It's disheartening when there's a comparison from 10 years ago. And it got worse...

All the characters just look so lifeless. Perhaps when they hired the animators they should have focused on qualifications rather than bolstering a diversity quota.

I used to playing RPG with bland faces looking at me....its not something that will bother my experience

I'm not buying this, it makes me sad. Anyway Bioware is a shadow of its former self at best.

This game is quickly sliding down my list of games to purchase. I'm still hopeful, but its not looking good right now.

bioware has always been awful when it comes to animation.

Wow....

I think they purposely made the characters ugly to please the SJWs and feminazis

This facial animation failure is simply unacceptable for a studio like Bioware.

really not as impressed this time around, it will be probably be a decent game but falling well short of the previous mass effect games.

I hope they patch this to make it better, might as well wait for the scorpio version and see how the game has shaped up by then.

Can we stop being surprised that Bioware games are trash now? 4th game to come out that is disappointing and you people are still surprised. I'm not shocked at all by all this negative reception.

This game is gonna be an embarrassment

The reviews wont be good...

There must've been some serious development issues going on behind the game that we do not know of.

Mass effect 1 was made by original BioWare Edmonton while Andromeda is made by BioWare Montreal. BioWare Edmonton is working on new IP so Mass effect series was handed to BioWare Montreal which used to be EA Montreal.

One thing I noticed in this video is that motion of the head is almost non-existant in Andromedia. They aren't using their necks, and they aren't really shifting their weight. In Mass Effect 1, Ashley looks to be cocking her head to the side, or using general lateral movement, and when she is standing and shifting, it looks so much more natural. In andromedia, it's not just the stilted facial animations, it's the entire head and neck, it's far too stiff. Wow.

Those lack of expressions on their faces is going to make me not care about what's going on in the quests. We all know we're playing games, but there's nothing more immersion breaking then when games make that painfully obvious. I truly hope every other aspect of this game kicks azz, cause those character models are hideous and the facial expressions are just off.

Yep. Covered this in another topic, but BioWare is just name now. It doesn't just magically create great games because it has BioWare slapped on it.

BioWare is dead, and what carries on today, it merely its animated carcass.

It was very clear all the talented people at Bioware already left before Andromeda even started. now EA stuffed them with their interns and and talent-less gender study activist.

lolol wow this is shocking it indeed looks better xD, only the mouth seems to move haha.

It's like EA used the same old tech from their milked sports games for the character and facial animations.
Also, it looks like the characters want to dance when they're walking, or somehow reminds me of a guerrilla.

It's clear to me that a certain segment of the GC wants this game to fail. I'm not sure why

I had a bad feeling about this game. Once Ray Muzyka and Greg Zeschuk, who cofounded Bioware left along with key people from the ME trilogy once ME3 was complete, i figured Bioware wouldn't be the same and here we are. The Bioware we loved during last generation is gone. Bioware exists and continues on reputation and name only, what made Bioware special is no longer there. It's sad.

I read a preview that said you can definitely see the influence in your dialogue decisions. I haven't played it yet but a possibility could be that they are using the facial expressions to portray their affinity. For example, their brow would lifeless in a neutral state like those examples at the beginning of the game. Later on they might have a lower brow and sneer if they disapprove of your scumbag actions.

I don't really have a problem with it, mass effect was always pretty awful in that regard. Especially for custom characters, the defaults were the only acceptable option for me lol. It's too bad Andromedas defaults look like shrek in the face. I will have to go custom this game.

Called it a couple days ago, please say the assets are patchable.
http://n4g.com/news/2031017...

Westwood. Criterion. Bioware. How many more studios will EA kill. The fact that they are making Bioware make action games now should say it all. RIP Bioware. You used to be something special. Remember Jade Empire. God, that was an excellent game. I wouldn't want this Bioware anywhere near a sequel.

And I have now witnessed the opening of this game for myself (only played about 30 minutes mind you) being played on a 980ti. One thing that is immediately noticeable. When you aim down a scope textures and objects in the environment will disappear and reappear when you come out of the scope again. This includes textures on the MAIN CHARACTER. It is a mess. The sound design is flat as well with the music not fitting scenes and being all around uninspiring. Gutting to be saying that about a 'Mass Effect' game.

That's why I sold BF1.

E.A just made Dice change what BF is all about and felt boring like battlefront.

Graphically stunning but dead inside.

Damn , massive Burn

Frostbite is great for Battlefield but not for Mass Effect. They should have stuck with Unreal Engine.

Ugh... I'm a bit nervous about this game. Damn it.

First off. It's not that bad. Could be much worse. People are having a good time so far with the game. Now that being said bioware you took 5 years to make this 5 years. Faces should be better.

Mass Effect 1 has something this game doesn't have. It's distinctive in general. Nothing feels like that first game.

Also, I only just noticed this, but the blinking is dreadful as well.

This is going to sound weird, but I always liked ME1 because of that blue aura around everything. I also like the grain effect more in ME1 than the others.

This is just plain awful indeed. Would of thought being the 4th installment and on new hardware the facial expressions would improved guess not. Someone on Bioware clearly wasn't giving their 110%.

Lol.. wtf is wrong with this game? No wonder they didn't show the game often. They knew people would pick up on these issues.

the more I read the less I want to play this...I can see 7's across the board with a few 5's and 6's sprinkled in. The troll reviews will be 9/10 and above and 4/10 or lower, bookmark this!

Well I have now played the test and I have to say this really isn't true. At least it hasn't been my experience on PC. I was a big detractor of the game. But the dialogue I have heard and the facial animations seem quite good. The controls in game seem very responsive(on pc at 60 fps). While I probably prefer the more straightforward level design of the prior games the first area at least isn't a DA:i square zone, it's quite vertical with side paths and buildings and things to explore

So far it seems pretty good, though the first bit could very well be a very scripted experience for the demo players.

But be wary of people who just focus on the bad stuff.

wonder if the engine had anything to do with it.

When you hire people based on their race and/or gender instead of talent or skill.

Bargain bin

I hope this game is good i payed $90 for it

I'll wait for a price drop. Bioware put little effort into the game it seems so why should I reward them by paying full price? EA and Bioware dropped the ball on this one but seeing how 3 turned out I shouldn't of been shocked by this. ME 3 went from a game that was supposed to have up to 12 endings and every choice mattered to a 4 endings game after a later patch and choices meant jack shit in the end. ME Andromeda is off to a rocky start.

The characters conversation are in real time gameplay graphics, not a acctuall cutscene which are far more realistic facial animation. The game will ship like this, i know that because my friends aunts husbands nephew works at ea

Lol this is like Bethesda-level animation. Shame.

Wrong time to put the unpaid interns to do all the work!

I hope the game doesn't tank just because off face animations

They spent more time making sure people who gender identify as dolphins would feel welcome than they did making sure the game actually worked. I hope this game is in the bargain bin next month. Maybe itll teach developers what is important and what isnt.

Much ado about nothing.

Just animation thing... !

Wow, the eyes look so dead compared to the 1st game.

Just buy the Deluxe version, it comes with the 'Rose tinted glasses'.

id like to know what the hell gone wrong have they sacked all there artist

They do seem expressionless. The girl who picks up the gun in retaliation to the girl with cornrows is smiling very oddly, as if her expression didn't change from her previous engagement. She didn't look threatened or severe in any way. In fact, she looked like a happy kid in a candy store. You're holding a gun to an enemy and you're angry? Right?

Inexcusable

Maybe, just maybe everyone in this narrative happens to be an android? That would explain the robotic animations. Hopefully its just a matter of code error or some bug that's bypassing instruction creating this issue.

Two things wrong with it. The eyes are not realistic of normal eyes and as such feels wrong straight from the start. There is a reason they say the eyes are the windows of the soul and in ME:A there is no window to any soul, the cupboard is bare!
And the second is that in real life, nobody stands and stares at you almost unblinking and rarely moving their eyes as they speak, it feels awkward and uncomfortable when people do that so it just doesn't really happen. People talk to other people with looking at them about 40% of the time, and the other 60% looking side to side, at other stimulation as they speak, backgrounds, the floor, their hands as they gesticulate, all causing head movements, flicks, etc. When you compare 2007 to now you can see the head is moving around, body language is telling as much as the words. There is none of that in the ME:A version and its seriously off-putting. If a stranger was talking to me in the way they were talking on ME:A, I would feel uncomfortable and try to avoid some of the eye contact with them. This is the behaviour we expect from an robot and is exactly the behaviour that makes us feel awkward around humanoid robots designed to look lifelike.

For a game that seems to rely heavily on cut scenes and face to face storytelling, it is a shame that they have not nailed it properly. The skin effects and graphics are brilliant but if you can't get the body language and eyes to feel realism then you need to scrap the idea of that style of gameplay.

They didn't want female ryder to be pretty as model that her look is inspired from. Fucking idiots.

You cant compare ME1 and ME:A their engines are nothing a like, given the fact that the unreal engine was the most commonly used engine back when ME1 game out compared to the frostbite engine that's only used in house because its forced by EA, that "10 years technological gap" means nothing because they haven't used frostbite for 10 years, People love to comment on technology they know nothing about.

Only developer who can fully use frostbite is DICE as they created the engine and all though Bioware had help from dice it was not developed by them.

It was just too buggy at launch

It definitely wasn’t bad, it just wasn’t as good as the previous games

Agree. Was actually one of the few games where I looked forward to additional DLC Story content; and they canned it- ridiculous.

I thought the ME Legendary Edition was better then Andromeda. I tried to get into Andromeda but I just couldn't get into it I was bored.

It;s not "bad" especially after all hilarious bugs were fixed but you know what it is though? Forgettable. I don't remember jack about what happened. I still remember ME1,2 and 3 though.

It didn’t feel like mass effect. That was the biggest sin for me. I would give it a 7.5

The problem was that Andromeda started good in initial concept and then continually became worse and worse.

Personally, it's like Veilguard, I liked it.... Would I say it was on par with the Mass Effect Trilogy? No. Now, with the Veilguard , to me, it's better than Dragon Age 2, but not on par with Origins or Inquisition.

I think it was honest trailers that compared it to a direct to dvd sequel rather than a new feature film. That is honestly exactly what it felt like to me.

Im.actually playing mass affect 1 this time around, the legendary edition, its so in depth. Dialogue is so good, I never dived deeper througly b4 and I will be playing mass effect 2&3 the same. I also been playing adromeda sure it's not better than the trilogy but I been enjoying it for what it is. I used to avoid adromeda but I decided to give it a try, don't regret it. Still tho there's nothing like the OG trilogy tho🔥 atleast MEA is better than saints row 2022🤣🤷🏾 ;‍♂️

Well keep thinking that and Mass Effect 5 will have the same sales results

The puzzles was boring and unnecessary...still enjoyed it

as did the developers of ride to hell retribution
saints row reboot
forespoken
and many more

The game was great so long as you skipped the dialogue and story. The open world and combat was awesome. Some of the environments and towns were great. It was the characters, the writing and story that ruined it.

i played it a couple years ago for the first time. and thats after all the updates etc.

it looks really good and the combat is fun, however everything else is not as good as the og trilogy.

ME Andromeda had the same issue Dragon Age 2 did, they followed on from something infinitely better. On their own they were fine games (except Andromeda on launch was an absolute embarrassment) but compared to what came before they didn't stand a chance.

No, it isn't.

Oh, I don't doubt it. Bioware probably thinks that Veilgard is a masterpiece with 10/10 writing. It's actually sad. Bioware bled talents throughout the years and now there no good devs left. Only those who were hired to fill diversity quotas. I have no faith in ME4.

They really are in their own echo-chamber.