Mass Effect: Andromeda improving animations, adding autopilot skip

The first post-launch patch for Mass Effect: Andromeda [official site] will arrive on Thursday, April 6th, BioWare have announced. Patch 1.05 will include an option to skip those autopilot sequences on the galaxy map, balance tweaks, and improvements to facial animations and lip-syncing. Andromeda's faces are a small problem compared to its greater flaws, is Wot John Thinks says, but they are one of the more visible and meme-friendly issues. BioWare plan to follow up with more patches with changes including more character creator options and further improvements to Andromeda's animations and appearances.

"We've introduced a number of balance changes to single player and multiplayer, and resolved some issues with saves not working properly," BioWare say alongside announcing patch 1.05's notes. "We've also improved lip-sync and facial acting during some conversations, and have implemented a much-requested change that allows players to skip the autopilot sequences in the galaxy map."

BioWare general manager Aaryn Flynn offers a slightly deeper take on 1.05 in a post on patching plans. He talks about "Improving the appearance of eyes for humans and asari characters" and "Fixing Ryder's movements when running in a zig zag pattern", neither of which are explicitly mentioned in the official notes.

Beyond patch 1.05, Flynn explains that BioWare plan to release several more patches over the next two months. Items on their hitlist include:

• More options and variety in the character creator
• Improvements to hair and general appearance for characters
• Ongoing improvements to cinematic scenes and animations
• Improvements to male romance options for Scott Ryder
• Adjustments to conversations with Hainly Abrams

If you're wondering what's going on with Hainly Abrams there, it's probably BioWare trying to correct some mighty clumsy writing of a trans character.

Flynn says BioWare might add some more cosmetic items to the singleplayer too.

Assuming that BioWare won't make huge changes to the game in patches, how does this look to y'all? It all sounds sensible.