I can criticize characters there because I know that series best.  Guess it's the fact it's a different medium. Videogames become more about me, and how I experience the world less about me relying on the characters to portray a world for me. And as for Andromeda, It's a space-opera, I don't have high standards for character quality or writing, I don't think it's particularly bad.  But I can understand @DareYokel or anyone being annoyed. And they have comparisons and attachment to the trilogy, I didn't have. 

 

31 minutes ago, Awful Waffle said:

I remember enjoying Andromeda for what it was, and not hating it for what it was not.

And this speaks to me in volumes. Some big games that got a lot of flack like Fallout 4, or to a lesser extent, Skyrim, I just enjoyed for that they were. I'm generally an optimist when it comes to games. I need to be because I want to enjoy them. 

[Creed Bratton]

I didn't expect a masterpiece of writing and storytelling. Especially not after the ending of Mass Effect 3. But I also didn't expect it to be worse. Not just worse but exponentially worse in every conceivable aspect. And I don't think that it's unreasonable to expect that the writing is at least on par with previous entries.

Edited April 21, 2020 by DareYokel

[Awful Waffle]

2 hours ago, Mister Pink said:

But I can understand @DareYokel or anyone being annoyed. And they have comparisons and attachment to the trilogy, I didn't have.

I can understand him, as well.

compared to Mass Effect 1 - 3, Andromeda is arguably the weakest in the series, that being said? still a great game 

 

different level of greatness, sure.

but again these are just video games. I use these terms relatively loosely. by and large games have never been high-brow enough for me to be invested beyond the entertainment I get out of them. don't get me wrong. I'm super invested in my entertainment and my enjoyment. but I'm not really invested in the art if that makes any sense lol. I'm using the word 'art' to describe the overall process of making a video game. as long as I enjoy the gameplay itself? the rest of its art could be a total toss up and I've still got my money's worth. I basically separate the art from the gameplay. that's how I approach games. the voice acting, writing, directing, sound, even graphics; this the art. none of these elements are gameplay to me. maybe they would be to others. but in order to enjoy my time playing a game, I can easily look past some less than stellar art.

 

stock characters? bad acting? predictable story? campy cutscenes? some bugs here or there?

an occasional visual glitch which inspires Meme Boi Nation to duplicate the footage and troll it around Kotaku and Reddit and pretend that the game is 10x worse than it actually is?

 

don't care.

can I have fun? that's all that matters. I won't judge a game's art too heavily unless it truly rises above expectations. like Witcher 3 or something. if the game warrants it, I'll definitely become more involved in its universe and sensitive to criticism of it. otherwise I can take it or leave it. pretty sure that the only thing which ruins a game for me is bad gameplay... the greatest story ever written. the most memorable characters ever created. the most beautiful graphics ever produced... these would mean literally nothing to me if the gameplay were not enjoyable.

[Jason]

I honestly could not name a single companion in Andromeda despite playing it a fair bit. I can scarcely remember the story. I do, however, remember a lot of ME2 which I played like 10 years ago now, which I think sorta sums up Andromeda. It aint awful, it does have some big issues but for the most part it's enjoyable... however it's just not memorable at all.

 

If they revisit the franchise they need to go back to it's roots in many ways, give us that more linear level design, maybe open up certain areas a bit more to retain the combat improvements with movement in Andromeda but that's about it. Then evolve on the RPG mechanics including doing away with the black and white good or evil morality system and do something more interesting and complex. It should also probably be set post-trilogy story wise and in the same galaxy, give us back those races and civilisations and relationships cause Andromeda's galaxy aint worth revisiting.

[Misumi]

I remember that one woman with the let me see your manager haircut. What was her name, Corona?

 

edit: It was Cora, I just googled it. Close enough

Edited April 21, 2020 by KDA

[Awful Waffle]

I can't name any character from any Mass Effect game aside from Wrex and Garrus and I've played them all multiple times.

if that's your standard for a good game your standards are weird bro

[Mister Pink]

Last night I played a really fun mission. It's Vetra's loyalty mission where you have to save her sister. But the mission is a linear structure with sections and choices in how you attack each room of enemies. 

 

 

 

As for the open world sections, they're a bit plain but really beautiful to look at. What I was doing was spending time on one planet and getting 100% and moving on to the next. What I've been doing lately is a more non-linear approach. For the last 3 planets I just go back and forth as I please. I find this more fun actually. It means I don't bore myself with one planet and get bogged down with any sort of a grind. 

 

For example, if I'm just checking off the boxes (like an Ubisoft game) it becomes a methodical and bit boring. Instead, if I just follow missions, and do local sweeps, and just mine and find things that I want to do, it's a lot more fun. Before, I wouldn't leave a planet until everything is done. And I always thought this was a good approach so I don't miss anything and it's a tidier way to keep track of things but I now I think it's actually not the right way to play it. 

 

I take my time with games, I know this but I have about 80 hours in this game and I think I'm only about 60% of the way through. It's pretty big. 

Edited April 22, 2020 by Mister Pink

[Jason]

4 hours ago, Awful Waffle said:

I can't name any character from any Mass Effect game aside from Wrex and Garrus and I've played them all multiple times.

if that's your standard for a good game your standards are weird bro

It's not my standard for a good game, it's a standard for a memorable game. Memorable characters, plot points, locations, missions. Any of those being easily forgettable isn't a exactly a positive for whatever piece of story telling or entertainment it is.

 

Andromeda, as I've said, is enjoyable and there's things they did there that I'd like to see tried again in a future Mass Effect, but it's far from the level of the original trilogy. Not every game needs to be a 10/10 or 9/10 award winner, 7/10's can be fun games too, like Andromeda, but it aint got a patch on the original trilogy overall.

[Turan]

Ugh I just dropped Mass Effect Andromeda. I already had some annoyances with this game but the enjoyable aspects of it were good enough to keep me hooked. But now I just did a mission which took all of my annoyances and amplified it with a single goddamn mission. 
 

I’m talking about a mission in which I am supposed to explore a Remnant ruin (hate these things) with puzzles (hate these things) and with platforming (hate it in this game). If that weren’t enough the game threw a boss fight at me with never ending enemy minion respawns that constantly surround me and my team during the fight in a small area. I tried this boss fight almost 20 times (trying different strategies) and have concluded that it is simply impossible. 
 

I’m not gonna abandon this mission to grind and get new abilities that the boss is weak to. There is no way in hell I’m going through that Remnant ruin all over again. 
 

This game has so many bad design choices, it honestly boggles my mind. This is at best a 7/10 game and at worst a 4/10. Such a waste of potential. 
 

/rant over

Edited April 24, 2020 by Turan

[Mister Pink]

45 minutes ago, Turan said:

I’m not gonna abandon this mission to grind and get new abilities that the boss is weak to. There is no way in hell I’m going through that Remnant ruin all over again. 

Is it this one? It's very dooable. I remember struggling and not sure what the resolution is but perhaps the video might help. I do remember failing many times though. It's a long battle but you'll feel great when you beat it. 

 

 

I don't know, I like puzzles, even if they are frustrating at times. It's good for the mind and to take a break from normal gameplay to do a puzzle. 

Edited April 24, 2020 by Mister Pink

[Turan]

Nah, not that one. I beat one of those on the snow planet. The one I’m talking about is in a Remnant ruin or dungeon? The fight is in a closed space. The problem is entirely the never ending respawns of the minions helping the boss. They are called Observers.