chk772 on 5/5/2020 at 19:05
Quote Posted by theabyss
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Deus Ex - Human Revolution & Mankind Divided: I never had the chance to play the latest two Deus Ex Games until now. For some reason I like
Human Revolution better. It gave me the same kind of vibe like the original. The amount of detail in
Mankind Divided throws me off a little, as well as the endless conversations. I found it hard to follow the plot.
It's a illness these days. In GTA 5, I often had to drive extra slowly, and make rounds around the block to listen to the conversations. Just like everyone these days, the people in games also make bla, bla, bla and bla. And bla. Oh, and not to forget, bla.
That said, I find Mankind Divided is very Deus Ex-y. Even though the story and the characters are quite disappointing (found the characters in HR not very good either though). What HR definitely does better though are the city hubs. Unfortunately, you're stuck with Prague in MD, which is a bit sad. The gameplay of MD is better than the one in HR, though, IMO.
Thirith on 6/5/2020 at 20:01
I'm going to stick with Mass Effect Andromeda until I'm done with the first planet, but I suspect that that's where I'll call it a day. I'm simply not enjoying the game, the characters are badly written, it looks like so many corners were cut in so many respects. I don't mind that the game doesn't have the production values of the trilogy, but I do mind that they obviously didn't use the resources at their disposal particularly well, so that pretty much everything we get is half-baked. If I'm a couple of hours into the game but have no single character or plot strand to be interested in, the game's doing something wrong. I can see how the setup could've been very cool and interesting, but not with this sub-par YA writing and animations that would barely be sufficient for a prototype.
Starker on 7/5/2020 at 13:28
Given that the bulk of the game was apparently made in 18 months and rushed out of the door, I wouldn't really blame developers for this. At least it's a far more likely explanation for things like most of the animations being polished by algorithms instead of a human hand and the inconsistent writing than the devs being incompetent. The fact that some of the scenes look absolutely fantastic is only further proof of this.
Thirith on 7/5/2020 at 14:22
I wouldn't mind the animations all that much if the writing was better, but so far at least I'm finding it to be pretty damn bad. It might improve later, and I've heard good things about the companion missions, but the first few hours of the game don't do any of the characters or writers any favours. Bioware's always relied heavily on clichés and tropes, but I remember their games delivering these with panache. I've found most of their games engaging. Andromeda, though? Eugh. Even before you factor the dialogue trees into it, the writing's not good; add the decisions and it's downright bad.
Compare this to something like Fallout New Vegas, which was also rushed, and the difference is stark. FNV suffers from bugs, jank and a lack of polish, but even in its original release it was clear that there's something special there, though hamstrung by the way it was developed. I don't see anything along those lines when I look at Andromeda.
Sulphur on 7/5/2020 at 14:50
Weeeellll, if you're looking for substance in the main campaign, it's... not there. I mean, there are good things like the combat and a lot of the broad environmental design is pretty, but it doesn't make the feeling of the game being a hollow assemblage of shallow sci-fi constructs, nonsensical conventions ('Pathfinder'), and dubious plotting just go away. It's very much a question of how much you're willing to settle for.
Honestly, I find the game easier to explain away as a high-budget folly made by enthusiastic but inexperienced fans. It's also adding insult to injury they were saddled with Frostbite and its weird lack of tools like an animation system (didn't they deal with that exact same problem in DA:I already?), for another thing.
Thirith on 7/5/2020 at 15:07
It's not even substance that I'm looking for. Remember, I've played and enjoyed most of the
Assassin's Creed games, and even the much-maligned
Assassin's Creed 3 has some characters that pop and some scenes that come to life. Sometimes clunkily and creakily so, but I find things to engage with. So far I find nothing to hold on to in the story or the characters. There'd be potential there - the idea that whole arks are missing - but the characters you encounter early in the game are among the blandest characters I remember in any RPG... or don't remember, because right now I couldn't even tell you who it is I'm playing and travelling with, other than Little Miss Insta-Pathfinder. Take that rusty old trope,
your father's death: nothing makes that one less clichéd, but you can still deliver it with some sort of conviction. Old Bioware would've managed. The Bioware that made this, though? I see your point about the game coming across as if it was made by enthusiastic but inexperienced fans, but when it comes to what I've seen so far of the storytelling, those fans are not just inexperienced but also untalented.
I have to admit I almost feel sorry for the game - I feel like that
Simpsons GIF ("He's already dead!") - but this is a case in which I find myself agreeing more or less 100% with (
https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2017/03/14/mass-effect-andromeda-review-opening-hours/) John Walker's pan of the early hours of
Mass Effect Andromeda.
Starker on 7/5/2020 at 18:56
I liked Drack (and the Krogan storylines and characters in general) and he's introduced not that far into the game. And later on there's the Asari pathfinder side mission, the Roekaar conflict and a few other space opera storylines I quite enjoyed. But I've already written about it extensively in the game's thread, so I'm not going to rehash it, especially since it looks I'm very much an outlier in liking the game. Or at least I didn't find the game to be nearly the disaster that reviewers like Walker led me to believe initially.
stanleykell651 on 7/5/2020 at 20:14
No Doubt! I am Playing Pubg! Loved this game.
Pyrian on 8/5/2020 at 03:50
No doubt.
Sulphur on 8/5/2020 at 03:52
Quote Posted by Starker
I liked Drack (and the Krogan storylines and characters in general) and he's introduced not that far into the game. And later on there's the Asari pathfinder side mission, the Roekaar conflict and a few other space opera storylines I quite enjoyed.
That reminds me, one of the things I didn't quite get on with was the way they approached colonialism with the Angara. I get that they were trying to make a point about humanity's tendency towards being insensitive when dealing with other cultures, but the resolution to that setup fell flat, because of course you save the day without any actual politicking or real diplomacy - the mission where you get to choose, on your own, one person who represents the Nexus, which at that point also includes the Angara, is just repeating the mistakes of the past. It even lampshades this by making Ryder frame it as a decision he/she had to take the blame for no matter how it turned out. It's more than a bit naive.
It's also odd that the Angara are portrayed as both advanced yet backward (a tribal structure runs down the middle of its society, with 'elders' as custodians of knowledge), not because that's odd in and of itself, but because the next trope that plays into this framework is, 'let's civilise these savages with the gift of our knowledge'.
But yeah, at least that part struck me as attention-worthy unlike the entire rest of the game, one or two companion quests notwithstanding.