Let's Talk About Mass Effect Andromeda and how terrible EA is.

From the Debbie does Dallas dialog to the Galaxy Quest story line, Mass Effect Andromeda doesn't benefit from the fabricated fantasy space opera its predecessor's toted bringing only a handful of planets and species to a vast intergalactic expedition . Mass Effect Andromeda takes place 600 years after the selfless sacrifice of the games iconic interplanetary arbitrator Shepard saved the milky way, Now you take on the role of the pathfinder named Ryder with the openness to choose either male or female. After a brief stint through the lackadaisical character creator set up that doesn't even exceed that of saints row 2 you awake and are instantaneously thrown into your first mission. Things go awry rather fast as your father kicks the space bucket in a scene which shares the same emotional depth as a movie on the lifetime channel. From there you set out on your journey to wake other recipients up from their cryogenic slumber and colonize a new world, The premise sounds intriguing and promising in the game's opening acts but all the build up goes kerflooey as the story loses interest and instead focuses on the theriomorphic bad guys which for a game that built its previous titles on the moral ambiguity of extra-terrestrial lifeforms can feel a bit like a step in the wrong direction. The galactic map you view now feels like a masquerade as only a few planets are interactive with a large minority of them acting as a meta game which would feel more at home in the games companion app. Others would tackle the games abysmal animations and Writing for the projects shortcomings however the real story behind this product is far darker , After doing some research I came across an article post from a Ex-bioware employee that stated the game went through development hell and here are just a few other titbits that Bioware finds acceptable in this modern age . Throughout the development of this game bro culture ran rampant and a large amount of conflicts were brought to the surface on top of the Ego that many top ranking team members boasted the top tier executives put staff on PIP programs as a way of getting rid of them this problem was further exacerbated by the leaders of the company changing '' Crunch time '' to a new buzzword with far more worse repercussions. They called it Finaling mode in this period the company would throw staff a catch 22 opportunity in which they would pay for their food but only if they ate it under thirty minutes and got back to work, Retaliation and harassment became more problematic and serious as each day went on forcing major team members to quit because of the work ethics and conditions they were being subjugated to on a daily basis which extended the more common known ones we as a community saw online . The members that left had falsified reports made by HR after they complained about harassment from the management staff. And finally many key staff member's that worked on this project didn't get paid with the reason being the extension of the game was more important than their financial benefits. So in closing the once great storytellers and visionaries at Bioware have been reduced to the disrespectful degenerates and all because of a game. So we ask, Was it all worth it ? . My heart goes out to the people that left the project after putting all they could into it and I wish them the very best on their future endeavours and as for this project its not worth the quantum fluctuation the Andromeda galaxy teeters on. A lot like Mass Effect , Andromeda might turn into a great game but at a much later date and so far that date is slated for 2020.

Final Thoughts

Its a Sad thing to see, When a developer has so much potential squandered because of a few people that are a bad batch and even more infuriating when companies care more about profits than production. This obviously hasn't been the first time EA has treated it's developers terrible and their IP's Worse. Many have already desensitized themselves from the abysmal Devil's Cartel that sunk any success in the Army of Two franchise and Lets not forget how both, Maxis and Pandemic studios were treated after their games underperformed. When in the last week people have attacked those who don't deserve it on twitter because of the animation problems in their latest purchase . I feel the hate should be put to use, Criticising EA and their atrocious business practices. And that hate can be done without even typing on a keyboard just get your wallet and put it away. I thank each and everyone of you for reading this and I hope you have a great day.

Sources

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cDX8-zt9TIE ( Disclaimer: I don't know this youtuber but he does cover the same information

http://www.gamepur.com/news/26163-ex-bioware-emloyee-mass-effect-andromeda-went-through-development-hell.html

( link to glass door article from Bioware Developer)

@adamswords: thanks for starting a new thread, i personally didn't feel like the other dozen threads covering the subject were enough

@Macutchi: happy to help.

The blame is squarely on BW and it proves that are overrated to the point of exploding. BW always uses the exact same excuse " not enough time " when it comes to there games. EA have them 5 YEARS. So no it's not EA's fault they want to make money and they gave them 40 million and again 5 YEARS. BW made the game and honestly all the fanboys need to hold the game makers responsible not the publishers.

meh. I think the EA hate, like the GameStop hate, has run amok. We have no evidence for how much of a mess this would have been under a different publisher. Or, put another way, how well it would have turned out under Bioware's control but with a different publisher.

@xantufrog: I wouldn't mind seeing Bioware or other EA closed studios go independent and create a game . Just so the fans could see where the blame lies.

lol My thoughts exactly, you either like the game or you don't....THE END!

I want to live in a world where commas and paragraphs are affordable for all, not just the wealthy few.

I don't really want to talk about how bad EA is. I think everyone knows how I feel about them at this point... I do think BioWare is equally at fault here. It could be EA's control of what BW focuses on, or BW's inexperience due to turnover from being under the thumb of EA, but....

MEA is the most ultimately mediocre game. I'm only ~10 hours in, but here's what I think:

The shit:

• Character models, animations, motivations, just looks in general are very cringey.
• The UI is almost Dragon Age : Inquisition levels of bad - maybe worse - I've tried to block out all memories of DAI.
• No way to customize your team, and therefore no real strategic game play - MEA is just a third person shooter. They should have just went first person. Cover system sucks. I miss the pause/micro-managed game play.
• Choices don't seem to really matter
• Galaxy map is a bit of a joke - and still a pain to navigate.
• Keyboard and Mouse controls leave a lot to be desired - it's a shooter so I'm going to favor K&M (because **** aiming with a controller).
• No quick save.

Now for what I like:

• The story is cool. It reminds me a lot of Star Trek and I get the feeling a lot of inspiration for Ryder was Commander Riker from TNG. Not nearly as epic as the original trilogy, but hey at least it keeps me playing (when I'm not falling asleep at the controls).
• The worlds are pretty and the graphics are good.
• Jet Packs
• I actually like the removal of the paragon/renegade scale. It's more of a grey area like The Witcher. What sucks is the actual choices don't really feel like they have any weight.
• I like being able to scan things and get a bit of lore
• I like being able to change classes.

I'd probably give it a 6-7. I expected this though; especially after DAI. Honestly I feel bad for buying it. It's decent enough and I think trying to establish a home in the Andromeda galaxy will be enough to keep me going. It's not a terrible game. I'm just kind of mad at myself for supporting these shit companies - for sending the wrong message with my monies.

@pyro1245: totally agree with you.

The blame for ME:A falls onto Bioware.

I find the jet packs as a problem with the game play.

I am mix with the leveling system.

I say 6 is a reasonable score. At least it way better than DA:I. I am lucky I just rented it.

I'm not very far into the game. I thought I was really hyped for the game. I pre-ordered a day before release to get the theme on my PS4. My biggest gripe so far is that the side quests seem confusing and I don't know where to go sometimes. The combat and cover system is okay but Uncharted, Watch Dogs, and even Sniper Elite feel better with their cover systems. I haven't played ME in a while, so maybe it's just taking time to get used to. Navigating star systems and planets is annoying because you have to watch the unskippable traveling animation. Honestly I haven't played the game in a while. I've been putting hours into Killing Floor 2 instead. XD

I was pretty excited for the game, but the side quest set up, awkward cover system, and annoying navigation are gonna make this a long and dragged out journey.

I agree with people who think the facial animations suck. It's sad because TW3 has much better animations and CD Projekt Red is a smaller and lesser known developer than Bioware and EA.

@Black_Knight_00: Whom are you quoting? I like it, but sure I've seen it before.

Can I just point out that we don't actually know if EA rushed Andromeda out the door. As far as I know, that's just speculation. It's perfectly plausible that an inexperienced team made a game that was way out their league.

Yes we can confirm EA rushed the game out, even after delays. This game is the buggiest and poorly optimized AAA game I've played in a long time (PC version). They know the game is buggy (companies as big as EA know the state of their game before the launch, the have testers and quality teams, they just decided it wasn't worth the time and money to fix) that's why I believe they spent the last 5 months either not working on the game at all or only fixing critical bugs. Although I would say many of the bugs I encounters were bad enough to crash the game or force a restart, so pretty bad.

Bugs like not being able to talk to certain NPCs to turn in a quest unless you restart the game, getting stuck or falling through the graphics, UI not updating quest completion correctly, ect. ect.

You also don't have boring game play left into the game (like flying between planets) if this game was given time to be refined. There's no way they thought that was acceptable, they just didn't have time to fill that game play placeholder.

Thanks for sharing that link OP, the Glassdoor review is insightful.

None of what you said is proof of wrongdoing by EA. Merely conjecture.

Thank you! I agree completely. Everyone is throwing out the excuse that it was rushed, but we don't know that was the case at all. BW hasn't even come out and attempted to defend their position by saying it was a rushed title. Most of the bugs and issues found in the game are just unacceptable, even for BW standards. There is no excuse these days to release a game that plays as poorly as Andromeda in this day and age, period.

They just wanted to cash in on the Mass Effect name and produce a game quickly, and spent minimal effort on it because they knew it would produce profit regardless. Just my opinion, and I love the Mass Effect series to death.

after 60 hours of play, I had just one quest glitch out - was a small one on Voeld that had me scanning 3 devices, so it was kind of irrelevant anyway. Most of the issues I saw were of the benign variety - enemies floating in the air after a drop ship leaves and getting "stuck in the mud," which was fixed by jumping.

I wouldn't be surprised if the PC version has many more glitches. That seems to be the trend these days, whether it's the extra layer of QA that consoles have or companies just not giving a shit about the PC version, I don't know. But with Bioware games, I go with consoles anyway, as they tend to be poorly optimized and I'd rather the console bear the brunt of that.

I really enjoyed the game, but then I'm pretty even-keeled about my expectations of BW at this point and I'm not too fussy in general. We should also keep it in perspective...games like Skyrim have game crashing, progress blocking bugs to this day (for example, there's that one quest just outside of Dawnstar, I think, where you have to go into that dream sleep. Had to use the command console to get through it).