Mass Effect Andromeda

[Diablo25]

I can say that Mass Effect has been my favorite franchise over the past couple of gens. However, I have been a bit worried about Andromeda - not sure they haven really marketed it that well. That, combined with a different character look, just made it seem a bit "off".

But really encouraged today by a new developer video about exploration (which is why I love the game in the end).

http://www.pushsquare.com/news/2017/03/ ... f_the_game

Damn, this game looks awesome. MARCH IS KILLING ME.

[Diablo25]

This is available on EA Access on March 16th. Anyone know what time Access games become available for download?

[TCrouch]

The EA Access trial went live a day early. I just got it on PC and XBox One.

[XXXIV]

The EA Access trial went live a day early. I just got it on PC and XBox One.

Good call Terry!

Just read and installing.

EDIT: At super slow crawl speed.

[Diablo25]

The EA Access trial went live a day early. I just got it on PC and XBox One.

Good call Terry!

Just read and installing.

Me too!!

[XXXIV]

The EA Access trial went live a day early. I just got it on PC and XBox One.

Good call Terry!

Just read and installing.

Me too!!

How fast is yours going?

I want instant damn it!

[TCrouch]

I've been playing about an hour now

I didn't start The Xbox download until PC finished and I was playing though.

[Diablo25]

Good call Terry!

Just read and installing.

Me too!!

How fast is yours going?

I want instant damn it!

About 44 MB/Sec. Im at 3% after about 5 minutes.

[XXXIV]

My comcast high speed is clearly not so high speed. I just hit 3%

Now it just crashed.

Not online but everything is online.

EDIT. I power cycled router and Hard booted XB1.

Live says Hi " " as If Im there but then says Im offline. So wtf is up with that? Im clearly connected to the net but it says Im not. This is a new one on me.

Edit : Great news I had to reset my password. Why? No clue. Im up to 4%! YAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Diablo25]

Played about 2 hours last night and it looks like a keeper. The amount of weapons, skills, etc. etc. is almost overwhelming. The production values are damn good...as is the music. Combat system is solid and I've only scratched the surface on the story. Very pleased so far. More later.

[TCrouch]

Took me about 20 minutes to come to grips with the combat system, as it's very NOT Mass Effect. Once I got my first skill unlock and learned the primer/detonator system, and that it's really NOT a cover shooter anymore, it opened up.

You can jet pack boost and then evade in a single jump, so I could cross the battlefield in a single moment, drop down next to a guy, melee him, hit him with a primer, then finish with a detonator for spectacular explosions and effects. But the guns seem to be so weak, we're back to enemies with massive health/shield bars, and unless you combo abilities at them, take forever to drop. Not a huge fan of that, after the precision and lethality of Wildlands so much lately.

The production values are all top notch, but the character creator is ghastly, and the lip sync is pretty hilariously bad...the latter of which is what you are dealing with in a post-Horizon Zero Dawn-world. HZD's lip sync was a marvel.

It's definitely Mass Effect, but...different. I like it, but I'm not blown away like I was with HZD or Zelda. And Wildlands will definitely suck most of my time away for the foreseeable future, but it's not a bad game at all. Keep in mind Mass Effect 2 was one of my top games of all time, and I played the original trilogy multiple times with different classes. I absolutely LOVE Mass Effect, and Bioware games always start slow, so I'm sure I'll warm up to this one after I get through the heavy-handed opening hours, where you're fed conversation after conversation.

Some of the 'dramatic moments' they went for in the early hours of MEA missed the mark, simply because I don't care about the characters they are asking me to care about, either.

[XXXIV]

Some of the 'dramatic moments' they went for in the early hours of MEA missed the mark, simply because I don't care about the characters they are asking me to care about, either.

You nailed it here Terry.

I really dont care right now at all.

Im replaying the start using the character generator which isn't so horible just annoying.

First time thru start Just felt off. Like way off. Maybe just opening night jitters.

Not ready to give up after a couple of hours.

I really want to love this game so I will give it every chance.

[dbdynsty25]

I'm such a sucker. Ordered pc download via amazon to save the 15 bucks. Gotta wait.

[TCrouch]

Mediocre reviews across the board, but the more I played it, the more confident I was that with another couple of months of polish, it could have been more warmly received.

Right now, Horizon is still so fresh. Zelda is so fresh. The open world of Wildlands is fresh. Andromeda tries to mix portions of each of those games, and the first 2 are clearly all-time greats. The release window is just so unfortunate, but it sounds like they needed a few more months to iron out some of the issues that exist.

I still bought it, and I'll still play the sh*t out of it, but being a Mass Effect junkie, I'm disappointed. I was hoping my first impression was just because of the other gems that I've recently started playing, but it seems like the HIGHEST review I've seen so far has been an 8. That's not a bad score, but there are so many instances of what could have been with this game. Looking at the GIFs of the conversation with Ashley on one side in ME1 and a MEA character, side by side, and going "this is what 10 years got us?" is frustrating.

When you base your entire game off of conversation and storytelling, expecting players to spend dozens of hours talking to people...if that's the buggiest part of your game, it's not ready.

[Danimal]

Reviews have been pretty mediocre like you said, part of me thinks if this game wasn't made by Bioware they would be worse. I've put this on the back burner until I get through my backlog and by then it will be $30.

[TCrouch]

Yeah, not an option for me since I already got it on PS4 and PC and preloaded it. But that's not a bad route to take. I guess all the mass exodus' of Bioware talent was really as big a deal as it seemed at the time. Really, I've seen some indy games with better facial animation. And how sad is it that Guerilla games comes over from doing FPS games and absolutely slams them at their own game? Horizon is a marvel, and a first-time effort. That's what I expected (right or wrong) from a long time developer like Bioware.

[Rodster]

Reviews have been pretty mediocre like you said, part of me thinks if this game wasn't made by Bioware they would be worse. I've put this on the back burner until I get through my backlog and by then it will be $30.

Wait a little more and you might find it on EA Access for free.

[Danimal]

Bioware hasn't been a Triple A studio since the Doctors left and EA bought them. the last Dragon Age was good at the time but was out classed by many games that came shortly afterwards. Witcher 3 was the quality of what Bioware games used to be. Honestly besides this game can you tell me what else they are working on? They used to have 3 or 4 titles in development that people would watch with anticipation.

[Diablo25]

I must be an idiot because I had a great time with the trial and I'm looking forward to getting after it tomorrow. I havent played any of the other ME games so maybe my expectations aren't through the roof.

[Diablo25]

I played a few more hours tonight and I'm really liking the game. Some of the upgrade abilities are very cool. The story is solid. So far so good.

[Danimal]

I caved and got it and played a few hours last night. It is simpler than past ME's but that is fine. I don't need to control every squad members every move. I was surprised that graphically it felt like it was ME3 during the action sequences. The cut scenes and character close ups are stellar.

I don't want to give too much away but I got past the first major plot point which as many reviews have said was easy to see coming and had no real impact because I wasn't invested enough yet. However I do like the premise of exploring unknown space and of course trying to figure out what is going on with those aliens. Hopefully the character development gets better because I couldn't even tell you the name of one of my companions and I think the other on is name Cora.

Some of the design choices are a bit odd or I don't understand them yet. For example ammo crates you just stand next to to resupply ammo? Sometimes it works other times it doesn't.

Not being able to switch weapons or mod them when planet side unless I'm missing something. Honestly I haven't even figured out how to do that on the Nexus yet.

All that said it kept me up until 1am playing and I wanted to keep going so that is a good sign.

[TCrouch]

Yeah, my expectations were way too high, because I'm an absolute Mass Effect nut. It started growing on me a bit last night, but it takes WAY too long to really start getting good.

You can always get ammo from ammo crates, if there's a "blue bar" charge left for the bullets icon. I don't know what the other icons are (other than the red ring is health), but when you get ammo from one, it drops a bar. Like the early ones have 4 bars, so you can refill 4 times, then it won't work anymore.

You cannot change weapons except at a loadout station/forward base, which is really off-putting when you come from Ghost Recon and can switch things up at will.

However, to quickly access your secondary weapon, just hold the reload button. That at least lets you avoid going to a menu to grab the second gun.

You can change your load out either on the Tempest or at any forward base once you get to that point, though. And the early weapons you get are dogsh*t. It felt like a massive step backward for the series, with highly inaccurate rifles and SMGs, Sniper rifles that only have three rounds per mag? What?? It was all just very...weird.

But late last night I got a hold of a 3-round burst AR that basically tripled my damage output, so I started shredding groups. Once I got some weapons that didn't take 3 clips to drop a guy, it started feeling much better.

[dbdynsty25]

I've got ME:A sitting here on my desk unopened. Just can't get past all of the mediocre reviews enough to open it. I played the heck out of 2 & 3, but I'm not a huge ME fan or anything. So I'm really not sure I'll put in the time to make it fun. LOL. Especially with MLB coming next week. Decisions, decisions.

[Pete1210]

Reviews have been pretty mediocre like you said, part of me thinks if this game wasn't made by Bioware they would be worse. I've put this on the back burner until I get through my backlog and by then it will be $30.

Wait a little more and you might find it on EA Access for free.

That's my plan. I really enjoyed the first 3, but I've still haven't started Witcher 3 and Zelda. I like to play only one big RPG at a time and Im almost finished with the Fallout 4 DLC.

[Danimal]

I've got ME:A sitting here on my desk unopened. Just can't get past all of the mediocre reviews enough to open it. I played the heck out of 2 & 3, but I'm not a huge ME fan or anything. So I'm really not sure I'll put in the time to make it fun. LOL. Especially with MLB coming next week. Decisions, decisions.

I'll tell you this, probably the most bug ridden Triple A title release since AC Unity. Quest problems, graphical issues, NPC's just disappearing etc. It's pretty clear this was rushed out for a Q1 release, whether they fix it or not is the big question.