Are you worried about Mass Effect Andromeda?

When is the last time we've had a AAA game from a franchise as big as Mass Effect, 2 months from release where we really know nothing about what the game is outside of surface information like a 4k walking demo and some no context combat scenes?

Is this a product of no Man's Sky and sony shitting their collective pants in the undelivered promises from a developer and overhyped crappie video games?

As this article suggests....

http://www.forbes.com/sites/insertcoin/2017/01/06/mass-effect-andromeda-is-almost-dodging-hype-as-the-anti-no-mans-sky/?utm_source=yahoo&utm_medium=partner&utm_campaign=yahootix&partner=yahootix&yptr=yahoo#2c81819f7c98

Or is MEA just not going to deliver the same quality and focused direction of the last trilogy and Bioware doesn't really want to shine light on that?

Not trying to be a Debbie downer about my most hyped game of 2017, but sometimes you gotta call a spade a spade. This game was announced 3 years ago... We've seen more shots of developers inside of cubicles and concept art than a focused video game... Why?

I do admit I praised the announcement of fallout 4 and its hype leading up to release... Very short amount of time to announce and release and it was met with a full marketing campaign.

Are we just in the hot zone before launch where things become clear or is mea heading for mediocrity?

I think it will be good. I mean, do we know how long it's been in development? The animations are messed up though, but Bioware.

No. I know it's going to be boring.

@freedomfreak: I'm assuming it's been in development for a few years? The team making the game is the Montreal house which made the awesome multiplayer mode in me... (you can tell just looking at the combat scenes they've shown.) but, this is their first single player experience? (I actually don't know).

Just seems weird that we've had this crazy long burn of seemingly protecting what Andromeda is... I understood the years ago, two years ago and he'll, even a year ago... But a few months leading up to launch? Wtf?

I hope It's all ado about nothing, and they're being a little coy as to not give up how awesome the game will truly be.

@Chutebox: I miss Garrus too man.

I am also very worried about ME:A.

Right from the beginning, we were shown super generic sci fi concept art.

Then we were shown a voiceover trailer with no content, many delays, and then, when they finally show gameplay it looks exactly how Mass Effect 3 played - that is to say clunky and shite. How have they seriously not improved upon the gameplay like 4 years later?!

Not even going to mention those awful animations!

I'm not worried, I'm sure I will enjoy it and I have confidence in BioWare. But I know some things will probably disappoint me, I'm slightly concerned about them playing it a little too safe story-wise to get more sales. I enjoyed the writing, different characters, and all the dialogue a lot in the original trilogy. This game is releasing at a different time now and then they have that ME3 ending fiasco that they won't want to repeat, so I hope all those political decisions don't stick out too much from the game.....I hope they don't dumb down the game too much basically, it has to feel like the old Mass Effect

The lack of info I think they are just protecting their property from spoilers, etc. This doesn't smell like NMS whatsoever, but it's a high profile action rpg and they will make some business decision that probably will not appeal to me, but overall I think I should enjoy it.

I don't think I'm explaining myself very well, so an example to illustrate my worries would be very similar to what I experienced with the recent Star Trek Reboots by JJ Abrahams. I was concerned they would change the Star Trek formula too much to sell more to the new generation of people. That's basically my main concern with the next Mass Effect.

I have doubts too, the gameplay I've seen hasn't been anything to be excited about but I'm hoping that they have more to present in coming months to get me excited. I loved each of the Mass Effect games we've got so far, so I hope that they keep it up. I'll probably want to play it anyways despite my doubts, it's just something I'll have to see for myself.

We've had AAA sequels from quite a few very large franchises this last year so I'm not sure what you're going on about there.

As for Mass Effect Andromeda, I'm not worried at all. It's not a No Man's Sky. There has been plenty of information released on the game in the last couple years with what to expect. I actually prefer having some mystery to my story driven games instead of showing half the game before release like they normally do.

One should know what to expect from this game if they played the trilogy which most of us have. I'm not worried in the slightest.

@_Matt_: the animations have never bothered me. Yeah, they're a little wonky and stiff, but all the other stuff you mentioned I'm on board with. Its one of the most bizarre pre launch campaigns I've ever seen.

The mako better not suck, that's all I'm saying... Driving to those mythical places none of us know about, on random planets? Better be fun, when we encounter those bad guys? I'm confused.

I am skeptical but I am not worried.

Mass Effect has had a history of being subpar in both its roleplaying and shooting aspects, I dont expect this to be any different.

@Telekill: actually not sure what youre talking about with AAA games... My comment was that I've not seen a AAA game with this shady surface information this close to launch. I'm pretty aware that sequels are released all year long... We are in a AAA creativity drought afterall.

Speaking of story.... It doesn't worry you even a little that we went into the original trilogy with Drew Karphysian writing a really cool Sci fi video game story and Andromedas story has been a "what do you guys want?"

My fear being were about to get a discombobulated narrative pieced together around an open world mass effect that may not be as compelling as we hope.

Its still my only day 1 game in 2017, but I wish I knew more.

The movement still looks clunky and stiff and the several high placed employees that departed were also worrisome.

For a game that was announced ages ago they've shown very little and the marketing isn't there either.

Don't want to judge until it's out however.

@TheEroica: I don't feel we're in a AAA drought at all. There are quite a few great looking new IPs coming up. Sequels don't equate to a lack of creativity all the time. In the case of the usual suspects such as the annual releases, sure, but many of the sequels we're getting have been greatly anticipated and did add creative elements. Even tired IPs like God of War are remaking themselves in a creative fashion to really look interesting again.

@TheEroica:

Well personally , i love futuristic apocalyptic cyborg stuff and alike therefore im a bit of a fan of the series so from that perspective i know exactly what Andromeda will be like. Ill buy it for sure and play it and have fun most likely BUT i cant bypass the fact that the demos look seriously underwhelming.

Its like series are stuck to this very linear shooting , same skills , same settings with better textures. I mean , it doesnt really look like a next-gen game if you get what i mean . Its like they used the very same engine like ME3 with next-gen "tweaks" than go next-gen all the way , i dont know what to think here. Latest demo was ... underwhelming big time.

With that being said it doesnt mean game will be bad but i was waiting far more for a game of 2017 in both wow factor like graphics and other things like faster pace , way more intensive shooting and awesome looking skills , different and not so linear maps considering is an RPG etc .

I hope im wrong since ive seen a very small portion of the game.

@Telekill: I think the new outlook on tired franchises like God or war is a step in the right direction... But what is it leading to? Are we talking about God of war going from a hack n slash to a cinematic snooze fest?

I think some of the sequels released in 2016 were absolutely steps in the right direction. Titanfall 2 added an entire sp campaign (that was actually good!) battlefield 1 did the same. Doom seemingly reinvented itself... Still hammering us with third and first person AAA games all year feels wholly uninspiring in the sense of breeding creativity.... Such tired perspectives.

I'm perfectly happy to not know anything about the single player campaign story, the less the better in fact. That way everything will be knew and fresh when I play it.

It'll have a well written story, pretty graphics, play well and have responsive controls, easy in parts and more difficult in others sometimes without consistency, it'll pander to every conceivable consenting adult sexual orientation and the character animations will be janky and weird. Don't need to know much more than that really.

@TheEroica: There really aren't many perspectives beyond 1st and 3rd that can be portrayed in a game.

Personally, that's one of the reasons I enjoy the story driven games. Naughty Dog, Bioware, Crystal Dynamics, etc all do decent story telling (though CD could improve from Rise). I've seen gaming as the newest form of story telling since the PS1 days. In fact, every game I'm looking forward too has a significant emphasis on story. I don't find those games boring at all.

I suppose it simply boils down to a difference of taste.

I thought they'd moved to Frostbite 3 for this game (same engine as Battlefield 1). That's a completely different engine from the Mass Effect trilogy.

Really ? Damn , then i dont know what the hell happened. I dont mean game is the same as previous gen ME games by any means but from those small demos around ... graphics are not looking epicly good or something , are just okish considering the 2017 release. Maybe its me , i dont know wth.

@Telekill: maybe, and I can respectfully agree with that. Though I would argue there are many more ways to demonstrate perspective effectively in a video game...

When I look at Nier, coming out soon, I think Holy shit... This game gets it.

https://youtu.be/u8zLWAiCmJ0

Free flowing between perspectives... Are we not there yet? Is there not a place in games to adjust our perspective on the fly..?

See, my grumpiness over the saturation of fps/tps perspective amplifies when we prioritize the setting and story and characters over the video game. I look at Nier and think this game is sweeping me through gameplay challenges and perspective change as opposed to putting a camera over my shoulder and tying winches to trees or doing the same old same old for another 20 hours.

Dunno man, I like a good gaming story too, just don't find many themes days.

I haven't watched anywhere near enough to comment on the graphics. The "4K" PlayStation demo is about it and that looked ok to me.

Tbh, i see myself being in denial about MEA, as you said what we've been shown so far wasn't anything spectacular but i'm clinging onto the fact that "it's just a trailer, nothing more, gotta wait for the final game" ... if we're to take the showings so far srsly, then yeah i'm apprehensive .... but i'm trying to hold my judgement after the reviews come out and after i played it myself, it's my most anticipated game of the gen, if it lets me down ...well, that'd be heart-breaking.

i don't recall Bioware's track on marketing regarding the trilogy, but there was this awesome trailer showcasing ME2's story and how we're gonna gather a group of best warriors and that was fantastic, i hope as we get close to the launch, we get to see sth similar, sth that hypes us for the story.

I don't know. I keep myself mostly in the dark about games prior to release. I usually watch only one trailer if I am interested in the game, and as I enjoyed the Mass Effect trilogy, I am going to pick up the new game anyway.

If I had one concern, it would come from playing Bioware's Dragon Age Inquisition. I didn't like that game but I am hoping Mass Effect won't take elements of DAI's design.

Yes and no. Yes because of the success of DA:I. The last thing i want is ME4 to be like DA:I... No because i'm hungry for a new ME game. I'll be playing it even if it gets a 4/10 so meh.

From what I understand the same guy who wrote the ending in 3 is the lead story dev this time as well. That worries me.

@TheEroica: I'm not really worried at all since Bioware really got the message from ME3 fiasco and they have been really taking there time with Andromeda, I think there doing good by not hyping this game very much, and most of all, Casey Hudson is no longer part of Bioware so that gives me comforts knowing it won't suck. I'm down for Andromeda day one.

i haven't played that game, what elements are you talking about? (you weigh in on this too @silversix)

Not really. Mass Effect was awesome because of the universe, lore, characters and story. The game play was always kinda mediocre, so at least BioWare can't screw that up too bad like they did with the Dragon Age series.

Definitely not going to be a day one purchase though; not after the steaming pile that was DA:I. I just hope they don't do something lame and small-scale with the story.

@mjorh:

Firstly would be the side-quest design. The game spreads itself quite thin. I liked that the ME series had a humbly small number of side-quests that were very well defined - particularly in the context department. There's quite a lot of quests in DAI that felt like busy work. :/ I'd rather do away with them and focus on a smaller number of engaging quests.

Mostly it's the combat system. I know they are vastly different properties so they probably won't have anything in common but DAI's combat system is so confused. It's not quite a strategy game and not quite a real-time combat system. It's just somewhere awkwardly in between. I didn't find it that fun and there's a level of dissonance when switching between characters, particularly out of the main character who you're meant to be controlling. I can't quite explain it but the game is sort of... I don't know... confused?

I think my main concern is it will have that open-world trope of stuffing the world with busy work rather having a concentrated and engaging set of quests to discover. DAI is definitely the former for me.

My biggest worry comes from the rumor that it's designed like Dragon Age Inquisition.

If that's true I might not even buy the game. I couldn't even finish Inquisition.

uh man that sucks! i hate it, i hate it when side quests are just some filler and i don't even play them

That's worrisome as well, hope they've learned their lessons from DA and won't repeat them in this one.

@David719:

Neither could I. I wasn't much a fan of it.

Although there were definitely things about the game I enjoyed but I just felt a wee bit underwhelmed by it all. :/

@mjorh Saying that, I know the game has tons of fans so that's just my take on it. There are similarities to be drawn between them, especially in the social aspect of the game and how you interact with NPCs. I actually think DAI was an improvement over ME in this regard as the moral system isn't quite as transparent. It means the opinion of your character is definitely more reflective of the context rather than a binary moral system.

I'm sure this will be a decent game that starts up a whole new massive story. I'm worried that people, including myself, will be expecting more from the story than it delivers because of how Mass Effect 3 ended.

@jumpaction:

Yeah. Characters always seem to be pretty solid in Bioware games, but they weren't enough to justify me slogging through Inquisition.

Admittedly, I'm not exactly a huge fan of the series in general, but I at least managed to finish the first two.

That is a pretty good way to look at it. Be critical and skeptical, but hold judgement until release.

As for the story. Dont expect it to be on the same level as previous Mass Effects. This is not even made by the same studio as the others. Montreal studio as opposed to Edmonton.

I played Dragon Age: Inquisition through EA's Origin (I'm a EA Origin member) and I think I know what both Silversix and JumpAction are talking about. The quests/quest structure in Dragon Age Inquisition was easily the biggest flaw of what was otherwise a great game to some but for me, I hated Inquisition game, I never bother to finishing that game, Andromeda is using Frostbite engine but to some, they don't like it but I'm okay with Frostbite Engine however. Yes we both know Mass Effect & Dragon Age are two different games despite there both RPG, it's the fact that Inquisition was Bioware's successful game, some don't like the idea Bioware will use similarities for Andromeda. Does this answer your question mjorh?

The only thing I'm worried about is all the contrived ways Bioware comes up with to be "inclusive" to all the various made-up gender identities out there.

I just want a good game with a strong story and good characters. I don't need a Tumblr romance simulator.

I fear nothing. I am one with the Mass Effect. The Mass Effect is with me. ?

They lost me with how uninteresting Mass Effect 3 was, so I don't have much expectations about this one based off what we've seen. Maybe it'll be better, but I'm not holding my breath.

@AdobeArtist: lol... God, I hope you're right. Bioware has been so weird about this game...

the game looks boring and i didn't play the others...so not worried

No, I actually just pre-ordered it. I'm thrilled for it. Bioware will deliver.

Nah, it looks good. I just hope its not MMO'ish like Dragon Age Inquisition was... and please BioWare should give a rest to the SJW cr4p that plagued DA:I writting, characters and romance options

Little bit. I'll be playing Zelda: BoTW while it's getting patched, so I'll be good.

I am worried, mostly because I was down on ME3 for lacking a ton of polish at launch, as well as comparisons to DA:I, which I mostly enjoyed but was still disappointed by. And on top of that most of the footage they've shown so far is underwhelming. The art all looks excellent, but combat still looks clunky and the NPC interaction with the gang boss or whatever was pretty embarrassing.

Would be great if the game had side quests on par with DeuxEx:MD. But sadly, i expect the "go kill shit or go collect shit and come back for exp" as boring *reward*, just like DA:I.

we both know that's not happening. it'll be present in ME:A and all other Bioware titles.

ME has never grabbed me as a game, though I'm quite ken on its style and universe.

@Basinboy: for me it's the art style and music working together that gets me going. I love being in the mass effect world... And I love the exploring in the first game, as unfinished as it felt, I really enjoyed landing in a planet and roaming around. No other me game got that right. Hoping Andromeda is a worthy open world... Er galaxy.