Much love Bioware.... way to take it seriously

I play a lot of games and I get sidetracked sometimes. I jump around from game to game. Sometimes I put down a game (even a fantastic one) and come back to it a few months later. After putting a solid 30-ish hours into Andromeda after the initial release, I ping ponged through quite a few very good games but picked it up back up a few days ago. Wow.......... animations are very much smoothed out and facial expressions are........ normal -- across the board. Many MANY changes and updates.

Honestly, it's a Mass Effect game through and through. It really is. It feels like it on every turn and I have to say that in the end it feels like an 85-90 overall, falling right in line with the rest of the series. Hats off to Bioware (well, the Mass Effect team) for busting their humps and getting this game where it should have been, albeit a little bit later than intended I suppose. Not all companies would have taken it this seriously.

I definitely appreciate the post-release efforts too (IMO Bioware has always been good in that respect), although it really should have been delayed a couple of months so it could be released like this in the first place.

I still think the game is let down a little by the inconsistency of the writing/dialogue, the pacing and the repetitiveness of the random enemy encounters in the open world. No doubt some of that could have been improved with a delayed release too. My rating is a solid 8/10 - not quite as good as the OT but still very much worthwhile.

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Much love Bioware.... way to take it seriously Jul 27, 2017 0:42:42 GMT Qui-Gon GlenN7, Estaq99, and 1 more like this

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Post by Atemporal Vanguardian-Debugger on Jul 27, 2017 0:42:42 GMT

Nothing to worry about.
Same old, same old.

This is the norm now for EA games:
EA releases games in a Beta state as the retail version of said game.
Then they use the mass public to debug and patch said game to acceptable standards.

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Much love Bioware.... way to take it seriously Jul 27, 2017 0:55:06 GMT via mobile clips7, Estaq99, and 4 more like this

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Post by suikoden on Jul 27, 2017 0:55:06 GMT

I play a lot of games and I get sidetracked sometimes. I jump around from game to game. Sometimes I put down a game (even a fantastic one) and come back to it a few months later. After putting a solid 30-ish hours into Andromeda after the initial release, I ping ponged through quite a few very good games but picked it up back up a few days ago. Wow.......... animations are very much smoothed out and facial expressions are........ normal -- across the board. Many MANY changes and updates.

Honestly, it's a Mass Effect game through and through. It really is. It feels like it on every turn and I have to say that in the end it feels like an 85-90 overall, falling right in line with the rest of the series. Hats off to Bioware (well, the Mass Effect team) for busting their humps and getting this game where it should have been, albeit a little bit later than intended I suppose. Not all companies would have taken it this seriously.

Not addressing the animation issues would probably have been just as bad for their reputation as the initial release - good on them for salvaging a bit of that.

Unfortunately first impressions matter and it's probably only the diehards that will give the game a second chance to see those changes.

Wish it was that easy to patch the story and companions though.

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Much love Bioware.... way to take it seriously Jul 27, 2017 1:13:01 GMT malgus, Monica21, and 2 more like this

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Post by sjsharp2010 on Jul 27, 2017 1:13:01 GMT

I play a lot of games and I get sidetracked sometimes. I jump around from game to game. Sometimes I put down a game (even a fantastic one) and come back to it a few months later. After putting a solid 30-ish hours into Andromeda after the initial release, I ping ponged through quite a few very good games but picked it up back up a few days ago. Wow.......... animations are very much smoothed out and facial expressions are........ normal -- across the board. Many MANY changes and updates.

Honestly, it's a Mass Effect game through and through. It really is. It feels like it on every turn and I have to say that in the end it feels like an 85-90 overall, falling right in line with the rest of the series. Hats off to Bioware (well, the Mass Effect team) for busting their humps and getting this game where it should have been, albeit a little bit later than intended I suppose. Not all companies would have taken it this seriously.

Agreed it feels like a much better gam enow than at launch makes me glad I stuck around and continued to support it by playing it.

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Much love Bioware.... way to take it seriously Jul 27, 2017 1:22:39 GMT dragontartare, Estaq99, and 4 more like this

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Post by geralt on Jul 27, 2017 1:22:39 GMT

Not all companies would have taken it this seriously.

They hadn't "taken it this seriously", else they wouldn't have wasted nearly 3 years trying to make the game on a design premise that couldn't be done. It's fine to give Bioware props for fixing things, isn't any problems with folk doing that, but not for fixing something that was released in such a bad state because of them to begin with. They still impressively mismanaged the whole process, and put it out in a pre-beta state, despite knowing full well it was going to have many & stern eyes upon it being the first game after ME3 & how it ended.

Screwing the game up so badly despite full well knowing all that...is really a special kind of incompetence.

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Much love Bioware.... way to take it seriously Jul 27, 2017 1:42:31 GMT via mobile Hanako Ikezawa, smilesja, and 2 more like this

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Post by colfoley on Jul 27, 2017 1:42:31 GMT

Jul 27, 2017 0:42:42 GMT Atemporal Vanguardian-Debugger said:

Nothing to worry about.
Same old, same old.

This is the norm now for EA games:
EA releases games in a Beta state as the retail version of said game.
Then they use the mass public to debug and patch said game to acceptable standards.

the problem is not just unique to bioware or ea though and it's not a problem which has an easy solution. If the industry people I've talked to are to be believed some bugs only pop up in the wild. As it were.

And its by far and away better though when playing TW3 this weekend i ran into.one.of the worst bugs I've ever.experienced in a video game. Almost nothing in Andromeda even comes close. The witcher has been out for...what? Three years? And doing research on it it was one of the patches which 'broke' the game. And it still hasn't been fixed!

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Much love Bioware.... way to take it seriously Jul 27, 2017 1:50:01 GMT Hanako Ikezawa, smilesja, and 6 more like this

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Post by kino on Jul 27, 2017 1:50:01 GMT

Well, again, I give a poster props for throwing themselves into the shark semi-infested waters of BSN for actually praising the game. Kudos to you, OP. I gotcha back, Jack.

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Much love Bioware.... way to take it seriously Jul 27, 2017 2:06:53 GMT via mobile ComingOfShadows, geralt, and 1 more like this

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Post by majesticjazz on Jul 27, 2017 2:06:53 GMT

I meam, did they really have a choice? It was either fix the game to salavge their rep or ignore it and do more damage to their rep.

Lets not make it out like Bioware did us some favor out of goodwill. Also most of MEA's problems cannot be patched and thus still remains in the game.

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Much love Bioware.... way to take it seriously Jul 27, 2017 2:13:45 GMT Hanako Ikezawa, sjsharp2010, and 3 more like this

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Post by smilesja on Jul 27, 2017 2:13:45 GMT

Jul 27, 2017 0:55:06 GMT suikoden said:

I play a lot of games and I get sidetracked sometimes. I jump around from game to game. Sometimes I put down a game (even a fantastic one) and come back to it a few months later. After putting a solid 30-ish hours into Andromeda after the initial release, I ping ponged through quite a few very good games but picked it up back up a few days ago. Wow.......... animations are very much smoothed out and facial expressions are........ normal -- across the board. Many MANY changes and updates.

Honestly, it's a Mass Effect game through and through. It really is. It feels like it on every turn and I have to say that in the end it feels like an 85-90 overall, falling right in line with the rest of the series. Hats off to Bioware (well, the Mass Effect team) for busting their humps and getting this game where it should have been, albeit a little bit later than intended I suppose. Not all companies would have taken it this seriously.

Not addressing the animation issues would probably have been just as bad for their reputation as the initial release - good on them for salvaging a bit of that.

Unfortunately first impressions matter and it's probably only the diehards that will give the game a second chance to see those changes.

Wish it was that easy to patch the story and companions though.

Well good thing that the story and companions were good then.

"Demoman takes SKILL!"

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The path up and down are one and the same.

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Much love Bioware.... way to take it seriously Jul 27, 2017 2:14:02 GMT Hanako Ikezawa, smilesja, and 6 more like this

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Post by kino on Jul 27, 2017 2:14:02 GMT

Still gotcha back, Jack...and you're right. BioWare did seriously stick with it. Kudos to them and you.

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Much love Bioware.... way to take it seriously Jul 27, 2017 2:23:01 GMT via mobile clips7 likes this

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Post by majesticjazz on Jul 27, 2017 2:23:01 GMT

Jul 27, 2017 2:13:45 GMT smilesja said:

Jul 27, 2017 0:55:06 GMT suikoden said:

Not addressing the animation issues would probably have been just as bad for their reputation as the initial release - good on them for salvaging a bit of that.

Unfortunately first impressions matter and it's probably only the diehards that will give the game a second chance to see those changes.

Wish it was that easy to patch the story and companions though.

Well good thing that the story and companions were good then.

The story and companions being good is subjective to the individual. However, most reviewers made an effort to point out just how....lacking the story is compared to the MET.

But yes, there are people who believed that MEA had the best ME story and companions so good for them. The point is that for many others the story and companions (hallmark of Bioware) wad lacking in MEA and cannot be fixed in a patch....which means that even in v1.09 the game is no different than how it was way back in March.

I think people focus too much on animations and ignore the fact that people disliked things about MEA other than patches.

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Much love Bioware.... way to take it seriously Jul 27, 2017 2:47:18 GMT via mobile flyingovertrout, correctamundo, and 3 more like this

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Post by griffith82 on Jul 27, 2017 2:47:18 GMT

Not all companies would have taken it this seriously.

They hadn't "taken it this seriously", else they wouldn't have wasted nearly 3 years trying to make the game on a design premise that couldn't be done. It's fine to give Bioware props for fixing things, isn't any problems with folk doing that, but not for fixing something that was released in such a bad state because of them to begin with. They still impressively mismanaged the whole process, and put it out in a pre-beta state, despite knowing full well it was going to have many & stern eyes upon it being the first game after ME3 & how it ended.

Screwing the game up so badly despite full well knowing all that...is really a special kind of incompetence.

Time is not wasted when exploring a design concept. If it truly took 3 years then they did a damn good job releasing the game in even a playable state in just 2 years.

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Much love Bioware.... way to take it seriously Jul 27, 2017 2:52:12 GMT via mobile ComingOfShadows likes this

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Post by majesticjazz on Jul 27, 2017 2:52:12 GMT

Also the noot noot lips are still in the game and all asari looking alike are still in there. 1.09 didnt fix those.

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Much love Bioware.... way to take it seriously Jul 27, 2017 2:54:14 GMT sjsharp2010 and malgus like this

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Post by kino on Jul 27, 2017 2:54:14 GMT

They hadn't "taken it this seriously", else they wouldn't have wasted nearly 3 years trying to make the game on a design premise that couldn't be done. It's fine to give Bioware props for fixing things, isn't any problems with folk doing that, but not for fixing something that was released in such a bad state because of them to begin with. They still impressively mismanaged the whole process, and put it out in a pre-beta state, despite knowing full well it was going to have many & stern eyes upon it being the first game after ME3 & how it ended.

Screwing the game up so badly despite full well knowing all that...is really a special kind of incompetence.

Time is not wasted when exploring a design concept. If it truly took 3 years then they did a damn good job releasing the game in even a playable state in just 2 years.

Exactly. If the rumor about BW pulling this off in 18 to 24 months is true (still not certain about that) then they did a tremendous job.

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Much love Bioware.... way to take it seriously Jul 27, 2017 2:55:23 GMT via mobile smilesja and malgus like this

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Post by griffith82 on Jul 27, 2017 2:55:23 GMT

Jul 27, 2017 2:52:12 GMT majesticjazz said:

Also the noot noot lips are still in the game and all asari looking alike are still in there. 1.09 didnt fix those.

Only in a few instances and the Asari faces cannot be simply patched.

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Much love Bioware.... way to take it seriously Jul 27, 2017 2:56:27 GMT

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Post by ArabianIGoggles on Jul 27, 2017 2:56:27 GMT

They hadn't "taken it this seriously", else they wouldn't have wasted nearly 3 years trying to make the game on a design premise that couldn't be done. It's fine to give Bioware props for fixing things, isn't any problems with folk doing that, but not for fixing something that was released in such a bad state because of them to begin with. They still impressively mismanaged the whole process, and put it out in a pre-beta state, despite knowing full well it was going to have many & stern eyes upon it being the first game after ME3 & how it ended.

Screwing the game up so badly despite full well knowing all that...is really a special kind of incompetence.

Time is not wasted when exploring a design concept. If it truly took 3 years then they did a damn good job releasing the game in even a playable state in just 2 years.

I disagree. They never should have been given approval for that in the first place. If those three years hadn't been squandered who knows what MEA would look like today.

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Much love Bioware.... way to take it seriously Jul 27, 2017 3:00:45 GMT via mobile smilesja likes this

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Post by griffith82 on Jul 27, 2017 3:00:45 GMT

Jul 27, 2017 2:56:27 GMT ArabianIGoggles said:

Time is not wasted when exploring a design concept. If it truly took 3 years then they did a damn good job releasing the game in even a playable state in just 2 years.

I disagree. They never should have been given approval for that in the first place. If those three years hadn't been squandered who knows what MEA would look like today.

Seriously? You obviously have no idea how this process works. Also it wasn't wrong of them to try.

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Much love Bioware.... way to take it seriously Jul 27, 2017 3:05:19 GMT via mobile isaidlunch and geralt like this

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Post by majesticjazz on Jul 27, 2017 3:05:19 GMT

Jul 27, 2017 2:54:14 GMT kino said:

Time is not wasted when exploring a design concept. If it truly took 3 years then they did a damn good job releasing the game in even a playable state in just 2 years.

Exactly. If the rumor about BW pulling this off in 18 to 24 months is true (still not certain about that) then they did a tremendous job.

So now Bioware must be applauded for wasting 2-3 years on game development?

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Much love Bioware.... way to take it seriously Jul 27, 2017 3:08:26 GMT via mobile

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Post by suikoden on Jul 27, 2017 3:08:26 GMT

They hadn't "taken it this seriously", else they wouldn't have wasted nearly 3 years trying to make the game on a design premise that couldn't be done. It's fine to give Bioware props for fixing things, isn't any problems with folk doing that, but not for fixing something that was released in such a bad state because of them to begin with. They still impressively mismanaged the whole process, and put it out in a pre-beta state, despite knowing full well it was going to have many & stern eyes upon it being the first game after ME3 & how it ended.

Screwing the game up so badly despite full well knowing all that...is really a special kind of incompetence.

Time is not wasted when exploring a design concept. If it truly took 3 years then they did a damn good job releasing the game in even a playable state in just 2 years.

I think the franchise would have been better off in this scenario, if Andromeda was never released (or delayed another 3 years).

"A delayed game is eventually good, but a rushed game is forever bad."

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Much love Bioware.... way to take it seriously Jul 27, 2017 3:08:41 GMT smilesja, correctamundo, and 3 more like this

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Post by griffith82 on Jul 27, 2017 3:08:41 GMT

Jul 27, 2017 3:05:19 GMT majesticjazz said:

Jul 27, 2017 2:54:14 GMT kino said:

Exactly. If the rumor about BW pulling this off in 18 to 24 months is true (still not certain about that) then they did a tremendous job.

So now Bioware must be applauded for wasting 2-3 years on game development?

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Much love Bioware.... way to take it seriously Jul 27, 2017 3:11:22 GMT

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Post by smilesja on Jul 27, 2017 3:11:22 GMT

Jul 27, 2017 2:23:01 GMT majesticjazz said:

Jul 27, 2017 2:13:45 GMT smilesja said:

Well good thing that the story and companions were good then.

The story and companions being good is subjective to the individual. However, most reviewers made an effort to point out just how....lacking the story is compared to the MET.

But yes, there are people who believed that MEA had the best ME story and companions so good for them. The point is that for many others the story and companions (hallmark of Bioware) wad lacking in MEA and cannot be fixed in a patch....which means that even in v1.09 the game is no different than how it was way back in March.

I think people focus too much on animations and ignore the fact that people disliked things about MEA other than patches.

With constant videos mocking ME A of course Bio ware is going to focus a lot of the animations.

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Much love Bioware.... way to take it seriously Jul 27, 2017 3:12:21 GMT smilesja, correctamundo, and 2 more like this

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Post by griffith82 on Jul 27, 2017 3:12:21 GMT

Jul 27, 2017 3:08:26 GMT suikoden said:

Time is not wasted when exploring a design concept. If it truly took 3 years then they did a damn good job releasing the game in even a playable state in just 2 years.

I think the franchise would have been better off in this scenario, if Andromeda was never released (or delayed another 3 years).

"A delayed game is eventually good, but a rushed game is forever bad."

I don't. The game isn't bad and we didn't get something like this.

Yet the OT gets a pass?

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Much love Bioware.... way to take it seriously Jul 27, 2017 3:14:09 GMT smilesja, maximusarael020, and 2 more like this

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Post by Hanako Ikezawa on Jul 27, 2017 3:14:09 GMT

Jul 27, 2017 3:08:26 GMT suikoden said: