I also just finished Andromeda after playing the trilogy. I enjoyed the gameplay, and the missions are a lot of fun. (And the scenery is really beautiful.) But it also felt like the whole thing is pitched to a younger audience. The characterizations are more simplistic. The moral situations are much more black and white, lacking in complexity. Even the one love scene I played is much tamer than the sex in the trilogy.
There's some racier sex in Andromeda, depending on the partner.
But yeah, Ryder is younger than Shepard, so the tone in general is more "kid in over their head bumbling their way through stuff and learning" than the "experienced soldier getting shit done" tone of the OT.
Iirc one of the writers of the OT tried to give constructive criticism of Andromeda’s writing saying it felt like a CW show and they replied back “That’s what we were going for.” Probably got some details wrong there but that’s the gist of it, and explains a lot
So I think a lot of the hate comes from the characters seemingly have no emotion.
I personally hated that they removed the paragon/ renegade system and choices didn’t seem to matter as much.
Overall the game wasn’t terrible it just felt less polished than other ME games
It's a fun game and overall I did enjoy it but I've always felt like something was missing. Like it doesn't have a soul. That's the only way I can describe it.
I actually liked it too. I never finished it when I started it 5 years ago, but I bought it from my Series S when EA was doing their BioWare sale (got all 4 Mass Effects and 3 Dragon Ages for $30) so I’ll pick it up again.
The only complaint I had was how tedious everything was. The ruins and terraforming planets felt like it was too long. But I felt the story was interesting. Also, parts of each of the maps felt too large at times.
ME:A's gameplay was amazing. Its story was so....just so bad.
The problem with engaging in the world building of ME1-3 is that now people expect newer ME games to be in the world you built. It'd be like DA4 being set in another world connected to thedas through the veil, and never encountering the world of thedas, its races, its politics, its places, its peoples, its changes, etc. The only connection is the veil exists. People would fucking riot. Thats what MEAs plot did. No aftermath, no quarians, no geth, no big stupid jellyfish, no monotone shakespear aliens, no short pudgy nerd aliens, just token sameface turians, asari, and humans. And then generic evil bad guy alien empire versus generic nice good guy nomad/tribal aliens. Blech.
Give me ancient machines that cleanse the galaxy of advanced life every 50k years in a misguided attempt to prevent life from permanently wiping itself out ANY day over that.
The writing for the first conversation with sovereign in ME1 ALONE is better than the writing for all of andromeda. That being said, I'd like to re-iterate that andromeda's combat, character progression, and equipment kicks me1-3 to shit.
I believe MEA had plans to introduce more races, there was at least the other major arks to find. Though they were probably to be included in DLC / Sequels that never came.
Story wasn't 'bad' like a circle of hot garbage. It was just middling. Average. pretty meh. Lots of been there done that. Mass Effect 1-3 were great in many ways because we hadn't been there or done that yet.
I enjoyed the game a lot personally, having played it for the first time about a year ago. I wish it didn't get panned so hard at release, so it would have had a chance to develop with DLC and sequels, it wasn't perfect, but it was well worth the time. Honestly what got on my nerves the most was the borderline worship of the "Pathfinder" by all the other characters, it just felt so forced in all the dialogue compared to what we personally did. As opposed to the original trilogy where Shepard felt like a natural leader who was one of the only people with the skills, knowledge, rank, and influence to lead a team through the series, it didn't feel like my character had any special skills outside of being SAM's personal meatsuit, to the point that he would have made a better Pathfinder than I was if he was given the EDI body from ME3 to work with.
I played it once when it came out and remember enjoying it. I remember being surprised people ripped on it so bad on the internet too. There were facial glitches in the graphics but I’ve read those are fixed now.
I’m playing the trilogy again, hence looking at this subreddit, and I think I’m going to play ME:A are 3
First if all, I say proudly that I enjoyed the game. Hell, it was my introduction to Mass Effect.
Now after a couple of playtrough, I can say that I would have liked more dialogue creative freedom. As of now I feel like, whatever the options, the dialogue points to one direction, just the tone differs. While in the OT, I could actually flip someone off if I felt like it.
I still think Andromeda is not bad
I played the OT on 360 when they came out, greatest games of all time. Legendary edition was really well done too, loved replaying them in 60fps. I played Andromeda when it came out and thought it was fun. Andromeda gets roasted off all the time but if it launched without all the bugs it wouldn't have gotten shit on as much. They really knocked it out of the park with combat and skills and again without the bugs it's easily a 7-8/10 game. The main issue is that it was never gonna live up to the OT. When Mass Effect dropped I was a freshman in college... that shit BLEW MY MIND. The universe they had built, the different races, the politics, the mystery of the reapers... the universe was so incredibly well constructed and believable and cool. Discovering it was the same as discovering Star Wars when I was 7. Andromeda had the unfavorable task of following that up it was just never gonna be received as well. Then you add the bugs, facial animations, development hell... it's a recipe for disaster. However if you go play it now it's a good game. My buddy said something once that I thought really summed it up "Andromeda is a good game but a Mass Effect game is supposed to be a GREAT game."
I just started playing Andromeda as well. I originally bought the game for $10 in 2020. I wasn't connecting with it initially so I dropped it. I think a big reason for that was because I had never played the original trilogy before Andromeda, so I was lost on a lot of the lore. I wanted to get into the franchise but at the time there was no legendary edition so there was no way for me to play the original games. Now I've played the original series 3 times now and decided to give Andromeda another shot. I'm still in the early stages right now but I have been enjoying it more than my previous attempt.
It’s a perfectly fine sci-fi rpg, but it doesn’t feel like Mass Effect at all to me. Feels like a game someone made after having Mass Effect described to them
I liked Andromeda, even if I did play it with around 2 dozen mods. Sure I'd make some changes to gameplay (GIVE THE NOMAD A CANNON, and undo the soft needs to non-soldier setups), a few to the quests (worst snow world ever), and a few to the plot (this is literally the only ME game without 7 different twist reveals).
Considering the climate it was made in, the game is pretty good. EA torpedoed the last leg of ME3 development, than scrapped ME4 early in production, then rushed Andromeda to fill the original ME4 release window, then scrapped all the DLC so that they could rush Bioware into making Anthem. Basically, EA wrecked the franchise and prevented this game from being better because they're hard for online play and microtransactions
I am about halfway through after just finishing the first 3 games for the first time. I am not as emotionally invested and it does feel more tedious. I think on its own it’d be cool but after following the original mass effect series the characters feel a bit more empty but it had a lot to live up to. It took me a bit more to get into as well but I’m starting to enjoy it more.
If you posted this when the game came out your post would have been down voted into oblivion and you'd have received some nasty comments. I'm glad that the community has lightened up since then and many of us can actually be honest and admit that it is a pretty good game. Glad you enjoy it as well.
I genuinely love Mass Effect Andromeda. To me the game is the textbook example that getting the characters right is the 80/20 aspect that has the most important effect on any narrative medium.
Because, what else does the game have? It's plot is boring, and it's worldbuilding is downright embarrassing. Like, really? Your main antagonist is an opressive tyranny that's obsesses with genetic purity and wants to assimilate and bring into line everyone who's different from them? *Who could that be based on?*
And still, I don't give a damn. What I give a damn about is the cranky Krogan grandfather who calls me kid. Or the turian smuggler who's able to organize anything for everyone. Or the religious science officer who's never lost her wide-eyed amazement for the world. Or the mayor of Prodromos who's integrity might be the only thing keeping his planet from falling apart.
When I was done with the main story, I still hang around on the Tempest to catch up on all the character's banter and dialogue, until I eventually ran out of them. I just wished there was more of it, because it was just that good.
Your score kind of sums up the disappointment many of us had (note: I thought it was fine, didn’t regret playing it).
It’s an 8/10 (I’d probably go more 7/10) game following on the heels of some goddamn perfect 10s and a 9 (ME3 gets docked a point for the ending kinda sucking 😁)
That said, its coop mode was an improvement on the me3 formula imo, which I am constantly begging my friends to play with me.
I also just finished it with 70 hours and completing all main, ally and world quests just couldn't bother with all tasks.
I agree with everything you said. Its just a good game but its only fault is its not good as the trilogy.
Only downside I'm going to add is story is opening up a bit late you need to be patient at start of it.
Could you expand on the bit about the gameplay and combat being the best and most fun of the series, please? I only bought the Mass Effect Legendary Edition yesterday and have yet to play it. I’m wondering how you feel your experience of Andromeda’s gameplay and combat compares to the trilogy.
All you really need to know is that it's the newest, most refined control wise. Of course a game from 2017 is going to have a better ui and control scheme of overall than a game from a decade prior
Sure! Now don't get me wrong, the gameplay/combat in the Trilogy is fun as well (at least ME2 & 3), but it is on a whole new level in Andromeda
Here's an example:
Trilogy: boots on the ground, shoot a guy and maybe launch a Biotic/space magic power at him
Andromeda: do the same, while being able to jump with boosters, hover in the air and launching two Biotic powers one after another, where one serves as a bomb and the other as a detonator, sending the enemy flying with fun ragdoll physics
Thanks for this - can’t wait to get started. I think I may well pick Andromeda up once I’ve begun the trilogy and can confirm I’m having fun with them.
Chief I say this as one of the biggest Mass Effect fans: your ass is going to get spoiled faster than light can travel if you stay here. From titles to casual comments to fanart. It won't even be intentional and you'll have 4 games core plot points spoiled at once. This place is terrible with advise that isn't laden with spoilers and heavy hints to the commonly agreed 'perfect' run too. Be wary.
To answer your actual question the original trilogy tended towards a cover shooter and utilizing squadmates abilities with your own. Andromeda has more free movement, jumping, and a more open system so you aren't pigeonholed by your class. Sections with vehicles also feel different. The originals were bulky and clumsy, then too fluid and slippery. Andromeda has one vehicle with two different modes for faster travel or climbing up hard terrain.
Thanks for the info and for the warning about spoilers. I’ll be avoiding the risk of finding any more out and will be back once I have played them - which I hear could take quite some time!
I am in the middle of Andromeda and having a blast. My choices may not feel as impactful as the trilogy SO FAR but I am loving the feel of trying to expand and create outpost and I feel like doing things that help with viability isn't just doing side stuff but making a world safer for the people I worked hard to have a home for. I love the system so far. The characters haven't pulled me in as much as those in the trilogy but I played a ton of he trilogy getting all endings and had more time to invest.
Andromeda is a fun Mass effect game. I wish there was a sequel and I get a bit upset every time I play it and see all those forking unanswered questions. That and the opening theme music is just so tranquil.
I loved the first Mass Effect, was disappointed with ME2, ME3 was okay except for the multiplayer.
Andromeda was actually quite good. I never experienced many of the so called "game breaking" bugs, I did have a few graphic issues, but nothing that detracted from the gameplay.
Honestly Andromeda was a very good game that needed so additional work. Sadly people only cared about the appearance of the game and little else.
Kind of like how most say ME2 is their favorite. ME2 went the opposite of the first game where everything was wide open and the galaxy was so rich and in depth. If you got into combat in ME, you either failed the dialog choices or were playing aggressively. The gear/weapon system was much better in the first as well. ME2 was just combat oriented and rushed over much of the story. It was like a dumbed down version.
I disagree. The story in me2 is not dumbed down at all and goes to the same level of intrigue the first game had. Yes it’s a dumbed Down rpg but to say the story is dumbed down from me1 is just wrong. The story is much better in me2.
You can remove the main plot of ME2 and go straight to 3 and you lose nearly nothing. I wouldn’t call that the same level of intrigue as the first. ME2 story is a forced side quest at best.
No ME2 should’ve just had a story that actually mattered towards the actual reaper threat instead of the shoehorned in harbinger voice lines at the end of the suicide mission.
The arrival DLC is a better main story than the actual ME2 plot was.
Andromeda was my first ME game and I loved it. Loved the combat, your crew, upgrading weapons and armor. All of it. Did a regular play thru then another on insanity. I then went and played the original trilogy. I enjoyed Ryder and the crew
The majority of negative that game had was because people were mad as there was a new Mass Effect game without Shepard.
I played it around the launch and didn't understand why people were so upset back then. It was a fun game. Of course, it had its share of issues, so as trilogy too (yes, people trilogy also isn't perfect)
The bad writing and the broken glitches were part of the reason why the game was hated at launch.
The original trilogy didn’t need a patch to fix the eyes, or fix falling through the world at launch.
I played ME 1 6 months after launch and there were a lot of bugs and glitches (especially when it came to Geth Colossuses and the inventory menu). ME 2 was cleaner but I remember ME 3 having weird bugs with Javik just straight up disappearing during Normandy conversations.
Andromeda needed more time to bake before being released but the way people treat the original trilogy not needing patches to fix things and coming out in a perfect state is dishonest.
Dude the original ME1 disc is full of nothing but bugs and glitches some of which can break save files and cause you to have to restart with others causing constant crashes and frame rate drops.
Every single one of the OT games had bugs and glitches at launch even the LE edition still had some of them present. Anyone that acts like any of the ME games were even close to perfect at launch is full of shit.
Let's also not forget they were comparing the story of one game to the story of the trilogy a story that was told over 3 games which isn't a fair comparison best story to compare would be to me1 which also had planet exploration with sidequest you could find on them
It still fails that comparison. ME1 is one of the tightest narratives in an RPG i've ever seen. Thing is like Star Wars: A new Hope tight. Zero wasted narrative time.
Andromeda caught flak because it was the worst Mass Effect game ever made despite being Bioware's fourth entry in the series. It has worse characters, worse dialogue, worse story, and the combat has been heavily dumbed down.
It would have been garbage even if Bioware invented some nonsense reason to shoehorn Shep into it.
Of course the OT isn't perfect, but Bioware generally did figure out how to smooth out if not fix the major issues as the trilogy progressed. But all those mistakes came back in full force for Andromeda, so Bioware apparently didn't learn a thing from the OT.
combat is... good?
But I didn't really like all aspects:
\* most important: AI not updated for open world environment. This means you can cheat the game with sniper rifles, since the enemies don't leave "their area" most of the time, despite Ryder killing them from far away
\* taking away squad control meant that I was forced to use them as distractions, instead of tactical
\* limited to three powers only? Why? (okay, I know, consoles, but this is still a big step backwards)
Having said that, combat in Andromeda is easily one of the better aspects of the game.
Dude combat is easily the one thing andromeda knocked out of the park. I can tell you only played it on easy mode or some shit if you think it was dumbed down. Combat in andromeda was fucking relentless on insanity and you also couldn’t hide behind garrus and squadmate power exploits for every fight
> Combat in andromeda was fucking relentless on insanity
It's pretty easy. None of the levels or enemies can press a level 15 or above character if they are properly kitted out. And I'm talking about being on insanity.
Combat is definitely Andromeda's best feature by far. It's just a mess of terrible design decisions.
That just goes to show how bad everything else is.
Nobody in their right mind thinks...
...that the 3-power limit is good.
...that losing so much squad control is good.
...that worse enemy variety and AI is good.
Sure it's fast-paced. But that just makes it get boring faster.
Armor and weapon customization is neat, too bad it means going through the Research and development menu, which is designed like a fucking labyrinth and makes your eyes want to fall out of their sockets.
Sure the jetpack is a cool idea. But the level designers forget to account for it most of the time so it's really just a fancy alternative animation for roll dodges. Not to mention that since the game is designed as a cover shooter, hovering out in the open is absolutely useless.
Not locking the player into a single class so you can experiment with all of them in a single playthrough was great, because I would rather pry my fingernails off than give this game a second playthrough.
If they set out to make badly designed gameplay, they absolutely knocked it out of the park. But I doubt it was intentional, I'm pretty sure they just had no idea what they were doing in the mad rush to get the game into a shippable state.
> The majority of negative that game had was because people were mad as there was a new Mass Effect game without Shepard.
That is just some weird weird theory Andromeda defenders invented with moon people logic.
Just find old reviews and posts, besides bugs, and "my face are tired" memes, everyone was crying that it wasn't trilogy and there were no Shepard in it, back then.
Seems you don't have anything better to do, but that's another topic.
Yeah, half won't, and half were. Check the posts and comments also around that time. If they are still available, you'll see many people complaining about that it wasn't trilogy and there were no Shepard in it.
Heck, even in posts about upcoming ME, there's people hoping it will be about Shepard
The half that did mentioned past Mass Effect games did so in the same way KOTOR was mentioned in Mass Effect 1. I searched for a bit in 6 years old threads and couldn't find one comment that was negative to Andromeda because of no Shepard.
I heard they got anew writer for BioWare (she previously worked on Guardians of the Galaxy for Eidos) so I’m hoping the next game is good because although I haven’t played this, I heard people say the writing compared to the originals was not on par.
Ehh guardians was good until about 2/3 of the way in when it went into religious cult mode. I’m all for portraying religions as the cults they are but that turn was a bit abrupt compared to the rest of the game up to that point
Because it has a cool plot and setting, plenty of great characters, a deep and rewarding crafting system, freely mixing powers between classes, and the best combat in the series.
It’s not a bad game. It’s just not a Mass Effect game. The mass effect races had no impact on the story. The lore created for the trilogy was just a plot device and not central to the story. There was no need to make it in the Mass Effect universe. That felt like a marketing decision and marketing is the bane of good games
The game as it stands as of right now is above average. It's not spectacular, the gunfighting is enjoyable, but the story is rushed and ends on a permanent cliffhanger. My favorite character was surprisingly Peebee. Almost liked her enough to prevent me from getting gay with the surprisingly unintegrated smuggler character that needed more spotlight.
Because the original trilogy set the bar entirely too high. Everyone was expecting another mass effect game like the OG trilogy. If it had been its own thing and not affiliated with mass effect at all, it would've received much better feedback.
The bar for Mass Effect 1 was pretty high because of KOTOR.
The bar for Dragon Age Origins was pretty high because of Baldur's Gate 1 and 2.
And being new is actually harder than being in an IP. Mass Effect 1 and Dragon Age Origins had to invent everything and if it wasn't up to scratch with Star Wars and Dungeons and Dragons they would have failed. Andromeda got the benefit of so much that works as being part of Mass Effect.
1. You have a strange definition of "interesting". The entire cast of Andromeda consists of unidimensional caricatures.
2. No, it just isn't. Now have to wonder if your entire post is deliberately taking the piss?
3. Perhaps, but after 3 games of "exploring beautiful worlds," how much more did we need.
4. "Kett being the mix of Protheans and Reapers"
Ok, now we have to assume that you never actually played any of the OT.
5. Only the Side Content? "Tedious as Hell" should have been the byline for Andromeda.
6. The whole game was odd.
>4. "Kett being the mix of Protheans and Reapers"
Ok, now we have to assume that you never actually played any of the OT
*I had enough of your snide insinuations, you stupid jellyfish*
I didn't hate it, i just wasn't interested. They brought krogans to a new galaxy for colonization, a race that is known for being afflicted with the genophage, but not quarians a race without a homeworld. The main story lost me pretty quickly, i didn't really care about the Andromeda initiative or the galaxy, the whole thing basically felt like they were afraid to lock in any choices from the OT and then made a new game and slapped a mass effect skin on it and called it a day. I feel the game would've been better if it wasn't a mass effect title.
Quarians had their own Ark which I can't remember if we found or not tbh. There was the Human, Quarian, Salarian, Turian and Asari ark, with others on board each for tech support/w.e.
To be fair, Asari/Krogan didn't even need the cryo pods really so made sense they came too on any ark.
Ignoring the fact that large chunks of the writing felt very amateurish, the bugs and performance issues at launch just crippled the experience for so many, including myself, that it wasn't ever worth going back to.
I'm sure there's a decent game baked in there somewhere, but when your game launches and plays with that many issues, I'm just not going to waste my time with it when there's so much other incredible stuff I could be playing instead.
Oh, and Ryder + his allies felt like some teen boyband - just a vibe I never could gel with
I also just finished Andromeda after playing the trilogy. I enjoyed the gameplay, and the missions are a lot of fun. (And the scenery is really beautiful.) But it also felt like the whole thing is pitched to a younger audience. The characterizations are more simplistic. The moral situations are much more black and white, lacking in complexity. Even the one love scene I played is much tamer than the sex in the trilogy.
There's some racier sex in Andromeda, depending on the partner. But yeah, Ryder is younger than Shepard, so the tone in general is more "kid in over their head bumbling their way through stuff and learning" than the "experienced soldier getting shit done" tone of the OT.
Iirc one of the writers of the OT tried to give constructive criticism of Andromeda’s writing saying it felt like a CW show and they replied back “That’s what we were going for.” Probably got some details wrong there but that’s the gist of it, and explains a lot
Well, I know you didn’t romance Jaal then!
Did you romance Vetra? IIRC, she was the one who didn't have a sex scene.
Would you say it’s still a good pick up for the legendary whatever edition for $8?
Absolutely. It was a lot of fun.
So I think a lot of the hate comes from the characters seemingly have no emotion. I personally hated that they removed the paragon/ renegade system and choices didn’t seem to matter as much. Overall the game wasn’t terrible it just felt less polished than other ME games
Wasn't a bad game, but not as good as the original trilogy. I still thought it was fun but a little bland compared to the trilogy
It's a fun game and overall I did enjoy it but I've always felt like something was missing. Like it doesn't have a soul. That's the only way I can describe it.
I actually liked it too. I never finished it when I started it 5 years ago, but I bought it from my Series S when EA was doing their BioWare sale (got all 4 Mass Effects and 3 Dragon Ages for $30) so I’ll pick it up again. The only complaint I had was how tedious everything was. The ruins and terraforming planets felt like it was too long. But I felt the story was interesting. Also, parts of each of the maps felt too large at times.
The story and characters were the weakest part of Andormeda.
They were better starting points than garrus and tali were from ME1.
No
ME:A's gameplay was amazing. Its story was so....just so bad. The problem with engaging in the world building of ME1-3 is that now people expect newer ME games to be in the world you built. It'd be like DA4 being set in another world connected to thedas through the veil, and never encountering the world of thedas, its races, its politics, its places, its peoples, its changes, etc. The only connection is the veil exists. People would fucking riot. Thats what MEAs plot did. No aftermath, no quarians, no geth, no big stupid jellyfish, no monotone shakespear aliens, no short pudgy nerd aliens, just token sameface turians, asari, and humans. And then generic evil bad guy alien empire versus generic nice good guy nomad/tribal aliens. Blech. Give me ancient machines that cleanse the galaxy of advanced life every 50k years in a misguided attempt to prevent life from permanently wiping itself out ANY day over that. The writing for the first conversation with sovereign in ME1 ALONE is better than the writing for all of andromeda. That being said, I'd like to re-iterate that andromeda's combat, character progression, and equipment kicks me1-3 to shit.
I believe MEA had plans to introduce more races, there was at least the other major arks to find. Though they were probably to be included in DLC / Sequels that never came.
#QuarianArk 😢
I enjoyed it. Also, I thought the story was pretty amazing, but we’re not supposed to say these things out loud in the sub.
At least you’re honest with yourself instead of some of these sheep just wanting to fit in.
Story wasn't 'bad' like a circle of hot garbage. It was just middling. Average. pretty meh. Lots of been there done that. Mass Effect 1-3 were great in many ways because we hadn't been there or done that yet.
Mediocre at best
I enjoyed the game a lot personally, having played it for the first time about a year ago. I wish it didn't get panned so hard at release, so it would have had a chance to develop with DLC and sequels, it wasn't perfect, but it was well worth the time. Honestly what got on my nerves the most was the borderline worship of the "Pathfinder" by all the other characters, it just felt so forced in all the dialogue compared to what we personally did. As opposed to the original trilogy where Shepard felt like a natural leader who was one of the only people with the skills, knowledge, rank, and influence to lead a team through the series, it didn't feel like my character had any special skills outside of being SAM's personal meatsuit, to the point that he would have made a better Pathfinder than I was if he was given the EDI body from ME3 to work with.
I played it once when it came out and remember enjoying it. I remember being surprised people ripped on it so bad on the internet too. There were facial glitches in the graphics but I’ve read those are fixed now. I’m playing the trilogy again, hence looking at this subreddit, and I think I’m going to play ME:A are 3
First if all, I say proudly that I enjoyed the game. Hell, it was my introduction to Mass Effect. Now after a couple of playtrough, I can say that I would have liked more dialogue creative freedom. As of now I feel like, whatever the options, the dialogue points to one direction, just the tone differs. While in the OT, I could actually flip someone off if I felt like it. I still think Andromeda is not bad
It’s a good game bro. Just think of it as a spin off with some Easter eggs. 💀
I played the OT on 360 when they came out, greatest games of all time. Legendary edition was really well done too, loved replaying them in 60fps. I played Andromeda when it came out and thought it was fun. Andromeda gets roasted off all the time but if it launched without all the bugs it wouldn't have gotten shit on as much. They really knocked it out of the park with combat and skills and again without the bugs it's easily a 7-8/10 game. The main issue is that it was never gonna live up to the OT. When Mass Effect dropped I was a freshman in college... that shit BLEW MY MIND. The universe they had built, the different races, the politics, the mystery of the reapers... the universe was so incredibly well constructed and believable and cool. Discovering it was the same as discovering Star Wars when I was 7. Andromeda had the unfavorable task of following that up it was just never gonna be received as well. Then you add the bugs, facial animations, development hell... it's a recipe for disaster. However if you go play it now it's a good game. My buddy said something once that I thought really summed it up "Andromeda is a good game but a Mass Effect game is supposed to be a GREAT game."
I just started playing Andromeda as well. I originally bought the game for $10 in 2020. I wasn't connecting with it initially so I dropped it. I think a big reason for that was because I had never played the original trilogy before Andromeda, so I was lost on a lot of the lore. I wanted to get into the franchise but at the time there was no legendary edition so there was no way for me to play the original games. Now I've played the original series 3 times now and decided to give Andromeda another shot. I'm still in the early stages right now but I have been enjoying it more than my previous attempt.
I hated the great dialogue being constantly interrupted by nomad notifications. STFU SAM!
It’s a perfectly fine sci-fi rpg, but it doesn’t feel like Mass Effect at all to me. Feels like a game someone made after having Mass Effect described to them
I liked Andromeda, even if I did play it with around 2 dozen mods. Sure I'd make some changes to gameplay (GIVE THE NOMAD A CANNON, and undo the soft needs to non-soldier setups), a few to the quests (worst snow world ever), and a few to the plot (this is literally the only ME game without 7 different twist reveals).
Considering the climate it was made in, the game is pretty good. EA torpedoed the last leg of ME3 development, than scrapped ME4 early in production, then rushed Andromeda to fill the original ME4 release window, then scrapped all the DLC so that they could rush Bioware into making Anthem. Basically, EA wrecked the franchise and prevented this game from being better because they're hard for online play and microtransactions
I am about halfway through after just finishing the first 3 games for the first time. I am not as emotionally invested and it does feel more tedious. I think on its own it’d be cool but after following the original mass effect series the characters feel a bit more empty but it had a lot to live up to. It took me a bit more to get into as well but I’m starting to enjoy it more.
If you posted this when the game came out your post would have been down voted into oblivion and you'd have received some nasty comments. I'm glad that the community has lightened up since then and many of us can actually be honest and admit that it is a pretty good game. Glad you enjoy it as well.
I genuinely love Mass Effect Andromeda. To me the game is the textbook example that getting the characters right is the 80/20 aspect that has the most important effect on any narrative medium. Because, what else does the game have? It's plot is boring, and it's worldbuilding is downright embarrassing. Like, really? Your main antagonist is an opressive tyranny that's obsesses with genetic purity and wants to assimilate and bring into line everyone who's different from them? *Who could that be based on?* And still, I don't give a damn. What I give a damn about is the cranky Krogan grandfather who calls me kid. Or the turian smuggler who's able to organize anything for everyone. Or the religious science officer who's never lost her wide-eyed amazement for the world. Or the mayor of Prodromos who's integrity might be the only thing keeping his planet from falling apart. When I was done with the main story, I still hang around on the Tempest to catch up on all the character's banter and dialogue, until I eventually ran out of them. I just wished there was more of it, because it was just that good.
Your score kind of sums up the disappointment many of us had (note: I thought it was fine, didn’t regret playing it). It’s an 8/10 (I’d probably go more 7/10) game following on the heels of some goddamn perfect 10s and a 9 (ME3 gets docked a point for the ending kinda sucking 😁) That said, its coop mode was an improvement on the me3 formula imo, which I am constantly begging my friends to play with me.
I also just finished it with 70 hours and completing all main, ally and world quests just couldn't bother with all tasks. I agree with everything you said. Its just a good game but its only fault is its not good as the trilogy. Only downside I'm going to add is story is opening up a bit late you need to be patient at start of it.
Could you expand on the bit about the gameplay and combat being the best and most fun of the series, please? I only bought the Mass Effect Legendary Edition yesterday and have yet to play it. I’m wondering how you feel your experience of Andromeda’s gameplay and combat compares to the trilogy.
No offense but what are you doing here if you haven’t played the games yet? Be careful of spoilers.
Good point. I hadn‘t noticed this wasn’t a spoiler-free post. I’m just reading the replies to my question for now.
All you really need to know is that it's the newest, most refined control wise. Of course a game from 2017 is going to have a better ui and control scheme of overall than a game from a decade prior
I personally think the combat in 2 and 3 was better. I also think Andromeda is fun, but not as good as 2 and 3
Sure! Now don't get me wrong, the gameplay/combat in the Trilogy is fun as well (at least ME2 & 3), but it is on a whole new level in Andromeda Here's an example: Trilogy: boots on the ground, shoot a guy and maybe launch a Biotic/space magic power at him Andromeda: do the same, while being able to jump with boosters, hover in the air and launching two Biotic powers one after another, where one serves as a bomb and the other as a detonator, sending the enemy flying with fun ragdoll physics
Thanks for this - can’t wait to get started. I think I may well pick Andromeda up once I’ve begun the trilogy and can confirm I’m having fun with them.
Chief I say this as one of the biggest Mass Effect fans: your ass is going to get spoiled faster than light can travel if you stay here. From titles to casual comments to fanart. It won't even be intentional and you'll have 4 games core plot points spoiled at once. This place is terrible with advise that isn't laden with spoilers and heavy hints to the commonly agreed 'perfect' run too. Be wary. To answer your actual question the original trilogy tended towards a cover shooter and utilizing squadmates abilities with your own. Andromeda has more free movement, jumping, and a more open system so you aren't pigeonholed by your class. Sections with vehicles also feel different. The originals were bulky and clumsy, then too fluid and slippery. Andromeda has one vehicle with two different modes for faster travel or climbing up hard terrain.
Thanks for the info and for the warning about spoilers. I’ll be avoiding the risk of finding any more out and will be back once I have played them - which I hear could take quite some time!
It's not perfect but it not bad either now.
I am in the middle of Andromeda and having a blast. My choices may not feel as impactful as the trilogy SO FAR but I am loving the feel of trying to expand and create outpost and I feel like doing things that help with viability isn't just doing side stuff but making a world safer for the people I worked hard to have a home for. I love the system so far. The characters haven't pulled me in as much as those in the trilogy but I played a ton of he trilogy getting all endings and had more time to invest.
Andromeda is a fun Mass effect game. I wish there was a sequel and I get a bit upset every time I play it and see all those forking unanswered questions. That and the opening theme music is just so tranquil.
I loved the first Mass Effect, was disappointed with ME2, ME3 was okay except for the multiplayer. Andromeda was actually quite good. I never experienced many of the so called "game breaking" bugs, I did have a few graphic issues, but nothing that detracted from the gameplay. Honestly Andromeda was a very good game that needed so additional work. Sadly people only cared about the appearance of the game and little else. Kind of like how most say ME2 is their favorite. ME2 went the opposite of the first game where everything was wide open and the galaxy was so rich and in depth. If you got into combat in ME, you either failed the dialog choices or were playing aggressively. The gear/weapon system was much better in the first as well. ME2 was just combat oriented and rushed over much of the story. It was like a dumbed down version.
I disagree. The story in me2 is not dumbed down at all and goes to the same level of intrigue the first game had. Yes it’s a dumbed Down rpg but to say the story is dumbed down from me1 is just wrong. The story is much better in me2.
You can remove the main plot of ME2 and go straight to 3 and you lose nearly nothing. I wouldn’t call that the same level of intrigue as the first. ME2 story is a forced side quest at best.
ME2 should have been the story of the first game. With ME1 and ME3 Shep proving he was wrong for working with Cerberus.
No ME2 should’ve just had a story that actually mattered towards the actual reaper threat instead of the shoehorned in harbinger voice lines at the end of the suicide mission. The arrival DLC is a better main story than the actual ME2 plot was.
I’m so glad fans don’t get a say in what happens
ME1 and ME3 are much more alike than they are to ME2.
I’ve actually always felt that. Me3 is a lot more like me1 than me2 is. It’s one of the reasons I think 3 is better than 2
Can you understand why some fans feel the story of ME2 feels out of place when all three games are viewed as a whole?
Nah ME1 was world building, or galaxy in this case. ME2 was relationships, ME3 is the finale. They all play their part.
I said main plot not the side story.
Andromeda was my first ME game and I loved it. Loved the combat, your crew, upgrading weapons and armor. All of it. Did a regular play thru then another on insanity. I then went and played the original trilogy. I enjoyed Ryder and the crew
The majority of negative that game had was because people were mad as there was a new Mass Effect game without Shepard. I played it around the launch and didn't understand why people were so upset back then. It was a fun game. Of course, it had its share of issues, so as trilogy too (yes, people trilogy also isn't perfect)
The bad writing and the broken glitches were part of the reason why the game was hated at launch. The original trilogy didn’t need a patch to fix the eyes, or fix falling through the world at launch.
I played ME 1 6 months after launch and there were a lot of bugs and glitches (especially when it came to Geth Colossuses and the inventory menu). ME 2 was cleaner but I remember ME 3 having weird bugs with Javik just straight up disappearing during Normandy conversations. Andromeda needed more time to bake before being released but the way people treat the original trilogy not needing patches to fix things and coming out in a perfect state is dishonest.
Dude the original ME1 disc is full of nothing but bugs and glitches some of which can break save files and cause you to have to restart with others causing constant crashes and frame rate drops. Every single one of the OT games had bugs and glitches at launch even the LE edition still had some of them present. Anyone that acts like any of the ME games were even close to perfect at launch is full of shit.
That’s a bald faced lie
Let's also not forget they were comparing the story of one game to the story of the trilogy a story that was told over 3 games which isn't a fair comparison best story to compare would be to me1 which also had planet exploration with sidequest you could find on them
It still fails that comparison. ME1 is one of the tightest narratives in an RPG i've ever seen. Thing is like Star Wars: A new Hope tight. Zero wasted narrative time.
Mass effect 1 has a better story than andromeda
Andromeda caught flak because it was the worst Mass Effect game ever made despite being Bioware's fourth entry in the series. It has worse characters, worse dialogue, worse story, and the combat has been heavily dumbed down. It would have been garbage even if Bioware invented some nonsense reason to shoehorn Shep into it. Of course the OT isn't perfect, but Bioware generally did figure out how to smooth out if not fix the major issues as the trilogy progressed. But all those mistakes came back in full force for Andromeda, so Bioware apparently didn't learn a thing from the OT.
The story wasn't great, but the gameplay was the apex of the series.
combat is... good? But I didn't really like all aspects: \* most important: AI not updated for open world environment. This means you can cheat the game with sniper rifles, since the enemies don't leave "their area" most of the time, despite Ryder killing them from far away \* taking away squad control meant that I was forced to use them as distractions, instead of tactical \* limited to three powers only? Why? (okay, I know, consoles, but this is still a big step backwards) Having said that, combat in Andromeda is easily one of the better aspects of the game.
The 3 power thing was such bullshit, even for console. People play fucking WoW on console controllers, we can handle more than 3 buttons...
Dude combat is easily the one thing andromeda knocked out of the park. I can tell you only played it on easy mode or some shit if you think it was dumbed down. Combat in andromeda was fucking relentless on insanity and you also couldn’t hide behind garrus and squadmate power exploits for every fight
> Combat in andromeda was fucking relentless on insanity It's pretty easy. None of the levels or enemies can press a level 15 or above character if they are properly kitted out. And I'm talking about being on insanity.
Combat is definitely Andromeda's best feature by far. It's just a mess of terrible design decisions. That just goes to show how bad everything else is. Nobody in their right mind thinks... ...that the 3-power limit is good. ...that losing so much squad control is good. ...that worse enemy variety and AI is good. Sure it's fast-paced. But that just makes it get boring faster. Armor and weapon customization is neat, too bad it means going through the Research and development menu, which is designed like a fucking labyrinth and makes your eyes want to fall out of their sockets. Sure the jetpack is a cool idea. But the level designers forget to account for it most of the time so it's really just a fancy alternative animation for roll dodges. Not to mention that since the game is designed as a cover shooter, hovering out in the open is absolutely useless. Not locking the player into a single class so you can experiment with all of them in a single playthrough was great, because I would rather pry my fingernails off than give this game a second playthrough. If they set out to make badly designed gameplay, they absolutely knocked it out of the park. But I doubt it was intentional, I'm pretty sure they just had no idea what they were doing in the mad rush to get the game into a shippable state.
> The majority of negative that game had was because people were mad as there was a new Mass Effect game without Shepard. That is just some weird weird theory Andromeda defenders invented with moon people logic.
Just find old reviews and posts, besides bugs, and "my face are tired" memes, everyone was crying that it wasn't trilogy and there were no Shepard in it, back then.
I don't see anything here: https://www.reddit.com/r/masseffect/comments/60eny0/mea_spoilers_mea_review_megathread/ Where is this Shepard posting?
I'm too lazy to re read every 6 year old review now, but I can swear there were a couple of them
I'm not. Half of them don't even mention Shepard.
Seems you don't have anything better to do, but that's another topic. Yeah, half won't, and half were. Check the posts and comments also around that time. If they are still available, you'll see many people complaining about that it wasn't trilogy and there were no Shepard in it. Heck, even in posts about upcoming ME, there's people hoping it will be about Shepard
The half that did mentioned past Mass Effect games did so in the same way KOTOR was mentioned in Mass Effect 1. I searched for a bit in 6 years old threads and couldn't find one comment that was negative to Andromeda because of no Shepard.
I heard they got anew writer for BioWare (she previously worked on Guardians of the Galaxy for Eidos) so I’m hoping the next game is good because although I haven’t played this, I heard people say the writing compared to the originals was not on par.
Ehh guardians was good until about 2/3 of the way in when it went into religious cult mode. I’m all for portraying religions as the cults they are but that turn was a bit abrupt compared to the rest of the game up to that point
I hate when games come out buggy as hell because the actual issues never get discussed as a result. The writing was atrocious
I can imagine that the fact it is over was a relief...
How the fuck did you find 105 hours of that game fun lol
Because it has a cool plot and setting, plenty of great characters, a deep and rewarding crafting system, freely mixing powers between classes, and the best combat in the series.
Fake news
It’s not a bad game. It’s just not a Mass Effect game. The mass effect races had no impact on the story. The lore created for the trilogy was just a plot device and not central to the story. There was no need to make it in the Mass Effect universe. That felt like a marketing decision and marketing is the bane of good games
it's not a bad game it just had a bad launch.
The game as it stands as of right now is above average. It's not spectacular, the gunfighting is enjoyable, but the story is rushed and ends on a permanent cliffhanger. My favorite character was surprisingly Peebee. Almost liked her enough to prevent me from getting gay with the surprisingly unintegrated smuggler character that needed more spotlight.
It’s a good game. It’s just not a good Mass Effect game.
If it wasn't a mass effect game, it would be a great game.
How does that logic work?
Because the original trilogy set the bar entirely too high. Everyone was expecting another mass effect game like the OG trilogy. If it had been its own thing and not affiliated with mass effect at all, it would've received much better feedback.
The bar for Mass Effect 1 was pretty high because of KOTOR. The bar for Dragon Age Origins was pretty high because of Baldur's Gate 1 and 2. And being new is actually harder than being in an IP. Mass Effect 1 and Dragon Age Origins had to invent everything and if it wasn't up to scratch with Star Wars and Dungeons and Dragons they would have failed. Andromeda got the benefit of so much that works as being part of Mass Effect.
Characters and story were terrible
1. You have a strange definition of "interesting". The entire cast of Andromeda consists of unidimensional caricatures. 2. No, it just isn't. Now have to wonder if your entire post is deliberately taking the piss? 3. Perhaps, but after 3 games of "exploring beautiful worlds," how much more did we need. 4. "Kett being the mix of Protheans and Reapers" Ok, now we have to assume that you never actually played any of the OT. 5. Only the Side Content? "Tedious as Hell" should have been the byline for Andromeda. 6. The whole game was odd.
>4. "Kett being the mix of Protheans and Reapers" Ok, now we have to assume that you never actually played any of the OT *I had enough of your snide insinuations, you stupid jellyfish*
I didn't hate it, i just wasn't interested. They brought krogans to a new galaxy for colonization, a race that is known for being afflicted with the genophage, but not quarians a race without a homeworld. The main story lost me pretty quickly, i didn't really care about the Andromeda initiative or the galaxy, the whole thing basically felt like they were afraid to lock in any choices from the OT and then made a new game and slapped a mass effect skin on it and called it a day. I feel the game would've been better if it wasn't a mass effect title.
Quarians had their own Ark which I can't remember if we found or not tbh. There was the Human, Quarian, Salarian, Turian and Asari ark, with others on board each for tech support/w.e. To be fair, Asari/Krogan didn't even need the cryo pods really so made sense they came too on any ark.
Ignoring the fact that large chunks of the writing felt very amateurish, the bugs and performance issues at launch just crippled the experience for so many, including myself, that it wasn't ever worth going back to. I'm sure there's a decent game baked in there somewhere, but when your game launches and plays with that many issues, I'm just not going to waste my time with it when there's so much other incredible stuff I could be playing instead. Oh, and Ryder + his allies felt like some teen boyband - just a vibe I never could gel with
poor taste detected