Mass Effect Andromeda ain't that bad...

[FuddyDuddy]

I was given the game as a it earlier this year for free from a family member and played it to completion to "get" it. It's just bland. Some spoilers below.

The writing for the story hit familiar story beats in a more uninteresting way. Villain is pretty generic and the story can be described as such. Voice acting is the most hit and miss I've seen in a Bioware game, what happened with Liara and Liam's voice direction? The faces and animations are bad and can't be defended. UI is worse than the originals, quest menu needed the most work, but is serviceable. Side quests will sometimes send you to another world to give a sense of scope, but you have to endure multiple loading screens just to talk to someone and then go off world again to see more loading screens. It feels empty which is intentional at first but never really goes beyond what is showed. Also, why is the ship empty? You only need 3 people to run a advanced ship? Really? Music was very much in the background so that it can "enhance" the scene and as a result becomes largely forgettable. Loyalty Missions are not like Mass Effect 2's and just give you extra stat. They do not change story or characters fates. Choices in general still don't really matter this time either. Their are actually multiple instance where characters will straight up tell you it doesn't change much of anything. The only thing I can say was objectively better was the combat, but the AI can still be terrible and make dumb choices. Yes the game still has some bad bugs and a few quests that could be broken.

Andromeda is just okay on it's best day.

 

[Noisepurge]

This is the only reason I haven't played it. I'm shallow.

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An unpatched, zoomed in gif makes it look worse than it is. Play it!

 

[AlwaysSalty]

Eh, I was gonna say it wasn't that bad maybe a 6/10, but then I remembered I got bored at one point and never picked it up again.

 

[Herne]

Gameplay and gameplay systems are great. Everything else is very mediocre.

 

[Citizencope]

An unpatched, zoomed in gif makes it look worse than it is. Play it!

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Haha I know I will. I promise!?

 

[JLP101]

I'm playing right now for my first time and I am really enjoying it. I like some of the changes they made.

 

[Sargerus]

Yeah, but ain't that good either.

 

[Revikan]

It's not that bad. Gamers just love to complain

 

[Noisepurge]

Haha I know I will. I promise!?

Click to shrink...

I will be waiting here in this thread for your impressions :D

 

[Pleasant!]

Played through the entire thing as the default female Ryder recently on xbox and had a good time. Just had some inexplicably bad fetch quests, and a villain who I wasn't feeling. and those slow opening doors in Kadara Port, what was that?!

They really seemed like they were going to try and make it into the next grand series with all the lore and world building but time and budget must have killed the potential.

 

[ethanradd]

It was awful, it was free on gamepass so I thought I could give it a try. I tried to force myself through the game and just hated everything, had to stop. The UI, the asthetics, the story, the gameplay mechanics ... terrible, everything was too busy design-wise. I hope they stray away from whatever artistic vision that was. (I hope detective mode scanning is a trend that dies in game design, it sucks)

 

[Cyberleafm]

I remember playing it at launch and wondering why the hate was so strong. I guess it was the memes centering around the animations.

Aside from a few nitpicks, though, it's an awesome rpg. It reminded me of Gears Judgement in how It was a new entry that was developed by a different team. Despite not being as good as the original titles, it still managed to be great in its own way.
The team absolutely deserved a second chance though. It sucks that the working conditions were so crappy.

 

[Cheesy]

It's not bad. I picked it up after they made the numerous fixed. The gameplay is pretty good aside from some dimwitted AI, but the writing is pretty bad.

 

[Saucycarpdog]

It has some good points but it's mostly bland and mediocre content.

The open worlds were trash with repetitive and boring side missions, the companions were all a step down from the original trilogy ones save for maybe Jaal, the antagonists were dumb and cliche, the story was boring, the Ryder family drama was boring, and the subplots were all recycled from the trilogy.

Making a reboot to some of the best sci-fi games in history and having the majority of it be a step down is incredibly depressing.

 

[Enduin]

There are some really great elements and design choices in the game. It without questions has the bones of a potentially great game. It certainly looks very pretty and controls well, mostly. Asari are totally whack looking though, they really screwed them up something fierce giving them all the same derpy looking face. But back to the positives. The approach to companions and crew members, how you interact with them, their level of interaction with one another is a major improvement over the trilogy. It's a lot more natural and organic. They actually talk to one another a shit ton, something that rarely ever happens in the trilogy games which is odd seeing as it's been a staple of Dragon Age and even older BioWare and cRPGs for ages. They really try to make the Tempest feel like a home the whole crew lives in and not simply have everyone firmly stuck in their default locations. I think the ability system and upgrade paths are great improvement on the ME3 system which maintained and improved the power combo system with its Primers and Detonators allowing for a multiple types of power combos. The Nomad controls really well and while I hate the gear shifting element is fun to cruise around the planets, which are themselves exquisitely beautiful and well detailed.

But so much of it just falls flat or fails to live up to expectations as you play through it. Much of the game undermines its own improvements and systems with certain other design choices. Your crew just isn't that great. Vetra and Nakmor are good, Peebee and Jaal are OK for some, Cora too maybe and Liam is insufferable. Non-squad members are mostly OK, but nothing fantastic. Outside of them though the likes of Reyes or Sloane Kelly or any of the Initiative folks are just painful to interact with. The story, world building, various story beats and quests are just pretty meh to not good.

Open world design is just terrible. The environs are beautiful but the negative knock on effect that approach has to so many elements of the game is huge. It undermines combat by having nothing but these giant open battle spaces where you and your squad are all mixed up with the enemies with no sense of control or ability to setup reliable battle lines. Which is only made worse by the fact that the increased mobility lets you go anywhere in a flash and since you can't easily direct your companions and control their power uses that often times means they're left to fuck off and die who knows where during the clusterfuck of battle as you zip all over the place jetpacking and dodging all over the place. The massive world spaces then also require lots of random and pointless enemy encounters, as well as low quality side quests that make you go back and forth all over the map. When you have these giant spaces you need to fill it with something. So you get the constant scanning and resource gathering that's further needed to pad out and provide "content" to fill the world with, which is needed in order for you to engage with the overly complex and messy crafting system with its nightmare menus of infinity long lists. And then you have copious amounts of filler side quests that make you run all over the map for the most underdeveloped and boring reasons.

The entire Pathfinder gimmick is a really bad idea in practice. It's cool in theory being able to swap on the fly all these cool abilities, but it places an inordinate amount of focus on Ryder in combat. Coupled with the lack of player control over squadmates and the often times giant battle spaces you're often left with Ryder just being a one person army and who you bring with you doesn't really matter at all. Their terrible AI being half a mile somewhere else and likely dead doesn't really matter. Personally that made for an incredibly unsatisfying experience. My style of play for ME is being paused and in the radial power menu half the time lining up Shepard and my squad's abilities in tandem. That's what ME combat is for me, operating and commanding a squad in concert with one another to obliterate my enemies.

Then there's the setting itself. It was bad enough they were jumping ship to whole new galaxy and skirting the ending of ME3, but then what we actually got was a total mess. The whole setup for the story was incredibly underwhelming. Kett were not interesting antagonists at all. Angaran were quite dull and just were not able to carry the weight as the really only sole new alien race for the game. Remnant/Jardaan were a far cry from the Protheans and just felt like a retread. The whole Nexus uprising was a massive disappointment. Instead of going to a new galaxy and discovering uncharted worlds no one from the Milky Way had ever seen before, or places with new alien species, half the place is already occupied by your fucking people who deserted. Then when it comes to exploring those planets the game becomes exceedingly repetitive. Setup forward stations, Remnant Vaults, memory triggers, do some bullshit to improve viability, fight the Architect.

I could go on and on. I was skeptical at first when it was announced. I found the premise cowardly that they were trying to avoid addressing ME3's ending and ramifications it would have on the setting which would be fascinating to see. But eventually I got over it and was really excited for more Mass Effect. I staunchly supported it against naysayers as release approached and people were dogging the animations and character models. I was sure they'd pull through. I was wrong.

 

[foxdvd]

Game is amazing. Sure the story has problems, but the combat, and world building are top notch. What they could have done to improve it.

Remove a world or two. It is painfully obvious that they rushed a couple of the worlds. They are smaller and represent almost an afterthought compared to some of the other more realized planets. If they had cut a world or two, and spent more time working on the bigger planets, they could have fleshed them out more.

Remove or dramatically cut out all the fetch quest type missions, and put in a few more main story type missions. Some of this missions felt right out of the Ubisoft school of game making. It just felt unnecessary.

Have only 4 vaults in the game, and try to make them each feel a little different. (even changing the light a bit would help) I forgot how many there were, but it was over 20 I think. WAY TOO MUCH. Especially since they all looked the same.

Try a little harder to make the new enemies not feel like reskins of other races.

So while it is not at the same level as the first three games, it still was one of the best games I played that year, and was worth a second run this generation.

 

[Staf]

The writing and VA is among the worst I've experienced in a AAA game

 

[FairFight]

On its own it might not be a bad game but I consider it a bad Mass Effect game. It just doesn't live up to the pedigree that was established in the original trilogy.

 

[Ketch]

Mass Effect 2 is the only good mass effect game.

 

[HeWhoWalks]

It's not that bad. Gamers just love to complain

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This wasn't just a case of needless complaining, though. There were things legitimately wrong with the game, bad enough to highly impact the enjoyment of the product. Particularly for long time Mass Effect fans.

You may have been okay with its issues, but many others had pinpoint criticisms. I'm not saying this era of people don't bitch and moan about nearly everything (they certainly do and I get pretty irritated by it myself). However, Andromeda's flaws were glaring and well documented!

 

[IMCaprica]

I remember playing it at launch and wondering why the hate was so strong. I guess it was the memes centering around the animations.

Aside from a few nitpicks, though, it's an awesome rpg. It reminded me of Gears Judgement in how It was a new entry that was developed by a different team. Despite not being as good as the original titles, it still managed to be great in its own way.
The team absolutely deserved a second chance though. It sucks that the working conditions were so crappy.

Click to shrink...

Agree with most of this. Unfortunately not getting a second chance after terrible working conditions negatively impacted a game is essentially the BioWare way.

 

[Tovarisc]

What you just described IS story

I refuse to be part of the post-truth society where Andromeda wasn't a total letdown to ME fans

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I think it's pretty noticeable failure if what can be considered auxiliary / additive part of the game (in this case companion content) IS the story, but you are right on that they do dominate story of trilogy. Reaper "threat" and it all revolving around Shepard is basically secondary and as premise something that they couldn't fully grapple with. The thing for crit path should have been something else than godlike machine race.

Trilogy has good amount of faults and issues with it, but so has Andromeda and no one is hand waving that away. Andromeda has its moments, but it's messy game because of its very messy development cycle.

 

[SliChillax]

The only problem with Andromeda is the writing. If the writing had been good all the other technical faults wouldn't have mattered. Mass Effect was always a janky game and people still love it.

 

[Brinbe]

i enjoyed the hell out of it and i'm bummed none of it will ever be resolved

 

[Aprikurt]

i enjoyed the hell out of it and i'm bummed none of it will ever be resolved

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Weren't there references to Andromeda in the new ME trailer?

 

[Brinbe]

Weren't there references to Andromeda in the new ME trailer?

Click to shrink...

was there? that would be cool. I just assumed they would forget all about it considering the rep it has, as seen in this thread.

 

[Zolbrod]

I only played a couple of hours of it and... I'm inclined to agree...?
I want to play through the trilogy again before seriously giving it a shot, but I'm actually looking forward to playing it!

 

[SavoyPrime]

You're not wrong. I thought Andromeda was good. Better than ME3 even. Never be afraid to admit that you enjoy a game (or don't enjoy it).

 

[SoraanTribal]

It was alright. I didn't think it was as bad as others said. Best part of the game is prolly the combat which is leagues better than any previous game in the series. I was most disappointed with the story and characters. I don't even really remember the story now which is very telling for me because a good story stays with me. I really only remember one of the squad, Peebee (I think that was her name?). She was my favorite one I guess. The story just never felt like it went anywhere at all.

Funnily enough, my friend played Andromeda a couple years ago and it was his first in the series. He loved it. He started the Legendary edition this past week and best ME1. Overall he liked it but the combat was so bad and clunky. And I was surprised to learn he doesn't like the combat in Me2 either and almost quit playing. Lol

 

[HylianMaster2020]

Give Andromeda a sequel, sounds like a mistake but you have to take a swing at an Andromeda sequel if you're Bioware.

 

[BigDaddyCool]

Give Andromeda a sequel, sounds like a mistake but you have to take a swing at an Andromeda sequel if you're Bioware.

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Says who? What are you talking about?

 

[Jeffolation]

Dreadful experience to play through it. Fucked up the franchise for years. If ME is ever to come back I hope they don't acknowledge this entry in any way, shape or form.

 

[THE RABID MOOSE]

Dreadful experience to play through it. Fucked up the franchise for years. If ME is ever to come back I hope they don't acknowledge this entry in any way, shape or form.

Click to shrink...

You know they already confirmed a new one is being developed right?

 

[Jeffolation]

You know they already confirmed a new one is being developed right?

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Honestly, no idea but cool to hear. My expectations are below ground at this point so I hope they don't foul this up again.

 

[Witness]

I thought the actual gameplay and combat were fun, best in the series, but the companions were lame as hell and the story was just really boring. For me it's a 6-7 type game.

 

[Smoolio]

Dreadful experience to play through it. Fucked up the franchise for years. If ME is ever to come back I hope they don't acknowledge this entry in any way, shape or form.

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They better acknowledge it's combat which is the best in the series, would also love for them to bring in stuff from Anthem's combat.

 

[It's mido]

The entire Pathfinder gimmick is a really bad idea in practice. It's cool in theory being able to swap on the fly all these cool abilities, but it places an inordinate amount of focus on Ryder in combat. Coupled with the lack of player control over squadmates and the often times giant battle spaces you're often left with Ryder just being a one person army and who you bring with you doesn't really matter at all. Their terrible AI being half a mile somewhere else and likely dead doesn't really matter. Personally that made for an incredibly unsatisfying experience. My style of play for ME is being paused and in the radial power menu half the time lining up Shepard and my squad's abilities in tandem. That's what ME combat is for me, operating and commanding a squad in concert with one another to obliterate my enemies.

Click to shrink...

This is a really good point. It almost feels like whoever put together the combat for this game played a lot of ME3MP and had to carry their team to victory more than a few times what with how self-sufficient Ryder needs to be in fights.

 

[The Artisan]

In my opinion, there is always a difference between saying that something ain't that bad, and saying that something ain't bad. If you're saying it ain't that bad, then you're saying it is bad, but not as bad as a consensus of it may be. If you're saying it ain't bad, then you're saying it is good. But speaking of consensus, regardless of how good or bad any player might find Andromeda to be, I think the consensus either way is that it does not hold up to the original trilogy.

 

[Swiggins]

The problem with Andromeda is that it was 1 step forwards, 5 steps back. The combat in Andromeda was great (once it was patched) but everything...EVERYTHING else suffered as a result. The writing was worse, the voice acting was worse, the characters were worse and the planet/alien designs were REALLY worse. The Angara and the Kett were completely forgettable, they fucking sucked compared to the Asari, Turians, Krogan, Quarians, Etc. They're so fucking boring and generic.

 

[BringBackSonics]

It's not bad. The concept was cool. It just didn't live up to the previous.

 

[IlGialloMondadori]

These threads are like the ones where people claim Dragon Age Inquisition isn't bad, when it is, in fact, very very bad.

 

[Enduin]

This is a really good point. It almost feels like whoever put together the combat for this game played a lot of ME3MP and had to carry their team to victory more than a few times what with how self-sufficient Ryder needs to be in fights.

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You're more right than you might know seeing as BioWare Montreal were responsible for developing ME3MP prior to them taking over ME development from Edmonton to create MEA on their own. Couple that with the fact that we know for a fact nearly 44% of all players chose the Soldier class in ME3 which is basically few abilities at all let alone ones that you need to coordinate a ton with your squadmates there was likely a pretty big push away from squad mechanics and a focus on improving the "solo" play experience and incentivizing players to do more on their own and be able to experiment with powers since that's what they were already trying to do in trilogy by ignoring squad mechanics.

 

[Iori Loco]

The game is definitely a downgrade for the series on many aspects, but I think the combat is really fun, I just wish weapons and skill combos felt stronger like in ME3, and the open world exploration is nice until it gets tedious.

The maps have so many activities that I just ignore most of it if it isn't a side quest.

 

[E.Balboa]

I quit after I landed somewhere and had to drive the tank. I drove till the first building, had some combat, then I was supposed to hop in back again and drive somewhere else. Couldn't for the life of me figure out what I was supposed to do exactly, something related to beacons or whatever.

It was not half bad up to that point, really.

 

[Androidsleeps]

Sorry for the small bump but this thread is relatively recent and I don't think I need to start a new one.

So after recently finishing the LE trilogy I've been itching to try Andromeda, I thought I'll go in with adjusted expectations and I heard the combat is great. I really loved the trilogy and more Mass Effect sounds good to me, but after about 6-7 hours into it I'm not sure I want to continue. Maybe because I experienced the trilogy in 60fps, but the gameplay here in general is just not good, there's better mobility sure but it's not as smooth and tight as 2 and 3 were, the cover system isn't great and combat in general feels worse imo. The new mechanics are bad, bloated with the game menus and UI being messy and convoluted.

The introduction and characters did nothing for me, I was expecting a "mediocre story" but damn, the characters so far are forgettable and have no personality and the VA is definitely worse. They throw so many characters at you but they fail to make an impact, including that moment at the end of the prologue. And in some ways the characters look worse than the older games somehow, and the Kett look like an early scrapped design for Protheans. And everything that's been going on is boring and uninteresting including the lackluster music, I'm still on Eos and nothing has grabbed me, thu the game is trying to present its story as a mystery, and maybe things improve later? but this is certainly a bad start. It's a big open world map but not what I'd call well-designed and that's just another thing that makes me want to drop it. This is crazy in contrast with the LE trilogy where I didn't want those games to finish.

I guess I'm not sure what I expected, "launch period bugs and funny facial animations" and a weaker game compared to the trilogy? But Andromeda feels worse so far, almost like a bad Mass Effect clone rather than a weak spinoff.

 

[Bookman]

I played it years after and I really liked it. I think that the bugs and problem with animations really spoiled the mood in thos game. If you think about it, there is a lot of story and setting in the beginning of the game witch really suffered by the problem the game had at launch.

I had some issues with the game and most of the are actually in the beginning of the game. Well past that I think the game is really good. I really liked it.

It's just not as memorable characters as the first game and Andromeda isn't as interesting as the milky way but I di think it was a solid start.

If EA had some balls they would just continue the mass effect saga with a sequel. That would also help to keep expectations on a healthy level.

 

[LanceX2]

When this game came out I actually found it immensely entertaining: not just because of the jank, but also because the gameplay is legitimately fun and the worldbuilding is done rather well (characteristic of Bioware games I guess), but I was too embarrassed to admit it because everyone seemed to hate it.

But now with the release of ME: Legendary Edition, I took a quick look at the Andromeda Steam page and noticed all the recent reviews are really positive and it reminded me to play it again. My conclusion is once again that this is a good game that got overshadowed by the avalanche of bad PR on release and the initial jank.

The jank is kinda still there (much less so though) but I couldn't find anything egregiously bad about this game upon a replay. Dare I say... it kinda feels better to control than the others? The combat feels really satisfying, world traversal is pretty great in general, the graphics have aged decently well, and the sound mixing in particular feels more competently put together than the LE games.

...am I right to say Andromeda is not bad, but actually kinda good?

Click to shrink...

Im literally playing it now after what....6 years?? Im having a good time.

Finished Dragon age 4 too. Loved it

 

[Deleted member 12323]

I tried installing the https://www.nexusmods.com/masseffectandromeda/mods/541 but i didnt click "apply mod" in frosty mod manager so i dont think it's actually "applying" when i try to load it again it says it already exists. where do frosty mods get installed to?

 

[Azai]

I didnt want to make a Thread about it so Injust will revive this almost two year old thread.


I tried ME1 a few years ago for the first time and couldnt get into it after a few tries. Like within 2 years or so I trief it 3 times and it never clicked. Mainly because of dated gameplay mechanics and of how long it tales to traverse on the maps/citadel.
The latter isnt that bad but the first one (especially the shooting mechanics that made your shots pretty inacurate) was really bad.
They fixed this in the Legendary Edition that Im also currently playing. ME1LE is alot of fun especially or mainly because of the story. Afterall though I just want to finish it to get to play ME2 which I think is more my type gameplay wise.


Either way... Since the game is only 6€ on steam rn I finally got it after olay the trial version like 6 months after the game was released.
Even back then with the technical issues I thought it was a fun game and not nearly as bad as people were saying.

And after putting like 10 hours in already in the past days I double down on that opinion.

Its no perfect game and the story so far isnt as good as ME1 (and probably 2 & 3). The quest design sometimes is rather annoying when it requires you to run from here to there just so it wants you to go back to the starting point across half the map or even on another planet which takes quite a while becaude of loading screens/transition cut-scenes.

But other than that I think the worls is very vivid with alot of people to talk to and do quests for to get to know them a bit.
The graphics are also pretty good and the interior design of the Tempest or Nexus also is very atmospheric with its color schemes and lighting.
Imo the game still does a great job of telling the story. At least better than most RPGs that I played. Not ME1-3 level but it gets the job done.


But the strongest point this game has is the combat. Its so much fun. Especially with all the abilities and their combos.


TL;DR:

The game is pretty fun with awesome combat and a decent story.
I get that some of the weaknesses it has can be annoying (eg fetch quests) but its nowhere near as bad as many players were saying back then. imo.
I feel like if they wouldnt have named the Mass Effect it would have had a way better reception. (the technical bugs aside)

 

[TheArbiter]

I agree. In my mind I compare the original mass effect to top tier Sci fi. Andromeda is more akin to one if those Sci Fi B movies that are a bit campy, a bit silly, but still fun.

There's no doubt it was really janky when it was released.

But tech issues aside, I liked the cast of characters even if they weren't quite as memorable as the trilogies cast. I do think it expanded on the universe in a cool way, and I actually really, REALLY enjoyed the transition back to exploration.

We all know the original ME could be a huge slog at times traversing the planet groundside in the Mako. So although not perfect, I felt like Andromeda sort of found a decent middle ground. As someone who really enjoys going off the beaten path in games, I'd say it satisfied that itch. Can't wait for 4!