No wonder Casey Hudson left. This game is missing them sc-fi feels.

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You don't get it, do you?
The way how main (any) story progresses: go to A, finish whatever you are supposed to do there, this triggers an opening so you can finaly go to B and finish the objective.
This whole Noveria corporate stuff? Just filler, you have to do it in order to open your path to the objective and finaly finish your "main story part" there, not more.
In ME2 you have to do some loyalty mission (ie Jacob) to trigger your opening for the next main story part (ie reaper iff).

The difference: in ME you have both on the same planet so it seems more connected. In ME2 we have to go to 2 different places. You may like the one approach more then the other, but that does not make the appraoch you do not prefer "a bad story".

Two thoughts here
1) Calling this "loyalty mission" was very very bad at BW part, this way some customers (obviously someone like you) think it is just side filler, it is not, because you HAVE to do it, if you dont, you dont progress in the main story POINT. If you have to do something in order to progress the story, it IS part of the story. And btw, if you do not do it, Jacob dies in the end (and while most people dislike Jacob, replace him with Garrus). And while this may not be a vital part, it is still a part. Btw Verner is side content, Liara is side content and so on.
2) BW could have made the "loyalty missions" part of the "main story missions", cut the damn "loyalty mission" label and just let us go through that "story part" before we can progress with the "main objective" and noone would notice.

I do not judge you by what approach you like more, but please, stop saying ME2 is shit because the approach is different from ME and you liked ME more.

PS: I am done with this part, I feel like talking to a rock.

You realize that this game takes place in ONE cluster right?  We have seen a small fraction of the surface of the galaxy.  Who knows how many other races are out there.  Honestly, I would like to have seen more races in the galaxy as well, but with the introduction of the Kett, the Remnant and the Angara, as well as the entire plot of getting the Initiative back on track, finding the Arks, settling worlds we would have been in for one exceptionally overcrowded game to introduce even MORE brand new species that we have to learn about and make first contact with and start doing missions for on THEIR worlds to gain their trust and allegiance.   

I'm all for full content game experiences, but adding even just one more alien race that we can align with would have added multiple new planets with full worlds of quests and story lines and made the game very, very clustered.  As it stands it's very easy to lose track of the main quest and get sidetracked working quests for the Angara, doing quests for the Initiative (ie: finding the Arks, settling worlds etc.) AND doing missions relating to getting to know your crew and helping them out.  For instance, I landed on Kadara to receive the "Hunting the Archon" quest, you know part of the main game's story, and I've been side tracked probably for about 10+ hours of game time doing OTHER THINGS than the main quest because there is just so much for me to do and see that I've lost track of the main quest and likely won't pick it back up for quite some time.  I just now landed on Elaaden and will have a full world here to do quests before even going back to the main story.

Frankly speaking, I think Andromeda is stuffed to the gills with content, missions and things to do.  I don't have time to sit for hours on end each and every day to play through even more than what we have.

Also, to everyone making comparisons....... living life in your shoes is just something I would never want to do.  Why do we have to be making all these comparisons to "Oh well this previous game did this... this one did that"?  Do you really want a copy and pasted game doing the exact same thing iteration after iteration?  I certainly don't.  Andromeda feels quite different than the original trilogy and I think that's a good thing.  Each Mass Effect game has felt different than the last.  ME2 was substantially different than ME1 and vastly different from ME3.  None of the games have been exactly like the last and have changed how the game plays, how the world feels...  Everything changes between games, including character control.  Mass Effect 1 you control nearly everything Shepard says and can spend considerable time exploring.  Mass Effect 2 is combat heavy in very tight corridors where Shepard has very little control over what he's doing, how it gets accomplished and you get to explore very little.  Mass Effect 3 is even more combat heavy with SUBSTANTIAL auto-dialogue where you can go full conversations and get maybe one or two options to inject your personality and choice in to who Shepard is with practically no exploration.  I love all three games.  I love what they all offer.  I'm glad Andromeda seems to find a balance between exploring and combat.  I think it feels great.  But I actually like the game.

For better or worse, Bioware decided in this game they wanted to heavily focus content on a select number of planets and open them up much bigger than in the past for deeper exploration.  Heck, I can't name a single world outside of the main story missions that you can land on in ME1.  I can name even fewer from ME2.  I can't remember the name of a single planet from the loyalty missions in ME2.  Granted it's been quite some time since I've played the games but I think I will remember the planets a bit better in this game because you spend so much more time on them.  I thought ME1's side content was such a grind.  I wanted to get some of the content that would transfer to the next game but I hated landing on the throw-away "Uncharted" worlds.  They were more devoid of life than some are complaining about Andromeda's of being.  Honestly, besides the so called "sci-fi feels" (which by the way I DO get in Andromeda) what else did these worlds offer?  The exact same outpost situated far from where you land and MAYBE a thresher maw that pops up?  There was nothing on these planets.  

That's my opinion on it and I'm sure a lot of other people have equally valid contradictory opinions.  I think Andromeda gives me the same science fiction feels I felt playing the other Mass Effect games.  I am enjoying my time in the new world with the new squad.  It's something brand new and I like it.  

Although I will say I am sorry you don't get a sci-fi feeling from the game Terminator.  It's a shame.  Hopefully future games in the series, if you choose to return to the franchise, will let you recapture that feeling.  

The label doesn't really matter. A companion mission that doesn't directly involve the main objective of the game is just going to be seen for exactly what it is anyway. That you have to do at least some to progress the main quest just means that the main quest is "on hold" and these various other quests push the "timer" forward. But then, ME2's main objective is basically sitting around and waiting for the Illusive Man to come up with something, so I guess it has to work that way, otherwise it would be weird that he's contacting you after each main story mission is complete. You'd be done in like a few hours. 

BioWare had 5 years. Well more then any other Mass Effect sequel. No excuse. They should have managed all that time much better instead of giving us unskippable long boring waste of time planet hoping interface and boring everything else. They aimed for something so big and unrealistically massive with Andromeda that all the dialog felt like forced diarrhea vomit to give all these useless filler character something to say in time for deadline.

And I don't want a copy of Mass Effect Trilogy, I hate The Force Awakens. Killed Star Wars for me. Just like Andromeda killed Mass Effect for me. I just want something that captures the spirit and sci-fi feels of Mass Effect Trilogy and to feel as immersive. I don't care if everything from the Milky way was scrapped. Just give me the spirit and sci-fi feels. Don't turn me away to other companies like CD Projekt Red's upcoming sci-fi epic for hope.

As to why I'm discussing and comparing. Well, discussion and comparing is fun or can be fun. Might as well have fun with this since I can't have fun with Andromeda like some of you are (though I'm still trying. Got two more planets that need to be explored). So really, I'm not here to offend anyone. People have different opinion. Whatever. But I want to hear and discuss them.

For my first ME1 playthrough I actually skipped the off world planets because I was so interested in the main story. But in replay when I was happy to discover so much more content to explore, with some really memorable stuff too. Like hooking MAKO battery to turret to kill rachni. Or some dude trapped me with a bomb and stole my MAKO, then escaped, had to traverse on foot over an epic mountain to reach MAKO and kill the bastards guarding MAKO). And those empty feeling planets did make sense within context. Also much better then landing on a planet and having a mindless checklist of over a hundred things. Less things makes discovery more meaningful too, instead of "Oh, another useless trinket to add to my 1000th or so collection. Yay! And this is only world one!"

And names. I'm bad with names too. It's all about the experience. And sometimes it's better if you can forget that too because it enhances games when you replay them. But I do think BioWare making fewer but bigger worlds was a mistake. Should have been more worlds and smaller like ME1. Man, feels like I was never going to get off that Ios desert planet, only to later find out I had to go back because there's now twice more that opened up to explore. My jaw dropped in disbelief and sorrow.


Anyway, thanks for sharing your opinion. Good day. And...

Yeah, Casey Hudson or anyone else at BioWare is not going to promote their work.


Sometimes I wish Batman was real and that we were all super dicks instead of... well, not so super dicks. 

Mass Effect 2 was a masterpiece.

As a stand-alone game, it was good.  Not a great main plot, but the characters, the recruitment and loyalty missions were darned good, and until we got to the reaper-baby, the Suicide Mission was very well done.

As a sequel to ME1?  Utter rubbish.

It is a masterpiece if you take away the bobbins main plot, old 3eyed Joe up there, forced working for Cerberus, planet scanning (why they carried that on in ME:A I have no idea), pointless minigames, stripped down inventory and powers, a morality system that forced you to max / min to try and not balls things up, screwed over your relationship with the VS & Liara (if you didn't buy DLC), and a final mission that effectively neutered for the sequel every character who took part.

Apart from all of that, it was great I have to admit.


Edit: Blimey, I even forgot the Resources Lazarus Project.

It is.

It has Harbinger. Most likely the best character in the trilogy. He and Shepard have one of the best scenes in the trilogy in Arrival. My Shepard enjoyed hearing him talk smack to her. Its too bad he didn't have a bigger role in ME3. My Shepard missed him

Then there's the Honorable Mr. Rupert Gardner. He had the most important job in the trilogy. Keeping my Shepard fed.

TIM. What an excellent character voiced by an excellent VA. The only bad thing I can say is that my Shepard wasn't able to have a cigarette in one hand and a drink in another when talking with him.

Miranda. An excellent squadmate. She was always at my Shepard's side on missions

space Hamster. He's nothing but pure awesome. Nothing more needs to be said

The best part. Working with Cerberus. excellent.  They wanted to stop the kidnapping of colonists. My Shepard has no problem with helping with that. She didn't give a crap about the circus calling themselves Alliance. Look how much of an effort they make to confirm her death. **** them.

One last thing. The SR2. And the paint job, excellent

Well said. And Miranda was always by my side too. Every one of those 8 playthroughs.

For the last time objectivly no he is not.

For the last time, he is. ASSUMING DIRECT CONTROL