ME 3 or Andromeda: Combat?

[ozkat (VegasOZ)]

I am an older gamer and would like to get my fellow Steamer's advice on these two games. Question: Does the Combat in ME A run too fast and too furious? I have watched some of the videos and am afaid that with all the flashing and explosions that it is more like the combat in a medieval fantasy game with Mages than a Sci Fi combat game. Is that a valid observation or concern? Will my older reflexes be too much of a drawback? I do fine with ME 2 combat and shooters in general, but not so well in fantasy Mage like combat (shooting spells and casting and such).

As to the story, which is more compelling (like an interactive movie) ME 3 or ME A?

Thanks for any advice.

[Vellari]

MEA combat is indeed much faster paced as they removed the command pause thing. Also the cover mechanic is more dynamic so you won't be sitting around for very long.

Not sure if you need faster reflexes or anything like that. Just have to keep moving, staying in one place for too long can get you killed quickly.

For me it also took a while to learn to utilize the vertical movement properly (jump jets). There are almost no obstacles in the combat field you cannot go over, or gain high ground on top. Very unique to this game.

Story wise ME3 is far more compact, but that is mostly due to semi-open world nature of MEA (lots and lots of exploration and small side missions). Better story? Haven't finished MEA yet so no definite opinion on that. So far so good.

[Smoke Eater]

story isny quite fair to compare you have the start of a journey vs the climax

[jpcerutti]

Combat is faster paced, but is a lot of fun when you get the hang of it. Most combat is in fairly open areas but with plenty of things to hide behind. Hovering and jumping make positional style combat or textbook squad tactics kinda irrelevant - but covering fire will still usually make enemies hunker down. The pyrotechnics are nowhere near as distracting or as blinding as they were in the final Dragon Age game (DAI). If I had to pick one thing that is improved from the original series combat would be it. Companions most often freeze or float my enemies, if they're not shooting them, but that may just be because of who I like to take along for the fight.

Story wise, it is not a bad story but it is important to know you're *nothing* like Shep in this storyline. You cannot be a paragon or a jerk, you are not the N7 trained authority, and the game gives you many "moral" choices where all the options are bad - you just get to choose who to screw over the worst. You are, instead, feeling your way into a role you are not ready or equipped to fill. You get to try to clean up unsolvable messes you didn't make and apologize for things you had nothing to do with.

Comparing it to ME3 isn't fair storywise. The story is better than ME1, the characters more developed and involving, and there's a literal TON of squad banter and interactive dialogue/memo reading for backstory and character development. For a direct answer, the story *was* better in ME3 BUT by that point I cared about those characters and they had three games to pull me in. The end of ME:A is DEFINITELY better.

I'd rather play ME:A again than ME3. The pointless mess that was the ending of ME3 was not any good for the series and I just keep telling myself they ran out of time, interest, and money and just kinda dropped it there before moving on.

BTW, I am an "old guy" too, and don't particularly like twitchy FPS games, and the combat didn't overwhelm me. Just start on a simpler difficulty level until you get a feel for it. :)

[ozkat (VegasOZ)]

Thanks for the advice Gentlemen. I'm leaning towards ME: A at this point.

[Guydodge]

play both they are both excellent games we're litteraly talking a tit for a tat here.if your a ME fan they are all must plays.and just for the record i liked the endings of ME3

[DocStrangelove]

Originally posted by Illusiveman:

story isny quite fair to compare you have the start of a journey vs the climax

I think you meant anticlimax

[DocStrangelove]

Originally posted by jpcerutti:

Comparing it to ME3 isn't fair storywise. The story is better than ME1, the characters more developed and involving, and there's a literal TON of squad banter and interactive dialogue/memo reading for backstory and character development. For a direct answer, the story *was* better in ME3 BUT by that point I cared about those characters and they had three games to pull me in. The end of ME:A is DEFINITELY better.

ME:A story not as good as ME3 but better than ME1, wtf

[jpcerutti]

Originally posted by Stinkwatz:

Originally posted by jpcerutti:

Comparing it to ME3 isn't fair storywise. The story is better than ME1, the characters more developed and involving, and there's a literal TON of squad banter and interactive dialogue/memo reading for backstory and character development. For a direct answer, the story *was* better in ME3 BUT by that point I cared about those characters and they had three games to pull me in. The end of ME:A is DEFINITELY better.

ME:A story not as good as ME3 but better than ME1, wtf

??? What part of that confuses you? It is saying one episode was better than another for story arc. For a lot of folks the ending of 3 ruined it but, minus the train wreck of a series ending, 3 was a better story than the first.

Minus the ending, 3 was a better story than ME:A too... are you saying "but how can you really measure the story without the ending?" If you cannot, then ME:A is a better story than 3 too. :/

[DocStrangelove]

Just saying that ME3's story is better than 1's is pretty extreme

[jpcerutti]

Originally posted by Stinkwatz:

Just saying that ME3's story is better than 1's is pretty extreme

How so?

Even by the end of ME1 Liara is just some naieve scientist chick, Tali two eyes in a suit that picks locks, and Garrus a hired gun. Don't get me started on the human companions. They are so much more than that in 3. The best writing of the series is how ME3 handled the genophage - no matter what path you take with it. I have watched/played all the paths just to see them. And the Geth and the Quarians?

ME1 isn't a bad story by any stretch, but it didn't have the emotional punch 3 had. You were going to succeed in 1 no matter what happened and the adventures along the way, while interesting, didn't carry the weight or depth they did in 3. Is why the ending created such an uproar until they went back and revised it. Even then/now, looking back on it with the revision and time, people are unhappy with it.

If you are curious, I chose to die free . Harsh, but I could live with that. The other options struck me as something you fought against for three solid games.

[DocStrangelove]

This has been discussed to death, so I won't try to convince you, be free to have your opinion. It's just that most of the time, people say ME1 was ♥♥♥♥ but story was best, some say ME2 did it best, but only a tiny few says ME3. If you ask me, story-wise Mass Effect went from better than Star Wars (ME1) to worse than Independence Day (ME3). The most extreme story deterioration I have seen anywhere ever.

[jpcerutti]

Originally posted by Stinkwatz:

This has been discussed to death, so I won't try to convince you, be free to have your opinion. It's just that most of the time, people say ME1 was ♥♥♥♥ but story was best, some say ME2 did it best, but only a tiny few says ME3. If you ask me, story-wise Mass Effect went from better than Star Wars (ME1) to worse than Independence Day (ME3). The most extreme story deterioration I have seen anywhere ever.

Heh. This *is* a forum for an old game. :)

A lot of people can't separate the finale from the rest of ME3. If it would've ended at Marauder Shields it would have been a better game. ;)

[DocStrangelove]

And a lot of people can't separate criticism of the ending and criticism of the entire game. Everyone assumes that the only thing everyone hated about ME3 was just the ending, but no, many hated it all from start to finish. I'm among them, I think ME3 was cringeworthy crap from start to finish, the ending being the best part of it because it put an end to the misery.

[jpcerutti]

Originally posted by Stinkwatz:

And a lot of people can't separate criticism of the ending and criticism of the entire game. Everyone assumes that the only thing everyone hated about ME3 was just the ending, but no, many hated it all from start to finish. I'm among them, I think ME3 was cringeworthy crap from start to finish, the ending being the best part of it because it put an end to the misery.

No.... you're free to hate whatever you would like.

[Smoke Eater]

Originally posted by Stinkwatz:

And a lot of people can't separate criticism of the ending and criticism of the entire game. Everyone assumes that the only thing everyone hated about ME3 was just the ending, but no, many hated it all from start to finish. I'm among them, I think ME3 was cringeworthy crap from start to finish, the ending being the best part of it because it put an end to the misery.

i think it was bad but it did have climatic moments the genophage cure and the geth qurian conflict was pretty cool imo