Huh. They’re doing the first ten hours of Mass Effect: Andromeda for free.

All platforms. It’s enough to get you fiddling around with the first planet (EOS) in Mass Effect: Andromeda.  I swear to God, though: I wish that Bioware would either defecate, or get off the pot.  There are, in fact, two big cliffhangers in-game, so there are obvious hooks for DLC; but the game stumbled badly in getting out the door*.  So it’s justifiable to pull the plug on the game.  But if they’re going to do that, then they should cut their losses and stop fiddling with it.  Develop it or don’t develop it as they please, but they should please choose one.

Moe Lane

*Which is, ultimately, a mistake of management.  Oh, the developers clearly didn’t do their jobs — but it was management’s to make sure that the job got done anyway, and Bioware’s suits fornicated the canine on that action item pretty danged thoroughly. Some things you just can’t wing and a prayer.

Mass Effect: Andromeda removes Denuvo DRM in latest patch.

This is like old-style Kremlinology.  What does it mean, man?  Denuvo was on Mass Effect: Andromeda to prevent piracy, of course.  Does its going away mean that there won’t be single-player DLC, because Bioware no longer cares about the property? Or does it mean there will be DLC, because removing Denuvo allegedly improves performance and Bioware expects that people will be coming back to play the game soon?  It’s all very obscure.

I know, I know. I should not expect any single-player DLC for MEA.  I should actively expect that MEA will never have single-player DLC.  But I want to fight my way through to save the quarian Ark, tanjit. I enjoy doing things like that.

I suspect Bioware itself of originating the Mass Effect Andromeda DLC rumors.

Seems easy enough: first, set up a rumor from a shop purporting to be doing Mass Effect Andromeda DLC that there actually won’t be any story-based DLC (which everybody is largely assuming to be true, so why is it a rumor).  Then, let the rumor spread.  Finally, put out a response saying:

Boom! Instant buzz.  Or not.  I don’t care: if reporting this gets interest up in ME:A DLC, now that they’ve patched the animation bugs and everything, I will happily report away. I want to know what happened with the quarian Ark, dagnabbit.

So, rumors of Mass Effect: Andromeda Quarian Ark DLC.

Short version: the below appeared on the Mass Effect website as part of an APEX (multiplayer mode) debrief.

[DATA: Raw signal transmission received by Remnant observatory. My analysis accounts for attempted auto-translation by Remnant systems and data fragmentation.

ANALYSIS: “…trying to boost the signal. Unknown if… tech seems to be helping even if we don’t know the… back to Keelah Si’yah. …way home.”]

Continue reading So, rumors of Mass Effect: Andromeda Quarian Ark DLC.

Just finished Mass Effect: Andromeda.

Overall, I had a good time with this game.  Yes, Mass Effect: Andromeda‘s animation needs hella work.  It’ll be interesting to see if the patch Thursday addresses that; it had better clean up some of the quest bugs in the game, including one mission that I’m quite keen to finish up. But the combat is a lot better and I enjoyed playing a Mass Effect game where I didn’t have a little voice inside my head keep screaming gettheregettheregettherebeforeeverybodydies all the time. It was a bit relaxing, really.

Couple of tips: Continue reading Just finished Mass Effect: Andromeda.

So now it is time for the inevitable question…

Mass Effect: Andromeda DLC?

Yeah, yeah, I’m only on Planet #4 and I’m already asking that question.  I’m pretty sure that we’re not going to be getting new companions, if only because there isn’t a space for any in the Squad screen.  Looks like we’re back to a Mass Effect 1 ethos, which is hardly a surprise to anybody who’s played Andromeda for long. The entire dang game is a return to those days of yore, only now with jet-packs and no elevator ride conversations. Continue reading So now it is time for the inevitable question…

So, a few hours in for Mass Effect: Andromeda.

I’m still on the space station, which in classic beginning of video game fashion is a hot mess of people who apparently can’t do anything because of the thumbs up their rears.  Probably a side effect of the cryosleep process.  The leadership is all pissed at each other, nobody’s got a better plan than the Level 3 Chosen One who just breezed in, and there are a remarkable amount of boxes making it impossible for me to access a variety of doors just at this particular moment.  So, again, pretty typical. I’m sure that it’ll all clean up nice in the end, though. Continue reading So, a few hours in for Mass Effect: Andromeda.

Three days to go on Mass Effect: Andromeda…

…and we’ve already begun the traditional ‘yelling at Bioware.’  They hate the animation, they hate the sex scenes, they hate the wrong kind of sex scenes, they hate the character creation process… it’s all very exciting.  No, seriously.  It’s not truly a Bioware game unless somebody’s pissing and moaning over every conceivable aspect of it.  And, thanks to the miracle of limited early access, we can experience this marvelous folk custom before the game even comes out!

…Mind you, I largely don’t care about this because we’re getting back something like recognizable skill trees, more generalized characters, and Mako 2.0 the Nomad.  This is what I am here for. I want to wander around and obsessively look for stuff. I’ll be able to get it, starting Tuesday.
Continue reading Three days to go on Mass Effect: Andromeda…