Everything that was wrong with Andromeda. A video that sums it up well.

I had this going in the background while I was doing work and I will say that this is one of the better videos I've seen. It wasn't just a rant on how the game killed the franchise, or just blanket the story was bad without explanation. He does a good of explaining his points, and more so using comparisons to previous games, or what made villains or stories great in other works.

Most of the things he goes over were my problems with the game.

The very first example of how the baker's wife dying is not a story, but the blacksmith being grieved over her death is a story puts in a simple way what he is talking about. He makes good comparisons between ME1 and ME:A story wise. I've said from the beginning the story was shallow in ME:A.

His comments about the Archon and the Kett were spot on, I've always said they were weak as a villain/antagonist. His comparison of Saren's dialogue to the Archon's was spot on. Also, his idea of what they could have done with the Archon was fantastic. Would have made him a much better character.

His comments on the squads and how they were all tied to the story in some way in ME:1, but could have been removed in ME:A without changing the story much, if at all were spot on.

He talks about the impact of the choices in both games, and how Shepard could be played in different ways, mostly the renegade aspect. I never went full renegade Geth on Rannoch in ME3, but that was just awesome.

This isn't everything he went over.  But they were the things I had problems with as well.

Some other random stuff.

I can't believe he played ME1 for ten years and never knew about the additional choices on Noveria
I may have to play ME:A again just to find the vista on that asteroid he was on
I completely disagree that ME:2 was one of the best SP games ever made. It's my least favorite of the OT trilogy

I wasn't too surprised. How many know that when heading to Earth with only 2900 ems, the player can still get the breath scene? How many would know that the player can get peace between geth and quarians even if Tali is not loyal? How many know that Anderson has 3 different lines of dialogue based on ems when talking to him at the fob? Take a look at this thread to see what people may or may not know about.

good video. It all boils down to the writing.

I thought Mass Effect died at the ME3 endings?

Of all the retrospective's I've watched this one isn't particularly great or bringing anything new to the table.

TBH I'm kinda just waiting for reycevik's inevitable video, though I suppose it'll be next year at some point.

I honestly don't know how someone gets past MEA sucks it was a story about defeating the archon with a macgufin a horrible writing trope only to find out it leads you to the real macguffin where you can actually stop the archon. But ME1 is the greatest story ever you like are trying to defeat Saren by finding the conduit which isn't what you actually need but it leads you do the citadel where you can actually stop Saren.

But for those of you who lasted until the end, bravo I guess.

I'm fine with the writing on both, but I'm not going to knock MEA for using a macguffin while praising ME1 when a large part of the plot is searching for the conduit which is a macguffin.  I think ME1 built a more compelling setting than MEA did, I think the characters were more interesting even when just wikis, the dialogue was better than MEA but it had its flaws a plenty.  But, that doesn't make MEA bad in the story department, it could have been better but it was a good story overall with great hooks and continued mystery let down by characters and dialogue.

I mean sure, it's not like ME1 was perfect.
But for instance, Andromeda and the Archon. I never felt anything for him or his lackeys, not hate nor empathy. It was a boring villain, and killing the kett was the most mundane shit to do. I felt like in Doom (reboot), no story whatsoever just kill over and over for the sake of it, granted in Doom it kinda works, the game evolves around that. But on a ME game? hell no, I'm not here for the killing or the pretty graphics or the gameplay, I'm mostly here for story and the characters.

I remember asking once on Twitter to Chris Wynn what he was working on when he tweeted something vague about Andromeda (before he left the Studio). To my surprise, he answered and literally said to me "things to shoot in the face". I'll never forget it. That's exactly how I remember the kett: things to shoot in the face. Nothing more, just mindless drones without any interesting background. The same with the remnant and any other enemy faction in the game, completely bland npcs with the sole purpose of providing some degree of fun when you kill them, if you're into that.

Not gonna deny MEA didn't have its ups, I've said it on my review of the game in the review thread, the game had nice moments. But it tends to get obscured by how inconsistent the story is and how forgettable the characters are, just when I'm starting to enjoy it, some shit writing comes up and ruins it, when I wanted to know more about the kett, nope, there's nothing more. So on.
I don't even remember the names of my own crew mates at times, that's how little engaged they were for me. And other NPCs we met? I can't even tell who they are even if you show me a picture of them, I'll probably be "who was this guy again?".

The important thing with a story I think, is making it good, and keep it there. If there're ups and downs, you're not gonna end up remembering anything of importance. It's hard to do it, no shit, but it's literally the most important thing in a game based around that.
ME1 was this constant mystery: who or what are the Reapers? Why is this Saren fellow helping them? why no fucking body believes me? is it really true the entire galaxy gets wiped out every 50k years? Plus it had the major advantage of being the first game: it introduced all the lore, the 11 or so new alien species, their lore, past wars, treaties, culture, how these weird shit guns even worked, what happens when a ship goes into FTL, ancient races and what little we knew about them. Like holy shit, I cannot tell you how fucking intrigued I was about all the lore, I spent entire play sessions just reading and listening to the Codex because I loved so much this universe. It's really hard not to appreciate ME1 when it started it all, and it started it well.

 

Seriously how many ME: A sucks videos do we need?

        

Watched the vid...it's actually a well informed piece. Alot of what he states has been stated already, but he goes into great detail to present his point of view.



I will say this...i have always stated that Andromeda looks incredible...looking at that vid made me have an inkling of wanting to play it again, but then i realize that i remember falling asleep playing it on my first playthrough and struggling to get thru my 2nd attempt.. .... The writing hurt this game tremendously... no question.  

Now i did like his ideas about the Reapers and how he transitioned them into Andromeda....i like how in his initial setup with Jaal that the Angara think of this particular Reaper as a god....unknowingly about it's true intentions. Ryder could remain in the dark about the Reapers as well until he listens to Alex's recorded messages in his chamber.....now it would be hard for folks not to believe in the Reaper threat after he/she discloses the information, but he kept saying that a big part of the plot would be people not believing him.


So some polishing and refinement needs to be done on his plot-points, (to keep the Reaper threat a mystery and trying to get folks to believe him/her) but i like how the Reapers are engaging in these universe-wide experiments on organics and each are conducting specific experiments for personal means or maybe for an even greater / higher purpose. Maybe have an highly evolved, highly intelligent Leviathan sitting at the edge of the universe directing these objectives for these Reapers in different parts of the vast universe....


I agree with dagless in that even tho the player realizes the threat of the Reapers it is very important that Ryder remains clueless about them until a later reveal. I like the illusive man coming back as an A.I. construct that seems believable and having Cora as his daughter would be a fine and interesting plot device to have within the story.... 


Lastly it is true about what he states about villians...they have to be more than one dimensional and villians that have a somewhat warped sense of morality make the overall story more compelling and the decisions made to take down these villains a bit more difficult....i like the dynamic made between Cora and the illusive man  in this scenario....