BSNer MEA Reviews thread (based on completed games)

The game is great at times and awful at others. DLC could certainly push the game to great for me but I'd give it a 'good' rating right now assuming many of the technical issues are fixed in the upcoming patches.

I liked the story and inner circle/cast but the pacing was kind of off and some of the writing is terrible or tries too hard. The Loyalty missions are really good and were the most fun parts of the game to me. Voice acting is hit or miss outside of the main cast, the only ones in the main cast I thought were underwhelming was maybe Liam and Gil. Suvi's accent seemed a bit too much for me at times too. Scott Ryder's VA might be the best BioWare has had. Seriously I'd rate him up there with mHawke, Mordin(ME2), fShepard, Morrigan, Loghain, etc.

Combat was good once I got my bearings I liked the profile system and its flexibility. The weapons seem really boom or bust in effectiveness and need to be tweaked imo. Eos was really the only planet I liked in terms of design/feel. They all felt kind of bland tho even Eos. Settlement system was whatever and not really an improvement at all over DA:I's fortresses. Galaxy Map and traveling is kind of a pain due to the 'cinematic feel' design choice they took. I liked it for a few hours then hated it. I hate scanning. I hope scanning/witcher senses/batman mode/whatever dies out in gaming. It is an awful mechanic go away please. Crafting is kind of a pain I don't really like the process of deconstructing and reconstructing my gun every 10 levels. Why can't I just upgrade it and save myself some time running back and forth between stations? Also, a lot of the augments seem useless, bugged, or ineffective. Crafting is kinda bad. Maybe a patch can kinda rework it.

I dunno it feels like Mass Effect 1 a lot which pleased me. The uproar over the animations was kind of an overreaction I feel. The first 20 - 25% of the game is easily the worst in animations and they seem to smooth out after that. Oh yeah, the music is okay but way too scarce. I can barely remember any tracks because they're hardly played at all, but when the music does show up it is pretty good.

I'm looking forward to a second playthrough already but I may hold off until the next patch drops since performance wise it is still pretty choppy.

I was absolutely one of the most bitter people following ME3. Frankly to this day I'm still not over it, I went into this game with the absolutely lowest expectations possible. Much to my surprise, I had a decent experience. Andromeda isn't a masterpiece, it isn't great, but neither is it the abysmal dumpster fire all this cherry picking online implies. This game has a lot of good stuff, and it has a lot of good ideas that they simply failed to execute correctly. I hate the puzzles, in fact I hate all the puzzles. I don't like puzzles in RPGs, but I can accept them when puzzles feel thematically appropriate. This game gives no fucks about thematically appropriate level or puzzle design. Remnant ruins are all designed with a game first, lore second mentality. It's all platforming and puzzle solving. All these consoles that you have to activate in a particular order or else you can't go into the next room? Sorry, but people who lived in this building would not design their system to function like that, nor would they have huge chasms between platforms, where the only way across is using jetpacks to hop across elevated pillars in convenient locations. The Sudoku puzzles are simply ridiculous, even if I was good at Sudoku I wouldn't enjoy this mechanic in any way, what makes it worse is it's not even consistently used throughout the game, so they themselves apparently weren't wholly sold on it. The Nomad needs a damn gun, idc if it's just a machine gun. The lore explanation for this is asinine, no one who ventures into uncharted lands is so naive as to convince themselves no self defense is a great idea. How about remove 6 wheel drive mode, and make that the button we use to shoot with? Since changing to 6 wheel drive feels like a step that I shouldn't even have to do. I personally would also rather Bioware re-added the animation to get in and out of the Nomad, but that's just me. All your interactions with your squad are too friendly, just like DAI you have no way to disagree or upset anyone. Admittedly this is a personal taste issue. This is also arguably the weakest Bioware soundtrack to date. Aside from the remix of Uncharted Worlds for the Galaxy Map, I cannot truly recall any music from this game at all. Huge swaths of time with no music at all, in addition to forgettable music. Inquisition also had this problem, but at least when Inquisition finally played music, it was damn good music, imo. Kadara is a chore, and is my primary reason for not wanting to replay this game. it is totally unacceptable for those doors to take 5 seconds to open. It is equally unacceptable that I have to go through 2 loading screens, sprint through the slums and jump over a fence just so I can finally fast travel/get into the Nomad.  

Yes, the animations are horrible in some places, and in other parts of the game that everyone ignores in favor of cherry picking, is actually decent to good. The dialogue is also not consistently bad, they have some actually good dialogue and character development in the later portions of the game imo. The main plot is cliche, but after ME3? I'll take safe and cliche, anything to avoid more high blood pressure and screaming from me. Besides it's cliche nature, it has some pretty solid moments, with a few choices I personally felt horribly conflicted about making. Liam's loyalty mission was the only thing that got an actual lol out of me, and it was for one scene. ME as a franchise has lost a lot of it's identity, and is struggling to rebound. ME3 damaged this franchise more than some people realize. The idea they are going for here, is one I support. I approve of the ideal of their chosen direction, they just need to get better at executing the idea. This soft reboot seems to want to build on the dream that the original Mass Effect sparked in so many people. The Star Trek ideal of The Final Frontier, to see what awaits us, in the vast ocean of space. To go where no one has gone before. That is a strong, addictive dream for a lot of people, and Mass Effect 1 was our only real taste of that dream, and it did it poorly, but it's all we've had until now. Many space science nerds like myself am overjoyed to see ME finally return to this, because this is the only franchise that can give us that feeling. At the end of the day, the game is designed like a job, rather than a passion in many areas. The players suspension of disbelief is obviously of little concern for Bioware in regards to many aspects of the game.

It's good for me, 7/10.

Finished my 1st playthrough as Scott (+ Peebee) on normal difficulty.
90 hours of gameplay 98% completion (6-7 tasks left but irrelevant ones like making the nomad's even better shield thing)
PC gameplay.

Graphics : 6/10
Some sceneries are breathtaking, literally..
Worlds are beautiful & spacefaring sceneries looks very cool & quite detailed.
Some character's facial textures needs improvement compared to other AAA games, even compared to ME3.
Character's customization is awful, unfortunately.
Love the armor designs, could definitely use more armor choices with open/full-face visors.
General level designs are good, but somewhat repetitive especially on remnant & kett areas.

Animation : 5/10
Combat animations are really good. Best in ME series no doubt, though I wish they bring back charged attacks..
Movement animations are decent, you can see the weird run only if you do it on purpose.
Encountered a bug where you can't move/walk/run properly after landing from a jump.
Encountered another bug where you're stuck in aiming stance even when you try to holster the weapon & can't fix it without reloading the game.
Facial animations for the several character are really bad (Human, Asari & even Turian), including both Scott & Sara. Scott has better animation though..
I also noticed a lot recycled animation for NPCs from previous ME games such as drunk idle animations, talking, discussion, & thinking animation on Salarians. Not saying they're bad but you could improve on it a little.

Gameplay : 8/10
Combat is really smooth & fun. Best in ME series.
Characters skill customization freedom is really nice & switching profiles feels smooth.
Platformings & puzzles are actually pretty fun.
Planets exploration feel somewhat lacking, there are plenty of places to go but nothing much to do once you get there.
Galaxy exploration on the Tempest feels really slow. It's beautiful for the first couple of hours but afterward, it's just boring.
Scanning each planets feel tedious since moving from planet to planet takes such a long time. Preferred how they did it in ME3.
Side quests are fun to do because the side quest stories are amusing & interesting.
Task quests, however, feels forced & menial, & even the rewards don't provide much incentives to do them.

Story : 7/10
(Possible Spoiler) READ AT YOUR OWN RISK.
Story is pretty good & feels fresh & different compared to ME 1-3, unlike the elite & experienced N7 soldier Shepard;
Scott felt more like a reckless young adult soldier trying to get his bearing around Andromeda.
Few dialogues feels forced, but nothing to complain about.
Choices I made throughout the game felt mattered near the end of the game.
The ending felt good but also feels somewhat like a cliffhanger for a 2nd Andromeda game (I hope)

Characters : 7/10
The game felt more like trying to introduce the characters to me/The Pathfinder the whole game more than showing the bonds/relationship they/we currently have (either with Scott or other squadmates).
Some of the characters may feel boring compared to previous ME games but personally I think it's because I'm biased toward the characters of the previous 3 games because I spent more times with them compared to these new freshly introduced characters.
Peebee, Jaal, & Alec however felt more polished as characters more than the rest, even with only the few interactions I have with Alec.

Conclusion : 7/10
So far in my 90 hours of gameplay, I encountered between 10 - 12 bugs (some different, some I've encountered in the game several times)
but none of them being gamebreaking. Immersion breaking perhaps but nothing that really matters.
I can definitely feel that this is a Mass Effect game, but this game definitely feel more like ME1 more than the rest of the game.
I feel like the whole game is just a re-introduction to the Mass Effect series & that it's laying the groundwork for what's to come (possibly a 2nd game).
I can honestly say, I like the game even with the flaws it currently have.
It definitely could use improvements here & there but all in all, a solid game.

I rated the game as Good leaning on Great.

It needs a few bug fixes and UI fixes to be Great.

With DLC it'll be Legendary.

Completed the game on my PS4 Pro after 65 hours and 87% completion.

I love the combat, by far the best in the series.

The crew was pretty great and holds up well when compared to past companions.

Elaaden and Kadara are by far my favorite planets, honestly if the other planets had quests that good I would have rated the game higher.

I thought the main story was okay, not good or bad but okay, could've had better pacing.

Thought the world building could've been much better than what we got, could've done without yet another mysterious advanced alien race, I am interested to know more about the Kett and their society though.

All in all I liked the game but I did not love it like I loved the trilogy so I voted good.

I'm like a third through it so I'll chime in later. Basically if it keeps up from here I'll rate it "good"

Voted Good,

Couple of reason because the bug with the chat wheel every twenty to thirty minutes have to restart the game

The other the complete ick with the preset females. Those are some ugly girls. IMHO

Oh and the ice planet was my favorite, just cause I thought it was a cool place, no pun intended.

Very thorough! Thank you.

MEA comes as a game that does require you to work along. The game has great content, characters, iconic scenes.

But for us to discover all it has to offer, we need to stay on board, to look passed clunky animations and to be inspired at any time.

I mean:



Adventure's calling and you actually need to answer it.  Everything has been done for us to imagine ourselves on these planets. Rydder is a fairly blank sheet of paper for you to ink. 

Even the CC requires you to be invested, rewarding your hard work. Nothing comes easy, nothing comes by itself.





But despite us putting some great effort into this game we ain't always rewarded. Animations are very weird: Being 10 years behind but included to a very current engine. Limp sync is off, lots of bugs and no huge payoff with a hamfisted ending. 

Never a BioWare game has been more about the journey than about the ending. Shepard's tale was about his/hers accomplishments and how the war will end. Ryder's journey is more of a captain manifest full of eye candy planets, weird creatures and courage.

In conclusion, i listened to MEA's calling. I know many of us did. Some of you regret it, feeling let down by technical issues and that "meh" ending but in the end, well i'll retire, lay my Tempest at bay and talk to this story to my friends and familly: My eyes would be full of sparkles: Tales of a captain lost in Andromeda.

Good game, missed the great by a very few. Less bug heavy and i would change my vote. 

This game has no soul.


There was no passion put into this game. It's clear the developer only made it because they were told to, not because they wanted to. Mass Effect: Andromeda is a generic sci-fi game inside a thin Mass Effect shell.

The cinematic style, the incredibly detailed lore, the well-thought-out alien designs, the intriguing characters, the mystery.

It's all gone.

I don't care about the technical issues, I always expect those in games like this. I just wanted more Mass Effect and this isn't it.


Gameplay

They took the third person cover shooter gameplay and turned it into the shooter equivalent of a mindless hack n slash game. It make it feel like I'm playing an anime. It's not bad, but it's not what I want from Mass Effect.


Characters

I like most of the characters in this game, but I don't care about them. The friendships happen far too quickly. It's not believable and it keeps me from growing attached to them. The developers said they wanted to recapture the target practice moment with Garrus with all the characters, but that never seems to happen. Instead of having unique bonding moments with the crew they all just invite you to have drinks. The characters have potential to be amazing, but with the current writers I don't think that potential will ever be met.


Writing and Story

The writing is so childish, it seems like it was written for drunken frat boys. Instead of having an interesting and unique video game story about colonization and the problems it causes, we got another story about humans being special and saving the aliens from another galactic threat who want to take our genetic material. I would have preferred anything else over another galactic menace trying to take the special human's genes. The family aspect had so much potential, but it was completely wasted as they aren't even there for 99 percent of the game. They said they got rid of the Paragon/Renegade system to make the choices morally grey, but the choices are the most black and white decisions I have ever seen in a game.


Designs

First of all, What the fuck did they do to the omni-tool?! It's like they changed it just for the sake of change. A lot of the Krogans now look like clowns, all the Turian faceplates look chalk white, and every Asari except Peebee has the same doofy face. The Kett look like they belong in a budget Mass Effect 2 rip off. The Angara look generic, but still have a bit of fun to their designs. It's like no effort was put into designing anything. The alien designs have always one of the best parts of Mass Effect until now.


Roleplaying

All the RPG stats and things you can upgrade are nice, but that's only a small aspect of what I consider important to an RPG. I want the character I'm playing to feel like my character and Ryder never feels like he/she's mine. It's the small thing that matter. I want to be able to turn down drinks with a squadmate, If I'm in charge of a squad I want to be able to command them in combat. The tone wheel feel so much more limiting than what we had in the Shepard trilogy. The 4 tones aren't varied enough and two of them might as well be the same (Logical and Professional).Maybe the should've asked the Dragon Age team for help with the tone wheel (And maybe some other stuff too). The limited Character "Creator" is another thing that keeps Ryder from feeling like he/she is my character. Being stuck with presets is so damn awful. I can only assume it was done for the pointless family stuff.


This is why you don't have the multiplayer team make the single player campaign.

I know this post isn't gonna be popular on here, but I needed to vent my frustrations. Mass Effect was my favorite video game series and now I just feel apathetic towards it.