Two years on, time for a reappraisal?

Just replaying it now after having played it for the first time right after launch.

To me, not much has changed. The patches did a decent job to get rid of most bugs and fix some of the facial animations but those didn't really bother me in the first place. Also, there are some nice mods around these days, so that's a plus.

The lore problems are still as nasty as ever, the Initiative still seems as stupid as ever and the squad mates are still as one-dimentional characters as ever. The UI didn't really change either and all that filler content is still throwing me off. The environment could be more varied as well.

So my biggest criticisms haven't really changed at all and remain as prevalent as the first time around but otherwise, it's a really cool game. So I'll mostly stick to my original assessment of the game. It's fun and it's entertaining but it doesn't stack up to the standards set by the trilogy.

I'll stick to 7.5/10 remnant gizmos.

Not much different as my problems were never animation, or bugs. I still like it, but it didn't wow or impress me. Fairly fun game play(I still prefer ME3 game play), but the story just isn't memorable to me and I don't like the characters. I don't think the story is bad, its just fairly generic done okay. Its good enough that I can overlook it thanks to the game play, rpg/space magic shooters are not in big supply. I probably play ME1 about as often as MEA ME2-3 about x2 MEA, while filling in other games here and there.The big difference, is it feels like I can almost play the trilogy in the same time I play one game of MEA(by the math not quite, but ME1+either 2&3 is about the same as one MEa)so my hours are wracking up quick in MEA.

I still am enjoying it. I never understand just how it broke lore or why the characters fell flat. To me the characters are fleshed out quite well and lore is changeable. The game at least deserved an expansion.
For me it doesn't need reappraised, because I still am playing it.
Drack rules. I like Jaal. The sex scene with Cora rocks. I love the adaptive cover combat system. 2 is my favorite game ever, and Andromeda's loyalty missions rival 2.
I am not opposed to returning to the Milky way, I just feel there is more potential in Andromeda first. Also when we return to the Milky way, it'll probably take place prior to Andromeda 1. Now I can be one of those guys who confuses new fans when explaining the timeline of the games.

I'm in the middle of a run now and while I still like the game fine, a bunch of conceptual flaws are standing out.

First, it's got a problem similar to one of Anthem's -- some of the basic gameplay loops don't really work. The three-ability limit means that the value of XP starts to fall off in the midgame -- the abilities you really want and like are already levelled up pretty high, so you can only throw the points into stuff you're not as invested in. Loot and gear is even worse. Augmentations make crafted gear automatically superior to anything you can buy or find, particularly since you can never buy or find anything that's of a different tier from what you can craft, unless you somehow got skunked on materials drops and can't build anything useful. So shops and cash are mostly worthless except for consumables and occasionally mats, if you can find a shop that stocks a particular mat you need to build a particular thing. Which involves scrolling through the blueprints to see which particular mats you're short of. (Not to mention the idiotic running back and forth between the Tempest equipment locker and research station when you need to upgrade, and having to keep junk items on hand just so you can unequip the obsolete items you want to recycle augmentations from.) And of course, only needing to equip Ryder makes a lot of gear and mats useless. DAI had similar issues with found gear often being weak, but having to equip the whole team made more gear useful, purchasing schematics kept cash useful, the mat system made actively hunting mats something worth doing, and the interface wasn't actively annoying.

This is a big problem in an RPG, particularly an OW RPG where a lot of the content is optional. A lot of side missions pay off in loot or credits, and when loot and credits are worthless, so is the mission. A lot of the cryo pod system also relies on gear being useful, so bad gear breaks that system too.

On a related note, the Vault mechanic doesn't really work well. Vaults pay off with three things: Remnant research points, loot, and habitability. RRP are only good if you plan to use Remnant gear and don't have enough for the gear you want, and the loot is worthless except maybe the Fusion Mod if that vault's drop suits your playstyle. Habitability is really only useful if you want to drive around a lot on Voeld or Elaaden, since it cancels the environment penalties. You'll get enough points for an outpost without the Vaults just by playing the main quest lines.

The space flying is underwhelming too, although I don't really fault ME:A for this since smarter people than me bought into the whole No Man's Sky vision at the time.

Love the game and it's still enjoyable. Bring on the sequel!!!

I've played it 10+ times and put 1,000+ hrs into it since launch and it still sits right at about an 8.5 to me post launch. There are definitely things I'd tweak and change about it if I had the power but I'm happy overall with what I got from BioWare.

I've done 190+ hours in SP and it seems my total is 1988 hours because of the best multiplayer game I've played since 2004

When I encountered them, I thought I was going to like them. But then Drack just knew how to tell the "badass stories about the good old times" and I just rolled my eyes. And Vetra would talk just about her sister, which really became quite annoying. It seemed every single character just knew to talk about one subject and had no personality at all. Peebee was the only character I really liked, but her personal mission really pissed me off. 

And SAM, ugh, a very poor attempt to replace EDI. 

Is this something you actually did, or just an irrational fear you had about maybe accidentally ending up in MP?