Been getting several requests of trying to get what I’ve been thinking of this game so far, and if they should buy it. Personally, my review should be enough for the second thing (with all of those dislikes).
I will say this..it just doesn’t really have the ‘charm’ as the Mass Effect series. I miss Garrus being a badass. I miss the stalemate Vrex and Shepard conversations (including the awkward “I should go”(best way to bail out of a conversation)).
One main thing, is there feels like a severe lack in explorable planets. So far, not one is explorable outside the main storyline (though I feel the reason is the outposts).
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Speaking of the outposts..Geesus H. Christ does the game bug the fuck out of me for choosing the ‘wrong option’ on Eos, when I chose the outpost to be Military instead of Scientific. I assumed “OK, so the ‘Kett’ are a problem. I should choose a Military-style outpost to scare the Kett away and show we’re not going to be pushed around. The next one will be Scientific to balance it out.” But noooooo… the one on Eos sets the theme for all outposts..and that’s just stupid. Why can’t you have a Military outpost on one planet, and a Scientific one on the other? Even the Mass Effect series gets it right here. Plus they NEVER said this would affect all future outposts!
This is just sad. Also, I bet I’ll be attacked even if I chose the Science outpost instead, possibly something among the lines of “why didn’t you go Military? Your people won’t have protection against the Kett.” But that’s life. You can’t win them all.
Honestly, I don’t even think it matters. The missions probably change, as long with the opinions.. but not once have I really done a “raid a Kett camp mission”. Well, besides the one that was snooping over the outpost (though I wonder if I’ll get the same mission with a Scientific outpost). Only a second playthrough could answer that question.
So, the Tempest (the ship the player is given after the Epilogue). The ship looks pretty nice (inside and out), and I like how it can land on a planet (unlike the Normandy which has to stay in orbit). The inside looks smaller than the outside (especially the Bridge and Pathfinders Quarters both ending at the same length of the ship). With the length of its mid section to the front, I just don’t see how it feels so short.
There’s also the matter of two other things. First one is the Salarian pilot named Kallo, who said in the 2nd main mission “I’ll stay aboard my ship”. Now I’ve known Bioware for being a blunder in their writing department, but I’ve never seen this being said in any video. It’s obvious he meant to say “I’ll stay aboard the ship.”
Now for the second thing, and wow… why are my crew (plus pilot/navigator/engineer) the only ones on the ship? The Normandy (both old and new) felt more alive. The Nexus must be really hurting, giving me a skeleton crew.
I dunno. I just expected more people walking around. Most of the time it feels dead except for the occasional idle chats the crew do (but it only lasts for 10 seconds and then everyone shuts up for the rest of the trip).
Now we look at missions. There’s four I dislike a lot;
1. Ones that tell you to go back to a planet you’ve already been to, to turn in a quest on the planet they told you to go. This is the 29th century.. can’t I just call the quest giver via a secure channel on the Tempest to turn in the mission(and save me a trip and the unskippable cutscenes of landing and taking off)?
2. Most of the ‘Task:’ missions (collect/destroy X). This is RNG Hell, as they appear in random locations (and don’t show up on the map). Some of these missions, there’s no reliable guides on the net (the ones that do only show them for what they saw instead of a 50/50 chance of being there).
3. “I need more scans to investigate further”-SAM (aka breadcrumb missions). They really push the new scanning mechanic on the player(even though it’s the main way to gain research points on making weapons and armor).
4. Ones that go ‘ON HOLD’ until the story arc is moved forward to an unspecified point.
And…that explains it in a nutshell.
Now I wanna talk about the Nomad. First off, why is there no cutscene of it being launched out of the ship upon landing? Is the unskippable landing cutscene too much for you, Bioware?
And why can’t you use it to board the Tempest(by driving it up the ramp)?
But here’s the good things about it (despite it not being able to defend itself with any sort of weapon). You can upgrade it, and you can also have it scale nearly vertical walls with its 6W-Drive mode(which can be toggled at anytime).
It’s also pretty fast, reaching speeds of 129KM/H (when on the vanilla boost speed and flat terrain).
The addition of mining for minerals (while on the planet surface) is.. well, let’s say I wish SAM had an off button. Everytime I activate the scanner and I’m in a mineral area; “Pathfinder, this area can be mined for resources”. Totally didn’t know this of the past 500 times you told me this, SAM!! As for searching for minerals, have fun driving around trying to find when you get a spike in resources(while also avoiding obstacles in the way).
The memory trigger system, is actually quite cool. If Ryder collects enough of them, they can go back to the Nexus and Ark Hyperion, then to SAM Node to visibly watch a memory of the father’s past. One that really interested me was when he mentioned “they’re working on a new Mako that can be launched from a ship”.
These photographic memories are clearly before the events of ME1, mentioning the relay orbiting around Pluto, and the First Contact War (with Alec Ryder actually being a part of this war). The lore in this game is really amazing.
But could Alec Ryder..possibly be linked to Shepard? The reason I say this, is while I was customizing my Ryder, there was an option to choose who Shepard was. I won’t really know until maybe near the end of the game.
The actual combat, I feel I have yet to master all the various abilities and buttons (especially when I feel I’m halfway through the game). I have ‘sort of’ mastered the JumpJet (mainly using it as a Blink ability to get around faster).
Weapons and Armor, I just now started to get a feel for the Research & Development mechanic of crafting them (using research and materials I find in the world). Trying to equip a good build that suits me, has been very hard. Not only do I got to compare two weapons (or armor), but I got to make sure its bonuses are better than what I got. And not all weapons are solid upgrades. This almost feels like a Single Player MMO. Don’t really like it. A bit too much complexity for my simple mind to process.
Now I’ve been mainly focusing on Milky Way tech, but since it’s quite scarce to find research for it in Andromeda, I had to move on to Kett tech (nothing like putting a bit of irony in a firefight) as it’s more plentiful than Remanent tech.
Speaking of Remanent tech (from what I read), it seems the most interesting (yet also the most expensive) to get into (like a sniper rifle that fires a beam until it overheats). Yet it also warns these weapons are reverse-engineered, and should be considered experimental (aka, not our fault if it burns a hole through the planet).
I still haven’t seen a weapon that would be “fuck I can’t aim right on a controller”-proof. Nothing like trying to aim at an enemy that’s moving towards cover, and missing every fucking shot to the point I have to reload!
Moving on to the Profiles, I have yet to find one that suits my needs. I don’t really bother with Biotics and Tech… I just like shooting people from a distance. Started off as Soldier (which is the default profile until more are unlocked through XP), went Vanguard (as I could see enemies behind cover), then went to Explorer. Yet I still feel none of these are really what I’m aiming for.
I think I might just go back to Vanguard, but I also kind of like the Explorer’s JumpJet ability (being able to move through solid objects).
Finally I’ll cover choices and consequences. Unlike the series, knowing if you’re doing the right thing isn’t as black & white(as there’s no visible Karma system). With this, you really got to trust your gut that you’re saying the right thing. Though, there’s an ‘anti-fuck up’ approach of just loading a previous save before the encounter and trying the other option. Several times, I have to just that (though there have been a few instances where I feel the ‘bad’ response is more true to how I feel at a certain time).
This game can get pretty draining (emotion-wise).
And..that’s about all I can think of (for now). Do watch this post as I might add more.