Mass Effect: Andromeda

I replay through ME1/ME2 every couple years or so because the story/characters are that good. I skip ME3 because I really felt it was a downgrade in a number of ways, and it's mostly not needed as it's just the ending.

I'll never play through Andromeda again.

..............

Ouch.

Super disappointed to find a review like this. I know different people feel differently about certain things, but even though I haven't even watched any gameplay, I'm pretty sure I'd agree.

=(
 
What is so wrong with ME:A? On PC performance could be better, but I'm playing at 4k with everything maxed just a bit scaled down resolution (90%) and its running mostly at 60 fps.
I haven't encountered any bugs. Face animations could be better but it doesn't bother me that much.
I don't know how ME:A plays on PS4, but Horizon is a PS4 exclusive, so it's easier to optimize and test.

I am also playing at 4k, but with no scaling. I may try some because while frames are not bad (45 to 60+), the cutscenes stutter badly and exiting menus stutters badly.

I'm glad you're not getting any bugs. I haven't been so lucky. The characters often do the 360 turn around when entering the conversation cutscene. Sometimes there are more than one of them (I was talking to Drake while his twin kept clipping through us both walking back & forth). Sometimes I start a conversation with a crew member in one room and magically finish it in their designated room (ie;PeeBee in the escape pod). Then when I go to leave, the door is closed... the door that is only closed when there is new story dialogue with that character. When I open it, I telephoto to the outside of it and the new cutscene starts.

The little marker in the menus that denotes something new, won't clear even after you've manually checked every. Single. Item.

If you are attacked out in the world while interacting with something such as a console, and a dialog results, your character will stand there immobilized despite the damage it is taking, and even go on talking after dying. If this happens you will load any earlier save, because the console will be cleared, but you will not get credit for whatever was accomplished.

Two of the Planets landing and taking off cutscene flicker wildly, going blank and/or changing to solid colors.

A few NPC's faces are a completely black because their textures did not load, eyes too.

The clothe on Jaal's armor often freaks out and turns into a flashing blur.


I don't hate this game, it was just pushed to market and is not on par with previous ME's imo. While most the bugs should get patched out of it, the unfocused storytelling, flat characters and stitch work mechanics that just needed more Dev time, will remain. I will still enjoy as much of it as I can, but as a fan of the series, it is difficult not to mourn what could have been.
 
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The bullshit character models and art style have me shocked that someone actually signed off on this game at Bioware. How the hell could anyone look at this and think it looks good???? The people look absolutely hideous!!! What the hell. I am so sad that I paid money for this bullshit.
Deadline-itis. It was huge here.
Being in a rush and deadline-itis was definitely a factor in some of the early negative reviews that did this game a disservice and at least some of the outlets are "walking back" and essentially admitting what a bunch of us know now: You can't rush something like this and it definitely gets better as you go further into things.
This game is huge. To try and rush something like this for some deadline was never going to work. This isn't a COD game that can you spam through in a few hours, take a couple of jaunts on MP, and then write up the easy cruise control review because we all know what we're going to get there.

As an NMS fan reading this thread from the beginning, the holiday 2016 delay was a red flag...

It also seems to come down to the 'what reason do you play this?' - which is acceptable in some games but I'm growing a little tired of it when developers charge big bucks. Like NMS and exploration, if you're here for the story, this game is for you.
If you're here for the overall AAA experience, you may be disappointed.
TLDR: Those that shat on NMS and are playing this, my turn to laugh at you now. Both games have (had - continued NMS patches have mostly alleviated this now) inherently broken aspects which were not game destroying if you played it for the reason it was made.
That said, I would not expect them to address most of these issues. They'll probably do some to keep the whinging down but will just run with the $ as usual...

Another thing I'm growing tired of, the 'game ready' drivers many have harped on about - most of the time nowadays, they are not any more 'ready' or better than AMD drivers on launch.... can we just call them drivers and stop using nshillia marketing bullshit. Was it game ready for your founders edition graphics cards? >_>
 
There are a decent amount of combat armors. Some sets like the Pathfinder set also look different at different levels. Level V is very different than the level I version.
 
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I did mean the casual outfits of which there are only really 2 of them as i don't count rolling up sleeves as different... and in that line of thinking there is really only 1.5 casual outfit sleeves short sleeves or leather jacket w/scarf
Yeah it's crap but at least you can customize colors, that's new. But I think the default casual outfits were pretty bad in previous games as well. I had to look for mods for something appealing.

As for combat armors there is like 10 different sets...
I didn't know how many unique sets there are I'm stuck with the N7 armor.
But my main issue is still how useless the tempest and nomad are. NO GUNS ON EITHER ONE and the nomad drives like ass... seriously copy paste the mako in i would be happier or even that shitty hover tank from the 2nd one...
I was secretly hoping that later in the game you'll be able to install guns on them. I'm only 20 hours and 28% into the game.
As I mentioned in the above post there is an upgrade for the nomad that changes its handling. It makes it more similar to the mako but for most that's a downgrade who want simple or easy.
 
LOL! That sums up everything wrong with this game.

Stupid broken cartoon simulator.

Exactly It sums up everything that's wrong and disregards everything that's good about it.

I was just talking about drawing the wrong conclusions a few pages ago.
 
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Yeah it's crap but at least you can customize colors, that's new. But I think the default casual outfits were pretty bad in previous games as well. I had to look for mods for something appealing.


I didn't know how many unique sets there are I'm stuck with the N7 armor.

I was secretly hoping that later in the game you'll be able to install guns on them. I'm only 20 hours and 28% into the game.
As I mentioned in the above post there is an upgrade for the nomad that changes its handling. It makes it more similar to the mako but for most that's a downgrade who want simple or easy.
Just finished volus I have all the upgrades in the menu for the nomad no gun... But shields and HP... I smell a cut feature. I hit level 30 and am pretty close to a peebee romance still only about 20% now I need mad milky way research... For those who found the game boring or just don't know the planet I mentioned is technically the 2nd or 3rd planet you do missions on for me it is 3rd.

I am pretty sure much of the real substance of the game was left on the cutting room floor... You can get a 4th outfit if you have the deluxe version you get an extra armor and weapons set too
 
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Exactly It sums up everything that's wrong and disregards everything that's good about it.
I was just talking about drawing the wrong conclusions a few pages ago.

Right, I've seen similar glitches in Witcher 3, fallout 4, and Skyrim. Still enjoyed those games...(well kinda enjoyed skyrim).
 
I did mean the casual outfits of which there are only really 2 of them as i don't count rolling up sleeves as different... and in that line of thinking there is really only 1.5 casual outfit sleeves short sleeves or leather jacket w/scarf

As for combat armors there is like 10 different sets...

But my main issue is still how useless the tempest and nomad are. NO GUNS ON EITHER ONE and the nomad drives like ass... seriously copy paste the mako in i would be happier or even that shitty hover tank from the 2nd one...

You've got to be kidding... Go and replay Mass Effect 1. The Nomad handles WAY better. And how exactly is a car on different planets with different gravity supposed to handle. It's meant to get over simple obstacles in order to make driving to the destination not such a headache.

Right, I've seen similar glitches in Witcher 3, fallout 4, and Skyrim. Still enjoyed those games...(well kinda enjoyed skyrim).

That's my biggest complaint. Everybody gives Skyrim and Fallout a pass. People still post the shitty glitches but everybody laughs it off because there is obviously much more there than the occasional glitch. Mass Effect is a HUGE game and like other huge games like Fallout and Skyrim there is bound to be glitches. To dismiss the game because of that and the subpar facial animations is to literally just jump on the fucking "hate on ME:A" train that everybody seems to love to bring up in every conversation since the day it launched. It's quite sad because if you seriously base whether you buy a game on those standard then you'll end up missing out on a bunch of great games.
 
The problem is...the list of things that are broken and wrong with this game is many pages long. This was a money grab that was pushed on fans too early. How did ANY of this pass quality control???

4+ years and $40 million and we get this? Seriously? How could anyone at Bioware look at this game in it's current state and say "yeah this is fine....voice acting is great...animations are perfect....lets put it out."

This game is a slap in the face to fans of the series. Even the basic quest system sucks....
 
The problem is...the list of things that are broken and wrong with this game is many pages long. This was a money grab that was pushed on fans too early. How did ANY of this pass quality control???

4+ years and $40 million and we get this? Seriously? How could anyone at Bioware look at this game in it's current state and say "yeah this is fine....voice acting is great...animations are perfect....lets put it out."

This game is a slap in the face to fans of the series. Even the basic quest system sucks....

Just out of curiosity how much have you played of the game? The animations could use work but to me doesn't distract from what is being said (which is what matters for the story) and the voice acting is actually pretty good. Are you basing this off your experience or what you have read/seen? As a fan of ME 1-3 I am absolutely loving Andromeda so to me it's not a slap in the face, but like Dan mentioned before I can understand if it's too much of a departure away from the formula of the first three for people to embrace it.

I predict that a lot of the fans disappointed with the game now and even those who flat-out refuse to play it, a couple years from now when it goes on sale for $5 will play it and be like "Man, this isn't as bad as everyone said it was."
 
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You've got to be kidding... Go and replay Mass Effect 1. The Nomad handles WAY better. And how exactly is a car on different planets with different gravity supposed to handle. It's meant to get over simple obstacles in order to make driving to the destination not such a headache.

Every so often someone's tried to drop the "this was better in 07" canard in here and it's just absolute bullshit.



That's my biggest complaint. Everybody gives Skyrim and Fallout a pass. People still post the shitty glitches but everybody laughs it off because there is obviously much more there than the occasional glitch. Mass Effect is a HUGE game and like other huge games like Fallout and Skyrim there is bound to be glitches. To dismiss the game because of that and the subpar facial animations is to literally just jump on the fucking "hate on ME:A" train that everybody seems to love to bring up in every conversation since the day it launched. It's quite sad because if you seriously base whether you buy a game on those standard then you'll end up missing out on a bunch of great games.


Right on!

I'm glad I'm not the only one that's noticed and gotten a good chuckle out of double standards like these.

I love Bugthesda games, too, but let's get real here. They come out with 2 games per decade on average, if we're lucky, and as of Fallout 4 they're still using the same Stone Age engine that should have been retired a decade ago and I don't care how many new tricks they bleed out of the dead rock and how many new names they give it...it's still the same shitty Gamebryo engine at the end of the day.

You want bad tech? You want crazy bad animations and so on? Fire up Skyrim and Fallout 4. Far less ambitious titles in every sense of the word with more egregious issues.

Imagine the very same Skyrim and very same Fallout 4 with a Bioware logo or especially an EA logo on them and what that would look like.

I get legit criticism about EA and their Evil Empire ways at times. I get that.

I get that Bioware has made a number of disappointing decisions whether it was DA 2 for $60 or the original ending of ME3 that I guess was a life ending cataclysm for some people... get over it. At least they fixed some of that and did it for free. Sure, it took a shitstorm on the Internet but it got the job done. It's over. Let it go!




The problem is...the list of things that are broken and wrong with this game is many pages long. This was a money grab that was pushed on fans too early. How did ANY of this pass quality control???

4+ years and $40 million and we get this? Seriously? How could anyone at Bioware look at this game in it's current state and say "yeah this is fine....voice acting is great...animations are perfect....lets put it out."

This game is a slap in the face to fans of the series. Even the basic quest system sucks....

I've got 40 hours into the game so far and only about 25 percent or so completion and I just have to disagree with you so far as the totality of the game itself goes.


I do think it needed more QC/QA. I won't disagree with that. I do wonder if it was rushed to a deadline.

Someone said earlier being pushed back from Holiday 2016 was a red flag.

I saw it as good news myself because I absolutely didn't want them to rush this. ME games typically tended to come out around this time of year anyways.

They should have pushed it back another fiscal quarter at least to put it over the top. Something this big and ambitious with this many moving parts on a cutting edge engine should not be rushed.
 
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As an NMS fan reading this thread from the beginning, the holiday 2016 delay was a red flag...

It also seems to come down to the 'what reason do you play this?' - which is acceptable in some games but I'm growing a little tired of it when developers charge big bucks. Like NMS and exploration, if you're here for the story, this game is for you.
If you're here for the overall AAA experience, you may be disappointed.
TLDR: Those that shat on NMS and are playing this, my turn to laugh at you now. Both games have (had - continued NMS patches have mostly alleviated this now) inherently broken aspects which were not game destroying if you played it for the reason it was made.
That said, I would not expect them to address most of these issues. They'll probably do some to keep the whinging down but will just run with the $ as usual...

Another thing I'm growing tired of, the 'game ready' drivers many have harped on about - most of the time nowadays, they are not any more 'ready' or better than AMD drivers on launch.... can we just call them drivers and stop using nshillia marketing bullshit. Was it game ready for your founders edition graphics cards? >_>
I'm just here for the multiplayer, and no one else in this thread is talking about it :cry:.
 
Ouch.

Super disappointed to find a review like this. I know different people feel differently about certain things, but even though I haven't even watched any gameplay, I'm pretty sure I'd agree.

=(

I wouldn't hinge my opinion on any one review. It seems to me that most people who aren't professional reviewers seem to enjoy the game so far.

I am also playing at 4k, but with no scaling. I may try some because while frames are not bad (45 to 60+), the cutscenes stutter badly and exiting menus stutters badly.

I'm running the game at 4K as well. I am not using any scaling either. Running with it makes the game look fuzzy if its less than 1.00. I had issues with the menus as well and fixed that by turning off V-Sync. The solution to this may be to enable adaptive V-Sync in the control panel for the game's profile if you are using an NVIDIA card. I don't know about the AMD side of things. The game ran fine for me at 4K. I'd get 60+ FPS most of the time with a few drops into the 50's on some occasions. Where it was really killing me was the Tempest and going into the menus. It's a fucking slide show with V-Sync on.

I'm glad you're not getting any bugs. I haven't been so lucky. The characters often do the 360 turn around when entering the conversation cutscene. Sometimes there are more than one of them (I was talking to Drake while his twin kept clipping through us both walking back & forth). Sometimes I start a conversation with a crew member in one room and magically finish it in their designated room (ie;PeeBee in the escape pod). Then when I go to leave, the door is closed... the door that is only closed when there is new story dialogue with that character. When I open it, I telephoto to the outside of it and the new cutscene starts.

While I wouldn't say that the game has been bug free for me, I haven't had nearly the amount of issues that some people have had. I've never seen any of the specific bugs you've mentioned so far.

Here is a list of bugs I have seen:
Quest markers or objectives do not always clear from the map once completed.
Audio issues with squad mates in conversations being too low to hear.
Graphics flickering in cut scenes. This one has so far been isolated to the first couple cut scenes in Liam's loyalty mission.
Black screen / endless loading. This happens on rare occasions when I have to reload from a save. I have to go back one save when this happens. This seems to indicate some sort of save file corruption. It can happen with manual and auto saves.
Texture pop in issues. This could be a result of me running the uncompressed 64bit memory setting. I can't recall what it's called. So far I've only had this problem on Eos. Even then its been very rare.
Collison issues with the Nomad. The hit boxes where the Nomad is concerned can sometimes be generous. The Nomad may register a collision when too close to some buildings or rocks and then "bounce" away from it.
Clipping issues in cut scenes. It's important to note that while some issues are present, this game is a vast improvement over the rest of the series.
Animation issues. This topic has been beaten to death although I will say that the most egregious issues seem to occur earlier in the game. None of the facial or character animations are what I'd call top notch, but they are serviceable in most of the game.
One quest marker on Voeld is in the wall of a Kett structure and I cannot continue the quest. It's from the "Follow the Scientists Path".
When using the "Press X to Mark All Items Read" in the quest journal, completed missions will not clear. Specifically, one mission doesn't clear which always shows that section as having a new / unread item in it.
In two cut scenes, Ryder uses a rifle in game I do not have and have never seen. Again, this is a vast improvement over previous games that fucked this up in nearly every scene in different ways. It seems that this game even changes Ryder's stance for the cut scene based on what weapon you have equipped / selected at the time. None of the previous games would do that. This is why Shepard used a pistol in 95% of all cut scenes. All Shepard's had access to it regardless of class. Other weapon classes were restricted in ME1 and ME2 to specific character classes.
There is a weird hair glitch that I've seen on occasion when approaching human characters in the game world for the first time. Sometimes their hair will blink and will look like it's frayed out in every direction before popping into place.
Taking damage during a conversation. This is one bug the poster I quoted above mentioned that I have seen. It happened once. I will be more careful about securing the area before going into conversations.
New items are denoted in the category tabs and do not clear when you've investigated every item.
Jaal's clothes have this motion blur problem sometimes while moving.

The little marker in the menus that denotes something new, won't clear even after you've manually checked every. Single. Item.

I see this all the time. It is annoying.

If you are attacked out in the world while interacting with something such as a console, and a dialog results, your character will stand there immobilized despite the damage it is taking, and even go on talking after dying. If this happens you will load any earlier save, because the console will be cleared, but you will not get credit for whatever was accomplished.

I have experienced problems with entering conversations and getting shot while being in them. This leaves you two choices: 1.) Space bar through the scene and live. 2.) Die and reload the latest save. The solution to this is to secure an area before entering a conversation. Chances are you'd have to deal with those enemies anyway. You might as well secure the area and then have your conversation.

Two of the Planets landing and taking off cutscene flicker wildly, going blank and/or changing to solid colors.

I'm running the game at 4K as well and while I've seen some issues, none of them are as bad as what you've reported.

A few NPC's faces are a completely black because their textures did not load, eyes too.

I haven't seen that one.

The clothe on Jaal's armor often freaks out and turns into a flashing blur.

This is an issue I have seen as well. It's quite common.

I don't hate this game, it was just pushed to market and is not on par with previous ME's imo. While most the bugs should get patched out of it, the unfocused storytelling, flat characters and stitch work mechanics that just needed more Dev time, will remain. I will still enjoy as much of it as I can, but as a fan of the series, it is difficult not to mourn what could have been.

This is where I have to seriously disagree with you on multiple points. In a lot of ways this game is more polished than the previous games in the series. ME2 is still probably the most polished of the series but it had issues too. In fact some of the same issues this game has albeit to a lesser extent. The second point about unfocused story telling is a perception issue I think. It isn't that the story is unfocused its that there is too much to do compared to previous ME games. In fact, it's very easy to get side tracked by side quests in this game. That's not an issue with this game. It's easy to do in every open world game I've ever seen. From Oblivion to STALKER this is always a potential issue. It's up to you to stay on task. When you do the story seems a lot more focused.

Yeah it's crap but at least you can customize colors, that's new. But I think the default casual outfits were pretty bad in previous games as well. I had to look for mods for something appealing.

I'll agree that there isn't much to choose from on the casual outfit front. In fairness, ME2 probably gave you the most default options for this. I wouldn't say all of them were bad in previous games but this was never a strong point for Shepard's wardrobe.

I didn't know how many unique sets there are I'm stuck with the N7 armor.

There are a lot of armors in this game compared to earlier games. Only ME3 comes close to having this many. What does suck is that we lost some customization capability from ME3 to Andromeda. In ME3 we could select and change the chest, belt, legs, arms, helmet and shoulders on some armors. We could even change the color of the lighting on them. We can't do the shoulders here or change the lights though we have far more control over the armor color scheme than we've ever had. With regard to the number of armors, I don't think its the number that's lacking but how these armor sets are presented. Armor like the Pathfinder and Initiative armor comes in three distinct variants based on level. If you didn't specifically look for that in the crafting menu or equip it in the field when prompted then you'd never catch that. The level I, II, and V versions are very different. Basically they add more pouches, armor plates, lights and an antenna to the helmet. This changes the look of the armor dramatically despite having the same name. The Spearpoint Armor, Pathfinder, Kett, Remnant Heritage Armor, and Angaran sets all do this too.

Armor List:
Initiative Armor Level I
Initiative Armor Level III
Initiative Armor Level V

Pathfinder Armor Level I
Pathfinder Armor Level III
Pathfinder Armor Level V

Kasa Fabrication Hyperguardian Armor
N7 Armor (Like Shepard's from ME2 and 3.)
Deep Space Explorer's Armor (Super Deluxe Edition)

Heleus Defender Armor Level I
Heleus Defender Armor Level III
Heleus Defender Armor Level V

Angaran Armor Level I
Angaran Armor Level III
Angaran Armor Level V

Maverick Skirmisher Armor Level I
Maverick Skirmisher Armor Level III
Maverick Skirmisher Armor Level V

Kett Armor Level I
Kett Armor Level III
Kett Armor Level V

Remnant Heritage Armor Level I
Remnant Heritage Armor Level III
Remnant Heritage Armor Level V

Basically there are at least 10 unique sets with some of them having three variations. This brings the total armor count that I know of to 24. These also come in different names using the same model. The bonuses may be different in those cases. Kett and Initiative armors do this more than most I believe. Only three of them that I know of have a static model that never changes based on level. The Hyperguardian, N7 and Deep Space Explorer armors.

I was secretly hoping that later in the game you'll be able to install guns on them. I'm only 20 hours and 28% into the game.
As I mentioned in the above post there is an upgrade for the nomad that changes its handling. It makes it more similar to the mako but for most that's a downgrade who want simple or easy.

I disagree. I think it handles better than the Mako and I've got a lot of time in ME1. Not as much as I have in subsequent games, but 5 full completionist play throughs isn't nothing. The Nomad is in most respects better once upgraded fully. As for the guns issue, you have to keep in mind that the Andromeda Initiative is a civilian and not a military venture. The weapons descriptions are very specific that some of the military weapons were obtained illegally, or their blue prints were. The Ark ships, the Nomad and the Tempest being unarmed is somewhat expected. Now, had these been built in Texas, they'd have had guns on them. :) I think this also came down to the developer not wanting to put enemies on the ground you have to shoot with the Nomad that are hard to handle on foot and not provide you easy targets for the nomad that you could take on foot. That's just a guess on my part.

Just finished volus I have all the upgrades in the menu for the nomad no gun... But shields and HP... I smell a cut feature. I hit level 30 and am pretty close to a peebee romance still only about 20% now I need mad milky way research... For those who found the game boring or just don't know the planet I mentioned is technically the 2nd or 3rd planet you do missions on for me it is 3rd.

I am pretty sure much of the real substance of the game was left on the cutting room floor... You can get a 4th outfit if you have the deluxe version you get an extra armor and weapons set too

Hardly. It seems pretty clear to me that they never intended for Nomad based combat to be in the game. I also think there is more substance here than people give it credit for.

You've got to be kidding... Go and replay Mass Effect 1. The Nomad handles WAY better. And how exactly is a car on different planets with different gravity supposed to handle. It's meant to get over simple obstacles in order to make driving to the destination not such a headache.

No it doesn't.

That's my biggest complaint. Everybody gives Skyrim and Fallout a pass. People still post the shitty glitches but everybody laughs it off because there is obviously much more there than the occasional glitch. Mass Effect is a HUGE game and like other huge games like Fallout and Skyrim there is bound to be glitches. To dismiss the game because of that and the subpar facial animations is to literally just jump on the fucking "hate on ME:A" train that everybody seems to love to bring up in every conversation since the day it launched. It's quite sad because if you seriously base whether you buy a game on those standard then you'll end up missing out on a bunch of great games.

I agree. I think the average modern open world game is pretty damn large. Some issues are to be expected. So far nothing I've seen is that big of a deal beyond the facial animations being so blatantly bad in spots.

The problem is...the list of things that are broken and wrong with this game is many pages long. This was a money grab that was pushed on fans too early. How did ANY of this pass quality control???

4+ years and $40 million and we get this? Seriously? How could anyone at Bioware look at this game in it's current state and say "yeah this is fine....voice acting is great...animations are perfect....lets put it out."

This game is a slap in the face to fans of the series. Even the basic quest system sucks....

You are exaggerating the game's quality issues. Have you even played it? I'm almost 70 hours into it and I disagree with most of what you've said. It's not a slap in the face to fans at all. In fact, it's the sequel many ME1 fans have asked for. The quest system does suck though. I'll give you that one.

Just out of curiosity how much have you played of the game? The animations could use work but to me doesn't distract from what is being said (which is what matters for the story) and the voice acting is actually pretty good. Are you basing this off your experience or what you have read/seen? As a fan of ME 1-3 I am absolutely loving Andromeda so to me it's not a slap in the face, but like Dan mentioned before I can understand if it's too much of a departure away from the formula of the first three for people to embrace it.

I predict that a lot of the fans disappointed with the game now and even those who flat-out refuse to play it, a couple years from now when it goes on sale for $5 will play it and be like "Man, this isn't as bad as everyone said it was."

Agreed. It doesn't feel like a slap in the face at all. When you take your time with the game it's pretty rewarding for fans of the series I think. BioWare has the usual issues they always do but they got more right than wrong in my opinion.[/QUOTE]
 
Every so often someone's tried to drop the "this was better in 07" canard in here and it's just absolute bullshit.






Right on!

I'm glad I'm not the only one that's noticed and gotten a good chuckle out of double standards like these.

I love Bugthesda games, too, but let's get real here. They come out with 2 games per decade on average, if we're lucky, and as of Fallout 4 they're still using the same Stone Age engine that should have been retired a decade ago and I don't care how many new tricks they bleed out of the dead rock and how many new names they give it...it's still the same shitty Gamebryo engine at the end of the day.

You want bad tech? You want crazy bad animations and so on? Fire up Skyrim and Fallout 4. Far less ambitious titles in every sense of the word with more egregious issues.

Imagine the very same Skyrim and very same Fallout 4 with a Bioware logo or especially an EA logo on them and what that would look like.

I get legit criticism about EA and their Evil Empire ways at times. I get that.

I get that Bioware has made a number of disappointing decisions whether it was DA 2 for $60 or the original ending of ME3 that I guess was a life ending cataclysm for some people... get over it. At least they fixed some of that and did it for free. Sure, it took a shitstorm on the Internet but it got the job done. It's over. Let it go!

I've got 40 hours into the game so far and only about 25 percent or so completion and I just have to disagree with you so far as the totality of the game itself goes.


I do think it needed more QC/QA. I won't disagree with that. I do wonder if it was rushed to a deadline.

Someone said earlier being pushed back from Holiday 2016 was a red flag.

I saw it as good news myself because I absolutely didn't want them to rush this. ME games typically tended to come out around this time of year anyways.

They should have pushed it back another fiscal quarter at least to put it over the top. Something this big and ambitious with this many moving parts on a cutting edge engine should not be rushed.

I tend to agree with you here that MEA is getting unduly judged for various reasons. My only exception is your comparison with FO4 and Skyrim which got absolutely railed on when they came out for bad character design and animations, and the latter was almost invariably derided for using a 7 year-old engine. Go back through the FO4 thread here and you'll fine some serious fuming. I'm not sure anyone has said "but look at how good FO4 animations were!" in this debate.

As an exercise, put the question of bad character design and animations aside, and focus on the other aspects of the game: environments, atmosphere, graphics, mechanics, UI and, sound, VA, writing, plot, soundtrack. I'd say MEA wins in some places: environment, mechanics, sound, graphics; it loses (pretty big-time in some respects) in other areas: VA, plot, writing, UI, soundtrack. Those last aspects, in particular VA, plot, writing, soundtrack, were the things - and I don't think I'm alone here - that I loved and became invested about the prior MEs. I think this is largely what's skewing ppl's judgment here.
 
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I'm going to disagree on the writing. I'm not through the whole game but it's a fuck ton better than Mass Effect 3 was in that regard. Mass Effect 3 had superb writing in sections but the bulk of the game was shit in this area. So far the plot is better in Andromeda with a few sections of badly written dialog to fuck it up. It's the opposite of Mass Effect 3. I will say the sound track isn't as good. What you hear of it in game is very generic.
 
I'm just here for the multiplayer, and no one else in this thread is talking about it :cry:.

I'll say I'm enjoying it, using the ME3 box unlock patterns "The best strategy was to buy the basic packs until you max your common / uncommon weapons, and then move up a box until your rares were maxes, and so on." No idea if that still is the best way to do it, but that's my plan for now...
The only thing I don't like is that my weapons feel so weak right now- on silver I can put a whole clip into an enemy, which takes too long when you are running and gunning...
 
9/10 times Dan D. and I seem to agree on a lot of things and what I've seen from him in this thread thus far is no exception although again I'm a lot earlier into things than he is.





Soundtrack: I like some of the ambient cues on the soundtrack but I can't say much of it stands out. Off the top of my head, I wish they'd brought in the composer from Titanfall 2 on this: Stephen Barton. He turned my head with his music on Titanfall 2. Naturally I can fantastize about what a Jesper Kyd score on something like this would have been like...or Jeremy Soule...and on and on I could go. ;)



I like the MP. I have seen some complaints about certain issues with it that might affects people's saves so look into this carefully before diving in, in earnest.
 
I'll say I'm enjoying it, using the ME3 box unlock patterns "The best strategy was to buy the basic packs until you max your common / uncommon weapons, and then move up a box until your rares were maxes, and so on." No idea if that still is the best way to do it, but that's my plan for now...
The only thing I don't like is that my weapons feel so weak right now- on silver I can put a whole clip into an enemy, which takes too long when you are running and gunning...
That is the way I did it, too, and it seems like it's working out well. The biggest hurdle to Silver and higher now is still incompetent team mates...

Yes, there are plenty of complaints about the balance right now. The biggest ones are that weapons don't feel punchy like they did in ME3, especially the rare and N7 ones, and that power combos are worthless. The Vanquisher is considered to be the only viable weapon in Gold right now.

We need more maps! We have plenty of classes and weapons right now (that need to be balanced, but still). But I get bored pretty easily right now with the anemic map selection.

The MECoOp subreddit is a pretty good place for multiplayer discussion. But I'll be damned if I want to create a Reddit account...
https://www.reddit.com/r/MECoOp/
 
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BioWare has the usual issues they always do but they got more right than wrong in my opinion.

These are the kinds of comments I can get behind. This blanket disapproval and/or dismissal of the game imo must be from folks who have either not played it, or played it for a very short amount of time. I mean, even in games I really disliked I can point out things that they did do well which is being objective and fair. Are there going to be people out there who have sunk a fair amount of time into it to give it a chance and not like it? Sure. But, like you said non-professional reviewers seem to be enjoying the game which says a lot. I remember reading a "pre-review" discussion on PC Gamer between two editors and they both were absolutely tearing Andromeda apart for the things people have been mentioning the ENTIRE article, but at the end they both said they are both having fun and enjoying the game. So even if you can't get past the facial animations and/or other elements there is bound to be something there for people that liked the first 3 Mass Effect games, RPGs, or even Bioware games in general.

That's the part at the end of the day that I find annoying about folks who complain about the game; they never mention anything they DO like. That's how I know they likely are not actually playing the game and forming their own opinion. They likely saw the facial animations on Reddit or something, read a shit ton of comments and reviews of the game and decided they weren't going to try the game based on that even though "they are huge Mass Effect fans." We all get disappointed in life, and if you invest the money into a game and don't end up liking it then that's fine. You lose out on some money and move on, but to completely dismiss it even if you were really looking forward to it just doesn't make sense. For instance I didn't like Skyrim, but I do like the world, scope of the game, and other things but it just didn't hook me to want to keep playing and I can see how others love it so much they can replay it multiple times. I only tried it for the first time once the Special Edition came out. At the end of the day I didn't get my $20 worth, but I may give it a shot another time and I may find enough in it the second time I continue playing but at least I put about 8 hours into it to say that it didn't hook me into wanting to continue playing it.
 
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Heh- the phone app just notified me that both of my Apex teams just completed gold missions. It's officially sad, my two teams are better than I am.
 
I've played 7 or 8 hours of the trial, and I just can't get past the eye movement and facial animations in conversations. Very creepy and distracting in a story driven game. Movement is also a little wonky, but I can get past that.

Combat is interesting, the Nomad is many times better than the Mako, and the environments for the most part look good.

I think, at this point, it's a no-go for me until (if) the facial animations/eye movement is fixed.
 
Heh- the phone app just notified me that both of my Apex teams just completed gold missions. It's officially sad, my two teams are better than I am.
My one high level team is still failing Silver for some reason, even though it usually has a 78-92% chance of succeeding based on trait synergies, while the team I just recruited completed a silver its first time out at level 1 with an 18% chance of success and gained the Heroic trait because of it. It's getting really frustrating at this point. I don't know if I should be investing mission points into strike team upgrades or saving them for equipment purchases...
 
You've got to be kidding... Go and replay Mass Effect 1. The Nomad handles WAY better. And how exactly is a car on different planets with different gravity supposed to handle. It's meant to get over simple obstacles in order to make driving to the destination not such a headache.
We already been trough this. The nomad handles more easily, therefore it's more accessible for the masses who are no experts in vehicle dynamics. But for me the getting from a to b in the vehicle is not a chore I want to have fun doing it. And I enjoyed driving the mako way more than the nomad. The nomad completely defies physics at every turn it drives over or trough everything like it's nothing, but it won't drive up on a slope that it would be realistic for it to drive up on. It has a dumbed down fake physics that acts based on a few basic variables The upgrade makes it behave more like the mako, but without the extreme grip problem that had. The supposed all wheel drive mode with the nomad is a blasphemy for all that like driving games and who know anything about the subject. It does nothing but lifts the arbitrarily enforced limit on how steep a hill you can get on, while reducing the top speed to half of original, while changing nothing in handling and behaviour of the vehicle. That's not how all wheel drive works.
 
I wouldn't hinge my opinion on any one review. It seems to me that most people who aren't professional reviewers seem to enjoy the game so far.
I wouldn't call the reviewers professional who only bash the game.
They're in it for the clicks / views. Get it out soon, ride the hype train. They're not about being honest or comprehensive.
I'll agree that there isn't much to choose from on the casual outfit front. In fairness, ME2 probably gave you the most default options for this. I wouldn't say all of them were bad in previous games but this was never a strong point for Shepard's wardrobe.
There was never an outfit that I could say "Damn that looks good" Not even the bonus outfit from Kasumi looked particularly good.
There are a lot of armors in this game compared to earlier games. Only ME3 comes close to having this many. What does suck is that we lost some customization capability from ME3 to Andromeda. In ME3 we could select and change the chest, belt, legs, arms, helmet and shoulders on some armors. We could even change the color of the lighting on them. We can't do the shoulders here or change the lights though we have far more control over the armor color scheme than we've ever had. With regard to the number of armors, I don't think its the number that's lacking but how these armor sets are presented. Armor like the Pathfinder and Initiative armor comes in three distinct variants based on level. If you didn't specifically look for that in the crafting menu or equip it in the field when prompted then you'd never catch that. The level I, II, and V versions are very different. Basically they add more pouches, armor plates, lights and an antenna to the helmet. This changes the look of the armor dramatically despite having the same name. The Spearpoint Armor, Pathfinder, Kett, Remnant Heritage Armor, and Angaran sets all do this too.
You can still mix n match armor, you can have different chest and arms, legs and helmet.
I disagree. I think it handles better than the Mako and I've got a lot of time in ME1. Not as much as I have in subsequent games, but 5 full completionist play throughs isn't nothing. The Nomad is in most respects better once upgraded fully. As for the guns issue, you have to keep in mind that the Andromeda Initiative is a civilian and not a military venture. The weapons descriptions are very specific that some of the military weapons were obtained illegally, or their blue prints were. The Ark ships, the Nomad and the Tempest being unarmed is somewhat expected. Now, had these been built in Texas, they'd have had guns on them. :) I think this also came down to the developer not wanting to put enemies on the ground you have to shoot with the Nomad that are hard to handle on foot and not provide you easy targets for the nomad that you could take on foot. That's just a guess on my part.
You can't disagree with subjective preference. I understand that you like it more. I hate it. I could easily predict the Mako, and make it do what I wanted after driving it for 2 seconds. It behaved like I expect a vehicle to behave that adheres to the laws of basic physics. It behaves weirdly because they gave it huge amounts of grip, but I can make it sing if I want to.
The base nomad defies physics. I can't predict what will it do. I mean it can go trough a gap half the width of the damn vehicle. And it can go trough huge obstacles without as much as feeling a bump. It's completely nuts. And I already explained in my previous post the fake all wheel drive mode.
As for weapons, they even mention it in one of the craftable weapon's description that it could be adopted for larger scale applications. Which to me means on a ship or a vehicle, what else would "larger scale application" means?
Sure the initiative came in peace, but they found an enemy. They could and should outfit their ships and vehicles with weapons. If they have the capacity to manufacture any handgun why couldn't they make a large gun?They built the damn nexus for crying out.
Hardly. It seems pretty clear to me that they never intended for Nomad based combat to be in the game. I also think there is more substance here than people give it credit for.
I think they intended, why else would they put health and shields on it? It has no purpose outside of combat.
Actually there is vehicle combat, you can hit enemies with it, but due to the lack of physics most of the time it just drives over them without hurting them. In ME1 if you hit someone with the mako they were dead.
 
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Kinda tired of all the empty Remnant/Kett camps you encounter on the open maps. There's nothing to scan, a lot of them don't even have containers. Just a group of 5 or 6 enemies, you park your car, get out and kill them... and nothing. There's been a few of the Scourge areas where Ryder is like "We should stop and check it out" and there's a few Remnant bots, sometimes none at all, and nothing else. The little Scourge vine is scannable but of course I've already scanned it.

Some other bugs I encountered today:
* UI warnings don't disappear from the screen sometimes until I save and reload.

* I see blue ( ! ) quest icons but there's no quest, an empty terminal in this case.

* Repeated dialog in the Eos outpost. The school teacher asked me to help decide the curriculum again, even though I did it before I left Eos the first time.

* I killed a bunch of Remnant, looted a chest, and when I turned around the entire camp re-spawned with Kett this time. Instantly died.

* While mining an area with the Nomad, it suddenly changed to "Out of Zone" for no reason. Saving and reloading in the exact same spot changed to "Depleted". The icon on my map is still white, even though it's depleted.

*Completed a quest inside a Remnant building (sort of like a vault), a few minutes later I found a notepad on the ground sending me BACK to the same area to do a quest I already did. Even Ryder was like "That's interesting, we should check it out" even though I already did it on my own.

* Some icons on my radar show as white ? icons even though I've already discovered them, when I get close the icon changes back to normal. I've noticed a few Remnant Outpost icons have disappeared off my map entirely, but they show up again when I get close.

All of those happened in the span of 2 hours on Eos.
Also the damn Nomad save bug is still here. This should have been fixed DAY ONE.
 
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I wouldn't call the reviewers professional who only bash the game.
They're in it for the clicks / views. Get it out soon, ride the hype train. They're not about being honest or comprehensive.

The professional reviewers gave mixed opinions on the game. I don't think any of them took the time to fully complete it. In any case most are saying something like 6/10 or 7/10. It would easily be a point higher if the facial animations didn't cause such an uproar. I didn't include the amateur hour crowd of Youtubers but most of them just boarded the hate train and didn't stop. It is about quick hits and getting views. All the non-reviewers I know who are playing the game enjoy it. A friend of mine who didn't get into the original series at all likes Andromeda. I don't quite know what to make of that but it's interesting to note.

There was never an outfit that I could say "Damn that looks good" Not even the bonus outfit from Kasumi looked particularly good.

Fair enough. We still had far more choice in this area in previous games. I think we had better choices too even if they weren't perfect. In Andromeda I use the jacket outfit. It works well enough but the female version has a stupid scarf on it for some reason. Thankfully, Scott doesn't have that. A female Ryder is therefore worse off in this regard.

You can still mix n match armor, you can have different chest and arms, legs and helmet.

I never said you couldn't. I was just talking about the total number of armor sets in the game.

You can't disagree with subjective preference.

Sure I can. My subjective opinion says your subjective opinion is wrong. That's meaningless as both opinions are subjective.

understand that you like it more. I hate it. I could easily predict the Mako, and make it do what I wanted after driving it for 2 seconds.

Your inability to predict how the Nomad will behave doesn't mean there is a problem with how it's configured. The issue may be with you. I don't have this problem.

It behaved like I expect a vehicle to behave that adheres to the laws of basic physics. It behaves weirdly because they gave it huge amounts of grip, but I can make it sing if I want to.

You can't say the Nomad defies physics and the Mako doesn't. They both perform in ways that a convention vehicle made today simply cannot. The Nomad does have excessive amounts of grip as does the Mako. The Nomad has more but at least it doesnt' feel as though it's powered by GM's Iron Duke engine.

I can't predict what will it do. I mean it can go trough a gap half the width of the damn vehicle.

I'll agree with you here. There are collision detection issues with the Nomad. Normally I find it works the other way around where it hits things it hasn't actually hit. Like it's collision mesh is far larger than the vehicle appears to be.

And it can go trough huge obstacles without as much as feeling a bump. It's completely nuts. And I already explained in my previous post the fake all wheel drive mode.

This is where I call your "expertise" in vehicle physics into question. We have the technology to not feel bumps TODAY. We've had it for some time.

As for weapons, they even mention it in one of the craftable weapon's description that it could be adopted for larger scale applications. Which to me means on a ship or a vehicle, what else would "larger scale application" means?
Sure the initiative came in peace, but they found an enemy. They could and should outfit their ships and vehicles with weapons. If they have the capacity to manufacture any handgun why couldn't they make a large gun?They built the damn nexus for crying out.

How far are you in the game? There are several instances where they reference the Initiative as not being invaders. NPC's actually question this given the armor and small arms Ryder and his squad carry. Adding armament to the Nomad would only make them look more like invaders than they already are. There are plenty of reasons in the story NOT to outfit the Nomad with a gun like the Mako. Ultimately this is primarily a game design decision, but it does make sense. I never said it wasn't technically feasible. They can obviously fabricate the hardware to do it. Similarly, I could strap a couple of Barrett M107's to my truck and drive around with them. While I have the technical ability to do this it isn't necessarily wise. That's not quite the same thing but the point is that there is a difference between something being technically possible and it being a good idea.

I think they intended, why else would they put health and shields on it? It has no purpose outside of combat.
Actually there is vehicle combat, you can hit enemies with it, but due to the lack of physics most of the time it just drives over them without hurting them. In ME1 if you hit someone with the mako they were dead.

Again, your inability to see why something was done doesn't necessarily mean that the purpose you envision is the only possibility. It has health and shields because enemies on the map fire on it. You can't take cover inside it indefinitely. I'm sure they did play around with the idea of arming it. As I've said the idea that the Initiative is a civilian organization only goes so far as they've been flexible about that with regard to hand held weapons. I can see them not wanting to look like invaders by driving a tank around on planets that have indigenous life on them. Still, you are right in that they could modify the Nomad to have weapons. The technology is obviously there. However, I can see why the Initiative wouldn't want to arm it. Beyond that the in-game reason is probably because they didn't want you to have access to weapons via the Nomad to make short work of all the Kett soldiers or other enemies. It's simply a game design decision. Nothing more, nothing less. In ME1 you had enemies that practically required the Mako to take down. In contrast, you could use the Mako on everything else and it was super easy mode. It was almost pointless because those things stood no chance against you.

I will agree that the Nomad should be better at driving over people and killing them. It is lacking in that area. After thinking about all the above posts and our many comments on this topic I'll say that neither is "realistic." The Mako may be slightly realistic in some respects, but not so much in others. The Nomad is different and not always in a good way. I think the difference is minor and it comes down to preference. The Mako drove over shit that it shouldn't have been able to climb given how weak the engine was. It fell too slowly when you drove off a mountain. The wheels would over travel through the body. It did pitch and yaw more properly. That I'll give you. So I can see where you are coming from in part but at the same time I can't agree that the Mako was "better".
 
Dan_D there is a choice early in the game you can choose science or military but it sets the note for the way you colonize. Also starting with no guns or very light guns with upgrades later to heavy arms makes sense considering it would be adaptation to the hostile encounters. We come in peace hostile alien race is encountered we retrofit weapons to defend ourselves from the geth assimilators. Yes different Galaxy similar main enemy except the letter are not machine zombies... More like the Borg or species 8472...


Also the deep space explorers is the pre order set not deluxe you can also get a special helmet if you do the initiative orientation. The deluxe version adds a weapon set and the scavenger armor and a hoodie for casual
 
Dan_D there is a choice early in the game you can choose science or military but it sets the note for the way you colonize. Also starting with no guns or very light guns with upgrades later to heavy arms makes sense considering it would be adaptation to the hostile encounters. We come in peace hostile alien race is encountered we retrofit weapons to defend ourselves from the geth assimilators. Yes different Galaxy similar main enemy except the letter are not machine zombies... More like the Borg or species 8472...


Also the deep space explorers is the pre order set not deluxe you can also get a special helmet if you do the initiative orientation. The deluxe version adds a weapon set and the scavenger armor and a hoodie for casual

I got the helmet from the videos. I recall that as well. I just didn't list it because it isn't a full armor set. You are also correct in regard to the Deep Space Explorers suit being a pre-order bonus. I forgot about that.
 
If anyone's interested the game is 35€ now on cdkeys with the code CDKEYSMEA777
 
I thought the WTF from Totalbiscuit was pretty thorough and gave me a much better idea of what to expect when I eventually do pick up ME:A. I think he came at it from a well measured, neutral perspective avoiding most of the general bias and hyperbole a lot of other reviewers and series fans are displaying.

It's two hours long so grab some popcorn:
 
The professional reviewers gave mixed opinions on the game. I don't think any of them took the time to fully complete it. In any case most are saying something like 6/10 or 7/10. It would easily be a point higher if the facial animations didn't cause such an uproar. I didn't include the amateur hour crowd of Youtubers but most of them just boarded the hate train and didn't stop. It is about quick hits and getting views. All the non-reviewers I know who are playing the game enjoy it. A friend of mine who didn't get into the original series at all likes Andromeda. I don't quite know what to make of that but it's interesting to note.
That's exactly what I mean. Anyone who didn't take the time to finish it before publishing their review I refuse to call a professional.
Fair enough. We still had far more choice in this area in previous games. I think we had better choices too even if they weren't perfect. In Andromeda I use the jacket outfit. It works well enough but the female version has a stupid scarf on it for some reason. Thankfully, Scott doesn't have that. A female Ryder is therefore worse off in this regard.
5 poor outfits or 2 poor outfits it's the same to me, the character still ends up wearing an eyesore.
I never said you couldn't. I was just talking about the total number of armor sets in the game.
You were saying that you liked that you could switch out pieces on the armor in ME3, that's why I said you can do it here as well. Maybe not as many pieces but still.
Sure I can. My subjective opinion says your subjective opinion is wrong. That's meaningless as both opinions are subjective.
No, you don't get it, there is no wrong opinion, just different opinions or preferences. I prefer realistic driving, you and many others prefer easy getting around. And I already said that's fine. But calling my preference wrong feels insulting to me.
Your inability to predict how the Nomad will behave doesn't mean there is a problem with how it's configured. The issue may be with you. I don't have this problem.
My inability to predict it's behavior comes directly from the fact that it doesn't adhere to common physics. Sure I can predict it now that I learned what to expect, but I shouldn't need to learn how to drive each time I drive a different car. And I've driven plenty and it never was a problem to predict what will they do when I turn the wheel.
You can't say the Nomad defies physics and the Mako doesn't. They both perform in ways that a convention vehicle made today simply cannot.
What the mako does defies conventional vehicles. What the nomad does defies the fabric of space time itself.
The Nomad does have excessive amounts of grip as does the Mako. The Nomad has more but at least it doesnt' feel as though it's powered by GM's Iron Duke engine.
Yes the nomad has too much grip as well, unless you buy the upgrade to downgrade the grip :-D But i don't know what iron duke means.
I'll agree with you here. There are collision detection issues with the Nomad. Normally I find it works the other way around where it hits things it hasn't actually hit. Like it's collision mesh is far larger than the vehicle appears to be.
It seems as if there is no collosion detection just some sort of repelling force from objects that bounces you off them, but if you drive between two of them they cancel each other out allowing you to slip trough. I once went into an underground cave which was clearly only meant for on foot exploration, but the nomad just slipped in like a baby slips out.
This is where I call your "expertise" in vehicle physics into question. We have the technology to not feel bumps TODAY. We've had it for some time.
You misread. I said you can drive over or trough any object without as much as feeling a bump, not driving over bumps. And the hydropneumatic suspension was introduced by citroen in the early fifties if that's what you're referring to. Even if I didn't know about the existence of active suspensions, how does that prove that everything else I know is false?
How far are you in the game? There are several instances where they reference the Initiative as not being invaders. NPC's actually question this given the armor and small arms Ryder and his squad carry.
I'm 20 hours in, completed EOS and Volus over 100% (It's stupid that the game doesn't count over 100%, as I hit 100% viability long before I stopped accumulating viability points) And I can remember only one instance where they questioned taking weapons, that was before you even met the kett on the first mission. Since then I've taken part in numerous joint military ventures with the Angarans.
Similarly, I could strap a couple of Barrett M107's to my truck and drive around with them. While I have the technical ability to do this it isn't necessarily wise. That's not quite the same thing but the point is that there is a difference between something being technically possible and it being a good idea.
And if you'd daily drive trough war zones with a formidable army of boneheaded aliens out to get you, then you'd have strapped those badboys on your truck with duct tape after the first tangle with them. It makes zero sense after discovering the hostility of the area they arrived in to not arm themselves. It makes some sense to not arrive guns blazing. But I'm for the better safe than sorry approach. So I'd have arrived kitted out if it was up to me. Just because you have weapons doesn't mean you must use them. Or even intimidate others with them.
I will agree that the Nomad should be better at driving over people and killing them. It is lacking in that area. After thinking about all the above posts and our many comments on this topic I'll say that neither is "realistic." The Mako may be slightly realistic in some respects, but not so much in others.
No neither is realistic. But I could make sense of the Mako. I cannot make sense what physics the nomad adheres to.
The Nomad is different and not always in a good way. I think the difference is minor and it comes down to preference. The Mako drove over shit that it shouldn't have been able to climb given how weak the engine was. It fell too slowly when you drove off a mountain. The wheels would over travel through the body. It did pitch and yaw more properly. That I'll give you. So I can see where you are coming from in part but at the same time I can't agree that the Mako was "better".
Those could've been low gravity worlds. Also since you're so fond of citing the lore in Andromeda it's my turn to cite the lore in ME1. It said the Mako has a small mass effect core as well which could allow it to fall slowly, and climb steep mountains easily.
The pitch and yaw I could explain away as they seem to have put directional thrusters on the nomad, while the mako only had the jump jets. Which reminds me how useless the nomad's jump jets are. I loved how I could preemptively jump the make before hitting steep bumps in front of me, easily gliding over them instead of being jerked and slowed down by them. The nomad couldn't jump over a snake's head on the other hand.
 
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I thought the WTF from Totalbiscuit was pretty thorough and gave me a much better idea of what to expect when I eventually do pick up ME:A. I think he came at it from a well measured, neutral perspective avoiding most of the general bias and hyperbole a lot of other reviewers and series fans are displaying.

It's two hours long so grab some popcorn:
TB's is the best review so far and is a good source for people who are on the fence about the game. He covers both the good and bad aspects so hopefully those who are undecided get a better idea of what to expect and those who pre-judged the game can perhaps raise their expectations, too.
 
Died fighting the Architect, reloaded and now the game freezes everytime I try to summon it.
WHAT is going on with this game? According to a guide, I have to leave the planet and fly back in again, and then pray I don't die on the fight for a 2nd time.

#1 rule for Andromeda: DO NOT DIE. Re-loading progress causes so many issues.

edit: Summoned him again, died instantly. This is going to be a fun evening, I can tell already.
 
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So the battle lasts about 15 minutes on Insanity, even with my crazy dps Lance build. Since my last post I fought him again, died, fought him again and killed him. Except when he died, the game didn't save. I was permanently stuck in combat NO SAVES, had to hop in the Nomad and drive all the way back to the Tempest and LEAVE THE PLANET for the game to save.

What a hellish nightmare that was. This fucking game is unbearable. It took me 45 minutes to defeat a 15-minute boss because of all the hoops I had to jump through.
 
Bug after bug after bug with this game: Reached the end of the first Stronghold and the objective got stuck on "Enter the command center", had to re-load and lose about half an hour of progress.
Is there anything in this game that's not broken? BioWare should be paying me to play-test their games.
 
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