"Trash Effect Blandromeda"? - Were the Haters WRONG About This Game? (2023 Review of ME Andromeda) 

"She also shares the last name as the Illusive Man" Cora Man?

Did you know that Cora used to be an Asari Commando? Apparently she has some really rare dialogue where she tells you that she used to live and train with the Asari. Supposedly only happens in like 90% of the conversations you have with her.

"Life is too short to play mediocre games when you don't have a lot of time to play games. " Story of my life!

You can tell the writers wanted a sitcom, not a space opera

"All the great Bioware villains like Saren, the Illusive Man, Loghain, Jon Irenicus from Baldur's Gate 2, and Mac Walter, lead writer of Mass Effect 3." I died here hahaha

My biggest problem with Andromeda was the promise of being the first to explore or make contact or whatever and instead you spend the whole game cleaning up other people's messes.

This video made me realize how badass Shepard is, even the paragon one

9:28 I love how Commander Shepard approaches situations with tact, understanding, and speaking in a very relatable and easy to follow way.

Watching this video makes me realize how much it was painful seeing that every Asari except for PB looked the same.

My biggest beef with the story was you arrive in a brand new galaxy...and there's already people waiting for you at the non-citadel. Killed the frontier spirit for me. Then we meet a brand new alien race...that are 2-eyed bipedal humanoids. Was hoping for something wild similar Hanar or Elcor.

I believe that the lack of impact from your choices is due to the game being cut short. This is clearly the opening game in a trilogy or series of games, where the choices made in Andromeda 1 would have had an impact. Since the series was canceled and no more Andromeda games produced, we'll never know where the story was headed or what impact your choices would have had.

The one thing I’ll forever be thankful for when it comes to andromeda is that it taught me to never pre order a game ever again

7:00 "If I wanted to experience lack of confidence, I could just go about my daily life in the real world." LOL! Same here, Dan. Same.

Gameplay feels nice, worlds look amazing. Everyone is ugly, and the story....

I actually really loved the fact that my crew had no confidence in Ryder, because it was so realistic. They were following your parent, and not you. You were given your incredibly important job just because you were related to the person in charge, who was now dead. Shepard had been serving in the alliance for many years. However... that sort of conflict usually is concluded with a huge redemption arc of people telling you that they were wrong, and/or treating you in a more diplomatic fashion. That didn't seem to happen, as far as I can recall (I only played through it once at 100% years ago). With that said, just let me romance a salarian for once and I'll be good 🤣

I think the character arc is fitting in the sense that Ryder is learning on the job. They were never meant to be Pathfinder and everyone knows it should've been Cora, and likely would've been, had Alec not had to sacrifice himself to save his kid. Ryder is figuring it out as they go so a sense of uncertainty is a welcome approach and more in line with feeling relatable because we as players have about as much info as the character.

They were expecting to patch everything together with DLC. What they didn't expect was the... reaction.

The one thing ME:A did for me was show how good the combat could have been in the original trilogy. The abilities really highlighted how pigeon-holed the first games were in combat.

I think the air on habitat 7 was poisonous. Not just unbreathable. Young Ryder almost died even with the helmet the whole time. And probably would have if they shared it.

I think the point is that Ryder wasn't as hardcore military special elite as Shepard. And they are explorers not special commando operatives... Even if they endup fighting a lot as the game progresses.

Imagine this. You step onto Eden Prime for the first time, with Kaiden and Jenkins, minutes into the game Shepard tackles Jenkins to the ground and gets shredded by the geth drones instead. Jenkins ends up seeing the Prothean's vision and for some reason he ends up in charge of the Normandy This is the situation Ryder finds himself in, Unprepared, untested and with great expectations suddenly dropped on his shoulders. It makes sense in my opinion that Ryder doesn't get the same respect as Shepard

I remember having a conversation with Cora and she was pissed that Ryder was chosen as the Pathfinder instead of her. And I remember Ryder's ultimate response was, "Well my dad picked me." And her response? "You're absolutely right. Totally my b." And that was the end of the discussion. It reminded me of the time I told Ashley I didn't want her on the Normandy, and she fired back with a defense. We had an actual disagreement, and continued to butt heads throughout her time aboard. But she always followed orders. That was so much more satisfying then the way, most of the "disagreements" were handled in Andromeda. There was a snarky remark made by Ryder, or an npc, and then a handwave response from either Ryder or an npc, and it was over. To be clear, I didn't want constant hostility or negativity, but I wanted conversations and relationships that felt, at the least, realistic. There's none of that in Andromeda. It all just feels like the barest of gameplay mechanics; these conversations and relationships are there, because they're part of the game, and that's all. I had a real friendship with Chakwas, Joker, Garrus, Liara and Kaidan. Wrex and I had mutual respect, that turned into a friendship. I didn't agree with Ashley, probably didn't even like her, nor she me, but we worked together and got shit done. I took a tough love approach with Jack, like she was my bratty teen daughter, and it paid off. I fought with Mordin all the time over the ethics of the genophage, and in the end, I hope I was his friend. Andromeda had none of these complex, realistic interactions. I think the fact that when I talk about playing as Ryder I refer to him as Ryder, but when I talk about playing Shepard I use "I" or "Me/My," speaks volumes about the different characters. One is someone you play, the other is one you identify with. Meaningful conversations and actions go a long way.

I appreciate a lot that Big Dan realizes that a lot of people don’t have time to play mediocre games. Video games like this are incredibly expensive and take a lot of time. It’s worth it for the OT, because it was so good, but I don’t have the will to, “Give it a try.”

I will say this 1) Dad Ryder was my favorite character and he died super early. He was cool. 2) I liked the ability to mix your skills 3) I liked the weapons system 4) Graphics had some +'s but it destroyed by R9 290x8GB. 5) I liked the idea behind your family options, but I wish I had more engagements alongside my sibling in the field. 6) I liked the multiplayer idea with APEX missions, bulwark weapons and synergies. Interesting. 7) I like the idea of the dialogue wheel , but as you said, you "weak willed @5:40" 8) Jaals revelation of his people was awesome, but I wish it was even more devastating. 9) I love Suvi, Grandpa Drakk is a chad, sassy Vetra The music was lackluster, story was meh, and it was just Reaper/Geth/Mercs over again. Punch Liam and PeePee like @ 8:20 cuz holy crap they disrespect Ryder.

Was it on purpose that you made Rider look like Fry from Futurama or is that the actual default?

With the "Big" choices, They were probably going to have the consequences in the (Now trashed) sequel. But with no sequel to show what how what we did affected anybody, they feel empty.

Great video. I recently played the ME trilogy for the first time and fell in love with it (becoming my favorite game series period), despite ME3's many flaws. I *just* finished Andromeda before watching this, and I have a fair bit to say. Character Creation+Combat: I was extremely disappointed by relegated to only presets for character construction, but found the enhanced skill choices through level ups to be satisfying (Though I still think "profiles" are utter garbage and are fairly useless IMO). Jump-jets and evades are odd in a Mass Effect game, almost feeling like there's too much movement, but it's fairly harmless. I was shocked by the lack of tactical-screens. Having to actual aim my skills instead of auto hitting. Ryder as a Character: You hit the nail on the head: Despite "more" responses, they ultimately fell completely the same, and are hindered further by the lack of true choice and impact. I will say though, I like being able to pull up Lexi's profile on you: Effectively a brief document of her analyzing and speculating about your personality. If they had that along with real decisions and choices, that would be amazing. Companions: ME companions have always been hit or miss with me (Don't ask me my opinion on Miranda, James, or Jacob), and while none of the companions here come close to the intrigue or charm of the OGs (Except maybe Drack, Vetra, and Cora), they actually seem to interact more with each other than the OGs ever did. Both on the Tempest and Nomad, companions will chat and fire back at each other a lot. They even had a message board to communicate just everyday stuff, like "Don't touch my roast", "This is the Angaran word for X", and "I stole your soap operas. You can have them back when you stop playing them when I'm trying to sleep". And while the highs were never as good as the OGs, loyalty missions actually made sense for the most part, as you were helping them achieve a goal they'd been struggling with, rather than just "Found this guy. Help me kill him". While the characters could've been better, they have an amazing amount of interaction compared to the OG trilogy. Quests: Tedious. Yep. Personally, I like ME better as a set of linear missions/maps.....and that's a lot coming from someone who loves open worlds. Andromeda's just feel so empty, vapid, and repetitive half the time. Story: It's mediocre at best. The only reason I did as much as I did was to get some good companion interaction, or hear Clancy Brown's sweet-sweet voice again. Poor guy didn't deserve to be put in this game. Was it a waste of time? Ehhhhhh. Not exactly. It wasn't great...but it did show me what ME4 could have in to make it even better.....And now I'm going to worry about ME4 some more.

The one major gripe I do have is Ryder being able to wear N7 anything. In the originals, the N7 status was something to be achieved through near suicidal fights or situations few could come out sain from. Even though Shepherd starts out as an N7, we chose what terrible day got him that rank plus the nomination for Spectre. That's how the originals showed respect. The only reason Vega is allowed to even get an N7 tattoo is because he's been all but actually inducted into the ranks as such. He needs to survive the last push with the crucible. Shepherd okays it to give him hope. I feel like Shepherd would have ripped Ryder's dad's suit right off of him. He didn't actually earn it. Yet. The combat I liked. The characters intrigued me. They weren't trilogy besties like Tali or Garrus. But they had... something. I wanted more varied enemies. I wanted to be forced to fall back...not constantly. But frequently. I wanted to feel desperate. As in. Everyone is a long way from home. We're either winning this fight. Or we're dead. The only thing that really really really really grinding my nerves to shit Was when I realized they took the mini games you do in the trilogy to get extra... everything. Now those games weren't necessary to beat the campaign. In Andromeda you have to do them allllll the fucking time to progress.

It would’ve nice if there was a respect meter that changes how your crew treats you.

I initially didn’t do a complete playthrough, when Andromeda first came out because I got bored after Eos, but decided to go back and finish it when the Legendary Edition was announced and set to release. I have to say, a lot of the criticism was justified but I wouldn’t necessarily call the game “trash”, there were some great ideas put into the game in terms of combat, exploration, class system, etc. One particular thing I liked about the game was that they made both the male and female characters related to each other, which was something that BioWare never did with the previous Mass Effect games. While I didn’t like the fact that the Nomad has no weapons on it, it definitely handled so much better than the Mako. It would have been nice to see some sort of a follow up to Andromeda, to allow BioWare to kind of improve many things that were wrong with Andromeda but I wonder how Mass Effect 4 will integrate elements and story from both the trilogy and Andromeda together.

On the topic of non-romancable crew mates never having the option, if you keep bugging Mordin in ME2 there is a dialogue where he calls you out on being attracted to him and shuts you down 😂

Why is this titled as a "2023 review" of the game when the video was uploaded 2 years ago?

The main issue I had with this game was the fact that the dialogue choices were AWFUL. The Paragon/Renegade choices are gone. Instead, you are given 4 choices of dialogue that are pretty much the same and all serve the same purpose: -Say Hello -Say Hi -Talk to them -Greet the person Ruined it for me completely.

If you choose the salarians you end up having to fight converted krogan in the end fight, whereas choosing the scouts means you fight easier enemies instead. I am sure the whole military or science question was meant to have meaning with the sequel. And that is probably what's wrong with a lot of the choices in Andromeda. Most of them were meant for the sequel which is probably not going to be made now.

The biggest reason why nothing in this game mattered, decision-wise, is because Bioware is probably never going to follow-up with it... It's a shame. The combat, open-world maps, and class-building mechanics in this game were the best things the come out of Mass Effect Andromeda. I hope they incorporate them into ME4.

My canon Ryder is female. The voice actress was just so much better than the male voice actor. The way she delivered the lines just felt like I was nearly playing a different game at times.

I kinda liked how your crew was there and had their input. It’s what I liked about ME1. In ME2 it was like only Miranda and a few others knew what was going on. Then in ME3 you had to weigh everyone’s feeling individually after each mission.

Andromeda was doomed to fail from get go. Resources for development were diverted to Anthem (Want to talk about a trash game, there it is) and the deadline for development of Andromeda forced it to be rushed. While not the best game in the trilogy, it was entertaining in its own right. Also Drax is the best companion in the whole game. "I hate you all, just let me be old and cranky in peace".

Andromeda was the first mass effect game I played and that was this year, I only paid 5 bucks for it and had a blast. I'd never played the originals either despite having the legendary edition in my library for a year. I'm now halfway through the final part of the original trilogy and I'm always gonna have a lot of love for MEA, it opened my eyes to the whole amazing experience and it'll have an equally special place in my heart because of that.

The biggest issue with ME:A is that it was never able to rise to its full potential. Strictly because fans compared a whole trilogy to a single entry. None of the decisions felt any weight because we never get to see any of their outcomes. In ME:1 I agree that the Rachni decision had a ton of weight behind it like what Dan said. A horrific race of genocidal aliens that wreaked havoc on the galaxy. Do you give them a second chance at life or condemn them to extinction. However if you only had ME:1 to play, that decision would result in the counsel being mad or happy. Thats it. It's not till ME2 when you discover that the old Rachni were indoctrinated by the Reapers, and ME3 when you get the chance to save them again and have them help you destroy the reapers. We never get to see the long term ramifications of a military vs research outpost that ME:A2 or 3 could have given us. Same goes for electing the ambassador at the end and etc. So comparing 1 games choices to the choices of a Trilogy is very unfair. This also has a poor effect on how we view Ryder. Coming into ME:1 Shepard is already a hero in the Alliance, not to mention an N7. He already did something so spectacular or has such a strong reputation that he's being looked at for SPECTRE status. Hell, Wrex joins Shepard without questions asked because he's heard of Shepard and knows "they are both warriors" and it'll be a "good fight". Then for the rest of the trilogy you decide between good Shepard vs bad Shepard and there's no real growth of character there. With Ryder he's doing a job that he wasn't suppose to be doing, filling the shoes of someone who was a natural and respected leader with years of experience. Ryder isn't a hero, and isn't N7 (and is actual criticized in the game for wearing N7 armor when you "didn't earn it") Before the Andromeda Initiative you were a security guard in the alliance, or you fixed drones in the alliance , etc. Ryder taking over as Pathfinder from N7 Dad Ryder was like if Shepard died on Eden Prime and Jenkins took over for him. You're laughing at that thought because you can't take that idea serious, just like how none of the higher ups at the Nexus or even your team could take Ryder serious as the new Pathfinder. The final battle at Meridian was Ryder's Skillian Blitz/ Torfen/ Akuze. I think Ryder had the potential to have a lot of character growth over the 3 games if we would have seen them. They would have went from the naive and unconfident new guy to a galactic hero. In conclusion I feel like a large part of ME:A to this day is a single game that's unfairly compared to 3 games as if they were one, and suffers because this ONE game didn't bring the same satisfaction that 3 other games over the course of many years brought fans. Beyond the bugs and technical issues (that were eventually fixed) its a real shame that we never got to see how the WHOLE story played out and then see how this trilogy stacked up to the old one in a fair comparison. Thanks for attending my TED Talk

My main issue with Andromeda was that I didn't feel like the hero of the story, I felt like I was carrying the hero around with me (even when getting the Tempest Suvi greats SAM first and then quickly greets you as a quick aside and that carries through the game). SAM also got really annoying telling you what to do and how to play not even giving you a chance to solve a puzzle or problem, the one scene at the endgame just felt like it was thrown in to appease people catching on to this. Without SAM the Pathfinder had nothing to stand out where other games the MC's were normally given a chance to stand out on there own.

Not being able to romance Dr. Lexi (Nathalie Dormer) is the biggest regret

I poured 70 hours into Andromeda back in 2017. I am about to finish my MELE playthrough which would be my 3rd total playthrough of mass effect trilogy. I plan to replay Andromeda next. Before this video starts here is what I remember of Andromeda: Lore - pretty good Story - okay-ish Characters - 50/50 Gameplay - excellent They really dropped the ball with all the glitches and character models (those faces will haunt me forever lol), the lore was pretty interesting and the story was alright at best but the characters were hit and miss and generally didn't live up to the trilogy. Combat is where it shined. Especially now that I've refreshed my memory of how the original trilogy is. I had to mod it a fair bit to get the combat to where liked it while in Andromda it was perfectly fine as is, from what I remember.

I got lucky, apparently. My play throughs had almost no glitches or hiccups and I barely noticed the facial animations cause I was too busy asking questions and thinking about other stuff. This is just me, obviously, so it took a while for me to understand all the hate. I personally loved what they setting up and I’m still sad I’ll never get to play the rest of the story out. 🤷🏻‍♀️

This game was made for you to NOT be "mean" to other people.

The thing with Ryder not being super assertive I found to be very intentional by the story. Ryder isn't a seasoned badass like Shepard was at the beginning of ME1, so the story is about Ryder rising to meet the challenges thrown at him/her and become the kind of character Shepard was at the start of ME1. And it shows imo, by the end of the story Ryder is issuing orders and pursuing goals with a lot more confidence than at the beginning of the game. The real shame of Andromeda being cut off is that we will never get to really see the payoff of Ryder's character arc.

I guess I'm just more open minded then some people when it comes to Andromeda. I am currently playing it now and I honestly love it. I have over 70+ hours into because i'm doing all the side quests etc. For some reason I just really enjoy doing the sidequests. Other then that I do really live the story and would give the game a 7.5 out of 10. There are some bugs etc but with mods things are mostly fixed.

I just recently played Andromeda the first time, but I played as Sara. Just comparing the voice acting of the siblings made it a very contrasting experience to what you show in the video. I know that the story is of course the same, but the journey feels different. I enjoyed developing from a no clue teen to a respected leader in the course of the game. I played all side quests except for the collect tasks without map markers and even they were fun because of the chatting during the drives. And making the krogan the ambassador actually felt like the only real option for me to take. I am now on a second playthrough of LE and damn, that silence in the Mako is killing me now.

Honestly liked the ME:A combat way more than the original trilogy games but that’s about it

Minor point, but I hear the "why don't they share the helmet and take turns?" idea while ignoring that ryder already hyperventilated and inhaled a lot of the toxic atmosphere and promptly passes out even with the helmet on, it would be pretty hard to co-ordinate while unconscious. That said, Alec had far more going to make him a more interesting protagonist than the kid and killing him off for a "big shoes to fill" type story doesn't really work when Ryder never really comes into their own as a leader, just as someone who happens to have special AI powers nobody else gets.

I think you nailed the game pretty good. The only thing I'd say you didn't really cover was that all the planets give you big open worlds to do more exploring compared to some previous games but nothing in them to actually find. so they are pretty empty and just serve as a drive here for this fetch quest and also the mine here which leads me to the second thing was mining in this game was just annoying to have to do. One last issue I had came in multi player where they drastically reduced the amount of characters that can perform biotic or other combos by them selves, as a fan of biotic comboing dudes I hated this a lot.

I loved how you can use 'profiles' to switch between classes mid combat. Very helpful in boss battles or when the enemies change.

Andromeda is the embodiment of: "Eh, it was alright."

I bought ME:Andromeda last year. I enjoyed the game very much. The game had all of its updates by then, so I didn't experience any significant glitches.

I like this game alot. I especially like that you can change your class not just say in your ship, but anytime you want. This means you can use all types of weapons and try all the powers, too. Attacking the Kett main base is a blast as the battle goes on nearly continuesly for 30+ minutes. Downside is some of the vault puzzles are very hard because they aren't logical at all. Still play the game every now and then.

0:11 "Addison's face is STILL tired." Also why are the Kett named after horse tranquiliser?

I like Ryder being more awkward. And I have noticed that Ryder does get more confident as the game goes on. Every game has you as the confident, in charge guy that everyone listens to. As Ryder, you earn it

I'll be interested what they make of Andromeda in the next installment of Mass Effect. The trailer clearly showed Heleus races, I just hope they have the sense to leave Shepard out of it this time around. As for Andromeda, I really like it and am currently re-playing it with a few quality of life and cosmetic mods.

I just finished ME: Andromeda for the first time, having played the first trilogy a dozen times. The game isn't a waste of time, to be sure, and as you highlighted there are some real bright spots. Some of the characters are great, a lot of the game looks fantastic, and the vaults were typically pretty cool levels. The mysterious Scourge is an interesting looming threat to the galaxy that had good potential to replace the Reapers as the thing hanging in the background being slowly revealed while you were focusing on all these other problems. Perhaps that's where they would have gone if it had become the trilogy they clearly hoped it would, but even with a little more lore found on the Meridian Base (Fake Meridian), they never gave us any a reason to be intrigued. It's not that they didn't answer any questions about the Scourge; they didn't even frame the questions we would WANT to be answered. And that speaks to the much, much broader problem with Andromeda that poisons the well. The original Mass Effect is a hugely flawed game. Most of the dialogue is rigid, driving the Mako stops being cool about the second time you encounter a big hill, and even the squad mates that we all love so much are shallow exposition dumps more than actual characters (the change from 1 to 2 in this regard is staggering). What made that game so immediately gripping was the world building. Right from the start, the galaxy felt alive, and complete. There were politics, and history of wars, ancient grudges and current events. There were lots of different flavours. It was all so rich. And that's the promise that Andromega had - that's even how it was marketed - as an opportunity to explore a whole new galaxy. What wonders will it hold? What interesting new species will we meet? What strange landscapes will we encounter, with ecosystems we don't understand, with flora and fauna that will seem monstrous to us at the beginning, but may turn out to be complex and loveable once we get to know them? The answer: None of that. There are two species, precisely two, and we will encounter them all every world. Of those worlds, there's the hot desert, the dry desert (which is a different thing, apparently), the ice planet, and the cool jungle planet - but oh wait, that's the one planet you don't actually get to colonize. Oh, but this galaxy has a history! What is that history? Literally nobody knows. Ooo... does that mean there's a mystery to unravel, like with the Protheans? Nope. Go fuck yourself. The only bit of real intrigue that exists in the whole game is from unlocking Daddy Ryder's memories, where we discover that there's a mysterious Benefactor, and the person leading this whole expedition was murdered upon arrival, possibly as a cover-up. Did she know too much about what we would find here? Is there a sinister purpose behind this Andromeda Initiative that we will have to root out and eliminate, or else doom these colonists to some terrible fate? Goodness, was the timeline for departure moved up because the Benefactor was at risk of being discovered? I was genuinely interested in this, to the point where I told a friend that this should have been the main storyline in place of the Kett invasion, and then I made it to the end to learn that... GASP! There were REAPERS invading the Milky Way!!!! ... ... ... Fucking seriously?! I went through all that for a 30 second audio clip from Liara giving the juicy lore drop that... the events of the last game happened? Like, I know Bioware. I was there! So that's the major failing of this game. They completely missed on absolutely everything that made the prospect of this game interesting, from the moment it was announced. There were exactly two races introduced in this vast new galaxy, and I know less about them at the end of the game than I knew about the Elcor and Hanar by the time I became a Spectre in ME1. I didn't hate this game, but when I got to the end, I was happy it was over.

I like how you include Mack Walter as one of the greatest bioware villains ever.

Actually, while hunting the archon, choosing the pathfinder or the scouts does affect your game. Not majorly, but it changes one of the enemies you'll fight. Saving the pathfinder results in Krogan Kett. Saving the scouts results in salarian Kett. The Salarian Kett are much easier to kill.

Probably unpopular, but I LOVED the rough start character wise. Ryder is a youngster with little experience, growing into the role. Surrounded by oddballs, trying to make it work and succeeding in the end. Shep winning was never in question, because badass. Shep started and ended the series just as skilled. (Mandatory Level-Ups aside) Seeing Ryder growing into a role was the best part for me writing wise. If Andromeda had been a trilogy also, Ryder would have reached Shep level at prob. the mid/late second game. Let me see the MC grow in games!

I agreed with almost everything you mentioned, and I can't help but believe if I played it before the trilogy; then it would have seemed much better. So much of the game felt like it was the prototype that the trilogy improved upon.

Andromeda had enough things it did right that make me feel the next Mass Effect (given time and direction from the onset) can be good. The combat is universally seen as the best in the series to date, the alien worlds looked and felt actually alien (Havarl in particular), and the exploration aspect was a fairly good approach to take but suffered from typical open-world blandness in terms of quests. Had they not wasted so much time chasing down the procedural generated worlds aspect in the beginning, they could have made this game amazing. I didn't even mind the revamped dialogue system itself, but the available options were overshadowed by the narrative direction being imposed. No matter what you chose, Ryder was always going to be depicted as an inexperienced rookie because that's what the story demanded, whether you played it professional, casual, or anything in between. I personally liked making Ryder sarcastic in my play through, more of a Han Solo swashbuckler type rather than stoic soldier. But that's ultimately lost when the game makes it mandatory for all the cast to see you as a stupid noob regardless of your choices until plot demanded otherwise. And SAM. Good lord, way too much reliance on SAM for EVERYTHING. Not to mention SAM's voice was so grating compared to EDI

I feel like if Andromeda succeeded and had gotten a sequel the choices could have had chance to shine more, because all the choices (at least to me) seemed to have more long term consequences

I remember years ago seeing just a still image of the Andromeda Asari with "Pris"'s Bladerunner eyeshadow and smug grin, and just noped my way back to ME3

my biggest Letdown was the teasing for more Content like the Quarian Ark and then they just cancelled everything. That was the last nail to the coffin, nothing was really finished in Andromeda.

They should have stuck with Andromeda and made dlc. I'm playing it again now and it's clear it had great potential and was going to be a game that should have carried on for a couple of years with story content. We still haven't even got closure on what happened to the Quarian Arc and the other milky way species...

You're spot on, though missed a couple of my favorite gripes. For example, politics on the Nexus were supposed to be a huge driver for the story, but they were *yawn* boring. The absolute worst part is the most hateable character is one of the ones that are right. How much better would the game be if Addison was actually in charge, rather than stuck working for an incompetent trying to make the best of the situation? She's totally hatable but also right. You'd be stuck with her, she'd be stuck with you and you could spend the game building up that relationship until you're forced to accept each other or kill her. And riddle my this: Why didn't Adison, Kandros, and Kesh get together and space Tam? Seriously.

I couldn't stand the casual attitude of the main cast. The fans loved the Citadel DLC so much that Bioware, or what was left of it, tried to make the whole game feel like it. They didn't get that we adored to mess around with our old squadmates because of all the shit we'd gone through together. The bond between Shepard and the likes of Garrus, Tali and Liara by the end of ME3 could never be replicated by completely new characters.

I was just mad they still wouldn’t allow us to romance a Salarian. Being rejected by Mordin still stings

FYI: in regards to the choices, if you don’t save dracks scouts, you’ll fight the behemoth exalted the rest of the game, if you do save them you won’t. Also if you choose “military” for podromos, you’ll have more reinforcements on the final mission. No, they aren’t big decisions, but it’s something.

My thing about the whole choice and consequence thing might be a little controversial but here goes. The consequences for these choices aren’t going to be felt in the first game. Just like me1 you save the rachni queen, but don’t get an answer to what that does until me3. You decide to save shai’ra from the thorian and let her go you don’t meet her until me2. You decide to save wrex, you don’t see his main purpose with tuchanka until me3. Mass effect andromeda has only been one game and there are still major choices. Whether or not to blow up the kett research facility, saving the kett admiral or not, the pathfinder’s you choose, whether or not you deliver the anicient AI to the Angara or not. I mean honestly the game has more and it’s more then even me1 had. If they made a sequel I guarantee those choices would be played out just like the other games choices did. It’s always been a ripple effect felt in LATER games. I mean sure some choices you see the end result immediately for (such as rescuing the crew right away in me2 or not) but the vast majority of the quests are resolved in later titles. Anyway. This game gets a lot of flack (deserved in some aspects) but the choice system did not bother me whatsoever because as someone who has played the other games I’m well aware that no big choice is revealed in consequences till later in the series.

Honestly ME:A's biggest issue for me is its open world design. Instead of each world being a small series of interesting things to do unique to each world and maybe one or two similar mission styles (like clearing out enemy bases and establishing colonies), its instead the same handful of activities on every planet and MAYBE one unique thing. Despite being a game based around going out and colonizing uncharted worlds, I was never really doing that. Instead you would land, figure out whatever lackluster main quest stuff you needed to do, then proceed with the same checklist of "things I need to do to get to 100% viability" that you just finished doing about five minutes ago on the last planet. Combine this with Andromeda functionally having the narrative plot structure of what an ME prologue would have probably looked like and the "totally not Protheans we swear" ancient extinct aliens, what you get is a massive disappointment.

If you choose military on eos, they will help on final mission. And if you choose to save salarian pathfinder you will have to fight exalted krogans for the remainder story missions. So there are slight changes made, but not much.

Shepherd already comes into Mass Effect 1 with a history of either being a war hero or a survivor while Ryder is the child of a respected “pathfinder” who hasn’t done anything him (or her) self. If the main character of Andromeda was Ryder’s dad, then he would’ve been more confident and would’ve garnered more respect from others from the get go. I kinda liked how the MC of Andromeda initially lacked confidence and had to earn the respect of others and grow into being a leader. He or she is young with no real history, as such you get to create the legend of Ryder as opposed to jumping into the character after his (or her) lore has already started to grow. I assume that Ryder’s character would’ve developed further in future games if Andromeda had any sequels.

I played through Andromeda again after legendary edition. Like yes Andromeda has its flaws but it's by no means a bad game and in hindsight it's also unfair to compare to the trilogy. Trilogy you play as an elite soldier trying to save the galaxy from an Omega level threat. Andromeda you play as colonists trying to find a new home. Two different atmospheres entirely

I am about 1/3 of the way through a first playthrough of Andromeda - after playing the Trilogy for the first time - and I’m enjoying the hell out of it. I can understand why the game got thrashed on release, but taken on its own, it’s a very fun game and I’m really enjoying it. Flexible Skills and profiles, fun combat, and some great missions. Yeah, the Asari faces, and some of the voice acting, leave something to be desired, but overall, I’m into it.

Something that I really liked is the romance (ex: Jaal and Vetra where really wholesome) but not just them i tought all of the choices were unique in their own way thus, appealing for a large group of people. The pace the game is playng and the combat is a very strong point, them being 10x more fun than in me 1 and 2 maybe even me 3 imo. The graphics are alot better, duh, but at the same time we cant just deny that the game has some pretty cinematic scenes that are well optimised and make the overall expirience more immersive. I think this game was designed to be one with a lot of dlcs and sequels where the story will get more work put into it. Imo the game didnt deserve so much hate and it should have been continued, not just abandoned for the sake of being abandoned, ig thats just EA being EA. PS: I forgot to mention that the storyline from Andromeda will continue in the next Mass Effect game!!!

My biggest gripe in MEA was the lack of imagination in a lot of the design. I played through the story twice, and none of the designs really stood out to me.

You understand why he’s not dripping with gravitas. His dad was the leader and he was in over his head. I liked that he wasn’t just a chad right out the gate. Shepherd was a hero before the first scene, that’s why he was the chief from the start. Seeing a character grow over the course of the adventure would’ve been cool. We could look back and feel nostalgic of when he was a noob.

I could overlook a lot with this game but Ryder is such a dork that I’ve never been able to finish it.

25:38 “Then You go scan some random planets, find the location of the real collector base…” Well played, Big Dan

This game felt like a chore to finish

I just hate those horrific, mask-like face animations and dead eyes. The game would have gotten so much less hate (even with its weaker plot and lamer companions compared to the ME trilogy), if it hadn't been for those, IMHO.

When I started ME1 Legendary Edition, I hated Vanguard, but halfway through the game, I was in love with the class! I was hoping for DLC that introduced the Quarians and Cerberus to the new series.

I actually didn’t mind the quantity of quests in da: inquisition because the completionist in me was excited about seeing how much I could do in a single play through so I’m actually looking forward to playing ME andromeda, I just gotta save up a little more money

Andromeda was developed by Bioware’s B team. You can definitely see a difference. Although they did lay some interesting groundwork.

I always wished they just used Ryder’s dad as the main character. He’s badass, looks and sounds cool and is N7.

Female Ryder really felt like they embodied the different choices better than the male. At least, the differnt emotional tones felt better.

2 months later, still wish Mass Effect 4 was an Andromeda sequel so that the Andromeda arc can end on something else than a cliffhanger if there's zero chances of an Andromeda trilogy happening.

And for the weak-willed Ryder, I think that was setting up his character development. This was supposed to be the first game in a new arc, but I think they made too much of a limp first impression... but at the end of the game, he's much more of a presence.

I actually think that Ryder not being assertive makes sense. Guy is like Jenkins and all of a sudden he is expected to be a pathfinder and he wasn’t even supposed to be the next pathfinder if the og pathfinder died, it was supposed to be Cora. Ryder does get more confident as the game advances so that’s that. Andromeda messed up a lot of things but Ryder isn’t one of them in my opinion.

I like the romance with vetra, it was very bioware-ish and very well made

Couple of things, there were little side conversations in the OG Trilogy as well, sometimes in the elevator and occasionally when out and about and yes, I enjoy them as well, they definitely contributed to my fondness for Garrus and Wrex. I also had a problem with Andromeda ignoring some established lore about the rarity of female Krogans and Salarians, which show up as regular people doing stock jobs. It's a small complaint but it bothered me that the creators felt fine changing things to suit their wants. And the companions were, IMO, a major step down from the signature cast(except Jacob) from the OG Trilogy. And of course we're forgetting how buggy the damn thing was right out of the gate...anyway, if you enjoy it then don't mind me, but I was severely disappointed with Andromeda.

I actually love playing Andromeda and I like all the characters. It does have way too many side quests and not enough of the main story, though.

I felt the story was generally okay. My major issue was, as said, the urgency. They play this issue out to be something almost bigger in threat than the Reapers, and EVERYONE knows about it, yet nobody seems even remotely concerned.

I suspect Ryder is so meek in personality because someone at BioWare was too worried about him/her seeming like a reskin of Commander Shepard. But then BioWare wanted to eat their cake and have it too with the four tonal dialogue options, despite the overriding mandate that Ryder be dissimilar to Shepard. As with most of the problems with Andromeda, these issues are the sort of thing that happens when a once successful studio has experienced too much leadership turnover. BioWare isn't really BioWare anymore. It's essentially a totally new collection of developers just trading on the name and the established IP.

I guess it comes down to taste, but I like that Ryder is this newbie nobody takes seriously at first. Almost everyone in the squad has a more badass past: Cora served as an asari commando, Vetra is an experienced smuggler, Jaal is a respected resistance fighter, and Drack has been a warrior since the time the vikings were pillaging shit. Shepard, by their turn, is already an experienced commander even by the time ME1 begins: they're either the sole survivor of a thresher maw attack, or a ruthless leader with important victories against batarians, or a damned war hero. As for Ryder, they're just a kid who's done some small Alliance missions and who's been chosen Pathfinder through sheer nepotism. But it is during the exploration of Heleus that they forge their name and renown: they may start unproven and relatively inexperienced, but they still manage to spearhead the cluster's colonisation and then lead the first victory against the kett. An Andromeda sequel would surely begin with Ryder as a highly respected - both by their own crew and by the cluster's various factions. I know it's an unpopular opinion but I'd really appreciate seeing Ryder again.

I got to fly around with a cloak, a flamethrower and a LMG that shoots sticky grenades. This concludes the things I remember about the game.