Mass Effect Series and Andromeda Hype [ Edited ]

[Cpt_McSnickers]

@ivrognard To be honest i didn't even bother with romancing anyone the first 2 times i played though the trilogy, only after i figured out you could see what tali looked like under the mask by romancing her i went through the games again and romanced her just for that specific reason. I know romancing aliens etc is considered a part what makes mass effect mass effect but i never really cared for it, it's there and i'm glad it's optional.

As for my favorite mass effect moment;

I remember thinking in ME2 during the Archangel mission, wow 3 gang can't take out 1 mercenary, let's show them how it's done lads. Imagine my surprise when i found out who Archangel really was,  I had the biggest smile on my face. That or hearing Mordin sing, everytime i hear "Scientist Salarian" i can't help but to sing along

The saddest moment was seeing Mordin go down singing, still get's me sad.

I had never been this emotionally invested in a game before, i guess that's why Mass Effect is one of my favorite games of all time. It manages to put a big smile on your face one moment and leave you shattered the next. If Andromeda is only half the game the original trilogy was i know i'll enjoy it.

Cpt

PS

I am the very model of a scientist Salarian, I've studied species Turian, Asari and Batarian.

I'm quite good at genetics as a subset of biology, because i am an expert, which i know is a tautology.

My xenoscience studies range from urban to agrarian, I am the very model of a scientist Salariaaaan!

(I know you sang that in your head)

[ivrognard]

@Cpt_McSnickers Yeah, Mordin was one of my favorite characters, too. Felt so sad when he died. I should probably replay the original trilogy again to see how romances are affecting the story. 

@Straatford87 I did not bought Andromeda, yet. The new PC drained my gaming budget for the first half of the year, but i definitely plan to buy it.  On the other hand, i can check it, as my little brother got it already (he's also a big fan of the ME series).

[Cpt_McSnickers]

@ivrognard I don't believe they have a big impact. I think the reveal of tali's face is the closest thing to an impact you get with romances. I could be wrong of course.

Enjoy the new pc btw!

[Straatford87]

@Cpt_McSnickers

I always explore all the menus before I start the game - even the menu's look cool.. 

But oh man - can't imagine being stuck in class if you're super hyped to jump into the game! I hope time in class flies faster for your then the journey into the Andromeda galaxy...

As for Mass Effect memories, check out my response in our share your most powerful gaming moments thread. It was super depressing when it first happened, but afterwards thinking about it turned out pretty hilarious..

Also, if you've got some other awesome gaming memories to share, let us know in that thread!

@ivrognard

Ah yes - we talked about that. Forgot about that for a moment, sorry!

But it's cool though to see that all of us really enjoyed Mordin as a character

[Kozzzmozzz]

That according your actions and story a cinematic movie unfolds during the process so at the end, you can watch your playthrough in a for example 1 hour cinematic footage :D

A man can dream!

I really like how they do with episodic tales at the end and the beginning of a new one, like a recap just like in the series etc.. its nice to see.

Would be a nice addition to ME.

[Cpt_McSnickers]

I just had my first couple of hours of Andromeda and boy oh boy.

I finally got home from class threw my diner on my desk and fired up the game.

I must say the complains about the shallow character creator are justified and that left me rather sad. Once i got that done my game froze 3 times during the first cinematic trailer and i had to go through it 3 times. No matter how much i loved it the first time, after the 3rd it was kinda frustrating me that i couldn't skip it...

 I'm not sure what the cause was and whether it was a problem with the game or my computer.

The crashes had me worried for a bit, i had read about instability issues on the consoles but most reports said it's well optimized for pc, but luckily the game runs smooth ever since those 3 crashes and haven't had any problems so far. I get a solid 55-60fps with a VERY occasional drop when i try sprint through the doors before they haven properly opened, but that is most likely due to my pc specs.

The story so far got me curious and the characters don't seem as bad as people say, i still find myself bounding with some characters for better or worse. Liam's cheesy humor does get me to crack a smile, Kandros so far kinda reminds me of Garrus so I already love that guy  and something tells me I and  Foster Addison are not going to be good friends.

The reason that having to see the intro 3 times got me frustrated is most likely because I could not wait to experience the combat, and oooooooh where to start.

Combat is more satisfying than is has ever been in mass effect, heck maybe more satisfying than it has been in any 3rd person shooter.

Cover based shooting is still the key to victory but now you have so much more options! Jump up from your cover, hover in the air, blast that enemy behind cover with one of your biotic or combat abilities and before you drop down again shoot that sneaky little cloaked aliendog that tries to flank you. Or pull one enemy to you and then use throw to send him flying off a cliff, or better yet throw him into one of his friends and pick them off as they try to get up again.

I could go on for hours about how satisfying the combat is.

However the game is not without flaws. By now we all have heard about the questionable facial animations and the choice not to use MC for those but i'm willing to let that slide if they patch those at some point in the near future.

The game is so big and offers so many options and things to do, upgrade etc...Due to so many options the menu's sometimes get a bit confusing.

For example when i open the journal it jumped straight to the main quest line, and it took me a few minutes to figure out there was a button to go back and scroll through the loyalty missions and side quests.

Also, and this could just be me, but i find myself running around with my scanner just a bit too much. I know scanning items to find resources is not a must and you can find most things in shops across the Heleus cluster, but finding resources and crafting your own items is a big part of the RPG-feel in this game i rather not miss out on, even if that means that i find myself wondering when it's safe to head to the next exciting firefight without having missed anything important or rare.

Those were my first thoughts on my Andromeda experience so far, this game has gotten a lot of hate but, even though, this game still needs some work i've enjoyed so far and i'm pretty sure i will continue to enjoy it for dozens of hours to come.

Sorry for the post but i hope it's helpful in some way

Cpt

[kancutsky]

@Straatford87

Hi,

Yes it's been a great experience for me, and a great relief also - since this is my first preorder again after the no man's sky 'incident'...

Face animations can look a bit weird if I take screenshots...as with any other game - which in fact also might happen when the object being 'photographed' is a real talking human not 'ready for the camera'.

I don't game to take screenshots so... 

I'm planning to get a single 1080 or 1080ti with the new Ryzen 5 or Kabylake i5.

60 fps isn't a must for me, anything above 30 is fine as long as it's stable with high settings. 

Right now at 1080p medium-high mix I get an average of 35fps with my current setup so hopefully the new machine can give me smooth 4k at high.

I'm more concerned in getting my boss to somehow approve my 1 week leave request -  of course I didn't tell him I need it to finish a game....

A

[Straatford87]

@kancutsky

That's really good to hear!

I personally feel that with the current game engines being available today, we're just not at the point where faces and emotions can appear exactly as in real life. I was therefore really disappointed that there was suddenly such a spotlight on the animations for Andromeda - I know how hard the team has been working on it, and I'm still extremely proud of their achievements.

In terms of fps I admit that maybe I'm a bit spoiled with always wanting the solid 60. After all, I've been playing Zelda recently and that game is amazing while running at 30fps - it can certainly still provide a smooth experience. Let me know how it's playing when you get the system - perhaps you can even convince me to take the leap!

As for your boss, you could say that you need one week leave for an emergency. He doesn't need to know that it's a gaming emergency? 

ps. I've moved this conversation into the Andromeda discussion thread.

@Cpt_McSnickers

Hi again!

You're reply is awesome - it's both constructive in terms of criticism and detailed in how much fun you've been having with Andromeda. I'm really glad to hear that you've been enjoying it so far.

I was also happy to see that some players jumped in to your thread regarding optimizing Andromeda, I hope their help will get rid of all future crashes and will provide you with a steady fps going forward.

One thing that I would like to add: make sure that you've got the latest Nvidia drivers, and if you've recently updated, perhaps do a clean install of those drivers. I found that always helped me with a smooth gaming experience during a launch.

In the meantime, the Andromeda team is hard at work to go through all the feedback that we've received during the trial and launch so they can address the concerns that have been raised by players.

Lastly, thanks to both of you for stopping by and sharing - loving it! I will still be active on the forums, but since I'm on my weekend now I will finally have the time to really jump into the game as well

Cheers,

[holger1405]

@Straatford87

The Facial animations don't bother me in the slightest, and while it is true that they are not great, the discussion about them is imho greatly exaggerated.

A lot of the criticism Andromeda gets is imho political motivated.  If you look at "metacritic" and just count the 0 point review with "SJW" " or "no white characters" and so on in it, you will see what I mean.

[Straatford87]

@holger1405

What counts in the end is the individual enjoying the game - and I sure hope that holds true for all the Mass Effect fans out there