70 hours in, i cannot get most of the complaints. At all. UPDATED OP#2

Been PC gaming for decades and this statement is completely wrong, in my experience. 

yeah that's part of the problems I have I've had to disable my SLI to get the game to work reasonably well. In general however I still like the game though.

OP makes a point of liking side quests and companions better. That's obviously not tied to polish but to their approach and expectations.

OP makes a point of liking companions and side quests better. That's obviously not down to polish but to entirely different expectations. I didn't. Both where the points where MEA disappointed me most.

Huh, I guess you enjoy playing as a an AI named SAM that has infected Ryder's body like the Manchurian Candidate. See, I thought that this was supposed to be about finding a new home for humanity, not dicking around shooting aliens in the face. And that just comprises the first mission.

Silly me.

it's definitely a love/hate thing with Andromeda.

People either loved or hated the laid back Ryder and overall atmosphere. If you liked it, you'd probably enjoy the game. If you didn't, every time he/she said something corny or something corny happened, you would just shake your head wondering who wrote the script.

I didn't like the laid back Ryder and overall tone of the game.
I didn't find the squadmates interesting.
I didn't find the Angarans interesting. There was really nothing unique about them past them looking different.
I didn't find the Archon of the Kett in general to be anything interesting, or anything other than fodder enemies. They weren't built up into anything for a race who was supposed to have this vast galaxy wide empire.
The planets past Havarl and Habitat 7 were just large and empty, and the quests on each world didn't really add anything.

All this doesn't even take into account the bugs and tech issues, which were numerous and made it just a chore to even play the game. Obviously some people were affected by these more than others.

ioannisdenton I am glad you are enjoying the game. Don't worry about what other folks say or think or complain about. NG+ is great as well, because you get to keep the Nomad upgraded and keep changing your build however you like with the continuously leveling character, but change his or her appearance and game decisions. That's one of my favorite features of the game, along with the cast that I really dig myself.

Cheers.

I just wish my job afforded me long stretches of time to write essays about video games. I wouldn't actually use the time for that, mind you, but it would be a more pleasant pace. How's the medical and dental there, OP?

Part of my point is that, on consoles at least, playing this game unpatched isn't even an option particularly since it contains an online component (the game updates the moment you connect).  On the other front... would you tell new people point blank to go back and play FO4 without the patches just to "justify" the online complaints about it upon release?  Get real.  They fixed a lot... it's not necessary to keep dragging people back to the situation on day one all the time.

In addition, quite a few people have stated that they did not experience the degree of bugs from day one that others did.  Still many more have also stated the view that the online reaction was way over the top regardless.

I'm a PC player too. Maybe my memory of the game is better because of two things. One, I bought it 15 months after release. When all the patching was done and the best DLCs already there. Two, after the first ten minutes of trying to come to grips with keyboard and mouse and deciding on that approach not being fun, I hooked up my xbox controller. So I can understand PC players not having a controller being pissed off at the controls. I was too, but I forgot about it, since I didn't even try after I noticed how much more enjoyable the game was using a controller.

But for me it doesn't change the crucial differences between DAI and MEA. And that's got nothing to do with polish, patches or DLCs. For one the companions, who, as opposed to MEA didn't bore me. To say the writing between both games is on par, is something I simply can't understand. Someone saying that must have entirely different expectations from a companion based game.

And secondly, the overall story, which felt much more immersive than what they provided for MEA. Most of the missions boil down to solving a few sudokos, enter a generic vault, push a few buttons in the right order, solve another few riddles and make a run for it.

Fair enough, but you, like someone else, have stated that you find the game mediocre for all of its contents. Therefore I suppose that the initial bugs has just contributed to worsen the negative judgment of the game that you had. And even without the animation problems you would have still called it mediocre. Maybe polished but not enjoyable. And I suppose that it could also happen the opposite, that you could find it good or at least with a good potential IN SPITE of its problems. Maybe in that case you would have just stopped playing and waited for the fixes. Or tried a second playthrough right after they patched it, maybe also planned it in six months or so. I totally understand people who claim "Whatever, I am not going to play it again because it was mediocre". Because when I am done with a game I am done too, whether it is good or bad. Like I said,  the people I cannot understand are the ones who keep criticizing it ONLY for its lack of polishness at the release.