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Mass Effect: Andromeda Thread

NightAntilli

NightAntilli

Well-Known Member
NightAntilli said:
Today was the last day to sign up for the free Origin Access 7 Day trial. So that means that I get to play Mass Effect Andromeda next weekend for free ^_^
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My brain wasn't working properly. The trial is on the 16th, not 10th lol. So I would have to pay one month anyway to play the game early...
 
Argentus

Argentus

Well-Known Member
NightAntilli said:
My brain wasn't working properly. The trial is on the 16th, not 10th lol. So I would have to pay one month anyway to play the game early...
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its only 5 bucks though.

I didn't even know Origin Access was a thing but I got it and now have a crapton of free games like all of the dragon age and previous ME games and both mirrors edges and battlefields etc etc etc.

I'd say its a worthwhile deal XD.
 
NightAntilli

NightAntilli

Well-Known Member
It's definitely still Mass Effect... LMAO xD

me.atposez9jtt.gif
 
NightAntilli

NightAntilli

Well-Known Member
I managed to fit a quick game yesterday. Quick meaning I played for about 2 hours lol. My basic first impressions, spoiler free;




  • Performance is generally good on my system with max settings (FX-8320 @4.5 GHz, R9 Fury Nitro stock, 16GB DDR3 1866 MHz, 2560x1080 resolution), but I did not run benchmarks to determine my framerate. I am using FreeSync though. There is some stuttering and/or hangs just after loading certain scenes, but it quickly vanishes afterwards, becoming smooth. No freezes or stuttering during battles or exploration.
  • Using a 21:9 screen, I've run into some issues... When assigning a marker on the map, it does not appear where I click, but more to the left or the right, depending on the position on screen. Cutscenes also have black bars on the side, even the real-time rendered ones, which is a shame.
  • Another thing I did not like about the map is closing it. You press M to open it, but pressing M again does not close it. You need to press escape, and that takes you to the menu screen, meaning you have to press escape twice every time you open the map. It's small, but extremely annoying.
  • Then there's the 'compass' on the top of your screen. It basically serves as the minimap on your HUD in this game... It's not bad, but it requires some getting used to, and, it has its limitations. Enemies are shown as red dots on it. But no radar during combat means you won't see enemies that are behind you, until you turn around to see the red dot. And that, combined with;
  • Fighting the Kett in the beginning sequence is... harder than I thought. Not because the game is particularly difficult, but because they have good camouflage in the environment you're in. They are simply hard to see, unless they are moving. Especially those dog-like creatures are particularly hard because they're low to the ground and run behind cover towards you, and then they're on top of you before you even know they're there. That being said, I did not die once on normal difficulty.
  • Not sure whether this is related to my 21:9 screen or not, but in one of the conversations, the camera angle was basically behind my Ryder, and his hair stopped me from seeing anything in that moment.
  • Game has its fair share of clipping and pop-ins during gameplay. Despite this, game still looks beautiful. Even in the first few minutes, the scenery is great.
  • I missed a few options in character creator. When creating your character, the beard options are more limited than before, and you can't change the type of eyebrows, just the height and depth... Unless I missed it (don't think so). If I did miss it, the interface sucks lol. But yeah... Can't help but feel that the addition of the extreme customization options came a bit at the cost of 'normal' ones.
  • The gameplay is good. The extra mobility is smooth and intuitive. Shooting feels good, walking/jumping around feels good, the scanner is intuitive, it's all good.
  • The detonations basically work the same as in ME3, but, the effect is less prominent visually. It all seemed toned down, the visuals, the sound effects. It makes them seem less powerful. Or maybe it only seems this way because the areas are a lot larger.
  • Health does not regenerate in this game, only your shields do.
  • The cover system works surprisingly well, despite being automatic and not tied to a button. I have not had an instance where I went into or out of cover when I did not want to. Much better than expected to be honest.
  • During gameplay I was not even thinking of commanding my squad. The battles have become so dynamic that it will only be relevant when needing to hold certain positions. This is coming from someone that played ME3 as an Adept on insanity, meaning, I had to rely on my squad mates regularly to make it through the whole game. Maybe when I get accustomed to the additional movements, I will start thinking about it again.
  • As an Adept player, the cooldown times are too long in the beginning. I'm sure this will improve as you progress through the game.
  • The melee attack is surprisingly powerful. I decapitated a Kett with my omni blade lol.
  • Enemies drop loot, and you have to actually go to where they died, to pick up the loot. The indicator that something was dropped is not exactly clear, unless you're close to the location of the loot. You're going to miss out on loot if you're not careful.
  • General crates that contain loot are also particularly hard to see from far away for some reason.
  • Lip syncing is a bit off from time to time, but nothing too immersion breaking in my view. Characters look very good in motion.
  • The characters are... normal. Seems like they took the safe road here. Wouldn't call them bland, but they don't seem special in any way up until this point. They are much more active in banter though, which is good.
  • Dialogue is extensive. Not in a hand-holding way, but there is simply a lot of background chatter, in a good way.
  • The way you become the pathfinder was... underwhelming to me. I expected more. Can't say much without spoiling, but it was sudden, and... Can't help but have the opinion that it was too soon. You'll likely understand what I mean when you play it.
  • Conversation dynamics are good. I prefer the new system. There is no pressure at all to pick certain paths, like with Paragon and Renegade. I really feel more free to respond the way I want at any given moment.


If I think of anything else, or encounter other things, I will mention it.
 
UpSideDownGRUNT

UpSideDownGRUNT

Well-Known Member
How are the facial animations? The game has been getting a lot of flack for weird mouths and dead eyes has any of that been fixed post patch?
 
NightAntilli

NightAntilli

Well-Known Member
UpSideDownGRUNT said:
How are the facial animations? The game has been getting a lot of flack for weird mouths and dead eyes has any of that been fixed post patch?
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The mouth animations are still a bit weird, but not as bad as before. The eyes are the same as far as I can tell, but in motion it's not nearly as bad as in slowed down GIFs or pictures.

P2p1mbs said:
It's out already? I thought it was releasing next week?
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Origin Access. 10 hour trial. I'll try to reach the part with the Mako, and try some multiplayer also.
 
NightAntilli

NightAntilli

Well-Known Member
I can agree with the follownig video regarding the criticism and also the positive points. It's a nice and neutral recap. He does say not to watch if you don't want spoilers, but you can freely listen to the first 14 minutes without any spoilers. After that he starts spoiling things, athough they are minor. As soon as you hear Alec Ryder, stop listening. Just don't look at the screen during the first 14 minutes since it's all bits and pieces of footage from the trial. Not that that would spoil much, other than the areas that you'll see in the game.


 
UpSideDownGRUNT

UpSideDownGRUNT

Well-Known Member
Personally the animations don't bother me as much to the point I'd call the game bad, but it would be nice to fix them up in the near future.

I can't help but get the feeling Andromeda is releasing a good month or two earlier than it probably should
 
DontForkWitMe

DontForkWitMe

Well-Known Member
After playing the origin access trial on pc i can say the combat is amazing an by far the best in the series. Its everything else that falls short. characters so far are lame and forgettable compared to shepard's crew, as already mentioned character models and animations are complete shit. the character creator is a huge step down from the original trilogy and other bioware games like dragon age to the point where im sticking with the default ryders which i never had to do in the other games. graphically its serviceable but coming from horizon zero dawn which makes 95% of other games look like shit its hard transition back to the run of the mill visuals of these games.

Overall as the 4th entry to a AAA franchise its a pretty half assed effort from bioware, i expected a far more polished title that should've surpassed the previous games but so far other than combat it fails in every aspect to do so. Gonna take alot of patches and a price drop for me to bother with this game.
 
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