My Fear for the future...

Well, I agree that attitude to story is extremely disappointing, but its not unheard of to like games for their characters over the story. I'd argue ME2 was an example of that for the most part. The Tales games are another example or Persona 4 say.

But yes, these comments by Mac Walters are very wrong headed. You've got to at least try to do a decent story. Because like you say, if the writers themselves don't care about it, then why the hell should we?!

... Except they prioritized characters while story was an afterthought.  They still thought about it... after.  It wasn't the priority and it shows.

The story is a lame rehash.  Collectors + Proth 2.0 with perhaps Bioware's worst generic villain ever.  I'd love for you to describe to me how that shows "story was important" to them.

Annnd yet the end result speaks for itself, I don't have to support my claim with quotes - I've played the game, and the game speaks for itself - not sure how that isn't registering with you. The story is generic - many would consider it boring.  It's just... there.  It's not about the story, it's about the world and the characters - the story is incredibly flat.

And I'm not sure what you're thought process is when you say Bioware has never written great stories... That's just delusional.  That's what they're known for, more than any other videogame company in the world today.  You're just talking nonsense. 

They don't have to say they care about story when the product they put out PROVES they didn't care about the story.  You're just kind of odd in how you fail to grasp this.

And in the videogaming world, they've consistently put out the best stories and writing - it's what they're known for... It's why this game falls flat for many people - because they've failed at what they've traditionally been the best at.

Why are you comparing videogame stories to Pulitzers?  That's just strawman pandering right there.  That'd be like whining about how Shepard never won an oscar.

The story needs to at the very least be compelling and make you want to roleplay your characters... Andromeda failed to do that for many people.  I thought the Collectors were way more interesting than the Kett.  The Kett are just a placeholder baddy Mac half-assed into the story that you immediately start shooting.  No mystique, no nothing.  

Remember this collector attack?  Or exploring the empty colonies they attacked?  That was classic sci-fi shit right there that Andromeda doesn't hold a candle to. 




I thought the darkspawn were lightyears of the Kett... But that's just cherrypicking from amongst one of Bioware's weaker villians.  The Kett are bargain basement villains in the pantheon of Bioware games.

I don't mind if the main story is not overly original. DAO was not original either but the story of characters including npcs and presentation was very well done for its time. Same with the critically acclaimed TW3 but the memorable and very well written characters and the stories and how well they are told and presented along the way are what made the game as well received as they are.

Sadly I think MEA failed short this time. It is not by all means bad because it did some things great but MET was about stories I cared about to me, sadly I did not feel the same here.

The main villain, however, has often been a bit of a sore point in recent Bioware IPs. Saren is by no means a very original character, the Collectors in ME2 are mindless drones, and I don't think I need to recall the many, many, many complaints we've had about the Star Child being the final villain of the Mass Effect series. Corypheus was pretty much a joke as far as character writing goes (the pacing of the final battle, which is "click on mission board to go to final battle", didn't help either), and DA:O also made use of the as far as we know motivation-less darkspawn. I think Bioware has always excelled at writing characters and missions, but the Archon fits right in there with stock final villains who are basically just plot devices to drive the much more interesting side-plots forward. And aside from the problems I have with Ryder's writing, I don't think they were much below expectations in the areas they were always good at, i.e. individual missions and character writing; whereas they were weak in the same way they are often weak, which is creating a compelling end boss.

I'd say the same for the main enemy types always being pretty boring, but I think it's by design that the footsoldier darkspawn, kett and collectors/other assorted Reaper husks are one-note villains, two of the three even only being debatably alive. After all, if they were all vibrant and relatable, our hero may not look so good mowing them down by the hundreds.

Next game needs more story, less walking around.
To beat the game with all the maps up to 100%, you need something between 60-80 hours depending on you play style, but how long is the main story ? 8-10 hours long ? How you can feel involved ? I remember that after beating Voeld and one other planet I couldn't remember what was the last thing I did ... pretty sad.

You may or may not like the characters, that is really neither here nor there, but from Mac's perspective and a writers perspective right around the time between ME 1 and ME 2,  Mass Effect became character driven as opposed to story driven.  Heck maybe even ME 1 falls under this divide, these definitions are a bit vague.  Andromeda follows this same basic structure.   The Main Plot is essentially Ryder's coming of age story, then each companion has their own plot arcs of multiple quests and objectives, and then a lot of the other quests have character arcs of their own from small to relatively large. 

You keep on saying that.  Anyways, regardless...I just don't know in the end because A. my first experience with the ME universe was ME 2 and B. I am obviously not everyone.  But that is the way it is kind of supposed to work.  At least in my mind.  I find it difficult to relate to a story without being able to relate to the characters.  Without strong charaters, it is hard to care about the events.  Which, up till Mass Effect Andromeda, tended to be complicated because the games with the stronger plots, had the weaker casts, and vice versa.  Either way though at the end of the day character development, and plot development, for the first time in BioWare history really went hand in hand.