Andromeda: First Impressions - No Spoilers

[deager]

Literally first impressions after 2 hours of gameplay, and that includes reading all the codex entries. I'm digging it. I hope if you purchase it some day that you will too.

I'm not even done with the first mission, but the feel, look, music...it's Mass Effect to me. Fryda Wolf is an excellent lead. Obviously I know nothing of the story yet and I can't really comment on any details to keep this spoiler free. I can write that the codex does deal with some scientific stuff regarding some plot points and, to me, seems good enough for a layman like me. I can also mention that nothing has felt drastically off yet, not even close in fact. I think one line sounded a little off? One.

This may be the real deal but all the really matters is what you want to do. Wait for reviews, wait for patches, or dive right in. I'm not seeing problems so far. It looks amazing at 1080p. I am on ultra, except for scaling back the anti-aliasing, and it is gorgeous.

I might write more here or maybe I'll do that spoiler free review a few people were interested in a while back. Anyway, if you want to come along, I hope to see you in Andromeda.

[kfreon]

I'm keen. One week, and we can all find out too.

[avpen]

Just from what I've seen from others playing the game (not giving spoilers), the only thing I'm really not too keen on is the default face for Sara Ryder - she looks like a 14 year old who had a bunch of elcor ass-fat injected into her lips to make them huge

[deager]

I wasn't keen on the default either. But, I made a Ryder I seem to like so far. Otte has made a nice one. Actually, it's pretty easy to make a lot of different looks. I think Ryder is supposed to be young; hopefully the one I made for run 1 isn't looking 14 as well...eep.

[ottemis]

The default face-shapes available for morphing are inclusive when it comes to race. It looks like they created them per region which means you get an array of very realistic and recognizable faces.
From walking around in-game I haven't seen an NPC face I didn't like. The only caveat being that we're lacking options in the CC that you'd really expect to be there, which makes me feel they were left out due to time-constraints and from what I've been reading the CC must have been one of the last things in (which would explain SO MUCH if similar was the case for the trilogy).
I feel one of Biowares weak spots, the quality of the hair styles, can officially be scratched off the list. Also.. hair physics! Animations look really solid to me, on the default AND the custom face.
I've tweeted lead designer Ian Frazier about CC sliders and options, I'm personally hoping for a patch. But even without it, the CC will enable you to make good looking, interesting faces.

The new shader overlay effects are gorgeous (water, dust, rust etc). The game is a marvel. I can't find fault with it.
Armor design is gorgeous, body animations look solid. The characters are emotive. I like the run animation (lol). Casual design, again gorgeous and they really shine on closeup. As a modder, I am in heaven because I'm sitting here not finding things I want to fix. There's nothing that looks like it needs improving. Quality sofar is entirely consistent in all things.

The voice acting is solid. The lines feel mature.
The combat is just a treat. I can't wait to go sniper biotic and lay waste.

Glowing review from me. The ONLY thing sofar is the need for additional CC sliders and options. Still what IS there is just... hot damn.
Review based on the first 2 hours of gameplay (3 if you count time spent in the CC).

My FemRyder, Caspya:


I'm running ultra everything with good framerates on a rig that technically does not meet minimum spec (I have a Phenom x6 3.3gig, 16gig RAM, R9 290). I think I've dipped below 25 fps ONCE.
Just.. I can't tell you guys what to do, but HONESTLY ... what a gem. I'm super pleased.

[kfreon]

That shirt texture.
Face textures look ok too.
But...HAIR. Come on Bioware.

Maximum keen-ness though.

[ottemis]

Well, the biggest problem with the hair is no highlight colours I feel. The texture itself could use a bit more contrast as well. The models are solid.

[deager]

I should add that I have a Core i7 6700K, 16GB ram, installed on an SSD, and using a GTX 1070. Crazy good on that. I was lazy but I could test on the GTX 970 I just replaced as I still have it. The recommended specs freaked me out and I didn't want to not enjoy this game on high settings.

[avpen]

And now I learn that Origin also has Early-Freaking-Access for MEA, which I never knew...  
I'm off to download, see you folks after it gets done in 4 hours. lol

[avpen]

Pretty much finished up my early playthrough, about 7-8 hours in and I hit the trial lockout point of the Early Access (I'll probably start my full game playthrough from my earlier save of just leaving the Nexus, though - that way I can play the early Eos missions with the Deluxe Edition content).

By and large, I'm very pleased with what I'm seeing and am getting a ton of ME1 vibes from MEA, which is a definite plus (though there are some genuine criticisms that I have). 

positives
Am on a Core i7-2600 3.4GHz, 16GB Ram, SSD, NVidia GTX 970, and running the game on Ultra graphic settings - the game looks damn gorgeous and for the majority of the time, it runs very smooth at around 50-60 fps. There were occasions where the game would drop to 40-50 fps, but I think I only dropped to 30 fps once or twice (both times were when the game transitioned between a very graphically intensive in-game scene and an FMV), nothing that seriously bothers me too much.

Combat feels great - using firearms and powers all feel very responsive, definitely enjoying the new biotic abilites like Lance and Backlash. Wasn't too sure about the jetpack feature when I first heard of it, but gotta say I greatly appreciate the new maneuverability and being able to Charge down upon an enemy from being high in the air never gets old, lol (really like how if you choose Vanguard/Adept Profiles, Ryder will instead use their biotics to jump and dash around instead of the jetpack). Only thing I'm still not entirely sold on is the lack of medi-gel to health yourself like in the previous games, now I have to be watching my health more often and looking everywhere on the battlefield for those resupply crates to heal myself.

With regards to combat and even exploration, though, I do have confession to make.... I HAVE to use a controller with this game   I tried, man, I seriously tried to play Andromeda with a keyboard and mouse, but I just can't do it - the game just felt so unresponsive on keyboard/mouse, especially with the new maneuverability features, compared to using a controller (that in combination with how you can only have 3 powers available at any given time, makes me think this game was definitely designed for console controls over PC).

The new Skill tree and character progression system feels pretty intuitive, like a suped-up version of ME1's character progression but you now have access to all Skill trees in the game. I've managed to unlock 3 Profiles, but have only really used the Vanguard Profile, haven't played with either Adept or Soldier Profiles yet (mainly because I Charge everywhere... lol)

Voice-acting is overall excellent, haven't heard a voice yet that sounded weak or like the actor was phoning it in (and am already recognizing a number of actors from previous BW games, lol) 

negatives
Incidentally, speaking of previous BioWare games..... I'm gonna come right out and say that BW seriously dropped the ball when it comes to Andromeda's character creator   the lack of opinions for Andromeda's CC is severely disappointing, especially after coming off of DAI which had a great CC that gave you a lot of control over your character's facial physicality. 

And not to beat a dead rotting horse on this matter, cause the internet seems intent on that right now... but yes, the facial animations and expressions could be improved   they're not the worse I've seen in a game, but they're definitely lacking compared to ME3 and DAI, in my opinion.

Also, and I don't know if this makes me weird or what, but.... there's a weapon description for one of the Milky Way weapons in the game that, well.... it kinda... put me into a bitch-fit for a good solid 2 minutes  just due to just how badly the writer f**ked up the description and lore of the weapon, especially considering how I am a f'ing nerd when it comes to quarian lore and history, lol.

overall
Honestly, I'm so f'ing pleased that this game (so far) looks and plays better than I was anticipating   It looks like Mass Effect, sounds like Mass Effects, and FEELS like Mass Effect, which I was very unsure of based on how little info we were seeing on the game up until the last 2 months. I'll definitely be staying up a bit late Monday night once the game gets unlocked and officially released.

[kfreon]

Preloading today. So much keen.
However I must say, all this Early Access, reviews, and hype makes me sad. MEA didn't need all this to sell itself.

[avpen]

Something I forgot to mention, but I love the new Galaxy Map exploration   it's flat out gorgeous and the 1st person view of it gives a real sense of wonder ... and at times, it's also rather intimidating (not spoiling anything, but there was one area of interest in one of the first systems where I was very nervous and kept asking myself, "Ok, should I really be checking this thing out?... I'm not gonna get myself and my ship destroyed, am I?"   lol)

[viper]

Damn,I was hoping BioWare will be hair master in this game but I suppose not

ottemis thats a relief because I couldn't afford to build a new system.And my GPU is not even close for recommended specs only I was running BF1 on 60fps on ultra without screen resolution thing maxed and Dragon Age Inquisition also ran 60fps without MSAA,with MSAA it was always 35-40,thats the only relief I've had before I saw your post.



Pre-loading now,these are my specs

i7-4790 @3.60Ghz
16GB RAM
GeForce GTX 780 DC2 Series 3GB
Win7 x64

is everything will be alright or should I be crying myself to river ? I'm really panicked,GTA V and Inquisition was the reason I built this PC back in 2014 and it was very costly at the time.

[kfreon]

Viper: That's better than my system.
I'd say if you can run BF1 and DAI like that, you'll be fine.

[viper]

kfreon Thank you very much