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[hypostatic]

I have several other games in the queue before I get to this (need to finish Witcher 3, Final Fantasy XV, Uncharted 4 and BotW and start/finish Deus Ex: MD... I don't have much time for games anymore but still buy them at release, go figure...), but I'm very relieved to hear the positive impressions. I'm a HUGE Mass Effect fan, so this might get bumped up on the list!

 

[spindoctor]

From the OP it sounds like Bioware have delivered the perfectly flawless masterpiece that they are known to do so often.

 

[prag16]

From the OP it sounds like Bioware have delivered the perfectly flawless masterpiece that they are known to do so often.

Except for where he talks about several flaws and imperfections based on his (otherwise positive) experience with the game.

 

[Alter_Fridge]

And to think I was very worried

 

[Bookman]

Is it a open world game? I liked the more "scripted" approach the others games in the series had.

 

[Alpha Phoenix]

Is it a open world game? I liked the more "scripted" approach the others games in the series had.

It isn't. They've been very careful not to call it that.

 

[hydruxo]

From the OP it sounds like Bioware have delivered the perfectly flawless masterpiece that they are known to do so often.

So you just skimmed the OP then. Nice.

 

[sehui]

hmm the rps article seems to be completely opposite opinion of the OP...

makes this glowing review kind of suspect

 

[texhnolyze]

hmm the rps article seems to be completely opposite opinion of the OP...

makes this glowing review kind of suspect

25 positive impressions? Nope.

2 negative impressions? Yup.

.

 

[CrazyDude]

hmm the rps article seems to be completely opposite opinion of the OP...

makes this glowing review kind of suspect

The guy who did the impression on rps also said that playing Witcher 3 was like eating cardboard. Take that as you will.

 

[spannicus]

The guy who did the impression on rps also said that playing Witcher 3 was like eating cardboard. Take that as you will.

Lol W3 was a great game. Overdelivered on value.

 

[AWizardDidIt]

The guy who did the impression on rps also said that playing Witcher 3 was like eating cardboard. Take that as you will.

Confirmation bias everywhere.

Yeah you guys really should cool down before you cite the RPS article as your only metric of the game. Heather Alexandra at Kotaku in her impressions said after DA:I she was very wary of games that "didn't respect the player's time" and then said in the first 5 hours of ME:A she didn't feel like the game was doing this at all and that the sidequests felt meaningful. Maybe different people just like different kinds of games and this just isn't the kind of game for that RPS editor.

 

[Rozart]

It isn't. They've been very careful not to call it that.

Nice. That's a relief. Bioware excels at more structured, focused games imo.

 

[Allnamestakenlol]

Hey, Shinobi, can you tell if there's an option to turn off the HUD?

 

[TheFatMan]

Hey thanks for the write up Shinobi. I feel me and you share a lot in common when it comes to what we enjoy in games (Based solely off your GOTY lists and your OT's) so I am looking forward to the game even more now.

 

[Mexen]

How did you get that copy bruh?

Member in good standing

 

[Mr. Phellps]

hmm the rps article seems to be completely opposite opinion of the OP...

makes this glowing review kind of suspect

What, the OP doesn't make RPS' article suspect instead?
That doesn't make much sense. Unless, of course, you're picking what you want to believe regardless of suspicion or validation.

 

[Some Nobody]

The guy who did the impression on rps also said that playing Witcher 3 was like eating cardboard. Take that as you will.

Lol. I assume there's context to that statement which makes it more valid otherwise I can't trust his words.

I dunno, DAI was a flawed game but I enjoyed the vast majority. Fix the awful combat and I enjoyed all of it tbh. I think I should trust shinobi over everyone looking for this thing to suck.

 

[prag16]

What, the OP doesn't make RPS' article suspect instead?
That doesn't make much sense. Unless, of course, you're picking what you want to believe regardless of suspicion or validation.

No. Never seen anyone on the internet do that ever.

 

[-MD-]

I saw enough on Easy Allies stream to know this would bore me to death.

Hard pass.

 

[fastmower]

I saw enough on Easy Allies stream to know this would bore me to death.

Hard pass.

I saw it too. It's nice to know I can skip a big RPG. After I finish Horizon(amazing game) it's Persona 5 here I come!

 

[trejo]

Wait is their really a discussion about whether or not Shinobi, a very, respected and responsible INSIDER is making a legitimate thread about his impressions on game he got early?

Like is this where we're at now?

That's funny, anyways thanks for the impressions Shinobi

After people have been burned so many times by past Bioware offerings is it really that surprising that they tend to be a bit wary of glowing previews of their next soon-to-be-released game? Especially when said glowing previews are coming from someone who is known to be buddy-buddy with the developers? I have nothing against Shinobi and I'm aware that he is a respected member of the forum but personally I'm not gonna be fully convinced until the full game is released and more information gets out there because, as I've said before, Bioware doesn't get a free pass anymore.

 

[VeeP]

hmm the rps article seems to be completely opposite opinion of the OP...

makes this glowing review kind of suspect

I haven't read the RPS article, nor do I plan to. But I will say that people can have differing opinions on games. I loved Jak II, it had a few difficulty spikes but I loved it. I thought the plot was great, the level design was solid, it was ambitious, etc etc. Some posters and reviewers would agree with me. Others in this forum will tell you they hate the game. Others will say they couldn't finish it. Others will say something else.

Keep an open mind, plenty of reviews to come. Let's not point our pitchforks at anyone until we get more impressions.

 

[Chris_C]

Not as good as something like Horizon's Aloy, but then again you have to remember they have to account for tons of variation in custom characters vs one singular character like Aloy.

I've seen this mentioned a few times by a few folks, but I'm not sure this is accurate. I think that for major cutscenes, the characters are hand animated/facial captured, but I'm fairly certain that when it comes to regular quest conversations, automated lip syncing is employed. I've seen folks bash it, but for me it's a clear step up from games like ME1,2,3 and Skyrim/Fallout.

Mouth shapes line up with sounds much better and there's a lot of work that's gone into matching emphasis, annunciation and emotional state with head movements and subtle facial expression. I also noticed that some characters have noticeable muscle bias, meaning they speak out of one side of their mouths, or cock one eyebrow more than the other. Aloy herself tends to nod more to one side than the other.

It's a really, really neat system that I hope is built upon further. It's not as subtle or accomplished as the hand animation/capture, but then that approach isn't feasible on the scale required. Definitely a step up from what we've seen to date.

I should add I haven't seen ME:A (blackout), this relates specifically to Horizon.

 

[Systolique]

I've never seen GAF be so much of an absolute and complete garbage fire about a game release, it's literally insane, I can't wait for this game to be out and for the shitposters to fuck off somewhere far away. It feels that even the trashiest threads on /v/ are worth more than the ones on GAF about Mass Effect right now.

Every thread is filled with sheer stupidity, hate, memes, and I'm sorry that even your thread has to suffer from it Shinobi, it's painfully exhausting to have to read through posts that are accusing you of things and the same overblown negative circlejerks about the game.

When one of the most level-headed and fair poster on this board - who also happens to be one of the biggest Mass Effect fan of our community - tells you it's looking good, you should be really excited, and I know I am.

 

[Smoolio]

I've never seen GAF be so much of an absolute and complete garbage fire about a game release, it's literally insane, I can't wait for this game to be out and for the shitposters to fuck off somewhere far away. It feels that even the trashiest threads on /v/ are worth more than the ones on GAF about Mass Effect right now.

Every thread is filled with sheer stupidity, hate, memes, and I'm sorry that even your thread has to suffer from it Shinobi, it's painfully exhausting to have to read through posts that are accusing you of things and the same overblown negative circlejerks about the game.

When one of the most level-headed and fair poster on this board - who also happens to be one of the biggest Mass Effect fan of our community - tells you it's looking good, you should be really excited, and I know I am.

Didn't you know? Around these parts you have to at the bare minimum preface everything with, "Witcher 3 is the greatest RPG of all time but"

Thanks for the write up Shinobi, sounds great to me.

 

[SolicitorPirate]

I've never seen GAF be so much of an absolute and complete garbage fire about a game release, it's literally insane, I can't wait for this game to be out and for the shitposters to fuck off somewhere far away. It feels that even the trashiest threads on /v/ are worth more than the ones on GAF about Mass Effect right now.

Every thread is filled with sheer stupidity, hate, memes, and I'm sorry that even your thread has to suffer from it Shinobi, it's painfully exhausting to have to read through posts that are accusing you of things and the same overblown negative circlejerks about the game.

When one of the most level-headed and fair poster on this board - who also happens to be one of the biggest Mass Effect fan of our community - tells you it's looking good, you should be really excited, and I know I am.

Yes, the Mass Effect threads have been trash, but do you remember the No Mans Sky threads? Or the Horizon review thread? Or the still ongoing meltdown of Jim Sterling's Zelda review?

Gamers are basically children with disposable income and trash fires are our natural state.

 

[GGNKovalski]

I've never seen GAF be so much of an absolute and complete garbage fire about a game release, it's literally insane, I can't wait for this game to be out and for the shitposters to fuck off somewhere far away. It feels that even the trashiest threads on /v/ are worth more than the ones on GAF about Mass Effect right now.

Every thread is filled with sheer stupidity, hate, memes, and I'm sorry that even your thread has to suffer from it Shinobi, it's painfully exhausting to have to read through posts that are accusing you of things and the same overblown negative circlejerks about the game.

When one of the most level-headed and fair poster on this board - who also happens to be one of the biggest Mass Effect fan of our community - tells you it's looking good, you should be really excited, and I know I am.

100% agree on this. I cannot believe the hate being thrown at Bioware, ME: A and even the franchise.

 

[Rellik]

I've never seen GAF be so much of an absolute and complete garbage fire about a game release, it's literally insane, I can't wait for this game to be out and for the shitposters to fuck off somewhere far away. It feels that even the trashiest threads on /v/ are worth more than the ones on GAF about Mass Effect right now.

Every thread is filled with sheer stupidity, hate, memes, and I'm sorry that even your thread has to suffer from it Shinobi, it's painfully exhausting to have to read through posts that are accusing you of things and the same overblown negative circlejerks about the game.

When one of the most level-headed and fair poster on this board - who also happens to be one of the biggest Mass Effect fan of our community - tells you it's looking good, you should be really excited, and I know I am.

I like you.

 

[DR2K]

I think some people don't want this game to be good because hey lost their money buying one or more of the games that have released or will release this quarter.

 

[Laughing Banana]

No. Never seen anyone on the internet do that ever.

Lol both those who are predisposed to like or dislike the game are the same tho

 

[Teknoman]

"Also side note, the music in general is fucking awesome. Lots of synth, some bass. Oozes a bit of ME1."

All I needed to know.

 

[Rezbit]

I realise that there is probably some jank in this game, but I'm still looking forward to it. Big sci-fi games with aliens are few and far between so that automatically hooks me in.

 

[Lord of Castamere]

I've never seen GAF be so much of an absolute and complete garbage fire about a game release, it's literally insane, I can't wait for this game to be out and for the shitposters to fuck off somewhere far away. It feels that even the trashiest threads on /v/ are worth more than the ones on GAF about Mass Effect right now.

Every thread is filled with sheer stupidity, hate, memes, and I'm sorry that even your thread has to suffer from it Shinobi, it's painfully exhausting to have to read through posts that are accusing you of things and the same overblown negative circlejerks about the game.

When one of the most level-headed and fair poster on this board - who also happens to be one of the biggest Mass Effect fan of our community - tells you it's looking good, you should be really excited, and I know I am.

Nah, it happens a lot. Exclusives usually, but I can think of a few multiplats. Fallout 4 was pretty bad with the gifs, but most of the footage came like the week of launch. Evolve was a constant hate parade on here. Destiny, and Watchdogs are some more. Those games at least had reason for the hate, respectively, dumbing down(streamlining), large crtical hype, low launch content, graphical downgrades. Mass Effect hasn't had any major thing to trigger that hate that I can pinpoint, which is weird. I guess Dragon Age Inquisition being a letdown, or Mass Effect 3s ending? Dunno.

 

[Darkstorne]

The first few hours of Andromeda are a gruesome trudge through the most trite bilge of the previous three games, smeared out in a setting that’s horribly familiar, burdened with some outstandingly awful writing, buried beneath a UI that appears to have been designed to infuriate in every possible way.

To be honest, if you're already a big fan of Bioware games this is probably nothing to worry about. This is just the perfect description of Bioware's faults in the vast majority of their games, so if it hasn't bothered you in the past it probably won't now either.

Their UI/UX department must be an incredibly small team, because even their main menus are slow and cumbersome, let alone their inventory screens. On PC it's even worse. Trying to navigate through Inquisition's inventory was painful, with a list so short it can display 5 items at once, and hovering your mouse over them isn't enough to look at their stat comparison and appearance preview - you have to click on every single entry to get that preview, and then click and drag to equip. Awful UI is a Bioware staple.

And regarding story quality... well Mass 2 is usually the most popular entry in the trilogy and it didn't have a story. The writers had no idea how to expand on and deliver with the Reaper plot started with Mass 1, so they created a brand new group of antagonists specifically to keep you occupied for this one game while they tried to work out what to do about the Reapers for Mass 3. Apparently that still didn't buy them enough time. Mass 2's story was literally "assemble a team and kill the new bad guys. Need a reason to hate them? Okay! They just killed you. Mad yet?" 90% of the game is just recruiting people and playing agony aunt to their own personal problems. Once that's done, you kill the new bad guys, the end. Hardly any plot advancement whatsoever, just simultaneously introducing and wrapping up a lengthy side quest. Most players considered the character writing strong enough to make up for the complete lack of advancement in the trilogy's over arching plot.

 

[Ivory Samoan]

I saw enough on Easy Allies stream to know this would bore me to death.

Hard pass.

What I find odd about watching streams of RPGs.....they are slow moving (outside of combat) and unless it's a strategic combat based RPG with minimal conversations, inventory management and crafting etc, then it always feels 'boring' to me to watch someone else play it.

Playing it myself, however, is a whole different ball game: it's a slow burn usually, as most RPGs (IMO) should be.

 

[bigol]

I've never seen GAF be so much of an absolute and complete garbage fire about a game release, it's literally insane, I can't wait for this game to be out and for the shitposters to fuck off somewhere far away. It feels that even the trashiest threads on /v/ are worth more than the ones on GAF about Mass Effect right now.

Every thread is filled with sheer stupidity, hate, memes, and I'm sorry that even your thread has to suffer from it Shinobi, it's painfully exhausting to have to read through posts that are accusing you of things and the same overblown negative circlejerks about the game.

When one of the most level-headed and fair poster on this board - who also happens to be one of the biggest Mass Effect fan of our community - tells you it's looking good, you should be really excited, and I know I am.

It happens more frequently than you think. The last game to be so much hated even months before release was Final Fantasy XV. I guess it happens when the last game of the franchise disappointed people, especially if there are "bad" signs during the pre release period.

 

[Rellik]

What I find odd about watching streams of RPGs.....they are slow moving (outside of combat) and unless it's a strategic combat based RPG with minimal conversations, inventory management and crafting etc, then it always feels 'boring' to me to watch someone else play it.

Playing it myself, however, is a whole different ball game: it's a slow burn usually, as most RPGs (IMO) should be.

Hence the name Role Playing Game.

I can't watch people play them either nor do I want to. I want to be in the world myself.

 

[Scrooge McDuck]

After people have been burned so many times by past Bioware offerings is it really that surprising that they tend to be a bit wary of glowing previews of their next soon-to-be-released game? Especially when said glowing previews are coming from someone who is known to be buddy-buddy with the developers? I have nothing against Shinobi and I'm aware that he is a respected member of the forum but personally I'm not gonna be fully convinced until the full game is released and more information gets out there because, as I've said before, Bioware doesn't get a free pass anymore.

I can understand the apprehension, but to outrightly dismiss a person's opinion on a game he played when one hasn't even played it is really rude and brings nothing nothing to the discussion.

It's one thing to say "I'm not convinced by your impression on so and so because it doesn't jibe with thus and thus I've seen so far." It's another thing entirely to go into this thread just to post "I can't take anything the OP says seriously" and little else.

 

[Dmax3901]

Just watched some of the EZA stream and damn the faces and lip syncing are so wooden and lifeless. I'm playing through Mass Effect 3 at the moment so it's not like I'm forgetting what the original trilogy looked like.

 

[ErMerGerd]

I've never seen GAF be so much of an absolute and complete garbage fire about a game release, it's literally insane, I can't wait for this game to be out and for the shitposters to fuck off somewhere far away. It feels that even the trashiest threads on /v/ are worth more than the ones on GAF about Mass Effect right now.

Every thread is filled with sheer stupidity, hate, memes, and I'm sorry that even your thread has to suffer from it Shinobi, it's painfully exhausting to have to read through posts that are accusing you of things and the same overblown negative circlejerks about the game.

When one of the most level-headed and fair poster on this board - who also happens to be one of the biggest Mass Effect fan of our community - tells you it's looking good, you should be really excited, and I know I am.

Fucking THANK YOU. Literally every single thread.

 

[SargerusBR]

It happens more frequently than you think. The last game to be so much hated even months before release was Final Fantasy XV. I guess it happens when the last game of the franchise disappointed people, especially if there are "bad" signs during the pre release period.

Yep. FFXV threads were hell.

 

[Lashley]

I've never seen GAF be so much of an absolute and complete garbage fire about a game release, it's literally insane, I can't wait for this game to be out and for the shitposters to fuck off somewhere far away. It feels that even the trashiest threads on /v/ are worth more than the ones on GAF about Mass Effect right now.

Every thread is filled with sheer stupidity, hate, memes, and I'm sorry that even your thread has to suffer from it Shinobi, it's painfully exhausting to have to read through posts that are accusing you of things and the same overblown negative circlejerks about the game.

When one of the most level-headed and fair poster on this board - who also happens to be one of the biggest Mass Effect fan of our community - tells you it's looking good, you should be really excited, and I know I am.

GAF has a hate boner for Bioware

 

[ManeKast]

I've never seen GAF be so much of an absolute and complete garbage fire about a game release, it's literally insane, I can't wait for this game to be out and for the shitposters to fuck off somewhere far away. It feels that even the trashiest threads on /v/ are worth more than the ones on GAF about Mass Effect right now.

Every thread is filled with sheer stupidity, hate, memes, and I'm sorry that even your thread has to suffer from it Shinobi, it's painfully exhausting to have to read through posts that are accusing you of things and the same overblown negative circlejerks about the game.

When one of the most level-headed and fair poster on this board - who also happens to be one of the biggest Mass Effect fan of our community - tells you it's looking good, you should be really excited, and I know I am.

Absolutely. Salute.

 

[valouris]

Shouldn't this be in NeoGAF Gold?

 

[JMY86]

I've never seen GAF be so much of an absolute and complete garbage fire about a game release, it's literally insane, I can't wait for this game to be out and for the shitposters to fuck off somewhere far away. It feels that even the trashiest threads on /v/ are worth more than the ones on GAF about Mass Effect right now.

Every thread is filled with sheer stupidity, hate, memes, and I'm sorry that even your thread has to suffer from it Shinobi, it's painfully exhausting to have to read through posts that are accusing you of things and the same overblown negative circlejerks about the game.

When one of the most level-headed and fair poster on this board - who also happens to be one of the biggest Mass Effect fan of our community - tells you it's looking good, you should be really excited, and I know I am.

Well said. I agree 100%

 

[Fakeknowledge]

Saved the opinion on the soundtrack till the last sentence 😁

Good write up, sounds great.

 

[JBwB]

I've never seen GAF be so much of an absolute and complete garbage fire about a game release, it's literally insane, I can't wait for this game to be out and for the shitposters to fuck off somewhere far away. It feels that even the trashiest threads on /v/ are worth more than the ones on GAF about Mass Effect right now.

Every thread is filled with sheer stupidity, hate, memes, and I'm sorry that even your thread has to suffer from it Shinobi, it's painfully exhausting to have to read through posts that are accusing you of things and the same overblown negative circlejerks about the game.

When one of the most level-headed and fair poster on this board - who also happens to be one of the biggest Mass Effect fan of our community - tells you it's looking good, you should be really excited, and I know I am.

NeoGAF doesn't deserve your awesomeness. Keep on preaching man!

 

[GinoFelino]

Fuck all this negativity on GAF recently. Well said, man.

Looking forward to Andromeda!

 

[Snagret]

Yes, the Mass Effect threads have been trash, but do you remember the No Mans Sky threads? Or the Horizon review thread? Or the still ongoing meltdown of Jim Sterling's Zelda review?

Gamers are basically children with disposable income and trash fires are our natural state.

It's really been a bummer. I mean, I understand being skeptical (I am myself, though I'm looking forward to playing the game for myself and drawing my own conclusions), but the game isn't even out yet. The negative reactions ITT to the OP offering up a positive opinion about a game they're completely convinced is going to be terrible despite not playing it yet are just exhausting to read. Also, attacking the OP or the developers (which I've seen more of in other threads, "lazy dev" accusations are already flying wild in those graphics topics) is just uncalled for and rude.

There's just an attitude that develops around certain games around here that just fucking sucks, and goes way beyond not liking the pre-release footage. And it feels like it's becoming more and more common around Gaming GAF.