Video Games Mass Effect Andromeda: why so negative?

[MechanicalHeart]

I'm wondering why many reviews seem up in arms about Mass Effect: Andromeda. I've played the game for a few hours and I've noticed some positive changes, which make gameplay more fluent and conversations less about which points you'll gain towards paragon or renegade. In short, you get to play the character the way you'd like to respond without the constant penalty if you want to punch the d*ckhead in the face, so to speak.

The animations don't seem to be significantly worse than mass effect 3, not do the characters look worse, in my opinion. So that leaves me with a question:

Why are people so negative? As far as the ME experience goes, it seems intact and even improved upon since ME3, gameplay-wise. Did people just expect more? Do they compare ME:A to other games, which devoted a lot of time to very detailed facial animations? Or is it just the youtube drama-train rolling at full steam?

 

[thoughtless]

Some of the genuine complaints are about the animations in scenes shown in the trailers before the game was released. The most notable were scenes were Ryder had punched someone but the fist very clearly didn't connect with the person's face, a scene were Ryder disarmed someone and it seemed as if the person just handed Ryder the gun, and another scene were the gun was shot but the model of the gun was clearly backwards. In the actual game itself the facial animations aren't that great for certain characters (Notably Cora. Suvi's eyes just look dead and creepy.). I think those are all valid complaints, but of course you do have people that just jumped on the train to bash the animations.

So yes, there are people bashing the game simply to bash the game. But there are also those that have reasonable grievances about the game's animations.

Personally I'm waiting until a few patches are released to fix the animations before I buy the game.

 

[krxwley]

I love it too, but I can see where people are coming from. The animation is no totally improved (keep in mind the others were out about ten years ago and how other games have taken advantage of industry improvements for their games) and the dialogue, while I love the options and how much there is, can be pretty cringy and/or forced.

I would like patches to fix stuff, but YouTube drama is always full-force, yes. People have differing opinions, too. One person likes the dialogue, for example, another one hates it

 

[ewolf20]

honestly, the narrative is a bit cliched in my opinion.

 

[MonokumaFever]

Yeah, I'm pretty sure the biggest problem is the fact that they haven't improved at all, which is real bad from an artistic or creator point of view. Plus the animations are so bad (Expecially to an animation student like myself) that sometimes its overwelming. However I have heard its fun and such. There's other things I've heard but I feel like mixed reviews are going to be the best the new mass effect gets because they aren't taking advantage of the technology should have.

Also, as someone who wants to help make games, its good to critique these things because it shows developers that it's bad when they do this. Plus I think the biggwst problem of ME: A is that they obviously rushed it. Games today have a huge problem with releasing games before they're ready, which needs to stop.

 

[Alexander Time]

The problem is there's been so much time between this game and ME3 that we expect better animation. Take this for example, basic animation mistakes that you would think an AAA studio could avoid, and yet. Now, I'm not one to nit-pick on animation, especially when it comes to a Mass Effect game, as I play them more for the story than the graphics, but even the story seems to be mediocre (for the record, I've sunk roughly 20 hours into this game, going through the main story, I've mostly avoided the sidequests and such).

To avoid spoilers for anyone:

Spoiler

What most people already know is that the story follows Ryder in a quest to find a homeworld for humanity, but what isn't so obvious is the typical fascist/race supremacist antagonist, the mysterious, presumably long extinct, alien species left behind technology and ruins. It feels very familiar. Now, personally I could tolerate those things, if they had been less linear with the story.

Allowed the Pathfinder to establish what kind of government they ultimately wanted on the Nexus and in the Heleus cluster, have your choices have more of an effect (One example is when you first establish an outpost you may choose between a scientific or military outpost. This has very little ultimate effect, save for a few people through the story commenting on your choice). Decide if you want to coexist with the Angara, or conquer them.

Needless to say, this game had a lot of potential but somehow managed to blow it all. The only improvement it seems to make on the previous Mass Effect games is the combat system, which is much more streamlined and smoother (though still quite clunky in my opinion). The profiles system is not one of my favorite mechanics they've implemented, but I'll admit this part is entirely subjective as it does not have a serious effect on the game overall.

 

[Windsock]

Looks like they're asking us to kick the ball again, charlie brown.

Except this time, lucy filled the ball with nitroglycerin and dogshit.

 

[Stormyface]

The SJW rabbit hole, the fact that the whole Bioware creative team jumped ship, EA in general, OVER FIVE FUCKING YEARS in development and riddled with bugs in spite of the fact, the uncreative design for the new aliens (seriously, at least give them four arms or some shit), I could go on. Like one of the creative directors said a while back: 'Bioware is not Bioware. It is somebody wearing Bioware's skin.'

 

[IG42]

This just in, ProBro just can't.
https://clips.twitch.tv/CarefulStrangeSpiderTBTacoLeft

 

[mon dieu.]

did i seriously hear somebody blame shitty animation and writing on "sjw propaganda"??? c'mon guys let's call it as it is...

bottom line is, it's a triple a title. we expect triple a graphics. we expect triple a storyline and gameplay. we don't expect to pay $70 for a steaming piece of mediocre shit. and we especially don't like buying the $60 dlc that will inevitably follow in an attempt to fix a game that doesn't even look like it's finished.

it feels like a huge downgrade. even da:i had a better cc and facial animations, and that was a game that came out on last-gen consoles. even the way the dialogue is voiced sounds awkward af.

the only positive thing to come out of this game might just be the combat mechanics, but i haven't played yet so i wouldn't know.

the worst part is pretty much all the original crew that worked on the original mass effect trilogy jumped ship either before or mid-production on this game. so we're dealing with almost an entirely different game here. which is good from a "fresh new world" viewpoint which is what they're going for, but it's just... bad is what it seems.

anyway, that's my two cents but i'll wait until i can actually get my hands on the game before i make my final judgement but right now it's looking pretty grim

 

[mon dieu.]

so pretty much what Alexander Time says

 

[MrNeko]

Have you seen the animation? The faces sometimes seem emotionless to scene playing. Another thing is the amount of glitches the game has the bugs, much more.

 

[MrNeko]

Also their is this

 

[Bacon is fluffy]

 

[Stormyface]

YOU BEAT ME TO IT

 

[Birdsie]

Ah, yes.

Mass Effect: Andromeda.

It is merely another addition to the list of "Good franchises fucked up by one installment."
Andromeda takes its rightful place just next to DmC: Devil May Cry

 

[Windsock]

Ah, yes.

Mass Effect: Andromeda.

It is merely another addition to the list of "Good franchises fucked up by one installment."
Andromeda takes its rightful place just next to DmC: Devil May Cry

lemme FTFY, didn't take the correct route.

Ah yes, 'bioware'. The infallible game company who could never make a shit game. We've dismissed that claim.

 

[The Arrow]

 

[Bacon is fluffy]

View attachment 292288
YOU BEAT ME TO IT

Haha :3

 

[Bjarke Ignar]

The graphics are bad compared to next gen games now but the game its self its actually fun with plenty to do and it actually posing a challenge in story mode and multiplayer

 

[Stormyface]

This game is really keeping /v/ busy

 

[Kittenkitten]

I truly fucking believe once things started to hit the fan, they should have extended the length until its release date to FIX SHIT.
I'm not going to pretend ME:1 wasn't full of bugs but, come on.

As for the storyline and gameplay? I'll have to play it when it's not way more than I'm willing to pay unless Bioware tidies the game up.
I hear a lot of the former folks that worked on the trilogy left before or during the making of Andromeda. It's also on a new engine for ME, I believe? It doesn't look like a Mass Effect game stylistically. I mean, I'll give it a chance but not a 50-60 dollar worth of chance.

 

[Kittenkitten]

lemme FTFY, didn't take the correct route.

Ah yes, 'bioware'. The infallible game company who could never make a shit game. We've dismissed that claim.

whispers
Dragon Age 2
it's like we've forgotten.

I like Bioware, I do, but I do not see how people think they are infallible. And then EA is, well, EA so.

 

[Stormyface]

Apparently the sex scenes are better animated then anything else. They should've gotten all the SFM guys to do the animations...
D-don't take that out of context.

 

[MechanicalHeart]

So most of the issues are about facial animations based on the same animation framework that made ME1-3 bork up with glitches etc. And something about the characters not being pretty enough. Alright then.

Well, I'm having fun with it so far. ^___^ I guess it boils down to what you want out of a game.