Mass Effect: Andromeda

I made one of these shotguns to try out at rank 6, it's pretty beastly. I added a +2 mod slot augment to it, since 4 mod slots is nice, even on a shotgun. The base pirahna shotgun doesn't have the huge damage per shot that a few others might have, but it's got high rate of fire, big clip size, and a lot of extra ammo so you don't always have to depend on the health to ammo conversion augment. Keeping health topped off just through normal Incinerate (with Life Support) use works well. I did Drack's loyalty mission right after making the shotgun built, and it just completely destroyed mech's and other armored enemies.

The Piranha isn't bad. I keep one around for some missions as well. I use the Dhan primarily though. It doesn't hold many shots and you have to be really close to ensure you don't miss, but it fucks shit up fast. I've got it at level IX and its damage sits around 1535 or something right now. I'm using it with the mod that adds 25% shields after you empty the weapon. That keeps your shields topped off while you reload. Damage bonuses from tactical cloak and in the skill tree make it the hardest hitting weapon in the game as far as I know.
 
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It's cool for a single star system. Maybe two. I don't find it immersive at all. Why would you? The perspective is far different than what it would be inside the ship. More importantly, it simply takes too damn long to get around. You spent a ton of time watching those scenes and it made the task of exploring the galaxy arduous and soul crushing. I'm fine with it for traveling between star systems.
I relax and enjoy the view. It's nice after a long period on a planet doing fetch quests. Talk about arduous. It actually feels uplifting to me. What I wish I could skip however are the damn long takeoff/landing sequences which are exactly the same all the time. After I1ve seen it once they become pointless. Of course they didn't make those skippable, I thought it would be obvious when they said you'll be able to skip travel animations.
I only skipped a single flight sequence since they added the option, to try the function.
 
The takeoff and landing animations, and solar system transitions likely disguise the game loading planets / environmental assets. They'll never be able to eliminate those.
 
The Piranha isn't bad. I keep one around for some missions as well. I use the Dhan primarily though. It doesn't hold many shots and you have to be really close to ensure you don't miss, but it fucks shit up fast. I've got it at level IX and its damage sits around 1535 or something right now. I'm using it with the mod that adds 25% shields after you empty the weapon. That keeps your shields topped off while you reload. Damage bonuses from tactical cloak and in the skill tree make it the hardest hitting weapon in the game as far as I know.
The 25% shield augment is a good idea on the shotgun. I'll have to check what I've got it on atm.
 
The takeoff and landing animations, and solar system transitions likely disguise the game loading planets / environmental assets. They'll never be able to eliminate those.
I'd take an educated guess and say, nope. Loading takes up to 5-10 seconds judging by other loading times of the game. So why have an animation that is so much longer than that? Also it's quite impossible to play an animation smoothly if you're loading in the background. Some amount of stutter should occur.
As it clearly does in the tram scenes on the nexus, which I believe really disguise the loading screen, and they take no longer than a handful of seconds.
So nope. The close to a minute long landing / takeoff sequences are not for disguising the loading.

And even if the loading happens during them, I'd prefer doing away with the animation and giving highest priority for the loading so it takes no longer than necessary.
 
I disagree with you completely. The previous games had loading screens between star systems, take off and landing on planets that took forever in some cases. ME3 was far better about this. I think in part it may be a specific design choice, but I do think it disguises loading. Those are the only places in the game it ever does this. The different levels of the Nexus shouldn't need the tram scene. It's not a large enough area to justify it so I think you've got shit backwards.
 
I don't see why they couldn't make it possible to skip them as soon as loading is finished, just like with the tram.
 
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I disagree with you completely. The previous games had loading screens between star systems, take off and landing on planets that took forever in some cases. ME3 was far better about this. I think in part it may be a specific design choice, but I do think it disguises loading. Those are the only places in the game it ever does this. The different levels of the Nexus shouldn't need the tram scene. It's not a large enough area to justify it so I think you've got shit backwards.
I just explained why it is how it is. If you're doing anything reminiscent of loading as in using resources in the background stutter will occur. And it does occur during the tram scenes. It doesn't occur during any of the takeoff/landing scenes. That's already compelling evidence.

Additional proof for that you don't need a long ass takeoff scene to load a planet is that you can load any save on any map and it will load up significantly faster than what any of those scenes take.

Not to mention that the landing scene on the nexus is just as long as the others, which is according to you is a small map so it shouldn't take long to load.

And if anything the takeoff scenes are even longer, when you don't need to load a planet just the tempest.
 
I don't see why they couldn't make it possible to skip them as soon as loading is finished, just like with the tram.
ME2 had the same problem and eventually someone found the video files to delete and it removed the loading animations. The original load screen was about 20 seconds and removing the file shortened it to about 2 seconds on my SSD. I have NO DOUBT the same is happening in MEA... Hopefully we can just delete the Tempest animation videos and achieve the same thing.

I'd prefer to just swap it with the regular load screens that are already in the game.

Additional proof for that you don't need a long ass takeoff scene to load a planet is that you can load any save on any map and it will load up significantly faster than what any of those scenes take.
Bingo.
 
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I hate to say it, but I may be done with this game already. I finished the SP and, while there were enjoyable parts, the whole is underwhelming and uncompelling. I've been trying to get into the MP since I enjoyed ME3's so much, but it is a mess. Usually I cuss and swear through the learning curve a little and then I'm fine, but I've got a few level 20 / X Card Characters now and most rounds are still just a frustration-fest. This game needs work, a lot of work. Too much work.

Below is an excerpt from a post I made on Reddit. It sums up my complaints in the MP if you're interested. I fear for this franchise's future.


ME3's MP had its bugs, but for the most part the fun out weighed them. This game is a freaking nightmare.

-The Powers look great, but feel weak
-The Combos look and sound great, but feel even more weak
-The weapons are the weakest yet and the grind for them is atrocious
-Because the combos barely do anything, there is no real teamwork apart from hacking
-Multiple enemies can stagger you indefinitely
-You can spawn into a match in progress and be under attack before you even get control of your character
-It is near impossible to get near a wall or corner without getting stuck on something
-If you get pinned near a wall or corner, you cannot jump away or dodge
If you get "Devices" on round 6 against the Kett or Remnant, on some maps it's almost a garaunteed wipe, even on Silver or Bronze because or where it's located
-40% of your Skill Points are tied up in Crates
-It takes SO long to unlock decent weapons that you can have multiple level 20 / Card X Characters that are still using Bronze weapons
-The UI is unintuitive and clunky
-Audio drops out and stays out untill you restart the game, ALT-TAB does not help
-The game crashes on me about once an hour and I've got a stout machine

I put 100 hrs into the SP and didn't touch MP until after 1.05. The game has it's addicting qualities, but over all the story and characters felt flat. The MP needs a daunting amount of balancing and rework. Since the combat is one of the best parts of this game, and the MP probably the only thing that will sustain it until (hopefully) decent DLC is released, they need to get these things fixed. Between ME3's ending and ME:A's poor reception this franchise is at risk of being shelved. If the only thing this Team is good at is combat, then for crying out loud get the MP right.

Oh and did I mention there is an exploit to do 4x damage?

 
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I'll wait for them to fix this shit before I play it again. I guess that I should restart the whole thing too.
 
I hate to say it, but I may be done with this game already. I finished the SP and, while there were enjoyable parts, the whole is underwhelming and uncompelling. I've been trying to get into the MP since I enjoyed ME3's so much, but it is a mess. Usually I cuss and swear through the learning curve a little and then I'm fine, but I've got a few level 20 / X Card Characters now and most rounds are still just a frustration-fest. This game needs work, a lot of work. Too much work.

Below is an excerpt from a post I made on Reddit. It sums up my complaints in the MP if you're interested. I fear for this franchise's future.




Oh and did I mention there is an exploit to do 4x damage?




1000% agree.
 
So there's a Cryo Perk that gives you weapons when claiming APEX Rewards but it doesn't work on the mobile app. -_-
 
So there's a Cryo Perk that gives you weapons when claiming APEX Rewards but it doesn't work on the mobile app. -_-

No it doesn't. Your crates have to be claimed from in the actual game.

A lot of what people have said is spot on about this game and some of it isn't. Obviously, a lot of aspects of the game are going to be subjective. I think the best and worst Mass Effect game all in one. It's worth getting, but not necessarily now. You may want to wait for a couple of patches or even the first DLC to hit. At full price I think there is enough offered by the game to make it worth the money, but probably only for the die hard Mass Effect fans. For everyone else, this game is probably best experienced with a cheaper price to entry and sticking to the main quest lines. The side content should largely be avoided.

I haven't touched the multiplayer much since I got it. I enjoyed ME3 a lot, but this one feels off. Of course the exploits and some design elements need correction and I have no doubt BioWare will do just that. They put a lot of time and effort into ME3's multiplayer but it really didn't get straightened out until we had a couple MP based DLC's which thankfully were free.
 
I've only played through a very little bit of the game so far, but I've seen a lot of the videos making fun of the animations. I found the following video very interesting to learn about animations and dialogues, as they talk about the difficulties, and offer some speculation on what might have gone wrong with ME:A. This is not a trolling or bashing video. These guys always do constructive and educational videos.

 
I've only played through a very little bit of the game so far, but I've seen a lot of the videos making fun of the animations. I found the following video very interesting to learn about animations and dialogues, as they talk about the difficulties, and offer some speculation on what might have gone wrong with ME:A. This is not a trolling or bashing video. These guys always do constructive and educational videos.


Good video if you don't know how character animation works without mocap and you want to learn. Sadly I suspect the trolls barking aren't interested.
 
Good video if you don't know how character animation works without mocap and you want to learn. Sadly I suspect the trolls barking aren't interested.
Yeah, excellent video. Highly recommended.
 
I've only played through a very little bit of the game so far, but I've seen a lot of the videos making fun of the animations. I found the following video very interesting to learn about animations and dialogues, as they talk about the difficulties, and offer some speculation on what might have gone wrong with ME:A. This is not a trolling or bashing video. These guys always do constructive and educational videos.



This is the kind of stuff I enjoy learning, not to mention the perspective it adds. Thanks for posting. I think most people's frustration is the delta between how much they want to like this game, and how much they actually like it. But we are consumers, and it is quick and easy to consume. It is much more difficult to create.

I hope BioWare can bring more improvements to the existing game, and flesh out the numerous dangling story threads with quality DLC, but at this point I'm not going to expect much. Less chance of being disappointed that way.
 
What do you mean? I like the flight sequences. It adds a lot to immersion. It makes you feel that you're actually travelling and not just jumping between locations in a game. In fact the newly added "Tab to skip" message annoys the hell out of me. I wish I could turn it off.

I relax and enjoy the view. It's nice after a long period on a planet doing fetch quests. Talk about arduous. It actually feels uplifting to me. What I wish I could skip however are the damn long takeoff/landing sequences which are exactly the same all the time. After I1ve seen it once they become pointless. Of course they didn't make those skippable, I thought it would be obvious when they said you'll be able to skip travel animations.
I only skipped a single flight sequence since they added the option, to try the function.
Agree on both points. I love actually being able to see yourself transition from one location to the next, and like you it's a nice break from the tedium of the secondary quests. I was blown away the first time I was able to see out the bridge on the Tempest and see the planets you're orbiting, too, along with all the other detail put into the cluster. One of my favorite parts of the original game was actually reading about all the planets in the Milky Way despite not being able to land on all of them. I was disappointed that they didn't put as much effort into the descriptions in ME2 and ME3. All the detail they put into the exploration of the Heleus Cluster has me nerding out.
 
Agree on both points. I love actually being able to see yourself transition from one location to the next, and like you it's a nice break from the tedium of the secondary quests. I was blown away the first time I was able to see out the bridge on the Tempest and see the planets you're orbiting, too, along with all the other detail put into the cluster. One of my favorite parts of the original game was actually reading about all the planets in the Milky Way despite not being able to land on all of them. I was disappointed that they didn't put as much effort into the descriptions in ME2 and ME3. All the detail they put into the exploration of the Heleus Cluster has me nerding out.
The only thing that could make the flight sequences better if it was shown with the bridge / your cabin in the view, trough the actual viewscreen.
 
That would be very cool.

Have any of you tried to figure out where those windows are on the ship? It cracks me up that the don't line up with anything on the outside when you are planetside. Still, loving the tempest even though you have to go up and down and all around to talk to people. It's much faster than either Normandy.
 
That would be very cool.

Have any of you tried to figure out where those windows are on the ship? It cracks me up that the don't line up with anything on the outside when you are planetside. Still, loving the tempest even though you have to go up and down and all around to talk to people. It's much faster than either Normandy.
No, I still haven't figured out the orientation of everything. It is actually starting to bother me a little. I think the meeting room with the surround view is at the highest point of the ship near the aft section. Still can't line up the exterior with the bridge or Ryder's quarters.

On conversing with people on your ship, the Normandy was still faster. In MEA your squadmates tend to wander around the ship at random times while they were always in the same location on both Normandy's. I find needing to use the ladders or elevator on the Tempest to be slightly more annoying than the elevator on the Normandy, even the SR-1.
 
By the middle of the first playthrough, I had the ship figured.

People move around, but if they want to talk to you (and you missed the notice), their door will be shut. And since there's only two decks (plus an observation that no one is on unless there's a meeting/vidcall), finding people is quick enough.

I think the SR1 was the most annoying; not only could the game bug on the elevator (mash F6), but you had people pretty spread out. The SR2 was a little better because moving about was so quick, though getting to the command center in ME3 was a chore.
 
Yea- I agree about the SR1- and I like that the crew hangs in their room if they want to talk, it makes it simple. And I love the little references around like the crew bulletin board and the Pyjack drawing comments from some of them...
 
That would be very cool.

Have any of you tried to figure out where those windows are on the ship? It cracks me up that the don't line up with anything on the outside when you are planetside. Still, loving the tempest even though you have to go up and down and all around to talk to people. It's much faster than either Normandy.

I actually like running around on the Tempest. Since the crew always changes positions, it makes them feel alive and like they are actually doing stuff when you are not there. Always had to look on my map quickly so I knew where the person I was looking for is.
 
Yea- I agree about the SR1- and I like that the crew hangs in their room if they want to talk, it makes it simple. And I love the little references around like the crew bulletin board and the Pyjack drawing comments from some of them...
Actually they'll announce through intercom where they are if they want to talk.

As for the windows I assumet the "windows" that are not visible from the outside are just viewscreens.
 
Actually they'll announce through intercom where they are if they want to talk.

As for the windows I assumet the "windows" that are not visible from the outside are just viewscreens.
Good point. I believe there is commentary about why there are not very many windows on space faring vessels in the first game, and the reasoning applies to the real world as well. They could very well be using viewing screens to maintain structural integrity. The view we see while navigating the cluster map could be exactly what Ryder sees on the bridge.
 
Good point. I believe there is commentary about why there are not very many windows on space faring vessels in the first game, and the reasoning applies to the real world as well. They could very well be using viewing screens to maintain structural integrity. The view we see while navigating the cluster map could be exactly what Ryder sees on the bridge.

There are a few jokes about this in the second and third game. The SSV Normandy SR-1 doesn't have any windows excluding those in the cockpit. The Normandy SR-2 has a few of them and Shepard can comment on what a stupid idea it is. The windows on the SR-2 have blast shields that can come down in place during combat to protect these areas and exterior compartments not in use can be depressurized at the same time to prevent explosive decompression from these areas being ruptured. Then there is the Geth, which do not use windows because they are a structural weakness. Oddly enough, this led to Shepard and his squad sneaking onboard a space station and the Geth Dreadnaught because the Geth rely purely on instrumentation for threat detection.
 
I don't know what to say about the windows/layout/etc.; it'd be nice if it all obviously lined up, but it's not a big deal to me.

But on my second playthrough, on Hardcore with the male Ryder (he has a name, I never remember it...), I'm finding the game to run pretty smooth overall. The pacing seems to work better, and I think the only reason it felt off to me was due to the Early Access playtime breaking it up.

Honestly just having a good time running through stuff, and it certainly helps to already know how quests go and where everything is; like my last run (on Normal) through the trilogy at 70 hours with full completion, I think this run is going to go a bit quicker too.
 
How the fuck do you guys have time? I don't have any kids and I barely get 30 minutes to an hour a day in tops. lol

I think I am about 16 hours total.
 
How the fuck do you guys have time? I don't have any kids and I barely get 30 minutes to an hour a day in tops. lol

I think I am about 16 hours total.
Your biggest mistake was having a job, I assume. Get rid of that and you can EASILY play at least, like, 8 hours a day.
Bonus steps, get rid of all your friends (unless they're PC gaming friends). Get rid of all your non-PC hobbies. Ditch your SO if you have one, very important.

Basically I'm saying you should sit at your PC 24/7 unless you're sleeping or using the toilet and those can also be avoided if you have the right setup. If you need any more advice let me know, I am an expert in this area.
 
I've made it to Voeld so far, in the low 20's viability. I think I will stop playing for awhile though, I'm running into a lot of bugs and performance issues. I'm getting pretty much the same performance at 1080p as I am at 4k. I was swapping my updated save file between my main and htpc going from my main system on 4k and playing it in 5.1 in the living room with a pad. I'm running into the 20's a lot at 1080, whether I vsync or try a framerate limiter the minimum is bad at ultra or a mix of settings, a lot of jumping around from 20's to 60, so its never fluid very long. In the beginning of the game on Eos it wasn't too bad, only ever saw a few gameplay bugs. Issue's pop up quicker though it seems. I've gone back to finish Eos stuff up and I started getting freezing during combat for a few seconds, then it recovers. Since that started happening though I can never play longer than half hour or so without it cropping up. For me it happens if I try using my pistol ADS and in the middle of chain shotgun shots.

I've tried a couple different drivers, newest optional ones resulted in some CTD's that I didn't get with others so those were shortest tested. Seems stuttering/hanging in combat can be triggered in a lot of ways; rapid fire weapons, shooting weak spots, detonating combos with primer skill, pulling up a scope on pistol. A few people report being able to fix the hanging issue if they had Asus software installed, but I just did a thorough check and I don't have any.
 
I noticed the performance too. My game runs at the same fps at 1440 as it does at 1080. Weird. Using DSR for this btw. I have a 1080P BenQ. Looks very nice too. Probably the best looking and running game I have now.

Probably going to take it slow and wait on the fixes to roll in over time. No hurry.
 
I thought I was about to hit the final mission but I just unlocked all of the post-loyalty squad missions and a slew of other side missions and around half a dozen new star systems. I'm all for longevity but I am starting to get burned out... This feels like an entire trilogy combined into a single game. Well at least two games, maybe not three.
 
I thought I was about to hit the final mission but I just unlocked all of the post-loyalty squad missions and a slew of other side missions and around half a dozen new star systems. I'm all for longevity but I am starting to get burned out... This feels like an entire trilogy combined into a single game. Well at least two games, maybe not three.
You know what? You wouldn't feel burned if the content was actually fun and interesting to play... I could replay ME2 over and ovee again but this? I haven't finished this yet because even the combat feels somehow worse than in, say, ME3 (I really hate how much the fov changes when you pull your gun in ME:A).
 
I've tried a couple different drivers, newest optional ones resulted in some CTD's that I didn't get with others so those were shortest tested. Seems stuttering/hanging in combat can be triggered in a lot of ways; rapid fire weapons, shooting weak spots, detonating combos with primer skill, pulling up a scope on pistol. A few people report being able to fix the hanging issue if they had Asus software installed, but I just did a thorough check and I don't have any.

I had the same freezing in combat, primarily when scoped and with head shot's but some times when doing melee/jump attacks it would freeze for a second.

The problem went away when I uninstalled the Asus "Game first" software. The game runs at a pretty smooth 60 fps @1080p. I thought it was odd that a program that prioritizes network traffic would affect a SP game.

I am running a GTX 1070 and a 4790k.
 
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