Mass Effect: Andromeda - Building on Shepard's Legacy - MMORPG.com

SBFord · February 2017

Mass Effect: Andromeda - Building on Shepard's Legacy - MMORPG.com

Last week, I was privileged to get to go to EA’s Redwood City office for a special Mass Effect Andromeda session with the devs that came complete with over an hour’s worth of game time in the highly anticipated title. Bioware has done a masterful job blending the past with the future, the old with the new to create a new game that is a worthy successor to Shepard’s Legacy.

Read the full story here

BillMurphy · February 2017

All I can say is HNNNNNNGGGGGH.

Harbinger1975 · February 2017

I am.....skeptical. My expectations are VERY low. EA has done some serious damage with Mass Effect (more specifically the third one) and Dragon Age. I refuse to pre-order, I refuse to even try the game until I see actual gamer reviews. (No, not Angry Joe even though I do like his videos. But actual gamers that are fans of the original games) I want to be excited. But I have to temper myself for disappointment. It is EA after all.

BillMurphy · February 2017

Harbinger1975 said:

I am.....skeptical. My expectations are VERY low. EA has done some serious damage with Mass Effect (more specifically the third one) and Dragon Age. I refuse to pre-order, I refuse to even try the game until I see actual gamer reviews. (No, not Angry Joe even though I do like his videos. But actual gamers that are fans of the original games) I want to be excited. But I have to temper myself for disappointment. It is EA after all.

Suzie feels the same way as you, and she's one of the biggest ME fans I know. Trust her.

kitarad · February 2017

Yes I have died to that cover stuck thing too. Was that Vorcha first shot ?

SBFord · February 2017

kitarad said:

Yes I have died to that cover stuck thing too. Was that Vorcha first shot ?

That's one of the new alien races.

bartoni33 · February 2017

After DA:I (which I am trying to playthrough for the fourth! time) my expectations are very low also. DA:I is such a shabby console port it hurts to play it. The combat is horrible. The movement is just as bad. It's frustrating to try to play it.

My only hope with MEA is that since most combat will be at range even Bioware can't screw it up! That reminds me @SBFord: is the camera auto-mouse driven like say Witcher 3 or do you have to hold down the right mouse button to move like DA:I? I have to see gameplay with K/M before I even think about buying.

SBFord · February 2017

Harbinger1975 said:

I am.....skeptical. My expectations are VERY low. EA has done some serious damage with Mass Effect (more specifically the third one) and Dragon Age. I refuse to pre-order, I refuse to even try the game until I see actual gamer reviews. (No, not Angry Joe even though I do like his videos. But actual gamers that are fans of the original games) I want to be excited. But I have to temper myself for disappointment. It is EA after all.

I think as you can tell from my avatar, I am a HUGE fan of the original series and up to the point of the conduit, was pretty happy even with ME3. The ending...well, that's another story.

I have been guardedly optimistic and while I can't judge the entire game by an hour's game play, I can tell you that it IS a Mass Effect game. Whether it rises to the heights of the trilogy...well, I have my doubts...but I think that it will fill a gaping hole in many fans' hearts left after the end of the Era of Shepard.

I think of it this way: Dragon Age Inquisition was good. Not great but good. I can live with that since there were many memorable moments and a game that kept some of the best aspects of Origins (in particular) alive and brought back feels for the games that had come before. If MEA can do that (and I honestly believe it will), then I will be satisfied.

Honestly, no one, no matter how much I love these next ME series games, will ever replace Shepard. She was my first, best and most beloved hero who brought great solace to me in a very difficult time in life. But I am convinced that this new iteration on the series will be a fantastic addition to the fold.

If you doubt my rabid adoration of the original trilogy, see my review of ME3:

http://www.mmorpg.com/general-articles/soap-box-mass-effect-3-part-1-the-95-1000006296

http://www.mmorpg.com/general-articles/soap-box-mass-effect-3-part-2-the-5-1000006297

Distopia · February 2017

BillMurphy said:

Harbinger1975 said:

I am.....skeptical. My expectations are VERY low. EA has done some serious damage with Mass Effect (more specifically the third one) and Dragon Age. I refuse to pre-order, I refuse to even try the game until I see actual gamer reviews. (No, not Angry Joe even though I do like his videos. But actual gamers that are fans of the original games) I want to be excited. But I have to temper myself for disappointment. It is EA after all.

Suzie feels the same way as you, and she's one of the biggest ME fans I know. Trust her.

Join us.

kitarad · February 2017

SBFord said:

kitarad said:

Yes I have died to that cover stuck thing too. Was that Vorcha first shot ?

That's one of the new alien races.

cool

SBFord · February 2017

Oh, for the record, Mouse / Keyboard controls were VERY responsive, not like Inquisition and its abysmal PC control scheme on launch. Obviously BW learned its lesson there: Don't simply port a control scheme from console to PC but give PC users their own native controls. They did and it worked well.

@bartoni33 On the camera thing, I can't be sure, to be perfectly frank. It just...happened. My guess is that since I am so accustomed to using right MB to move the camera, that that's how it went down. I'll look into it, however and see what I can find out. I can say that camera movement was precise and never veered from where I wanted to be looking.

Combat is really good, a MASSIVE improvement over the trilogy. Cover is a bit hit or miss, but less so than approaching something and having to manually take cover. I enjoyed fighting a great, great deal, particularly with the ability to choose three abilities (that's all that's on the belt at any given moment) from three different aspects: Biotics, Soldier, Engineer. It was wicked fun.

[Deleted User] · February 2017

The user and all related content has been deleted.

Mylan12 · February 2017

I have my doubts about it but I did preorder it. Maybe a mistake but I knew I end up getting it no matter how bad or good the reviews are at release. Of course saving 12 bucks did encourage me to do the preorder.

cheyane · February 2017

blueturtle13 said:

I hope this is a strong entry for the franchise. ME2 was the best SciFi game ever in my book and the series needs a strong entry after the Shepard Chronicles.

I loved ME 2 too. I liked ME 3 too but not as much as 2.

jmcdermottuk · February 2017

SBFord said:

Oh, for the record, Mouse / Keyboard controls were VERY responsive, not like Inquisition and its abysmal PC control scheme on launch. Obviously BW learned its lesson there: Don't simply port a control scheme from console to PC but give PC users their own native controls. They did and it worked well.

This was something that I was worried about, given the all too often poor ports we see from console to PC. It's nice to see that in this instance it looks like the developer has done a proper job giving us decent PC controls.

Then again I never really had any problems with the controls on any of the ME games. Really looking forward to MEA.

cheyane · February 2017

I was an idiot I should have pre ordered in January when they were having 30% off in Europe. Hoping another discount just before it releases this time will grab it.

azarhal · February 2017

I pre-ordered it after the Combat part 1 video last week. The combat just looks so much fun and I love exploration.

At this point, I don't really care about the story, characters or janky cutscenes animations. I just want to shoot things, blow up things, dodge things with a jetpack and run over stuff with the Nomad.

Octagon7711 · February 2017

Yep, the end of 3 was not that good. It was like the Devs saying they were tired of Shepard and just wanted the whole thing to end. Not good when you have a character who's whole life is based on beating the odds. But I think they made up for it with the free DLC of the last adventure and party. It was funny and brought everyone back for a last adventure and I've played it a number of times. For me, that was a proper ending.

I wonder if they will have an in-game cash shop with micro purchases? Will they put a key character in a DLC like last time? Will they leave the ending unfinished so people will have to buy the next game to find out what happened? Looking forward to good pc controls and no locked down graphics because of consoles, they did pretty good with this in the past.

Harbinger1975 · February 2017

@SBFord, I have never doubted your reviews. I remember you were with us during the "Hold the Line" movement for Mass Effect 3.

bartoni33 · February 2017

SBFord said:

Oh, for the record, Mouse / Keyboard controls were VERY responsive, not like Inquisition and its abysmal PC control scheme on launch. Obviously BW learned its lesson there: Don't simply port a control scheme from console to PC but give PC users their own native controls. They did and it worked well.

@bartoni33 On the camera thing, I can't be sure, to be perfectly frank. It just...happened. My guess is that since I am so accustomed to using right MB to move the camera, that that's how it went down. I'll look into it, however and see what I can find out. I can say that camera movement was precise and never veered from where I wanted to be looking.

Combat is really good, a MASSIVE improvement over the trilogy. Cover is a bit hit or miss, but less so than approaching something and having to manually take cover. I enjoyed fighting a great, great deal, particularly with the ability to choose three abilities (that's all that's on the belt at any given moment) from three different aspects: Biotics, Soldier, Engineer. It was wicked fun.

Thank you for the reply. Your first paragraph was exactly what I wanted to hear.

Still... I'm going to wait until after launch to see some gameplay and reviews. But I do feel better now.

xpsync · February 2017

I'm a big fan of ME, as in huge, played ME countless times, ME 2 "maybe" even more, but 3 only 2.5 times, still pick on on my my third run at times.

I read all four novel's, yes even the one not written by Drew.

Yet I'm Meh...

I really hope it turns out awesome, but no preorder here. Going to wait at least a year or more, and once all DLC is out (ie. when the game is complete/done), and i have a solid read on players opinions, if all that checks out and the price is right, I'll think about it.

Just have zero desire? guess I'm no longer a huge fan.

Isarii · February 2017

BillMurphy said:

All I can say is HNNNNNNGGGGGH.

HYYYYYYYYYYYYYYPE

Great write up, Suzie!

Cogohi · February 2017

Octagon7711 said:

I wonder if they will have an in-game cash shop with micro purchases? Will they put a key character in a DLC like last time? Will they leave the ending unfinished so people will have to buy the next game to find out what happened? Looking forward to good pc controls and no locked down graphics because of consoles, they did pretty good with this in the past.

That's affirmative Ghostrider.

https://gamerant.com/mass-effect-andromeda-multiplayer-microtransactions/

Mobile gambling revenues were the darling of EA's last quarterly results so I doubt anybody needs all three guesses to figure out what the main feature will be for each of their games will be in the foreseeable future.

pantaro · February 2017

Harbinger1975 said:

I am.....skeptical. My expectations are VERY low. EA has done some serious damage with Mass Effect (more specifically the third one) and Dragon Age. I refuse to pre-order, I refuse to even try the game until I see actual gamer reviews. (No, not Angry Joe even though I do like his videos. But actual gamers that are fans of the original games) I want to be excited. But I have to temper myself for disappointment. It is EA after all.

i have to say i kinda feel the same if it wasn't for someone in my home who suddenly became really interested in mass effect solely because of their love of space i probably wouldn't even buy it. everything i have seen and heard as far as i am concerned really aint telling me squat about the actual game. not really surprised tho triple A nonsense like usual.

But hey if that person in my house ends up loving it even if i hate it mission accomplished!

Jonnyp2 · February 2017

Harbinger1975 said:

I am.....skeptical. My expectations are VERY low. EA has done some serious damage with Mass Effect (more specifically the third one) and Dragon Age. I refuse to pre-order, I refuse to even try the game until I see actual gamer reviews. (No, not Angry Joe even though I do like his videos. But actual gamers that are fans of the original games) I want to be excited. But I have to temper myself for disappointment. It is EA after all.

Do you honestly think random execs at EA sit around micromanaging one of the most successful video game developers of all time? I swear every 20 something seems to live in this weird fantasy world of supremely evil, money grubbing corporate executives who create these shadowy cabals to manipulate every single aspect of the world.

gervaise1 · February 2017

Jonnyp2 said:

Harbinger1975 said:

I am.....skeptical. My expectations are VERY low. EA has done some serious damage with Mass Effect (more specifically the third one) and Dragon Age. I refuse to pre-order, I refuse to even try the game until I see actual gamer reviews. (No, not Angry Joe even though I do like his videos. But actual gamers that are fans of the original games) I want to be excited. But I have to temper myself for disappointment. It is EA after all.

Do you honestly think random execs at EA sit around micromanaging one of the most successful video game developers of all time? I swear every 20 something seems to live in this weird fantasy world of supremely evil, money grubbing corporate executives who create these shadowy cabals to manipulate every single aspect of the world.

EA have been doing a good job of late imo.

And in part that may be because of their current CEO - after EA won their second golden poop award - did indeed get all the execs to a) install and log into a game b) download updates and patches c) listen in to customer's complaints.

This may not be what some people want to hear but companies can change. And when they do - and "do good" - it has to be recognised. Otherwise there is zero incentive for them to stop "being bad".

And it looks like EA may have taken on-board comments from e.g DA. Here's hoping an "iconic" series has gotten the love and attention that it richly deserved (apart from that ending of course).

Howdy, Stranger!

Mass Effect: Andromeda - Building on Shepard's Legacy - MMORPG.com

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Comments

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

거북이는 목을 내밀 때 안 움직입니다

"We all do the best we can based on life experience, point of view, and our ability to believe in ourselves." - Naropa "We don't see things as they are, we see them as we are." SR Covey

Howdy, Stranger!

Quick Links

Mass Effect: Andromeda - Building on Shepard's Legacy - MMORPG.com

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Comments

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

거북이는 목을 내밀 때 안 움직입니다

"We all do the best we can based on life experience, point of view, and our ability to believe in ourselves." - Naropa "We don't see things as they are, we see them as we are." SR Covey