Good balance of intrigue and explore leads to...

So far the game was intersting to play. I am not much on exploration, but I would do sidequests that are like the murder investigation. I won't go and scan minerals or some such nonsense. So far, the breadcrumbs trail broke only once, when I finally figured out that I cannot do anything at the location, because I apparently went to the third site first, and need to do the second site before it. If the sites were not numbered I would not be running around for a while trying to puzzle out where are the kett I am supposed to clear out and why there is nothing I can do to open up a research lab.

Overall, I liked how clear ME was, but Andromeda is better than Inquisition so far, because there is a (so far) an interesting plot to follow even if exploration is included. I am also happy that the quests are divided into separate categories again. It's closer to SWTOR, so if only I had a clearer map/ quest directions and a regular plain old speeder/mount rather than Nomad, I'd be completely happy.

I did not have time to play both MP and SP on the same day, so I think I will just leave MP for now, and play SP for a bit to see how story unfolds.

Yes, but I don't care for it.  Like you, the first three were really engaging and made me care about what was happening and I really wanted to see what was going to happen next and how my choices would shape things to come.

This time around, I'm not really engaged in the story and don't really care about anyone around me or my Ryder for that matter.  I should though, there appears to be no habitable planets, food/resources are running low, and if nothing is done, everyone dies.  The writing/story doesn't convey this very well.  Everyone is too busy with one-liners and dumping their problems on you the second you meet them.  They just didn't do a very good job relaying the importance other than telling you.  They don't bother showing you.  I personally don't think the personality Bioware chose for the Ryder twins has what it takes to do what it is that needs to be done.  I agree with what someone else said, about alec Ryder having the right personality for the job.  Damn the politics, damn anyones feeling, just get the job done quickly and efficiently.  A more renegade approach.  The old system would have worked far better for this setting.

While I loved ME2 and ME3 I felt they went vs what bioware originally wanted mass effect to be. An exploration game with open worlds to them. It's why I love andromeda as it actually follows through with what I believe mass effect should've been. As stated, I loved the original trilogy, mass effect one being my favorite because it was the closest to an open world exploration game, the others turned it into an action corridor based rpg with rpg being at a minimum. The story and characters carried that trilogy while this new series (if it gets the chance) should be carried by the original vision of mass effect as it will go a long ways to make it stand out be other games in the market. There really isn't many ideal open world space games set on exploration. Unfortunately many gamers don't seem happy with the exploration aspect of Andromeda. I see so many issues brought up with fetch quests, the lack of story to them, etc etc that it really just shows people don't want to go out of their way to explore, they just want to run right through the story, which is fine, but you could easily ignore the side quests if they really bother you, I myself don't mind them and they're something I actually expected out of this game because of the way it's going.

I hope bioware continues on Andromeda and refines it rather than taking mass effect back to the corridor action that was ME2-3. I think with this game establishing the foundation it can only get better from here on out. The frostbite engine has tested in two big ips bioware owns now, so engine issues shouldn't be an excuse/issue here on out. You have the idea on wanting it to be open exploration so now you have feedback on what people liked about it and what they didn't like so hopefully they can refine the good and change the bad. I fully understand people's issues with the game, but personally I see them wanting ME to be held back by what's already been done by going back to how 2 and 3 did things (even then games did what they did before mass effect was even a thing)rather than letting bioware attempt to experiment with Andromeda and future games that follow its direction. When it comes to bioware games I'm a huge fan if theirs soley due to character and story, unfortunately Andromeda has dropped the ball on this in many areas but it's exploration and combat really make up for it to me. If a sequel to this can fix the story and characters and keep the exploration factor and keep improving that combat it has huge potentiality you ask me.

I'm only on the snow world so I'm far from beating it(literally trying to do every thing possible to get the most I can for my own review), but I've enjoyed my time with it so far, one of the best games in years for me. Hopefully it can stay that way till the end where I plan to get my own review on here. It'll be huge, going over the hood, the bad, how they can be refined, what just needs removed completely, going over expectations and what the view of mass effect should've been when it was originally started up.

I actually found the opposite.

The original trilogy, especially 2 and 3, had much better pacing and reward than Andromeda.

The side content was drip fed to you, in a digestible manner.

In Andromeda it's just thrown at you like your head is being held down with force under a waterfall.

It's just constant, and never ending.

Perhaps Witcher 3 has changed my perspective on sidequests!  

Nah man, if you like it, don't let me or anyone else tell you otherwise! Just thought I'd offer my opinion. Glad you are enjoying it. Wish I was too.