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8drawt

Just finished with 93% completion. Very meh.

sloth

After 65hrs, I've finished the game.

Completed most of the game except Peebee's loyalty mission which glitches out.

The rest were just minor fetch quests that I didn't care for.

I think Andromeda was better than Inquisition.

I enjoyed it a lot but won't be playing it a second time because you can only have 3 skills mapped and enemies become more "difficult" by simply having more HP.

I enjoyed the story a lot. The Kett with their puppy dog eyes were a nice enemy. We still don't know so much about this new galaxy so I reckon there'll either be huge DLC or a sequel. I'll be buying the DLC which is unusual. I generally wait for the game of the year edition where its a lot cheaper but this time, because I enjoyed the game a lot, I'll make the purchase and revisit Andromeda.

I romanced Gil accidentally and then just went with it. Bit sad. I had planned on being straight with Vetra.

Drack's storyline was really nice. It was my favourite.

The worlds were very beautiful. I especially liked the purple rainforest and roaming around the dessert in the Mako/Nomad. The vehicular sections were not terrible like Mass Effect 1 but actually pretty fun. My first car was a Toyota Land Cruiser and I particularly liked traversing all the rough terrain and slopes.

So I reckon Andromeda...

Took the politics and Mako from Mass Effect 1. And made it all fun.

Took the relationships and Citadel DLC from Mass Effect 2. And upped it a bunch.

Took the gameplay from Mass Effect 3 and added jet packs.

All up, a very clean evolution and improvements on all fronts.

I would recommend this very happily in a few patches once they do away with the arbitrary load screen sequences. I know that the world has loaded already and yet I'm still stuck looking at this stupid transition video.

Also, maybe get rid of the ladders in the Tempest because they murder the pace.

Other than that, a very pleasant romp in another galaxy.

---

Ok, so now spoiler talk time!

Spoiler:

I reckon... The Quarian ark was cut from the game because of time restraints and now will be DLC. We'll continue the Kett storyline in a second game. And their mother will be revived as either DLC or a chapter in the second game.

It'll be nice to see where all your crew head off to. Like when you play Mass Effect 2 and see the Mass Effect 1 party all become big shots.

Spoiler:

I love that they inferred Peebee's dad being a hanaar/pink jellyfish. I missed so much dialogue in the Mako/Nomad because I mostly used Cora and Drack. Cora's biotic shielding made me invincible and Drack was so reliable at whack-a-mole those invisible lizard things.

Spoiler:

I'm surprised your sibling had such a small part in things. Director Tann is an asshole. I made that Angaran priestess the ambassador to the Nexus.

sloth

Speaking of DLC, looking at Inquisition's DLC schedule as the precedent, it appears one will come out every 3-6 months. That is quite good as when something big comes out, it'll make me mop up those minor quests I've skipped just to get back into gear. I hope the DLC isn't $25AUD ea like Inquisition. That made me wait for the GOTY edition to go on sale which I snapped up for $30AUD with everything in it.

Oh well. EA...

sloth

Also, my key binds were:

1. Grenades to clear out large clusters especially new drop ships.

2. Varied. Sometimes this was charge, other times it was overclock? Overcharge?

Charge was fun to zip about the field clearing up mobs, and overcharge was good for boss fights where you had a small window to hit their weak spot.

3. Mostly biotic push with all the cool down specs.

I was quite pleased with this and a sniper/assault rifle set up. It pretty much took care of everything and was the most fun I had.

I tried the tech tree but just found it underwhelming.

GoodEnoughForMe

Everything about the SAM memory thing bugged me. It was such a silly "game" way to gate story content. It made no sense really. And gathering the memory triggers was annoying. I feel like they should have just made the cutscenes unlock overtime as you level up or something. That'd make more gamification sense in a way, too. Rather than gathering silver glowing orbs on a planet.

As for story discussion:

Spoiler:

They've certainly left some breadcrumbs that the Benefactor is the Illusive Man, in terms of the humans getting the best Ark and the Cerberus peeps being on Kadara, but we'll see. I feel like that'd be too predictable. I'm not sure I like how they were able to learn about the Reaper invasion, although its reveal to the rest of the Initiative as well as attempts to communicate with the Milky Way could be cool. I am intrigued by who killed Jien, although I suspect it'll just be a Benefactor Operative of some sort. I'm not too fond of mom being kept alive, as I am more interested in the messy politics and treachery of the Nexus and finding out more about the Kett and the Jardaan. There is a LOT of worldbuilding they have to do with regards to Kett, Scourge, Remnant, Jardaan, Benefactor, Black hole???? And it leads me to believe they'll have to make other games. They consistently said they were open to the idea of this being a one-off OR a series, but man, so many breadcrumbs and hints at stuff, and the game certainly ended with a sequel bait cutscene, or at least, big time DLC.

Spoiler:

Really I think they tried to play so safe and please everyone by not having anyone die, letting you bang anyone, making the choices not matter. I get that people are attached and will cry if you kill off someone they like, or gate a quest because of a decision, and there's no easy answer to how you design a game, but I feel the pendulum swung too far in the direction of making sure everyone could see and do everything and there was no real significance to anything.

So yeah, lots of ways they could go and lots of info they have to fill out. I hope they make some of the choices matter in the DLC/sequel and I hope we learn more about this galaxy, because we know so little. I'll be playing the DLC as it hits.

Edit: Also yeah. Reapers lol. Kind of fucked up big time if they waited until the Milky Way could colonize other galaxies. Although maybe that was the delay that Shepard bought? Man, what a guy.

GoodEnoughForMe

Regarding the final mission:

Spoiler:

I reward myself half a point for fighting on the Nexus, although I did not see it being as your sibling lol, so I guess I was kind of wrong there.

8drawt

@sloth I think I racked up about 85 hours overall in the game. It is definitely a good game, this should be considered a spin off as it is not aligned enough to the playstyle and format of the previous Mass Effect games I reckon.

@sloth Yes they took the Mako sections from ME1 (which are god awful and would be difficult to implement in any way more jarring) and replaced them with the Nomad. The Nomad is a great improvement over previous vehicles and really fun to drive about in, it definitely grows on you throughout the game. BUT a huge part of the game is now Vehicle based, completely unlike previous ME games.

@sloth The relationship forging between you and the squad mates is traditionally a massive part of the games. If arranged a little better the relationships would definitely be up to ME2 standards and most likely surpass them. I am mainly talking about the pacing and the lack of spontaneity. There is very little of seamlessly bringing in character relationships and dynamics into the more important segments of the game/story.

@sloth The combat from ME3 was the best in the trilogy but the combat in Andromeda steps it up so much like you say. It is the best combat in an ME game by miles. The fighting is very loose in that the game allows you to be really liberal in pushing you into fighting with set tactics/styles. It still feels very tight though.

In short this is everything truly amazing about Mass Effect watered down. Interesting sections of gameplay are too widely spaced around what are essentially time-wasting mechanics. I am going to have a big rant about EA soon ,but not right now) . Too many things I wan't to say about this game, in short ME has been stretched out into this quasi open-world game skeleton at the expense of everything else. Most of the things that make ME great are still here, they are just buried very deeply and awfully infrequently.

I liked the game, I enjoyed all my time with it. At any point though while playing I know I would rather have been playing ME1 ME2 or ME3 . Hopefully that is pretty telling as to how I feel about Andromeda.

Dr Flibble

You sound like a bunch of neckbeard undergrads defending Communism over your deconstructed coffees, "Yeah, well, so maybe it killed 100 million people give or take but there are definitely some sound ideas in there".

Price is already dropping (praise Capitalism) so a bargain bin buy shouldn't be too far away. This game sounds like it is to gaming what the new Power Rangers movie is to cinema. So excited.

8drawt

@Dr Flibble I am a bit of a neckbeard. I tell you what this is : it is the capitalist patriarchy trying to keep us the (Insert minority group here) down and buying games that don't conform with my chosen gender pro-noun.

Sarcastic aside, I did briefly see something about Bioware taking out a trans character or something after some representative group of the 'trans community' complained about it. WTF is happening in the world, nobody gives a flying fuck about how your SJW group is represented in a fucking videogame.

@Dr Flibble I give a shit about Mass Effect (or at least used to) just moaning really, rather than trying to engage in pretend attempted intellectual arguments over society and government in Uni halls over a joint or two.

(I don't think EA would bat an eyelid over the genocide of 100 million people if it prevented them from releasing day one DLC)

Dr Flibble

That's a horrible thing to say dude! EA would at the very least do some market research to determine whether or not those people were part of their target demographic first!

And hey I can understand the frustration, I quite enjoyed ME1, I just went through with ME2 what you are now with Andromeda. When you finally lose all hope and hit rock bottom, I'll be down here waiting with a deconstructed latte for you.

sloth

@GoodEnoughForMe

The SAM memory thing was very lazy. From a narrative stand point, they should've been tied the environment or trigger point closer to the actual memory being recalled. If there's no relevance between environment and trigger, then well, as you say, it might as well have been gated after milestones or missions. From a gameplay perspective, I enjoyed them because I really liked driving around in my four/six wheel drive and trying to climb things.

Spoiler:

I enjoyed that SAM remained your ally and that they didn't go down the whole 'oh, AI evil' story line. I read one of your posts previously and from it, thought that you had hinted at the AI going rogue and back stabbing you etc etc and I rolled my eyes. Then when I finished and realised that I had just misinterpreted you, that was quite nice.

Spoiler:

I'm pretty sure the benefactor is the Illusive Man. He has the same last name as your companion, Cora. I think she is his daughter but this is all speculation.

Spoiler:

With the reapers, I have so many ideas about this. The Kett are like opposite reapers because where reapers are all about tech, the Kett are about genetics and biology. I think in the future we'll see the Kett becoming more of the good guys with their 'any sacrifice made is fine' stance to combat the 50,000 year cycle of the reapers. With the Reapers being so advanced, there's no reason why they haven't achieved inter galaxy travel especially with how young our species are and have used their mass effect tech to achieve this. I'd like to find out that the Scourge is an advanced form of Reapers that the Kett are battling. You know that mission where you can buddy up with that female Kett commander? I declined and killed her, but I'd like for her to return in default saves as a big companion or ally in future games.

Spoiler:

Also, I really liked or at least I'm reading it like so - the reapers won in the old galaxy. I mean, its mostly circumstantial what you unlock from the SAM memories, but from the previous galaxy going dark - that's just awesome. They've had 800 years to re-establish if they've won and receive contact. So I like to think that Mass Effect 1-3 = failed mission and the reapers won. Perhaps Andromeda is a different sort of petri dish for them.

Spoiler:

The mum plot line was weird but I liked how human it was with how Alec clung to love. Its so cheesy but I like it immensely. Your mother is a biotic power house researcher so I look forward to them really letting you be over powered by her advances. I hope they start doing tree hybrids. Like tech (SAM) x biotics (mum).

Spoiler:

I read this really nice fan theory on reddit about the next Andromeda game. The crew will get dangerously close to the black hole in some weird mission gone wrong and that'll time fuck them. By that way, the crew on board don't age but those that weren't do and we see how the colonised worlds have progressed. And then Ryder will need serious surgery which will let you respec him.

Spoiler:

There are so many breadcrumbs in this and I'd happily buy all the DLC just for a casual dalliance every quarter to revisit Andromeda. I really liked this game and am very fond of it. Unlike the last Mass Effect games, I played this quite early and am enjoying the subreddit release all sorts of theories and fan art and whatever. Its really nice being apart of the hype and unfolding. I was very isolated in Mass Effect 1-3 with no community to bolster and carry the fondness through.

Spoiler:

I was very surprised that Drack didn't die. I was waiting for that heavy moment to hit me but it never happened. I'm glad he didn't and I liked his story line the most.

@8drawt Yeah, its definitely a spin off. I don't see this as a continuation of Mass Effect 1-3. I mean, the arks launch after Mass Effect 1, and then 800 years go by and you're trying to re-establish contact with whatever remains from Mass Effect 3. Though there are lots of sprinkles of Mass Effect 2 lore inside.

@8drawt I agree. I felt that Mass Effect 2 had better characters. I didn't care for Liam, Peebee, Cora, and I especially didn't care for Suvi. I found her so irritating. And then your Salarian pilot doesn't have much going on. I liked Jaeaaeaeaaa, Drack, and Vetra only even though I romanced Gil. He was such a bitch throughout the game and his romance story was very irksomely needy.

@8drawt I agree, its definitely watered down bit a lot of those 'additional tasks'. I ignored them and finished at 65 hours instead of your 85 hours. I figured the only bits I really needed were the main plot tasks, the companion quest lines, and the city-based main quests.

@8drawt In my head, I remember Mass Effect 2 a lot more fondly and if I went back, it would probably not hold up very well. I was watching Soverign lines on YouTube (who is way more epic than any Kett) and yeah, its very jarring to look at. But still, the reapers are so badass a villain.

@Dr Flibble On the topic of deconstructed coffee, I was listening to this podcast called 'Planet Money' and they were talking about how some companies have avoided getting taxed for certain things. For example, food is a certain tax but 'health foods' attract a lower tax. Pizza attracts a warm food tax, so if they don't warm it and just keep it room temperature, its like a baked good tax. One of the things mentioned were tacos and how this company sold deconstructed tacos to get around that tax.

Here's a link: http://www.npr.org/sections/money/2014/07/18/332612643/episode-554-how-the-burrito-became-a-sandwich

The podcast is kind of hit and miss. But I've enjoyed having it on while I make my dinners every night.

--

After chatting with everyone on this forum about Andromeda, I am liking it even more.

8drawt

@Dr Flibble I am pretty sure that EA already has a human genetics engineering department researching how to release an airborne pathogen that modifies human DNA to make our reproductive cells more susceptible to Madden and Fifa. Only one in a hundred of our future offspring will be able to resist buying EA's barrage of annual games persistently until the end of time. The EA human genophage if you will. It would be a much better story baseline than Andromeda I suppose.

@sloth I dunno how to do a spoiler tag but I was strongly convinced throughout the illusive man was the benefactor too. Well noticed that Cora has the same last name! I didn't clock on to that, but it does make a lot of sense. .

@sloth I think that if I had ignored most of the side quest stuff and focused almost completely on strong story quests I would have enjoyed the game much more. I am glad that talking about the game has made you enjoy it even more, it definitely helps me to have more fun with the games having a bit of a chat.

sloth

@8drawt That is called EA-nophage. You do spoiler tags inside of these brackers [] instead of <>. I have no idea how to put a button on the editor.

Now that I've finished and am mostly consuming post-game lore and fan creations, I'll probably up my gaming time here and there doing the minor tasks for half an hour every odd week just to get back into that world, do a bit of the four wheel terrain driving and make the time go by while listening to a podcast. I miss all the mindless grinding I used to do in World of Warcraft where I got to listen to podcasts, so this may be the new dumb thing to do.

I'm currently looking at buying a car and have noticed that since Andromeda I've been looking at mostly SUVs instead of the designated Miata previously.

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