Why the Characters of Mass Effect Andromeda are well written.

Whoa whoa whoa. When did he say that? (Not mad at you I'm curious)

I think the Andro characters are badly written because their beliefs are contradicted by their actions and motives.

Drack: Believes he is useless for a new Krogan society, he does not have anything to contribute. But joins a project that will result in a new Krogan society anyways.

Jaal: Believes he must have a promotion within the resistance to find fullfillment and belonging. Despite the fact that the Angara place greater importance on family bonds over hierarchy.

Cora: Believes that she has to rely on others for her own purpose. Despite the fact that she grew up in poverty, experienced discrimination as a Human biotic, and probably had to fend for herself.

Vetra: Believes her sister is not old enough, or capable enough to understand her works, she wants to protect her from growing up to fast like she did. Thus becoming an overbearing Hammerhead "mom" that smothers her sister's growth.

Peebee: Believes that it is easier to keep people at a distance then let them in close because of a betryal of a close friend. By quickly attaching herself to Ryder.

Liam: Believes that since none of their objectives in the Andromeda Galaxy has worked out, he has to force everything to happen. Contradicting his years of training that emphasized procedure.

With the exception of Jaal, none of these characters have a compelling reason to be in Andromeda other than perhaps they wanted to get away from their past yet brought all their past baggage with them. Jaal has his own special baggage which is shared with the rest of the Angara in that they were created by someone else for reasons unknown (ie the writer's didn't get to that in time, probably). The Angara are even less compelling than the Geth.

It was before the football match, he says something like "Even though you're a jerk"

So do I.... Though spoilers, I'm actually living in an isolated community where it's been a lot of work fitting in. And part of that has been making some risky outreach choices. I've had better luck, though. I'm not exactly like Liam, obviously, but I get where he's coming from. And that's nice.

Occasionally I think he's a flaming idiot, and some of his jokes make me cringe, but I think he's very well written. He's not the easiest to like.... But that's part of what makes him rather realistic. I absolutely think it's fair to think Liam is a human disaster and even to hate him (things rub people different ways), but I think it's rather unfair to just throw the blanket term "poorly written" at him and wash your hands of it. At least in my opinion. Super-likeable characters (Garrus, Liara, DA2 Varric) are the sorts you never seem to bump into. Real people tend to be some form of train wreck, and not just in one easily summed up aspect.

I kind of wish I knew a bit more of what he did in crisis response, though. First responders? Cleanup crew? I suspect that's what landed him the job in the pathfinder team. I also suspect Alec intended to knock some of the rough edges off of Liam as they went, something Ryder Junior doesn't seem to manage.

There are a lot of "non-genius" characters that I actually like. Most people don't like DA2, but I liked Merrill. She was a much better representation of "social awkwardness" and "making stupid decisions for a reason" than Liam.

Yeah, Merrill was much better in her constant fuckups. Always made me wonder if her naivity was just an act.

How the heck are Miranda and Cora the same? They are entirely different characters?

HAHAHA SAME
I was like, Hmmm, here is where I truly see the limitations of this dialogue tree.

I saw her naivety as a combination of genuine fish out of water stuff as well as her perhaps being on the Autism Spectrum. That's not an insult, in fact I would love it if that was true. 

The term "poorly written" is not wasted on Liam, because ALL HE IS is stupidity and bad jokes. That's all. There's NOTHING beyond that.