Mass Effect Andromeda early impressions and facts

Don't play NG+. Movie Night is broken in NG+ (quest items carryover) and most probably more stuff.
Also, when you start a new game, choose a different name from your previous character, otherwise the game will bug itself.

And you just think there aren't broken quests because you've avoided "traps" others fell into.
The sad story? Veterans are used to save manually upon entering a new location. Others, and nonPC audience relies on autosaves - and for some reason ME4 autosaves tend to get corrupted!
So, we know, if something bugs itself, meh, load a previous save, do things differently, voila, case closed. I mean, it's a release version.

One thing JDR won't be happy to hear - you shouldn't mess with FOV, nondefault kills scanner in a way it refuses to scan questrelated objects - usual reason when you hear PeeBee loyalty mission is bugged. It's not a quest bug at all, all they need is to return gameplay settings to default.

Etc etc, ME4 is not Skyrim. It has it's fair share of bugs, but not in such amount the game could be considered a broken mess.
Did my research on reported bugs too. Not as thorough as I wanted to, but… So far noone got a gamestopper bug. Even in cases it looked as gamestopper, there is a workaround.

Maylander said:

Finally completed it. This is a much bigger game than people were reporting. They must have skipped a great deal. In-game time (on the save game) shows me at well over 80 hours, so the actual time must have been quite a bit more. Update: Origin says 91 hours. Sounds about right.

Also, there aren't anywhere near as many broken quests as some were saying. A few, yes, but they're so minor, it's of no consequence (in the "task" list, which typically doesn't even show up on the map).

I'll be starting a replay of it soon, and will write some more about it after that is well underway. I've heard rumors that male and female Ryder actually have different personalities as main characters, meaning the dialogues are different. I really need to check that out. Would be impressed if that was the case.

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Can we expect a review from you sometime soon, Maylander?

purpleblob said:

Can we expect a review from you sometime soon, Maylander?

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Probably in the middle of next week or so I think.

And yes, joxer, I'm aware that there are obviously bugs I haven't encountered. However, most of the "broken quests" I've seen reported are just people misunderstanding, for example how to use remnant drones inside certain ruins.

And thanks for the NG+ info. I wasn't planning on using it, as I prefer fresh characters, but it's nice to know.

Maylander said:

I'll be starting a replay of it soon, and will write some more about it after that is well underway. I've heard rumors that male and female Ryder actually have different personalities as main characters, meaning the dialogues are different. I really need to check that out. Would be impressed if that was the case.

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Some dialogue is different, not all of them. Sometimes the difference is in a tone pick (like emotional will be different, but professional will be the same). They also have different backgrounds which gets referenced and a different relationship with their father that affect certain dialogues.

Just a quick disturbing, sigh.

The lack of save is so weird, I can understand checkpoints in an intense action game linear enough, I'm not fan but I can see the difficulty management tool this can be. But it's plain blindness to use this system in a RPG trying polish exploration and offer a relative freedom and openness of exploration.

During first parts exploration is the element that I noticed the most, with DAI and now MEA, it's an element they work on better than any other including Skyrim, the Witcher 3, DOS, Wasteland 2, PoE and all the new waves of RPGs, the only half exception is Underrail. I'm quite worry games with efforts on exploration design get bashed and bashed when other too much arena like and weak on exploration get huge encouragement.

But in MEA, exploration is totally destroyed by the stupid checkpoint system. So you enjoy quietly explore parts, take your time to notice details and be aware of stuff, then a combat follow, surprises you, get you killed, and 15mn of exploration lost. so you rush, it's tedious and lame gameplay to mainly rush, it's just waste of gameplay fun. And low down difficulty to avoid the problem is even more lame.

The worse is the only fix planed is more checkpoints, which will end in many holes and bugs because of the freedom, or in destroying any surprise element or ambush by a quick save right before.

I have enjoyed the beginning but not that aspect.

For UI yeah it's bad, but to temper, it seems good for combat, exploration, dialog, and that's the most important.

Overall (i read threads elsewhere) people are saying this game is not that bad - the localized issues are bad (some voice issue, animation issues, small quest bugs) but the macro view is pretty decent.
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Btw how are kb/m controls ?

Dasale said:

Just a quick disturbing, sigh.

The lack of save is so weird, I can understand checkpoints in an intense action game linear enough, I'm not fan but I can see the difficulty management tool this can be. But it's plain blindness to use this system in a RPG trying polish exploration and offer a relative freedom and openness of exploration.

During first parts exploration is the element that I noticed the most, with DAI and now MEA, it's an element they work on better than any other including Skyrim, the Witcher 3, DOS, Wasteland 2, PoE and all the new waves of RPGs, the only half exception is Underrail. I'm quite worry games with efforts on exploration design get bashed and bashed when other too much arena like and weak on exploration get huge encouragement.

But in MEA, exploration is totally destroyed by the stupid checkpoint system. So you enjoy quietly explore parts, take your time to notice details and be aware of stuff, then a combat follow, surprises you, get you killed, and 15mn of exploration lost. so you rush, it's tedious and lame gameplay to mainly rush, it's just waste of gameplay fun. And low down difficulty to avoid the problem is even more lame.

The worse is the only fix planed is more checkpoints, which will end in many holes and bugs because of the freedom, or in destroying any surprise element or ambush by a quick save right before.

I have enjoyed the beginning but not that aspect.

For UI yeah it's bad, but to temper, it seems good for combat, exploration, dialog, and that's the most important.

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The check point/save limitation is only in place during certain main quests. It is not active during the majority of the game (90%+), during which you can save freely. It still doesn't have a quick save though, so you have to enter the menu manually to save.

you said:

Overall (i read threads elsewhere) people are saying this game is not that bad - the localized issues are bad (some voice issue, animation issues, small quest bugs) but the macro view is pretty decent.
-
Btw how are kb/m controls ?

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Pretty good. Menus are a hassle. I suggest learning the space/esc/enter way of navigating them instead of clicking. No quick save is annoying. Beyond that, it's fine (gameplay, dialogues etc).

Just a few tips:

You can save on priority missions, for the most part, by simply switching to a non-priority mission before saving.

Also, the UI is a pain - but pressing TAB will exit out of almost all menus, so you don't have to press ESC a million times.

NewDArt said:

Just a few tips:

You can save on priority missions, for the most part, by simply switching to a non-priority mission before saving.

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Or by switching profile (vanguard, soldier, etc) and back, it always make an auto-save when you switch.

azarhal said:

Or by switching profile (vanguard, soldier, etc) and back, it always make an auto-save when you switch.

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Ok, nice to know

Maylander said:

Menus are a hassle.

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Menus are equally bad with kb+m and mushrooms. If there is something that can be easily fixed without too much of work from Bioware's side, that'd be menus.

you said:

Overall (i read threads elsewhere) people are saying this game is not that bad - the localized issues are bad (some voice issue, animation issues, small quest bugs) but the macro view is pretty decent.
-
Btw how are kb/m controls ?

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I didn't notice anything special, looked classic controls for such shooter with some extra stuff.

General comment seems combats are better than usual in series, I didn't see why, good stuff similar to ME2 and ME3 but not companions control.

In French I didn't noticed problems. For sure they tried have more living visage animation, and it's bizarre more than once.

But unlike you I did a quick overview for reviews instead of forums, any level of site, big one and small one, and overall there's a lot of negativity, some example:
- The MMO stuff is bring back as an argument, that's perhaps right, but it's not fully like DAI, if that is MMO then 80% of Skyrim content is MMO.
- Many complain that it's a genre change, it was a series with small areas, more or less linear, but with high density of story. Not any more and those complain about the change. Fine, and I understand, but it was time they tried very different blueprints.
- Many complain it's not enough hand guided and the indicators, map+compass+scan+radar aren't straightforward enough. For me it's a positive quality, perhaps not as well done than the approximate manual maps of DAI, but it's the similar idea.
- Many complain the writing is much less good (all aspects are targeted, main plot, characters, main character, companions, secondary stories, even the lore), no opinion yet.
- Usual complains that it's too hand guided, ok but none have yet find how manage huge areas without quests markers.
- Some complains it's an unacceptable post The Witcher 3 RPG. Sigh, I quoted how is loved TW3 here, but at a time it was totally impossible to say anything bad about TW2 in many places (perhaps not here), years after it's rather easy to say you don't like it much. I'm not saying TW3 will get the same fate, but as Skyrim time will show it's no way the perfect RPG. It has strong aspects, but weaknesses too.

What to say? After the amazing reviewers hyping for Torment: ToN, which is a very unique game, but also with every single gameplay mechanisms not at all tuned and then none really working, it's huge see them bash MEA right after.

Still same reviewers madness for everything related to PC.

- Many complain it's not enough hand guided and the indicators, map+compass+scan+radar aren't straightforward enough. For me it's a positive quality, perhaps not as well done than the approximate manual maps of DAI, but it's the similar idea.

- Usual complains that it's too hand guided, ok but none have yet find how manage huge areas without quests markers.

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Aren't these two points contradicting each others?

azarhal said:

Aren't these two points contradicting each others?

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Yes and no, it's just different sorts of reviewers. Both are right and wrong.

Maylander said:

The check point/save limitation is only in place during certain main quests. It is not active during the majority of the game (90%+), during which you can save freely. It still doesn't have a quick save though, so you have to enter the menu manually to save.

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I don't care of the lack of quick save but those parts without save are such a boredom. I hadn't one since introduction, but when I got another, it's such a pointless boredom.

NewDArt said:

Just a few tips:
You can save on priority missions, for the most part, by simply switching to a non-priority mission before saving.

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Not for me, not in special parts, in other parts of priority missions I don't even need switch, it's just possible to save. But in some parts it's not possible and switch mission does nothing.

azarhal said:

Or by switching profile (vanguard, soldier, etc) and back, it always make an auto-save when you switch.

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During parts where save isn't allowed it didn't work for me.

I wonder if those tricks haven't been removed, or there's something I don't get.

EDIT: There could be not much parts like that, but for now they are always the best, and lack of save change this best in tedious. I'll never have any sympathy with such crap. Those designers are spoiling my first play, can't believe it.

Saving don't work if you or squaddies are moving (the characters needs to be standing firmly on the ground), are in combat and I believe if someone is talking (ambient dialogue).

We can peak at patch 1.05 notes already on Bioware Blog. The patch will go live at thursday.

http://blog.bioware.com/2017/04/04/mass-effect-andromeda-patch-1-05-notes/

Patch 1.05 Notes

Improved tutorial placement

Single player balance changes: Ammo crates, armor, weapons, nomad, profiles, attacks, and progression

Multiplayer balance changes: Weapons, cover, and enemies (check back for detailed notes on balance changes)

Added option to skip autopilot sequences in the galaxy map

Improved logic, timing, and continuity for relationships and story arcs

Improved lip-sync and facial acting during conversations, including localized VO

Fixed various collision issues

Fixed bugs where music or VO wouldn’t play or wasn’t correct

Fixed issue where global squad mate banter sometimes wasn’t firing on UNCs

Fixed issue where player was unable to access the Remnant Console Interface after failing decryption multiple times

Fixed issue where fast travel is sometimes disabled after recruiting Drack until the player reloads a save

Fixed issue where Ryder can become stuck in the start of Biotic Charge Pose

Fixes issues related to some saves

Fixed issue where objective sometimes becomes un-interactable for players in multiplayer

Streaming and stability improvements

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EDIT:
Also, the "huge" announcement:
https://www.masseffect.com/news/the-journey-ahead?sf53509845=1

This Thursday, we’ll release a new patch that addresses technical fixes (crashes, improved performance), but also adds a number of improvements we’ve heard you ask for, such as:

Allowing you to skip ahead when travelling between planets in the galaxy map
Increasing the inventory limits
Improving the appearance of eyes for humans and asari characters
Decreasing the cost of remnant decryption keys and making them more accessible at merchants
Improving localized voice over lip sync
Fixing Ryder’s movements when running in a zig zag pattern
Improving matchmaking and latency in multiplayer

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And then on next patches/additions:

Over the next two months we’ll be rolling out additional patches which will go even deeper and look to improve several areas of the game:

More options and variety in the character creator
Improvements to hair and general appearance for characters
Ongoing improvements to cinematic scenes and animations
Improvements to male romance options for Scott Ryder
Adjustments to conversations with Hainly Abrams

These upcoming patches will also address performance and stability issues. And we’re looking at adding more cosmetic items to single player for free.

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I don't think someone was reading my hair rant posts, they moved to social networks so they couldn't, but watching at that atrocious hair is so distracting it just has to be fixed.

Going by the fix to lip-sync, they worked on their procedural algo for animations.

Added option to skip autopilot sequences in the galaxy map

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People who need to move everywhere super fast are probably rejoicing right now…

Increasing the inventory limits

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Why? I never top my 80 limits (cryo pod perks). It's not like we get that much loot that takes physical space.

Improvements to male romance options for Scott Ryder
Adjustments to conversations with Hainly Abrams

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oh boy…

And we’re looking at adding more cosmetic items to single player for free.

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More Nomand skins? I think I bought 15 so far.

There was 2 Nomad skins and 1 casual outfit promised for May for the owners of the Deluxe before the game was even released too. I think a big update in May was always planned.


Most of the stuff in that list is things people complained about in the uBSN. Ian Frazier, MEA lead designer, even post there from time to time.

azarhal said:

Why? I never top my 80 limits (cryo pod perks). It's not like we get that much loot that takes physical space.
…
Most of the stuff in that list is things people complained about in the uBSN. Ian Frazier, MEA lead designer, even post there from time to time.

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I never filled the default (50) limit, but that's because I knew what I want all the time and played TW3 - sell everything you won't use, deconstruct looted weapons/armor for components to make better ones.
However, I'm also active at EA answers and saw not one person ranting because they can't do collecting sets just because of their looks. Yea, they won't use some armor set anywhere, but all 4 parts of each one they just want to have in inventory. I guess inventory will limit go higher because of them, although a better solution IMO would be a ship trunk/chest to store excess clutter like in TW games. Or in DA:O DLC.

Sidn't know devs "went rogue" and are still posting on forums instead of being social networks exclusive. If I did, I'd have registered there ages ago.
There is another problem, the unofficial BSN does not list all (or at least most) bugs nor technical problems anywhere. I'm not even sure if devs are aware of reported broken quests. So I'll do something about that next weekend (nudge CMs on EA answers ).

Believe me, the uBSN has no issue complaining about something, lol. They are currently complaining about the patch notes for 1.05 and blog post. The MEA MP section has a tech/bug pinned thread, the SP had one at some point, I'm not sure where it went.

On another subject, I just learned that the pathfinder quarters on the Tempest have a radio. I got an space hamster, lots of ship models and a tiny robot there, but never saw the radio. That will change tonight.