Mass Effect Andromeda - 66 Hours In - My Thoughts and Screen Shots

originally posted by: eriktheawful
So I'm over 66 hours of real time into playing Mass Effect: Andromeda and having a ball with it.

Okay, so I got it and about 30% through it. I tend to muck around and explore, so not really grinding hard through it.

I will say this
When its bad, its bad.
the faces are hidious on some/many/most. This is objectively true as it was a design choice by the dev team to "desexualize" people...well done jerks
The butt cam is gone..outragous!
The asari all look like clones
The animations in areas are horrible
The crew seems too casual with only Cora being the one seemingly understanding the seriousness of the situation
Some missions are more annoying than fun (rock samples and the like)
The vortex is dismal (when you compare the previous nightclubs and such from other ME games)
Some of the lines are poorly written, bad voice acting, etc.
Nothing really memorable: Like sayings and stuff...I should go. Its had to be me, someone else might have gotten it wrong, etc. Nothing really sticks out..no signature Ryder

Some things are neutral
The writing is nearly copying most of the franchises formula (badass krogan, the turning of people into ultimately indoctrinated monsters, the ship, ancient unknown tech, etc). I mean, I get it..follow what works, but no real points for creativity.

But when the game is good, its damn good
The exploration...the planets feel like..planets you want to explore
The crew is...coming around to being cool. I think Liam is pretty cool to hang with (his loyalty mission is hilarious)
The visuals are fantastic, the interiors, etc. Well made levels for ships and such
The story is neither here nor there, but I feel its a good foundation anyhow
I enjoy the Nomad (I hated the Mako from ME1)

Overall yeah, I am enjoying this game. It had a lot to live up to coming from nearly everyones franchise, and tossing it to a untested studio using untested algorithms and chalked full of hipsters instead of coders has had a negative effect on many aspects, but overall its worth the playthrough for sure..and also worth the criticism (constructive) that they've been recieving so that future titles wont be under the inexperienced and political wing of bioware..its a game company, not a political grandstanding platform.

Anyhow, I would recommend this game (Especially on a steam sale). I am going to hope that MEA2 fixes a lot of their issues, puts a better group of talent in charge, tweak the tech for better lip sync, remember who their audience is, etc...but overall yeah. Its a ME title and I am digging it.

originally posted by: SpeakerofTruth
I've really enjoyed the game. I don't see how anyone can straight facedly review the game as being less than an 8. That's just being honest.

I can see a 7. its good..quite good, but with issues.
The issues for a small indie company could be looked past, but this is Bioware with a 40m budget

I gave it a 8 on metacritic but with the understanding I am a franchise fanboy here..so just the familiar stuff was enough to give it a point.

a reply to: SaturnFX

The game is like crack to my wife, heh. There have been times where it's after 1 AM and I'm trying to get her to stop playing so we can get some sleep (her desktop is in our bedroom).

It's interesting to watch her play because her play style is different from mine, and she always seems to find things that I never saw, or do missions I didn't know about. Makes me go: Huh??? Damn, I need to go find that!

For me it boils down to: was it worth the money I paid for it?

With all it's faults, I still have to give the answer: Yes. It's been very entertaining and most of the things that people gripe about I've either not seen, or it doesn't bother me.

That's just me though.

Have to agree with all the cloned Asari though.......that was just lazy on their part.

I just finished the main quest, aside from going around and talking to everybody afterward. Love this game but....

I guess it's time to go hit rocks for science now

I complete the game 2 nights ago, while I enjoyed it, I did feel a bit cheated in comparison to its forebears. The graphics whilst in know are stylised and arnt supposed to be hyper realistic, they did feel very low bit In ccmparrison to other current titles. What is also annoying is the fact that some of the tasks I left, for something to do once the main story is completed ant actually doable now, something that make my completest bones itch.

I wanna start a new playthrough using a custom character and an import of the milky way saved state[I was impatient and did the quickstep lol] but given the games structure there doesn't seem to be any reason to other than to bonk other characters as there doesn't t appear to be any critical effect on the story's final outcome to the degree that was In place in mass effect 2 and 3.

I may wait till the rumoured Dlc comes out that supposedly has the Quorian Ark story line. Till then I guess I could dive into multiplayer Apex a bit more.

Hope the sequel takes on board what the Me fans have said and make it a proper challenge again. I was actually pretty annoyed I did the final mission without one death apart from a fall respawn, at lvl 59, in a tier x chest and xii kit/gun.

a reply to: kountzero

Well, I think there will be another one. If they correct the problems Andromeda had, it will be an outstanding game. I think what's pertinent to remember is that Andromeda is the beginning of a new chapter for the Mass Effect franchise.

Mass Effect is my all time favorite game franchise, but I think we need to put something into perspective. The first Mass Effect, though I personally loved it, isn't exactly universally praised. Most people liked Mass Effect 2 more than they did the original. Now, it kind of stands to reason, given that Andromeda is basically the beginning, I suspect, of a new trilogy for Mass Effect, that Andromeda isn't very highly praised. I suspect Bioware used Andromeda as a "feeler" for where fans want to see the franchise go.

One angle I haven't seen anybody discuss really: soundtrack. How does everybody feel about the music in this game compared to the OT? For me it was a bit up and down. I've always been impressed with how dramatic some of the music can be and this was no different.

That being said, Farewell and into the Inevitable is probably one of the most haunting compositions I've ever heard and there wasn't any single piece in this game on that level for me.