Mass Effect: Andromeda

[TaintedSquirrel]

And another problem I find in the game is in crafting. Early on in the game when I crafted level 2-3 weapons I could add a lot of cool modifiers to them. But since I used up those back then I wasn't able to procure the same items ever. So now I only have a bunch of useless ones that I don't even want to use for crafting. If I knew this I'd have saved the good ones for later. How do you even find these crafting mods? Is it just pure bad luck? Same goes for weapon mods. The lower level weapon mods seemed much more useful, with almost no ill effects, while the higher level ones all seem to give a little, and take away a little at the same time, making them absolutely redundant.

When you dismantle an item, you get back the augments. You should never lose them.
As for weapon mods you can take them out and re-use them whenever you want. Some mods have no negative affects (For example some barrel mods give a % Damage increase with no negatives), others have both options available where you can get higher positive affects with a little negative, or you can get slightly less of the same effects with no negatives.

 

[Blade-Runner]

So basically you're admitting that you're just echoing others. Most of whom are already just echoing others with no experience with the actual game.

No, I didn't admit that all.

Sure you can make the decision of not being interested in the game. But then how and why do you want to discuss it with second hand knowledge of it only?

Watching youtube lets play videos provides direct first hand knowledge. I don't need to exert the locus of control to be able to make meaningful observations.

I don't know, maybe the fact has something to do with it that you came in firing on both barrels declaring that everyone liking the game is stupid ?

Feel free to point to any of my posts where I say "everyone liking the game is stupid".

Last I checked you're the one resorting to name calling and slurs.

Snowflake is a slur now? Its an apt adjective given your exaggerated over reaction.

Do a reality check before you start projecting your own insecurities to others. And for goodness sake calm down before you give yourself a stroke. Or keep on pretending if you wish. I'm going back to play the game. Adios.

LOL, I guess its time for you to change tact now that browbeating clearly doesn't work on me. You go enjoy playing the game champ and remember to submit plenty of bug reports! I want the game to be as polished as possible by the time I pick it up from a bargain bin.

You would never, ever speak to M76 in this manner if he was standing right in front of you.

Wouldn't have any problems at all doing just that. And seriously, he needs how many of you to all stand up for him?

 

[TaintedSquirrel]

Oh my god, stop trolling.

 

[IdiotInCharge]

Yeah facts...like the game suffers from an incredible amount of bugs and lack of quality assurance. Fact.

Except that it isn't a fact. Annoyances? Sure. An actual bug here and there? Absolutely! 'Incredible amount'? That's your uninformed opinion.

And good Q/A does not necessitate that things get addressed. I bet EA had excellent Q/A and simply decided to only fix the game-breaking stuff, which they did, before the game shipped.

 

[Vegas P11]

Someone just got triggered. The fact that you self identified as someone who feels the need to rationalise and justify your position says it all really. Whether or not you personally enjoyed this game and not others doesn't prove anything aside from my point, i.e. a willingness to overlook massive quality issues because of your subjective biases.

I couldn't care less about your personal input in this thread, so whether you spew blind hatred or self righteous indignation is of little interest to me.

And you are exactly right I haven't played the game because why would any sensible person with an ounce of logical reasoning reward a publisher for brazenly and knowingly pumping out such half baked trash. Similarly, having regard to negative reviews in every other reality of personal consumption would normally be considered prudent, except in the mind of a fanboy who struggles with the cognitive dissonance. Like I have already alluded to, I will eventually buy and play it..... but only at a price point I consider reflective of the underlying quality and workmanship.

If you go back in this thread you will see that M76 has pointed out numerous issues with the game, but like me and a whole bunch of people, has enjoyed it immensely. Yes the game has some flaws, but that does not mean the game is terrible or unplayable.

 

[jiminator]

lol @ troll. every game has issues at launch. you can't make a vast game that takes 1000s of man-years to make without having issues. The real question is not if the game has issues, it is how much do they impact the enjoyment of the actual gameplay experience. The answer for me is very little.

 

[spaceman]

Ya'll going after each other over a game. It has issues but come on. Be adults. Go after ea about it like I do.

Seriously, the game is fun despite it's faults. The combat alone is fun.

There is enough bullshit in the world as it is. No need to add to the pile.

 

[IdiotInCharge]

So on the sound crackling/popping thing, I think I found the culprit: SLI.

Round about, I noticed framerates dropping after installing the Creator's Update, and didn't think to check the Nvidia Control Panel- sure enough, everything had been reset. Turn on SLI, welcome back sound issue.

What's vexing is that I'm using a USB DAC/Amp. I'll try different USB ports.

 

[TaintedSquirrel]

Let's get this thread back on track with another PRO-TIP:
When claiming APEX Strike Team rewards, if you open a box and then immediately click on another box, it will consume the first box but give you the rewards of the 2nd box without consuming it.

 

[M76]

If you go back in this thread you will see that M76 has pointed out numerous issues with the game, but like me and a whole bunch of people, has enjoyed it immensely. Yes the game has some flaws, but that does not mean the game is terrible or unplayable.

Don't waste your breath. I've already tried that. He said he doesn't care what I said about the game. He's just here to piss on everyone.

 

[IdiotInCharge]

Let's get this thread back on track with another PRO-TIP:
When claiming APEX Strike Team rewards, if you open a box and then immediately click on another box, it will consume the first box but give you the rewards of the 2nd box without consuming it.

I'm doing more multiplayer, trying to work up to gold APEX missions, but I don't think I've ever clicked on the boxes- I just hit space till they're all gone.

 

[jiminator]

from what I figured about the apex missions, it probably works best to have two clean characters and two garbage characters. Give the clean characters the silver and bronze until they are level 20. give the garbage characters the golds. the latter will probably level faster, also develop lots of negative traits in addition to positives. With a level 20 character + positive traits, best I can manage is 50 to 70% (with +20 buff) - on some of the missions. anyway, interesting

 

[TaintedSquirrel]

The amount of missions are controlled by the server, it resets everyday around 8 PM EST I think. If you complete all the missions for one day, you don't get anymore. So as long as you have the full 6 teams you shouldn't have any issue beating them all before reset. If you fail a mission you can just try again.

 

[Motley]

Well after seeing that EA has already come out with a patch to fix the animations and eyes, and other things. I went ahead and decided to buy it.

First impressions (I've only played about 2 hours). The graphics are lovely. Some reviewers were saying the graphics were dated. I have no idea what they're talking about. The environments are awesome looking. Ultra settings on my 1080GTX 1440p, and it runs smooth as butter.

I like the little jetpack jumping action. I haven't run into any animation weirdness yet. And the story is really good so far.

I'm glad I decided to buy it. And EA will continue to fix and patch it.

 

[jiminator]

The arguments based on "reviews" are a bit silly. Someone elsewhere was destroying a game based on reviews, saying he would not purchase it until it hit the $5 bargain bin. My question was how do you quantify that value? I have already put 80+ hours into it (mainly MP) and the cost per hour played is <$1. To me, that is a good game. I have tons of other games, recent games, that were completed and done with in <20 hours. They are also good but not quite the same way. Yeah, people will bitch about the story, laugh at the animations, complain about the menus (every bioware game ever) but despite all that, it is a solid game.

 

[M76]

Well after seeing that EA has already come out with a patch to fix the animations and eyes, and other things. I went ahead and decided to buy it.

First impressions (I've only played about 2 hours). The graphics are lovely. Some reviewers were saying the graphics were dated. I have no idea what they're talking about. The environments are awesome looking. Ultra settings on my 1080GTX 1440p, and it runs smooth as butter.

I like the little jetpack jumping action. I haven't run into any animation weirdness yet. And the story is really good so far.

I'm glad I decided to buy it. And EA will continue to fix and patch it.

Don't worry, the animation quality was one thing blown way out of proportion. But they're not that bad. Getting myself into the game directly after ME3 I can't say it's any worse. There are a few instances of bad animations especially in the first part of the game. But based on the reviews or "previews" I expected them all to be utterly shit. That's not the case. Not even in the pre-patch version, and I imagine they only improved on it with the patch.

When those exaggerated claims came out I certainly had second thoughts about the game. But I would have been a dumb fucker had I let myself persuaded by the hate mob. Most of whom are not even haters, just view whores on youtube trying to get their share of the spotlight.

Now I know that I'd have missed out on a great game, and a great experience. Compared to DA:I this game is much better, and that didn't get any hate. Of course most of the criticism is valid to some degree. But the game is not made of only it's flaws. It's made from a ton of other stuff that doesn't get mentioned.

 

[TaintedSquirrel]

The addison gifs went viral so people assumed that's what everyone looked like. Yeah they fixed Addison in patch 1.05 but everything else is pretty much the same. The only difference I see on all humans are the eyeball changes.

Generally I've found the more the internet hates a game, the more likely I am to enjoy it. Pretty good barometer.

 

[M76]

Generally I've found the more the internet hates a game, the more likely I am to enjoy it. Pretty good barometer.

You might be on to something there, I remember Alien Isolation getting a crapload of hate, and it turned out to be one of the best games I ever played. Nearly made it into my top 10 list.

 

[TaintedSquirrel]

 

[jiminator]

that looks pretty awesome, worth trying

I wish the fiends were as easy in MP, instead the bastards clip through walls to kill you

 

[Q-BZ]

Wow, that's insane! I've got to try that out.

 

[spaceman]

Who the fuck said the graphics are dated? It's a frostbite engine game ffs. Yes the humans look bowlegged and some of the ladies makeup looks like I did it.

But dated? lol

Compared to what?

Oh and the game is $43-45 now. Maybe a bit less with some coupons? Dunno. I paid $45.

 

[Dan_D]

who cares about quality when buying a aaa game these days? gee...

Despite the quality issues, the game is a lot better than it sounds. It's not perfect, but BioWare is responding to these issues. The latest patch addressed a lot of them. Many of the bugged quests from my initial play through are working properly now.

Then you have no idea whether the reviews are representative of the experience, and yet you still criticize.

To be fair, all we have to go on are reviews and the word of forum posts to help us make a decision if we don't want to throw $60 at a game and find out for ourselves. That said, people regurgitating other reviews and opinions without personal experience rarely helps anyone. You should at least make it known that you are regurgitating information so no one believes your account to be first hand.

Yeah facts...like the game suffers from an incredible amount of bugs and lack of quality assurance. Fact.

There is no denying this. However, BioWare is responding to these issues and the game is getting better. Unfortunately, this is the order of the day. Ubisoft is just as bad as any of EA's studios if not worse and they keep getting away with it.

I see how you like to discount anything that runs counter to your view as only an opinion. Nothing can be judged because its always an opinion even if based upon objective metrics and parameters, its a very disingenuous and self serving argument. And I don't need to write a dissertation on how much bad vs how much good there is, every critical or tepid review posted has done just that....weighing the good and the bad. By your logic it doesn't matter if the overwhelming majority, say 99.99% of respondents, consider a piece of work to be utter garbage for it to be an ultimate truth as long as there is one lonely sole who find some redeeming quality in it.

You answered your own question.

I'm fine with people bashing the game, but as with a lot of opinions they should be taken with a grain of salt, especially when those opinions aren't based on first hand knowledge. There is plenty wrong with the game and if you are considering buying it, I'd recommend waiting and not dealing with the pitfalls the launch players have dealt with.

 

[Flogger23m]

Now I know that I'd have missed out on a great game, and a great experience. Compared to DA:I this game is much better, and that didn't get any hate. Of course most of the criticism is valid to some degree. But the game is not made of only it's flaws. It's made from a ton of other stuff that doesn't get mentioned.

How is it? Rough 1-10 scale? It seems like looking past the minor issues, a lot of people say it is just an okay game. Good and offers some fun, but not a game that sets new precedents in the industry and not the most memorable experience. Seemed to turn out how I thought, but I have yet to play it myself. I will probably wait a few months until the fix the quirks.

 

[TaintedSquirrel]

Take whatever rating you'd give the OT and then minus one point for bugs/unpolish.
Then minus another point for lazy design (bad writing/VA, poor animations).

It's my favorite game in the trilogy, but that's only because each of the OT games lasted me 40-50 hours and I'm over 100 in MEA now. I judge games by the amount of time I play them before getting bored or running out of things to do. Although I feel like Paragon/Renegade gives the OT more replayability, and NG+ is pretty broken in MEA.

Comparing one game to an entire trilogy isn't a fair comparison, either. It's starting a brand new story with new characters and protag, competing with the OT is an impossible standard.

 

[EvilWays]

Comparing one game to an entire trilogy isn't a fair comparison, either. It's starting a brand new story with new characters and protag, competing with the OT is an impossible standard.

They do take hefty liberties in reminding you of the original trilogy, rather than go light on the link and let the story stand more on its own.

I find the writing to be wonky (kind of in a bad way), particularly the dialogue (which seems to fit in more with Saints Row than Mass Effect). The banter between member of your crew, and crew members to other NPCs tend to be a bit cringe worthy at times and pop culture references that seem a bit out of place (the Star Wars reference did fit in nicely though for a laugh). It's sad that one of the main reasons they had to write this story taking place in Andromeda was due to the writing staff for the original trilogy (particularly for ME3) writing themselves into a corner and this was the way out of it (whomever is responsible for that A/B/C/D debacle of an ending in ME3 can choke on Krogan quads).

Also, some of the animations seemed to have been fixed well enough, but there are others that are still wonky. Nothing like seeing one of your crewmates in a counter leaning animation but rotated 180 degrees away from the counter/desk that they are supposed to be leaning on. The crew dialogue interaction animation where they turn around to talk to you still seems off as well. Not game breaking, but still noticeable. The physics can be hilarious at times, such as suspending an enemy in the air with biotics and then killing them with a concussion shot just to watch them cartwheel over a ledge to a long fall down.

Mission breaking glitches still need work, and hopefully Bioware focuses their time on that before DLC. I had to deal with that on the Fact or Fiction mission where it would not progress pass disabling the security matrix. I was fortunate to be able to find a YouTube video on how to get past this (there is another way in to each of the two rooms, but the mission will still have the disabling of the security matrix marked as incomplete). Some of the secondary and tertiary missions have horrible means of letting you know what you should do in general and it turns in to a bit of a guessing game. I only managed to figure out where the Earn Your Marks missions take place by accident (only because I was trying to finish off the Fact or Fiction mission). It doesn't have to hold one's hand to progress the mission, but it should be more than "You have a mission, we're not going to tell you much about it, now go play in galactic traffic."

I'm not sure if this is only occuring on the console version (playing it on the PS4 right now), but the biggest annoyance I have right now is hitching. Nothing like driving along in the Nomad and suddenly the graphics freeze up for a few seconds before continuing. It seems as if the game loads up zone squares instead of streaming the area ahead of you.

While ME:A may be on the Frostbite Engine, there are some issues that were commonplace for the Unreal Engine, namely texture loading issues (delays more than anything). It isn't quite as bad as the older games, but still fairly noticeable (mostly on the map).

Here's to hoping that the writing staff doesn't screw up on this saga, along with keeping social justice pandering (and that schmuck Manveer Heir...he "willingly left for greener pasteurs" alright) out.

 

[JeffBlair]

So on the sound crackling/popping thing, I think I found the culprit: SLI.

Round about, I noticed framerates dropping after installing the Creator's Update, and didn't think to check the Nvidia Control Panel- sure enough, everything had been reset. Turn on SLI, welcome back sound issue.

What's vexing is that I'm using a USB DAC/Amp. I'll try different USB ports.

Is it even using SLI? I saw one report where there was no difference between SLI and single card. It's like the drivers don't support SLI yet.

 

[M76]

How is it? Rough 1-10 scale? It seems like looking past the minor issues, a lot of people say it is just an okay game. Good and offers some fun, but not a game that sets new precedents in the industry and not the most memorable experience. Seemed to turn out how I thought, but I have yet to play it myself. I will probably wait a few months until the fix the quirks.

I haven't finished yet. But probably around 7-8. It's not setting any new precedents, but it's way more than just okay. The pros so far are:

• The story is pretty good and interesting so far. There are some very good missions. Both among the sidequests and the main storyline. They nailed the atmosphere. The feeling of getting out for the first time in a new galaxy is great.
  
• The combat is pretty fun, much better than ME1, and slightly better than ME2/ME3.
  
• The characters seemed pretty dull at the beginning, but later they get more complex. I can't say they are as good as the best ones from the previous trilogy but much better than average. If the benchmark is Kaidan / Ashley there are better ones, and not just among the squad.
  
• It's not the most memorable experience but still a memorable experience.
  
• Graphics is pretty good, and runs perfectly 1440ultra around 60fps. No stutter, no slowdowns. At least for me it's smooth.
  
• It's certainly engaging I always have trouble putting it down.

As for cons

• There are some weak plot points imo, but nothing earth shattering just some Seriously? Moments If you can get past the ex-machine base premise of the remnant then it won't bother you much.
  
• The main character Ryder seems weak to me, sometimes you get great response options in conversations but at other times it just feels like they're forcing you to be average / avoid conflicts at all costs even if it means giving up principles.
  
• Pacing is one of the weakest points. But this was already a problem in ME3, although not to this degree. Meaning most sidequests are tied to two or three key points in the main quest. They don't become available gradually instead 20 quests get dumped on you all at once, while you got nothing new in the past 20 hours.
  
• Honeslty I wouldn't even mention animations if not for the scandal. They really aren't that bad. And the worst moments are closer to the beginning of the game.
• Some bugs, most of which already existed in DA:I Nothing game breaking. Most notable is NPCs being spawned high above the ground and falling down when you approach them, including squad. This also happened in DA:I a lot. So it must be a frostbite issue.
  
• Balance issues at very high levels, but this probably won't affect any regular players just the very hardcore bunch.
• Many of the Human NPCs are plain ugly.
• All Alien races use the exact same face model except for a few key characters including the Asari.
• Some cringe worthy conversations. Outstanding in this regard is Addison.
  
• Still too many fetch type quests. Which if you're a completionist can get tedious.

 

[IdiotInCharge]

Is it even using SLI? I saw one report where there was no difference between SLI and single card. It's like the drivers don't support SLI yet.

It does, though I won't claim that it is very efficient, and the limited memory on my 970s probably holds them back somewhat here too.

 

[JeffBlair]

It does, though I won't claim that it is very efficient, and the limited memory on my 970s probably holds them back somewhat here too.

They must have updated something then. From the chart I saw, you'd get the exact same frame rate either way. But, this was for 1080's, so that might make a difference.

 

[IdiotInCharge]

They must have updated something then. From the chart I saw, you'd get the exact same frame rate either way. But, this was for 1080's, so that might make a difference.

There's certainly a boost, but a smallish one- and it seems less after the game patch and Windows Creator's Update (and maybe just the Game Mode included). I'll have to play with it more, but I can definitely tell you that the game uses both GPUs as I keep a pair of GPU-Z instances up to monitor, and both show usage.

 

[Blade-Runner]

Oh my god, stop trolling.

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/view/zero-punctuation/117025-Mass-Effect-Andromeda-Review

Except that it isn't a fact. Annoyances? Sure. An actual bug here and there? Absolutely! 'Incredible amount'? That's your uninformed opinion.

The sheer number of bugs is a fact, what adjective you use as a descriptor doesn't change that fact or somehow mitigate that empirical fact. Like I said, trying to characterise any objective critique as an uninformed opinion because they don't suit your opinions is disingenuous.

And good Q/A does not necessitate that things get addressed. I bet EA had excellent Q/A and simply decided to only fix the game-breaking stuff, which they did, before the game shipped.

And that absolves EA how? Their Q/A is great but were in any event happy to ship a product which by its own admission will require intensive patching over the next 2 months? No wonder publishers are happy to keep shoveling out this shit.

There is no denying this. However, BioWare is responding to these issues and the game is getting better. Unfortunately, this is the order of the day. Ubisoft is just as bad as any of EA's studios if not worse and they keep getting away with it.

Which is my point, take these issues and stick it in any other publisher's game and they would be excoriated by the community. Here people are happy to overlook the issue because its Mass Effect. Publishers keep getting away with it because people keep buying into the hype and handing over their money irrespective of the quality of the product, simple as that.

lol @ troll. every game has issues at launch. you can't make a vast game that takes 1000s of man-years to make without having issues. The real question is not if the game has issues, it is how much do they impact the enjoyment of the actual gameplay experience. The answer for me is very little.

lol@corporate apologist willing to pay full price for shitty quality products. Many if not most games manage to get released at launch without the publisher having to give assurances of an intensive patching program over the space of months following release.

Ya'll going after each other over a game. It has issues but come on. Be adults. Go after ea about it like I do.

Which is pretty much what I have said, wait for the game to hit the bargain bin, but as you can see there is a large contingent of people here who take umbrage with such a notion.

Don't waste your breath. I've already tried that. He said he doesn't care what I said about the game. He's just here to piss on everyone.

EDIT: and for all you delicate flowers gnashing your teeth at having to tolerate diverging views or observations that make you angsty feel free to add me to your ignore filter rather than whining about it.

 

[IdiotInCharge]

The sheer number of bugs is a fact, what adjective you use as a descriptor doesn't change that fact or somehow mitigate that empirical fact. Like I said, trying to characterise any objective critique as an uninformed opinion because they don't suit your opinions is disingenuous.

Except the number isn't massive. The game could be played in its entirety upon release. This is something that your critique depends on ignoring. The most harped-on 'bug'? Eye shadows. Fucking seriously.

And that absolves EA how? Their Q/A is great but were in any event happy to ship a product which by its own admission will require intensive patching over the next 2 months? No wonder publishers are happy to keep shoveling out this shit.

Nearly every game release receives 'intensive patching', as you imply, that's evidence of the modern development process. Every game sees patching regardless, even from the best of development houses, because no one can get through their full Q/A list before a publisher's demanded ship date.

At least with ME:A, we're lucky: EA is going to want to produce sequels, and efforts to tighten up ME:A now will be helpful for those.

 

[Dan_D]

Except the number isn't massive. The game could be played in its entirety upon release. This is something that your critique depends on ignoring. The most harped-on 'bug'? Eye shadows. Fucking seriously.



Nearly every game release receives 'intensive patching', as you imply, that's evidence of the modern development process. Every game sees patching regardless, even from the best of development houses, because no one can get through their full Q/A list before a publisher's demanded ship date.

At least with ME:A, we're lucky: EA is going to want to produce sequels, and efforts to tighten up ME:A now will be helpful for those.

The game couldn't necessarily be played in its entirety on release. There were quests on my first play through which couldn't be completed due to technical issues that prevented the quest from continuing. Granted, it was bullshit side quests, but for a completionist, I found it annoying.

It isn't that a game can't have every issue addressed during development, although it's unlikely. It's that the testing and QA process can't possibly account for everything players will do or their vast system configurations, drivers and other variables. Issues are inevitable even with the best made games. People also fail to realize just how complex these games are and what's involved in their coding. Back in the day a small team could whip out a game in weeks. Weeks turned into months, then years. Now AAA games take as long to make as a lot of Hollywood movies. Mass Effect Andromeda took five years to make and its clear it could have benefited from another 3 to 6 months of development time. Its clear to me that there wasn't a lot of QA done on the game. Obvious animation issues, the poor pacing in spots and the terrible navigation cut scenes in local star systems are too painful or obvious to ignore by even the most ardent Mass Effect apologists.

I will say that the biggest complaint seems to be around animations, but that's largely the snowball effect that started based on the internet memes. It sucks but that's not what bothered me the most. Issues with the eyes specifically bothered me. Another huge compliant is all Asari having Lexi's face / head model. That's just fucking lazy.

It's a damned good game. I think it's actually more enjoyable on the second run to be honest. I've cut down the time it takes to slog through Eos and Voeld because I've done them before. The game's profile system and skills are a bit of a clusterfuck to navigate but I'm past the learning curve. I did all my testing and respec'ing in the first run. I know what weapons work for me, what I like etc. There is a lot of time I'm not wasting by dealing with shit like that. I spend less time in menus, etc.

 

[jiminator]

Mass Effect Andromeda took five years to make and its clear it could have benefited from another 3 to 6 months of development time. Its clear to me that there wasn't a lot of QA done on the game. Obvious animation issues, the poor pacing in spots and the terrible navigation cut scenes in local star systems are too painful or obvious to ignore by even the most ardent Mass Effect apologists.

BS on that. Every single game ever made could benefit from another 3 to 6 months and then another 3 to 6 months, and then.... But for a company to exist it has to create income. If there is no income then game studios get shut down, and that has happened a lot. For QA, yes, there would be a ton of QA, all over the place, else the game would simply not work. The QA effort would probably range from showstopper bugs to like to have issues. There are very few showstopper bugs in the final product. Perhaps a lot of like to have stuff, but as QA you don't want to be responsible for blocking sale of a product because some things could be better. Those are design decisions made by other teams.

I would also say that in the development process people can pick up a certain type of blindness to obvious things like the animations. Again people do not want to stop a product because of perceived trivial issues. This has occurred in many other industries where people are afraid to speak out about what others have created.

It is not until the actual release that objective views of the product come in. For the objective views, no amount of extra development time would gain those insights.

 

[Dan_D]

BS on that. Every single game ever made could benefit from another 3 to 6 months and then another 3 to 6 months, and then.... But for a company to exist it has to create income. If there is no income then game studios get shut down, and that has happened a lot. For QA, yes, there would be a ton of QA, all over the place, else the game would simply not work. The QA effort would probably range from showstopper bugs to like to have issues. There are very few showstopper bugs in the final product. Perhaps a lot of like to have stuff, but as QA you don't want to be responsible for blocking sale of a product because some things could be better. Those are design decisions made by other teams.

I would also say that in the development process people can pick up a certain type of blindness to obvious things like the animations. Again people do not want to stop a product because of perceived trivial issues. This has occurred in many other industries where people are afraid to speak out about what others have created.

It is not until the actual release that objective views of the product come in. For the objective views, no amount of extra development time would gain those insights.

I get what you are saying. There is always more that could be done. A game will generally launch with a few known issues but Mass Effect Andromeda has polish issues it shouldn't have. I'm not even bitching about a lot of the general bugs given the size and complexity of the game. I'm more understanding than most, and I've known people in the game development industry for about 15 years. I know what's involved and what a well executed game looks like on launch.

So while this game likely had a lot of QA as you put it, there was fuck all for emphasis on polish, UI, and quality of life in the game. There are things which are so maddening that you can't imagine that anyone actually played it before launch. Animations are one of them but that's par for the course with any BioWare game.

 

[TaintedSquirrel]

You guys don't get it. Jim Sterling and Joe said this game was crap... So stop enjoying it.

I am gonna keep thread crapping in here until you come to your senses. Nevermind the fact that most of you have already finished the game and can judge it for yourselves.

 

[bmg]

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

 

[M76]

the terrible navigation cut scenes in local star systems are too painful or obvious to ignore by even the most ardent Mass Effect apologists.

What do you mean? I like the flight sequences. It adds a lot to immersion. It makes you feel that you're actually travelling and not just jumping between locations in a game. In fact the newly added "Tab to skip" message annoys the hell out of me. I wish I could turn it off.

 

[Dan_D]

What do you mean? I like the flight sequences. It adds a lot to immersion. It makes you feel that you're actually travelling and not just jumping between locations in a game. In fact the newly added "Tab to skip" message annoys the hell out of me. I wish I could turn it off.

It's cool for a single star system. Maybe two. I don't find it immersive at all. Why would you? The perspective is far different than what it would be inside the ship. More importantly, it simply takes too damn long to get around. You spent a ton of time watching those scenes and it made the task of exploring the galaxy arduous and soul crushing. I'm fine with it for traveling between star systems.