Mass Effect: Andromeda

Can anyone really trust them with Mass Effect after the horrific ending to Mass Effect 3? I still cannot understand how you have two and thee quarters games of immense power, fun and decision making...only to take about 30 minutes to create the trilogy's ending that negates all replay value and ruins hundreds of hours of gameplay with what equates to Magnum P.I.'s dream sequence.

Oh yeah I definitely trust Bioware. As far as I'm concerned they make excellent games. While the ending to Mass Effect 3 wasn't quite what I was hoping for I didn't think it was that bad plus I believe that they learned something from that and will strive to do better.

it was still 3 very enjoyable games. yeah they screwed up the end of ME3. they kinda wrote themselves into a corner and couldnt get out of it so.....cop out ending. it was Lost all over again :(. but i still enjoyed the 3 games.

my only concern with Andromeda is what are they going to hold back with DLC....and how much will it cost?

new galaxy. bringing back the mako (i like the mako in ME1). fresh start. fingers crossed its a goodun.

Knowing a dev who used to work for Bioware , i know that the reason of why the ending sucked.

And even tho it was terrible, Mass effect up until the last bit was one of the better story games made, so of course i would "trust" them to create a similar game with Andromeda

I trust them from a creative stand out, ending be damned. Plus it wasn't that bad, I was more worried about the boring earth levels and the really empty, PS2-era like scenery. It just looked terrible.

What I'm worried about is how much of the game is going to be released and how much will be held back for DLC and if that DLC will be problematic to the actual story of the game feeling complete. As big a fan of ME as I am, I would not buy this game if they messed around with DLC like EA and Capcom.

I'm pretty confident it'll be great (I didn't think ME3's ending was that bad, but anyway). My only concern is that they put too much focus on these open environments and exploration... I still want that meaty ME story and character development.

I trust it. 1hr of dissapointment will not deter me from 100hrs+ of joy :)

Personally I loved the ending/s of ME3. Not sure why people are so upset about it, you'd think Bioware dug up their dead dog and had their way with it going by the reactions of people.

So yeah, I trust Bioware to do a kickass job. Or not, actually, but I can live with that.

They take gambles, and I respect that. Dragon Age 1 was great, they changed it up with DA 2 and that was mediocre at best...but Inquisition? Best by far. Same with Mass Effect, each installment plays significantly different despite having the same general elements, and that again is something I admire because it means they do not rest on their laurels.

I mean, who does that? "Hey guys we made this awesome game. For the sequel, let's not do the same thing!" said almost no developer/publisher ever. No, what we get most of the time is the same regurgitated crap over and over again.

Doing this has it's risks, but it keeps things fresh and prevents fatigue. I will always be a loyal Bioware fan, they have a proven track record and they are not complacent.

While the endings were bad, the games right up until then were actually pretty good. I have no doubt Andromeda will be decent, at least.

Then again, I've always had low expectations for the Mass Effect games. Give me fun combat and a decent story and I'm happy.

i loved me 1. it had one of the best stories in modern gaming, one of the best antagonists and one hell of an epic finale. not even the rough around the edges combat and the initial struggle with the mako can change my opinion that it's one of the most absorbing and atmospheric rpgs i've ever played.

the second was a different story. the gameplay was slicker but lacked the depth of the first game. the more i progressed the more the story just felt like one giant recruitment drive, as i stumbled from one contrived set piece shoot out to another with none of the edge of the seat excitement / gripping story of the first game. i tried several times to get through it but every time my interest would taper off around two thirds of the way through and i never did finish it. it disappoints me to read so many people say it's one of their favourite ever rpgs when i just didn't "get it." i bought the third but didn't even play it. it's still sat in my cupboard with the plastic wrapping on it.

but regardless of all that, i'm not going to let that affect my optimism for andromeda. the premise sounds like it has tons of promise and potentially a story that could rival the first game. the graphics are jaw dropping. the wooden generic shepard is thankfully gone and the mako that we all hated at first but grew to love is back. but not used in combat :(

if there's some genuine deep and meaningful in game choices / rpg elements beyond levelling your weapons up then it could be amazing. the only really disappointing thing about it right now is it's still about a year away from release

Considering they're starting it fresh and with minor ties to the previous 3, I ain't too concerned.

The ending of 3 ruined the entire series for me. All the build up, that I played through at least 10 times (the first and second games) was just irrelevant at the end. Had the "Indoctrination Theory" been true, that would have been the most amazing twist in gaming history and made Mass Effect 3 a legendary game.

But it wasn't.

I hold no hope for Andromeda, but will play it if it turns out to be a good game. Just not first day like 2 and 3.

Just finished repaying all 3 games yesterday. Was pissed about the endings of 3 so did not even try the extended cut (actually looks like it is shorter, with less BS in it) at the time of release. Have to say that the extended cut changes to dialogue with the dumbass starchild + leviathan plot made a lot more sense. Yeah, it still is exactly the opposite of what was promised and ignored all of the previous choices, but was a lot better than the original clusterf*k.

Should have removed the 'stargazer' scene after credits, thought as imo turning Shep into some kind of religious figure was plain retarded.

The ending of ME3 is not good but it is the horrible DA:I that made me not care about it.

I agree they took out some much of the role playing from ME2. ME2 had only two choices that matter. They could have improved ME1 leveling system but they just remove anything depth from it.

People are still bitching about ME3, 4 years after they gave it the extended cut? I beat it a couple weeks after launch, and thought it was fantastic. I dunno what most people expected, a 40 minute ending cinematic describing Joker's weak limbed kids?

@wiouds: yeah i sometimes get the impression that there's only me and you that didn't take to mass effect 2. also agree with da:i. really struggled to get anywhere with that game and it wasn't for lack of trying

I loved the Mass Effect series. Thus, I was excited about the release of the game; however,the game really is a mixed bag. I am surprised that many reviewers left out some important info and focused solely on the poor animation, ,modeling and dialog.

Here is the good: Lots of fighting without it being too boring. There is a decent story line and lots and lots of quests. I also like the idea of being able to use any skills and not be locked into set classes.

The bad :

First, there is an increasing tend for publishers to put in hard puzzles. thus, if you can't solve the puzzle, you are shafted. I know that you all love to do hard SEDUKU puzzles, right? Wrong. These are boring, and should be completely eliminated from the game. Even worse, they make the game very challenging just to find the puzzles in order to attempt them. It's a really crazy system that should be junked.

Secondly,The interface, especially the quest interface for quests is abysmal. Whoever designed the quest interface should have been fired. You will find quests under the quest section,which is expected and quests in various parts of the Codex among other areas. They really, really need to sort out the quests in a much easier manner, and have the current quest always showing what needs to be done. Why they didn't just put all quests in one area and sort them between main story quests, loyalty quests and additional quests,which could be further subdivided by area is baffling. Hopefully, some nice modder will fix this.

Third: tracking. Mass effect 1 was great because it was simple to understand and use. Sadly, this isn't true of ME Andromeda. For example, in older mass effect game sand with other RPGs, you might see a tracking line to where you need to do. ME Andromeda got rid of this and put icon at the top to follow. Sadly, some of the icons are hard to distinguish from other quest icons and they don't show a path to the quest area. You have to find how to get there and go through a lot of frustration.

Fourth: Yes, ME Andromeda got rid of the classes. You can now pick any skill. Sadly they limited the utilizable skills to only three at a time, which is much too little. Certainly, they should have had at least 5. Even Everquest, which had very limited skills available , had 8.

Fifth: The inventory limit is MUCH too limited. I don't know what they were thinking,but allowing only 50 slots was crazy. They should have allowed much more even if we had to purchase it at a vendor.

Sixth: Maps in the original Mass Effect trilogy were easy to follow. This isn't the case with ME andromeda. There are lots of obstacles blocking entry and egress , and it isn't clear how to get to a particular destination.

Seventh: Driving the Nomad is very tough at least until you get a number of upgrades. Frankly, players made a mod in the original ME trilogy that allowed steering based on mouse direction. Why Zenimax didn't incorporate this is frankly bizarre.

Eighth: Nothing is easy with this game or intuitive. For example, on EOS , we had to shut off a force field blocking entrance to a research area. After going around the area deactivating the shield generators, nothing happened. Doesn't "deactivated mean off? -- not in ME Andromeda. Players need to not only shut off the generators but destroy two of them. Frankly, this seems more like a bug than a strange puzzle.

Ninth: Crafting: In the trilogy, you can easily add mods. Now , no mods area can be added to weapons or armor unless crafted. Why? Frankly, I would have liked mods to be added to everything. Crafting is also much more complicated than it need be.

I think drafting should be a lot more simplified than it is.

Tenth: Sadly, unlike the trilogy, I found myself not caring about the characters. There certainly wasn't enough character development in the story.

What's even more shocking is that few people are talking about all this. Much of the reviews are focusing on the animation and modeling problems,which definitely need improvement. However, to me , the game play is much more important.

Bottom line: Yes, this does play fairly well and does have some of the compelling aspects of the original trilogy. If only Bethesda Softworks had sought more player input. It is only a C+ game, which isn't horrible---- just not fantastic like the trilogy. Collapse