What was Andromeda missing?

It's funny yesterday I played both a bit of ME 2 and MEA and while you can point out to a bunch of little things that MEA doesn't do as well as the trilogy I think it mainly comes down to atmosphere for me. It's hard to explain or convey in words but the MET just had an atmosphere that draws me in and MEA seems to be missing that.

1.  The Kett felt more like a knockoff of the geth and the collectors with a bit of covenant from Halo thrown in.  That was kind of a pattern I noticed throughout the game and not just the Kett.  The Nexus was a wannabe citadel, Sloane Kelly and Reyes were wannabe Arias with Kadara Port being a wannabe Omega.  Aya felt like a wannabe Illium.  The Nexus leadership was just like the council down to their incompetance.  The story arc they gave the Krogan was scaled down version of their history in the Milky Way.  The Jarrdan/Remnant were basically the Protheans of Helius.

2.  I felt less like a Pathfinder and more like a glorified planetary Janitor.  Of the four planets we placed outposts on 3 of them had already been settled by inititiative species with two of them already having been fairly successful at that (Kadara by the exiles and Eladen by the Krogan and some exiles).   Oh and Voeld was an Angara world/warzone that they let us have a little chunk of.

I think main reason was a lack of focused vision at BioWare Montreal. As was reported, they spent a ton of time on an experimental procedural system and got lost down the rabbit hole too long. The intent was good - they wanted to capture the feeling of exploration that was initially touched on in ME1 when you land the Mako planets and search the requisite Asari Matriarch writing/crashed probe/metal resource - but, apparently, the payoff was just not there. Reportedly it was early 2015 and they didn't have the game near completion so Mac was called in from his involvement with the development of "Anthem" to save the day.

I thought the premise of going to Andromeda a good one but it really needed a solid core idea, a theme, something that everything else could cling to and grown from as the game's narrative moved forward. However, because the game lacked focus from the beginning, the lack of focus emanated into everything else.

There really needed to be a better collection of stories among the characters as to why they were leaving everything behind to go to Andromeda with no guarantee. You understand Alec Ryder's motivation but some people traveling still had families and connections in the Milky Way and weren't aware of the Reaper threat to have it be an individual motivation. This was a mission for loners, adventurers and "second chance" cases either leaving nothing behind, trying to escape the past/present, or seeking redemption...it needed more "flesh on the bone".

Some characters (like Drack) had fully realized character arcs while others (like Peebee or Cora) had some intriguing elements but felt unfinished, Peebee, for example, suffered from dialogue that felt wrong for her character and Kelinda's villainy was painted by such a wide brush it felt like she was on episode of "Housewives of Illium".

The mission design felt the lack of focus as well. The main and companion missions felt tight and fun while the side missions - even the ones with branching NPC dialogue and choices - felt disconnected from the main objective.

Everything was effected by the lack of focus on a core idea or thesis or mission statement.

Mind you, this is all being written by someone who enjoyed the game (gave it an 8-8.5/10) and is still actively playing it.

This lack of focus bled into the marketing of the game as well. We saw the less than impressive animations in the preview gameplay trailers in Dec 2016 when FemRyder first met Sloane on Kadara but were assured this would be resolved. Then, the Mutiplayer Beta signups were initiated and then cancelled with no real explanation. Then, worst of all in my opinion, EA exposed the game with it's animation issues to early EA Access leaving it vulnerable to criticism that ultimately impacted its perception at release.

The game felt like an obligation to BioWare and an afterthought to EA.

The passion to create a unified vision and it's execution was what was missing from Andromeda and is what prevented a good game from being great.

I would probably attribute this flaw to 3 things:

• Art direction and concept art - it's too lost in details and not inspired enough.
• The score is very, very modest.
• The scenario/narrative direction. It's no space opera. It's a vapid attempt at one but the context isn't strong enough.

Also, I love blaming Mac for things. He ruined the trilogy

But for real though, the way I've started to look at his involvement in the franchise is that I think he represented a very important component to the original trilogy but that component doesn't represent the series as a whole. He needed other perspectives of the other writers and other leads to balance out his own vision for what Mass Effect is because I've noticed across ME3, his comics and writing in Initiation that Mac's version of Mass Effect is grittier and more grounded than the general tone of ME1 or 2, and when there's sci-fi or space-lore it's more akin to something you'd see in a roland emmerich movie than ME1. It has a sense of warmth in the banter between two hardboiled characters, like Shepard and Garrus in ME2, but that warmth isn't really found in the general depiction of the world. Mac was a good aspect of the trilogy such as Afterlife or Cerberus, bounty hunters and mercs, smugglers and warlords, but when it comes to paving the way for the series's general tone as a director he still tries to push that aspect too much, and in Andromeda it shows; it's too gritty somehow. Too grounded, it's lacking that wondrous, magical and hopeful feel that is typically in the other games minus ME3 and its doomsday tone (but then in the parts written by Patrick or Dombrow of resolution and beating reapers with alien friends). I feel like that's the issue with atmosphere and tone in this game. It feels too dark without brevity despite its attempts at having this lighthearted Marvel-esque tone, and that's because it's all made under Mac's direction. He means well but he only represented 1 aspect out of perhaps 5 of those writers that created the original Mass Effect.

What was it missing?

-Lore-friendly beginning
-The ability to have more than three powers active at once
-the ability to equip and/or control companions
-Actual Pathfinding
-Range of personality to express in dialogue
-Armed ships and vehicles.

The story and characters were missing an edge to them, everything was too safe. In particular, Andromeda was a great chance to tackle the issue of colonialism and they blew it.

Also Ryder was far too much of a pushover, which is something that worries me because DAI was guilty of the same thing. Best example is the angry woman on the Hyperion. She spergs out at you because of Alec, your father who just died, for no good reason and your dialogue options are either to cry about your dad or promise to do better. Where is the option to tell her to fuck off?

A save system that wasn't completly broken and did its job would have been really helpful. Mind you a lot of other game companies are trying to get artsy fartsy with their save systems these days, tis a depressing trend.

Aside from ME2 the Reapers are not the actual villain, more like the macguffin or the "zombie plague" of the plot. Point taken with TIM in ME3 though
Saren was anything but one-dimensional.

I am triggered. Get blocked mate.

I enjoyed Andromeda quite a bit, flaws and all. It does feel quite disconnected from the original 3. That can be good to establish its own identity, but bad to not have that to help prop it up. What can be said that has not been said? It does lack variety, with planets and species. We are missing more "mysterious" worlds like Feros, whose surface was littered in prothean ruins, with its past involving the thorian, and we don't get a fancy hub like Nos Astra. We were missing the species that fleshed out the universe like the volus, quarians, hanar, etc. We only meet the Angara and the former (now Kett) Angarans plus the Archon.

Yes there is wonky animation, but I think it's biggest mistake was a lack of connection to the established universe. Having said all that, I still really enjoyed it. I liked my companions and I don't mind strong gameplay. I don't need a huge deep story just to enjoy a game, although I certainly don't mind one. Andromeda never felt like a space opera to me. When I see the Hyperion reaching Andromeda I think more of Alien or sci fi that's a bit more... subdued. I don't mind this lack of grandiose space faring at all.

I still think Andromeda 2 is the right way to go. The setting was never the issue. Andromeda at times feels like a prequel to the beginning of a new series rather than the start. I think they have a base to work with for the future.

In fairness, the scene wasn't even trying to do that. It's about why the Archon's interested in Ryder(either one.), not about why he's the bad guy. The bad guy part gets established when you rescue the Moshae. But his leaves us with a guy who doesn't have any obvious reason to be in the story

Haven't thought too much about how to rewrite this. I'd get around the whole issue myself by never doing anything that isn't from the PC's POV or immediately communicated to him, but I don't think that fits Bio's house style.

Agree with most of the points here. I guess if you have to identify one single thing missing, it would be development time / vision by an experienced developer. Ok, that's two but anyway.

It's frustrating because I have had numerous moments in the game where my interest was piqued and I felt an initial sense of awe and wonder, but then something ruined it and it fell flat or it wasn't explored further. There is promise of amazing things, which is why it's so disappointing.

I wasn't interested in learning about the angara or their past except regarding the Scourge. I was interested in all the MW races from the beginning, but the angara were just blah and never became any more interesting. I'm not sure why but this is pretty serious for a ME game.

I really wanted the remnant to be more mysterious and versatile than just terraforming buttons. I guess they imagined they would be fleshed out more in sequels.

The kett were boring as enemies you have to fight at every turn but I did want to find out their motives and where they came from etc. They just weren't that interesting to fight and I didn't really _feel_ the terror of angarans being turned into them. Rationally I understand it's pretty damn awful but I just felt nothing when that was revealed.

One of my biggest disappointments is the musical score. Not dramatic enough and the volume is set way too low to hear what little there is.

And there were so many missed dramatic moments where a well done cutscene could have worked wonders.