[Impressions of the game so far...] - And now my final impressions.

Needed to take a bit of a break from MEA and thought I'd jot down some of my impressions so far. I'm ~80 hours in and just reached the Krogan world.
I have 100% viability on the previous 4 worlds and chewed through most of the sidequests so far.

Honestly, this game is such a mixed bag it's difficult to know where to start. So I'm just going to ramble here. I'll start off with something positive...


The Combat.

On the whole, it's... pretty good. You're given a lot of options to spec yourself and I highly recommend switching it up every once in a while to keep it fresh. Especially if you're struggling with the story and grind, it did help keep me engaged trying different tactics and weapons.

I definitely like the jetpack and dodge mechanics - the verticality, the mobility... And I definitely like the fact you don't take damage from falling, that's a big gameplay plus IMO.

With the sheer variety of weapons and crafting though, I wish the game allowed you to swap weapons out in the field without having to go to a drop station. I feel that kind of discourages experimentation somewhat, especially given the fact you're allowed to cart around a ton of weapons and armor in your inventory anyway.


Crafting.

There's a dizzying array of crafting options, and while that's great, it's hard to know where to even begin. I'm staring at options often with little idea of whether spending my research currency will be worth it. In time, guides and wikis will sort that out, but on the initial run, I'm often like - Let's... try... this...?

Also, it took a while to get my head around augmentations that you can only craft once, but get back if you break down the weapon/armor. And the annoyance that you have to swap out to another weapon/armor to break down an existing one and recover the augs. Ugh... was that really the best way to handle it? At the very least I'd like to be able to handle that all from one kiosk.

And I'm surprised there wasn't a Stats page so you can see how all of your gear's bonuses mesh with your abilities. That omission really bugs me.


The Story.

I think the premise had promise, but the execution is... poor.

I really struggled in the beginning to stay engaged. Hell, I'm still struggling. By hour 30 I was at my lowest point - The story didnt' grab me. The squadmates didn't grab me. The new aliens really didn't grab me. The environments and exploration were a mixed bag. And that made everything a chore. It wasn't until around hour 60 where I saw a few quests piquing my interest, an interesting planet or two, and warming a little to some of the squadmates. But that's too long.

I think the writing overall has a few bright spots, such as recovering your Dad's memories... Liam's (generally) fun personal quest... some of the Angaran culture... but so much of it never really reeled me in. Thankfully, "Casual Ryder" makes for some fun conversations. Not everything is a hit, but enough that it's keeps me engaged on that level.

The main villain? The Kett/Angara situation? The various outlaw factions? I hate to say it, but I'm just kinda shrugging at the whole thing. The Remnant and their vaults started off as being pretty interesting, and it still is I guess, but as I see more and more of them it's starting to blur together a bit.


Quests.

Again, while there are a few bright spots, honestly - many of the quests feel, I dunno... uninspired maybe? The first mission you're on feels almost beat for beat like the first quest in DAI. That wasn't a promising start.

Poor quest design that I see time and again are those that shoehorn you into making decisions or taking actions when the smart/logical action would be something else entirely.

As an example, when you're setting up those hammer devices on Eos to redirect water to the outpost. As you do, you run into a group from an independent outpost who needs the water you're redirecting, but suggests you tap into a natural gas deposit instead. But, that has environmental issues. Logically, my first thought is that both groups have valid points, let's get them together and find a compromise. Or at the very least, let's go back to the outpost and explain the situation. But you can't - you're shoehorned into setting up the device and either making an enemy of one group or harming the environment. The only winning move in this contrived situation is not to play. But then you don't get to fight the cool boss monster.

And you see this time and again, where you're looking at the options given to you, but I'm looking for the 3rd option. The smart/logical move that isn't a choice. Another example is when you're faced with situations that someone who might be lying, but not offered an investigation option (often easily verifiable given the opportunity) to prove one way or the other. The doctor/drug quest on Kadara is an example of that.

When I do start enjoying the odd quest, it's these kinds of contrived quests that set me right back. I could pick a whole bunch apart this way, but you get the idea.

The worst offender I've seen far - the Contagion quest. It was so rage-inducing I was literally at loss for words. I honestly have difficulty articulating how contrived and colossally stupid that whole quest chain was. I was honestly wondering how a quest that bad got through the vetting process. BioWare - you get full mark off that one.

And then there's the contrived story moments which can be hair-pulling at times. Like a recent one for me on Kadara, when the two faction leaders settle on a "duel". I'm like... who behaves like this? And in this instance, I save what's-her-name, and then have a QT option to shoot the other guy in the back. So I pull out a pistol (when I have a sniper rifle), fire one round, and then watch as his friends pick him up, cart him into a shuttle, and fly away. Do I need to say it?


Squadmates & Crew.

Some have grown on me a little - like Jaal and Suvi, but the rest I'm not sure to put it... I don't really like or dislike them. Ambivalent might be right word? I thought I'd like Peebee more from the early videos, but it's like she tries too hard to be hyper/spastic. Cora, even after her personal quest, is kinda... there. Drack is a typical krogan. Vetra with the little rebellious sister feels like an overused trope. Gil's alright, his poker streak and the conflict with Kallo was at least... something. Liam has his moments, when he's not whining. Which means rarely. But his banter with Jaal is usually pretty good.

Of the casts in BioWare games, this is easily the weakest overall IMO. The writing... just isn't there. Again, I haven't finished the game. But I'm 80 hours in, so if you haven't grabbed me by now...


The Environments.

There are a couple of bright spots - the asteroid/moon, and the jungle world, and the ice world (to a lesser extent). But there's a whole lotta... blah everywhere else. I touched on the Remnant vaults earlier, and the first couple were cool to explore, but the shine wears off eventually as explore more and more. The nomad is pretty fun for the most part. Moreso if you upgrade it. I'm not big on the 4wd/6wd switching, but it's not too annoying. Running things over and over and goomba-stomping is still fun though.

And while I get why they do it, the safe zone/hazard zone regions are something I didn't care much for. It was okay for a while for gameplay reasons, but over time it just becomes another annoyance. And now that I've landed on the Krogan world, my first thought was - yay, another desert planet...

I hope in future BioWare games we can put a moratorium on desert environments. At least for a few games...



I know that sounded like a lot of negative, but I think between the "Casual Ryder" dialogue, the mostly good combat, decent crafting, okay squadmates (with occasionally interesting banter), and the hope that the story will pay off in the end... it's keeping me just engaged enough to keep going. Though I think I can safely say this'll be a one 'n done game for me. I don't foresee replaying it again. At least not for a long time and unless there's some absolutely stellar DLC.

Finally finished the game yesterday (104 hours), so I thought I'd leave my final impressions here.

First off, I am glad to see that there are people who enjoyed MEA. Character and plotline enjoyment are pretty subjective, so even if they didn't grab me, there are clearly those whom they clearly resonated with.


Combat: 7.5/10

Opinions here are largely unchanged. I was actually quite worried about some of the things I'd heard about the combat during the run-up to release, so it was a very nice surprise to see that it worked well overall in actual play. I tinkered with a good number of different playstyles and still felt there were still plenty of different options to explore by the end. I've also noticed videos are starting to trickle in now with some interesting ability/weapon builds.

Despite a lot of grinding in this game, the combat was the foundation (as opposed to characters & story) that kept me vested in the game. I certainly didn't expect that.


Crafting: 7/10

It definitely needed a better tutorial and the UI could be better, but once you get your head around it, there's a lot of depth and much to experiment with. I liked the tinting options, the attention to detail in the armor sets (often noticeably more than everything else around you), and how things would get dusty/iced over in various environments. I do wish there were more alien alien weapons & gear though. I would have liked it if they had taken a little inspiration from Half-Life here and tried something unique.


The Environments: 6.5/10

I honestly felt the environments were an overall step down from DAI. MEA had too many desolate planets with largely uninteresting geography/topography, while DAI provided a wide variety of beautiful, contrasting environments to explore. I suspect it's because of the speed of the Nomad and the problems of rendering the environment to keep up. The architectural designs of the Kett, Angara and MW species I felt were too similar to one another. Nothing... inspired. No cities either. And as I thought, the initial shine of the Remnant architecture starts to wear off as you get deeper into the game and it becomes commonplace. I will say though that Meridian did impress. But it comes in at the every end of the game and you have no option to explore it after your on-rails drive in the final mission.


The New Alien Races: 4/10

I understand why they made them very humanoid so you can interact with them and gauge their emotions, have new romance options, and so on... but none of the races pulled me in. Not in appearance, not culturally (for the most part). It all felt overly familiar and uninspired (there's that word again...). The Kett especially. They try to play up a religious angle to their conversions, but I just shrugged and saw them as just more generic villains to shoot at. I look at the Archon and honestly, he's damn near comedy. Certainly not on the level of the better villains in their past games. That said, they did do a good job at ramping up the excitement in the final mission.


The Story: 4/10

The bottom line here is the story never reels me in. I never feel invested in it.

The first tentacle-boss battle and the Meridian end-game quest were the only times I felt genuine excitement. The ending I felt was pretty strong, along with a few of the subplots, easter eggs, and teases for the next DLC. The majority of the game though I spent just labouring to move the plot along, especially in the early going. That said, I did like there was a good amount post-final-mission dialogue you could get from NPCs - that's always welcome in games like these.

I could go on a long-ass tear here, but honestly I'm just kinda exhausted by it right now. Maybe later.


The Quests: 5/10

It picks up a point here for the decently strong final quest and "post-game" wrap-up. I liked seeing the allies I made along the way showing up in the final battle and despite a few glitches in the final fight, it was easily the best moment in the game.

But my issues with the majority of quests (in my OP) still stand. There are only a few precious jewels that stand out in a sea of generally mediocre/predictable quests. Very little subverts your expectations. I enjoyed movie night, but since I never really connected with any of the squadmates, it never achieved the kinda magical moment I was hoping get out of it.

And I noticed that there must have been cut content in a number of major sub-quests (eg. the power struggles on Kadara and New Tuchanka). I get that's just the reality of game development, but what we do get often isn't shored up to flow/conclude properly.


The Squadmates & Crew: 4.5/10

Largely unchanged from my OP. I ended up romancing Peebee after finding out I couldn't romance Suvi. But honestly, I never felt strongly about any of the cast. It's just one of those things. Still, Suvi & Jaal were the ones I kinda liked the most. Jaal actually has a couple of funny moments in the game.

On the whole though, this (for me) was the weakest written cast I've found in a BioWare game, and combined with the animation glitches and character models, it just doesn't come together and present well. Some of the dialogue is pretty cringe-worthy. It's the only BioWare I've played where no character resonated strongly for me. And because of that, it drags the whole game down for me. I'm will say that SAM "worked" well in the game, which was a good thing as he's there all the time.

In most of the dialogues I just hit the Casual response, which I felt was more hit than miss, and overall enjoyed Comedy Ryder.


Final Verdict: 5.5/10

It's tough to write that as I've been following the Dev tweets for years and know that they put in ungodly hours and stress into making this game. Just so much effort into it... for which they have my undying respect.

Again, characters and plot resonate differently for different people and I do hold BioWare to a higher standard than I would say, a new studio on the block. So bear that in mind.

Not certain if I will play MEA again, but I will definitely keep my eye out for the DLC (which is usually quite good).