Bioware can't patch what sucks about ME:A - article

The skill point set up and that you get more of them later but the least of them sooner is probably backwards. Initially they probably should give people more access to them because if you dump a bunch into passives then you really don't want to put them into a ton of other skills if you want to play pure or mostly pure powers. I had this problem myself. Starting a game you have nothing and trying to build something that feels solid, for me I ended up relying on guns more than I liked and actually ended up being more of an infiltrator soldier type when I really did want to get more into biotics but by the time I had a good mix of skills, I just felt like why bother. Passives take up a lot of points. It's great we have passives and they are highly useful, but when you get only a few points per level that's still not many points early on. Dropping them into other trees game me more profiles but those profiles had maybe one power because I was using the passives and that one power. Simply put, it's sort of silly to give the least amount of points per level early on and the most amount later. It takes far to long to really build up to what you want and then to start building something else, by then, you might be more invested in what you started. Also, cooldowns on profile swaps make it kind of less appealing early on. Sure, I could have put points into biotics to grow that tree but I was so invested in tech and soldier at that point that I felt I should just stay focused there or I would have to waste another several levels of points just to get the passives to make it worthwhile. 

The system is good but it needs some tweaks. It needs to be more appealing to spread the points around. By the time you get enough points that you want to really try more variety (unless you don't mind spending points all over the place and be a jack of all master of none build) you are probably pretty far along in the game where it might not feel worth it. 

And I disagree with just about everything he wrote. Yeah you have more than 3 powers... Who honestly bothers switching? You max the three you like and maybe experiment with three new ones on a new play through. Spreading your points around is just inefficient.

As for the cluster debate... Bioware made the choice to limit themselves to a cluster - a convenient excuse for a lack of new races. It doesn't matter what you call it - it's just lazy. Fine. Only two races because a new cluster... But to also remove previous races? C'mon. You know you're going to paying for them in DLC, right?

Right off the bat I'm already having serious reservations about this article author just because they seem to display a stunning lack of knowledge about key features of the game and gameplay to be writing a criticism. Nevertheless, I'll address a few points.

One of their complaints is that there are only two new alien races in a new "galaxy" yet they conveniently omit the fact that we are in ONE CLUSTER of the entire galaxy for the entirety of the game and not exploring all of Andromeda. It would have been a bit silly to come in and have five brand new races that all of the races in the Milky Way have to get to know, ally with etc. As it is, the game only establishes SOME of the history and information on the Kett and the Angara, let alone the Jardaan or Remnant. Truly this could be an entire thread of it's own to discuss and debate, but I would have rather started out with a few new races in addition to the old races arriving in the arks as opposed to many, many new races all packed in one cluster for some reason that we don't spend a lot of time getting to know but still have to somehow make first contact over and over again and forge a very swift alliance. What an awful criticism of the game, in my opinion. Consider the fact that many people wanted a game set pre-ME Trilogy during the First Contact War. Would there still be this complaint? There would have to be, considering the only race we would get to actively meet would be the Turians as our enemy.

Also, in the same paragraph they complain about the barriers at the end of the map. What....? This argument is just silly and petty. EVERY open world game has this. What's the difference between the shimmering barrier to let you know you've reached the end of the map in MEA than the pop up letting us know we Can't Go That Direction in Fallout 4? Did they expect the worlds to just continue forever?

The Combat section also shows the authors lack of knowledge on the powers system, or just intentionally left out information. You can set up four different distinct "favorite" lists of different powers and change them in the weapon wheel on the fly. You aren't limited to three powers. You are limited to twelve. That's... a lot of powers and a lot of builds you can set up.

They complain that you have to wait to reselect "sweet new weapons" you find in a container until you go back to the ship or are at a forward station. Okay, part of this complaint I agree with. I don't see any reason why you can't go into your inventory and change weapons on the fly akin to Skyrim, Fallout or many other RPGs. That was a poor design choice, in my opinion. However, you CAN equip a new weapon when you pick it up. I've seen the option where you can scroll down in a container to the new weapon and select "equip." So you find a brand new weapon in a container? Great.. Equip it. That feature is there. Plus on the open worlds the Forward Stations are very plentiful, become fast travel points and allow you to completely change your inventory and squad mates while still on the ground. Best design choice? No. Major inconvenience that ruins the experience? No.

Same paragraph it complains about inventory space. Again, I agree that there should be storage units on the ship to off load your inventory. However, you can gain AVP to select cryo pods that increase your storage space to 200 over the initial 100. If you are smart about what you keep in your inventory and don't absolutely horde gear that is far underleveled and, essentially, useless you really probably won't go over 100 very often. I played 70+ hours and went over 100 in my inventory a handful of times, actively selling things I knew I was never going to use or underleveled.

Later in the article they are comparing graphics of Andromeda to DA:I. I started off thinking, yes I agree the generic NPCs look pretty rough and that has been a main complaint from many (asari clones etc.) Then they showed a picture comparison saying how woeful MEA characters look in comparison to 2014 DA:I. I've never played DA:I so at first I thought that was a significant change and they downgraded heavily. Then I saw the comment "Of course, these are primary characters and not generic NPCs" in regards to DAI's picture........

This author really has no credibility. If you are going to compare graphics and character design... I mean come on... Generic background NPCs in MEA that you are going to glance at in passing vs. major primary characters you see frequently and are handcrafted to look good and unique in DAI? Seriously? What was wrong with comparing say Vetra, Drack and Cora to those three primary characters in DAI? It didn't feed the authors narrative? I didn't have high hopes for this article as I said at the start but this kind of took the cake.



I'm sorry, I had to stop reading. The author is beyond nitpicky, vastly unknowledgable about features they want to see in game that are ALREADY IN GAME and then that last part I posted about? Really? There are some legitimate complaints out there about MEA. As someone who thoroughly enjoys the game, I will freely admit that. This however? No.

I hate the cluster excuse. Why make the setting any place where you can't do new things or create new races? It's like making a pokemon game in one or two towns and saying that there are no water pokemon in the game because there are no seas in the game. It's a ridiculous thing to do.

I hate the cluster excuse. Why make the setting any place where you can't do new things or create new races? It's like making a pokemon game in one or two towns and saying that there are no water pokemon in the game because there are no seas in the game. It's a ridiculous thing to do.

That's just inefficient to me. The enemies are all the same - there's no point in swapping abilities. If the game had a huge variety of baddies that required you to adjust, then the current system would work.

It doesn't, so you're just making more work for yourself. It's like incorporating the mindless tasks into customisation for the sake of customisation but with zero payoff.

And then they saw him: a figure flitting between the piles of rubble, a ghostly shape slowly but surely coming closer. The air was still as if it too was holding its breath, waiting to see if he would make it. Closer, ever closer he came, an insignificant worm crawling through the muck and filth, intent on his purpose.

Ever so gently a fountain of earth blossomed into the air - as if on cue the heavens opened; shells rained down onto the landscape, tracer fire etched its spidery language across walls. Somewhere in the confusion of smoke and hellfire he struggled on, on towards safety.

Suddenly out of nowhere he leapt, tumbling down into the safety of the trench and his awaiting comrades. Bloodied but unbowed suikoden knew it was worth it, knew the sacrifice of 30 men left as carrion on the battlefield was worth the cost: the world needed to know about one more negative Mass Effect Andromeda article.

Right off the bat I'm already having serious reservations about this article author just because they seem to display a stunning lack of knowledge about key features of the game and gameplay to be writing a criticism. Nevertheless, I'll address a few points.

One of their complaints is that there are only two new alien races in a new "galaxy" yet they conveniently omit the fact that we are in ONE CLUSTER of the entire galaxy for the entirety of the game and not exploring all of Andromeda. It would have been a bit silly to come in and have five brand new races that all of the races in the Milky Way have to get to know, ally with etc. As it is, the game only establishes SOME of the history and information on the Kett and the Angara, let alone the Jardaan or Remnant. Truly this could be an entire thread of it's own to discuss and debate, but I would have rather started out with a few new races in addition to the old races arriving in the arks as opposed to many, many new races all packed in one cluster for some reason that we don't spend a lot of time getting to know but still have to somehow make first contact over and over again and forge a very swift alliance. What an awful criticism of the game, in my opinion. Consider the fact that many people wanted a game set pre-ME Trilogy during the First Contact War. Would there still be this complaint? There would have to be, considering the only race we would get to actively meet would be the Turians as our enemy.

Also, in the same paragraph they complain about the barriers at the end of the map. What....? This argument is just silly and petty. EVERY open world game has this. What's the difference between the shimmering barrier to let you know you've reached the end of the map in MEA than the pop up letting us know we Can't Go That Direction in Fallout 4? Did they expect the worlds to just continue forever?

The Combat section also shows the authors lack of knowledge on the powers system, or just intentionally left out information. You can set up four different distinct "favorite" lists of different powers and change them in the weapon wheel on the fly. You aren't limited to three powers. You are limited to twelve. That's... a lot of powers and a lot of builds you can set up.

They complain that you have to wait to reselect "sweet new weapons" you find in a container until you go back to the ship or are at a forward station. Okay, part of this complaint I agree with. I don't see any reason why you can't go into your inventory and change weapons on the fly akin to Skyrim, Fallout or many other RPGs. That was a poor design choice, in my opinion. However, you CAN equip a new weapon when you pick it up. I've seen the option where you can scroll down in a container to the new weapon and select "equip." So you find a brand new weapon in a container? Great.. Equip it. That feature is there. Plus on the open worlds the Forward Stations are very plentiful, become fast travel points and allow you to completely change your inventory and squad mates while still on the ground. Best design choice? No. Major inconvenience that ruins the experience? No.

Same paragraph it complains about inventory space. Again, I agree that there should be storage units on the ship to off load your inventory. However, you can gain AVP to select cryo pods that increase your storage space to 200 over the initial 100. If you are smart about what you keep in your inventory and don't absolutely horde gear that is far underleveled and, essentially, useless you really probably won't go over 100 very often. I played 70+ hours and went over 100 in my inventory a handful of times, actively selling things I knew I was never going to use or underleveled.

Later in the article they are comparing graphics of Andromeda to DA:I. I started off thinking, yes I agree the generic NPCs look pretty rough and that has been a main complaint from many (asari clones etc.) Then they showed a picture comparison saying how woeful MEA characters look in comparison to 2014 DA:I. I've never played DA:I so at first I thought that was a significant change and they downgraded heavily. Then I saw the comment "Of course, these are primary characters and not generic NPCs" in regards to DAI's picture........

This author really has no credibility. If you are going to compare graphics and character design... I mean come on... Generic background NPCs in MEA that you are going to glance at in passing vs. major primary characters you see frequently and are handcrafted to look good and unique in DAI? Seriously? What was wrong with comparing say Vetra, Drack and Cora to those three primary characters in DAI? It didn't feed the authors narrative? I didn't have high hopes for this article as I said at the start but this kind of took the cake.



I'm sorry, I had to stop reading. The author is beyond nitpicky, vastly unknowledgable about features they want to see in game that are ALREADY IN GAME and then that last part I posted about? Really? There are some legitimate complaints out there about MEA. As someone who thoroughly enjoys the game, I will freely admit that. This however? No.