Mass Effect: Andromeda

[Dan_D]

I guess I'm just different. I'm enjoying the hell out of this and frankly I think parts of it are downright gorgeous. It's sucked me right in.

Numerous outlets have said: Stick it out past the first two planets and it takes off. That's a known quantity.

In fairness, BioWare always fucks up the early parts of the game in this way. Mass Effect 1 is a snore until you get clear of the Citadel. Mass Effect 2's probably the best as it lets you navigate and start doing things more quickly. ME3's got the same issue as does Dragon Age Inquisition. I've never been able to get past the starting area in that.

 

[Q-BZ]

In fairness, BioWare always fucks up the early parts of the game in this way. Mass Effect 1 is a snore until you get clear of the Citadel. Mass Effect 2's probably the best as it lets you navigate and start doing things more quickly. ME3's got the same issue as does Dragon Age Inquisition. I've never been able to get past the starting area in that.

DA: I is notorious for "The Hinterlands Trap."

People don't clearly get the idea that they can the hell out of there a lot sooner than they think and get bogged down. The whole game opens up right after that. I tell anyone that goes for that game to "not get stuck in the Hinterlands." First crack out of the box: Leave the Hinterlands. You can always come back.

It's become practically folklore.

 

[Dan_D]

DA: I is notorious for "The Hinterlands Trap."

People don't clearly get the idea that they can the hell out of there a lot sooner than they think and get bogged down. The whole game opens up right after that. I tell anyone that goes for that game to "not get stuck in the Hinterlands." First crack out of the box: Leave the Hinterlands. You can always come back.

It's become practically folklore.

One day I may try to get through it but that game's beginning was a snooze fest for me.

 

[Vader1975]

The defaults and customization options for character creation are poor. Most characters look very ugly as widely described. The gameplay however feels very familiar except for multiplayer vs AI mode. I am so confused when I hit a button and suddenly I am throwing a grenade when I am a biotic. I see some extra options in the setup menu when youre entering a match Ill mess with it. Obviously there is more customisation for multiplayer then there once was. Flying around exploring seems fine. You don't have to mess with manually scanning grid by grid like the old old game. Raw gameplay feels very mass effect and travel and exploration feels old mass effect which is a good thing. I am not upset at having bought it.

 

[Derangel]

DA: I is notorious for "The Hinterlands Trap."

People don't clearly get the idea that they can the hell out of there a lot sooner than they think and get bogged down. The whole game opens up right after that. I tell anyone that goes for that game to "not get stuck in the Hinterlands." First crack out of the box: Leave the Hinterlands. You can always come back.

It's become practically folklore.

I suffered from that problem on my first attempt at DA: I. It was hard to tell myself to leave the Hinterlands because I get super OCD in open world-ish games like that and want to complete everything, which is why I never end up beating Ubisoft games as I burn out on all the fake "content" before getting to the end.

 

[Q-BZ]

I suffered from that problem on my first attempt at DA: I. It was hard to tell myself to leave the Hinterlands because I get super OCD in open world-ish games like that and want to complete everything, which is why I never end up beating Ubisoft games as I burn out on all the fake "content" before getting to the end.

Same here. I'm speaking from experience.

Here's how things went for me: I think I blew about 8-10 hours thereabouts in the Hinterlands when I first got the game...burned out... and then a little something called Witcher 3 hit and I left DA:I in the dust. When W3 (main) was done I needed a "come down" and I went back to DA:I and realized I had a very good apples-oranges situation once I did two things:

1.) Got out of the Hinterlands immediately

2.) Used a controller instead of KBM which I felt was subpar on DA:I on the PC

Suddenly I loved the game after doing these two things.

For ME:A I'm happy with KBM and I'm not feeling like I'm in a Hinterlands trap at all. I'm on EOS (first planet) and I can come and go anytime I want.


Slow starts don't bother me to get stories off the ground and such. Getting bogged down Hinterlands style can and does.

I didn't get to Eos, the first planet, until I had about 8 hours of gamplay under my belt from prologue, talking, minor sidequests on the space station... that's just how I play these.

 

[Dan_D]

Mass Effect Andromeda actually forces you to leave planets and then come back to them later if you want to finish things. At least, that's my experience with it thus far. Eos at least is radioactive and you have to wait for the radiation levels to drop in order to get around the whole area.

 

[termite]

I suffered from that problem on my first attempt at DA: I. It was hard to tell myself to leave the Hinterlands because I get super OCD in open world-ish games like that and want to complete everything, which is why I never end up beating Ubisoft games as I burn out on all the fake "content" before getting to the end.

Hell I did that on Voeld yesterday.

 

[Dan_D]

Hell I did that on Voeld yesterday.

I'm getting there myself with it. Visibility is so bad and the terrain is harsh with artificial limitations preventing you from getting around easily. I've also got a problem with some quests not updating and still showing their nav points. This is a bigger issue because I get turned around trying to circumvent mountains and shit to get where I need to go.

 

[Phlorge]

I am thoroughly enjoying the game. As I play through I just feel like its all the hate is completely overblown.

 

[delita]

I suffered from that problem on my first attempt at DA: I. It was hard to tell myself to leave the Hinterlands because I get super OCD in open world-ish games like that and want to complete everything, which is why I never end up beating Ubisoft games as I burn out on all the fake "content" before getting to the end.

I'm TOTALLY in the same boat as you. It really gets on my nerves, as I'm not OCD or a "completionist" of any sort or nature ANYWHERE ELSE IN MY ENTIRE LIFE -- I am not a perfecitonist. Except when it comes to fucking video games of all things. Priorities, am I right?

 

[Draax]

They were sending keys out on Tuesday. It's not really sketchy it's just that they were at the mercy of their supplier. GMG doesn't get keys directly from EA (the page for ME: A states that the source is an authorized distributor) so the distributor they went through was probably based out of some European county.

The sketchy part is taking peoples money, and then after they had the money, (and the day prior to release) they make a post on their site letting people know that they won't get their keys on the expected NA release date and will instead need to wait until the European release. This should have been made known right up front, instead of after the fact. This is coupled with the fact that in order to get a refund from GMG you need to ask for a refund 48 hours prior to release.

 

[M76]

It's not so much plot holes as much as it is a lack of understanding on your part concerning how the technology works in the game universe. The Omni-gel was used to fix a cracked visor. Omni-gel could have been used to fabricate a new one entirely, but probably not before Ryder suffocated. As for the other two things, there are possible explanations for this. First, Medi-Gel may be a "Milky Way" thing. You may simply never find it outside Initiative bases. Anything like it in Andromeda is likely incompatible with the Council races. Medi-gel is also distributed through the hard suit via conduits. It can be applied directly, as it was in Wilson's case but Wilson wasn't in a hostile environment. The Initiative suits aren't necessarily the same quality as the ones worn by military personnel back in the Milky Way Galaxy. The helmet design and lack of hard plates supports this. If you'll recall, at the start of the game your only weapon is an M3 Predator. The Initiative suit is essentially the lowest grade armor in the game. From what I can tell, the Andromeda Initiative was largely funded privately, or by siphoning military budgets. Some things may have been done for cost reasons. Ark Hyperion had all the blueprints to fabricate a lot of advanced Alliance weaponry but didn't bring anything but the basics. Not only is there a finite capacity on the Ark but the Initiative may have gone light with weapons and military grade armor because it didn't want to appear as an alien invasion in the Heleus Cluster.

Bullshit. It took more time to switch helmets than it took the first time to fabricate a new visor. The rest is just conjured up on your part to try to bullshit your way around the lazy writing. Why didn't day bring medigel with them then? They just changed the behavior of it to suit their needs. There are multiple occasions where you pick up medi gel distributors scattered around. And you have the means to create a space station as large as the citadel, but you don't have money for a proper suit when you go into the unknown?.

If YOU recall the weapon locker is full of exotic weapons but you're only allowed to take the pistol "just in case". Plus the pathfinders cabin is loaded with all the best weapons of the milky way, you're just conveniently not allowed to use them. Plus you find a viper sniper rife and avenger assault rifle right after you land on habitat 7 someone brought those there, and it had to be your squadmates as noone else was there before from the milky way. So this explanation that they only have most basic stuff available doesn't stand.

I'd agree that some explanation for some things would be nice but if you are up to speed on the lore in the original trilogy, some of this stuff isn't hard to figure out.

Yyou can create some convoluted explanation for anything but I believe they did less thinking on it than you did in this answer.

I've seen a few issues as well. Most are animation related, but I've experienced some of what you have.

For me animation was the least of the issues. It was only bad to the point of being distracting once or twice.

Seriously now, pay ATTENTION to the game. The reason you can do this is because of the SAM implant. When Alec Ryder starts showing skills and abilities no one else knew about, Liam comments on it. What he's doing shouldn't be possible.

Just because they have a lore explanation for it it's still a very poor design choice for an RPG, that's the real problem. It negates the existence of classes completely.

I haven't seen too many odd animations in background NPCs. As for the quality of the characters, we saw the same shit in the earlier games. I'm not excusing it but I suspect that some were created earlier (like 5 years ago) while others were more recently modeled and textures. Incongruence in games that have really long development cycles aren't uncommon. As for Scott Ryder's appearance, he seems like a real guy. I don't have a huge problem with that.

About every security guy is squatting or kneeling or doing something weird for me on the nexus. I was talking about the pathfinder not ryder.

I'm far more disturbed by my guns floated away from Ryder's body during cut scenes, or PeeBee's backwards Carnifex.

I haven't seen floating guns yet, but the backwards pistol is pure undisputable proof that the game was worked on by some idiots with absolutely no understanding of the role. Maybe animations were outsourced to india. That would explain everything!

BioWare has always done this. SWTOR, Mass Effect and Dragon Age all have this problem. What you choose is only the gist of what the character is really going to say. I like the new system because all it tells you the gist and tone of what will be said. If you stick to a certain tone often enough the game's auto-dialog in certain areas is supposed to match the tone you've set for the character. I like it personally. Plain Paragon and Renegade choices are gone now leaving you to make the choices more naturally. One must also consider, that Ryder isn't a Council Spectre. While he has a lot of authority he isn't effectively above the law the way Shepard was. Shepard, regardless of how you try to play him or her, is a person of extremes all around. If I have anything against Ryder being different its that. Shepard was always larger than life which is arguably more fun (though less realistic) than someone like Ryder who is an ordinary guy thrust into extraordinary circumstances. Then again BioWare stated that they wanted Ryder to start out an ordinary person rather than the hero Shepard was before ME1 even began.

I disabled the "tone" hints so they don't influence me, I want to choose by what feels right not following some predestined path. What I meant that often there are no options that I'd like. And that's a big problem. Like every conversation in this game is the starbrat all over again.
And I don't think it's extreme to put selfish idiots in their place who were sitting on their hands doing nothing, or making things worse for a year. Who dare to criticize you who arrived 10 minutes ago.
If we have to play ordinary guys in a game now, where does that leave us? Sorry I want the main hero to be anything but ordinary.

To some extent I agree with this. Consider the circumstances though. You aren't really in a position to kill people randomly. nor can you afford to treat them as badly as Shepard would have. There are a handful though that do deserve to be punched.

I don't want to kill anyone, but someone jumping on you tackle you to the ground and the renegade interrupt is "please get off"? After it was going on for half a minute already? I'm an ordinary guy but if someone sucker jumped me like that I'd immediately fight back instinctively.

I only remember PeeBee doing that. I just let her sit on my junk.

I was vague on a purpose so it wouldn't be considered a spoiler.

I'm going to have to disagree with you in a number of areas concerning this. I'm not having any issues with the cover. The stick cover system in the old games was fucking annoying. I'll take the few issues I've seen in this game over those. I've been able to use some stuff as partial cover that was perhaps too short to even bother with. The enemies can also shoot over it if they are tall enough. In the old games it was practically an impenetrable barrier that would only allow you to get shot if you stood up behind it.

You don't have to agree with me, but I still think it's terrible. And how the fuck do you turn around behind cover? Is it even possible? I was only able to shoot from the right side of covers because I couldn't make the character to have right side against the cover.

Now, the whole "realistic" approach to combat that people ask for isn't what you want. You assume that it would make enemies less of a bullet sponge but that isn't necessarily true. In real combat not much is certain. I've heard of cases where people have taken over a dozen rounds of 9mm and .40S&W and still continued to fight. I've heard of other cases where one bullet that shouldn't have done much dropped someone in one hit. One thing that has to be considered is Kett armor, Kett physiology and shielding. The Milky Way weapons were not designed to fight them. Also, they get more powerful as you upgrade them. If there is one thing I hate about the combat its that its somewhat gear dependent the way it was in Mass Effect one. This is where the RPG mechanics interfere with shooting mechanics.

Thanks for telling me what I Want. I know what I Want. Realistic means you get dropped by one direct hit, but the enemy also gets dropped by one direct headshot. This style worked perfectly for me in FarCry, Crysis 1-2, and I loved the combat in those.

If you are only 4 or 5 hours into it, then you can't really say that the combat will always be like that or that some of the guns don't make shorter work of the enemies. I can say that some of them do. That said, I think some weapon balance adjustments are needed. Shotguns are OP and Assault Rifles / Pistols need to get buffed.

Yeah there are clearly issues. Like you can shoot the sniper rifle with 100% accuracy from the hip. Which makes every other weapon in the game pointless.

It is a bit harder than ME3 was. I'd say, like ME3 compared to ME2, each difficulty is about a notch above the previous game's. What gets people into trouble in Andromeda is charging in with powers and limited shotgun rounds or letting themselves get flanked by the Kett. If you aren't careful you can get overwhelmed by some of the tougher enemies. Again, at 4-5 hours in you haven't seen anything yet.

I can easily charge a group of enemies get behind them, and the worst part is that the AI is not even ready for this kind of approach because they won't even turn to fire on me they're still firing where I'm supposed to be according to the designers on the other side of an open area behind the covers.

Eos is a fucking desert. I'm not sure what you expected. The environments are more spectacular in other parts of the game. That's for sure but again I'm not sure what you thought you'd see in a rocky, sandy shithole.

The same kind of attention to detail as on the first planet. Just because it's a desert it can be very well done. Mad Max khm.

I think it gets better as you go. Reviewers tend to echo that sentiment with rare exceptions. Effectively, my only complaint is that the amount of side quests can feel daunting. They generally seem more relevant than what we saw in previous games. That is, the side quests usually have some bearing on the main story. They may not impact the outcome, but they feel like part of it.

Bullshit. The Nomad actually handles somewhat like a vehicle. The Mako never did.

I'm a long time car simulator enthusiast I think I can tell when a vehicle handles like it should. This doesn't. Sure it can be less annoying to players not experienced in racing games, so most will probably like it better than ME1, but please allow me to have my own opinion on it..

The character creator sucks ass. I generally play the male versions of the protagonists (Male Shepard etc.) so I am less concerned for the character's appearance and take the default. I did attempt to mess with it a bit and customize both. I think you can get good results out of it but the interface for the customizer is slow and clunky.

I usually try both. In previous ME games I was never able to create a custom female that I'd actually call good looking. I always ended up with acceptable.

Applying a bonding agent to a cracked visor is not the same as having to manufacture a new one out of goop and install it before running out of air. There is bad writing in the game, but that specific detail isn't an example of that.

What cracked visor? About the same amount of the visor was missing in both cases. Cracked visor with about 2/3 of the glass missing. Or we were looking at something very different.. Or it's a bug, that shows half the glass missing when it's only supposed to be cracked?[/QUOTE]

 

[Dan_D]

Dude, the visor CRACKED the first time. It was broken out the second time. That's a big fucking difference. You are the one inventing shit. I didn't say they didn't bring Medigel with them. What you seem to have forgotten was that their shuttle broke up and crash fucking landed. Medigel also doesn't fix everything 100%. It probably depends on the severity of the wound. There is a guy on the Citadel in ME3 who's leg had to be amputated after medigel was applied. It never restored full functionality of the limb and infection had set in and led to the need for removal. So again, Med-igel doesn't fix everything the same as Omni-gel can't. The shit's not supposed to be fucking magic.

I don't recall seeing other weapons besides the M3 Predator. That's not to say they weren't there. They may very well have made a decision not to grab those weapons so as not to appear hostile if they found alien life on the planet. (Which they did.)

 

[Dan_D]

Bullshit. It took more time to switch helmets than it took the first time to fabricate a new visor. The rest is just conjured up on your part to try to bullshit your way around the lazy writing. Why didn't day bring medigel with them then? They just changed the behavior of it to suit their needs. There are multiple occasions where you pick up medi gel distributors scattered around. And you have the means to create a space station as large as the citadel, but you don't have money for a proper suit when you go into the unknown?.

Dude, the visor CRACKED the first time. It was broken out the second time. That's a big fucking difference. You are the one inventing shit. I didn't say they didn't bring Medigel with them. What you seem to have forgotten was that their shuttle broke up and crash fucking landed. Medigel also doesn't fix everything 100%. It probably depends on the severity of the wound. There is a guy on the Citadel in ME3 who's leg had to be amputated after medigel was applied. It never restored full functionality of the limb and infection had set in and led to the need for removal. So again, Med-igel doesn't fix everything the same as Omni-gel can't. The shit's not supposed to be fucking magic.

If YOU recall the weapon locker is full of exotic weapons but you're only allowed to take the pistol "just in case". Plus the pathfinders cabin is loaded with all the best weapons of the milky way, you're just conveniently not allowed to use them. Plus you find a viper sniper rife and avenger assault rifle right after you land on habitat 7 someone brought those there, and it had to be your squadmates as noone else was there before from the milky way. So this explanation that they only have most basic stuff available doesn't stand.

I do not recall the weapon locker actually. I could have missed that. The Pathfinder's cabin is loaded with weapons. HIS weapons. That doesn't mean that there is enough to go around. It wouldn't make sense to bring more than a small amount of weapons when you can fabricate the rest as needed. An Ark would have limited space.

Just because they have a lore explanation for it it's still a very poor design choice for an RPG, that's the real problem. It negates the existence of classes completely.

I couldn't give a shit about classes in the single player game. I'm not tied to notions of character classes. I don't care if its a staple of traditional RPG's or not. Saying "that's how it's always been" isn't a good enough reason to stick to it. There are still benefits to choosing a path and going all out in it so I don't know how it negates them. In multiplayer I'd agree but it doesn't really matter if the playing field is level.

About every security guy is squatting or kneeling or doing something weird for me on the nexus. I was talking about the pathfinder not ryder.

Yes, I've noticed that and I'm not sure why they do that.

I haven't seen floating guns yet, but the backwards pistol is pure undisputable proof that the game was worked on by some idiots with absolutely no understanding of the role. Maybe animations were outsourced to india. That would explain everything!

That could very well be.

I disabled the "tone" hints so they don't influence me, I want to choose by what feels right not following some predestined path. What I meant that often there are no options that I'd like. And that's a big problem. Like every conversation in this game is the starbrat all over again.
And I don't think it's extreme to put selfish idiots in their place who were sitting on their hands doing nothing, or making things worse for a year. Who dare to criticize you who arrived 10 minutes ago.
If we have to play ordinary guys in a game now, where does that leave us? Sorry I want the main hero to be anything but ordinary.

I keep the tone hint on because the tiny description is by itself a bit too vague to make sure I'm really answering the way I want to. As for Ryder being ordinary, I don't think that's a problem as a starting point which is clearly what BioWare intended. Not only did they state he wouldn't be a hero out of the gate but that you'd have to build up to being more. So far you start off as a regular guy and are chosen only because of who your daddy is. The character flourishes in the role and becomes more than that over time. I don't think this is a problem or a bad design.

I don't want to kill anyone, but someone jumping on you tackle you to the ground and the renegade interrupt is "please get off"? After it was going on for half a minute already? I'm an ordinary guy but if someone sucker jumped me like that I'd immediately fight back instinctively.

It isn't a renegade interrupt. BioWare was clear that the old Paragon / Renegade dynamic and way of viewing morality was OUT of this game. You don't know what you'd do if some chick did that to you more than likely. I've had random chicks I didn't know kiss me before. Even though I was dating something, my initial reaction was surprise. It wasn't "get off me." She was also trying to stop you and not necessarily trying to hurt you. It seemed reasonable enough to me.

You don't have to agree with me, but I still think it's terrible. And how the fuck do you turn around behind cover? Is it even possible? I was only able to shoot from the right side of covers because I couldn't make the character to have right side against the cover.

Alt switches your character right or left in cover.

Thanks for telling me what I Want. I know what I Want. Realistic means you get dropped by one direct hit, but the enemy also gets dropped by one direct headshot. This style worked perfectly for me in FarCry, Crysis 1-2, and I loved the combat in those.

Realistic doesn't mean getting dropped by one direct hit. You know fuck all about weapons and ballistics if you think that's the case. No hits to a human will do that unless they take out the cardiovascular or neurological systems instantly. Basically, nothing but the brain, spine or heart incapacitates immediately. I shoot Kett in the head all the time and they die in a hit or two. I'm not seeing the issue. They have bony fucking heads. Some rifles like the Viper are woefully underpowered I'd agree. This ties back to what I said about the game not being as much of a shooter as the last two in that sense. It's more gear dependent like ME1 which I do not like.

Yeah there are clearly issues. Like you can shoot the sniper rifle with 100% accuracy from the hip. Which makes every other weapon in the game pointless.

It would if I could get instant kill shots from the hip. On normal I can't do that with the Black Widow or any other rifle so far.

I can easily charge a group of enemies get behind them, and the worst part is that the AI is not even ready for this kind of approach because they won't even turn to fire on me they're still firing where I'm supposed to be according to the designers on the other side of an open area behind the covers.

It isn't perfect. They do not seem to respond to being attacked from behind really well. I'll agree with that. Sometimes they respond depending on the circumstances but it's hit and miss. They will flank you however and try and get behind you. Its effective in certain cases.

The same kind of attention to detail as on the first planet. Just because it's a desert it can be very well done. Mad Max khm.

I'm not entirely sure what you mean here. Visually, it looks good. It's not as impressive as the other planets because it's a straight desert world. I thought it was well done despite not being the most amazing location in the game. It could be better of course but this seems like a nit picky complaint compared to many other things wrong with the game.

I'm a long time car simulator enthusiast I think I can tell when a vehicle handles like it should. This doesn't. Sure it can be less annoying to players not experienced in racing games, so most will probably like it better than ME1, but please allow me to have my own opinion on it..

Sorry, but if you thought the Mako handled like any vehicle, or closer to a vehicle than the Nomad I find your opinion on the matter suspect. You can have whatever opinion you want, I never said anything to the contrary. This opinion happens to make so little sense that I can't understand it. However, the biggest problems with the Mako revolve around driving it on the procedurally generated landscape. The terrain was too tough for any wheeled vehicle to navigate. The Mako also seriously lacked power. It always felt slow no matter what you did. The suspension felt fine when jumping, but that's the only time it felt right.

I usually try both. In previous ME games I was never able to create a custom female that I'd actually call good looking. I always ended up with acceptable.

This comes down to personal taste. I was able to do it in ME3. I hated the default FemShep. She was ugly from certain angles. Again, I rarely play the females (compared to BroShep playthroughs) because I don't like the character interactions as much from that side. I don't care to go around romancing dudes and the lesbian relationship dialog in ME3 feels like the plot to a porno movie. It's egregiously bad. Liara is tolerable I suppose since her dialog doesn't change based on Shep's gender but up until ME3 I think she's your only real option that's not a dude.

What cracked visor? About the same amount of the visor was missing in both cases. Cracked visor with about 2/3 of the glass missing. Or we were looking at something very different.. Or it's a bug, that shows half the glass missing when it's only supposed to be cracked?

Nope. Cracked, not missing. Maybe there was a rendering error on your system or something but it wasn't the same both times. I'm fucking sure of it. I might have to start another game just to confirm that.

 

[polonyc2]

what's up with the walls of text by some of you guys...almost entire pages filled with 1 post...

 

[Dan_D]

what's up with the walls of text by some of you guys...almost entire pages filled with 1 post...

You've been here since 2004. You should know by now that's how I roll.

 

[termite]

I'm getting there myself with it. Visibility is so bad and the terrain is harsh with artificial limitations preventing you from getting around easily. I've also got a problem with some quests not updating and still showing their nav points. This is a bigger issue because I get turned around trying to circumvent mountains and shit to get where I need to go.

I think I have a glitch on Voeld then. I get the storm and blizzard when you first get there, at the starting outpost, but once you get out into the rest of the area it is pretty clear.

I was also talking about grinding through all the side quests and locations on Voeld, much like some did in the Hinterlands in DA:I

 

[Dan_D]

I think I have a glitch on Voeld then. I get the storm and blizzard when you first get there, at the starting outpost, but once you get out into the rest of the area it is pretty clear.

I was also talking about grinding through all the side quests and locations on Voeld, much like some did in the Hinterlands in DA:I

I didn't have a problem with Eos. Some things are blocked by the radiation field so I have to come back to that. Voeld on the other hand sucks ass.

 

[Armenius]

Those playing on Multiplayer. (preferably on PC)...

What's the deal with the Tutorial Challenge requirement "Complete an APEX Mission" which has the subtext "Successfully extract from an APEX Mission"? I was under the impression that ALL multiplayer missions were "APEX Missions". So I was a live at the end of it and got the extraction bonus...shouldn't that count? So far I can't seem to get it registered.

Next, what is going on with the "special conditions/modifier" missions? For instance right now the Bronze is "Distract enemy forces". Its supposed to have fixed enemy, location etc... and a modifier (in this case "Go For the Eyes" which is extra weak point damage, overall less damage etc..), plus grant extra bonuses both for single player and multiplayer. Now, I set up to Join for one of these and it seemed to be the right game type... but I didn't see any confirmation that I completed any special mission. On top of that, it didn't give me any Mission Funds which the mission says it should reward 10 of them; not to mention the bonuses to in-game money and XP etc.. When this does work, is it something that you can only get the bonus stuff for that special mission once/ Or is it repeatable?

Lastly, anyone having problems with creating public matches? I can join them fine, but public matches that I create I wait for ages and nobody joins. Is this some sort of port forwarding nonsense? Really now, Bioware shouldn't require that kind of thing but if it does, it should be able to tell you that he NAT is wrong, you need to forward certain ports to make yourself connectable et.c.. hell, my Torrent client tells me when I'm not connectable, so a major game like this should be able to do so and tell people what to rectify.

Edit: I should mention that I haven't yet really started single player. I don't know if that should affect multiplayer (I know I can't get the Pathfinder Rewards that drop to single play mode obviously until I start there) but just in case...

APEX missions are those with the gold colored chiron next to them when you go to custom match or strike missions. When you try to join an APEX mission be sure to check the mission settings on the bottom-right of the screen. The mission should say the name of the mission, not Custom. I didn't catch onto this until after a couple of times trying to complete these missions. The XP and credit bonuses are one-time only, while you should get mission points every time you complete it (I think).

I have been unsuccessful in creating public matches, as well. I have no problem inviting people, but matchmaking never drops additional people into it. They may have done something stupid like siloing the matchmaking pools between quick and custom matches instead of combining them together.

As far as I know you just get additional resources for single player by playing APEX missions and doing Strike Team missions in the multiplayer. I don't know if anything from the single player carries over to the multiplayer as I, too, have not started playing the single player yet.

 

[Draax]

Everyone is hating on the animations ... how come so few are talking about the voices not fitting certain characters? Granted I have only just assembled my crew but the voices for one of the Krogan and one of the Salarians are all kinds of wrong. (sorry, wish I could remember their names)

 

[bmg]

I couldn't stay away from the mass effect universe, in spite of being bummed with all the issues that don't need to be rehashed.

I normally pick male characters, but didn't really like the male Ryder, played him for the 10 hour Trial. I enjoyed playing Tomb Raider as a female (obviously), so decided to try female Ryder. Obviously the default character model is terrible, but there were some good tips on youtube on customizing her so she looks pretty good. I did that and it's much better than the default Ryders imho. Head 9 is a good start. Skin Tone ends up darker in game than what you see in the character creater. 0.1 is the lightest and really not as light as you might think in game. I did mouth 7/10/10/8 and nose 10/11/10/13. Hairstyle 3 for me. etc. Turned out pretty well and I'm liking playing as Sara a lot more than I did Scott.

 

[Phlorge]

The sketchy part is taking peoples money, and then after they had the money, (and the day prior to release) they make a post on their site letting people know that they won't get their keys on the expected NA release date and will instead need to wait until the European release. This should have been made known right up front, instead of after the fact. This is coupled with the fact that in order to get a refund from GMG you need to ask for a refund 48 hours prior to release.

Its on their website and made pretty clear - I guess they could have made it a little more obvious. But honestly I got my key two days earlier than they said. So I am not mad. I just didnt play the night before.

 

[Einzige]

I am thoroughly enjoying the game. As I play through I just feel like its all the hate is completely overblown.

I agree. Everything andromeda is criticized for is true of past titles it seems. Personally I think all those 9/10 in the past should be lowered to 7/10. I think inquisition was the worst Bioware title I've ever played.

 

[Draax]

Its on their website and made pretty clear - I guess they could have made it a little more obvious. But honestly I got my key two days earlier than they said. So I am not mad. I just didnt play the night before.

... but that is the point. It wasn't on their site until the day before the NA release.

 

[Phlorge]

... but that is the point. It wasn't on their site until the day before the NA release.

No it was on their website before, I saw it at least a week before. I saw their customer service person explaining it multiple times on reddit too.

here it is on their twitter the 17th

 

[Draax]

No it was on their website before, I saw it at least a week before. I saw their customer service person explaining it multiple times on reddit too.

here it is on their twitter the 17th

Below is a link to the GMG page, where they announce no keys until Wednesday, dated Monday the 20th at 06:41, the day before the NA release. The post also states that GMG can only guarantee a key no later than the 25th.

https://greenmangaming.zendesk.com/...888-Mass-Effect-Andromeda-Release-Information

 

[TaintedSquirrel]

Did GMG send out their keys yet or no? The site says:

KEYS AVAILABLE NOW!

Release Date: Tuesday, March 21, 2017

 

[Phlorge]

Did GMG send out their keys yet or no? The site says:

Release Date: Tuesday, March 21, 2017

yup. I got mine the day it came out. Didn't wait at all.

 

[polonyc2]

I agree. Everything andromeda is criticized for is true of past titles it seems. Personally I think all those 9/10 in the past should be lowered to 7/10. I think inquisition was the worst Bioware title I've ever played.

I think a lot of people are comparing Andromeda to the original trilogy and that is where most of the disappointment comes from...it's the Star Wars prequels...if Andromeda had been the very first ME game then it probably would have been better received...Andromeda is also no longer being developed by Bioware at its peak as they changed after the EA merger...

 

[Banyan]

this guy never played mass effect - so he isn't expecting anything other than a good game...

 

[TaintedSquirrel]

Mack hates everything, though.

 

[polonyc2]

Jonathan Cooper is with Naughty Dog but also worked on Mass Effect 1...he just wrote a string of tweets offering his perspective on the Andromeda animation controversy...

www.twitter.com/GameAnim/status/844961601732018176

 

[Dan_D]

Everyone is hating on the animations ... how come so few are talking about the voices not fitting certain characters? Granted I have only just assembled my crew but the voices for one of the Krogan and one of the Salarians are all kinds of wrong. (sorry, wish I could remember their names)

With the exception of Suvi, I haven't really felt that was the case. She's doesn't look Scottish at all. BioWare is normally pretty good about picking the right voice actors to fit a character but when they get it wrong, they go hard. Arcann from SWTOR has to be the biggest miscast of all time.

 

[M76]

Dude, the visor CRACKED the first time. It was broken out the second time. That's a big fucking difference. You are the one inventing shit. I didn't say they didn't bring Medigel with them. What you seem to have forgotten was that their shuttle broke up and crash fucking landed. Medigel also doesn't fix everything 100%. It probably depends on the severity of the wound. There is a guy on the Citadel in ME3 who's leg had to be amputated after medigel was applied. It never restored full functionality of the limb and infection had set in and led to the need for removal. So again, Med-igel doesn't fix everything the same as Omni-gel can't. The shit's not supposed to be fucking magic.

It sure was presented like that it could fix almost anything instantly. They should have an established lore and stick to it. From 1-3 medigel was able to instantly heal all your health and revive fallen soldiers instantly. No matter what. Now they changed that. No matter how you spin it, it's a change. And changes in lore usually means bad writing. As I said you can make up some explanation how and why it changed. It's the same shit with no ammo in me1, and then ammo in me2, that also has an explanation but I still think it's bullshit, only convenient for the plot / design.

I couldn't give a shit about classes in the single player game. I'm not tied to notions of character classes. I don't care if its a staple of traditional RPG's or not. Saying "that's how it's always been" isn't a good enough reason to stick to it. There are still benefits to choosing a path and going all out in it so I don't know how it negates them. In multiplayer I'd agree but it doesn't really matter if the playing field is level.

This is literally some space magic gone too far. An AI that gives you biotic powers, which goes against everything we learned so far about biotics. Someone should have told cerberus not to do all those experiments with biotics all you need is a computer to turn someone with zero biotic abilities into an adept.

I don't think this is a problem or a bad design

My problem is the lack of range in responses.

It isn't a renegade interrupt. BioWare was clear that the old Paragon / Renegade dynamic and way of viewing morality was OUT of this game. You don't know what you'd do if some chick did that to you more than likely. I've had random chicks I didn't know kiss me before. Even though I was dating something, my initial reaction was surprise. It wasn't "get off me." She was also trying to stop you and not necessarily trying to hurt you. It seemed reasonable enough to me.

Then they sure went out of their way to make it seem like one for no reason.

Alt switches your character right or left in cover.

Thanks, never would've guessed that.

Realistic doesn't mean getting dropped by one direct hit. You know fuck all about weapons and ballistics if you think that's the case. No hits to a human will do that unless they take out the cardiovascular or neurological systems instantly. Basically, nothing but the brain, spine or heart incapacitates immediately. I shoot Kett in the head all the time and they die in a hit or two. I'm not seeing the issue. They have bony fucking heads. Some rifles like the Viper are woefully underpowered I'd agree. This ties back to what I said about the game not being as much of a shooter as the last two in that sense. It's more gear dependent like ME1 which I do not like.

Of course there are modifying factors like distance but in the game there isn't much long range fighting. Everything is up close and personal, and I thought we could disregard graze shots as well. Needing to get 40 hits in before the most basic organic enemy is incapacitated is way too much. Bony head or not.

It would if I could get instant kill shots from the hip. On normal I can't do that with the Black Widow or any other rifle so far.

To me it seemed a hell of a lot more effective than grinding at them with the avenger or pistol. But this is not just a balance issue it's ridiculous that you can get any sort of accuracy that way.

It isn't perfect. They do not seem to respond to being attacked from behind really well. I'll agree with that. Sometimes they respond depending on the circumstances but it's hit and miss. They will flank you however and try and get behind you. Its effective in certain cases.

I'm not expecting perfect. But I expect as good as or better as ME3. And I just came from playing ME3 and ME2. And let's just say it's very debatable if this is an improvement at all.

Just remembered another ridiculousness. When they bring kett with a dropship they're invulnerable standing on it, they only become hittable when they jump down. In ME3 you can get enemies even before they disembark. Another step back. Guess I can chalk this one up to the inferiority of frostbite.

I'm not entirely sure what you mean here. Visually, it looks good. It's not as impressive as the other planets because it's a straight desert world. I thought it was well done despite not being the most amazing location in the game. It could be better of course but this seems like a nit picky complaint compared to many other things wrong with the game.

Just look for yourself you know how andromeda looks, and now this is mad max. just look at the variety of the ground texture all the attention to detail the small stones, the large ones, and the debris on the ground. I deliberately choose a screenshot with virtually no object in it. But even the ground looks extremely good there. In andromeda everything is a single continous texture with a few rocks jutting out from it completely unnaturally. Of course it's not the biggest issue of the game, did I say that? I wouldn't even call it an issue, it's just a small disappointment. One of many on my part.

Sorry, but if you thought the Mako handled like any vehicle, or closer to a vehicle than the Nomad I find your opinion on the matter suspect. You can have whatever opinion you want, I never said anything to the contrary. This opinion happens to make so little sense that I can't understand it. However, the biggest problems with the Mako revolve around driving it on the procedurally generated landscape. The terrain was too tough for any wheeled vehicle to navigate. The Mako also seriously lacked power. It always felt slow no matter what you did. The suspension felt fine when jumping, but that's the only time it felt right.

Don't worry I understand why you don't understand. I look at vehicle physics from another perspective. I can see the underlying physics engine all the time. The difference is that me1 had one, but it was hilariously badly tuned, if I take into account the ridicilous amount of grip they added to the vehicle, and the other small nuances it still behaves closer to what physics dictates. So I could understand and predict how the vehicle will react to my inputs. But in Andromeda I can't detect any underlying physics just an imitation of some sort. This feels like technology from the mid nineties where computers weren't fast enough to calculate actual physics so they just imitated it some more successfully, some less. I wrote a paper on that shit.

This comes down to personal taste. I was able to do it in ME3. I hated the default FemShep. She was ugly from certain angles. Again, I rarely play the females (compared to BroShep playthroughs) because I don't like the character interactions as much from that side. I don't care to go around romancing dudes and the lesbian relationship dialog in ME3 feels like the plot to a porno movie. It's egregiously bad. Liara is tolerable I suppose since her dialog doesn't change based on Shep's gender but up until ME3 I think she's your only real option that's not a dude.

Never tried default shepard, nor male nor female.

Nope. Cracked, not missing. Maybe there was a rendering error on your system or something but it wasn't the same both times. I'm fucking sure of it. I might have to start another game just to confirm that.

And I could swear there was a huge chunk of it missing, not just cracked. I might have missed it, but I'm about 99% certain there was a substantial piece missing and not just a crack on it.

 

[bmg]

Anyone trying to limit the fps rendered and having success? I've tried gametime.maxvariablefps 121 in both the console and a user.cfg file, and neither place seems to really work. I can use the command to show fps no problem.

 

[TaintedSquirrel]

Did you get any of the pre-order bonuses at GMG? Seems a lot of people are pissed at them.

 

[Derangel]

It sure was presented like that it could fix almost anything instantly. They should have an established lore and stick to it. From 1-3 medigel was able to instantly heal all your health and revive fallen soldiers instantly. No matter what. Now they changed that. No matter how you spin it, it's a change. And changes in lore usually means bad writing. As I said you can make up some explanation how and why it changed. It's the same shit with no ammo in me1, and then ammo in me2, that also has an explanation but I still think it's bullshit, only convenient for the plot / design.
This is literally some space magic gone too far. An AI that gives you biotic powers, which goes against everything we learned so far about biotics. Someone should have told cerberus not to do all those experiments with biotics all you need is a computer to turn someone with zero biotic abilities into an adept

There is always a massive disconnect between gameplay and lore in games. Mass Effect is no different. In combat Medigel was basically magic, but in lore it's limitations are explained more. Heck people get up and shake off taking a rocket to the face in the gameplay portions of the series, but a single shot from a rifle during a cut-scene can kill anything.

Retcons are not always bad writing. Retcons sometimes are required to make a story work or make sense of something that was poorly done before. I'm one of those people that believe continuity should be kept in mind but also doesn't have to be 100% adhered to as the story itself comes first. I suppose that line of thought comes from being a comic reader for most of my life, I've gotten used to retcons and bending continuity.

Do we know that the Ryders didn't have biotic powers prior to SAM? As far as I can tell SAM didn't do anything to Scott or Sara until Alec's death. And prior to SAM you can give yourself biotic powers through level ups, which could speak to them being natural biotics before. Without fully exploring the memories that get unlocked and learned everything the game wants to reveal about SAM and Alec it's premature to make any kind of judgement on exactly how much they retconned things.

 

[SilverSliver]

I'm getting there myself with it. Visibility is so bad and the terrain is harsh with artificial limitations preventing you from getting around easily. I've also got a problem with some quests not updating and still showing their nav points. This is a bigger issue because I get turned around trying to circumvent mountains and shit to get where I need to go.

What's the quickest quest path to get through Voeld? Not talking viable, just done with it.

 

[M76]

Do we know that the Ryders didn't have biotic powers prior to SAM? As far as I can tell SAM didn't do anything to Scott or Sara until Alec's death. And prior to SAM you can give yourself biotic powers through level ups, which could speak to them being natural biotics before. Without fully exploring the memories that get unlocked and learned everything the game wants to reveal about SAM and Alec it's premature to make any kind of judgement on exactly how much they retconned things.

Anything is possible, and that is the problem. I don't understand the in medias res style beginning of the game. I think we should've been introduced to the characters and the initiative while you're still prepping in the Milky way galaxy. That would've been a good opportunity for all tutorials, and to have some proper cameo appearances as well.
This way it feels like waking up from a coma with memory loss, instead of a simple hibernation. We should be fully aware of the original plan, and know at least superficially all the key characters. But shock and awe tactics seem to be more important than proper storytelling.