Two years on, time for a reappraisal?

To some extent I might agree, though MEA does run on a lot of callbacks to establish that it is indeed part of that universe. Even little things like the mentions of the Genophage. It's a fair bet that if the MET didn't exist, the game as we know it would probably just be Mass Effect, set in the Milky Way, probably hitting a lot of the beats of the old game to establish that universe. 

I'm not sure how a game not being part of an existing franchise makes EA more likely to tolerate delays and cost overruns. Is there evidence of this?

I am not sure if this answers your question, but its been well documented that Bioware stuffed up the predevelopment for MEA and then resources were stripped from MEA to work on Anthem as they were from DA4 as well. EA played some small part in this in putting pressure on Bioware to release Anthem but the fault really mostly was with Bioware wasting time and resources at the beginning of production and planning for Anthem. I think the point that Hulu is making is that if it had been a new IP they may have been under less pressure from the publisher (which the time Bioware was given on Anthem initially indicates) to get the game out before it was finished.

The articles by Jason Schreier talk specifically about this:

www.kotaku.com.au/2019/04/how-biowares-anthem-went-wrong/

www.kotaku.com.au/2019/04/the-past-and-present-of-dragon-age-4/

www.kotaku.com.au/2019/04/bioware-boss-addresses-studio-issues-vows-to-continue-working-to-solve-them/

I had to stop my last PT at Kadara with my new PC with a much upgraded GPU due to a bug as I couldn't swap out squad mates. I had a bug there in a previous PT that made the game there unplayable also bad that was a save file corruption I think but then had 4 or 5 PT's no dramas. With my new Nvidia GPU I agree the game seemed not to perform as well although the graphics were FAR better but then I had the squad mate bug and that was enough for me.

In terms of ranking (I haven't played (SWTOR) I'd go:

DAO (Epic in every way FOR its time - Needs to be remastered and gameplay and combat enhanced)
ME3 (Story/Characters/Combat was better/Fail on the Ending
MEA (New Setting/Exploration/Combat and over arching story
ME2/DAI (Story and Combat)
DA2 (Hawke say no more and loved the combat and story, environments were ordinary)
ME1 (purely game mechanics let it down, great story and settings -mostly)

LOL like your gif.

Sorry not familiar with any of the Star Wars games, although being encouraged "enthusiastically" by some on BSN who shall remain unnamed to play SWTOR ATM. 

I was kind of imagining a world where MEA was published by somebody else than EA, by the Bioware of yore. I know, extreme alternate history. But my point is, when you strip away the ridiculous development process and replace it with a better one, no rushed release, being the first installment in a new IP (i.e. no references to any other game, just add more background info about the old races etc.), released in the patched state plus the fan-made mods - I see it as a better than average game. 

Maybe it's because I've played a lot of indie games and they just can't replace a game on this scale. Even though MEA was incredibly rushed, it's obviously a product from skilled and experienced people who simply didn't have enough time and lacked solid leadership. 

Andromeda's characters failed to grip me the first time around and I fail to see how that would change the second time. I really have no interest in their antiques and shenanigans so,for me, if the interactions aren't worthwhile, then the game isn't worth my time. I'm replaying ME1 lately and, while I do have some issues with the game, I am generally having fun with it and I can't wait to go talk to Wrex and Garrus and Ashley. In ME2 I couldn't wait to talk to Thane and Grunt and...well, everyone. In Andromeda, I don't want to talk to Peebee,I don't want to talk to Liam or Cora, I never cared for Vetra and that just leaves Jaal and Drack, who are just okay. I look forward to talking to them as much as talking to Tali, which is not a whole lot. I would rather play Shadowrun Dragonfall, to be honest, over Andromeda.

I must shamefully admit I never got around Hong Kong. Maybe it's about time I did. After this ME1 playthrough. 

I've had the exact opposite conversation with most people that have played Andromeda, that I interacted with. They only liked Vetra and consider it a waste that she was in this game, instead of the OT. I get the feeling, though, that it's just because those guys were just really into romancing Turians. No, I don't want to get more into it, you already know what it is they mean.


No, actually, that was good old auto correct. I completely missed it. How the fuck, even.

I get what you are saying but the premise of MEA was to be a blank slate. In ME1 Earth walks into an established galactic community full of lore and fights to establish its place. In MEA there is no lore (except Milky Way history) other than what is discovered in the game because it was supposed to be a game about discovering a new galaxy and therefore learning the lore.

Its already been exposed that the game ended up being rushed due to stuff ups in concept and design and then under resourced. I think the bones are there for a great game and as the OP stated I think that given more time and resources or a better use of the time is probably a better way to put it, then yes the game could have been better delivered and received.

Not sure what your point is about them writing it as if they planned to tell the story at a later date or over multiple games. They clearly planned to do that and hence there are so many unresolved story arc's and I for one hope they make a sequel. Whether it was that the game got a mediocre reception that meant resources were diverted to Anthem which was floundering hopelessly or whether those resources would have been used to get Anthem released anyway I don't know. However those resources may well have been used to make DLC or to have started a sequel. I am not sure it is a writing fault that they planned to do a sequel but rather a combination of problems both with MEA and other issues such as Anthem's development that has prevented DLC in the short term but hopefully not a sequel.

As for the squad mates I too prefer the majority of squad mates in MET but I also didn't mind many of the MEA ones as well. In hindsight its kind of hard to compare these things because we have much more developed Squad mates in MET to compare to newly introduced squad mates in MEA. I loved PeeBee, Suvi, Cora, Drack and even grew to like Liam after doing his romance. Vetra never did anything for me and Jaal was interesting the first few PT's but I ended up not liking his character and his VA.

You thought the MEA combat was MEH? I thought MEA's combat was way better than any of the MET games especially 1 and 2 and still a decent improvement on ME3.

The freedom of the jet pack, the access to multiple profiles and being able to use any of those abilities and not be limited by your starting choice. I thought that made the combat fun and varied and far better than ME3.