You've acknowledged the hyperbole, but still, it bears calling out that the biggest issues in Horizon's animations is lip-syncing (which received a patch shortly after launch, and will reportedly continue to improve), whereas in ME:A, the animation issues are more prevalent, from lazy, untouched mo-cap to wonky character movements and cringe-inducing algorithm-based facial animations, it really pulls you from the experience. When the attention to animation detail in HZD is good enough that articles have been written to highlight it, I can live with the occasional lip-syncing issues.

First of all, I don't find that gif impressive at all. The fact that they thought about that shows an attention to detail, but it damn sure doesn't look natural to me. It looks goofy. I'm more talking about facial animations, though. There are a few instances in Horizon where the facial animations are outstanding, but I'd say they're few and far between. They're mostly good, but not amazing, and occasionally downright awful.

I haven't seen any of the real goofy shit that's showing up in gifs, so, despite what the internet would have you believe, it's not like people are crab-walking everywhere.

I mean, I can live with a few bugs, and the occasional enemy standing ten feet above the floor, but the countless little things that show a lack of polish really do cause you to feel like you're playing an unfinished game, and that's before you really run into any big issues.

But why not just wait until they fix a number of the issues and it drops in price?

I haven't actually seen any terrible glitches or bugs that have pulled me out of the experience. I'm not saying they're not there, and I can't pretend like I'm even very far into the game, so I maybe it'll happen.

In any case, I'm not trying to tell people to go buy it right this instance. I'm more just telling folks not to forget about it. I very nearly wrote the game off entirely, and probably would have skip it altogether if Raga hadn't been talking about it. His posts literally convinced me to give a shot. I just don't think it's as bad ass the internet is making it out to be, and it's well worth playing, whether now or in a year.

Like I said, it's a downgrade to previous ME games, and while I mostly understand the story reasons for cutting a majority of the species from the game, it kills a lot of the love that I have for the series, and it contributes to the sense that it was made by a far-less talented team than the one that handled ME3.

I don't disagree with that at all, and it's my main issue. The game feels emptier than a Mass Effect game should. The best I can say is that it makes sense within the story, and what the game is doing grew on me enough that it doesn't bother me as much.

It's better than the hot mess that was Mass Effect 3 by miles.

People whining about ME3's ending aside, it was a pretty outstanding and polished game out of the gate. The gameplay was on-point, characters were likeable, the stories and side missions were great, and the closure to almost all of the characters was a fitting culmination of what you'd done before (pretty much all of these points in Andromeda have received criticism in one review or another).

I'd strongly disagree with that. Technically, it's a fine game, but I'd argue that ME3 feels just as rushed as ME:A does pretty much all the way through, despite being technically more competent. I don't think ME3 wraps up any storylines particularly well (aside from Tali and the Geth stuff, which I liked). I'd love to point to specifics, but I actually can't remember just about anything that happens in that game, which I think speaks volumes, as I can still recall just about every ME2 loyalty mission. I can recall being incredibly disappointed with ME3 as a package, an especially disappointed in the story (regardless of the ending).

I should go.

...is he leaving?

(Great seeing you the other night. Hope you enjoyed Gaiman as much as we did!)

I know there was some excitement about Andromeda here on the forums in the weeks leading up to its release. Then it came out and received middling reviews and lots of attention for its goofy animations. Besides Raga, I haven't seen anyone else here talking about it, so I'm here to tell you to play it, in case the reviews and animation fiasco drove you away.

I don't think it was just reviews and animation fiascos that drove people away, but a number of widely reported technical issues and downgrades to previous ME games.

The game has undeniable issues. I haven't seen anything too awful from the animations--they're not amazing, but they're at least as good as Horizon's (to be clear, Horizon's are bad, real bad, but no one seemed to care).

You've acknowledged the hyperbole, but still, it bears calling out that the biggest issues in Horizon's animations is lip-syncing (which received a patch shortly after launch, and will reportedly continue to improve), whereas in ME:A, the animation issues are more prevalent, from lazy, untouched mo-cap to wonky character movements and cringe-inducing algorithm-based facial animations, it really pulls you from the experience. When the attention to animation detail in HZD is good enough that articles have been written to highlight it, I can live with the occasional lip-syncing issues.

I haven't seen any of the real goofy shit that's showing up in gifs, so, despite what the internet would have you believe, it's not like people are crab-walking everywhere.

I mean, I can live with a few bugs, and the occasional enemy standing ten feet above the floor, but the countless little things that show a lack of polish really do cause you to feel like you're playing an unfinished game, and that's before you really run into any big issues.

I'm perhaps not far enough into the game to give it a complete recommendation, but I'm about ten hours into the game, a couple of hours beyond Eos, which is the first real mission in the game that really shows you what Mass Effect Andromeda is. And that is a pretty good Mass Effect game. If you like that series, you'll like this game.

But why not just wait until they fix a number of the issues and it drops in price?

I think it misses some opportunities and drops the ball (only two new alien species, one of which is the enemy you fight, only Taurians, Asari, and Krogan from the last trilogy show up). I'll never forget the first time I set foot on the Citadel and just got lost in the Mass Effect universe. With a new galaxy, I was hoping for that experience again, and I think Andromeda could have done a better job providing that...

Like I said, it's a downgrade to previous ME games, and while I mostly understand the story reasons for cutting a majority of the species from the game, it kills a lot of the love that I have for the series, and it contributes to the sense that it was made by a far-less talented team than the one that handled ME3.

That said, Bioware released a blog post detailing immediate and upcoming patches to the game, including player creation options and the addressing of major issues, giving players even more reason to hold off on buying it. The longer you wait, the better the game will be on a technical level, which is a shame that we're having to see this done since the game had already been delayed.

It's better than the hot mess that was Mass Effect 3 by miles.

People whining about ME3's ending aside, it was a pretty outstanding and polished game out of the gate. The gameplay was on-point, characters were likeable, the stories and side missions were great, and the closure to almost all of the characters was a fitting culmination of what you'd done before (pretty much all of these points in Andromeda have received criticism in one review or another). And I don't even have to mention how fantastic the co-op and the free DLC format was (which is touted as one of Andromeda's strong points, despite a butchered player roster).

Some of the reviewers acted as if no other Mass Effect game had bad character animation or the occasional awkward pause in a conversation or two.

Where is this bizarre alternate universe that they inhabit?

I have some questions.

What platform do people here play on?

How is the multiplayer? Are characters in MP still class based? (I understand in single player they moved away from straight-up classes, but a screenshot of the MP character select menu made me think maybe that didn't apply for MP.)

I spent a lot of time playing ME3MP, so I'm curious how it stacks up.

This is a very good game for those who like to explore their environments, fast paced and free shoot 'em up space magic action, and sexy time with basically everything a face and legs. This game just came out too early by about three or so months.

Presuming you can survive the speed of the tutorial phase better then I can, which I found to be WAY too fast, I have no doubt that others here (except for cody - duh) will find many moments of enjoyment. This was no doubt the Mass Effect 1 Bioware wanted to make.

It's better than the hot mess that was Mass Effect 3 by miles.

Well... the ending is, for sure.

I think overall ME3 had better writing especially in the conversations. They just knew your crew so well by the third game that they nailed so many great little scenes and moments. I think Andromeda is a little weaker on that front. Not a ton, but a little.

I will agree that ME3 has better conversations and dialog, but I think that game is pretty disappointing overall. Other than Tali's stuff and the stuff with Legion and the Geth, and I don't really think ME3 did a very good job of making good on it's promises to make your choices relevant. Maybe that's asking too much, but I just don't think it wrapped anything up particularly well. I actually didn't have many problems with the proper ending because the entire game fell short in wrapping up the things I cared about. Add into that that the best parts of the story and game were hidden behind Day One DLC, and it's a pretty disappointing game for me.

And there some stuff I'm not going to talk about now, but I'd be interested to hear what you thought of. Come back once you're finished.

At first I was sort of disappointed by the Remnant stuff. Oh, cool, another mysterious ancient alien thing. But just from the stuff on Eos, I'm totally bought into that mystery.

But yes, I think Andromeda really got that sense of exploration and pioneering and managed to be about more than you being the invincible Shepard who is always right and always the only one who can save the galaxy. Keep playing, the best is yet to come. :)

I'm enjoying that aspect so far. I really enjoy the exploration stuff a lot--it really is fulfilling that promise from the boring rando planets of the first game.

Seriously? Horizon has great faces, they're just not animated well. The lip syncing is so bad it feels like I'm watching a dubbed anime. A litte hyperbolic maybe, but honestly not much.

It's hit and miss. Some of it (shivana or whatever her name is) has a combination of bad sync and truly terrible acting. Other stuff, like rost's reaction to Aloy when the braves open the gate for you, if borderline uncanny valley levels of believable. There are maybe four animations that are that natural looking in the game, but they're all wholly unexpected and truly capture the emotion of the moment.

I mean, the final animation of the game was actually emotive for me in an empathetic way. That's impressive for a video game. It's really, really well done.

Of course, other stuff is like... *WHY IS YOUR GAME SO PRETTY EXCEPT FOR WHEN PEOPLE TALK* but that's only maybe 15% of the animations in the game. Just common enough to be constantly noticeable. But not nearly all of the animations suffer (and, I find, it tends to be certain characters who suffer far more than others... I wonder if some were created earlier in the process and simply lack the proper skeletal hookups for the animation engine?). Uthid, Gera, they look totally natural. Aloy is hit and miss, but usually a big hit. The guy from the wire looks like the guy from the wire. I like the war-chief's son. But the war-chief, herself, reminds me of Men in Black when the cockroach is wearing an edgar suit. What is happening there???

Anyway, yeah, some hits, some misses.

For me, Andromeda has captured a certain not-completely-definable feeling that I haven't gotten since Mass Effect 1.

That actually makes me feel good and gives me a bit of hope. I think Eos was the thing that started to get me there, and I hope the rest of the game continues in that direction.

I'm a little torn right now about that. I think it's partly just nostalgia--the first Mass Effect was so long ago and time tends to erase the flaws. Stepping onto the Citadel felt like taking a giant plunge into a massive universe, and I don't think Andromeda has or will match that. Partly, it's nostalgia, like I said, but partly it's just that Andromeda isn't necessarily trying to. In the first Mass Effect, humanity is joining an already established larger galaxy with a bunch of history that you get to learn about. That's true of Andromeda as well, but that game is much more about being a pioneer in an unknown galaxy, versus learning the ropes of an already established coalition of species. It's . . . I don't know. It's simultaneously not exactly what I wanted and sort of disappointing, but also really enthralling. It's just a matter of tone, I think.

Andromeda is a fine addition to the series and I hope it has done well enough to support good story DLC and a sequel.