The thing I hate the most about Andromeda wasn't bugs or story, it was the fact that the game got abandoned so the studio could go all hands on deck for ANTHEM no less!!(and look how that turned out) So if Bioware brought Andromeda's involvement to Mass Effect 5, then yes, I will be more than delighted to get either a continuation or at least a closure for a game that I actually enjoy at the time.
Bioware still owes me $80 for that POS game. They released a game that didn't match the trailer at all, was barely playable at launch, had an empty open world, and they never patched it. And they turned off refunds through the PS store in North America. It's borderline class action fraud. At least Fallout 76 was properly patched and supported with tons of post launch content updates. You can turn a bad launch experience around, but EA just chose not to.
I've said for some time Anthem killed two games. It killed itself and it took Mass Effect: Andromeda with it. I would say it was Bioware abandoning Andromeda in favor of the new hotness of games as a service in Andromeda that killed DLC more than initial reception. Look how long Bioware defended the original trilogy RGB ending.
The only issue I really had with Andromeda is that besides the two Asari on the team, (the Doctor and Feebee) all the other Asari in the game use the same exact face, there are some other small things that annoy me that just showed they cut way to many corners to hit their release date.
I think the reason for that was the engine change. Mass Effect 1-3 were Unreal and Andromeda was Frostbite. Which meant that they had to remake all the assets again. I bet most Asari in ME1-3 also use the same face, but variations on colour and outfit make a difference, too. Plus, those that we see in cutscenes are more unique compared to Andromeda's. Should have stayed on Unreal, in my opinion.
Another piece of the puzzle, Don’t forget that Alec Ryder was also an N7. When Liara picks up the headset and brushes the snow off it could very well be Alec’s and not Shepard’s. When I was doing Lyft i had the pleasure of bringing a Dev from Ubisoft to their local office. I used to wear a beanie with alot of colorful pins as conversation starters. He noticed my Andromeda Initiative and N7 pins and asked how I felt about the end of ME3. I told him that , as a writer myself, sometimes stories don’t end the way people want them to. I also told him that I agreed with the ending. Shepard isn’t the kind of person to grow old in some nursing home reminiscing about how they used to be a war hero. Shepard is the kind of person to make sure everyone gets out and then locks themselves in with the danger just to make certain that their friends make it to safety.
"When Liara picks up the headset and brushes the snow off it could very well be Alec’s and not Shepard’s." You forgot about the dead Reapers in the teaser. Previously, the developers said that the Reapers are not interested in other Galaxies. That is, the Reapers are only in the Milky Way
Thank you for this! I would love to see more from Andromeda. I thought Andromeda had a lot of potential that was never tapped, and both worlds--Milky Way and Andromeda--have a lot to offer each other.
I’m a vet player and on my 4th playthrough of Andromeda. Despite its flaws I still enjoy it. The Kett feel like bootleg Reapers, but the Ryders bring a fresh perspective to the series. There’s also a few mysteries that keep me engaged: Vetra’s dad, Cora’s dad, Jien Garson, the Benefactor, the Jardaan. I hope the next installment solves even just one of them!
I'm currently on my first play through of ME2, but I've played Andromeda before (figured if I enjoyed the most hated game in the series I'd like the other ones) and the Kett remind me more of the Collectors than the Reapers themselves. Both use the term 'Ascension' as a means to describes what ever f*ed up genetic experiments they're into and they don't look that unsimilar either. Maybe they're collectors that made their way towards Andromeda at some point or the Reapers created them from an Andromeda race. It always made sense to me that the Reapers weren't popping into just the Milky Way once every 50.000 years and having a nap otherwise. If humans can get there within 600 years, so can the Reapers.
@@claragudelhoff8407 Before the release of Andromeda, the developers said that the Reapers were not interested in other Galaxies and they did not fly there
To me Ryder being less mature wasn't a deal breaker. When we meet Shepard we're meeting a man/woman who's already a hero. Andromeda is a story about how Ryder BECAME a hero. I also loved the gameplay. I loved how intricate it was, that I could craft weapons and armor that were my own, that I could build my own strategy rather than keeping to a rigid class structure. I also loved how mobile the game was and how it drove you to always keep moving. As someone on the autism spectrum I sometimes struggle with hand eye coordination and I definately found bossfights challenging in a way that was stimulating without being frustrating. I could see Mass Effect as a game begin with our feet frustratingly plastered to the ground and eventually almost be able to fly with Andromeda. That said there was a lot of disappointment besides the Quarian Ark when it came to missed opportunities with the game. I want to see more of two side quests in particular, the Firefighters and the TH314 virus that was accidentally brought to Andromeda. If SAM can protect against an interspecies virus, that's a sign of incredibly intricate bioengineering potential, because to do so SAM would have to block entry into every cell in Ryder's entire body. That would take time if you didn't want to cook Ryder from the inside out, but this whole concept of an AI and nano tech working as an extra system in the body its... kind of like how I tend to view my computer as an extra limb or brain. This is what I picture nanotech and AI being like. Not a massive scourge on the galaxy but a vivid spectrum of things you can do and personalities that you can interact with. This was what endeared Legion to me so much in the original trilogy and why I became so attached to EDI and SAM as characters. SAM also could have just allowed Ryder to kill the Firefighters and refused to help their leader's son with his condition. But instead he showed compassion to them and allowed for a peaceful solution. We don't see many peaceful AI in Science Fiction, let alone an AI symbiote, making SAM unique as far as I can tell. And to my knowledge Hyperion's SAM is far more advanced than the others, able to read context and understand indirect solutions to a problem. So he's incredibly valuable. The Roekaar is another story I want to hear more about. They weren't all that well executed most of the time, IRL when we see a terrorist far right group like theirs, it tends to be born out of fear, not ignorance. Rather leaders use fear to keep their people IN ignorance. When the other side humanizes themselves that poses a threat to the leader and they start to show that they themselves were only ever out for number 1. Since Mass Effect Andromeda came out we have had a huge amount of problems with the Far Right, problems that I feel could be explored via the Roekaar's return and used to send a positive message about how important it is to put faces to the participants in a politically motivated conflict. The Roekaar were also trying to prevent their people from being conquered, and I can't say they were wrong to be worried. Andromeda is about forging a new future where we try not to repeat the past's mistakes, including colonialism. I feel as though these themes are going to be central to any Mass Effect Andromeda story. I already have a theory about the Benefactor and the Jaardan. As well as some possibilities involving the angara. I believe the Kett and Angara were meant to be a sort of paralell to Cain and Able, both created by the Jaardan. This would explain the Archon's obsession with Remnant if he suspected these were people who had created his. That said, the Archon was written as too much of a strawman villain for him to really return as a good badguy. I also believe the Benefactor was an AI sent by the Jaardan to try and recruit the Milky Way species to intervene in the issues with the scourge and safeguard their creations against whoever created the scourge. I believe all the planets we find vaults on are intended to work together for the purposes of building megastructures such as Meridian. Learning about Futurism concepts has given me a much better understanding of Mass Effect's main villains and AI and a better understanding of what's going on in the story. (I also reccomend reading about futurism if you want to understand the Institute in Fallout 4 better, as the writing there was pretty stupid but made use of some good concepts if used correctly.) From looking at the entries in Heleus' galaxy map, I suspect the ultimate goal of the Jaardan was to create a mega structure around the black hole in Heleus using it for power. When you can create places to live planets become irrelevant. We aren't going to find a true Jaardan colony as we would think of it. I suspect the Jaardan's plans involved creating multiple forms of sentient life to share their cluster with and that someone took offense to that and decided to try and put a stop to it. If they had succeeded in creating a black hole powered megastructure it would have made them the single most powerful race in Mass Effect, even more powerful than the Reapers at their peak. So whoever their enemy was set off the scourge to prevent the Jaardan from completing their plans. The Jaardan were able to finish the Angara somewhat, but they weren't able to thrive. They likely transformed into synthetic life forms and went to sleep in a way similar to the Reapers. I believe when the Scourge went off, the Benefactor was dispatched with the order to bring help by any means necessary. Hence the Initiative. I believe the Geth telescope was overridden by the Benefactor until after the Initiative couldn't recieve word from Earth anymore, showing false readings of the golden worlds in order to lure colonists to the heleus cluster, then lead them to Meridian so that they could keep the Jaardan's work safe and try to overcome the scourge. If this is the case, then it likely would have taken a few years to get technology moving again. After which the Geth likely allowed the Humans to look at their nifty telescope and then realized something had gone horribly wrong. The crow's feet? Liara could have stayed awake for the journey, or part of the journey, keeping watch on her friends while they slept. In which case if we romanced Liara we could end up with a very joyful awakening by the little blue hellion we never got to meet.
I must say right away that I like your comment and I liked it 👍 But you missed something. You forgot something. The Angara themselves said that the Scourge appeared to them 400 years before the arrival of the Andromeda Initiative. That is, 200 years before the Geth built their telescope. And 200 years before Benefactor started sponsoring the Andromeda Initiative. By the way, many people forget that the Benefactor helped not only with money, but also with resources and personnel. And helped political influence. Where does AI get the resources, staff and political influence among organics? No, if AI is ancient and has been hiding among organics for a long time, then it could have accumulated resources, personnel, and political influence over the centuries. «Liara could have stayed awake for the journey, or part of the journey, keeping watch on her friends while they slept» Stay awake for centuries? 600 years of living cooped up aboard a ship? Sorry, but this is some kind of sadism. Special shift teams can look after. So it was on the Arks of the Andromeda Initiative. Specialists woke up for a couple of months and looked at the systems of the Arks and the health of the colonists. Liara is not an Ark expert. And she's not an expert in human health. But even if for some reason she is placed in the looking after team, she will not have time to grow old in a couple of months. By the way. There is such a journalist Liana Rupert. She is a fan of Mass Effect. And in 2021, she said in a video that the Biovars told her that Liara would be old in the next game. Old age for Asari begins at 700. That is, Liara lived in the Milky Way for 600 years. «In which case if we romanced Liara we could end up with a very joyful awakening by the little blue hellion we never got to meet.» Now I don't understand. What are you about?
Some solid points. Id like to comment on the point about the far right. One of the great death knells to any IP is when a property picks a political side, and in particular, promotes it and demonizes its opposite. This is classic propaganda, and not story telling. When reflecting politics in Sci Fy, the trick is utilize the peripheral concepts and adapt them to the new races, or, if you want the same political battles to still be relevant in the far distant sci fy future, then you must critically allow both sides and as a stone cold law as the story teller- never pick sides. If you do, your property will very quickly be rejected because it will be boring to its adherents and offensive to its target. This will kill a book, game, show or movie. The last 10 years is littered with properties that didnt understand this and they have devastated their IPs. Alowing the team to have true diversity, to have different beliefs, and morals and values and political leanings gives literally an endless supply of material. The old KOTOR games did this well, and some teammates were so offended by benevolence they could not be recruited if your score was too high, and vice versa, too evil and your good teammates abandon you to evil. But never fall into the trap of on the nose social commentary of present day. The audience wants to escape the pain and suffering of this life and adventure in the world you have created, they dont want to get preached to or attacked or get angry because you are inserting propagandistic left or right talking points. That breaks immersion. Your goal in any sci fy or fantasy property, has to be to take your audience where Lucas outlined------ to a long time ago, in a galaxy far far away. The Expanse did a very good job of alowing all political sides to be seen, heard, and respected and sympathized with, and it will forever be great sci fy. The newest Star Trek shows have all fallen down this rabbit hole and have lost half their fan bases and their sales have suffered the consequences. If I remember the director even said they broke all previous lore about klingons to make them into Trump supporters. How arrogant and stupid does someone have to be to destroy 50 years of love for an IP to push a grudge against a present day temporary political thing? Madness. All it did was turned the series into propagandistic badly written nonsense. The glory of Star Trek was that all present day stuff was long gone, for the most part, and all were welcome to the table.
By the way - The evidence you provided just makes logical sense. I do agree that the next game could be the chance at redemption that Andromeda needs. What makes me so intrigued is the likelyhood that Liara and (probably Ryder) are searching for something. We see her picking up an N7 helmet piece, and the only real conclusion I can arrive at is that she's looking for Shepard or something related to Shepard. Maybe, and this is something that I missed pointing out in my Frozen Shepard theory video - If Shepard got put into cryostasis after ME3, the shock of waking up 600+ years later would probably be enough to break him/her. In other words, Shepard becomes a hermit and goes out into the galaxy as a lone wolf. It would make sense on Liara's side, considering she's never been able to let Shepard go, no matter if she was a love interest or not. Thoughts? You could always make a video on it ;)
Personally, I kind of hope Shepard is done. I've seen too many sequels to long-running franchises bring back original characters, and because story requires conflict, take that character's happy ending and completely undo all of it. The Independence Day sequel comes to mind (although that's not the only example, and by FAR not the biggest problem with that movie- but I digress). After everything Shepard has done, I feel like they've earned their retirement.
While Shepard has been a fan favorite for years, them bringing back a full fledged Shepard seems unlikely. The theory of Shepard being cryogenically frozen like Ryder's mom - maybe after the explosion ending until better medical treatment can be found would be interesting. I would love to see that. Either way I foresee a blending of the galaxy's as an inevitable. Whether Ryder is a major player in this next game waits to be seen. I just hope they don't mess up the story and give us some stupid plot hole filler
What if the MR7 ''ship'' we see is actually one of 7 mass relay ships they parked between the two galaxies as means of traveling the huge distances between galaxies with the 7th being the one on andromeda's end but still not complete, it would explain the intro shot with andromeda galaxy in the background and the space suits from andromeda. *This all being built after the events in ME: andromeda* It would be awesome that the opening scene of the new game reveals contact with the milkyway galaxy has been established and they are taking on the biggest project ever to travel to both galaxies and then uncovering some ancient danger or another ancient civilization.
@@michaelglinski3809 no Shepard is required to keep everything fresh, there's way to many variables to come up with a good canon backstory and would take away from the trilogy anyway. So I hope Shepard is done too.
I’m confused why they released an unfinished game. They intended to have more into the game. I loved it, but after knowing this fact and watching it, I could see the end was kind of sudden. In anyway I loved it
There would be no enemies to shoot. In the book Mass Effect Andromeda: Annihilation, it reveals that the quarian ark captain Quetsi'Olam created a virus that is supposed to depopulate the Council races, humans, asari, turian and salarians, using the drell as carriers of the plague. The reason why she did it is because she is afraid that as the top races in Andromeda, they will STILL treat quarians as pariahs, so in desperation she feels that the only way quarians will ever be free in Andromeda is to use a virus that kills humans, asari, turians and salarians. This is why when the quarian ark arrived in Andromeda, they warned the Initiative to not come looking for them until they say so, because if Pathfinder Ryder comes in with the Fontibras Plague still active, $hit will hit the fan big time.
I really hope we get Andromeda tied into the new game, I really enjoyed the story and the characters. I know a lot of people were disappointed because of all the issues caused from a troubled production, but then a lot of hate seemed to be because it wasn't another Shepard story.
It's easy to see it that way. After all, it's a new galaxy, new, characters, and new gameplay, any criticism of these areas could be brushed off without much consideration solely on the basis it's new and not like the previous iterations. However, that would completely miss the details of the criticism which is what is most important.
@@65firered Except for a lot of the complaints that were simply because it wasn't a continuation of Shepard. There are droves of people who are saying they will refuse to buy the new ME game if it isn't about Shepard.
I'm enjoying all the Andromeda love! Despite how players feel or felt about Andromeda, leaving that storyline abandoned & unresolved would be a glaring patch on the franchise & narrative... Sure the game has issues, but it wasn't THAT bad (Looks over at Anthem)... Glad the trailer, concept art & game director are hinting towards Andromeda being connected to the next Mass Effect game in someway.
Honestly, most of Andromeda's issues that I've seen are slightly janky animations, the odd little bug and a dislike of the facial features. But that was an issue with being on Frostbite instead of Unreal. They had to remake every single asset. Had the game been on Unreal, things would have been a lot easier. The mechanics were fantastic and the story, while maybe not original or mind-blowing, was good and left room for a fantastic sequel. Let's hope the hype around the next Mass Effect game actually rekindles the love for Andromeda because I'm curious how it'll go.
Agreed. I’d love 5 to be mostly Milkyway focused, with hints to Andromeda like a sub-plot revolving around a trans-galactic relay, and then end of the game has them turning it on. 6 could then flip it to being more Andromeda focused, leaving 7 to be a nice finale tying them both together.
Also if I am not mistaken the first mass effect game had issues and I didn't like it that much. I thought it was slow getting off the ground and I didn't like the tank that you had to ride around in. But two and three were way better in story and character development
For me it was a great Sci-Fi game but it didn't seem like Mass Effect to me. I don't know why but it just didn't feel the same, although I still liked the game.
Give me more Andromeda, combat was fun loved being able to combine abilities from classes, etc. I think it was the next evolution of Mass Effect gameplay and would love for them to combine the games or use this follow-up game to bring it back and answer all the questions.
Glitches not withstanding, the combat was the smoothest in the entire series. With great multiplayer, and the concept is so evocative: first to colonize a new galaxy!
My favourite part of Andromeda gameplay was the verticality. I find myself over and over trying to jump and dash while playing the original trilogy after Andromeda and feeling unsatisfied being unable to do so. It even happens in other games.
Andromeda only had good combat game play and thats it, story wise it was terrible to the point they canceled the project outright. You just can't go from galaxy saving killing machine Shepard to "we come in peace" hippy rider. Andromeda should have been stand alone separate project.
@@ChaviChoffChop Yeah, that jumping and hovering while aiming down the scope and taking out enemies really added such an exciting element to the action!
I bought MEA on release night. Went to GameStop for the midnight release. I loved it. It had its issues but I believe that it was a good start that could be easily built on. People were comparing it to the whole OT though so it just didn't stand a chance.
Despite Andromeda’s problems, it was my favorite game of the series. It had the good crew relations like ME2, the world exploration experience of ME1, and the smooth gameplay of ME3 combined.
I hope they continue Andromeda, I really loved the game (aside from the release issues). I loved the direction of Andromeda, new galaxy, a focus on exploration and finding/ building your new home, new advanced civilization to reverse engineer tech from, new races.
Same here! Interstellar and Arrival are my 2 favorite movies of all time. And what brought me to the franchise was the excitement of exploration, to dive into the unknown. Andromeda was the first Mass Effect I played. I had to play the MELE after it of course. I like both for different reasons. And I hope we can explore Andromeda beyond the Heleus Cluster as Ryder.
I loved Andromeda despite some setbacks, the visuals are outstanding, the action and battle mechanics are also outstanding, the music is beautiful, I played Andromeda 4 times, I was very sad at select fan uproar resulting in cancelation, I'd love to see the story line continue..
game got alot of hate, but i enjoyed it too, the story was OK and the gameplay was fun.... problem for me was the bugs.. If they didnt abandoned the game it could have been really awesome with a few DLCs and fixes :)
I hope you're right. I'd love a followup to Andromeda, perhaps even more than to the original trilogy. At least the original trilogy got closure. Andromeda was just starting up.
I still think Andromeda story had a lot of potential but the problem was there were experimenting with too many different and new things like the engine change
@@bernardmacdonagh9517your right they tried to do much but I still see the story and potential there but I'd love to see if they tye the reaper and remnant together in some way ohh just the potential they have just Hurts to think about
Mass Effect: Andromeda is the equivalent of the tree from A Charlie Brown Christmas. It's not such a bad little game, maybe it just needs a little love. I hope BioWare ends up doing something with it. That being said, Dragon Age: Dreadwolf is still in alpha development, and Mass Effect 5 is still in pre-production, so they likely don't have a full story laid out for it yet. It'll be interesting to see if the studio's perception of the public's reaction to more Andromeda make it willing to double down on it as a part of the franchise. I have to imagine that the fans that like Andromeda are a minority compared to the fans that only like the original trilogy.
I had a blast with Andromeda. I played it in 2022 and it works just fine, no noticable bugs. Ryder is a great character, I loved them just as much as Shepard.
I’m honestly excited to see what’s up and coming. I’ve gone through and played both ME Triology and Andromeda at least 3 times (per year) for the past few years. I do hope we could get some more insight and play in Andromeda, or wrap it up. If not then I would be excited to go to another galaxy. Hopefully we get more insight this year. Fingers crossed!
I am an old ME fan, I did a playtrough on Andromeda on release and enjoyed the game it was not on same lvl as original ME but still a good game. I did a new playtrough in 2021 and I enjoyed it alot actually and have no problem including it in the ME family, the main story is fantastic.
TBH considering that AI started up almost 10 years before the first ME game I think the benefactor is the old shadow broker that 'died'. Numerous codex's that you find in ME2 state the SB knew about the reapers. They would have had the resources to steal Cerberus SR2 plans as well as plans for the citadel and mass relays. There are a lot of hints in MEA about it... I don't think it's Cerberus as they stated numerous times, from different sources, that Cerberus was 'broke' after rezzing Shep. They are also pro human and would not fund a multi species initiative. They only did so in ME2 as they though everyone would die. As for the MEA game in 2022... a lot of bugs are fixed...the main thing for me is the lighting...it still washes everything out. The combat is amazing and TBH as much as I love the original series the first ME had a WHOLE lot of bugs when it came out...the 'mouth' graphics were horrible and still are not smooth. It's the story that has people overlooking a lot of it's negatives. Hopefully newer gamers will fall in love with not just the trilogy but MEA as I did enjoy it as a whole.
I also think the old Shadow Broker was at least involved with the arranging of the Initiate. He would have been on one of the Arcs had he lived. A new Shadow Broker may have been one of the reasons he kept Ferron around ^_^'.
Liara's conversation with Yag reveals that the old Shadow Broker was killed 60 years before the events of ME2. That is, before contact with Humanity. The Andromeda Initiative was founded in the 2170s. In 2016, the developers in an interview said that Cerberus was not related to the Andromeda Initiative.
I'm a newer player. I've played the mass effect legendary trilogy 1 0 times since last January and Andromeda 1 time and it really was a lot of work to get through. It took me about 4 times of starting and stopping over a month or so before I made myself play it all to see if it got better. It didn't, I hated the whole game. The combat was good actually but that was all I liked. I'd be happy to never see Andromeda again...
I love this breakdown, super thorough and you caught a ton of stuff other Mass Effect 5 theory videos haven’t :D I loved Andromeda despite the bad press! Stoked for whatever ME5 brings
@@viermidebutura Just take the destroy ending with the geth and EDI surviving, make them canon and make the story about reabuilding or other low stakes things. We do not need power creep. All you need is a good writer, but this is Bioware.
I hope so I enjoyed the Ryder story despite the bugs at launch. The nomad was fun to drive and the combat had never been better, zooming around changing profiles on the fly LOVED it. Plus I really enjoyed Scott Ryder’s personality and humor. I’d hate to see them abandon it when it did have potential. The crew was fun minus Gil, and Liam. Also loved driving around in the Nomad just to hear the conversations between teammates.
If only you knew how happy and excited this makes me. I prefer to not look at any pre-release news/clips/promos to go in blind but this was worth looking into. Thank you for this video! I love Andromeda and would love to have the unresolved arcs elaborated on in the next game.
I really hope you are right and Andromeda will be back in some way. Since Bioware abandoned it, I didn't touch any new game they made. This time, no matter the hype - I won't pre-order a game from them! They have a lot of redeeming to do before I'll trust them again.
The most famous game in 2017 was NieR:Automata. Its main character, 2B, is more well known, has more merchandising sales and larger fan following than the entirety of another game that came out in 2017 called Andromeda.
Honestly, I was one of those that hated MEA at release. Fast forward to now and I'm sitting here playing it and wanting more. I've got my version modded to fix a lot of the problems I had with it, still wish I could have renegade options for Liam with the stunts he pulls though! But I love the story and gameplay. Edit..also Like and new sub!
@@nicktitus4374 Although, if MEA had. Virmire type mission and Liam and Cora had to be off team for support with the thermo nuclear device. Mr. Crisis Response could stay planet side with the bomb.
634 years could be enough time for the galaxy to not only recover but make significant technological advancement without the threat the Reapers posed on the galaxy.
Hey Kala. I just recently replayed M.E. Andromeda. Picked some more achievements, lol. The game did play quite well, and I thoroughly enjoyed myself. I could see them expanding on the Andromeda universe. I wouldn't mind it they brought back Ryder or Shepherd. I just want more Mass Effect.
That whole, starting zoomed out then zooming into one of the 2 galaxies kinda directly mirrors how ftl travel had been shown in every game. You usually start out in a galaxy view, then zoom into a system. I'm wondering if studying the reapers has given them access to intergalactic ftl travel and that opening sequence might actually be gameplay footage of your ships charted universe map (as opposed to the galaxy map from the last few)
Also, we assume the Yahg killed the old shadow broker and took over but we also know that the shadow broker network was connected to the ship... what if the original shadow broker survived the confrontation and became the benefactor?
Alway loved Mass Effect, all of the games, so yes, Andromeda too. Know it had it's issues and was sad when they didn't build on it more, but I'm really excited for what is too come. Thank you for the video, missed the trailer and only saw the picture of the structure, so this helped me catch up on things😊🤗
I loved Mass Effect Andromeda. Playing it and taking it on its own terms and substantial merits (ie, not expecting it to be Mass Effect 1, 2 or 3) was a truly engaging experience. The music was great. And the combat was FUN. I’d love to see some of the storylines and themes teased in Andromeda show up in ME5.
Hey Kala nice to see you channel. I’m a huge fan of Andromeda. It’s not a bad game just really different from the other games, I think time will show the love of Andromeda eventually.
My guess is Andromeda might develop a Mass relay to traverse dark space in order to make contact with the Milky Way using the Remnant technology. Which might explain a little how Liara is the key character in ME5.
When I saw the trailer and saw the shot you referred to I instead thought back to one of the plot points that was teased before Andromeda came out which was the most important tasks of the Pathfinder and that was to some how find a faster path between the Milky way galaxy and the Andromeda Galaxy so that eventually there could be trade and coming and going between the two galaxies so maybe Mass Effect five will show how both galaxies will succeed in find a way maybe even building a Mass Relay that will permit faster travel between the Milkyway galaxy and the Andromeda Galaxy.
For me the logical step to bring both worlds together and hopefully create a game the fans will love is this. Prior to release, you finally release the add on content for Andromeda where you rescue the final arc, have some more stories, side quests but then with the Pathfinder locating a super secret Cerberus construction of a mass relay. If I remember correctly there was a mass relay mentioned in the first 3 games pointing off into oblivion, so either use that and re calibrate it for Andromeda, or, Cerberus makes one on their end and they link up. This would alow all the species and conflict into Andromeda, but also allow the new races to be shown earth and our system. This would allow the game to launch into the initial quest in Andromeda to confiscate and fire the new relays, and allow us to travel back to our systems post apocalypse where we would meet some ancients like Liara and Drack maybe, and who knows what else we would find but thats a great plot. Andromeda clearly was setting up a super secret backstory so run with it, tie the worlds and have exploration and adventure in both systems, you could even have to explore destroyed cities or towns. Lots of potential, maybe a reaper grave yard in space. That would be cool to check out Ive beat Andromeda at least 5 times, once the bugs were worked out the game was great, for me its major drawback was no DLCs and frankly, not enough aliens. Giving it human made mass relays that take say months rather than 600 years to travel back to our system would be epic and allow all fans access to both worlds, it will also create another pissy point for races that man created the new relays. For me as well, I love establishing bases, and making worlds habitable, terraforming is epic scifi and Adromeda created a good system on how to do that. That tech also, im sure, after the hell of the Reaper wars could be used in home systems, there is a lot of very good material to work with here
I love the Shepard arc of ME. I really enjoyed the Ryder arc too, so if they merge, and I think your thoughts about that are correct, I'll be okay with it. Nice analysis and great production too.
I'm just so happy that the Mass Effect series is getting more attention again. I enjoyed Andromeda, except for the fact that I literally could not complete the whole game because of bugs, of course. But I remember in the aftermath of the release of Andromeda that because of the poor reception of the game and the sudden lack of content and updates it seemed like the Mass Effect series were done for good, which was heartbreaking... Now, however, I will allow myself some careful optimism for the future
My only issue with the Nomad and the Tempest, who send a defensless ship to unknown space? Sorry even minimal armament should have been placed, even the Nomad should have been able to return fire. Just send the people with lite weapons to unknown space. That was my biggest issue. I liked the idea of needing a nobody to suddenly be thrust in such a position.
You know it's interesting it might sound crazy but I wouldn't be surprised if Ark 6 were either Vorcha for dangerous unknown work or hazardous engineering projects or Volus for economics.
Being #ActuallyAutistic, I didn't even notice the facial animation issues at launch playing Andromeda. And I actually appreciated the lines people complained about, like "my face is tired" being an obvious reference to having to put on the public face of a confident leader being exhausting (people seemed to think she meant her physical facial muscles, which is bafflingly absurd in the context of the discussion). I really enjoyed it overall, especially all the in game references to things from the trilogy and all the codex entries that updated with info about companions to reflect the story progress. It had a lot of nice little touches that were lost in the hater noise. I wish we had gotten the two or three expansions it needed: quarian ark, benefactor plot, and possibly more remnant lore reveal.
I liked the story of Andromeda and would be really upset if they didn't include it. I was disappointed when they scrapped the dlc... also this is by far the most under rated channel doing this type of analysis
I still have Andromeda and the Mass Effect Trilogy on my SSD. I do plan to play through it again and again until ME 5 comes out. I can't believe they abandoned it instead of making it better and finishing the DLC.
Andromeda is a huge potential source of new story arcas, not limited to the races we already know from our galaxy. My tka is that the franchise will continue, with Andromeda playing a key role
Codex ME1 states that the modern races have explored the Milky Way only 1% out of 100%. That is, the Milky Way is also a huge potential source of new story arcas
I finished the trilogy 4 months ago and started Andromeda 2 weeks ago and I am enjoying the hell out of it. It's true that the story is not as good as the old ones, but it's not bad either. So I would enjoy way to much a game with an union of both worlds
I played Andromeda a long while after release. By the time I first played Andromeda, the price was twenty something dollars, if I remember correctly. But, with that said, I REALLY enjoyed Andromeda. Not as much as Mass Effect 2 or 3. But, definitely enough to where I still play the game even now and have fun. I would like the story to continue, for sure.
I want to keep playing as Ryder. I found it much easier and much more fun to role play in Andromeda and I found it more interesting playing a character who wasn’t an experienced leader. And it was a relief not having to wait for all Ryder’s abilities/skills to recharge at once. There are certain bits of dialogue and certain conversations that I think could have been written better, though… And I missed Garrus and Wrex. Lol.
My love to Andromeda led me here. It's the first time a single video talked about actual facts about the "Next Mass Effect". Including Andromeda's references and, of course, the origin trilogy. I really want to explore with the pathfinder once more, Ryder deserves a second chance. I just hope people would love more this game. You have a new sub, looking forward for more updates.
It is a shame all of the hate MEA gets. I bought it later, after the bugs were fixed and I thought it was pretty good. Best combat mechanics than all the others. There was some things I didn't like, but overall it was a good game. I really hope they continue the story, and not rush it this time.
My guess is Liara is going to make her way to andromeda. Seems hinted at when you get to listen to her tapes on the Protheans. might be a connection between the Protheans and the Remnant. Could be interesting…
They need to tie up the cliff hanger at the end with the kett and also the benefactor storyline. I can't remember if there was a resolution to their mothers story..its been so long since I played. I did not know they turned the quarian story into a book, that should be resolved
Going to go reinstall Andromeda right now, lol. Had considered either playing it or the original trilogy again just the other day. I never finished Andromeda on my PS4 back when it released, but i did play it a LOT. I enjoyed it for quite a while, but then moved on to something else. Later on i saw one of those chapter by chapter comparisons that shows just how similar ME:A is to ME1, story-wise. Which, tbh i did not notice while playing, and it didn't really bother me. As Kala mentions the gameplay was really good, and it did have some good storylines. The biggest drawback was the bugs and animation issues, and i personally did not have too many of the major bugs mess with my gameplay.
I'm looking forward to play again at Andromeda galaxy, but please...Quarian Ark was NEVER meant to be a DLC. It was always meant to be a book, way before the game was even released...there were NONE DLC canceled. We get exactly what they advertised. ZERO single player DLCs.
What kinda' cheesed me with the poor Andromeda reception is you'd see its critics then turn right around and completely suck off (though 76 wound up being so horrific even they couldn't defend it), which oft had just as bad bug issues as Andromeda did. Myself having been playing PC games since the 90s, the poor animations didn't even phase me, and I was still able to have a blast with the game. I really enjoyed and loved playing Sarah Ryder, she was no Sheperd, and that's entirely the point, she was her own person--she had military training but she wasn't a soldier she was an explorer, ie fulfilling exactly what it means to be a "pathfinder". Personally had a lot of fun with Andromeda, and kinda' hope for the chance to return to playing Sarah, my adorkable badass explorer.
I like MEA and I would love a crossover. Maybe there is a Jardaan device in the MW or they arrive in the MW from Andromeda with the creators of the scourge in pursuit. So many possibilities.
"Hey, I just ate Spaghetti." "Really? Cool." "Oh, and also. Everyone from the Andromeda Expedition is dead." "Too bad." "Well, can't do anything about it. See ya tomorrow!"
when Liara find that piece of N7 armor in the snow if we take a look on bakcground we can see an outpost like thouse of andromeda as for the main character I WANT Sheppard bakc
I do wonder could we get a chance to play as a different species, that could be cool, especially if they decide on a new main protagonist, I'd love to play as a Turian if they allow it, always loved their design
I really want that too. Some people I've talked to hate that idea, though, saying that the story of Mass Effect is too tied to humanity for the protagonist to not be human, but IMO that was only the case in ME1. It would also almost certainly mean that Shepard would not return, which is also unpopular. And there's the issue of how much more voice acting would be needed. So I don't have a lot of hope for selectable species. But boy do I want to do my second playthrough as a krogan.
I just started the ME again after several years hiatus. I'm coming to the end of ME1 and what strikes me most is the starkness of the game. There is simply not a great amount of 'stuff' in the environments. So what was it that I found so fascinating about this game back in 2007? It came to me instantly. It was the story. The thread-bear environments are held together by a compelling story that made me want to come back day after day to help Sheppard and the team along the way. No agenda. No 'subverting expectations'. No hating of the audience. Just the story. I miss that in narrative-driven games and games in general today. Once I finish all three in the original ME series, I'll go on to ME:A. I got it on sale on Steam for less than $5 USD yesterday. Let's see how things go. Be well this day.
Honestly hoping this hits. Starting from inquisition, each game from bioware depressed me more and more. Andromeda was the final slap to the face. Please let this be good.
The Geth have expressed the hope to integrate with organic life. I think they are the benefactor. They knew about he reapers long before any other race and had the means to quietly amass wealth to fund the initiative. It would also explain the openness to A.I. and extreme secrecy. There was hint at experiments being done on he organic life forms (why people are going rouge) and the krogan had the biology 'fixed' while in cryo. We know that geth have the ability to adjust biology through technology integrations... also the architecture or the AI is very geth like to me.
The fact that the tool from BioWare who says he played through the games and finished Andromeda, then asked a fan what they meant by 'closure' makes me confirm this guy is the wrong guy behind these games because when he took over everything went from bad to worse in terms of story and structure. I have a feeling the fans are right when they think the canon ending was Shepard choosing destroy. In terms of Liara in the teaser, I am hoping its more of her saying goodbye at the sight or where Shepard gave his/her life for the galaxy. If they bring Shepard back then everything will go to utter crap and its proof they're simply trying to please a few tards who have no idea of structure or the importance of story telling. It would be desperate as hell to bring Shepard back in any form. So I hope its Liara saying goodbye and then continuing into the new story. I always wondered in the scene at the final meeting wit Liara as Shepard as either her friend or partner, if that scene is her melding and possibly taking Shepard's genes and will have his/her child. But whilst we're aware how BIoWare abandoned Andromeda, yes EA had a big part, but lets not forget that BIoWare have done this on a few of there games. Even the likes of Kotor was only made playable thanks to the modding community. So when you look at how many great games you can think that BioWare truly did amazing work on, it would have to be Mass Effect 2 and Dragon Age Origins. Everything else was half-arsed and not because of EA rushing them, but because BioWare just don't have the potential to keep quality going.
Crazy theory probably wont happen, but what if you played 2 characters, one in the Milky way, one in Andromeda, and both stories lead up to some huge climax that effects both? could even split it into another trilogy have game one in the Milky way, Game 2 in Andromeda, and based off your choices game 3 takes place between both and and you either play one of the 2 characters or a new one if both happened to die in there respective games
Grate video Kate! I agree with your points and the hints that have been shown, Andromeda deserves a second chance. I have revisited Andromeda in late covid times of 2021 and despite the technical issues, clanky timing of story telling, very fun combat, amazing depth of stories told, the overall experience felt very ME 1, and frankly the story could get very interesting given the context Andromeda and Me trilogy has set up, As far as the give justice to Me 3 canon ending, i would love some story time in Milky way I am very excited about the next game. Love to you all ME fans Salute for great gaming experience to Creators And Huge Hug to Kate for great video Godspeed
I beat it back in 2017, and my consensus then was "fun, but forgettable". I didn't hate it, but I never went back to it. As I saw more and more evidence the next Mass Effect will involve Andromeda in some form, I went back. I beat it again, and absolutely loved it. Yeah, it's a buggy mess (still). Random voice clip triggers, framerate drops, obtuse fetch quests. But it TRIES. And when it all comes together, and you stop hating it for what it isn't and start loving it for what it is, there are moments where it's some of the best storytelling of the franchise. The final mission is literally everything people wanted Priority: Earth to be in ME3. And not to mention that, even though the Frostbite engine struggles to render an open-world (ish) RPG, there is no denying that this is the BEST looking Mass Effect has ever been. As for theories on 5? My personal favorite is that humanity (Alliance, Cerberus, or otherwise) went behind the backs of the Council and started building their own Mass Relay. Before, during, or after the Reaper War, who knows. Rather than a point-to-point relay (which was only a thing because the Reapers wanted it to be that way), it was omni-directional, and pointed at the Andromeda Initiative. 600 years is plenty of time to research, plan, and construct one, especially since the Crucible took what, a couple months? (There's a voice clip encoded in that concept art that sort of supports this. It's definitely Liara, talking to the Geth, maybe? Intriguing, nonetheless.) So, Andromeda (the game) happens, and some time period after that Milky Way species start showing up, using the intergalactic relay mentioned before. And just to make it fun, say they send a second relay through the first, so they have a way to get back. Now you've got a way to get between Andromeda and the Milky Way any time you want, and you can build the story from there.
Imagine how awesome ME:A would've been if you really did colonize the worlds, like placing a city or building it and see it grow as time passed by, defending it and helping it with resources.
Regarding the Cerberus colors on the Mass Relay being constructed I’ve always thought the Benefactor was Cerberus, but not The Illusive Man. Cerberus is often described as a 3 headed dog. TIM was head 1, Benefactor is head 2, with an unknown third head at this time. Just a theory but the hints are there.
With regards to liara traveling to Andromeda theory, there was mention of the geth using a relay to telescope if you will Andromeda some kind of advanced scouting prior to the initiatives launch. Would this imply that it is isolated and therefore wasn't part of the reapers purging avoiding destruction? Could she have repurposed that relay to travel? Seems like a decent to that theory. Thoughts??
The endings in mass effect are so different in terms of the state of the galaxy, that you’d either need to basically make 3 different stories/ settings or retcon the events to make a “canon” ending which would suck. Which is why they went to Andromeda to begin with. Any subsequent games either need to take place in andromeda or be prequels.
I guess that's my question to, if Andromeda plays a bigger role in this game ..what will the story be? how do they pull it off? Guess we'll find out when the game drops. Dope analysis by the way
the concept of Pathfinders, humans/sentients paired with a partner AI to boost eachother is one of the more intriguing ideas and while i believe it could have been executed better, i thought that about parts of the story when i first played ME1. Hope they expand on that idea moving forward
Having just finished ME Andromeda after binging first through ME 1, 2 and 3, I do feel that ME Andromeda is unfinished - we still have to see about the 5th Ark, see about getting a cure for the twin Ryder's mother, and if you go by the huge galaxy map that was first spawned on the activation of the first vault, there was a lot of worlds that had vaults that were not activated, and even with the activation of Meridian, it did not show you the linking and activation of all the other planets but the 3 planets you first did, excluding even Habtat 7, which should have activated at the end as well and not end with them saying that it wasn't fully activated - I as a published author can see so many faults or glitches or omissions that was left out in all of the storylines of the whole ME franchise, and being a big fan of the series I wish that just some of my ideas and imagination could be used to make the series even better - pity I don't know the producers, developers, writers of the franchise - am looking forward to the next story and pray that all that was left out, missed, ignored will be addressed - thanks for an awesome presentation
I played ME:A on release and thought a lot of the hate was overblown and misplaced. The whole facial animation thing exploded and everyone jumped on that bandwagon. There were some that were really bad, but it wasn't a game killer as it was made out to be. People compared it to other games, but in those games it looked like characters were "momomoming" their way through half the dialogue. I don't recall running into game-breaking bugs, but more annoyances that were easily shrugged off. What killed it for me was the characters, not only the protagonist and companions, but the enemies as well. They were all forgettable and I found it difficult to care about any of them. The original trilogy in contrast had loads of unforgettable characters, a few of them being the best in any game I can think of. The geth were great, especially legion. The collectors, the reapers, Cerberus enemies, the organization, and characters within all of these groups. Even some minor rolls. All interesting. ME:A's antagonist felt generic. The characters were boring. It's hard to explain but the personalities felt forced. To explain it any better I'd have to play it a third time for a refresher, which I just don't care to do. I think the only reason I played it a second time is that I didn't finish it the first. Character and story really drove the trilogy. The gameplay and exploration might be more fun in ME:A, but it just doesn't cut it.
Andromeda was my first ME game and I loved it. Did 2 play thru’s of it when it launched and took a lot of criticism from ME community because I never played first 3 so I picked up first 3 on my ps3 and played them. I enjoyed them. Thought they were fun but in 2018 they were outdated of course. Then when legendary edition was dropped I replayed first 3 again and really enjoyed myself even doing another play thru of andromeda and still enjoyed that. Now it’s 2022, the eve of 2023 and I can say that I’ve finished another ME 1-3 play thru and will stick by my original opinion, I loved and enjoyed andromeda and also love and enjoy 1-3. Maybe since andromeda was my first ME game I have a different view of it but the hate is a bit over the top.
i would love to see how things go after me 3, but i really want them to continue Andromeda. not only were there a lot of open ends that need answer's too. i just hope the next game is more liner than Andromeda was. explorations good but make it within somewhat reasonable parameters.
Andromeda was just okay for me, I did play it when it first came out and ignored any of the glitches and bugs and gave the game an honest full play through to completion but for me it just never hit the same as the original trilogy did. I don't mind it being included but I would like to see more milky way galaxy items as that was my personal favorite. it's really hard to say though since the Andromeda story ended up getting kinda cut short, maybe the story would have been better if it was fully finished and concluded. I play the ME games for the story and the story arc on the first 3 was epic and Andromeda never really got that chance soooo maybe my opinion would have been different.
The thing I hate the most about Andromeda wasn't bugs or story, it was the fact that the game got abandoned so the studio could go all hands on deck for ANTHEM no less!!(and look how that turned out)
So if Bioware brought Andromeda's involvement to Mass Effect 5, then yes, I will be more than delighted to get either a continuation or at least a closure for a game that I actually enjoy at the time.
Yea I wish andromedas got the cyberpunk treatment. Andromeda is my 2 favourite mass effect
Bioware still owes me $80 for that POS game. They released a game that didn't match the trailer at all, was barely playable at launch, had an empty open world, and they never patched it. And they turned off refunds through the PS store in North America. It's borderline class action fraud. At least Fallout 76 was properly patched and supported with tons of post launch content updates. You can turn a bad launch experience around, but EA just chose not to.
I've said for some time Anthem killed two games. It killed itself and it took Mass Effect: Andromeda with it. I would say it was Bioware abandoning Andromeda in favor of the new hotness of games as a service in Andromeda that killed DLC more than initial reception. Look how long Bioware defended the original trilogy RGB ending.
Blame EA for that.
It was also the bugs and the story.
The only issue I really had with Andromeda is that besides the two Asari on the team, (the Doctor and Feebee) all the other Asari in the game use the same exact face, there are some other small things that annoy me that just showed they cut way to many corners to hit their release date.
I think the reason for that was the engine change. Mass Effect 1-3 were Unreal and Andromeda was Frostbite. Which meant that they had to remake all the assets again. I bet most Asari in ME1-3 also use the same face, but variations on colour and outfit make a difference, too. Plus, those that we see in cutscenes are more unique compared to Andromeda's. Should have stayed on Unreal, in my opinion.
Pretty sure the doctor has the same face too. It's unforgivable.
what bothers me is there is virtually no plot. half of it is in the intro basically.
Get some mods and all Asaris will have diff. faces in the game!
Maybe thats how ryder sees them as thats what asari do they chage their appearance for looks
Another piece of the puzzle, Don’t forget that Alec Ryder was also an N7. When Liara picks up the headset and brushes the snow off it could very well be Alec’s and not Shepard’s.
When I was doing Lyft i had the pleasure of bringing a Dev from Ubisoft to their local office. I used to wear a beanie with alot of colorful pins as conversation starters. He noticed my Andromeda Initiative and N7 pins and asked how I felt about the end of ME3. I told him that , as a writer myself, sometimes stories don’t end the way people want them to. I also told him that I agreed with the ending. Shepard isn’t the kind of person to grow old in some nursing home reminiscing about how they used to be a war hero. Shepard is the kind of person to make sure everyone gets out and then locks themselves in with the danger just to make certain that their friends make it to safety.
"When Liara picks up the headset and brushes the snow off it could very well be Alec’s and not Shepard’s."
You forgot about the dead Reapers in the teaser. Previously, the developers said that the Reapers are not interested in other Galaxies. That is, the Reapers are only in the Milky Way
Thank you for this! I would love to see more from Andromeda. I thought Andromeda had a lot of potential that was never tapped, and both worlds--Milky Way and Andromeda--have a lot to offer each other.
I’m a vet player and on my 4th playthrough of Andromeda. Despite its flaws I still enjoy it. The Kett feel like bootleg Reapers, but the Ryders bring a fresh perspective to the series. There’s also a few mysteries that keep me engaged: Vetra’s dad, Cora’s dad, Jien Garson, the Benefactor, the Jardaan. I hope the next installment solves even just one of them!
«Vetra’s dad»
And what happened to him? О_о
I'm currently on my first play through of ME2, but I've played Andromeda before (figured if I enjoyed the most hated game in the series I'd like the other ones) and the Kett remind me more of the Collectors than the Reapers themselves. Both use the term 'Ascension' as a means to describes what ever f*ed up genetic experiments they're into and they don't look that unsimilar either. Maybe they're collectors that made their way towards Andromeda at some point or the Reapers created them from an Andromeda race. It always made sense to me that the Reapers weren't popping into just the Milky Way once every 50.000 years and having a nap otherwise. If humans can get there within 600 years, so can the Reapers.
@@claragudelhoff8407 Before the release of Andromeda, the developers said that the Reapers were not interested in other Galaxies and they did not fly there
To me Ryder being less mature wasn't a deal breaker. When we meet Shepard we're meeting a man/woman who's already a hero. Andromeda is a story about how Ryder BECAME a hero. I also loved the gameplay. I loved how intricate it was, that I could craft weapons and armor that were my own, that I could build my own strategy rather than keeping to a rigid class structure. I also loved how mobile the game was and how it drove you to always keep moving. As someone on the autism spectrum I sometimes struggle with hand eye coordination and I definately found bossfights challenging in a way that was stimulating without being frustrating. I could see Mass Effect as a game begin with our feet frustratingly plastered to the ground and eventually almost be able to fly with Andromeda.
That said there was a lot of disappointment besides the Quarian Ark when it came to missed opportunities with the game. I want to see more of two side quests in particular, the Firefighters and the TH314 virus that was accidentally brought to Andromeda. If SAM can protect against an interspecies virus, that's a sign of incredibly intricate bioengineering potential, because to do so SAM would have to block entry into every cell in Ryder's entire body. That would take time if you didn't want to cook Ryder from the inside out, but this whole concept of an AI and nano tech working as an extra system in the body its... kind of like how I tend to view my computer as an extra limb or brain. This is what I picture nanotech and AI being like. Not a massive scourge on the galaxy but a vivid spectrum of things you can do and personalities that you can interact with. This was what endeared Legion to me so much in the original trilogy and why I became so attached to EDI and SAM as characters. SAM also could have just allowed Ryder to kill the Firefighters and refused to help their leader's son with his condition. But instead he showed compassion to them and allowed for a peaceful solution. We don't see many peaceful AI in Science Fiction, let alone an AI symbiote, making SAM unique as far as I can tell. And to my knowledge Hyperion's SAM is far more advanced than the others, able to read context and understand indirect solutions to a problem. So he's incredibly valuable.
The Roekaar is another story I want to hear more about. They weren't all that well executed most of the time, IRL when we see a terrorist far right group like theirs, it tends to be born out of fear, not ignorance. Rather leaders use fear to keep their people IN ignorance. When the other side humanizes themselves that poses a threat to the leader and they start to show that they themselves were only ever out for number 1. Since Mass Effect Andromeda came out we have had a huge amount of problems with the Far Right, problems that I feel could be explored via the Roekaar's return and used to send a positive message about how important it is to put faces to the participants in a politically motivated conflict. The Roekaar were also trying to prevent their people from being conquered, and I can't say they were wrong to be worried. Andromeda is about forging a new future where we try not to repeat the past's mistakes, including colonialism. I feel as though these themes are going to be central to any Mass Effect Andromeda story.
I already have a theory about the Benefactor and the Jaardan. As well as some possibilities involving the angara. I believe the Kett and Angara were meant to be a sort of paralell to Cain and Able, both created by the Jaardan. This would explain the Archon's obsession with Remnant if he suspected these were people who had created his. That said, the Archon was written as too much of a strawman villain for him to really return as a good badguy. I also believe the Benefactor was an AI sent by the Jaardan to try and recruit the Milky Way species to intervene in the issues with the scourge and safeguard their creations against whoever created the scourge. I believe all the planets we find vaults on are intended to work together for the purposes of building megastructures such as Meridian.
Learning about Futurism concepts has given me a much better understanding of Mass Effect's main villains and AI and a better understanding of what's going on in the story. (I also reccomend reading about futurism if you want to understand the Institute in Fallout 4 better, as the writing there was pretty stupid but made use of some good concepts if used correctly.) From looking at the entries in Heleus' galaxy map, I suspect the ultimate goal of the Jaardan was to create a mega structure around the black hole in Heleus using it for power. When you can create places to live planets become irrelevant. We aren't going to find a true Jaardan colony as we would think of it. I suspect the Jaardan's plans involved creating multiple forms of sentient life to share their cluster with and that someone took offense to that and decided to try and put a stop to it. If they had succeeded in creating a black hole powered megastructure it would have made them the single most powerful race in Mass Effect, even more powerful than the Reapers at their peak. So whoever their enemy was set off the scourge to prevent the Jaardan from completing their plans. The Jaardan were able to finish the Angara somewhat, but they weren't able to thrive. They likely transformed into synthetic life forms and went to sleep in a way similar to the Reapers.
I believe when the Scourge went off, the Benefactor was dispatched with the order to bring help by any means necessary. Hence the Initiative. I believe the Geth telescope was overridden by the Benefactor until after the Initiative couldn't recieve word from Earth anymore, showing false readings of the golden worlds in order to lure colonists to the heleus cluster, then lead them to Meridian so that they could keep the Jaardan's work safe and try to overcome the scourge. If this is the case, then it likely would have taken a few years to get technology moving again. After which the Geth likely allowed the Humans to look at their nifty telescope and then realized something had gone horribly wrong. The crow's feet? Liara could have stayed awake for the journey, or part of the journey, keeping watch on her friends while they slept. In which case if we romanced Liara we could end up with a very joyful awakening by the little blue hellion we never got to meet.
I must say right away that I like your comment and I liked it 👍
But you missed something.
You forgot something. The Angara themselves said that the Scourge appeared to them 400 years before the arrival of the Andromeda Initiative.
That is, 200 years before the Geth built their telescope. And 200 years before Benefactor started sponsoring the Andromeda Initiative.
By the way, many people forget that the Benefactor helped not only with money, but also with resources and personnel. And helped political influence. Where does AI get the resources, staff and political influence among organics?
No, if AI is ancient and has been hiding among organics for a long time, then it could have accumulated resources, personnel, and political influence over the centuries.
«Liara could have stayed awake for the journey, or part of the journey, keeping watch on her friends while they slept»
Stay awake for centuries? 600 years of living cooped up aboard a ship? Sorry, but this is some kind of sadism.
Special shift teams can look after. So it was on the Arks of the Andromeda Initiative. Specialists woke up for a couple of months and looked at the systems of the Arks and the health of the colonists. Liara is not an Ark expert. And she's not an expert in human health. But even if for some reason she is placed in the looking after team, she will not have time to grow old in a couple of months.
By the way. There is such a journalist Liana Rupert. She is a fan of Mass Effect. And in 2021, she said in a video that the Biovars told her that Liara would be old in the next game. Old age for Asari begins at 700. That is, Liara lived in the Milky Way for 600 years.
«In which case if we romanced Liara we could end up with a very joyful awakening by the little blue hellion we never got to meet.»
Now I don't understand. What are you about?
Some solid points. Id like to comment on the point about the far right. One of the great death knells to any IP is when a property picks a political side, and in particular, promotes it and demonizes its opposite. This is classic propaganda, and not story telling. When reflecting politics in Sci Fy, the trick is utilize the peripheral concepts and adapt them to the new races, or, if you want the same political battles to still be relevant in the far distant sci fy future, then you must critically allow both sides and as a stone cold law as the story teller- never pick sides. If you do, your property will very quickly be rejected because it will be boring to its adherents and offensive to its target. This will kill a book, game, show or movie. The last 10 years is littered with properties that didnt understand this and they have devastated their IPs. Alowing the team to have true diversity, to have different beliefs, and morals and values and political leanings gives literally an endless supply of material. The old KOTOR games did this well, and some teammates were so offended by benevolence they could not be recruited if your score was too high, and vice versa, too evil and your good teammates abandon you to evil. But never fall into the trap of on the nose social commentary of present day. The audience wants to escape the pain and suffering of this life and adventure in the world you have created, they dont want to get preached to or attacked or get angry because you are inserting propagandistic left or right talking points. That breaks immersion. Your goal in any sci fy or fantasy property, has to be to take your audience where Lucas outlined------ to a long time ago, in a galaxy far far away. The Expanse did a very good job of alowing all political sides to be seen, heard, and respected and sympathized with, and it will forever be great sci fy. The newest Star Trek shows have all fallen down this rabbit hole and have lost half their fan bases and their sales have suffered the consequences. If I remember the director even said they broke all previous lore about klingons to make them into Trump supporters. How arrogant and stupid does someone have to be to destroy 50 years of love for an IP to push a grudge against a present day temporary political thing? Madness. All it did was turned the series into propagandistic badly written nonsense. The glory of Star Trek was that all present day stuff was long gone, for the most part, and all were welcome to the table.
@@Straun30. "Uh...sir? This is a Wendy's".
By the way - The evidence you provided just makes logical sense.
I do agree that the next game could be the chance at redemption that Andromeda needs. What makes me so intrigued is the likelyhood that Liara and (probably Ryder) are searching for something. We see her picking up an N7 helmet piece, and the only real conclusion I can arrive at is that she's looking for Shepard or something related to Shepard.
Maybe, and this is something that I missed pointing out in my Frozen Shepard theory video - If Shepard got put into cryostasis after ME3, the shock of waking up 600+ years later would probably be enough to break him/her. In other words, Shepard becomes a hermit and goes out into the galaxy as a lone wolf.
It would make sense on Liara's side, considering she's never been able to let Shepard go, no matter if she was a love interest or not.
Thoughts? You could always make a video on it ;)
Personally, I kind of hope Shepard is done. I've seen too many sequels to long-running franchises bring back original characters, and because story requires conflict, take that character's happy ending and completely undo all of it. The Independence Day sequel comes to mind (although that's not the only example, and by FAR not the biggest problem with that movie- but I digress). After everything Shepard has done, I feel like they've earned their retirement.
While Shepard has been a fan favorite for years, them bringing back a full fledged Shepard seems unlikely. The theory of Shepard being cryogenically frozen like Ryder's mom - maybe after the explosion ending until better medical treatment can be found would be interesting. I would love to see that. Either way I foresee a blending of the galaxy's as an inevitable. Whether Ryder is a major player in this next game waits to be seen. I just hope they don't mess up the story and give us some stupid plot hole filler
What if the MR7 ''ship'' we see is actually one of 7 mass relay ships they parked between the two galaxies as means of traveling the huge distances between galaxies with the 7th being the one on andromeda's end but still not complete, it would explain the intro shot with andromeda galaxy in the background and the space suits from andromeda. *This all being built after the events in ME: andromeda*
It would be awesome that the opening scene of the new game reveals contact with the milkyway galaxy has been established and they are taking on the biggest project ever to travel to both galaxies and then uncovering some ancient danger or another ancient civilization.
@@michaelglinski3809 Honestly after Andromeda i wouldn't mind another Shepard appearance, at least it's something.
@@michaelglinski3809 no Shepard is required to keep everything fresh, there's way to many variables to come up with a good canon backstory and would take away from the trilogy anyway. So I hope Shepard is done too.
Andromeda's last act was genuinely really fun and I do hope they follow it up! Also quarian arc aaaaa ;-; i wish we got that in-game
Dito
Couldn't agree more! Loved it!!
I’m confused why they released an unfinished game. They intended to have more into the game. I loved it, but after knowing this fact and watching it, I could see the end was kind of sudden. In anyway I loved it
There would be no enemies to shoot. In the book Mass Effect Andromeda: Annihilation, it reveals that the quarian ark captain Quetsi'Olam created a virus that is supposed to depopulate the Council races, humans, asari, turian and salarians, using the drell as carriers of the plague. The reason why she did it is because she is afraid that as the top races in Andromeda, they will STILL treat quarians as pariahs, so in desperation she feels that the only way quarians will ever be free in Andromeda is to use a virus that kills humans, asari, turians and salarians. This is why when the quarian ark arrived in Andromeda, they warned the Initiative to not come looking for them until they say so, because if Pathfinder Ryder comes in with the Fontibras Plague still active, $hit will hit the fan big time.
@@LightStreak567 Sounds like a questline to find a cure for the virus. Being enclosed in a enviromental suit does help to block viruses btw.
I really hope we get Andromeda tied into the new game, I really enjoyed the story and the characters. I know a lot of people were disappointed because of all the issues caused from a troubled production, but then a lot of hate seemed to be because it wasn't another Shepard story.
It's easy to see it that way. After all, it's a new galaxy, new, characters, and new gameplay, any criticism of these areas could be brushed off without much consideration solely on the basis it's new and not like the previous iterations. However, that would completely miss the details of the criticism which is what is most important.
@Noxti! That's your opinion, others felt differently
@@65firered Except for a lot of the complaints that were simply because it wasn't a continuation of Shepard. There are droves of people who are saying they will refuse to buy the new ME game if it isn't about Shepard.
@@simonfox8177 Let me put it this way. It's not difficult to find legitimate criticism of the game, but if you just want a scapegoat you have one.
@@65firered You seem to be overlooking the part of my comment where I said there were legitimate criticisms.
I'm enjoying all the Andromeda love! Despite how players feel or felt about Andromeda, leaving that storyline abandoned & unresolved would be a glaring patch on the franchise & narrative... Sure the game has issues, but it wasn't THAT bad (Looks over at Anthem)... Glad the trailer, concept art & game director are hinting towards Andromeda being connected to the next Mass Effect game in someway.
Honestly, most of Andromeda's issues that I've seen are slightly janky animations, the odd little bug and a dislike of the facial features. But that was an issue with being on Frostbite instead of Unreal. They had to remake every single asset. Had the game been on Unreal, things would have been a lot easier.
The mechanics were fantastic and the story, while maybe not original or mind-blowing, was good and left room for a fantastic sequel. Let's hope the hype around the next Mass Effect game actually rekindles the love for Andromeda because I'm curious how it'll go.
I enjoyed Anthem more than Andromeda.
The gameplay felt like a half baked mix between Mass Effect and Anthem, with none of the good parts either.
Agreed. I’d love 5 to be mostly Milkyway focused, with hints to Andromeda like a sub-plot revolving around a trans-galactic relay, and then end of the game has them turning it on. 6 could then flip it to being more Andromeda focused, leaving 7 to be a nice finale tying them both together.
Also if I am not mistaken the first mass effect game had issues and I didn't like it that much. I thought it was slow getting off the ground and I didn't like the tank that you had to ride around in. But two and three were way better in story and character development
For me it was a great Sci-Fi game but it didn't seem like Mass Effect to me. I don't know why but it just didn't feel the same, although I still liked the game.
Give me more Andromeda, combat was fun loved being able to combine abilities from classes, etc. I think it was the next evolution of Mass Effect gameplay and would love for them to combine the games or use this follow-up game to bring it back and answer all the questions.
Glitches not withstanding, the combat was the smoothest in the entire series. With great multiplayer, and the concept is so evocative: first to colonize a new galaxy!
My favourite part of Andromeda gameplay was the verticality. I find myself over and over trying to jump and dash while playing the original trilogy after Andromeda and feeling unsatisfied being unable to do so. It even happens in other games.
In my opinion the combat was the only good thing about the game. Love the original trilogy though but hate Andromeda...
Andromeda only had good combat game play and thats it, story wise it was terrible to the point they canceled the project outright. You just can't go from galaxy saving killing machine Shepard to "we come in peace" hippy rider. Andromeda should have been stand alone separate project.
@@ChaviChoffChop Yeah, that jumping and hovering while aiming down the scope and taking out enemies really added such an exciting element to the action!
I bought MEA on release night. Went to GameStop for the midnight release. I loved it. It had its issues but I believe that it was a good start that could be easily built on. People were comparing it to the whole OT though so it just didn't stand a chance.
Despite Andromeda’s problems, it was my favorite game of the series. It had the good crew relations like ME2, the world exploration experience of ME1, and the smooth gameplay of ME3 combined.
I LOVE this game. So much. I do hope they continue the Andromeda branch.
I hope they continue Andromeda, I really loved the game (aside from the release issues). I loved the direction of Andromeda, new galaxy, a focus on exploration and finding/ building your new home, new advanced civilization to reverse engineer tech from, new races.
Same here! Interstellar and Arrival are my 2 favorite movies of all time. And what brought me to the franchise was the excitement of exploration, to dive into the unknown. Andromeda was the first Mass Effect I played. I had to play the MELE after it of course. I like both for different reasons. And I hope we can explore Andromeda beyond the Heleus Cluster as Ryder.
I loved Andromeda despite some setbacks, the visuals are outstanding, the action and battle mechanics are also outstanding, the music is beautiful, I played Andromeda 4 times, I was very sad at select fan uproar resulting in cancelation, I'd love to see the story line continue..
The core story was interesting, Terraforming on different worlds.
Yeah but the story is complete ass and every single character is god-awful. Plus 90% of the missions are bad and poorly designed.
@mariobadia4553 Do I have to bring up the worst characters of the original Trilogy?
And also, I loved the characters and found them charming.
Personally, I loved Andromedia. I hope to see more of it in the future. Let's hope EA doesn't pull their usual and mess things up.
game got alot of hate, but i enjoyed it too, the story was OK and the gameplay was fun.... problem for me was the bugs..
If they didnt abandoned the game it could have been really awesome with a few DLCs and fixes :)
I hope you're right. I'd love a followup to Andromeda, perhaps even more than to the original trilogy. At least the original trilogy got closure. Andromeda was just starting up.
I still think Andromeda story had a lot of potential but the problem was there were experimenting with too many different and new things like the engine change
@@bernardmacdonagh9517your right they tried to do much but I still see the story and potential there but I'd love to see if they tye the reaper and remnant together in some way ohh just the potential they have just Hurts to think about
I would like to revisit andromeda and ryder if the writing is good
Mass Effect: Andromeda is the equivalent of the tree from A Charlie Brown Christmas. It's not such a bad little game, maybe it just needs a little love.
I hope BioWare ends up doing something with it. That being said, Dragon Age: Dreadwolf is still in alpha development, and Mass Effect 5 is still in pre-production, so they likely don't have a full story laid out for it yet. It'll be interesting to see if the studio's perception of the public's reaction to more Andromeda make it willing to double down on it as a part of the franchise. I have to imagine that the fans that like Andromeda are a minority compared to the fans that only like the original trilogy.
I had a blast with Andromeda. I played it in 2022 and it works just fine, no noticable bugs. Ryder is a great character, I loved them just as much as Shepard.
I’m honestly excited to see what’s up and coming. I’ve gone through and played both ME Triology and Andromeda at least 3 times (per year) for the past few years. I do hope we could get some more insight and play in Andromeda, or wrap it up. If not then I would be excited to go to another galaxy. Hopefully we get more insight this year. Fingers crossed!
I am an old ME fan, I did a playtrough on Andromeda on release and enjoyed the game it was not on same lvl as original ME but still a good game. I did a new playtrough in 2021 and I enjoyed it alot actually and have no problem including it in the ME family, the main story is fantastic.
TBH considering that AI started up almost 10 years before the first ME game I think the benefactor is the old shadow broker that 'died'. Numerous codex's that you find in ME2 state the SB knew about the reapers. They would have had the resources to steal Cerberus SR2 plans as well as plans for the citadel and mass relays. There are a lot of hints in MEA about it... I don't think it's Cerberus as they stated numerous times, from different sources, that Cerberus was 'broke' after rezzing Shep. They are also pro human and would not fund a multi species initiative. They only did so in ME2 as they though everyone would die. As for the MEA game in 2022... a lot of bugs are fixed...the main thing for me is the lighting...it still washes everything out. The combat is amazing and TBH as much as I love the original series the first ME had a WHOLE lot of bugs when it came out...the 'mouth' graphics were horrible and still are not smooth. It's the story that has people overlooking a lot of it's negatives. Hopefully newer gamers will fall in love with not just the trilogy but MEA as I did enjoy it as a whole.
I also think the old Shadow Broker was at least involved with the arranging of the Initiate. He would have been on one of the Arcs had he lived. A new Shadow Broker may have been one of the reasons he kept Ferron around ^_^'.
Liara's conversation with Yag reveals that the old Shadow Broker was killed 60 years before the events of ME2. That is, before contact with Humanity.
The Andromeda Initiative was founded in the 2170s.
In 2016, the developers in an interview said that Cerberus was not related to the Andromeda Initiative.
I'm a newer player. I've played the mass effect legendary trilogy 1 0 times since last January and Andromeda 1 time and it really was a lot of work to get through. It took me about 4 times of starting and stopping over a month or so before I made myself play it all to see if it got better. It didn't, I hated the whole game. The combat was good actually but that was all I liked. I'd be happy to never see Andromeda again...
I love this breakdown, super thorough and you caught a ton of stuff other Mass Effect 5 theory videos haven’t :D I loved Andromeda despite the bad press! Stoked for whatever ME5 brings
ME4* common misconception, but Andromeda was a spinoff not a sequel
I more interested in the Milky Way after the reaper war ….
@@viermidebutura
Just take the destroy ending with the geth and EDI surviving, make them canon and make the story about reabuilding or other low stakes things. We do not need power creep. All you need is a good writer, but this is Bioware.
I hope so I enjoyed the Ryder story despite the bugs at launch. The nomad was fun to drive and the combat had never been better, zooming around changing profiles on the fly LOVED it. Plus I really enjoyed Scott Ryder’s personality and humor. I’d hate to see them abandon it when it did have potential. The crew was fun minus Gil, and Liam. Also loved driving around in the Nomad just to hear the conversations between teammates.
I just want an Andromeda 2, eventually
If only you knew how happy and excited this makes me. I prefer to not look at any pre-release news/clips/promos to go in blind but this was worth looking into. Thank you for this video! I love Andromeda and would love to have the unresolved arcs elaborated on in the next game.
I really hope you are right and Andromeda will be back in some way. Since Bioware abandoned it, I didn't touch any new game they made. This time, no matter the hype - I won't pre-order a game from them! They have a lot of redeeming to do before I'll trust them again.
The most famous game in 2017 was NieR:Automata. Its main character, 2B, is more well known, has more merchandising sales and larger fan following than the entirety of another game that came out in 2017 called Andromeda.
Honestly, I was one of those that hated MEA at release. Fast forward to now and I'm sitting here playing it and wanting more.
I've got my version modded to fix a lot of the problems I had with it, still wish I could have renegade options for Liam with the stunts he pulls though!
But I love the story and gameplay.
Edit..also Like and new sub!
Yes! Kill liam!
I dunno about killing the guy, as annoying as he can get. But let me punch him at least, or a verbal throttling!
@@hillbillykoi5534 I can live with that.
@@nicktitus4374 Although, if MEA had. Virmire type mission and Liam and Cora had to be off team for support with the thermo nuclear device. Mr. Crisis Response could stay planet side with the bomb.
634 years could be enough time for the galaxy to not only recover but make significant technological advancement without the threat the Reapers posed on the galaxy.
Hey Kala. I just recently replayed M.E. Andromeda. Picked some more achievements, lol. The game did play quite well, and I thoroughly enjoyed myself. I could see them expanding on the Andromeda universe. I wouldn't mind it they brought back Ryder or Shepherd. I just want more Mass Effect.
That whole, starting zoomed out then zooming into one of the 2 galaxies kinda directly mirrors how ftl travel had been shown in every game. You usually start out in a galaxy view, then zoom into a system. I'm wondering if studying the reapers has given them access to intergalactic ftl travel and that opening sequence might actually be gameplay footage of your ships charted universe map (as opposed to the galaxy map from the last few)
Also, we assume the Yahg killed the old shadow broker and took over but we also know that the shadow broker network was connected to the ship... what if the original shadow broker survived the confrontation and became the benefactor?
Alway loved Mass Effect, all of the games, so yes, Andromeda too. Know it had it's issues and was sad when they didn't build on it more, but I'm really excited for what is too come. Thank you for the video, missed the trailer and only saw the picture of the structure, so this helped me catch up on things😊🤗
They can really turn it around with a good quarantine arc dlc and sequels
I loved Mass Effect Andromeda. Playing it and taking it on its own terms and substantial merits (ie, not expecting it to be Mass Effect 1, 2 or 3) was a truly engaging experience. The music was great. And the combat was FUN. I’d love to see some of the storylines and themes teased in Andromeda show up in ME5.
Hey Kala nice to see you channel. I’m a huge fan of Andromeda. It’s not a bad game just really different from the other games, I think time will show the love of Andromeda eventually.
#MEAndromedaWasNotBad
My guess is Andromeda might develop a Mass relay to traverse dark space in order to make contact with the Milky Way using the Remnant technology. Which might explain a little how Liara is the key character in ME5.
When I saw the trailer and saw the shot you referred to I instead thought back to one of the plot points that was teased before Andromeda came out which was the most important tasks of the Pathfinder and that was to some how find a faster path between the Milky way galaxy and the Andromeda Galaxy so that eventually there could be trade and coming and going between the two galaxies so maybe Mass Effect five will show how both galaxies will succeed in find a way maybe even building a Mass Relay that will permit faster travel between the Milkyway galaxy and the Andromeda Galaxy.
For me the logical step to bring both worlds together and hopefully create a game the fans will love is this. Prior to release, you finally release the add on content for Andromeda where you rescue the final arc, have some more stories, side quests but then with the Pathfinder locating a super secret Cerberus construction of a mass relay. If I remember correctly there was a mass relay mentioned in the first 3 games pointing off into oblivion, so either use that and re calibrate it for Andromeda, or, Cerberus makes one on their end and they link up. This would alow all the species and conflict into Andromeda, but also allow the new races to be shown earth and our system. This would allow the game to launch into the initial quest in Andromeda to confiscate and fire the new relays, and allow us to travel back to our systems post apocalypse where we would meet some ancients like Liara and Drack maybe, and who knows what else we would find but thats a great plot. Andromeda clearly was setting up a super secret backstory so run with it, tie the worlds and have exploration and adventure in both systems, you could even have to explore destroyed cities or towns. Lots of potential, maybe a reaper grave yard in space. That would be cool to check out
Ive beat Andromeda at least 5 times, once the bugs were worked out the game was great, for me its major drawback was no DLCs and frankly, not enough aliens. Giving it human made mass relays that take say months rather than 600 years to travel back to our system would be epic and allow all fans access to both worlds, it will also create another pissy point for races that man created the new relays. For me as well, I love establishing bases, and making worlds habitable, terraforming is epic scifi and Adromeda created a good system on how to do that. That tech also, im sure, after the hell of the Reaper wars could be used in home systems, there is a lot of very good material to work with here
I love the Shepard arc of ME. I really enjoyed the Ryder arc too, so if they merge, and I think your thoughts about that are correct, I'll be okay with it. Nice analysis and great production too.
I'm just so happy that the Mass Effect series is getting more attention again. I enjoyed Andromeda, except for the fact that I literally could not complete the whole game because of bugs, of course. But I remember in the aftermath of the release of Andromeda that because of the poor reception of the game and the sudden lack of content and updates it seemed like the Mass Effect series were done for good, which was heartbreaking... Now, however, I will allow myself some careful optimism for the future
My only issue with the Nomad and the Tempest, who send a defensless ship to unknown space? Sorry even minimal armament should have been placed, even the Nomad should have been able to return fire. Just send the people with lite weapons to unknown space. That was my biggest issue. I liked the idea of needing a nobody to suddenly be thrust in such a position.
I can see the Mass Relay construction image as a nod to how they're going to connect the two galaxies.
My theory is that it actually plays about 600 years after the OG Trilogy
You know it's interesting it might sound crazy but I wouldn't be surprised if Ark 6 were either Vorcha for dangerous unknown work or hazardous engineering projects or Volus for economics.
Being #ActuallyAutistic, I didn't even notice the facial animation issues at launch playing Andromeda. And I actually appreciated the lines people complained about, like "my face is tired" being an obvious reference to having to put on the public face of a confident leader being exhausting (people seemed to think she meant her physical facial muscles, which is bafflingly absurd in the context of the discussion). I really enjoyed it overall, especially all the in game references to things from the trilogy and all the codex entries that updated with info about companions to reflect the story progress. It had a lot of nice little touches that were lost in the hater noise. I wish we had gotten the two or three expansions it needed: quarian ark, benefactor plot, and possibly more remnant lore reveal.
I liked the story of Andromeda and would be really upset if they didn't include it. I was disappointed when they scrapped the dlc... also this is by far the most under rated channel doing this type of analysis
Maybe Liara is the first N7 Asari, and became Spectre.
Edit: God I love the Andromeda theme song! It just hits you hard!
Is it just me or did you get a new mic? New filters? Sounds great! Your content is getting better and better :D
I messed with some settings and think I finally got my "youtube voice" down haha, thank you!
I still have Andromeda and the Mass Effect Trilogy on my SSD.
I do plan to play through it again and again until ME 5 comes out. I can't believe they abandoned it instead of making it better and finishing the DLC.
Andromeda is a huge potential source of new story arcas, not limited to the races we already know from our galaxy. My tka is that the franchise will continue, with Andromeda playing a key role
Codex ME1 states that the modern races have explored the Milky Way only 1% out of 100%.
That is, the Milky Way is also a huge potential source of new story arcas
I finished the trilogy 4 months ago and started Andromeda 2 weeks ago and I am enjoying the hell out of it. It's true that the story is not as good as the old ones, but it's not bad either. So I would enjoy way to much a game with an union of both worlds
Maybe guys from Andromeda used this new Remnant alien tech to create some kind of a portal to the Milky Way.
That would still take at least a couple of decades.
I played Andromeda a long while after release. By the time I first played Andromeda, the price was twenty something dollars, if I remember correctly. But, with that said, I REALLY enjoyed Andromeda. Not as much as Mass Effect 2 or 3. But, definitely enough to where I still play the game even now and have fun. I would like the story to continue, for sure.
Given DA4 is a sequel to Inquisition it's not too hard to imagine ME5 being a sequel to Andromeda.
I want to keep playing as Ryder. I found it much easier and much more fun to role play in Andromeda and I found it more interesting playing a character who wasn’t an experienced leader. And it was a relief not having to wait for all Ryder’s abilities/skills to recharge at once. There are certain bits of dialogue and certain conversations that I think could have been written better, though… And I missed Garrus and Wrex. Lol.
Can’t edit this comment, but I also want Sara to meet Liara.
I won’t miss any of the characters, story, places, or races of andromeda.
My love to Andromeda led me here. It's the first time a single video talked about actual facts about the "Next Mass Effect". Including Andromeda's references and, of course, the origin trilogy.
I really want to explore with the pathfinder once more, Ryder deserves a second chance. I just hope people would love more this game. You have a new sub, looking forward for more updates.
It is a shame all of the hate MEA gets. I bought it later, after the bugs were fixed and I thought it was pretty good. Best combat mechanics than all the others. There was some things I didn't like, but overall it was a good game. I really hope they continue the story, and not rush it this time.
My guess is Liara is going to make her way to andromeda. Seems hinted at when you get to listen to her tapes on the Protheans. might be a connection between the Protheans and the Remnant. Could be interesting…
They need to tie up the cliff hanger at the end with the kett and also the benefactor storyline. I can't remember if there was a resolution to their mothers story..its been so long since I played. I did not know they turned the quarian story into a book, that should be resolved
Going to go reinstall Andromeda right now, lol. Had considered either playing it or the original trilogy again just the other day. I never finished Andromeda on my PS4 back when it released, but i did play it a LOT. I enjoyed it for quite a while, but then moved on to something else. Later on i saw one of those chapter by chapter comparisons that shows just how similar ME:A is to ME1, story-wise. Which, tbh i did not notice while playing, and it didn't really bother me. As Kala mentions the gameplay was really good, and it did have some good storylines. The biggest drawback was the bugs and animation issues, and i personally did not have too many of the major bugs mess with my gameplay.
I'm looking forward to play again at Andromeda galaxy, but please...Quarian Ark was NEVER meant to be a DLC. It was always meant to be a book, way before the game was even released...there were NONE DLC canceled. We get exactly what they advertised. ZERO single player DLCs.
This is actually good to know and I'll mention it in an upcoming video, thank you!
What kinda' cheesed me with the poor Andromeda reception is you'd see its critics then turn right around and completely suck off (though 76 wound up being so horrific even they couldn't defend it), which oft had just as bad bug issues as Andromeda did. Myself having been playing PC games since the 90s, the poor animations didn't even phase me, and I was still able to have a blast with the game. I really enjoyed and loved playing Sarah Ryder, she was no Sheperd, and that's entirely the point, she was her own person--she had military training but she wasn't a soldier she was an explorer, ie fulfilling exactly what it means to be a "pathfinder". Personally had a lot of fun with Andromeda, and kinda' hope for the chance to return to playing Sarah, my adorkable badass explorer.
Omg a new Kala video, I’m your biggest fan
I've been on a Mass Effect + Dragon Age replay spree, and am currently playing Andromeda!
I like MEA and I would love a crossover. Maybe there is a Jardaan device in the MW or they arrive in the MW from Andromeda with the creators of the scourge in pursuit.
So many possibilities.
Just going to say it, if they give us a wolfinstein option to play as Ryder or Shepard, I’m choosing Shepard every time.
100% even me
It would be cool to see people from the andromeda initiative travel back to earth to see how things have changed since the reapers
And bringing some Angara with them as exchange students.
"Hey, I just ate Spaghetti."
"Really? Cool."
"Oh, and also. Everyone from the Andromeda Expedition is dead."
"Too bad."
"Well, can't do anything about it. See ya tomorrow!"
when Liara find that piece of N7 armor in the snow if we take a look on bakcground we can see an outpost like thouse of andromeda as for the main character I WANT Sheppard bakc
This is not an outpost. This is a ship. The teaser trailer shows how he flies up to the planet.
«I WANT Sheppard bak»
I Agree👍👍👍
I do wonder could we get a chance to play as a different species, that could be cool, especially if they decide on a new main protagonist, I'd love to play as a Turian if they allow it, always loved their design
I really want that too. Some people I've talked to hate that idea, though, saying that the story of Mass Effect is too tied to humanity for the protagonist to not be human, but IMO that was only the case in ME1. It would also almost certainly mean that Shepard would not return, which is also unpopular. And there's the issue of how much more voice acting would be needed.
So I don't have a lot of hope for selectable species.
But boy do I want to do my second playthrough as a krogan.
Zero chance. This is Bioware.
Bioware have said many times that the history of Mass Effect is the history of humanity and that this is why the protagonist is always human.
I just started the ME again after several years hiatus. I'm coming to the end of ME1 and what strikes me most is the starkness of the game. There is simply not a great amount of 'stuff' in the environments. So what was it that I found so fascinating about this game back in 2007? It came to me instantly. It was the story. The thread-bear environments are held together by a compelling story that made me want to come back day after day to help Sheppard and the team along the way.
No agenda. No 'subverting expectations'. No hating of the audience. Just the story. I miss that in narrative-driven games and games in general today.
Once I finish all three in the original ME series, I'll go on to ME:A. I got it on sale on Steam for less than $5 USD yesterday. Let's see how things go.
Be well this day.
Honestly hoping this hits. Starting from inquisition, each game from bioware depressed me more and more. Andromeda was the final slap to the face. Please let this be good.
The Geth have expressed the hope to integrate with organic life. I think they are the benefactor. They knew about he reapers long before any other race and had the means to quietly amass wealth to fund the initiative. It would also explain the openness to A.I. and extreme secrecy. There was hint at experiments being done on he organic life forms (why people are going rouge) and the krogan had the biology 'fixed' while in cryo. We know that geth have the ability to adjust biology through technology integrations... also the architecture or the AI is very geth like to me.
The fact that the tool from BioWare who says he played through the games and finished Andromeda, then asked a fan what they meant by 'closure' makes me confirm this guy is the wrong guy behind these games because when he took over everything went from bad to worse in terms of story and structure.
I have a feeling the fans are right when they think the canon ending was Shepard choosing destroy. In terms of Liara in the teaser, I am hoping its more of her saying goodbye at the sight or where Shepard gave his/her life for the galaxy. If they bring Shepard back then everything will go to utter crap and its proof they're simply trying to please a few tards who have no idea of structure or the importance of story telling. It would be desperate as hell to bring Shepard back in any form. So I hope its Liara saying goodbye and then continuing into the new story.
I always wondered in the scene at the final meeting wit Liara as Shepard as either her friend or partner, if that scene is her melding and possibly taking Shepard's genes and will have his/her child.
But whilst we're aware how BIoWare abandoned Andromeda, yes EA had a big part, but lets not forget that BIoWare have done this on a few of there games. Even the likes of Kotor was only made playable thanks to the modding community. So when you look at how many great games you can think that BioWare truly did amazing work on, it would have to be Mass Effect 2 and Dragon Age Origins. Everything else was half-arsed and not because of EA rushing them, but because BioWare just don't have the potential to keep quality going.
Crazy theory probably wont happen, but what if you played 2 characters, one in the Milky way, one in Andromeda, and both stories lead up to some huge climax that effects both? could even split it into another trilogy have game one in the Milky way, Game 2 in Andromeda, and based off your choices game 3 takes place between both and and you either play one of the 2 characters or a new one if both happened to die in there respective games
Grate video Kate!
I agree with your points and the hints that have been shown, Andromeda deserves a second chance.
I have revisited Andromeda in late covid times of 2021 and despite the technical issues, clanky timing of story telling, very fun combat, amazing depth of stories told, the overall experience felt very ME 1, and frankly the story could get very interesting given the context Andromeda and Me trilogy has set up, As far as the give justice to Me 3 canon ending, i would love some story time in Milky way I am very excited about the next game.
Love to you all ME fans
Salute for great gaming experience to Creators
And Huge Hug to Kate for great video
Godspeed
I beat it back in 2017, and my consensus then was "fun, but forgettable". I didn't hate it, but I never went back to it.
As I saw more and more evidence the next Mass Effect will involve Andromeda in some form, I went back. I beat it again, and absolutely loved it. Yeah, it's a buggy mess (still). Random voice clip triggers, framerate drops, obtuse fetch quests.
But it TRIES. And when it all comes together, and you stop hating it for what it isn't and start loving it for what it is, there are moments where it's some of the best storytelling of the franchise. The final mission is literally everything people wanted Priority: Earth to be in ME3.
And not to mention that, even though the Frostbite engine struggles to render an open-world (ish) RPG, there is no denying that this is the BEST looking Mass Effect has ever been.
As for theories on 5? My personal favorite is that humanity (Alliance, Cerberus, or otherwise) went behind the backs of the Council and started building their own Mass Relay. Before, during, or after the Reaper War, who knows. Rather than a point-to-point relay (which was only a thing because the Reapers wanted it to be that way), it was omni-directional, and pointed at the Andromeda Initiative. 600 years is plenty of time to research, plan, and construct one, especially since the Crucible took what, a couple months? (There's a voice clip encoded in that concept art that sort of supports this. It's definitely Liara, talking to the Geth, maybe? Intriguing, nonetheless.)
So, Andromeda (the game) happens, and some time period after that Milky Way species start showing up, using the intergalactic relay mentioned before. And just to make it fun, say they send a second relay through the first, so they have a way to get back. Now you've got a way to get between Andromeda and the Milky Way any time you want, and you can build the story from there.
I‘m hyped. I love the franchise and I loved Andromeda too, I was really sad when they abandoned it…
The Quarian Ark should of been a DLC in andromeda which could of helped make the game even better
The hype is getting too real! You cannot convince me that Andromeda isn't a big part of ME5, and I'm all in for that!
Imagine how awesome ME:A would've been if you really did colonize the worlds, like placing a city or building it and see it grow as time passed by, defending it and helping it with resources.
I would like to see at least bits of it in the next ME.
Regarding the Cerberus colors on the Mass Relay being constructed I’ve always thought the Benefactor was Cerberus, but not The Illusive Man.
Cerberus is often described as a 3 headed dog. TIM was head 1, Benefactor is head 2, with an unknown third head at this time. Just a theory but the hints are there.
With regards to liara traveling to Andromeda theory, there was mention of the geth using a relay to telescope if you will Andromeda some kind of advanced scouting prior to the initiatives launch. Would this imply that it is isolated and therefore wasn't part of the reapers purging avoiding destruction? Could she have repurposed that relay to travel? Seems like a decent to that theory. Thoughts??
The endings in mass effect are so different in terms of the state of the galaxy, that you’d either need to basically make 3 different stories/ settings or retcon the events to make a “canon” ending which would suck. Which is why they went to Andromeda to begin with. Any subsequent games either need to take place in andromeda or be prequels.
I guess that's my question to, if Andromeda plays a bigger role in this game ..what will the story be? how do they pull it off? Guess we'll find out when the game drops.
Dope analysis by the way
Yes I would love to go back to Andromeda. It is my second favorite Mass Effect game.
I liked Andromeda. The combat gameplay was great. The weapon adjustments were real fun.
I'd be happy if the Andromeda Initiate was merely Codex lore in the next game.
the concept of Pathfinders, humans/sentients paired with a partner AI to boost eachother is one of the more intriguing ideas and while i believe it could have been executed better, i thought that about parts of the story when i first played ME1. Hope they expand on that idea moving forward
Having just finished ME Andromeda after binging first through ME 1, 2 and 3, I do feel that ME Andromeda is unfinished - we still have to see about the 5th Ark, see about getting a cure for the twin Ryder's mother, and if you go by the huge galaxy map that was first spawned on the activation of the first vault, there was a lot of worlds that had vaults that were not activated, and even with the activation of Meridian, it did not show you the linking and activation of all the other planets but the 3 planets you first did, excluding even Habtat 7, which should have activated at the end as well and not end with them saying that it wasn't fully activated - I as a published author can see so many faults or glitches or omissions that was left out in all of the storylines of the whole ME franchise, and being a big fan of the series I wish that just some of my ideas and imagination could be used to make the series even better - pity I don't know the producers, developers, writers of the franchise - am looking forward to the next story and pray that all that was left out, missed, ignored will be addressed - thanks for an awesome presentation
I played ME:A on release and thought a lot of the hate was overblown and misplaced.
The whole facial animation thing exploded and everyone jumped on that bandwagon. There were some that were really bad, but it wasn't a game killer as it was made out to be. People compared it to other games, but in those games it looked like characters were "momomoming" their way through half the dialogue. I don't recall running into game-breaking bugs, but more annoyances that were easily shrugged off.
What killed it for me was the characters, not only the protagonist and companions, but the enemies as well. They were all forgettable and I found it difficult to care about any of them. The original trilogy in contrast had loads of unforgettable characters, a few of them being the best in any game I can think of. The geth were great, especially legion. The collectors, the reapers, Cerberus enemies, the organization, and characters within all of these groups. Even some minor rolls. All interesting. ME:A's antagonist felt generic. The characters were boring. It's hard to explain but the personalities felt forced. To explain it any better I'd have to play it a third time for a refresher, which I just don't care to do. I think the only reason I played it a second time is that I didn't finish it the first.
Character and story really drove the trilogy. The gameplay and exploration might be more fun in ME:A, but it just doesn't cut it.
I was super sad we didn't get any Andromeda dlc
Agreed, they've clearly indicated Andromeda will play some part.
Andromeda was my first ME game and I loved it. Did 2 play thru’s of it when it launched and took a lot of criticism from ME community because I never played first 3 so I picked up first 3 on my ps3 and played them. I enjoyed them. Thought they were fun but in 2018 they were outdated of course. Then when legendary edition was dropped I replayed first 3 again and really enjoyed myself even doing another play thru of andromeda and still enjoyed that. Now it’s 2022, the eve of 2023 and I can say that I’ve finished another ME 1-3 play thru and will stick by my original opinion, I loved and enjoyed andromeda and also love and enjoy 1-3. Maybe since andromeda was my first ME game I have a different view of it but the hate is a bit over the top.
i would love to see how things go after me 3, but i really want them to continue Andromeda. not only were there a lot of open ends that need answer's too. i just hope the next game is more liner than Andromeda was. explorations good but make it within somewhat reasonable parameters.
Andromeda was just okay for me, I did play it when it first came out and ignored any of the glitches and bugs and gave the game an honest full play through to completion but for me it just never hit the same as the original trilogy did. I don't mind it being included but I would like to see more milky way galaxy items as that was my personal favorite. it's really hard to say though since the Andromeda story ended up getting kinda cut short, maybe the story would have been better if it was fully finished and concluded. I play the ME games for the story and the story arc on the first 3 was epic and Andromeda never really got that chance soooo maybe my opinion would have been different.