How Does Mass Effect: Andromeda Compare to Previous Mass Effects? [Spoilers]

This is a total-spoiler video critique of Mass Effect: Andromeda meant to take a look at how it fits in the original trilogy in terms of theme and structure. It aims to figure out if this spin-off is more of a Frasier or a Joey and how it might've come to be one way or the other.
If you enjoyed this video and want to contribute to the production of others like it, please consider supporting me on Patreon!
/ noahcaldwellgervais

[@zcritten]

"there are birthday cards more narratively surprising and satisfying" need to remember that one

[@Ally5141]

fuckin savage

[@majik5194]

@@Ally5141 Noah knows what he's doing. Shame he doesn't get as much recognition as he should

[@user-qz1nf6qm6b]

@@majik5194😅😅 lol but it’s okay if it’s just 😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅

[@deathpyre42]

Just a minor thing, Mass Effect 1-3 had minor details about which foods are toxic to which species and the challenges of making one species' food edible for others. But in ME:A? Barely a week before the Angara are baking pies.

[@lukecash3500]

@Laurine Coache Fucking spamming solicitors go fuck yourselves.

[@SpoonyBard88]

XCOM Chimera Squad does a lot with this idea. The characters talk about it during downtime and you hear advertisements for alien-safe commercial foods. I love that shit.

[@nanoua27]

"Mass Effect Andromeda is the Blues Brothers 2000 of electronic roleplaying, it exist only because people loved the first one" .... WOW, now that's just brutal.

[@Venislovas]

guillaume pascal This kind of brutality exists in Tuchanka.

[@downforwardpunch00]

guillaume pascal the truth hurts

[@user-ly2ll5od1r]

How is that brutal in any way?

[@Venislovas]

Imagine sequel that has nothing to do with original in any way only in name but exists because original is good.

[@chungusbooper]

I think it means the result is a cynical cash-grab with no heart, more of a product than a game or experience.

[@Amikas117]

The memory of Shepard is so strong, that Noah calls Ryder ”Shepard" at 38:38.

[@MrHeftyFine]

Re-watched and confirmed. Great catch lolol

[@Danox94]

I feel like Ryder and crew don't take life and death situations seriously enough, like thay already know they're going to win. It worked in the Citadel DLC because we knew it was fan service, but Shepard reacted properly to threats in the main story during the original trilogy.

[@derrickbonsell]

Strat-Edgy pointed out that the constant smirking, whether intentional or just poor animation was REALLY out of place with the tone of the setting.

[@jonkersley4986]

Yeah just the facial expressions on Ryder ruins it for me. like looks like a goofy awkward dumb guy that would not be in the leadership role hes put into

[@hunam3876]

@@jonkersley4986 You know what ruined that for me? Cunts pre-ordering it.

[@benjaminbierley2074]

@@jonkersley4986 Seriously, a lot of people when it first came out were pointing out his/her father should have been the main character and leader since he actually reacted in a semi reasonable fashion to the crisis they walked into.

[@AJeMGaming]

12:20 is the perfect example of that. All I could picture during that scene when I first saw it was Nathan Drake as Ryder, mugging at the camera the whole time.

[@mortman200]

The Habitat 7 reward is the Andromeda equivalent of beating James's pull up record in Citadel DLC.

[@treymagathan847]

HiiighAsAKite I have done all of these, and the biggest grind of them all is Habitat 7.

[@Duraxy]

I played the "Ai that wishes to die" Quest before doing the Main Quest on that Planet. After that main Quest, the Kadara Angara Open up an Embassy on the Nexus. After the Sidequest, there was some political turmoil in which the Angara Threaten to close the embassy. Since i did the Sidequest first, they threatened to close their embassy that wasn't open, and Angara that weren't on the nexus yet got upset.

[@ShootingStar1313]

I'm Commander Shepard and this is my favorite Andromeda video (+1 for not bogging down on the facial animations like everyone else did)

[@nickturnbow2948]

"There are birthday cards more narratively surprising and satisfying than the Kett and the Archon." Ouch.

[@ryanc5572]

Ones that actually make you feel something, too.

[@wingnutlady]

This is oddly the first ME:A critique I've seen that mentions just how tired and uninspired the actual plot and subject matter are, which is by far the biggest issue I had with it. When I finished the game and had to sum up my experience with it, I called it "eating regurgitated oatmeal".

[@giorgialadashvili4771]

Chris Davis review also mentions that. Hell, I think nearly every rewiever under the sun criticized the plot in some way or the other.

[@LynxStarAuto]

Andromeda was bad. Very bad. That's all I can say about it.

[@KentaroMiyamoto21]

Eww...

[@CommieApe]

Fucking apt.

[@kagenotatsumaki]

@@LynxStarAuto But the combat was amazing. You have to give it that.

[@Maka556]

If this were old Bioware, you’d be able to convince Cora that her old CO did the right thing, hardening her and causing her to become more cynical and cold. It’s that lack of depth and choice that demonstrates the company’s fall.

[@eldabys]

i really want that game where you can romance a nine foot tall mineral monster. marketing-wise its obvious why bioware didn't go that route, but i think the avenue for pursuing or contemplating romance and what it would be like between multiple deeply dissimilar species is a fascinating avenue that i haven't seen explored in a game yet--certainly not one of andromeda's size.

[@Distruptor18]

Watching without having played the game as I don't have any intention of doing so... "The Quarian ark..." *eyes light up* "...Is never found during the game" *groan*

[@TheShootist]

there will be no Quarian Ark as there will be no additional DLC for this failed cesspool of a game.

[@whodatninja439]

Yup. the Quarians are dead. Thank you bioware Montreal for fucking over my favorite ME race.

[@fuzzydunlop7928]

@@whodatninja439 They killed off the Space Gypsies?

[@drone124]

Thw good ending of ME 3 saw them finding a habitable planet though???

[@rolfs2165]

@@fuzzydunlop7928 Well ... At the end of the game, you get a distress signal from the Quarian ark, teasing a DLC. Which never came.

[@johnm.osborne5972]

The citadel species included several non-bipedal, non-humanoid series. Do these not exist in the entiry different galaxy?

[@TheBreuster]

You don't SEE all of the different galaxy. You know how you'd zoom in from the galaxy map in the original trilogy onto the Horsehead Nebula or the Local cluster? THAT'S what you're exploring in Andromeda. A single cluster. A teensy tiny part of the Andromeda galaxy.

[@sEaNoYeAh]

Well it's worth noting that both species you encounter and interact with in Andromeda are genetically engineered, as opposed to being the product of evolution.

[@Justanotherconsumer]

Dry half sarcasm: A sequel where you play as an Elcor squad taking on those boring bipeds would be amazing. Hopeful note: Blasto is allowed to Enkindle this idea if he wants to participate.

[@teddybeddy123]

"Well, scan them back." Jesus Christ, the Tempest is crewed by children.

[@kalashnikovdevil]

Even worse, by quirky twenty somethings that got lost on the way to a Sitcom.

[@nealmiller7849]

@Withnail I think it works so well in Citadel because it's so different from the tone of the rest of the game. I agree that it can become too much if it's the tone for the whole experience

[@Yelchor]

Why did the Salarians and Turians agree to bring Krogan onboard? Why was an AI program approved and not immediately purged by Citadel authorities? How were they able to build ships that go faster than the Reapers? Why didn't they have any contingency plans for eventual complications? Why didn't anybody take a psych-analysis to make sure they wouldn't turn into violent pirates the moment something goes wrong? Why is nobody trained in simple cooperation and waste time being mad at each other when everyone COULD FUCKING DIE? Why is nobody acting professional in an exploration mission through literally unknown space? I just keep seeing a complete lack of understanding of the setting, and creativity to actually make something interesting. If the developers didn't give a damn about the game, why should I?

[@teddybeddy123]

Yelchor I can't take these games filled with kids playing at being grown ups. The complete lack of professionalism is just yet another reason I'll never play this game. Thank God we'll always have the trilogy.

[@Raivo_K]

Well if you played the game you would have got most if not all of these aswers. Lack of understanding and "giving a damn" goes both ways. I see this a lot when it comes to critique towards this game. Since all the pieces are not layed out in the open during the main story people have major plotholes and thus criticize the game. But to save some time i'll try to answer these the best i can: Bringing Krogan aboard was likely not a decision any one person or race made. Remember that while Tann is very hostile towards them he's only the 8th in sucession to the directors chair. It's entirely possible that the "real" leadership that was killed during the initial scourge incident or the uprising may have been much more symphatetic to the Krogan. This i not directly answered in the game. Some logs from previous leaders would have helped clarify this. Citadel authorities? You mean C-Sec? The Andromeda Initiative was and is a civilian operation and thus does not fall under C-Sec or Council control. Plus it is said many times during the game that the Initiative was very secretive in it's reqruitment. Some conversations for example reveal that Vetra figured out something was going on when she smuggled stuff to Kesh. Kesh eventually came clean and Vetra was reruited. Also SAM says that it's true capabilities were never disclosed to anyone but the pathfinders and Gien Garson. Even most Initiative members believe SAM is an AI not "true AI". Infact the Alliance found out about Alec's experiments with AI and he was discharged from the Alliance. This also affected both Scott's and Sara's careers. However the fact that AI-s were guiding the ARK-s was never a widely known galactic news. Plus new galaxy = new rules. The ships did not go faster than reapers. It took reapers a number of years (5?) to reach from dark space to the milky way. That's assuming they started their journey after Sovereign was destroyed at the end of ME1. It takes 634 years for ARK's to arrive in Andromeda. That is considerably longer compared to what the Reaper ships would be capable of. The Initiative had plans but you can't really plan for dark energy clouds in space i guess. Plus their suvey prior to leaving the Milky Way didn't show the scourge. The people were normal prior to launch. Dr.Lexi theorizes that some peoples brains acted negatively due to the unusually long cryosleep no one had apptempted before. She develops a potential cure with help from the pathfinder during the first visit to Elaaden. And supposedly there were limited resources on Nexus's arrival (food, water etc). Chaos during the scourge deaths and unhappiness with the solutions offered along with altered brain chemistry of many people lead to uprising.

[@Deathroll1988]

This is exactly how I feel after finishing the game.All of them act like a bunch of teenagers when the parents are out. I did not care for any of them,so uninteresting,so meh.The krogan is ok because he is a badass but thats to be expected of them. But the thing that that sucked the most is the conversations.Nothing you choose has any impact.For ex: you find 2 guys stealing from a corps and you have 2 dialogue options" 1-carry on 2-stop it or else I hit the second thinking that may start a fight...nope,the 2 dudes say something along the lines "piss off" and that was it.Now if the same thing happened with Shepard you bet your ass there would be 3 dead bodies. And thats the thing about the conversation options,they give 2 or more apparently different things to say but the result is the same answer with a different tone. I think it would have been a lot cooler if the game had went in the past,play as the proteans in their rise to rule the galaxy and ultimately their demise at the hands of the reapers.

[@Yelchor]

silvarenone If I have to read a novel to understand anything in the game then something's clearly gone wrong.

[@a_lethe_ion]

well they kicked him out-how he was able to run away or not get spectre-ed for his research is another thing..

[@Ally5141]

Mass Effect could have been the Star Wars of the gaming world. EA had goose laying golden eggs. They could do everything with it. MMO talking about the rebuilding of the Milky Way galaxy? Excellent idea. Spaceship sim? Why not. Another installment of Shepard's story? Fans would love it. Movies? Books? ME is ideal for it. And what they did? They destroyed one of the best build worlds in the sci-fi genre.

[@zeroattentiongaming820]

Mass Effect was the Star Wars and Star Trek of the gaming world. Had its own fairly sizeable expanded universe for only 3 games and the interesting history contained in the Codex alone is richer and more fleshed out than any gaming universe beyond Dragon Age and The Elder Scrolls to my knowledge. Andromeda had infinite potential both as a fresh start for the games and the expanded universe. The Milky Way universe still had all kinds of room for EU material set before the trilogy. But just like they utterly wasted the potential of actual Star Wars, EA let it slip through their fingers. Star Wars in every medium survived The Phantom Menace's reception. Mass Effect could've survived Andromeda, Dragon Age's 2 reception proves Bioware can bounce back in both games and EU content after failing to meet fan expectations. Hopefully the Legendary Collection means EA has finally realized it. Much as I'm gonna really miss the multiplayer in 3, it says good things that EA is passing up the chance for reasonable loot boxes in a game that already had them, had a wealth of content to get from them, really good earning rates for currency and gave decent drop rates on the rarer items. Mass Effect 3's use was reasonable and EA could get away with the microtransactions here. But they chose not to and it's pretty surprising.

[@Raganui]

I love how you call it the Goose that lays Golden Eggs. Cause it's perfect. It could have provided so much, if they had let Bioware just handle it. But EA decided they wanted goose for dinner, no matter how much it'd go against them in the long run.

[@rishg134]

Sounds exactly like Disney Star Wars to me. So mission accomplished, I guess

[@codynova]

Easily the best video game critic on KZbin in my opinion. Your scripts are amazing.

[@chungusbooper]

I'm tempted to say he's the best I know of. And what does it say about the state of video games journalism that all the ones I could list as being the best at their job, work independently of any major publications?

[@codynova]

Good point James. Every single one of the critics I follow are independent. As a consumer I've benefited massively from that. Although, I'm often watching these critiques after I've already played the game myself, in which case they're just a form of entertainment for me. Interesting how critique has in many ways transitioned from purely a consumer utility to a form of entertainment in its own right.

[@SouLEvansMKP]

Cody Persinger be sure to Check out Joseph Anderson aswell, he's a Great critic and Analyst aswell

[@GoldStandardPunk66]

You know I really enjoy the positivist bent this channel has, in fact I've always found your videos to be a refreshing oasis of positivity in a gaming community that on average can be pretty cynical (not without reason obviously, but still) but there is a sick joy in seeing you tear down something that genuinely disappointed you, I must say.

[@kevinwillems8720]

That's the beauty. If someone's negative more often than not, there is no weight to them. They're fluffy. But if you're positive and nuanced most of the time, those moments of negativity convey almost physical hurt, and Noah is an excellent writer to spice up those moments.

[@personafalsus1399]

Your critique is almost salarian. Well done!

[@WSBM14]

funny how the salarians short lifespans would mean they'd absolutely despise padded, unfulfilling games like this

[@guilhermehank4938]

@@WSBM14 They wasted extremely precious living time with this...Could be worse, tho, it could be Vorcha (they only live up to 20 years)

[@billvolk4236]

NCG is basically the human version of a Salarian, if only in his vocal affect.

[@nathanielhaven3453]

@@billvolk4236 bioware should cast him as a salarian in the next ME

[@Synystr7]

How cool would it have been to be a captain of a squad of corsairs? Sorta like Alliance sanctioned privateers. Or maybe a rogue squadron-esque game piloting those sick F-61 Tridents? But it would be open world with your "normandy" ship being a small specialised carrier. Actually I guess it would be more like Star Fox 64 haha. Or maybe a game where you are part of the Blue Suns or another group of mercs, swept up in an unprofitable fight for moral reasons. Or maybe a Mass Effect "Lara Croft"-esque game. Since, according to the codex, much of the Milky Way is still uncharted. So its up to you to chart those new relay courses, find and open new ones, find new species, old relics, and cool.... whatevers. And this took me 5 minutes, bioware.

[@jcanal0221]

Synystr7 I'm currently writing/drawing a comic book in the middle of my school lessons time which, is just a son of my boredom, about the N7 multiplayer characters, but giving them personal stories, personalities... (I'm bored enough to use my time on that) and ego aside, its writing is objectively better than the one in andromeda... At least I try pretend to be serious... And I'm fuckin' 17 PD:The trident idea is beautifull. Not every game in mass effect universe has to be an RPG.

[@doger235]

I honestly think a Mass Effect Rainbow six would be perfect.

[@bodopeters1835]

You forgot that the game wasnt supposed to be original, it was supposed to reap cash. That it did.

[@olefredrikskjegstad5972]

Easily the most endearing and likeable part of the game to me were the terminal hijinks in the Krogan Colony on Eladeen. Reading up on the Krogan trying to figure out family life again with their fertility starting to recover was quite funny and also heartwarming. I'd watch _Krannt hardly wait_ any day if that was a real romantic comedy.

[@d_Kyshii]

Dude, an hour video. Fuck me, I'm commenting before watching. You're a fucking god amongst the KZbin realm, keep doing you ma man. I'll enjoy the fuck out of the next hour. Thanks

[@DStecks]

"Andromeda is going to be better once the DLC comes out" Fuckin WOOPS

[@megamike15]

rip; so whats been going on with mass effect andromeda dlc.

[@DStecks]

@@megamike15 There is none

[@jakespacepiratee3740]

@@DStecks did they just give up on this game?

[@KentaroMiyamoto21]

@@jakespacepiratee3740 Faster than they did with Anthem.

[@jakespacepiratee3740]

@@KentaroMiyamoto21 woah a furry!

[@fabianrozo6937]

38:36 I miss him too Noah... But we have to move on :(

[@steether]

No. We don't.

[@tommyswain3762]

I was looking for this comment.

[@DeadYorick]

I disagree that the premise is solid. To me continuing from ME3's ending would've been significantly more ambitious and much less derivative than pressing the "soft reboot" button. The biggest reason I didn't end up buying ME:A was when I first heard about it, I thought it was awesome. Right up until I heard that the game lacked a non-human protagonist. I remember when I first played Mass Effect 1 I wanted to play as one of the non-human races. It was clearly something that the premise lended itself towards, you have other arks from the turians/asari/krogan. But it just... doesn't. I don't know what's more disappointing, the fact that I just had no interest in the Mass Effect franchise anymore or the fact I had no interest in my favorite video game developer anymore. Then there's all of the lore discontinuities. Some of them so blatant that were clearly glossed over due to the lore being too challenging to reincorporate. Such as the Krogan Genophage being glossed over as being something they had just "got over". Despite the social and political ramifications of such a thing.

[@XytaVuramee]

Despite this being 2 years old I feel the same way, they blew the perfect opportunity to make a mass effect with a non human protagonist

[@merryploeg6422]

It would have been so interesting to choose your race and it would determine which ark you start on each with it's own challenges at the get go.

[@joeypatton5691]

Who cares that much about lore. I could care less it's a fun game to explore and shoot stuff. Dont need much effort to enjoy it. Dont be so critical on a game

[@DeadYorick]

@@joeypatton5691 It's something that was really important in the previous games and something that had ethical and moral debates over, and they just go "that's not important anymore don't worry about it". To me that's a failure on the writer's part.

[@joeypatton5691]

@@DeadYorick I know lol I'm just messing with you

[@NormPexington]

Noah, probably one unintended redeeming aspect of the creation of Andromeda is that it gave you the inspiration to write and present this brilliant critique. You've done a terrific job - your wit and humor was a delight to witness.

[@TheBionicfury]

Seeing that you released a video walking out of work was great. I love listening to your videos on the drive home. I'm always left wanting more of your long form work.

[@willjsoden]

I could never explain why i love this channel but I really do. Even your travel videos I could listen to in the background and feel inspired to work and do creative stuff. Plus the dedication to only the best music. No one could make content exactly like you could. I appreciate it so much.

[@ArtaShrike]

"To have made them uniformly zealous and to have made their religion so central to their culture is a pretty bold creative choice, it makes them more alien; but giving them a fearful bureaucracy makes them more human." I'm saving this quote (from 22:29) because it intrigues me how we live in a culture that considers religion and zeal to be more alien than bureaucracy.

[@lonesome_commie]

ArtaShrike perks of living in the "modern" era! 😂

[@danielg3857]

Bureaucracies are far from a modern invention, and are arguably as fundamental to human societies as organized religion. The Old Testament makes multiple references to Cyrus the Great(it's said that he funded the construction of a new temple among other benevolent deeds), whose empire used an organized bureaucracy similar to the federal/provincial system used by many modern governments, and _that_ system had roots in empires before it.

[@lonesome_commie]

Modern in this case refers to the Weberian bureaucratic model. It might have precursors but in its "scientific" Weberian incarnation it has had the most far reaching impact and can arguably be described as THE defining institution of the modern era.

[@danielg3857]

Sid Sin+ I had to look up Weber's model, but I see the point. The history class I've been taking covered bureaucracy in general terms and noted the existence of ancient bureaucracies without differentiating different forms, and so I wasn't thinking about how the meaning of bureaucracy is different now than in the past. I'd say my first comment still stands to some extent though, just like the rest in this thread.

[@CC42_]

Thank goodness for that ..we need to move beyond faith

[@BMWfreak19]

wow your production quality has increased drastically! Its almost hard to go back to the older videos. Great job, keep it up!

[@GrandFerratus]

One of my favorite things about seeing that you've posted a new video is wondering what song you'll chose as an intro. Great choice this time!

[@awashington8447]

"How does Mass Effect Andromeda compare to previous Mass Effects"..........It Doesn't

[@domocan6877]

One thing that I missed from Dragon age 2 was the up close chat view you got with every NPC not just your companions..... But now I realize that they didn’t do this close view because it would take more time to animate each face. Watching Andromeda and the clay faces, I’m happy they didn’t show the close up.

[@macabre101]

Noah, is far as I am concerned your channel is the best channel of its type on KZbin. Keep up the great work

[@Finalblue1234]

I'm actually really curious now what he'd think of Nier: Automata since tonally and polish-wise it's a complete 180 compared to this tripe.

[@thomascheckie2394]

@@BobExcalibur well there really is no excuse for the gratuitous amount of ass in that game. Yoko Taro is a horny manchild just like Hideo Kojima

[@thomascheckie2394]

@@BobExcalibur I feel dumber for having read that, please apologize.

[@Icipher353]

MEA is like every Bioware game since EA took over - lacking distinctive vision, constantly chasing industry trends, hopelessly muddled in how it executes its systems, and technically behind the times. Beyond romances and branching dialogue trees, Bioware no longer has any kind of distinctive identity, and their games feel uninspired and dated as a result.

[@ChadVulpes]

I can't agree. Mass Effect(1) was half-way taken over by EA from Microsoft and are actually the reason ME was released on more platforms than just Xbox. Mass Effect 2 came out be a great game, too. Often said to be the best of the series, in fact. Mass Effect 3, despite its ending and some shortcomings was not a bad game. That is to say I don't think EA has released any good games lately, but I think you might be discrediting a bit.

[@BillBilliamson]

sebool112 But EA really had nothing to do with the first mass effect I mean I think it wasn't until the game was already released that EA took over bioware which was probably contractual too

[@sandrols7]

it's probably no coïncidence since MEA has EA in it.

[@FXIIBeaver]

Darkly Tranquil I have been saying EA was bad for Bioware since they took over after ME.

[@kuribojim3916]

@@FXIIBeaver so has everyone. It’s popular to blame EA. But the issues with this game (and Anthem) famously have nothing to do with EA.

[@tovbyte]

„Needy corporate nostalgia“ is one of the most apt descriptions of modern marketing I have ever heard

[@MrThewalkingdead]

I forget the exact details, but the best quest in Andromeda, for my money, was the (additional task) one where you set up probes all over the (first) desert planet, slowly unlocking bits of transmission that reveal the story of someone who came to the new galaxy to honor their loved one, who would be long dead by the time they reached it. Or something like that. Completing that quest was the most emotionally impactful experience I had with the game. I (mostly) don't even mean that as a dig - it was really well done, and I thought, here there is real heart and real fruit of the premise of this game.

[@NaramSinofAkkad790]

Kind of wish Andromeda didn't have combat at all. A mass effect game that's exclusively about teraforming and diplomacy would have been so cool.

[@basicfailure101]

the teaser about the quarians at the end made me so mad; for a second I thought it was going to be a nice post-game mission, then becomes essentially 'they're still alive, somewhere.. don't worry about it they'll come home when they're good and ready..'. Felt like the little popup at the end of ME3 that someone had said bioware should waste time and money animating, voicing and editing.

[@luska5522]

Noah just to clarify, they dont travel a lot without mass relays because they accumulate eletric charge on the hull and that can cook the ship and the crew. That is why some ships land to discharge the energy acumulated and cruisers must discharge that more slowly on moons or trought thetered cables

[@baconinvader]

You know what feeling when you listen to a song in a shop, and then you forget the lyrics and are all sad because it you wanted to search it up when you got home, and then find that it's the exact same song that plays in a Noah Caldwell-Gervais video? That.

[@Yura-Sensei]

Noah, I'm always surprised how awkward looking your characters are

[@kphizzle9569]

Late to the comment but he does always make potatos

[@bobpettersson5422]

I concur

[@rizzo-films]

I was more curious as to who his ME characters were modeled after. In ME1 I thought Admiral Adama but I doubted that after each installment.

[@paulorenascotorres6442]

I actually liked his Shepard :o I thought he was handsome

[@bwatson77]

So if Mass Effect 3 was the Return of the Jedi of the ME franchise (generally quite good overall, but brought down by some questionable decisions motivated more by business realities rather than creativity), is this game the Phantom Menace of the series? And of course great analysis as usual Noah.

[@221b]

Sounds more like the Force Awakens of the series. A game that completely squanders the series' potential in favour of a safe cash-grab. At least The Phantom Menace had ambition, even if it couldn't fully realize it.

[@teddybeddy123]

Brandon Watson That's right on the money. If we get an Andromeda trilogy, unfortunately I think it'll suck just like the prequels do but I hope we'll get our own Episode 7.

[@bwatson77]

I do wonder to what degree it would even be possible to correct course at this point if a second trilogy of games is planned. While issues like character animation and dialogue systems are things that could certainly be iterated on and improved going forward, what's far more disheartening is that basic story elements which would be the foundation for any future games feeling so ...uninspired. Mass Effect 1, for all of its clunky combat and inventory management mechanics, was impeccable in its world building and setting up of the story's main conflict. Gameplay systems can be improved upon, but I'm not how Bioware would go about making something so obviously watered down at its core feel free and innovative.

[@Edax_Royeaux]

I don't think ME:3 horrible ending was motivated by money. It killed any chance of seeing Shepard again, any of the companions that everyone loved, or of seeing the Milky Way Galaxy again. If anything, I'd think studio execs would have pointed out what a shitty ending that was and changed it.

[@darknight910]

My friends and I believe they made a mistake taking the series out of the Milky Way Galaxy, as while the original trilogy plot was thoroughly finished on a definitive note, they could have gone for a prequel idea of humanity's first steps after finding the first Mass Relay, playing out the short period of the First Contact Wars and later the rocky diplomatic missions to become recognized as Citadel Members.

[@noblealfred5010]

Woah dude! This is the most savage video I've seen from you yet.

[@alyssagoss2299]

Oh thank goodness, I literally just came from your Patreon page when I saw this notification. I haven't watched the video at all yet; I just want to say that I hope your dog is okay and everything is going better.

[@RejhGadellaa]

Awesome! I've been waiting for your review! Love your work, keep them coming :D

[@flyagaric123]

I love how uncompromising your criticism is. Having spent £40 on this game ($60 US?) I must say I was seriously disappointed. The lack of originality pains me, and the departure from ME1's style pains me even more. Thank you for this brilliant analysis.

[@JahonCross]

flyagaric123 well at least we still have ME 1 2 and 3

[@hansenlung]

flyagaric123 the most disappointing thing, and the one thing that maybe could have redeemed it, would have been dlcs (quarian ark, jaardan and the kett) sadly thats never going to happen.

[@sEaNoYeAh]

I find this comment odd. I think in many ways Andromeda is far closer to the original than it is to 2 or 3, or indeed closer to the original than 2 or 3 themselves are. ME1 and 3 are wildly different in tone, mechanics gameplay. ME:A goes back to ME1's spirit of wander around in a spaceship and explore.

[@jakespacepiratee3740]

@@hansenlung Did they abandon any plans on DLC for this game?

[@northmetalguy]

Thank you Noah. You're one of the better game critics out there. Keep at it mate

[@MrHeftyFine]

Been on a NCG binge since i was introduced to his channel yesterday. Fantastic content.

[@BocajFreedman]

Good as always, Noah! Very accurate with the frequent comparisons to DA:I over ME1

[@gabrielcaro]

Noah in 2014: I am hopeful for the future of Mass Effect! Noah in 2017: There is no god...

[@megamike15]

2021: a remaster of the first 3 games and a 5th one on the way.

[@mattstorm360]

@@megamike15 .... That's... Good news.

[@derpho]

@@mattstorm360 Is it? Bioware changd since ME3. Nothing good ever came from them after ME3. The remaster will be good but what can you do wrong with an almost perfect trilogy. I heven't any high hopes for DA4 or ME5.

[@mattstorm360]

@@derpho never seen attack of the clones? Two million unit ready, with a million more on the way. "That's... Good news..."

[@0Maloy1]

I like how you occasionally referred to Ryder and shepherd. It sounded accidental which to me is symbolic of another issue of the game

[@spyro563]

Ever since I began watching your channel I feel like you do one of the best works in terms of reviewing games from all perspectives and I find reviews like that very lacking nowadays. Keep up the good work. I also have two requests if you can put them on your bucket list. First: Sword of the Stars in my opinion of of the best lore in any 4X Games and that says a lot, while the game itself doesn't have a campaign, the universe from the game rivals that of many Sci-Fi series. There is Novel and a Lore Book you can find even if you are bad at the game itself. Second: Command and Conquer franchise from Tiberium, Red Alert and Generals, lore, feel and even Kane, I would like to see you tackle this universe for all its bits and pieces.

[@SorcererDave]

Great stuff as usual Noah. Beautiful backdrop at the end as well... I hope I can cross the pond and go on a road-trip around America myself one day. :)

[@helloeverybodization]

Villainousascent here, coming from California. Why would you ever want to come to America? We have some nice vistas sure, but that not enough to get me to feel like that's​ in anyway redeeming. America has no real redeeming value, as far as I can see. Not anymore.

[@irl_lizard7880]

it just isn't the same Bioware anymore

[@danian5299]

Noah. you didnt talk about space Sudoku!

[@jcanal0221]

To and From, The Danian I actually liked that part. Was the most "alien" or "discovering" thing to do in the game

[@residentgrigo4701]

It nearly made me quit the game... but i persevered and saw the game rise from below to above average. The first 2 to 3 hours are inexcusable though. You can even fellow the player drop rate if you look up the later trophies on the PS4.

[@linusdn2777]

lol if you're too dumb to solve a basic sudoku then you should just play cod maybe

[@estebanrodriguez5409]

Great to have another of your videos. Wonder what you are playing next, I recommend checking Tides of Numenera it has some interesting things going on. PD: Cool place you went to visit

[@JoPeTuYaTroJoueY]

so happy to ear again from you Noah ! hope your road trip goes well, and your wife / dog are fine too ! Wonderful analyse again here, totally in the same mood i had finishing this 80+ hour game... ! Shared on the french gaming webzine TuyatrojoueY ! ++

[@jadedragonmtr9982]

It feels that, with Andromeda, not even a number of DLCs might fix the issues in almost all departments of the game design. They can claim the animation/dialogue system is just bugged, but what's the explanation or excuse for the asari all have the same face model, except for PeeBee? Even NPCs in the previous games had a variety of generic face models 1-X. Can you imagine that Benezia had the same face as Samara? Or Vasir looked just like Shiala? In Andromeda, Dr. Lexi, Kerri, Kalinda, and Dr. what's-her-name in the Nexus science lab all have the same face. Are the developers too lazy to put in a couple of models for a major race? I hope you'll have a complete critique of the game after the DLCs some day, and I look forward to seeing it.

[@CC42_]

Its freakin LAZINESS. Pure laziness I hate when devs do that. Witcher 3 actually was guilty of this a bit but not to the extent of Andromeda. Of course Witcher had tons of content to make up for a bunch of human characters having the same face.

[@hadouken755]

JadeDragonMTR i

[@FrazThe]

God dammit, its finals week man! What kind of monster are you?

[@nathaneskin3572]

Zac Frazier Keep it on while making flash cards, that's what I'm doing right now.

[@disasterman52]

I just stumbled on this channel and must say I'm very impressed. You have another subscriber here.

[@daph.leppard]

I had been waiting for this video! Well done once again.Totally agree with everything.;)

[@BARMN89]

Great Video! But im glad I get to be pedantic and say around 38:40 you call the main character "Shepard"

[@AdamLeuer]

A Freudian slip, I'd venture to say.

[@tibne2412]

I CLAPPED! I CLAPPED WHEN I SAW THE NOTIFICATION!

[@GoldenGyroBalls]

Here, the applause is actually worth it.

[@JohnDoe-ep3ob]

petrallen It said Mass Effect and I CLAAAAAPPED! I KNOW WHAT THAT IS!!!

[@Ammoniumbicarbonat]

Very cool, very cool

[@TheLastBabyMan]

I APPLAUDED IT FOR BEING DIFFERENT!

[@cartmanofsp]

ANALSYS! I'M GONNA CUMMMM!

[@nausic]

Sound have taken a big step up! Props!

[@lukecornNL]

you're amazing Noah, this was a great review yet again

[@vladimirtchuiev2218]

Pretty much as my opinion. A serious lack of imagination in here. It could have been so much more it's painful. There are few things evident in here: 1. Bioware doesn't know how to do a proper open world or segmented open world game. The best bits of ME:A and DA:I were outside of that. 2. Bioware Montreal is an unexperienced C team of Bioware. They did Omega DLC for ME3, the strengths and weaknesses of that DLC are all magnified in here. 3. Apparently there was a very rocky development cycle, with EA not believing in the game and maybe pulling the rug under it. Combined with an unexperienced team that couldn't possibly deliver the game in time in a complete state before 2019. ME3 should have been the last game in the franchise. Any followup game will be always in the shadow of the trilogy and it's impossible to continue the story in the milky way after the way that game have ended. As for Bioware, their future is very much dependent on that new "Dylan" IP. If their A team can't produce an imaginative product, this will be their end. As for Mass Effect, I don't see the franchise continues with the ME3 ending fiasco and the general ME:A reception beyond the current DLC cycle. As for ME:A itself, it remains to be seen how much Bioware can fix all the technical stuff including animations. One thing that I did very much liked in ME:A is the combat itself. As a former arena shooter player I adore the hyper-mobile style of combat and how crunchy the skills feel. Also I'm a tinkerer in my soul so I actually liked the crafting system, even if it could have used a much better UI. That said, I don't think I will play it anymore after my current Insanity run. For my arena shooter fix I always can play Overwatch, the characters there have actually so much more personality (including the outside the game stuff) than the ME:A ones with so much less lines, maybe outside Vetra and Jaal. And one last thing, a 600 year trip is actually consistent with the established lore about FTL speeds of citadel spacecraft.

[@azzgunther]

3. Few of the people responsible for the games that made Bioware great still work for Bioware. (this one is snarky) 4. They have been replaced by fan fiction writers, social justice advocates, and racists.

[@vladimirtchuiev2218]

3. Like Mac Walters? xD 4. I hate comments like this when the writer is actually serious about it. Every content creator has an agenda, like it or not, but saying that for example that feminists in Bioware deliberately made female characters to look unattractive is very tinfoily. That mark something racist guy no longer works for Bioware and one low grade individual's opinions shouldnt impact the collective, especially if they make a good product (not that ME:A is one, but still). I believe the effective development time of the game was about 2 years, not 5. There is too much unfinished and unpolished stuff here, thus clearly indicates a lack of budget per game minute and a lack of time. As well it may explain the fan fiction grade writing at places, because they didn't have the resources to go over it. I've heard that the game should have had procedural generated planets, and they spent 2-3 years trying to make it work, but failed.

[@azzgunther]

I'm calling into question the culture of the corporation, not whether or not Manveer Heir is still working there. It seems we agree that every content creator has an agenda. After DA:I and this game, it seems to me that Bioware has chosen a new direction with a more hardline, leftist agenda. Political stances being polarized these days, I find that their agenda correlates strongly with the "gamer are toxic/women are not sexual objects" crowd. A few points that indicate a political shift: Other than one returning character in Dragon Age Inquisition, there have been no sexy women in two entire games now. In Dragon Age Origins the qunari were a race with very strict gender and class roles. To question one's role was heretical. In Dragon Age Inquisition, their culture has been changed. We are told that anybody can be any gender or profession that they want and that it is celebrated. Complete, useless, and lore-damaging 180, for political purposes. Pandering. In Mass Effect Andromeda we meet a character who blurts out that she used to be a he within 10 seconds of meeting them. Character gets the dialogue responses: "Good for you" and "Why that name?" Most of all, it's the fact that they don't really do anything exciting or politically risky anymore. They employ people who value safe spaces now. Do you think we'll ever see another character like Branka again, with the scenario about women being intentionally offered up to darkspawn, forced to eat their kin and raped until they lost their mind and transformed into brood mothers? THAT kind of edginess and willing to to places with their storytelling was what made me love them. They made me sit back and dwell on the decisions that the storytellers make, or that they let me make as a character. I had a KOTOR playthrough where I saved the galaxy and I had another where I murdered most of my crew after turning to the dark side and took over the galaxy. I want THAT company back. More, they employ people like Sam Maggs and Manveer Heir and others who I have read say really stupid shit beyond the bounds of simply expressing political beliefs. That's an indictment of the employer. I think they're now a sloppy, political company and even people not wearing tinfoil hats have noticed the quality of their work degrade rapidly.

[@vladimirtchuiev2218]

About no sexy women, I blame the dogshit FB3 engine for that. That engine is made for FPS with bald marine dudebros, anything other than that and it is an uphill struggle. About anything else, it's more an EA kind of thing. Making games is very expensive nowdays, and publishers want the money they invested in it back. That leads to uncreative, risk free, but flashy games. That is a problem for all AAA game developers (don't bring me CDPR as a counter example, they have many underpaid overworked Polish workers and they gambled their existance on The Witcher 3, which paid off). The best they can do is to rely on the companies' reputation to smooth out things. Bioware is known to include all kinds of LGBT stuff in their games, so EA plays on it to attract as many customers from those crowds as possible. Everything is made flashier and more explicit as the time goes. I don't believe EA/Bioware specifically hire leftists. I do believe they hire lower grade writers and programmers (especially programmers) to cut costs. Many leftist will want to apply there because of the company's reputation.

[@azzgunther]

I think we generally agree here, though my jokingly snarky point #4 seemed more of an attack than I intended. EA and Bioware are aiming their products at a currently-in-vogue ideology and people can feel the limits that this imposes on the quality of the product, both through the explicit choices of direction and the implicit nature of hiring cheap writers who share the ideology. It's all combining into a product with nothing to say, something to preach, and the only passion at all is in the effort to be inoffensive. Regarding the attractiveness of females: I've considered the frostbite engine being the source of the problem but I feel that it's not impossible to make an attractive face. Morrigan looked good in Inquisition. From the strength of the current ideology that I've experienced in real life and on the internet, I think the looks are intentional: females are to have hard-as-nails personalities, puffy, boyish faces, and almost no revealing outfits.

[@zacharybutler5944]

see, I loved this game unironically, but I'll definitely admit it's more of a turn-my-brain-off popcorn game compared to Mass Effect 1-3's big serious space drama.

[@98JSB]

Superb analysis as always, it's a wonder you aren't more popular and a shame I can't like a video more than once.

[@NMGardening]

God I love your videos. Thank you for these long form and thorough reviews. You're a smart dude with great taste in games. Keep up the good work my man!

[@jon-umber]

This video is pretty much spot-on for how I felt about the game. The worst part about the game is that it teases you with such good snippets that you only feel all the more let down by the bad or mediocre pieces. It seems worse than it is because it's so up and down. It's not an awful game, just an unremarkable and almost stale one.

[@warbaby32]

"Your adventures are just beginning!" ...aaand, franchise cancelled. Good video, though.

[@ryanc5572]

Sad, but so true. A pity, really.

[@escapefromtibet2530]

Looks like you were wrong (Luckily?)

[@warbaby32]

@@escapefromtibet2530 Remains to be seen... for now we only know of the Remaster and an unnamed new game set in the old canon.

[@escapefromtibet2530]

@@warbaby32 that's at least something I guess

[@bbbingi9210]

@@warbaby32 yeah that means the franchise is not canceled

[@beetlehorn]

NOAH!! Super stoked on a new video man! But what about your Planescape: Torment and Tides of Numera video? :(

[@something00witty]

I was so happy to this see pop up in my feed. Thanks.

[@Kandosii]

I only just found this video, and I'm glad I did. I'm new to the channel, and it keeps pushing me to think about games and process my thoughts and feelings about how they're made and how they play. I never played Andromeda, because during its development, there were really worrying signs--videos hyping up the design process for the Kett where they showed interesting concept art and then proudly displayed the utterly underwhelming end design, with a mention that "Well, we thought about having them grow their own armor out of their skin, but then they'd be naked, and that'd be weird." Somehow they managed to sow off the lack of creativity in a promotional video about their creative process, which was absolutely flabbergasting. But far worse was a single detail: the mention that the Ark project started before the Reaper War. I'd been interested in what an Andromeda mission might mean in the wake of ME3. I'd had ideas about a refugee narrative, co-opting a deep space exploration project in a desperate attempt to ensure the preservation of galactic culture in the face of extinction. People without a home to return to, trying to find a place to live in defiance of utter destruction. It would be heavy stuff, but a valuable subject to engage with. But it quickly became clear that the pre-war launch date meant that the aim of the Andromeda mission was colonization. And given how BioWare's writing had previously treated stand-ins for indigenous cultures--most notably the elves in Dragon Age--I had no faith that they'd really knuckle down and wrestle with the issues. This video is the only review or discussion I've seen that actually mentions this, and I'm sad to find out I called it. ...What I _didn't_ call was the way the Reapers were handled. Dropping all the heavy weight of _apocalypse_ in there as an _optional sidequest?_ I'd thought they'd just made no mention of the war, which was disappointing but didn't bungle _more_ of the emotional depth of the characters. Who the hell could find it believable that someone could find out "by the way, the Milky Way might be dead" and then continue on as if it was nothing? I was honestly shocked to hear that.

[@DarkenedArc]

And people said Fallout 4 was an insult and a bad game. Holy FUCK. What happened to Bioware?

[@danieladamczyk4024]

SJS + EA =

[@jcanal0221]

TheCrossboy The game is not that bad. In fact if you see it as an independent title instead of a mass effect game, it is very nice and enjoyable. The real problem is when you see the potential when looking back to the original trilogy, and how they have wasted it in so many things.

[@Ephabia]

Gamers are seriously too stupid to see anything between BEST GAME EVOR and 0/10 RAPED MY CHILDHOOD, huh.

[@bodopeters1835]

First Tyranny and now this. You really know how to keep me hooked for your content :D

[@absolutelyeveryone2425]

Man I love your videos, even when it’s a let down of a game somehow hearing you dissect it makes me wanna go give it another shot

[@HyperionStudios]

Just got around to watching this finally and it saddens me today; knowing that EA is essentially "jumping ship" on this game, so we may never see DLC for this and these glaring holes and plot lines will never be resolved.

[@HEARTMACHINEPLUSULTRA]

YES!!!!! I've been waiting for this since the game dropped.

[@0lionheart]

Thoroughly interesting, keep up the good work Noah!

[@SCDJMU]

Noah you are really good at what you do. Keep going!

[@alexspogonz]

YES NEW CONTENT !!

[@ikaemos]

As soon as the game came out, your inevitable commentary video about it was one of the things I was most excited about. MEA was a significantly less disappointing experience for me - perhaps my nerves have hardened into twigs from 180 hours of DAI, but the overworld grind in MEA was slightly more... supported by the story and the context. It felt a bit more believable for the characters and the setting, even in its tedium, than DAI's herb-picking leader of the free world did. Also, a little nitpick, 600 years from us to Andromeda means about 5,000c, which is consistent with what Citadel species were able to manage in the first three games using FTL drives. Mass relays would connect single systems; the area surrounding these systems would have to be explored via regular FTL. In the original trilogy, the kicker was that FTL drive operation built up a static charge in the ship that needed to be released into a planet's magnetosphere every few stops. The Initiative Arks' special ODSY drives use that charge to power ship systems, and can therefore remain operational for very long periods.

[@Veke99]

I almost never comment on KZbin buI just wanted to say, I've really enjoyed watching your videos over the past week. This sort of comprehensive, profound and inspired critique of classic and contemporary videogames alike is not something you find easily on KZbin. I'm saying, you have talent, and I hope you keep making this kind of videos.

[@LN.2233]

Smashington you from the Codex?

[@Eclipse807]

I always enjoy your Mass Effect video essays.

[@smartbluecat]

Perfect timing, Noah. Cheers. :)

[@TheBankaiMasterTBM]

Inigo! ahaha huge fan!

[@ScottJohnHarrison]

My favourite alien races in Mass Effect are the Elcor and Hanar. The fact they only have humanoid species as their new aliens makes me not want to play it.

[@robertgiggie6366]

*with regret* that's what happens when sjws make a game. they substitute real diversity for fake diversity. *disbelieving amusment* like the character who actually tells you they are transsexual.

[@FranzKafkaRockOpera]

@@robertgiggie6366 I genuinely cannot believe that you chose to express these already pretty embarrassing opinions through the unspeakably dorky medium of online roleplaying.

[@zevaronxz7288]

Robert Giggie this is one of the best parodies of a status quo warrior i have ever seen

[@jakefrost7404]

56:43 DA:I did seem like a transitory piece, it presented an opportunity for Bioware to observe what worked for its audience and what did not. Instead of learning from it, they saw it as an opportunity to double down on some of its worst elements. Rinse, wash, repeat in a separate IP and net the profits, essentially. Hopefully, Andromeda can serve as a stern reminder for Bioware that risk aversion and lack of commitment to quality will result in a kick to the financial gonads. It seems doubtful, but one can always hope.

[@thatvideogamesshow]

Thanks for such a well thought out video!

[@austin_green]

He said my name at the end! I'm basically famous now.

[@seiban8455]

Last time I was this early, commander Shepard hadn't killed himself out of the dishonor this game caused him.

[@Isaac-rl1qq]

+blanket cocoon wow, what?

[@seiban8455]

blanket cocoon I don't know. I'm still trying to decide. One one hand, my profile picture is pure cancer, my name is idiotic and my comments are generic. On the other hand, I'm not the guy who goes around calling people shitstains without some form of explanation.

[@IdiotinGlans]

That could actually be somewhat good?

[@theFlash2K5]

An excellent analysis Noah. I've been looking forward to hearing your thoughts on this game for a while, and knew the wait would be worth it. You bring up a lot of great points about the game - about what it does well and what it doesn't do so well. And I agree that it's ultimate final blow is that none of the elements play well with one another, and that it lacks cohesion in almost every way. The story seems at odds with the world design and gameplay, the aliens are flat and boring, and the exploration is limited to what kind of desert you prefer. It took the worst lessons from all of it's past games and seemed to combine them into one - there's a few good things, but those aren't enough to really salvage it. Like you I was disappointed after Inquisition, but overall satisfied and optimistic, and Trespasser was the final missing piece that ultimately completed it. I'm not really sure that a DLC here can do the same. Even if it adds some missing plot element, there's too many things that it can't fix. There's too many cutscenes to make all of the animation look natural with patches alone. There's too many bits of dialogue that sound forced and unnatural to fix after the fact. The story itself can't really be rewritten to be more compelling. The most I can hope for from DLC is that it shows signs that they've learned from their mistakes and can provide a better game in the future - but my trust in them to do so at the moment is VERY limited.

[@richtea615]

The big twist of the Remnant should have been that they were also from the Milky Way galaxy and arrived in the centuries after the Initiative left with faster FTL ships. They built an entire civilisation that rose and fell while the Initiative slept and their fate is the big mystery of the game. This parallels real world thought experiments about colonising other star systems: do we wait for FLT technology or send sub-light vessels that risk becoming obsolete and overtaken in the intervening centuries.

[@Kalenth]

December 2022. I just say this video recommended… and I didn’t realize that your video was made 5 years ago. What kind of affect did andromeda have? It didn’t. I never played it and never cared to play it. It was years of effort wasted by the developers for who knows what reason.

[@ivorysamoan]

"Mass Effect: Andromeda is The Blues Brothers 2000" - Savage.

[@lowtierhuman69]

Its mid summer 2020. I know how Andromeda turned out, probably watched this when it aired. However the legal green and time have buried the memories of your opinions and after watching your Mass Effect trilogy retrospect, I cant wait to be reminded of what u thought of this. You ended the Mass Effect retrospective with positivity towards the future. Thanks for the damn fine work you do. Many hugs and love from this random netizen.

[@robbiealixsantos]

perfect location choice for the intro for this video!