Video Games: Dawn of Waaaaagh!

[karaddin]

So even if mechanically the structure of Andromeda is very similar to DA:I with the forward camps and everything, the combination of the smoother movement (like i expected) and the conceit of the game mean I'm enjoying it, rather than bothered by it. In DA clearing zones felt like a waste of time against the overarching plot, in ME making friends with the locals and establishing outposts is the point. Such a simple narrative difference that makes such a large impact.

[DJDonegal]

On 21/03/2017 at 9:35 AM, briantw said:

Really liked Firewatch, although I thought the plot resolution was a little underwhelming.  It's definitely nice and tense throughout, though, and gorgeous too.

Finished it a couple of days ago and this was my exact impression of the game. It didn't feel like the ending the game was going to get; there were a couple of better options out there in my opinion.

4 hours ago, Simon Steele said:

Lol, when did Dragon Age Inquisition warrant a game of the year edition?

Honestly though, I started it over after having tried it last spring and not cared for it much (I was playing Witcher 3 at the time--DA:I had no chance to be honest), and this isn't so bad of a game. I wonder what it takes to get Game of the Year editions though, because I'm pretty sure this made no one's game of the year.

I also started DA:I last night although I've never tried it before. Picked it up while it was on sale at a ridiculous price. Going to play through on Nightmare mode and just got through the prologue last night. Tactical Cam is something I've not seen before (could just be my ignorance) and getting used to it but it could be useful.

[Pliskin]

I hate the tactical view. I play on console and I miss the old power wheel. With previous games, I was giving orders with the wheel to all the team, now I just play one character only because the tactical view is so damn unpractical in comparison. Dragon Age loses a lot of its wealth this way...

[Slurktan]

5 hours ago, karaddin said:

So even if mechanically the structure of Andromeda is very similar to DA:I with the forward camps and everything, the combination of the smoother movement (like i expected) and the conceit of the game mean I'm enjoying it, rather than bothered by it. In DA clearing zones felt like a waste of time against the overarching plot, in ME making friends with the locals and establishing outposts is the point. Such a simple narrative difference that makes such a large impact.

Thank you for this.  I wasn't sure on Mass Effect but I thought DA:I was fucking intolerable, so mechanically ME:A being DA:I with a skin means it's a no buy for me.

[l2 0 5 5]

Slightly overwhelmed with all the quests and side quests MEA has to offer.  I knocked a good bit out in Hadarl (I think that's how you spell it), and had to force myself to leave as that planet is so damn dark. Gonna do some quests for my squad next. Visually, the game is stunning. Only thing that is really pissing me off is when my squad goes rogue or dormant mid-battle. 

[DunderMifflin]

I'm pretty well into ME:I and surprised it's getting such lackluster reviews.

I dont have much complaint about the graphics. Something unique with them I can't put my finger on but the scenery feels a lot more like art than cold cgi. Some of the characters look off but most of them look great imo. I definately recommend customizing Ryder rather than the default face.

The combat is probably the best of any ME. There are seemingly endless combos to learn and play around with and enough skill points to unlock them.

The acting is overall great, plots are interesting enough so far. The game really gets better the farther you get. The relationships start to get more intense and I started getting some of that old mass effect excitement for the experience. If the original trilogy had a star wars feel this has a star trek feel, and I mean JJ versions of both those which isn't that huge of a difference.

 

The crafting is great but so far it seems it suffers from what I hate about a lot of games with crafting, where you can find or buy equal or greater gear in the world for less effort/money/time than what you put into crafting it. Which imo tends to nullify crafting.

 

[KiDisaster]

Another example of the wonkiness of Andromeda's writing. 

When you first get to Aya you can speak to a merchant and you have to explain to him what Credits are because they apparently use a system of bartering. When you return after doing a quest for him he agrees to trade with you because he "Wants to see what these 'credits' of yours look like". Later on after furthering the main quest you get access to the marketplace on Aya, and not only do all of the vendors accept credits without issue, the first one I spoke to said "Your credits are as good as anyone else's, just don't cause trouble."

WHAT?! YOU DIDN'T EVEN KNOW WHAT CREDITS WERE UNTIL I SHOWED UP AND NOW YOU'VE ADOPTED THEM AS YOUR STANDARD CURRENCY?! 

I'm now convinced there was no communication whatsoever between different writing teams and no one bothered to check any of it. It got turned in and tossed right into the game without a second thought.

[Werthead]

Quote

ME:I

Ha. Typo or deliberate satire?

[l2 0 5 5]

3 hours ago, DunderMifflin said:

I'm pretty well into ME:I and surprised it's getting such lackluster reviews.

I dont have much complaint about the graphics. Something unique with them I can't put my finger on but the scenery feels a lot more like art than cold cgi. Some of the characters look off but most of them look great imo. I definately recommend customizing Ryder rather than the default face.

The combat is probably the best of any ME. There are seemingly endless combos to learn and play around with and enough skill points to unlock them.

The acting is overall great, plots are interesting enough so far. The game really gets better the farther you get. The relationships start to get more intense and I started getting some of that old mass effect excitement for the experience. If the original trilogy had a star wars feel this has a star trek feel, and I mean JJ versions of both those which isn't that huge of a difference.

 

The crafting is great but so far it seems it suffers from what I hate about a lot of games with crafting, where you can find or buy equal or greater gear in the world for less effort/money/time than what you put into crafting it. Which imo tends to nullify crafting.

 

I agree about the reception. I don't think it deserves the lukewarm reviews it's gotten. In regards to the facial expressions/animations, the only character that is hard to look at is Addison. And she pisses me off so I don't wanna look at her any way. Every time I talk to her I feel like it's a begrudging trip to the principal's office. 

I also agree about the combat. I had a battle with one of those rogue enemies on Hadarl (I forget what they're called) and it was juiced up on shields, and had me pinned with my squad down. It was 1v1 and I was amazed at how aggressively it was trying to flank me. It was almost like it new I was weak, squad was down, and running low on ammo. It circled the rock and bushes I was hiding in like a hawk. I killed it but I was a couple shots away from dying myself.

Having a blast playing this game.

[Fez]

4 hours ago, KiDisaster said:

Another example of the wonkiness of Andromeda's writing. 

 

  Hide contents

When you first get to Aya you can speak to a merchant and you have to explain to him what Credits are because they apparently use a system of bartering. When you return after doing a quest for him he agrees to trade with you because he "Wants to see what these 'credits' of yours look like". Later on after furthering the main quest you get access to the marketplace on Aya, and not only do all of the vendors accept credits without issue, the first one I spoke to said "Your credits are as good as anyone else's, just don't cause trouble."

WHAT?! YOU DIDN'T EVEN KNOW WHAT CREDITS WERE UNTIL I SHOWED UP AND NOW YOU'VE ADOPTED THEM AS YOUR STANDARD CURRENCY?! 

I'm now convinced there was no communication whatsoever between different writing teams and no one bothered to check any of it. It got turned in and tossed right into the game without a second thought.

 

 

Its either that, or a lack of communication between the writers and the gameplay designers.

Spoiler

 

If, hypothetically, the writers thought that quests on each planet would only show up over time, rather than have pretty much all of them show up at once; it'd make sense for each planet to have quests where first contact has just happened and quests where clearly some time has passed. It even could be kinda neat, revisiting a location and seeing how things have change. However, since all the quests show up at once it just becomes a jumbled mess.

Its possible the writers had worked out story structures that made sense, but then a decision was made to make the game even more open and less linear by doing less quest gating, and due to lack of time/resources, no one went back to make sure this didn't screw any worldbuilding.

Because when things are story-gated, there's the logical progression that you'd expect from Bioware, or any writers (except for the angaran first contact, that defies explanation). 

 

Either way, I suspect it was lack of time rather than lack of interest (which is kinda amazing considering they had 5 years). I saw an interview with a Naughty Dog (and former Bioware) developer, who was saying he suspected that was also the issue with the facial animations. He thought, with no inside knowledge, that Bioware used an algorithm system to do a first pass at all facial animations in the game, with plans to do touch-up by hand (as opposed to Uncharted games for instance, where all facial animations are created by hand from the getgo; but that's easier for them because there's so many fewer); however they ran out of time to do the touch-up for all the scenes. That's why the animations look perfectly fine a lot of the time, but sometimes look absolutely terrible for no clear reason.

Even so, I somehow already have 38 hours in the game (counting trial hours) and I regret nothing. Its a solid game that sometimes dips below that and sometimes manages to rise to greatness (those Architect fights are something else; and way more impressive than the DA:I dragon fights).

[The Anti-Targ]

On 24/03/2017 at 4:38 PM, Simon Steele said:

I might have done that on my first playthrough (on accident, because I didn't know about the suicide mission)--and it was just so much more fun having Legion everywhere with you.

You killed him!? I wouldn't play through that part until I found a way to let the Geth become complete and convince Tali not to off herself.

Can you do that without brokering a peace deal between the Geth and the Quarians? I thought tali offed herself if the Quarians were wiped out, no matter what you do.

I wonder how many Quarians are on their pilgrimage at any one time. Would that be enough survivors to allow the Quarian Species to continue to exist? There must be a few thousand at least on their pilgrimage. And Tali of course who could easily become president for life of the New Migrant Ship.

If you pick the fuck you option for ther ME 3 ending and the cycle continues, what's the fate of the Geth? Surely the reapers end up assimilating or destroying them. You can't have a hard reset of galactic civilisation while you have race of sentient computer programmes remaining as a remnant of the previous cycle. So if you are going to pick the FU option, I guess you are being merciful to the ones you choose to suffer genocide, since at least their end will be quick.

[Centrist Simon Steele]

7 minutes ago, The Anti-Targ said:

Can you do that without brokering a peace deal between the Geth and the Quarians? I thought tali offed herself if the Quarians were wiped out, no matter what you do.

I wonder how many Quarians are on their pilgrimage at any one time. Would that be enough survivors to allow the Quarian Species to continue to exist? There must be a few thousand at least on their pilgrimage. And Tali of course who could easily become president for life of the New Migrant Ship.

If you pick the fuck you option for ther ME 3 ending and the cycle continues, what's the fate of the Geth? Surely the reapers end up assimilating or destroying them. You can't have a hard reset of galactic civilisation while you have race of sentient computer programmes remaining as a remnant of the previous cycle. So if you are going to pick the FU option, I guess you are being merciful to the ones you choose to suffer genocide, since at least their end will be quick.

 

You know, I can't remember, it's been so long since I played--but I'm certain I played in a way that was most beneficial for everyone. I could give a shit for the Quarians except for Tali, so I probably saved them, but I also probably found a way to save the Geth since I loved them. If that's all possible. I need to do a replay.

I always hated that thought--where if the Reapers won, the Geth just became their puppets after you allowed them to have a "soul." It was pretty dark.

[The Anti-Targ]

15 hours ago, DJDonegal said:

Finished it a couple of days ago and this was my exact impression of the game. It didn't feel like the ending the game was going to get; there were a couple of better options out there in my opinion.

I also started DA:I last night although I've never tried it before. Picked it up while it was on sale at a ridiculous price. Going to play through on Nightmare mode and just got through the prologue last night. Tactical Cam is something I've not seen before (could just be my ignorance) and getting used to it but it could be useful.

 

14 hours ago, Pliskin said:

I hate the tactical view. I play on console and I miss the old power wheel. With previous games, I was giving orders with the wheel to all the team, now I just play one character only because the tactical view is so damn unpractical in comparison. Dragon Age loses a lot of its wealth this way...

Tactical cam for me was absolutely essential for getting through many of the fights in Nightmare difficulty. Pretty much unnecessary on other difficulty setting. I found it worked fine on console for battlefield management once I got the hang of it.

 

10 minutes ago, Simon Steele said:

You know, I can't remember, it's been so long since I played--but I'm certain I played in a way that was most beneficial for everyone. I could give a shit for the Quarians except for Tali, so I probably saved them, but I also probably found a way to save the Geth since I loved them. If that's all possible. I need to do a replay.

I always hated that thought--where if the Reapers won, the Geth just became their puppets after you allowed them to have a "soul." It was pretty dark.

IIRC, as long as your ME2 carry over has you keeping Tali and Legion's loyalties (i.e. you had enough paragon / renegade points to choose the red or blue response to their little conflict in ME2), then you can achieve a peace deal between the Quarians and Geth. Don't recall if you need high Renegade / Paragon points in ME3 to be able to achieve the peace deal when the time comes, but I suspect you probably do, since these decisions usually need it.

It's really no darker than consigning the rest of galactic civilisation to annihilation. But you would say the Reapers are being extra dickish to the Geth, or the Geth are really a lot more stupid than they seem. 

[karaddin]

13 hours ago, Slurktan said:

Thank you for this.  I wasn't sure on Mass Effect but I thought DA:I was fucking intolerable, so mechanically ME:A being DA:I with a skin means it's a no buy for me.

There is plenty more that is different, I was just specifically to comparisons between the territory expansion mechanic. If you don't want to play it then thats fair, just worried my comment seemed more broad than I meant it to be.

[C.T. Phipps]

I'm working on my review for THE UNITED FEDERATION OF CHARLES but I'm not quite done yet. Still, here's my initial impressions of the game.

CT PHIPPS' MASS EFFECT: ANDROMEDA REVIEW

Well, that was definitely a Mass Effect game.

That's probably the best way to describe my experience with Andromeda, which is a game that I had mixed feelings going into. Like many fans of the series, I felt burned by the ending of Mass Effect 3. I wasn't one of the people who believed it was worth naming EA one of the worst companies in the world and it didn't kill my children or anything but it felt dissonant to have an uncertain ending when I'd put literally years of investment into my Shepard's relationships. I, really, felt like i was done with the series afterward and wasn't sure if I was ever going to look back.

Still, I had a lot of fun in the Mass Effect universe and was intrigued by the possibility of returning to it. Unfortunately, it felt like the newest game's premise was going to side-step the ending of the original trilogy rather than address it. Your character is going to be a colonist in a cryo-ship which has made a six-hundred-year journey across the void between galaxies until they reached Andromeda. When you awake, the events of the original trilogy are long in the past and you are surrounded by favorites of the original series without the third game to "sully" it.

At least, that's how I felt.

Really, I have to stress the game isn't bad by any stretch of the imagination. It's a game I'm going to enjoy playing all fifty or so hours of content it provides and which gave me a satisfying, if slightly generic player experience. The characters were likable, if not especially memorable, and the graphics were lovely except for the faces. The gameplay was fun but mostly a return to its roots. This is a game which is fun and I highly recommend but it's also a game which is going to be perhaps a little disappointing if players were expecting something truly epic.

The premise of the game, as mentioned, is you are Sarah (Fryda Wolff) or Scott Ryder (Tom Taylorson doing a Nolan North impression) and you're the son of Alec Ryder (Clancy Brown) who is the Pathfinder a.k.a Chief Scout for the Andromeda Initiative. The Andromeda Initiative, despite being amazingly well-equipped for a private enterprise, ends up hitting dark matter pockets and scatters across the Helius Cluster. Many of the Initiative's leaders are killed and you discover the worlds you were going to settle have all been rendered uninhabitable by six-hundred-year-old alien tech. Worse, a hostile alien race called the Kett take umbrage to your presence. You are forced to step up and become the new Pathfinder who will find a way to colonize this cluster despite the fact it's a post-apocalypse hellhole.

Weirdly, this game feels like it's riffing from a bunch of other popular sci-fi video games. The Remnant's ruins feel very distinctly like the Forerunner ruins of Halo and the fact they're referred to as "Vaults" plus the fact much of the game takes place on desert scavenger worlds in a giant Mako-esque Dune buggy evokes Borderlands. There's also the fact the Kett turn out to be what might charitably be called an "Evil Empire" which is opposed by a plucky resistance. Given the original Mass Effect trilogy was a fusion of Star Wars and Star Trek (which made it, effectively, Babylon Five), that's not surprising but the references are rather notable. The fact the majority of aliens you'll meet are ones from the Milky Way also feels somewhat cheap.

Despite this, I actually state I feel like the game succeeds in reminding me why I liked Mass Effect. Liam, Cora, Drack, Suvi, and the others don't have anything on Mass Effect 2's cast but they're all fun people I enjoyed hanging around with (as much as you can enjoy spending time with fictional people). They're sort of all blandly pleasant at worse (ala Kaiden and Ashley) and archetypically endearing at best. The romances feel a bit weak and I can't help but think fans will take them too personally. It strikes me Bioware may have been onto something just making everyone bisexual ala Dragon Age 2. Certainly, you just need to sacrifice realism sometimes for player enjoyment.

Gameplay wise, the game plays like, well, Mass Effect. It's a shooter with RPG elements as well as a return of the Mako (in all but name). The only real complaint I have about it is the absence of the Renegade and Paragon system which was really something I loved. The Ryder twins feel a little more generic without their option to be outstandingly noble or ruthlessly psychotic. Still, the writing is crisp on that end too with both of the siblings having a Nathan Drake-esque adventurous spirit, awkward dorkiness, or a cool professionalism depending on how you want to play them.

In conclusion, this is a fun game and I'm going to continue playing it until I've done just about everything but it's a very "safe" sort of game too. In terms of genre, I'd say this is the Star Wars: The Force Awakens of the franchise. There's a lot of the same beats of the original and very little risk taking but it washed a lot of the bad taste out of my mouth too.

8/10

[KiDisaster]

15 hours ago, Fez said:

Either way, I suspect it was lack of time rather than lack of interest (which is kinda amazing considering they had 5 years).

Also strange considering the first time it got pushed back EA said they were willing to delay it further if the team requested more time. Maybe that was PR bullshit and they really pressured them to get it out for the end of the 2016 fiscal year but I dunno. I know this is the first full game this particular team has made, so I'm really hoping they learn from all this and get their shit together for the rest of the trilogy because overall I'm enjoying it as well. When it's on, it's really on. It just falls right the fuck off way too often. 

15 hours ago, Fez said:

That's why the animations look perfectly fine a lot of the time, but sometimes look absolutely terrible for no clear reason.

Makes a lot of sense. It's only the human faces (including Asari) that look really off to me anyway, the other aliens look fine for the most part. 

15 hours ago, Fez said:

Even so, I somehow already have 38 hours in the game (counting trial hours) and I regret nothing. Its a solid game that sometimes dips below that and sometimes manages to rise to greatness (those Architect fights are something else; and way more impressive than the DA:I dragon fights).

I'm sitting at around 30 right now I think, just got to Kadara. The first Architect I fought was amazing, highlight of the game so far. The second lacked the same feeling since I already knew the mechanics and it was overall easier. I think it had less health than the first one I fought. Or maybe I was doing loads more damage by then. I should increase the difficulty, most fights are feeling pretty trivial on normal now. 

[Ferrum Aeternum]

1 minute ago, KiDisaster said:

Also strange considering the first time it got pushed back EA said they were willing to delay it further if the team requested more time. Maybe that was PR bullshit and they really pressured them to get it out for the end of the 2016 fiscal year but I dunno. I know this is the first full game this particular team has made, so I'm really hoping they learn from all this and get their shit together for the rest of the trilogy because overall I'm enjoying it as well. When it's on, it's really on. It just falls right the fuck off way too often. 

Makes a lot of sense. It's only the human faces (including Asari) that look really off to me anyway, the other aliens look fine for the most part. 

I'm sitting at around 30 right now I think, just got to Kadara. The first Architect I fought was amazing, highlight of the game so far. The second lacked the same feeling since I already knew the mechanics and it was overall easier. I think it had less health than the first one I fought. Or maybe I was doing loads more damage by then. I should increase the difficulty, most fights are feeling pretty trivial on normal now. 

Damn, y'all are way ahead of me. I'm at around 22 hours including the trial. In terms of the facial animations, either I've adjusted to the quirks or they're actually getting better the deeper I go into the story, because I'm seeing fewer and fewer issues as I go. The last set of ship convos I had looked (almost) perfectly fine. 

In terms of the game, the things I liked most in the trial I am liking more and more in the full version (namely combat and exploration). Combat gets more fun with the addition of more/stronger abilities and the sense of exploration and discovery remains fantastic. 

I hit a lull there around the end of Havarl and decided to take a break from the main story and revisit Eos...where I proceeded to spend virtually all my time this weekend clearing through side missions, blasting Kett and exploring in the Nomad. I also found my first Remnant Architect there purely by accident. Here I am minding my own business on the final phase of a side mission and HOLY SHIT A SKYSCRAPER-SIZED FLYING MECHANICAL SNAKE APPEARS. Good god that was a fun, crazy fight. Also managed to wipe out the Kett power station and get the planet's viability to 100%. Very cool. 

 

[Corvinus85]

Ha, I'm only 3 hours into Andromeda. I just got on board the Tempest. I am just not feeling it yet. I need to find the time to put some hours into it and then decide.

[Ferrum Aeternum]

Tacking onto my last post - my biggest annoyance at this point is the menus, specifically the mission log and the inventories. I'm getting more accustomed to them, but they're still horrible. I have no idea if modding is even possible with this game but it's begging for a SkyUI-style interface mod.  

[KiDisaster]

Yeah, the menus and the map are fucking terrible. As someone who is bothered by exclamation points and must constantly clear all notifications I spend entirely too much time digging through the inventory and subfolders of fucking subfolders in the quest log to clear them out. Even more annoying is the notification icon sometimes bugs and gets stuck even though I've cleared all of the actual new items in the list.