The two patches so far have improved at least the SP game noticeably. We're not quite there yet in my opinion but it is improving at least.
They really did the fans and themselves a disfavour by cutting corners on the visuals. Not all of it of course, the planets look amazing and so do the main NPCs. Of course Ryder's graphic quality really depends on where you are and what the lighting situation is a lot. Now they have to fix all that.
I mean, different people will have different gripes and I don't play MP much (just a few matches) so I won't comment on that side of it, but the reality is that there just are a few issues that really keep people from getting the full enjoyment out of the game. When I see that someone here got his MP character reset after playing hundreds of hours, well, that's pretty grim. But think about that. It's one mistake that makes him drop from an 8/10 to a 3/10.
Fixing and restoring that could give a 5 point raise in appreciation. Just think about that BW.
Now not all fixes are easy and I understand that some take longer than others, but whether it's MP balance, people being stuck at a place, graphics or audio issues and whatever else has come across these boards, it seems that people see the potential in this game but are being stopped from getting it out of the game, not because it's not there but because there are issues blocking them that would seem fixable.
The sad thing is that some of it was avoidable but came into the game to save resources or were just plain bad decisions (like messing up the faces just on release).
It's normal that EAware does this thing with studios and they really seem focused on Star Wars Battlefront and this new secret IP that they've been working on. My guess is that this is exactly the reason why they went cheap on the completion of the graphics and audio....to free up the studio asap for other priorities. Not because they want to throw ME under the bus but because there's a tight release schedule that gets in the way of delivering the all around quality that could've been delivered.
So from my point of view, it's those decisions that made ME:A fail to impress and caused a shitstorm in the media.
Something about a clean table with a big terd on it...sure, 95% of the table is perfect, but that 5% corner with the terd on it ruins the whole of it. That's the image I would like them to have next time they want to think cutting corners. People are going to forgive minor scratches and such that can be polished away, but not something that stands out in a place where it shouldn't exist.
It's a rough analogy but I think the point is clear. I really see the differences with the graphical changes they made. It makes it more and more into the game it could've been and should've been at release.
