Mass Effect Andromeda: Was It Really THAT BAD?!

[@martinbernath]

I played andromeda right after i finished the trilogy last year. I had very low expectations but in the end the game very much exceeded them. What i probably liked the most about andromeda was the presentation, the art style and the sheer size of everything. The remnant vaults blew my mind the. I dont think ive ever played a game with such areas before. Some of the places from omega dlc in me3 come close, but the remnant vaults are just so much cooler. The combat was also a welcomed improvement in my opinion, mainly the verticality which the environment plays into. As far as the story goes, i didnt mind it. Yeah Ryder being this kid, being put on the spot and having to prove themselves was a shock at first. But the narrative isnt bad imo, it almost reminded me of ME1. In ME1 you also start as an underdog, an experienced one, but you are still doubted by council and almost everyone who you come across doesnt believe you being a spectre. I would say that by the end of andromeda, you become a pretty accomplished character, people start to slowly recognize who you are and also the importance of being a pathfinder. And Ryder is still pretty young at that point. If andromeda continued and we could play as an older version of Ryder, they would make for an amazing.main character. Ryders younger age also plays into the goofiness of them, when you realize they are only 22 years old in the game, it starts to make sense. The side characters are weaker compared to the original trilogy, but you have to take into account that they didnt have 3 games to fully develop in. All the legendary characters were pretty meh in ME1 maybe except Garrus because he already had a pretty cool back story. Ashley was just a soldier, Liara was a scientist, Tali was.. i dont even know and wrex was a bounty hunter but thats all you know about him when you first meet him. So im term of being interesting, the andromeda character arent that bad imo, but some of them are pretty annoying. Cora couldve been so much better if someone deleted every second line about asari commandos and liam would be better if he was straight deleted from the game as you said. As far as enemies go, archon has nothing on Sarren or any of or other antagonists. But i also found his character to be interesting not in a villain way, through reading messages you learn that his kett bosses dont like his obsession with meridian and are trying to get rid of him. Knowing this gives his character a bit more depth, he is more relatable thanks to it because he is not only going against you but also against his upper command at the same time. It justifies him being so pathetic. The game is pretty good for the sheer amount of content you get, it took me 80 hours with a lucky mix of playing thr main story, exploring and doing some side quests. When it started to get boring i progressed with the main story and after that got back to exploring and doung side guests. Probably my least favourite thing about this game is how you are in a new galaxy, you are supposed to be rhe first one to go out there and make the planets habitable and yet you come across hundreds of people from milky way fully settled in and living their lives there. The fact you meet more milky way characters than new andromeda races and characters is just so dissapointing. If andromeda introduced as many new races to us as ME1 did, it would be my favorite mass effect game, but because it didnt, that title goes and stays with ME1. Another dissapointment is the quarian ark never making it into the game. The biggest problem andromeda has wasnt the game itself, it was bioware abandoning it. There is so much potential for dlcs and sequels in the andromeda galaxy, the heleus cluster is as big as the galaxy map in previous mass effect games. It would be a real shame if bioware completely abandoned all that andromeda started. Although i still want the next game to go back to shepard and see the milky way aftermath. So to conclude, go definitely play the game if you havent, i cant guarantee you will like it, its different. But its still a good game, better than starfield too. Well worth picking up when its at discount.

[@Patrick-l9d9v]

I didn't think Andromeda was bad at all. Personally I think people didn't want to give it a chance because it was a different story line from Shepard and crew.

[@supernova9930]

Bioware dropped the ball hard on andromeda. The characters and also writing was abysmal, and the game development was given to the “B” team, which was subsequently closed down. Such a shame.

[@Patrick-l9d9v]

@@supernova9930 To each their own.

[@SchulzEricT]

I mean, when it came out it was BUGGY AS FUCK. It was released way before it was actually finished; let's not act like the problem was expectations, or that players weren't willing to give it a chance; the company has to release a playable game first.

[@frequencyoftruth2303]

​@@Patrick-l9d9vto each their own? I mean really dude? Have you not played a bioware RPG before? I doubt it.

[@Patrick-l9d9v]

@frequencyoftruth2303 Yes I have played othe Bioware games. You have your opinion I have mine.

[@Lumpypatato1532]

As someone who never played a mass effect until 2020, starting off with ME1, by the time I got to Andromeda I wasn’t as disappointed as what reviews online said

[@souljahbill14]

It’s my 2nd favorite ME game of the 4 (only behind 3). Just creating my own custom builds for my Ryders and unleashing them was a blast unto itself. I’d take an MEA2 over a post-ME3 game anyday.

[@SchulzEricT]

That's wild: 3 was your favorite?!? Easily my least favorite of the trilogy; I guess you're the first person I've seen actually have it as 1st. I have 3 separate topics to talk about re: the ME trilogy and ME:A 1 - On 3: I recently saw an article (a really old article but I only *saw* it recently) that talked about how the worst thing about 3 wasn't the ending, it was the journal, and yes, the journal is terrible. But mostly, I just think it's how rushed it feels; the machine comes out of nowhere (if you look back and 1 and 2) and no mission you're doing it 3 really feels like you're actually working towards *the machine*! It's all about trying to get all the races to work together to fight the Reapers, while in the background scientists are working on making a machine, unconnected to the armies, to end the war? Maybe even worse is Cerberus' oversized role: what the fuck are those clowns doing? Why did Bioware have so much Cerberus? We FINALLY get the Reapers, but 2/3rds of the game is just dealing with Cerberus' dumbass. I definitely like certain things about 1 over 2 and 3; 2 over 1 and 3; 3 over 1 and 2. I appreciate the way Bioware kept tweaking things. ME1 - Great story, a fantastic introduction to the world, of course (you can go further back, of course to the book "Mass Effect: Revelation", which really isn't that good of a book - it's fine, nothing more - but as a prequel to the game, as an introduction to the world, it's fantastic; but then ME1 fleshes it out beautifully); it's cool that everybody in the world of ME tends to be prejudiced against the Quarians but you're introduction to them is Tali, so no *player* has those same prejudices, we all end up really liking the Quarians; just the gameplay is great, the blending of turn-based RPGs (the "pausing" allowed by opening the weapon/power wheel - it REALLY pays off in ME2 when you fight that SPECTRE), the combat is great whether you favor weapons or powers; the inventory is a bit bogged down, as 2 demonstrates by fixing/stream-lining it, but I really love the attention to detail that went into all the equipment companies, it's really fun to see all the different weapons, and the heat sink mechanic is fucking brilliant... the weapon mods are fucking great too, it's awesome how you can have several great loadouts that are all valid (like the Scram Rail does less damage than the lower-rated Rail Extensions but is "better" because the heat load is 10% rather than 20%, BUT if you use that ammo that ups your damage by ~30% but hits your rate of fire (10% or so?) then that offsets the heat load, so you can combine that ammo with the Rail Extension and be "better" than if you "upgrade" a Rail Extension to a Scram Rail... fuck, eliminating the heat sink and weapon mods in 2 and 3 was a massive mistake, IMO)... ME2 - I just love 2, it's easily my favorite. On paper it's a lot of character recruitment missions until the final mission, it feels like the story shouldn't be as fun as it is because the main story is kinda threadbare ON PAPER, but Bioware excels at characters and you get so many great ones in ME2. The combat, other than Biotic, is streamlined and IMO improved; gunplay feels so much better. I love how it functions as this great counter to ME1 - ME1's main hub is the Citadel, so it's this "high fantasy" Sci Fi, then ME2's hub is Omega, so it's grittier, darker... cooldowns on ALL powers, not individually, really fucks Biotic but the main power for each non-Biotic class is, IMO, so much more useful than having many but no real foundational power. As a soldier in ME1, I pretty much never use my power, ditto Infiltrator (my two favorite classes), but ME2 gives you useful bullet time as a soldier or the cloaking tool as an Infiltrator. Good shit. (I don't like Vanguard - shotguns really suck in ME - but "charge" is awesome if that's a playing style you like.) I love how they streamlined weapons - much as I like ME1's variety of weapons - mid-game, the Raptor AR is really awesome before you start getting to high-level AR's like the Tempest (although I always save up so I can get the SPECTRE gear before I get that far, of course). ME2 stream-lining weapons so that there's only a few of each type, and the non-default weapons you acquire throughout the game not being objectively better than any other, them just feeling different in various ways so that it's a personal preference, is pretty cool IMO. I think losing the heat sink was a terrible idea; I wish at least Biotic still had individual cooldowns; the weapon upgrades are lame, IMO: just steady improvement (more ammo, more damage, w/e) rather than getting to customize it in the way you like, the lack of personal flair/touch... it's fine, I just think ME1's weapon mod system was so much better. ME3 - Combat/movement feels a little more "floaty" to me compared to ME2, I'm not really sure how to describe it. Just the way your character moves as you walk, or strafe, it's not quite as satisfying. But the health segments was a brilliant innovation, I think; regenerating health/shields in ME2 is just OP to me, ME3 allows you to still have the ability to regen but it's nerfed enough to make the game a more satisfying challenge (although I think I still prefer ME1, where you just have omni-gel functioning as a health potion, until you get some minor health regen through talent points). The weapon weight mechanic is brilliant too, IMO; I hate how legendary edition made every class able to use every weapon in ME1, that breaks classes, but the way ME3 allows it? So that there's a trade-off? Brilliant. Especially if you played through original edition ME1 - so you learned to rely on powers (if you aren't a soldier) - so that now you can use weapons if you want, but there's actually a big reward for not doing so, that's a fantastic innovation. (I could talk about the ME trilogy for hours. Clearly. And how I think Legendary Edition was a big disappointing failure with regards to actually improving the original trilogy; all it did was break ME1 when it *could've* really addressed some things, tightened up some gameplay mechanics, story beats, characters... with the foreknowledge of how the trilogy unfolded, LE could've been truly legendary. Instead it's clearly worse than original edition ME. Bummer. Although it clearly introduced a ton of new gamers to ME; on that front, it clearly wasn't a failure. It was just a failure at being better - or even as good - as original edition.)

[@souljahbill14]

@@SchulzEricT Here’s another surprise for you…… ME2 is my least favorite of the 4. I’m not trying to be some kind of contrarian. I DO like the game. I don’t hate it. I just like the other 3 games more.

[@SchulzEricT]

The 2nd thing: I just hate how ME LE didn't do anything interesting beyond giving the Mako power thrusters. All the other changes - making you OP in ME1 - just broke it. Watch any stream of somebody playing any non-soldier class in LE and they essentially never use powers, they just play like they're soldiers; original edition ME guided you into playing the best way - the most fun way - and new players never have as much fun as they could be, because they can just use assault rifles as a level 1 Biotic. And not just are AR's functional for any non-soldier class, they start off way more accurate too; this isn't a Dark Souls gate-keeping thing, it's not about "it should be harder for these newbs", it's about how original edition's functionality guided players into playing AS THEIR CLASS! It guided you into playing a way that was more FUN! I have to imagine the people who made LE weren't those involved in original edition, because they clearly had no idea why ME1 worked. Also: in original edition, you could be a Biotic who only is able to use pistols, then you go to ME2 and get an SMG - upgrade! In LE, as a Biotic in ME1 you can use all 4 weapon types, so you go to ME2 and your AR is now merely an SMG - downgrade! Similarly, the Mako is so fucking OP in LE. So, again, going from 1 to 2 isn't a downgrade in original edition since in original edition the Mako vs the Hammerhead is a personal preference: the tougher tank-y Mako vs the more maneuverable Hammerhead. But in LE the Hammerhead is a piece of shit compared to the 10x more durable, 10x more powerful Mako. Again, going from ME1 to ME2 is a downgrade in LE. As I said, the power thrusters was a great idea, I fully support that. But man, they went overboard on making the Mako OP in LE. I wish they'd give us a tweaked and improved ME LE... similarly, there's so much great stuff in Andromeda, I'd love to see a Re-mastered Andromeda where they fix problems - not just bugs, but tighten up some of the writing. (I don't think it's nearly as bad as I see so many people claim, but there's definitely stuff - dialogue and banter, as well as story - that could be tightened up. In the ME trilogy too, so I don't see why Andromeda gets so much more hate... I get that, upon release, it was so buggy it was broken, I get the criticism in that regard, I just mean with regards to writing specifically.) But man... I only started playing Andromeda about 2 weeks ago, about 32% of the way done (found it at Half Price Books for only $7 when I was there to sell a bunch of shit, figured "fuck it" and man, I've been blown away by it; my expectations were super-low, so that's a factor, but even still, I'm loving it) so I'm not done yet, but so far there's so many things about it that I love, so many ideas that are really cool and fun. I think it's great as a counterpoint to the ME trilogy, I really like that they went in such a different direction. Honestly, I wish there was less combat, I wish they steered even harder into making it more Star Trek as a counter to the ME trilogy's Star Wars vibes. (I prefer Star Wars - I used to be a big Star Wars fan - while I'm not into Star Trek, but I appreciate why people are, I think it's great to blend the two in the universe of ME. There's room for both approaches for sure.)

[@SchulzEricT]

FINALLY, my 3rd point: "I’d take an MEA2 over a post-ME3 game anyday" If I were in charge, I think I'd make the next ME project a duology: prequels to the ME trilogy. The first game you play as a Krogan during the Rachni wars; the second game you play as a Turian during the Krogan wars. That works as a 2-part kind of anthology series. Although you could maybe make a throughline and have the PC be a Salarian? You could easily make a game where you can choose to be Turian, Krogan, OR Salarian in the first game... but I'm not sure how that would work in the 2nd game. Because the 2nd game, being a Krogan would have you on the other side of the war, so... you would have to make essentially 2 games - one where you're a Krogan on the losing side, the other where you're on the winning side... even 3 games, where your experience as a Turian is much more combat/fighting centered, whereas as a Salarian it's much more about the development of the Genophage? And given the events "already happened", it might be hard to be a full-on RPG... but honestly, there would be worse things than making it ARPG (think Dark Alliance) to Mass Effect's true RPG (think Baldur's Gate). (Although I'd definitely go a bit harder RPG than the Dark Alliance games were; they're fun enough, but you could definitely give the players a much deeper RPG experience despite it happening with "the past" of the ME universe.)

[@stevencornwall5607]

ME:A was great in my opinion, it wasn't perfect but what game ever is? It gets a lot of flak that I feel are unwarranted.

[@MrHorsepro]

After putting in over 4300 hours of documented play, an unqualified NO would be my reply. I have more hours of play on that game than on both trilogy versions combined. And I cannot tell you why I enjoy that particular game more than the others. I own all of them. There is just something about it that holds my interest more than the others. And goodness knows, my interests are very diverse at 78 years of age, 28+ years into my retirement. Thank you for bringing this up.

[@Whatisthisstupidfinghandle]

4300 ? At 4 hours a day that would take 3 years

[@MrHorsepro]

@@Whatisthisstupidfinghandle The game was released in March 2017, and I played it almost daily for 6+ years. So, you do that math. And remember, I was retired and a widower. Not a lot going on in my life at that point. There were also times when I played either the trilogy or some other game for a while. The modding made it a way better game. For a long time, mods were coming out hot and heavy. And as I said, I would still be playing that game without EA's interference. Oh, and BTW, those are EA's numbers. I didn't make them up. I was logged in and played that game for those hours, according to EA.

[@jacks2031]

Did you play it on PC or console? How often does the game crash on PC? I want to buy it but need to know which platform to buy because of bugs and crashes. Thank You

[@MrHorsepro]

@@jacks2031 I played it on a high-end gaming PC that I built myself. I also used, as I said below, over 53 mods, which you cannot do with a console. And it never crashed for me.

[@jacks2031]

Thank You for the reply. I will get it on PC then.

[@MrCalmwaters]

Mass Effect Andromeda was my 1st introduction to Mass Effect franchise.

[@jollyredgiant203]

I'm so sorry

[@strawberrylotlizard]

Sooo sorry

[@LouSassol69er]

Unlucky

[@MerrillDragonAge]

Me too. I'm playing ME1 now.

[@TheGismono]

Atleast you stared with the worst and get only get better.

[@zephyr8072]

Mass Effect 3 is what killed the franchise. Andromeda was merely shot down while trying to escape the blast radius.

[@steinbauge4591]

True. I refused to play ME3 after just reading about the ending mess. RPG players will always make their own story and play against the game - if they get to some degree interested in story/game. I never played ME3 until MEHEM mod came out, never touched the official endings.

[@Syrian-guy]

Mass effect Andromeda is literally mass effect 1 I don't understand all the hate the companies in 1 were so meh but we we got the trilogy all together they were so good so it's the same for Andromeda even the choices in 1 we didn't have any outcome to effect the story in 1 alone

[@Poesjewel]

i got it for free on EA/Origin with my sub, but the story and characters (especially liam lol), even the villains, are so boring/insufferable that i can never manage to get past 10 hours into it before just forgetting about it. i would be forgiving about bugs and glitches, but the story and characters gotta pull me in. one expects that from bioware, and thats where the letdown is. even before legendary edition fixed the trilogy bugs, i still played them all at least once a year. the story and characters are the reason for that. idk if another six months or year working on andromeda would have fixed the writing.

[@Jnensrevenge]

I am gonna be a devil's advocate here: The characters of the original trilogy came beloved in the sequels. Wrex might be the only one who is awesome from the the get go. Garrus and Tali are boring in ME1 and rest are fine at best. Maybe if Andromeda got a sequel the squad would have gotten better? Personally I would have made a stand-alone sequel with NO RYDER.

[@sarodanadian9948]

I think Andromeda is a lot better than ME1. ME1 is pretty rough to go back and play. I definitely think an Andromeda sequel could fix Andromeda’s problems just like ME 2 did to Mass effect. I really like Andromeda’s story especially how dire the situation is in the beginning and how everything you do has major impact on the Nexus and the Initiative.

[@Sniperjones_007]

Yes, it was so bad that they put the franchise on ice afterwards. It was so bad they didn’t even release actually planned DLC content for the game. It was so bad the only thing people really know about it was the “my face is tired” memes that swept through the gaming industry after. Please let Andromeda and its characters die and let’s move forward with Shepard’s story in the next Mass Effect.

[@italianspiderman5012]

I’d say leave shep alone, write new story in the universe, the problem is current BioWare isn’t capable of writing a restaurant menu let alone a sci-fi epic.

[@brianshaw9326]

Admittedly I didn’t play it upon release when it was its buggiest, but I really enjoyed my play through! Excited to play it again. Not to mention the soundtrack is seriously underrated. I revisit it time and time again. Speaking of the soundtrack, where did you get that “strings only” version of “A Better Beginning” that you used in this video?

[@TheGismono]

@LockheartQT I actually thing jacob had a nice ending/wrap up, if you include me3 dlc ‘citadel’ Ending up on the verge of getting married prio to the final mission if I recall.

[@dominikschummer6629]

The first and Andromeda is my Favorite 😊

[@MrHorsepro]

I will admit I ultimately ended up playing it with 53+ mods that addressed many of the negatives some folks claimed were hard to deal with. Additionally, EA's foolish move of making Origin obsolete and insisting that their engine be the only way to play the game on PC took a lot of the fun out of it for me. I slowly just stopped playing it for that reason only. If Origin were still available, I would still be modding and playing MEA enthusiastically. Needless to say, I am not a fan of EA. At least for me, they have a way of taking the fun out of gaming, mainly because of my way or the highway approach they take with their subscribers. In fact, it is because of them that I don't game anymore at all.

[@mandrews6282]

On current gen consoles you get 1800p 30, with some extras visually as well on top, as the game did get a One X and PS4 Pro version. Still stuck at 30 but it looks basically 4K and is stunning there as well. Just started playing this last week for the first time and honestly surprised how much I’m enjoying it. Don’t really get the vitriol that surrounded this game at launch.

[@eleanorgreywolfe5142]

I'm not sure which is worse, Jacob or Liam. Probably Jacob with what happens if you were one of the unfortunate souls who romanced him.

[@SchulzEricT]

It's definitely Jacob. Liam might be "boring" (I'm only about 32% into ME:A at the moment - I just a few weeks ago went to Half-Price books to sell a bunch of stuff, saw it for $7 bucks and figured "fuck it") but you can also spin that as "reliable" or "solid". I think the Kaiden/James/Liam types really get too much hate; sure, they're not as layered as Ashley or Miranda, not nearly as interesting as Garrus or Tali or Legion - characters who unlock entirely new ways of thinking, who really do a great job of fleshing out the universe of ME - but you need a diverse set of characters, and not every character should be as initially standoffish as Miranda, or can be as paradigm-shifting as Legion. Honestly, I think Javik is worse than those 3 . It's crazy how starkly different he and Legion are: Legion fucking breaks your brain when you learn you had no idea what the Geth were like; Javik had the potential to do that but instead he's this washed up, narrow-minded soldier, arrogant with no cause (his race seems to have been really technologically advanced - although a lot of it, like for the Citadel races, was finding Reaper tech - but HE has nothing to do with it. He's an idiot. He can't wrap his mind around Asari learning to write; it's been 50,000 years dude! That's a long time!)... although maybe that's the point? He sucks *as a person* but you can argue that doesn't make him *a bad character*. If the point was to really de-mystify the Protheans and make you see them as weak and pathetic, then mission succeeded.

[@newnavy2211]

Just a quick correction: The Xbox version runs at 4K on the One X and Series X. It got updated on N7 day in 2018. As far as I know, the PS4 Pro never recieved the same 4K update.

[@Aeturnalis]

I didn't play it until 2022, long after the bugs were fixed, so I can't comment on any of that, but I thought it was incredible. The gameplay in general and especially the combat was top notch, the planet design was pretty good, the Architect boss fights were exhilarating, and the graphics were beautiful (PC, RTX3090, 4K-144Hz). The characters and story don't compare to the original trilogy at all, but it's not like it was bad, just less compelling, less interesting... Drack and Cora were cool characters, and Jaal was alright, but nothing compares to Shepherd, Garrus, Tali, and Liara (I'm not including any from ME2 or ME3, it wouldn't be fair to compare Andromeda, one single game, to an entire trilogy worth of characters). And, to be fair... how do you top the story from the trilogy? You're saving the galaxy from a massive, cyclical extinction event at the hands of godlike intergalactic robots. As far as sci-fi goes, there's basically no way to top that lol

[@kkkk-uh1cu]

I did play it at launch and aside from the facial animations, my game actually ran alright. The game wasn't buggy so much as unfinished. I've had much worse experiences. No criticism here. For the actual gameplay, I'd have to agree with you. I personally liked the exploration, but I found the characters forgettable. If you asked me today, I would say it's not a bad game, but it's a bad mass effect game. In a way, it's very similar to DA 2, which did not appeal to the fans of DA 1. It had its faults (the maps reused to hell and back most of all), but the experience is enjoyable.

[@TheGismono]

@@kkkk-uh1cu Fare too much of the game is repeat the same content agian and agian if you aske me. And the plot doesn't make sense. companions are poor to say it mild. How can it get to even "it's not a bad game, but it's a bad mass effect game" ?

[@kkkk-uh1cu]

@@TheGismono Bad games are so broken, it's physically difficult to complete them, extremely cheaply made, exhausting to play, vastly unfinished, etc. You've probably never heard of them. There's thousands in the steam store. Some of them are gift card scams. People who call Andromeda *terrible* have never seen an actually bad game, or are engaging in hyperbole. It is, however, the worst mass effect game. It's also a bad mass effect game, in my opinion, because it does not sell what the target audience came for. The story and character writing are too weak. It is not "cool", nor iconic. If it were a title of any other saga that advertised space exploration and graphics, it would have done better. I would certainly rather play Andromeda than *Starfield*. This is also why I compared it to DA 2. DA 2 is not a terrible game. It was a considered a bad DA title when it released. It didn't allow the player the roleplay their own story. It gave them Hawke. Some aspects of the game genuinely sucked, as well. A high budget title reusing maps as much as DA 2 is difficult to find. In short, there's horrible games, there's substandard games for their budget, and there's games that are only terrible in light of the legacy they're living up to.

[@TheGismono]

@@kkkk-uh1cu -- "games are so broken, it's physically difficult to complete them, extremely cheaply made, exhausting to play" This is what I would call terrible games. if I would even call it a game at that point, and not what ME A. is I agree. But there is a few steps up the latter of even get to bad games imo, and a few more steps just get to a game that is merly poor quality game. But its there is stil fra from "good" . if the scale is 1-100 and broken trash games is a 1 and an epic best game is 100. I would put ME A at about a 33-35 where as ME 1-3 would be about 75-95 (maybee even higher) just good would break half way, and ME A would not get there. -- "The story and character writing are too weak. It is not "cool", nor iconic. " I agree, but then the biggest problem is it forgettable, and often slow and you having repeat content poor system that doesn't really do anything. and a plot that is a death end. -- "rather play Andromeda than *Starfield*." hehe, while i would agree, but that is low bar and I would reather not play a game then play Starfield. and too many average games out, that that easily beats out Andromeda for my time before. -- "why I compared it to DA 2." I would gladly grant you the point you made on DA1/DA2. but quality wish DA2 is fare close to DA1 then ME trilogy is to ME Andromeda. The point of fact is DA2 had a follow up, ME Andromeda did not, and was put on ice. -- " terrible in light of the legacy they're living up to" if this was the case, are you saying that outside of ME you think the Story of Andromeda was good? I would highly quest that, it's senseless there is not reason why the BBEG does most of the he does. The Compaions in another game would still be consider poor and at worst just annoying, and at best okay. This does not a good game make. (as lockheart mentioned Vetra might be the best is of t he game and is okay) At best below averge.

[@steveharrison76]

Mass Effect Andromeda felt like a testbed for some of the stuff used in Advent, from looking at that game (never bought it, gave up on EA after this game was shot behind the barn). It was something that could've been pretty good, but they canned it after the backlash and gave up, blaming 'poor reception' for the thing, when in fact I'm fairly sure it was their incessant tinkering and half-baked release schedule that caused it all. Really like the multiplayer, I have to admit.

[@matthewgaudet4064]

Having a better version on PC or PS4 pro doesn't matter when they never fixed the animation. They also aren't going to go into a studio and re-record the dialog to be less bored sounding and phoned in. my face is tired.

[@griffinwilson5869]

it used to be buggy but it was a good game that needed DLCs and it was nice to have a fresh start and I think it was a good idea to test a new game with new mechanics before bringing us the return of the original trilogy .

[@short72hp1]

Hope you get to feeling better

[@bloodygekkon]

still dreaming about a sequel :(

[@1597B]

I've been playing it and honestly, it's not as bad as initial feedback made it seem. They patched the bugs and and game is decently fun, there's plenty of stuff to do.

[@S-420]

This game is literally Halo 4 story just told worse The gameplay itself is actually really good though I'm enjoying it for the first time on PS Portal so the 30 frames a second and 1080p isn't bothering me that much

[@kaseyboles30]

It wasn't bad, It just had a lot to live up to. It had much better vehicle controls than 1 (though crap for traction). Why have a full rotation turret if you the vehicle controls prohibit its use other than close to straight forward or back? why have controls that change what they do depending on where you're looking?

[@short72hp1]

I've heard this game's updates just made it better

[@AintPopular]

For some odd reason I cant take it seriously. Watching videos so i can finish this damn thing off my backlog

[@0x8badbeef]

What the software does is above average today. The problem is more about how they used the software. Dreadwolf uses Frostbite. It must have been fixed by now. Lets see what they do with it after Dreadwolf is out.

[@danm2783]

It's problem was that it was average, nothing to stand out. If they had realized the colony system that may have made the difference.

[@byronrocher7346]

I got it free from Amazon Prime Gaming and could only barely finish it one time. I spent hours trying to fix the look of the character so I could bear looking at it for hours, only after that to be let down by terrible script writing and meaningless dialogue. The combat is repetitive and boring. It's one of the few games in my collection that I can't rate higher than 2.5 out of 10. So yes its bad

[@atlas4628]

I can not get behined the take that these characters are boring they where what made the game for me, thwy whwre written younfer but I do thinkbit was for the storya benifit. I thought Peebee was a fun jolt of energy Drack is just a tired old man who is over every thing and Jaal is a soilder with a poets heart I would argue they have more going for them than characters like Jack or Jacob who I both hate with a passion.

[@TheWarlock97]

Just remember, BioWare killed this game/dlc to make anthem lol

[@0x8badbeef]

Some of those that hated this is payback for the ending of ME3.

[@chrissmityyy]

I like andromeda, but love ME1-3 much better. The stories and characters are night and day compared.

[@italianspiderman5012]

Gameplay was enjoyable, writing was absolutely atrocious.

[@09spidy]

It wasn't bad, it wasn't good either.

[@BrokenShale]

Yes

[@myst0ne]

The combat was amazing. Story not so much.

[@steinbauge4591]

Moaners like this killed a good game and made sure no sequel will come

[@Ironoclasty]

If you go into the game expecting a lousy effort by Bioware, then the game is probably going to be pretty good for you. The premise of the game was the thing that killed it for me. The first human pioneers in a new galaxy! You play the "Pathfinder!" The premise sets expectations that you will be the first human to tread on a world in a galaxy, never before touched by a human foot. And upon reaching this wholly unexplored galaxy, you find that not only has every planet been trampled on by somebody or other already, but they left their trash lying around everywhere. Everyone either hates you, or could care less about you and your efforts. Everything you do is to fix something that somebody else screwed up. And where you do succeed, it's only because some other ancient alien race set something up that allows you to win. So, the build up of your detractors who accuse you of being a fraud are actually true. Nothing creates the impression that you are a pioneer or a hero in any sense. Just that you're lucky and/or entitled. There can be no true joy in game immersion here. Just pick up your best gun and shoot the bad guys, that's where this game is at its best. If you remove the plot, the interactions, the cut-scenes, and the politics, it suddenly becomes a great game.

[@Derively]

Andromeda's squadmates are actually better written than ME1's squadmates. Whe think that the original squad was better, because they were fine tuned in ME2 and 3, based on player feedback, but if you want to compare, Andromeda is better.

[@Mal_Freeman0451]

It had some good ideas meshed in with Ubisoft busywork, and a mediocre story. I kept playing just to finish it, and will never touch it again. It was simply boring.

[@nohero1339]

The story was weak and the characters were ugly because they had a racist director manveer heir and they hired anita sarkeesian the og sweet baby inc of the gaming world

[@supernova9930]

This can’t be overstated.

[@Grandmastergav86]

The story and dialogue are woeful, easily the worst in the series. The new alien race added nothing of value, your companions were insufferable and the Whedon-inspired banter/script was cancer-inducing. The plot would've been fine if it'd been crafted by competent Writers. In terms of progression, MEA reminds me of an MMO in the same way that DAI did, there's very little remarkable to be said about the missions/quests. The weapons crafting/systems were cool in concept but the combat was bland. Overall It's a bloody mess, the graphics were quiet nice in places. Oh and they killed off The Kurgan way too early.

[@WhiteManOnCampus]

The visuals weren't terribly impressive, the gameplay was alright, the story shat all over the lore and required everyone - heroes and villains - to be utterly incompetent in order for the story to work. The character models were bad because the director was an actual racist who wanted to make all white people ugly, and the writing was just atrocious in nearly every way. So yes, it was that bad.

[@LouSassol69er]

Just wasn't nearly as compelling as the original trilogy. Writing was god awful at times too. Decent game but definitely not good.

[@TheGismono]

1.The Look of the game. No, the game doesn't look good. ME3 looks better than ME Andromeda if you just judge on visuals alone. Judging on both pc and consoles. Worst part is, Leak mock up ME Andromeda Alpha/Beta looked far better before the switch from the unreal engine to frostbite engine. ME Andromeda that was released has a flat and uninspired look that makes everything look the same be it rogue snow or windswept sands, just a new color, but flat and boring. And you shouldn't have to mod the game for it not to look bad. 2. Plant surfices The open worlds was filled with alot of empty space with a few minor points in, like the game hard regressed 10 or so years to 2007 and made the same mistakes that the first ME game did with the too much of nothing when landing on planets. But in the first game, driving around on the surface was kind of novel, for a time at least, and some even liked the Mako driving and some hated it. 3. The combat While it can be said that the cover shooter idea of the first 3 was at times stilted, at times and locked onto the floor, and sometimes jank, at least it was tactical and grounded and kept you feeling like you didn’t float around. ME Andromeda you have turned into a superhuman fly with a jetpack that made combat into a dance on ice or in air breaking seam of reality. gunplay didn’t feel as rewarding using your powers and the power feeling like they fit in better in another game/IP like Star wars or something. And no decisions matter because you could do everything (not at the same time you had to move points around) , removing most of what was left of the game being a RPG and turning you into a superhero. Shepherd was powerful, the best of the N7 program, but still human, and you have to play as a specialist of some sort. But Shepherd needed her/his companions. Ryder can solo it all as a superhero because you can have any power and weapon ect. The companions being cannon fodder or distractions for the enemy. ME Andromeda feels like it should have been apart of a different franchise that just got the ME tag on to sell more. 4. Companions Best description for ME Andromeda companions I can think of is absolutely forgettable, which is sad for a ME game. There is not one character I could recall half a year after I played the game. And come from ME 1-3 where every last companion stands out in my mind down to the jokes they made even after 9-10 years of last playing the game. From a mad professor, Mordin, that wanted to retire and study seashells and in his final moment says, “it had to be me, someone else would have gotten it wrong” to Archangel/Garrus That spends most of his time in the game seemingly calibrating Normandy main weapons/targeting. Best I can recall of the ME Andromeda ones now is a stowaway Asari, and a pilot Turian, and grandpa Krogan. That about it. And I completed it. 5. Plot Worst part, what did i do in the game, other than drive around on plannets , and try to make settlements, that had some poor time wasting stuff. Don’t even recall what BBEG Did or wanted or what I did to stop him. The closest thing I can recall is something about DNA and evolution or something, but why, no clue other than I know I was confused wasn’t what the plans were after i finished the game.

[@frequencyoftruth2303]

You know if they really cared about the game they would fix it and make it look better make the characters look better at least but they never did that and it just shows you that they don't care and they're trolling us. I bet sweet baby ink was all over it.

[@KeeperGER]

yes ... yes it was!

[@Iliya117]

As a Mass Effect its pretty bad as a game in general its mid at best.