Mass Effect Andromeda for Haters

[prinyo]

People who prefer ME combat vs. DA are all FPS players.  They think pausable tactical view is for old people or noob and real combat is about fast pace and multiple angles of approach.  I am guessing the bigger stage of ME:A (in open space) vs. ME (almost always in corridors) and the jump pack caters to their preference that the original trilogy lack. 

 

The counter argument from RPG players still stand though.  You can find all those qualities and most likely better in a real FPS so why not just go play those instead?  RPG combat should be more chess like of building your team, about strategic thinking of leveling and equipment to enhance the journey, rather than just fast twitch from one set to another. 

 

EDIT: PS. just to add that FPS is far, far bigger commercial market than RPG.  In ME Bioware blended RPG with FPS and it's definitely a main reason that ME sold much better than DA.  It's obvious that EA wants more FPS and less RPG.

 

 

So answer 2.

However the market share is not a factor here as MEA is a step back from ME3 in terms of marked coverage. The MEA combat is an updated version of the ME3 MP. Meaning ME3 offered both this (in MP) and the tactical team-work approach (in SP). MEA removes half of that and concentrates exclusively on the shooter market.

However looking at how many people praise the "improved" combat I guess the non-shooter market is really too small for them to bother with. 

[prinyo]

 

I replayed all ME games recently (before the launch of MEA).

 

"Better combat" means literally that, a better combat system than any previous ME games. Combat in ME never was tactical just because your squadmates had long cooldowns and very limited number of abilities and the enemies were quite bullet spongy. You often would find yourself sitting in the cover doing absolutely nothing for good 20-30 seconds, especially on higher difficulty settings (waiting for cooldowns/waiting for shields or health to regenerate). AI would often do the same, just sit in cover taking a pop shots at you.

 

MEA has bigger selection of moddable weapons than any previous game, it has dynamically destructible and penetratable cover (widow with 2.5m penetration mod just feels awesome), because of the jetpack you have greater mobility and close range/melee character is a viable option even on higher difficulty settings. And the whole profile system, while it makes me as rpg fan die a little inside, it does bring variety and you never feel unequipped for specific type of enemy game throws at you. And the most importantly, the style of combat truly varies depending on your abilities/class. You can play slow, utilizing cover like previous ME games or you can go for a faster more mobile approach that doesn't rely on cover at all.

 

The only thing that I think would improve the combat further is bringing back the ability to control your squadmates abilities. But I guess console controllers have limited number of buttons to bind everything...

 

 

Lets look at all this from a role-playing point of view. 

The biggest change they enforce is the loss of the control over the squad, to compensate they add profiles. This is the main change. Everything else is tweaks and upgrades.

 

There are many things I include when I talk about "tactical" combat, probably it is not the best word for this, but I can't find a better one. 

In the trilogy I would level the squadmates giving priorities to abilities and powers that compliment mine and I would choose whom to take with me depending if I want to experiment with a new approach, or I want to have the strongest possible squad. Or if I know what kinds of enemies will be the biggest problem I will choose squadmates the best equipped to deal with this. 

 

It all did make a role-playing sense - we are a team, each of us with their weaknesses and strong sides, together we can defeat any enemy. And the suadmates did matter. How many times when talking about missions online fans will give advises like - "take Liara on that mission, her [ability] really helps" , "bring Kaidan with you when you go to [place], his [ability] changes everything".

This is gone now. It will be "switch to this profile". Ugh. All of the rope-playing value, the importance and the "own weight" of the squadmates to make a difference is removed. Instead it is replaced by a gameplay mechanic - the profiles. Switching profiles does almost the same job as switching teammates, without the actual teammates. 

I have seen many people saying "don't bother changing squadmates in MEA, it doesn''t really matter".  No matter how good the cutscenes can be made - you will never see players attached to the MEA squadmates the same way - because they are just fluff, they do not really matter. 

 

The "bond forged in battle" is in the core of the ME experience for me. It is now gone. I can see the points in all the technical points you are making. But they could have made the combat technically better and dynamic as they did, without actually destroying what made it an essential part of the ME role-playing gameplay experience. 

So many small steps forward (weapons, mods, jetpack, dash) nerfed by a huge step backwards - at the bottom line the new combat system is really bad from my point of view - as a RPG fan, not as a shooter fan. 

[Chekist]

 

 

 

I replayed all ME games recently (before the launch of MEA).

"Better combat" means literally that, a better combat system than any previous ME games. Combat in ME never was tactical just because your squadmates had long cooldowns and very limited number of abilities and the enemies were quite bullet spongy. You often would find yourself sitting in the cover doing absolutely nothing for good 20-30 seconds, especially on higher difficulty settings (waiting for cooldowns/waiting for shields or health to regenerate). AI would often do the same, just sit in cover taking a pop shots at you.

MEA has bigger selection of moddable weapons than any previous game, it has dynamically destructible and penetratable cover (widow with 2.5m penetration mod just feels awesome), because of the jetpack you have greater mobility and close range/melee character is a viable option even on higher difficulty settings. And the whole profile system, while it makes me as rpg fan die a little inside, it does bring variety and you never feel unequipped for specific type of enemy game throws at you. And the most importantly, the style of combat truly varies depending on your abilities/class. You can play slow, utilizing cover like previous ME games or you can go for a faster more mobile approach that doesn't rely on cover at all.

The only thing that I think would improve the combat further is bringing back the ability to control your squadmates abilities. But I guess console controllers have limited number of buttons to bind everything...

Lets look at all this from a role-playing point of view.
The biggest change they enforce is the loss of the control over the squad, to compensate they add profiles. This is the main change. Everything else is tweaks and upgrades.

There are many things I include when I talk about "tactical" combat, probably it is not the best word for this, but I can't find a better one.
In the trilogy I would level the squadmates giving priorities to abilities and powers that compliment mine and I would choose whom to take with me depending if I want to experiment with a new approach, or I want to have the strongest possible squad. Or if I know what kinds of enemies will be the biggest problem I will choose squadmates the best equipped to deal with this.

It all did make a role-playing sense - we are a team, each of us with their weaknesses and strong sides, together we can defeat any enemy. And the suadmates did matter. How many times when talking about missions online fans will give advises like - "take Liara on that mission, her [ability] really helps" , "bring Kaidan with you when you go to [place], his [ability] changes everything".
This is gone now. It will be "switch to this profile". Ugh. All of the rope-playing value, the importance and the "own weight" of the squadmates to make a difference is removed. Instead it is replaced by a gameplay mechanic - the profiles. Switching profiles does almost the same job as switching teammates, without the actual teammates.
I have seen many people saying "don't bother changing squadmates in MEA, it doesn''t really matter". No matter how good the cutscenes can be made - you will never see players attached to the MEA squadmates the same way - because they are just fluff, they do not really matter.

The "bond forged in battle" is in the core of the ME experience for me. It is now gone. I can see the points in all the technical points you are making. But they could have made the combat technically better and dynamic as they did, without actually destroying what made it an essential part of the ME role-playing gameplay experience.
So many small steps forward (weapons, mods, jetpack, dash) nerfed by a huge step backwards - at the bottom line the new combat system is really bad from my point of view - as a RPG fan, not as a shooter fan.

 

As I mentioned in another post, the main problem with MEA (besides being rushed unfinished mess) is that it is marketed as rpg and it even sometimes pretends to be a rpg by giving you an illusion of choice(choice that doesnt have a tangible consequence or impact on the story), when it is clearly not a rpg.

There was a game once, Spec Ops: The Line. It was a story driven cover based 3rd person shooter with branching dialogues and illusions of choice. Thats pretty much what ME3 and MEA are. Spec Ops: The Line was never considered a rpg, despite the fact how similar those the games are.

 

Now the main difference between ME3 and MEA combat is that in Mass Effect 3, the levels are linear and pretty much all encounters with enemies are scripted, leading to reactionary combat style. In MEA most of the combat encounters are in the open world enviroment, player is the aggressor here the combat is a lot more active and satisfying.

 

And yes, all squadmates are useless (except for Drak, that does surprising amount of damage in melee range). Poor AI makes things worse (I am looking at you, Liam, throwing random nades often not even in direction of enemies). Also, squadmates will often not use their abilities, waiting for that "combo with player" that might never happen, because player doesn't have any active skills to combo with that squadmate.

 

Of course it all goes down to the personal preferences, but I personally think that active combat with little downtime and focus on a player skills is a lot more satisfying that a slower more "tactical" combo approach, when you often find yourself sitting in the cover doing nothing while your/or your squadmates cooldowns recharge.

[prinyo]

 

Now the main difference between ME3 and MEA combat is that in Mass Effect 3, the levels are linear and pretty much all encounters with enemies are scripted, leading to reactionary combat style. In MEA most of the combat encounters are in the open world enviroment, player is the aggressor here the combat is a lot more active and satisfying.

 

Of course it all goes down to the personal preferences, but I personally think that active combat with little downtime and focus on a player skills is a lot more satisfying that a slower more "tactical" combo approach, when you often find yourself sitting in the cover doing nothing while your/or your squadmates cooldowns recharge.

 

 

From my previous post:

 

 

 

But they could have made the combat technically better and dynamic as they did, without actually destroying what made it an essential part of the ME role-playing gameplay experience.

So many small steps forward (weapons, mods, jetpack, dash) nerfed by a huge step backwards - at the bottom line the new combat system is really bad from my point of view - as a RPG fan, not as a shooter fan.

 

I agree with all the points you make. I simply don't see the reason for butchering the system so many fans love. All the good things you mention could have been done on top of it. 

And I don't see how a jet and a dash can compensate the huge damage on the role-playing aspect of the combat and the total erasure of the meaning of the squad - the core of what ME is all about.

 

So far my initial impressions of the game as "a cool sci-fi shooter about teenagers in space" seem correct. I can't see a single aspect of the game that will not be a disappointment for the RPG-minded ME fans.

[Chekist]

 

 

Now the main difference between ME3 and MEA combat is that in Mass Effect 3, the levels are linear and pretty much all encounters with enemies are scripted, leading to reactionary combat style. In MEA most of the combat encounters are in the open world enviroment, player is the aggressor here the combat is a lot more active and satisfying.

 

Of course it all goes down to the personal preferences, but I personally think that active combat with little downtime and focus on a player skills is a lot more satisfying that a slower more "tactical" combo approach, when you often find yourself sitting in the cover doing nothing while your/or your squadmates cooldowns recharge.

 

 

From my previous post:

 

 

 

But they could have made the combat technically better and dynamic as they did, without actually destroying what made it an essential part of the ME role-playing gameplay experience.

So many small steps forward (weapons, mods, jetpack, dash) nerfed by a huge step backwards - at the bottom line the new combat system is really bad from my point of view - as a RPG fan, not as a shooter fan.

 

I agree with all the points you make. I simply don't see the reason for butchering the system so many fans love. All the good things you mention could have been done on top of it. 

And I don't see how a jet and a dash can compensate the huge damage on the role-playing aspect of the combat and the total erasure of the meaning of the squad - the core of what ME is all about.

 

So far my initial impressions of the game as "a cool sci-fi shooter about teenagers in space" seem correct. I can't see a single aspect of the game that will not be a disappointment for the RPG-minded ME fans.

 

 

I can tell you the reason: console controller has only that many buttons. Also they've been systematically butchering rpg elements of the game with each game, dumpening and streamlining everything down. Another reason might be the mismanagement of time.

 

The UI is the prime example of that, it looks like something that was put together in a month without any thought or proper design put into it. For example, why can you equip items when you loot them, but can't equip items from the inventory screen?

 

You know what the funniest and saddest part is in all that? Bioware is THE RPG DIVISION of EA. From this position they have two ways: either that entirely new game Bioware Edmonton has been working on for 4 years now is a masterpiece and it will be released in next 2-3 years and can redeem customers trust in Bioware, or they are pretty much done, another lifeless husk of a studio in EA collection.

[prinyo]

 

I can tell you the reason: console controller has only that many buttons. Also they've been systematically butchering rpg elements of the game with each game, dumpening and streamlining everything down. Another reason might be the mismanagement of time.

 

The UI is the prime example of that, it looks like something that was put together in a month without any thought or proper design put into it. For example, why can you equip items when you loot them, but can't equip items from the inventory screen?

 

You know what the funniest and saddest part is in all that? Bioware is THE RPG DIVISION of EA. From this position they have two ways: either that entirely new game Bioware Edmonton has been working on for 4 years now is a masterpiece and it will be released in next 2-3 years and can redeem customers trust in Bioware, or they are pretty much done, another lifeless husk of a studio in EA collection.

 

 

As far as I know the reason is that they didn't want to have 2 different systems between the MP and SP. I think they realized they do not have the potential to develop a big game the way they have planned and started cutting stuff. 

 

I think the secret new IP they are working on is a shooter, so it will be pretty much irrelevant for the RPG fans. I guess we need to wait for DA4 in order to see what did Bioware learn from all that is going on now. 

 

-------------

 

On an unrelated topic - Kotaku about MEA and the gays.

[winny257]

thereto is nothing to complain about, That face is good, the body is good. 

 

https://youtu.be/ZP--LcEwmoI

[LukeDuke]

You know that something is not right when the only good animations and characters look is in the ... sex scenes 

[winny257]

You know that something is not right when the only good animations and characters look is in the ... sex scenes 

 

it is a matter of character creation, can you thee This sexanimation with her introduce? 

 

[ToJKa]

Ah, the space love boat sails again!

[prinyo]

[winny257]

 

                   

 

[Jazzman]

 

You know that something is not right when the only good animations and characters look is in the ... sex scenes 

 

it is a matter of character creation, can you thee This sexanimation with her introduce? 

 

 

Told you before release that viewers have to wait for customized Ryders to get a first impression of the possibilities and their limits. To judge based on vanilla presets as many people did merely proves the lack of any experience with the RPG communities and, above all, own creation skills on the sliders. This face is based on preset 5, whereas the majority still goes for the Asian preset 1, as I have prophesied. That might change over time though. What might not change that easily, if ever, that is the strange animation caused by a corrupted FaceFX.

 

The possibilities to produce an acceptable looking female Ryder are apparent, but what about the limits?

Well, in good BioWare tradition the player ends up in a predefined age group, here with the typical 'jaw-head' of a teenager which perfectly fits into the first-dater love dialogues. Not by chance such a classic, utterly comedic approach by inexperienced youngsters forces adult bystanders like the Salarian pilot Kello Jath to cynic comments like "Kill. Me. Now."

 

This is very funny but only once, not all the time. Consequently I'll stay out of the kiddo romance thing which has already caused an imo ridiculous LGBT war about identity rights and in-game chances for the one or another orientation group to express their sexuality. I for one don't have to command a flying Bang Bus in space in Lez-do-it fashion with the pants down, the shields I mean.

[LukeDuke]

Please go to general thread, and not ''haters'' okay? This one was created for a reason lol 

 

Thank you.

 

P.S. After playing it, yeah this is the worst ME game ever made, hell it's the worst game BW/EA did ever made.. 

 

Glad I got it cheap, next time I will not buy it at all, even not a ''GOTY (LOL) or ''complete'' edition 

[Aria]

These never get old

 

[winny257]

Please go to general thread, and not ''haters'' okay? This one was created for a reason lol 

 

Thank you.

 

P.S. After playing it, yeah this is the worst ME game ever made, hell it's the worst game BW/EA did ever made.. 

 

Glad I got it cheap, next time I will not buy it at all, even not a ''GOTY (LOL) or ''complete'' edition 

 

I have none of the complete Mass Effect Series and I will also NONE ever buy!         

But not because I'm a hater, no because this series is more of a shooter than an RPG! 

[winny257]

 

These never get old

 

 

own goal shot.

you have to forget That I am a German and I can very well understand what is talked about in this video!

And one thing is for sure, no word about Mass Effect. 

 

Edit: and a Nazi propaganda film to abuse, Is more than just idiot***! 

 

The author of this video is meant by this. 

[Jazzman]

 

Please go to general thread, and not ''haters'' okay? This one was created for a reason lol 

 

Thank you.

 

P.S. After playing it, yeah this is the worst ME game ever made, hell it's the worst game BW/EA did ever made.. 

 

Glad I got it cheap, next time I will not buy it at all, even not a ''GOTY (LOL) or ''complete'' edition 

 

I have none of the complete Mass Effect Series and I will also NONE ever buy!         

But not because I'm a hater, no because this series is more of a shooter than an RPG! 

 

That's not what defines a today hater, winny pops. Today one declares a game 'the worst ever made' by a company and apparently continues playing it nonetheless (watch the tense used above) or waits for an even cheaper copy to play it - giving the company the finger, as it is called. Strange, huh? Yeah! In the days of old I quitted such a game immediately and buried everything related to it, the bad memories included, sometimes the company as well. Never got me a crap game for cheap though cos that's foolish. Time has changed, gamers have changed, they are getting younger by the day. Wouldn't be surprised when they are still liquid in 100 years or so ROFL

 

Mass Effect was always an Action RPG with emphasis on action. The trigger-happiness got boosted in Andromeda, yup. On the contrary nobody knows what has initiated the Initiative, nobody but Elon Musk, I'd say.

[prinyo]

Some Of The Witcher 3's Character Animations Are Still Blowing People Away

 

 

Most of The Witcher 3's dialogue scenes were animated by an algorithm

 

 

The problem going into The Witcher 3 was obvious: they were making a vast, non-linear, fully-voiced RPG. CD Projekt wanted decisions in The Witcher 3 to feel meaningful, and for them to feel meaningful players needed to form emotional attachments with the characters. They wanted to be able to sell drama by showing it, not by telling you up front a scene was supposed to be emotional.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Former BioWare animator explains why animations in Mass Effect: Andromeda are the way they are

 

 

Andromeda seems to have lowered the quality of it's base algorithm, resulting in the 'My face is tired' meme featuring nothing but lip-sync.

 

 

Mass Effect Andromeda and the quest for great facial animation

 

 

 

Andromeda uses technology from OC3 Entertainment, which makes FaceFX, middleware that uses audio files to create lip and face animation for 3D models. It's everywhere, adopted by The Division, Fallout 4, Batman: Arkham Knight and many more big releases, and it's based on making a set of poses for phoneme shapes, the basic lip poses we form when we say Oh or Aa or Mm, and then applying them to the sound of the recorded dialogue.

CD Projekt RED used similar tech for The Witcher 3's 35 hours of dialogue using an in-house tool which also added body movements and camera angles to the mix. It's difficult to compare with Andromeda since BioWare hasn't shown off its tools, but The Witcher 3's dialogue scenes benefited from the fact that policy was that generative animation was only the starting point. On the basis that it's easier to modify than to start from fresh, animators could take generated scenes and tweak them freely, placing incidental gestures and new camera angles, even moving character positions and poses

 

 

 

[winny257]

 

 

---snip---

That's not what defines a today hater, winny pops. Today one declares a game 'the worst ever made' by a company and apparently continues playing it nonetheless (watch the tense used above) or waits for an even cheaper copy to play it - giving the company the finger, as it is called. Strange, huh? Yeah! In the days of old I quitted such a game immediately and buried everything related to it, the bad memories included, sometimes the company as well. Never got me a crap game for cheap though cos that's foolish. Time has changed, gamers have changed, they are getting younger by the day. Wouldn't be surprised when they are still liquid in 100 years or so ROFL

 

Mass Effect was always an Action RPG with emphasis on action. The trigger-happiness got boosted in Andromeda, yup. On the contrary nobody knows what has initiated the Initiative, nobody but Elon Musk, I'd say.

 

 

you know certainly Dragon Age 2, very badly developed, small until no landscape areas, a character (race) to the selection, was rated very badly.

Despite all this I love this game because this story and romance is unmistakable, Bethesda is never capable of doing this a good story to tell.

and it goes me at the ass past what others say, I have my opinion and the to stand rocks fixed!   

[winny257]

Some Of The Witcher 3's Character Animations Are Still Blowing People Away

 

 

Most of The Witcher 3's dialogue scenes were animated by an algorithm

 

---snip---

 

CD Projekt RED this company HATE I like the plague.   

But why is my affair and therefore no comment! 

[prinyo]

 

you know certainly Dragon Age 2, very badly developed, small until no landscape areas, a character (race) to the selection, was rated very badly.

Despite all this I love this game because this story and romance is unmistakable, Bethesda is never capable of doing this a good story to tell.

and it goes me at the ass past what others say, I have my opinion and the to stand rocks fixed!   

 

DA2 is the only game I really hate. No other game can make me emotionally hate, despise, loathe, abhor ...  it.

Other games can make me feel disappointed or simply not interested. But DA2 I hate with passion. I played it till the end for the only reason to see how bad can it be and it did not "disappoint". That game is crime as far as I'm concerned. 

 

I don't want Bethesda to tell me stories. I want them to set me loose in an interesting world and keep me entertained with stuff. And that's what they do. 

 

But anyway, those things are off-topic.

[winny257]

 

 

you know certainly Dragon Age 2, very badly developed, small until no landscape areas, a character (race) to the selection, was rated very badly.

Despite all this I love this game because this story and romance is unmistakable, Bethesda is never capable of doing this a good story to tell.

and it goes me at the ass past what others say, I have my opinion and the to stand rocks fixed!   

 

DA2 is the only game I really hate. No other game can make me emotionally hate, despise, loathe, abhor ...  it.

Other games can make me feel disappointed or simply not interested. But DA2 I hate with passion. I played it till the end for the only reason to see how bad can it be and it did not "disappoint". That game is crime as far as I'm concerned. 

 

I don't want Bethesda to tell me stories. I want them to set me loose in an interesting world and keep me entertained with stuff. And that's what they do. 

 

But anyway, those things are off-topic.

 

 

The only Bethesda game that was good for me, was Morrowind!

Everything else was rubbish, Because Bethesda has himself on Modder leave, They have repaired Skyrim not Bethesda.

[FauxFurry]

 

 

 

you know certainly Dragon Age 2, very badly developed, small until no landscape areas, a character (race) to the selection, was rated very badly.

Despite all this I love this game because this story and romance is unmistakable, Bethesda is never capable of doing this a good story to tell.

and it goes me at the ass past what others say, I have my opinion and the to stand rocks fixed!   

 

DA2 is the only game I really hate. No other game can make me emotionally hate, despise, loathe, abhor ...  it.

Other games can make me feel disappointed or simply not interested. But DA2 I hate with passion. I played it till the end for the only reason to see how bad can it be and it did not "disappoint". That game is crime as far as I'm concerned. 

 

I don't want Bethesda to tell me stories. I want them to set me loose in an interesting world and keep me entertained with stuff. And that's what they do. 

 

But anyway, those things are off-topic.

 

 

The only Bethesda game that was good for me, was Morrowind!

Everything else was rubbish, Because Bethesda has himself on Modder leave, They have repaired Skyrim not Bethesda.

 

There is no point in bringing up any other game developer's missteps or design choices that don't appeal to you in a thread about a specific game by a specific developer. The fact that they are all flawed and are taken to task in in turn does not detract from the fact that this time BioWare was in error and as such, it is their turn in the hot seat.

When another company publishes an unfinished game, their will likely be as great a backlash as this or even greater as the consumers are now losing patience with the content producers in addition to the consumer confidence as a result of the deficiency in their work ethic.

 

I would recommend directing the dissatisfaction towards those other companies on their official sites since they do seem to be willing to at least countenance criticism. BioWare would likely dismiss everyone who was displeased with the fruits of their latest development cycle as being some form of bigot or other,ban the users who complain or just shut down their forums.

[RitualClarity]

 

I'm half tempted to buy the game just to see the show.  Watching all these hilarious vids makes me feel like I am missing out.

Be sure buy the $200 super deluxe version that has the remote controlled car...but not the game.

 

 

Wait until the next major sale and it will be > 25% off of the game. The last game I saw drop this bad was Fallout 4, and that didn't drop as quickly

 

Those looking at the game now and wondering why people are complaining (the video showing you can get a somewhat decent female character) I believe there were some patches or fixes recently.  There have been some fixes to the facial animation and some minor fixes to the faces mostly minor around the mouth.

 

With a lot of work and fooling around you can get something reasonable but nothing like what was able to be created before on any of the previous ME games.  Disclaimer: There was a prompt for you to download a character from their site if you joined. I can't speak to this, as I haven't tried that. 

 

However the previous games you could just select a preset and go. It might not be the very best but it was acceptable and actually looked like someone should look. And what is with the waxy skin?

 

In order to be challenging

 

 

You play a game of sudoku with symbols to add a bit of challenge. Just to make sure your intelligence isn't totally insulted you have to find a couple of them to play the mini-game to unlock a console in the main part of the game. your intelligence isn't insulted until you realize that you have already found some of the symbols before and the game is treating you like an idiot and making you find them again, and again, and again because you are too stupid with a super enhanced AI computer in your head to remember the previous ones.

 

There is a whole series of jump/dash quest you have to complete and do it during a timed event. This is also to give a challenge. Weak, and insulting when there could be so many other ways to do this and provide more entertainment. The "Vaults" seem to appear to be geared to children's entertainment or those that want to button mash in combos to get the job done instead of using actual strategy

 

 

 

The conversations are bland to boring and rarely entertain as much as they have in the past three games. Three are a few things you might find funny or give you a smile but for the most part it feels rushed. Romance for the most part (early stages) are not as engaging as the previous one. Remember the way Liara got flustered with your first conversation? How Tali was bashful, how Ashley got totally pissed when she thought you were romancing someone else? Don't get the same feeling in this game.