Mass Effect: Andromeda

They key is not to let the side quests distract you from the main story. Whenever I can't take another side quest, I progress the main story. That helps.
 

Long/short:

The reason this developer is posting this is in response to a fairly decent attempt at a hoax in regards to an outfit called Sinclair Network that was supposedly working a la outsourcing on DLCs. It's all fake. There is no such entity as Sinclair Network anything.

This also casts further doubts on that original Kotaku story from May that somehow still has a lot more traction than it should.


Background of said drama:

http://bsn.boards.net/thread/11726/story-cancelled-sinclair-networks-facebook?page=26

This got big enough, fast enough that some devs even got into this thread and it ultimately led to the above type of public statement. It went to Reddit... social media...

You can skim that thread for a couple of minutes and get the picture.
 
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if theres no DLC then I probably won't bother finishing the game, it was doomed from the start, I shouldn't be surprised that EA destroyed another franchise.
 
I am more bummed at the fact that there goes ANOTHER franchise with strong roots in SP experience being sold out to MP games only.
 
the multiplayer is boring and tedious as well, I feel like im running in exact circles because nothing changes.
 
polydiol said:
if theres no DLC then I probably won't bother finishing the game, it was doomed from the start, I shouldn't be surprised that EA destroyed another franchise.
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Sure there is some blame to put on on EA but in this case the rabid idiots destroyed the franchise who wrote off the game based on a few animation glitches, that were neither the rule to the game nor that big of a deal in the greater scheme of things. So I'm more mad at those and the clueless idiots towing the line thereafter.

Could ME:A be better? : Yes. Was it a bad game: No. I'm still certain it was better than DA:I which was well received. So the biggest problem wasn't with the game, it was with the unrealistic expectations.
 
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Good. I'm hoping for more, the potential is there for a much improved game with fairly small additions (imho). And I might be an outlier, but I like the multiplayer.
 
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Dan_D said:
By the end of my first play through, I had all the skills I wanted maxed out. Near the end of the game I was just filling in the holes with extra points. I'm at level 99 I believe and I think I have skill points and no place to put them.
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I'm at level 43 and already have everything I want maxed out. I've got Charge, Grenades and Concussive Shot maxed out and that's really all I use. For my style of playing those are the best 3 to have. I think I've got like 15 or more points unused at this point.
 
for me, what killed the game is a lack of creativity - the single player is more of a mass effect copy in that yes, we're in a new galaxy and yet we are still dealing with the same politics and gameplay from mass effect 1 - the same races are back minus the quarians, we still have the same weapons and N7 gear, same 6 wheeled vehicle - they could've used unique new weapons, races (angara are about as fun and interesting as going to work on monday) and gone in a whole different direction but its more of the same.

I played all 3 mass effect games prior to this multiple times and this feels like a huge grind because its just like mass effect 1-3. I'm so butthurt I'm considering just uninstalling and moving onto something else.
 
Shame to see that if true. Perhaps a single large expansion could have redeemed the game if they threw out all the side stuff and brought it down in size. Hard to continue the story with a lackluster start, but I think a sequel could have been much better even if the foundation wasn't too solid. Bioware Edmonton's project looks even crappier, so I'd rather take another mediocre Mass Effect. They already tarnished the name and nostalgia a bit, so I'd be happy with a decent follow up. As far as I am concerned, even if it does turn into another Assassin's Creed, the story is still overall better. So long as they just do 1-2 more games and don't follow the annual release schedule, I'd happily play more.

I have zero interest in Bioware's other project.
 
I am trying my best to progress but it is fucking hard. I just went to this planet (second one for me like Haevarl or some crap) where again I have to do a vault. Which I have done. But man, it sucks ass. I don't know when, if ever, I will even finish the main story.
 
KickAssCop said:
I am trying my best to progress but it is fucking hard. I just went to this planet (second one for me like Haevarl or some crap) where again I have to do a vault. Which I have done. But man, it sucks ass. I don't know when, if ever, I will even finish the main story.
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The vaults are all different, but the objective remains the same.
 
The vaults are also typically the easiest part of each new planet.

The bigger parts are the politics, and stuff that tells the stories of the Outlaws, the Krogans, and on Havarl the Angara.
 
IdiotInCharge said:
The vaults are also typically the easiest part of each new planet.

The bigger parts are the politics, and stuff that tells the stories of the Outlaws, the Krogans, and on Havarl the Angara.
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The vaults are among the more difficult parts of the early game due to the fact that they have a lot of Remnant inside and you've got platforming and some puzzle work mixed in with it. That's not saying much because the game isn't all that difficult. The vaults also get annoying after awhile. The differences in the vaults actually makes no sense to me. You'd think something like a big atmospheric processing complex, or terraforming complex would be a standard or prefabricated unit for easy deployment. Not a one off custom for each planet. This is one of those areas where it being a game shows through and takes a little away from the already thin story. That said, I'm just nit picking after the fact. I didn't think about it too much while playing the game the first time.

On a basic level, the game has a solid story. It's just spread out so far that it lacks the cinematic feel and flow of the earlier games. The game is almost too big for it's own good, but then again I think that's all in how you tackle it. If you do the minimum amount of shit to progress the main story line, it isn't nearly as bad. Then you can go back and do the boring shit if you want to or disregard it. The later missions are also quite a bit of fun. They don't quite capture the soul of the first two game's final missions but it's a fair fucking bit better than the last missions of the third game.
 
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DWolvin said:
I can't see those links at work- what's up?
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Long/short: It shows Kotaku and the specific writer/editor of this ME:A doom and gloom narrative have FAR more credibility issues vs PC Gamer, for one, who has debunked their narrative along with a growing number of other more credible outlets.
 
DWolvin said:
I can't see those links at work- what's up?
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Icons from top to bottom: Collusion, Dishonesty, Sensationalism, Trivia.

upload_2017-7-3_13-34-4.png
 
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Ah, wow. I know Kotaku is as trustworthy as Brietbart on serious stuff, but that's an impressivly large pile of dung.
 
Is there a mod yet to unlock more skill slots? Or remove the profile-swap cooldown.
Might be fun to play again with more skills available...
 
TaintedSquirrel said:
Is there a mod yet to unlock more skill slots? Or remove the profile-swap cooldown.
Might be fun to play again with more skills available...
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Those two basically ruined the skills experience didn't they? Don't know why they would think that was a good idea. Being stuck with the 3 basic skills for the entire game. You never knew exactly what type of encounter to expect, so you couldn't switch profiles pre-emptively. And switching during a battle is suicide due to the cooldown reset on everything. So the only sane tactic is to use the 3 most universally useful skills you can find and stick with them. Which was overload / energy drain / and incinerate for me.
 
Finally had enough time to get into the game over the last couple days. So far I'm enjoying myself. It feels like Mass Effect, although I never have been a fan of games where you go into cover "automatically" because it so rarely works. Especially when there's no crouch command.

They love throwing a whole bunch of things at you at once. From the R&D stuff, to scanning quests, to a bunch of menus...I kinda wish they'd space some of that stuff out. It's a little overwhelming and the menu UI's aren't very intuitive.

Any tips on the R&D stuff? The game isn't offering much in the way of insight as to what's worthwhile or not. I don't see any stat comparisons or anything like that. What guns are good vs. not?
 
I'd suggest crafting the mods you may be interested in, reason being you can only ever craft ONE, then they get added to the possible loot pool and new ones will have to be found/bought.
So things like plasma seekers... make for an awesome shotgun build (video posted way back here) but to upgrade it you need to find new mods. you can save scrum on good loot boxes but that is no fun
 
Domingo said:
Finally had enough time to get into the game over the last couple days. So far I'm enjoying myself. It feels like Mass Effect, although I never have been a fan of games where you go into cover "automatically" because it so rarely works. Especially when there's no crouch command.

They love throwing a whole bunch of things at you at once. From the R&D stuff, to scanning quests, to a bunch of menus...I kinda wish they'd space some of that stuff out. It's a little overwhelming and the menu UI's aren't very intuitive.

Any tips on the R&D stuff? The game isn't offering much in the way of insight as to what's worthwhile or not. I don't see any stat comparisons or anything like that. What guns are good vs. not?
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You only have so many research points, so my suggestion is to spend them on ultra rare weapons. Probably best to only pick 2, max of 3. UR weapons allow for more augmentations, and augmentations are what make crafted weapons better than found weapons. I'd suggest the Dhan for shotguns, Rozerad for SMG's, Ushior for pistols, Black Widow or the single shot Angara rifle for snipers. I'm not too sure about Assault Rifles.

For armor, the heleus helmet is great. Research that along with whatever other armor complements your skill trees (i.e Angara armor for tech, N7 for biotic). I'm quit fond of sticking a shield oscillator mod in my chest armor. Of course you can choose armor just based on looks and be fine too.
 
Nice - will follow this advice. I'm mainly interested in Shotguns and Sniper Rifles, with Pistols as my back-up. Never much cared for SMG's or Auto-Rifles.
 
Dan_D said:
The differences in the vaults actually makes no sense to me. You'd think something like a big atmospheric processing complex, or terraforming complex would be a standard or prefabricated unit for easy deployment. Not a one off custom for each planet. This is one of those areas where it being a game shows through and takes a little away from the already thin story. That said, I'm just nit picking after the fact. I didn't think about it too much while playing the game the first time.
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I agree they can be a bit boring after doing the first two. But as for why they aren't the same? Different planets require different processes. Each of the planets has a different atmosphere and different conditions that have to be normalized. Why would you have the same cookie cutter device for each one?
 
NoOther said:
I agree they can be a bit boring after doing the first two. But as for why they aren't the same? Different planets require different processes. Each of the planets has a different atmosphere and different conditions that have to be normalized. Why would you have the same cookie cutter device for each one?
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If you are terraforming planets for the same life forms, the devices should be more or less the same. We aren't talking about a technical difference in the devices, we are talking about the complexes simply being different for the sake of some variance in the game play.
 
Dan_D said:
If you are terraforming planets for the same life forms, the devices should be more or less the same. We aren't talking about a technical difference in the devices, we are talking about the complexes simply being different for the sake of some variance in the game play.
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Huh? Really? You think you would use the same types of devices to terra-form completely different worlds? The life forms aren't the issue, it is getting the planet to the desired consistency for that life form. Meaning the world isn't at that proper range and consistency yet. Why would you use the same terra-forming device to try and remove toxic gases from one world on a world that has no toxic gases but is too cold?
 
NoOther said:
Huh? Really? You think you would use the same types of devices to terra-form completely different worlds?
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Yes I do. Worlds that would be candidates for terraforming would have to sit a specific distance from a star and have a specific chemical makeup that would be conducive to terraforming for a specific life form.

NoOther said:
The life forms aren't the issue, it is getting the planet to the desired consistency for that life form. Meaning the world isn't at that proper range and consistency yet. Why would you use the same terra-forming device to try and remove toxic gases from one world on a world that has no toxic gases but is too cold?
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Achieving the required consistency, means using worlds that fit certain parameters. Already we are aware that virtually all planets in the known universe have the same basic chemical makeup. We would just need terraforming candidates that have these ingredients in the right amounts to adjust. There is no reason why you wouldn't want to use a device of the same design each time to do this. Whether you ship the hardware to a given world or deploy workers, drones or both, you would want to make sure you used the same blueprint each time for the task.

Again, we know that worlds in the universe have the same basic chemical makeup. You wouldn't use a world that's too cold if that world was too far from the ideal habitable zone. You wouldn't use a world with gasses that can't be removed easily, or were in concentrations too high to clear out or repurpose. And once more, those gases are all things we have on Earth, just in different quantities.
 
Dan_D said:
Yes I do. Worlds that would be candidates for terraforming would have to sit a specific distance from a star and have a specific chemical makeup that would be conducive to terraforming for a specific life form.
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Except in this case these worlds aren't within the best range for that. They all have issues with them that keep them from being habitable. Some have toxic gases, some are too cold, some have wildlife issues. Each of the planets has something different that needs to be altered to make it habitable. There is no single solution for them. That is the point here and why the vaults are needed. Remember the pathfinders went there thinking that all these planets were going to be somewhat habitable, but they were not. That was the initial crisis.

Dan_D said:
Achieving the required consistency, means using worlds that fit certain parameters. Already we are aware that virtually all planets in the known universe have the same basic chemical makeup. We would just need terraforming candidates that have these ingredients in the right amounts to adjust. There is no reason why you wouldn't want to use a device of the same design each time to do this. Whether you ship the hardware to a given world or deploy workers, drones or both, you would want to make sure you used the same blueprint each time for the task.
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So you are saying that Uranus, Jupiter, and Earth all have the same chemical makeup? They all have similar chemicals, but are not identical in the ratios, consistency, or formation of those. You are assuming that these planets have all the necessary chemicals in the right amounts or in the right composition. That is not necessarily so. One planet may need devices that dig deep into the core and bring out certain materials that are needed to form a proper atmosphere. Some may need something that removes certain chemicals from the atmosphere and puts them into the core. Some might have some super virus or other that needs to be eliminated or altered. There are all sorts of possibilities. That was the whole point in this game, nothing was as expected when they arrived.

Dan_D said:
Again, we know that worlds in the universe have the same basic chemical makeup. You wouldn't use a world that's too cold if that world was too far from the ideal habitable zone. You wouldn't use a world with gasses that can't be removed easily, or were in concentrations too high to clear out or repurpose. And once more, those gases are all things we have on Earth, just in different quantities.
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Again, this goes back to the first point. They were expecting planets that were already habitable in the right ratios when they came to the new galaxy. They found that was not the case. That is the whole point to the vaults and the Remnants in the first place.
 
NoOther said:
Except in this case these worlds aren't within the best range for that. They all have issues with them that keep them from being habitable. Some have toxic gases, some are too cold, some have wildlife issues. Each of the planets has something different that needs to be altered to make it habitable. There is no single solution for them. That is the point here and why the vaults are needed. Remember the pathfinders went there thinking that all these planets were going to be somewhat habitable, but they were not. That was the initial crisis.
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You don't get it. The devices in the game ARE the same. The only difference is their layout with regard to corridors and shit. I'm well aware of what the crisis is about. Atmospherically speaking, what each planet needs IS similar, if not the same.

NoOther said:
So you are saying that Uranus, Jupiter, and Earth all have the same chemical makeup? They all have similar chemicals, but are not identical in the ratios, consistency, or formation of those.
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First off, gas giants aren't comparable to Earth. Gas giants are too different to transform into habitable places at all. And yes, at their basic core, those planets do have the same stuff as Earth, just not in the right amounts. Those planets are too large, have too much gravity, are too far away from the sun etc. Secondly, I already acknowledged the ratios are different for each planet in an earlier post.

NoOther said:
You are assuming that these planets have all the necessary chemicals in the right amounts or in the right composition. That is not necessarily so. One planet may need devices that dig deep into the core and bring out certain materials that are needed to form a proper atmosphere. Some may need something that removes certain chemicals from the atmosphere and puts them into the core. Some might have some super virus or other that needs to be eliminated or altered. There are all sorts of possibilities. That was the whole point in this game, nothing was as expected when they arrived.
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The planets do all have the necessary chemicals. There are a fuck ton more planets in the Heleus Cluster than we can actually visit. The rest of them aren't remotely right, and the ones we visit are "kind of right." They were all habitable once. Two of them were suitable for Quarians and Turians, the others were habitable by Humans, Krogan and Salarians. This suggests that the basic composition of these planets are similar, or close enough. Sometime between 600 years ago and now they were fucked up. If I recall correctly, the Vaults weren't even there 600 years ago. They are stated as being a few hundred years old, not thousands or millions of years old.

NoOther said:
Again, this goes back to the first point. They were expecting planets that were already habitable in the right ratios when they came to the new galaxy. They found that was not the case. That is the whole point to the vaults and the Remnants in the first place.
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The whole point, is that things changed between the initial scan of Andromeda and the time the Ark's arrive in Heleus. The Remnant, what they are / were doing and why the Kett are there are the mysteries which need to be solved. This is a major plot point of the game. Unfortunately, the game wasn't designed to flesh all the plot lines out and doesn't seem likely to get a sequel.
 
http://blog.bioware.com/2017/07/04/mass-effect-andromeda-patch-1-09-notes/

For patch 1.09, we’ve continued to improve facial animations in Mass Effect: Andromeda, as well as fixing a number of player-reported issues. We’ve also added Platinum difficulty to Multiplayer, featuring a new mixed enemy faction.

You can find a full list of notes below. For notes in other languages, click here.

  • Various improvements to facial animations and cinematic scenes
  • Improved stability
  • [MP] Platinum difficulty added
  • Fixed issue where certain hair textures could disappear from female custom heads when using Facial Reconstruction Suite
  • Fixed issue where negative AVP could be displayed after reaching Nexus level 20
  • Fixed various quest progression blockers
  • Fixed issue where Ryder could be killed even when following directions during the guarded walk through Aya
  • Fixed issue where player could commit to relationships with both Jaal and Cora concurrently
  • Fixed issue where the “Reach the Signal Source” objective in Peebee’s quest line could fail to trigger
  • Fixed issue where player could get trapped on a ledge in the Elaaden Vault, causing an infinite load screen
  • Fixed save/load issues with the final battle area in Peebee’s Loyalty mission
  • Fixed issue where the “Speak to Sid” objective on the Nexus could persist indefinitely
  • Fixed issue where quest marker could disappear during the final step of the “Reformation” quest on Voeld
  • Addressed issue where it was possible for the player to be attacked during initial conversation with Bain Massani on Eos
  • Fixed issue where save/load could cause final platform to disappear in Drack’s Loyalty Mission
  • Fixed issue where the player can’t progress through the final story mission if the Nomad is broken from the “Out of Gas” quest
  • Added a confirmation prompt before changing Ryder’s appearance on the Tempest
  • Fixed issue where player could become trapped by NPCs in the APEX HQ on the Nexus
  • X5 Ghost can now be dismantled.
  • Fixed issue where TAB (keyboard) and Start/Options (Controller) no longer served as shortcuts to close the pause menu
  • Fixed issue where auto-level could assign skill points into loyalty-locked squadmate skills
  • Tactical Cloak melee damage bonus now applies to jump-melee as well.
  • Fixed issue with Fusion Mods displaying incorrect stats
  • [PC] Improved HDR functionality on Windows 10 Creators Update
  • [PC] Photo mode now supports Ansel’s depth-of-field controls.
  • [PC] Fixed issue where Logitech keyboard rebinding would cause key lighting to work improperly
 
That's a nice list of fixes. Several of those bugs are ones that I have encountered.
 
Yay for the HDR fix :)
I haven't really had any issues with the facial animations, but I think that's because they removed a lot of them. My wife said the shipping version essentially made every single facial muscle move constantly. Now they seem to only animate the areas near the mouth and eyes.
 
The no-DLC thing.... it does not at all seem like they have "given up" on this game. Those are some decent fixes and the extra MP mode is a positive indicator IMO.
 
yay to more improved facial animations!...when I finally fire this up the characters might actually look half decent ;)
 
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