Looks like I'm not alone in this. The character models don't look great, the voice to mouth movement is off, and the facial animation is lacking, character movement at times seems blocky, but Tsewe & Malakie coined the biggest problem in the best way, and that's the "doll eyes". They look terribly fake, and have 2 expressions. Surprised and really surprised. All of the above yanks you out of the immersion unfortunately.
I'm guessing the jump pack was supposed to replace being able to run/slide over barricades in ME3, but it doesn't feel as fluid to me. Honestly the cover system seems to have more in common with ME1 (but admittedly better than ME1's), which was the worst of the 3 for use of cover. I also miss being able to direct my squadmates on what power to use, to set up combos.
As for the actual bugs, I'm sure they will squash them. The facial animations and character realism seem more doubtful of being resolved with a patch, but I'm going to hold out hope for some character animation polish in a patch.
I'm sure I'll end up loving the game, but unfortunately with some reservations. I wish EA would stop pushing for releases before Bioware is done with a game. I'm pretty certain that was the reason for the original terrible ending to ME3. Once EA gave Bioware time to do the directors cut ending, then the game was really good, but unfortunately the original terrible ending had already left a bad taste in a lot of mouths.
I don't know if anyone feels the same way but after playing many many open world games this feels far from open world. It feels like you can see a lot but the interaction with it is corraled in to tiny pockets where action happens. For example on Eos driving in the ATV there are outposts of kett but you cannot fight them or you die from radiation . Just seems pointless to put them there other than to just annoy. Even though I am a self confessed hopeless navigator I even manage to end up in the same place no matter where I drive as most areas are inaccessible .
I have had to play on casual as learning this game step by step is just too hazadous to play on any other level and take everything in at the same time. Just as I was starting to accept the game I get thrown a curve ball and the game changed in to a puzzle solver. Sorry but that has no place in this game. Even after scanning every grain of sand in sight progression comes to a grinding halt. It is too clostrophobic and in the standard version inventry load out space is a joke . I craft something I want to wear it not have to back to the tempest too re do the loadout. For what this game cost it is below par. It took 3 days to D/L and will take 30 seconds to uninstall. All the hype was just that sadly. I should of known better than to ever trust EA again
@Sludge-Gulper wrote:
I don't know if anyone feels the same way but after playing many many open world games this feels far from open world. It feels like you can see a lot but the interaction with it is corraled in to tiny pockets where action happens. For example on Eos driving in the ATV there are outposts of kett but you cannot fight them or you die from radiation . Just seems pointless to put them there other than to just annoy. Even though I am a self confessed hopeless navigator I even manage to end up in the same place no matter where I drive as most areas are inaccessible .
I have had to play on casual as learning this game step by step is just too hazadous to play on any other level and take everything in at the same time. Just as I was starting to accept the game I get thrown a curve ball and the game changed in to a puzzle solver. Sorry but that has no place in this game. Even after scanning every grain of sand in sight progression comes to a grinding halt. It is too clostrophobic and in the standard version inventry load out space is a joke . I craft something I want to wear it not have to back to the tempest too re do the loadout. For what this game cost it is below par. It took 3 days to D/L and will take 30 seconds to uninstall. All the hype was just that sadly. I should of known better than to ever trust EA again
*Warning, minor spoilers*
You actually get to explore the entire area radiation free, you just need to activate the vault on the planet first so it starts restoring the planet's habitability. That will make the main areas available to fairly lengthy EVA's, but there will still be areas with heavy radiation warnings that will fry you. To access those, you need to give the vault time to clear the radiation out of the atmosphere. Leave Eos and go to Havarl or Voeld and work on the quests there and activate the vault on one of those. Then return to Eos to finish the quests there, and you'll find the radiation has cleared out and you can access the entire area.
As for the puzzles, they are very infrequent and only used when activating major Remnant technology. You usually need to scan the area to find the glyphs related to the puzzle, then the puzzles are set up like a Soduku puzzle, where you can't have any matching glyphs in any row or column. I'm 100% done with Eos and Havarl and have only encountered 3 puzzles, which is a vast improvement over ME2, where you had to hack friggin everything. If you hate puzzles and don't want to fiddle with them, you can find the solutions online here.
The game definitely gets better as you go, and as you get over the learning curve hump.
@Ghostryderflyby wrote:
As for the puzzles, they are very infrequent and only used when activating major Remnant technology. You usually need to scan the area to find the glyphs related to the puzzle, then the puzzles are set up like a Soduku puzzle, where you can't have any matching glyphs in any row or column. I'm 100% done with Eos and Havarl and have only encountered 3 puzzles, which is a vast improvement over ME2, where you had to hack friggin everything. If you hate puzzles and don't want to fiddle with them, you can find the solutions online here.
The game definitely gets better as you go, and as you get over the learning curve hump.
In case you're wondering...19.
I'm level 62 in New Game Plus Plus and have done 19 of the Soduku puzzles so far.
They're tedious filler at best. But oh well.
I just wrote them down on the first play through.
I don't see the issuss people are having with the voice acting at all.
The crew mates VAs and Sara Ryder are all fantastic. The writing could use some work, especially with the romances and the squad/crew fleshing out overall. But yeah, loving the VA work. Especially Fryda Wolff's work.
P.S. I also agree that MP is draining too many resources and time from the story game. ME1 and 2 felt fleshed out, complete. ME3 and MEA since the addition of MP does not. DAI no MP fully fleshed out game. I think people play these games more for the rpg not the MP. They just take the MP as an added extra. Please get rid of it and make proper fleshed out ME games again.
@Nykara360 wrote:
P.S. I also agree that MP is draining too many resources and time from the story game. ME1 and 2 felt fleshed out, complete. ME3 and MEA since the addition of MP does not. DAI no MP fully fleshed out game. I think people play these games more for the rpg not the MP. They just take the MP as an added extra. Please get rid of it and make proper fleshed out ME games again.
I would also support this. But if there's a consistent niche of people who likes and really loves MP in ME, it must always be revised and considered. I often think that MP in some games end up making the games too generic, because there's a 'balancing issue' which needs addressing, specially if it is PvP. The uniqueness and individuality of things start to be cut here and there, and they all start feeling much like similar or too leveled. The world, things, nothing is ever balanced like that. There will always have something too overwhelming here and there that will tip the scale and dominate.
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Regarding the game ... I really think that if they made the whole game on a single planet, with many environments (guess Earth has many environments, right?), but that made the effort of finding a single world that tough, probably, in my point of view, it would be much more appealing the fact that we are really struggling. We would go off planet to solve other issues and investigate this and that.
The different planets are different beauties, but the contents are marginally the same: vaults, camps, small story kerfuffle, outpost, mining, period.
@Kaddris wrote:
Yep. Eos will kill you fast if you haven't done the Remnant thing first, and then waited to go back for the radiation to clear out
The same environmental problems exist on many of the other planets.
Remnant tech is advanced and apparently logical for the ME universe in Andromeda, but it is not supposed to be magic.
Yah 8ts a terraforming thing which takes time. I assume some dialogue for Scott is similar to Sara in which its mentioned several times if they do their jobs right - someone will get to see the results, indicating that those worlds will ever reach their full potential even in the Ryders lifetime but at least they are more livable with the worst of the harsh environmental issues steadying.
What we are seeing is the start of everything in Andromeda paving the way for future generations.
Consider it like going back to the time humans first got space flight.
The longer I play MEA, the more I love it. Currently at 89 hrs and only on my 2nd planet (Voled ((did I spell that right?))). I'm a habitual completionist and have a need to explore every corner of the maps, pursue conversation and quest leads. This game allows that, because I am basically an explorer. I find there is an excellent balance between exploration, conversations/politics/romance, and combat.
At first I felt (and still feel) that the learning curve on the PC with the new controls was huge, especially during combat, and I had to drop from "normal" difficulty" to "casual". But that's okay, I found my comfort level and am not embarrassed by it. The five levels of difficulty really make this game accessable to almost anyone who wants to play. On succeeding play throughs, I hope to be able to gradually increase that level.
Companions are starting to flesh out and feel real. Man, they just had their work cut out for them creating characters that would be directly compared to those of the original trilogy, some of which, like Garrus, we got to know through all 3 games. Garrus is up there with Minsc, so those 2 may never be toppled, but these strangers that I've been traveling with now are gradually developing their personalities. This seems more evident after the most recent patch, I'm seeing more banter as I'm roaming around in the Nomad. Just recently on Voled, some of the 2 and 3 way conversations with PeeBee and Jaal made me laugh out loud.
I like the puzzles. I like the mental challenge my character has to face. Don't like them? Buy a key, they are cheaper and widely available after the last patch. I liked the Astarium puzzles in DA:I also, and MEA's puzzles are certainly no more difficult than some of those. I like that occasional break from the action. Don't hate me.
Bioware games have always been focused on the story and your character's interaction with his/her companions, MEA does not disappoint.
