Bioware General (Mass Effect/Dragon Age/Other)

[Su37]

I assume you can still be tanky as hell?

Pretty much. Tech armor is a passive ability now.

[Someone With Mass]

I grew fond of the grenades, so I went full on Soldier. I might do an Annihilation Field + Charge combo along with some shotgun training, though. The tech attacks seem rather weak compared to the biotics, so I've been hesitant about investing in anything on that side. I have Turbocharge and an N7 Piranha to deal with shields too.

The asari Adept is my favorite in the multiplayer so far. I can make unarmored enemies float just by getting near them while the field is active. Her dash is oddly satisfying to use as well.

I'm not fond of the lack of diversity in powers, though. Seems like almost all the asari have Lance, which is a poor substitute for Warp in my eyes. Makes armored enemies annoying.

[Zero Suit Rosalina]

I've been rocking the Salarian Infiltrator. Been using him with the Dahn Shotgun. Not all that exciting to play but he is super fucking useful. The only thing I have that is good to use on gold runs.

I hate how they made it where you have level up characters to X. Makes me not want to use newly unlocked characters.

@mass
Does the Asari adept have the teleportation dash?

[DarkStorm]

Sent some invites on origin so we can play together and all.

[Su37]

I haven't played enough multiplayer to unlock anything really useful. The best thing I've received so far is a turian soldier.

[Vol]

https://techraptor.net/content/report-b ... animations

No idea if it's an April Fools joke, but gosh wouldn't that be...something.

[DarkStorm]

https://techraptor.net/content/report-bioware-outsourced-mass-effect-andromeda-facial-animations

No idea if it's an April Fools joke, but gosh wouldn't that be...something.

Lol someone asked this and the author said no.

[Azint]

I am playing Engineer in the story, and I think it works fairly well. My current set-up is Incinerate, Overload, and Assault Turret with the Engineer profile. I get a personal defense drone that passively reduces cooldowns, and detonate if any enemy gets within melee range which basically acts a a free Overload. Both Incinerate and Assault Turret sets enemies to burn, so I have a primer that Overload detonates, so I frequently get Fire combos, or a Tech Combo if I zap enemies with Overload after my drone does.

[TheodoricFriede]

Got to say, not liking FemRyders voice as much as MaleRyder.

[Someone With Mass]

https://techraptor.net/content/report-bioware-outsourced-mass-effect-andromeda-facial-animations

No idea if it's an April Fools joke, but gosh wouldn't that be...something.

Is it really surprising that a game suffers because the suits at EA are cheap and mentally challenged bastards? They did cut the voice actor budget in ME3 during its development, after all.

Another edit:

It was also, according to Robertson’s sources, not a cost-cutting issue. Robertson noted that the BioWare management team simply saw no need to polish the animations with the in-house team. One artist also claimed that they “actively went out of their way to offer their services to do additional work on the human character assets, and were turned away.”

It was the opinions of the sources who stated that the management in charge of the whole process did not see facial animations as a high priority for the game, and instead had the in-house team focus on other assets, including vehicles and armor, for further polish. If true, this meant that most of the animations on launch were largely untouched from the Cyberscans and that BioWare’s own in-house development team was not allowed to touch them up.

Oooh, this. This makes me want to hurt people. They have no place in this industry with that retarded mindset. I'd fire them all and make sure they'd never get to work on another video game again.

[Someone With Mass]

@mass
Does the Asari adept have the teleportation dash?

No, but every time she jumps or dashes, she leaves a rather long biotic trail behind her, which I simply think looks cool.

[magnuskn]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YJARrs0hrZQ

[Vol]

There's clearly spots where the facial animations are automatic, like in the ambient conversations, that lines up with certain proper conversation moments. Because then there's spot where the faces look and work fantastic, because someone clearly manually tidied it up. But Tuesday should be the big patch news, and the Bioware folks seem to be listening to all the bug reports and complaints.

[Someone With Mass]

There's clearly spots where the facial animations are automatic, like in the ambient conversations, that lines up with certain proper conversation moments. Because then there's spot where the faces look and work fantastic, because someone clearly manually tidied it up. But Tuesday should be the big patch news, and the Bioware folks seem to be listening to all the bug reports and complaints.

Have to say that the low quality of the average facial animations makes those proper conversations really stand out.

That said, I doubt there will be a massive patch that'll drastically improve the facial animations, since that'd require a change to the algorithms that makes up a majority of the game's animations, which also could introduce new problems. If anything, I'd rather have bug fixes first and cosmetic changes later.

[TheodoricFriede]

That said, I doubt there will be a massive patch that'll drastically improve the facial animations, since that'd require a change to the algorithms that makes up a majority of the game's animations, which also could introduce new problems. If anything, I'd rather have bug fixes first and cosmetic changes later.

While I agree its unlikely, there is precedent for a patch on that scale. Remember Ubisoft and Assassins Creed Unity? They basically had to re-code that entire game in an enormous patch.

[TheodoricFriede]

It was when i one-shot a fiend that i realized that Biotics are ridiculous in this game.

[Azint]

Ascendant are lame.

[Deano]

Ascendant are lame.

Get the Dhan, run at them. Their damage is quite easy to dodge.

[MeaslyBinkie]

So the Valkyrie is actually a decent AR, it's just a pity the two round burst has recoil.

Also has anyone figured out if the weapon receivers actually increase your armour damage or are they just good for making mooks stumble out of cover?

Ascendant are lame.

Boy, I sure do love being pulled through two stories worth of height and sync killed.

[TheodoricFriede]

Ascendant are lame.

A cloaked shot from a high damage sniper rifle will take their orb out in one hit.

[Someone With Mass]

I'm just using the Piranha shotgun and the Isharay sniper rifle (with heat sink) coupled with Turbocharge. Cuts through all the enemies like butter.

[Su37]

Ascendant are lame.

Really? I played on normal and thought they were fine.

[FrozenShadow]

There's clearly spots where the facial animations are automatic, like in the ambient conversations, that lines up with certain proper conversation moments. Because then there's spot where the faces look and work fantastic, because someone clearly manually tidied it up. But Tuesday should be the big patch news, and the Bioware folks seem to be listening to all the bug reports and complaints.

They better fix a lot of things in this incoming patch. Because right now, the game is totally ridiculous in some departments. So many bugs, glitches and horrible animations that's it's not even funny anymore.

Though the funniest thing is how they seemingly uglied the fem Ryder with day one patch. Seen few vids, where they have Fem Ryder pictures before and after the patch and damn this day 1 patch ruined Fem Ryder's looks.

[DarkStorm]

Try being a vanguard when fighting a fiend or ascendant insta-killed all day if you arent careful.

[Vol]

Super Pro Vanguard Guide:

Is Charge on cooldown?
No: CHARGE
Yes: MELEE

Is Charge on cooldown and you're about to get your shit smacked?
No: MELEE
Yes: NOVA

[Someone With Mass]

I also really like that the Engineer profile gives me a small combat drone that stuns nearby enemies, setting them up for combos and giving me ample time to mow them down with my shotgun.

Speaking of which, I was able to buy an improved version of the Crusader I just invested research points in on the Nexus. The hell is the point of being able to craft the weapons if I can just buy them? The augs really do not make that much of a difference. In fact, they make the guns worse in most cases when it comes to gun alterations.

[Raga]

Did an intentionally defensive rather than offensive Engineer playthrough, and it was satisfying but kind of boring. Lots of watching turrets and repetitive tech combos from cover.

Gonna do a melee vanguard next I think. Vanguard charge was so buggy in the last few games I just didn't have fun with it. My absolute favorite is shotgun infiltrator with a back up sniper rifle, but I wanted to make a character that was distinct from my canon Shepard so I'm intentionally avoiding that this time.

[magnuskn]

Vanguard was completely OP in ME3. Here it still feels good, but they nerfed double nova invulnerability frames (by removing double nova). Hence I have to use my guns and melee a bit.

[Deano]

I also really like that the Engineer profile gives me a small combat drone that stuns nearby enemies, setting them up for combos and giving me ample time to mow them down with my shotgun.

Speaking of which, I was able to buy an improved version of the Crusader I just invested research points in on the Nexus. The hell is the point of being able to craft the weapons if I can just buy them? The augs really do not make that much of a difference. In fact, they make the guns worse in most cases when it comes to gun alterations.

There are some good ones. One that recharges part of your shield when you run out of clip is good for shotguns. Also another that boosted your biotic power damage when you have a full clip was good.

[magnuskn]

edit: Putting that question into the spoiler section.

[Raga]

Vanguard was completely OP in ME3. Here it still feels good, but they nerfed double nova invulnerability frames (by removing double nova). Hence I have to use my guns and melee a bit.

I actually thought it was completely broken in ME3, at least in SP. I never play MP. There was this god-awful issue where after you charged, you would glitch partly through an enemy so that when you fired a gun at what should have been point blank range, the game would treat it as if the gun was on the other side of the enemy and would count the shot as a miss. It completely killed a charge/shotgun combo as it would count as a miss like 33-50% of the time.

That and the game would constantly tell you that you couldn't charge at a given enemy because some magic tree/rock/crate whatever between you and them was randomly charge resistant when one right next to it wasn't.

[magnuskn]

Who uses weapons in ME3 as a Vanguard? Charge/Nova/Nova is the ultimate combo to destruction.

I seldomly had problems with charge not working in ME3. The only place where it really got dicey was on Thessia, when those two Harvesters come in at once and you cannot reach them with the charge. And, yes, played it through on Insanity. Actually I'm on it once again at the moment, but it is on hold until I'm done with Andromeda.

[Raga]

Shotgun is quite useful for vanguard. Nova doesn't insta-kill everything but the Crusader pretty much does. Also cooldowns are a thing.

[Vol]

I use Nova for groups, to stagger, or i-frames, since even with the 75% recharge bonus on Charge, it still isn't up often enough.

Funnily enough, the game glitched and dumped me and a random queued bronze group into a gold match, and I didn't notice until after the first round, wherein I was the only one left standing because Vanguards are hilarious.

Shotguns are spotty as hell tho, at least the 2 I have available.

[Raga]

You can also actually snipe with the Crusader with slug so you aren't cornered with charge/nova as your one and only strategy.

[Vol]

All I have is the Katana, the krogan one with the blade on it, and the Venom, which I haven't tested. Weapon drops are real spotty for me for some reason.

[magnuskn]

Yeah, the Crusader is awesome for sniping. My favorite weapon for many classes in ME3 multiplayer.

At about level 30 I can carry four weapons (Pistol, Shotgun, AR and Sniper Rifle) and have a 100% cooldown rate, anyway. At least the N7 Valiant is still as good as always.

[Azint]

Biotics are for chumps. The higher the difficulty in multiplayer, the fewer biotics you see in a competent team. As it should be.

[Someone With Mass]

In multiplayer, all I use for casters is the Talon. Works ironically better than most shotguns, since there's sadly no equivalent to the Claymore.

I really hope they'll expand the multiplayer with more than just new characters and maps, because that'll get old fast. Maybe introduce new enemies in the factions that'll use the different faction weapons.

[cannedcream]

Okay, finally finished ME:A. So I no longer feel like the only person here who hasn't.


Vetra is a total dork-babe and is my spikey space wife forever, thank you.

[TheodoricFriede]

Vetra is a total dork-babe and is my spikey space wife forever, thank you.

Once you go dextro you never... uh... say "next-o"?

[Mobius_118]

Piranha on TurboCharge is like having an AA12 with 000 magnum buckshot.

The end result is like having someone fire an RPG at reactive armor at close range. Nothing but their boots remain.
Or having an M1 Abrams fire a Canister Shell down an alley filled with insurgents.

Gonna need a mop for that.

[UNiT]

Okay, finally finished ME:A. So I no longer feel like the only person here who hasn't.


Vetra is a total dork-babe and is my spikey space wife forever, thank you.

Vetra best space waifu.

[FrozenShadow]

Vetra is a total dork-babe and is my spikey space wife forever, thank you.

In many ways, Vetra is basically ME: Andromeda's version of Tali.

[Alienmorph]

I will admit, Vetra might be one of the few reasons that makes me pick up ME:A, later on. Emphasis on "later". Like after a bunch of patches, DLC content that doesn't suck ass and on discount.

But yeah, Vetra's pretty cool in my books too.

[Someone With Mass]

Say what you will about BioWare, they really know how to make the down to earth alien chick a lovable, compassionate dork.

I just hope her personal quest doesn't bug out for whatever reason.

[DarkStorm]

I had peebee's bug out, I finished it but the quest didn't go away on my journal.

[TheodoricFriede]

Say what you will about BioWare, they really know how to make the down to earth alien chick a lovable, compassionate dork.

I just hope her personal quest doesn't bug out for whatever reason.

It did for me. Had to reload one of the autosaves.

I had peebee's bug out, I finished it but the quest didn't go away on my journal.

Yep. Same.

In many ways, Vetra is basically ME: Andromeda's version of Tali.

I understand where people are coming from when they say that, but I feel like they are very different romances ultimately. The "drama" of Tali's romance really only comes from the fact that she could get sick. I mean hell, it literally goes "I like you. You like me. I want to have sex with you on the floor of engineering right now, but cant risk getting sick."

Vetra's comes more from the fact that she wants to make sure that you ACTUALLY like her, and its not just some Captain Kirk alien fetish thing. With a very minor undercurrent of her being concerned that her lack of understanding of human culture could be a problem.

[DarkStorm]

In many ways, Vetra is basically ME: Andromeda's version of Tali.

I understand where people are coming from when they say that, but I feel like they are very different romances ultimately. The "drama" of Tali's romance really only comes from the fact that she could get sick. I mean hell, it literally goes "I like you. You like me. I want to have sex with you on the floor of engineering right now, but cant risk getting sick."

Vetra's comes more from the fact that she wants to make sure that you ACTUALLY like her, and its not just some Captain Kirk alien fetish thing. With a very minor undercurrent of her being concerned that her lack of understanding of human culture could be a problem.

That and she says herself that she wants to know that you actually like her for who she is and not for what she can do as in getting things done with contacts.

[TheodoricFriede]

That and she says herself that she wants to know that you actually like her for who she is and not for what she can do as in getting things done with contacts.

I think I missed that, but it makes sense.

All in all, its a good romance. Im not going to say its better than Tali's but...

► Show Spoiler

Its better than Tali's.