Good lord. I thought maybe people were overreacting about the facial animations, but my 65-year-old mom who knows nothing about video games and has never heard of Mass Effect before, when a commercial came on for this game, said (completely unprompted), "They just haven't figured out faces yet, have they?"
analog ape My dad likes to watch me play Witcher 3 and he basically said the same thing when I played this instead. "are they suppose to be cyborgs?" and "whats wrong with her?"
Judging from the tone of comment you're probably not aware of it but you're correct. Original Mass Effects were made by Bioware Edmonton. Andromeda was developed by new studio, Bioware Montreal, that till now only made multiplayer for ME3 and few DLCs.
+Max Payne I think it's a proven fact at this point the budget doesn't do shit for a game. If anything the higher budget games generally have more issues...
40 mil for an open world with so many characters,textures,animations,voice acting all that shit just wont do it. It's not that cash is too little,it's the fact that they tried to make something so big and ambitious with so little money(although someone above me said the budget was 100mil or more...now that's no excuse to fuck up so badly)
I don't know what's the point of having companions with you anymore if you can't order them to do this and that. even the single player feels like playing on multiplayer, everyone is running everywhere doing whatever they want. bye bye strategy .
Yeah, that is part of what I loved with the combat in the original trilogy. It's why I dislike in DA2 and DA:I. No tactical mode and only afterthought tactical mode that didn't work well.
PeskyCanadian you didn't get my point mass effect at least to me was all about selecting a class that has advantages and disadvantages, then you balance your squad with companions with other classes that covers your disadvantages, telling them what ability to use when to use it they felt important they were important specially on higher difficulty. is it really enough for you to tell them just go sit there and do as you like !?
"This channel is primarily for games" You wot M8? YOU WOT M8!?!? ARE YOU FORGETTING ABOUT YOUR INCREDIBLY POPULAR AND RELEVANT SERIES BOGLINWATCH (tm) !?!?!?
Jim is obviously trying to distance himself from the Boglin Journalism community after the debacle surrounding Pogs4Boglins dot com. #SterlingLiedBoglinsDied
I was starting to think it was here for telling us about how crappy CZcams is to 'work for'. On the one hand I get why CZcamsrs want to share their woes, but it's a bit like going to the cinema and having the guy who sells you popcorn tell you what a twat his manager is every time you go in.
They get praise because folks love the games, but the bugs, messy animations and misteps cause death threats, hundreds of thousands of troll posts on Steam and many 0 user reviews.
The village building was a bit wonky in Fallout 4 I suppose, that game is using a very old modified engine and you can see it in the AI etc but .... "it just works" ... (kinda does so).
Well as I also liked the original the most I kind of care.But it's kind of funny that the more games in the series they make the better the original becomes.The only thing they have improved(and not by that much) is the visuals
Now how can you not respect this dude opinion. I might not agree with everything he say, he made a good argument of his opinion and he didn't try to down anybody who like the game.
kingkoop28 I don't have a problem with anyone who doesn't like the game. But to imply that it's " just an ok 3rd person shooter" doesn't sit well with me. With all the abilities and varied combat combinations it makes this far more versatile than the typical shooter variety. Just fact. Rock on Jim.
What I don't understand is how you have a full team of people, bigger than the one that worked on the first mass effect, working on this for five fucking years and have a product that looks worse than the first one. I mean come on, what were you even doing for that time period.
jazaniac From what I heard it's a combination of being inexperienced and being overly ambitious plus I don't know why it was a good idea to have the Halo 4 writer write the story for a mass effect game
i've also heard that there were demands that they use the frostbite engine, an engine that is good for shooters in rather small levels but absolutely inadequate for games like mass effect. kinda like hiring a construction guy to put nails into things. with a screwdriver. sure, in the end, somehow he will probably figure out how to do it, but he will probably be a lot slower than he'd be with a hammer and if you give him the same deadline that you'd give someone who is working with a hammer, the end result would also probably be not very satisfying, with many bent nails that still have their ends sticking out.
Because EA gave it to a team that had only done small parts of games before, and, none of their limited experience was with the Mass Effect trilogy. Add to that the constraints of ridiculous conditions EA put on them, having to use an engine that is not optimized for open worlds, and, unrealistic time constraints, and, this is what we end up with.
It's because Open World is the big money ... Even though not all games are made for it. That's the real problem, executives are like "Make it open world!" While the Developer are going "Ok ... We'll try our best." as they throw away their original plan for the game.
Oh that Gold rover is beautiful. TBH the glitchy animations would take me out of the immersion that I enjoy in RPGs, I shouldn't be giggling at the characters jigglywobblyHRRRG-ing in a serious conversation.
I guess this is how the old trilogies die? Halo, Gears of War and now Mass Effect all get donated to their owner's B, C, or D teams who churn out sequels using the slave crank from Conan the Barbarian.
Illustrated History of Life Except the new Gears game was actually half decent.....surprisingly. And Halo 5 isn't terrible either. I love the Halo Series, but 5 to me was terrible. Either way, Halo 5 still has a large player base.
I'll be interested in Mass Effect again when they'll let you play as an Alien... And when EA will get it's sh*t together. All their sh*t. And put it in a backpack, so it's together.
Mass Effect is interesting and unique mostly because of the aliens tbh Because humans in Mass Effect aren't as fun as humans in Halo imo. Mass Effect's portrayal of humans seem too special snowflakey. Playable aliens was also something a lot of people were asking for mid-development of Andromeda too. I'd be fine playing humans in a Sci-Fi if the portrayal is actually fun and not stale or boring.
Was I the only one who liked Mass Effect more when it was about interaction in densely populated places like the Citadel, Illium or Omega? Colonial efforts were always interesting in the universe, but it never felt like the main focus to me
A remaster with some gameplay fixes would be great for ME1 (making planet exploration more worthwhile and making combat less clunky would go a long way), but ME2's biggest weakness, in my opinion, was that the odds were much smaller, disappointingly so, than in ME1 (while it was an improvement over ME1 in almost every other respect). And a remaster wouldn't save ME3. That game would need significant changes to the story and endgame / endgame mechanics to become good.
Ego Alter. I feel like ME1 was a good story but a bad combat system while ME3 was a bad story with a good combat system. I played ME3 Multiplayer until I had unlocked everything and was doing the hardest modes with a group of friends I had made just from that game. Still the combat wasn't perfect because you couldn't use the Adept charge skill unless you were the host. Also ME 1 and ME 2 felt twice as long as ME3 and for the same 60$ that really disappointed me.
It's a perfect idea since they're pretty old now and seeing how certain events are tied together in such an organic way depending on choices made in the previous games makes moving on to the next game all the more satisfying. Having all three games and the DLC to blast through would be fantastic and it would sell a ton especially since most gamers highly value that time/price ratio. Although I do think they need a graphical overhaul - sharper textures and all that as long as they can stay at a good 60fps on consoles, which of course wouldn't be a problem on PC.
As a guy who's loving this game... YEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH, it definitely needed more polish. I'm loving it in spite of its shortcomings, but hooo boy did it need some fine-tuning. It's not enough to take me out of it, but it COULD have been a much better experience.
I'll just wait a few months for when the game drops down to $20 like all the other crap games do and buy it then. Maybe. Probably not, but I might if I'm super bored of all the other good games on the PS4.
Yep, that's my experience. It's like someone trained years to run a marathon, ran 95% of it and said that's good enough and walked away. I enjoy it, but I know I could have enjoyed it much more which sucks.
Combat is nice and the fiction of developing and getting this expedition back on track is there. Your influence expands and you slowly get the resources to get from struggling to barely stay alive to have a growing colony deciding who to get out of stasis and how to progress that. It's really doing that nicely. If you on the other hand wanted a deeply immersive RPG, with a strong story and don't want to scream "What the fuck are you? What did they do your genes? HELP HELP THIS IS A MONSTROSITY!", everytime you talk to something supposed to be human, then maybe try it out in a year when EA releases to GotY edition for three quarters the price, or buy it in a bargain bin in about three months.
The combat looks a lot smoother and fun, but looking at some of the characters and the massive amount of bugs in the game is a real put off. and the animations are pretty awful, I don't understand how they could be in a AAA game like this, Bioware has dropped the ball on this one.
they hired people not on talent but for quotas. they also had the writer for three who made the black ops from 2 be a huge military force in 3 that you spent most of the time dealing with. then you had the racist lead designer who left bioware after Andromeda had been completed.
I just wanted to add that I'm a fan of Mass Effect, all three games prior to this one, since 2007, I have 1, 2 and 3 on both 360 and PC platforms, and I am not at all bothered or offended by any review marking this one down, or criticisms of it. I think Jim's views are perfectly valid and look to be well observed. It looks like there are a lot of bugs, and that Bioware should be accountable for the lack of polish (something I already noticed in Mass Effect 3 as well, as much as I liked it anyway). I'm still looking forward to the game, but I suppose I am moderating my expectations a little bit in light of all the publicity. At the very least, I hope that these things do not surprise me, and become secondary to the rest of the experience, and that I enjoy it as I hoped it would. Aside from that: Jim, you should really try Mass Effect 2. It's such a different beast to the first game.
Well! I suppose that's a kind observation, but kind of a damning indictment of fan culture in general, since I think my stance is absolutely to the atomic level the definition of 'middle ground' and not at all controversial - except I guess it is, because you said it's the most reasonable response you've ever encountered. Let us weep for our varied and probably shared hobbies and interests, and the armies of abject dickweeds trapped in arrested development well into their 30's (because lets face it, we have grown up alongside the majority of the worst offenders) that spoil it all for everyone else.
There's really no reason to defend this game. They dropped the ball, pure and simple, and thought they could sell it and no one would notice how shit it was. I'll be honest, I'm pretty critical of Bioware games. I think the original ME trilogy was pretty good, but I've been disappointed with the Dragon Age sequels (Origins was really good. Inquisition... feels lacking in execution, it has content but no spirit). Whatever made them "good" at RPGs they have since lost I think. Also, Andromeda was made by a Bioware imposter. And I think staffed largely by amatuers _or_ there were some major issues that divided the developers so they didn't work well together.
Shawn Wesley I'll partially defend it and say it's an okay game, despite the issues. I won't claim it's perfect, but it's good enough to pick up in a few months once the price falls a bit, just like I do with other games. The quality of this game isn't out of line compared to other AAA games to be honest, depressingly enough.
This is a bit hard to accept for anyone (including myself), but apparently if you check out the credits, while you can see that Andromeda was mostly developed by a new team, it was directed by a lead writer for the old trilogy. Moreover, towards the end a bunch of other Bioware studios helped clean up. This went through the hands of people who've done good work in the past, it's not an imposter team, it's just a new B or C team that doesn't have quite the same cumulative experience or workflow. We cannot pretend to understand the industry as consumers, but knowing that much I'd say things are WAY more complicated than "bad developers made this game, not Bioware." I THINK they took a risk giving this to a new team and it didn't pay off.
Shawn Wesley Inquisition was awesome, bioware still has my good will because of that, and I want to give them a chance. That said I wont buy andromeda at full price
When Inquisition came out, that team stated they were getting used to the new engine (to excuse the funny facial animations and glitches). Guess the ME team couldn't spare anyone in an exchange program. Big fail.
Mass defect is actually a term in particle physics: en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_binding_energy#Mass_defect. Which is possibly where the Mass Effect name came from in the first place.
Mass Effect 1 is actually my favourite weirdly. It's aged a lot and it's definitely obtuse and has strange design choices but i think that gives it a lot of charisma and it feels unique, its an entity that has secrets and unknown factors and is really likeable for it. by comparison, while ME 2/3 were more polished and had better characters, they also had a lot fewer unique qualities and unusual features and things that make them unique, they was a lot more on show rather than being left to seek out yourself if you want it which is what ME1 had in my opinion.
because a quick google search proves that she had no experience in the field, yet she was hired for a job hundreds are more qualified for; and they aren't followed by 1000's of horny pricks on instagram.. ?
I'm sure there's many men who work for them who don't have much experience either but I don't see anyone picking them apart and deciding if they're worthy of being hired. She had minimal involvement which probably is because of her minimal experience...so why does she need to be harassed and attacked on twitter
Prove it. You don't even know if she has less experience or qualifications than all the men who are on the same place on the ladder as she is...because you'd never obsessively google a man's qualifications to determine if he's worthy of being hired by a company that isn't yours. If she happened to be a man this wouldn't even be an issue because then he'd never be singled out for harassment like this. It would just be chalked up to EA and bioware being shitty as usual. People just discovered a woman worked on the game and decided to unleash their sexist rage at her and blame her and "sjws" for everything that goes wrong. as usual.
You better do some hard re-thinking if you think it's her fault for being hired and not the incredibly shit management at EA/Bioware which after 5 years can still make a rushed mess out of a Mass Effect game. oh and an even quicker google search will have you find out she's not actually a Bioware employee anymore and it's practically impossible to know exactly how much she contributed to Andromeda.
what would Mass Effect psychotic fanboys do to Jim Sterling after giving their game 7/10 AT BEST? they sure did a number on that one facial animation staff member...
Honestly, coming from Mass Effect 1 is probably the best way to approach this game, since it also has a vehicle with hokey controls that you have to use on away missions. Watching my sister flail around with the Nomad was a real treat.
BIOWARE wanted to end the ME series with the third installment but EA forced them to rewrite the ending into something that can be continued because they wanted to sell future games, consider at the time of ME3 they did not know how the 4th installment could look like, so we got the INDOCTRINATION THEORY that is actually the true ending and explanations but it had to be kept hidden from EA and due to contracts sign from BIOWARE they are not allowed to tell us that it's the official ending, otherwise what's the point in having to rewrite it for EA. So considering that the IT in fact is the true ending the ME Trilogy is a f*cking MASTERPIECE up there with movies like "The sixth sense, twelve monkey's, Inception and so on!" Mass Effect 1-3 is a game about life and what you do with it, it's about living the journey you're on and the friends and enemies you make before you get to end of it. It's there to teach you that no matter who you are at the end we all fall to the cycle of life and death so our last attempt is not saving the earth and finishing our journey it's about ending it with the believes, the joy and love we and our friends had together by not giving in to the reapers and not becoming one of them while you're there in London lying on the ground unconscious and taking your last breath. It's the journey itself not the end of it that counts!
I reinstalled ME1 today as I am replaying all the games before Bioware patches the game in couple months(hoping for a small sale somewhere too) and andromeda may have more polygons or whatever, but ME1 characters from stylistic perspective just look better. I can see how Jim might get bored out of ME1. It's an rpg afterall even if the good olde Bioware wanted to make more actiony KOTOR in new universe. Lots of walking/exploring, world building and never ending dialog introducing you to the world on the Normandy. Still love it to death even if combat is clunky and ultimately broken somewhere mid game. As a shocktrooper you can basically have permanent immunity which basically makes you immortal. Remember those turrets shooting at you in MAKO? As a schocktrooper with immunity you can take four(4!) of those before dying and those missiles are basically anti armor.
Yeah many of the characters look like that really ugly broad on Feros that was handling the water pipe maintenance duties there you meet at the beginning, LOL.
I've had a few glitches though not all that I've seen. As much as I love the first mass effect, it was 2 that made me go back and create more Shepards. 2 remains the best, though I am enjoying Andromeda. I did have the Peebee face glitch that you put Doom sounds over. Glad I got to laugh at that bug again in a new way.
A few people in the comments are also sharing memories of 'awful planet scanning' from ME1. ... They must have heard _something_ about 'planet scanning in ME' on youtube in the past couple of weeks, I guess.
There wasn't per say the retarded system that was planet scanning in ME2. But there was driving around in the meko on the off planets looking for resources if you desired. And it was awful.
Guess I'm lucky. The worst animation problem I've had is one where NPC's bodies will stutter occasionally in conversations. The facial animation isn't the best but it's never really been outstanding in Bioware's games. I'm not actively looking for glitches or problems but to me... it does seem pretty overblown. At least the impact it has on the enjoyment of the game seems overblown. I don't know, maybe people have just become jaded or harder to impress this generation because I'm enjoying the hell out of the game and it doesn't seem like a major step back from the original trilogy. The combat is better than it's ever been, the planets are fucking cool to explore, the music is good, the side quests have more context than ever, and the story seems interesting so far. Ryder is a nice change from playing as a decorated war hero and I'm interested in the Kett's motivations. Maybe it all goes to shit later in the game... but from what I've read people seem to think the opening sucks and it actually gets better later on.
The bit around 9:25 when you said she spawned above the enemy and fell, she was actually using a skill called charge, it wasn't a bug at all, thats just what it looks like when you charge an enemy that dies just as you arrive.
I think your judgement of the game is valid. Honestly though, ME 2 was the one that got me interested in the series. After that, ME 1 appealed to me a lot more. And the lore is the highlight; the animations and gameplay are secondary to the characters. That's just my opinion though.
Maybe I'm the exception, but I never considered the gameplay in ANY of the Mass Effect games to be "good" - and I did two complete play throughs of the original trilogy. Combat was always something to be tolerated while we got to the story and characters, which is why I kept playing.
I say this not to devalue anyone else's experience with the game. I've truest not had a problem with glitches. So the people who say that it has been overblown probably legitimately haven't had the same glitchy experience as others. It's sad that it is not a consistent experience for everyone. My person enjoyment of the game is probably an 8/10, but with everyone else's experience it probably deserves a 6/10. This is why numbered reviews are arbitrary.
Bioware definitely went back to ME1's 'RPG with shooter elements' gameplay rather than ME2 and ME3's 'Shooter with RPG elements' style and pacing. Honestly, I loved ME1 for the most part, and am really enjoying this return to heavier, crunchier RPG elements, but I can very easily see how people that preferred ME2/ME3 gameplay might feel a bit like they missed the bus. I can also understand how a lot of people are going "WTF?" at some of the janky animation work. On the whole, I'm a terrible critic and I'm enjoying the game immensely. Animation jankiness amuses me when I spot it and then I get on with myself, and some of the clumsier writing just makes me snortchortle, and then I get on with myself. Good critic I am not.
It needed more time, EA didn't care and wanted it to release as is, there is really nothing more to say. 5 year development or not, it needed more time
As I said, 5 years doesn't change the fact that it ultimately needed more time to be polished. This game would have sold more units then it will sell now if it had been postponed until it was properly ready, reviews drive sales and this game is getting bad reviews right now. I now 5 years is lot's of time and I agree it should be enough time to produce a finished game, but it clearly wasn't enough time for Andromeda and the game should have been given until winter this year to round things up. You can tell things just need some tweeking, like how characters warp in randomly or faze through objects. The facial animations are probably just a lost cause. All in all, rushing a game to launch is bad business, EA should have let this one brew for another half year and profited off of genuine success rather than hoping to capitalize off an existing loyal fan base and microtransactions in the multiplayer (multiplayer is actually good with little to no bugs, you can see what EA really cares about)
I've heard/seen seen that the combat in this iteration seems to be the best so far, it's a lot more fast paced at the very least. Less hunkering behind cover helps the flow of combat, + the much improved movement and dodges etc.
Bioware appears to be making inventory limits in their games smaller with each game. For example: -ME1 had 150 inventory spaces -Dragon Age Origins had 70-120 inventory spaces -Dragon Age 2 50-100 inventory spaces -Dragon Age Inquisition had 60-90 inventory spaces -Andromeda has 50-65 inventory spaces. There is also to consider the fact that all the Dragon Age games had a party storage chest that was added either by dlc or patch, which is some Andromeda badly needs because it's inventory capacity is the smallest so far and as far as I'm aware only has 1 option to expand it.
I mean I'm actually kinda worried, because this looks a lot like Maxis' last few outputs and bullfrog's and Mythic's And you know what I'm talking about right? You know what EA likes to do and you know, there have been a couple of rumors floating around since around E3 last year that this game might be Bioware's last and you know EA people you know EA
I'm honestly still more pissed about the writers' clumsy handling of their token trans character. Is it really that hard to just ask a trans woman for her opinion of how trans women should best be written? Really? Because as a trans dude myself, my first interaction with people doesn't usually go, "Hi! I'm transgender! People used to know me by my deadname, which I'm telling you now, a total stranger! I never really fit in as a kid, because I'm trans. It's all very tragic. Did I mention yet that I'm trans? 'Kay bye."
Writing a trans character well isn't an issue of 'politically correct', it's about doing your research. I appreciate the INTENT behind including this character, but it falls to pieces in her first introductory line of dialogue because they couldn't be assed to run it by somebody first.
Oh dear. Oh dear oh dear. You do realise that you can have same sex relationships in the Mass Effect Universe? Also, please don't use 'correct'. Your right is someone else's wrong, and vice versa, keep it in mind.
Been saying it for a while; I'd rather a cool character that happened to be trans/gay/etc, rather than a character who was entirely defined by the fact that they're trans/gay/etc. Give me a Shepard that mentions he transitioned in a passing conversation between himself and a friend he's grown close enough to confide to, over 'HEY I'M TRANS, AND I'M HERE, 'CAUSE I'M TRANS!'. Just an opinion from a patiently waiting fan of video games, though.
Mass Effect from the start was about the immersion. things like. your actions. the characters around you reacting to your actions. your actions have anywhere from minor to adverse effects(which carry over when imported from title to title). exploring planets. discovering the history of the reapers. understanding the various races their cultures and their environments(although the dialogue sometimes contradicted the codex entries)
Probably the best mass effect, was mass effect 2, and the first half of mass effect 3. PS, why is it that the character models look better on mass effect 3 than in mass effect andromeda?
Previous games weren't made by people who are concerned with their safe zones. There's an article on Sun, speculating that all female models in MEA was done improperly on purpose for gender equality. 90% of BW's MEA staff was composed of womens (quite the liberal activist kind judging from their looks).
Razor2048 The Mass Effect trilogy was made by Bioware Edmenton. Andromeda is made by Bioware Montreal, which is full of noobs with little experience. They wanted more time despite already spending five years but EA got tired of their crap and orders them to sell.
+TubeChaser it was less about plot (some even said it seemed like a giant side mission instead) and more about character interactions/development and building relationships, which would carry over into ME3. You realize this, since everybody was pretty much at war by the 3rd one and you could see the positive or negative impacts as a result.
+Juggernautdemon Bioware Montreal should be THROWN OUT THE FOOKIN AIRLOCK! They did alright with some of the ME3 dlc shit like Omega and Leviathan, but that was all. Just alright.
Makes me sad Jim that in his gameplay here he hasn't ever changed profiles, that's like a serious meat of the gameplay, It's just fun to have multiple profiles.
I don't know but I am have definitely enjoying the game are there a few things I would change..... yes but I don't seem to be bothered by anything to the point where I haven't thoroughly enjoyed this game! I love the first three games as well and I have them for the most part memorized! I have 50+ hours in it and am probably going to ware this game out (impossible for me to do) and Jim Sterling I enjoy your content very much and you are probably one of my most favorite CZcamsrs! I definitely can respect what you are saying though!
Honestly while the animations are definitely a notable problem they aren't high among my biggest issues with this game it's below average and probably worth checking out in a few months after a few updates or at least a rental or heavy sale I don't hate the people at Bioware I know there was clearly effort put here as the environments and combat are good but because it's mass effect there is a high standard that they missed and the backlash is high as many people feel letdown. I think Bioware really should move away from both Mass Effect and Dragon Age as most of the people who worked on those games are gone to do other things and it's would be better for everyone in the long run if they did different stuff
I know they set themselves up with Dragon age going to the imperium and dealing with a new threat set up at the end of inquisition Not going to spoil who in case someone hasn't played it yet. So sure I'll agree that at least one more Dragon Age game probably ought to be made to tie up lose ends. That being said I stil stand by that what comes next for them shouldn't be just these two franchises.
"but because it's mass effect there is a high standard that they missed and the backlash is high as many people feel letdown." No no no. You seem to be on a high horse so get off that shit. This isn't a 'Problem' because it's Mass Effect. This is a problem because they spent Millions of dollars on a AAA game, and they can't even get the Animations right? Fuck man, Indie games made by 1-2 people, spending a LOT less money, have BETTER Animation and less issues than this game runs into. this isn't comparing it to the other ME games, it's comparing it to ANY game that has come out in the last 20 years. Very few have as many graphical errors as this, and even fewer are AAA games with millions of dollars behind them. Usually the problems in AAA games are the story, Gameplay/Mechanics, or Microtransactions/DLC/Pre-Order/Otherbullshittostealmoney. This game has all of those issues and more. We're just focusing on the More part.
jirodyne I'm well aware that there have been better animation in the past games by other better people Shit man the animations in Andromeda aren't even the biggest problems with that game just the most notable one that everyone jumps on. what I was saying that because it's Mass Effect the game it's getting more backlash than it deserves. let me ask you this who do you really think is at fault here for these problems EA? Bioware? Both? I don't like this game in the slightest. I'm guessing you don't either but I've seen people get way too mad over this game and attacking the people who made it over the animations which is fucked up regardless of how bad they are
jirodyne I'm well aware that there have been better animation in the past games by other better people Shit man the animations in Andromeda aren't even the biggest problems with that game just the most notable one that everyone jumps on. what I was saying that because it's Mass Effect the game it's getting more backlash than it deserves. let me ask you this who do you really think is at fault here for these problems EA? Bioware? Both? I don't like this game in the slightest. I'm guessing you don't either but I've seen people get way too mad over this game and attacking the people who made it over the animations which is fucked up regardless of how bad they are
Yea right...best scifi saga in history. In your history maybe, not in mine. I prefer the X games, X 3, X Albion Prelude, etc. Those are better scifi sagas.....one example...but wait. Theres more.
Admitting that u like the game because the exploration of ME combined with the combat of ME2 has been my ambien fever dream for ages now: Cora doesn't lack transitory animations and she didn't spawn in the air and fall, she used charge.
Bullet Bill I doubt that he will get much criticism for this review, just about everyone was waiting to take the piss out of ME:A. People were taking shots at it before gameplay was even released
Well, and now we know for certain. Played it myself. Can only agree with most "negative" reviews. Just a mediocre game, that's all. Not a terrible game. Certainly not a AAA game though. Just run of the mill stuff with mediocre writing and quite a few bugs/glitches.
Diree I can certainly understand this perspective. I too have played it and had relatively low expectations going in, which is probably why I enjoy it. What I find curious is the polarity of opinions depending on which franchise a game is hailing from. I played Zelda BOTW on WiiU and that game was plagued by game breaking frame drops and cringe voice acting (still love it) and it was getting 10s. I just find these double standards unfortunate.
My personal scores for the Mass Effect games: ME1 - Score 8, Great story but some game-breaking glitches. ME2 - Score 6, Very boring main story. Not much context. ME3 - Unscored, I never played it because of the shitty spoiled ending MEA - Score 4, Unacceptable for a AAA game!
I loved Mass Effect 1, and while I sitll oved 2 and 3, I missed the exploration from the first game, and I like seeing that expanded on. 10 hours in and while it's not mind blowing, and the animations could definitely use a lot of work, I am still enjoying it and see myself spending a lot of time in this game.
I'll correct you on one thing, actually. The stuff that was good in ME2 and ME3 most certainly was NOT ignored. From a fundamental design level I'd even say Andromeda plays mostly better than those two games, if only by virtue of not being contained to minimalistic indoor hallways that only serve to highlight how sub-par the shooter design is compared to better, dedicated third-person shooters, which was a large chunk of what BioWare fans complained about in ME2 and ME3. Andromeda attempts to bring ME1's ambition back into the ME2/ME3 framework by amping up the RPG elements and customization options without going back on gameplay advancement, meaning we have vast open-area vehicle sections and tons of outdoor exploration on alien worlds but we also have the smooth as butter shooter controls of ME2 and ME3 as well as their ideas for how to handle such things as the ship; the dialogue system also ditches the Paragon/Renegade meters in favor of a more complex and better-handled version of what Dragon Age II attempted, which is to say a dialogue system based wholly on choosing options for personality and tone rather than moral-alignment. What Andromeda lacks is in its technical advancement and its polish. The animation is bonkers in places and the graphics still have that made-of-clay look that I'd associate with mid-to-early PS3 games. And if that were the only problem I'd be fine, but it also ditches the pause wheel for power usage, along with any ability that would have given you to command your squadmates to use specific powers on specific targets, which has been a staple of the gameplay since the very first game and in my mind one of the things that set it APART from all those other third-person shooters that did basic shooter design better. Instead you can use three powers at any given time during gameplay, and no more than three, because that's the maximum number of hotkeys you're given. So your single-player character plays like the multiplayer characters and it feels as a result as if, in spite of combat being arguably better, tactics took several steps back and tumbled ass-over-head into a black hole. The game is quite fun but it's unfortunate in that it came out possibly a few years too late to stand up to its immediate competition (which in this case is Horizon Zero Dawn and Breath of the Wild, just as Inquisition had to contend with being released not long before The Witcher 3). The game feels as if it lags behind, like development went on too long and then they realized it was going on too long and rushed it out. Unfortunate, because, technical issues aside, it's really a fun game and it does recapture some of the ambition ME1 failed to fully realize before the series got kicked into focus-group hell for ME2 and ME3.
What about the terrible voice acting? The bad dialogues and writing? Sure, everything wasn't peachy in other Mass Effect, but it wasn't nearly as bad as this one where 90% of the jokes just fall fucking flat... When the jokes are intended... Like... Liam and his champagne joke? It's funny once, but stop refering to this joke 3 times in 1 min. It seems the writers for MEA had a terrible sense of humor (if any).
The One True Nobody! The thing you mentioned about lack of active pause and limited hotkey slot is disappointing to hear. I'll blame the damn multiplayer on this. But if the combat is even slightly better than me1, I'll settle for that. I'm mostly into companions and dialogue anyway.
Well... it doesn't seem the companions are better than the ones from ME2... Mordin Solus >>>>> all other companions. :D No, but seriously, ME2 had amazing companions. ME1... well... it had Garrus. Tali was pretty good in other ME but she wasn't that interesting in ME1.
That's actually what the game looks like. There's by far more than enough people playing it on twitch if you want to get a feel for it before you buy it. Looks like a lot of fun. I'll wait till it's half off or so to buy it.
Diree Screw "fine" in my opinion. We're a ways in on this console generation now. Better looking games have been produced before this. Fuck, Mass Effect 3 looks better than this. What's the point of better hardware?
dynamickirby It's a mark of stature in CZcams showing that enough people know about you and you somehow earned enough of their time to warrant them coming or showing up early and disliking your stuff before they've ever even seen it.
+BitVictim You should target your anger at the people who upvote all the coments who whine about "SJWs". They're the ones creating drama because nothing Jim said in the video was related to SJWs or feminism or politics. He was only talking about the game, like these anti-feminists always demand, and yet they're the ones getting offended at nothing.
Mister November yet I dont blame him for being confused cause it looks so bad that it seems she just teleported to that enemy and stood there no animation nothing lazy as hell.
*Bioware employee:* So when does play testing begin?
*Bioware CEO:* ASSUMING DIRECT CONTROL!
I think EA CEO might be more appropriate her but that might be me.
docterfantazmo THE POWER OF YOUTH definitely doesn't flow through this steaming garbage.
docterfantazmo Bioware CEO: playtesting? It starts on launch day lolz
BioWare has a GM not a CEO
* here (typo)
"Hello, you Mass Effect: Andromeda facial animations"
Ok, that's going too far, Jim, too far..
I haven't been this hurt since he called us PC ports of Arkham Knight.
That was really offensive
Leone Kaiser I think "Trump political advisors" was too far.
Be thankful you aren't labelled as pachinko machines this time.
+LucidTeFlon180 I think "Russian government agents" was too far. ;~P
Good lord. I thought maybe people were overreacting about the facial animations, but my 65-year-old mom who knows nothing about video games and has never heard of Mass Effect before, when a commercial came on for this game, said (completely unprompted), "They just haven't figured out faces yet, have they?"
analog ape My dad likes to watch me play Witcher 3 and he basically said the same thing when I played this instead. "are they suppose to be cyborgs?" and "whats wrong with her?"
sounds like fake news
It is Face News not Fake News ;)
you play witcher 3 infront of your parents?
Kinky, isn't it?
Lets not kid around this is Bioware in name only, the Bioware team is long gone.
Gondwana Gaming This only did ME 3 MP and 2 pieces of DLC for the trilogy
Judging from the tone of comment you're probably not aware of it but you're correct. Original Mass Effects were made by Bioware Edmonton. Andromeda was developed by new studio, Bioware Montreal, that till now only made multiplayer for ME3 and few DLCs.
we'll never reach the height of hordes of the underdark again, i fear. hell, we might not even make it to jade empire territory.
Anna Gan so that explains why the combat is junk in my opinion thanks now i know to avoid their games in the future
The former head of Maxis and EA Mobile is in charge of Bioware Studios now so expect even better.
See Jim, it's all about execution.
If that music was coded to play whenever the animations messed up this would be Game of the Year.
Oh imagine the airhorn compilations.
Sm-Art Things I
It's Castle Crashers' theme!
if it played everytime the animations fucked up...it's a role playing game, not a music video.
THAT'S WHAT YOU THINK
SOMEBODY START THAT AWFUL DANCE ANIMATION
Damn you Jim, bullying that poor indie developer Bioware I see. Cut them some slack, their budget was only 40m$.
Wait what? Is that the actual budget? That's super low for a AAA game nowadays...no wonder it has so many issues.
Max Payne It wasn't their budget. I believe it was over the 100 million mark.
+Max Payne
I think it's a proven fact at this point the budget doesn't do shit for a game. If anything the higher budget games generally have more issues...
40 mil for an open world with so many characters,textures,animations,voice acting all that shit just wont do it. It's not that cash is too little,it's the fact that they tried to make something so big and ambitious with so little money(although someone above me said the budget was 100mil or more...now that's no excuse to fuck up so badly)
they were working on this game for five years.
I don't know what's the point of having companions with you anymore if you can't order them to do this and that. even the single player feels like playing on multiplayer, everyone is running everywhere doing whatever they want. bye bye strategy .
Yeah, that is part of what I loved with the combat in the original trilogy. It's why I dislike in DA2 and DA:I. No tactical mode and only afterthought tactical mode that didn't work well.
You can tell them to defend points and attack certain targets. I put them in places to keep myself from being flanked.
PeskyCanadian I know. I played the trial, but it's not enough.
PeskyCanadian you didn't get my point mass effect at least to me was all about selecting a class that has advantages and disadvantages, then you balance your squad with companions with other classes that covers your disadvantages, telling them what ability to use when to use it they felt important they were important specially on higher difficulty. is it really enough for you to tell them just go sit there and do as you like !?
B4D3R .A doesn't really matter for me i hardly command my squad mates
Rewatching this in 2021, and I've got to say, I adore JSS's intro sequences... They always out a smile on my face 😁
"This channel is primarily for games" You wot M8?
YOU WOT M8!?!?
ARE YOU FORGETTING ABOUT YOUR INCREDIBLY POPULAR AND RELEVANT SERIES BOGLINWATCH (tm) !?!?!?
Jim is obviously trying to distance himself from the Boglin Journalism community after the debacle surrounding Pogs4Boglins dot com. #SterlingLiedBoglinsDied
YouFailandIWin Let's be honest: we're all really here for his reviews of the many, many Boglin porn games.
I was starting to think it was here for telling us about how crappy CZcams is to 'work for'. On the one hand I get why CZcamsrs want to share their woes, but it's a bit like going to the cinema and having the guy who sells you popcorn tell you what a twat his manager is every time you go in.
Isn't this mainly a boglin channel?
To misquote Todd Howard ...... "It just doesn't work.".
How dare you.
ironic you name bethesda since when they make a broken game they get praised
AstroCyborg fallout 4 didn't seem broken to me maybe had some glitches I didn't really run into any tbh but it was still a good game
They get praise because folks love the games, but the bugs, messy animations and misteps cause death threats, hundreds of thousands of troll posts on Steam and many 0 user reviews.
The village building was a bit wonky in Fallout 4 I suppose, that game is using a very old modified engine and you can see it in the AI etc but .... "it just works" ... (kinda does so).
Mass Effect 1 is my favorite Mass Effect. I recognize that no one cares.
Virmire was the highlight for me from the mass effect series , the mission and location was amazing.
Well as I also liked the original the most I kind of care.But it's kind of funny that the more games in the series they make the better the original becomes.The only thing they have improved(and not by that much) is the visuals
You should give it an 8 out of 10, and see the second coming of the Zelda fans.
Classic Doom sound effects never get old.
They really don't
as a person who still plays Brutal Doom, i started laughing when i heard those sounds :D
that part was gold
damn i need to play some doom now...
if they dont get old to you, I suggest seeing a doctor for you lack of time awareness.
Now how can you not respect this dude opinion. I might not agree with everything he say, he made a good argument of his opinion and he didn't try to down anybody who like the game.
kingkoop28 I don't like his opinion. Time to DDOS his site again
Damn it i guess it's time to threaten to rape him
kingkoop28
I don't have a problem with anyone who doesn't like the game. But to imply that it's " just an ok 3rd person shooter" doesn't sit well with me. With all the abilities and varied combat combinations it makes this far more versatile than the typical shooter variety. Just fact. Rock on Jim.
+No Sleep Fair enough
+Kingkoop28 I'm loving the game by the way. It has a Star Trek remake with a dash of Starship Troopers vibe.
What I don't understand is how you have a full team of people, bigger than the one that worked on the first mass effect, working on this for five fucking years and have a product that looks worse than the first one. I mean come on, what were you even doing for that time period.
jazaniac From what I heard it's a combination of being inexperienced and being overly ambitious plus I don't know why it was a good idea to have the Halo 4 writer write the story for a mass effect game
i've also heard that there were demands that they use the frostbite engine, an engine that is good for shooters in rather small levels but absolutely inadequate for games like mass effect. kinda like hiring a construction guy to put nails into things. with a screwdriver. sure, in the end, somehow he will probably figure out how to do it, but he will probably be a lot slower than he'd be with a hammer and if you give him the same deadline that you'd give someone who is working with a hammer, the end result would also probably be not very satisfying, with many bent nails that still have their ends sticking out.
Because EA gave it to a team that had only done small parts of games before, and, none of their limited experience was with the Mass Effect trilogy. Add to that the constraints of ridiculous conditions EA put on them, having to use an engine that is not optimized for open worlds, and, unrealistic time constraints, and, this is what we end up with.
It's because Open World is the big money ... Even though not all games are made for it. That's the real problem, executives are like "Make it open world!" While the Developer are going "Ok ... We'll try our best." as they throw away their original plan for the game.
the game was rebooted.. they really only had 18 months to make it from scratch. bad management.
Oh that Gold rover is beautiful. TBH the glitchy animations would take me out of the immersion that I enjoy in RPGs, I shouldn't be giggling at the characters jigglywobblyHRRRG-ing in a serious conversation.
Their are companies who make games for pay checks than their are companies that make games because they love the game they are working on.
Deep.
And then there are companies who want to survive but also make a good game, that later get bought by EA.
The old BW Edmonton guys were definitely the LATTER bunch.
I guess this is how the old trilogies die? Halo, Gears of War and now Mass Effect all get donated to their owner's B, C, or D teams who churn out sequels using the slave crank from Conan the Barbarian.
Milking the cash cow, i.e. "us".
Illustrated History of Life Except if this were Conan, they'd eventually get better at pushing the wheel.
Illustrated History of Life Except the new Gears game was actually half decent.....surprisingly. And Halo 5 isn't terrible either. I love the Halo Series, but 5 to me was terrible. Either way, Halo 5 still has a large player base.
Illustrated History of Life was gears 4 that bad? looked better than judgement at least
No, it was pretty good and a great PC port
"It just works"- Todd Howard
If you try to spin the character they do a funky dance, its really good.
Anyone noticed how fucked the drone's animations are? Poor thing looks like it has Tourette's or something.
ImpossibleJackal you mean....turrets? 😂😂😂
...
...
... ~snicker~
SHIT!
God damn it, lol
*Deploys drone*
Drone: PARTY HARD!!!
Do you mean Parkinson's?
I'll be interested in Mass Effect again when they'll let you play as an Alien... And when EA will get it's sh*t together. All their sh*t. And put it in a backpack, so it's together.
Mass Effect 3 multiplayer is the only way to play as an alien :C I agree.
LtnCorrsk Rick and morty= love :D
Being a Turian would feel SO badass.
Mass Effect is interesting and unique mostly because of the aliens tbh
Because humans in Mass Effect aren't as fun as humans in Halo imo. Mass Effect's portrayal of humans seem too special snowflakey. Playable aliens was also something a lot of people were asking for mid-development of Andromeda too. I'd be fine playing humans in a Sci-Fi if the portrayal is actually fun and not stale or boring.
Was I the only one who liked Mass Effect more when it was about interaction in densely populated places like the Citadel, Illium or Omega? Colonial efforts were always interesting in the universe, but it never felt like the main focus to me
The Doom sound effects cracked me up. Thanks for the early morning laugh, Jim.
I completely agree. I normally don't jump on remastered games but a remastered Mass Effect Series would be awesome!
A remaster with some gameplay fixes would be great for ME1 (making planet exploration more worthwhile and making combat less clunky would go a long way), but ME2's biggest weakness, in my opinion, was that the odds were much smaller, disappointingly so, than in ME1 (while it was an improvement over ME1 in almost every other respect).
And a remaster wouldn't save ME3. That game would need significant changes to the story and endgame / endgame mechanics to become good.
With all the dlc on the disc?
fuck yes.
With equipment from the first game, and mechanics and costumization from the third. ME1 combat was sadly shite.
Ego Alter. I feel like ME1 was a good story but a bad combat system while ME3 was a bad story with a good combat system.
I played ME3 Multiplayer until I had unlocked everything and was doing the hardest modes with a group of friends I had made just from that game. Still the combat wasn't perfect because you couldn't use the Adept charge skill unless you were the host.
Also ME 1 and ME 2 felt twice as long as ME3 and for the same 60$ that really disappointed me.
It's a perfect idea since they're pretty old now and seeing how certain events are tied together in such an organic way depending on choices made in the previous games makes moving on to the next game all the more satisfying. Having all three games and the DLC to blast through would be fantastic and it would sell a ton especially since most gamers highly value that time/price ratio. Although I do think they need a graphical overhaul - sharper textures and all that as long as they can stay at a good 60fps on consoles, which of course wouldn't be a problem on PC.
As a guy who's loving this game...
YEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH, it definitely needed more polish. I'm loving it in spite of its shortcomings, but hooo boy did it need some fine-tuning. It's not enough to take me out of it, but it COULD have been a much better experience.
Pretty much my thoughts as well. It's a flawed, but still immensely enjoyable experience.
Riverstyx197 **insert sexist comment comparing your post to marriage**
I'll just wait a few months for when the game drops down to $20 like all the other crap games do and buy it then. Maybe. Probably not, but I might if I'm super bored of all the other good games on the PS4.
Yep, that's my experience. It's like someone trained years to run a marathon, ran 95% of it and said that's good enough and walked away. I enjoy it, but I know I could have enjoyed it much more which sucks.
Combat is nice and the fiction of developing and getting this expedition back on track is there.
Your influence expands and you slowly get the resources to get from struggling to barely stay alive to have a growing colony deciding who to get out of stasis and how to progress that.
It's really doing that nicely.
If you on the other hand wanted a deeply immersive RPG, with a strong story and don't want to scream "What the fuck are you? What did they do your genes? HELP HELP THIS IS A MONSTROSITY!", everytime you talk to something supposed to be human, then maybe try it out in a year when EA releases to GotY edition for three quarters the price, or buy it in a bargain bin in about three months.
Pop culture is best observed from a distance, Jim.
Oh my god, that use of Jumper was masterful, thank you for such nostalgic glory.
I like the ramble at the end. Never watched a video from you that wasn't a jimquisition so this was refreshing.
The combat looks a lot smoother and fun, but looking at some of the characters and the massive amount of bugs in the game is a real put off.
and the animations are pretty awful, I don't understand how they could be in a AAA game like this, Bioware has dropped the ball on this one.
Because it wasn't Bioware (the one you know at least) that made it.
Why what has happened to Bioware was the old team split or something?
+Nathan whiteman Bioware Edmonton (the original team) is working on a new IP. While Bioware Montreal (new studio) made Andromeda.
they hired people not on talent but for quotas. they also had the writer for three who made the black ops from 2 be a huge military force in 3 that you spent most of the time dealing with.
then you had the racist lead designer who left bioware after Andromeda had been completed.
Nathan whiteman Most of everyone who was part of Bioware for ME 1, ME2 and DA: O left a long time ago.
I just wanted to add that I'm a fan of Mass Effect, all three games prior to this one, since 2007, I have 1, 2 and 3 on both 360 and PC platforms, and I am not at all bothered or offended by any review marking this one down, or criticisms of it. I think Jim's views are perfectly valid and look to be well observed. It looks like there are a lot of bugs, and that Bioware should be accountable for the lack of polish (something I already noticed in Mass Effect 3 as well, as much as I liked it anyway). I'm still looking forward to the game, but I suppose I am moderating my expectations a little bit in light of all the publicity. At the very least, I hope that these things do not surprise me, and become secondary to the rest of the experience, and that I enjoy it as I hoped it would.
Aside from that: Jim, you should really try Mass Effect 2. It's such a different beast to the first game.
David Taylor You are the most down to earth fan of anything I've ever encountered. I hope many good days and good words come your way.
Well! I suppose that's a kind observation, but kind of a damning indictment of fan culture in general, since I think my stance is absolutely to the atomic level the definition of 'middle ground' and not at all controversial - except I guess it is, because you said it's the most reasonable response you've ever encountered. Let us weep for our varied and probably shared hobbies and interests, and the armies of abject dickweeds trapped in arrested development well into their 30's (because lets face it, we have grown up alongside the majority of the worst offenders) that spoil it all for everyone else.
They should've used their money on refining the game rather than on denuvo
For me those types of things dont take me out of the experience but it is always fun to watch a good montage with all of this glitches.
Dat Castle Crashers music tho.
There's really no reason to defend this game. They dropped the ball, pure and simple, and thought they could sell it and no one would notice how shit it was.
I'll be honest, I'm pretty critical of Bioware games. I think the original ME trilogy was pretty good, but I've been disappointed with the Dragon Age sequels (Origins was really good. Inquisition... feels lacking in execution, it has content but no spirit). Whatever made them "good" at RPGs they have since lost I think.
Also, Andromeda was made by a Bioware imposter. And I think staffed largely by amatuers _or_ there were some major issues that divided the developers so they didn't work well together.
This needs more upvotes
Shawn Wesley I'll partially defend it and say it's an okay game, despite the issues. I won't claim it's perfect, but it's good enough to pick up in a few months once the price falls a bit, just like I do with other games.
The quality of this game isn't out of line compared to other AAA games to be honest, depressingly enough.
I heard people on the team who tried to voice their opinions on where the development was headed got harassed.
This is a bit hard to accept for anyone (including myself), but apparently if you check out the credits, while you can see that Andromeda was mostly developed by a new team, it was directed by a lead writer for the old trilogy. Moreover, towards the end a bunch of other Bioware studios helped clean up. This went through the hands of people who've done good work in the past, it's not an imposter team, it's just a new B or C team that doesn't have quite the same cumulative experience or workflow. We cannot pretend to understand the industry as consumers, but knowing that much I'd say things are WAY more complicated than "bad developers made this game, not Bioware." I THINK they took a risk giving this to a new team and it didn't pay off.
Shawn Wesley Inquisition was awesome, bioware still has my good will because of that, and I want to give them a chance. That said I wont buy andromeda at full price
more like Mass Defect
Mass Defecation
When Inquisition came out, that team stated they were getting used to the new engine (to excuse the funny facial animations and glitches). Guess the ME team couldn't spare anyone in an exchange program. Big fail.
OH MY GOD, YOU'RE LITERALLY THE FIRST PERSON TO DISPENSE THIS ZINGER!!!!!
Mass defect is actually a term in particle physics: en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_binding_energy#Mass_defect.
Which is possibly where the Mass Effect name came from in the first place.
Jim is being surprisingly lenient here. I watch this and see Aliens: Colonial Marines levels of horrible
This just makes me want to play Mass Effect 2 again.
I was hoping Jim would give this game a higher score than Zelda just to watch Reddit melt down, but that probably won't happen.
Jeff Boldgloom Do you really want Jim's credibility to decrease?
Jeff Boldgloom he will give it a 7.1/10
So you're saying that unless the review score doesn't reflect the popular opinion, he loses credibility?
The music just matches the start so well.. I can't stop giggling. xD
Mass Effect 1 is actually my favourite weirdly. It's aged a lot and it's definitely obtuse and has strange design choices but i think that gives it a lot of charisma and it feels unique, its an entity that has secrets and unknown factors and is really likeable for it. by comparison, while ME 2/3 were more polished and had better characters, they also had a lot fewer unique qualities and unusual features and things that make them unique, they was a lot more on show rather than being left to seek out yourself if you want it which is what ME1 had in my opinion.
But how can you criticize a game without singling out one woman who worked on the game for personal attacks? Mind blown.
because a quick google search proves that she had no experience in the field, yet she was hired for a job hundreds are more qualified for; and they aren't followed by 1000's of horny pricks on instagram.. ?
Domyras I thought she wasn't in charge of animation?
I'm sure there's many men who work for them who don't have much experience either but I don't see anyone picking them apart and deciding if they're worthy of being hired. She had minimal involvement which probably is because of her minimal experience...so why does she need to be harassed and attacked on twitter
Prove it. You don't even know if she has less experience or qualifications than all the men who are on the same place on the ladder as she is...because you'd never obsessively google a man's qualifications to determine if he's worthy of being hired by a company that isn't yours. If she happened to be a man this wouldn't even be an issue because then he'd never be singled out for harassment like this. It would just be chalked up to EA and bioware being shitty as usual. People just discovered a woman worked on the game and decided to unleash their sexist rage at her and blame her and "sjws" for everything that goes wrong. as usual.
You better do some hard re-thinking if you think it's her fault for being hired and not the incredibly shit management at EA/Bioware
which after 5 years can still make a rushed mess out of a Mass Effect game.
oh and an even quicker google search will have you find out she's not actually a Bioware employee anymore and it's practically impossible to know exactly how much she contributed to Andromeda.
What would all those Zelda zealots do if Jim Sterling gave mass defect a higher score?
john sobery self destruct?
back to zelda for me...
john sobery murder and pillage, probably.
what would Mass Effect psychotic fanboys do to Jim Sterling after giving their game 7/10 AT BEST?
they sure did a number on that one facial animation staff member...
john sobery I really want Jim to do this now.
I hope he does, just to piss them off :P
6/10 is a generous score IMO. Hopefully this doesn't happen for the next dragon age
william federoff ME:A makes me feel bad for being disappointed with Dragon Age: Inquisition lmao
is that a bs IGN 6/10 where anything less than 7 is "unplayable" or an actual 6/10 where 6 is slightly above average, but niche/nothing special.
With all the bugs fixed I'd give it an 8/10.
Honestly, coming from Mass Effect 1 is probably the best way to approach this game, since it also has a vehicle with hokey controls that you have to use on away missions. Watching my sister flail around with the Nomad was a real treat.
BIOWARE wanted to end the ME series with the third installment but EA forced them to rewrite the ending into something that can be continued because they wanted to sell future games, consider at the time of ME3 they did not know how the 4th installment could look like, so we got the INDOCTRINATION THEORY that is actually the true ending and explanations but it had to be kept hidden from EA and due to contracts sign from BIOWARE they are not allowed to tell us that it's the official ending, otherwise what's the point in having to rewrite it for EA. So considering that the IT in fact is the true ending the ME Trilogy is a f*cking MASTERPIECE up there with movies like "The sixth sense, twelve monkey's, Inception and so on!" Mass Effect 1-3 is a game about life and what you do with it, it's about living the journey you're on and the friends and enemies you make before you get to end of it. It's there to teach you that no matter who you are at the end we all fall to the cycle of life and death so our last attempt is not saving the earth and finishing our journey it's about ending it with the believes, the joy and love we and our friends had together by not giving in to the reapers and not becoming one of them while you're there in London lying on the ground unconscious and taking your last breath. It's the journey itself not the end of it that counts!
At 9:26, That's not a glitch. That's Cora using her Biotic Charge ability. I can't defend the others.
Yeah but the animation is what's bad about it
This is such a huge slap in the face for Mass Effect fans like myself who have waited years and years for this game
297fihsy yep
Just play Mass Effect 2 you knob goblin
It's incredible. Do.
mass effect 1 best mass effect
If he give MEA 7/10...hear come nintendo drones...strike number 2 XD
Lexi L stop
Good lord. The characters look WORSE than the original Xbox 360 game.
No way. Have you even looked at the original game recently?
Fragenzeichenplatte yes, they in fact looked better in the older games
Agreed. Very much agreed.
I reinstalled ME1 today as I am replaying all the games before Bioware patches the game in couple months(hoping for a small sale somewhere too) and andromeda may have more polygons or whatever, but ME1 characters from stylistic perspective just look better.
I can see how Jim might get bored out of ME1. It's an rpg afterall even if the good olde Bioware wanted to make more actiony KOTOR in new universe. Lots of walking/exploring, world building and never ending dialog introducing you to the world on the Normandy. Still love it to death even if combat is clunky and ultimately broken somewhere mid game. As a shocktrooper you can basically have permanent immunity which basically makes you immortal. Remember those turrets shooting at you in MAKO? As a schocktrooper with immunity you can take four(4!) of those before dying and those missiles are basically anti armor.
Yeah many of the characters look like that really ugly broad on Feros that was handling the water pipe maintenance duties there you meet at the beginning, LOL.
The review we've all been waiting for.
I've had a few glitches though not all that I've seen. As much as I love the first mass effect, it was 2 that made me go back and create more Shepards. 2 remains the best, though I am enjoying Andromeda.
I did have the Peebee face glitch that you put Doom sounds over. Glad I got to laugh at that bug again in a new way.
No planet scanning in the first ME. (@8:55)
Yet you have played it several times?
Pants on fire.
A few people in the comments are also sharing memories of 'awful planet scanning' from ME1. ... They must have heard _something_ about 'planet scanning in ME' on youtube in the past couple of weeks, I guess.
There wasn't per say the retarded system that was planet scanning in ME2.
But there was driving around in the meko on the off planets looking for resources if you desired. And it was awful.
also, jim ffs, go play mass effect 2-3.
The robot/drone thing that spazzes out as it unpacks is incredibly hard to look at.
R.I.P. Bioware, once, I mean ONCE, a great studio. Just perfect example of corporate decomposing.
Guess I'm lucky. The worst animation problem I've had is one where NPC's bodies will stutter occasionally in conversations. The facial animation isn't the best but it's never really been outstanding in Bioware's games. I'm not actively looking for glitches or problems but to me... it does seem pretty overblown. At least the impact it has on the enjoyment of the game seems overblown. I don't know, maybe people have just become jaded or harder to impress this generation because I'm enjoying the hell out of the game and it doesn't seem like a major step back from the original trilogy. The combat is better than it's ever been, the planets are fucking cool to explore, the music is good, the side quests have more context than ever, and the story seems interesting so far. Ryder is a nice change from playing as a decorated war hero and I'm interested in the Kett's motivations.
Maybe it all goes to shit later in the game... but from what I've read people seem to think the opening sucks and it actually gets better later on.
The bit around 9:25 when you said she spawned above the enemy and fell, she was actually using a skill called charge, it wasn't a bug at all, thats just what it looks like when you charge an enemy that dies just as you arrive.
starting off with one of the best castle crashers songs. excellent taste jim
I think your judgement of the game is valid. Honestly though, ME 2 was the one that got me interested in the series. After that, ME 1 appealed to me a lot more. And the lore is the highlight; the animations and gameplay are secondary to the characters. That's just my opinion though.
Maybe I'm the exception, but I never considered the gameplay in ANY of the Mass Effect games to be "good" - and I did two complete play throughs of the original trilogy. Combat was always something to be tolerated while we got to the story and characters, which is why I kept playing.
I say this not to devalue anyone else's experience with the game. I've truest not had a problem with glitches.
So the people who say that it has been overblown probably legitimately haven't had the same glitchy experience as others. It's sad that it is not a consistent experience for everyone. My person enjoyment of the game is probably an 8/10, but with everyone else's experience it probably deserves a 6/10.
This is why numbered reviews are arbitrary.
Jim, that was the most cruel thing that you've ever called us during an opening.
I really love the opening for this video, the song is great. lol
Bioware definitely went back to ME1's 'RPG with shooter elements' gameplay rather than ME2 and ME3's 'Shooter with RPG elements' style and pacing.
Honestly, I loved ME1 for the most part, and am really enjoying this return to heavier, crunchier RPG elements, but I can very easily see how people that preferred ME2/ME3 gameplay might feel a bit like they missed the bus.
I can also understand how a lot of people are going "WTF?" at some of the janky animation work.
On the whole, I'm a terrible critic and I'm enjoying the game immensely. Animation jankiness amuses me when I spot it and then I get on with myself, and some of the clumsier writing just makes me snortchortle, and then I get on with myself.
Good critic I am not.
It needed more time, EA didn't care and wanted it to release as is, there is really nothing more to say. 5 year development or not, it needed more time
Meh this wasn't EA's fault. 5years is plenty of time to have something better then this. They can't fund brain damaged devs forever.
As I said, 5 years doesn't change the fact that it ultimately needed more time to be polished. This game would have sold more units then it will sell now if it had been postponed until it was properly ready, reviews drive sales and this game is getting bad reviews right now. I now 5 years is lot's of time and I agree it should be enough time to produce a finished game, but it clearly wasn't enough time for Andromeda and the game should have been given until winter this year to round things up. You can tell things just need some tweeking, like how characters warp in randomly or faze through objects. The facial animations are probably just a lost cause.
All in all, rushing a game to launch is bad business, EA should have let this one brew for another half year and profited off of genuine success rather than hoping to capitalize off an existing loyal fan base and microtransactions in the multiplayer (multiplayer is actually good with little to no bugs, you can see what EA really cares about)
I've heard/seen seen that the combat in this iteration seems to be the best so far, it's a lot more fast paced at the very least. Less hunkering behind cover helps the flow of combat, + the much improved movement and dodges etc.
5 years for this
Sick Doug sound effect.
Microtransactions will fix it Kappa.
That Castle Crashers music.
Pen Pen Ultra THANK YOU. I couldn't figure it out.
Pen Pen Ultra Pen Pineapple Apple Pen
That was driving me nuts.
That opening montage is still the greatest thing ever.
Bioware appears to be making inventory limits in their games smaller with each game.
For example:
-ME1 had 150 inventory spaces
-Dragon Age Origins had 70-120 inventory spaces
-Dragon Age 2 50-100 inventory spaces
-Dragon Age Inquisition had 60-90 inventory spaces
-Andromeda has 50-65 inventory spaces.
There is also to consider the fact that all the Dragon Age games had a party storage chest that was added either by dlc or patch, which is some Andromeda badly needs because it's inventory capacity is the smallest so far and as far as I'm aware only has 1 option to expand it.
I mean I'm actually kinda worried, because this looks a lot like Maxis' last few outputs
and bullfrog's
and Mythic's
And you know what I'm talking about right?
You know what EA likes to do
and you know, there have been a couple of rumors floating around since around E3 last year
that this game might be Bioware's last
and you know EA people
you know EA
JarlDraggmond The Grim Reaper of Videogame Companies.
I'm honestly still more pissed about the writers' clumsy handling of their token trans character. Is it really that hard to just ask a trans woman for her opinion of how trans women should best be written? Really?
Because as a trans dude myself, my first interaction with people doesn't usually go, "Hi! I'm transgender! People used to know me by my deadname, which I'm telling you now, a total stranger! I never really fit in as a kid, because I'm trans. It's all very tragic. Did I mention yet that I'm trans? 'Kay bye."
WhiteN0iz the writer of this is the very same one that did Halo 4 story
Writing a trans character well isn't an issue of 'politically correct', it's about doing your research. I appreciate the INTENT behind including this character, but it falls to pieces in her first introductory line of dialogue because they couldn't be assed to run it by somebody first.
Oh dear. Oh dear oh dear. You do realise that you can have same sex relationships in the Mass Effect Universe? Also, please don't use 'correct'. Your right is someone else's wrong, and vice versa, keep it in mind.
You didn't say your name in the first comment. I can't read replies at the moment because I have an older version of YeeToob
Been saying it for a while; I'd rather a cool character that happened to be trans/gay/etc, rather than a character who was entirely defined by the fact that they're trans/gay/etc. Give me a Shepard that mentions he transitioned in a passing conversation between himself and a friend he's grown close enough to confide to, over 'HEY I'M TRANS, AND I'M HERE, 'CAUSE I'M TRANS!'. Just an opinion from a patiently waiting fan of video games, though.
Video of Jim Sterling talking about MEA... with a commercial for MEA on top of it. ANd the commercial won't even load.
Like poetry.
Mass Effect from the start was about the immersion.
things like.
your actions.
the characters around you reacting to your actions.
your actions have anywhere from minor to adverse effects(which carry over when imported from title to title).
exploring planets.
discovering the history of the reapers.
understanding the various races their cultures and their environments(although the dialogue sometimes contradicted the codex entries)
Jim, you are a funny dude. Keep it up.
Probably the best mass effect, was mass effect 2, and the first half of mass effect 3. PS, why is it that the character models look better on mass effect 3 than in mass effect andromeda?
Previous games weren't made by people who are concerned with their safe zones. There's an article on Sun, speculating that all female models in MEA was done improperly on purpose for gender equality. 90% of BW's MEA staff was composed of womens (quite the liberal activist kind judging from their looks).
Mass Effect 2 was the worst one plot wise
Razor2048 The Mass Effect trilogy was made by Bioware Edmenton. Andromeda is made by Bioware Montreal, which is full of noobs with little experience. They wanted more time despite already spending five years but EA got tired of their crap and orders them to sell.
+TubeChaser it was less about plot (some even said it seemed like a giant side mission instead) and more about character interactions/development and building relationships, which would carry over into ME3. You realize this, since everybody was pretty much at war by the 3rd one and you could see the positive or negative impacts as a result.
+Juggernautdemon Bioware Montreal should be THROWN OUT THE FOOKIN AIRLOCK! They did alright with some of the ME3 dlc shit like Omega and Leviathan, but that was all. Just alright.
Makes me sad Jim that in his gameplay here he hasn't ever changed profiles, that's like a serious meat of the gameplay, It's just fun to have multiple profiles.
I don't know but I am have definitely enjoying the game are there a few things I would change..... yes but I don't seem to be bothered by anything to the point where I haven't thoroughly enjoyed this game! I love the first three games as well and I have them for the most part memorized! I have 50+ hours in it and am probably going to ware this game out (impossible for me to do) and Jim Sterling I enjoy your content very much and you are probably one of my most favorite CZcamsrs! I definitely can respect what you are saying though!
Honestly while the animations are definitely a notable problem they aren't high among my biggest issues with this game
it's below average and probably worth checking out in a few months after a few updates or at least a rental or heavy sale
I don't hate the people at Bioware I know there was clearly effort put here as the environments and combat are good
but because it's mass effect there is a high standard that they missed and the backlash is high as many people feel letdown.
I think Bioware really should move away from both Mass Effect and Dragon Age as most of the people who worked on those games are gone to do other things and it's would be better for everyone in the long run if they did different stuff
no, dragon age has to continue
I know they set themselves up with Dragon age going to the imperium and dealing with a new threat set up at the end of inquisition
Not going to spoil who in case someone hasn't played it yet. So sure I'll agree that at least one more Dragon Age game probably ought to be made to tie up lose ends.
That being said I stil stand by that what comes next for them shouldn't be just these two franchises.
"but because it's mass effect there is a high standard that they missed and the backlash is high as many people feel letdown."
No no no. You seem to be on a high horse so get off that shit. This isn't a 'Problem' because it's Mass Effect. This is a problem because they spent Millions of dollars on a AAA game, and they can't even get the Animations right? Fuck man, Indie games made by 1-2 people, spending a LOT less money, have BETTER Animation and less issues than this game runs into.
this isn't comparing it to the other ME games, it's comparing it to ANY game that has come out in the last 20 years. Very few have as many graphical errors as this, and even fewer are AAA games with millions of dollars behind them. Usually the problems in AAA games are the story, Gameplay/Mechanics, or Microtransactions/DLC/Pre-Order/Otherbullshittostealmoney. This game has all of those issues and more. We're just focusing on the More part.
jirodyne I'm well aware that there have been better animation in the past games by other better people
Shit man the animations in Andromeda aren't even the biggest problems with that game just the most notable one that everyone jumps on.
what I was saying that because it's Mass Effect the game it's getting more backlash than it deserves.
let me ask you this who do you really think is at fault here for these problems EA? Bioware? Both?
I don't like this game in the slightest. I'm guessing you don't either but I've seen people get way too mad over this game and attacking the people who made it over the animations which is fucked up regardless of how bad they are
jirodyne I'm well aware that there have been better animation in the past games by other better people
Shit man the animations in Andromeda aren't even the biggest problems with that game just the most notable one that everyone jumps on.
what I was saying that because it's Mass Effect the game it's getting more backlash than it deserves.
let me ask you this who do you really think is at fault here for these problems EA? Bioware? Both?
I don't like this game in the slightest. I'm guessing you don't either but I've seen people get way too mad over this game and attacking the people who made it over the animations which is fucked up regardless of how bad they are
what, you didnt miss anything for not playing ME2/3 ? Yea well, you missed the best sci-fi saga in computer games, with deep and smart story.
ME1 did have a good story, but ME2 was boring as fuck and ME3 did have a shitty ending! :(
don't forget alien booty
Yea right...best scifi saga in history. In your history maybe, not in mine. I prefer the X games, X 3, X Albion Prelude, etc. Those are better scifi sagas.....one example...but wait. Theres more.
HAHAHAHA!
KOTOR was better
Man, I must have gotten a golden version of this game. 12 hours in and not a single animation bug.
Admitting that u like the game because the exploration of ME combined with the combat of ME2 has been my ambien fever dream for ages now: Cora doesn't lack transitory animations and she didn't spawn in the air and fall, she used charge.
ME1 was my favourite ME, so is ME:A is more of ME:1, I'm game.
Less than 7? You are in for another shit storm. On the other hand, several mass effect channels are less than impressed with this game.
Bullet Bill I doubt that he will get much criticism for this review, just about everyone was waiting to take the piss out of ME:A. People were taking shots at it before gameplay was even released
Well, and now we know for certain. Played it myself. Can only agree with most "negative" reviews. Just a mediocre game, that's all. Not a terrible game. Certainly not a AAA game though. Just run of the mill stuff with mediocre writing and quite a few bugs/glitches.
Diree I can certainly understand this perspective. I too have played it and had relatively low expectations going in, which is probably why I enjoy it. What I find curious is the polarity of opinions depending on which franchise a game is hailing from. I played Zelda BOTW on WiiU and that game was plagued by game breaking frame drops and cringe voice acting (still love it) and it was getting 10s. I just find these double standards unfortunate.
My personal scores for the Mass Effect games:
ME1 - Score 8, Great story but some game-breaking glitches.
ME2 - Score 6, Very boring main story. Not much context.
ME3 - Unscored, I never played it because of the shitty spoiled ending
MEA - Score 4, Unacceptable for a AAA game!
I think this is my favorite video on CZcams.
I loved Mass Effect 1, and while I sitll oved 2 and 3, I missed the exploration from the first game, and I like seeing that expanded on. 10 hours in and while it's not mind blowing, and the animations could definitely use a lot of work, I am still enjoying it and see myself spending a lot of time in this game.
I'll correct you on one thing, actually. The stuff that was good in ME2 and ME3 most certainly was NOT ignored. From a fundamental design level I'd even say Andromeda plays mostly better than those two games, if only by virtue of not being contained to minimalistic indoor hallways that only serve to highlight how sub-par the shooter design is compared to better, dedicated third-person shooters, which was a large chunk of what BioWare fans complained about in ME2 and ME3. Andromeda attempts to bring ME1's ambition back into the ME2/ME3 framework by amping up the RPG elements and customization options without going back on gameplay advancement, meaning we have vast open-area vehicle sections and tons of outdoor exploration on alien worlds but we also have the smooth as butter shooter controls of ME2 and ME3 as well as their ideas for how to handle such things as the ship; the dialogue system also ditches the Paragon/Renegade meters in favor of a more complex and better-handled version of what Dragon Age II attempted, which is to say a dialogue system based wholly on choosing options for personality and tone rather than moral-alignment.
What Andromeda lacks is in its technical advancement and its polish. The animation is bonkers in places and the graphics still have that made-of-clay look that I'd associate with mid-to-early PS3 games. And if that were the only problem I'd be fine, but it also ditches the pause wheel for power usage, along with any ability that would have given you to command your squadmates to use specific powers on specific targets, which has been a staple of the gameplay since the very first game and in my mind one of the things that set it APART from all those other third-person shooters that did basic shooter design better. Instead you can use three powers at any given time during gameplay, and no more than three, because that's the maximum number of hotkeys you're given. So your single-player character plays like the multiplayer characters and it feels as a result as if, in spite of combat being arguably better, tactics took several steps back and tumbled ass-over-head into a black hole.
The game is quite fun but it's unfortunate in that it came out possibly a few years too late to stand up to its immediate competition (which in this case is Horizon Zero Dawn and Breath of the Wild, just as Inquisition had to contend with being released not long before The Witcher 3). The game feels as if it lags behind, like development went on too long and then they realized it was going on too long and rushed it out. Unfortunate, because, technical issues aside, it's really a fun game and it does recapture some of the ambition ME1 failed to fully realize before the series got kicked into focus-group hell for ME2 and ME3.
Very well put
What about the terrible voice acting? The bad dialogues and writing? Sure, everything wasn't peachy in other Mass Effect, but it wasn't nearly as bad as this one where 90% of the jokes just fall fucking flat... When the jokes are intended... Like... Liam and his champagne joke? It's funny once, but stop refering to this joke 3 times in 1 min. It seems the writers for MEA had a terrible sense of humor (if any).
The One True Nobody! The thing you mentioned about lack of active pause and limited hotkey slot is disappointing to hear. I'll blame the damn multiplayer on this. But if the combat is even slightly better than me1, I'll settle for that. I'm mostly into companions and dialogue anyway.
Well... it doesn't seem the companions are better than the ones from ME2... Mordin Solus >>>>> all other companions. :D
No, but seriously, ME2 had amazing companions. ME1... well... it had Garrus. Tali was pretty good in other ME but she wasn't that interesting in ME1.
Did you play the trial?
A bit of a mess in fact
"I'm a big fan of hot pink."
God bless Jim.
Loved the Castle Crashers music in the intro, and the Asari's DOOM sound effects.
Jesus, are those the actual textures, or did CZcams fuck up the footage worse than usual today?
Dayne Fishwick those are actual textures
That's actually what the game looks like. There's by far more than enough people playing it on twitch if you want to get a feel for it before you buy it. Looks like a lot of fun. I'll wait till it's half off or so to buy it.
Screw the graphics. The graphics are "fine". It's everything else that's "meh".
Diree Screw "fine" in my opinion. We're a ways in on this console generation now. Better looking games have been produced before this. Fuck, Mass Effect 3 looks better than this. What's the point of better hardware?
Uploaded for not even 10 seconds, already has dislikes.
😩
dynamickirby It's a mark of stature in CZcams showing that enough people know about you and you somehow earned enough of their time to warrant them coming or showing up early and disliking your stuff before they've ever even seen it.
Song at the Start: Castle Crashers - Forest Entrance
i love sci fi but could never quite get into mass effect.should be right up my alley.
loved the intro! Jim old chum
Oh dear here come the fan boys! :D
+BitVictim You should target your anger at the people who upvote all the coments who whine about "SJWs". They're the ones creating drama because nothing Jim said in the video was related to SJWs or feminism or politics. He was only talking about the game, like these anti-feminists always demand, and yet they're the ones getting offended at nothing.
It was a joke, you're the one calling people cunts. I think possibly you should grow up, if you are going to get that angry over one you tube comment.
What the fuck is happening here? Did i have a stroke or does none of this make sense?
no clue what's going on, I was just trying to make a fucking joke!
srsly, bitvictim, step back and take a chill pill :/
Jim, Cora wasn't spawning in the air at 9:24 it's actually her biotic ability to teleport and melee an enemy even if they're in the air. Cheers
Mister November yet I dont blame him for being confused cause it looks so bad that it seems she just teleported to that enemy and stood there no animation nothing lazy as hell.
So that was intentional? That's even worse.
Yes, Pink is still awesome. Fantastic live show with acrobatics.
Nooo. Stay away from me. STAY AWAY FROM ME GAME!
Thank you Mr Sterling MAN GOD of all existence for this most entertaining view on things.