Is it worth it, MEA?
I have played about 60hrs worth of MEA early last year around its release time. Then I stopped it for about a year until last night where I re-installed it. But I could only play another 1hr before...
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I will admit the main story line is not too bad, is interesting enough.
But since I got bored of the combat/challenge I installed some difficulty enhancing mods which kind of makes me have the need to do more side quests to gain more powerful character, which means I will need to endure the many lifeless boring fetch quests lol
And like I said the vast open lands of pretty much nothing is kind of saddening too.
Damm, this game has so much potential with the powerful engine and stunning visuals!
But since I got bored of the combat/challenge I installed some difficulty enhancing mods which kind of makes me have the need to do more side quests to gain more powerful character, which means I will need to endure the many lifeless boring fetch quests lol
And like I said the vast open lands of pretty much nothing is kind of saddening too.
Damm, this game has so much potential with the powerful engine and stunning visuals!
Well, I had to get past around 30 hours before I cared about any of the characters at all. And through another 30 before feeling at all comfortable in the game or its world.
Then, at the end, feeling as so many others have said... "So much potential, so little realized."
I know that part of the problem is that the expectation bar had been set so high to begin with. Right now I'm doing an(other) ME1 run (I'm somewhere in the high double-digits of replays) and realizing that it shares many of the same problems we're complaining about in MEA. When the whole cast and environment are new, things aren't as mature as when the people involved (devs and players both) have close to a decade to get comfortable with things.
Did MEA go off the development rails? Every credible report and indication is that it did. Could it have been (so much) better? Maybe. Probably. Should we judge it by the standards of ME3, (or DAI, or pick your 3+ game series)? Every player will have to decide for herself. In my case, I find myself wanting to play it again for certain aspects, (different squad configurations, different "profiles") but not sure I want to put up with the "empty stretches".
- I understand you don't want to put up with the empty stretches, but there seems to be just so much of it in MEA ;(
Such a shame, because I think it is one of the best looking games on the market...Part of the trick to dealing with the empty stretches and vast areas is don't rush out and do ONE quest to finish, then get another quest....instead see if you can get a whole bunch started and do them in groups....ie, you are in an area, do 3-6 quests that are in that area, or the parts of them that are, then move on... Do this for side quests so you aren't constantly trecking back and forth across the map....also for side missions learn to love the fast travel to forward station ability. I usually drive around get them up and going, during the first part of getting the vault up and running, then for all the fetch stuff, it is fast travel to close point, do what I need, hit anything else close, then FT back to base/ship....
Personally, IF EA brings out another game that builds on this one, and heck if they had just brought out some DLC to fill in some more, then we will likely all start remembering MEA with rose tinted glasses like we do ME1. I can still remember the griping and complaining about cookie cutter worlds and bases in ME1, how there was only ONE thing to do on each world in a generic base and a whole lot of filler to ride around in the blasted can't be driven Maco and the stupid vertical mountains you can't pass......
Yet after 10 years of playing it, I can drive just about anywhere in the game, as I learned how to look at the map and find the gaps or passes to go through, I learned to read the terrain to see where I could drive up mountains, and I learned to use the game mechanics to my favor(ie driving off the side of the map to get placed back in the center instead of driving back there....). Now most everyone loves ME1 and remembers it being better than it originally felt to them, BECAUSE it was fleshed out so well later with story and character development. This is one reason why I am optimistic that MEA may still be advanced and the world developed, because the bones are there. Other than a few design choices about lack of active powers the actual combat is SO much better in MEA than in previous games to me, I jumped back into ME3 MP and wow, I sure missed the MEA controls, powers and movement, as ME3 felt clunky, stilted and unfinished in many ways compared to MEA.
- The bones are definitly there lol. The frostbite engine is so good. Its just the meat is a bit raw this time around.
And im pretty sure MEA is the one that was rushed?
