Is Andromeda What You Expected?

Actually far better than I expected, considering ME2 & 3. I honestly thought they had turned their back completely on the RPG side of things and just become another third person shooter in a giant mass of shooter games. I'm loving the giant planets with all the exploration. Side quests where I go scan a few things and end up finding long plot lines. The weather and wildlife and skies and characters are all fab. I love the inventory and crafting and augmentations. I'm just having so much fun with it!

I would like to see at least Quarians added, possibly with dlc and better checkpoints throughout the game that are less shitty and painful.

Honestly I did dare dream of something on par with ME3 minus the poor ending but never anything as good as ME2 or worse than ME1. Exploring a new galaxy, conquering hostile terrain, being the alien invaders from dark space. It had a lot of potential. I had hoped they'd silence doubts, my own included, with a great game but they really only delivered a decent one.

Overall it's a decent game I enjoyed but I don't think it's on par with the original trilogy and I can understand why it's getting a rough time. There's no denying it's flawed.

Hell no. I expected it to be the Breath of the Wild killer, I was so wrong.

So far - yep.

I knew the protag would be an inexperienced 22-year-old. Check.

I knew that exploration would be a major part of it, with the new Mako Nomad. Check.

I knew the PC would be trying to find a new home, would need to find resources, etc. Check.

It's pretty much what I expected it would be.

Yes. I expected another group a long way from the milky way. I was not hoping for a shep clone or anything of the sort. New direction, same milky way races and new andromeda races. Thats what I expected and thats what we got.

This is my first Mass Effect game but I thoroughly enjoyed it. I also enjoy open world RPGs so that was part of the draw for me, I don't think I would have enjoyed the game much had it simply been a corridor shooter.

Bioware are an RPG developer, historically their fanbase (and I don't mean the new gen fans who are essentially shooter gamers and played ME2 as their first Bioware game) come to Bioware specifically FOR the RPG elements. A large percentage of their original fanbase (myself included) really disliked ME2 as it was horribly dumbed down and linear and the story ruined much of what was set in place in ME1. ME2 admittedly got rave reviews from the shooter crowd who found much of what it offered ground breaking compared to other shooters of the time, but most RPG fans found it very lacking.

The Mass Effect series is special as a hybrid third person shooter- RPG, not as just another shooter. the problem is with straddling two extremely different genres - it is hard to balance the often opposing desires of both sides.

No. But not in the way some think... I had expectations of a good game, but I was unsure if it would feel like Mass Effect, if it would try to emulate other games way too much, and wouldn't be able to climb out of the shadow of the original trilogy. But it not only felt like Mass Effect, but it matched the highs of the original trilogy while bringing back elements long since abandoned from ME1 and game me a game that is one of the best I've played. And it was a nice refreshing change of pace from established franchises this year since Tales of Berseria was disappointing and Breath of the Wild was an absolute disaster of outdated open world design and just plain terrible design choices that turned into one of my most hated gaming experiences ever. So I was extremely twitchy with Andromeda, especially as the reviews hit... thankfully the "professionals" continued to be useless as they can't kick their drug habits and I ended up with an amazing game. Really looking forward to the DLC... and to get to toy around with the RC Nomad I'm getting next week.

Hopefully we get some lithos as well despite the weird response from some quarters.

Complete opposite for me.  RPG doesn't have to mean "customizing gear and abilities" - and the story in ME2 was a great continuation of ME1.  Andromeda the least "RPG" out of all the games as your choices mean fuck all - you just agree with people in up to four different tones of voice, and then waddle along to the final boss, with nothing changing along the way...

I was probably expecting the worst since Casey Hudson left as he was the heart and soul of Mass Effect.  Andromeda has managed to eclipse even my worst expectations, hitting a new low I didn't think possible

It's good, but I expected something more 'diverse' in terms of exploration, new aliens and civilizations

I'm going to give MP a shot and see if it can redeem the game.

If the game still sucks after that, I quit and will wait for the sequel.

No preorder this time around.