Expectations for ME A

If you don't like BioWare games you really shouldn't be in the BioWare fandom.

I don't know what exactly is motivating linkenski to keep talking about this game, and speculate about it, if he believes without a shred of doubt and hesitation that it's gonna suck, but he manages to have constructive discussions about the game anyway. While I can't relate to him because personally, I would have no motivation to talk about a game if I have no interest in it, or I believe I won't like it, but for some reason he does have motivation, and it ain't coming from a place of hatred. That's good enough for me.

From what I have learned so far, about a tier 3; tier 4 as a worst case scenario.

Combat gameplay looks solid, and would have to be the one element of the game I have the least amount of concerns over.

So far, my biggest gripe has been the lack of any worthwhile 'alien' elements to the game, and all the attention paid to the romance options; "Pretty good banging" posts and all that. I get that companions and romance options is a big thing for many people, but from what I've seen Andromeda is looking even more human-like that the Milky Way did.

Now obviously, things like the Rachni, and Thorian weren't advertised as part of Mass Effect 1's marketing campaign, but at the same time the first title had an overarching theme of discovery and exploring the unknown. All I have seen from ME:Andromeda is human/near-human drama and quips about not needing an army when one has a Krogan etc.

You know I just finished a PT of Inquisition before starting in on the MET again before Andromeda comes out, (turns out I started it a liiitttllle early...anyways) and after the crisp, fun experience of Inquisition and just how smooth everything was and fluid and balanced, going back to ME 1 was like pulling teeth on how bad it was.  I had to turn down the difficulty not because the game was tough per se but because the enemies were such meat shields it was really slowing down my flow and how to make the combat just that much more frustrating. 

Out of all 3 ME games, I enjoyed ME1's story and gameplay the most. 2/3 felt more akin to Gears of War.  With some smattering of RPG elements.  But its all opinion really. I'd rather ME:A rip off ME1, whole sale, if needed. That way I know Ill enjoy the game. 

The only gameplay mechanics I enjoyed for DA2 and DA:I was the mage class. Everyone else felt clunky as all getup. 

Depends on how exploration is handled, if it's DAI in space then I'm going to be very disappointed, otherwise it might be one of my favorite games.

Aye, if only tere was enough time in a year to do all the things you would want to do in a year while doing all the new things you want to do in a year. 

I'm between 2 and 3. Voted 3.

I'm not really overly optimistic, at this point, but it looks solid, at the very least. As long as the writing isn't a total fucking mess, I can't see it being a complete flop. Definitely not financially, but also as a fan.

-The gameplay looks fine. Not really worried about it.

-Side quests will get repetitive. Never played an RPG where they didn't. Side quests are just poorly designed and shallow "Go here / Do this" missions, so I've lost all hope for expecting anything more. Inquisition is guilty of this. ME3 was guilty of this. DAII was guilty of this. Origins was guilty of this. Witcher is guilty of this. Skyrim is guilty of this, etc...

-Characters are what I'm most worried about. I can honestly get over a subpar story if the people in it are worth caring about. It's Bioware's strongest point, but also the one they tend to slack on, at least in terms of ME3 and DAII. Inquisition handled it a little better. There are legitimately likable members of the cast in that game, and it gives me some hope, but I haven't liked anyone as much as I have the cast of Origins, or the first two ME games.

-Story seems very, very low stakes. Almost completely devoid of anything that I feel I can honestly care about. We haven't seen much, but I didn't really like what we have seen. If it's serviceable, I'll be fine, but I would absolutely love to be proven wrong.

-Romances seem mostly uninteresting to me so far. Not a fan of Cora's look, and I've never found Turians all that attractive, though Vetra does seem legitimately interesting, and I think I'll like her. I'm also not gay, so that's probably not going to happen, since my character is usually somewhat me? Not entirely me, but I usually go for something close to myself for the first playthrough. Makes picking dialogue options more natural the first time through.

-I really hope the dialogue is consistently peppered throughout the game. ME3 did an awful, awful job of this. Inquisition actually did a really good job of giving us lots of options for different types of characters, so I'd be happy with that level of quality. Just no repeat of ME3, please.

So, yeah. Inquisition was an underwhelming but promising comeback to what I think Bioware can do. Hopefully Andromeda builds on that, instead of reverting to ME3 or DAII. That being said, I don't want another Inquisition. I want it to feel like Mass Effect. I'm skeptical, yet cautiously hopeful. There are still some areas they could totally screw up on and ruin the game for me, but what we've seen is... acceptable. Good, even.