oRevanchisto said:
You were introduced to Garrus, Wrex, and Tali within the first hour of ME1 and immediately loved them all?
Can't comment as to Andromeda as I don't have EA access, and am honestly not interested enough after 3 to look up videos, but yes. The moment you met each of them, they had a firm personality, and honestly that was the biggest hook for most of the characters; that first introduction to them. Afterwards they were mostly lore exposition machines, except Garrus who was a moral dilemma of law vs vigilantism exposition machine. You meet Tali and you instantly know that she's a shy, but capable, Quarian who wants to prove herself and help fight the Geth. You learn what drives her, her personality, and the sort of person she is. Same goes for Garrus, as he deals with a hostage situation his way. And Wrex, who you are introduced to having an argument with C-Sec, and by the end of half an hour's game time with the three of them you've blasted through Fist's base and learned even more about them.
Everything after was more lore about their people than it was building on their character for the most part, again, except Garrus. Ashley was one that needed time to grow on you, and Kaiden, but even they had their hooks at the start.
Things only get better going into ME2, where even without knowing the characters from ME1 they are given intros where in 30 seconds they just oozed with personality and character. If ME2 did one thing right, it was atmosphere and character. The plot was pretty garbage TBH, but the way it was written... Brilliant.
So, if characters are just bland and boring in ME:A, then that isn't the same as ME1 or ME2, ME3 we'll leave out because it was a huge mixed bag. That said, I don't know how many companions you meet, and I don't know how awful the writing is to start with to be able to make my own judgement yet - but ME1 definitely gave you a good hook to the characters from the start, and built on it with one or two points during the story, that only worked because of that initial hook and investment you got.
On a couple of side topics in this thread:
Nitpicking. I've said this many times when talking about the Mass Effect series, but go read Shamus Young's 50 article essentially fucking thesis on the Mass Effect series. It covers this whole "Nitpicky" thing pretty well. For people who are action and drama first, and feel the focus of the game should be there - like it was in 2 and 3 - then yeah, it can feel nitpicky. For details first people who loved ME1, and its worldbuilding and the way its story was constructed - its not nitpicking, it is entirely destroying half the appeal of the games. Flashy gunplay doesn't make up for loss in story, especially when that gunplay is thoroughly mediocre and at times worse than in 1, though also at times better. Not following the details-first formula of 1, however, is IMO what led to the collapse of Mass Effect as a whole, as they stopped caring about making sense and having a good story, and it all become about action and drama - turning it into a cross of Michael Bay, Shounen Anime, and M. Night Shamalayan works, combining the worst of all 3 to boost the shit out of the drama, at the expense of it all being idiotic nonsense that didn't respect the player, the story, or the series as a whole. Keep to details first and ME2 would have had a relevant plot, Kai Leng wouldn't have been stupid plot magic space Ninja, and almost everything in ME3 would have been different because, fuck, almost all of it was just nonsense.
Hoping Bioware crashes. This is NOT the same as hoping a ton of people lose their livelihoods, any more than driving faster in your car to get somewhere urgently fast is hoping to spend more money on petrol that week. Its an unfortunate side effect, but its not what you're hoping for.
Bioware, however, get no empathy from me. In the ME3 ending thing, they lied to their customers, insulted them, tried to reverse complaints into marketing while not saying anything to those complaining except "Artistic Integrity", and "You just don't get it". They deserve every bit of backlash coming at them for that. Sure, things seriously exploded there - simply talking calmly, apologising that it didn't meet everyone's expectations, and not stirring the pot would have kept it a lot smaller though. The devs, EA PR, IGN and other outlets insulting the fans though, saying that those who didn't like it were just too stupid to get it, and taking the whole controversy and trying to advertise with it?
Yeah, get fucked. Maybe the backlash was a bit much. You made it worse on yourself, and you deserve everything people throw at you.
Plus, honestly, Bioware isn't Bioware anymore. I don't think there are many, if any, of the original, great, staff there anymore - and there certainly aren't any of the original project leads. It needs to die and disappear so that the brand can rest in dignity, and have the studios rebranded to their initial names, and working on new IP that doesn't try to draw people in with name recognition, while having little to do with the games that created that name. No-one needs to lose their jobs, but Bioware should go. Well, at least Mass Effect Bioware.
Dragon Age Bioware has shown competency and willingness to improve. They aren't doing great by any stretch, however they have potential. I'd give them another game to see how things go there, before judging whether the studio is up to snuff with the brand and games or not. ME should honestly have died after 3, and started a new Sci Fi brand instead. Would have been a much smarter move, dodging all the ill will, and it wouldn't have had all the lore and baggage of Mass Effect itself to drag it down.