Mass Effect Andromeda lead says it's been 'hard' to take criticism of BioWare's latest

BioWare's Ian Frazier speaks to IBTimes UK about negative feedback and fan interaction.

[skydragoonityx]

Next time live up to the hype you build

[UCForce]

And be more polished.

[Eldyraen]

Polish is what it needed.

It's a good game really but it has many issues that should had been sorted as no way this game as it stands wasn't constantly getting QA memos from testers pointing stuff out. I'll likely put 100+ hours in it my first playthrough ("completionist" as much as I can anyways as I don't use walk throughs) so I'm enjoying it but it would be borderline great if it was more polished. Not as good as the Trilogy imo (although partly nostalgia glasses and storybased differences) but it's not near as bad as people make it out to be (outside of lack of polish and now and again performance issues). If they can sort it all out (which they should have done before release) it will improve the game so much... but probably too late. Maybe in a year or so we see a Fixed release with all dlc or something to get distractors interested as it could be a much better game than it stands now.

[thekhurg]

It just needed polish. The game isn't that bad when compared to a lot of games, but it's not near the standard that Bioware has set for itself over these years. I don't know what happened with their studio to have all of these issue slip through, but I hope they can fix it.

[nX]

The funny thing is that Dragon Age Inquisition had polish, but lacked quality. Now Andromeda has some quality but lacks polish. It's clearly their management that's at fault here.

[Perjoss]

Lets be fair, the lead has to do whatever the publisher tells him/her, if EA says ship it even though its not finished then you cant really blame the lead for an unfinished game. I'm in no way defending the unfinished game as this shit shouldn't happen, but lets direct the blame to the right people shall we.

[Allsystemgamer]

They had 5 years. Should have prioritized their time better.

[phoenixwing]

@Allsystemgamer

are you a dev? because if you aren't i don't think you should claim the time frame for a massive game like mass effect. the number of variables and things that go into and work needed to make something good are probably a huge beast to deal with. Just to put in perspective, FF XV had a long development time, imagine how that game would be if SE just told the team to ship it at the five year mark. Also they said originally, it was a procedurally generated universe then they scrapped it. Basically what i'm getting at is that it's not an easy undertaking sometimes even for the most experienced of devs. I'd also like to mention that everyone i've talked to who owns the game says the combat gameplay is on point.

[HollowKnight]

" "Our intent was to always be flexible because you don't know how fans are going to react," he explained. "You don't know what they're going to get super-attached to, positively or negatively. So we went in thinking 'here's some stuff we're definitely going to do, and then here's some stuff we might do, maybe, let's see how the fans react'."

They still don't know what the fans like In mass effect & this Is the fourth Installment In the series smh.....
I say serves them right, for thinking gamers are dumb and wouldn't notice.

[JasonKCK]

Pretty sure the publisher never said make a buggy broken game lead by racist and liars.

[TheCommentator]

Yep, Hollow Knight, if Bioware wanted to know how fans would react all they had to do is listen to us when we complained about ME3. Ironic that Bioware creates a game trilogy based around a cyclic purge of the galaxy but doesn't understand that history repeats itself.

All System, IMO, the combat sucks. The verticality of the levels ruins the combat scenarios a little bit, and the loss of pausing the combat to make the game turn-based iced the crap cake.

[Allsystemgamer]

@pheonix

Going to keep making excuses? IT doesn't matter if they had to scrap sections of the game. You just proved my point even more because that's poor time management.

They had 5 years. Know who else had 5 years? Rockstar.

And yes. I am working on a game.

[joab777]

This game is amazing! The more I play it, the better it gets too. The opening had issues but it is a HUGE game with great stories and characters and places to visit. You affect change throughout the galaxy and there's a wonderful link to the old game.

Ppl will continue to loop the same footage over and over and there's no doubt that a few human faces were bad, but the game is very good!

[EmperorRosko]

I agree, I've played a fair few hours so far and not had the issues everyone seems to be slating the game for!

[Nu]

And don't hire inexperienced cosplayers.

[babadivad]

This company isn't even Bioware anymore. All the talent that made them what they are have already left. Including the creator of the Mass Effect franchise.

[annoyedgamer]

awwww snowflake

[SCW1982]

Its hard to release a game that wasn't ready.

[HollowKnight]

Agreed.

[gamer7804]

first thing, don't interview with IBTimes... second, eventually everyone stumbles, its how you recover and learn from it is what counts. Will be interesting to see what they do with the game or move on to the next version.

[CrimzonRazor]

why cant IBTimes do a interview with them bioware is a business after all

[gamer7804]

their writers are awful and create sensational false headlines, see the original headline they wrote about Colin Morality calling him a racist.

[dmetripaulpavlin]

You are writing like he would be reading N4G or would give a fuck about a few folks comments. The criticism is there because the game is very boring, not because of poo poo animations or wonky glitches. no all reasonable people look past that sort of stuff. The real problem is the game is just lame. Seriously, I can only assume you have played it, how many enemy types are there again? WOW a whopping what maybe 20, lets say 30 just to be generous and that is an incredibly low number given the game spans an entire galaxy with 7 (only 7 wtf?) planets where you actually do something on. Seven planets with real gameplay... does this need elaboration? Seriously nobody needs NMS number of planets but maybe since the planets are literally the most barren and boring planets only outdone in boringness by NMS maybe make more of them. It would be easier to look past that 90% plus of each planet is seemingly pointless terrain with no purpose other than to make the playable area seem grand in the scheme. I can make an infinite playing area and it wouldn't be any good if the enemies are thousand of miles apart. Let's discuss the multiplayer... for real this might be the worst damn part of the game. Oh wow wave based enemies that get progressively more difficult, and it's 4 players coop?!!? Sign me up for the cliff because I already have played this, it was called Horde, Zombies, Firefight, or insert any lame and lazy wave based game mode. Why even waste the fucking time on this shit? Make the fucking campaign coop if you feel the need to waste development time doing bullshit, at least that would be fun.

That being said, I have sunk like 30 hours into this, and it isn't bad if it were the first in the series developed by a bunch of jack offs, but this is the fourth installment of a huge fucking franchise. Its pathetic when you put it into perspective. I don't want to hear the bullshit about the story and all that shit, yeah very predictable. But but your choices, they have no effect stop pretending. It felt like no matter my dialogue choices a squad mate would get pist about it but eventually just get over each and every backhand I dealt them. This game is garbage for this franchise.

[TheColbertinator]

Maybe they should release a game that runs properly. Even ME 1 had more polish than Andromeda.

[leoms]

ME1 did not have more polish than andromeda.

[TheColbertinator]

Andromeda has crashed on me a dozen times. ME1 didn't crash for me once until a month of owning the game.

[leoms]

Different experiences I guess as Andromeda did not crash on me yet. ME1 only crashed probably 2-3 times at most when I bought it back in 2010 on my PS3. I still think Andromeda is far more polished than ME1.

[Allsystemgamer]

You can think what you want. You're still verifiably wrong.

[Phunkydiabetic1]

Neckbeards....Neckbeards everywhere...

[Allsystemgamer]

At least they can grow a beard...:..

[opinionated]

If you're the lead you just have to take the hit and learn from your mistakes. The priorities were a shitshow. Bioware has been slipping down hill for a minute though.

[InTheZoneAC]

next time stop focusing on sex and actually test what you're developing. Did not a single game tester say "this is going to draw some serious negative feedback"?

[Mr-Dude]

There is nothing wrong with sex in games imo, The Witcher 3 proved that. The problem is that sex in games is often very clunky presented or just weird due to the animations. Bioware isn't just that good anymore as they once were. Most of the old dev are all gone. But story and gameplay should always cone first in these kind of games. And they should keep politics out of games.

[Injusticewarrior]

Should care more about the fans that paid full price.

[Trekster_Gamer]

Build a shitty game get shitty feedback!!

[Segata]

Oh Boo Hoo you know you made a turd and thought you could sell it on brand name alone lol. You deserved it.

[CrimzonRazor]

its far from a turd

[ClayRules2012]

The "TRUTH" hurts!

Take the criticism, learn from it, and be BETTER next time.

[DarXyde]

"It's difficult because we do want to help, so you're out on Twitter and forums and stuff trying to troubleshoot issues or give people a hint on something they're struggling with. But to do that, to help the fans and try to absorb the feedback to better steer what we do next, you have to wade through a lot of crap. And that part is not a lot of fun."

Nature of the business. I wonder what exactly he means by "crap". Nuanced issues? Personal gripes? Probably a good idea to hear those people out too, especially if it's abundant.

[bumbleforce]

thats a lie me 1 runs like crap but has a great story. Combat in ME:A is great just the animations are wonky. Iv got the first to planets to 100% and im loveing this game so far. May not be overall as good as original 3 but its still damn good. Also i dont see people swearing off fallout 4 for haveing even worse animations

[Mr-Dude]

Fallout 4 is the worst Fallout imo, but the core, the exploring was good. The rest was meh...

[CrimzonRazor]

fallout has not been good since they switched to a first person shooter with three, wasteland 2 is much better.

[leoms]

Most of them did not play Andromeda. They are just following reviewers critics.

[AnubisG]

This is what you get when your priorities are SJWs and feminazis.

Devs should understand that they have to please gamers not these idiot SJW and LGBTKMBU or whatever is added this week community.

[lawgone]

Bingo! "Hey, let's hire a guy that tweets about his hatred for white people and then make you unable to have a fair skinned character! I'm sure white people wont mind."

http://www.oneangrygamer.ne...

[Kabaneri]

I think this game has been a good wake up call for Bioware and EA.

[PiNkFaIrYbOi]

We can only hope it does, but wouldn't bet the farm on it.

[Summons75]

If the negativity of Da2, DaI, and Me3 didn't do anything to sway Bioware or EA then MeA isn't going to either. EA doesn't care because they have dozens of more games to fall back on. Bioware doesn't care because they have this ego since EA bought them that they are walking gods and are untouchable. All I see here is the lead doing PR clean up trying to save sales before it's too late.

[AnubisG]

None of those games was as bad as this one though. This is their worst and most hated game to date.

[Summons75]

@AnubisG

Good, I'm glad people are starting to see through the BS the Bioware puts out.

[RedPill86]

If this guy was honestly surprised that this is what the reaction would be, he's something of a moron.

[Derceto]

Awwwwe muffin. You want to bloat people's expectations to bring in that bank, but you don't want to be insulted when you fail to deliver. Cry me an ocean.

[chris235]

continuing the mass effect games was an ill-fated idea to begin with. everyone involved is to blame.

[r3f1cul]

really? i find it hard to believe that this was a product that they could have been satisfied with shipping as is??? there is no way, unless they are just blind and deaf that they could have went through this and said yea, this is an acceptable level of quality people will love this no questions asked O.o ... come on now ...

[jznrpg]

The hate bandwagon definitely got out of hand, not that some of it wasnt warranted but I bet I enjoy it when I do get to it

[OrbitingTheOrb]

I really like Andromeda, so the haters can suck my balls.

[Critic4l_Strik3]

What do you expect when you screw up so bad and release an unpolished game?

[xPaYDaYx]

He must not have even taken a look at the game. How on earth could he be so blind. The fact they released alongside so many way better games didn't help either.

[Eldyraen]

ME:A is a good game with many failings, or at least questionable choices.

If it ran a bit smoother, had some better animations here and there (not all are bad, but plenty have issues still), and the Angaran females didn't practically look like a completely different yet similar species (take away the inflatable twilek-esque thingies and they look more monkey than cobra, removing the only somewhat similar feature beyond their legs--some of the Angarans remind me of old stretch Armstrong toys) it would be a whole lot better though (playing on PS4 Pro and sometimes it's pretty bad--areas loading while driving around and such, freezing up for a sec on later planets).

Even with its numerous issues, it's a good ME game though. Maybe a 7.5-8 if you can ignore its issues, 6-7s it received are sadly understandable however as it lacks polish in many places. Still, I have 60h in it and I'm only about 50-60% completetion as there is a ton to do (20h of it is probably questionable Tasks really, sort of busy work with a few decent tasks but that's still a ton of stuff and areas to explore).

If it was more polished still, it might even be great. It's just it's not as good as the other games even if it was "perfect" for what it is. I'd recommend it for diehard ME fans though, just curb your expectations a bit. It's sort of like DA:I, it has its fans but many think it's a much lesser game than Origins (but DA:I is more polished too).

[lawgone]

You're awfully forgiving.

[The_Sage]

No matter want people are saying, Andromeda is a damn good game. It has issues but overall it's a good game. Many people that are complaining about it have never even played it. That would be like me spewing negativity about the new Jaguar even though I've never even seen one in person.

[Eldyraen]

True, I beat Two worlds on 360 and it ran a whole lot worse.

[Dragonscale]

This is what you get for releasing a beta. Hopefully some lessons may be learned here though probably not.

[tigertron]

The thing is, most of the negative feedback has been about pretty obvious issues, issues that should have been sorted by the developers but were neglected. Even Stevie Wonder could see the technical issues, so the negative feedback really shouldn't come as a surprise to Bioware. They dropped the ball, but at least they're acknowledging the issues and I'm thankful for this latest patch which sorted out some issues like the awful dead eyes.

[Cmoney007]

Hahahahahaha

[The_Sage]

Forget your meds again?... 😉

[Cmoney007]

What? This makes me laugh!
So laughing at something means I forgot to take my meds? What??? lol
This is madness!

[Prince_TFK]

I had recently just played the game and i find it to be interesting. Is it as good as ME 1&2? Too soon to say (for me anyway).

But i doubt i will have much time to play it anyway as i'm too engrossed in persona 5 and botw right now.

[lawgone]

They cared more about political correctness when filling positions than they did talent. They got what they deserved. How in the world you keep a racist POS like Manveer Heir on your team is beyond me. He may be gone now but he did work on Andromeda.

http://www.oneangrygamer.ne...

[DillyDilly]

Be humble learn from this

Don't go out of your way fixing a stupid gay thing before fixing the many other problems as well

[Jon61586]

Wl technical issues aside the story in my opinion is solid. I wish they would have created more planets to explore and some issue with weapon weight if you have low weapon weight then you should be able to recharge faster than 100% like in Mass Effect 3.

[Npugz7]

It's his own fault for releasing the game in the state it is! Idiot!!

[ajax17]

Next time don't use your fucking D team

[cohenjc]

I was fully prepared to purchase this game day one, as long as the reviews said it was good, because I was hella worried about this game for a while. I'm not getting the game until it's either $20, or they patch the story and make it more interesting. I don't care if there are a few glitches here and there (that's a given at the launch of a big rpg) but the fact that the story seems boring and the characters suck, I don't really see a reason to play this game when there's INCREDIBLE games being released every month.

Either drop the price to a fair amount considering your game is clearly unfinished and failed miserably, or fix this massive piece of garbage.

Bio ware literally had he world in their hands and they dropped the ball.

Is this the same team that did the Sheppard trilogy? I think it was a different team, which may have something to do with what happened.

Purchased horizon instead.

[cohenjc]

"So to a large extent I think things are sort of on track, with regards to post-launch plans. Obviously the particulars change, but the overall timetable doesn't."
----------------------------- ------------------------------- ---
So basically they planned this all along? Lol have they ever heard of game testers? Betas? Demos? They seem to think that releasing an unfinished game is completely normal, because they're getting player feedback

Lmao

[DrumBeat]

Game's shit, honestly.

[omegaheat]

I for one am glad they've received the criticism. Usually I think for myself and don't rely on the inconsistent reviews, but with so many people saying that it's bad, I won't gamble with my wallet unless there's some sort of refund policy offered. It's just plain nonsense that with all the advancements in technology, games are regressing and having as many struggles with polishing as they did 10 years ago. It's not the hardware or software anymore, it's devs being rushed and pressured to meet an unrealistic deadline that nobody asked for. When EA aquired Bioware, it was inevitable that the magic would be gone. Now they must release a proper Jade Empire game to redeem themselves or this franchise will suffer the fate of Assassin's Creed.

[CanadianTurtle]

I'm surprised Bioware hired Sam Maggs out of all people to write the story for this game. Look at her history and some of the ideologies she adopts and tell me that's a sane person....

[leoms]

@Allsystemgamer
''You can think what you want. You're still verifiably wrong.'' So much contradiction in that comment.

[Yui_Suzumiya]

One of the best games ever!