The Last Guardian?

Yep! Totally blanked on that name.

Here's a rambling rant about Mass Effect: Andromeda I just posted on city-data, a collection of thoughts after finishing the game:


So I finished the game yesterday. Took me just under 62 hours. I finished the vast majority of quests - unfortunately one loyalty mission for my crew members didn't trigger, and 2 side quests that bugged out.. but apart from these and those "scan 15 minerals" missions that were pointless and didn't move the plot in any direction (so I skipped them), I did every single quest.
Without spoilers, I have to say I am very happy with the ending and can't wait for the next part, as this clearly is just a first part in a new trilogy.
I gave it 7/10 before. I'll give it 8/10 now.
The game crashed a total of 4 times during these 62 hours, which isn't that bad actually. Apart from those 2 side quests that were bugged, everything else worked, though it sometimes required loading a previous checkpoint, luckily it was a couple of minutes game time lost at most.
The writing is very uneven. Loyalty missions are great, the main quest ain't bad either.. but many of the side quests are just stupid pointless filler. And to be honest, you could really skip them without any impact on your gameplay - I finished the game on normal, lvl 59, without any challenge. Had a ton of spare cash and nothing to spend it on, thousands of resources (whatever units they come in) and felt invincible.
Also what is important, you don't actually have to complete every mission to take a planets viability up to 100% - all the quests on a planet would sum up to 140% or something like that, and since it can't actually go over 100%, you can skip A LOT without any consequences.
Which I recommend you do as it gets tedious after a while, when you find a datapad only to hear you need to find 2 more in order to find a base full of generic enemies that don't pose a challenge, and to find pointless loot that is sub par to anything you can craft yourself.
Anyway, despite the numerous flaws, this is an awesome game with awesome characters and a good enough prelude to an amazing (I hope) new trilogy.

Guess I'm getting a PS4 then. And I really wish you didn't have to unlock the harder difficulties in ME. I only play Insanity, and I don't feel like beating the game twice just to get to the "real game".

I was a bit worried prior to buying it since I'd heard some mixed reviews from critics and friends. I have to say, the team that put it together has quite a bit of work to do in regards to refining facial expressions and general movement during cutscenes (there were some times where I felt like I was playing a remaster PS2 game). Games like Last of Us and Uncharted 4 have unfortunately ruined it for everyone and no one has an excuse for shoddy mocap nowadays. Other than that, I don't know how people can complain. I've really only just reached the part of the game where I've been given my ship and I have free reign to explore, but up to now I'd say it's been a solid Mass Effect experience. I'm curious enough in the story to keep going, there are just enough variations on old gameplay mechanics that it seems fresh, and despite weird facial animations I think the environments look great.

So I suppose I recommend it if you are a Mass Effect fan.

How is it gameplay-wise compared to the other games? I'll take that with a grain of salt I guess, since as someone who plays these games till the wheels fall off, it's kind of hard to get a feel for the gameplay as a whole when you only done one class (or whatever they're doing in this game). It took me a few playthroughs before I realized that, while fun and high energy, the gameplay in 3 was tailored almost entirely to the soldier class, making the others feel imbalanced and shoddily designed. But does Andromeda at least measure up to the other games at this point?

I think they addressed that. Again, I only just started to really dig into the game but my impression of the new system is that your initial class decision only gets you a couple points in your initial abilities. It doesn't lock you into a certain set. If you want to change your character's direction in the middle of the game, it looks like you can as you have access to just about everything.

First of all, it's getting a huge patch tomorrow which should, assuming we believe the patch notes should fix a ton of smaller issues, and many gamebreaking ones (though I don't think I had the misfortune of running into any of the big issues).
Gameplay wise it's a lot more dynamic. And flexible. The jump pack adds verticality, open world means you can get to where you want to get most of the time, this.. makes the game great as a shooter - not a tactical shooter mind you, squad orders are almost gone, as well as the "let's pause and think of a strategy and give orders" screen. This gave the game almost a "Far Cry" 3/4 vibe, where you see an enemy base in the distance and can approach it however you like - you can crash into it in the Nomad, guns blazing. You can pick off sentries with the sniper rifle. You can infiltrate, jump on the roof and start shooting them as they try to reach your position.
Character development however is imo the best in all the series. I'd like for there to be more than just combat skills, but that's the grumpy oldschool rpg fan talking, for what it is - it's great. Powers now can be combined into combos that deal massive dmg, so you can still dish it out as a biotic. Thing is this time, you don't have to specialize at all. You have these "profiles" that unlock as you put more points into the skill trees (combat, tech, biotic). Each profile adds several bonuses as well as an unique one, has multiple stages. Each profile has 3 power slots. Profiles can be changed on the fly using the F keys. This means you can enter the fight as a biotic, lift eveything up, then switch to a saboteur, technician or spy profile (or whatever) and set up turrets beneath them that will keep them occupied why they float around. And through all that, you can keep using whatever weapon you fancy, as there are no restrictions here.
I will come back to this probably rather sooner than later and my plan is to test out a biotic with only a pistol - the soldier/tech combo proved very powerful, in fact it was so powerful I don't think I died in combat more than twice during the whole game. I fell into bottomless pits quite a lot, but luckily that only teleports you back (with no shield) to where you jumped off of. Did I mention there is a lot of jumping ? There's a lot of jumping! Anyway, on normal the game is ...well, easy, and I think it would be just as easy for every class.
If you want it to be just as easy, when you're researching new weapons, look up the Dhan Shotgun. Small clip, weird acting ammo (takes some time getting used to, but not too much), short range (duh) but absolutely ridiculous damage. One shotting most regular opponents, 2 shotting elites and taking down brutes like the Fiend (biggest bullet sponges in the game) with 10 or so rounds. It's just silly. Thing is, you need to learn how to aim - it only holds 2 rounds and the reload is ridiculously long. Or at least feels like it when you have a charging beast in front of you and an empty clip :P

I'm late with the franchise but, just finished 'Uncharted: The Nathan Drake Collection', excellent trilogy

Starting Uncharted 4 today

http://i.imgur.com/YX4xuiG.jpg

Is this where I post this?

Holy **** did this excite the hell out of me. It might be too good to be true, but I certainly hope not.