Starker on 16/4/2017 at 03:31
Anyway, I played it some more and I really don't see what's supposed to be so disastrous about it. I haven't seen a single glitch or bug and while there are some odd lines, most of the writing is pretty solid. Or maybe most of it has been fixed meanwhile?
It's also not as open world as I previously thought it would be. There are two planets that I've found so far where you can drive with your space car and a couple of smaller locations where you're on foot, but it really doesn't take all that long to travel from one edge to the other. And the locations are actually pretty interesting. There have been a bunch of side missions, but I didn't find them at all overwhelming and they tie into the overall picture very nicely, a lot of them dealing with settling into a new place and studying it.
Certainly there are some rough edges, but for a first game from a new studio, it's not bad at all. I'd say that the worst part has actually been the UI design, which seems to have taken lessons from the first Mass Effect and repeats quite a few of its mistakes.
Tony_Tarantula on 18/4/2017 at 01:49
Quote Posted by Starker
Well, it is clear that the Witcher 3 team has worked very hard to make their system work while clearly something has gone wrong with Andromeda's pipeline. We are unlikely to know what exactly happened without an inside source in Bioware Montreal. I think he laid out some pretty good guesses, though.
I dunno. I think it goes somewhat deeper than that. From the pieces I've seen of DA:I and Andromeda so far it isn't just that a cool factor and vision is gone. It's like the games are written by people who hate their jobs (and probably have some strong self loathing), and some of that darkness seeps out into their writing. They also seem to have borderline challenged emotional intelligence since even the most charged moments seem forced....like the difference between two people kissing passionately and two cardboard cutouts being shoved together.
Not entirely sure how to say what I'm getting at. Witcher 3, as dark as the tone was, had some genuine moments of humanity and joy in it that are memorable for people to still remember them. Even Geralt had a a quiet nobility to his character that simply can't be faked by an author who doesn't have the emotional maturity to grasp that nuance.
The use of PC tokens only exacerbates the problem. If you want to fully see what I'm talking about play Persona 4, then compare how complex and nuanced Kanji's character is against ANY of Bioware's gay characters. They're pastiched almost on a level of blackface by comparison.
icemann on 18/4/2017 at 03:32
I'd explain it to you but my face is tired.
Sulphur on 18/4/2017 at 03:36
Quote Posted by Tony_Tarantula
I dunno. I think it goes somewhat deeper than that. From the pieces I've seen of DA:I and Andromeda so far it isn't just that a cool factor and vision is gone. It's like the games are written by people who hate their jobs (and probably have some strong self loathing), and some of that darkness seeps out into their writing.
You really should stop projecting onto people you don't know. I know it's safe for you to do that because they can't talk back, but the internet isn't your emotional litterbox.
Starker on 18/4/2017 at 04:36
Witcher has an established character whereas in Mass Effect the character is in a lot of ways a blank sheet to be shaped by the player. Also, the aims of the games are very different. In Witcher, Geralt's past and current relationships are very important. For Commander Shepard, the focus is more on having adventures with a rag-tag band of misfits. And yes, a lot of it is based on tropes, but it's meant to be.
Now Andromeda is a bit different, in that it does have a personal storyline where you delve into the past of your estranged father and his shady dealings. But the focus is still on on the big picture and the themes it explores are fitting for a space opera. There's a galactic catastrophe happening. You have to deal with a species that is is being conquered by aliens and therefore sees every alien with distrust or worse. There's an exile colony where drug addicts litter the slums and criminal gangs rough up people who can't afford their protection fees. The Krogans have gone their own way because they were deceived by the establishment. There is a lot to deal with in the galaxy and most of it is not on a personal level.
Tony_Tarantula on 19/4/2017 at 17:55
Quote Posted by Sulphur
You really should stop projecting onto people you don't know. I know it's safe for you to do that because they can't talk back, but the internet isn't your emotional litterbox.
Not my fault you can't distinguish between good literary art and rubbish.
And I think you've got it backwards. It's safe for me to do what I can do because I work out more than they do....and because nobody really gives a fuck.
Don't mistake that for hatred though. I know some people who are in that type of job and I don't feel much other than pity. Most American "creative" types I run into these days aren't very happy in their personal lives due to involuntary celibacy and poor physical health......exceptions made for the exceptional of course.
Quote:
In Witcher, Geralt's past and current relationships are very important. For Commander Shepard, the focus is more on having adventures with a rag-tag band of misfits. And yes, a lot of it is based on tropes, but it's meant to be.
So basically what you're saying is that Geralt's story is all about his relationships and adventures with a rag-tag gang of misfits, and that Mass Effect is all about adventures and relationships with a rag-tag band of misfits?
That you're even writing that indicates shitty writing. It tells me that you perceive Geralt as having actual human relationships with other characters and with the recent Mass Effect games you don't. Plus I think you're giving them a bit too much credit with Shepard being a "blank slate". Any way you play Shepard basically comes down to "do an asshole thing" or "do a nice thing", both said by the same character with the same method of speech, personality, and mannerisms......kind of like the decisions made in the Witcher games to say nothing of the boring tripe that the last two Dragon Age games were.
Quote:
I'd explain it to you but my face is tired.
Then perhaps you'd prefer to blow it out your ass?
Sulphur on 19/4/2017 at 18:17
Quote Posted by Tony_Tarantula
Not my fault you can't distinguish between good literary art and rubbish.
And I think you've got it backwards. It's safe for me to do what I can do because I work out more than they do....and because nobody really gives a fuck.
Don't mistake that for hatred though. I know some people who are in that type of job and I don't feel much other than pity. Most American "creative" types I run into these days aren't very happy in their personal lives due to involuntary celibacy and poor physical health......exceptions made for the exceptional of course.
One: whether something is 'good literary art' or rubbish has nothing to do with your correlation with 'self-loathing', which speaks more about your own emotional filters and psychological makeup than anything else.
Two: not only are you idiotic enough to attempt to psychoanalyse people you've never met, interacted with, or even know anything about, but you're able to know what their gym schedules are like through... what, informational osmosis via sniffing chemtrails?
Three: your last paragraph is such a self-indulgent blowhard scree that I now
know you're projecting so hard you can't see the forest for the trees. I had a solid giggle at that, for near about a minute. Good work!
Starker on 19/4/2017 at 19:08
Quote Posted by Tony_Tarantula
So basically what you're saying is that Geralt's story is all about his relationships and adventures with a rag-tag gang of misfits, and that Mass Effect is all about adventures and relationships with a rag-tag band of misfits?
Huh? I'm not saying that at all. Try reading it again, maybe?
Nowhere does Geralt gather a ragtag bunch of misfits to go on adventures. He's not even looking to save the world or anything like that. Witcher is about a morally grey pulp hero who tries to make the best of a shitty world. In Mass Effect you are a more stereotypical "kick some ass, save the day and get the girl on top" kind of hero. And there's nothing wrong with it.
What I'm saying is that they are different types of stories.
Judith on 20/4/2017 at 07:56
Yeh, that sex life and gym stuff is cheap psychology, noone likes that. Usually people are smart or empathetic enough not to make that kind of oversimplified assumptions. Great writers, poets, and philosophers often had poor sex life, crippling diseases, lived in poverty, and some of them've never seen the world outside their home city. And their works are magnificent. To me, and I'm not English native, the writing in ME:A feels like shallow water cooler chit-chat, at least in the parts I saw. I don't care whether the game was written by millennials or the old guard, or how many stomach crunches or sex they have every day, because none of this gives you the power of writing genuinely interesting stories. It seems like they had nothing interesting to say.
Starker on 20/4/2017 at 10:05
It's not like the series was especially literate to begin with. There has been a lot I've liked, though. Like for example the Angara and their struggle to preserve their culture. And all the shady stuff about the Initiative and your father's dealings has been intriguing as well, although I don't really know where it all leads yet.
