Bioware General (Mass Effect/Dragon Age/Other)

[Vol]

Still a total bitch, but new eyes, man, they make a world of difference.

[Someone With Mass]

Hot damn. Now I can have up to 150 items in my inventory. I hope this will prevent me from having to unclog it after every fight, even though I shouldn't have that problem to begin with.

[HellBovine]

That was actually a photoshop I think.

Here is another comparison:

[Someone With Mass]

Same goes for Vetra and Jaal's eyes. I like this patch already.

Edit: Yes! I can finally turn off motion blur.

[Su37]

Tempted to start my NG+, but I think I'll wait for more patches to roll out.

[MeaslyBinkie]

Predator X MP meta here we come, how I've missed it being actually usable.

Wew lad, the game must have it out for me seeing as it decided to eat 15k credits of mine. At least my minerals are still intact I suppose.

[TheodoricFriede]

So banter bug is definitely fixed, but im concerned they may have over corrected a bit.

I have heard 4 conversations in the span of 10 or so minutes. Thats all well and good until you run out of conversations after one planet.

That said, im actually hearing people comment on the planet they are on now.

[Someone With Mass]

So banter bug is definitely fixed, but im concerned they may have over corrected a bit.

I have heard 4 conversations in the span of 10 or so minutes. Thats all well and good until you run out of conversations after one planet.

That said, im actually hearing people comment on the planet they are on now.

I dunno. I had one dialogue cut off earlier while I was driving the Nomad, so it's not perfect. Still better than what they started with, though.

[TheodoricFriede]

I dunno. I had one dialogue cut off earlier while I was driving the Nomad, so it's not perfect. Still better than what they started with, though.

Yeah but at least now there is dialog to be cut off. They were downright silent before.

[Vol]

The new eyes make a big difference. Even Vetra has them, and I had no complaints about her old ones. Asari still need new faces, but that'll take a while.

[TheodoricFriede]

The new eyes make a big difference. Even Vetra has them, and I had no complaints about her old ones. Asari still need new faces, but that'll take a while.

Apparently thats in the two month plan.

Speaking of which, considering they promised new romances for gay Ryder in that same two months, i imagine its save to assume thats when to expect the first DLC. Im guessing a quarian male.

Im also guessing he will be Kal'Reegar lite, even down to having the Reegar family name.

[Dragaros]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P5_2C2B1azE

[Dragaros]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q6MRcNzJ56I

[Dragaros]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=abw9qSp0xdQ

[Dragaros]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=797fxxBj-mk

[Dragaros]

[Azint]

They fixed Peebee's crazy trick shot in her introductory scene.

[DarkStorm]

They fixed Peebee's crazy trick shot in her introductory scene.

Lol you mean turn the gun around?

[Vol]

Yes, but the gun model is messed up and only has 1 barrel, heh. Still getting a dialogue bug with her where you can first mention she's flirty, that option always remains white instead of greying out.

@Theo: I assumed Jaal would be the gaylien, since he was supposed to be, no? Though I would expect any DLC pack that offers more relationships to include gay stuff too, that's a given with Bioware.

[Vol]

The angaran have some fun legs. It's like they took the quarian base form, but where the shins are pure curve on them, on the angaran, they have a new joint, and then those tiny feet with those adorable pajama-boots.

[TheodoricFriede]

@Theo: I assumed Jaal would be the gaylien, since he was supposed to be, no? Though I would expect any DLC pack that offers more relationships to include gay stuff too, that's a given with Bioware.

No, a lot of people thought that, but people were seeing the Liam/Jaal scene and making assumptions. They have not found anything in the game to indicate he was supposed to be available to male Ryder other than those checkboxes. Which I would say mean a lot except for the fact that he has no recorded dialog, nor does he even give the slightest indication that he has interest in men in the game.

[TheodoricFriede]

The angaran have some fun legs. It's like they took the quarian base form, but where the shins are pure curve on them, on the angaran, they have a new joint, and then those tiny feet with those adorable pajama-boots.

I still maintain that quarians never had a "curve" it it was always supposed to be like how angaren legs work. They are digitigrade, they just have weird armor. Im convinced DLC will make that apparent.

[Dragaros]

[Someone With Mass]

The new eyes make a big difference. Even Vetra has them, and I had no complaints about her old ones. Asari still need new faces, but that'll take a while.

I like the change to Vetra's eyes, because now I can actually see them behind that visor. Speaking of turians, I always feel sorry for the one that's running the customs station on the Nexus, because she always looks like she's in the most awkward work position ever. Like...the hunchback of Notre Dame has a straighter spine.

I also got that new salarian guy in the multiplayer. He's fun. Barricade, Remnant VI, Cryo-gauntlet and Incinerate. Will definitely make for some interesting combos later on. One thing that I really don't understand is why they decided to lower the Mattock's damage even more. It won't be viable on anything above Bronze.

[Mazder]

Well of course the falcon wins!!!
It did the Kessel run in only 12 Parsecs!

[Raga]

@Theo: I assumed Jaal would be the gaylien, since he was supposed to be, no? Though I would expect any DLC pack that offers more relationships to include gay stuff too, that's a given with Bioware.

No, a lot of people thought that, but people were seeing the Liam/Jaal scene and making assumptions. They have not found anything in the game to indicate he was supposed to be available to male Ryder other than those checkboxes. Which I would say mean a lot except for the fact that he has no recorded dialog, nor does he even give the slightest indication that he has interest in men in the game.

My understanding was they had found recorded m/m dialog for Jaal but none for male Ryder, which really just seems like Bioware left the door open for Jaal. Pure speculation but it seems much more plausible that the protag VA would get called back in for changes (like adding more m/m stuff) if they needed it later than a secondary character. All indications are that they make an explicit decision early in development to make Jaal hetero though rather than cutting his content at the last minute.

[Raga]

The angaran have some fun legs. It's like they took the quarian base form, but where the shins are pure curve on them, on the angaran, they have a new joint, and then those tiny feet with those adorable pajama-boots.

I still maintain that quarians never had a "curve" it it was always supposed to be like how angaren legs work. They are digitigrade, they just have weird armor. Im convinced DLC will make that apparent.

There's a question that quarians are digitigrade? I just took it as understood that they were.

[UNiT]

The angaran have some fun legs. It's like they took the quarian base form, but where the shins are pure curve on them, on the angaran, they have a new joint, and then those tiny feet with those adorable pajama-boots.

I still maintain that quarians never had a "curve" it it was always supposed to be like how angaren legs work. They are digitigrade, they just have weird armor. Im convinced DLC will make that apparent.

There's a question that quarians are digitigrade? I just took it as understood that they were.

It was confirmed in Andromeda that they are. I found it somewhere but cant remember where exactly.

[Raga]

I think I remember actually. I think it's that email where somebody (Lexi?) is summarizing angara anatomy and says they are "digitigrade like quarians and turians."

[Vol]

Honestly, I'm more miffed that they've yet to make a single m/m romance I've wanted to do, but hey, if the quarian ark DLC has a twink, I'll stop complaining. Though I was surprised Jaal was totally straight, because a number of times it seemed like a flirt option should be coming up given the conversations, and yet, never did. Then the bit on Aya with the two angaran women talking about how he doesn't notice flirtation form them.

As for quarian legs, I always took them for plantigrade with really curved shins. The old models clearly had them flat-footed, and with the metal shinguards, figured it was one solid bone piece. Whereas the turians clearly walked on their toes.

[Alienmorph]

To be fair...



Given quarian's feet look I could totally see them being ditigrades, with the inner part of the fingers bones and connective tissues forming a "pseudo-plant". They sure don't look straight-up dino feet like the turians' but thei're far from looking like our feet either.

[Someone With Mass]

I just can't imagine a quarian being a digitigrade, since they have such large feet. Feels as if they wouldn't have proper balance in that case.

Also:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cy0hyPZWSwY

I find them doing this a lot on that rock.

[Alienmorph]

She's got a wonderful evil laught. Nice!

[TheodoricFriede]

As for quarian legs, I always took them for plantigrade with really curved shins. The old models clearly had them flat-footed, and with the metal shinguards, figured it was one solid bone piece. Whereas the turians clearly walked on their toes.

Given quarian's feet look I could totally see them being ditigrades, with the inner part of the fingers bones and connective tissues forming a "pseudo-plant". They sure don't look straight-up dino feet like the turians' but thei're far from looking like our feet either.

Technically what they are would be Semi-digitigrade which is what elephants are.

And angara for that matter.

[magnuskn]

I must say, the Thokin makes for a pretty kick-ass full auto assault rifle at high levels. It's the shield stripper I've been looking for.

[magnuskn]

Well, I finished the game, and since I've been bitching about Mass Effect and BioWare for five years now, I feel obligated to expound a bit on what I thought. I’ll give a grade at the end at that will be composite of several key aspects of the game, namely Story, Characters, Companions, Gameplay, Combat, Graphics and Cinematography. I won’t be rating the multiplayer, since I haven’t played it yet. I assume it will be as good as ME3, although I miss the interesting cast of enemies already. Tsk, now I’m nostalgic for the shudder a screaming Banshee always gave me. ^^

Let’s start with the Story: This aspect of ME:A was what I’d describe as average at best. Aside from some of the plotholes the very expedition to Andromeda raises, „finding a new home“ is not exactly a novel concept. There were no great story twists and, at least for me, the main story was sorely lacking in highpoints, until the last hour. The side stories were no great shakes, either, decidedly sub-par to what I’ve seen in other games. Many defaulted to fetch-quests with little drama or twists at the start, middle or end. 4/10

Characters: Some characters in ME:A were pretty interesting (Kesh, Reyes, Raeka), some were good antagonists. However, a majority of characters fell completely flat for me. I could attribute this to the terrible facial animations and horrible cinematography, but since I was really unimpressed by the Kett and Angara in their totality as well, I think it is more of a writing problem after all.
Aside from the Krogan (which are really hard to fuck up), I found most milky way races to have been turned into alien-looking humans. Many of things which seemed to make Turians into Turians, the Asari into Asari, etc, seemed to be gone. I can understand societal strictures to break apart when you are in a complely new environment, but I’d love to have seen more Turian militarism, Asari spirituality or Salarian opportunism.
The Kett were a terrible disappointment. Emotional ciphers (aside from the Archon), their vile ethical behaviour and religious fanaticism let them be nothing more than antagonists.
The Angara also did not really seem to have much of a culture besides „family“. Their high emotionality did not really shine through in many situations, hence they defaulted more to „really huggy humans“ often enough. 4/10

Companions: Again, a lot of them fell flat for me, especially compared to companions from prior games (and I am not talking about only the trilogy). The problem is that most rough edges seem to have been sandpapered off by BioWare. This was the same problem which I had with Dragon Age: Inquisition (aside from Sera, who turned out to be such a disgustingly slimy edgelord worm monster that it’s reasonable to assume that BW overwrote her terribly).
None of the companions are actively bad. But, with the exception of Peebee (and, believe me, I am as surprised as you to see me write that), they all either have the distinct feel of „Seen that before“ or „Boring“. Hell, I took Vetra as my romantic interest and I ended up feeling bored as hell, kinda like I did with Josephine in DA:I. Still, Peebee raises the cast above the average, so a 6/10 from me.

Gameplay: I, uh, hated that part of the game. The unnecessarily long voyages between planets and systems. The constant driving around in the Nomad for fetch quests. The terrible inventory. Way too much travel time between empty spaces. It’s the open world game plague, I know, but there are ways to make open worlds meaningful. Either by making them small enough with enough reachable objectives to not make you feel like you are wasting time or by filling them with really interesting quests, which do not require you to just drive around the entire gigantic zone to get four sensor readings. I can’t count how many times I spent minutes just trying to get onto some damn mountaintop for a hard-to-reach location, just to get one more scanner result. This is as close to total fail as possible to my taste in gaming and will likely be the reason that this will be the only Mass Effect game I will not replay again. Just like with Dragon Age: Inquisition. Damn it, Bioware. :-/ 2/10

Combat: The only part of the game which really, really worked for me. Individual weapon buffs and nerfs aside, combat is pretty amazing. Not too fast, just like in ME3, but now with more mobility. I’d prefer having more than three powers at once, but then again I really did well with just Charge, Nova and whatever I felt putting into slot three. I have little to complain here, so that’s a solid 9/10.

Graphics: Well. Environmental graphics were very, very pretty, as well as combat animations. However, this is pretty much completely crushed by the terrible facial animations, the single face on every asari (aside from Peebee and Lexi) and whatever botox treatment all humans and asari seem to have gotten during cryo. I think this has been beaten to death already in a thousand places, so I'll leave it there. The patch did make it a little better, but it still is pretty damn bad. 5/10.

Cinematography: Another stinker. There were some nice cutscenes throughout the game, but the simple zoom-in over Ryders shoulder to talk to normal quest NPC’s was just awful and even most normal cutscenes had to people standing around, no dramatic angles, just them talking and sometimes feebly trying to raise their arms from their sides. Not to mention that most character interaction cutscenes on the Tempest start with the dramatic turnabout people know so well from Star Wars: The Old Republic. I felt this was pretty damn lacking, especially since BioWare does know better. That they farmed this out to their junior studio is not an excuse for failing to keep their own standards of the past. 3/10

So, yeah, that’s a composite 4,7/10 for me, rounded up to a total score of 5/10. Guess the combat saves it from the 4/10 I really wanted to give it. A mediocre game, with little to recommend it to a friend besides the very enjoyable combat.

I know that for a variety of reasons we are probably not going to go back to the Milky Way and if we do, it’ll be a good time after Shepard. However, I personally am not feeling it with the story in Andromeda. I hope that this will be a one-time excursion and we then can get back to more interesting locations and people, like what we have in the Milky Way. However, with how things are at BioWare and EA, I fear we are stuck here, with an enemy which is boring beyond imagination and this uninspiring cast of characters.

I am holding out hope that Hack Walters will leave BioWare, too and then a new team will realize what a terrible direction they’ve taken the franchise in and swallow the bitter pill of having to come up with a plot twist which negates the three-colored endings of ME3.

But, if that doesn’t happen, I still have ME3 with MEHEM. It’s better than ME: Andromeda, that’s for sure. In fact, I think I’ll go back to my playthrough of that and think of better times, accompanied by Tali, Garrus, Wrex and the others. Although I’ll admit, if I could teleport Liara to Andromeda and get Peebee in exchange, I’d take that deal.

[DarkStorm]

jeez maybe i should write a review everyone else seems too. ;p

[magnuskn]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ToMLelf41s

[TheodoricFriede]

So, yeah, that’s a composite 4,7/10 for me, rounded up to a total score of 5/10. Guess the combat saves it from the 4/10 I really wanted to give it. A mediocre game, with little to recommend it to a friend besides the very enjoyable combat.

You. Are. Insane.

[Vol]

Eh, I can see how the range of opinions on the game, especially before the patch, could range from 4-8/10. Depends on what you prioritize, how you feel about the story/characters, and so on. I called it a flawed gem, and the flawed is the operative word, because they can tank it for some people, others, like me, can deal with it for the meat underneath.

[Someone With Mass]

Heh. I found Conrad Verner's sister on Kadara. Someone's regretting their life choices...

Also, I thought Eos had plenty of quests, but holy shit, Kadara is peppered with the things. Could almost make all of that a game on its own.

[TheodoricFriede]

Also, I thought Eos had plenty of quests, but holy shit, Kadara is peppered with the things. Could almost make all of that a game on its own.

Kadara is big, but i feel like i had less issue with Kadara than i did Eos. Eos actively got on my nerves.

[UNiT]

So, yeah, that’s a composite 4,7/10 for me, rounded up to a total score of 5/10. Guess the combat saves it from the 4/10 I really wanted to give it. A mediocre game, with little to recommend it to a friend besides the very enjoyable combat.

You. Are. Insane.

There must be some bias in this review. I can't see it getting this low. But then I think The Witcher is bland as fuck.

[Alienmorph]

Love the mindset... one exposes calmly and in detail his opinion about a game, and since it differs from yours is either biased or insane.

Heh. I found Conrad Verner's sister on Kadara. Someone's regretting their life choices...

Conrad's sister?! Christ, this game has more nods and winks to the previous entries in its series than a JJ Abrhams movie.

[TTTX]

Love the mindset... one exposes calmly and in detail his opinion about a game, and since it differs from yours is either biased or insane.

after ME3 I think a lot of our opinions are biased.

still though ME:A is not 5/10, I have played games that are worse then ME:A that have gotten better scores then that.

I think somewhere around a 7/10 is more accurate from a objektive point of view.

DA2 was worse when it first released and has way worse story issues (mostly in the third act and the time skips is so poorly executed that that it's text book on how not to do time skips) then ME:A has.

[TheodoricFriede]

Love the mindset... one exposes calmly and in detail his opinion about a game, and since it differs from yours is either biased or insane.

I want you to do a quick google search for games that scored 5 out of 10 and compare. You tell me whose biased or insane.

[Mobius_118]

Love the mindset... one exposes calmly and in detail his opinion about a game, and since it differs from yours is either biased or insane.

I want you to do a quick google search for games that scored 5 out of 10 and compare. You tell me whose biased or insane.

Well you never were known for having an unbiased, calm opinion.

Reminds me of when I thought Legend of Zelda games weren't my thing, boring, despite trying a few of the flagship entries, and you went in with name calling.

It's his opinion of the game, no need to go off on him for finding it mediocre at best.

[magnuskn]

So, yeah, that’s a composite 4,7/10 for me, rounded up to a total score of 5/10. Guess the combat saves it from the 4/10 I really wanted to give it. A mediocre game, with little to recommend it to a friend besides the very enjoyable combat.

There must be some bias in this review. I can't see it getting this low. But then I think The Witcher is bland as fuck.

Love the mindset... one exposes calmly and in detail his opinion about a game, and since it differs from yours is either biased or insane.

Love the mindset... one exposes calmly and in detail his opinion about a game, and since it differs from yours is either biased or insane.

I want you to do a quick google search for games that scored 5 out of 10 and compare. You tell me whose biased or insane.

Nowadays people think that anything under 7/10 is automatically a total failure, because gaming sites have been overgrading games for the last two decades. I'm 41 years old, I remember the old times when a 5/10 was just what it was... a mediocre game.

Sorry if this ruffles some feathers, but this was my personal experience. Yeah, of course I went into the game with some bias, who here did not? I think I laid out in exacting detail how I came to the scores I did, so if you want to go into those and tell me where I'm wrong, I'm happy to discuss.

Theo, since you also loved Dragon Age: Inquisition, I can of course understand that ME:A does appeal very much to you. But for me the entire game design has gone off the rails from what makes BioWare games great in the first place, which is a tight narrative with interesting characters, instead of what I got here, which I perceive to be a meandering game with bland as hell characters. I could go once again into a little rant on how BioWare seems to have shaved all the rough edges off their companions and the supporting cast, but what's the point?

UNit, if you thought the Witcher 3 bland as fuck and this game not, I think we may have a completely different approach to storytelling and narrative.

Thanks for the support, Alienmorph and Mobius.

[TheodoricFriede]

Theo, since you also loved Dragon Age: Inquisition...

Let me stop you right there.

Dragon Age: Inquisition is one of Biowares worst games. I dont like Dragon Age Inquisition.

Id still give that game a 7.5.

[magnuskn]

Huh, I thought I remembered reading you liking that game very much. Oh, well. For me it was also a 5/10 at best, probably a 4/10 because of Sera alone. I'm just not made for these open world games with repetitive grinds. If a game feels like it is deliberately wasting my time, it makes me grumpy.

Mass Effect 3 is a 7,5/10 for me, because of the terrible endings. If they had ended the trilogy properly, it'd be a 9/10.