Re: Mass effect andromeda doesn't feel like a AAA game

@CMeki

Very beautifully put, I fully agree with your view on how things should be done to create a more positive atmosphere for creators and players. But this was in no way aimed at the actual developers. Unfortunately there is no way to speak directly with the corporate side of EA which is where my anger and many others stems from. Developers are told to rush certain areas and mechanics of games so they can reach their quarterly targets and therefore affects the people actually spending their money on said product. 

EA chose a very small team of people to work on this which was a bad idea from the start considering the scale and ambition of the game. Also in my original post I just gave some feedback and cynicism into what I experienced and what given a very templated response which is very typical of this company. I spoke with an advisor way earlier in a live chat and I just gave some more feedback and she was very helpful, providing me with a lot more helpful insight into why these things occurred.

Maybe I was hoping on a whim that this would maybe be seen by an employee that sends it up the chain and lets the core company know a great deal of their fanbase is waning. The Sims team have a lot more control over their content because they hardly ever switch systems AND the majority of fans play on PC which runs a hell of a lot smoother than console, whereas Mass Effect EA decided to throw out Unreal Engine and construct all systems, tools and assets from scratch with EA DICE's Frostbite 3 Engine (Nerd Alert). And with Fifa it's their main source of income as Ultimate Team rakes in millions for them and there are rising stories of scripting and AI modification taking place in the game making it a "pay to win" process.

It may seem that the only community outreach service presides with Sims because if you have a problem with any of the other games I've just mentioned including Battlefront 2 you can be assured you will hear absolutely nothing back from any part of their team.

Money is what keeps big corporations going not the love of the product they produce, that's why we have so many Indie games now because more people are realizing this.

Maybe I should just give up and play Sims....or Urbz remember The Urbz?? 

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@CMeki wrote:

@Wingman_Wicks

But linking to hate videos? (see point 1 below)

Tell EA what you like and what you didn't and hopefully they'll make another Mass Effect game that's more like what you wanted! :eahigh_file:  (point 2)

I, together with thousand other players, last year voted on a new pack for The Sims 4 that will be released on Tuesday! Everything from the theme and content to the name was decided by the community. Maybe the The Sims 4-team has more time and energy to do that because their fan base is less hateful than other fan bases.
"Oh no, EA, whyyy are there no pooools??" - pools added in an update, for free. "We need toddlers EA, toddlers are the cutest!!" - toddlers added in a free update.

If everyone said "We hate you EA, this game is **** you didn't add any toddlers, you hate us and we hate you!" the team would probably be less happy to create them. But as they know that the fans will be super happy when they appear in the game, they released them one day, no warning, we just started the game and they were there. 🏀


A happy, understanding and welcoming community gives the developers a better work environment and motivation to create great content for their players. (4)

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Point 1: Hate videos? Really? I've watched all of them and more, and all I see are reviewers who are staunch fans of the series pointing out the many gaping and often ridiculous flaws that were delivered in the pre-patch initial version of the game. You know, the version that you sold them at full "awesome new AAA game" price. Had these screwups and glitches and examples of sheer laziness etc been more subtle, less intrusive, less game-breaking, they would most certainly have been more forgivable, and thus the Mass Effect community would have no doubt been a lot more understanding (like your 3rd point of how shiny and wonderful the Sims community fan base is by comparison)

Point 2: Another Mass Effect Game you say? Hmm, is that why the top level Exec(s) at EA have now put the series on hold? I'm pretty sure I read "indefinitely" in there as well. Look, I've played the game, even enjoyed it on some levels, I'm a long time gamer of over 30 years enjoying video and computer games of all stripe and manner. I arrived late to the Andromeda party and thus received the fully patched version, but have found there are still numerous issues present that serve to make this game continue to deserve the critical pounding it's gotten. I can't see how anyone could play it and not see what's right in front of them. Am I saying it's a lost cause? No, your CEO is though. Instead of deciding to listen and actually FIX this game, and start work on creating an incredibly awesome and deserving "next Mass Effect game" he/she/they have decided to pick up their toys and go home, crying all the way about how everyone was mean to them. From every standpoint including business-wise it's a bad decision, ,period. It astounds me that a top level exec at a multi million dollar company would make it. It smacks of EA wanting to punish the entire ME fan base tor the actions of a few. That may not be the intent, but that's the impression it leaves.

To your 3rd point; I'm quite sure that had your Sims devs trotted out a new game in that series, taken premium price pre-order money from it's many fans, only for those fans to discover a game that was obviously not up the expected standard of the great series they've come to love, with ridiculous animations, recycled plotlines, etc that the response would have been quite a bit less cordial and more like the response that ME:A received. At any rate the comparison doesn't really wash, as typical Sims fans and ME fans are generally two completely different beasts. Pick a title like Witcher or Dragon Age and see what happens.

Point 4: I would tend to agree with that, but that only works when those developers are delivering work deserving of that "happiness" and "niceness". I am in no way defending the many overzealous morons out there who've taken to the more childish vitriol, singling out specific staffers, basically cyberbullying at a whole other level, etc etc. There are always going to be a certain % of people like this, in virtually any game fan base or large online group for that matter. But once you see past the malicious intent and focus on the substance, most if not all of the actual comments about specific parts of the game are accurate, and thus carry weight. You can either complain about and react to the method of delivery OR you (EA, Bioware) can be the professionals that you are and deflect the vitriol, focus on the real and actual problems, and either fix them or get busy with (as you said) the next game in the series. 

Because, there are still millions of fans out there all wanting that next game. You've got a decent premise in Andromeda, story-wise, the writing just wasn't strong enough to support it. So long as you avoid as many of the really ridiculous problems of Andromeda1 and deliver a product that is at least worthy of having Mass Effect stamped on it, we'll buy. Instead of comparing us to the Sims fan base the better matchup would be baseball, to look at it as the ME franchise has now knocked three dingers out of the park, and had only one strikeout. Thus you're batting .750. Seriously, .750? No one throws in the towel while batting .750, no one.

Does EA?

Should you ever want specifics on what I see as lacking in this game just say the word, I would be more than happy to provide you with it.

Assuming you or anyone at the company reads this, thank you for listening. 

The problem is that for EA/BioWare this game is done and in the past. Only the multi-player is still supported cause it's easy money basically.

You are quite right to point out that there are reasons why the franchise is put on ice for the forseeable future.

Now when you are used to the intensity of the Mass Effect trilogy with Shepard and the Reapers, Andromeda is a sharp contrast. It's almost casual in how it tells a story that should be much more impressive but it lacks the depth to do so. Also the whole premise and concept of a Pathfinder is weak and that's also part of the reason why the story doesn't tell itself that well.

So the story is weak by comparison although I've seen worse stories in other games still.

What really makes the game feel like it's not AAA is that you notice how unfinished it is wherever you go. Some praise the graphical quality and that's not without reason but there are also issues that you cannot escape or ignore. The harsh lighting, the unfinished looking NPCs (especially on the Nexus). Guards that have weapons drawn in a defensive stance when there is no threat also makes no sense. In fact how character models look when walking is odd at best and well other than Peebee every Asari has the same exact head. Kett are no better and the Angara also are very copy-paste. I find myself counting how many of the same I see in a shot rather than paying attention to what's being said at times. Also the GUI is clunky and so basic it's embarrassing at times and so annoying that you can click M for the Map but have to click Tab to close it and to have to flip up and down in the hierarchy for quests and crafting instead of having a good overview.

Then there are the audio issues, like not being able to hear your companions speak in convo's because they are behind you or at a distance because they didn't move fast enough and audio cutting out when you open boxes and such. That all just screams "we rushed it and didn't have time to do it right". And they ran out of time because they were basically going in circles for 3 years, completely rudderless. Same problem with SWTOR incidentally, but I digress. Some companions are actually well written, others are awkward and the balance between straight and gay romance options was not well done either. Mass Effect 3 was much better at that in my view. But Drack is hilarious and Peebee is also quite cool in my view. I'm all for variety but I think it's better to look at what players want than the go the way of trying to tell people what they're allowed to like. Maybe that wasn't the idea but that's what it felt like.

The truth is that the game was rushed in the end and it was cut loose directly after. I don't think anyone at BioWare really wants to discuss this with anyone, especially because they already know they messed up and they had to close a studio because of it.

The game isn't all bad though. I did like the actual gameplay and exploring and making planets viable again. So I can actually enjoy playing the game. The Nomad certainly is much better than the Mako and a lot of the landscapes are quite beautiful.

My advice for enjoying Andromeda is to buy it for 20 bucks or less and just see it as a game and not as the next Mass Effect game...it simply cannot live up to the quality those games brought, but it can be enjoyed when you take the high expectations set with the previous game out of the picture.

And no, that's not how it should be but there it is. I did enjoy playing through it and I might again. But I will admit I just played through ME1 again and well Shepard is a much stronger personality than Ryder ever will be. It seems to me that it's better to have something to aspire to than to have something that's dumbed down to our mundane reality. It doesn't inspire....Shepard does. That difference alone is huge in my view.