jay_ray

Montreal was the primary team on Andromeda though all Bioware teams worked on parts of Andromeda. The reasons why and who were involved with those decisions will probably never truly be known. A lot of those early decisions would have involved some people who have left Bioware over the past 5 years such as the Doctors and Casey Hudson.

I think if the internet fervour has an effect it can swing both ways netting out to zero. Some will side with the hate and some will decry that it doesn't matter or easily overlooked.

I just assumed the trial version turned into the full game given that the file size of the trial is the same as the required space for the full game

@redcometrising: I guess we'll disagree on a particular definition of uproar (I take uproar to have a disorder or chaos to it). But that is beside the point and off track. I am not saying your voice does not matter because you arrived later but I do believe because you are "late" you must bring different angle or be intelligently constructive with your observations of the problem.

And pet peeve of mine, free speech has nothing to do with this. Free speech is whether a government controls your ability to say what you want (unless your speech is only to incite violence or cause injury). Not whether a person on the internet thinks you should not post something because its bad taste.

@redcometrising: using a modern definition of oxymoron I am correct in stating that "respectful/civil uproar" is indeed an oxymoron as an uproar can not be respectful or civil but I agree with what you were attempting to say.

I wasn't saying you are witch hunting but rather this criticism of Andromeda has now grown into a witch hunt looking for particular employees to blame and harass. You asked "but who gets to decide when a large quantity of legitimate criticism becomes "dog piling on?"" and I would argue that when there is a wide fervour like the one we have with Andromeda adding more wood to the bonfire is no longer constructive.

Which isn't to say that you shouldn't provide your feedback in a civil and well constructed manor but the vast majority of Andromeda complaints seem to come from a guttural despise and wanting to see either god like perfection or complete failure that any critical criticism is lost in the woods. In this thread I stated I played about 5 hours and it is rough and I gave some points on why the opening is not great in the terms of storytelling. But I would argue now that vocal criticism doesn't help anymore. Not buying Andromeda though will speak the loudest.

@redcometrising: "respectful/civil uproar" now that's an oxymoron if I ever read one.

Criticism is fine, it should be welcomed, and certainly should be heard by the studio so they know what their audience expects. And yes the animations leave a lot to be desired but this Andromeda business is an entirely different beast then criticism now. This has become more of a witch hunt with hunting down individual employees and blaming them.

Does the internet think just because The Witcher 3 was made in Poland by a studio that only made 2 games before that it was some sort of scrappy low budget indie studio made a genre defining game?

Witcher 3 took a long time to make, took a lot of money (one of the most expensive games this generation), and a lot of talent to make. Comparing any game to Witcher 3 is like comparing gold to platinum, DeRozan to Micheal Jordon, any hockey player to Gretzky, etc.

@m16mojo2: So if you actually look at the beginning of Mass Effect and Andromeda the skeletons match up. Arrive on a troubled planet and meet weird alien creatures. Given a gift that makes them special. Get bestowed a fancy title. Go to a galactic meeting/cultural point. Head to a desert planet (assuming you go to Liara first because that is just what you do so you can complete that damn achievement). This is the Hero's Journey 101.

The problems exist in the details. We know Spectres are cool, we're told they're the 00 agents essentially. The Pathfinder (your dad) was a really good soldier, was trained in terraforming, and other useful things in locating and developing habitable planets. But Andromeda doesn't tell you this (unless you look in the codex) and worst of all doesn't explain why the main character is suited to do that job. The gift/power is bluntly shown in the original (the Prothean vision) but in Andromeda its glossed over (SAM being integrated into you allowing you to use an incredible assortment of powers).

However there are some really good ideas here. The juxtaposition between a working and lively Citadel and a virtually DOA Nexus. The bureaucratic mess of the Council and the startup attitude of do whatever the fuck you want Andromeda Initiative. The Nexus being run by middle office managers.

My point is I don't think they lost their flair for storytelling but the story telling because I do see some good ideas but Andromeda's prologue and chapter 1 look to be first or second drafts in which the writers weren't given a chance to go back and fix it up.

People rallying behind the faces is annoying because that's all you hear about. I put in about 5 hours on the PC trail version and I have come away with two major points.

1) My initial impressions of the combat is very enjoyable and have a ton of potential given the combinations you can play with

2) Everything else is clunky and unpolished.

To me this game screams like Bioware really wanted to go for it and then budget and time restraints caught up so they put everything into making the combat work and flow but left everything else in an alpha state. If they had a few more months of polish they could have straightened somethings out but what I personally want out of a Mass Effect game just is only barely here.

100% this.