Andrama-duh. The Thrills and Chills of Mass Effect: Andromeda.

As a quick forewarning, there could be some light spoilers ahead.  If you're only a few hours into Andromeda you might want to hold off and play some more.

Now that I've had some free time, I have played considerably more Mass Effect:  Andromeda.  The current status of the Heleus Cluster is that I've fully colonized two planets (Eos and Voeld) and they are now sprouting some happy little settlements.  I've also managed to make Havarl livable, but I don't quite know how that one is going to pan out since it's technically the Angaren homeworld.  My progress on the main storyline has been sidelined as I've decided to focus on the settlement aspect.  Honestly, I just have poor impulse control and if you give me a map full of missions and exploration I will usually opt for that until everything has been checked off the list.

Speaking of lists and my love of them...I present my list of stuff I'm liking as well as stuff I'm questioning in regards to my progress in Andromeda.  I always like to start with the good, so let's start there.

This is my Ryder.  It's also an actual screenshot I took with my phone.
Origin needs to get on the ball with the screenshot tools.

Likes👍
1.) I am vastly enjoying the Nomad and using it as a tool for exploration.  Like it's predecessor, the crazy Mako from the original Mass Effect, the Nomad can go almost anywhere.  Unlike the Mako it can go anywhere without feeling like you were steering a very unmaneuverable boat.  It's fun to drive, goes fast, and offers versatile cover for any kett killing situations that arise.

2.) The crew is finally starting to grow on me.  At first I was a little reluctant about some of them--particularly PeeBee.  From the pre-release material I understood that she was supposed to be an Asari who was very un-Asari-like.  PeeBee is very independent and I haven't quite cracked her shell yet to figure out exactly why she refuses to make connections with anyone.  Her spirit and quirkiness are fun and I enjoy taking her and Jaal along while I do exploring because their banter is hilarious.

Vetra has also quickly become one of my favorites.  Like PeeBee she's a contradiction to the traditional roles within her species--in talking with her you realize that her family was largely negligent and she was left to fend for herself and her younger sister.  That fending included activities like smuggling and mercenary work.  I mostly enjoy the fact that Vetra is sarcastic and will throw out a real zinger once in awhile.

As for the rest of the crew...
--Liam is funny and has a lot of bad ideas that he thinks are good ideas.
--Gil's poker logs are a good read (there's a datapad by the central vidcom where he keeps his logs)
--Cora has started talking about her time as an Asari commando....but it's not really that interesting
--Drack fills the old-man role well and seems like the perfect Krogan grandpa.
--Jaal is awkward and his attempts at fitting in with the crew are cute.
--Kallo is no Joker and I've learned basically nothing about him.  He likes to fight with Gil about the ship.
--Suvi is absent-minded and leaves things all over the Tempest.  She's a spiritual person.
--Lexi--I mostly just enjoy listening to Natalie Dormer's voice.  It is magical...but really, Lexi is worried that she's too cold and doesn't really care about the crew.

It's worth mentioning that I've only completed one loyalty mission--Liam's.  So far it has been one of my favorite missions in the game.

3.) The wide variety of planets and environments harkens back to the original Mass Effect.  I can bounce from deserts on Eos to snowy plains on Voeld to dense jungles on Havarl and then to the caustic lakes and jagged peaks of Kadara.  Each planet is beautiful in its own way.

Dislikes👎
Even though this is the next chapter in the Mass Effect universe, it just doesn't feel the same way that the previous games did.  I've always struggled with games that try to be open-world and to also have a strong storyline that you want to follow.  In the past I've felt like Mass Effect was way more about that storyline and its strong cast of well-written characters.  How many other games do you remember playing that gave you an option to basically turn off combat so you could focus on the story?  It takes an extremely engrossing story and characters to make you want to do that.  I'm just not getting that sense from Andromeda.  It seems to have switched the focus onto the gameplay (exploration, combat, crafting....the myriad of other stuff to do) aspect and away from the story or character aspects.  This makes me a little sad.

I keep getting this overwhelming sense that this game isn't all that original and that it was cobbled together from pieces of the previous games.  Imagine a big Mass Effect jigsaw puzzle with each piece being an essential aspect of the game that people enjoy.  So many of the story elements don't feel original...the remains of an ultra-technologically advanced race (Protheans, anyone?), an alien race that is capturing people to turn them into an army of genetically modified soldiers (Collectors?), a band of space pirates led by a saucy female leader (Aria T'Loak?), a massive central hub that is the center of galactic politics (Citadel?)....and I could keep going on.  I completely understand keeping core aspects of the game but it would be nice to get some new story elements.

I am crossing my fingers that as I progress things will get better and the story will start to unfold in a less familiar manner.

Another of my major dislikes has to do with the inability to command and outfit your followers.  You could argue that the constant pausing of combat was too interruptive, but at least you could get them to use their abilities when you wanted them too!  Now, the most you can do is order them to attack a target.  And it's worth mentioning that you really should be constantly ordering them to attack a specific target--I'm finding the NPC AI to be questionable at best and often my companions are standing around getting shot.  I've also noticed that when you do order your squad to attack a target that they like to go into melee range.  It's frustrating.  It's also frustrating that I can't upgrade the weapons of my companions.  I've picked up a veritable mountain of loot....and sold it all.  What a waste.

I've also had some minor irritation with one lore-based aspect--why is Ryder wearing N7 armor?  As you learn about his/her background you learn that she wasn't in the N7 program but was a peacekeeper for the Alliance.  I've been justifying this taboo by telling myself that it was a blueprint left from her father and she's just using it as a sort of inheritance.  That still doesn't seem right though.

There have been some missed opportunities when it comes to Ryder's interactions with her crewmates.  I feel like in previous games there were many more opportunities to chat and get to know them--there seem to be fewer.  I also noticed some opportunities during times when there is banter going on--as Ryder approaches the kett base on Voeld she makes a very cheesy joke about "staying frosty."  This would have been the perfect chance to have someone groan and comment on the horrible quality of that joke.  But alas, there was just silence.

Maybe this all seems too negative...in general I am having fun but it's just not the same Mass Effect.  I'm still trying to avoid reading reviews until I'm finished and maybe they feel the same way I do.

Feeling Like a Kid Again

My prediction that Mass Effect:  Andromeda would wind up being delayed was wrong...and that is awesome.  I don't know if I can fully express my excitement to be back in the Mass Effect universe...  I've been carefully calculating my departure from work each day so I can rush home to run through the daily chores that need to be completed so I can get logged on and re-enter the world of Andromeda.  It has been a very long time since I've felt this kind of excitement.  But is it worth it?  I'm sure you've read the myriad reviews and commentary that has invaded every gaming venue but I want to offer my own perspective.  I have tried very hard to avoid any of those reviews or comments so that I can make my own judgments clear of outside ideas (which, as I stated last week, has been difficult).  I'm going to try to lay out what I've enjoyed so far and what I have found lacking.

I should probably make it clear how much I've actually played--probably about 6-8 hours.

One of the new worlds to explore in Andromeda.

The Good:
1.) Andromeda uses the new Frostbite engine and I have to say that I am impressed by the clarity of details.  Space looks amazing and they've done a great job of incorporating aspects of space that you commonly see in images captured by NASA satellites.  Once you make it to a planet there is plenty to stop and gape at--plant life, scenic vistas, alien structures...it's beautiful.

2.) Movement is so much smoother than in previous games.  The animation for running feels more natural than the weird, marching type of movement from ME and ME2.  When Ryder changes direction it looks athletic.  The addition of the jump jet has added a whole new enjoyable aspect of vertical play to a game that has completely taken place on a horizontal and very linear plane.  The jump jet also makes dodging much quicker and more fluid--that additional movement is needed in a game that has drastically changed its combat systems to require more movement.  I haven't quite mastered using the jump jet effectively in combat and find that mostly I make myself an exposed target hanging in mid-air for all the aliens to shoot at.

3.) ..And speaking of combat--it has changed enough to make it feel new and more challenging, but the basics are still there.  The biggest change is from the largely stationary style in the previous games.  You need to scramble, dodge, and move from cover to cover in order to stay alive.  It's fun, but it does take some getting used to.

4.)  People may disagree with me here, but I am excited that the RPG-like elements that were present in the original ME but that gradually disappeared in the successive games are finally back.  There is loot to gather, a robust crafting system, and junk to sell.  I haven't spent a lot of time with the crafting part of it yet, but there are numerous options to craft armor, weapons, consumables, and mods.

5.) A flexible talent system that allows you to take the abilities you want without pigeonholing you into one specific build.  Even if you do lean toward a more traditional build there are combat profiles that seem to be built around your specific style of play.  My Ryder is a more traditional type of biotic who banks on combinations but if you combine those abilities with combat skills you can mold your character into more of a vanguard with lots of charging and punching.

6.) Your new ship, the Tempest, is a worthy successor to the Normandy with none of the obnoxious elevators and wasted time moving between decks.  There are also plenty of windows so you get an eyeful of amazing views of the beautifully crafted planets and space that I mentioned earlier.

7.) It manages to simultaneously feel new and familiar at the same time.  Red medkits and familiar buildings make you feel like you're still in the same general universe but new alien structures make you realize that you really aren't.

8.) Non-human species seem more expressive and more varied than they did in previous games.  Every Salarian seems like an individual rather than just a generic "Salarian" figure.  There are female Turians and Krogan!

9.) Ryder feels like a character who players get to shape into a hero rather than a "ready-made" hero like Shepard.  I like the fact that Ryder feels unprepared to be thrust into the role of leadership and can seem uncertain about the role of Pathfinder.

10.) If you choose to make a custom Ryder your parents are shaped to reflect the appearance you have created.  This may seem like something that is really minor, but it's these small details like these that stand out.  Usually I go with the default character appearance on my first playthrough but I decided to go with a custom character to check out the creation tools.  My Ryder was supposed to be a mash-up of ethnic identities but I had a tough time figuring out the eye color tool.  Rather than the light brownish eyes I was going for I got a weird light green.  It wasn't a big deal, but I was pleasantly surprised when my father figure made an appearance with those same freaky green eyes.

11.) The Nomad is fun to drive and a huge improvement over the Mako from Mass Effect...even if it can't shoot anything.

The Bad
1.) Almost every square inch of gaming related space has been chocked full of GIF's and jokes about the wonky facial animation in Andromeda.  The complaints are valid as the animation just seems....a little off.  It's not the worst that I've seen, but it's disappointing in a title with as much billing as Andromeda.  Oddly enough, it's way more noticeable with human characters (maybe it's more noticeable because we're used to looking at human faces?) than with the alien species and I've actually found that aliens seem more expressive than in other games.

2.) The menu system is a hot mess.  Even in the few short hours that I've played I am getting the impression that there is going to be sooooo many places to see and things to do and items to catalog that we need tiers to help keep things organized.  These tiered menus make it a pain to find quests or codex entries without clicking through three or four different lists.  I've almost given up on trying to find new codex entries because unless they are clearly marked they require too much digging to find.

3.) The opening hours try to cram a lot of information, characters, and places into a short span of time.  It's a lot and makes the first couple of hours seem slow.  I spent a lot of time just wandering around meeting the people who crew the Hyperion and the Nexus.  This meant there was much time spent talking and trying to keep track of the different characters--I generally enjoy learning about the different characters, but I think it would have been better if it was a little more spaced out.

4.) Planet scanning is back but in a slightly less annoying form.  If you didn't play Mass Effect 2 you missed out on the time consuming process of scanning every square inch of the many planets in the galaxy.  It has been tweaked to make it easier, but it's something that many fans of the series were hoping would fall by the wayside.  There is also a sort of first-person effect added to the Tempest that looks cool, but that makes travel between planets in a system feel slow.  I am appreciating that you can discover abandoned ships for salvage or asteroids for minerals.

5.) For me, the jury is still out about the new scanning system.  In a lore related way it is neat to be able to learn more about the world around you but in a gameplay related way it's just another task to perform.  Maybe it will grow on me.

6.) As someone who has played the entire series and experienced the ending of Mass Effect 3, I really hoped that some of those huge, looming lore related questions would be answered...or at least referred to in some way.  Thus far it appears that there are not going to be any references to the events that took place in the third game--I did notice that when you are initially designing your character that there is a box to check that lets you choose the gender of your past Shepards--so maybe this means that there will be something.  There have been references to the Citadel, which I sort of assumed was destroyed or at least rendered useless....apparently not...there has been absolutely nothing about the Reapers or the destruction that was wrought on the galaxy.  It's a little disappointing, but maybe a clean break is exactly what the series needs?  I, for one, always enjoyed the fact that the games were so connected.  I am hoping that as I play more that some of the story will come to light.

With spring break right around the corner I am planning on dedicating time to exploring Andromeda.  I haven't felt a a great connection to the other characters in the game because there hasn't really been many opportunities to get to know them.  The story seems to be picking up some steam and is getting more interesting--I've just finished exploring Eos and learning about the Remnant.

After almost five years...it's great to be back in the Mass Effect universe.

The Indiest Indies and Avoiding the News

I have had two tasks this week:  Play some very indie games whose classifications as actual "games" might be questionable AAAANNNND avoid all the pre-excitement, pre-reviewing, of the very soon upcoming (March 21st--unless you're one of those Origin Access people) Mass Effect:  Andromeda.  My success at these two tasks is a bit of a mixed bag.  I've played the indies and tried my best not to read the news.

Some of the pictures, apps, and messages you see in "A Normal Lost Phone"

In a partial effort to distract myself from the mania of pre-release (still haven't pre-ordered!  I should win a prize) I decided to purchase a couple of low-priced indies.  I started off with the very straightforwardly titled A Normal Lost Phone which is shockingly about a lost phone.  The entire premise for the game is that you have found a phone and you are trying to figure out to who it belongs so you can nobly return it (it's that way in my head anyway).  As you read through the numerous messages you start to build an image in your head about who the owner of the phone and get an idea about the events surrounding the loss of the phone.  It's a little jarring to read an extremely harsh message demanding that the owner of the phone stop attending a board game club.  Jeez, what did this kid do to make people so mad?

There's a bit of a game-y aspect as you unravel passwords and dig deeper into the story, but really, that's about as "game" as it gets.  The plot thickens as you learn that the owner of the phone is keeping some very personal secrets from his family.  I don't want to spoil it so that's all I am going to say.  To learn the truth about the owner of the phone you need to pay attention to the details and read everything.  I will admit that A Normal Lost Phone isn't a game that everyone will enjoy and at times it can seem a little pushy about some of the issues that are relevant to the story, but overall I thought there was a valuable lesson to be taken away from the slow unraveling of the secrets of a stranger.

Looks can be deceiving....that's true of this game and the story.

After I finished my phone investigation I decided to switch gears to being a real detective (or not....but no spoilers!) and gave Her Story a whirl.  Her Story is a bit like piecing together an intricate murder puzzle using very short video clips.  Part of the challenge is trying to figure out which queries to pose to get the right videos that will drop a vital piece of evidence so you can keep the chain moving along.  Eventually you start to get some kind of idea about what actually happened to Simon Smith--but, if you're me, you have no idea if your theory is correct.  I made some solid progress and felt like I had a somewhat clear idea then I just couldn't think of any new queries to move the story to where I felt like it was absolutely the truth.  I found Her Story to be enjoyable despite the fact that it's not really a traditional type of game and there's really no winning or losing.  I found myself thinking about the story at odd times--like right before I fell asleep or in the middle of doing something at work--and there aren't a lot of games out there that have made me work so hard to figure them out.

The part of my tasks that I utterly failed was my personal mantra to "avoid any early Andromeda stuff."  It's not that I'm not interested...the multitude of Andromeda themed entries I've written should tell you something about that.  I really want to form my own opinions independent of what I read on other reviews, but I also am intensely curious about the follow-up to one of my favorite game series.  So I've read a few things and, sadly, they don't seem to be great.  I'm a little bit disappointed to hear that but also hopeful that those early hours are just the slow ramp up to something great--apparently EA only allowed reviewers to write about the first few hours of play.

I'm crossing my fingers and doing my best to ignore the multitude of Andromeda themed articles popping up on my Facebook feed.  I can't wait to start my new journey on the 21st!

The Magic of Grand Theft Auto

While I await the upcoming release of Mass Effect:  Andromeda, I have decided to revisit another of my favorite gaming environments--the wonderful world of Los Santos.  There is so much to do in Los Santos...I almost forgot!  But now that I'm back I've decided that it's time to enjoy the lighter side of life--the non-criminal aspects of Grand Theft Auto V that I largely neglected the first time around.

A little post-heist yoga will do the trick.

Of all the activities in GTAV that I initially scoffed at, yoga was probably at the top of the list.  It just seemed really silly to have one of our three badass protagonists stretching, breathing, and just generally being completely un-criminal-like.  I decided to give yoga a chance and I have found that it is oddly peaceful to walk Michael through the poses and breathing.  It's also one of the best ways to boost his stamina and prepare for criminal activities.  I wish he could learn a wider variety of poses though...

Besides yoga, Michael can also play tennis against a number of different challengers at the various courts around Los Santos.  I haven't quite mastered all the spins and lob shots but can usually eke out a win.  There's also golf, but I haven't made it that far yet.  I will probably give it a spin.

By far my favorite activities in Los Santos revolve around racing.  Whether it's tearing up the streets as Franklin or offroading with Travis, there's something highly enjoyable about the variety of races in GTAV.  I'm not a big fan of street races featuring motorcycles--I would rather skip those, but they always have to throw one in.  Those races usually end in someone getting forcefully and painfully ejected from the bike onto their skull--which, I have to admit, is a little hilarious.

I jumped out of a moving tow truck to steal this beauty.

I've also made a much more concerted effort to "pimp" some rides and have to say that I have at least one car that I feel somewhat proud of.  I have no idea if it's even a very good type of car, but I have enjoyed racing it.

In my last Los Santos adventure I found myself easily frustrated with the daredevil activities--the stunt jumps and the parachuting.  Parachuting takes a few tries to really get the hang of and if you don't get a feel for it then the frustration starts to mount.  This time I made myself be more patient and I've actually wound up being able to stick most landings at 90% and above.  Let me tell you about the fun I had trying to find a dang helicopter to finish up a Dom quest...I easily spent an hour and there were none spawned.  It was really weird, but in the end I did manage to find one and finish the mission to jump off the Maze Bank and land on a truck.

Trevor can enjoy some quality time in nature.  By "quality time," I mean slaying nature.  Hunting is not an extremely profitable activity but it is fun.  Stalking and killing boars, elk, coyotes, and the occasional mountain lion can provide a nice distraction.

Flying has always been challenging for me, so I think I might skip out on the stunt flying events.  There are a variety of airplane and helicopter courses to help you master the skills required to become a truly proficient flyer.  My first playthrough I worked hard at trying to complete all of them.  I'm just not feeling it this time around.

There are still numerous collectibles, stunt jumps, and other moneymaking enterprises to pursue.  It has been awhile since I last played GTAV and I am now remembering how much time someone could spend just messing around in the story mode doing all the assorted stuff.  I've always felt a little weird about liking GTA, there's something screwy about the cutting and frequently immature cultural commentary.  But I like it and it's a lot of fun, so I will keep playing them if they keep making them.

Here's to GTAVI!

Trailblazin'!

If you were to rank your favorite things to do in the Mass Effect galaxy, where would you place exploration?  For me, I feel like exploration has never really been a strong suit in the series.  In the original Mass Effect there was an element of exploration--you could thunder around planets in the Mako and look for any strange structures, recover artifacts, claim minerals, or just take in the variety of planetscapes in the galaxy.  Mass Effect 2 and 3 really seemed to veer away from the exploration aspect of the game.  It's true that you had missions that took you to varied planets, but I didn't feel like there was quite that same sense of wanderlust.

Today, the third video in the gameplay series was released that specifically details exploration.  Give it a look:

1.) A ship with a view!  The Tempest features windows from which the surrounding galactic area can be looked upon in awe.  This may seem like something ridiculous to be excited about, but I always enjoyed the variety of planets with their multitude of stories in the original Mass Effect.  It was kind of cool to see meteors streaming down to the surface or look up and see a massive looming red, blue, or verdant planet.

2.) "There are over 100 beautifully crafted planets to be discovered and a handful of planets can be landed on."  Hmmm....this tells me that there will probably be a lot of exploration on that handful of planets while the others are mostly there for things like salvage, credits, or whatever other system rewards you for token exploration and scanning.  This is not a change from the previous games.

3.) Did anyone else get a distinctly Dragon Age:  Inquisition feeling from the part of the video that featured the desert planet of Elaaden?  Maybe it's the fact that I somewhat recently played a lot of DA:I, but I got a vibe.  I think this could be a good thing and actually make exploration an important part of the series.

It looks like players will get to pick from a set of nav-point like objectives and use the Nomad to travel to those important places.  Similar to DA:I exploration players can call down a forward station that serves as a sort of resupply center and fast travel waypoint.  One handy feature is the ability to recall the Nomad if it gets lost or destroyed--like that would ever happen, right?  My mad Mako driving skills should translate well to the Nomad ;)

4.) Planetary hazards are back.  This is one feature from the original game which I always felt lent a degree of reality to exploration.  In the bottom left-hand corner you can see a warning for a "heat hazard" and the video mentions that players must periodically return to the forward station to recharge shields.  Here's to hoping that recharging is infrequent....

5.)  Viability.  The more you discover, the more useful a planet becomes.  For a completionist like me it's nice to know that the efforts that will be put into trying to discover every detail will pay off.  Planet viability looks to play into a lot of different things--allied factions, base locations, resource gathering....and probably even more.  There is also mention of "viability points" which allow you to improve the Nexus.  It looks as if some strategy will be involved as you must pick who you wake up from cryosleep--three categories are featured, scientists, military, or merchants.

6.) Vaults.  As long as vaults are packed full of treasures I am completely down for some fighting, puzzle solving, or navigating.  There also looks to be an element of challenge involved.  Bring it on!

I am encouraged by the number of different landscapes featured in the video.  It appears as if we will have plenty of different biomes to traverse.  In a game that is about exploring a new galaxy, it makes sense to bump exploration up the list of priorities and to feature a wider world for players to see.

Only 18 more days until we get to explore the gorgeous planets of the Helius cluster!