Video Games: Next Stop... Andromeda

[KiDisaster]

7 hours ago, Simon Steele said:

Well, I looked at that PC gamer review, and in the comments someone posted a clip of dialogue from in the game. Is this real?

Andromeda in game dialogue

I'm really tempted to cancel this...it looks bad. 

Holy shit. 

I mean Bioware have never been known for their natural looking faces and animations but...holy shit. 

[Werthead]

A rather brief teaser trailer for Phoenix Point. Also, they seem to have found the marketing angle for the game: "XCOM meets Lovecraft".

They've also announced that John Broomhall has been hired as the composer (he worked on the first three original X-COM games) and Jonas Kyratzes (THE TALOS PRINCIPLE) is going to do some writing for the game. Sounding pretty good so far.

The trailer is pretty brief though. Given that journalists saw a playable build a year ago, you'd think they'd put more stuff in it.

 

Quote

 

Like, did everyone who knew what the fuck they were doing quit BioWare?

 

Yes.

[Fez]

3 minutes ago, KiDisaster said:

Holy shit. 

I mean Bioware have never been known for their natural looking faces and animations but...holy shit. 

I have heard that ME:A is the rare throwback to last generation game that was apparently optimized for the Xbox One and PC rather than the PS4. It doesn't look perfect on those platforms, but its not nearly as janky as the PS4 (and especially the PS4 Pro). However, most of the footage out there has come from a PS4.

If you have issues with the voice acting or writing, that's going to be an issue everywhere; but the animation issue is more a problem for the PS4 specifically.

[DunderMifflin]

Yeesh those long awkward pauses in the dialogue. 

Alec.......is dead?.....................please understand

[DunderMifflin]

After No Man's Sky hype and a possible Mass Effect flopper I hope the console space rpg genre isnt dead for good.

[briantw]

3 hours ago, DunderMifflin said:

After No Man's Sky hype and a possible Mass Effect flopper I hope the console space rpg genre isnt dead for good.

No Man's Sky isn't really an RPG, though.  It's a crafting/survival game.  It's more comparable to Minecraft than Mass Effect.

[Werthead]

4 hours ago, DunderMifflin said:

After No Man's Sky hype and a possible Mass Effect flopper I hope the console space rpg genre isnt dead for good.

Well, Elite: Dangerous is getting better all the time (not so much an RPG though) and it's starting to look like Star Citizen might come out before the sun explodes, and that game will have kind-of RPG elements.

[Jace, Extat]

 

12 hours ago, Simon Steele said:

Well, I looked at that PC gamer review, and in the comments someone posted a clip of dialogue from in the game. Is this real?

Andromeda in game dialogue

I'm really tempted to cancel this...it looks bad. 

I'm canceling. Haven't played any games in weeks anyways, maybe I've outgrown video games. That looks like a goddamn nightmare of awful. 

[Rhom]

I'm sticking with it.  The gameplay still looks solid to me.

Comparisons to DA:I certainly do give me pause though.  I maintain some hope however because the aspects of DA:I that I enjoyed the least wouldn't seem to be a concern here.  The combat was awful in that game.  Traversing the zones was tedious any time you came to a hill or something where the designers felt it would be a good idea to turn the game into a platformer.  Neither of those seem to be a concern to me here... so we'll see how it goes.

I was never excited about FFXV, so when it was dull and bland to me; it was never a major concern.  I might cry real tears if ME:A is bad though.   

[Jace, Extat]

3 minutes ago, Rhom said:

I'm sticking with it.  The gameplay still looks solid to me.

Comparisons to DA:I certainly do give me pause though.  I maintain some hope however because the aspects of DA:I that I enjoyed the least wouldn't seem to be a concern here.  The combat was awful in that game.  Traversing the zones was tedious any time you came to a hill or something where the designers felt it would be a good idea to turn the game into a platformer.  Neither of those seem to be a concern to me here... so we'll see how it goes.

I was never excited about FFXV, so when it was dull and bland to me; it was never a major concern.  I might cry real tears if ME:A is bad though.   

Let me know, dawg.

[Rhom]

1 minute ago, Pony Queen Jace said:

Let me know, dawg.

I got you.

You complete me.

[Corvinus85]

Here is a compilation showing all the awfulness of facial expressions, dialogue, and other issues.

But I'm with Rhom, I'm sticking with it, and hopefully I'll find it enjoyable enough. But the expectations are low.

[Ferrum Aeternum]

19 minutes ago, Corvinus said:

Here is a compilation showing all the awfulness of facial expressions, dialogue, and other issues.

But I'm with Rhom, I'm sticking with it, and hopefully I'll find it enjoyable enough. But the expectations are low.

Yeah, I'm not backing out now. 

And truthfully, although those animations are pretty awful, that's not the sort of thing that will bug me long-term. If the gameplay and story are engaging, I'll still really enjoy it. 

[Jace, Extat]

1 hour ago, Rhom said:

I got you.

You complete me.

I know it's a mistake, but there are certain things in life where you know it's a mistake but you don't really know it's a mistake because the only way to really know it's a mistake is to make the mistake and look back and say 'yep, that was a mistake.' So really, the bigger mistake would be to not make the mistake, because then you'd go your whole life not knowing if something is a mistake or not.

29 minutes ago, Corvinus said:

Here is a compilation showing all the awfulness of facial expressions, dialogue, and other issues.

But I'm with Rhom, I'm sticking with it, and hopefully I'll find it enjoyable enough. But the expectations are low.

 

9 minutes ago, Ferrum Aeternum said:

Yeah, I'm not backing out now. 

And truthfully, although those animations are pretty awful, that's not the sort of thing that will bug me long-term. If the gameplay and story are engaging, I'll still really enjoy it. 

That video was pretty damning. It's not just the glitches, it's that the game looks hideous and the dialogue is just awful. I don't care about making the bestest graphics ever, but those faces are truly unnerving. 

[Rhom]

26 minutes ago, Pony Queen Jace said:

I know it's a mistake, but there are certain things in life where you know it's a mistake but you don't really know it's a mistake because the only way to really know it's a mistake is to make the mistake and look back and say 'yep, that was a mistake.' So really, the bigger mistake would be to not make the mistake, because then you'd go your whole life not knowing if something is a mistake or not.

Here's the thing about mistakes. Sometimes, even when you know something's a mistake, you gotta make it anyway.

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That video was pretty damning. It's not just the glitches, it's that the game looks hideous and the dialogue is just awful. I don't care about making the bestest graphics ever, but those faces are truly unnerving. 

It was... but Mass Effect (and really BioWare in general) is at its best when the dialogue is coming between your party as you are staring at their backs hoofing it through the level.  I finished up the Citadel DLC this morning and found myself laughing my ass off at times, but most of the dialogue really didn't come during cutscenes.  Remains to be seen if this game will follow that model.

Speaking of the Citadel DLC... it just reminds me just how little of ME3 that I remembered.  Honestly, all I could recall of it was that I got to hang out in the apartment with my current and former team members.  (Pour one out for my homie Legion who was unable to join us this playthrough because I shot him three times in cold blood...  )  That was literally all I remembered.  Even the mysterious mercenaries didn't ring a bell at first... I was well into that mission with the silencer that still alerts surrounding enemies before I remembered the alternate Shepherd plot.    Was great to cruise around with Wrex though.  For all ME3's faults, all of the DLC really did deliver.  Multiple hours of gameplay for each one with some really entertaining stories.

While playing Citadel this morning, I remembered someone around here saying they had a wish for a ME game that centered around a CSEC agent on the Citadel hunting down criminals and such.  As I played through it today I really got on board with that idea.  Could have been like the Star Wars 1313 idea that got scrapped.

[Ferrum Aeternum]

33 minutes ago, Pony Queen Jace said:

That video was pretty damning. It's not just the glitches, it's that the game looks hideous and the dialogue is just awful. I don't care about making the bestest graphics ever, but those faces are truly unnerving. 

Oh I get it, and I don't blame you for cancelling your pre-order. As I've said here before, I am a fool for anything Mass Effect and I completely own that as a personal failing.   

Plus I've got about 3,000 hours in SWTOR, so apparently I don't particularly mind glitches and goofy faces.  

[Fez]

45 minutes ago, Pony Queen Jace said:

That video was pretty damning. It's not just the glitches, it's that the game looks hideous and the dialogue is just awful. I don't care about making the bestest graphics ever, but those faces are truly unnerving. 

Its not great; but its also easy to cherry-pick particularly bad moments, or moments where its glitches that most players won't necessarily see (e.g. there's a ton of Skyrim glitches that I never encountered). I've been a fan of Mass Effect for far too long to back out now; without seeing the game for myself.

[Jace, Extat]

Just now, Fez said:

Its not great; but its also easy to cherry-pick particularly bad moments, or moments where its glitches that most players won't necessarily see (e.g. there's a ton of Skyrim glitches that I never encountered). I've been a fan of Mass Effect for far too long to back out now; without seeing the game for myself.

Even in the videos BioWare has released it looks awful. I'll wait for the fellas and lass' review here. 

[DunderMifflin]

I feel better after seeing those videos. They aren't as bad as I thought they would be. Nothing I've seen was unforgivable as long as it's in low doses.

Female Ryder looks bad but I'll b playing male on my first playthrough. And idk is the face going to be customizable? 

Some of the actors don't seem great but I recall reading there r over a thousand speaking characters. Idk how many different actors that translates into but how difficult is it to get say 10 good actors on one project

[The Anti-Targ]

On 16/03/2017 at 8:33 AM, KiDisaster said:

This is my favorite part of open world games though to be honest. I love to go do all the side stuff that's available before moving on with the main quest. I want to do all the things and get all the collectibles. 

Currently having the same experience with Horizon. I did all the side quests (that I've found so far anyway), uncovered the whole map, got all the collectibles as of last night and I'm finally ready to continue the main story. Downside being the recommended level for my current main story quest is 15. I am level 47  

The solution to that is having level caps for main story way points. The game can save up your XP and give tyou a level up blast once you get past a particular story beat. Some people like to be a bit over levelled for main story missions (I know I do), so the level cap should be set at recommended level +5 or +10.

But I would also like open world games to be developed with time sensitive elements, bot in terms of side missions and main story missions. We have examples in the likes of Heavy Rain and Until Dawn that no matter what happens the story goes on. IN open world RPGs it should be possible to have the clock running and if you don't get to a main story event in time then the game simply takes a different direction and you have to take a different route to the end, or the end itself is different. And with side missions, if there are 10 side missions available you only have time to complete 5 or 6 because the clock is running on most of the side missions. If you miss some early side missions then the consequence could appear later in the game, which could include the appearance of a side mission that would otherwise not be available if you do the earlier side mission.

I know there are games where if you get past a story point then certain side missions are no longer available, so that creates a bit of a sense of time constraints. But all that does is exacerbate the problem of over levelling by completionists.