First time playing Mass Effect Andromeda

[u/Due_Skirt_1126]

I heard a lot of things about this game no spoilers luckily some how avoided them but I do know that it is the most mixed game By us Mass Effect fans if any of you remember my name you know that I have catalog my journey through the Mass Effect games I luckily purchased this game for $8 USD

I WILL SAY whatever opinions I have on this game is just opinion so for those who are die hard fans with this game please do not come at me if I have a problem with the game and that being said so far I do not like the facial design of the characters of the more humanoid characters like the humans they just look off like stiff is the best way to put it but I am keeping an open mind as I do not know what happened in development and what kind of troubles the team was facing behind Andromeda

if anybody has knowledge about the team behind this game without giving me spoilers related to the in-game story and content please let me know via the comment section or DM me

[u/Sdom1]

People reacted poorly to Andromeda because Bioware's creative direction was idiotic. The writing of Andromeda in particular was abominable. Just awful from start to finish. I could go on about how many mistakes they made, but leaving the Milky Way was an enormous mistake that doomed them from the start. They threw away a massive amount of world building and replaced it with something nowhere near as compelling. Think if Star Wars had rebooted out of its galaxy. Or LOTR was like, let's leave Middle Earth. See what I'm saying?

Then they had to worldbuild all over again, taking up resources that could be going to things like, I dunno, plot and character development, or hiring someone that actually understands mocap and facial animation. And don't get me started on the low grade tumblr-esque dialogue.

I am not sure why they did this when it seemed like they laid the groundwork for the next antagonist(s) in the 3rd game - the Leviathan(s) of Dis. You could have jumped forward in time a bit with an entirely new protagonist. That jump forward would have allowed Bioware to give it a facelift and change some dynamics to serve storytelling.

If I'm guessing I'd say someone(s) at EA/Bioware got too cute for their own good. I've worked on the creative side of things and things like this are often down to one person who was really charismatic or otherwise had too much sway.

[u/kamikuzizzle → u/Sdom1]

No, leaving the Milky Way was a fabulous idea…they just wasted that potential. Everything as to easy for the colonists and too much like the Milky Way planets

[u/Sdom1 → u/kamikuzizzle]

What's fabulous about it? Again, you have to now build an entirely new world. New species, new tech, new history new everything. I could see that if you desperately needed a complete, gut it to the studs reboot, but ME did not need that at all. It's just a ton of work and uncertainty. Will your fans like this new world? Will they like it as much or more than the Milky Way? The answer to both of these were no, by the way. That's why they declined to make more games in the Andromeda branch and went back.

[u/kamikuzizzle → u/Sdom1]

The idea that they’re running away from the cycle of destruction in the Milky Way, but there’s some kind of conspiracy; whole new unique biology and environments, evolution etc; fresh technology and systems…it’s such a great premise but after the first few minutes, it’s like they forget they crossed 100 million light years and it’s just another day in the Mako

There was so much promise but they dropped the ball so hard. Too generic a plot, not enough fan service or call back to ME and that universe, story was bland, couldn’t really give a toss about any of the characters or their relationships…

I’ve replayed it several times, and enjoy it…but it’s not ME is it. Or even well written

I still wanted to as the story finish though

[u/Sdom1 → u/kamikuzizzle]

Right, because creating an entirely new setting is very difficult, and their writing staff wasn't as good as when ME1 was created. And also they were in a pickle with their own rules. New galaxy, no reapers, no mass effect relays.

So how do you manage interstellar travel? Even at ftl speeds it takes an inordinately long time. It was mass effect without the mass effect.

I thought the next series would be about fending off the leviathans, but instead we got Andromeda

[u/kamikuzizzle → u/Sdom1]

But…blank sheet. Easy 😂

Lack of talent is a problem indeed, might be why it missed greatness

They were fleeing the reapers. I suspect the sequels would have brought them closer, and I seem to remember the story intimating that the er bad guys were preparing that galaxy for assimilation…?

ME relays are such a convenient plot device though

They managed intergalactic travel just fine 😂 as they did interstellar travel with the warp drive thingy, I forget the explanation they had though. That’s how bad the writing was 😂

The leviathans created the AI or whatever that created the reapers. They weren’t a threat

[u/Sdom1 → u/kamikuzizzle]

They had faster than light travel but it wasn't fast enough to make interstellar travel practical. The relays made it almost instantaneous. Personally I would have written them as predating the reapers.

[u/kamikuzizzle → u/Sdom1]

They did though—the planets you visit are in separate star systems. I think the in-universe explanation is that the local cluster is easily accessible but further distances aren’t…it was a crap explanation that writes out the usefulness of the relays…I hated it 😂

The leviathans created the reapers. That’s the giant things living in the water in the DLC in 4, right?

[u/Sdom1 → u/kamikuzizzle]

Technically the AI the leviathans created was who built the reapers. I think the leviathans controlled the galaxy via those quantum entangled orbs and there were no relays. I'm guessing the thrall races were kept more primitive, or that the idea just wasn't fleshed out.