Mass Effect 4 - Andromeda [PC, PS4, XBone]

[Sly Boots]

I've never liked it when games abandon class systems in favour of making you a master of all trades. It always takes a lot away from the overall experience that I can just do everything the game has to offer at any time with an easy shuffle. It kills the immersion of roleplaying a class and also ruins the idea of having squadmates who you can synergise abilities with (which is irrelevant in this game too since they dropped the strategic orders wheel).

Also, based on the first 10 hours, you aren't going to get enough points to spend to fully upgrade even a quarter of the available powers or trait lines. You really won't become a jack of all trades. It's more a case of cherry picking the half-dozen you like and setting up some defined presets that allow you to utilise them situationally.

[Jez]

I see cheers sly. Makes more sense now. Sounds OK I guess.

[Sly Boots]

I see cheers sly. Makes more sense now. Sounds OK I guess.

Thank god for that, was worried it sounded like nonsense

I wish I could go back into the game and explain the profile bonuses a bit more, but I've got less than 60 seconds available on the EA trial now. They're not all stat boosts and some sound quite cool. One of the reviews said one of the profile bonuses is to render you invisible briefly when you use your jump-jet, which sounds quite fun to mess about with, and no doubt there's others that have various interesting effects.

[Jez]

No bother sly it's enough that you found it engaging for me.

John Walkers WIT over at RPS is up. He is withering in his hate for this. I just skimmed it though as he's not afraid of the odd spoiler in there.

[DjchunKfunK]

The races of Mass Effect ranked in order of sexiness. (Not 100% serious)

http://www.polygon.com/2017/3/20/149804 ... ens-ranked

[Sly Boots]

Amusing.

Though the extreme chafing issues mentioned by Mordin relating to the top two choices should perhaps have been taken into account...

[Sly Boots]

Been reading through some of the comment threads on the various reviews and also Reddit... interestingly there seems to be a bit of a push-back against all the negativity, with a lot of people saying the same as me - that despite some flaws they're actually having a lot of fun playing it.

Unlocks 11pm tonight in the UK, for anyone who's preordered, and you can preload it any time you like.

[katarn]

I've often said that 'fun' is the most important aspect of a game, for me. I think people sometimes can't see past particular issues as well as others, and they block out any chance of enjoying what else is in there (or understanding how others could possibly derive enjoyment from it).

I've played plenty of games with immeasurable (and obvious) problems and enjoyed them immensely, and I've played uber-polished, tight, well-produced, well-written games that have bored me terribly.

[Jez]

Think a lot of this hate comes from Walkers RPS review. If I remember correctly it was about the first mini review to come out and it went "viral" with its bilge from Walker as everyone was after news on the game. So for its first ramblings to be so surprisingly negative (justified or not) naturally laid down the bedrock of the conversation since then

[DjchunKfunK]

There will obviously be people who will enjoy the game, but at the same time when lots of people are telling someone they were wrong to purchase something because it is bad, it is human nature to try and justify your purchase. Not saying this is the case here, but people on Reddit and in comments are not usually the most rational people.

Think a lot of this hate comes from Walkers RPS review. If I remember correctly it was about the first mini review to come out and it went "viral" with its bilge from Walker as everyone was after news on the game. So for its first ramblings to be so surprisingly negative (justified or not) naturally laid down the bedrock of the conversation since then

I think you might be giving RPS a bit more credit than they deserve Jez.

[Jez]

Maybe I am. Dunno.

[Sly Boots]

There will obviously be people who will enjoy the game, but at the same time when lots of people are telling someone they were wrong to purchase something because it is bad, it is human nature to try and justify your purchase. Not saying this is the case here, but people on Reddit and in comments are not usually the most rational people.

Think a lot of this hate comes from Walkers RPS review. If I remember correctly it was about the first mini review to come out and it went "viral" with its bilge from Walker as everyone was after news on the game. So for its first ramblings to be so surprisingly negative (justified or not) naturally laid down the bedrock of the conversation since then

I think you might be giving RPS a bit more credit than they deserve Jez.

The people who are playing the game and enjoying it are coming across a lot more rationally than those who haven't and joining in with the pile-on, tbh.

And I've played it, and enjoyed it. I don't think I'm rationalising anything, I'm just willing to look past the flaws while not denying they exist and probably will put some people off.

[Mantis]

There's got to be a point at which people put their foot down and say enough is enough though. Regardless of how much fun people have, it can't really justify releasing a buggy or broken game. It's not so much the case here, but I'm sick of buying games with online elements that are just totally broken and take months to fix, if they ever get addressed at all. Developers get away with doing it again and again because people just take the stance of "well it's quite fun and passes the the time at least" and nobody holds them to high standards. Instead we'll just keep getting the same experience packaged up over and over. Think of what this game could have been if it had some real love crafted into it.

I think the RPS review which describes it as being Mass Effect simply for the sake of it is spot on. That's fine for some people, but I just can't enjoy being on that treadmill of just playing the same average cookie cutter stuff.

[katarn]

..but at the same time when lots of people are telling someone they were wrong to purchase something because it is bad, it is human nature to try and justify your purchase.

They'll be just as many people who haven't played it who will pile in to be negative and judge those who like it (or claim they're lying/misreading the fun they're having as 'justification for their purchase').

Like Sly says, the latter accusation is far more irrational in my experience. I'm sure the vast majority of people who buy a game and enjoy it are simply enjoying it.

[Sly Boots]

There's got to be a point at which people put their foot down and say enough is enough though. Regardless of how much fun people have, it can't really justify releasing a buggy or broken game. It's not so much the case here, but I'm sick of buying games with online elements that are just totally broken and take months to fix, if they ever get addressed at all. Developers get away with doing it again and again because people just take the stance of "well it's quite fun and passes the the time at least" and nobody holds them to high standards. Instead we'll just keep getting the same experience packaged up over and over. Think of what this game could have been if it had some real love crafted into it.

I think the RPS review which describes it as being Mass Effect simply for the sake of it is spot on. That's fine for some people, but I just can't enjoy being on that treadmill of just playing the same average cookie cutter stuff.

I suspect, in terms of the story, having read a bunch of the reviews, the great regret will be one of missed opportunity. I mean the set-up (going to a new galaxy, establishing colonies) is great. But it sounds like the problems arise in the manner that story is told.

So, I don't agree that it's Mass Effect simply for the sake of more Mass Effect, a lot of thought has clearly gone into making this not only something different to Shephard's story but great on paper, but for whatever reason it doesn't live up to that early promise. There's been innovations in gameplay as well, this isn't just a retread of past games.

It's a bit like Voyager, maybe. I was so excited to see that when it was announced because it sounded so cool - again, going to a previously unexplored galaxy - but what you got in reality was, well, Voyager. And it could be fun a lot of the time, but it didn't break any new ground either sadly. And there were elements that were pretty bad.