Post by Delphi on Jun 11, 2017 6:30:33 GMT
Might as well give my two cents.
I wanted to like this game. I really, really did.
So after giving it a few weeks of gameplay I have my preliminary assessment which is: ...meh. It's alright.
I don't know what it is but I don't feel the same thing I got playing each of the ME games the first time where it just grabbed me and didn't let go. Where I had to play just one more hour and looked up and it was five hours later. Andromeda just doesn't grab me like that.
I prefer my Shepard to Ryder because Ryder is just always like "Lol I don't know wtf I'm doing and everyone knows it! I'm a dumb kid!" Where Shepard was an experienced and commissioned officer. Mine had her moments of "I have no idea what I'm doing so I'm gonna press all the buttons!" but it wasn't as blatant. Sarah Ryder is supposed to be more scientific minded and but it feels like flavor text because it's never really demonstrated. Shepard felt like they were more invested in their team mates. They were a team where in Andromeda it's more like coworkers. I don't go seek them out it's more of "Oh yeah, you're there."
And the combat... it just doesn't feel as tight and combat doesn't flow like it did in ME3. Like I know people complained about ME3 but the combat flow was so good. I just feel like I'm scrambling in combat all the time without ever getting a good rhythm. For comparison I used to semi-regularly play ME3 multiplayer and could solo bronze matches if I really needed to, played on Silver and some Gold with Mitch and LenaBot and while I was the weakest player eventually I'd hit a decent enough stride and did some Silver matches with PUGs. I can't do that with Andromeda. The maps are just kind of too spread out and hard to navigate. There's no good sniping perches that I've found yet. Vanguards aren't fun to play anymore and biotics in general got a massive Nerf which I don't think fits the lore.
Also whoever thought Ascendants would be fun/rewarding to fight needs to be subjected to wave after wave of them as assassination targets in multiplayer. As a Vanguard. It's a shitty enemy that isn't fun to fight and isn't rewarding to kill. It's just like they took all the most annoying, shitty attacks from the Banshee and Praetorian and combined into a sync kill spamming asshole. You at least had a small window to dodge most sync attacks but Ascendants grab you almost immediately.
The game is quite lovely once the graphics weirdness got sorted out, I'll give it that.
I just felt like the little nods back to the original trilogy were just a reminder that I could be playing a better game. Even with all its faults I enjoyed ME3. The plot could be a bit shaky and then there is the ending that shall not be named but I was so much more invested in my decisions. Even as dry as ME could be I think I'd still rather be slogging through Feros when I'm playing Andromeda.
Also the Kett just feel like Covenant Light. Just reminds me I could be playing Halo which even after all these years still has tighter combat controls and Cortana is a lot more interesting than SAM.
On the up side maybe I'll get off my ass and make my Shepard's backstory about surviving the Mindoir attack as a web comic type thing in DAZ.
I wanted to like this game. I really, really did.
So after giving it a few weeks of gameplay I have my preliminary assessment which is: ...meh. It's alright.
I don't know what it is but I don't feel the same thing I got playing each of the ME games the first time where it just grabbed me and didn't let go. Where I had to play just one more hour and looked up and it was five hours later. Andromeda just doesn't grab me like that.
I prefer my Shepard to Ryder because Ryder is just always like "Lol I don't know wtf I'm doing and everyone knows it! I'm a dumb kid!" Where Shepard was an experienced and commissioned officer. Mine had her moments of "I have no idea what I'm doing so I'm gonna press all the buttons!" but it wasn't as blatant. Sarah Ryder is supposed to be more scientific minded and but it feels like flavor text because it's never really demonstrated. Shepard felt like they were more invested in their team mates. They were a team where in Andromeda it's more like coworkers. I don't go seek them out it's more of "Oh yeah, you're there."
And the combat... it just doesn't feel as tight and combat doesn't flow like it did in ME3. Like I know people complained about ME3 but the combat flow was so good. I just feel like I'm scrambling in combat all the time without ever getting a good rhythm. For comparison I used to semi-regularly play ME3 multiplayer and could solo bronze matches if I really needed to, played on Silver and some Gold with Mitch and LenaBot and while I was the weakest player eventually I'd hit a decent enough stride and did some Silver matches with PUGs. I can't do that with Andromeda. The maps are just kind of too spread out and hard to navigate. There's no good sniping perches that I've found yet. Vanguards aren't fun to play anymore and biotics in general got a massive Nerf which I don't think fits the lore.
Also whoever thought Ascendants would be fun/rewarding to fight needs to be subjected to wave after wave of them as assassination targets in multiplayer. As a Vanguard. It's a shitty enemy that isn't fun to fight and isn't rewarding to kill. It's just like they took all the most annoying, shitty attacks from the Banshee and Praetorian and combined into a sync kill spamming asshole. You at least had a small window to dodge most sync attacks but Ascendants grab you almost immediately.
The game is quite lovely once the graphics weirdness got sorted out, I'll give it that.
I just felt like the little nods back to the original trilogy were just a reminder that I could be playing a better game. Even with all its faults I enjoyed ME3. The plot could be a bit shaky and then there is the ending that shall not be named but I was so much more invested in my decisions. Even as dry as ME could be I think I'd still rather be slogging through Feros when I'm playing Andromeda.
Also the Kett just feel like Covenant Light. Just reminds me I could be playing Halo which even after all these years still has tighter combat controls and Cortana is a lot more interesting than SAM.
On the up side maybe I'll get off my ass and make my Shepard's backstory about surviving the Mindoir attack as a web comic type thing in DAZ.