Mass Effect Andromeda: Shitstorm Edition - RIP Biowear

[Ginger Piglet]

I've been playing it, as it happens. The facial fix makes it slightly less comedic but that didn't prevent me from accidentally giving my Male!Ryder a DA haircut and the eyes of an unsuccessful rapist.

Anyhow. I'm about halfway through and trying to avoid spoilers and also the shoehorned multiplayer which is now forced into the single player even more than in ME3 via the APEX missions. I am glad that it doesn't have as many pointless collection sidequests as Dragon Age Inquisition had and there are moments of actual writing competence (Suvi, for one, having a genuinely stimulating discussion about faith and science even when I deliberately went full on her; the High Noon quest chain on Havarl; Cora's loyalty mission) but the awful bits are so relentless.

To her credit, Peebee isn't as annoying as Sera but she's still another fucking manic pixie dream girl. Liam and Gil are just boring as fuck, and Drack is basically Wrex with a different colour scheme. Jaal and Cora and Suvi are the most interesting characters of the main ones.

Sloane Kelly was a real missed opportunity for character development. As was Reyes. As are 95% of the angara who have like 3 faces and I'm not being racist, they actually all do look alike.

There are some really awful plot holes though. The "First Murderer" quest has no blindingly obvious third option to acquit the guy of murder but convict him of attempted murder, and how come when you first step on to Aya this is supposedly first contact between humans and angara yet Sloane Kelly (a human) and the other exiles from the Nexus settle in an abandoned angara port on a planet where small colonies of angara live anyhow, yet this predates you first landing on Aya.

I'm in two minds about the fact that everything seems to tie in to the original series as well.

The kett I find to be fairly boring bad guys. They're basically fucking space darkspawn.

So far I'd rate it a 73% because it's mildly above average but not excellent.

 

[RIP_SANITY]

When it comes to Mass Effect you'd be hard pressed to find a fan as autistically rabid as me. I played the first one fully through eight times, the second one fifteen times and the third one three times. Anyone who defends 3's ending was someone easily impressed because it's shit, we all know that.

So then they announced Mass Effect Andromeda and I told myself not to get it, that it wouldn't be worth it, remember how 3's ending sucked so much it ruined a game series you were infatuated with. But I went against my own warnings and bought it on an impulse. I pretty much played straight through, as I tend to do on the first playthrough, and found it to almost feel like it was just DA Inquisition with a sci-fi skin. The obvious shit is obvious; the human models are the worst looking in the game and even the alien species look like they just went through a randomizer. I hated the game and didn't touch it for awhile after that, almost taking it back in.

A few weeks later, aka after they fixed chimp face girl, I decided to go back and give it a second chance. My first playthrough I had chose soldier and only soldier, ending up with a very limited character who seemed weak and to easy a target. My second, however, I went with the far superior vanguard and found that the was suddenly that much more engaging. Vanguard was always my favorite and this class was strongly augmented by dipping into the other profiles. At first I hated the profile system thinking it took away from creating a unique character but in the end it pretty much let's you create superpowered death machines.

The second playthrough was my,do everything playthrough; all quests that had actually way points associated with them, all friend quests, everything that wasn't finding little objects that involved searching all nooks and crannies; I found myself suddenly immersed in the game as the story suddenly got a whole lot bigger.

That being said there's still a lot of shit that doesn't need to be there and its,all too evident this game was rushed. This won't stop a sequel, though, it'll just make the next entry the make or break game. Mass Effect can be better than this. Mass effect needs to be better than this.

actually, ME is on hiatus aka dead. I posted about it before.

 

[Mola Ram]

actually, ME is on hiatus aka dead. I posted about it before.

It's just pining. Pining for the fjords.

 

[vertexwindi]

It's just pining. Pining for the fjords.

Well, they'd better replace it then.

 

[ICametoLurk]

http://archive.is/DJokr

lol

 

[The Fair Lady]

So the "improved" CC in the 1.08 patch barely added anything aside from a better selection of skin tones and a bald option. Also the hair isn't gender-locked anymore and Scott can bang Jaal now.

Regardless, I bought a used copy earlier today. Definitely wasn't gonna get it for full price.

 

[Ginger Piglet]

So the "improved" CC in the 1.08 patch barely added anything aside from a better selection of skin tones and a bald option. Also the hair isn't gender-locked anymore and Scott can bang Jaal now.

Regardless, I bought a used copy earlier today. Definitely wasn't gonna get it for full price.

I got it while it was reduced on Origin.

Maybe if they overhauled some of the boneheaded fanfic tier writing it would be an improvement, but no, they have to cater to the Tumblr brigade because if you can't bang every character it's queerbaiting REEEEEE.

 

[Girlfriend-free Boy]

Even when disregarding the embarrassing technical issues and mediocre writing, Mass Effect: Andromeda's biggest failing is how wasted the entire premise was. When it was first announced that it would take place into the far future of the original trilogy, I assumed that it would show off how everything advanced in the aftermath of the war with the Reapers. Instead, what we got was roughly Mass Effect 2/3 technology with some token attempts at making things seem slightly more advanced. What was the point in such a large time gap between the original trilogy and this one?

On that note, the whole premise of visiting an entirely different galaxy means that the writers would need to work hard on figuring out different alien species that really stand out from what we've seen in the original trilogy. Apparently it was too hard, since what the game got was a grand total of two sapient alien species, and one of them was just a mutated form of the other (discount Collectors with puppy dog faces, basically).

Also, remember the announcement trailer with Johnny Cash and the big deal made about that suspiciously wild west-looking planet? Neither did Bioware, since the implied idea of Andromeda having a western frontier-vibe was thrown out the window in favour of more generic and bland atmosphere that makes Andromeda come across even more as fan-fiction.

The awful facial animations and other technical issues caused by gross mismanagement (not by SJWs wanting all women in video games to be ugly, as many would like you to believe), as well as the sub-par dialogue, characters and overall plot, are not the sole reasons for Andromeda's quality, but simply enhance how bad it is.

I got it while it was reduced on Origin.

Maybe if they overhauled some of the boneheaded fanfic tier writing it would be an improvement, but no, they have to cater to the Tumblr brigade because if you can't bang every character it's queerbaiting REEEEEE.

Even the Tumblr crowd hates Andromeda. They don't like how it represents LGBT stuff, whether it be gay relationships or how transpeople are portrayed. There's no pleasing these people, so what's the point?

 

[Dysnomia]

http://archive.is/DJokr

lol

I can only imagine the colossal fail that those procedurally generated planets would have amounted to.

The article doesn't go into what the hell is up with Sara's special needs derp face and why Scott looks like a male model by comparison. That can't be chalked up entirely to difficulties with the animation. It's not just the animation. It's the features overall. The Ryder siblings don't even look distantly related. Sara is fug on purpose. I can't believe otherwise.

However, they dropped the ball so bad on the LGBT angle that it's unsalvagable. Gay men get basically nothing in comparison to any other preference. Jaal ended up not being bi so no m/m alien lovin'. You've got one romance with a bi guy and another with a gay guy being pressured into giving his femae friend a baby because it's his duty. Then you have the trans NPC who just loves outing herself as Stephan.

http://www.pcgamer.com/bioware-apologizes-for-mass-effect-andromedas-hainly-abrams-character/

"In Mass Effect: Andromeda, one of our non-player characters, Hainly Abrams, was not included in a caring or thoughtful way. We apologize to anyone who interacted with or was hurt by this conversation. This was never our intent, and was an unfortunate byproduct of the iterative process of game design and a change in the structure of the character's dialogue," BioWare wrote.

"We have had several discussions with members of the transgender community, both internally at BioWare and in the broad community, and we are working to remedy this issue. Once the changes are implemented, Hainly will only reveal certain information to Ryder after they have developed trust, and only if the players chooses to support her."

Well it's too damn late now because Hainly already casually outed herself and it's very well known. Anything positive that could have been gained from this is long gone. Bioware blew it. Hard. It's like the writers went on Tumblr and read some transtrender blogs for tips on how to handle the situation. Had they made Hainly a love interest then I think it would have caused problems with the non-Tumblr crowd and would have been too much of a risk in general. Although it would have made the reveal feel genuine if they could have written it well (which they wouldn't have anyway). But they should have made the outing trust and friendship based from the start. I think that Bioware didn't make a "mistake" so much as at some point they legit thought that this was a good idea. I don't buy any other excuse in this case. They thought they were pandering good here.

Editing because I missed info. Jaal now likes dick too: http://www.pcgamer.com/mass-effect-andromeda-update-improves-scott-ryders-male-romance-options/

Speaking of the Ryder kids, the update will also make alien super-hunk Jaalavailable as a romance option for Scott. "Scott Ryder did not have a same-sex squadmate available as a romance option, nor could the achievement for completing three romances be achieved with only male same-sex partners. And as the angara have expressed their fluidity in how they perceive gender, it seemed only natural that Scott could have a relationship with Jaal," BioWare explained.

"However, we understand that a character’s orientation is an important part of what makes them feel real. The relationships with your crew are some of the most loved and cherished parts of our games, so we wanted to make sure we got it right. We consulted with members of the LGBTQ community, both externally and within our own studios. After carefully considering all feedback, we decided this was an important change to make, and one that made sense for Jaal, Scott, and the angara."

I wonder if Squidcat will ask Scott about his pronouns.

 

[Replicant Sasquatch]

I can only imagine the colossal fail that those procedurally generated planets would have amounted to.

The article doesn't go into what the hell is up with Sara's special needs derp face and why Scott looks like a male model by comparison. That can't be chalked up entirely to difficulties with the animation. It's not just the animation. It's the features overall. The Ryder siblings don't even look distantly related. Sara is fug on purpose. I can't believe otherwise.

However, they dropped the ball so bad on the LGBT angle that it's unsalvagable. Gay men get basically nothing in comparison to any other preference. Jaal ended up not being bi so no m/m alien lovin'. You've got one romance with a bi guy and another with a gay guy being pressured into giving his femae friend a baby because it's his duty. Then you have the trans NPC who just loves outing herself as Stephan.

http://www.pcgamer.com/bioware-apologizes-for-mass-effect-andromedas-hainly-abrams-character/



Well it's too damn late now because Hainly already casually outed herself and it's very well known. Anything positive that could have been gained from this is long gone. Bioware blew it. Hard. It's like the writers went on Tumblr and read some transtrender blogs for tips on how to handle the situation. Had they made Hainly a love interest then I think it would have caused problems with the non-Tumblr crowd and would have been too much of a risk in general. Although it would have made the reveal feel genuine if they could have written it well (which they wouldn't have anyway). But they should have made the outing trust and friendship based from the start. I think that Bioware didn't make a "mistake" so much as at some point they legit thought that this was a good idea. I don't buy any other excuse in this case. They thought they were pandering good here.

Editing because I missed info. Jaal now likes dick too: http://www.pcgamer.com/mass-effect-andromeda-update-improves-scott-ryders-male-romance-options/



I wonder if Squidcat will ask Scott about his pronouns.

I wonder how sci-fi titans like Dick or Asimov would feel if they came back today and saw the genre they helped create was now largely devoted to hand-wringing over how there wasn't enough turd-pushing mansex involving cat aliens.

 

[Ginger Piglet]

And another thing. They had a whole new galaxy to populate. So why is everyone a bipedal vertebrate?

Where are the eusocial ant people, the fish aliens, the sentient plant beings? What about creatures with unusual and exotic biochemistry, like silicon or sulphur based lifeforms, or carboxylic species that breathe methane and eat metal oxides and live in a world with seas of petrol and diamond mountains? Even an ammonia world would have been enough. No. We get flap headed catfish people who all look the same and generic orc equivalents. And single biome planets:

- Eos / Elaaden = desert wild west land (Elaaden even had fucking Monument Valley on it just to make it more obvious)
- Havarl = jungle death world
- Voeld = slippy slidey ice world
- Kadara = Yellowstone National Park

There's a real lack of imagination here.

 

[Girlfriend-free Boy]

I can only imagine the colossal fail that those procedurally generated planets would have amounted to.

The article doesn't go into what the hell is up with Sara's special needs derp face and why Scott looks like a male model by comparison. That can't be chalked up entirely to difficulties with the animation. It's not just the animation. It's the features overall. The Ryder siblings don't even look distantly related. Sara is fug on purpose. I can't believe otherwise.

The faces were animated by a sub-division and the core development team wasn't allowed to make any alterations.

 

[Absolutego]

I can only imagine the colossal fail that those procedurally generated planets would have amounted to.

The article doesn't go into what the hell is up with Sara's special needs derp face and why Scott looks like a male model by comparison. That can't be chalked up entirely to difficulties with the animation. It's not just the animation. It's the features overall. The Ryder siblings don't even look distantly related. Sara is fug on purpose. I can't believe otherwise.

It was definitely just incompetence and not deliberate sabotage. The headshot of Jayde Rossi, FemRyder's model, was extremely misleading, and she looks more like the character than people think. Check out this comparison:

Spoiler: Large

As funny as it would be to think they intentionally made their main female lead look autistic to cater to Tumblr posters, it's more likely just a slapdash facial scan gone wrong.

 

[Takayuki Yagami]

And another thing. They had a whole new galaxy to populate. So why is everyone a bipedal vertebrate?

Where are the eusocial ant people, the fish aliens, the sentient plant beings? What about creatures with unusual and exotic biochemistry, like silicon or sulphur based lifeforms, or carboxylic species that breathe methane and eat metal oxides and live in a world with seas of petrol and diamond mountains? Even an ammonia world would have been enough. No. We get flap headed catfish people who all look the same and generic orc equivalents. And single biome planets:

- Eos / Elaaden = desert wild west land (Elaaden even had fucking Monument Valley on it just to make it more obvious)
- Havarl = jungle death world
- Voeld = slippy slidey ice world
- Kadara = Yellowstone National Park

There's a real lack of imagination here.

To be fair, they had that in the original game with the Hanar, Volus, the Thorian, and Prothians (who seemed to be semi-insectoid).

 

[Mola Ram]

I wonder how sci-fi titans like Dick or Asimov would feel if they came back today and saw the genre they helped create was now largely devoted to hand-wringing over how there wasn't enough turd-pushing mansex involving cat aliens.

Hardcore liberal though he is, I remember reading about Harlan Ellison going through a lot of shit with proto-SJWs back in the 1970s, mostly feminist screeching over various ugly things that happen in "A Boy and His Dog." It definitely drove him batshit.

 

[Doozerfleet]

As funny as it would be to think they intentionally made their main female lead look autistic to cater to Tumblr posters, it's more likely just a slapdash facial scan gone wrong.

The fact that either option makes sense is a really sad commentary on modern Bioware.

Even the Tumblr crowd hates Andromeda. They don't like how it represents LGBT stuff, whether it be gay relationships or how transpeople are portrayed. There's no pleasing these people, so what's the point?

I hope more devs figure this out. There was a game called Read Only Memories that got torn apart by tumblr despite shameless pandering (the voice acted version featured Zoe Quinn among other things.) The professionally offended are never your target audience.

 

[Watcher]

Even the Tumblr crowd hates Andromeda. They don't like how it represents LGBT stuff, whether it be gay relationships or how transpeople are portrayed. There's no pleasing these people, so what's the point?

There's really no pleasing these people. What they objected to was how a trans character mentioned their previous name. It's like if you don't do something 100% correctly you get shit upon.

 

[OtterParty]

There's really no pleasing these people. What they objected to was how a trans character mentioned their previous name. It's like if you don't do something 100% correctly you get shit upon.

fwiw they objected to the presentation of "HELLO UNFAMILIAR AUTISTIC SMILING ENTITY I USED TO BE A BOY AND MY DEADNAME IS <BOYNAME>"

 

[Ginger Piglet]

fwiw they objected to the presentation of "HELLO UNFAMILIAR AUTISTIC SMILING ENTITY I USED TO BE A BOY AND MY DEADNAME IS <BOYNAME>"

To be fair this was so and they did have a point. "Have I mentioned I am trans today?" is simply lazy writing.

 

[FataBataRang]

fwiw they objected to the presentation of "HELLO UNFAMILIAR AUTISTIC SMILING ENTITY I USED TO BE A BOY AND MY DEADNAME IS <BOYNAME>"

That would be pretty funny though, if it was a parody of SJWism.