Mass Effect Andromeda Review - A Galaxy Far, Far, Away

ffronw

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Mass Effect Andromeda Review - A Galaxy Far, Far, Away

Mass Effect: Andromeda is a huge game that is targeted at fans of its predecessors, but falls short with lackluster story and and some technical issues as well.

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KaraFang

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Mass Effect Andromeda: "We pooch screwed the series with ME3.... whoops! Move to a new location!! Move to a new location!"

The reviews do NOT inspire me. The story sounds like "Reaper-lite" from ME1.


(sighs) I'll put this (and I was a LONG time fan of ME, until 3... Hell, I'll still play 3 up to landing on earth.) into my "buy maybe when it's had some patches and a SERIOUS price cut.
 

Erttheking

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KaraFang said:
Mass Effect Andromeda: "We pooch screwed the series with ME3.... whoops! Move to a new location!! Move to a new location!"

The reviews do NOT inspire me. The story sounds like "Reaper-lite" from ME1.


(sighs) I'll put this (and I was a LONG time fan of ME, until 3... Hell, I'll still play 3 up to landing on earth.) into my "buy maybe when it's had some patches and a SERIOUS price cut.
Hate to say this, but this is more or less where I am now.
 

MCerberus

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I think TB's bottom-line agrees with what I've played so far
"It's jank, but fun jank"
 

djl3485

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Sorry but I disagree. I'm enjoying ME:A immensely.

I hated how ME3 ended but still enjoyed the series as a whole. All the complaints about the animations and such are warranted but overly exaggerated. Skyrim had worse animation glitches when it came out.

You'll get some references to the original crew from ME but this is a whole new story and I look forward to where they take this with the sequels.
 

Wintermute_v1legacy

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So you travel to another galaxy to colonize some planets, when you get there your data isn't correct anymore or something, the planets are fucked and you have to find new ones, but they just happen to have ancient tech left by Protheans 2.0 capable of terraforming your planet for you. And this huge expedition needs some Pathfinder guy who will look at a planet and go "Yep, it's a planet." Nice.

Can you still act like a total dick though or the new dialog doesn't allow that?
 

Tanis

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Aug 30, 2010
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So...basically...EA saw what was going on with Assassin's Creed want went 'yeah, that's the stuff!'.

EA: Fuck Up Everything!

 

kasperbbs

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I'm just glad that i didn't preorder it. It might not be a bad game, but i'm not willing to pay full price for Bioware's C team's first attempt at making a game with questionable quality control.
 

pearcinator

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I've only played a few hours so far but I am thoroughly enjoying it. The animations are last-gen but apart from that I think it's shaping up to be great so far. Granted, I am only about 3 hours into the story but it starts off alright. I have a clear goal (to fix up the Nexus and colonize planets) so I have something to work towards.
 

SlumlordThanatos

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KaraFang said:
Mass Effect Andromeda: "We pooch screwed the series with ME3.... whoops! Move to a new location!! Move to a new location!"
I see this a lot, and I'm wondering exactly why this is bothering so many people. To me, it's an elegant way to hit the reset button and lower the stakes. I mean, how do you top saving the known galaxy from extinction? And as far as I'm concerned, space is a big setting, and trading one galaxy for another doesn't really change very much if you stop and think about it.

Granted, they could've done it better. They really needed to add more varieties of aliens than the...what is it, two more Andromeda species they added?

OT: Damnit, Bioware. From what I can tell, the game still has the potential to be great, which means that if Bioware learns their lesson and hires some writers and voice actors who are worth a damn, I might be excited for the next one.

But if past experience has taught me anything, the series will just continue its slide into mediocrity. I love Mass Effect, enough to hope the next one will be better, but not enough for me to purchase Andromeda until I can find a used copy for cheap somewhere.
 

Erttheking

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SlumlordThanatos said:
KaraFang said:
Mass Effect Andromeda: "We pooch screwed the series with ME3.... whoops! Move to a new location!! Move to a new location!"
I see this a lot, and I'm wondering exactly why this is bothering so many people.
Because we had to leave behind every single character, location and situation we had come to know and care about. Kind of a deal breaker for a lot of people. We essentially have to start over from scratch, and it's hard to make lightning strike twice when it comes to creating a unique world filled with people you care about. The politics of the Krogan tribes and the Migrant Fleet that we spent so much time learning about? Gone forever, never to be relevant again. All the squadmates that we had to put so much time into making sure that they survive? Also gone forever. The Citadel? Omega? Eden Prime? Tuchanka? We'll never see them again, and we'll never see all the aspects of the Mass Effect world that were never fully explored. We never saw a planet inhabited mainly by non-member races of the Council, no Elcor, Volus, or Hanar worlds. Instead we get the Andromeda galaxy. And judging by what you said, there's not a whole lot there.

To be frank, I don't think they should've tried and topped saving the galaxy. Honestly, I think the best route to go with a post ME3 game would be dealing with the aftermath of the Reaper invasion, particularly power vacuums that might have popped up, and just overall trying to pick up the pieces.
 

SlumlordThanatos

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erttheking said:
To be frank, I don't think they should've tried and topped saving the galaxy. Honestly, I think the best route to go with a post ME3 game would be dealing with the aftermath of the Reaper invasion, particularly power vacuums that might have popped up, and just overall trying to pick up the pieces.
But that comes with the issue of having to choose a cannon ending. If Control, what kind of benevolent God of the Reapers did Shepard become? Either way, why would the people of the galaxy have to bother rebuilding when the Reapers could do it for them?

How would a Synthesis ending work? What, exactly, would that change in the galaxy?

I guess we could've gone with a Destroy ending, but that means no EDI and no Geth. Also, how much readiness did the fleet have? Did destroying the Reapers have catastrophic consequences because we weren't prepared enough?

Getting around the mess that was ME3's ending wasn't impossible, but I can see why Bioware would rather do something different. They didn't succeed to the point they should have, but I can see why.
 

Erttheking

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SlumlordThanatos said:
erttheking said:
To be frank, I don't think they should've tried and topped saving the galaxy. Honestly, I think the best route to go with a post ME3 game would be dealing with the aftermath of the Reaper invasion, particularly power vacuums that might have popped up, and just overall trying to pick up the pieces.
But that comes with the issue of having to choose a cannon ending. If Control, what kind of benevolent God of the Reapers did Shepard become? Either way, why would the people of the galaxy have to bother rebuilding when the Reapers could do it for them?

How would a Synthesis ending work? What, exactly, would that change in the galaxy?

I guess we could've gone with a Destroy ending, but that means no EDI and no Geth. Also, how much readiness did the fleet have? Did destroying the Reapers have catastrophic consequences because we weren't prepared enough?

Getting around the mess that was ME3's ending wasn't impossible, but I can see why Bioware would rather do something different. They didn't succeed to the point they should have, but I can see why.
Yeah, a lot of the anger is that Bioware got the franchise into that goddamn mess in the first place. We had to leave everything behind because Bioware wrote a check that its ass couldn't cash, so people are really frustrated about it. I know I'm certainly among those frustrated.
 

008Zulu_v1legacy

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SlumlordThanatos said:
Getting around the mess that was ME3's ending wasn't impossible
Impossible? No. Undesirable? Yes. If they canonize one ending then they will be alienating all the players who didn't choose Paragon + Synthesis (for example). So rather than deal with the Renegades shouting "Destroy, or GTFO!" They chose a soft reset.
 

Quazimofo

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008Zulu said:
SlumlordThanatos said:
Getting around the mess that was ME3's ending wasn't impossible
Impossible? No. Undesirable? Yes. If they canonize one ending then they will be alienating all the players who didn't choose Paragon + Synthesis (for example). So rather than deal with the Renegades shouting "Destroy, or GTFO!" They chose a soft reset.
Yeah well, people bitched about XCOM picking a Canon ending they didn't like, and that turned out great. Just... Pick one (that isn't synthesis) and run with it. Maybe even say the ghost kid AI... Thing was lying on certain aspects of the situation to manipulate Shepard (because let's be real, blasting all electronics in the Galaxy to stop the reapers sounds like someone bluffing someone in a Mexican standoff and hoping they don't know anything about computers. What's it gonna do: make all silicon spontaneously detonate?) So you can have new story options.

At the end of the day though, I just don't trust bioware to make anything I enjoy anymore. Writing is meh, quests are meh. There's good bits in every game, but, especially with the open world ones, there's so much soul-draining fluff to get there. Not worth the money or time anymore. Not worth getting worked up about anymore. Shit went wrong, it ain't gonna be fixed, so unless the next mass effect game is pure gold I'm just... done. Bye Tali and Garrus. Had a good run. Wish you the best.
 

infohippie

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erttheking said:
SlumlordThanatos said:
KaraFang said:
Mass Effect Andromeda: "We pooch screwed the series with ME3.... whoops! Move to a new location!! Move to a new location!"
I see this a lot, and I'm wondering exactly why this is bothering so many people.
Because we had to leave behind every single character, location and situation we had come to know and care about. Kind of a deal breaker for a lot of people. We essentially have to start over from scratch, and it's hard to make lightning strike twice when it comes to creating a unique world filled with people you care about. The politics of the Krogan tribes and the Migrant Fleet that we spent so much time learning about? Gone forever, never to be relevant again. All the squadmates that we had to put so much time into making sure that they survive? Also gone forever. The Citadel? Omega? Eden Prime? Tuchanka? We'll never see them again, and we'll never see all the aspects of the Mass Effect world that were never fully explored. We never saw a planet inhabited mainly by non-member races of the Council, no Elcor, Volus, or Hanar worlds. Instead we get the Andromeda galaxy. And judging by what you said, there's not a whole lot there.

To be frank, I don't think they should've tried and topped saving the galaxy. Honestly, I think the best route to go with a post ME3 game would be dealing with the aftermath of the Reaper invasion, particularly power vacuums that might have popped up, and just overall trying to pick up the pieces.
Yeah, for me Mass Effect IS Liara, Wrex, Tali, Calibrations-guy as well as the Citadel and all the minor races. Well, at least I still have ME3 to look forward to playing, one day, if it ever comes to a Steam. 'Cause as long as it's exclusive to Origin, I ain't buying it.
 

Neurotic Void Melody

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Space is a huge place. Why would you want to mull around the same corner with the same people? Go out and explore!! That's what space adventures are for! (Still too poor even consider this anytime soon though *gently weeps into bag of stolen rice*)
 

Azure-Supernova

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I've exhausted my trial and I feel confident in saying it's not worth the current asking price. Twelve months time, some patches, DLC and a ?20 price cut is what I'm waiting for. The combat and exploration are the best bits, with companions being thoroughly uninteresting so far and the story and motivation being somewhat lacking. There's no urgency or drive to really set out and accomplish something. The animations really are something else, but they're ignorable as a long time Elder Scrolls player. The real kicker is the character customisation, which I found to be the most underwhelming aspect. The default Ryder's are clearly modeled after human beings and can't be altered in any way; meanwhile the presets are abominable looking ethnic variations that are hard to stray from. All that just so your dad kind of looks like you.

SlumlordThanatos said:
Getting around the mess that was ME3's ending wasn't impossible, but I can see why Bioware would rather do something different. They didn't succeed to the point they should have, but I can see why.
They had absolutely zero qualms about canonising aspects of Dragon Age and KOTOR to make future installments work. The lore changed between Origins and Inquisition are astounding.
 

Bob_McMillan

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I'm replaying ME2, and I have to say, it has aged quite a bit. But what keeps you going are the characters, so if Andromeda's are as shit as people claim, then I guess I'll have to say pass on this one.