Bioware Commits to Mass Effect: Andromeda Support; Will Act on Feedback

[Raevenlord]

Mass Effect Andromeda was one of the most awaited launches of 2017, though an argument can be made that the game is currently in beta. The Mass Effect trilogy was one of the best-realized trilogies in gaming - let down, in the eyes of some users, by its ending; but if the indoctrination theory has something to go for it, I think it's one of the best endings that ever took form in this media. The original trilogy really went to show how a universe steeped in narrative, with an overarching plan already aligned for its trio of games, could deliver an intense, high-quality sci-fi experience.

Taking on a whole new galaxy should have been a time to improve and rebuild old systems, not breaking what was so very well done before. Even if the game is a looker, with the Frostbite 3 engine bringing graphics to the forefront, some things have taken a turn for the worst in a bid to save development time and resources. Mass Effect: Andromeda came out in what is an almost universally agreed unfinished state, with facial animations and overall writing suffering in quality compared to the previous installments, and a plethora of bugs fitter to an early access release than a AAA game. Now, Bioware has come forward, committing to act on fans' feedback and making up for the deficits that have no place in a Bioware game.





To wit, the company has pledged a number of patches in the coming months that address the games' numerous flaws, be it physics based (characters have appeared with crates stuck to their heads, enemies have spawned halfway through the ground), increased work on voice-overs, reworking some relationship arcs, and also the all-important facial animations. Because nothing is more immersion-breaking than a character with wonky facial animations and eyes that look like marbles in a spinning well saying something like "My face is tired".

Check out the upcoming list of fixes for the first update from Bioware, v1.05, that incorporates fans' feedback, due to release this Thursday, starting with miscellaneous bug fixes:

• Fixed an issue with Ryder's movements when running in a zig zag pattern
• Fixed various collision issues
• Fixed bugs where music or VO wouldn't play or wasn't correct
• Fixed issue where global squad mate banter sometimes wasn't firing on UNCs
• Fixed issue where player was unable to access the Remnant Console Interface after failing decryption multiple times
• Fixed issue where fast travel is sometimes disabled after recruiting Drack until the player reloads a save
• Fixed issue where Ryder can become stuck in the start of Biotic Charge Pose
• Fixes issues related to some saves
• Fixed issue where objective sometimes becomes un-interactable for players in multiplayer
• Streaming and stability improvements

And game system and mechanics improvements:

• Improved tutorial placement
• Increased inventory limits
• Single player balance changes: Ammo crates, armor, weapons, nomad, profiles, attacks, and progression
• Multiplayer balance changes: Weapons, cover, and enemies (check back for detailed notes on balance changes)
• Improved matchmaking and latency in multiplayer
• Added option to skip autopilot sequences in the galaxy map
• Decreased the cost of remnant decryption keys and made them more accessible at merchants
• Improved logic, timing, and continuity for relationships and story arcs
• Improved lip-sync and facial acting during conversations, including localized VO
• Improved the appearance of eyes for human and asari characters

Here's hoping Mass Effect: Andromeda will become the game it was supposed to be at launch. It might even only take a couple of months more, which is... fortunate?

View at TechPowerUp Main Site

 

[hyp36rmax]

With all these issues.... not sure we'll ever get that multi-GPU patch that was prematurely announced on the last update... At least it was supposed to be available since AMD had an update ready to go.

 

[ShurikN]

They can't fix bad story and characters tho

 

[simlariver]

I stopped being excited for new game releases a few years ago when it became common for them to be broken out-of-the-box. It's just too frustrating.

 

[atomicus]

Yes, let's applaud a $40m budget game from one of the world's biggest developers that pledges commitment to patch their game MONTHS after release so that it meets the BARE MINIMUM standards you'd expect on release. Well done.

 

[RejZoR]

I wanted to eventually buy the game to laugh at all it's weird broken stuff. Now I won't even be able to experience that, making it even less valuable than it was before...

 

[Kohl Baas]

I stopped being excited for new game releases a few years ago when it became common for them to be broken out-of-the-box. It's just too frustrating.

Well, you just need to look at the right places to find quality games. Drop the AAA shit and search at publishers who can't let such failures happening or look after fresh developers formed with/by industry veterans. You can still find good quality AAA games, just be more thorough.

As long as it has a market, there will be good quality games.

Of course "good" is a relative term and if you can get beyond graphics and play some of the old gems, you can have a good basis of comparison regarding other aspects like gameplay mechanics, story, design and such. If you dare to put the effort to get the necessary information in a relatively new perspective.

And if you just want to sit down and enjoy the show, then there are the consoles with almost all of their exclusive material. Especially the self made things which are done by the manufacturers' developers. Like Ni-Oh or The Last Guardian on PS4 or the newest Zelda by/on Nintendo.

 

[rtwjunkie]

To all those commenting, you are commenting on hearsay. Go to the thread here on TPU. The examples given are rare, overhyped, and not seen by all players. What you have is a clear Mass Effect game that is fun and rich in content and quality missions. Yes, 30% of facial animations suck. They will fix it. Does it change the fun factor? No.

Of particular hilarity to me are comments about bad writing and characters. More hyped hearsay, because it's apparently cool these days to jump on hype trains and hate on games, all without one single bit of personal experience actually playing these games. The story is rich and deep, with many side missions interwoven into the main quest in much the same manner as TW3 did so well. The dialogue is well written as well.

Make your own decisions and evaluations. Don't be sheep, led by those who like attention. Buy the game. Then you have credibility to comment. Yes there are some issues, and they are being fixed. But by no means are they endemic to all.

 

[Litzner]

This game is not as bad as people claim it to be, but I do agree that the facial animations can be awkward at times, and I don't really feel myself being drawn toward any of the companions thus far, but I still enjoyed the game. Until... I am stuck at a boss fight, the boss us supposed to spawn on me, but every time I get to it the game just sits there, I can't move, fire, or access any menus. The game is not frozen exactly, because there is still motion, my character is still breathing with the motion associated with that, and environmental and lighting effects still occur, but nothing can be done. I am just completely stuck at this point in the game, my only option being going back to a save, and completely skipping this content for the time being...

 

[hyp36rmax]

To all those commenting, you are commenting on hearsay. Go to the thread here on TPU. The examples given are rare, overhyped, and not seen by all players. What you have is a clear Mass Effect game that is fun and rich in content and quality missions. Yes, 30% of facial animations suck. They will fix it. Does it change the fun factor? No.

Of particular hilarity to me are comments about bad writing and characters. More hyped hearsay, because it's apparently cool these days to jump on hype trains and hate on games, all without one single bit of personal experience actually playing these games. The story is rich and deep, with many side missions interwoven into the main quest in much the same manner as TW3 did so well. The dialogue is well written as well.

Make your own decisions and evaluations. Don't be sheep, led by those who like attention. Buy the game. Then you have credibility to comment. Yes there are some issues, and they are being fixed. But by no means are they endemic to all.

I can live with the current state of the animations. You're probably right not everyone will experience the issues. But when you're rocking triple 1440P 144hz monitors and would like to maximize your performance to hit those targets as close as possible, you better believe that's an opportunity that I'd like to take.

The odd thing is the mismanagement of the last patch enabling a feature that wasn't available in the public release. There was clearly a communication disconnect between the devs and AMD with this.

Source: https://community.amd.com/thread/213759

 

[mroofie]

To all those commenting, you are commenting on hearsay. Go to the thread here on TPU. The examples given are rare, overhyped, and not seen by all players. What you have is a clear Mass Effect game that is fun and rich in content and quality missions. Yes, 30% of facial animations suck. They will fix it. Does it change the fun factor? No.

Of particular hilarity to me are comments about bad writing and characters. More hyped hearsay, because it's apparently cool these days to jump on hype trains and hate on games, all without one single bit of personal experience actually playing these games. The story is rich and deep, with many side missions interwoven into the main quest in much the same manner as TW3 did so well. The dialogue is well written as well.

Make your own decisions and evaluations. Don't be sheep, led by those who like attention. Buy the game. Then you have credibility to comment. Yes there are some issues, and they are being fixed. But by no means are they endemic to all.

Lmao please tell me you're joking?

If not go shill some place else please

 

[rtwjunkie]

Lmao please tell me you're joking?

If not go shill some place else please

No schilling at all. I've put in over 100 hours, so I have a real good sense of what is hyped FUD, and what isn't.

Have you legitimately played it? If not, then you are nothing but a troll who knows how to repeat Internet haters that love attention.

 

[atomicus]

No schilling at all. I've put in over 100 hours, so I have a real good sense of what is hyped FUD, and what isn't.

Have you legitimately played it? If not, then you are nothing but a troll who knows how to repeat Internet haters that love attention.

I have played it also, not 100 hours, but enough hours to know that it's a mess and the MANY issues have seriously hampered my enjoyment of the game in a significant way... and this is coming from someone who is a huge Mass Effect fan and thoroughly enjoyed the original trilogy. The mere fact certain technical aspects of ME3 are superior to Andromeda speaks volumes! And yes, they really are, that's not being hyperbolic! It also IS badly written and cliched... just because you don't think so doesn't mean it isn't.

I honestly don't know how you can defend it under the circumstances. $40m budget and they release in this state!? It's simply inexcusable. Anyone who posts on the internet for attention is either retarded or 11 years old, and the MANY who are deriding Andromeda are clearly not all in such a category. I'd even argue you don't NEED to play the game to see how badly they screwed this up. Yes that may put an unfair emphasis on specific events in what is a very expansive game, but just by watching game clips you can see there are A LOT of those events, far more than there should have been given the time and budget they had. The mere fact they are now promising to rectify so much is evidence enough of the fact they jumped the gun on release. EA/Bioware aren't even trying to defend themselves here, so it's rather pathetic you are wading in. Of course, some people just have very low standards and are easily pleased.

 

[rtwjunkie]

I have played it also, not 100 hours, but enough hours to know that it's a mess and the MANY issues have seriously hampered my enjoyment of the game in a significant way... and this is coming from someone who is a huge Mass Effect fan and thoroughly enjoyed the original trilogy. The mere fact certain technical aspects of ME3 are superior to Andromeda speaks volumes! And yes, they really are, that's not being hyperbolic! It also IS badly written and cliched... just because you don't think so doesn't mean it isn't.

I honestly don't know how you can defend it under the circumstances. $40m budget and they release in this state!? It's simply inexcusable. Anyone who posts on the internet for attention is either retarded or 11 years old, and the MANY who are deriding Andromeda are clearly not all in such a category. I'd even argue you don't NEED to play the game to see how badly they screwed this up. Yes that may put an unfair emphasis on specific events in what is a very expansive game, but just by watching game clips you can see there are A LOT of those events, far more than there should have been given the time and budget they had. The mere fact they are now promising to rectify so much is evidence enough of the fact they jumped the gun on release. EA/Bioware aren't even trying to defend themselves here, so it's rather pathetic you are wading in. Of course, some people just have very low standards and are easily pleased.

Since you say you have played the game, I will be happy to discuss it with you. I can tell you though, I've had exactly 2 issues, which are intermittent. But which will need fixing. I'll gladly share that info with you. They sure are not game or immersion breaking. 1) Occasionally, like every 4 hours or so, Ryder's face suddenly turns into Drew Barrymore making weird mouth shapes. 2) Every other time exiting the Nomad my companions drop out of the sky next to me like a drop ship.

That whole 1st section of "problems" that they are fixing? I don't have any of those problems, so I hope their patch doesn't do the opposite for me.

The third is not something broken, but something they were lazy about: 90% of Asari look the same. I have no lip/syncs or eye problems, so don't need that fixed either.

And... just because YOU say the writing is bad doesn't mean it is. Works both ways you know.

Also, you yourself are one of the bad hype people and lose credibility on the subject. You say they are fixing the game "months" after release. Yeah buddy, March 14th release to April 6th is really "months."

 

[semantics]

All they have to do is fix the eyes and general rigging of the rest of the body, fallout 4 mouth animations are horrendous but the eyes and the rest of the animations are good enough no one gave this level of flak for fo4. They just said well it's Bethesda and moved on

 

[Bansaku]

How about including an ACTUAL customization character creation, not just slightly altering a bunch of UGLY as sh!t pre-made models!

 

[rtwjunkie]

You mean decent models like this?:

Spoiler: Screenies

 

[atomicus]

Since you say you have played the game, I will be happy to discuss it with you. I can tell you though, I've had exactly 2 issues, which are intermittent. But which will need fixing. I'll gladly share that info with you. They sure are not game or immersion breaking. 1) Occasionally, like every 4 hours or so, Ryder's face suddenly turns into Drew Barrymore making weird mouth shapes. 2) Every other time exiting the Nomad my companions drop out of the sky next to me like a drop ship.

That whole 1st section of "problems" that they are fixing? I don't have any of those problems, so I hope their patch doesn't do the opposite for me.

The third is not something broken, but something they were lazy about: 90% of Asari look the same. I have no lip/syncs or eye problems, so don't need that fixed either.

And... just because YOU say the writing is bad doesn't mean it is. Works both ways you know.

Also, you yourself are one of the bad hype people and lose credibility on the subject. You say they are fixing the game "months" after release. Yeah buddy, March 14th release to April 6th is really "months."

My comment in respect to 'months' is that it WILL be months by the time they actually get around to fully addressing these things. Doesn't change the fact it shouldn't have been released in this state.

And no, sorry, bad writing IS bad writing. That's not to say someone can't still like it, but if you actually study story/script writing in any depth, you will come to understand how wrong your statement is... there is no 'both ways' about that.

 

[rtwjunkie]

but if you actually study story/script writing in any depth, you will come to understand how wrong your statement is... there is no 'both ways' about that.

So my minor in English Literature with a concentration in Creative Writing wouldn't have anything to do with that, huh, Mr. Know It All? Thus the dangers of insulting people personally you know nothing about.

Literature has ALWAYS been opinion based in how it is received and reviewed. There has never been a governing body that stated what constitutes "good writing."

 

[atomicus]

So my minor in English Literature with a concentration in Creative Writing wouldn't have anything to do with that, huh, Mr. Know It All? Thus the dangers of insulting people personally you know nothing about.

Literature has ALWAYS been opinion based in how it is received and reviewed. There has never been a governing body that stated what constitutes "good writing."

Lol @ governing body... no, of course there isn't, but there ARE accepted standards and criteria that constitute GOOD writing, and ones which constitute BAD. If you are honestly suggesting otherwise then I call foul of your English Lit claim and posit that you must still be in primary school. You are so utterly and completely wrong to suggest bad writing can't be called out for just that, regardless of what someone's opinion is. It's genuinely absurd you would even suggest that actually.

 

[Slizzo]

Yes, let's applaud a $40m budget game from one of the world's biggest developers that pledges commitment to patch their game MONTHS after release so that it meets the BARE MINIMUM standards you'd expect on release. Well done.

I'm sorry, but MONTHS? It launched TWO WEEKS AGO.

The fact that we are getting a patch today that addresses many of the issues, just two weeks after release is a good sign. Also a sign that the team stayed at work and didn't take the usual post launch leave that many do.

 

[rtwjunkie]

Lol @ governing body... no, of course there isn't, but there ARE accepted standards and criteria that constitute GOOD writing, and ones which constitute BAD. If you are honestly suggesting otherwise then I call foul of your English Lit claim and posit that you must still be in primary school. You are so utterly and completely wrong to suggest bad writing can't be called out for just that, regardless of what someone's opinion is. It's genuinely absurd you would even suggest that actually.

Nice doubling down of your insult after I already advised you of the insult. Reported.

 

[atomicus]

Nice doubling down of your insult after I already advised you of the insult. Reported.

Nice counter. "I'm telling!" Primary school confirmed.

 

[Vayra86]

Lol @ governing body... no, of course there isn't, but there ARE accepted standards and criteria that constitute GOOD writing, and ones which constitute BAD. If you are honestly suggesting otherwise then I call foul of your English Lit claim and posit that you must still be in primary school. You are so utterly and completely wrong to suggest bad writing can't be called out for just that, regardless of what someone's opinion is. It's genuinely absurd you would even suggest that actually.

The vast majority of people who scream about 'bad writing' actually mean something else, and that is 'lacking narrative'. The writing of the game can be good but if the progression of the main story leaves things to be desired (or if you just don't like overall plot entirely), that is easily passed off as 'bad writing'. The two are however entirely different things.

Good example of this: every single Vault in Fallout games. You enter each Vault and when you read up on all the stuff you find in there, it tells you a mini-story of what went on. These mini-stories are great writing. But in the overall narrative of the game, they have no value, they just 'flesh out' the setting a bit.

Beyond that, why is this such a toxic discussion? There's absolutely no need for it and it doesn't add to credibility...

For me personally, I'm not buying this game at full price, I still have to get over the DA:Inquisition cloning and I'll let Bioware put out some fixes first.

 

[rtwjunkie]

Nice counter. "I'm telling!" Primary school confirmed.

No, you simply do not know how to be mature and have a productive discussion without resorting to personal insults, which is, btw counter to forum rules. This illustrates a lack of debating skills.