Why were the receptions of Dragon Age: Inquisition and Mass Effect: Andromeda so different from one another?

[Zissou]

I recently played through both Dragon Age: Inquisition and Mass Effect: Andromeda for the first time. I'd initially avoided playing them after the one-two punch of Dragon Age 2 being pretty bad and the ending of Mass Effect 3 being disappointing. I saw Andromeda on sale on Steam of $7.50 in early November, and curiosity got the better of me. I finished it and decided to check out Inquisition as well.

Having now finished both games, they both seem pretty similar. There's the core of a decent Bioware game in both. They both have poorly thought out collectathon open world design which you have to slog through or ignore to get to the good bits. I think Inquisition's story is better, but its open world nonsense is a lot worse than Andromeda's (fuck shards, for real). I know Andromeda was slammed for its buggy state on release, but on my recent playthrough, I didn't really encounter any issues, so at least they eventually ironed out those issues. On the other hand, I ran into a ton of bugs in Inquisition (random items/people disappearing from Skyhold), NPCs disappearing (probably fell through level geometry?) making some quests impossible to complete, etc.

Taking a step back, they both kinda seem like B- experiences for me personally. However, on one side, Inquisition won a bunch of GOTY awards, got fourth place at the old place in GOTY voting, and is pretty well liked. On the other side, people still hate on Andromeda to this day. Was Andromeda's state at launch just that bad that people never got past it? What's going on here?

 

[LordHuffnPuff]

While the world of Inquisition was oftentimes empty and dull, the party members and character writing were generally strong, with continued plotlines for old favorites and new faces like Iron Bull and Solas winning large followings.

I honestly can't remember the name of any party member in Andromeda except for Peebee.

 

[Yuntu]

This is my personal opinion, but imo its because Inquisition was a good game while Andromeda was ... well "meh". To me Inquisition is more engaging in all aspects.

 

[HououinKyouma]

While the world of Inquisition was oftentimes empty and dull, the party members and character writing were generally strong, with continued plotlines for old favorites and new faces like Iron Bull winning large followings.

I honestly can't remember the name of any party member in Andromeda except for Peebee.

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Exactly this. The party and writing for Inquisition is worlds better than Andromeda.

 

[Zissou]

While the world of Inquisition was oftentimes empty and dull, the party members and character writing were generally strong, with continued plotlines for old favorites and new faces like Iron Bull and Solas winning large followings.

I honestly can't remember the name of any party member in Andromeda except for Peebee.

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That makes sense. Though I felt like Andromeda gave more incidental characterization, like with characters talking to each a ton on missions or at different locations in the ship, as opposed to Inquisition where it happened far less often.

 

[Polyh3dron]

why?

 

[webslinger62]

Inquisition also came out in 2014 when we were starved for "Next-Gen" games
Andromeda in 2017 not so much, plus was buggy on release (when most people would have played it)

I actually played it a couple of years later, and didn't find it that buggy, but it was pretty forgettable

 

[LegalEagleMike]

Better writing, lower expectations due to dragon age 2, also it released just before everyone was fully sick of the open world crammed with collectathons trend.

One got to release before Witcher 3...

 

[Dr. Ludwig]

I haven't finished Inquisition but just judging from the fans reactions, the character writing is really strong. Personally, yeah I can see that.

Andromeda's writing on the other hand is simply dreadful from its plot, world-building and the stupid characters.

 

[NeoBob688]

Inquisition is saved by great characters and writing, and advances the Dragon Age storyline in meaningful ways particularly in the DLC. Andromeda accomplished neither of these things.

 

[YaoGuia]

Inquisition launched after the terrible Dragon Age 2 and was seen as a great improvement, whereas Andromeda launched after the Mass Effect trilogy which was rather well regarded and didn't live up to it.

 

[UnluckyKate]

Inquisition is a well written game with a great cast and tons of good characters interactions and advancing storylines. But its a boring game to play.

Andromeda was dull to horrible on every aspect but gameplay. Andromeda is a total and complete narrative failure. They are polar opposites basically.

 

[Stowaway Silfer]

I think because of the attention it got from it bugs and increased scrutiny compared to an early gen title, as said above.

 

[BossAttack]

Because one was actually good and one was supremely average.

 

[Kinthey]

Inquisition also came out in 2014 when we were starved for "Next-Gen" games
Andromeda in 2017 not so much, plus was buggy on release (when most people would have played it)

I actually played it a couple of years later, and didn't find it that buggy, but it was pretty forgettable

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Yeah, Inquisition came at an relatively early time. I think if it had come after something like Witcher 3 reviews would have been less kind.

 

[BossAttack]

Yeah, Inquisition came at an relatively early time. I think if it had come after something like Witcher 3 reviews would have been less kind.

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Nah, I don't believe that. DA:I is still a good game and offers plenty of things TW3 does not. It wouldn't have won GOTY next to TW3, but it would've been nominated.

 

[ArcheTenix]

Dragon Age: Inquisition was a desert queen.

 

[hydruxo]

2014 was a very dry year for gaming so I think expectations were a little lower. I mean, GOTY that year was really just between Shadow of Mordor and Inquisition which should tell you a lot. That being said, I remember even back then there was a lot of criticism on the amount of fetch quests in DAI. It's a solid enough game but if it released in any other year it'd have gotten less favorable reception IMO. Still a better game than Andromeda though.

 

[GameAddict411]

the writing in andromeda is a huge step down from Inquisition.

 

[ErrorJustin]

Inquisition's character writing is incredibly strong.

 

[Reyes]

Inquisition had much better characters and character writing which adds to the main cast of characters.

Look at Solas, Iron Bull, Varick, Cole, Dorian, Sera, Cassandra, etc.

The main story is defiantly weaker story wise but has highlights such as the Wicked Eyes & Wicked Hearts, What Pride has Wrought, Hawks Final Mission, both Split Path Missions either Templers or Mages all are better then any main mission in ME:A

And even then I would say even with the size the Dragon Age Inqusition worlds and Map are better from a visual design and what you can do in those maps mission and activity wise.

Shit just for having Solas alone its better then ME:A:


Shit what romance in Mass Effect Andromeda beats this:

 

[Zissou]

Yeah, Inquisition came at an relatively early time. I think if it had come after something like Witcher 3 reviews would have been less kind.

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This is a good point. The entire time I was playing both games, I was using Witcher III as a point of comparison which was probably making their open world failing stand out a lot more.

 

[hobblygobbly]

I couldn't finish Inquisition because of the awful combat system they went with combined with the huge empty areas, it became super boring to play through. If it was shorter or the world wasn't so badly designed I'd have finished it for the story alone.

I couldn't finish Andromeda because parts of the story, but specifically some of the characters, made me quite literally alt-F4 the game because of how stupid I found them

 

[Deleted member 91227]

Inquisition still had a pretty ok story and very good characters and from what I remember wasn't very buggy at launch--at least relative to Andromeda. Andromeda felt like a big step back from the trilogy in writing quality, the chacters were kind of bland and the game had tons of wonky bugs, graphical/animation glitches etc. at launch.

The other factor is Inquisition was kind of viewed as a bounce back after DA2 that most people hated, while Andromeda was a follow up to one of the most loved trilogies in gaming that few fans had major gripes with beyond the ending of 3. So Andomeda is kind of the DA2 of that series.

For what it's worth, I liked Inquisition, Andromeda and DA2 even if not nearly as much as other entries in their series. Inquisition is just closer in quality, especially in writing, to the best in it's series than Andromeda is to the ME trilogy IMO.

 

[Ralemont]

Inquisition had much better characters and character writing which adds to the main cast of characters.

Look at Solas, Iron Bull, Varick, Cole, Dorian, Sera, Cassandra, etc.

The main story is defiantly weaker story wise but has highlights such as the Wicked Eyes & Wicked Hearts, What Pride has Wrought, Hawks Final Mission, both Split Path Missions either Templers or Mages all are better then any main mission in ME:A

And even then I would say even with the size the Dragon Age Inqusition worlds and Map are better from a visual design and what you can do in those maps mission and activity wise.

Shit just for having Solas alone its better then ME:A:

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Those are some extremely spoilery DAI vids, lol

 

[trashbandit]

It is impossible to overstate just how bad the character writing in Andromeda is. Andromeda, imo, is actually more fun to play than Inquisition's weird, wishy-washy sorta action combat, but Inquisition's writing is just better and ultimately that is what matters the most in a Bioware game. Bioware was simultaneously roasted a lot, and not roasted enough, for the face situation. These games are about conversing and connecting with characters. You cannot fuck up the faces, and even to this day they still don't look right. ME1 arguably has more natural looking and well animated faces than Andromeda. I understand that they tried to use a procedural system to animate the faces, and while that might be okay for less important NPCs, it just wasn't good enough for the primary characters.

 

[Neilg]

100% timing and release dates. I played DA:I after the wither 3 and I found it as equally tedious, poorly designed and boring as ME:A.
In 2014 you could get away with a lot more.

 

[TheYanger]

It is impossible to overstate just how bad the character writing in Andromeda is. Andromeda, imo, is actually more fun to play than Inquisition's weird, wishy-washy sorta action combat, but Inquisitions writing is just better and ultimately that is what matters the most in a Bioware game.

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Yup. Inquisition combat is passable. Andromeda ACTIVELY has the best gameplay of the entire series, it's legitimately good, but the stories could not be farther apart in quality.

 

[Reyes]

Man just looking at Tresspasser you see alot of love and moments with these characters thats a testament to the games character writing.

Those are some extremely spoilery DAI vids, lol

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I mean I imagine everyone in this thread has played both games

 

[KillLaCam]

Inquisition had interesting characters, good facial animations and story.

Andromeda had good gameplay and combat animations but weird facial animations and failed in every category that BioWare games are known for imo. Bad story , uninteresting characters, main characters was 100% a good guy .

andromeda gameplay was really good though, too bad that's not the most important part of those types of games though

 

[LossAversion]

Inquisition is a much better game. Way more polished at launch, as well.

But the main reason that Inquisition was received better can almost entirely be attributed to the cast. Inquisition is filled with characters that people love. It also expands on the lore of the Dragon Age series in very interesting ways, especially when you look at the DLC. By comparison, the cast in Andromeda was almost completely forgettable and the story was rather dull overall. I say that as someone that enjoyed Andromeda more than most.

Inquisition built upon the previous games and Andromeda was trying to escape the shadow of the previous games.

 

[DuvalDevil]

I really enjoyed Inquisition a lot actually. Nothing ground-breaking but it worked and I liked the world and the gameplay.

Andromeda on the other hand ist just bad. Didn't like it at all and deinstalled it while I was still on the first planet. It was just a horrible experience.

 

[Khanimus]

Even aside from the bugs, Andromeda's tone was just a massive miss.

 

[Mediking]

I actually loved Andromeda… it was very fun and exciting

 

[trashbandit]

The Andromeda combat and movement is actually so good that it paradoxically made me more angry and less forgiving that everything else was so lacking. If they had managed to nail the writing Andromeda would've been lauded.

 

[Anno]

I don't think DA ever climbed to the same heights as ME to the average consumer, so it didn't have as far to fall. It also arguably already fell in DA2, so DAI wasn't as bad as a comeback.

 

[Phellps]

Because Inquisition was a finished, fully realized good game. Andromeda was not.

 

[Vic20]

I beat inquisition twice, I tried out andromeda this year after finishing the OG trilogy, gave up after 40 minutes and got a refund.

 

[Stoney Mason]

Inquisition is a much better game than Andromeda although I've always stood by the position that Andromeda is not remotely as bad as the reception it got. It's just not as good as the first three games.

 

[Man Called Aerodynamics]

They both had issues with the open world (ish) structure for sure, but Inquisition is overall a better game with much stronger story and characters.

 

[Mass_Pincup]

Outside of being a much better game on its own merits, Inquisition is also a fantastic Dragon Age game where fans of the lore and universe had plenty of things to enjoy.

Andromeda didn't really do much with the Mass Effect franchise, so we had to judge the game on what was presented, which was not much outside of the pretty good gameplay.

 

[Kill3r7]

The drop in quality from ME3 to MEA was massive. This wasn't the case with DA:I which was an improvement over DA2. Also, DA:I came out before TW3 so it was being compared to Skyrim.

 

[Ashes of Dreams]

Inquisition has some problems, there's no denying it. But while the design of their open world areas and fetch quests were lacking in some major ways, the actual world itself remained interesting to explore. I've played the game like three times and I still get goosebumps walking into some of the areas. It's also a game that BENEFITS from the strength of the previous Dragon Age games. You are getting to explore areas you've been hearing about for years in other games (and books, comics, etc.) and the plot is directly playing off of the lore.

Meanwhile, Mass Effect Andromeda is hindered by it's legacy. The entire premise of Andromeda is "something new" and it fails to deliver. It has only rehashed ideas and a significant lack of heart. It's world is... Desert World, Jungle World, etc. Because you're in a new galaxy there's no sense of finally delivering on something that's been built up like in Inquisition, but the areas aren't interesting enough to create any new sense of awe. I also think that most of Andromeda's exploration being in the vehicle was a misstep. It honestly just isn't as fun to explore as Inquisition.

But the real difference between the two is the writing. I come to Bioware games for the characters and writing and Inquisition delivers BIG on those while Andromeda just... doesn't. It's one of the weakest and most by the numbers casts in this company's history. I felt nothing for any of them. I was VERY disappointed.

(Also Dragon Age 2 is good)

Shit just for having Solas alone its better then ME:A:

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Please spoiler tag those, or at least give some kind of warning. They are from the direct ending of the game and spoil major plot and character things.

 

[disparate]

They both had issues with the open world (ish) structure for sure, but Inquisition is overall a better game with much stronger story and characters.

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Even Inquisition's open world structure and design has visible improvement when you get to Crestwood or Hakkon, you can see that they learned how to design these things better. Its a crime that Andromeda
1. Didn't take any of the design lessons from Inquisition
2. Made travel between zones worse
3. Apparently re-did RPG tools for Frostbite rather than reusing the shipped tools that were made for DA.

 

[Man Called Aerodynamics]

Even Inquisition's open world structure and design has visible improvement when you get to Crestwood or Hakkon, you can see that they learned how to design these things better. Its a crime that Andromeda
1. Didn't take any of the design lessons from Inquisition
2. Made travel between zones worse
3. Apparently re-did RPG tools for Frostbite rather than reusing the shipped tools that were made for DA.

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Yeah the Jaws of Hakkon DLC area felt like they finally got a handle on the design, with the right density of landmarks and things to interact with, quests that felt integrated with the area. Then Andromeda took things back to square one.

 

[Manta_Breh]

Inquisition despite it's horrible open world gameplay, its cutscenes, writing and characters were still pretty polished compared to Andromeda, which had the worst mass effect cast, horrible cutscene direction and so many bugs that it felt like an amateur production.

I still preferred playing through andromeda though because the gameplay was a bit better as were the sidequests.

 

[disparate]

Yeah the Jaws of Hakkon DLC area felt like they finally got a handle on the design, with the right density of landmarks and things to interact with, quests that felt integrated with the area. Then Andromeda took things back to square one.

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They made things arguably worse in Andromeda by having multi-zone travel be such a PITA. Inquisition was a matter of navigating a map menu, Andromeda made it a whole production to go back to your ship and go through a bunch of extra animations and flight sequences to get to a different map. It was so baffling to see after Hakkon and Trespasser to see ME regress.

 

[Man Called Aerodynamics]

They made things arguably worse in Andromeda by having multi-zone travel be such a PITA. Inquisition was a matter of navigating a map menu, Andromeda made it a whole production to go back to your ship and go through a bunch of extra animations and flight sequences to get to a different map. It was so baffling to see after Hakkon and Trespasser to see ME regress.

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Agreed that was awful. Exacerbated by the fact that so many quests shunted you around to different planets for no reason. Find an ark beacon that crashed on Voeld, which leads you to witnesses on Havarl (how does that even make sense that the beacon wound up on a different planet than the survivors?), who task you with killing a merc group on Elaaden, ad infinitum.

 

[Phellps]

They made things arguably worse in Andromeda by having multi-zone travel be such a PITA. Inquisition was a matter of navigating a map menu, Andromeda made it a whole production to go back to your ship and go through a bunch of extra animations and flight sequences to get to a different map. It was so baffling to see after Hakkon and Trespasser to see ME regress.

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Not just that, a lot of Andromeda's quests involves traveling to different planets, so you're constantly having to deal with this awful design choice.

 

[Eamon]

Upon my initial playthrough of Mass Effect Andromeda, I left feeling similar to you - I felt as though MEA had a better feel for handling the open world and the gameplay loop was pretty fun.

It was only upon my replay of Inquisition that my adoration for that game came through - DAI has that heart and soul of classic Bioware in it (and I found I was better able to navigate the pacing issues that the power mechanic and the open world introduce to the Bioware narrative formula)


I think MEA was and is unfairly dragged by some, but that doesn't make it a great game either.