Mass Effect : Meet and Fuck

[Xanthir]

I have no idea, I haven't played it yet (wife is still finishing up FF, then it's my turn to play a game in the evenings). I was just reacting to mosc having bad opinions; it's gratifying to know they were in fact extremely bad.

(That said, same thing applies to, say, Dragon Age 2.)

[Weeks]

In summary: playing ME:A is like reading my post. Padded, directionless, zero reason to repeat the expeience, and whatever nuggets you actually like you'll probably forget in the sea of bland.

A+, well done

I'm not buying this but based on what people are saying about the combat and multiplayer I might get it at discount in like a year, and possibly look forward to a more polished ME:A2.

[EvanED]

I'm a bit torn whether to discuss the game or try to stay away until I get through it, because I've really tried (and for the most part been successful) at going in completely blind. But whatever.

To be a bit contrarian, I'm enjoying it quite a bit so far. I'm not terribly far in (about 13 hrs, have only explored Eos) so am not at a point where I can really say that I'm missing big story decisions or anything like that, so I think that's the big caveat. At this point I think the story has promise, but of course that doesn't mean it will be borne out. (Edit: actually, I have made one decision that was hard and I think could be consequential in the future. We'll see.)

Mosc mentioned that it felt most like ME1 to him (I'm not sure if that was just the specific points mentioned or overall), but in some ways I agree... but for me, that's a good thing; ME1 was my favorite from the original trilogy in most respects. (ME2 is a clear third place for me basically across the board, except for some of the characters and their loyalty missions, which are top notch.) Sure, ME1 had a god-awful inventory management system from hell, and sure 2 & 3 are visually a step up, but it made up for it in other ways.

The jury is still out on where Andromeda will fall in my ranking. If I had to pick a spot now it'd be above ME2, but that's a pretty darn tentative rating considering how much I haven't seen yet. It hasn't had much that sticks out to me as great, but it also has been pretty good about not annoying me umpteen different ways (large and small).

[Weeks]

Please discuss the game I love talking about Mass Effect

I've come to realize I enjoy these games sort of like interactive movies with some spiffy combat and tinkering with rpg stuff. The main point of it all is being Shepard in an idealistic future. It's like I'm Indiana Jones in space.

So the first game works really well in that aspect. It had a charm to it that the other games really don't have. I didn't mind the combat or the UI too much back in the day, and the music and general atmosphere were awesome. Like the world was rather small but neat. It had places I'd enjoy visiting personally, and looking and listening at things. Not so much walking through it over and over. I only beat the game once (maybe twice? I reloaded saves a lot...) but very much like a movie, the scenery, the story and characters were memorable.

I recently replayed ME2 and still liked it, mostly due to the characters...it felt Star Wars-y. They really tried to make you like these random space people and for me they succeeded, mostly. Omega is a cool setting. You get to know more about the characters of the previous game, kind of twisting them, but adding depth. Which is probably one of the better things about sequels. When I first played it I think I might've thought of it as a step down though, because I was expecting more of an epic space opera thing like the first game, but I've come to appreciate it over time. Its tone is darker and more cynical, which is probably a cliche of sequels, but I think the added depth makes up for it, and (most of) the new characters are memorable too.

So it seems like I would enjoy this game quite a bit. I posted earlier like I've already made a decision, but I've heard enough back and fourth on whether it's good enough that I'll probably be looking at more things to see if I don't get it. I hear the multiplayer is great too (besides network issues I guess)

[maybeagnostic]

I decided to try to push on with the game for now. It's Mass Effect, after all, so I have to finish it once at least. @Chen, I got to most of the decisions you mentioned now that I returned to the Cita... err, Nexus for the first time. I think all of their executions were botched but at least they are there. Spoilers for my return to Nexus after first Eos visit:

Spoiler:

It all boils down to finishing the quests too abruptly. I investigated the murderer's story, found out he lied but also didn't kill the guy and told Tann what I wanted done with him... then Tann didn't say anything and the murderer was just gone. No one reacted to my decision at all. Similarly the saboteur disappeared without a word after I made my decision and choosing to place a scientific outpost on Eos seems to have had no(?) effect so far. Lying to Ryder's brother was an emotional scene but since my Ryder revealed earlier in a conversation that she hardly knew her father, a lot of the effect was lost.

Anyway, I expected something on the level of the first trilogy and this certainly isn't it even if the many unpolished and not-quite-finished aspects bring ME1 to mind. I think if approached with sufficiently low expectations, the game might not be that bad although I am still not that far into it.

Multiplayer is starting to grow on me a bit. I finally got one weapon worth a damn so I've moved to silver matches where I can carry my own weight and speed up the massive gear grind a bit. It's fun enough when you get used to it although the co-op element of ME3 is totally missing in most matches. It might be the people I've played with but the player mobility, weak and rare power combos and extremely mobile enemy melee units make working together kind of pointless. So far my games consist of everyone running all over the map, sometimes momentarily working together with another player before splitting up again.

[Xeio]

↶I don't like the romance stuff. It's tackey at this point. I have nothing against bisexuals but having romance options for pretty much every shipmate from both genders on either gender as a player character really makes sexuality in ME:A feel completely tacked on rather than adding to the character interaction depth. Can't a character just be straight? Or even just Gay? Isn't having a defined sexuality a significant part of a character's identity? I mean sure, have a bisexual character or two but just don't make EVERYONE bisexual. That's not being diverse, it's being lazy.

I think Bioware kind of back themselves into a corner there. Remember people complained that Straight Male characters didn't have enough or good enough options in DA:I even.

Though, isn't that just a dialog option for all of them? Don't most of them reject you when you try it if you're not their type?

[Weeks]

It should've been called Meet and Fuck: Andromeda to improve sales

[SecondTalon]

Wish granted

[Weeks]

Nice

[Chen]

I decided to try to push on with the game for now. It's Mass Effect, after all, so I have to finish it once at least. @Chen, I got to most of the decisions you mentioned now that I returned to the Cita... err, Nexus for the first time. I think all of their executions were botched but at least they are there. Spoilers for my return to Nexus after first Eos visit:

Spoiler:

It all boils down to finishing the quests too abruptly. I investigated the murderer's story, found out he lied but also didn't kill the guy and told Tann what I wanted done with him... then Tann didn't say anything and the murderer was just gone. No one reacted to my decision at all. Similarly the saboteur disappeared without a word after I made my decision and choosing to place a scientific outpost on Eos seems to have had no(?) effect so far. Lying to Ryder's brother was an emotional scene but since my Ryder revealed earlier in a conversation that she hardly knew her father, a lot of the effect was lost.

Anyway, I expected something on the level of the first trilogy and this certainly isn't it even if the many unpolished and not-quite-finished aspects bring ME1 to mind. I think if approached with sufficiently low expectations, the game might not be that bad although I am still not that far into it.

In my super lawful playthrough I let the "murderer" stay and there is follow-up with it later on.

Spoiler:

Next time you go to the cryo bay he's there and tells his story. His wife left him, everyone still hates him and so he gets himself put back into cryo

Not sure if anything happens if you exile him and/or the saboteur but with the way the story is progressing I suspect they'll show up again

Spoiler:

The Exile enclave on Kadara probably has something with them, though likely just a throwaway line or two

Eos

Spoiler:

The science outpost results in the protest of the people who wanted military family out. I imagine this is a "fake" decision though since I bet the protest occurs if you set up a military outpost just with "scientist" protesters instead. The quests on Eos do apparently change depending on which outpost you setup from what I've read

In all honesty the game feels like Dragon Age Inquisition in space. And I'm ok with that.

[HES]

Not sure if anything happens if you exile him and/or the saboteur but with the way the story is progressing I suspect they'll show up again

Spoiler:

The Exile enclave on Kadara probably has something with them, though likely just a throwaway line or two

Pretty much.

Spoiler:

You meet him on Kadara and exchange a throwaway line or two

[WibblyWobbly]

I don't know - I always feel like reading bad reviews and unfavorable critiques from friends and contemporaries means I should find reasons not to like something, but despite its flaws (and it has a number, even at the point I'm at not too far after Eos), I actually find ME:A interesting. I'm not immediately turned off by the crafting system or the menus. I find them messy, but not inherently game-breaking. And the animation issues? I find them mostly funny so far, especially every now and then when the game realizes an NPC is in the wrong place and has them do a 50-yard Tom-Cruise-from-Risky-Business-type slide into place. Maybe I have drastically low expectations - in some ways, that makes me happy. There's something to be said for someone who is easily amused - at least they're still amused. Then again, maybe it's a good thing I haven't played Horizon: Zero Dawn just yet.

[Obby]

I don't know - I always feel like reading bad reviews and unfavorable critiques from friends and contemporaries means I should find reasons not to like something, but despite its flaws (and it has a number, even at the point I'm at not too far after Eos), I actually find ME:A interesting. I'm not immediately turned off by the crafting system or the menus. I find them messy, but not inherently game-breaking. And the animation issues? I find them mostly funny so far, especially every now and then when the game realizes an NPC is in the wrong place and has them do a 50-yard Tom-Cruise-from-Risky-Business-type slide into place. Maybe I have drastically low expectations - in some ways, that makes me happy. There's something to be said for someone who is easily amused - at least they're still amused. Then again, maybe it's a good thing I haven't played Horizon: Zero Dawn just yet.

This is more or less how I feel about ME:A as well.

It's not "best game ever" or even "best Mass Effect ever". I find it interesting in most aspects. The combat is fluid, the skill system works well with the profiles (even if you do have to level up to really take advantage of it), and the animation wonkiness is amusing. The game looks incredible, and exploring around the various planets is genuinely gratifying to me.

The only part that really bothers me is the obvious gaps in the story. There are some parts where it's very obvious that something was cut out, some of the cut scenes had weird jumps in them like they were missing pieces.

Late game spoiler:

Spoiler:

For instance, I don't recall there ever being any kind of explanation about the race that created the Remnant - the Jarden or something like that? - but shortly after the mission on Meridian you are now discussing this race as if you know something about them. There was no explanation for this as far as I remember... Maybe I missed something in one of the cutscenes though.

In general though, I enjoyed the story. I think I overall enjoyed it better than DA:I, but it's different enough that it's hard to compare. It definitely felt very much like a Mass Effect game.

[WibblyWobbly]

By the way: I know a lot of people prefer to play a female Shepard in the original trilogy, so I'm assuming a lot of people will start out with a female Ryder in Andromeda. But of anyone who plays/played a male Ryder: did anyone else name theirs "Shaun"?

[Xeio]

FemShepRyder all the way.

Unrelated, I gotta say, just killed the "Architect" and I'd definitely put it down as one of the better fight sequences in the series for me.

Which is weird for a semi-random side mission boss...

The cover system can still feel wonky at times but I like how movement oriented combat can be. I can't tell if the cover issue just feels more that way because enemies flank like motherfuckers though...

[maybeagnostic]

The only part that really bothers me is the obvious gaps in the story. There are some parts where it's very obvious that something was cut out, some of the cut scenes had weird jumps in them like they were missing pieces.

This is pretty rampant even early on but all the dialogue feels so disjointed anyway, I am not quite sure if its intentional.

The cover system can still feel wonky at times but I like how movement oriented combat can be. I can't tell if the cover issue just feels more that way because enemies flank like motherfuckers though...

At least in MP its partially that cover doesn't always give you cover. Characters are quite happy to take cover behind things that leave their head completely exposed or half their body sticking out. With how accurate enemies are (at least on higher difficulties) this means that anything less than perfect cover will get you riddled with bullets.

[EvanED]

I'm playing through; if I had to take a wild guess I'd say I'm probably around halfway, but that's not based on an absolute ton of information. Just a guess.

So far for the most part I've really been pretty happy; I won't say there haven't been annoyances and weaknesses, but on the whole they're pretty minor. I'm having substantially more fun than my first time playing ME2, for example.

That said, I just hit a kind of game-breaking bug, which I want to warn people playing about. If you recognize it's happening and deal with it right away (by reloading and playing a single combat encounter again in a different style) it's not a big deal, but otherwise you're kind of a bit screwed.

There are really minor spoilers ahead. That said, even I wouldn't have complained about knowing this before starting, and I went in not knowing that Ryder's dad and sibling is along for the ride to give an idea of how much of a stickler I was.

At some point, you will go exploring on the planet Voeld. There will be a quest on that planet where you have to find the transponder for [ship name redacted].

Eventually on that quest, you will reach a location with a bunch of Kett. What should happen is you enter into a fight, and at some point a drop ship of reinforcements arrive. Once they're all wiped out, you should be able to scan then interact with the transponder, which the quest marker will lead you right to.

However, apparently if you go and snipe all the Kett from a long way off because that's how your Ryder rolls, the reinforcements may not show up and you won't be able to interact with the transponder. (You won't even be able to scan it. Also, it's not 100% that this is the cause, but it's by far the primary explanation on the bug thread on Answers EA.)

It should be pretty obvious when you're actually at the right place, and the transponder is relatively stand-out, and at least once you walk by it, it'll give you a quest marker right on top of it. If you think you should be finding it and you're not, then you might have hit this bug.

The recommended workaround seems to be to reload a save from before the encounter, then go in guns blazing instead of being Mr. Cheaty Snipey.

The location of the encounter is as follows, which I will put behind spoiler tags:

Spoiler:

Very near the far eastern border of the Voeld map, just off of the vertical center

And one more slightly more spoilery piece of information about the quest:

Spoiler:

Reports in the EA thread are that the completion of this quest has implications in the endgame. Given the ship whose transponder you're looking for, this seems like it could be pretty critical. Wouldn't want to miss it just for a game bug.

[HES]

I've had the same issue with a different quest elsewhere. If you want to go sniping, you have to get close enough to trigger the encounter first.

[EvanED]

I've had the same issue with a different quest elsewhere. If you want to go sniping, you have to get close enough to trigger the encounter first.

Great, now you've got me paranoid that I'm missing stuff left and right.

Was it at least obvious that you missed something?

[HES]

Was it at least obvious that you missed something?

Yeah, because there was a floating quest marker and no way to progress it. Also I knew the second wave was supposed to arrive because they'd just killed me the first time around (hence the sniping attempt).

[Chen]

Basically if you snipe out a whole encounter with NO ONE moving towards you to attack and no return fire, there's a pretty good chance of bugging out an event (if it's an event).

I did it that way for one mining base and it didn't completely bug out. BUT the second wave appeared when I moved back to the previous area rather than appearing in the area I was in. This made things MUCH harder since I walked into a Hydra Mech and like 12 guys in an area that had practically no cover. Was fun, but clearly not intended (I mean during the first fight a teammate called out "Hydra incoming!" yet there was nothing until I transitioned back out).

[mosc]

Anybody see Giant Bomb's review? It wasn't too flattering. I play enough elder scrolls games to put up with some bugs but ME:2 was the most polished AAA game I can name. This is definitely one of the buggiest.

I'm trudging through as best I can. The key seems to be ignoring a lot of side-quests. There's some pieces of writing that seem very mass-effect-ey, others seem like traditional MMO quest nonsense. There are too many quests where you talk to NPC standing around, they don't really turn to face you correctly, you go scan 3 pieces of random world map that were there already (but are now scanable!) surrounded by random trash and your reward is "thank you rider" over the comm along with +irrelevant viability increase and the NPC now ignores you. That doesn't add anything to the game. Why do they put in stuff like that? Narrative Driven Gameplay. I feel like if they DO end up making ME:A2 they should plaster that phrase over every desk.

[Xeio]

Yeah, I've run into a lot of bugs.

Got eaten by one of the big things, and instead of dying the screen just went black and I couldn't do anything. My squadmates and UI kept displaying status and the mission kept progressing (till I had to interact with something), but I couldn't even open the menu.

In the ice planet vault (Voeld?) one of the auto-save points near the special item PeeBee needs for her project, if I ever loaded that auto-save point it would launch me off the cliff into the vault floor, and then "fix" my positioning by taking me out of the vault to the surface under the Tempest landing point.

At least it makes multiple auto-saves... though the game could stand to auto-save more often.

Unrelated, is there an architect on every planet? Ran into a second one on Eos. I thought the first one was really awesome but a bit saddened if the same fight is going to keep showing up everwhere.

[Chen]

At least it makes multiple auto-saves... though the game could stand to auto-save more often.

Unrelated, is there an architect on every planet? Ran into a second one on Eos. I thought the first one was really awesome but a bit saddened if the same fight is going to keep showing up everwhere.

Sometimes I find the autosaves goes nuts though and I have all 4 autosaves within like 30 seconds of each other. Not sure what causes that. For architects, there's at least one on Voeld that I killed. It was tougher since it was in a level 2 hostile cold zone with a few scattered buildings. And it had some weird electrical field directly beneath it that killed you fast (and covered the entire closest building). But the shoot legs->head part was the same as the first one on Eos.

[EvanED]

ME:2 was the most polished AAA game I can name. This is definitely one of the buggiest.

... and yet, I found ME2's issues way more frustrating than Andromeda's. I ran into a lot of lack of polish with 2, none of which has been fixed in patches. I routinely get the "press __ to end the mission" overlay (I tried finding a screenshot but didn't come up with one quickly) popping up on top of the dialogue wheel when I'm in conversation. If you change your keyboard bindings, the messages "press __ to do ___" that show up on screen don't change, which is basically just as lazy as you can be. And then there are issues I have with control, like the "do everything but what I want" button. (This is the button that enters cover when you are trying to sprint, vaults over cover when you are trying to enter cover, etc.) That button is OK for consoles but a slap in the face of PC gamers. And that doesn't even get into the design decisions regarding the RPG elements, combat, story, etc., which I almost universally dislike or even hate.

My first time through ME2 was so frustrating and there's so much stuff I didn't like (and don't like) about that game that I wasn't even sure if I liked it, or if I just wanted to like it because it's Mass Effect. It wasn't until much later that a combination of two things made me soften my stance and it's grown a lot on me; the two things being looking at the story from the perspective of the characters and pretending the main story doesn't exist (because the characters, and many of the loyalty missions, are absolutely top-notch), and playing through on vanguard, which I have to admit was an absolute blast combatwise.

But ME2 is still, to me, by far the worst of the original trilogy. The jury's still out on Andromeda because I'm still playing through it, but I don't see that statement changing. Like I said before, overall I'm having way more fun with Andromeda than my first time through ME2, despite its warts. (I kind of view "despite its warts" as par for the course for Bioware, to be honest.)

There are too many quests where you talk to NPC standing around, they don't really turn to face you correctly

I personally like it when they walk away from you as you're trying to talk to them, growing quieter and quieter until you can no longer hear what they're saying. (I very rarely play with subtitles on; it messes with conversation pacing for me.)

At least that's only happened once...

[HES]

I... I just topped 90 hours. Fair to say I'm enjoying this game.

Unrelated, is there an architect on every planet?

There seems to be one on each outpost world, same fight mechanics, plus the one in the main storyline which is a little different.

[maybeagnostic]

I've abandoned the single player entirely at this point (this might be the longest I've forced myself to stick with a boring game) but I am enjoying the MP a lot more. It's challenging, there's some sense of progression separate from the grindastic weapon and class unlocking and the games are short enough that I can hop on when I feel like just taking a 15 minute break.

[Xeio]

Patch coming on Thursday is going to add some nice things like skipping the in-system flight cutscenes.

Also apparently fixing some facial animation stuff as well as some other random bugs. Though apparently more animation stuff (and character creation improvements) are still on the roadmap for the future as well.

[Xanthir]

I ended up finding a pretty nice face amongst all the monsters in there. I'm actually quite happy with it, because it got me into a different face-space than I usually go for.

My wife forbade me from just making my Shepard again, since I'd played that Shep thru all of ME, then thru DA:I, then Fallout 4... I've got a Type.

[Xeio]

I like my character, though she turned out looking a little more Asian than I had intended.

[HES]

I, too, ended up with a face way off my norm. But this is Ryder, not Shepard, and I like the change.

Patch coming on Thursday is going to add some nice things like skipping the in-system flight cutscenes.

That's welcome. It's nice to have when exploring but a drag when actually doing things.

[Xanthir]

I was trying to come up with a clever set of names for twins, so I looked back at an old MBMBAM sketch about twin names, and got bit by the first pair they mentioned. So I'm now the proud controller of Jam Ryder.

Then I learned I can't actually change my twin's name to Ham, which is fucking bullshit. I still like "Jam", tho, that stays.

Bonus: I already know who I need to romance, to get the sweet sweet "PB&J" shipname.

[Xanthir]

Can confirm: significantly less bug-eye since the patch. Everyone looks much more human now.

[Xanthir]

A niggling annoyance is just how *quickly* Ryder tries to get her bone on with everyone. Like, first personal convo with a new crewmember, and you already have a heart option, which is often Ryder just being *super* inept at flirting.

This isn't how people flirt! Let us have a few conversations where we get to know someone before you start getting all thirsty, godDAM.

This is especially bad in the first conversation with Suvi, where you (her boss) just straight up say she's hot and you find her accent sexy. That's not cute, Ryder, that's sexual harrassment and creating a hostile workplace, and it honestly made me a bit uncomfortable. :(

[WibblyWobbly]

Hey, it is "Mass Effect: Meet and Fuck" after all...

No, it's just creepy. Although, for some reason, I got the male Ryder option when I made my character, and while he doesn't hit on Suvi, some of the other crew members talk about her accent later and how much they appreciate it, and I found that a little weirder than usual.

[Ginger]

Spoiler:

I wanna have my femme Shepard have sweet-sweet lady love with Liora. Why can't I? Aren't I smooth-talking and pretty enough? They made me cut my long-long hair down to a short affair for my military duties but I still wear some makeups and wanna make out sweetly with Liora. And Saren made me sad. "Why not serve the Reapers because they're going to annihilate us all?" And Vanguard scared the living girl feelings out of me. "I AM THE VANGUARD OF HUMANITY'S DESTRUCTION." I wanna destroy your face off you evil ship's AI!

[EdgarJPublius]

It's now possible to buy the DLC for ME2 and 3 in bundles on Origin without having to buy any of biowares monopoly money.

Why the DLC wasn't already included in the Trilogy bundle a while back, or hasn't been included in some kind of GOTY edition yet is beyond me.

[F117Landers]

Yeah, From Ashes is a pretty integral part of ME3 that's not included.

Related, I decided to play through again. Every playthrough, I find something that I missed before.