Mass Effect Andromeda

I bought this recently during an Origin sale and so far I've put 24 hours into the game and I'm really enjoying it. If you liked ME 3, you will like this. The combat is essentially the same but there are some new pretty neat features that have to do with resource collection and researching items like armor, weapons, mods, etc.


The main premise behind ME: Andromeda is completely different from that of the previous games and you have entirely new characters as well so that takes a bit to get used to. For $30 it was definitely worth getting.

Yep, what I said

I think I paid about 39EUR or so back then. I did get distracted by real life at about 35h in ("hunting the acheron" part) and need to continue it. I get the criticism that is thrown towards it but to me it's still a decent 7.5 score game at least.

Waiting on word of any expansions to this

I was pleasantly surprised to see some of the actors who did voices in the game:


Natalie Dormer
Indira Varma
Clancy Brown

Played it a while back. It is easily the worst game in the series. Comparing it to other games in the genre I'd still easily give it an 8 or 8.5. Compared to previous ME games, I'd give it a 7. The important parts of the story are largely brushed aside, the enemies aren't detailed much and seem fairly generic / dull, and the open world aspect hurts the game. Large portions of the maps are empty aside from respawning enemy checkpoints. The open world aspect just hurt the game. They needed to cut out most of the fetch quests, cut down on map size, and create a better story.

If you liked the previous games or are just looking for a good game to play, I do recommend it. But it could have been so much better.

I do agree with Flogger that it is the weakest of all of the ME titles. For $30 though it was well worth the price in my opinion. The new characters in this title aren't as interesting as the ones we came to know and love in the previous 3 titles.

I wouldn't hold my breath on DLC or a sequel. At least not for a while.

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2...n-ice-following-andromeda-disappointment

I would love to know how much lower the sales were for Andromeda compared to the previous 3 ME games. There's no doubt that its commercial performance was not what EA was hoping for.

http://www.vgchartz.com/article/250066/mass-effect-a-sales-history/

I had no idea PC sales were that "small"

Indira Varma looks like my wife's twin. (wife is from Indonesia)

This is the first Mass Effect game that feels tedious to me. The straw that broke the camel's back was one of the crew assigning me a go-for quest to another world for a recipe ingredient....to be used in a dish for movie night.

I hate you now.


Or in laymen's terms. You lucky b***ard.


Wheels

10 Hour trial now available for all platforms -

https://www.masseffect.com/trial

Thanks for the heads up. I'd be interested to see if it runs okay on my pc. I wonder if this is because of poor sales? Seems like more companies are trying this type of "play for X amount of time or levels free and all save progress can be saved and carried over if you purchase the game." I appreciate that for example with Dishonored 2. Its way above and beyond a traditional demo which is cool and it gives you a chance to try the game and see how it performs on your PC. It saddens me though that D2 runs so poorly. I spent two hours trying to tweak the game to run decent, finally got into it, then once I hit Karnaka the whole thing just tanked with the fps becoming unplayable. I don't get it. I've got a good PC and things just shouldn't perform that bad. I wish they would have used a different engine. I'd been happy if they would have just used the Unreal engine again. Hitman also has issues though the Glacier engine by and large is pretty nice.

I played the second one and I hate to sound stupid, but I didn't always understand what it was that I was supposed to do next. Guess I just haven't played these types of games enough.

The trial is the same as the "earlty access" version you got if you were part of Origiin Access, so it functions as a demo as well - it only allows you to get so far before it ends.

The numbers don't lie. ME: Andromeda sold significantly less than ME 2 or 3. It certainly did not meet the expectations of EA and Bioware.

I'm playing it off an on Pooch and its not just you. I've always felt that way a little with playing these games. Years ago when I tried these games I just did not like the environments. Settings yes but the game engine or the developers mediocre use of the game engine seemed lacking as everything in the world felt plastic and fake to me. Like a stage prop that has the illusion of being a rock yet when you get up close and fiddle with it you find its actually plaster of paris. I also personally felt lost when it came to combat and exploration. The way of exploring the galaxy was confusing to me and with so many side things to do and lore and terms I had no clue about made it all the more overwhelming and also non-intuitive. Add to that the leveling system I did not quite understand combined with confusing game elements like Paradox points and the other thing whatever they were called was just too weird and confusing.

I finally gave the push over a year ago and ended up really enjoying Mass Effect 1. I still don't fully understand everything that happened but it was fun and more engaging this time lol. Mass Effect 2 I'm having a hard time with. I really don't understand what's going on and I don't care for how the first initial missions are designed. I see it as pretty much you are given quite a large amount of overtly grindy, fetch quests as the beginnings of your game. This is tedious and annoying and not how I want my game start to be. I can understand them happening eventually as all RPGs tend to have them but to me, the introduction to a game and its presentation is important and needs to be unique and special. Something to get you excited about entering this world and continuing. I'm trying to push through hoping it gets better but these initial objectives I'm finding obnoxious and not fun. Add to that the fact that I forgot to save my game save from my completion of Mass Effect 1 to have it carry over into ME2. So I tried to do my best to recreate the look of my first Shepard in ME2 and make the same kinds of decisions but certain key elements obviously don't carry over like the fact that in my play of ME, Ashley dies. Without my save, she is alive and well so I have to do some major imagination work in my own brain to keep things in line with my first experience. Those unfortunate immersion breakers plus the fact that my Shepard looks really slightly off and funny and Gumbyish compared to my first Shepard its just been an all around bizarre experience LOL. I'm hoping it picks up but right now whenever I return to the game to try to progress I just feel bleh about continuing because I'm stuck in another "gather your team members" fetch quest that literally take you at almost opposite ends of the Galaxy. So far its not as fun or engaging as the story in ME1. Please someone tell me it gets better because this game seems like it may give you a little more freedom but right now its just meh.

Coot, you liked TW3. I think you might consider ditching the ME original trilogy and just get going with MEA. It is closer to W3 in many ways, and doesn't really relate to the other three anyway.

IMHO, Mass Effect 2 was the zenith of the ME franchise.

I definitely want to try Andromeda. I'm going to try to see if I can't get the juices flowing on ME2 yet. Maybe if I focus on the main mission and not allow myself get side tracked. I like the sound of MEA being arranged in a similar way to Witcher 2 though. I've also had a heck of a time trying to have fun in Dragon Age Inquisition. I'm still trying but man its slooooow going. I'm not sure If I'm not doing something right but it seems unusually hard to level up and I cannot find at all any new weapons and armor for my character. Maybe it comes with leveling up? I probably have 20 or so hours in it and I'm only level 5. New lands and whatever that Inquisition home base gameplay is seems like a long way off.