Mass Effect: Andromeda | A Complete History and Retrospective

Hey Dad,
Today we'll be looking at the Mass Effect series AFTER Mass Effect 3. In this video we dive into the absolute dumpster fire that is Mass Effect: Andromeda.
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CHAPTERS
Intro 0:00
Development 3:35
Mass Effect Andromeda 6:13
Outro 46:22

[@YourFavoriteSon1]

How did you feel about Mass Effect: Andromeda Dad? 🚀

[@winkles2314]

Real bad, son. Real bad.

[@GimmickCloud]

Thanks son, I appreciate you and all your hard work! This will make my shift tonight a whole lot easier :)

[@martinnolhaf3151]

tried it, hated the controls and the "open world approach etc. Love your videos, bu dogshit game... Also whoever has not romanced Tali as Sheppard has no Taste!!

[@signalflare3791]

It was alright. I'd love to say more, but alright is is about as good or bad as it gets. Though, I did enjoy the finding the other arks part of the story.

[@samt3152]

@@GimmickCloud I I am a doctor Doctor a doctor a doctor a doctor an doctor a a doctor a a doctor a dentist a a doctor an a a doctor doctor an doctor an an doctor a a a doctor and a doctor a doctors a a A I am a doctor’s doctor doctor a a doctor’s doctor doctor an a a doctor’s a doctor a doctor’s doctor’s doctor a doctor is is a doctor a a dentist a a doctor’s an doctor a doctor a doctor a doctor doctor a doctor an doctor a doctor’s doctor doctor is a doctor an doctor’s doctor a doctor’s an artist artist an artist an artist an an artist an doctor an an artist a doctor an an an an artist and a a doctor an an artist’s an artist an artist’s artist’s an artist a artist artist an doctor a a doctor a doctor a a artist an artist artist a a doctor is a doctor an doctor an artist an a doctor doctor an artist a doctors doctor an art it’s and I am am an artist a doctor an artist I am a doctor doctor a doctor an artist’s a an artist an an an a doctor an a a doctor doctor is a doctor’s doctor’s an artist an artist an an artist an an artist an doctor an artist an artist’s an artist an an artist’s artist’s artists an art it’s an artist a artist a artist a artist aartist a singer singer a a a artist artist a artist are a artist a doctor an artist artist a singer an artist a singer a a artist an actor a artist a musician's a artist a writer writer an artist a a singer an an artist a doctor doctor an artist an artist a artist artist an singer an artist an an an Artistwriter a singer singer and and a singer a singer a singer a musician musician a a singer rotirtist a writer a artist a a singer singer a a singer and a singer and singer so a a musician a a musician a artistartist an an artist artist an aitt rotirtist

[@robkinney1974]

"My face is tired," is still such an appropriate line from this game.

[@MrManDiller]

I really don't understand why I was the only one that really liked this game

[@streetvandalx]

I did too. But i got it later when everything was prety much fixed

[@Hounlaiga]

Just 2 minor corrections. 1. Activated Vault DID change the planet, just not aesthetically. The hostile element of the planet will be decreased(radiation, heat, toxic water, etc.) and made easier to traversal. 2. The people on Eos(the first desert planet) aren't Exile. The building you saw was from the Nexas' first attempt to colonize Eos after the coup, and the people that remain are scavengers.

[@mss0267]

Also the Drell, Elcor, and Hanar (I don't think batarians for good reason) also have incoming Arks. It's mentioned in dialogue, just never really immediately important. He also claimed that you can't manually skill-up your companions... but you can. It's no different than prior games; With settings to choose auto-skilling if you don't care.

[@plasticsamalt6633]

The problem with this game is that there is so much meaningless content and dialogue that the one time something actually meaningful happens or something interesting about the world is revealed, you don't really take it in because you're so used to the boring dialogue and chore quests. You're not really paying attention. You're just playing to play but nothing interesting is happening 95% of the time. I just finished the game and had no idea about the incoming arks, or scavengers on Eos, because it is buried in the sea of meaningless content.

[@sdgaara2]

The absolute vitriol in your voice when you say “fucking NFT video game company” love it.😂

[@YourFavoriteSon1]

So angry lol

[@jarredlucas4000]

That is not a good statement to make

[@itsanoformedawg]

​@@jarredlucas4000No dur 😅

[@KnightSlasher]

This game honestly did a major accomplishment it killed an amazing franchise that had alot of impact on alot of people, no matter how you look at it that's impressive

[@YourFavoriteSon1]

The speed was unrivaled

[@pedrojustice]

well, that and project dylan - the bob dylan of video games - you know, the ironman armor "action rpg" which name escapes... yeah, anthem

[@clmaoo]

me when I pretend as if me3 didn't do that all by itself because I refuse to take the nostalgia goggles off

[@JJJBunney001]

It's not quite true that it killed the franchise, it seemed to make people love the original trilogy more and the legendary edition sold pretty well. It definitely did a few things that make the future questionable

[@morgenzon69]

mass effect isn't dead yet! there is a new one in the making. but yeah andromeda ain't it.

[@stinkbanana2522]

Studios should be forced to change their name if more than 60% of the original team is gone.

[@Dakeryas95]

One thing I absolutely love about this game is the concept. You're not a soldier(kinda), you're an explorer. And there are elements in the game that reflect it, buuuut the execution was terrible. Also buggy "first time tryouts with frostbite 3" issues that were thankfully not an issue with inquisition.

[@FPoP1911]

It's -7 C here and yet... the son keeps shining.

[@YourFavoriteSon1]

🌞

[@eyesore21]

Im kinda sad that the general reaction to this game is to just bring Shepard back. I’d really like something different in the future.

[@YourFavoriteSon1]

I don't think Shepard being gone is a bad thing, but this game just isn't it

[@clmaoo]

Literally, people are making fucking wine out of shepard's corpse. they're dead. move on.

[@darthbane2669]

They are incapable of writing a good character to replace shep

[@eyesore21]

@@YourFavoriteSon1 Yea this game was def not it. I mean moreso the rumors of the next one have me worried. Just feels…lazy.

[@ShadowWolfRising]

I don't want to play a human again.

[@skullduggery1385]

Rest In Peace to the quarians ark it was never found!

[@YourFavoriteSon1]

RIP

[@judgedrekk2981]

lost with all hands.... gods what a massive blow, they don't have the numbers to spare and lose, so if they're in with other species then that's a terrible loss man know what you get when a reaper attacks an Ark? Quarrian ice cubes....cus they're frozen and....ugh sorry, i'm horrible lol

[@ryanelliott71698]

Remember back in the gold old days of Bioware where you could dismiss nonessential companions or not even hire them? Yeah, I missed that too. Once I started Peebee’s Companion mission I wanted to pull a Javik and throw her out the airlock, but couldn’t.

[@jglerum94]

Peebee felt like a 16 year old's Tumblr self-insert, and her existence grated in me more then Sera (from DA:I) ever did.

[@channel45853]

@@jglerum94 at least PeeBee isn't criticizing you for being "too Asari" or something like that

[@Alexander-xk2nb]

Only tolerated peebee cause I wanted to romance her... then when we became a couple I'm driving around with her and Liam and she can't stop flirting with him... 🤦🏽‍♂️

[@navyhusky2020]

Gotta say, not the biggest Mass Effect fan but I highly respect your consistent upload rate and deep analyses Good work, son 👍

[@YourFavoriteSon1]

Thanks Dad!

[@bigzed7908]

I am not commander Shepard, but this is my least favorite comment on KZbin 😁

[@dom_the3166]

EA insisting they use frostbite instead of UE4 crippled the game

[@Numenorean921]

EA has destroyed bioware

[@Gorbz]

One thing I do not recall from the game is anyone explaining why they had an A.I. as those were illegal during the time the Arks set off and everyone in universe would have known it. Cerberus only made one when they applied reaper-tech to an advanced V.I. that Shepherd blew up on the Moon. And there is no option in the game to just not use SAM. At least in ME2 you could voice your opposition to ADA on the Normandy 2.

[@peefmcgoose2908]

I think it had something to do with the Andromeda initiative as a whole going under the nose of the citadel council

[@Poison9877]

The only people who knew SAM was an AI was the Scott father or Ryder whatever your character's last name is, and the leader of the ARK project. To everyone else SAM was required to look and act like a VI. SAM was created in an attempt to save your dying mother and was the result of decades of research by your dad and mom (I think it was funded by Human government at first under the nose of the council to give humans an edge at first but no results came of it). Then the director of the arks comes along and tells your dad they'll give him a blank check to develop and create the AI in secrecy.

[@Poison9877]

The only people who knew SAM was an AI was the Scott father or Ryder whatever your character's last name is, and the leader of the ARK project. To everyone else SAM was required to look and act like a VI. SAM was created in an attempt to save your dying mother and was the result of decades of research by your dad and mom (I think it was funded by Human government at first under the nose of the council to give humans an edge at first but no results came of it). Then the director of the arks comes along and tells your dad they'll give him a blank check to develop and create the AI in secrecy.

[@metalrob6713]

Yes, ME Andromeda isn't perfect game, or a masterpiece, it has many problems, but I like some things it changes, like not bringing Shepard back, his story ended, time to give room for new characters, I liked the planetary exploration, it clearly was upgraded version of first ME games exploration, driving around Nomad was fun and enjoyable. Combat was good, it was fast and abillities that game gives you made game's combat satisfying. I'd say this game lays somewhere in 3/5, for me atleast.

[@darthbane2669]

The ryders were just a shitty copy dude cmon lol

[@seanwalsh3198]

While I agree that the game had potential, especially for a trilogy that was planned, I just think it never would’ve lived up to it because of commander Shepard. Admittedly I only got 3-4 hours into the game but Ryder(who has an interesting backstory) is just not as good of a protagonist. He didn’t really feel “special” in the way that Shepard did, even on the first mission of the ME1 with the beacon. Now that could change through the game but from what I’ve seen the majority feel the same. The squad mates aren’t bad and the ship is honestly amazing imo, but the game just feels empty and like it just took the name Mass Effect for granted by being in the same “universe” with the species and backstory without actually adding anything really new or enticing or any real player input, which granted isn’t helped by the cancelled DLC and sequels. It feels too disconnected from the OT imo, probably because BioWare wanted to leave those choices alone and didn’t feel that they should write effects for all of those choices. But not even the codex really talks about them from what I’ve seen. All in all, it feels more like a combat based shooter in a sci fi setting than a story driven RPG with an emphasis on player input and characters(despite the rework of the dialogue wheel). Maybe the new game can help fix some of the issues with andromeda and make it be looked upon more favorably, but until then, I just personally can’t get myself to play the game, despite the technical and gameplay improvements

[@TheOnceandFutureJake]

@@seanwalsh3198 Shepard felt special because he was literally a cardboard cutout insert for us to inhabit. He doesn't have a personality except for the one we give him, and that's been a classic BioWare trope to handle their RPG protagonists. Ryder was given something much closer to the Witcher 3 approach, where the protagonist already has some defined characteristics and personality traits, and we get to play around in that range. Also, there wasn't any cancelled DLC for Andromeda. The "Quarian Ark DLC" was a hoax started by internet trolls posing as a legitimate company. Unfortunately a lot of respectable gaming news outlets took the fake rumor and ran with it, and here we are. The story was always meant to be expanded upon through novels, the Quarian Ark included. And yeah, I think the disconnection from the OT is a good thing. The true story of Andromeda starts between Mass Effect 2 & 3, because the Initiative launches the Arks before the Reapers arrives. BUT, I will say that for people who are looking for some nods to the OT, it's in the game. It even has a nice cameo from our favorite Prothean expert. I'm looking forward to seeing Mass Effect 5 connect to Andromeda.

[@seanwalsh3198]

@@TheOnceandFutureJakeI also don’t love the dialogue wheel, admittedly I don’t know if there is a reputation meter like ME3, but I wish the responses felt more meaningful and differentiated like the OT despite how limited the paragon and renegade could sometimes be. The DLC thing I think eventually would’ve come to fruition seeing as to how key they could be in the OT. I will eventually 100% the game before the next game(honestly probably as soon as real news starts coming hopefully sometime this year) releases, and that will help give me a more informed opinion, as most of my grievances with the game come from when I played it and I didn’t get that far in, so I may be unfairly judging the game, but I just had issues with mainly the dialogue system and how weak they portray Ryder both from how people talk to him and how he responds to them. Maybe then my tune will change on this game but it’s just one that doesn’t really have the substance/depth to keep me invested. It’s honestly a shame that BioWare was never given a chance with this game and any sequels, because a decent amount of the core elements are there or could be improved, it just didn’t get the opportunity to from the community and EA. I honestly wouldn’t mind them canonizing some of the OT choices in order to create a better game(personally I think Destroy is the obvious choice there, as well as not eradicating the quarians, etc.) I am cautiously optimistic that BioWare can use the core gameplay systems and baseline story ideas from Andromeda(the whole idea of the arks and nexus and them somehow getting back home would be cool, but the andromeda galaxy is kind of dull) combined with the magic of the OT Milky Way Galaxy to create something that may not be perfect, but will feel like a mass effect game again.

[@zaofy3247]

Damn, didn't expect you to dislike it this much. Andromeda is certainly my least favourite Mass Effect game (so far?) I played it at launch and luckily didn't run into anything more than graphical glitches and horrible facial animations. I really like the potential of the story and I truly believe that it could be great with a sequel. That the choices didn't seem to affect too much in the game didn't bother me overly much because I always plased it with a sequel in mind (only one that really bothered me was that the choice of outpost had virtually no effect on anything). Vetra and Drack were great companions and Peebee grew on me during repeated playthroughs. Jaal was at least interesting and something new. Cora and Liam just sucked. It had some great things in it. The banter when driving was excellent, the planets looked varied and the mystery surrounding the Remnant and the scourge is intruiging. I personally liked the combat a lot but like you I discovered my favourite loadout pretty early and just upgraded it. I do not share your opinion on the side quests though. A lot of them were well written and fleshed out the situation on the planet. The Krogan settlement had some interesting insights into the culture, Kadara Port felt very alive despite being the size of like a single floor on the citadel in ME3. I really do hope that the game receives a sequel that expands on it's strength and story. Though I hope the Kett get pushed into the background...as you mentioned they're very similar to the Collectors and not really that interesting as a villain. We'll see what Mass Effect 4 brings. After all it's supposed to also be a sequel to Andromeda...somehow?

[@adeptdamage3669]

Nah it will be nostalgia porn for the original trilogy.

[@Toniez0]

Mass effect legendary edition Is really cool I'm just now playing them chronologically and the way the games continue I have to give em props for creating a story that is captivating and interesting

[@bigzed7908]

Great timing, was looking for a retrospective on this game ❤️

[@zerota7944]

Keep looking this is a review

[@WiseG33k]

My face is tired will _never_ not be funny to me. This meme is eternal, lol.

[@andrevaughn6980]

I love the way you tell a story…the slight inflections and pausing in between your words is very interesting to listen to

[@Thannak]

I think I hate it less than most because I played it right after 1 and 2, all three for a decent price and followed by struggling through the slog that is Witcher 1. It felt like I played out of order. Like Andromeda was a remake version of what should be the first entry in the series, and I did really get into the vibe of it. I also think I just wanted the Andromeda story of space exploration and diplomacy more than Shepherd’s, Star Trek in the ME universe.

[@fmsyntheses]

Mac Walters was always going to fuck this up. He was the one who took the series from a half-finished proto-masterpiece Sci-Fi RPG to a dumb third-person shooter.

[@benisrood]

Mass Effect 2 is the best single player game I have ever played, and I have come to accept that nothing will come close :( I have no idea why Bioware/EA couldn't properly understand *why* ME2 was so good. You nailed it: it was the characters, winning their loyalty and developing relationships with them, and the clear moral impact of choices. The potential for ME3 was clearly for TWO possible game paths right form the beginning: you rejoin the Alliance (Paragon) or stay with Cerberus (Renegade) depending on the ending you got at the end of ME2. How amazing would that have been! Instead, they flattened the game by making Cerberus the bad guys and wasted time on changes to the engine and textures and EA gave them HALF of the time the game really needed even if there wasn't the two game paths as I imagined there would be, clearly because EA thought the PS4/XB1 consoles were coming sooner than they did.

[@JJJBunney001]

When you were trashing the remnant monoliths I was on board but I swear completing them changed the world's a bit, doesn't it clear air or remove certain foggy areas?

[@Thefourth4iv2]

Definitely, you'd have to be blind or cognitively slow to not see the difference

[@startingQB]

The monoliths do nothing. You have to go into the vaults. But you aren't turning them off. You're turning them on.

[@tjbrody]

Andromeda did one thing better than the trilogy. It improved the combat.

[@aydengraham2842]

And had an actual ending.

[@jamescampbell4751]

Many feel it didn't improve combat. It changed it, but not necessarily improved. It reduced the number of available powers to three. It took away the ability to control squad powers. It took away the ability to pick squad weapons and armor. You could no longer do the insanely fun combos with your squad. It was a disappointment for me and many others.

[@frequencyoftruth2303]

​@@jamescampbell4751that's what profiles are for

[@jbear3478]

I wish the aliens had been really different instead of more of the same. It's a whole new galaxy! I guess life is life no matter where you go

[@TheOnceandFutureJake]

It was only a Cluster of planets in that galaxy. Same way that humans were only in one section, or Turians, etc. They don't have Mass Relays in Andromeda, the Kett Empire were the only ones we knew of in the game that could travel the vast distances between.

[@spacejunk2186]

@@TheOnceandFutureJake This is also a Galaxy where the reapers were not a thing, so there is no reason why hyper FTL should not be a thing.

[@TheOnceandFutureJake]

@@spacejunk2186 Well, there's a lot of hints that the Jardaans were a race not unlike the Protheans in that they would go around and terraform and seed planets with life. Maybe the Kett were the first and advanced quicker. Like a Roman Empire against the barbarians, but in space. Also, the Scourge is a huge deal and really messes with interstellar travel. I don't think we got a definitive answer of how far-reaching it was.

[@Gorbz]

I don't know how it was for MEA, but for ME1 they stated that all the humanoids were just the human skeleton with a different body stuck over the top

[@thewal1ofsleep]

I tried to get into this game a couple times, as I LOVED the original trilogy and put hundreds of hours into it. I just really didn't care for the gameplay (especially the "open world" aspects) or the characters in Andromeda. I don't think I ever made it more than 4 or 5 hours into Andromeda before giving up and uninstalling.

[@NinusMaximus]

So you're telling me there's a race of cat people called angaran that get absorbed by another race called kett becoming angaran kett? Nothing to do with angora cat I'm sure. That should tell u a lot about the creativity of the people behind this game. One of the things I loved in the original trilogy was how original the races were, it was not simply pig people, or monkey people.

[@aydengraham2842]

No it was just make the look fuckable

[@GamingWithSpoons]

Truth be told I looked past many of the faults this game had technically but what I couldn't get passed was the writing. This feels like a fan fiction written by people who don't understand the lore. It was to the disrespect to the lore I didn't like. I like how you simply put it it feels like a Young Adult novel and a bad one at that. It's not good. It's also just killed my interest in Mass Effect 4, because I just don't have faith in the writing.

[@psychedelicsunshine]

The Power Wheel would've been perfect for this game, given how many powers you have. In ME1, each character had like 7 or 8 powers on the wheel. How did something from 2008 not make into this game

[@Choteron3]

Maybe because it was my first mass effect but i really enjoyed andromeda. I think the combat is best in the franchise. Cant wait for nex mass effect.

[@lupiyorro]

I love Mass Effect: Andromeda and I come froM Mass Effect: Trilogy... I played Mass Effect: Andromeda 6 times (one per year since came out)

[@the65penguin68]

Hi son it's me, your favourite Dad

[@YourFavoriteSon1]

Hey Dad

[@Gaia_Gaistar]

Recently downloaded this on a whim, never played it originally. It is fair to criticize it. One of the things that bothered me a lot were the new character models, their proportions feel so off and so different from the original game. Maybe it's petty but I can't unsee it.

[@YourFavoriteSon1]

I decided to omit an entire section from this video where I criticize the way everyone's legs look

[@janeshepard9549]

The game has actually improved a lot with the new patches - the expressions are better, the characters are much good looking, there is a new limitless galaxy to explore and the combat is awesome. But if you easily get bored by long exposition dumps, cheesy dialogue, and dry, deadpan humor + need every dialogue choice to evoke an emotional reaction from you - then definitely this is not the game for you. The biggest issue is Ryder's personality and the choices having nearly zero impact on the story. I believe most people were disappointed with the story and dialogue because like the original trilogy they believed by pursuing only one morality like paragon/renegade would give them super emotionally engaging scenes as they did with Shepard which would also drastically alter the story and the endgame. The problem is - Andromeda takes no such risks, you could be the worst Pathfinder yet the story would play out exactly the same save for one character's death in the ending. Ignore all the sidequests, make the worst decisions possible, be the most reluctant, lazy & incompetent explorer ever, be an a$$ to your squadmates, gaslight and shift the blame on the top brass - no problem!! All you get at the most is a scolding from some character - there are no world-altering implications save for some questlines being blocked in the Krogan ark, squadmates do not leave your ship and the bad guy never wins because of your incompetence. So, to make Ryder engaging it's up to the player to make them practical, decisive and show leadership skills when needed & to empathise + react emotionally when building relationships. Here the issue is that making Ryder emotional when they need to show leadership makes them an absolute, boring, indecisive downer & making them practical when they are supposed to open up about their feelings make them a slow, socially incompetent robot who behaves like a potential serial killer. Oh god, and the flirting is so horribly written and voice-acted. Shepard could be a bro ( paragon ) or an a$$ ( renegade ) depending on the choice - yet their alpha personality was a constant that made them engaging - they always have a plan, is headstrong and is a natural leader + they earned their place & were a smooth flirt. Characters were in awe of them and were naturally drawn to them. Compared to Shepard - Ryder is an omega - follows protocol to a t, is led around by those around them + SAM, reacts to events without a plan, was given authority as a handmedown. The only impactful decisive action they take is using the scourge against the kett which unlocks only after completing a long sidequest - which requires patience.

[@MegaPlayerXxX]

I liked Tempest as well, but I had one huge issue with it. In the overall story of Mass Effect series, we went from SSV Normandy SR-2, one of the best ships in entire Milky Way galaxy, fast, resiliant and armed enough to take down a reaper... to an exploration ship that had no weapons whatsoever. Tempest looked cool, had a decent loadout, but could not reach that epicness SSV Normandy has set up.

[@jglerum94]

To be fair, the Normandy SR-2 never single-handedly took down a Reaper and definitely wasn't able to. Sovereign and the Rannoch Reaper were both absolutely hammered by massive fleets of which the Normandy was only a single member, and in Priority: Earth the Normandy notably weaves *through* the Reaper lines (an amazing feat to be sure). I totally get what you're saying, but the Normandy was a recognizance stealth vessel that only had the offensive capabilities it did bc of Shepards upgrades and Garrus' damnedable calibrations xD Kinda weird/sad we couldn't similarly upgrade Tempest.

[@JayShootHer]

Son, you don't need to torture yourself for my approval.

[@snowdenwyatt6276]

Having played recently I am most struck by two character model oddities. The "Linda Blair" which used to be much worse if Sloane memes are any indication. It's still present but relatively rare. As a side note most, if not all, ME games suffer from some version of this. I lost count of the number of times in my play through of the legendary edition where Shepard's head twists extremely down and to one side while running through the Normandy. The other oddity is, of course, the "Squatty Potty" where innumerable security personnel are...well...squatting for no apparent reason.

[@judgedrekk2981]

or the pop in on the ark and nexus, you can run through an area to fast then get stuck on a wall as an NPC loads in and bocks you in place.... and don;t you mean Ryder?? not Shepard?? lolz

[@snowdenwyatt6276]

@@judgedrekk2981 Nah, I'm talking about Shepard in the Mass Effect Legendary Edition. Run through the Normandy with Shepard in 2 or 3 and Shepard's head will bend down and to the right. Not a full 90 or 180 degree twist, but a very unnatural position to hold your head while running. Head positioning on models in the Frostbite engine seems to be very problematic at times.

[@judgedrekk2981]

@@snowdenwyatt6276 that hasn't happened to me at all, I play it on XBOX though....

[@snowdenwyatt6276]

@@judgedrekk2981 I play on Xbox as well. It's not an unnatural angle for the neck (like Sloane in Andromeda) but for me Shepard's often looking down and behind (almost under their armpit rather than over the shoulder) while running on the Normandy (but never in combat). Didn't notice it at all in 1, but in 2 and 3 it happens quite often.

[@snowdenwyatt6276]

Just google "shepard running on normandy" and the first few results will be about this odd effect.

[@AlyxxTheRat]

A MASSIVE plothole I wanna point out: Ryder's dad sacrificing himself is entirely pointless because we see earlier in the same level that Ryder can just fix his helmet with a multitool. Ryder's dad did not have to hand over his helmet to save his life. It's entirely wasted. This is never pointed out at all. It especially brings into question why they even bothered showing that Ryder can fix his helmet himself.

[@aydengraham2842]

My man a crack is a little different to the whole face plate being destroyed

[@flaminginferno6641]

Yea this is plain stupid if you think about it for 1 second, mending a crack is an entire different beast from THE ENTIRE FACEGLASS BEING SHATTERED, and he doesn't have long before Ryder suffocates

[@vivvy_0]

will you look into the dragon age franchise if you haven't already?

[@joeivo911]

With all its faults I still grew to love this game. It took me awhile too get really into it though. Good video son.

[@TheOneGreat]

Really? Personally, it just made me angry. lol

[@joeivo911]

@@TheOneGreat not me. I played it 3 times. Once on the hardest difficulty. Once as a speed run and once just doing everything. It has a lot of great stuff if you give it a chance. But everyone deserves their opinion.

[@TheOneGreat]

@@joeivo911 I tried. The nicest thing I can say is that the combat was okay and I liked some characters. The story was quite generic, the UI was atrocious (seriously, why so many menues within menus) and the quests your typical open world 'liberate the bandit camp' but in space. I was so bored out of my mind I quit after like 15 hours. Maybe less. I rarely do that but I uninstalled it after and felt good about it. Only paid £10 so whatever. I'm more angry about the lackluster-ness of it all combined with it effectively killing a otherwise great franchise. Shame. :c

[@dereka5017]

Meh, I don’t think Andromeda was a bad game. It was just far from the heights of the OG trilogy. Now that I’m an adult, I find the best barometer of how good a game is is in my willingness to finish it. Especially if it’s open world. I had no problem beating ME:A, and I didn’t exactly streamline it! I even ended up doing a second playthrough at the start of the pandemic. I actually agree with most of your points (except in regards to combat, which I loved), I just don’t think they’re as bad as you think. While I was very disappointed it didn’t rise to the same level as the rest of the franchise, I still very much enjoyed it.

[@SillyTwister739]

I honestly don't think the game is bad. But it is very bland when it comes to its main storyline, great combat tho. My biggest disappointment with this game is the lack of new alien species. They travel 600 years to a new Galaxy and only 2 new alien species and a robot race very disappointing. I give it a 7.5/10 overall played much worse like DA2.

[@Boggy102]

I honestly feel like if Andromeda had smaller maps, less filler content, and sequel games... it would've been fine. Not great, but it feels so much worse as a standalone experience. There is so much in it that sets up for future events that will never come to fruition.

[@satAMfox]

I was waiting for this because i refuse to waste my time on this. Thank you, son!

[@OmniscientSloth]

I enjoyed this game more when I pretended it wasn’t a Mass Effect game. Solid 6/10 game but a 2/10 Mass Effect game

[@khalel610]

As more and more triple A games write annoying characters and cringey dialogues, ME andromeda was for me the start of that era. Inserts a lot of corny jokes and tries so hard to be cool. Sadly this type of writing is more prevalent nowadays.

[@captainamvv7135]

Andromeda was one of the first times that I felt absolutely disappointed by a game It felt so soulless and forced It felt like a product more than a work of passion than the original trilogy was Alot of people praised the combat but I despised how streamlined it has become esp the lack of companion control and powers This trend of disappointing Sequels to glorious original seems to be the trend recemtly Dying light 2 gave me the same feeling as well

[@crimnymsin]

Reading the article about the development shenanigans behind the scenes (similar issues that killed Anthem) put it into perspective. This was my first Mass Effect game, sadly, and I remember how awful it was even at release. I have no idea how I managed to finish it considering how lackluster it was in comparison to its predecessors. This was a treat to watch. Thank you for posting!

[@janni7044]

I remember finishing the game 100% -seeing the 110 hours playtime when I was done and the first thought that came to my mind was "well i wont get that life time back"

[@Atelierwanwan]

The problem with only looking at sales numbers is people buy the game before they know they hate it. Most people don't watch reviews before buying games so they've already spent the money. High sales numbers do not mean the game is good or bad, merely that it is recognised. In same cases it can mean something like if the game is amazing and that spreads then more people will buy it or it's incredibly bad people who hear might avoid buying it but a lot of people try to avoid hearing anything about a game before playing it themselves or just don't believe the hate so buy it anyway. Which is why the whole "vote with your wallet" or whatever the phrase is is annoying bs, can't not buy something I have to buy to learn if I don't like it in the first place. Comparing it to mcdonalds hamburgers is unfair to mcdonalds, some days I'd even prefer the burgers. It's more like burger king or something.

[@YourFavoriteSon1]

How dare you talk bad about Burger King. He's the king for a reason!

[@Atelierwanwan]

@@YourFavoriteSon1 I'm Australian and it's called Hungry Jacks here and apparently tastes different. He's not my king!

[@WritingWomen]

Son, you've been putting out these videos so fast I've hardly been able to keep up!

[@under-dog5390]

Think the paragon and renegade system was perfect in ME:3 but they did away with it becauseeee? Could pick either option based on reputation and could play a more fluid character rather than just go all paragon or renegade. Would've loved it if a system like that was extended to the whole OT with the remake. Wouldn't even say Andromeda's combat is better tbh... 3 ability slots is extremely restrictive... yes you can pick and chose from different "classes" but you have less tools to use than any one class in any other game. Thats less than half the ability slots than even in DA:I which people already said was too few for them years before ME:A came out. So the best solution was obviously to reduce that even further from 8 to 3... Logic? Who knows. Game devs love removing stuff, not anything in return and then they call it "innovative."

[@continentalglue]

What annoyed me most about this game is that everyone treats main-character Ryder like the coming of a new messiah. I understand being excited for his/her dad to come and, “fix all this”, but considering the only reason you, as the main character, has SAM is because you were about to die and still doesn’t make you qualified for what your dad was hired to. “You’re the ‘Pathfinder’, you’re our only hope now, the pathfinder will save us!”. Yeah, but why? I’m not trained for any of this, and simply having the AI shouldn’t have been enough. Like, interfacing with the alien tech to fix planets does make Ryders inclusion essential, but that should be accompanied by a whole nexus fire team, the rest of the political and colonizing stuff should be way out of Ryder’s league.

[@ironwolf56]

I have a feeling there WAS a lot more to your sibling in the game, possibly they would have even been a squadmate of their own. A lot about this game feels like rewrites and loose ends; a lot of the latter was probably just them banking on DLCs that never happened, but other things like your twin's role in the story feel like at one point they were a lot more important before getting mostly scrapped.

[@vonhines3574]

I really thought the twin was going to play a huge factor in the game. It was the biggest bummer for me. The game would have been so much better if they had an Eve Jacob from assassin's creed type of thing going on.

[@judgedrekk2981]

it woulda been interesting to have the sibling in the squad the whole time....there's so many let downs with this game Alec get's the best VO actor money could hire and he delivers a stellar performance as always....Clancy Brown who was in detroit become human and highlander as the Kurgan also he was in the Gargoyles as Hakon one of the Vikings who attack the castle in episode 1 and as Wolf one of the wolfpack, great actor, awesome voice.... the sibling issue, you seem to have no authority, decisions have no weight or consequences nor play a part later? dialog is wishy washy at best.... a few good things: personally i like Peebee especially for how she flirts, I like Jaal, I like the Salarian pathfinder.....had it been a male I likely woulda saved Drack's scouts knowing they'd transfer to a female.....seriously young female Salarian was a voice we never heard in the originals....and her energetic personality I just liked more...call me nuts! I like drack a lot, they were right to channel Grandpa Wrex right? lol and I like the new rover design also i like the tempest but feel they coulda did it a little better like how normandy SR1 was designed, stairs leading to the different decks, not ladders eesh also i thought all stealth ships came with a standard Joker....sorry that's a bad joke.... as far as botched game entries go, I still feel the saints row reboot is way worse....they can write this out and forget this happened but if ME4 is also bad then the franchise is sunk and that's the real fear....

[@HammarPwnsYourFace]

“My face is tired….” -ME:A Adderson… 😂

[@aka-47k]

the team was not willing to get back to it after ME3, it was a different team, completely different pple who worked on andromeda then the first 3, at the time EA bought bioware alot of pple left, so it also can be sure to say that the pple who made ME 1 and 2 didnt work on 3 either. Further, lets say your company is being bought out and you hate the new managment, well will you quit or stay? the simple answer is, all the pple who are confindent in their skills and thus are confident to find new job will quit, while the ones who know they bad at this work will stay, and this is exactly what happened with EA buying bioware, only trash stayed.

[@yarp1246]

The best parts of this game were the callbacks to the trilogy, and that did not bode well at all. I had no emotional attachment to any of the characters in Andromeda. Combat was nice but wore out its welcome in no time, which was terrible because I put over a hundred hours in my first and only playthrough. Glitches galore, at times borderline unplayable on PS5. Storyline pretty forgettable, the worlds vast but empty, the Archon typical. (The only thing that really made me go !!!! was finding out the true origin of the angara.) It was a very poor experience.

[@FriedPlacentaBurger]

Son, you seem like the type to hang out and eat by the wawa trashcan. (Unless you’re a sheetz guy)

[@YourFavoriteSon1]

Definitely a Sheetz guy

[@jasonreiyn9311]

There are 2 things I'd like to comment on regarding Andromeda. One is that probably over half. Of the game's content, including the profile system and the crafting system, is retscanned rip offs of kingdom of amular reckoning. The other thing I say is that on each of the planets. You can trigger a massive world boss who has some unique mechanics to it.

[@EstevanValladares]

One example of the problem with such reviews: - I am not the only one, and I know many who agrees. I HATE when games do things "all the time" when the game "judges" I want to do it. I HATE when CP77 resets camera when I am driving or doing recon, for one example of many. I HATE when games auto duck, auto turn around, auto almost everything. So I would hate if I had "auto cover", (in fact I hated it when it was that way), I hate when game auto rotate camera, etc. This is one example of something that occurs repeatedly in these "criticisms": People think what they like is "universal" when it seems to them it is "natural". I am not saying it should do things because I like it, or dont do because I hate it, like many people say "is that what you mean ?", no. I mean that the game is a certain way, and you cannot justify it is wrong because you dont like the way it is. Another thing people say: Criticism is saying what you dont like. That is exactly what criticism IS NOT. Criticism is not about liking or not. IT is about judging it has merit or not. I do not eat meat, I do not like meat, but if I need to grade the smell of a beef, a criticism would be "it smells burnt". A "mi mi mi" would be "It smells like a dead animal immolated".

[@jenniferrannila1414]

I know I am late, but it always feels cathartic seeing people rip into this game and you are the first that I have seen that has actually went into more detail than the ugly faces and graphic. Good job, son I am proud of you.

[@marajadebrooks1289]

personally, I loved this game. I hope we get more clarification on the lore, because there is so much left to the imagination.

[@grayearly3116]

Glad I'm not the only one lol

[@frequencyoftruth2303]

​@@grayearly3116I'm loving it to. I don't usually claim nostalgia but this time I am

[@ScaerieTale]

"Bioware went with the burgers for this one" and then proceeded to blame players for just not appreciating those 20 burgers. Or was that an EA comment? I just remember someone official blaming players for the failure anyway.

[@YourFavoriteSon1]

I say no to the burgers

[@melancholyman369]

Divinity did the same concept of having two player created characters interacting in a world so well and your telling me a AAA with more than 5x the budget can't pull off a fraction of that? Sucks to suck

[@madhippy3]

I think you should have mentioned how the dlc to bring more life into the new setting like the Quarian arc got canceled because how bad this game was. If it sold well it was just on misleading hype. BioWare knew that the cat was out of the bag here, there weren’t enough fans to even make dlc profitable let alone a whole new game. No this game is a strain on Mass Effect far more than Kei Leng or the choice your color ending off 3.

[@startingQB]

The 4 choices idea was so weird because you don't always get 4 choices.

[@frequencyoftruth2303]

I think it depends on the personality not all 4 can work with every person.

[@Jumpboots_Jamstrang]

Mass effect was my favorite series for quite some time. I bought this used when the game was relatively new. As soon as I heard the voice line “I think I pissed him off. Maybe because I shot him in the face”, I returned it. Picked it up a while later for like four bucks, for that price it was playable, but still depressing to see a once great franchise brought low.

[@blackzangetsu716]

The combat was good on this game

[@WillThaThird]

Nice , I've been waiting for this one. Thank you

[@YourFavoriteSon1]

you're welcome

[@theonlybilge]

Peanut Butter looks extremely funny, it's something about the eyes.

[@greensilverwolf3PhoenixGroup]

Lets compare the start of a trilogy to a finished trilogy.... there was a lot of things they were planning on doing with andromeda but people compared andromeda to the original trilogy. This game was better than most parts of the og trilogy. If they had more time and everyone treated it as a new game it wouldnt have gotten the hate it got

[@solustalechoy7698]

I'm certainly a minority opinion here, but the facial animations never bothered me one bit. Of course, I can barely read facial expression in real life, so when the faces were blank I didn't really notice, and when the faces were over-exaggerated, I was just excited to be able to actually get information from someone's face for once.

[@kronosleblu888]

Really hate how the Asari were sooooo ugly in Andromeda. Let's hope the next Dragon age and mass effect doesn't use the garbage dice engine. And also we return to more good looking alien species with less bugs.

[@venicec3310]

Fr all female characters were fugly

[@frequencyoftruth2303]

What do you mean the Dr was very pretty

[@psychedelicsunshine]

Also I love how the bloated game that is easily twice as long as the previous games, gets the shortest retrospective, which is so fair

[@misterdedlift4879]

This was an EA AAA title, the "no resources to make it work" excuse is pure nonsense. What they mean is that they got a big huge budget and squandered it because they didn't know what they were doing.

[@SaltyRocksPew]

9:25 that's my new wake-up alarm, thank you son.

[@YourFavoriteSon1]

You're welcome Dad

[@liquidl5380]

And now I'm just sitting here thinking about fixes and script doctoring. Like having one of the Ryder twins being Alec's favorite. (Could resolve some of that narrative whiplash and would give an incentive to replay as the other). And it really, really, *really* should have been a refugee story where this is a backup plan for the Milky Way if the catalyst plan doesn't work. Or like, for people who don't believe in that plan. (Or bankrolled by Cerberus, whatever). This manifest destiny, "exploring for the sake" of it narrative was really weird when there were plenty of more compelling in universe justifications. Of course, I also thought ME should've done a prequel about the first contact war anyway for the first non-Shep entry in the series 🤣

[@startingQB]

This might not be a good Mass Effect game, but if it didn't have "Mass Effect" in the name, it wouldn't have even been released.

[@unbearifiedbear1885]

Another banger! Well done, Son - you make me so proud Dad - London UK 🙏🏻❤🍻

[@YourFavoriteSon1]

Thanks Dad

[@bridgesbane7032]

Mass Effect Andromeda must be canon in the Jacoby Shepherd universe. Only explanation for this tragedy.

[@miccarter1403]

It was a wonderful game. Everyone's too cynical. I loved the originals and I loved this one too.

[@novemberbravo6194]

Can’t wait to watch this when I get home later! I know that there was this whole scandal around Andromeda’s release, and that it wasn’t the best ME game, but honestly…having played through it twice, I really enjoyed it. I feel like it could do with a little evangelising on its behalf. As long as people adjust their expectations and don’t go in expecting ME1/2/3.5, there’s actually a really fun game in there. Like is it perfect? No, of course not. What is? Is it an interesting take on the ME formula that a LOT of real people, with real feelings, put their time, energy, love, hearts, and souls into? Absolutely. Thanks for taking the time to put this together and highlight it!

[@sunwisecircles]

Don Brow (?) then is the one to blame because I can't rescue that kid getting dragged by the leg on Grissom?

[@Alexander-xk2nb]

Just played this. That's why I'm here now. Didn't want spoilers. The experience was bloated... the true story was hidden ( behind the SAM companion quest which was made no sense and was tedious), The villain was weak... Not knowing why were there made the whole thing feel pointless until I gave myself the purpose of shitting on the kett. The angara were weak and didn't seem real as rebels/survivors. I felt this laid the groundwork for something excellent ( pertaining to the origin of the remant and the greater Kett galactic empire ) but most of the game was boring. They improved the movement but the limit of abilities in combat was lame. The naming of the kett was lazy... cause it sounds like geth ( who were the first game's main enemy group). The archon was a pussy. I have to emphasize, i feel like any race in milky-way could've singlehandedly donkey fucked the Kett; even easier than we did. The Camera work was lackluster unlike previous games. I like some of the companions but most characters aren't memorable. Oh yeah, HATED the profile thing. Liked that you could customize the twin ( I'm a weirdo who loves spending time making characters). Also, was we didn't see quarians, I like them. I miss Talia. :(

[@raymondlee546]

I agree with you - Andromeda is a bland/boring video game and not worthy to be a part of the ME franchise. I personally believe that Andromeda is a product made by a company who thinks that listening to opinions of the "fans" on the internet is how you make a good game. And from limited glimpses I've seen of ME4, I'm afraid that it will be more of the same. You don't make a masterpiece, a work of art, by listening to the masses.

[@lgd6619]

I know this game gets some hate, but I wont lie I do wish I could bring the movement and feel of the character into the old games, the original trilogy still holds up but mechanically it feels ancient with its clunky early 2000s feel

[@Deathelement53]

This game made me so sad. It was like someone took my childhood and took a shit all over it

[@frequencyoftruth2303]

Me3 did that already

[@Deathelement53]

@frequencyoftruth2303 at least me3 was amazing until the very last 5 to 10 minutes. Andromeda was the ending of me3 but for 40 hours

[@jeffbrewer1580]

The sense of exploration/discovery and combat was excellent. The story, most companions, and the overwhelming amount of fetch quest really make the whole game a very forgettable experience

[@craigharris41]

If you pick Science....then your breakthroughs are much faster, so Health gets a big boost. Military....well thats the guns.

[@DarkDao]

Yep, it felt like the game actively disrespects fans and treats gamers like it's mid 90s. It was not an enjoyable experience.

[@heavynorse7746]

The two features I liked about this game were: 1) The movement, being able to jump and dash around just gave the gameplay the uplift that I wanted in Mass Effect, something I think a lot of shooters of this kind is sorely missing. 2) As a gay man who plays male characters wanting same-sex romances in these sorts of games, FINALLY being able to romance an actual alien! Past ME games only gave us Kaiden and Steve Cortez for male-Shepard, and Andromeda gave us Jaal... after a patch that came after the game's launch, because people complained. ♥ I've played this game a lot, but all your critique is valid for the exact reasons you state. I was looking forward to this video after you've completed the main trilogy and you did not disappoint. :) I've already made the request before, but I do still think it would be cool if you went through the Dragon Age series, especially now that you have Mass Effect in your backlog for comparison. Either way, I am looking forward to the next franchise you're gonna tackle. ^^

[@YourFavoriteSon1]

Dragon Age is definitely on the list, but I have to take a break from multiple playthrough games for a little bit.

[@SundariAtari]

I'm replaying me1 right now and ooo boi it's stacking up. Andromeda might very well be an OK game

[@progeniesofthetoiletpaperh6433]

Andromeda brought massive shame to the Mass Effect franchise.

[@restlessdreams17]

That was fast! Andromeda only warrants one playthrough and doesn't have any room for different play styles/different routes or endings but still, you've deserved a break son

[@YourFavoriteSon1]

I deserve a break after the brutal beating that I took playing this game

[@restlessdreams17]

@@YourFavoriteSon1 Definitely, blitzing through this game in a week will take a lot out of you. I felt the same even after spacing it out over a month

[@TheBloodGamePL]

We can't forget to mention how many mechanics are straight up copy past from DA inquisition

[@whatshisface04]

Hey son, While I wouldn’t say ME:A is a bad game. I only played through it all the way once, and have tried a few other times to do so, but I end up quitting once I get past Eos. It’s such a disappointment compared to the countless play throughs I’ve done in the first three games, and the choices are just an illusion of choice. Ultimately, it just didn’t feel like a Mass Effect game to me, and that’s what hurts the most. Good job on the videos son, I’ve enjoyed your review of my favorite trilogy, and this sad sequel to the trilogy.

[@shawnadams1965]

I don't know, I had fun with it. In fact I played through it twice with a few years in between playthroughs. If they had of released it as a new IP it wouldn't have been dragged so hard.

[@joeivo911]

Sorry you had such a negative experience with this game. I did 3 play throughs totaling 200 hrs. I think it’s great but not the same ways as the other ME games