Things you feel "Mass Effect: Andromeda" does well

I remember ME1 also had the "oh frak he's looking straight to left and his eyes went 90 degrees to left" moments when people left the conversation

Well said. 

It's likely already been mentioned so I'll say it anyway as a way to reinforce what others said.

Andromeda excels with characters. No surprise there, Bioware's niche has been established with that. Between getting to know what makes the crew tick from Kallo mourning his engineering team through outrage at seeing their work altered to Lexi expressing depression at being accused of not caring about her patients to Peebee's lighthearted but disturbing case of relationship abuse, every one of them had me enjoying the depth given to them. Even Ryder wasn't neglected in this case, giving us a chance to really get to define them with their psychological profile as any roleplayer does for their character. What made it work was that it did fit more often than not according to what I was aiming for. If I had to dislike something about it, it'd be how Ryder is written with a more narrow type of personality than Shepard was. I get why, but at times I felt that an angrier, less agreeable aspect could have fit the story instead of two flavors of mild politeness. No, I really am not happy with Dr. Kennedy getting away with her selfish actions and never have I wished for every damn renegade interrupt of the original trilogy to be available then.

Another is combat. Andromeda added a new aspect to combat that was refreshing with the dodge and jet packs allowing for unprecedented maneuvering. Being allowed free reign to choose which abilities to use for our classes was a longtime wish and I'll never get tired trying different combinations. The weapons customization allowed for something that'll keep me coming back to find the optimal builds in different ways. After all, who doesn't love trolling enemies with unending scorpion sticky grenades or a plasma seeking cyclone? It's so game breaking it feels like being given free mods.

The story is clearly hearkening back to the first Mass Effect with the exploration and the heart pounding race at the end of the main mission culminating into a feeling of awe at what unfolds before us. In a way, we get to see consequences of our decisions affect the outcome like people hoped it would for the third game. Consequences had some weight where going against a teammate's wishes would result in them making it clear they weren't happy with you, sometimes for extended periods that couldn't simply be shaken off by the next dialogue poke. That said, some missions felt a little too point A to point B with few chances to see a difference in how you approached it. Sometimes you could mess it up, but most had you going on a mindless fetch quest with little expectation of deviating from the goal. The other turn off was how the multiplayer influence was making itself known through very repetitive missions with the Kett. I suspect that had Andromeda been successful, we'd be seeing more chances for bigger and more lasting consequences, but as things are...

So overall, I can say Andromeda was more enjoyable than I expected it to be. There were indeed some things I didn't like that was a result of having a more prewritten character and I'm not surprised by that. It's enough to make me sad that we may not be seeing more come from it, because there was a lot of potential for it.

The way I look at it... the people who played this and either liked/disliked it first impression wise aren't going to go back in a few years with a playthrough and change their opinion.  I feel like the haters will still despise it and the people who enjoyed it will only enjoy it as much or more.

The MET has it's flaws for sure yet I think minus the ending controversy it generally is viewed upon favorably by a majority and I've done at least 10+ playthroughs with 3-4 being completionist and I will probably go back again at some point to do a playthrough angle I hadn't thought of before.

As much as I've criticized MEA over the last 2 years I don't really hate it... but I have yet to find a compelling reason to go back and try another run.  I think in the end MEA will always be a super polarizing game for people who still follow it closely on these boards and other social media.  Maybe a good DLC or two would have been a game changer in some regard but we will never know unfortunately.

I would?  With an RPG that was made a decade later that has a worse CC?  Even if MEA had a sequel or two do I really care about the story going forward?  Why do I care about the Jaardon or whatever they were?  Zero reason into caring about them.  Speaking of which I never cared once about the poorly designed Kett... they just lacked a reason to exist.  They were just lazily designed space zombies.  Also Ryder's personality was set in stone...you were either slightly irritable or logical.  That's really not a reason to go back and replay a protaganist.  Also what decisions in MEA were actually worth exploring again in a sequel let alone 2 more games?

The first "Mass Effect" ran into the same problem as "ME:A" has now in that there are only so many playthroughs you can do before you run out of compelling reasons to revisit it other than just the desire to run through that "game universe" again.

No choices made in "Mass Effect" had any consequences on how you interacted with Saren, how you defeated Sovereign, or post-world state WITHIN that game.

 - Wrex lives or dies?  Just put in a different part member

 - Ashley or Kaiden?  Shepard and survivor just agree that it was sad they died

 - Romance Liara or Ashley? Same cut-scenes, different colored booty and side-boob

 - Save the council or let them die?  No consequence

 - Kill or don't kill the Rachni Queen?  Nothing to see here

 - Be cool or be a dick to Conrad Verner?  the Shepard shrine in his closet is still likely there regardless


"Mass Effect's" legacy and replay-ability was dependent on the games that came after it.

"ME:A" has compelling reasons to revisit it IF the narrative threads left at the end are addressed in a future game.  Unlike the OT, "Andromeda" is not within a closed timeline of events (the beginning of the Reapers creation and harvesting cycle through their defeat through Destroy, Control, or Synthesis) and the story could be handed off from the Ryder twins to new protagonists going forward.  However, "ME:A 2" needs to be about the Ryders to make any kind of narrative sense as the Mysterious Benefactor, Jien Garsen's murder, SAM, the Pathfinders, and the Andromeda Initiative are all woven into the history of Alec Ryder and his children. 


   

Nope.  But thats just my opine.

While I respect your opinion I completely disagree.

I did at least 10 complete playthroughs of ME1 vs 1 for MEA. I did 1 PT for each of the classes then multiple more after I had unlocked all the talent bonuses. Then a PT here or there based on Par/Ren, Romance, Different choices that I may had missed and testing out the best gold standard build I could come up with. I much preferred the ME1 story to MEA by far. I pretty much didn't like any of the crew for MEA that much and down right couldn't stand several. Going from Shepard to Ryder felt like a huge downgrade. 1 PT of MEA on insanity felt more than enough.
I got it early access on Origin and have never felt the urge to go back and play it which is a huge disappointment for me considering how much I've loved Mass Effect. 

Of course it should go without saying but this is all just my opinion...

What I find really crazy is how most of the "Mass Effect Build" YouTuber's just didn't stick around (or really just didn't care that much) to make a bunch of vids for Andromeda. Between RedCaesar97, Kronner1, StarduskLP, ThatAverageGatsby, GunOfDis, thisisme800, MrBozorgemehr (My personal favorite) and Yourself. There just wasn't many build vids put out there by any of y'all and I actually really miss that. A lot of those vids were really entertaining... 

I found a couple also, my point being that there just wasn't near as many...

Combat was generally fun (though I do have issues with aspects of it mainly loss of squad control, power wheel etc...) Envuronments and visuals were generally very good, gear and crafting was good. Increased mobility was nice.

The environments on some planets were fantastic. Now admittedly I think the red rock area of America like Utah is maybe the prettiest landscapes on earth so Eos was a easy sell for me. But plenty of vistas I’d just stop and look. Something ME1 had in some of the unc planets but then it was more sky/space scapes. I missed those visuals in me2-3. I can’t think of a place I stopped and just looked at the environments in them. It might not seem like much but it’s a huge selling point for me in games.