Was Mass Effect 2 really that Much Better than MEA?

Of course, ME3 does reveal that if Shepard did choose to leave, it would have been an automatic game over, thanks to the remote lockdown protocols. The big problem with this though is that this was a chance to actually redeem Cerberus a bit and make them a major player in the reaper war beyond that game, but ME3 squandered it by making them the humanoid enemy faction to replace the Collectors and mercs we fought prior. I got the distinct impression by the end of ME2 though that redemption was not a thing Cerberus was going to get. Most of Shepard's dialogue is pretty much antagonistic when it comes to Cerberus, and if you save the Collector base, every squad member tells you what a terrible idea that was, even Miranda, who by all accounts seems like the kind of character that would have calculated the Collector base to be more valuable intact. 

Here's constructive criticism for ya. The characters in MEA are very one dimensional. Cora's always the commando who ends up following instead of leading like she wants. They had a good chance of major character development with her reaction to Sarissa, but you get one conversation about it and nothing more (unless it's dialogue hidden due to the grayed-out-dialogue glitch, and I haven't found it yet).

Wouldn't it have been cool if, say, you had taken Cora with you to the Archon ship, and

she stepped up to the plate? Maybe have HER make the critical suggestion instead of SAM.  Or she coulda done it over comm.

Her and the plant thing on Eos was nice, but wouldn't it have had more impact if, maybe, you had a discussion about Sarissa, the asari, her place in the Initiative, etc, instead or as well?

Liam goes behind your back, and screws it up. Then, while you're trying to fix his screw up, he has a total melt down. WTF, Liam? Wtf? I really wish there were a renegade interrupt to slap him upside the head. You can tell him to pull it together, at least. But how is this supposed to make him appealing?

For Liam, wouldn't have it been nice if he'd taken more responsibility for his actions (without freaking out), like (a little fuzzy on the details atm, it's late) at some point almost sacrificing himself, or doing something personally risky but mission critical? Or have that be on the follow up. Instead, it's basically, Yeah my bad, sorry, that's it.

There've already been numerous discussions on how to make the fetch quests more interesting. Having viability make a difference in how the planet or at least the colony looks. Have a bit more greenery around the buildings. Have more buildings. Have statues go up after a while. Have a nice plant bloom at 100% or post-game.

Make the world seem alive. Not static.

There's been tons of constructive criticism. I don't know if it's getting drowned out by everything else or what. But I've seen it, so it's not THAT scarce. There's also the knowledge that it doesn't matter what kind of criticism is offered on these forums. Bioware isn't reading them.

You might get further on Twitter, but you can't exactly fit a lot of constructive info in 140 characters.

In truth, the problem lies with both ME2 and 3, and admittedly, 3 has the biggest problem of all slapped right at the end. Everything Sovereign was doing was basically just it being an idiot because the Collectors were apparently building a reaper, but then Arrival comes along and makes me wonder why the hell they were bothering with all this when Sovereign and the Collectors could have all been put on standby to await the fleet's eventual arrival, since they were pretty much estimated to arrive in about 2 years, and then the stupid Catalyst comes along and makes me wonder how it managed to let some Prothean leftovers tinker with its inner workings. What I liked about ME1's plot is that it made the reapers seem like desperate measures were necessary because losing the ability to set the trap leaves them vulnerable somehow. But it turns out they can just rolfstomp everything everywhere without it, necessitating the Magic Mic of Doom.

Surely you mean products, plural. All the ME games have serious flaws. (You didn't put anything in for ME1; I could slot them in if you like.)

ME:A is typical Bio product. Its major distinguishing feature is that it's recapitulating previous narratives a bit more than Bio typically does.

Yeah, all the ME games have some serious head scratchers. But in some of them, the other aspects are good enough to make you willing to overlook them. In other games, not as much. I'd call it a 50/50 chance at this point.

I just find it funny that any negative thread like this one has escalated to 8 pages in less than 24hrs. Yet any positive thread with some really cool, creative ideas barely makes it to 2 pages before it drifts into oblivion. Good experiment. Thanks BSN

I'll give you Legion, but that tells you something that the only character to support the decision to keep it is basically amoral.

Who said it was terrible? These criticisms for ME 2 existed long before ME:A.

And that's the kicker. Let's say Andromeda has the same number of flaws as its predecessors. I think that's debatable, but let's just go from there. If Andromeda is a typical BioWare product in terms of flaws, it's still worse than its predecessors because it doesn't really have a good excuse for them. This is the fourth Mass Effect game and a soft reboot; Andromeda should have more than enough history to know that flaws the series has and more than enough leeway to avoid them. It's also been five years; BioWare had more than enough time to polish their product and more than enough time to learn from other open worlds that released in that time frame. 

Yet here we are with Andromeda, making the same mistakes that not only Mass Effect has made, but other open worlds. It's 2017. Andromeda had stiff competition this year. In 2007, BioWare can get away with a janky RPG TPS because no else is doing it quite at the same scale. In 2010, BioWare can get away with a pared down RPG TPS with narrative flaws because, still, no one was offering that experience. In 2012, BioWare could get away with the same thing but with bigger highs and lows is because, while competition was stacking up, no one had ever made a trilogy that changed (however poorly) with your decisions (also, no one thought an RPG could have combat good enough to work without a narrative behind it). Every Mass Effect game was unique for its time. The Trilogy is unique even now. But I'll say it again: Andromeda isn't notable.

So no, Andromeda really isn't a typical Bio product, because while it may have the typical flaws and the typical combat improvements, it truly has nothing that elevates it above all that. It's earned no place in history.

MEA is getting compared to the OT because it is the fourth game within the same franchise and is just a terribly done soft reboot of ME1 with elements from ME2.  Those devs basically set themselves up for these comparisons.  Besides, people have been comparing sequels and prequels since forever, so why should it suddenly be different for MEA?  It's actually way more valid to use the OT than TW3.

Except with the whole open world thing.

The story, characters and the world is what drew me in to ME:A. I don't care if people don't remember it of it's remembered as a joke, the game has sure earned a place in my history as a very good game. 

My one about open world and settlement speculation did, but it was mostly just negativity against open world saying they don't want to drive around on barren planets and people blindly saying no to a system like Fallout 4.  I never even said anything about having a system like fallout 4.  And we got open world maps with multiple towns, settlements, outposts, littered with enemies and points of interest, yet it still sucks even though the game is about space and settling a new frontier............. .


The game was supposed to be wild west in space, and we got that plus indiana jones in space.  From the Kett Nazis, the crazy religious leader, some ancient power, to even raiding vaults and having to escape.  MEA delivered on everything it was planning to be.  It was like no paid attention to the previews and early discussions.