official Mass Effect: Andromeda

[Luc2k]

2 minutes ago, Andrew said:

That's what I read back when games which launched with Denuvo removed it after the DRM was cracked. It's not true? If not, then I expect we'll see a large drop in games utilizing it going forward. It's clearly not as effective as it was a few years ago and the pirates have caught up.

https://torrentfreak.com/denuvo-we-dont-give-refunds-when-games-get-cracked-161219/

 

I doubt they'll decrease overall honestly. Nothing like the warm feeling it gives shareholders. Indie games maybe.

[trag3dy]

24 minutes ago, Andrew said:

That's what I read back when games which launched with Denuvo removed it after the DRM was cracked. It's not true? If not, then I expect we'll see a large drop in games utilizing it going forward. It's clearly not as effective as it was a few years ago and the pirates have caught up.

It was removed from Doom 2016 once it was cracked. I feel like that might have just been Bethesda being cool though.

 

https://torrentfreak.com/denuvo-removed-from-doom-after-game-gets-cracked-161208/

Edited April 4, 2017 by trag3dy

[trag3dy]

7 hours ago, Asmodai said:

Ok I put some more time into it.  I'm still not very far but I've at least got off the Nexus and got the rover and stuff.  I'm still on the first planet (Eos?) so I'd say I'm still in the "Intro" part of the game as they're still introducing new things.  I found running missions on the Station and then doing the stuff on the planet far more satisfying than the first half hour or so which was too fight heavy and linear for me.  I still don't feel like it's opened up a lot because despite the fact I have a rover the planet is radioactive so all I can do is run from one shielded zone to the next.  I drive by things that look intersting and I'm not sure if you're supposed to stop and investigate but I don't right now for fear I'll get bogged down and my armors radiation shielding will deplete before I can get back to the rover.  So I just run linearly from one story objective to the next.  I think (hope?) this initial set of missions is going to fix the radiation situation so I'll be free to go back and investigate the things I'm just fying by right now. (don't tell me if I'm right or wrong though).

 

So all in all I went from disliking the first half hour of fight heavy linearity to liking the next couple hours of running little errand missions with occasional fights.  I can't say I find the story compelling yet but I realize I'm still VERY early and I can't say it seems particulary open but it at least looks like that's going to change "soon" and is just a function of them easing you into the game instead of just throwing you into an open world and saying "have at it".  I'm cool with that so overall it seems to have a lot more potential than I thought before.  I still think the graphics are bad though, not just the animation that everyone complains about but peoples faces and to a lesser extent character models in general look subpar to me.  When they have helmets on it's not as bad but only I seem to wear a helmet.  I'm not sure what's worth crafting/researching and haven't spend any time mining or anything yet either but again, I'm still very early in the game.  I only play for an hour or two a night so it's going to be a while.  At this point though it's good enough to keep me from moving on to another game in my backlog but I can't say it's blown me away or anything.

Until you activate the monolith on Eos you're still kinda sorta in the tutorial. After that the galaxy map opens up a bit and after a while Eos will be cleared of radiation.

 

Minor spoilers there it shouldn't affect the story at all.

[trag3dy]

A new patch/update is out. 

 

http://blog.bioware.com/2017/04/04/mass-effect-andromeda-patch-1-05-notes/

 

THANK GOD FOR MORE INVENTORY SPACE. I can't believe that's even a thing in modern games. I went from 80 to 200. I've had to destroy or sell a lot of stuff I would have liked to keep. 

[+John. Subscriber¹]

Thank goodness for the patch. The eyes look Human! Yay!

 

Also a bit frustrated with the inventory space upgrades. Like @trag3dy said I've had to get rid of a lot of stuff I didn't want to.

[+Asmodai MVC]

In case anyone is interested in my slow going I've finally gotten to a world beyond Eos (I chose the ice one) so past all the tutorial stuff.  The game seems crazy complex to me with all the wierd systems that generate points that you're supposed to spend on this and that.  Most enemies don't tend to drop any loot and I haven't spent any time mining so I don't have jack to craft armor. (weapons seem to be made from things I find just playing the game).

 

My build is probably horrible (I'm a bit overwhelmed by all the systems) but I crafted the katana looking sword (sorry, bad with names) have the widow sniper rifle and use an assault rifle as well.  Since I'm bad at combat I tend to come up with creative solutions like last night there was some outlaw guys at a base in the hazardous environment that there was no way I was clearing before I started freezing without running back to a heater over and over... but then I noticed a huge native creature so I drove the vehicle and agro'd it and then drove straight to the outlaw base with the big creature chasing me... pulled a U-turn and drove away and then just sat and watched as it killed all the outlaws for me.  That way I just had to go in and kill it at the end (which wasn't too hard since they hurt it pretty bad).  My gf laughs as my solutions to problems but when you stink at combat you have to do that sort of thing.  I also often just run enemies over in the vehicle if that's an option, like there's a mission on Eos where you go into a nest of that native critters and there are quite a few of them... I was hurt pretty bad from a prior mission and didn't think I'd win the fight so I just drove the vehicle back and forth over all the critters until they were all dead.

 

Pretty much I fight by sniping if I see them before they see me. (My stupid squad mates tend to just charge in like idiots and often die).  If sniping isn't an option then I try to charge in (using my stealth power if the distance is far and in the open) and use melee (which seems incredibly over powered) if that's possible.  If all else fails I bust out the assault rifle but that's the last option that I try to avoid if possible.

 

Overall I'm enjoying the game now and I'll probably finish it.  My gf also has enjoyed watching me play enough to start playing as well and as she has more free time has already caught up to me.  She went to the jungle? world though instead of the ice world so she's careful not to play when I'm around because I don't want to see anything before I get there.  She doesn't care so much so she watches what I do and then often makes her decisions to see what happens if you make a choice other than what I did.

[trag3dy]

The key to getting through combat effectively is figuring out what abilities combo together and utilizing combo detonators. Usually abilities will tell you if they are a combo primer or a combo detonator. You might have to level them up some to get access to those traits though.

[+Zagadka Subscriber²]

I really enjoyed ME:A when it came out. I played for a couple of weeks and was satisfied. i decided to stop playing until the patch came out... and when i came back... I just lost the thread. Just didn't enjoy it. I have no idea why. Roaming planets got kinda repetitive? Eventually I got to a point in the game where the Nomad breaks down and you're supposed to go get some kit or something... but I had already cleared that area and I didn't get the quest. Apparently this happens to people. Since I don't keep different save games every 20 minutes... I would have to go back like a day. Just don't feel like doing that. It is weird, I was already looking forward to replaying the game as other classes. Now I can't justify sitting through the load screen.

[+Asmodai MVC]

9 hours ago, trag3dy said:

The key to getting through combat effectively is figuring out what abilities combo together and utilizing combo detonators. Usually abilities will tell you if they are a combo primer or a combo detonator. You might have to level them up some to get access to those traits though.

Honestly I usually forget to use the powers.  It sucks that you can only have 3 equiped at once and it seems overly complex to me to set up the favorite sets and switch between them in the middle of the action.  I'm really more of an RPG guy and these twich aspects I don't have much practice at so stink at.  I just fought my first Cardinal (I think that's what it's called) and I must have failed over a dozen times and rage quit on Tues night.  Wed night I tried again and finally beat him on like the second or third try (I had a Caps game in DC last night so I didn't play).  That was the first battle I had a HUGE problem with.

 

I DO have my three powers set up so the first is stealth (which I do remeber to use from time to time, to close large gaps or run away), the second is a fire tech primer, and the third is a tech combo detonator.  I almost never remember to use the second and third but on the rare occasion that I do (usually when fighting the huge Kett four legged beast thingys) I always do a chain of the second and third.  If/when I remember the second, I know to do the third and get my combo.  I haven't found that to be particularly devistating however to encourage me to try to use it more.  I have 3 ranks in all my powers now for both Combat and Tech and I think I'm like the 3rd level of the role or whatever it's called that is both combat and tech (infiltrator or something?... sorry REALLY bad with names).

 

In most battles I do Sniper and/or Sword.  I have the assault rifle for when neither of those is an option and I use the combat (non-stealth) powers typically when I'm forced to fight with the assault rifle (can't get away far enough to set up for sniping and too many/too fast/too far away for sword).

 

I was looking at my character compared to the NPCs and my armor/shield is HORRIBLE (like half) what most of them have.  I'm not sure what the deal is there.  I don't actually even see an armor value when looking at armor it just has a set of buffs depending on the armor type.  There is a % shield buff for example on the armor I'm using but apparently that's not even close to what the NPCs use.  At this point I think my of my gear is the the friendly alien (forgot their race name... HORRIBLE with names) Ranger III or some such and I haven't found anything better.  I'm also using their Sniper rifle III I believe and I think the katana-like sword I crafted is from them as well.  My assault rifle I crafted is a III as well bet it's actually from Milky Way tech.  I'm probably supposed to have done a lot more mining and such by this point but I find it boring and haven't so I have yet to be able to craft a single piece of armor.  All the armor uses resources I don't have compared to weapons which seems to use resources I get in crates and on missions and such.  I'm happy with the weapons I've crafted and I've done like two upgrades to the rover but my armor is HORRIBLE.  I use what I've found since I can't craft anything but you don't really find a lot of good stuff in this game... it seems to lean heavily on crafting or I'm missing something.

[trag3dy]

I do agree that only being able to use 3 abilities at a time seems a little limiting. But then you're supposed to make use of your crews abilities too. 

 

The first 3 games had it better though, imo. You could have as many abilities as you wanted and you could also control your crews abilities.

 

Being able to change profiles, which I'm sure they think is a substitute for that is just a meh mechanic. I've literally never used it, there's just no reason to.

 

I also wondered why my character had so much less armor and health and did some looking into it and the consensus on places like reddit and other forums is that it's because as the player character you're so much more effective in combat they had to give you this handicap.

[+Asmodai MVC]

Latest update on my adventures.

 

Minor correction and notes about my build if anyone is interested:

 

I looked and I was wrong about the melee weapon I was using.  The Katana thing I'm using is from the Milky Way Asari or some such (again, horrible with names and I never played the first trilogy so I'm not all that familiar with the races).  I love it, and i think it's cool how you kind of cloak/teleport forward though it takes a little getting used to. (I used to have a problem with popping on the other side of the guy I was trying to hit but then I figured out if you hold back when you swing you can hit someone right in front of you.)

 

The Assault Rifle I've settled on is the N7 Valkyrie so my melee and assult rifle are both Milky Way.  My armor and sniper rifle are the aliens though as I use the Ranger armor (for the Tech bonuses) and the sniper rifle whose name I can't recall that is single shot and insane damage (one shot, one kill)...  I'm level 23 right now so I can't craft the V versions but I'll eventually craft the V version of the similar armor (Guerilla?) when I hit level 30.  I have IV of most things but the only thing I've crafted that I'm still using is the sword.

 

My build is Infiltrator? (Tech/Combat hybrid) and I've replaced my three powers and don't use the combos at all anymore (I usually forgot to use them anyway).  Instead I've changed to a "pets" build with my first power still being stealth but my second is the tech turret you can throw out and the third is the unlocked tech special (I don't want to go into more details because of spoilers but if you're past me you should know what I'm talking about... hopefully).  I'm doing MUCH better with the "pets" and actually remember to deploy them.

 

As far as my progress through the story I did Eos when radiated like everyone, then went do the ice world and did most of that then came back to eos and last night I wrapped up doing most of the stuff on there.  I've been avoiding progressing the main story until I clear out some of this other stuff I've got.  Next I'll hop over and clear up a mess by the Eos system that Liam made and then head to the Jungle world.  My Washington Capitals have games M, W, and F (which I'll be at) this week though so I'm going to get very little play time before the weekend.

 

I've run into two Architects now, neither was story related and both absolutely DESTROYED me.  In both cases I just gave up and went to do other missions because neither mission (one on Eos and one on the Ice world) just seemed like minor side missions.  The Eos one was a result of a possibly bad decision depending on how much the developer are tree huggers but when I got CRUSHED it reloaded BEFORE the decision so I figured I'd put that off until later.  I acutally ran into the Ice world one first and it's in an area that was like a 2 or 3 environmental hazard so it was VERY difficult because I had to keep running for the few heaters to keep from the cold killing me.  I've warmed the planet now though so I'll probably go back and between warming the planet and gaining some levels and getting better gear I assume it will be much more doable.

 

Anyway that's enough for this novel.  If you made it this far thanks for taking the time to read my ramblings. :-)

 

[George P Global Moderator]

I don't know when I'll get a chance to jump into this, I have a few other things I want to play first, but at least by then they'll have already patched most things.

[+Asmodai MVC]

Okay I got some time to play this weekend so here's the latest update on my experiences.

 

I finally got to the pirate port planet thingy. (bad with names and I don't want to go into much details because of spoilers anyway).  I'm running around doing missions on that planet now.

 

I hit level 30 and went to craft my V armor only to discover when you research the V version of armor that isn't the end... instead it adds a whole new tier of "Advanced" armor... doh! (weapons don't seem to work that way though)

 

I hit TONS of bugs on the optional special forces trails missions.  One of the tasks was to fight some remnants (north of where you find the architect on the ice world) and I'd already cleared them out when I found that the first time yet it didn't give me credit and they didn't respawn so I guess there is no way I can complete that mission.

Another of the tasks is to kill some remnants (is that what they're called... might have that name wrong... bad with names remember?)  and try to beat the dude who gave you the msisions personal best.  I killed 14/15 with almost 2 minutes left and no more ever spawned.  The time ran out so I failed that part and I couldn't even complete the mission because I never got the 15th kill, there was nothing to kill, so I finally just left.  I guess that ones broken for good for me now too.  I hope you don't get anything too cool from this guy because I'm pretty much screwed with his missions... good thing it's just an optional side quest thing.

 

On the buggy but minor side of things I have a chest on the planet I'm not now that's supposed to have loot and it's got the chest marker on my map but when I stand over it it never prompts me to open it.  I've reloaded and gone back twice, moved all around it to try to come at it from different angles and nothing seems to work.  Jeeze the bugs are really coming out for me now (I've has some minor difficulty in the past getting doors to open or talking to people but I was always able to work around it... this time I'm stumped.)

 

I have way more money that I know what to do with... is this useful for something?  I do almost nothing that costs money.  I've been able to craft or find most of the armor/weapons I've needed.  Heck when I hit 30 I crafted the V version of my armor... a complete set... then did some missions and found several of the pieces so I'd be using probably mostly V even if I hadn't crafted it myself.  I think the only thing I've NEEDED to craft so far is my sword.  As far as I can tell no one drops/sells them.

 

 

[trag3dy]

10 minutes ago, Asmodai said:

Okay I got some time to play this weekend so here's the latest update on my experiences.

 

I finally got to the pirate port planet thingy. (bad with names and I don't want to go into much details because of spoilers anyway).  I'm running around doing missions on that planet now.

 

I hit level 30 and went to craft my V armor only to discover when you research the V version of armor that isn't the end... instead it adds a whole new tier of "Advanced" armor... doh! (weapons don't seem to work that way though)

 

I hit TONS of bugs on the optional special forces trails missions.  One of the tasks was to fight some remnants (north of where you find the architect on the ice world) and I'd already cleared them out when I found that the first time yet it didn't give me credit and they didn't respawn so I guess there is no way I can complete that mission.

Another of the tasks is to kill some remnants (is that what they're called... might have that name wrong... bad with names remember?)  and try to beat the dude who gave you the msisions personal best.  I killed 14/15 with almost 2 minutes left and no more ever spawned.  The time ran out so I failed that part and I couldn't even complete the mission because I never got the 15th kill, there was nothing to kill, so I finally just left.  I guess that ones broken for good for me now too.  I hope you don't get anything too cool from this guy because I'm pretty much screwed with his missions... good thing it's just an optional side quest thing.

 

On the buggy but minor side of things I have a chest on the planet I'm not now that's supposed to have loot and it's got the chest marker on my map but when I stand over it it never prompts me to open it.  I've reloaded and gone back twice, moved all around it to try to come at it from different angles and nothing seems to work.  Jeeze the bugs are really coming out for me now (I've has some minor difficulty in the past getting doors to open or talking to people but I was always able to work around it... this time I'm stumped.)

 

I have way more money that I know what to do with... is this useful for something?  I do almost nothing that costs money.  I've been able to craft or find most of the armor/weapons I've needed.  Heck when I hit 30 I crafted the V version of my armor... a complete set... then did some missions and found several of the pieces so I'd be using probably mostly V even if I hadn't crafted it myself.  I think the only thing I've NEEDED to craft so far is my sword.  As far as I can tell no one drops/sells them.

 

 

Weapons do have an advanced tier as well but you need to be a little higher lvl (maybe 35, I don't remember exactly).

 

And yeah. I haven't found much use for money either. You don't really use it all that much and there isn't really anything to buy. I guess you could buy crafting materials..? But they're so plentiful I haven't ever had to go out of my way to get some to craft anything.

Edited April 24, 2017 by trag3dy

[+Asmodai MVC]

8 minutes ago, trag3dy said:

Weapons do have an advanced tier as well but you need to be a little higher lvl (maybe 35, I don't remember exactly).

That's odd.  You can SEE the advanced tier in the UI for the armor as soon as research the V level of the "basic" tier.  You can't actually research it yet though because the first rank requires lvl 40, second requires lvl 50, etc.

 

If there IS an advanced tier for weapons I wonder why they hide it from the UI and not the armor that you also can't actually research until level 40.

[techbeck]

On 4/17/2017 at 9:47 AM, Asmodai said:

I've run into two Architects now, neither was story related and both absolutely DESTROYED me.  I

 

Architects can be a pain.   Make sure you take people that can do combat damage.  Biotics dont do much against Architects.  Keep hitting the legs until one is destroyed.  The architect will then flee a little ways and you have to follow it.  Destroy the next leg, rinse/repeat.  All of the architects weapons except one you can get behind cover and be safe.  One of his attacks go through walls and objects tho.  But the weapon highlights the area where it will hit before hand so there is plenty of time to dodge it.  Architects spawn enemies but they are easily defeated.  When then enemies spawn, take care of them first then go after the architect again.

[techbeck]

35 minutes ago, Asmodai said:

That's odd.  You can SEE the advanced tier in the UI for the armor as soon as research the V level of the "basic" tier.  You can't actually research it yet though because the first rank requires lvl 40, second requires lvl 50, etc.

 

If there IS an advanced tier for weapons I wonder why they hide it from the UI and not the armor that you also can't actually research until level 40.

Next tier does not appear unless you researched the previous tier.  My advanced armor and weapons did not appear to be researched until I did the previous tier first.  What sucks is that you need level 80 or something to get the max armor from the second tier but I beat the game and was only level 63 or so.  And this was doing all the site quests/missions.  I also have way over 100k credits but really do not use credits much.  What really irritated me is that to get the research data to research new tech....it is in limited supply.  You can get them from exploring, doing Helix missions, and a few other things but still not enough or takes forever to collect.

[+Asmodai MVC]

27 minutes ago, techbeck said:

Next tier does not appear unless you researched the previous tier.  My advanced armor and weapons did not appear to be researched until I did the previous tier first.  What sucks is that you need level 80 or something to get the max armor from the second tier but I beat the game and was only level 63 or so.  And this was doing all the site quests/missions.  I also have way over 100k credits but really do not use credits much.  What really irritated me is that to get the research data to research new tech....it is in limited supply.  You can get them from exploring, doing Helix missions, and a few other things but still not enough or takes forever to collect.

That's what I'm saying... I've completed the "basic" tier (all 5 levels) of my assault rifle, sword, and sniper rifle and there is no Advanced tier showing for them (unless for some reason it doesn't appear right under them like the armor did... I'll have to check when I get home now)

On the other hand I've likewise completed the "basic" tier for all the pieces of the armor I use and it DOES show the advanced tier for all of them I just can't research them yet until I get to level 40, 50, 60, etc.

 

I'm only level 30 so maybe it becomes an issue later but I haven't had much trouble getting research points.  I only research the guns I use though so if you're trying to research everything I could see that being an issue.  I research just the sword, the assualt rifle, and the sniper rifle that I use as well as the one suit of armor and some random mods and such.  I have a few points spent here or there from when I didn't really get how it worked or before I settled into the weapons I like but nothing major.

 

Oh there was an early mission to upgrade the shield are your rover that I did and it never counted.  I have the upgraded shield (in fact the rover only has few upgrades even left I've done so many) but that mission still shows up in my list like I didn't do it.  Yet another bug I assume. 

 

What usually stops me from making everything right away is resource limitiation but it doesn't usually take too long to fix.  Like right now I have all level IV weapons (with level V mods) but I've researched all the level V versions.  I just don't have the resources to craft the V versions just yet.  As I said I did craft a full set of level V armor though but also found several pieces in my last few missions (which I broke down for resources).  I just hit level 30 where level V stuff opened up though so as long as I have all V stuff before 40 (when the next tier apparently opens up) I consider that acceptable.  I just don't want to be more than one level behind.

[+Zagadka Subscriber²]

I realized why I can't get back into MEA. I really like the game. What I really don't like is driving around 30 minutes for every 30 seconds of action, and that action is pretty repetitive. Then you have to solve those stupid puzzles. 

[+Asmodai MVC]

13 minutes ago, Zagadka said:

I realized why I can't get back into MEA. I really like the game. What I really don't like is driving around 30 minutes for every 30 seconds of action, and that action is pretty repetitive. Then you have to solve those stupid puzzles. 

You know there are fast travel points on the map so you don't HAVE to drive around (though you'll miss stumbling across some optional side missions) all that much.  Also you don't HAVE to solve the puzzles if you don't want to either because you can buy items to autosolve them and they're pretty cheap.  I don't mind the puzzles... they're like simple Sudoku's.  If you don't like the puzzles, driving around, and you find the action repetitive I'm not sure why you'd say "I really like the game" though.  If you don't that's fine.  I like it ok but I don't think it's great.  Different people enjoy different things, it's all good.  Happy gaming!

[+Zagadka Subscriber²]

Yea, but you have to drive around to unlock the points.

 

I find the base game fun. Most of the scenarios it is framed in is repetitive. The same kinds of outposts.

[George P Global Moderator]

On ‎4‎/‎29‎/‎2017 at 0:33 AM, Zagadka said:

Yea, but you have to drive around to unlock the points.

 

I find the base game fun. Most of the scenarios it is framed in is repetitive. The same kinds of outposts.

That's always a limiting factor in these types of space exploration games, they never really take the time to fill out the planets to make them different enough, and they're often empty and devoid of life.    They could limit the number of places in the galaxy you could go to, at least in this first game, and then put more work into the planets and side stuff, to change it up more.   After that in the next game you just open up another section and so on.   When you try to add more "volume" you sacrifice in other areas, just so you can tack on another 20 or so hours of gameplay.

 

It's why lots of games just fill their worlds up with collectables,  most gamers go crazy trying to find them all, it helps when you get money and other things from them to, that you then use/need to upgrade your character.   Easy, quick to do, and while repetitive, can turn that 15-20hr main story line mission into a 40-60hr game.

 

I think nothing does it better than the witcher series, I really need to play the 3rd.

[+Asmodai MVC]

First I did find the Advanced versions of the weapons, not sure why I missed them the first time.

 

I finished up the hot planet now... ran into more bugs along the way.  I managed to get the planet to 100% BEFORE I did the vault and one of the NPCs at the colony was talking to me about "Ever since you activated the value..." and I just shook my head.  This game is SOOO buggy it makes Elder Scrolls games look polished at launch (except Elders Scrolls games would completely crash as well and not just have tons of quest issues)

 

I have to say after playing Horizon and then this it really strikes me how much NPC schedules and such makes a big difference to me personally.  It's really starting to bug me that the NPCs in these newer, supposedly more advanced games, just stand around in the exact same place (merchants and quest givers and such) but I can load up the 6 year old, has to be able to run on an Xbox 360, Skyrim and the NPCs go home from their shops at night, spend time at the local tavern in the evenings, etc.  I would think that would be a pretty standard feature in "open world" games by now.  I also like that they can be killed in Skryim and aren't just indestructable fixed position statues that happen to sell you things or give you missions.  Watching my gf play through behind me also really strikes me on how little there is that's random, she goes to the same places and finds the exact same things... which to me means there really isn't much point in playing the game ever again once I'm done with it.  Maybe there is SOME random stuff in there but it appears very samey to me watching her play.  Again Skyrim with it's "Radiant Quests" at least mixes things up a bit.  For me at least every time I play the game it seems different and that keeps me coming back over and over and over again.

 

Another thing I found interesting is that No Mans Sky got a load of crap for having only one biome per planet (among many other things) with their procedural generation... but Mass Effect which is supposedly hand crafted only has one per planet as well.  As far as exploring the planets I have far more fun in No Mans Sky than Mass Effect (just using that one criteria... Mass Effect of course has a MUCH better story, better facilites, etc.)  I'd say I'm having more fun playing Mass Effect than I did my first time through No Mans Sky easily... but No Mans Sky I can see myself coming back to again and again because it's always different... again I don't really see much point in coming back to Mass Effect (or Horizon for that matter) once it's done.  I don't care about collecting all the X, Y, and Z objects, I want to see something different each time.

[Emn1ty]

On 5/1/2017 at 8:24 AM, Asmodai said:

have to say after playing Horizon and then this it really strikes me how much NPC schedules and such makes a big difference to me personally.  It's really starting to bug me that the NPCs in these newer, supposedly more advanced games, just stand around in the exact same place (merchants and quest givers and such) but I can load up the 6 year old, has to be able to run on an Xbox 360, Skyrim and the NPCs go home from their shops at night, spend time at the local tavern in the evenings, etc.  I would think that would be a pretty standard feature in "open world" games by now.

It's give and take. It's nice to have those schedules and such, but it can be frustrating at times to track down certain merchants (this happened quite often with Fallout 4 for me). So you either make it easier if not slightly less immersive for the player, or make it arguably more inconvenient for some minor immersion benefit.

Both are valid, but I don't think this is really a matter of a game being more or less advanced than another.

[+Asmodai MVC]

12 hours ago, Emn1ty said:

It's give and take.

Yeah, that's why I said "...to me personally".  I totally understand that other peoples preference may be different.

12 hours ago, Emn1ty said:

It's nice to have those schedules and such, but it can be frustrating at times to track down certain merchants (this happened quite often with Fallout 4 for me).

I've not run into this problem myself.  If they're on like daily schedules they should be in the same place at the same time every day.  I've never gone to a merchant in Skyrim and had them no be there and not understood why and when they'd be back.  They're entirely predictable and again I personally find it MUCH more immersive.  I mean in real life we tend to be creatures of habit as well.  You'll find me at work M-F between the same hours with very little variation.

 

NPC Schedules is different from having wandering merchants who roam all over the entire game map so it's difficult to figure out where they may be at any given time.  I'm not sure if that's what you're talking about from Fallout 4 or not but if it is then it's not the same thing I'm talking about.