Quotable moments in Andromeda

Jaal: "There's a peace in knowing that although the universe is beyond your understanding, it doesn't need your understanding to function."

They're both from Nomad banter. Liam's is his attempt to test Jaal's translator, and Vetra's is her response to Liam using the First Contact War to make small talk.

Everytime I think of the argument 'Ryder can't be a renegade' I think of this scene. And its a pretty good scene to boot.

Also Jaal's "Unimpressed" about the "Hold me" comment gave me a very good chuckle.

Gah maybe one day I will actually play this game again.

I can see where the "Ryder can't be a renegade" people though would be dissatisfied with Ryder ultimately allowing Liam to insult him and then walk away to cool off.  They'd be looking for the situation that would leave Liam totally "crushed" under Ryder's boot before they'd be satisfied.  In this scene, Ryder ultimately wins the argument and Liam is the one that backs down and just accepts his decision about Verand; but it is a change of heart that Liam makes off screen.  I agree with you, though, it is a very good scene... more nuanced than pretty much anything we got in the Trilogy.  With Shepard, it was pretty much always only black or white.  With Ryder, it's all shades of gray; and that's what I love about ME:A's dialogue system.

Fact is, he has a good heart.  It sometimes just leads him to do stupid things.  Maybe he'd be better off conferring with others before taking the leap.

And he feels intensely. It makes him a great friend and thoughtful person; but it sometimes compromises his judgment. I think he’d have been better received had he admitted how poor his decisions often were. He does this if romanced, but not so much otherwise.

His romance arc is really well done. It’s very natural, and dude knows how to setup a date. That’s his concern for others at work.

Alec’s Pathfinder Team is pretty sketchy.

* Fisher is freaking the hell out about chop on the way down to H7. Kirkland has to repeatedly tell him that it’s cool. Then, he hits us with, “Take out a few more of them while you’re at it.” Wut? Idiot.
* Kirkland seemed intelligent and collected, but he gets killed.
*Greer bails after the first casualties. “I’m just not cut out for this.” How could Alec not tell?
* I guess Hayes does okay. I’m not clear on her job. She definitely seems to come from the same JV background as the others.
* Liam apparently has insane combat skills and considerable technical aptitude. I’m not sure why he never ended up in the Alliance. They’d have straightened the kinks out of his wacky mind. His propensity for flashy, less than team-friendly shenanigans somehow escaped Alec. How?
*The twins look like nepotism, but definitely aren’t. Cora was already a badass.

The requirements for applying for the Pathfinder Teams are sort of silly:
*AI compatibility
* Survival training
* Military or Scientific experience (Wut?)

Given the team structure and likely deployment scenarios, military experience should’ve been nearly universally required. Maybe Alec’s team was supposed to be a bunch of Daniel Jacksons? You need more O’Neills and Teal’cs, bro, or your sniffling eggheads are going to get pasted.

I know the game is intentionally written with crazy personalities and outlandish happenings. Still, it stretches verisimilitude for those paying attention. It’s hard to hype up Alec as the genius AI programmer and OG N7, but then have him hire dumbasses and scrubs. It creates some dissonance. It’s always this way in VGs, films, etc... but MEA didn’t even seem to be trying, at times.

I think it's pretty clear the Ai wasn't fully prepared for as much hostility/combat as they actually encountered. Military/combat was supposedly a "just-in-case" aspect, exploration of hostile environments, recon, that sort of thing was the primary goal.

I'd agree that an N7 should have known better, but he may have expected his skills could cover for them, and he could provide additional training as they went along. It looks like a classic case of making do with what you have - he may not have had enough volunteers until pretty close to departure, and the SAM implant requirement could be a significant barrier for a lot of people who otherwise may have wanted to join. As frowned upon as AI is in general, expecting people to accept AI implants in their brains is a lot to ask.

About Kosta. He's a troublemaker. He even mentions he's been suspended x number of times when he was on the force. Why they continued to let him stay on the force, I don't know. Requirements must have been lowered for Kosta. I would question Alec as why he chose Liam. Did he not look at his file? I guess it doesn't matter since Alec only wanted them because they were all dreamers. Look how well that worked out. Regardless, what Liam did can't be forgiven. He's a traitor. Its too bad there wasn't an option to remove him from the roster. One of the reasons why I would hand him over to Nexus security is to find out how he was able to get hold of that information and did someone help him get that information.

That's one way. For me, after talking with Bradley, I would have turned around and shot Kosta dead where he stood. As Ryder, I would turn him over to Nexus security for them to question him and to learn more about how he was able to get that information.

This just looks like an adult trying to reason with an obstinate child, to me. It's a cool scene, but should've optionally ended in Liam's reassignment. Scott says, "I'm not having it... I can't trust this... etc...", but then allows Liam to stay. Nothing really changes, thus blunting Ryder's perceived authority and any significant consequences from the scene. It's like bad parenting: Yell and lecture, but never take action or stand your ground, and your kid will be a spoiled asshole.