Is this still unplayable?

[Sturmbringer]

When it first came out It was treated like the worst thing in the game history, but 4 years later is it still the same? I like Mass Effect and I like Sci-Fi should I buy this?

[jing]

It depends on what you mean by unplayable.

If you're talking about the combat, it was playable back in 2017. It got better since then as the Developers altered the scaling values to make it seem less like you're doing nothing to enemies. Good then, good now. :)

If you're talking about the story. Nothing was changed since 2017. No alterations, no new content. So if you were saying MEA was unplayable because of this. This is not the game for you.

If you are talking about the weird animations "some" players ran into (I never ran into any of them other than the running animation whilst going up or down stairs), and graphical anomalies like eyes that stared out into space (most ran into these), most of those were fixed since 2017. So if your issues and concerns were with this making the game unplayable, then you should find another game to enjoy.

:: edit ::

Note, that the last one had "most" of them solved. But not all, and some still crop up more often for some players than others. So there's no solid way to repeat them thus far, meaning there's not guarantee that you won't run into them. That is why if those were your concerns initially, then due to the fact they haven't been 100% solved, then there's no reason to continue to pursue this game. However, when MEA is on sale (last day today I believe) then you may want to drop the amount needed for it to see what the fuss is all about anyway. Many more seems to have liked MEA over the years compared to the initial release.

[Sturmbringer]

Originally posted by jing:

It depends on what you mean by unplayable.

If you're talking about the combat, it was playable back in 2017. It got better since then as the Developers altered the scaling values to make it seem less like you're doing nothing to enemies. Good then, good now. :)

If you're talking about the story. Nothing was changed since 2017. No alterations, no new content. So if you were saying MEA was unplayable because of this. This is not the game for you.

If you are talking about the weird animations "some" players ran into (I never ran into any of them other than the running animation whilst going up or down stairs), and graphical anomalies like eyes that stared out into space (most ran into these), most of those were fixed since 2017. So if your issues and concerns were with this making the game unplayable, then you should find another game to enjoy.

:: edit ::

Note, that the last one had "most" of them solved. But not all, and some still crop up more often for some players than others. So there's no solid way to repeat them thus far, meaning there's not guarantee that you won't run into them. That is why if those were your concerns initially, then due to the fact they haven't been 100% solved, then there's no reason to continue to pursue this game. However, when MEA is on sale (last day today I believe) then you may want to drop the amount needed for it to see what the fuss is all about anyway. Many more seems to have liked MEA over the years compared to the initial release.

I was more concerned about the first and third, thanks for the reply. I think I'll give this game a chance.

[n#n#m#]

Originally posted by JFFN:

When it first came out It was treated like the worst thing in the game history

Yeah, because a combination of bugs on launch and salty veterans who wanted Shepard back done the trick. The game is decent, the story is still good ol' blockbuster-y Mass Effect with plotholes so I have no problems with it.

I'd say that the main downside of the game is the lack of morality system, I miss it more than anything, so If you heavily relied on it in your playthroughs you will be disappointed. Unfortunately being a pathfinder you just have to be nice 90% of the time, it's hard to argue with that.

[Elazul]

It's not unplayable, but I'm certainly encountering bugs. On my first time through it and it's mostly ok. My opinion is it's sort of middling atm. All the filler and fetch quests really drag this game down. One of the same complaints I had with Dragon Age Inquisition.

Still we'll see. I'm going to finish it before I write up my review and give my final opinion.

[Sturmbringer]

Originally posted by young person online:

I'd say that the main downside of the game is the lack of morality system, I miss it more than anything, so If you heavily relied on it in your playthroughs you will be disappointed. Unfortunately being a pathfinder you just have to be nice 90% of the time, it's hard to argue with that.

Oh, that sucks. I love being a douchebag in games, guess I have to be the good guy this time.

Originally posted by Elazul:

All the filler and fetch quests really drag this game down. One of the same complaints I had with Dragon Age Inquisition.

Out of topic but what's wrong with Inquisition side quests? I just got it as a part of the bundle.

[kekkuli]

It's not a bad game. However if you are looking for good story and well developed characters then meot is better. Gameplay however is good in this one, and the world is quite beautiful.

[Moth]

Andromeda is the worst Mass Effect game, no question. That doesn't mean it's a bad game, but don't go in expecting the quality that the first three gave you. Bugs are mostly visual errors (except you'll probably have to restart the game when you try to go to the first planet for the first time), with such issues as the quest marker appearing in the wrong place from time to time, characters just walking off while you're talking to them, random duplicate comments from the protagonist while walking around home base, bonus people appearing in conversations... actually, conversations in general are pretty wack.
Combat: It's really difficult to take cover properly, since the locations you can take cover aren't marked and you don't get magnetised to them as hard as you did in the originals, and some cover can be broken by shooting it lots. Powers are on separate cooldowns, similar to ME1, but you can only equip 3 of them, similar to ME3MP.
Exploration: Sometimes good, sometimes bad. Remember ME2's resources scanning? Well, get ready to do that... but with even more resource types, and now you have to drive over mountains to get to them. On the bright side, resources are technically infinite if you have the patience.
Story: I haven't finished yet, but it seems... ok. Lots of plot holes if you think too hard or squint at the plotline funny. Still better than Twilight.

[Elazul]

Originally posted by JFFN:

Originally posted by young person online:

I'd say that the main downside of the game is the lack of morality system, I miss it more than anything, so If you heavily relied on it in your playthroughs you will be disappointed. Unfortunately being a pathfinder you just have to be nice 90% of the time, it's hard to argue with that.

Oh, that sucks. I love being a douchebag in games, guess I have to be the good guy this time.

Originally posted by Elazul:

All the filler and fetch quests really drag this game down. One of the same complaints I had with Dragon Age Inquisition.

Out of topic but what's wrong with Inquisition side quests? I just got it as a part of the bundle.

A lot of them are boring fetch this or talk to this person and then run back here type quests. The Hinterlands has the most of them, but they're found just about everywhere. Developers add them to pad out the game and make it feel more 'full', but I personally hate them because they're boring and tedious. It's one of the big failings of open world games. They have a bunch of space and don't want it to feel lifeless so they add a bunch of filler to try and give people things to do. The problem is a lot of it is boring and makes the game feel lifeless anyways.

[Old Ben]

After over 300 hours and 3 play-thoroughs, I rate it better than ME 1/2/3. Of course everyone has their own opinion, and that is mine. For the very reasonable price of under $8 it worth a go if you like exploration and lots of story content and ability to change classes on the fly. All major bugs when released were fixed, but the hate of the ME/1/2/3 players killed the game, so sad. Yes you need to play as a good guy/gal for the most part, as your job is to save people/aliens and find them homes in a new galaxy.

[CharChar]

There are still bugs; unlimited load times before cutscenes, for example. Long load times in general (I have mine on an HDD,though, so take it with a grain of salt.
Combat is still very good; animations are fine, I guess. Mass Effect 3 (Legendary) looks better, though. Like, a lot better.

[N7_Shadow]

Originally posted by JFFN:

When it first came out It was treated like the worst thing in the game history, but 4 years later is it still the same? I like Mass Effect and I like Sci-Fi should I buy this?

Mods make it a lot better...but don't expect the story, or characters to be even remotely as interesting as those in the OT. Think, Milk-Toast.

There are some things here and there that are done very well, but you may need mods to truly enjoy them. Like a mod that makes the Nomad faster. That, IMHO, is a must have. Not sure why they made it so slow.

I can give you more specific advise on what mods I'm using, to get some enjoyment out of the game. Some aren't at all necessary to play the game, but remove irritants. Like a mod that actually makes Cora as pretty as a modder can make her.

https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/727607898305331211/862488142795636736/unknown.png

So now, romancing her doesn't feel immersion breaking.

One gets rid of the repetitive, irritating banter that is said.

One speeds up doors in a specific location.

One eliminates weird omnitool interactions that should not be happening...was likely a bug that never got fixed.

Two mods are just that...fixes...the MEA Fixpack, and Unofficial Patch.

[JefferyNothing]

It was never that bad even on release. The internet meme world just latched on to a few funny bugs that happened and then made out the game was completely broken, which wasn't the case at all. Now it has this stigma attached to it which was never true to begin with. The game plays great and is definitely worth playing if you like the Mass Effect series.

[The Gill Thrill]

It's playable all right.

I started up another playthru after a few years (rebought it on steam after going ham on the LE).

Still think it has great gameplay, awesome visuals, cool ideas...but man, I cannot for the life of me get over some of the really bad animations even post patches. The way human models look, the character designs are just way off. Whenever Turians talk I CANNOT stop looking at their tongues moving around.

And the subpar voice acting and dialogue. The voice actors lacked passion and some of the writing was just awful.

As a die hard ME fan, I still stand by my original score of a 5/10 game. MAYBE A hard 6.

Might've been a lot better with the 2012 team. But who knows.

[n#n#m#]

Originally posted by The Gill Thrill:

And the subpar voice acting and dialogue. The voice actors lacked passion and some of the writing was just awful.

VA definitely dropped the ball here. Several major npcs sound straight up terrible, including Director Tann. It's almost like they weren't even VAs before and it's their first role.

[N7_Shadow]

Originally posted by rH:

It was never that bad even on release. The internet meme world just latched on to a few funny bugs that happened and then made out the game was completely broken, which wasn't the case at all. Now it has this stigma attached to it which was never true to begin with. The game plays great and is definitely worth playing if you like the Mass Effect series.

Sorry, I bought the game, and am trying to enjoy it as much as possible. I'm not even trying to rush through it...doing every last side quest I can, to enjoy the game as much as possible. I've even added mods to help make it better. And yet, it's still not even close to as good as the OT.

The Plot from inception, is Woke idiocy. There's a reason that The Starship Enterprise is both a warship, and a science & exploration ship. What idiot goes to a new galaxy without warships? So the locals don't think you are invading? LOL What's to stop them from seeing it as an invasion anyway? If you aren't negotiating from a position of strength, you are groveling...begging...not negotiating. But I will let this slide, as the OT also had major plot holes big enough to fly a Reaper invasion through.

But the game does have many things that are really subpar, and many people simply latched onto the bandwagon to express their anger, because it was the safe topics to rage against. You see this a lot in society. Group A is suffering terribly because of X, but they can't express their anger at X. So when group B does something bad (Y), group A vents all their hurt and anger at Group B, even though group B is only responsible for a very tiny amount of wrongs done to Group A. X is the major cause of the pain, not Y.

The story is bad, the dialogue is bad, the voice acting is bad, the choices & consequences are bad. THOSE are what made the OT have a cult following, because they were so good. So bragging that the combat is better in Andromeda, is missing the point.

The strong points for Andromeda also had negatives.

1. Combat is improved, but you can't lead your crew. It feels more like multiplayer. No tactics...just point and click at everything that moves, focusing on what is engaging you, while other enemies focus on your teammates. Help teammates as you can. I don't even see where I can give my crew different guns, or armor. And I can't tell them to switch guns. Combat added verticality, and more ability to prime and detonate by yourself. So it took steps forward, and backwards at the same time.

2. The crafting is cool, but way too grindy. Thank you modders for saving me from that.

3. The locations look great, but so did ME3's locations. These have more open world aspects, but that was ruined by a Nomad that is too slow...too incapable of climbing. Thanks again to the modders that came to the rescue.

4. Mining is now by hand, and through the Nomad. This was cool. But once again, modders came to the rescue with one probe mining. Why multiple probes? The most hated aspect of ME2, made it into MEA. Both times, modders came to the rescue. Most of us have limited time to play. We don't want to spend a lot of time mining one area.