Mass Effect: Andromeda

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Winnow
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Mass Effect: Andromeda

Post by Winnow »

People Are Trashing Mass Effect: Andromeda's Animation

Well that's disappointing. ME has always had gumby looking characters but it looks like they took a step backwards. You'd think Bioware would wake up and take notice of games like Lara Croft and Uncharted and attempt to make their character models a little better.

It's always been a weak point of the series but it looks like they didn't invest any time/development into improving that part.
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Re: Mass Effect: Andromeda

Post by Funkmasterr »

First of all, the only impressions that people are allowed to talk about are from the first couple hours of a 100+ hour rpg, so I'm not going to jump on the "Mass Effect is disappointing" train quite yet. Second of all, I'd venture a guess that to the majority of people, facial animations aren't as important as they clearly are to you.

I think the more interesting discussion this brings up is review embargos. I've always maintained that if you're ready to send out review copies of the game, then you should be ready for reviews to go up. This is a case where the review embargo is hurting them because they've restricted what people can talk about to the first bit of the game, and again due to the scope of the game those impressions may end up changing, but it will be too late for a lot of people who saw early articles bashing it and decided to pass on it.

If they are confident in their game they shouldn't be making people wait to put reviews up, and if they're worried, odds are they shouldn't be releasing the game yet and there's no reason people should have to wait until after it's out to find that out. I also don't believe in any kind of system where reviews can't be out to a certain date to make it fair for everyone - if someone gets a review copy and wants to marathon play it and get the review out before everyone else, good for them.

Anyhow, derail done. I'm still excited for the game.
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Re: Mass Effect: Andromeda

Post by Winnow »

If the rest of the game is good, I'll still play it but I am going in cautious. I don't get good vibes over the ending of the first ME trilogy and how Andromeda was developed with little coverage. Just feels like maybe they had a crew that was there for the paycheck as opposed to being inspired about making the game.

Facial animations/models/full body animations are very important to me in a game like Mass Effect that is heavily story driven with a ton of cut scenes and dialogue screens. You're looking at the characters talk/interact a lot in a game like this.

Bioware got a pass in the past because it was rare to have decent models in games back then. Now, you have outstanding facial animation/character models in games (Horizon is actually below average compared to Tomb Raider, Uncharted, etc but acceptable). Bioware also got a pass because the atmosphere of Bioshock was amazing. I mean compare the original story/plot of Bioshock to Horizon...it's not even close.

I think it would greatly benefit Bioware to hire some people in that department. Same with Bethesda games.

Edit: Side note, the character faces/bodies/animations in Star Citizen are on a whole other level of awesome.
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Re: Mass Effect: Andromeda

Post by Aslanna »

It's not reviewing the greatest... I never played 1-3 so had no interest in this new one. Was doing other things with a Lets Play thing running and it looked boring. Didn't look all that good either for a 'Next Gen' Mass Effect.
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Re: Mass Effect: Andromeda

Post by Winnow »

Saw one review saying it was the word of the 4. Doesn't sound promising. Looks like the team just did it for the paycheck.
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Re: Mass Effect: Andromeda

Post by Funkmasterr »

I got it, I haven't played enough to comment on it much yet though. I was able to create a character with the creator that I think looks just fine. Anyhow, I think for a sci fi RPG it will probably be a good game, it's getting hit so hard because the original trilogy set such a high bar. Hopefully they polish up the issues that they can, and if they make another game hopefully it gets more polish in the animations/character models department.
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Re: Mass Effect: Andromeda

Post by Winnow »

This game is actually pretty good overall.

Not in mood for full review so will just list out pros and cons.

CONS

-animations, facial and full body motion are sub par
-dialog is average, some of the banter between the characters is funny but it's hit and miss
-story is average, mostly takes all the same races you saw in Milky Way and throws them into Andromeda galaxy looking for new homes

PROS

-jump packs make traveling around a lot of fun
-The land rover NOMAD is a blast to drive around. You can kick in 6 wheel drive and hit boost to get up some really steep hills. It's fun and not frustrating.
-There's a ton of ways you can combine skills from combat, biotics and tech skill trees and each individual skill had it's own specialization options at higher levels.
-nice assortment of weapons in each category along with augmentations to further customize them
-combat is fun. You can go about killing this in many ways.
-The platforming parts, due to the jumpacks, haven't been frustrating.
-although a lot of the dialog is bland, the voice acting is very good.
-resources are handled well. Mining both on planet and from space is hassle free

NEUTRAL

-constantly watching your suit levels in cold conditions, etc isn't ideal but is handled in a way that doesn't make it a pain for the most part.

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The first patch helped with the googly eye faces and also improved inventory size and allowed skipping of some travel animations that mostly were time wasters as opposed to a good mechanic.

Tip: unlock the military cyro pod: resources. It reveals chest (caches) on maps that always have high value weapons/armor/minerals etc in them. The are a big help and fun to travel to (at least in the snowy world I was first on after unlocking it)

Looks like Mass Effect: Andromeda took more than a hit overall than it should have for the animations. It's not going to be a classic but it's a very solid game. If you're a Mass Effect fan, it's worth picking up at some point. The exploration/combat part is entertaining with the story being maybe less interesting than previous ME titles. With the ability to skip dialog, it's not a problem.
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Re: Mass Effect: Andromeda

Post by Animalor »

I played it through and really enjoyed it. I usually choose the female option for my character and the voice acting here was as solid as fem-shep.

This one got a LOT of unfair hate.
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Re: Mass Effect: Andromeda

Post by Funkmasterr »

I quit playing this fairly early on, and picked it back up the other day due to lack of other things I want to play right now (and nothing new I'm looking forward to is coming out until at least Feb). I think I was probably a bit too harsh on it at the time - although there may have been something newer and shinier that contributed to me putting it aside, too.

So far I'm enjoying getting back into it. The only gripe I have so far is the lack of auto saving - there have been a few missions already that are relatively long and I can't save during them, and due to lack of any kind of auto saving if I die I have to start the whole damn thing over.
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Re: Mass Effect: Andromeda

Post by Funkmasterr »

Finished this! I did every side quest and wanted to go for the platinum, but there is a multiple playthrough trophy so I gave up that idea. Playing through Dragon Quest XI next, I think I'll make the platinum push on that one.
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