Mass Effect Andromeda: To Boldly Go

[Squark]

I went the opposite route, almost never crafting because the horse let me get to interesting stuff faster and I turned in most materials to fulfil requisitions. In fact the one time I bothered to craft a weapon I went out to do some sidequesting and had a better sword drop about five minutes later.

Now I don't mind crafting systems, I actually rather like them, but I'd rather have one instead of random drops instead of in addition to them (it would also solve the problem of the endless useless daggers and bows when Varric's my rogue).

The bigger loss is because your party disappeared into Thin air every time you mounted the horse, you were that much more likely to miss banter. Hopefully with the rest of your team being in the Nomad with you, they'll be just as chatty whether your in or out of it.

[Psyren]

I've already made my case on why having both itemization routes is good so I won't repeat it here. For DAI in particular though, crafted items blow the random drops away unless your schematics are very far behind. I haven't looted a staff in days that could beat the one I crafted back in Haven; in fact, the drops don't even come close, most of them are 50% less dps or more, and I am now 6 levels ahead of where I was. And I built that thing out of iron, cotton, ram skin and spit (common materials in other words.)

I expect Mass Effect to be the same for reasons I've already elaborated on, but I'll summarize again:

- Encourages exploration, which seems to be their big theme here
- Helps normalize encounter design
- Inquisition was both a critical and commercial darling so I expect they won't be rocking its boat without good reason.

What would be nice is if you could salvage drops for materials and thus benefit from the crafting system with less node hunting.

The bigger loss is because your party disappeared into Thin air every time you mounted the horse, you were that much more likely to miss banter. Hopefully with the rest of your team being in the Nomad with you, they'll be just as chatty whether your in or out of it.

This is an important point too - banter goes a long way to making a long trek interesting, and ME has an advantage over DA there because its setting has vehicles. Especially if each planet has specific soundbites.

[Squark]

I've already made my case on why having both itemization routes is good so I won't repeat it here. For DAI in particular though, crafted items blow the random drops away unless your schematics are very far behind. I haven't looted a staff in days that could beat the one I crafted back in Haven; in fact, the drops don't even come close, most of them are 50% less dps or more, and I am now 6 levels ahead of where I was. And I built that thing out of iron, cotton, ram skin and spit (common materials in other words.)

I expect Mass Effect to be the same for reasons I've already elaborated on, but I'll summarize again:

- Encourages exploration, which seems to be their big theme here
- Helps normalize encounter design
- Inquisition was both a critical and commercial darling so I expect they won't be rocking its boat without good reason.

What would be nice is if you could salvage drops for materials and thus benefit from the crafting system with less node hunting.

One definite advantage MEA should have- With fewer statistics, determining the quality of gear should be a lot easier. It'd be nice if DAI showed what my actual DPS with a weapon is after the attack and stat boosts are factored in, instead of just the useless base dps number

[Psyren]

And it's not like weapon dps matters much in ME anyway. In DAI your weapons are stat sticks for everything else you do, but in ME, your biotic and grenade damage doesn't care which pistol you're using etc.

[warty goblin]

And it's not like weapon dps matters much in ME anyway. In DAI your weapons are stat sticks for everything else you do, but in ME, your biotic and grenade damage doesn't care which pistol you're using etc.

I've never cared about biotics though. Why be a boring old space wizard when I can shoot people in the face?

[Psyren]

I've never cared about biotics though. Why be a boring old space wizard when I can shoot people in the face?

Oh don't worry, that statement goes for the guns too. I was the guy rocking an Avenger, Scimitar, Tempest, and Mattock on Gold difficulty after all.

Also, wizardry aside, you do plan on using grenades right?

[Rodin]

What would be nice is if you could salvage drops for materials and thus benefit from the crafting system with less node hunting.

I've eventually worked out that this is why Horizon's node hunting doesn't bother me - the nodes may be all over the place, but you don't need the nodes to craft weapons or armor. All of the nodes go directly into making ammo and potions. You gather items from the nodes as you need them, and when you want to get upgrades that requires fighting enemies. And even then, not much - the weapons typically required a machine heart, which most enemies would drop after you killed a dozen or so (usually before).

I would have to check the ammo resource requirements to be sure, but I think you can ignore the resource nodes entirely if you feel the need. You can use potions instead of the medicine pouch, wood is available cheaply from merchants, and the other herbs are used to make resistance potions that I've only rarely used.

[Zevox]

The key to a sprawling sandbox is to make traversal itself engaging. Games like Spiderman 2 and Prototype proved that - as long as getting around is inherently fun, having a big map is inherently fun.

It's been a long time since I played Prototype, but I do not recall thinking that at all about that game. Mostly I recall coming away from it thinking it was pretty disappointing all around. (I do not think I've played the Spiderman game in question - I know I rented one or two a long time ago, but even those I played very little and barely remember, so I can't comment on them.) And even in Infamous: Second Son, I would say that the superpowers make the big map tolerable, not fun - they lessen the issue to the point where it's no longer a serious detriment to my enjoyment of the game, but that still doesn't make it an asset, either.

[warty goblin]

Oh don't worry, that statement goes for the guns too. I was the guy rocking an Avenger, Scimitar, Tempest, and Mattock on Gold difficulty after all.

Also, wizardry aside, you do plan on using grenades right?

Insofar as I have a plan, probably? Depends how powerful they are, some games have highly useful grenades, some have piffly little things with all the attitude of a muffled fart. Beyond that I can't say, I really don't plan out how I'm gonna play before I play.

Doesn't that contradict not using biotics you ask? Not really. I don't plan on not using biotics, I just predict I won't, because I basically never like playing with activated cooldown powers as much as more direct shooting/action bits. This is true of pretty much every game ever, so I expect it'll be true with Andromeda too.

[Psyren]

Insofar as I have a plan, probably? Depends how powerful they are, some games have highly useful grenades, some have piffly little things with all the attitude of a muffled fart. Beyond that I can't say, I really don't plan out how I'm gonna play before I play.

Doesn't that contradict not using biotics you ask? Not really. I don't plan on not using biotics, I just predict I won't, because I basically never like playing with activated cooldown powers as much as more direct shooting/action bits. This is true of pretty much every game ever, so I expect it'll be true with Andromeda too.

What I meant was that, in a cover-based shooter, having attacks that go over cover is valuable. And in ME, those attacks tend to be powers or grenades with their own damage values, rather than inheriting from your gun like Dragon Age spells do your staff. 'They might change that of course but I don't really expect it.

In ME3 they had considerable success with the grenades having no cooldown, so I'd expect that again.

[Squark]

What I meant was that, in a cover-based shooter, having attacks that go over cover is valuable. And in ME, those attacks tend to be powers or grenades with their own damage values, rather than inheriting from your gun like Dragon Age spells do your staff. 'They might change that of course but I don't really expect it.

In ME3 they had considerable success with the grenades having no cooldown, so I'd expect that again.

At the very least, omni-grenade has a limited number of uses (per the first gameplay video) suggesting that they kept the ME3 system (Presumably grenades are fabricated in the field the same way Thermal clips are).

[Psyren]

At the very least, omni-grenade has a limited number of uses (per the first gameplay video) suggesting that they kept the ME3 system (Presumably grenades are fabricated in the field the same way Thermal clips are).

Indeed - although in ME3, grenades were far rarer than clips were (basically, there were fixed places in each level that they spawned rather than having enemies drop them) so I'm interested to see what they do here. Maybe they have charges and recharge very slowly?

[tonberrian]

What's everyone gonna play Andromeda on?

Personally, I'm trying to decide between picking it up myself (on PC) or settling for sharing with my brother on PS4.

[Morty]

PC, by the simple virtue of not having any other gaming platforms. The early access thing should start soon, right?

[LibraryOgre]

Nothing until I update my OS. I need to figure out if my motherboard can support more RAM, yes, but I also need to upgrade from Windows Vista.

[Rodin]

It's a shooter, so PC. I prefer not having to rely on auto-aim and ultra-slow-motion effects to have a chance of getting my reticule on target, thank you very much.

Doubly so since I normally play a sniper. Headshots are fiddly enough without adding a controller into the mix.

[Corvus]

Nothing until I can afford a new gaming PC - and that won't be any time soon. :(

[Inarius]

PC, partly because I haven't gotten a current gen console yet and partly because shooters just handle better for me on PC.

[Dienekes]

I think I might be the only PC player who prefers shooting with a controller.

In any case I'm gonna wait and see how obtrusive the open world stuff is. If I get it, it will probably be on PC assuming I upgrade by then.

[Squark]

Xbox, here. I've already got an Xbox One, and I'm not going to be upgrading my PC to the point it can run ME:A any time soon.

[Yana]

For my part, I'll be playing on PS4 as I don't have a pc capable of running anything more modern than D3.

[tonberrian]

If I do play on pc, it'll be with a controller. I can't make my fingers do WASD movement.

[Zevox]

What's everyone gonna play Andromeda on?

Whenever I get around to it, PS4. Which is my main gaming platform for everything that's not Hearthstone or a Nintendo product these days.

[Squark]

So, a video of Nomad gameplay was released.

Spoiler: My thoughts

Show

The good: It seems to handle better than the Mako, and it seems to actually have mass, so that's a plus.

The bad: The mining interface seems to be a successor to planet scanning. Only now you drive the Nomad around instead of moving the reticle. Is this better than respawning nodes? I'm not sure, but this doesn't feel like a promising sign, frankly.

[warty goblin]

PC, because that's what I have. It's totally a controller game though, anymore my left wrist is sufficiently buggered up I reserve mouse and keyboard for the games that really require extreme accuracy. Titanfall 2 MP does, third person shooters in singleplayer do not. It may even be a cuddle up on the bed and play it with the girlfriend game, depending on if she's interested, and when she beats Rise of the Tomb Raider, which means it's definitely a controller game.

[Zevox]

So, a video of Nomad gameplay was released.

Spoiler: My thoughts

Show

The good: It seems to handle better than the Mako, and it seems to actually have mass, so that's a plus.

The bad: The mining interface seems to be a successor to planet scanning. Only now you drive the Nomad around instead of moving the reticle. Is this better than respawning nodes? I'm not sure, but this doesn't feel like a promising sign, frankly.

Spoiler

Show

Yeah, yeesh - it's like a cross between planet scanning and the nodes in DA:I, which has to be pursued while driving the new Mako. That's a real "worst of" hits combo right there.

Also, something came up right after that which leaves me with so many questions. The part where the thing gets stuck on driving uphill (not even on that steep of a hill, frankly...), and then fixes it by toggling "six-wheel drive," which is apparently an upgrade you need to purchase. Um... what? Why on earth does your six-wheel tank not start with six-wheel drive? And why would it be a thing that you toggle - what reason would have to ever leave it off once you have it?? Are they really going to lock making this vehicle suck less than the Mako behind a bunch of busywork, just so that they can say you can upgrade it? Just... ugh, yeah. That kind of thing really makes my skepticism feel justified.

[Squark]

Spoiler

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Also, something came up right after that which leaves me with so many questions. The part where the thing gets stuck on driving uphill (not even on that steep of a hill, frankly...), and then fixes it by toggling "six-wheel drive," which is apparently an upgrade you need to purchase. Um... what? Why on earth does your six-wheel tank not start with six-wheel drive? And why would it be a thing that you toggle - what reason would have to ever leave it off once you have it?? Are they really going to lock making this vehicle suck less than the Mako behind a bunch of busywork, just so that they can say you can upgrade it? Just... ugh, yeah. That kind of thing really makes my skepticism feel justified.

Spoiler

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Well, it could be switching between speed and traction, sort of like drive settings in the car. On the other hand, we're already starting to automate this. A VI should be able to switch between traversal modes as needed to optimize performance. And one has to wonder why the APC for the most important operatives in the initiative doesn't come with such basic systems.

[Psyren]

YES! You can mine (via drone) from inside the Nomad, without stopping. And the mining interface basically lets you scan automatically as you move, instead of DAI's juddering "walk a few steps, pulse, repeat until ping." That's all I really wanted.

@ six-wheel drive: It allows them to organically gate off certain areas. They can put more difficult baddies or challenges on top of steep cliffs, and then you can choose how quickly or slowly you upgrade your tank to get up there.

PC, by the simple virtue of not having any other gaming platforms. The early access thing should start soon, right?

Early Access starts 3/16. The game will release for everyone on 3/21.

[warty goblin]

Spoiler

Show

Well, it could be switching between speed and traction, sort of like drive settings in the car. On the other hand, we're already starting to automate this. A VI should be able to switch between traversal modes as needed to optimize performance. And one has to wonder why the APC for the most important operatives in the initiative doesn't come with such basic systems.

Spoiler

Show

About the same reason they don't have a robot do all the shooting for you. Watching an AI do stuff may be a realistic view of the future, but it's a really crappy game.

[Dienekes]

Spoiler

Show

About the same reason they don't have a robot do all the shooting for you. Watching an AI do stuff may be a realistic view of the future, but it's a really crappy game.

Fair, but driving up and down hills is already a really crappy game. Adding busy work to it doesn't make it better.

Edit: new launch trailer

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=X6PJEmEHIaY

I have no idea what Archon is saying.