Mass Effect Andromeda 1 Year Later

[AlphaAtlas]

Mass Effect Andromeda is over a year old now. The game is still hits GPUs pretty hard, hence we've used it in some of our 2018 video card reviews, but the public's general opinion of the game remains mixed at best. EA has all but dropped support for the game, with no singleplayer DLC on the horizon and no plans for a successor so far, but that didn't stop YouTube Raycevick from revisiting the game over a year later.

Check out his take in the video here.

Based on my own experience with the franchise, I think his analysis is spot on, and definitely worth listening to if the game is still on your wishlist (it's currently on sale for $4) or in your backlog. His comments on how Bioware wrote the franchise into a corner are interesting too. Thanks to dark_reign for the tip.

 

[M76]

For what it's worth, it was a pretty good game IMO, way better than the generally well received Dragon Age Inquisition.

 

[HAL_404]

excellent game if you're into ok graphics, finding and then solving three puzzles via the monoliths then find the Vault, go inside and fight the bots, start the machine to save the planet ... rinse then repeat throughout the game.

Small wonder EA dropped game support (DLC, updates, etc) just a few months after the game's release

 

[spintroniX]

It got repetitive pretty quickly.. I never finished it. I really wanted to like it, as a sci fi fanatic. But... it just lacked the magic of the original game. Didn't play ME2 or ME3, so the original is my only basis for comparison.

 

[MrSteel74]

The game was a victim of bandwagon hate for reasons that are so petty it's kinda pathetic but hey mob mentality. The game was fairly decent but I agree they painted themselves into a corner to some extent but with a little effort they could turn it around.

 

[M76]

finding and then solving three puzzles via the monoliths then find the Vault, go inside and fight the bots, start the machine to save the planet ...

Yeah it's so much worse than finding cauldrons then going inside to fight robots, then start the machine to save the planet. /s

 

[Derangel]

The game was a victim of bandwagon hate for reasons that are so petty it's kinda pathetic but hey mob mentality. The game was fairly decent but I agree they painted themselves into a corner to some extent but with a little effort they could turn it around.

Yeah, no. It earned at least some of that hate. The gameplay itself was generally good and it looked stunning, everything else was underwhelming to downright bad.

 

[Lakados]

The game was a victim of bandwagon hate for reasons that are so petty it's kinda pathetic but hey mob mentality. The game was fairly decent but I agree they painted themselves into a corner to some extent but with a little effort they could turn it around.

I picked it up the delux edition for $5 on Cyber Monday and I have to say I like it, Ita repetitive but not terribly much more than the others and they still have a bunch of large plot points left unresolved enough for a good sequel launching point. I don’t see why it got all the hate it did, I can honestly say I have paid more for worse games with less content that had a way better rating.

 

[Lakados]

For what it's worth, it was a pretty good game IMO, way better than the generally well received Dragon Age Inquisition.

Better replay value too, the new game+ feature is kinda fun and lets you get crazy with your builds and crank the difficulty

 

[HAL_404]

For what it's worth, it was a pretty good game IMO, way better than the generally well received Dragon Age Inquisition.

it's not worth much really, the game's story line sucks compared to prior Mass Effect releases, the dropped support proves it and it was the laughing stock of Youtube for a few weeks. IMO well worth the price of maybe $15, not the $55 I paid.

One thing the game did do well is ensure I'll not buy another new release without checking Youtube game footage first

 

[viper1152012]

I would give it a 5/10.
Played from day 1 with characters disappearing into surfaces, duplicate unresponsive npc characters, voice acting and facial reaponse was god awful. Tons of ... Lets call ot graphical issues and that was with up-to-date everything at launch.

After a week I completed it and haven't had such a good laugh at such a frustrating game in a while.

The quirky body language and nutters faces really helped and I was saw to see the "fixed" play throughs.

Shipped too early, scripts were rushed, felt like they were making jokes at a funeral and none of them were landing.
Marketing needs to slow the fuck down.

 

[dvsman]

I didn't care what anyone on the web had to say about the game. The issues I had were strictly from me playing it. While the outdoor parts looked pretty dang good, I couldn't get over the janky character generation graphics. From the everybody looks good / looks cool of the 1st Mass Effect trilogy to everyone looks like a cracked out meth head of Andromeda ... that was my first impression of the game upon starting it up = which was not good at all. Then I ran into the bad lip-syncing / bad dialog text / crazy eye graphics ... which made me wonder if they sub-contracted the game out to an entirely different studio.

If you were being honest about it, you didn't need a youtuber to tell you what was wrong with the game. Keep in mind this is release version. Maybe they fixed this or that in additional patches ... but that's not the version people were criticizing.

They definitely shipped it out too early - like so many other game companies nowadays.

 

[termite]

I pre-ordered on the PC release version as well. It was a good stand alone game. It was somewhat repetitive at times, as are most "open world" games. However, it was a shitty Mass Effect game, the characters were mostly forgettable, and in most cases poorly written and acted.

It was kind of like Dragon Age 2, not a bad game by itself, but a travesty when compared to DA.

If you stripped the Mass Effect name and changed a few names in the story to shift it out of the ME universe, it probably would have done better metacritic bandwagon wise, many of the graphic issues that some people had were no worse than ones that were present in the prior 3 ME games.

People expected better from Bioware, especially after the Mass Effects 3 space baby fiasco; in my opinion the majority of the shit Bioware received was bandwagon click baiting.

 

[Merc1138]

I picked it up the delux edition for $5 on Cyber Monday and I have to say I like it, Ita repetitive but not terribly much more than the others and they still have a bunch of large plot points left unresolved enough for a good sequel launching point. I don’t see why it got all the hate it did, I can honestly say I have paid more for worse games with less content that had a way better rating.

You don't see why it got the hate it did?

Ok, lets ignore than you bought it for $5 after months of patches.

The reality is that the game launched at $60 and was a broken mess. I'm not talking about the "my face is tired" memes, I don't mean the female player character looking nothing like the model while the male character wouldn't have been out of place on a fashion magazine, the randomly broken animations and t-poses, etc. I mean the corrupted saves, randomly falling through the map, doors that wouldn't open halting progression, AI pathing that was just all over the place etc. Bugs that actually made the game unplayable. Combine that with all of the other stupid shit surrounding the game at a $60 pricetag and yeah, people hated it.

 

[PeaKr]

After watching that vid seems a shame. Maybe they should release the game editor, let the fans take it over. If they could fix the worst parts about the game people might start buying it again. Skyrim sold for years driven by mods.

 

[Lakados]

You don't see why it got the hate it did?

Ok, lets ignore than you bought it for $5 after months of patches.

The reality is that the game launched at $60 and was a broken mess. I'm not talking about the "my face is tired" memes, I don't mean the female player character looking nothing like the model while the male character wouldn't have been out of place on a fashion magazine, the randomly broken animations and t-poses, etc. I mean the corrupted saves, randomly falling through the map, doors that wouldn't open halting progression, AI pathing that was just all over the place etc. Bugs that actually made the game unplayable. Combine that with all of the other stupid shit surrounding the game at a $60 pricetag and yeah, people hated it.

That is all flavours of fair.

 

[Shadowed]

Is it worth $5? I loved ME1, ME2, and the first 3/4 of ME3.

 

[Derangel]

Is it worth $5? I loved ME1, ME2, and the first 3/4 of ME3.

For $5 I'd say grab it. The quests are mostly bad (with a few exceptions), the plot is laughably bad, but the actual gameplay is excellent. Driving around planets is a lot of fun, the game has the best gunplay from Bioware to that date, there are moments where the game is stunningly beautiful. As long as you aren't expecting writing even on part with the weakest parts of ME3 you should be fine. It is fun to play and explore planets, its just a pity that they really do nothing with any of the setup and the writing very quickly goes to shit.

 

[Shadowed]

For $5 I'd say grab it. The quests are mostly bad (with a few exceptions), the plot is laughably bad, but the actual gameplay is excellent. Driving around planets is a lot of fun, the game has the best gunplay from Bioware to that date, there are moments where the game is stunningly beautiful. As long as you aren't expecting writing even on part with the weakest parts of ME3 you should be fine. It is fun to play and explore planets, its just a pity that they really do nothing with any of the setup and the writing very quickly goes to shit.

Thanks! I'll have to pick it up then. I do hope coop is a big part as I'd love 2 player coop on some missions. I have no interest for the pvp though.

 

[Nightfire]

Not sure why ME2 gets so much praise. It felt like playing Gears of War after playing the 1st one. A bit too dynamic for that type of game. Me3 story sucked but the gameplay was better and I actually loved the multiplayer.

Just started Andromeda. I feel like it will be a grind getting through it.

 

[Derangel]

Thanks! I'll have to pick it up then. I do hope coop is a big part as I'd love 2 player coop on some missions. I have no interest for the pvp though.

No coop in the story but it does have a MP mode that is basically the same as ME3's. If you liked ME3's wave-based coop MP, and if you can find people playing, then you will probably like ME: A's multiplayer mode.

 

[MaZa]

For 5 bucks its worth it, especially now that it is mostly fixed from bugs and less janky animations. But what cannot be fixed are the awful story, dialog and forgettable characters so do not expect to have the same experience that made the original ME games tick. Think of Andromeda as an average low budget scifi game with AAA graphics and you'll enjoy it a lot more.

 

[Derangel]

Not sure why ME2 gets so much praise. It felt like playing Gears of War after playing the 1st one. A bit too dynamic for that type of game. Me3 story sucked but the gameplay was better and I actually loved the multiplayer.

Just started Andromeda. I feel like it will be a grind getting through it.

ME2 gets so much praise because its easily the best over-all package in the series. ME1 had a better plot, ME3 had slightly better gameplay, but 2 sat right in a nice sweet spot. It vastly improved gameplay compared to ME1 while retaining a lot of the good world building Bioware is known for and an excellent cast of characters. It also has some of my favorite locations in the series. The plot fizzles out towards the end, but almost all the character specific plots were great and it easily has the best set of DLC adventures from the series. ME1 is a slog to replay and even with 3's gameplay being as fun as it is, I just can't force my way through the horrible writing and the shit they pull with a lot of characters (I despise everything with TIM and Cerberus in 3).

 

[MaZa]

Not sure why ME2 gets so much praise. It felt like playing Gears of War after playing the 1st one. A bit too dynamic for that type of game. Me3 story sucked but the gameplay was better and I actually loved the multiplayer.

Just started Andromeda. I feel like it will be a grind getting through it.

People really did complain that Bioware went way overboard with simplifications. ME1 had broken gameplay and inventory/loot system but it needed fixing, not axing. But what ME2 had was the oh so excellent cast of characters, that is why it gets such a praise and I agree with it. I loved that game and played it to the death.

 

[mkk]

I quite enjoyed the first say 25% of the game im spite of the technical issues. A couple of patches saved it from being unplayable, but in the long run the worst thing was that pretty much none of the in-party characters were any interesting.

 

[NickJames]

The game was a victim of bandwagon hate for reasons that are so petty it's kinda pathetic but hey mob mentality. The game was fairly decent but I agree they painted themselves into a corner to some extent but with a little effort they could turn it around.

The entire cast of characters in Andromeda were unlikable and ham fisted with agendas. The plot was not compelling in the slightest and did not create the feeling of awe and wonder that the original ME games did.

 

[M76]

I didn't care what anyone on the web had to say about the game. The issues I had were strictly from me playing it. While the outdoor parts looked pretty dang good, I couldn't get over the janky character generation graphics.

You really don't remember how ugly the default faces were in the character generator in all previous ME games as well? I do: Except for default shepard it was a shitshoff, no better then ME:A's default options. It took some doing to get an acceptable looking character out of the generator in all ME games.

If you were being honest about it, you didn't need a youtuber to tell you what was wrong with the game. Keep in mind this is release version. Maybe they fixed this or that in additional patches ... but that's not the version people were criticizing.

I pre-ordered the game, and when I saw what they were spreading about it, I fully expected to get a terrible game and wrote off my pre-order as a total loss. When I got the game I was reluctant to even install it. But when I finally did load it up I was extremely surprised to see a game that wasn't bad at all. Yes there were some wonky facial animations, but nothing game breaking. And as opposed to everybody it seems: I still remember ME2 having worse animation issues at release (for example characters turning their heads 180 degrees backwards) yet there was no smear campaign against it, instead it is regarded as one of the best games of all times. Now don't get your panties in a twist just yet. I'm not saying ME:A is as good as ME2 was. I'm merely saying that the animation issues aren't enough to condemn a game to a burning at the youtube stake. Which basically what happened to ME:A after the early access demo week.

It clearly wasn't as good as the previous ones, but I feel I got my money's worth from it, and then some. Put 70 hours in it and didn't regret any of it. As opposed to the 70 hours I sank into DA:I, which was mostly collecting shards and weeds.

 

[Aireoth]

I felt DA:I was better paced, but I don't collect crap unless it is vital. The plot itself took off and kept going, dragging me along.

I liked MEA and the only real issue I had was dialogue triggers (someone would be talking, and I would move somewhere else exploring and the conversation would end mid word and a new dialogue would be triggered). Plot wise though it really took to long to get going, and once it did, the game ended to quickly. They really could and should have worked on pacing.

 

[AlphaAtlas]

You really don't remember how ugly the default faces were in the character generator in all previous ME games as well? I do: Except for default shepard it was a shitshoff, no better then ME:A's default options. It took some doing to get an acceptable looking character out of the generator in all ME games.

I pre-ordered the game, and when I saw what they were spreading about it, I fully expected to get a terrible game and wrote off my pre-order as a total loss. When I got the game I was reluctant to even install it. But when I finally did load it up I was extremely surprised to see a game that wasn't bad at all. Yes there were some wonky facial animations, but nothing game breaking. And as opposed to everybody it seems: I still remember ME2 having worse animation issues at release (for example characters turning their heads 180 degrees backwards) yet there was no smear campaign against it, instead it is regarded as one of the best games of all times. Now don't get your panties in a twist just yet. I'm not saying ME:A is as good as ME2 was. I'm merely saying that the animation issues aren't enough to condemn a game to a burning at the youtube stake. Which basically what happened to ME:A after the early access demo week.

It clearly wasn't as good as the previous ones, but I feel I got my money's worth from it, and then some. Put 70 hours in it and didn't regret any of it. As opposed to the 70 hours I sank into DA:I, which was mostly collecting shards and weeds.

Yeah. Also, all default characters in 1 all looked the same IIRC, and the imports between games didn't work too well.

Andromeda wouldn't have been burned at the stake if it was released 2 weeks later, but to be fair, that's true of many AAA games these days. In fact, I kinda wish people held other AAA devs to the same standards they held Bioware at with Andromeda, as they wouldn't tolerate the launch bugginess and poor writing that permeates many other titles.

 

[Yaka]

still gotta finish masseffect 2 and 3. not sure i want to any more

 

[Flogger23m]

For what it's worth, it was a pretty good game IMO, way better than the generally well received Dragon Age Inquisition.

Yeah. Compared to ME1-3 it sucked and it didn't push any boundaries. But compared to most of the recent open world games I've played, it is one of the better ones.

ME2 gets so much praise because its easily the best over-all package in the series. ME1 had a better plot, ME3 had slightly better gameplay, but 2 sat right in a nice sweet spot. It vastly improved gameplay compared to ME1 while retaining a lot of the good world building Bioware is known for and an excellent cast of characters. It also has some of my favorite locations in the series. The plot fizzles out towards the end, but almost all the character specific plots were great and it easily has the best set of DLC adventures from the series. ME1 is a slog to replay and even with 3's gameplay being as fun as it is, I just can't force my way through the horrible writing and the shit they pull with a lot of characters (I despise everything with TIM and Cerberus in 3).

I can agree with this. The plot of ME2 took a big dive compared to ME1 but the gameplay was improved in most ways. ME3 actually had the best combat gameplay as there were more weapon types & upgrades but it wasn't grindy. ME2 pretty much looked at the problem of ME1's horrid inventory system and threw it all out the window.

I also didn't like the "darker" theme of ME2. Felt more generic and too forced. But yeah, the gameplay of ME1 wasn't exactly perfect. Still the most iconic of the three IMO.

 

[LightsOut41]

still gotta finish masseffect 2 and 3. not sure i want to any more

At least finish ME2. By far, the best of the series.

 

[Sycraft]

Yeah. Compared to ME1-3 it sucked and it didn't push any boundaries. But compared to most of the recent open world games I've played, it is one of the better ones.



I can agree with this. The plot of ME2 took a big dive compared to ME1 but the gameplay was improved in most ways. ME3 actually had the best combat gameplay as there were more weapon types & upgrades but it wasn't grindy. ME2 pretty much looked at the problem of ME1's horrid inventory system and threw it all out the window.

I also didn't like the "darker" theme of ME2. Felt more generic and too forced. But yeah, the gameplay of ME1 wasn't exactly perfect. Still the most iconic of the three IMO.

I liked the theme for what I THOUGHT it was going to be at the end. I was kinda wondering about it playing through but once I saw the ending I thought "Oh, this is setting up the third where there is going to be two divergent paths depending on who you work for and how you go about fighting the Reapers." Well, I was wrong on that .

 

[zehoo]

Every time I try and get around to playing 3, the terrible hud/text scaling to higher resolutions annoys me so I stop.

 

[Peter2k]

What I didn't like about andromeda was that, to me, it did not feel like Mass Effect.

We all know about the mishaps, but to me the biggest was that story/lore wise I was bored.

I knew some plot details so much in advance, maybe too cliche, or maybe I've played too many games.

I honestly believe they should've explored other lore in the milky way.

Humanities first alien contact and discovery of the gates comes to mind.
Or the wars with Batarian slavers.

How about the Rachni wars, playing a Krogan who can live a thousand years
Starting at the pre space flight time, being uplifted to be used to fight and then stabbed in the back to become a mercenary.

I just felt when they left the milky way it did feel very generic all of a sudden.
And Mass Effects strength was story and characters, which seemed lacking.
I think I came through playing it about 60%, then I felt too bored to continue.

Ohh, I can drive on a big map around and shoot things, that is so unique these days /s

 

[Shadowed]

Every time I try and get around to playing 3, the terrible hud/text scaling to higher resolutions annoys me so I stop.

I have this weird tradition where I only play Mass Effect 1-3 on my shitty laptop on an Xbox controller. Idk why I do that. But that did save me from playing the 3rd at 4k. I had no idea that was a problem.

 

[M76]

Is it worth $5? I loved ME1, ME2, and the first 3/4 of ME3.

I paid 40 for it and it was well worth it. I think the first few moments of the game as you start to explore the first planet were amazing. The combat is very good, the enemy ai is very good if you don't use the go far exploit. I didn't have any problems with the main plot either.
The only real issue the game has is pacing. After you finish the initial rush you're forced into a lot of grind, before the real interesting missions like loyalty missions start to appear on the quest list. With slightly better pacing the game could've been an 8/10. As is with it's issues, and support abandoned, with all single player DLCs scrapped it is still a strong 6/10.

And most importantly the game has a real epilogue to the story. Almost no other games have that sadly. They all end abruptly after the final confrontation, with the player being left in the dark about the aftermath and state of other characters. This game ties everything up in a knot, and if you completed all your pathfinder missions, there is even a nice surprise thrown in at the end.

 

[Dan_D]

Mass Effect Andromeda is over a year old now. The game is still hits GPUs pretty hard, hence we've used it in some of our 2018 video card reviews, but the public's general opinion of the game remains mixed at best. EA has all but dropped support for the game, with no singleplayer DLC on the horizon and no plans for a successor so far, but that didn't stop YouTube Raycevick from revisiting the game over a year later.

Check out his take in the video here.

Based on my own experience with the franchise, I think his analysis is spot on, and definitely worth listening to if the game is still on your wishlist (it's currently on sale for $4) or in your backlog. His comments on how Bioware wrote the franchise into a corner are interesting too. Thanks to dark_reign for the tip.

Its true. The fact is, the way ME3's story ended, Andromeda was one of two ways to continue the franchise without going the stupid prequel route. The second way would have required picking a canon ending, which is something BioWare is against doing. The game is better than people give it credit for and the mod community has done some nice things with it which improve quality of life in the game. I still play it every now and then. I've generally enjoyed it, but its certainly the weakest entry into the series without question.

 

[MaZa]

Its true. The fact is, the way ME3's story ended, Andromeda was one of two ways to continue the franchise without going the stupid prequel route. The second way would have required picking a canon ending, which is something BioWare is against doing. The game is better than people give it credit for and the mod community has done some nice things with it which improve quality of life in the game. I still play it every now and then. I've generally enjoyed it, but its certainly the weakest entry into the series without question.

Prequel doesnt necessarily have to be bad. I mean, the wartime with Turians could make a good story driven action game.

 

[SmokeRngs]

Prequel doesnt necessarily have to be bad. I mean, the wartime with Turians could make a good story driven action game.

I'm willing to bet the problem Dan has with prequels is the fact that you already know exactly how it's going to end up. There's really very little they can do to make any decent surprises. Guess what? Neither the Turians nor the Humans won that "war". It was basically a stalemate until both sides realized the whole war was a damn mistake. We also know the Krogan effectively eradicated the Rachni and then later got their asses handed to them by the Council races.

There's a reason why people love the KOTOR games. They took place so long before anything we really knew in the Star Wars Universe that it was a new experience and we didn't know exactly how it was going to turn out.

Going the prequel route for Mass Effect would be a horrible idea if it's supposed to be anything even remotely close to an RPG. We're talking about an established universe with tons of codex entries telling us exactly what has already happened. Mass Effect has been about galaxy spanning issues and to break from that formula would be a huge issue but you'd have to stay far away from that formula to have any sort of halfway decent prequel game. The game would literally need to be about something completely unknown and/or insignificant. That's not what I look for in a Mass Effect game and I'm willing to bet not many other people are either.