@@renaigh well, that was my main issue. Some jank animations are whatever, but the premise could and should'e delivered on the explorer aspect so much more.
@@renaigh People complaining about the animations were the loudest. But I don't think that's the reason why it failed. ME1 for example has a pretty bad combat, but people still love it. ME2 has better combat, but still not good one, but people still love it. ME3 has pretty good combat, but already many people were disappointed. So all in all I think what many people really love about ME games is the characters+story. And ME:A has abysmal characters and a pretty bad story. So even if it has amazing combat, that's not what ME fans wanted. And what's more ME:A strayed so much from the ME "formula" that it's pretty much a different game. If it wasn't an ME game, I really believe it would've done much better.
Thank. You. I love seeing appreciation for Andromeda. it is one of my favorite games, the characters, the combat, the story, the different locations- all of it, I love all of it. and it breaks my heart a little that it’ll probably never get a sequel :(
Walking up the controls of the Tempest was always a treat with those giant windows. You walk up the prow and look out and down and it felt like you were just hanging out in space. Just a slightest rush of vertigo as the mind boggles in awe of that enormous view. Say what you will abput the game, and everyone has, but that absolutely beats the pants off of walking up to a hologram map at the back of the ship and as far from a window as it was possible to get.
After watching this video, I have to agree with you. I felt like I was too judgmental about all the bugs I saw, so I did not see all the beauty the game gave me. Thank you for making this video. And feel proud that you made at least one person reinstall MEA and give it another chance.
Even though this game wasn’t as good as the original 3, I still had a lot of fun with it. The exploration aspects, the worlds and especially the combat were all great.
I liked the trope about friendly ship AI supercomputer "talking" to alien technology. This tingles my SciFi senses. Cause this is how likely communication will aliens happen.
I'm one of the few that liked Andromeda , yes it had a rough launch as they released and unpolished game . However, after 10 patches, the game became a great game in my eyes .
Andromeda could have nice themes to tell stories if they had a chance for a second opus. Kert were not reapers you could negotiate with them. Is life coming out of a machine life ? Angara are not "natural" Is Ryder a person or is he just SAM bearer ? future issues? Politic over survival ? Ryder how ryder will evolve when people feel they don't need him anymore Your crew needed time to grow, your relationship with your sibiling... YES Andromeda had a lot to do better.
through absolute sheer coincedence today was the day I decided to try and finally play through the mass effect trilogy, had NO idea it was N7 day but that just makes it even better
Im going to type some unpopular stuff right now: Mass Effect Andromeda is my 2nd favorite Mass Effect game. My personal ranking of favorites is thus: ME1, ME:Andromeda, ME3, ME2. I love them all, but i love them in that order.
I too enjoy Andromeda more than 2. When I think of 2, the plot is unfocused except the beginning, the suicide mission, and the arrival and shadow broker dlcs. 2 doesn't leave much for mystery and wonder, like the other games imo, a precedent ME1 masterfully established. I don't want to type a long essay explaining everything, but my preferences are ME3, ME1, MEA, and ME2. I love playing them all, their characters, and their stories. What had me come around with Andromeda was realizing that this is a civilian operation with an organized militia, not a legitimate war being fought with militaries and special forces. So my expectations for epic set pieces remain with the Trilogy. After accepting that fact, I started to understand and enjoy more of Andromeda's themes. It clearly establishes in the beginning that we are the aliens. Later in the codex, we come to learn that the Kett we fight are just a single relatively small, but formidable sect of a significantly larger galactic empire. The Archon we fight is one of a handful, and he desires to betray his people and start a coup for power. The irony is that the Milky Way's technology is more advanced and deadlier than Andromeda's. Therefore, from the Kett's perspective, they were invaded by an alien force, civilian force or not. I see the potential Andromeda paved the way for, flipping the script on us and exploring what happens when we are in the Reapers' place, invading a galaxy with superior tech against its native galactic nation.
great video as always! Been working through the ME games myself lately and have recently finished 2, but will make sure to explore Andromeda once I have finished 3!
You highlighted some things I didn't fully appreciate in my playthrough. I felt like the story was weak, and I hated all of the companions, but you are right that they really did environments well, and I feel that the combat was like 80% of the way to being amazing
Great video... I also appreciated the risks Mass Effect Andromeda took. I viewed it as a game different from the original trilogy that just happened to be in the same Mass Effect universe. Just like there are other games out there that are two different games but happen to share the same universe... one example that comes to mind is Titan Fall and Apex Legends. I too hoped that Andromeda story would had continue and eventually evolved from the Milky Way. Let's see if there are any inklings of Andromeda in the next Mass Effect game. By the way... Happy N7 Day!!
From the analysis of the ME5 teases I've seen, it looks like the Milky Way and Andromeda stories will be somehow woven into one in the next game, if it does ever get made.
Im playing Andromeda atm and have nothing really to complain about. Lets hope they abandon the emphasis on the woke BS in the next iteration and make a solid Bioware style, ME game.
I mean everything you said is true, but esentially none of these things you mention are the reason fans disliked this one. Nobody ever says this game doesn't look mesmersing or that it wasn't ambitious. The problem is always Boring storyline / Poor Quest design. I don't disagree it's just like trying to defend a poor tasting dish with a really incredible plating.
It was a very fun game. One of the only ones that I can remember playing over and over again. It’s funny at times and the combat is a blast. But the story wasn’t as good as it could’ve been. Didn’t ruin the experience for me but I can understand why others don’t like it
I would not say I hated it back then. I was more disappointed with all those wasted potential I saw there. But as the time moved on, I found my inner peace with the game. Maybe I should play it once more. Thank you for the great video
Dam new video this soon love your work keep going you are gonna become a great channel in yt and this is a necessary channel we needed someone to appreciate artists in video game industry
I liked andromeda when I played it. It was my first mass effect game. Then I played 1-3 when the legendary edition came out and oh my god I tried playing andromeda after the 3rd one and I couldn’t play it for more than 3 hours even though I really tried
There are definitely aspects of this game that I really like. I really liked the idea behind the story and regret the lackluster execution. I would have liked to see the story continue. I actually liked the idea of Ryder growing into a hero rather than already being the hero that Sheperd was.
You can't play it with Mass Effect 1,2,3 expectations. It's like a off shoot of a series or show. There are references but it has it's own story. The longer you play it you will become more immersed. Give it a chance for the price you can't go wrong.
It should not have been saddled with the Mass Effect prefix because it automatically bore the burden of great expectations by Trilogy lovers. It really is it's own game, and was supposed to be the first in a trilogy we will never see because of the disastrous launch. It was messy and bug ridden, it wasn't Mass Effect, the companions weren't lovable, the dialogue wasn't great, exploration was too much/not enough/boring, it had some good bits but they weren't enough to pull it out, the story/plot/characters/protagonist were boring. These were, and still are, things that are said about Andromeda. And yet, there is a large steadfast crew of folks still playing and enjoying it for what it is. I did not play it until three years ago, so everything was patched by then, and for PC's the modders brought it across the finish line. I enjoy it less than my annual MELE Trilogy plays because it lacks the fullness of trilogy engagement, but I enjoy more for what it is and am always sad that there is no second installment.
@1957DLT I agree, I played 2 months ago, put off by the reviews but then took the chance. I'm an old gamer, 68 years old, so I don't always read a lot into the game, I take it for what it is. Liked the planet graphics, combat
Thanks for highlighting all the good, it really was a beautiful game and I’m still sad that we’ll never know what happens next in the story. I’m hoping for at least a new novel in the future if nothing else.
My favorite thing about the Krogans’ design is that, unlike the other species that have two or more front-facing eyes, their eyes are on the sides of their faces, granting them greater peripheral vision than others. This trait more commonly seen in prey animals and emphasizes how Krogans are adapted to a hostile world where they are absolutely NOT at the top of the food chain.
i love you video style and input on games, i never playd androemda, thanks to the meida around its lunch, i am not sure if i will ever play it but its fun to see some part of the game tec or you like coming in Starcitzen. Like scale scale is so important is good syfy. Thanks for you great work like away and happe for the next one!
I played Andromeda for the first time quite a few years later; when the game was just about $20 or so. I very much enjoyed this game and I'm disappointed that there likely wont be a follow up to the story.
I don't really see this as "Courage", it's not much different if the game was set in the past, they simply jumped to another galaxy in order to avoid all the baggage of the original trilogy and there's about as much "Courage" in it as in Dragon Age jumping all over the world to avoid taking your actions into account, granted DA at least is happening on the same continent and you do see some your actions play out over 10 years of the original trilogy. This might've sounded negative, but I don't think it is. It's just not some incredibly bold move IMO. As for sci-fi part, originally Mass Effect had a cool premise with the central plot about the Reapers revolving around Dark Matter, the original idea was that the cycle was created by Reapers to harness organics, because organics and their interactions with the Dark Matter and their use of Biotics were advancing the death of the universe, it was even teased in ME2 when during Tali's recruitment she remarks on sun speeding to the end of it's natural life cycle because of Dark Matter upon which a lot of technology including Mass Relays is built upon.
Sad to see now how much andromeda was hated, now that the bar for modern AAA sci fi and games in general has reached a new low when looking at games such as starfield and star wars outlaws, the original trilogy still amazes me on how it raised the bar so high that to this date no other games has even come close to reaching with only andromeda having the potential, we were spoiled and we took andromeda for granted.
The biggest, brightest hidden gem I know of is the book Mass Effect: Annihilation. It's a tie in for the cancelled Andromeda DLC about what happened on the missing ark with Turians/Hanar/Volus/Bavarian etc. The writers (Catherynne M. Valente & N.K. Jemison) clearly love the universe and weave in elements of codex lore in a way that made the alien races feel alive and intriguing in ways the games only hint at. I cannot reccomend it enough to anyone who's a fan of the series! It works great as a standalone :) On a personal note, thank you for giving Andromeda some love! Optimistic Sci-Fi is my favorite, and despite the games flaws I really enjoyed the premise and how I felt playing it. (PS The audiobook is read by the VA for Scott Ryder and he does different voices/cadences/accents for every character, he's outstanding!)
Quarians and not turians. Oh and from what I heard andromeda wasnt meant to had dlc. Quarian ark was supposed to bd in a sequel. I hope we get more andromeda in the future
@@kyzit8458 no it was DLC and it was basically done when the studio got shut down. the DLC was gonna come packaged with a bunch of gameplay and animation fixes as well so it basically would have been a second launch for the game but EA wanted to switch focus to anthem and well we all know how that went
I wish they had taken more risks with the actual gameplay loop. If they had really put explorations of an unfamiliar galaxy front and center. Instead you're just right back to shooting generic war alien species within 5 minutes. The most I felt the potential of what the game could have been was in the 1st contact mission with the Angara; it was tense and monumental, even without action combat. That's what was needed. A slower pace, and a grander sense of wonder, as new and different threats are gradually introduced. But no, instead we get pew pew gamer brain.
Maybe I'm just socially awkward myself but I beat the game before I learned of the supposedly broken animations. That stuff just never bothered me because I'm not sensitive to stuff like facial animations. I just remember the kick ass combat more than anything else.
Thanks, Adam for another high quality, deep and insightful video. And I agree : Andromeda is a great game, especially now that my new hardware can compensate for the highly inefficient Frostbite engine.
Ha, yeah it really bottlenecks in a lot of places. Fps could go from 150 to 30 depending on where i was standing. Thanks for the super and for watching the videos, it means a lot!
One of my biggest issues with the og was the time syncs. Whether it was traveling in absolute empty worlds to find items scattered all over the place, scanning planets which was worse but no one wants to talk about it, or probing planets which was even worse. Andromeda upped the game by having the omnitool scanner and got tons of mileage out of it that didn't feel too overly used. The gameplay was nice but it's too bad we got less RPG tactical elements in regards to the combat. I actually like having to use my squadmates but I understand they want the pacing to feel fast but that basically means your companions are irrelevant to have in the first place. Space Marines 2 shows the combat can be really really good without the stupid high mobility stuff Call of Duty and Titanfall tried to make trendy oddly enough the elevation combat was never in any games campaign except ME;A.
I tried andromeda for the first time recently and all I can say is…. It was aggressively mediocre… at best. You can feel the exhaustion of the writers whenever you talk to almost anyone in the game. Like they could barely be bothered to write and act their dialogue. It’s absolutely awful. I don’t think I’ve cared less about characters in any game. Coming from Mass Effect 1-3, which had some of the most compelling characters I’ve ever seen, it was shockingly disappointing.
I actually liked it. The characters were a bit goofy, but I did enjoy it. I love The Tempest. It's my favorite of all the ships. Two things annoyed me however. One, BioWare stripping the game of developers to work on Anthem, an MMO. Two, abandoning the game and not giving us a DLC for the missing Quarian Ark that they hinted at. And now they are doing the same with Dragon Age: The Veilguard. They're moving on to Mass Effect now, but I actually don't mind them moving on this time.
I think ME:A deserved at least 1 story expansion DLC, a lot of sub-lots remained unanswered and just fell into the void. Also, I think we did not have enough character development for basicaly all crew companions and without any kind of sequel or tie-in to Anderomeda all of what happened in ME:A remains pointless.
The main problem in my opinion were the characters who had hardly any personality and a weak story. In the original trilogy, for example, I didn't care if I left Kaidan or Ashley on Virmire to die, I didn't like either of them. But when Mordin Solus died to heal the Genephage, for example, I had to cry, just like when Legion "died". And as you rightly mentioned, the trilogy is more of a space opera with characters you may or may not like, with a story being told. That's exactly what people expected from a Mass Effect title and that's why they were disappointed. Because they just get a space shooter with pretty graphics and a weak story, Andromeda is simply nothing more
I always felt that Andromeda got a lot of hate for the wrong reasons. As you pointed out, Andromeda played with key parts of what was associated with Mass Effect, however, the problem with doing that too much is, you get something that doesn’t feel like Mass Effect. That was one of the biggest issues I had with it, along with the issues in the story and with the characters. Andromeda also seemed, at least to me, that BioWare was trying to avoid ME 3’s ending rather than progress the story and deal with the ending. You didn’t like ME 3’s ending? Well, Andromeda’s got you covered, because it ignores the ending. I liked your analysis of the things Andromeda did right, though.
I feel like BioWare could have salvaged the game, but they literally just abandoned it. I loved the overall idea of the story: traveling to a new galaxy on a pioneering mission and finding habitats. Unfortunately the crew felt stale and you couldnt customize really anything with them/ship. The main enemy species seemed kind generic.
I cant deny the graphics were good (the characters looked pretty janky sometimes. Especially the humans and asari) and the combat was really cool. But I didn't like Andromeda. The story and writing just didn't hit for me. I couldn't bring myself to care about Ryder or any of the crew. They just felt like checks in boxes and not actual characters. That and a lackluster story with multiple plot holes. I wouldn't call it a bad game. But not every game is for everyone. I also don't like call of duty or the souls games. Objectively good games. I just don't enjoy them.
I understand it launched in a bad state, models are pretty bad, but I really enjoyed it on my playthrough. Enough so that I got it on PC, to see if not being locked at 30 fps makes me less irritated with it.
Unfortunately, while still liking the game , i hated the new armor design and color (n7) but love the fact you could switch armor part really wish we got a dlc were they could improve over the critic.
Hey Adam, I like that you shine light on the more overlooked and positive sides of Andromeda and I really like your videos. Keep it up :) However, I have to disagree with the statement that andromeda is a good game. It trampled on the core values that made Mass Effect great. From deep and rich characters to 1 dimensional clichés. From a meaningful story that makes you feel like your every decision has profound consequences to the most boring, flat sci fi tropes. Most annoying to me is how every character in this game drops a stupid macho line at every opportunity, destroying every hope of taking any part of the game serious. Yes the game has some good points and ideas, I especially like the armor designs and the combat gameplay, but its a bad game and an even worse entry to its franchise because it is weakest where its predecessors most shon. It reminds me much of star trek piccard with how much it seems to misunderstand its franchise.
Looks like you didnt even watched the video at all. Author didnt talk about story and lore at all. VIdeo about art design, gameplay mechanics and environment. Which outside of Ket and Asari is top tier.
@Altmer353 it's always been like that with the Andromeda haters because they don't know anything most haven't played it much less finished it they are simply parroting what someone in a video or tick tock said that's why that can't actually argue points on game design mechanics ect the video they are parroting doesn't know so they don't know either they just repeat the same things over and over.
@@Altmer353 something i hated about Andromeda’s combat was the inability to properly control your squadmate’s abilities. It ruined the tactical gameplay from the original trilogy and diminished much of the potential affinity player’s could’ve developed with the characters through gameplay.
@@Altmer353It seems to me you did not read my comment or misunderstood what I wanted to say. I did watch the video and I agree with the author that andromeda has good points and shows potential in certain areas. I even stated that. But I dont agree with the statement that andromeda is a good game overall. Just because it has some good points they dont outway the gigantic problems and flaws this game has, which makes it a bad game in my opinion. Especially because lore, characters and story are the points the game is weakest in, and at the same time its exactly those points that the franchise always was best in and made it what it was. So even if andromeda wouldnt be a bad game, which it is in my opinion, it would still be a bad entry to the franchise.
Agreed! I love all the Mass Effect games - I even enjoyed being able to choose the ending of the OrigTril. GO GREEN!!! ;-P However ...... People always forget that: 1) ME:A - as was the case with CP2077, for example - was rushed out the door by the greedy moneybags who couldn't give a flying for the game itself. Hence the many glitches - the game was unfinished. 2) ME TOrigTril BECAME really good from the second episode onward. The first was nothing particularly special at launch - techy stuff aside. ...... it needed time to develop, naturally. ME:A WAS NOT ALLOWED THIS DEVELOPMENT! 3) Also, wokeness. ... not the homo/bi stuff, that's all g. You do you. I'm Gen-X and proud of it, so tip-toeing apologetically around other people's oversensitive feelings was never part of our programming. :-D Anyhoo, I love this game. ......... since they were given the opportunity to fix it. Cheers from the land Downundah, mate. 🍻
Tried getting into this game for the third time last week and it sadly just doesn't manage to grab my attention. I did like the combat though, it was the other systems that didn't do it for me.
I viewed it as a completely different game... I played it separately in my mind from mass effect. In that respect,it wasn't a great game but it wasn't as bad as they made it out to be.
I always argued andromeda wasn’t a bad game, but a bad mass effect game. I wish the legendary edition of the trilogy would’ve been a full blown remake with andromeda art style & combat loop.
@@brucebane04 Andromeda’s combat was one of the weakest parts for me. Both from a design standpoint and mechanically. The dash felt anemic as hell and the three ability limit was absolutely a slap in the face for people who historically liked Hybrid classes from the actual trilogy. Especially as a day 1 sentinel enjoyer, Andromeda was fundamentally incapable of providing me a satisfying combat experience. Furthermore, they took what was arguably the worst part of ME1 and made it the main part of the game. I practically have PTSD from the way the original Mako handled before LE fixed it. You’d flip off a cliff you were nowhere near from merely clipping a piece of terrain the size of a snickers bar. All of that was stuff I could actually look past because I play games as a vehicle for narrative experiences. My MAIN issue was actually how much heavy shit from the actual games this shitty spinoff trivialized with what are otherwise minor details. Cora being a member of the Asari Commandos? That’s not actually as dumb as other people think, but to be an Asari Commando requires a certain level of Biotic aptitude. Guess who the only human who met the requirements would have been before Cora? Yep. Jack. The girl who was experimented on and tortured and was the only successful candidate out of the entire program that made her. Cora being able to join the Asari Commandos basically says “fuck jack and her entire backstory and character arc. She’s not special because we have an unmodified biotic that is just as strong.” And before you say “Cora isn’t as strong as Jack” think about this: If she’s not, she couldn’t have joined the commandos. It’s not just like a technical requirement, they’re by definition the strongest non-matriarch biotics of the Asari species. Their training focuses on that. And don’t even get me started about the Krogan subplot where they’re out mutating the genophage. Why the fuck did Mordrin die to undo the Genophage then? Literally his whole character arc was about him feeling guilty over how he modified the genophage so that would never happen. His death was an act of redemption because he knew that the krogan would never be able to evolve past the new version. Ryder being able to use Biotics because of a fucking AI also makes no sense. If biotic powers could just be given like that, Cerberus would not have been doing half the unethical shit they’ve been doing. Unless you had natal exposure to EZO and you got an implant, you ain’t a fucking biotic.
its not even a bad mass effect game in fact i would argue that it does a better job of recapturing what made the first game so special than 2 and 3 did.
I disagree, the game's biggest crime was, that it was very boring and lackluster, even with the repaired bugs. The world was empty, the world building was weak, the plot was a shallow copy of the ME trilogy, dialogues were cringe, the characters were extremely boring... Even as a standalone game it was weak, and compared to ME Trilogy, oh man.
it's biggest sin was having a totally forgettable story and cast, the game itself played "ok" but once again quite forgettable, the very definition of a 6-7/10 experience. This is a problem because as a trilogy ME1-3 was not this. So to be blunt if 1-3 hadn't set such a high bar the staggeringly mediocre nature of Andromeda may not have been a huge problem.
Now I agree with everything you said, but lets break it down everything looks gorgeous till you get to the faces and character creation, but lets be real this has been true for every bioware game. The boy racer Mako, okay millionaire takes military vehicle and upgrades it for exploration sure I can buy that. The choice of class at the beginning is irreverent as you can switch as you please almost limiting replay-ability, but game play is fun and you still have build options. Then we start hitting the big problems the forgettable characters- Vekra okay liked her, the new alien Jaul sure kinda interesting, Cora shes jealous you got her job, the ex cop that smuggled a sofa did he have a mission?, the old krogan AKA not Wrex, and finally I think the most annoying character Pebe trying to be a nerd and a rebel and failing at both, has a childlike face acts like a teenager then just wants to have no strings sex, I just find it creepy. Then we get to the story was there really one? You have to play space sudoko to enter vaults and switch them on, get all of them on a planet and it makes the planet habitable. Yeah I enjoyed the vaults and escaping when you switch them on. Where did they come from, who built them why are they there? No answers for any of those questions, then there is the hostile aliens whats their purpose, where have they come from and who/what is controlling them? again no answers. I hoped for a sequel to answer these questions but nope. But the worst thing- all those meaningful decisions that change the game like...?.... are you a boy or a girl. Yes I enjoyed the game, yes I wanted a second one, but lets be honest its mostly forgettable.
The amount of hate this game received is truly unfortunate. It really did seem to get a disproportionate amount of hate. I'll be the first to admit that it's character models weren't the best, and the open-world gameplay was pretty repetitive at times, but in retrospect, neither of those issues were remotely uncommon for the era. I suspect the real reason for the negativity was three-fold. First, the dev cycle was a trainwreck. So much of pre-production was spent on trying to engineer an overly ambitious "No Man's Sky"-esque exploration system with 30+ procedurally generated worlds, that there really wasn't adequate time for the writers and artists to fully flesh out the game. 5years of narrative writing was compressed into less than two. Add to that, EA's directive that they use "Frostbite", which forced artists to switch from 3DS Max to Maya, thereby having to completely recreate all of the assets and character models on an unfamiliar platform within the compressed production period, and it's really no wonder that there were technical and narrative issues. That being said, those issues weren't completely game breaking, nor were they unheard of at the time. Unfortunately, EA just compounded the problem by shifting Bioware over to what they thought would be a cash-cow in Anthem. Had Bioware been given the staff and resources it needed, I think ME4 would likely have ben able to turn things around in much the same way that No Man's Sky and Cyberpunk 2077 did, after their disastrous launches. Second, MEA was released during a rather tumultuous and generally negative period for social media and online content, in general. We'd just made it through "gamer-gate" a couple of years earlier, which spawned a wave of edgelord content creators who found they could profit off of the rage-incentivizing social media algorithms. It didn't help that, at least in the U.S., we'd just gone through a rather toxic and divisive national election that really set a negative and antagonistic tone for how people interacted online. Lastly, the long gap between ME3 and MEA and it's inevitable hype bubble, resulted in players building up unrealistic expectations. We see it all the time in gaming and film industries. People get very excited about an IP, and the longer they have to wait for it, the more excited they get. Then, when the content doesn't live up exactly to their expectations, they get disappointed and upset. Pair that with the social media trends, above, and those players go from disappointed to angry. We're seeing the exact same thing with Dragon Age: The Veilguard. Veilguard isn't going to win Game of the Year, (and I'm not personally a fan of the character art style, nor the linearity of it), but I do like the story and I'm enjoying the game play. I can accept that my vision isn't what was released, and still find enjoyment in what I have. I guarantee we'll see the exact same same disproportionate negativity when ME5 releases, and if/when the next Elder Scrolls is released. Honestly, the only recent game that seems to have missed that this trend has been Baldur's Gate 3, and I suspect that's in no small part because of it's time spent in early access. Before people could build unrealistic expectations, they were given access to an early build, which really kept fans grounded. I just hope that the negativity bandwagon for Veilguard doesn't end our prospect of getting to actually see ME5 someday.
Andromeda killed Mass Effect’s class fantasy and lots of story details trivialize major character and story arcs from the main series. Anyone who has even a modicum of respect for Mordrin and Jack especially are obligated to disavow and Andromeda on those grounds alone.
I got ME Andromeda for free with Amazon Prime. Played it through only once, and put it down never to start it up again. It was soooo terrible. The dialogue was stale and meaningless, the gameplay was repetitive and boring. The companions were weak compared to ME trilogy and not worthy if romancing
The only way they could continue the series, without picking a cannon ending was to run away from the 3rd game, I predicted it when they wimped out on the red, green, blue light show, which made no sense if you actually played the other 2 games and kept up with the codex, yeah, everything Shepard experienced in his dreams was repeatedly explained as indoctrination in previous games, but Casey Hudson swore different! Ah yes, the frostbite engine, something forced on them by EA because they owned it, not needing to pay to use the real engine, which they went back to BTW, frostbite was a nightmare, the dragon age team needed pulled over to continue to rewrite code for the frostbite, weeks of work and once done, when they moved to the next hangup, what they finished broke again, its why that garbage is shelved! I saved screen shots of much of my experience, broken rooms, can see through walls, floors, ceilings, hell, fall through the damn map, had I paid attention to my beta experience I should have cancelled my order, the path to dad, it did not even load in on my game, was a big black hole, I explored for hours before falling and having to reload the game, something required often when you just can't get the game to load your path, that was the xbox version. Dialog, it is sketchy at best, some sounds like grade school conversations, not adults, then the purposely made unattractive females, evidently hyper sleep gives you a fat face like a squirrel hoarding nuts! Anyone recall the "my face is tired video," it played over and over giving players an example of what your experiences will be. The piece of trash over Mass Defect Androgynous got on twitter to rampage the players negative comments, his suggestion white people should die will stick with me forever, that is exactly how the team felt about their players, yet they were a 'c' grade development team at best as they were not real game developers, see the Mass Effect team left long ago, as have Dragon Age, EA has destroyed Bioware, look at the alphabet mafia support in the game, catering to .03% of their players! This game taught me, never pre-order a game again, and don't pay extra for future content as when its canceled you'll not see a rebate! The only way to stop mediocre games pushing an agenda is to stop buying them, look at dragon age veilguard (queerguard) it is the dragon age version of mass defect androgynous, they just keep dumping out the same garbage!
Andromeda killed (murdered even) the Mass Effect Franchise. From it's way to early release with all its bugs, to its unremarkable characters, forgettable story line, and its fizzle let down of an ending Andromeda showcased everything wrong with the way BioWare approached making games after fully becoming part of EA. (ME3 had the EA hallmark bugs, but was still a great BioWare game) Good game? if you mean that it did not totally suck, ...well you would only half right, as Andromeda only half way "totally sucked". And now BioWare/EA think they are going to make a ME5 game??? Unless they completely got rig of all the writers and production infrastructure that had anything to do with their game making for the last few years, ME5 is going to suck worse than Andromeda. ...oh wait, they BioWare pulled the Dragon Age Vailguard team off of any more work on Vailguard - because it sucked so bad they couldn't pay critics enough to keep the total suck from showing through - yes BoiWare pulled the Vailguard team and put those losers who wrecked that game, ...BioWare put those losers onto MassEffect 5. I don't even have to wonder how that schiznett-show is going to turn out.
Ok, just like any ME fans, I've played the trilogy more than 7 times and MEA twice, therefore I think I am qualified to give some opinions to Andromeda. Kat's designs are bad and lazy, they look like something straight out of Warframe(which I do not like, not to WF, but the aesthetics doesn't fit ME universe). Character design are shallow as any DEI minds. There's little character development, the tempest crew are just PC culture at its peek. Alien voice acting are lame as hell. Krogans are softer than Hannar, Salarians talk slower than Elcor. And we had an entire FAKE Normand crew！We have Liam as FAKE Jacob, Jaal as FAKE Garrus, Gay Cheif engineer? I don't even remember his name! AFTER FINISH THE GAME TWICE! I mean Steve Cortez could take that ginger ass for days and not drop a sweat! And for Asari's standard, Peebee is just UGLY. I mean, let's be honest, after ALL the Asaris from trilogy, Peebee is just......Well, its only relative, I'm just look-shaming on any character, but I do see MEA devs imposing their own agenda but not put any actual work and effort into the character development. I'm more than fine to experience a Full DEI game but it has to make me feel realistic, at least let my brain think the world in that video game is possible, otherwise I can not enjoy it. Thus, the biggest failure of MEA is its character design, remember how badass Garrus as Archangel to defeat waves and waves of mobs on Omega? Remember how Jacob distrusting Shepard but became one of Shepard's MOST royal friend after we help him find his father and going through suicide mission. Just like Peebee, Tali was also a mysterious and exotic alien tech girl wondering the universe. We did not hook her up just in the first game, rather had the chance in the second game after she has grown to be a real woman! Comparing to MEA, everything just seems like a space orgy politely covered under PC culture and DEI. I'm not saying all characters in MEA are bad, characters like Alex Raider, Vetra, the ship's doctor...even Cora has some character potential to dig through. Anyway, such bad character design led to bad story development. The devs over complicated things and had such weird and unnecessary agenda on characters resulted in yielding shallow presentation in the game.
yes, and Veilguard didn't have the buggy launch Andromeda did. Just backlash based on ideology, and they were salty because the game has great reviews, but of course it does, because it's a good game.
Its my favorite game in the series so far because while the story and characters were weaker then the Shep trilogy I loved the gameplay. Less restrictions on character builds, full sets of both Thermal Clip and Overheat guns, a return to planetary vehicle exploration, and a lot more mobility in combat. I'm still angry with everyone involved in scrapping the story DLCs. I hate the Tempest though because IMO the only characters who would create an unarmed deep space exploration ship in a setting like Mass Effect are fools or traitors trying to sabotage the ship.
I enjoy andromeda and I’m tired of pretending I don’t 😂 After the bleakness of the mass effect trilogy andromeda is like desert afterwards it’s less deep not as well written but it doesn’t make me as sad when I’m done playing
Watching this makes one think “hey, this game doesn’t look terrible” until you play it, and you’re like “good lord this game is mediocre”. The voice acting is cringe, the lore sucks compared to the trilogy, and the animations are rough. It’s not a good rpg game. It’s a pretty game, and combat is decent. Outside of that it was a prelude to the crash of BioWare. This could have been so much more. That’s the sad part. This is a good video don’t get me wrong, however the game was a let down. I was so excited for it, I’ll never forget the feeling I had when it came out, and being let down.
My brother in Christ Andromeda is incomplete, no matter how many patches or fixes they apply, no matter how well meaning the creatives behind it were, you only received part of what was promised. It's a game of half measures and that encompasses all the problems that plague this title. You and everyone who plays this game deserves a finished story and a complete product. You deserve better, we as consumers deserve better, the franchise and the story and narrative that's been built up deserves better.
Lots of points about entitlement. You get what you get. The artists made the game, not you. Fact is there is a lot that goes into making these games. The good ideas almost always get cut, this is how the industry always is. Even the indie side. The difference is back in the day we didnt know about a game until shortly before it was released. Now, because the plague of social media we know too much. This is why people think they are owed the idea that is in their head.
@@flashgordon8962 You do realize that the team changed directors and the scale of the game multiple times during its very troubled development, right? That they weren't allowed to delay the game so they had to hack together what they released in 18 months? That it was the team's first full game and first time working with the Frostbite engine? That they were thrown under the bus almost immediately and resources were constantly being shifted to support Anthem of all things?
@andrewtyrell4795 Th3 changing of directors does not shield this game from criticism, nor does the troubled development. Development for this game started long before those 18 months as well, Bioware historically developed and theorized on several games at the same time during this era. It was not their first time working with the Frostbite Engine, they released Dragon Age Inquisition 2-3 years prior in 2014, it also had an extremely messy development, yet that game was applauded by several fans of the series. Thrown under the bus, what does that mean exactly? By EA? There's no documentation on that which is easily traceable, however it does seem plausible given their track record. The game fails as a game with underwhelming RPG mechanics, badly written main story and world building, and lackluster player agency. The gameplay itself is confirmed repetitive by several fans of the game. This video is less of a compliment to Andromeda, and more so a compliment to the capabilities of the Frostbite Engine. Most of the video is dedicated to the visual design of the game, which is subjective and I will not argue against.
@cruzaedo8559 I didn't say the context of the game's development makes it immune to criticism. I'm just trying to see people acknowledge the difficulties the developers faced in making the game. They started with a overly ambitious directorial vision that had to be repeatedly scaled back in order to have something they actually finish and ship in the time they had. The circumstances are important to consider when criticizing it. Especially since the spirit of the video is about looking at the game in a more favorable light and judging it based on what it is rather than on what it isn't. As for working with the Frostbite engine, the team that made Andromeda was Bioware Montreal while Inquisition was made by Bioware Edmonton which was the original studio. They were mostly working separately during this time. I guess by thrown under the bus I basically just mean EA being EA. They didn't let them delay the game even though it would have really helped and simply dissolved the team when the reception wasn't unanimous praise. For what it's worth Dragon Age Inquisition was pretty repetitive too. And I say that as a fan of both. Really what I want people to acknowledge is that the people who made Andromeda had a difficult time making it and compromises were made to fit the repeatedly changing scope of the game. Just some empathy for the people who make games for us to play. I know I've had to settle for "best I could do under the circumstances" and I'd be pretty bummed if thousands of people spent years complaining that I'd done poorly without noting the circumstances.
Andromeda could've been so good and had so much wasted potential with the story.
There were a lot of wasted opportunities with that.
Very true, so much potential
most of the problems people had with it was the animations, I don't remember much discussion about the story positive/negative
@@renaigh well, that was my main issue. Some jank animations are whatever, but the premise could and should'e delivered on the explorer aspect so much more.
@@renaigh People complaining about the animations were the loudest.
But I don't think that's the reason why it failed.
ME1 for example has a pretty bad combat, but people still love it.
ME2 has better combat, but still not good one, but people still love it.
ME3 has pretty good combat, but already many people were disappointed.
So all in all I think what many people really love about ME games is the characters+story.
And ME:A has abysmal characters and a pretty bad story. So even if it has amazing combat, that's not what ME fans wanted.
And what's more ME:A strayed so much from the ME "formula" that it's pretty much a different game.
If it wasn't an ME game, I really believe it would've done much better.
A part was a lack of respect with crew towards Ryder
Thank. You. I love seeing appreciation for Andromeda. it is one of my favorite games, the characters, the combat, the story, the different locations- all of it, I love all of it. and it breaks my heart a little that it’ll probably never get a sequel :(
Walking up the controls of the Tempest was always a treat with those giant windows. You walk up the prow and look out and down and it felt like you were just hanging out in space. Just a slightest rush of vertigo as the mind boggles in awe of that enormous view.
Say what you will abput the game, and everyone has, but that absolutely beats the pants off of walking up to a hologram map at the back of the ship and as far from a window as it was possible to get.
After watching this video, I have to agree with you. I felt like I was too judgmental about all the bugs I saw, so I did not see all the beauty the game gave me. Thank you for making this video. And feel proud that you made at least one person reinstall MEA and give it another chance.
Even though this game wasn’t as good as the original 3, I still had a lot of fun with it. The exploration aspects, the worlds and especially the combat were all great.
I liked the trope about friendly ship AI supercomputer "talking" to alien technology. This tingles my SciFi senses. Cause this is how likely communication will aliens happen.
I'm one of the few that liked Andromeda , yes it had a rough launch as they released and unpolished game . However, after 10 patches, the game became a great game in my eyes .
Andromeda could have nice themes to tell stories if they had a chance for a second opus.
Kert were not reapers you could negotiate with them.
Is life coming out of a machine life ? Angara are not "natural"
Is Ryder a person or is he just SAM bearer ? future issues?
Politic over survival ?
Ryder how ryder will evolve when people feel they don't need him anymore
Your crew needed time to grow, your relationship with your sibiling...
YES Andromeda had a lot to do better.
Same.
through absolute sheer coincedence today was the day I decided to try and finally play through the mass effect trilogy, had NO idea it was N7 day but that just makes it even better
Im going to type some unpopular stuff right now:
Mass Effect Andromeda is my 2nd favorite Mass Effect game.
My personal ranking of favorites is thus: ME1, ME:Andromeda, ME3, ME2. I love them all, but i love them in that order.
I too enjoy Andromeda more than 2. When I think of 2, the plot is unfocused except the beginning, the suicide mission, and the arrival and shadow broker dlcs. 2 doesn't leave much for mystery and wonder, like the other games imo, a precedent ME1 masterfully established.
I don't want to type a long essay explaining everything, but my preferences are ME3, ME1, MEA, and ME2. I love playing them all, their characters, and their stories. What had me come around with Andromeda was realizing that this is a civilian operation with an organized militia, not a legitimate war being fought with militaries and special forces. So my expectations for epic set pieces remain with the Trilogy.
After accepting that fact, I started to understand and enjoy more of Andromeda's themes. It clearly establishes in the beginning that we are the aliens. Later in the codex, we come to learn that the Kett we fight are just a single relatively small, but formidable sect of a significantly larger galactic empire. The Archon we fight is one of a handful, and he desires to betray his people and start a coup for power.
The irony is that the Milky Way's technology is more advanced and deadlier than Andromeda's. Therefore, from the Kett's perspective, they were invaded by an alien force, civilian force or not. I see the potential Andromeda paved the way for, flipping the script on us and exploring what happens when we are in the Reapers' place, invading a galaxy with superior tech against its native galactic nation.
great video as always! Been working through the ME games myself lately and have recently finished 2, but will make sure to explore Andromeda once I have finished 3!
You make such an amazing point on how distinctive the aliens look. They actually fit how they are in lore.
For me - what this game gets right it hits a hone run, but sadly what it gets wrong it strikes out miserably
Andromeda was actually my intro to the Mass Effect universe and made me want to go back and play ME 1-3.. I love this game
You highlighted some things I didn't fully appreciate in my playthrough. I felt like the story was weak, and I hated all of the companions, but you are right that they really did environments well, and I feel that the combat was like 80% of the way to being amazing
Great video... I also appreciated the risks Mass Effect Andromeda took. I viewed it as a game different from the original trilogy that just happened to be in the same Mass Effect universe. Just like there are other games out there that are two different games but happen to share the same universe... one example that comes to mind is Titan Fall and Apex Legends. I too hoped that Andromeda story would had continue and eventually evolved from the Milky Way. Let's see if there are any inklings of Andromeda in the next Mass Effect game. By the way... Happy N7 Day!!
Happy N7 Day to you as well!
From the analysis of the ME5 teases I've seen, it looks like the Milky Way and Andromeda stories will be somehow woven into one in the next game, if it does ever get made.
Im playing Andromeda atm and have nothing really to complain about. Lets hope they abandon the emphasis on the woke BS in the next iteration and make a solid Bioware style, ME game.
I mean everything you said is true, but esentially none of these things you mention are the reason fans disliked this one. Nobody ever says this game doesn't look mesmersing or that it wasn't ambitious. The problem is always Boring storyline / Poor Quest design.
I don't disagree it's just like trying to defend a poor tasting dish with a really incredible plating.
That hits the nail on the head!
It was a very fun game. One of the only ones that I can remember playing over and over again. It’s funny at times and the combat is a blast. But the story wasn’t as good as it could’ve been. Didn’t ruin the experience for me but I can understand why others don’t like it
I would not say I hated it back then. I was more disappointed with all those wasted potential I saw there. But as the time moved on, I found my inner peace with the game. Maybe I should play it once more. Thank you for the great video
Dam new video this soon love your work keep going you are gonna become a great channel in yt and this is a necessary channel we needed someone to appreciate artists in video game industry
That's very kind of you, thank you!
Love Your Work bro Keep Going ❤
Nah i love andromeda
There's three of us?!
Indeed
I liked andromeda when I played it. It was my first mass effect game. Then I played 1-3 when the legendary edition came out and oh my god I tried playing andromeda after the 3rd one and I couldn’t play it for more than 3 hours even though I really tried
I was so disappointed that they didn't continue with another game, I enjoyed combat the most here and was down with the story themes.
@@christopherchilton-smith6482 Worse, they had the dlc and sequels canceled to move resources over to Anthem.
There are definitely aspects of this game that I really like. I really liked the idea behind the story and regret the lackluster execution. I would have liked to see the story continue. I actually liked the idea of Ryder growing into a hero rather than already being the hero that Sheperd was.
You can't play it with Mass Effect 1,2,3 expectations. It's like a off shoot of a series or show. There are references but it has it's own story. The longer you play it you will become more immersed. Give it a chance for the price you can't go wrong.
It should not have been saddled with the Mass Effect prefix because it automatically bore the burden of great expectations by Trilogy lovers. It really is it's own game, and was supposed to be the first in a trilogy we will never see because of the disastrous launch. It was messy and bug ridden, it wasn't Mass Effect, the companions weren't lovable, the dialogue wasn't great, exploration was too much/not enough/boring, it had some good bits but they weren't enough to pull it out, the story/plot/characters/protagonist were boring. These were, and still are, things that are said about Andromeda. And yet, there is a large steadfast crew of folks still playing and enjoying it for what it is.
I did not play it until three years ago, so everything was patched by then, and for PC's the modders brought it across the finish line. I enjoy it less than my annual MELE Trilogy plays because it lacks the fullness of trilogy engagement, but I enjoy more for what it is and am always sad that there is no second installment.
Nah the longer you play more you will realize how cliche the story is. How it played it's card too soon. How the reveal can be seen from a mile away
@1957DLT I agree, I played 2 months ago, put off by the reviews but then took the chance. I'm an old gamer, 68 years old, so I don't always read a lot into the game, I take it for what it is. Liked the planet graphics, combat
@RedHornSSS true, old gamer, take it for what it is, but I hear ya
Thanks for highlighting all the good, it really was a beautiful game and I’m still sad that we’ll never know what happens next in the story. I’m hoping for at least a new novel in the future if nothing else.
I love the gratitude you have for this game. Sometimes i feel like im the I nly one who appreciates it. The combat alone is perfect for me.
My favorite thing about the Krogans’ design is that, unlike the other species that have two or more front-facing eyes, their eyes are on the sides of their faces, granting them greater peripheral vision than others. This trait more commonly seen in prey animals and emphasizes how Krogans are adapted to a hostile world where they are absolutely NOT at the top of the food chain.
i love you video style and input on games, i never playd androemda, thanks to the meida around its lunch,
i am not sure if i will ever play it but its fun to see some part of the game tec or you like coming in Starcitzen. Like scale scale is so important is good syfy.
Thanks for you great work like away and happe for the next one!
“Hate” is too strong a word. I played it to 99% completion. The writing was awful, but the gameplay was fine.
I’ll listen.
I love it. It wasn’t perfect. Neither is the trilogy. I play it once a year usually. Gonna do another playthrough now
I played Andromeda for the first time quite a few years later; when the game was just about $20 or so. I very much enjoyed this game and I'm disappointed that there likely wont be a follow up to the story.
I enjoyed Andromeda, however it should not have been a "Mass Effect" title, it should have been it's own thing.
Exactly.
I don't really see this as "Courage", it's not much different if the game was set in the past, they simply jumped to another galaxy in order to avoid all the baggage of the original trilogy and there's about as much "Courage" in it as in Dragon Age jumping all over the world to avoid taking your actions into account, granted DA at least is happening on the same continent and you do see some your actions play out over 10 years of the original trilogy. This might've sounded negative, but I don't think it is. It's just not some incredibly bold move IMO.
As for sci-fi part, originally Mass Effect had a cool premise with the central plot about the Reapers revolving around Dark Matter, the original idea was that the cycle was created by Reapers to harness organics, because organics and their interactions with the Dark Matter and their use of Biotics were advancing the death of the universe, it was even teased in ME2 when during Tali's recruitment she remarks on sun speeding to the end of it's natural life cycle because of Dark Matter upon which a lot of technology including Mass Relays is built upon.
That's an insightful alternative opinion. Thanks!
Great video
Sad to see now how much andromeda was hated, now that the bar for modern AAA sci fi and games in general has reached a new low when looking at games such as starfield and star wars outlaws, the original trilogy still amazes me on how it raised the bar so high that to this date no other games has even come close to reaching with only andromeda having the potential, we were spoiled and we took andromeda for granted.
The biggest, brightest hidden gem I know of is the book Mass Effect: Annihilation. It's a tie in for the cancelled Andromeda DLC about what happened on the missing ark with Turians/Hanar/Volus/Bavarian etc. The writers (Catherynne M. Valente & N.K. Jemison) clearly love the universe and weave in elements of codex lore in a way that made the alien races feel alive and intriguing in ways the games only hint at. I cannot reccomend it enough to anyone who's a fan of the series! It works great as a standalone :)
On a personal note, thank you for giving Andromeda some love! Optimistic Sci-Fi is my favorite, and despite the games flaws I really enjoyed the premise and how I felt playing it.
(PS The audiobook is read by the VA for Scott Ryder and he does different voices/cadences/accents for every character, he's outstanding!)
Quarians and not turians. Oh and from what I heard andromeda wasnt meant to had dlc. Quarian ark was supposed to bd in a sequel. I hope we get more andromeda in the future
@@kyzit8458 no it was DLC and it was basically done when the studio got shut down. the DLC was gonna come packaged with a bunch of gameplay and animation fixes as well so it basically would have been a second launch for the game but EA wanted to switch focus to anthem and well we all know how that went
Now i want to go celebrate Oktoberfest on the Bavarian Ark 😂😂
@@exilestudios9546 watch kala Elizabeth's "mass effect andromeda what happened to dlc" video
I wish they had taken more risks with the actual gameplay loop. If they had really put explorations of an unfamiliar galaxy front and center. Instead you're just right back to shooting generic war alien species within 5 minutes. The most I felt the potential of what the game could have been was in the 1st contact mission with the Angara; it was tense and monumental, even without action combat. That's what was needed. A slower pace, and a grander sense of wonder, as new and different threats are gradually introduced.
But no, instead we get pew pew gamer brain.
Maybe I'm just socially awkward myself but I beat the game before I learned of the supposedly broken animations.
That stuff just never bothered me because I'm not sensitive to stuff like facial animations.
I just remember the kick ass combat more than anything else.
Thanks, Adam for another high quality, deep and insightful video.
And I agree : Andromeda is a great game, especially now that my new hardware can compensate for the highly inefficient Frostbite engine.
Ha, yeah it really bottlenecks in a lot of places. Fps could go from 150 to 30 depending on where i was standing. Thanks for the super and for watching the videos, it means a lot!
@ Good to hear those wildly fluctuating framerates are not just me 😌
One of my biggest issues with the og was the time syncs. Whether it was traveling in absolute empty worlds to find items scattered all over the place, scanning planets which was worse but no one wants to talk about it, or probing planets which was even worse. Andromeda upped the game by having the omnitool scanner and got tons of mileage out of it that didn't feel too overly used. The gameplay was nice but it's too bad we got less RPG tactical elements in regards to the combat. I actually like having to use my squadmates but I understand they want the pacing to feel fast but that basically means your companions are irrelevant to have in the first place. Space Marines 2 shows the combat can be really really good without the stupid high mobility stuff Call of Duty and Titanfall tried to make trendy oddly enough the elevation combat was never in any games campaign except ME;A.
I tried andromeda for the first time recently and all I can say is…. It was aggressively mediocre… at best. You can feel the exhaustion of the writers whenever you talk to almost anyone in the game. Like they could barely be bothered to write and act their dialogue. It’s absolutely awful. I don’t think I’ve cared less about characters in any game. Coming from Mass Effect 1-3, which had some of the most compelling characters I’ve ever seen, it was shockingly disappointing.
I actually liked it. The characters were a bit goofy, but I did enjoy it. I love The Tempest. It's my favorite of all the ships.
Two things annoyed me however. One, BioWare stripping the game of developers to work on Anthem, an MMO. Two, abandoning the game and not giving us a DLC for the missing Quarian Ark that they hinted at. And now they are doing the same with Dragon Age: The Veilguard. They're moving on to Mass Effect now, but I actually don't mind them moving on this time.
It was great for me, don't know why all the hate. Yes had flaws, but was entertaining and I find a good followup
I think ME:A deserved at least 1 story expansion DLC, a lot of sub-lots remained unanswered and just fell into the void.
Also, I think we did not have enough character development for basicaly all crew companions and without any kind of sequel or tie-in to Anderomeda all of what happened in ME:A remains pointless.
The main problem in my opinion were the characters who had hardly any personality and a weak story. In the original trilogy, for example, I didn't care if I left Kaidan or Ashley on Virmire to die, I didn't like either of them. But when Mordin Solus died to heal the Genephage, for example, I had to cry, just like when Legion "died".
And as you rightly mentioned, the trilogy is more of a space opera with characters you may or may not like, with a story being told. That's exactly what people expected from a Mass Effect title and that's why they were disappointed.
Because they just get a space shooter with pretty graphics and a weak story, Andromeda is simply nothing more
I always felt that Andromeda got a lot of hate for the wrong reasons. As you pointed out, Andromeda played with key parts of what was associated with Mass Effect, however, the problem with doing that too much is, you get something that doesn’t feel like Mass Effect. That was one of the biggest issues I had with it, along with the issues in the story and with the characters. Andromeda also seemed, at least to me, that BioWare was trying to avoid ME 3’s ending rather than progress the story and deal with the ending. You didn’t like ME 3’s ending? Well, Andromeda’s got you covered, because it ignores the ending. I liked your analysis of the things Andromeda did right, though.
I feel like BioWare could have salvaged the game, but they literally just abandoned it. I loved the overall idea of the story: traveling to a new galaxy on a pioneering mission and finding habitats. Unfortunately the crew felt stale and you couldnt customize really anything with them/ship. The main enemy species seemed kind generic.
I cant deny the graphics were good (the characters looked pretty janky sometimes. Especially the humans and asari) and the combat was really cool. But I didn't like Andromeda. The story and writing just didn't hit for me. I couldn't bring myself to care about Ryder or any of the crew. They just felt like checks in boxes and not actual characters. That and a lackluster story with multiple plot holes.
I wouldn't call it a bad game. But not every game is for everyone. I also don't like call of duty or the souls games. Objectively good games. I just don't enjoy them.
I actually liked the game was just angry at the game breaking bugs myself.
Okay is not hated by everybody I enjoyed it in a couple of other people enjoyed it it's only hated by people that never played Mass Effect before
I understand it launched in a bad state, models are pretty bad, but I really enjoyed it on my playthrough. Enough so that I got it on PC, to see if not being locked at 30 fps makes me less irritated with it.
Unfortunately, while still liking the game , i hated the new armor design and color (n7) but love the fact you could switch armor part really wish we got a dlc were they could improve over the critic.
The only thing that makes me consider this a mass effect game is vetra
Andromeda was not as bad as I thought it would be, it tries a few things but it does fall short and was clearly unfinished.
I wanna try this out soon
Decades later
Hey Adam, I like that you shine light on the more overlooked and positive sides of Andromeda and I really like your videos. Keep it up :)
However, I have to disagree with the statement that andromeda is a good game. It trampled on the core values that made Mass Effect great. From deep and rich characters to 1 dimensional clichés. From a meaningful story that makes you feel like your every decision has profound consequences to the most boring, flat sci fi tropes. Most annoying to me is how every character in this game drops a stupid macho line at every opportunity, destroying every hope of taking any part of the game serious.
Yes the game has some good points and ideas, I especially like the armor designs and the combat gameplay, but its a bad game and an even worse entry to its franchise because it is weakest where its predecessors most shon. It reminds me much of star trek piccard with how much it seems to misunderstand its franchise.
Looks like you didnt even watched the video at all. Author didnt talk about story and lore at all. VIdeo about art design, gameplay mechanics and environment. Which outside of Ket and Asari is top tier.
@Altmer353 it's always been like that with the Andromeda haters because they don't know anything most haven't played it much less finished it they are simply parroting what someone in a video or tick tock said that's why that can't actually argue points on game design mechanics ect the video they are parroting doesn't know so they don't know either they just repeat the same things over and over.
@@Altmer353 something i hated about Andromeda’s combat was the inability to properly control your squadmate’s abilities. It ruined the tactical gameplay from the original trilogy and diminished much of the potential affinity player’s could’ve developed with the characters through gameplay.
@@Altmer353It seems to me you did not read my comment or misunderstood what I wanted to say. I did watch the video and I agree with the author that andromeda has good points and shows potential in certain areas. I even stated that.
But I dont agree with the statement that andromeda is a good game overall. Just because it has some good points they dont outway the gigantic problems and flaws this game has, which makes it a bad game in my opinion. Especially because lore, characters and story are the points the game is weakest in, and at the same time its exactly those points that the franchise always was best in and made it what it was.
So even if andromeda wouldnt be a bad game, which it is in my opinion, it would still be a bad entry to the franchise.
this is to this day my favorite mass effect game, despite the hate something about it just clicked with me.
Agreed! I love all the Mass Effect games - I even enjoyed being able to choose the ending of the OrigTril. GO GREEN!!! ;-P
However ...... People always forget that:
1) ME:A - as was the case with CP2077, for example - was rushed out the door by the greedy moneybags who couldn't give a flying for the game itself. Hence the many glitches - the game was unfinished.
2) ME TOrigTril BECAME really good from the second episode onward. The first was nothing particularly special at launch - techy stuff aside. ...... it needed time to develop, naturally. ME:A WAS NOT ALLOWED THIS DEVELOPMENT!
3) Also, wokeness. ... not the homo/bi stuff, that's all g. You do you. I'm Gen-X and proud of it, so tip-toeing apologetically around other people's oversensitive feelings was never part of our programming. :-D
Anyhoo, I love this game. ......... since they were given the opportunity to fix it.
Cheers from the land Downundah, mate. 🍻
It's flawed, but not terrible.
Tried getting into this game for the third time last week and it sadly just doesn't manage to grab my attention. I did like the combat though, it was the other systems that didn't do it for me.
Bro, you made a great video about god of War. Why don't you make one about god of wae ragnark
I viewed it as a completely different game... I played it separately in my mind from mass effect. In that respect,it wasn't a great game but it wasn't as bad as they made it out to be.
I think the gameplay of andromeda is very fun and good but the story is mediocre. I still revisit the game from time to time.
For all its faults, I like it 😊
I always argued andromeda wasn’t a bad game, but a bad mass effect game. I wish the legendary edition of the trilogy would’ve been a full blown remake with andromeda art style & combat loop.
@@brucebane04 Andromeda’s combat was one of the weakest parts for me. Both from a design standpoint and mechanically.
The dash felt anemic as hell and the three ability limit was absolutely a slap in the face for people who historically liked Hybrid classes from the actual trilogy.
Especially as a day 1 sentinel enjoyer, Andromeda was fundamentally incapable of providing me a satisfying combat experience.
Furthermore, they took what was arguably the worst part of ME1 and made it the main part of the game. I practically have PTSD from the way the original Mako handled before LE fixed it. You’d flip off a cliff you were nowhere near from merely clipping a piece of terrain the size of a snickers bar.
All of that was stuff I could actually look past because I play games as a vehicle for narrative experiences. My MAIN issue was actually how much heavy shit from the actual games this shitty spinoff trivialized with what are otherwise minor details.
Cora being a member of the Asari Commandos? That’s not actually as dumb as other people think, but to be an Asari Commando requires a certain level of Biotic aptitude. Guess who the only human who met the requirements would have been before Cora? Yep. Jack. The girl who was experimented on and tortured and was the only successful candidate out of the entire program that made her.
Cora being able to join the Asari Commandos basically says “fuck jack and her entire backstory and character arc. She’s not special because we have an unmodified biotic that is just as strong.”
And before you say “Cora isn’t as strong as Jack” think about this: If she’s not, she couldn’t have joined the commandos. It’s not just like a technical requirement, they’re by definition the strongest non-matriarch biotics of the Asari species. Their training focuses on that.
And don’t even get me started about the Krogan subplot where they’re out mutating the genophage.
Why the fuck did Mordrin die to undo the Genophage then? Literally his whole character arc was about him feeling guilty over how he modified the genophage so that would never happen. His death was an act of redemption because he knew that the krogan would never be able to evolve past the new version.
Ryder being able to use Biotics because of a fucking AI also makes no sense. If biotic powers could just be given like that, Cerberus would not have been doing half the unethical shit they’ve been doing.
Unless you had natal exposure to EZO and you got an implant, you ain’t a fucking biotic.
its not even a bad mass effect game in fact i would argue that it does a better job of recapturing what made the first game so special than 2 and 3 did.
I disagree, the game's biggest crime was, that it was very boring and lackluster, even with the repaired bugs. The world was empty, the world building was weak, the plot was a shallow copy of the ME trilogy, dialogues were cringe, the characters were extremely boring... Even as a standalone game it was weak, and compared to ME Trilogy, oh man.
Loved the game
it's biggest sin was having a totally forgettable story and cast, the game itself played "ok" but once again quite forgettable, the very definition of a 6-7/10 experience. This is a problem because as a trilogy ME1-3 was not this. So to be blunt if 1-3 hadn't set such a high bar the staggeringly mediocre nature of Andromeda may not have been a huge problem.
Starfield next please 🙏
Now I agree with everything you said, but lets break it down everything looks gorgeous till you get to the faces and character creation, but lets be real this has been true for every bioware game.
The boy racer Mako, okay millionaire takes military vehicle and upgrades it for exploration sure I can buy that. The choice of class at the beginning is irreverent as you can switch as you please almost limiting replay-ability, but game play is fun and you still have build options.
Then we start hitting the big problems the forgettable characters- Vekra okay liked her, the new alien Jaul sure kinda interesting, Cora shes jealous you got her job, the ex cop that smuggled a sofa did he have a mission?, the old krogan AKA not Wrex, and finally I think the most annoying character Pebe trying to be a nerd and a rebel and failing at both, has a childlike face acts like a teenager then just wants to have no strings sex, I just find it creepy.
Then we get to the story was there really one? You have to play space sudoko to enter vaults and switch them on, get all of them on a planet and it makes the planet habitable. Yeah I enjoyed the vaults and escaping when you switch them on. Where did they come from, who built them why are they there? No answers for any of those questions, then there is the hostile aliens whats their purpose, where have they come from and who/what is controlling them? again no answers. I hoped for a sequel to answer these questions but nope.
But the worst thing- all those meaningful decisions that change the game like...?.... are you a boy or a girl.
Yes I enjoyed the game, yes I wanted a second one, but lets be honest its mostly forgettable.
The amount of hate this game received is truly unfortunate. It really did seem to get a disproportionate amount of hate. I'll be the first to admit that it's character models weren't the best, and the open-world gameplay was pretty repetitive at times, but in retrospect, neither of those issues were remotely uncommon for the era. I suspect the real reason for the negativity was three-fold.
First, the dev cycle was a trainwreck. So much of pre-production was spent on trying to engineer an overly ambitious "No Man's Sky"-esque exploration system with 30+ procedurally generated worlds, that there really wasn't adequate time for the writers and artists to fully flesh out the game. 5years of narrative writing was compressed into less than two. Add to that, EA's directive that they use "Frostbite", which forced artists to switch from 3DS Max to Maya, thereby having to completely recreate all of the assets and character models on an unfamiliar platform within the compressed production period, and it's really no wonder that there were technical and narrative issues. That being said, those issues weren't completely game breaking, nor were they unheard of at the time. Unfortunately, EA just compounded the problem by shifting Bioware over to what they thought would be a cash-cow in Anthem. Had Bioware been given the staff and resources it needed, I think ME4 would likely have ben able to turn things around in much the same way that No Man's Sky and Cyberpunk 2077 did, after their disastrous launches.
Second, MEA was released during a rather tumultuous and generally negative period for social media and online content, in general. We'd just made it through "gamer-gate" a couple of years earlier, which spawned a wave of edgelord content creators who found they could profit off of the rage-incentivizing social media algorithms. It didn't help that, at least in the U.S., we'd just gone through a rather toxic and divisive national election that really set a negative and antagonistic tone for how people interacted online.
Lastly, the long gap between ME3 and MEA and it's inevitable hype bubble, resulted in players building up unrealistic expectations. We see it all the time in gaming and film industries. People get very excited about an IP, and the longer they have to wait for it, the more excited they get. Then, when the content doesn't live up exactly to their expectations, they get disappointed and upset. Pair that with the social media trends, above, and those players go from disappointed to angry. We're seeing the exact same thing with Dragon Age: The Veilguard. Veilguard isn't going to win Game of the Year, (and I'm not personally a fan of the character art style, nor the linearity of it), but I do like the story and I'm enjoying the game play. I can accept that my vision isn't what was released, and still find enjoyment in what I have.
I guarantee we'll see the exact same same disproportionate negativity when ME5 releases, and if/when the next Elder Scrolls is released. Honestly, the only recent game that seems to have missed that this trend has been Baldur's Gate 3, and I suspect that's in no small part because of it's time spent in early access. Before people could build unrealistic expectations, they were given access to an early build, which really kept fans grounded. I just hope that the negativity bandwagon for Veilguard doesn't end our prospect of getting to actually see ME5 someday.
Best third person combat I've ever played
Source: I'm a game developer
not a very good one it seems
Andromeda killed Mass Effect’s class fantasy and lots of story details trivialize major character and story arcs from the main series.
Anyone who has even a modicum of respect for Mordrin and Jack especially are obligated to disavow and Andromeda on those grounds alone.
Bro I‘m Sorry but what are you talking about?!?
Almost all aspects about the game you were talking about were absolutely bad
I got ME Andromeda for free with Amazon Prime. Played it through only once, and put it down never to start it up again. It was soooo terrible. The dialogue was stale and meaningless, the gameplay was repetitive and boring. The companions were weak compared to ME trilogy and not worthy if romancing
The only way they could continue the series, without picking a cannon ending was to run away from the 3rd game, I predicted it when they wimped out on the red, green, blue light show, which made no sense if you actually played the other 2 games and kept up with the codex, yeah, everything Shepard experienced in his dreams was repeatedly explained as indoctrination in previous games, but Casey Hudson swore different!
Ah yes, the frostbite engine, something forced on them by EA because they owned it, not needing to pay to use the real engine, which they went back to BTW, frostbite was a nightmare, the dragon age team needed pulled over to continue to rewrite code for the frostbite, weeks of work and once done, when they moved to the next hangup, what they finished broke again, its why that garbage is shelved!
I saved screen shots of much of my experience, broken rooms, can see through walls, floors, ceilings, hell, fall through the damn map, had I paid attention to my beta experience I should have cancelled my order, the path to dad, it did not even load in on my game, was a big black hole, I explored for hours before falling and having to reload the game, something required often when you just can't get the game to load your path, that was the xbox version.
Dialog, it is sketchy at best, some sounds like grade school conversations, not adults, then the purposely made unattractive females, evidently hyper sleep gives you a fat face like a squirrel hoarding nuts! Anyone recall the "my face is tired video," it played over and over giving players an example of what your experiences will be.
The piece of trash over Mass Defect Androgynous got on twitter to rampage the players negative comments, his suggestion white people should die will stick with me forever, that is exactly how the team felt about their players, yet they were a 'c' grade development team at best as they were not real game developers, see the Mass Effect team left long ago, as have Dragon Age, EA has destroyed Bioware, look at the alphabet mafia support in the game, catering to .03% of their players! This game taught me, never pre-order a game again, and don't pay extra for future content as when its canceled you'll not see a rebate!
The only way to stop mediocre games pushing an agenda is to stop buying them, look at dragon age veilguard (queerguard) it is the dragon age version of mass defect androgynous, they just keep dumping out the same garbage!
Andromeda killed (murdered even) the Mass Effect Franchise. From it's way to early release with all its bugs, to its unremarkable characters, forgettable story line, and its fizzle let down of an ending Andromeda showcased everything wrong with the way BioWare approached making games after fully becoming part of EA. (ME3 had the EA hallmark bugs, but was still a great BioWare game)
Good game? if you mean that it did not totally suck, ...well you would only half right, as Andromeda only half way "totally sucked".
And now BioWare/EA think they are going to make a ME5 game??? Unless they completely got rig of all the writers and production infrastructure that had anything to do with their game making for the last few years, ME5 is going to suck worse than Andromeda.
...oh wait, they BioWare pulled the Dragon Age Vailguard team off of any more work on Vailguard - because it sucked so bad they couldn't pay critics enough to keep the total suck from showing through - yes BoiWare pulled the Vailguard team and put those losers who wrecked that game, ...BioWare put those losers onto MassEffect 5.
I don't even have to wonder how that schiznett-show is going to turn out.
Ok, just like any ME fans, I've played the trilogy more than 7 times and MEA twice, therefore I think I am qualified to give some opinions to Andromeda. Kat's designs are bad and lazy, they look like something straight out of Warframe(which I do not like, not to WF, but the aesthetics doesn't fit ME universe). Character design are shallow as any DEI minds. There's little character development, the tempest crew are just PC culture at its peek. Alien voice acting are lame as hell. Krogans are softer than Hannar, Salarians talk slower than Elcor. And we had an entire FAKE Normand crew！We have Liam as FAKE Jacob, Jaal as FAKE Garrus, Gay Cheif engineer? I don't even remember his name! AFTER FINISH THE GAME TWICE! I mean Steve Cortez could take that ginger ass for days and not drop a sweat! And for Asari's standard, Peebee is just UGLY. I mean, let's be honest, after ALL the Asaris from trilogy, Peebee is just......Well, its only relative, I'm just look-shaming on any character, but I do see MEA devs imposing their own agenda but not put any actual work and effort into the character development. I'm more than fine to experience a Full DEI game but it has to make me feel realistic, at least let my brain think the world in that video game is possible, otherwise I can not enjoy it. Thus, the biggest failure of MEA is its character design, remember how badass Garrus as Archangel to defeat waves and waves of mobs on Omega? Remember how Jacob distrusting Shepard but became one of Shepard's MOST royal friend after we help him find his father and going through suicide mission. Just like Peebee, Tali was also a mysterious and exotic alien tech girl wondering the universe. We did not hook her up just in the first game, rather had the chance in the second game after she has grown to be a real woman! Comparing to MEA, everything just seems like a space orgy politely covered under PC culture and DEI. I'm not saying all characters in MEA are bad, characters like Alex Raider, Vetra, the ship's doctor...even Cora has some character potential to dig through. Anyway, such bad character design led to bad story development. The devs over complicated things and had such weird and unnecessary agenda on characters resulted in yielding shallow presentation in the game.
Andromeda is a woke cw game
Can you say the same about dragon age the veilguard?
yes, and Veilguard didn't have the buggy launch Andromeda did. Just backlash based on ideology, and they were salty because the game has great reviews, but of course it does, because it's a good game.
@nocturnal03 and I don't even have the game but I've seen a lot of people play it
Andromeda is actually quite good. People give it too much shit.
The only fun thing was the Nomad and fun fact, that was done by another Team that usualy dose raceing games
Sooo another L for Bioware
Its my favorite game in the series so far because while the story and characters were weaker then the Shep trilogy I loved the gameplay. Less restrictions on character builds, full sets of both Thermal Clip and Overheat guns, a return to planetary vehicle exploration, and a lot more mobility in combat. I'm still angry with everyone involved in scrapping the story DLCs.
I hate the Tempest though because IMO the only characters who would create an unarmed deep space exploration ship in a setting like Mass Effect are fools or traitors trying to sabotage the ship.
I enjoy andromeda and I’m tired of pretending I don’t 😂
After the bleakness of the mass effect trilogy andromeda is like desert afterwards it’s less deep not as well written but it doesn’t make me as sad when I’m done playing
it is a bad game.
I see a lot of visual and stylistic similarities with The Expanse TV show, particularly what Ilus was like.
Watching this makes one think “hey, this game doesn’t look terrible” until you play it, and you’re like “good lord this game is mediocre”. The voice acting is cringe, the lore sucks compared to the trilogy, and the animations are rough. It’s not a good rpg game.
It’s a pretty game, and combat is decent. Outside of that it was a prelude to the crash of BioWare. This could have been so much more. That’s the sad part. This is a good video don’t get me wrong, however the game was a let down. I was so excited for it, I’ll never forget the feeling I had when it came out, and being let down.
Its an OK game. And its ok to enjoy an OK game. But calling it a "good game" is disingenuous at best.
Game is dogshit. Good on you if you liked it, but it has very few redeeming qualities in my mind.
Its combat core is great, art is alright. The rest of the game is a mess.
It's insane that games are so bad now and people have been so mind broken that they look back on andromeda and somehow think it was good. Get help.
or maybe just maybe people genuinely liked it
@exilestudios9546 liking doesn't make it good.
@@42crazyguy therefore not liking it doesn't make it bad?
@@nocturnal03 You're right. The reason it's bad is because it sucks.
@@42crazyguy you're not the sharpest tool in the shed
My brother in Christ Andromeda is incomplete, no matter how many patches or fixes they apply, no matter how well meaning the creatives behind it were, you only received part of what was promised. It's a game of half measures and that encompasses all the problems that plague this title. You and everyone who plays this game deserves a finished story and a complete product. You deserve better, we as consumers deserve better, the franchise and the story and narrative that's been built up deserves better.
Lots of points about entitlement. You get what you get. The artists made the game, not you. Fact is there is a lot that goes into making these games. The good ideas almost always get cut, this is how the industry always is. Even the indie side. The difference is back in the day we didnt know about a game until shortly before it was released. Now, because the plague of social media we know too much. This is why people think they are owed the idea that is in their head.
@@flashgordon8962 You do realize that the team changed directors and the scale of the game multiple times during its very troubled development, right? That they weren't allowed to delay the game so they had to hack together what they released in 18 months? That it was the team's first full game and first time working with the Frostbite engine? That they were thrown under the bus almost immediately and resources were constantly being shifted to support Anthem of all things?
@andrewtyrell4795 Th3 changing of directors does not shield this game from criticism, nor does the troubled development. Development for this game started long before those 18 months as well, Bioware historically developed and theorized on several games at the same time during this era.
It was not their first time working with the Frostbite Engine, they released Dragon Age Inquisition 2-3 years prior in 2014, it also had an extremely messy development, yet that game was applauded by several fans of the series.
Thrown under the bus, what does that mean exactly? By EA? There's no documentation on that which is easily traceable, however it does seem plausible given their track record.
The game fails as a game with underwhelming RPG mechanics, badly written main story and world building, and lackluster player agency. The gameplay itself is confirmed repetitive by several fans of the game.
This video is less of a compliment to Andromeda, and more so a compliment to the capabilities of the Frostbite Engine. Most of the video is dedicated to the visual design of the game, which is subjective and I will not argue against.
@cruzaedo8559 I didn't say the context of the game's development makes it immune to criticism. I'm just trying to see people acknowledge the difficulties the developers faced in making the game. They started with a overly ambitious directorial vision that had to be repeatedly scaled back in order to have something they actually finish and ship in the time they had. The circumstances are important to consider when criticizing it. Especially since the spirit of the video is about looking at the game in a more favorable light and judging it based on what it is rather than on what it isn't.
As for working with the Frostbite engine, the team that made Andromeda was Bioware Montreal while Inquisition was made by Bioware Edmonton which was the original studio. They were mostly working separately during this time.
I guess by thrown under the bus I basically just mean EA being EA. They didn't let them delay the game even though it would have really helped and simply dissolved the team when the reception wasn't unanimous praise.
For what it's worth Dragon Age Inquisition was pretty repetitive too. And I say that as a fan of both.
Really what I want people to acknowledge is that the people who made Andromeda had a difficult time making it and compromises were made to fit the repeatedly changing scope of the game. Just some empathy for the people who make games for us to play. I know I've had to settle for "best I could do under the circumstances" and I'd be pretty bummed if thousands of people spent years complaining that I'd done poorly without noting the circumstances.
The mechanics were right, but the story was wrong.
too bad they got their story writing, dialog, and facial animations from fiver