Mass Effect: Andromeda

[Sorkvild]

I think calling CD Projekt Red "Slavs with a budget of 10 Adidas tracksuits" is rather underselling them...it's a company with nearly 400 employees and which made a profit of around 90 million dollars in 2015, according to Wikipedia

Joke of course. Actually there is a tiny grain of truth

At their very, very beginnings were like that. After the commie system has fallen in Poland back in 89 there were few years of good, wild capitalism and ... no copyright right.
There were these "computer bazaars" (gielda komputerowa) where you could buy everything from imported computers and electronics related stuff to games, music and vhs'. Golden times - reminisced by many veteran computer users in Poland http://www.ppe.pl/publicystyka/1374/gie ... losci.html

So all games were copied and sold "legally" without persecution up to '93 or '95 (don't remember exactly) when the government introduced proper intellectual copyright laws. But that only made "pirates" a bit more careful. By the selling pirated games in Poland ended between around 2001-03 when retailers (like CDP) started selling localised games in prices everyone could afford (not to mention these beautiful paper boxes, deluxe editions etc..)
Prior to that there were almost no distributors of original games (which were crazily expensive back day) - people had to deal somehow. I remember vising a guy in a travel office in my city. Guy who had access to a fast computer in his office and disc copiers. After leaving your order you had to wait or come back in hours for the pick up That was his side business besides selling travel to Greece and Egypt

Bazaars turned up to be a good springboards for many now-respected computer business owners like Mr Kicinski and Mr Iwinski of CDP.

"Funnily enough," Iwiński adds, "especially in Poland, I was many times asked, 'Oh, so you were a pirate - your roots are from the computer games market?' I say, 'Hey, for starters it wasn't illegal and second, look at a lot of the presidents or the founders or the key shareholders of IT companies in Poland now: who are these guys?' These are the guys learning the ropes at the computer markets as well." link the full interview below

They made their first money by selling copied games on gielda. Money they made were enough to buy original games from the UK and distribute them locally. Some veteran dealers from gielda remembered them and young, sharp and well oriented.
Over the time they grew up and expanded. From selling "raw" non-translated games into one of the largest retailers and publisher of localized games. Their first HUGE success was localizing of first Baldurs Gate in Poland. Massive endeavor involving top Polish actors for voice acting. BG1 turned out be a bestseller and ideal of how games should be localised.
CD Projekt is a games publisher while CD Projekt Red is responsible for software development. Their first Witcher was a bestseller in Poland and since then they skyrocketed again. Next BIG thing that they are working on is Cyberpunk 2077.

You can read their story here, needs transating. "From selling diskettes to 6 millions copies of Witcher 3".
http://www.forbes.pl/historia-cd-projek ... 2,1,1.html

Also there is a good article on Eurogamer covering early "happy times". Also quoted on wiki.
http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2013- ... cd-projekt

___

Huuuge fan of ME, but basing on what I've seen so far. I'm not that exited with Andromeda. Whole thing borrows much from DA:Inuisition in terms of game mechanics, quests. Wasn't big fan of kill and fetch procedural quests, visiting hundreds of non important poi's

Yes, I'm a bit concerned that it will duplicate too much from Inquisition. But the developers have said that there are no fetch quests. Personally I don't mind visiting points of interest to unlock lore. But hunting bloody bear claws? Nope.

there this thing with characters. I'm sure everyone remembers Sera. In MEA we have this charming shrek-asari with "bubbly personality", this is so annoying. Compare this moron to noble and serious Liara from original trilogy.


When it comes to other characters - they all look terrible with their rubbery and childlike faces. Ryder girl - a smartass midschool. Biotic companion Cora - square jaw, eew. Frostbite engine fails when it comes to creating good looking faces. I highly doubt if MEA will create hype larger than during the original trilogy.

The current Sara Ryder face looks bloody awful. The current Scott Ryder face looks bloody excellent. They said that the Sara Ryder was an early version. I've found that there has been a real mix so far. Some excellent work, and some average work. The character creator in Inquisition was capable of making wonderful characters with detailed skins (on my PC anyway). Hoping this will only improve.

Regarding Cora, I really like her face shape. Everyone seemed to love Miranda in ME2, but she had a very odd jaw/chin/cheek shape ratio.
PeeBee the asari has a different face shape in every picture/video I see. Sometimes hot, sometimes derpy-derp-derp.

Personally I HATE 'bubbly' or 'quirky' game characters, because they don't hire comedians to write their dialog. In Inquisition, a lot of Sera's 'funny' dialog was just painful, and her line delivery wasn't the best. But when she was talking about how stupid other elves were, it was well written and well delivered.

Regarding Liara in the original trilogy, I think there is a lot of rose-tinted-spectacles about her. I've just finished replaying ME1&2 and half way through 3. In ME1, her acting and script are terrible, and her face is fairly bland. 2 improves slightly, but she isn't really in it. In ME3 her acting is much better as is her script, but her face is still fairly bland-18 year old.

I'm hoping that Cora is going to be like Cassandra (who had an excellent face).
Solus was a boring character (until the final scene post-credits But his face had so much detail.

I can't really say anything bad about alien races available in game. They pretty much like their counterparts from the original ME. What wonders me is why Bioware hasn't shown any Asari? Are they all shrekey looking ones or it is just Peebee. You say Liara' looking really young, indeed she is. Don't forget she is very young to human standards ~23-24yo also she is pure-blood hance her near perfect face and serious attitude. When it comes to her look in ME1 I agree, but notice this - ME1 is from 2007 What really surprised me was her attitude change between ME1/2. From innocent and shy researcher into someone manipulative with serious powers.

Solus? Did you mean Mordin Solus or Solas from DA:I? Mordin Solus from Mass Effect series was one of the most interesting characters ever met in video games. Well written, fast and accurate in his thinking and judgements and very precise when it comes to working in the lab or packing a bullet into someones head. There is also his comedian skill https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pxrO5-HPIAw

Cora. Matter of preference. IMO they exaggerated her "thigh gap" in MEA Andromeda Briefing 4. Here is her face after replacing the square jaw with more feminine http://i.imgur.com/Hk1aoYE.jpg She is definitely a choice for a straight guy player since Peebee is eeew and bubbly. Turian female is a lesbian. There is also this Jamaican fella, probably Kaidan 2 when it comes to orientation

Till then

[ external image ][/img]

[Jericho]

I meant Solas from Inquisition.
(I had Mordin Solus on my mind, as I've just cured the genophage )

Regarding other Asari, you start the game separated from the other arks, so I guess you might meet their ark later in the game. It is rumored that your doctor is asari, you can see her briefly in one of the trailers, traditional cookie-cutter face.

PeeBee looks very different in every shot I see of her. Sometimes she looks really cute, sometimes really derp. Luckily she doesn't have Sera's crazy elf mouth.
(They've revealed her real name now, and you can see why it's shortened to PB)

That final shot of Sara Ryder you showed is horrifying. They have said that it was from the early version where her face doesn't move. Also, you can completely change her. Scott Ryder looks very well created.

Cora has a great face, but from a certain angle, she had a nose like Pinocchio. The tip seems to stretch on to infinity.

I didn't notice the thigh gap in the Initiative briefing, too busy trying to read the text
All the characters look more cartoonish in the Andromeda Initiative briefings. and have slightly-off body proportions (narrow shoulders, big heads).


Regarding the plot of the game, stuff of note:

1) Daddy Ryder has been researching (and has created) an AI called SAM. That is against all the laws in alliance/citadel space.

2) Cora Harper is his second in command. She shares a last name with The Illusive Man (Jack Harper I think), the leader (founder?) of Cerberus.

3) The Andromeda Initiative has many financial backers.


So, is Cora the daughter of The Illusive Man? Is the initiative partially funded by Cerberus to ensure that humanity survives in another galaxy? (Even if the rest of the initiative doesn't know about their backing). Was the separation of the human ark from the alien arks deliberate?

[Sorkvild]

Cora has a great face, but from a certain angle, she had a nose like Pinocchio. The tip seems to stretch on to infinity.

I didn't notice the thigh gap in the Initiative briefing, too busy trying to read the text Smile
All the characters look more cartoonish in the Andromeda Initiative briefings. and have slightly-off body proportions (narrow shoulders, big heads).

IMO she isn't the best ME female type. Square jaw, Pinocchio nose and robot-like posture (seen here https://youtu.be/K2zTyRopbZ8?t=2m ). IMO no start to Ashley from ME3, but in MEA for a guy Ryder it's either her or "bubbly Asari".

All the characters look more cartoonish in the Andromeda Initiative briefings. and have slightly-off body proportions (narrow shoulders, big heads

I couldn't agree more. Just watch this. Aliens look allright, but human females look really comical and unnatural. their mimic and facial expression are so fake. Not to mention bouncy running animation.

https://youtu.be/NOIzH6UcoW4?t=1m18s

Regarding the plot of the game, stuff of note:

1) Daddy Ryder has been researching (and has created) an AI called SAM. That is against all the laws in alliance/citadel space.

2) Cora Harper is his second in command. She shares a last name with The Illusive Man (Jack Harper I think), the leader (founder?) of Cerberus.

3) The Andromeda Initiative has many financial backers.


So, is Cora the daughter of The Illusive Man? Is the initiative partially funded by Cerberus to ensure that humanity survives in another galaxy? (Even if the rest of the initiative doesn't know about their backing). Was the separation of the human ark from the alien arks deliberate?

I don't think the Harper connection is coincidental. This will definitely serve a purpose or at least a remark by Cora about her and TIM relationship. She will probably say "yeah, he's my father but I was raised by my mother since mum and dad split right after I was born" or something like that.

[Sorkvild]

Found on reddit

Ryder vs Shepard body comparison. No wonder the guy on the left hasn't qualified to N7 program.
[ external image ]

What we get after scaling Ryders head to Shepards head
[ external image ]

They look tiny, rubbery, buttery and comical. ME1 characters look better than them, seriously.

[Jericho]

Yup, like I said, they look out of proportion.

If you just made his head a fraction smaller, it would work better.
Although, to be fair, the Shepard picture is a much lower camera angle looking up, while Ryder is a higher camera looking down (To hide his double chin for his Tinder profile).

[burger1]

Not a bad deal if you are in the US Mass Effect Andromeda is $45.99 USD at Greenman Gaming if you log into your account and get the vip deal. I don't know if there's an extra discount for using a code.

[Jericho]

Regarding Greenman gaming... Are they still legit?
I thought they've had issues with bogus codes, and some publishers questioning where they get their codes from as they haven't sold them to Greenman?

I'm frankly shocked by the digital price on Origin. It is ludicrous that the digital versions cost more than the physical. Remember before we started downloading games, the publishers were promising games at a fraction of the cost because there was no manufacturing, printing, warehousing, distribution, damaged goods? Yet somehow, the digital versions cost more.

Cerberus. That's who to blame. Cerberus.


The new gameplay trailer has reduced my fears about the combat (The previous combat trailer, I thought looked awful, like a really bad MMO). Now they've tweaked the lighting so it looks like Mass Effect, and the combat looks less off.

Environmental hazards should mix things up, stay out of the sun (love that level in ME2).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HrWgLMH8yRU


Also, the skills section now looks very nice indeed! All those passives and investments in weapon classes with small % increases each time make the game feel much more like a traditional RPG. Also they've given weapons a rarity/color system. I wonder if you need to level up for the higher grade equipment? Also you have to unlock extra weapon slots (or choose not to, and select other paths in the trees).

And weapon stats!!! Actual weapon stats so that I can compare the weapons! No bull$h1t colored blocks. Actual numbers so I can balance the damage vs fire rate, and how much ammo they can hold.


Sara Ryder though... Eesh, her face is still odd with the animations. They have refined her again though, and updated her character kit. Just make her mouth 10% smaller, and the job will be done. (I wonder if the facial animation capture lady had a different shaped face, so it is hard to match to Sara's wide mouth?)

No one ever takes the default character though, so isn't a problem. Scott Ryder's animations look fine.

The new conversation system should make things less black&white, although I suspect it might just be window dressing and have little actual impact.

[Golden_Gonads]

Regarding Greenman gaming... Are they still legit?
I thought they've had issues with bogus codes, and some publishers questioning where they get their codes from as they haven't sold them to Greenman?

The only example of that I can remember is with Witcher 3. They failed to negotiate a deal off CDPR as said company was contractually obliged to price-fix in the West and so they bought in bulk off legitimate 'foreign' resellers on the cheap. I think they still had to pay full whack direct off CDPR and sell at a loss to meet all their obligations though.

With regards to digital/physical, it's even worse as I don't think EA do physical any more, they just do game-boxes with a code in.

[Mightysword]

Regarding Greenman gaming... Are they still legit?
I thought they've had issues with bogus codes, and some publishers questioning where they get their codes from as they haven't sold them to Greenman?

The code was legit, and that episode actually put a sore note for me not on GmG but on CDPR itself. GmG did this a lot to new games back then and IMO, it's just a strategy to try to gain a foot-hold in the digital market so they're willing to sell at a loss. After all if you can get people to make an account to buy the first game, they'll have more incentive to come back for more. The timing and ambitious tone the announcement from CDPR back then was like "yeah, we're not sure where they get those keys from so buy it at your own risk guys" seem to be just a dick move to me to undermine one of your competitor (since I bet they prefer people buy it through GoG).


I was planning to buy Witcher 3 on GoG, in fact already created my account and ready my credit card and all that, but that episode make me drop the order on GoG and just bought the thing from Steam instead.

[Golden_Gonads]

I was planning to buy Witcher 3 on GoG, in fact already created my account and ready my credit card and all that, but that episode make me drop the order on GoG and just bought the thing from Steam instead.

In case you weren't aware, you can register your CD Key from Steam over on GOG for all the Witcher games and have them in two places.

[Jericho]

The code was legit, and that episode actually put a sore note for me not on GmG but on CDPR itself. GmG did this a lot to new games back then and IMO, it's just a strategy to try to gain a foot-hold in the digital market so they're willing to sell at a loss. After all if you can get people to make an account to buy the first game, they'll have more incentive to come back for more.

I agree, I still get there emails, but I just don't look at their offers any more. Perhaps time to start trusting them again.

I've pre-orderd (because I have no willpower) the digital deluxe version of Andromeda. My birthday coming up, so my wife bought it for me.

The hands-on previews have just passed their media embargo, and the results are all sounding excellent... Except:

• Facial animations are still a bit off in the demos. But they claim to have fixed it with latest patch (nearly 2 weeks of extra work since they played the demos)
  
  Buggy game, with freezes, and missing dialogue. Again they claim to have fixed it... Still sounded like a lot more than final tweaking, which is worrying. But I'll not be able to play until nearly 2 weeks after release, so gives them time to fix it for me
  
  Combat feels very different with the jetpack and no shooting from cover. I don't have a problem with that, as it plays like ME3 multiplayer. AND, you don't HAVE to rush in. you can play it just like the old style cover shooter.

[Jericho]

Well, as a huge Mass Effect & Dragon Age fanboy, I didn't want to believe all the negativity...

... now the reviews are in...

Damn.

[Ketraar]

Watched TB play a bit and does not look too bad. Obviously I was not expecting it to be the one to bring balance to the force, so my expectations are probably easier met.

Not a game I'll get at full price anyway, but I'll get it eventually I suppose.

MFG

Ketraar

[Bishop149]

Not a game I'll get at full price anyway, but I'll get it eventually I suppose.

Ditto.

I almost never buy games at full price but if hypothetically I were to buy a new release this month it would be Neir rather than ME:A. The former with near universal glowing reviews, the latter quite the opposite.

[pjknibbs]

What Culture did a mini-review of it where they said this is one that Mass Effect fans should go for, because they'll be the ones invested enough in the lore and backstory to not care about janky animations and bugs. Anyone new to the series would be better off going for one of the other games first, though!

[Ketraar]

Well tbf I try to get games that I find good at full price, especially ones made by smaller studios, since those need all the support. But huge franchises that cram fluff in (for example multiplayer) just to cater to a short attention span audience dont deserve the same support. Just thought I'd make that clear, as I have bought games solely for the sake of support, even if I end up not really play much of the game. (Ancient Space, Endless Space, RUSE, just to mention a few).

But I from TB I get there is some sort of hate train towards ME:A that does not seem to be warranted that much.

MFG

Ketraar

[Jericho]

What Culture did a mini-review of it where they said this is one that Mass Effect fans should go for, because they'll be the ones invested enough in the lore and backstory to not care about janky animations and bugs. Anyone new to the series would be better off going for one of the other games first, though!

To be honest, that's me.
Regarding the animations, I've read that it's blown up all out of proportion, and you have to be very creative with your key-combinations to get the stupid staircase animation bug. The facial animations though, they do look lifeless to me, more so than Mass Effect.

But it is the poor dialogue and acting that bothers me the most. I don't care about the facial animation, I don't care that "IT'S THE CURRENT YEAR FOR GOD'S SAKE!!!! WHY IS THE FACES SO BAD?!?!?!" screaming that other people are doing. Everyone raves about The Witcher 3, ignoring the fact that Geralt's face looks like the skin is twice as thick as a regular human, and he is an emotionless blackhole, so his face is always going to be easy (I admit, some of the other characters have great faces).

Also it appears that boring fetch quests are in Andromeda too... Even after they promised they wouldn't be because they learned from their Inquisition mistakes.

They also promised that it wasn't going to just be a re-skinned Inquisition... yet it appears to be just that.

I shouldn't moan, I haven't played it yet. But when you read/watch die-hard Mass Effect fans saying these things... Well...

[red assassin]

After having held off on preordering until reading some of the early reactions, and having now done that... I bought it. Won't get a chance to play for a few days, but it sounds pretty good to me.

a) I liked Dragon Age: Inquisition a lot, though it was never as good as the Mass Effect games. It sounded like they'd at least improved a bit on some of the irritations in DA:I, even if they haven't entirely been fixed.
b) I don't really care about janky animations and things, and Bioware's dialogue and writing have always been a bit variable.
c) I am an enormous Mass Effect fangirl.

[burger1]

I got bored enough to buy it. Anyways facial animations are bad and everyone's short. Getting a low memory error and the game keeps crashing so I can't get past the first planet landing. Still downloading the rest of the game so that might be a contributing factor.

i7-3770k
8 gigs memory
760 gtx sc 2 gigs
win 10 pro 64 bit
all the latest drivers


-changing to windowed mode let me land on the planet then I switched back to full screen with no problems.
-memory usage decreased after downloading and rebooting. Memory went up to 90% usage just from downloading and it stayed that way after downloading.

[Stars_InTheirEyes]

I had it preordered but after the disappointing early reviews, I cancelled and preordered Persona 5 instead.
After NieR: Automata, I'm much happier to take a gamble on a series I've never played than an AAA title made to be the next stage in mass-produced mediocrity.