Mass Effect Andromeda: To Boldly Go

[Morty]

I'm digging the new character advancement system, even if takes a while to "unlearn" some assumptions - like thinking in terms of classes. I'm trying to make a lightweight combat specialist, but I need a skill to close the distance if I want to melee. Just running around gets you gunned down quickly. Or maybe I should just dodge more. I could've sworn there was a Tech Armor equivalent, but apparently not. And Tactical Cloak requires some investment in the Tech tree first. Charge is obvious, but I'd rather not use biotics.

So far I've been using Concussive Shot, Omni-Grenade, the mobile barrier thingy and pistol specialization. I figure I'll either stick to pistols and emphasize powers with cooldowns, or branch out into shotguns, and rely more on powers like grenades. The possibilities are broad.

That said, the Favorites system looks pretty clunky to use in practice.

[Inarius]

I'm digging the new character advancement system, even if takes a while to "unlearn" some assumptions - like thinking in terms of classes. I'm trying to make a lightweight combat specialist, but I need a skill to close the distance if I want to melee. Just running around gets you gunned down quickly. Or maybe I should just dodge more. I could've sworn there was a Tech Armor equivalent, but apparently not. And Tactical Cloak requires some investment in the Tech tree first. Charge is obvious, but I'd rather not use biotics.

So far I've been using Concussive Shot, Omni-Grenade, the mobile barrier thingy and pistol specialization. I figure I'll either stick to pistols and emphasize powers with cooldowns, or branch out into shotguns, and rely more on powers like grenades. The possibilities are broad.

That said, the Favorites system looks pretty clunky to use in practice.

Tech Armor is in the game though its locked to the Sentinel profile. Not sure if you've gotten to that part of the game yet, but Sentinel takes 3 tech and 3 Biotic powers to unlock rank 1.

[Anteros]

That said, we have done the math before and the statement "we cannot defeat them conventionally" really makes sense. Even if counting conservatively there should be between 5 000 and 15 000 capital ships. Each taking on average 3 dreadnaughts to be defeated (with heavy losses). Keep in mind that all races together has less than 500 dreadnoughts, total.


...So, yeah.

We can just make up the difference with a Thresher Maw breeding program and make giant launchers to fling them at the Reapers.

[Avilan the Grey]

We can just make up the difference with a Thresher Maw breeding program and make giant launchers to fling them at the Reapers.

Well duh.

[Morty]

Tech Armor is in the game though its locked to the Sentinel profile. Not sure if you've gotten to that part of the game yet, but Sentinel takes 3 tech and 3 Biotic powers to unlock rank 1.

Ah, I see. So it won't help, although I do plan to run a mixed tech/biotic character later. Maybe shield drain, combined with judicious dodging and using the mobile cover.

[SangoProduction]

So, they said there was a lore reason for the ammo being all over the place in Andromeda. Did they actually address it in game? also, why are there a bunch of supply boxes all over the place?

[Squark]

So, they said there was a lore reason for the ammo being all over the place in Andromeda. Did they actually address it in game? also, why are there a bunch of supply boxes all over the place?

I believe it's in a codex entry unlocked when you first interact with supply boxes. What I've heard is that the player is repurposing raw materials into what they need via omni-tool. So supply grates contain raw materials that a personal fabricator can use to build the needed items in the field.

[Haruspex_Pariah]

I believe it's in a codex entry unlocked when you first interact with supply boxes. What I've heard is that the player is repurposing raw materials into what they need via omni-tool. So supply grates contain raw materials that a personal fabricator can use to build the needed items in the field.

That sounds like the explanation for loot drops all the way back from ME1. Weird, but it made sure you got relevant stuff without forcing you to do the "fabricating" manually.

[Rodin]

That sounds like the explanation for loot drops all the way back from ME1. Weird, but it made sure you got relevant stuff without forcing you to do the "fabricating" manually.

It does raise the question of why you would get random drops that you don't necessarily need instead of the exact item you need at that minute. Maybe the omnitool menu is written in Dutch and Shepard/Ryder are just pressing buttons randomly?

[Anteros]

It does raise the question of why you would get random drops that you don't necessarily need instead of the exact item you need at that minute. Maybe the omnitool menu is written in Dutch and Shepard/Ryder are just pressing buttons randomly?

Different materials are used to make different things?

[warty goblin]

Am I the only one that just doesn't worry about this sort of thing? I mean, it's like wondering why Elves are this ancient and noble race that have failed to move past medieval tech levels despite being around for thousands of years longer than humans. Galactic time scales are such that the likelihood of ANY civilization gaining spaceflight at the same time as any other civilization is basically nil. Heck, it's vanishingly unlikely that sentient life on any two planets would even EVOLVE at the same time, nevermind progress to spaceflight at a similar rate.

So why worry about it? Alien race X is here, with tech level Y related to overall tech level of setting Z. Once that's established the stories you tell with that premise are far more interesting to me.

I really don't actually worry about it. If I did, I'd have given up like thirty minutes into Mass Effect 1, when I realized that their Mass Effect FTL drives don't even fake-work. Or the guns. Or the biotics, which don't even come close. It's all just vague science words thrown out there as a don't-look-behind-the-curtain justification for spaceships and wizards.

[Beleriphon]

I really don't actually worry about it. If I did, I'd have given up like thirty minutes into Mass Effect 1, when I realized that their Mass Effect FTL drives don't even fake-work. Or the guns. Or the biotics, which don't even come close. It's all just vague science words thrown out there as a don't-look-behind-the-curtain justification for spaceships and wizards.

It fake-works if you assume what eezo actually does it make E=MC^2 no longer true.

[Psyren]

I really don't actually worry about it. If I did, I'd have given up like thirty minutes into Mass Effect 1, when I realized that their Mass Effect FTL drives don't even fake-work. Or the guns. Or the biotics, which don't even come close. It's all just vague science words thrown out there as a don't-look-behind-the-curtain justification for spaceships and wizards.

Well, either you can suspend disbelief enough to accept the premise as-is (and trust that there may or may not be more explanation later, when we figure out exactly what the situation is with the Remnant and Kett)... or you can't. Those are the options.

So, they said there was a lore reason for the ammo being all over the place in Andromeda. Did they actually address it in game? also, why are there a bunch of supply boxes all over the place?

I believe it's in a codex entry unlocked when you first interact with supply boxes. What I've heard is that the player is repurposing raw materials into what they need via omni-tool. So supply grates contain raw materials that a personal fabricator can use to build the needed items in the field.

There's a bit more to it than that. Remember, a year before we got there, they HAD tried to settle each of the golden worlds, and failed. Most of the time when you find actual ammo boxes, it's in those abandoned/aborted settlements, or crashed ships like the starting shuttle. So yes, some of it is the good old omnitool magic, but some of it is real actual thermal clip caches.

[ImperiousLeader]

It fake-works if you assume what eezo actually does it make E=MC^2 no longer true.

They're just like the Heisenberg compensators. How do they function? Quite well, thanks for asking!

[SangoProduction]

Oh god. I am watching Totalbiscuit's (that's actually recognised by Google as a real word, for spelling correction). Female Ryder is absolutely creepy (so does Liam). They also sound so sleepy being played at 1x speed. That might not be as bad if I am actually playing it. The turrian is quite nice though.

You can lock in the customized colors by pressing space. Interesting. I remember someone asking that here.

[Seerow]

Question for the people with Early Access: Is playing a caster-type character remotely viable in this game? The reviews I read all praise the game's combat talking about the faster pace and better quality shooting... and that's fine. But will I still have the option to stand in the back as a Biotic or Tech specialist and lob powers at enemies until they die? Or is it expected that you will be shooting constantly and using powers only occasionally as support?

[SangoProduction]

Question for the people with Early Access: Is playing a caster-type character remotely viable in this game? The reviews I read all praise the game's combat talking about the faster pace and better quality shooting... and that's fine. But will I still have the option to stand in the back as a Biotic or Tech specialist and lob powers at enemies until they die? Or is it expected that you will be shooting constantly and using powers only occasionally as support?

It's probably expected that you use powers as support, but casting primarily is possible, as most pistols have negligible weight, meaning you can cast more if you only have those equipped. I saw someone basically just spamming pull/push over and over again. If that's what you want, it's probably supported by the system....unless you want to have any rotation that's of more complexity than 2 buttons with a utility spell.

[5ColouredWalker]

unless you want to have any rotation that's of more complexity than 2 buttons with a utility spell.

Yea. That's the big problem I have with the rotation system, I'd rather have all my powers available thank you very much.
Hopefully a PC mod comes out that changes that.

[Squark]

Yea. That's the big problem I have with the rotation system, I'd rather have all my powers available thank you very much.
Hopefully a PC mod comes out that changes that.

I think once people get a sense for the favorites system (And level up enough to actually have multiple favorites), you'll start to see more diversity for casters. Although power selection would probably be more diverse if you could direct your squadmates power usage, since you'd be able to spread the responsibility of priming and detonating power combos between the team.

[Chen]

Yeah I wondered why we had all these powers when we could only equip 3. But then I saw the favorites thing. I haven't tried it yet, but can you just change these whenever you want in combat?

Also pure biotic with pull/throw seems to work pretty darn well. Those detonations are quite strong at the start of the game. You just need something else to take down shields and armor with (I crafted a carnifex I early and it does the job well for now). What exactly does item weight do in the game?

[Dienekes]

Yea. That's the big problem I have with the rotation system, I'd rather have all my powers available thank you very much.
Hopefully a PC mod comes out that changes that.

The big limitation of the system is that when you switch all powers start on cooldown. And it's easy to guess why, the system probably doesn't calculate cooldown of abilities just taken off rotation so Bioware was worried you could just spam your most powerful long cooldown spell switch profiles, switch back and cast it again. Making the cooldown effectively 0.

However, I think one of the first mods will be that switching profiles will not cause your abilities to be on cooldown. Effectively giving you access to all your abilities.

[Psyren]

If you can get the Profile Swap cooldown low enough it should be barely noticeable. No idea how feasible that is currently as I think it would take a higher-level Ryder, perhaps even needing some caster gear (Rosenkov, or the Andromedan equivalent?) to truly reach its full potential.

What I can say from playing Multiplayer is that it is much more frenetic and fast-paced. It's also considerably harder than ME3 - we were running for our lives on Bronze. Enemies could jump like we do, which made it difficult to tell what angles they'd attack from.

EDIT: Reviews are coming in - "Every Man's Sky" is a title I was expecting.

[Morty]

I'm not sure what to think about the favourites system yet. Actually setting my favourites once I had more than three active powers proved rather difficult. Swapping them in the middle of combat did introduce a break in which I could only shoot. That's probably more of a hindrance for "caster" builds than it was for me. I can't help but feel like they don't have much of a purpose, though.

[GungHo]

I'm hoping that the face stuff is just a horrible bug.

[Anteros]

I'm hoping that the face stuff is just a horrible bug.

I'm hoping so too, but I think they would have said so by now if it was.

[Psyren]

Given that the alien facials look fine, my guess is that someone dropped the ball with the humans somewhere, but whether that means there are "good" human animations tucked away in a dev build somewhere waiting to be patched in, or it means they'd have to be remade from scratch and we're effectively stuck with what we've got, I don't have the faintest clue. Either way, it's not going to interfere with the experience for me. If it ever got truly bothersome I could re-enable helmets in cutscenes or something to at least mitigate it, but again, don't really care either way.

[Corvus]

Sadly not a bug. It is just poorly done.

The game reviews are coming out and they are in the 6/7/8 range, averaging about 7.5.

[Anteros]

Sadly not a bug. It is just poorly done.

The game reviews are coming out and they are in the 6/7/8 range, averaging about 7.5.

I know Penny Arcade said they would have quit playing it during the tutorial if it wasn't a Mass Effect game. That makes me leery because that guy loves everything.

Oh well, hopefully they hammer out a lot of these issues by the time the GOTY hits and I buy.

[Inarius]

Honestly the facial animation thing seems more of a case of over tweaking the animations. It's really noticeable on the main characters but side characters have facial animations that are nowhere near as bad as what Ryder gets for instance. The running and combat animations though are all really well done.

The other main issue I've seen with the game is the dialogue and voice acting quality are all over the place. I know they bragged about how much dialogue and VA's they had before the launch and to me it shows, just not in a good way.

Other than that though the game is pretty fun to play, its exploration is much more focused compared to what we had in inquisition. The combat is much better than prior games, though the limited number of ability slots is an issue that can cramp some play styles.

[Rodin]

Finally decided that this squeaks onto my "play at launch" list. Just. Mainly because I'm really itching for a shooter and I'm finishing out Hollow Knight exactly as the game releases.

Hopefully I won't wind up regretting it.