Meh, "bugged crap" would suggest it was unplayable.
It had bugs, derpy animations, and very, very mediocre writing, but aside from the shield sidequest (which took them 4 patches to fix, lol ) and one or two instances of enemies spawning inside walls the game itself was pretty stable. I think I had one CTD, but it was random.
I played until the end but have no intention of doing it again.
Here is the written version, working on the youtube version (went a bit off script there lol).
"Enjoy"
Quote:
Some say better late than never, some will probably say "why bother".
Well,
I guess I have a lot of free time and who are you to tell me what to do anyway! (grin)
I only recently bought Mass Effect Andromeda, scared by all the horror stories surrounding it, notably the bad animation job, of course.
Now my relation ship with Mass Effect, in general, isn't a very tight one.
Sure, I enjoyed Mass Effect One and Two, but I kind of threw the towel at number three at a very early stage.
Like the "first level of the game"-stage.
It just didn't "click" with me, so I dropped it and I still have and had a lot of games to play and try, that it kind of got lost in the shuffle.
I'll probably give it a go sometime, just for completeness sake, but I don't think it will make much of a difference.
But anyways, back to the game at hand, the disliked one, the one people really seem to hate into a bottomless pit for... what reason exactly?
It's easy to just jump on the hate-wagon and scream "shame, shame, shame" without really knowing why.
Of course, when asked, most people will have a generic response ready, as they always do.
"The animations suck!"
"The story sucks!"
"This and that sucks!"
But after investigating any further, that's usually where the flow of information stops, let alone any sort of useful or accurate information.
This is not to say, that these people are necessarily wrong (OR right), but it is more about being careful to blindly trust the generic hate for a game, for the wrong reasons.
Now I will agree, that the game was released early, as almost any game really, before it should have.
And of course, the whole facial and body animation debacle is also hard to argue with.
I mean it is there for the entire world to see, without even having to play the game, but just by going to check out any random video about the game on youtube.
And I agree, it IS inexcusable, to release a game with such horrendous animations.
But I think it is also forgettable.
And here is why:
A bit of background information about myself first;
I am not rich.
I have a wife and 2 children and an income that is just about enough to pay the bills and keeping us fed and clothed.
Really nothing fancy about my life at all.
And no, I do not make any money from Youtube, yet.
Maybe one day, who knows, but until this day, I haven't received a single cent from Youtube.
Why does that matter? Well, my only real expense for myself, are games and every year or two a couple new components for my computer.
I don't smoke, I don't drink and I don't do drugs.
I don't buy fancy clothes or have a car or anything.
I ride a bicycle for transportation.
A cheap one.
Again, why does that matter?
Well, I can't afford to buy games for 60€, not if I want to buy more than 1 or 2 a month anyway.
So what I do, is buy games AFTER they release.
Months later.
Sometimes even a year.
Or in bundles.
And often I buy them from cd-key sites or when a game is on sale on steam or origin etcetera.
So, for example, Mass Effect Andromeda,
I got for 24$ and when I began playing it just updated from version 1.008 to 1.009.
So now I am playing a game for the price of an Early Access Indy title on steam, 9 major patches in and mostly "fixed".
Sure, the animations still seem a bit off, but it's not freaky anymore, but more "less"-ish.
And I am fine with that.
So to cut this part a bit short, I think my point is, don't buy and even less preorder, a so-called "triple A" title at full retail at release.
It's a recipe for disaster.
Because be honest, how many triple-A games are buggy and unfinished at release?
I am pretty sure it's the majority of them.
Not to mention the whole "release day DLC" crap and so on.
So yeah, don't buy games at their release, wait and then get them for half or less the price, patched and you'll have a lot more enjoyment.
This is why my review is probably more joyful than those made by "professionals" before the game was released or at release with version 1.000 or even pre-gold versions.
Now off to the actual review! Yay, about time, right?
I would like to make clear, that I did indeed finish the entire game and even streamed the entire thing from A to Z.
I'll post a link in the description, so go check it out if you want.
Also, I did play on normal, which is quite easy and I am thinking of doing the entire game on insane again or whatever the most difficult setting is.
And yes, I had that much fun.
The Story:
Now I won't tell you the story, but just how I perceived it. And it is true, that it does kind of "throw you into the deep end", right from the get go and I am honestly fine with that.
I have however a problem, with unfinished or rushed plot lines and that's where Andromeda has its weak points.
Without going into details, there is a major plot line with an antagonist or protagonist, it's not really clear actually and never made clear because that plot never comes to any kind of conclusion.
The main plot itself, on the other hand, is quite enjoyable though and really immerses you into this new galaxy and its wonders.
Of course, you can easily see, that it is Mass Effect, by summarising its plot.
"An old forgotten civilisation, leaving huge structures behind and an all consuming enemy that seems unstoppable, here in the form of the "scourge", which we also have no idea where it came from or what it is."
Heck, thinking of it, they really let a lot of loose ends in the story. Which were obviously left open to have DLC's or expansions in the future, except that we don't know if there will be any or not?
So yes, from that point of view, it is a bit of a shame, that the story ends where it ends.
There are so many unanswered questions, I really wonder, just how many DLC's EA/Bioware had planned for this game?
Let's quickly recap what major plots are not resolved or not clearly resolved (spoiler alert):
The Scourge!
What IS the scourge? Where did it come from, what caused it, how can it be stopped, if at all?
Remnant technology seems to be either the cause of the scourge or at least attract the scourge.
So by turning on all the remnant terraformers and what not, how will the scourge react? Will it yet again continue to pursue rem-tech or not?
Was the scourge a byproduct or something "made" by another species entirely to fight against the remnants creators?
I could imagine a "civil war" type of scenario like in Anarchy Online, where one side embraced the technology and became "corrupted" and the other half was against it, leading to a civil war between the 2 factions, with each trying to destroy the other one.
But again, this is purely speculative, because any actual conclusion is missing from the game or I simply missed it.
Next is the aforementioned "pro- or antagonist", known as the "benefactors". A shady "group" or "organisation" or "whatever", who are responsible for the entire Andromeda project in the first place. But it is never made clear, who they are or what their goal is.
Was it simply to escape the Reapers?
Or maybe they are agents working FOR the reapers, making sure nobody escapes their masters or whatever.
Because it seems likely, that an advanced civilisation or species like the reapers is capable of intergalactic flight, seeing how easy they come and go to the milky way.
Also seeing as they have a cycle of 50'000 years, a short voyage of 600 years wouldn't be a big thing for them, either.
But maybe those were just some super rich people, but why then hide?
It can be assumed, that they are more of the less morally leaning side, since they, most likely, killed the leader of the mission on arrival and other people as well.
But the plot never comes close to a conclusion and we're just left there hanging, guessing...
And then there is, of course, the biggest "DLC!" cliffhanger plot, with the missing Arks.
We don't know how many Arks are missing, but it is safe to assume that we're talking about at least 4 or more Arks here, just by counting the number of species that are still missing from the mission and which are clearly mentioned as such towards the end of the game.
Of course, this could always be resolved in the next game, which at this point would probably be preferable to DLC's.
Imagine, if instead of MAss Effect 2, we had had Mass Effect 1 DLC "part 2". It wouldn't have been quite the same thing, I guess.
Also, this would allow Bioware to allocate the proper resources and hopefully the "A" team to the project, unlike with what had happened with Andromeda, which was done by an entirely new team, by people who never worked on an earlier Mass Effect title.
Afaik.
Now to the gameplay:
Unlike the previous Mass Effect titles, this one is going the way of the "Open world/Sandbox approach, which on one side gives you the freedom to pretty much moving wherever you want almost from the beginning, while at the same time possibly overwhelms you with things to do.
It is important to note here, that you don't actually HAVE to do most side missions and you could just stick to the main plots, but it IS advantageous of course to do at least part of the missions to make planets viable and for general loot and personal advancement, i.e. experience.
But it is not necessary to do all the little things.
Or at least you shouldn't go out of your way to for example scan a couple locations for some minor side quest, but only do them when you are in the area anyway.
If you go out of your way to do every mission and quest on their own and travel back and forth for it on a planet or even from and to planets, it will very quickly become a chore and make you hate the game.
So, if you're smart about it, you won't get exhausted by them.
That's my advice about that.
Generally tho, the missions are scripted and voiced nicely and all in all entertaining enough.
Of course, this is my opinion.
And I usually judge a game by the motivation I have to play it and more importantly, keep playing it and Mass Effect Androdema made me play until the end and even a bit beyond.
So by using the "1$ per hour played" formula, the game largely exceeded my expectations from an entertainment and costing point of view.
I had a lot of fun and I was entertained for many many hours.
To sum up this review;
I enjoyed the stories, the missions, the vistas, the fights, the discoveries, the weapons and skills, the environments.
I didn't enjoy some of the missions, which made you run back and forth for no good reason and which made them artificially longer.
I didn't enjoy the lack of proper endings to several of the plots or the lack of hints to a possible conclusion in the future.
Having played only from 1.008 and 1.009 onwards, I didn't really encounter or endure the whole abstract animations disaster, so I couldn't care less about that.
I encountered a couple crashes, always at the same point, but which wasn't game breaking or ending and which was, it seems, fixed in 1.009.
The "strike team screen when on the Tempest, DX error, card removed error".
My conclusion is,
I really had a good time with this game, for the price I paid and having skipped the release altogether for a smoother "couple patches later" experience.
It was well worth the time waiting and money saved and I think it is a good general rule of approach when it comes to AAA titles and it has served me well again and again.
So, if you haven't played the game yet, give it a try, buy it cheap or on sale and I think you won't be disappointed.
It's worth mentioning, that the game still has a, it seems, pretty solid multiplayer base as well for some additional hours of PvE action.
"The animations suck!"
"The story sucks!"
"This and that sucks!"
But after investigating any further, that's usually where the flow of information stops, let alone any sort of useful or accurate information.
This is not to say, that these people are necessarily wrong (OR right), but it is more about being careful to blindly trust the generic hate for a game, for the wrong reasons.
This is quite the wrong place to say that, don't you think? At least a dozen people said in well argued posts why they think the story/animations/etc suck. In fact I have three fully written pages of a review that went unpublished because I couldn't find the power to finish the game because it sucks at all those things.
Isn't the biggest cliffhanger "who was the Jardaan's enemy"? It was for me
Yeah, I mention that in the review. I just forgot their name.
Quote:
The Scourge!
What IS the scourge? Where did it come from, what caused it, how can it be stopped, if at all?
Remnant technology seems to be either the cause of the scourge or at least attract the scourge.
So by turning on all the remnant terraformers and what not, how will the scourge react? Will it yet again continue to pursue rem-tech or not?
Was the scourge a byproduct or something "made" by another species entirely to fight against the remnants creators?
I could imagine a "civil war" type of scenario like in Anarchy Online, where one side embraced the technology and became "corrupted" and the other half was against it, leading to a civil war between the 2 factions, with each trying to destroy the other one.
But again, this is purely speculative, because any actual conclusion is missing from the game or I simply missed it.
But it seems the issue I have with the game is not fixed. The camera in the 'inside' areas of the 'citadel' (or ship) is different than the exploring camera(!). So if you set the FOV slider to max it will be OK for the combat, but way too large and distanced from player for exploring...
@Sin317
Do you have a save on a planet, to check out max FOV setting there, while exploring?
But it seems the issue I have with the game is not fixed. The camera in the 'inside' areas of the 'citadel' (or ship) is different than the exploring camera(!). So if you set the FOV slider to max it will be OK for the combat, but way too large and distanced from player for exploring...
@Sin317
Do you have a save on a planet, to check out max FOV setting there, while exploring?
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