Mass Effect: Andromeda - Autism reaches outer space

Between MMO subs and console purchases, I'm at about $200 a month this year, not including the Xbox One S, and PS4 Pro I bought.

Utnayan said:

To follow up with this: Please also answer the following if you like the game:

1) How many games have you purchased in the last 90 days? (Good question Soygen)
2) Did you play Horizon, Zelda, Nier, or Nioh in the last 90 days?
3) Do you enjoy reading and posting on Neogaf?

Just based on 1 and 2 alone, I have a theory.

A theory that anyone who actually likes the story, combat, etc - has NOT played any of the games listed above in question 2. Because if they had, and seriously almost all subjective opinion aside, they would be looking at this game in one fell swoop and wouldn't last 5 minutes before feeling 100% insulted. If question 1 is Zero to 1, this means that the mass market marketing hit these folks and they do not do a lot of research.

It's a theory of expectations for consumers. Because it's the same folks that may go into a bar and order a bud light thinking it's the best beer on the planet because it's the only beer they ever really drink because they drink once every 90 days and have no other bars serving craft beer. So they have no idea what a Surly Furious tastes like... And this is the crowd I feel sorry for. I want them to have a Surly furious.

Or they just like horribly mediocre games and thats ok too.

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Let's see..
1) FFXV, Forza 6, Battlefield 1, ME:A, Horizon, Witcher 3, Watch Dogs 2.. probably some other ones in there too.
2) Yes. Best gaming experience I've had in a long time.
3) No.

I'm actually enjoying ME:A except for the horrible character models and animations. I feel like they REALLY dropped the ball on the visual side of things. I like the writing so far.

My impressions so far after completing two planets and a decent amount of multiplayer (in no particular order):

-The menu UI's are pretty bad in general.
-A lot of things in this game, at first, don't feel very intuitive (i.e.: menu navigation, equipping things, etc.). Why was there no UI or crafting tutorials?
-Multiplayer leveling is sloooooow compared to ME3. No more leveling a class as whole means each character is individual.
-Why did they take out charged melee attacks? The asari heavy melee was so good.
-Assault turrets can't be replaced while one is up; you have to detonate your existing turret which will then trigger the cooldown. This is disappointing for someone who loved engineers in MP.
-The new Mako is pretty sweet, if only you could squish stuff by running it over.
-They do a good job of giving you lots of bonuses for stuff in SP.
-The story isn't my cup of tea -- Sheppard was infinitely cooler than Ryder and Ryder's, 'I hope I live up to Daddy's legacy,' plot. Though I wouldn't be surprised if the story got a little better later.
-The companion mobile app is decent, though not without its own bugs.
-One planet (jungle) on a PS4 Pro had Blighttown levels of FPS drops.
-Multiplayer is a lot of fun.
-You can't queue for MP as a group/party and I've yet to have any success with randoms joining a public game I've started with 2 people in the game. It's really hard to play with friends unless you have a full party ready to go.
-Lots of loot, but lots of junk loot too.

Utnayan said:

To follow up with this: Please also answer the following if you like the game:

1) How many games have you purchased in the last 90 days? (Good question Soygen)
2) Did you play Horizon, Zelda, Nier, or Nioh in the last 90 days?
3) Do you enjoy reading and posting on Neogaf?

Click to expand...

I don't know if I'll like the game or not yet, but I am hoping I will. I can look past a lot of things in games like poor animation, cringey lines, bugs, etc, as long as it has an interesting story and some wow moments and is generally entertaining. The original trilogy was one of my favorite series of games. It had its flaws but as a whole it was amazing. I think I owe it to myself to at least play this one. The originals are also one of the only "long" games that I have actually beat from beginning to end. Most long games I put aside 1/3 to 1/2 way through and never return.

Anyways, I've been waiting for a sequel since the closing scene of ME3. Probably sounds messed up, but I'd rather try it and end up not liking it, than listen to everyone say its mediocre or bad, and skip it when maybe I would have liked it. I also have a history of liking games that got shit on, and hating popular games like DOOM.

I told my wife to get me this game on PC for my upcoming birthday, seeing as I never have anything that I really want, and I had to give her some ideas. That and it just feels less shitty if you get a shit game for a gift, vs shelling out $60 (even though I'm still paying for it). I did tell her to hang on to the reciept though incase I change my mind. If it wasn't a gift, I'd probably wait for a sale around $40.

1. 0, well 1 if you count my FFXIV expansion preorder. I bought a bunch last black friday though that I havent even played yet. I always get sucked back in to my regulars. WoW, FFXIV, D3, R6Siege, and Overwatch.

2. No. I dont own any current gen consoles. Would buy Zelda if I did. But then again, the last Zelda I beat was Zelda on N64. I plan on maybe looking into Neir when it goes on sale. I'm not huge on japanese animeish type games normally but this one looks like it might be worth trying at around $30.

3. Fuck no. I used to visit their epic pc screenshot thread like 8 years ago just to look at the pics and pass the time at my old job (was one of the few sites not blocked) but that site is an aids infested cespool as soon as anyone types.

Utnayan said:

To follow up with this: Please also answer the following if you like the game:

1) How many games have you purchased in the last 90 days? (Good question Soygen)
2) Did you play Horizon, Zelda, Nier, or Nioh in the last 90 days?
3) Do you enjoy reading and posting on Neogaf?

Click to expand...

1) Nioh, Zelda, Nier and Horizon.
2) All of the above
3) Never had an account and only read the posts linked here

After 9 hours 45 minutes in the game (says I have less than 15 minutes if the trial left) where I did everything. Talked to everyone, tried to run around to trigger NPC dialogue chains that can activate quests and completed all side quests before progressing towards the main quest on Eos. I only just got to PeeBee or whatever her name was in nearly 10 hours.

So doing that, my stance is still that compared to ME 1 - 2 (never finished 3), the story is flat out worse so far, combat is better. It does in no way shape or form give that ME 1 feeling of nearly a constant "I want to find out what is going on" up until the reveal of the Reavers. The static animation is a step down from previous titles, even DA:I which I booted up again now just to compare. I also wanted to see if I could see the bendy plants at the very beginning of ME:A in DA:I. I am certain I have seen that graphical asset somewhere outside of ME:A.

By my 10 hour review, compared to games put in question 1, I'd put it at a low 60s range. If there was nothing else to play, I'd probably still play it on the hope that it got better. But that is purely based on the Mass Effect universe and the potential I think it has. On its own, as a fresh game, I'd probably not pick it up again since there is hardly anything captivating in the story that makes me wonder what will happen next with gameplay that is less interesting than compared to any title listed from question 1.

If ME:A is remembered for something now, it will be purely by being a fail in the midst of an insane opening year in terms of quality games. Persona 5 also releases in two weeks.

Or to put it this way

Nioh, Zelda, Nier, Horizon, No Mans Sky.

Which of the above correlates most in your mind about Mass Effect: Andromeda. That's the answer to what ME:A is like.

Utnayan said:

To follow up with this: Please also answer the following if you like the game:

1) How many games have you purchased in the last 90 days? (Good question Soygen)
2) Did you play Horizon, Zelda, Nier, or Nioh in the last 90 days?
3) Do you enjoy reading and posting on Neogaf?

Just based on 1 and 2 alone, I have a theory.

A theory that anyone who actually likes the story, combat, etc - has NOT played any of the games listed above in question 2. Because if they had, and seriously almost all subjective opinion aside, they would be looking at this game in one fell swoop and wouldn't last 5 minutes before feeling 100% insulted. If question 1 is Zero to 1, this means that the mass market marketing hit these folks and they do not do a lot of research.

It's a theory of expectations for consumers. Because it's the same folks that may go into a bar and order a bud light thinking it's the best beer on the planet because it's the only beer they ever really drink because they drink once every 90 days and have no other bars serving craft beer. So they have no idea what a Surly Furious tastes like... And this is the crowd I feel sorry for. I want them to have a Surly furious.

Or they just like horribly mediocre games and thats ok too.

Click to expand...

1) 6 or more
2) Playing Horizons this very moment - May pick up Nier in the....NIER FUTURE!! LOOLOLOL...ok and no Nioh
3) Never been to the site

Utnayan is to contest judging what Duppin is to Dental hygiene.

The game is mediocre and its a Mass Effect game rather you would like it to be or not. Does the game keep me entertained, so far sure, do i think the game is GOTY, fuck no. To me its just another game in my hobby that I will play and then will forget about it. I throw too much money into this hobby, almost like a drug addict when it comes to gaming.

I dont drink anyones cool-aid so probably why im not up in arms in support or not in support of this game. I praise very few games, and surely this is not one of them. Will i visit many boards stating my opinion, no as i could careless what people choose to play, they are fucking adults and can make up their own minds.

Utnayan said:

I will visit any board I can to spread the word of this garbage so we do not see it become standard!

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So is it better or worse than DOOM? Games like that are the reason I don't put much stock in forum or professional reviews anymore.