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Forums - Gaming Discussion - So... what exactly is wrong with ME: Andromeda?

theprof00 on 17 March 2017
COKTOE said:
theprof00 said:

Well, I would guess the first problem you'll run into is that you opinion is going to differ from others.
From the voice acting I've heard, the dialogue selections, and the animations I've seen, it seems like a huge drop from ME standards. I only played ME2, and I didn't like it, but when I was playing it, it was clearly a AAA game.

You know, it's like that first final fantasy movie they made, spirits within. Storyline and acting (outside a couple characters) were bad. I mean, not bad, but really quite bland and predictable. It wasn't interesting. However, the whole time I was watching it, I did think to myself, "wow, they really did an amazing job with the animation"

That was how I felt with ME2.
This one, I mean I don't know bro. It's someone's opinion versus yours. My opinion is just, I don't respect it from what I've seen.

Another example would be fallout 4. Honestly, I thought the game was boring AF, even though I loved 3. But while I played it, I was like, "wow, they really did a great job, it's just not that interesting *to me*".

EDIT: That line that goes, "sorry my face is tired". Like, it's borderline original resident evil acting quality. smh

It's cool that you can make that distinction in the face of personal disappointment. It's happened to me a few times over the years. The Virtua Fighter series is a good example.

Contrary to popular belief, even though I am a massive PS fanboi, I am capable of looking at things objectively :D :D

At least I believe I am lol



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Cloudman on 17 March 2017
DJjazzyGETH said:
Cloudman said:
I wanna know what's up with those weird walking animations and awkward cutscenes that have been popping up lately. Are those moments really in the game, or is it.. some other un-explainable thing?

From what I can tell, it's a combination of Frostbite's overall weakness with character models and the uncanny valley. The faces are much more detailed than they were in the trilogy, and that may be breaking our brains a little too much. The closer you get to a perfect human face without face mapping (which a lot of games these days rely on for more realistic expressions), the worse it's going to look because our brains just reject the subtle imperfections entirely.

Because of the game's scale, there's absolutely no way they could have done face capturing for all of the characters, so we're left with stiff, wooden, pre-animated expressions that look much worse now than they did before because of better technology, ironically. Doesn't help that they may just not have the best animators over at Bioware Montreal. Who knows.

Yeah, it's not just the weird looks of the characters, but they don't seem to match with what's happening on screen. Like the moment with that weird bug that appears behind the player, the blue character shoots it, and there's no reaction from the player unit. There's so much weird going on there. Awkward happy expression, and the strange look of the blue guy with the gun.

And then there's the awkward moving animation in that other clip. I've seen the past ME games and they looked pretty great, but for this being the latest game, it seems shocking some parts of this game look like this.



 

              

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Pemalite on 17 March 2017
theprof00 said:
This is a very good point brought up by someone in a youtube video:
"It's like the founders of Bioware left or the game was missing the Director, the Producer, all the previous Senior writers, the Lead Writer (left in 2), all the older experienced artists and Unreal Engine guys were replaced by inexperienced guys on a new engine, and the lead writer in 3 (who did not write Tuchanka or Rannoch which were high points) who solo lead wrote that awesome ME 3 ending and a really bad comic book was promoted."

Some people, like myself, can notice the change. Some find new qualities. It's all up to the individual, and I think the number of people we've seen having bad thoughts of this game....I guess they simply notice the bad more, while there are some that notice the good.

It's not like the majority of bad reviews are coming from the peanut gallery. These are people who have played and reviewed the game.

But... Dragon Age: Inquisition.

Which means that the Game Engine (Frostbite 3) is not Alien to Bioware.

Inquisition also had decent writing. (Especially with the DLC to round out the ending.)
And I loved the characters and voice work. Some good animations in it as well.

Really not sure if I should get Andromeda or not at the moment. Haha.
Part of me says yes... Drop $100 on it. Another says... Wait till it's $30.



--::{PC Gaming Master Race}::--

Panama on 17 March 2017

People who keep having a go at the dialogue havent played any of the others. Were talking about a series that has openly stereotypical alien races do stereotypical things. If anything new characters such as PeeBee that have drawn the ire of the fans, breaks that mold as she isnt a stereotypical asari.

Animations and ai i imagine can be patched. But yeah not too hopeful with this one, not because it will be bad but because critics seem hellbent on hating it without reason. Case and point that negative rock paper shotgun preview was actually torn apart by someone that had clocked over 20hours into the story.



tokilamockingbrd on 18 March 2017

I hear their is a lot of political propaganda in the game. I am wondering if that is true. I play games to escape reality, not to have it thrown in my face.



psn- tokila

add me, the more the merrier.

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theprof00 on 18 March 2017
Pemalite said:
theprof00 said:
This is a very good point brought up by someone in a youtube video:
"It's like the founders of Bioware left or the game was missing the Director, the Producer, all the previous Senior writers, the Lead Writer (left in 2), all the older experienced artists and Unreal Engine guys were replaced by inexperienced guys on a new engine, and the lead writer in 3 (who did not write Tuchanka or Rannoch which were high points) who solo lead wrote that awesome ME 3 ending and a really bad comic book was promoted."

Some people, like myself, can notice the change. Some find new qualities. It's all up to the individual, and I think the number of people we've seen having bad thoughts of this game....I guess they simply notice the bad more, while there are some that notice the good.

It's not like the majority of bad reviews are coming from the peanut gallery. These are people who have played and reviewed the game.

But... Dragon Age: Inquisition.

Which means that the Game Engine (Frostbite 3) is not Alien to Bioware.

Inquisition also had decent writing. (Especially with the DLC to round out the ending.)
And I loved the characters and voice work. Some good animations in it as well.

Really not sure if I should get Andromeda or not at the moment. Haha.
Part of me says yes... Drop $100 on it. Another says... Wait till it's $30.

Lead writer on DA:I left last year in January.

Here's an article about the subject.
https://www.vg247.com/2016/03/07/mass-effect-andromeda-editor-exits-bioware-games-industry/

Around last year, devs started leaving in a pretty big way.
http://www.idigitaltimes.com/mass-effect-andromeda-news-bioware-loses-senior-editor-months-after-departures-both-517489
Senior editor
Lead Writer
Senior development director
Creative Director
Lead Developer and digital acting tech director

It's no joke man. This was all after DA: inquisition



theprof00 on 18 March 2017
Panama said:
People who keep having a go at the dialogue havent played any of the others. Were talking about a series that has openly stereotypical alien races do stereotypical things. If anything new characters such as PeeBee that have drawn the ire of the fans, breaks that mold as she isnt a stereotypical asari.

Animations and ai i imagine can be patched. But yeah not too hopeful with this one, not because it will be bad but because critics seem hellbent on hating it without reason. Case and point that negative rock paper shotgun preview was actually torn apart by someone that had clocked over 20hours into the story.

hahaha ok

critics seem hellbent. Fans seem hellbent. Agreeing things should be patched. Agreeing dialogue is bad.

The dialogue in ME has always been just, ok. It's that the dialogue in this specific game is really bad. Saying that the previous games were silly or stereotypical doesn't excuse this kind of writing, which is neither of the previous. That's like saying "sushi is fine, people have been fine with eating raw fruit for thousands of years and they're sometimes even poisonous!"

This is coming from someone (myself) who has played Mass Effect 2. So sorry to burst your opinion facts.

If you like the game, just like, be happy that you enjoy the game.
Like I said earlier, I am a massive resident evil fan. I was extremely disappointed by 5, 6, and even (heaven forbid) 4!!! That's everyone's favorite, isn't it? Well, I personally thought it ruined RE, and it set the series on a path that gave us the dreadful 5 and the literal turd, 6. It's OK for people to think a game doesn't live up to its standards. Don't just attack people cuz you love ME:A.



Panama on 18 March 2017
theprof00 said:
Panama said:
People who keep having a go at the dialogue havent played any of the others. Were talking about a series that has openly stereotypical alien races do stereotypical things. If anything new characters such as PeeBee that have drawn the ire of the fans, breaks that mold as she isnt a stereotypical asari.

Animations and ai i imagine can be patched. But yeah not too hopeful with this one, not because it will be bad but because critics seem hellbent on hating it without reason. Case and point that negative rock paper shotgun preview was actually torn apart by someone that had clocked over 20hours into the story.

hahaha ok

critics seem hellbent. Fans seem hellbent. Agreeing things should be patched. Agreeing dialogue is bad.

The dialogue in ME has always been just, ok. It's that the dialogue in this specific game is really bad. Saying that the previous games were silly or stereotypical doesn't excuse this kind of writing, which is neither of the previous. That's like saying "sushi is fine, people have been fine with eating raw fruit for thousands of years and they're sometimes even poisonous!"

This is coming from someone (myself) who has played Mass Effect 2. So sorry to burst your opinion facts.

If you like the game, just like, be happy that you enjoy the game.
Like I said earlier, I am a massive resident evil fan. I was extremely disappointed by 5, 6, and even (heaven forbid) 4!!! That's everyone's favorite, isn't it? Well, I personally thought it ruined RE, and it set the series on a path that gave us the dreadful 5 and the literal turd, 6. It's OK for people to think a game doesn't live up to its standards. Don't just attack people cuz you love ME:A.

I dont recall attacking anyone. Im just pointing out people will always find flaws where they wish to find them. Good example, recent Jim Sterling controversy.



Ariakon on 18 March 2017
John2290 said:
tokilamockingbrd said:
I hear their is a lot of political propaganda in the game. I am wondering if that is true. I play games to escape reality, not to have it thrown in my face.

I don't know but if they managed to incorporate SJW propaganda. outside of just race and diminazism, in a game set 900 years from now in another Galaxy then that is one impressive feat, I mean, damn. 

I wouldn't call it SJW propaganda, but the original Star Trek was certainly very liberal for its time. It even had an interracial kissing scene, which was genuinely shocking at the time. 



foodfather on 18 March 2017

Look at this. The lead animator on MEA is a cosplayer with ZERO experience working in games....

https://uk.linkedin.com/in/allierosemarie
https://www.instagram.com/allierosemarie/?hl=en

I'd say it's pretty obvious how she got the gig...

http://i.imgur.com/2Ag85.gif