Was Mass Effect 2 really that Much Better than MEA?

No, it wasn't. I personally find ME2 as overrated as ME:A is underrated, but YMMV. Still love both for what they are tho.

I see Andromeda being more like Mass effect 1. It did what it needed to do to set a starting point for a new story. But the team could have trimmed some of the extra fat from Andromeda and made it more Mass Effect 2 size to start the ball rolling. I think Andromeda has great story potential and they left more than a few cliffhangers in there to make you think about what's next. That being said story wise I think a 2nd game would have more meat on it

Please don't insult ME1 like that.

Mass Effect 2 was a very meaty game as far as it seems like there was no filler every mission felt like it had a purpose and Mordin to me was the best-written character in the whole series.  I find the story for MEA is good and has great potential for more work to be made off of it. But the way it was executed in the game was half-baked.    

Yeah I know this may be pushing it, but for me, the Archon ship/Salarian Ark mission was about as epic as anything ME2 or ME1 related. I had a harder time choosing between the two species than I did with Ashley or Kaiden

It's ok. Some people just hate freedom and hate driving. Not all of us can be American. At least not anymore

Music was amazing. I had to turn my Sfx volume to about 60 with music and dialoge volume all the way up and crank up my surround sound head set. There music in MEA is actually quite good despite it being sometimes non existent in HUb areas

I agree the new companions were absolutely amazing. And that's not sarcasm. Don't forget about Thane!

So was themusic

That's ok! Jack is probably a reaper husk, collector glue, or exalted bitch by now anyways. I used to just hope she would die of daddy issues down in the cargo hold

Im playing right now alternately with MEA and ME2 both on insanity and i can say that Mass Effect 2 is a lot more intense and with better writing and interesting characters.

However Mass Effect 2 in skill upgrades, weapons is simple and easier, there isn't much you can do here in ME2, missions are linear and short, and doable in about 5-10 minutes, the enemy AI is bad and the enemies are half times less than in Mass Effect Andromeda.
Of course you can command your squad mates during combat in ME2 but if you left them alone both squadmate is bulletspong for the enemies.

And the main reason ME2 is better in story and character writing is because N7.
In Habitat 7 prologue mission Alec Ryder act as a true badass N7 soldier, he is a true soldier with a lot of experience on the field, same as Shepard.

But Sarah and Scott Ryder is different. SAM is always helping them out in any situation, of course both Ryder is trained well but they are not experienced on the field.
Let just say Ryders are not as badasses as the Shepard.

Loyalty missions.
This is the part where Mass Effect Andromeda is true for the franchise. Nicely done Loyalty missions in MEA.


Romance
Again very nice job here too.


Characters
And this is where Mass Effect Andromeda fails too. Far less interesting characters than in Mass Effect 2. Even Jacob is a lot more interesting with his backstory and connection with his father than Liam Costa. And also Grunt is a lot more badass Krogan than Drack with his 1000 year experience.


Music/Sound
The voice actors, Fryda Wolff, Natalie Dorman, etc. did a really fine job here, there is actually no problem with that, but the music outside Kralla's Song and Tartarus is just terrible compared to the Mass Effect 2's beatiful soundtrack.


Exploration/Map
Lot of planets in Mass Effect Andromeda those can be explored with the Nomad. The Nomad is a badass and cool looking car there is no other vehicle in the franchise that can surpass the Nomad. And you can even upgrade the Nomad by yourself whatever upgrades you need.
However in Mass Effect 2 you can only explore only in DLC : Firewalker MSV and Project Overlord.
So this is the hardest and strongest part of the Mass Effect Andromeda. However the planets are filled with a lot of uninspiring fetch quests.


Visuals
Mass Effect 2 was one of the best looking video games back in 2010 and even today looking great. And that was an old Unreal Engine.
Mass Effect Andromeda however fails with Frostbite 3 engine but not in every way. Character animations are most of the time average at best but the landscapes, Vistas, the Nomad, the planets, City's are visually stunning.


Content
There is a lot to do in Mass Effect Andromeda, the game is nearly twice as huge as Mass Effect 2 but half of the additional missions in MEA are uninspiring.



Alien Races
Angaara, Remnant, Kett vs ME2 Milky Way races. This is the part where again ME2 wins. Despite the nice background story of the Angaara race i was a bit dissapointed here.



Multiplayer
There is no MP in ME2.


Combat
Combat is nice but most glitches and bugs, such like randomly spawning Kett's are making the combat more annoyable on higher difficulties.


Overall Mass Effect Andromeda could be a lot better game than Mass Effect 2 with better writing, nice character and facial animations and with a nice soundtrack but most of the part MEA fails where ME2 succeeds.

Let me put it this way. I never bought any Bioware game for it's story or it's combat system. I always had an easy time suspending disbelief, even with plot holes as large as craters. The major reason for me to buy Bioware games are their companions. And that's where they didn't deliver the same quality as in previous games. I may have liked ME2 more than others because the whole plot was centered around the companions and their problems. So, yes, from a personal perspective I would say, ME2 was the better game.

Me2 Shepard is my battlemaster, he has no match.