Kotaku: The Story Behind ME:A's Troubled Five-Year Development

I'm not denying ME3 didn't get rave reviews.  It was also the third game in an established trilogy.  At that point it already had quite a bit of foundation to stand on.

ME:A can't be judged compared to ME2 or 3 because those were successors to previous titles, which expanded upon what ME1 established.  ME:A isn't expanding upon ME3 in the slightest.

And I'm fine with a 71 because I know if ME1 had been released now, rather than back in the early 2000s when games of it's sort were basically non-existant, it would've likely gotten a comparable score.

And I think it's a solid effort by a team who's development track record never included trying to make a game of this scope before.  71 isn't by any stretch of the imagination, bad.

And there's no conspiracy.  Just Bioware making some really silly and dumb management decisions.  Hopefully ones they'll learn from.

While I agree there was more customization for squadmembers, I am not sure they would get a pass on how almost every armor was identical just a recoloring.

With no prior games in the series, it was necessary for establishing the lore. Quarians and Krogan are supposed to be pretty rare in Citadel space. Tali and Wrex therefore had to have some expository dialogue or there wouldn't have been a true point of reference for most of what they talk about.

I prefer the interactions of me a. The quality of me1 just referred to like people said codex entries and the fact that a lot of the character interactions took place in an elevator. The interactions in me a felt more natural and interesting to me

I'm not talking about banter, to be clear. I'm talking about character design and what they had to tell when the player actively talked to them. As opposed to this current set.

And yet people wanted to bang her from the start...

It's not unimportant to remember that ME1 and Andromeda are separated by ten years of technological advancement and design experience. That's not to say either game is without it's flaws, but in retrospect Bioware got as much right with ME1 as they conceivably could have.

ME1 was an experiment, made with an engine the devs were unfamilar with and set in an universe that had never seen daylight before, Tali droning about her people was bound to happen, this is not something to be dwelled upon however, lest we forget that ME1 was also the setpiece that brought us the revelations of Sovereign and Vigil that ultimatly got ME1 it's acclaim and helped spur the series.

So was I. Maybe with more wordcount they could have made the Normandy conversations better than they were, though. What's there is pretty bad, mostly because the writers' priority seems to have been to dump in the setting background material. It's a tough assignment, and some writers handled it better than others.

The reason Tali is the worst, I think, is that her personal history isn't of much use to the writer. She hasn't done much that the player doesn't already know about.

I always notice that whenever a new patch comes out, and things get hyped, Kotaku steps in again with another "horror" story to upset fans. Not to mention why is it only Kotaku that always has this news? Can't wait for the next big MEA thing and the next Kotaku article that pops up right after it lol

Character writing was probably one of ME1's main weaknesses, I felt. Beyond Wrex and to a large extent Ashley, the rest of the central cast were practically wooden statues compared to either the later iterations of those same companions, newly introduced characters in the franchise, or just about any Dragon Age companion from Origins onward. 

Its funny.  Wrex was my favorite Character in Mass Effect 1 and because of Virmire it disappointed me that was the only time he was really in my squad aside from his appearance in The Citadel DLC.  Now with Mass Effect: Andromeda Drack is my favorite and I just hope if there is a direct sequel or with some ties to Andromeda he continues in the game.

Kaidan was certainly above the Quarian information kiosk VI that was installed in the engineering room, but the telling of his backstory didn't really take away from the distinct lack of enthusiasm I got out of his character. I felt like I was just supposed to feel sorry for his biotic headaches or something. Garrus isn't that much better, but at least has a companion mission where his cop-on-the-edge persona can peer through a little bit.