Mass Effect Andromeda: Shitstorm Edition - RIP Biowear

Todesfurcht said:
Posting again.

Turns out my predictions weren't far off, every cut-scene we've seen is riddled with horrible animation and any signs of emotion is void.

Is this game going to suck?
Yes, it probably is.

I expect mediocre ratings.
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I expect a pile of 8.5-9.8 out of 10s, followed by revised downward reviews 6-18 months later after we've had some "perspective."
 
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Horrible plot, characterization, animation, and dialogue aside my biggest worries for the game play itself are basically these.

1- Fuck awful ending aside ME3 had fantastic enemy variety and you rarely felt bored during firefights. In 90% of the trailers I've seen the vast majority of enemies shown are various pallet swaps of the same flying/hovering robot which is boring as fuck.

2- Granted it's hard to tell for sure from just a trailer but it looks like MEA is going to suffer from the same issue Fallout 4 had where the majority of enemies are asburdly bullet spongy which leads to the guns feeling weak and unsatisfying to use.
 
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Ruin said:
2- Granted it's hard to tell for sure from just a trailer but it looks like MEA is going to suffer from the same issue Fallout 4 had where the majority of enemies are asburdly bullet spongy which leads to the guns feeling weak and unsatisfying to use.
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The 30 min gameplay vid confirmed that's basically the case.
 
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So now that Andromeda's nearing release, I feel ready to sum up my feelings:

Story - I just don't care about the Andromeda galaxy or the Andromeda Initiative or the 'finding a new home' bullshit. I seriously don't. I liked the idea of the Milky Way, of Earth being involved and all that. There were still plenty of stories to tell in that universe and it WAS salvageable. They just didn't fucking bother because: 1) They don't have the talent 2) They cannot swallow their fucking pride and admit they completely fucked up a money-printing setting 3) They are pussies that bitched out. They didn't have the backbone to even attempt to fix what they did so they took the easy route and basically shouted "DO OVER". Andromeda is just a reminder of how they fucked up the previous setting well and truly and how they are now too incompetent to even attempt to fix it. Not to mention Andromeda just isn't strange enough. Its basically Milky Way 2.0, I don't see anything setting it apart lore wise. Its villains seem boring, its new species boring. With old Star Trek, the farther you got out, the weirder shit got. Not these stereotypical excuses for villains. There's just nothing pulling me in. Maybe they couldn't, I don't know. But with what they revealed of Andromeda, lol no.

Graphics - Hahaha. Jesus. Even if the models didn't look like they were animated by freelancers from deviant art and the female models got the ugly stick, their art direction feels really bad. Its major steps backwards from 2 and 3.

Gameplay - Looks like a rehash of 3 with jetpacks, with bullet spongy enemies.

Multiplayer - Expect them to do the same shit they did with 3: nerf the ever-living fuck out of players progressively, introduce a massive amount of items/classes to dilute the free chests, make it so that you are desperate enough to purchase the microtransactions to get something half-way decent so you can fight the enemies that barely get scratched.

Ponderous Pillock said:
I'd say the problem is everyone wants to be muttered in the same breath as people like Hideo Kojima, or Ken Levine when it comes to being able to tell a story. Every idiot with a notepad and storyline wants to be the next visionary and way too many of them already act like they are.

The issue being is that one has a background in film, but came to the world of video games by happenstance and took to it well, and the other knew how to tell a story through heavy visuals and game mechanics. Both of these methods are far more difficult than people frequently realize and this is enhanced enormously when it comes to games. We live in a fortunate time when we wind up with people who can tell stories pretty well, and it makes it all the more obvious when someone fucks it up.

Both can be argued to make very strong narrative driven games, both make said games with a morality play angle and point behind them.

On the flipside, both know how the wider gaming industry works, and why it works well.
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The dirty little secret that these people don't want to admit is that all good games with story has the gameplay inform the story. Even the original Planescape used gameplay to some extent (and the new one does it even better with its gaming elements). You CANNOT have a good story based game and just ditch the 'game' aspect. It will absolutely not translate well and I've seen it a lot.

Lets look at Dark Souls. The gameplay is hard and it reflects upon the story its trying to tell of this dying, ending world, full of hopelessness. Show, don't tell has always been a story-telling caveat and you can easily do this with gameplay. The problem is a lot of these people treat gameplay and story as separate, when this is as far from the truth as you can get. Imagine if Dark Souls were piss easy. That dying world doesn't feel so hopeless anymore, does it? You can't have the atmosphere and the story they wanted to tell if the game were easy. It just doesn't fit.

If you want to be a great storyteller in video games, you can't ignore the 'game-play' part. It just isn't possible and any story you tell will end up suffering, because gaming is active. The imagery and the game-play help inform what the player should be feeling in regards to the story. If you can't realize this, then there's really no hope that you'll tell a good story. Because there will always be this strange disconnect with what you want the player to feel and what your game makes them feel. And they will easily notice that.
 
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Secret Asshole said:
So now that Andromeda's nearing release, I feel ready to sum up my feelings:
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Not trying to be 'that guy,' but don't most people wait with reviewing and discussing the faults and shortcomings of a game until after it's come out and they've played it? I mean that's a lot of criticism for a story you've only seen minor unordered snippets from in trailers.

I'm going to reserve my judgement. I'm hoping it'll be good, but I don't think I'll get it at full price either way.
 
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Rio said:
Not trying to be 'that guy,' but don't most people wait with reviewing and discussing the faults and shortcomings of a game until after it's come out and they've played it? I mean that's a lot of criticism for a story you've only seen minor unordered snippets from in trailers.

I'm going to reserve my judgement. I'm hoping it'll be good, but I don't think I'll get it at full price either way.
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I'm eager for it to be out as well. Just to see the blooper gameplay videos people make. :) And if the promotional videos are like this, how funny is the actual game going to be.
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If I am wrong, I am wrong. But the amount of shit just in videos they have been showing in promotional material inspires no confidence in me.

How many bad animation errors are in the actual game if there are this many in the shit that is supposed to make me buy the game? What if that reflects the overall care they put into the game?

I have a very large distrust of EA and Bioware as the quality of their releases have been incredibly uneven in recent years. Not to mention their multiplayer modes have always gone from being a nice addition to another way to grind money out of people for a $60 release.

There are a lot of games nowadays to compete for my money. Bioware burned me bad last time (and EA countless times) and they really haven't been done much to inspire my confidence to get me back.
 
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