Topic: Mass Effect: Andromeda

@BAMozzy I'm just going to play it safe, I think. I've got 100% on all planets, so I'll work my way through the loyalty quests for all of the squad mates and then I'll go on that mission. I think I've only got three left to go.

On the whole, I feel like people have been a bit hard on Andromeda. It just feels like Mass Effect with some unnecessary fluff to me. It's a good thirty hour game trapped in a less good sixty hour one.

@johncalmc I spent over 98hrs on the game. I also spent 6/7hrs on my 'first' Ryder that I scrapped and restarted with a different created character so overall I have over 100hrs on the game and still haven't touched any of the MP or Apex missions. My save say 98.3?.07 hrs...

Admitted I did spend time driving around, exploring every area, stopping at every group of enemies and having a shoot out. Towards the end, I did start using the fast travel to get to mission points but every planet, I spent opening up the whole map, driving round the perimeter, tracking down hidden caches, opening up all fast travel points etc.

I too think some have been a bit harsh. Even though I consider myself a 'fan' of the franchise, not a mega-fan but still a fan, and this game is 'disappointing' based on those, its still not a 'bad' game and offers a 'lot' of hours worth. Yes it does have bugs/glitches and the Quality control is poor. Yes the animations are weak and the dialogue, writing and delivery of these can be quite poor - not everytime but enough times to be accountable. Its still an OK game.

If this was the 'first' Mass Effect (ie we hadn't had the trilogy) and we hadn't had games like the Witcher 3, Horizon etc, its possible this could, with a bit more polish, been regarded as a good starting point. Havarl is a great looking planet and Aya's city looks quite impressive too, Eos, Elaaden and Voeld are quite barren in the looks - Eos and Elaaden are quite similar and Voelde is just an frozen area. Khadara isn't too bad when you get to the badlands but nothing comes close to Havarl in looks. It would have been nice to see a bit more variety in their landscapes or even more of a change when you activate the Vaults. Like Voeld for example warming up and 'melting' the ice so that maybe some 'hidden' things become available and you can explore more on foot without freezing to death. Of course I don't expect it to be transformed overnight in to a jungle type environment but it could have transformed into less 'frosty' environment with lakes that were once Ice sheets.

Combat feels good, better than the Originals and exploring the open worlds feels good too. The Nomad is better than the Mako. Overall I still think the game deserves a 7/10. Maybe in its current state (bugs/glitches) its a 6.5 - I can't see them fixing the dialogue, animations etc. For all its faults, I did enjoy it more than Fallout 4.

@BAMozzy I think the combat is better in some ways, worse in others. Exploration is a bit naff since the worlds are largely empty and boring. The main missions are fine and the side missions are largely rubbish. The characters are - as always - a mixed bag. The overall story has been a bit of a non-event so far, but perhaps it will wow me in the end. Choices feel totally inconsequential so far.

It's Mass Effecty in many of the right ways. It's just that a lot of the new stuff gets in the way, I think.

@johncalmc I think the combat is better. The previous were far more 'corridor' shooters and more restrictive too. I know the environments are more open with little pockets of enemies scattered about but I quite enjoy the exploration. Mind you I quite enjoyed this in Destiny too. The story is a bit predictable but the choices and consequences are quite impactful. Not always obvious and I guess some won't be that obvious unless you play a second or third time. Even the choice of your first outpost doesn't seem to make a great deal of difference but it does in conversation, it does in peoples reaction and, trying not to spoil the end, can rear up in the final mission too. Obviously some decisions may not be obvious in this game - like picking the ambassador after the final mission but could make some difference in a sequel too. Some decisions can influence whether you get to build an outpost or not on certain planets, whether certain people will live or die, how some people react to you, what conversation choices you have. Some may be insignificant - like where a random NPC ends up - if you meet them again of course, but it does show that decisions can have an impact and not all are 'major' game changing decisions.

I quite enjoyed a lot of the side missions, some of the Tasks though were quite mundane. Movie night was quite fun despite the fact most stages were nothing more than 'fetch' quests - the ending of it was 'fun'. One can lead to a 'romance' opportunity - its not just the crew you can romance. I felt these had far more impact overall than side quests in Horizon:ZD and some had more 'depth' and story to them too but with so many more in Mass Effect, Horizons on balance may seem more interesting. If you have 20 quests and 10 are great , 5 good and 5 quite meaningless, compared to 100 with 25 great, 35 good and 40 that seem meaningless, it does make it seem as though they are more meaningless - but it still has more that can impact and change the game and experience.

I am NOT criticising Horizon - its a great game but its not in the same league from an RPG perspective. Its much more an Action game with some minor RPG elements where as Mass Effect is much more an RPG with some Action elements. Like other RPGs though, not every quest, every dialogue choice etc seems to make any difference and some can only be evident on a second playthrough to see how those decisions change things.

Did the people that keep saying the world is empty play the first ME? They used recycled environments like crazy in the first game.

I mean don't get me wrong I loved the first ME but it was far from a perfect game. The combat was average at best.

The story and character interactions were top notch in the first game but I think Andromeda blows it out of the water in-terms of gameplay.

@Splat I think it's more a comparison to current games. Kinda like comparing Uncharted with Uncharted 4, you just can't compare games 10 years ago to the current mix. I think we all had some expectations ME:A would be better that it is... but what do they call expectations? "Predetermined disappointments!"

Still far from finished with the game but for me, I really miss the more corridor-type approach of the original games. That, and the characters don't seem as well developed and the choices aren't as dramatic or meaningful (so far, but I have heard it doesn't improve much). The writing just isn't quite there. Also think moving from the Milky Way to Andromeda has totally stripped the other Milky Way races of their cultures. The original trilogy was great because you stepped into their politics as a newcomer - with all the non-Andromeda races starting on neutral ground there isn't as much of the chemistry and conflict between them, which means the bonds they make feel less genuine and significant.

It isn't a bad game by any means, but I haven't found that spark just yet. I'm excited to start the multiplayer once I've finished with the main game though - if nothing else I'm sure I'll get a lot of enjoyment out of that as I loved it in ME3.

Your choices with dialogue effects how NPC's react to you , also the games keeps track of your attitudes in conversation. Its a lot better than past Mass Effects games Paragon or Renagade path otherwise good or evil, as its more about the personality you choose for your character through the dialogue you pick that will dictate how NPC's react to you.

Well, I'm happy to hear of the new patch!

Did I really have to go all the way back to the Nexus to get some films for a movie night? Do they not have streaming or downloads in the 22nd century??

@Throb Mass Effect Andromeda absolutely loves making things take five times longer than they should.

@Throb @johncalmc You're having FUN goddammit! Okay?!

The Movie night task is a case of 'fetch' quest after 'fetch' quest for various members of the crew. Its quite simple enough as you often find yourself having to go to these places frequently. The ending of it is quite fun though - when you actually get to Movie Night. Quite different from the other missions/tasks at least...

Mass Effect: Andromeda is a gigantic science fiction epic and a brave new start for the series, but it doesn't completely capture the magic of its predecessors...

There are some good changes after this latest patch, some things do look better and some things act better. The facial things are better (but still not brilliant), doors seem to open better and the quest marker seems to behave better.

Still, they could have used their own QA department to test this rather than using the 'free' public QA department?

Hopefully future patches can enhance the game further

Has anyone had trouble finishing the "Earn your badge" task? I need to talk to the quest giver to finish the quest but after I talked to him to wrap it up it's still saying I need to talk to him. The thing is it won't let me interact with him anymore.

@Splat glitched out on you. Reload your save file and you should be fine!

@Splat your probably right but mass effect 1 is 10 years old though so it's not a fair comparison. It set the story up perfectly and introduced the races In a perfect soft handed fashion. The combat in me1 was functional, but I enjoyed it and it's easy to forget the game was a new IP with a limited budget

I don't like the combat in MEA. I just don't. I'm rubbish at fps back me up here @BAMozzy lol. So I much preferred the rpg heavy combat of the earlier games, using abilities from my team mates to set up finishes. It's now a shooter predominantly, that's fine and I can see why Bam would like it more than I do. But I don't think it's a great shooter by any means.

"Pathfinder, you have new email."

You lie Sam.

Finished Andromeda. It's whatever.

I liked it better when I thought the story was going to go somewhere. It didn't. The whole thing feels a little superfluous. Some good characters. They need to get rid of open world elements in the sequel, if they make one.