Mass Effect: Andromeda - 'outsourced' facial animations

What facial animations? There ARE none, lol.

luj1 said:

PS animations and hair are the LEAST of this game's problems. Unless you're a hipster like Joxer *cough*

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LOL actually you're partially right.

Facial animations is something you adapt to during the game. Especially when you start a replay, make another character and spot that your father is not the same as before but has a face that looks a bit like your new one. Also, again a positive effect, those horrible "expressions" can be infinite source of trolling screenshots and memes.

Another thing all those "pros", Codex too, forget, is that in ME4 you customize your character looks. Mouth and eyes are not positioned at the same spot on every single character where it'd be easy to correct unnatural grimasses. And then all of them compare ME4 facial animations with TW3 where the protagonist has preset looks. Sorry but I can't understand the shitshow those "pro" sites make. Then again I couldn't understand also their 100% score on DA2. Suddenly, everyone forgot what those sites did in the past, suddenly they're all saints who's opinion matter. Yea, right.

So if you're wrong on facial animations, and you are since there is no game with custom faces that can do those flawlessly, why are you partially right? Two reasons.

Facial animations aside, human bodies are definetly disproportional as if 600 years in cryo made all people mutants. There is no excuse for that and I can't believe Bioware didn't notice that ingame humans are not shaped like a normal people.

Second thing that I cannot believe how bad it is nor accept as "standard" is hair. In AAA title and this year, sorry, hair just has to look better than it is in this game. It's so bad I dunno if I'd laugh like crazy or cry. It's horrible beyond words, hell I've seen better hair in phonegames than in ME4.

Anyway, play the game. When you finish it, unlike other codexians and "pro" reviewers who probably didn't get past the first planet, you'll understand why this game didn't deserve the ongoing canonade of cynicism.
On the other hand, Bioware killed their forums and moved onto one of hating platforms. And IMO they now got exactly what they deserved. I don't feel sorry for them being under such irrational negativity a single bit, they didn't respect existing fans and it backfired.

Stingray said:

Yeah, KotOR in 2003 and Jade Empire in 2005 both had console releases way before the PC release. Something like 6 months delay for KotOR and 2 years for Jade Empire. Both were obviously designed with consoles in mind. EA didn't buy BioWare until late 2007. So when you also take into account the development time of those games, BioWare had been balls deep in consolization (and the resultant dumbing-down of their games) for well over half a decade before EA even entered the picture. It's pretty safe to say with EA now involved though, things will never get "better", only worse. Without them, you never know…

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It depends on how black and white your line of thinking is.

Some people can't separate EA from all the bad things that have their name on it.

However, EA is just a bunch of suits. They're not deliberately trying to ruin anything or make anything bad. They're just financing games they think will earn them a profit.

Sometimes, they let developers call the shots - and at other times, they interfere.

EA is really no different from any other major publisher in that way.

People have a need to justify whatever grudge they've cooked up. Is Bioware what they used to be? No - but as we've just agreed upon - they haven't been for years before EA came into the picture.

Does that mean Bioware can't make good games? No, unless you think Dragon Age and Mass Effect are bad games.

I think Andromeda is a great game. In fact, I think it's better than the other Mass Effect games - and on par with the first Dragon Age, albeit for different reasons.

Dragon Age: Inquistion? I thought was vastly better than DA2, at least.

Are Dead Space bad games? I think they're great - and they were all published by EA after Mass Effect.

Is Secret World a bad game? I think it's very good. Published by EA.

Battlefield 1 and Titanfall 2? Both quite good.

Point is, if you don't like Mass Effect: Andromeda - at least make sure it's not based on emotional bias against a fantasy bad guy.

They could learn a lesson from CdProjek. Not so much bioware - there is no more bioware - but the suites at EA. Quality can be profitable.
---
I wonder how many people remain that made bioware bioware ?

NewDArt said:

Are Dead Space bad games? I think they're great - and they were all published by EA after Mass Effect.

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You probably didn't read this: http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2017-02-23-the-dead-space-3-the-developers-wanted-to-make

Now there is definite a lot of "EA is the devil, Bioware has sold it's soul/is run by SJW's" incessant hyperbole, but it is not entirely unwaranted either.

Their business practices have [plenty of times, put short term profit ahead of quality, even if costing them of that as well and closing studios as result.

Bioware in danger? Little chance of that. They're still one of stronger names in industry( though dropping in last few years) and EA has no other cards to pull, when it comes to rpg's.

As for the writing here…yes, if you closely examine plot/motivations/narrative consistency…previous ME's were very at fault as that as well, with first game being "most solid" here.
However, this game suffers from far more dialogue non sequiturs, heavy exposition, sometimes outright juvenile writing ( the losers of Tuchanka and now the losers of Helius!…was this written by Trump? ), inconsistent quality of voice and camera direction ( this is very noticeable as BW always did this very, very well), character modeling, facial animations, more common bugs/glitches…all of this overall, definitely feels like a step back.

The game really should have had an extra few months of polishing.

BoboTheMighty said:

You probably didn't read this: http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2017-02-23-the-dead-space-3-the-developers-wanted-to-make

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Yes, I know all about the history of Dead Space 3.

I happen to really enjoy certain of its features, including cooperative gameplay.

It's just an example of the suits interfering - but as I said, they don't always do that.

Now there is definite a lot of "EA is the devil, Bioware has sold it's soul/is run by SJW's" incessant hyperbole, but it is not entirely unwaranted either.

Their business practices have [plenty of times, put short term profit ahead of quality, even if costing them of that as well and closing studios as result.

Bioware in danger? Little chance of that. They're still one of stronger names in industry( though dropping in last few years) and EA has no other cards to pull, when it comes to rpg's.

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I'm not sure what you're saying, but it sounds like we agree. EA are suits - nothing more, nothing less.

I'm saying I don't think their "evil corporate plan" was to say: "Hey, why don't we deliberately fuck up all these facial animations in this game that we invested so many millions of dollars in".

I don't think it's as simple as that.

As for the writing here…yes, if you closely examine plot/motivations/narrative consistency…previous ME's were very at fault as that as well, with first game being "most solid" here.
However, this game suffers from far more dialogue non sequiturs, heavy exposition, sometimes outright juvenile writing ( the losers of Tuchanka and now the losers of Helius!…was this written by Trump? ), inconsistent quality of voice and camera direction ( this is very noticeable as BW always did this very, very well), character modeling, facial animations, more common bugs/glitches…all of this overall, definitely feels like a step back.

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You're welcome to your opinion, of course. The end result for me is still that it's the best Mass Effect game so far.

So, the riddle is how EA - the evil one - and Bioware - the SJW champion - can be behind my favorite Mass Effect?

Let me guess, I must be some kind of fanboi SJW freak, right?

That, or a large number of core gamers and critics are just flat-out wrong in their conclusions about EA and its effect on Bioware.

The game really should have had an extra few months of polishing.

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Which is true for countless great games.

Ultimately, they let the game go out knowing how crap this stuff was, which shows a massive lack of concern for product quality that was probably underlying the game's development *always*.

And, ultimately, what we wound up with was a game about the ugliest and most socially awkward people being sent out to colonize the galaxy.

Case in point

NewDArt said:

You're welcome to your opinion, of course. The end result for me is still that it's the best Mass Effect game so far.

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Would you say it's relatively good or relatively bad?

Pls use copious examples as to what products you are relativising from

NewDArt said:

Let me guess, I must be some kind of fanboi SJW freak, right?

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Right!
Vacation did you good.

Branthog said:

And, ultimately, what we wound up with was a game about the ugliest and most socially awkward people being sent out to colonize the galaxy.

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Use logic. Would you send away Hollywood plastic from Transformers movies, or those with looks that just "can't be helped"?
Me, I'd send away plastic. But I'm the minority, proved by cinema boxoffice earnings.

joxer said:

Right!
Vacation did you good.

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Starting to warm to me, eh?

Generally speaking ME as a franchise was always a watered-down derivate of KotOR.

To anyone who wants to try ME, I always suggest just to play the first game. And possibly the second.

luj1 said:

Generally speaking ME as a franchise was always a watered-down derivate of KotOR.

To anyone who wants to try ME, I always suggest just to play the first game. And possibly the second.

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Yes, I agree KotOR is better than all the MEs.

"Robertson mentions one possible destination; EA Bucharest in Romania, although nothing is confirmed at this time."

And no confirmation is needed. I knew it all along. It's the damned Romanians again!

Capt. Huggy Face said:

"Robertson mentions one possible destination; EA Bucharest in Romania, although nothing is confirmed at this time."

And no confirmation is needed. I knew it all along. It's the damned Romanians again!

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"My face is tired"

Romanians...with their moustaches...and colorful traditional dress....and beautiful young women....vibrant song and dance....and declining tradition of excellence in gymnastics.....Oooh, they make me so mad...

NewDArt said:

Yes, I agree KotOR is better than all the MEs.

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Sorry, I disagree. KotORs were extremely boring for me and couldn't finish them both. Believe me, I tried. I was perhaps half way through the first one and the only reason I got that far is because the game was relatively stable. But they assume you are SW fan (I am not, haven't watched a single SW movie) which made it so hard to "get" the game. Combat was boring as it can be and found characters bland compared to previous Bioware titles (even blander than NWN OC characters). KotOR2, on the other hand, had much better writing but the game was a lot more clunky and buggy than the first one.

I think overall, ME series was better quality. ME1 actually introduced players to the universe, ME2 was extremely polished and had fantastic companions (oh, Mordin what happened to you in 3rd instalment). Combat wasn't that great but hey combat in KotORs weren't great either.

I fully expect modern Bioware's light hearted, cheessy writing style in ME:A which doesn't bother me (in fact, I prefer that over depressing one) and I like ME universe. Looking forward to read Maylander's review. Likely to pick it up after I finish TW3 or when it's on sale.

purpleblob said:

But they assume you are SW fan (I am not, haven't watched a single SW movie) which made it so hard to "get" the game. e.

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I'm a Star Wars fan, and I thought KotOR was just "ok". It gets vastly overrated for some reason. Yes, it has a very cool plot twist, but other than that, it's a pretty average game in most aspects. It's Star Wars though, and nostalgia is a powerful force. (No pun intended )

That said, I think the ME trilogy is overrated as well. I can't comment on Andromeda as I've yet to play it.

My brother seems to enjoy Andromeda. For him its two thirds writing and exploration with the remainder combat. He doesn't seem to notice any outstanding issues so perhaps it is all overblown.

JDR13 said:

That said, I think the ME trilogy is overrated as well. I can't comment on Andromeda as I've yet to play it.

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Depending on how you defined 'overrated'. ME series certainly is popular. I enjoyed first two in the series myself. But there is a difference between "popular" and "masterpiece" though. I don't consider ME games masterpiece or top x material but I certainly find it fun enough. Conversely, PS:T is considered "classic masterpiece", I can see why myself but I didn't enjoy the game.