I'm 5 hours in as of last night (3/22), and getting ready to go back in today. But my early impressions are that many areas feel rough or rushed. I've played ME1 & ME2 6 times each, and ME3 twice (2nd time with the alt ending mod). I loved that whole series, there was just so much emotion involved with your companions. MEA has so much to live up to, which I think is part of the problem with all the negative comments, here and elsewhere. My first thought in starting out was: "Man, I want Commander Shepard back, he could straighten things out." But I'm adjusting, and I really feel the story will play out well, but as I say, I'm only 5 hours in.
So I don't hate it, and as of yet, I don't love it. But I do like it and am having fun. I also ended up loving DA:I, which received a lot of bashing. I can live with some poor animations as long as the story stays (or gets) strong.
One thing that I dislike right now is "check point saves" on main quest lines. I hate check point saves. I would really like a quick save option. One thing that I'm impressed with is the stability and smoothness running at 4k on a gtx1080. Variable settings, some ultra, some high, some medium, but no stuttering or slowdowns. Not running Fraps, so I'm not sure what the actual FPS is, but it looks very smooth.
I'm about 5-6 hours in now as well, and I'm enjoying the game and the story so far. That isn't my issue with it. It's that the character builds and animations look worse than they did on the 13 year old engine that the prior 3 games used. That and the clunky feeling combat, just makes it feel like a closed beta, not a gold release.
I agree with you..
There are two other things bugging the hell out of me.. The damn game turns off my G-19 lighting so I cannot see the damn keys at night and in the game itself, why the hell can we not change the weapons, armor and gear of our team?
Couldn't put my finger on why I was disappointed with the squads until you pointed that out. With the research and crafting options, why can't I fit my team out with different gear? I was sort of allowing myself to ignore some of the pathing issues, or the standing in the open during the firefight issues as more like my gameplay style. (I don't always stop to tell them where to stand) And it hit me that being unable to customize their look/weapons is why I really don't care about them during gameplay. Even when they go down I usually let them just stay there...
TBH, couple days in, just dunno that I can stick with it...well I can, but in more of a "oh I got an hour to kill, why not" way, and not the "Can't wait to get home, get dinner and the family situated and have some gametime" way.
Edit: On second thought, maybe there are quite a few other reasons why I don't care about the team characters, but perhaps a goal of outfitting them well would be an interesting pursuit within the game. Maybe would make it feel a bit more personal.
Edit #2: A colleague of mine got to talking today and he brought up a number of other issues; however, when I spoke to him regarding animations, he had not seen near as many oddities as I. He sent me a video to show and it was indeed not as severe. No odd walking, out of sync speech, or eye issues. I'm trying this out on PS4, he's using Xbox. While I've seen others reporting these issues on Xbox, mayhaps this is some odd engine/compatibility/if your system is pointing north/etc., sort of issue. Perhaps food for thought.
In any case, do enjoy the game all, for I've used up all the *'s I have to give on the topic.
