Mass Effect Andromeda Skepticism thread

Well, he wanted it for his daughter. Ahem. All I'm saying is that you get almost nothing in terms of his motivations from the game itself. He betrays Couslands and his king, tries to effectively usurp the thone, wants to eliminate any dissenting banns because... I dunno... he's a villain, I guess?

I got none of that from the game. Maybe had I recruited him, but since I never did...

Well, he questioned Cailan at Ostagar, and in the latter if you go talk to people you do realize there was tension between Cailan and Loghain.

On the forums?

I don't love the guy, but you're way off base in your assessment. He was correct about Cailan; Cailan was trying to ditch Anora and forge a marriage alliance with Celene of Orlais. If you know anything of the two nations' history, and Loghain's personal role as Ferelden's savior, you'll understand his concern.

Did he really betray Cailan at Ostagar? Probably, but it will always be debatable. Cailan's plan was terrible, and the signal fire was lit too late. Maybe a veteran commander of peerless skill (that part being unquestioned) made the right call?

He did resist the Wardens for too long. Even he admits that, in the end. He was blinded by love for his nation. Loghain is a right bastard, but he's a genius, a patriot and a hero. That earns him the love of many.

Pfffft, I didn't use the forums back when Origins came out. I just used polls, comment walls, and private messages. 

The banns waged war against him as well. It was a mutual act. He labeled the wardens traitors because he did believe they betrayed the king. 
I'm not saying he's not the antagonist, and that he didn't do questionable or terrible stuff (although it adds to the character's plot). What I meant is that he didn't do it for his own gain.
He didn't want to be king or rule. He really thought he was the only one who could save Ferelden and did all he could to save it, extreme acts included (elven slavery). While latter might not bee easily found in the game, the first is, because the prologue makes it clear the problem between the two, and how Loghain doesn't see Cailan as he saw Maric.

It's not about liking him, I just found the motivations in the first part of the game, without using the book or recruiting him. That's all.

The plan was formulated by both, I think, but the part about Cailan riding in the frontier was all on the latter. He explicitely told Cailan he was too dangerous.

Actually, all of that came from the game.

Cailan is seen formulating his "glorious" plan, to everyone's obvious discomfort, during the war council held in the ruins of Ostagar. The PC Warden is summoned to this council and given the job, alongside Alistair, of lighting the signal fire in the Tower of Ishal.

Loghain's suspicions are discoverable in the base game. Cailan's intentions are confirmed in DLC, specifically the "Ruins of Ostagar" DLC. The wardens discover his secret correspondence with Orlais in the ruined camp.

1)He didn't really usurp anything. In theory, it was legitimate for him to become regent. Part of the banns simply didn't believe his story and didn't like his stance. But the fight started from both sides.
2)Because the beacon wasn't activated at the right time, I guess.
3) Loghain was angrily shocked when he found out the letters. He was suspicious but that wasn't the motivation. 
It's fine if you believe it was vague and not explained. It doesn't mean others didn't understand the reason without additional data. 

See, when I say "make it part of the story" you can honestly do that in the most superficial way and have it still work. I'm not saying to make it tied to the main plot, I'm saying that I would like it to feel like it belongs in the game. Like it's something my character should and would be doing.

Going back to Witcher, I don't feel like Geralt, as a character, has any reason to do half of the things he does in the open world. That makes it feel disconnected. There are two modes in Witcher. There's Geralt mode, and player mode. Geralt mode is interesting, because you're seeing Geralt in a context that shows who he is, what he cares about, what he's capable of, etc. In player mode, Geralt's personality just kinda goes dormant while you, the player, take control of him, and make him roam around the world for mundane tasks that Geralt would never care about. That's insincere in an open world, I think. 

I'm not saying Mass Effect needs to go back to being linear, I'm saying that I want it to give me a reason to care about the large world. So far, it has. What I'm worried about now is whether or not that content will be interesting. Will the Nomad be fun to drive, will settlements make me feel accomplished as a player, etc.

Like I said, Inquisition gave me a reason to believe the game deserved to be in an open world. I like that a lot. The content just wasn't very fun, in my opinion. They nailed the story reason, but they didn't really get the gameplay reason, for me.

Witcher didn't get either of those, imho.

If you like exploring a vast world with little tasks to accomplish here and there, that's all you, man. It's good you have something you enjoy. I just want to feel like those tasks fit in with the game itself. If they don't, that doesn't necessarily mean the game is bad, it just means that aspect of it failed, in my eyes. Witcher isn't really "bad". It just didn't play to its biggest strengths. It decided to incorporate a giant world and lots of combat because that's what a lot of games are nowadays. Witcher III could have been stronger if it had focused on the things that make Witcher great. 

Andromeda is promising, though. Ryder is a young person who wants to prove him/herself. He's exploring for the sake of humanity, and for the sake of himself. He's adventuring because it's what he wants to do, and I'm adventuring because it's what I want to do. I want to expand our reach in this new galaxy. My goals line up with Ryder's. That makes for a much more legitimate open world experience, I feel.

The only thing we have to wait for is to see whether or not it's actually fun to play.