Not making the twin a companion was a huge mistake. Honestly, it was a huge bummer for me. I thought the twin was going to be super important when i came in, and i even expected that i was going to take control of both twins. Missed opportunity there.
@MrDeflador I would love for my twin to be the main character if they made the sequel, as long as myself (main character in the first game) is still a companion.
I played it during the tail end of 2022 and I actually liked it, Jaal is hands down my favourite character, most of the game is what I like to call “Jaal suffers the entire time”
@@JimmyThree-Balls just say it you didn't care for discount mass effect that way you don't have to itemize each discount part of the game you didn't like.
By the end, there was also the loose threads of the Quarian Ark and the Initiative's connection to Cerberus, which I believe were supposed to be explored in DLC but they were cancelled.
@@backbewbz5708 It was certainly hinted in the endgame, where Meridian techs receive a broadcast from it- which isn't a distress beacon, but a "stay away" warning. Clearly a setup for the Andromeda 2 that never happened.
@@arthurmarston7496didn’t usually bother saving Ash… but Kaiden had more development? Ok… I mean she has an arc, goes all New Hope with you, while he…. Cooks for Shep. Each to their own I guess. Suppose at least Jacob makes him look interesting.
The biggest problem in Mass Effect Andromeda is the lack of choices - there's only three times in the game where you get to make a decision that has a visible outcome. Every quest in Andromeda ends exactly the same regarding what dialogue you make. In Mass Effect 1 even if you don't see the consequences of your decions e.g. 'save x' or 'leave y to die' you at least get to make those choices. In Andromeda every choice is made for you, even in tiny side missions
I agree but also disagree in some ways... ME1 did have a lot of choices that didn't pay off until the sequels... In Andromeda, you do get some 'save x' or 'leave y to die' choices. Such as: Save the Salarian Pathfinder or Krogan scouts which has consequences with Drax, Choices in regards to who becomes Pathfinders for the other species, such as if you reveal the truth about the Asari Pathfinder, then choosing their Pathfinder in Cora's loyalty mission, if Avitus Rix becomes the Turian Pathfinder or if you even choose to find some of the lost arks as most arw optional to not find (But that should've had more consequences in game), Choose who runs Kadara out of The Collective or Sloane, Find Ryder Mother, Ancient AI fate,Who becomes the lead ambassador post Meridian, etc... These & other choices are there, some of which do effect the current game in some small ways, with others probably paying off later if they got a sequel... Which they 'might' do in ME5...
Having just played ME1, I felt the choices in it were much less impactful than in Andromeda. Only as I get into 2 am I seeing they may have had some weight. I'd bet Andromeda had similar plans of adding gravitas to earlier choices in later iterations that simply didn't materialize.
I listen to these with a single earphone while on long shifts and boy does it make my day go by quicker. Thanks Gingy, I hope to be able to make similar videos in the future as story analysis is my bread and butter.
The reapers were horrifying... They were unbeatable... the reapers had me traversing the galaxy on behalf ceberus doing things I normally wouldn't do. We literally beat the Reapers by a miracle and all possible effort the galaxy could muster. If the Kett had attacked the milky way galaxy the whole lot of us would've been wiping our asses with kett faces.
I...is this a critique if Andromeda? You know before anyone knew about the Repears, all we fought in ME1 was robos and a possesed turian.....if the series was allowed a couple games to grow then maybe it couldve ended with The Scourge coming alive or something and destroys a planet, who knows
Eh, the whole story of Andromeda could've been just a show/movie. I feel like this was a whole set up for the REAL story. I mean, we are still waiting on the others to come through and join us in Andromeda. I liked the premise but I think this set up is waaay too long. It should've been "we came in, it was already messy. We made it less messy we actually made things worse. We were the bad ones"
@@wanderingbufoon well yeah it was setup. Just like mass effect 1. Btw I and a lot of players dont think like a lot of toxic fans and think this game was really good. Maybe not as good as me2 or 3 but still
Imagine playing as Alec. A mature man/woman with a family he/she cares about, having to deal with one of their children being stuck in cyro and a mission that just doesn't go a lick as planned. The game would have been more Mass Effect with them, than Scott. Also if they found it hard to implement a second side character more, they could have just made them a mute.
I think playing as the dad for the first mission/tutorial and then him dying and you passing the torch to your child would have been really cool, but you are the kid from the beginning. Also your sibling should have been there the whole time, putting them on ice for the majority of the game was weak
Andromeda is overly hated on (to an extent). Gameplay, Characters, Setting, etc are mostly fine... But I was let down by the story... They had so much narrative freedom & potential being set 600 years after 3 in another galaxy, which has rarely been done in sci-fi. Yet they barely took any story risks, repeated things done before, teased deeper things that should've been shown/explained more, & didn't make it more alien (e.g. Still had humanoid races that mostly use similar tech to us: Guns, etc)
Just finished the vid. It was a great balance of fair criticism, explaining why certain things are that way, whilst giving good personal insight for yourself as a player & to other players play style & choices. e.g. The romance sections (being fair to players that don't want to "go all the way" when it's available), or not just hating characters (such as Liam) because most people do & giving them more nuance, etc... The game ain't perfect but it's not bad either... it's just "average", with wasted potential.
I see you just uploaded Gingy's opinion without even because he might be wrong or just opinionated, which he is. He slides pass the fact that decisions don't mean anything and thinks that the choice to be morally grey but always end *one way* super seeds choice-based decisions that lead to different outcomes. Characters are one-dimensional that don't change or grow you just get more of the same content or are just underutilized. The best thing to come out of Andromeda is the base combat improvements, he even says the side missions were fun, majority of which fetch quest with paper-thin context to justify it, dude doesn't even mention the shitty scanning missions because they were probably so mid he forgot about them.
@@melancholyman369 I never alluded to agreeing with all of his opinions & he did make some mistakes here & there (Like most people would for a video essay of this length)... As the title says, it's a "story Analysis of Mass Effect Andromeda" video , not a gameplay analysis ... Regardless, I liked Andromeda for the most part... Sure there's issues, but it's not terrible either... Just average... I'm just praising what I enjoyed.
@@melancholyman369 That's fine also! If you knew me personally & we were having a face to face conversation about Andromeda, you'd know that I'm objective about the game. I did enjoy things about it & praise those aspects (Combat, etc), but I'm also very critical of it too (Story, etc). But not the extent of blindly hating (or praising it) & dragging it like most people did at launch & after... I just liked this video talked about certain characters, arcs, etc from a more broader perspective... if that makes sense 😅
45:58 another character that explores the dichotomy between science and faith (or lack thereof) in a very interesting way is Padok Wiks from ME3. Unfortunately, conversing with him in detail means Mordin has to have died in ME2, so a lot of players missed out on his great dialogue.
Might be some Easter egg references, but considering Andromeda takes place in a completely different galaxy, I wouldn't be surprised if they didn't address it.
Really loving this channel lately. Been falling asleep listening to a lot of your stuff. Fantastic content and I love your steady, analytical pace in going through the narratives.
1:10:13 This isn't new to Mass Effect or something that Andromeda invented. The combo system was first introduced in ME2 with Warp being able to trigger biotic explosions. The system was expanded in 3 to include Tech bursts.
Yeah 🤦♀ I agree with him that the removal of the ability wheel in MEA was a mistake, but I don't understand how he missed those epic explosions in ME2 and 3. They're so much fun.
@@AndreaP_N7To be fair, ME2 explosions were really difficult to trigger in an unmodded game. Primer powers didn't work on targets with shields or armour and targets without them mostly died already from the primer power alone, even on insanity.
Commenting to feed the algorithm and to hopefully get you some more views and exposure. Your videos have always been so amazingly made. No insanely loud noises or memes just great production , script and voice work. Do not take this as a negative but I have used your videos for months to help me get to sleep. That isn't in anyway a cop out. As always thanks for the work and time poured into this and moreso all of your videos. Much love from Australia.
29:11 its constantly mentioned in the game that they met the exiles at kadara before the pathfinder or the nexus so thats how they know about the initiative before you meet in-game as kadara port used to be an angaran port that was taken over by sloane kelly
I thought one of the reasons your character joins the Initiative is because you got kicked out the Alliance due to your father's work with AI. Making so you basically had no other choice.
1:34-1:39. The real reason isn't revealed until the whole thing with the memories is done, hence the issue: It's not like Breath of the Wild where you're literally told what happened to Hyrule Kingdom within the first couple of hours.
I don't think the Kett were ment to be the overall "big bad" of the Andromeda franchise. Remember that this was meant to be the first part of a new trilogy. No, IMO the big bad were meant to be whoever created the scourge, which got revealed to be artificial.
After everything I heard about this game I expected complete rubbish, but after I finished playing the Legendary Edition, I decided to complete my Mass Effect marathon and played Andromeda, and it turned out to be a really fun game. The Gameplay is the best of the entire Franchise, and the story may not be as good as the others, but it's still decent and the characters are very fun and charismatic.
Yeah it was completely overblown, although they did fix some bugs over the years. But I think folks were remembering the me3 ending be the last thing they remebered from ME so they were overly hard on MEA
Since you've made videos on all the mass effect games I've been playing them in tandem with you're reviews I'm mad at missing out on these games when they first came out but glad that started now
While the companions had the most strength in Andromeda, they lose a lot of touch when compared to the previous crew because they ARE the previous crew: two human allies, one a gung-ho soldier and the other a Biotic with an unorthodox past, a Turian that does the right thing but doesn't want to play by the rules or regulations, a battle worn Krogan warry of his place in society, and an antisocial asari archeologist. The only exception to this is Jaal, but even then, his "fish out of water" and gloomy outlook on the Kett War is a little to close to Javik's endling-depression. Granted, most of their "loyalty missions" are fairly unique, but the base of their character's foundation is very obvious from the beginning. Still, Andromeda had a very good combat loop (when not glitching) that, while not as "boots on the ground" as the previous games, did offer some unique combat experiences. Also, the idea of being able to access ALL abilities, from soldier, engineer, and biotic, was pretty cool and made me feel like the Pathfinder wasn't just a title. I also really liked the Architect boss fight, but wished they came up with other remnant designs other than the big tripod.
Played this about a year after launch and got it for like.... Ten bucks maybe? Had a blast, long enough after launch that most things were fixed. Going back to the og three now and I really miss the jump jet lol
Gameplay wise it was the best in series and nobody can argue that. Andromeda entire issue comes from the fact that the story wasn't good. It wasn't bad but compared to the trilogy it's midling at best and it really dragged the game down. If it was a new ip it would have been much better received.
@@razorflossrazor2937 Although I think they made great additions to the combat system vertically, I dont really feel like the enemy ai evolved enough with it. But I am also very salty about my loss of the N7 Crusader "shotgun" from ME3 xd
@@razorflossrazor2937 I prefer ME3's combat. Andromeda was practically a platformer and they eviscerated the ability wheel. you end up having to swap "loadouts" in order to have more than 3 abilities. the guns also had no real omph to them.
H-047c was an asteroid, though. It made sense that you couldn't setup an outpost but the thing that made it fun was it was unique to the series . I actually enjoyed the variation (low gravity and strange layout).
I do believe after "we saved the initiative" party you get a storyhook regarding quarians arc (Some who, if I recall correctly, was NEVER mentioned in Andromeda up until that very moment). Also do have to say that Ryder's mother reveal, IMO, had to be sidequest - it plays well towards overall mystery of you character's father secrets. Something that you, as a player, might not care, and roleplay as you character grown to not care as well, just accepted that this secrets died with father. I also do believe, regarding kett, there was a mention in a note or audio log, that their empire goal is to spread further and unify every race they encounter. But might be wrong here.
I’m so glad I found your channel two months ago! I’ve watched almost every single one of your videos to this day multiple times. Keep up the amazing work!
Shepherd and Ryder may be vessels for the player but it's not like they don't have a personality of their own, even if you get to choose what they say the outcome alot of times is still something you would not have said yourself.
Great point you made! You are only informing their decisions and how they direct conversations. Ryder certainly has a personality. Being a young, unlikely hero who needs the save the initiative. The problem with Ryder is that the choices you make don't really redefine their personality and they usually are act one-note, which lack creativity in decision-making and as result replayability.
I think what would’ve really drove the game home story wise was if they changed the motive for leaving the Milky Way in the first place. They could’ve EASILY had it been that after the Geth Attack on the Citadel with a literal Reaper, some chose to believe Commander Shepard and that’s what funded the Initiative and why people of (nearly) every race are on these arks and the Nexus. Then it could’ve set up a whole thing about how since they know they’ll arrive what would be 600+ years later, they’d have no idea if their Galaxy survived the cycle, making Andromeda their literal only option at survival. Could’ve set up so much cooler shit and even make more sense for why there are exiles. Perhaps people who stole identities to get on the arks and start new lives in Andromeda.
Great analysis. I for one did like a lot of what Andromeda had to offer and would be all in for a properly written sequel. As you said there are a lot of great ideas, that just need to be better developed. Shame EA and Bioware are more than likely never going back to it. :/
Yeah I did a lot of the content in the game on my first playthrough and am interested to see where they could go with Andromeda and Ryder. Hope BioWare and EA do something with this but I’m not gonna hold out too much hope
I feel like they were planning to make Andromeda a second trilogy with the amount of stuff they set up, but the poor reception caused it to get canned. Which is disappointing, because it feels like ME1 in the way it sets everything up for future games, it just hasn't been allowed to grow beyond this.
I always assumed the reason the ket went to exalt other species is a cultural or religious they see themselves as the pinnacle of evolution and all of our species are beneath them to them becoming exalted a honor
This. It was mentioned in some logs one can find in the game. We, frankly, don't know if the Archon is _the_ kett or whether they are a race or a diverse society of various factions fused by the exhaltation. It is hinted, but not stated. In all honesty, Kett make more sense than Reapers did.
Just in this comment section you see so many people saying they haven't played the game. That's fine but I don't think you can have that much of an opinion if you don't actually try the game out
I remember there being a semi similar system in Dragon Age Inquisition and it was definitely an interesting mechanic. It allowed me to make my Inquisitor a hard ass who proritized the mission at hand but equally extremely faithful to the Maker which was great cause I was going for basically a Paladin and got almost exactly that.
I dont get why people say the story is shallow or doesnt make sense for the universe. How i saw it, AI was basically started after the events of ME1, where someone who had the connections heard Shepards warning of the reapers and therefore started the initiative as the Milky Ways "Assured mutual continuance." The reason for the "Exploration" reasoning was due to the reapers existence being suppressed by the council. So outwardly they play up the "Exploration" narrative because the AI would have never been possible if everyone thought they were just a group of doomsday whackos as opposed to Pioneers of a new frontier. So they get things going just as a background group that seemingly has no relevance to the pressing matters during ME2 so they are ignored by all sides of that story which absolutely is perfect for their actual purpose. They launch roughly in between ME2+3. The events of ME3 take place during their 600 year voyage and so it makes sense as to why the MW has no real influence and or relevancy to Andromedas well, anything because of how ME3 ends for all possible endings. However the AI wouldnt know this and so it makes sense why they are confused about why theres no communication from back home but due to the false narrative wouldnt be super concerned. So in my opinion, it not only ties in brilliantly but it also allows for a completely unrestricted new story, but allows for people may not have played any of the original 3 to pick up here and not be absolutely overwhelmed so it also makes it a practical buisness decision as well. It is intentionally separated from those games because they are opened, expanded and closed. So because of this i dont understand why people insist on using the previous games as a benchmark for story and plot as if they were meant to be significantly entwined. Also I had the benefit of playing after it had come and gone because i hadnt even gotten to or through ME3 yet due to being broke af and because all this is just the side quest to my main I.E. Life. so alot of things were either more refined and or fixed. All that being said, I feel that Bioware then failed to build and capitalize on this foundation leaving it feeling.....like an unfinished idea and therefore squandering any potential for this title to achieve acclaim that any ME game, should have reached. Now obviously this is just my own rundown of how i interpreted the story i was presented through my own pursuit via logs, sidequests and generally every piece of lore throughout all ME games. It coulda have always been worse like Xcom Squad cashcow or whatever its called lol!
I honestly still can’t get over what a bad choice it was to switch engines. It’s not even the weird facial animations, or the weird walk animations, but that every scene looks like it’s only 80% rendered.
1:10:10 Andromeda introduced primers and detonators??? It did not, it only introduced having a symbol on the power indicating whether it was a primer or a detonator
1:37:50 - a TON of lore about the Kett is conveyed through logs found around the game. So is the case of exhatation - which was very much about being raised to the level of kett, who were, in their view, the pinnacle of progress. In general - the race was driven mostly by religious zealotry and getting exhalted was being 'christened' into it. An honour of sorts. EDIT: I also think they wanted to pull DA:Inquisition stunt and have the actual ending in a DLC. Kind of like in DA base game the main bad-guy just shows up at your door and wants to fight for no reason whatsoever.
Andromeda was the consequence of an absolutely atrocious dev cycle that resulted in the closure of that studio as a result of their development. Everyone wants to blame EA for this one, but in reality, and I’m the furthest thing from a corporate defender, this actually wasn’t entirely their fault. BioWare Montreal was created specifically to create this game (so the main studio could do the massively popular, gangbuster game we were blessed with called Anthem), and it was crushed under its own weight. The game at a late stage of development saw a COMPLETE rewrite and rebuild that basically threw away everything they spent 3 years working on because they initially wanted to pull a No Mans Sky and offer a seemingly endless, procedurally generated galaxy map. When they realized that they straight up didn’t have the resources for it, it was too late. Then the main writer, and many development heads just straight up quit mid development. Switching to Frostbite from Unreal also didn’t help at all. It was doomed from the start. It’s why most new features are hilariously half baked, why the game was so buggy, and why everything just felt slapped together at the last second. They were in way over their heads, biffed it, and scrambled to throw something out there.
The real reason you're exploring Andromeda was never a secret. It was a "secret." This is called dramatic irony. We as players knew what was going on in the Milky Way around the time the mission was launched. But the characters in the game just thought they were on a purely adventurous expedition. It's a little like when you're watching a slasher movie and all the characters are sitting in a car in the beginning just talking about how much fun they're going to have in the deserted cabin. They don't know what kind of movie they're in, but we do.
Exactly. It adds a whole different perspective to the initiative. I imagine the milky way probably lost against the reapers, or they are experiencing the low EMS destroy ending.
The saddest thing about this game is the missed potential. There was something good here but the cringey writing and bad bugs killed it. It’s not a great Mass Effect game, it’s a failed opportunity to move the series forward. EA keeps pushing games out before they’re ready. Andromeda and ME3 are cases of this.
Both of those games were also screwed by its own developers and lack of a competent direction and development efficiency. Bioware wasted so much time on ideas they eventually scrapped or marginalized instead of focusing on things that worked. "Bioware magic" dev crutch existed long before EA meddling, so the company itself has management problems.
@@NostalgicGamerRickOShayYou cowards will label anyone who doesnt fall in line with your terrible opinions as "woke" and then act like that word matters its hilarious
happy to get to watch this, waited for this after watching the other mass effect reviews i think they were all great videos and cant wait to finish this one! really fell in love with this channel and the style of the reviews. cant wait for more videos on diffrent games!
This game had so much potential, but it was to rushed and to unfocused to actually hit the mark. I know that the news on the new Mass Effect is semi teasing the original trilogy, but i also wouldn't mind if they went back to the Andromeda series and built a stronger, better game, with better writing a more coherent story and actually making you like the characters.
They realised their mistakes and are planning a crossover to continue the grandeur of the original trilogy, but instead of sweeping Andromeda under the rug they wish to fix their mistakes and give it a fully flushed out completion after the cliffhanger they left us with. My hope is that the timeline is a bit after ME3 with the original cast returning or having the original cast in stasis for an adventure in far off places. For the former I would suggest the Jardan or the Kett having found the Milkyway long before invading Andromeda. But I just hope whatever they do it blows my mind and doesn't disappoint after Andromeda's flop.
Great video as usual Worth noting Mack Walters, a 19 year veteran, & one of the last original BioWare members, just left the company around 2023/01/23rd The EA lid inches closer to closing on another great developer
Personally I liked Andromeda but your arguments were valid. I too think it should get a second game. Maybe getting to play more as the other Ryder from the first game. Or finally getting to have an interaction with your mother. The cliffhanger of the fifth Ark's distress signal is also intriguing. And finding out who the Benefactor is would also be nice.
I actually really liked Andromeda. It’s a good game and almost everything about it is good, it’s just none of it is better than the OG trilogy. None of it can even compare. Except for the combat, I love Andromeda’s combat way more than the original trilogy combat.
After Mass Effect 2 we all thought we'd be playing in and exploring this universe for the next 20 years. They painted themselves into a corner with the third game ending. Only wanted to do a trilogy so I suspect this was an attempt to continue it and start a franchise.
I honestly think the reveal of the Nexus was absolutely perfect for the story. The Hyperion was supposed to be the last Ark that reconnected with the Nexus and after everything going wrong with habitat 7, The crew of The Hyperion were LOOKING for something that was going to be like the citadel. They even say upon approach that they hope the other arks fared better than they did getting to the nexus. Mass Effect has always had an affinity for the grandiose reveals so the expectation going in is that youll turn the corner and the Nexus would be full of life and activity, but having nothing when you first find it adds to the additional feeling of dread that's tied into the existentialism of leaving everything behind to explore a new universe. There's no music, no activity, not even radio chatter because much like the hope you had that was squashed on first contact, the nexus is effectively dead at this point. I think the subversion of expectation and lack of any sounds of life plays in extremely well with the reveal
Partially disagree; The expectation subversion would have been even greater if it was like Gingy proposed in this video: Super colorful and grandiose on the outside, then you get inside and things go south within seconds. In that way, you could also have a scene where the Hyperion crew are super happy at first only for them to dock and reality hits them in the face like the blast from a Reaper laser, or even change the music to be slightly distorted giving the hint to the player that, although the ship looks good, something ain't right here; In that way, you can have a slight sense of dread and still completely shock the player because of the abrupt tonal shift from hopeful, yet eerie, to frightening.
I feel Ryders dialogue options are too passive, no matter what you choose Ryder comes off as a push over. The combat is the most fluid out of the franchise. But its too easy. I like the modularity, but it also makes the MC seem less personable. Being able to switch combat profiles mid fight, makes the game too easy and narratively make your character feel like a "Mary Sue".
Ryder being passive is an intentional choice. You can disagree with it but that is the point. Even then there are options that make Ryder more confident. Also Ryder isn't a Mary Sue as much as Shepard is. They just have the right stuff to get it through.
@@Knight1029 Shephard has some military background that would warrant them becoming a Specter. They were literally an N7 soldier prior to ME1 (elite), so the Mary Sue argument does not hold too much warrant (at least in ME1, later games would make it worse). Ryder kids are just awkward civilians being trusted in the role of military, scientific, and political leaders during a crisis event. Bumbling around makes sense for them more than doing it for a elite soldier like Shepard or Alec Ryder.
@@Bionickpunk both twins are experienced. Scott being a soldier and Sara being an officer protecting Prothean dig sites. They both have the means to be in the role they got. Now does that make them the best for it? No, but what still takes great effort to accomplish and in no way makes them a Mary Sue. The world doesn't revolve around them or bend to them. Just like Shepard they had the right stuff for the job.
I just recently did another play through of mass effect andromeda and the ony thing i can say that i abolutely love and hope they develop more for the next title is the free flowing movement and the combat they have in the game. i feel like the movement system of andromeda was extremely well done and i really hope they continue using it with the new mass effect game
id love to see you do a video on the infamous games, its a pretty overlooked game in terms of its story and i think it deserves some love. great video man keep it up
Andromeda's gameplay is SO fun, that I've played it 4 times. I wish that the story had been better developed, they've been given more time to fix bugs and we actually could make a difference in the ending.
17:51 I know this moment has been memed on pretty hard, but I actually love it so much. I think it's full of character and immediately establishes Peebee's personality - that wide-eyed, excited puppy-type energy.
It really did a great job establishing who she was at her core, just like you said. I have absolutely no problem with that. My problem is with the character herself. Or rather, the options we DON'T have in dealing with her. Her impulsive decision on her loyalty mission was EXTREMELY selfish and had every expectation of getting us killed. She lures us into the escape pod and launches it towards an active volcano, one where she KNEW the Tempest couldn't retrieve us from and she had NO PLAN on how to get back, as she didn't know that her ex was already there. The ex, by the way, who repeatedly tries not only to kill us but instructs her lackeys to rip out our implants after we're dead. And Peebee wants us to save this woman? Nah. Once everything is resolved and we use her ex's shuttle to get away, we should have had the option to kick her blue butt off the Tempest. She endangered the ENTIRE mission of getting habitable planets for the Initiative survivors and stopping the Archon, all for her chance to get a piece of tech that is barely useful. That was my biggest gripe about her. We let her off with a slap on the wrist and a welcome to being permanently part of the crew. Same with what's his name, the black guy. Liked his character but his decisions were SO BAD that he put a colony, us and the entire Initiative (we die, it's screwed) in jeopardy. We should have had an option to leave him planetside to help out where he couldn't do as much damage.
@@sarasunshinemt4444 I haven't played the game but I've watched a few different videos about it (if you haven't seen Weekend Warrior's video(s), I highly suggest it cause it's hilarious) and from what I've gathered you're absolutely right. Both characters are well and truly crappily executed and it seems like whereas the original trilogy made it almost frustratingly difficult to keep everyone with you/alive throughout the games, I get the impression Andromeda took the absolute opposite approach - like you can't get rid of the fuckers lawl. Even if you make decisions that *should* piss them off to the point of desertion, they stick by you despite all that and even in some cases, seem to forget entirely that you had a major disagreement with them in the first place and only moments before. So my observation was really just to highlight that with all the gaffes in the animation department (at least upon initial release - and apparently even to this day, in some respects), this one particular animation was harped on quite a bit but I think its subtlety and cinematography (that you can tell it's from Ryder's perspective, from beneath her looking up) really comes across well and is honestly pretty cute. Still, so many better moments in the original trilogy - maybe not specifically animation-related that I can recall off the top of my head but certainly things like the lecture you can overhear of a drill seargant or whoever talking to a bunch of cadets about Newton's laws of motion, in the context that if they shoot at someone in space, they need to make sure they don't miss cause otherwise they're gonna be ruining someone's day somewhere (something like that). Hilarious! Hell, I have an N7 jacket and to this day, whenever anyone compliments me on it I say "I'm Commander Shepherd and this is my favorite shop on the Citadel" (I'm usually out shopping when this happens). And I must've commented that very story on, like, 5 different Mass Effect videos for one reason or another lawl. It's no question, Andromeda was not the continuation the series deserved - especially after how Mass Effect 3 ended. And it's really unfortunate that, because of Andromeda's mediocrity, we're not likely to see another entry in the franchise any time soon. Not to mention a lot of what went wrong with Andromeda can be blamed on the culture of "BioWare magic" - which is just a bullshit name for the impossible expectations of higher-ups who can't get their shit together in a timely manner shifting everything onto their workers and turning management's poor planning into months of crunch, so when they're forced to inevitably deliver an inferior product (what would be impressive given the time and resources those poor bastards had to work with) it's considered a failure of the "magic" and not the fucking management. Sorry, that kind of shit really pisses me off - I've read all of Jason Schreier's articles about crunch (he did articles on Andromeda, Anthem, Rockstar, and Naughty Dog - I wonder if he'll do one on CDProjekt ( *quick google* oh, wait lawl)).
@Gabby Weekend Warrior is awesome, I've seen his Andromeda videos (plus a bunch of his other stuff). And you are right on target! Bioware did a lot of things right but I think they let their "good times" crew take the helm and that's where this went bad. Everyone likes the Citadel dlc right? Well it only works because Shep and crew EARNED that lighthearted adventure thru 3 games of serious, galaxy saving battles. They've lost people, won and lost battles and know that they very well might not live fighting the Reapers. Andromeda has high stakes but Rider and his crew act like it's no big deal. There really isn't ever a sense of urgency to what they're doing. Anyway, I see your N7 jacket and raise you a vanity front N7 license plate 😆 Happy gaming!
Played Andromeda recently and enjoyed it a fair amount. My biggest problem with the game though was the YA novel/CW tone of the writing half the time. Also fuck liam, genuinely a terribly executed character.
I finished this game 3x but haven't touched it for 3 years, your video reminded why I loved this game so much and why I found the hate around it very disproportionate. This game, in spite of its flaws, is a very good game and as a huge fan of the mass effect trilogy I still find it in its place as part of the franchise (can't wait for ME IV).
The story was meh, but the combat was probably the most fun I've ever had in the mass effect series. While the switch on the fly is cool idea I never really did it considering the cool combos you can make with just one build. Hey you found a secret: The shadow group backing the organization is 100% the shadow broker. Most likely the Yahg was actually a full partner to the shadow broker. When the broker realized that the reapers were coming he pulled his resources and jumped galaxies leaving the Yahg to take over. Considering the andromeda initiative takes place right before ME2 this lines up extremely well.
I honestly hope we get a andromeda 2. While it did have problems, both gameplay and storywise, it's nothing I feel couldn't get fixed in a sequal with a proper budget and development time. I liked the new world, I liked the new characters, I liked the gameplay. And it did the most important thing I feel ME should do. After a several hours while watching that movie me and the crew spent so long setting up, it made me sit back and think "this is my crew" and that feeling, that smile, is the same one I had when we took that photo at the end of the citedel DLC. I feel like that feeling is something that's just so Mass Effect, I can't explain it very well. Ill admit to the problems, but I still go back to play this game amd still hope one day we go back to andromeda properly. Also Vetra is second best girl(tali is number 1) and I will die on that hill.
I still think we missed a lot by not having even dlc released for Andromeda. Book telling you what happened on that Ark is interesting tho. Also Vetra is great xD
I played Andromeda for the first time recently, and I quite enjoyed it. I understand the disappointment too, though, as its definitely incomparable to the OG trilogy, but I'd love a sequel to this game. I feel it has potential, and hope it isnt entirely abandoned. Would love to see the Jardaan expanded on, the mystery behind the benefactor/the death of Jien Garson being revealed, and to fully understand the Scourge!
@@Etheral101 it's mostly the 30fps that bother me. I just want better performance. Tried it on my Xbox series x but nah. The legendary edition was such a treat in comparison
I played both andromeda and dragon age inquisition. Both seem extremely similar... to a point where I wish I had the car from MEA. Amazing review, I felt that you nailed everything even contrasting viewpoints. As a person who generally liked Andromeda and never saw game breaking bugs I can say that it's a good game if you want a bit more Mass Effect. Sure, it feels different, there is not that much character building for some characters. But after tearjerking times with the trilogy it feels nice to wind down, play some more mass effect and not worry about leaving with something missing in my life after 80+ hours. Major gripes is that immersion is broken every time you see characters with involuntary eye moving syndrome in the game. That is all of them. However, banter during trips and Ryders sarcasm can be funny. It's not Mass Effect trygoly army humor by any means, but it does make some parts enjoyable. Crafting system, or at least resource gathering system is trash. I even play multiplayer, which can be enjoyable when your character shreks incoming waves of enemies with ease, but it still takes loads of time to gather enough mats for cool gear. Combat - best it ever was, enough said. After a single mission I can respec and then become a biotic god? yes please! Visuals - best it ever was. Animations kill it tho. Story is serviceable. It was inevitable after Mass Effect trilogy that people would feel these characters are lesser in every way. Drak and Vetra being exceptions, and to some Extent Rider. I wanted to add that it should have been made clear that Kett are not just your brainless army zombies with weird structures sooner. Only 1 mission after 20 to 40 hours of gameplay tells you that there is a society behind it all. We would have faced an actual ideology right from the start, with its own customs and traditions. In the trilogy it was perfectly done, society was introduced almost immediately after the arrival on to the citadel. We began to delve deeper in to all of the races straight up. If there was more behind Kett at the start, it would have been a different feeling. I totally agree that Alec should ahve been the protagonist, he had much more to offer, could have kept the kids too, they could have been either somewhere else doing their thing or come along wth you. Or maybe even be responsible for their own settlements. Aslo the other arks should have gotten more focus. Helping each ark would have given so much more story. WE would have so many different cultures around the galaxy would feel just as full as it was in the trilogy.
Doing a playthrough of MEA right now and I can say that while I'm enjoying most aspects of the game, it just doesn't feel like Mass Effect. It has familiar technology, races, and dialogue to the original trilogy, but something just feels a little off.
Currently on my 2nd play through, and I quite enjoyed it on my first run. Obviously. Like everyone else, it felt like a whole in my metaphorical chest after the ending of the Trilogy. I missed my Shepard and the old squad. I wanted to go back see what happened to all of them post Reaper War, go on a new missions with them, and watch all or at least most of them get a happy ending (Giggity) But after a little while Andromeda grew on me. And just enjoyed it for what it was. I didn’t let nostalgia get in the way and needlessly compare Andromeda to the Trilogy, or Ryder to Shepard. And bash it for it daring to be different. That’s stupid and childish. (That doesn’t excuse the poor execution because EA rushed BioWare to release it just so they can quickly get started on Anthem. And we all know how that genius move turned out) Andromeda, Ryder, and everyone else is it’s own thing now. I like them and the story is serviceable. The gameplay has never been better it’s a hell of a lot of fun. And you can switch profiles/classes anytime you want? That’s always awesome. And I thought it was pretty neat that they added the player being able to change their Ryder’s appearance any time they want. Say what you want, but Andromeda is no where near as bad as a lot of people made it out to be
36:41 Never understood this, as the difference is pretty clear, though it's part of that, the methods are too similar. The Reapers were trying to preserve life, not in its original form, but more the idea of it, which is debatable by what the MEAN with that phrasing, but the early books seemed to be the way of thinking and stuff(Of course, that's because Drew's original reason for them doing this was to figure out a way around the Dark Energy problem, but we'll ignore that for now). Meanwhile, the Khett are literally grafting the best of other races into themselves. The Exaltation is for individual members, but the advanced Khett types, and the Archon in particular, are stated to be 'the Genetic Advantages of a thousand species', with more info easily found during the jail break sequence in the rooms around the one you were locked in showing the traits they're after in the milky way races. That means their motivation is purely selfish, but they frame it in a religious way. You do not matter as an individual, even once Exalted. But your species traits, those matter, and by Exalting you, you bring that into themselves, building a better them. Now, why would they do this? Is there an end goal? Given later plot things, it seems not. While we will never know, their ability to incorporate other genetic structures into themselves, and the fact that this does seem to be how they make more of their species, i would think they're like blank templates to make other races off of that were created by the Jardan. The thing is, when the Scourge happened, the templates broke out, and now are desperately trying to turn themselves into the best beings that they can possibly be. Honestly, they seem more like the Mycon from the series Star Control, which were a race of planet destroyers that had a weird religion that was hard to understand...then you found out they were not a natural race, but instead a bit of terraforming tech that got left behind and turned their programing into religious doctrine. If the Khett are the same way, it would explain a lot of their oddities.
I agree with Alec Ryder being the protag. His knowledge and experience he would have gathered in his life would have gone well with the idea of exploring and first contact with any alien lifeforms.
I played that game shortly after it came out (I remember having wasted a birthday-gift wish for that) and I mostely scrubbed my brain of the memories of it. But one thing that I remember is how, when Ryder and the Archonj interact fopr the first time, you don't even have the option of taking the Kett seriously. That really rubbed me the wrong way, because if the people in universe (who don't know that they are in a story that is going to - almost certainly - end victorious for them) don't take the main antagonist seriously, how can I take the main antagonist serious?
Andromeda of course deserves a second chance, though even if it did have one, it wouldn't come around for a long, long time. The launch bugs were what completely marred the title's image and left the permanent sour taste with the fandom. Though we all can recognize if every single bug were fixed and the game played smoothly, it'd be a pretty good experience, worthy of it's name. The poor thing just had a horrendous development. Management changing hands, multiple different visions, time crunches, and the insistence on an Engine that wasn't built for RPGs, that's why the gunplay was fantastic but everything else felt wrong. A Mass Effect built around the heart of a Battlefield.
Just finished your ME3 Analysis and noticed it was posted 1 month ago. "There's no way he's done with Andromeda already, right?" Well, thanks for proving me wrong. Thanks for your hard work.
Honestly, the unifying theme of the game to me was exploring transhumanism. Three, from what I can tell. The Kett and their exaltation is obviously genetic engineering taken to the logical extreme. A few at the Pinnacle, the most worthy, with near insectoid specialization. Ryder and the other pathfinders represent synthesis. Evolution and growth through bonding with AI. Honestly, a route I prefer to the Mass Effect take, which was involuntary. Forced on every species in the Milky Way. Last is the Jardaan, which I have a pet theory on. I think they underwent machine uploading. It explains the lack of emotion in their recordings, the nature of their Remnants. Similar to the Geth, those platforms were tools. Units they would control to perform their activities. They were likely destroyed in a civil war. The Angara are their original biological selves. Though, just as likely, it actually is the Geth and Quarians, repeated in Andromeda. Only the Jardaan succeeded in wiping out their creators. And now they regret it. This faction is trying to bring them back. Most likely, the ones that deployed the scourge weapon are a faction of their own race that disagreed with reviving their creators. Either way, I imagine the Jardaan are currently fighting a civil war, which is why they aren't active in the cluster anymore.
Cora " did I ever tell you I trained with Asari commandos."
Rider face palms. " yes, yes you have."
Cora is like that girl who went and studied abroad for a semester.
Nah she's more like a weeb. Obsessed with a foreign culture meanwhile the person from that culture cringes over their obsession.
underrated comment
Based AllMightyLolli quote
Holy hell, I never thought about her like that. Spot on description
@@shadowoperator97 what does this mean?
Not making the twin a companion was a huge mistake. Honestly, it was a huge bummer for me. I thought the twin was going to be super important when i came in, and i even expected that i was going to take control of both twins. Missed opportunity there.
I think that was a plan for the sequels (that were and still are put on ice)
@MrDeflador I would love for my twin to be the main character if they made the sequel, as long as myself (main character in the first game) is still a companion.
im sure he had bigger parts in the sequals but they never happened.
as if writing a choose your own adventure story for one main character would be enough, you want 2? andromeda 2 would have been a nightmare to write.
I mean, you do play as the twin for one mission
I played it during the tail end of 2022 and I actually liked it, Jaal is hands down my favourite character, most of the game is what I like to call “Jaal suffers the entire time”
I didn't care for discount garrus very much
Vetra was my go too, loved her and Drack
@@Boxfortress didn’t care for other female discount garrus or discount wrex
@@JimmyThree-Balls just say it you didn't care for discount mass effect that way you don't have to itemize each discount part of the game you didn't like.
i just finished it and it’s pretty decent, Drack was definitely my favorite
By the end, there was also the loose threads of the Quarian Ark and the Initiative's connection to Cerberus, which I believe were supposed to be explored in DLC but they were cancelled.
they elaborated on the missing arks in a side book that was pretty mid
@@mep15067 Books don't count. Game or nothing.
the quarian ark dlc was never even promised, that was a hoax, but idk about the connection to cerberus
@@SkySweeperSynI mean unless they address it in the next Mass Effect game it's that or absolutely nothing to go on.
@@backbewbz5708 It was certainly hinted in the endgame, where Meridian techs receive a broadcast from it- which isn't a distress beacon, but a "stay away" warning. Clearly a setup for the Andromeda 2 that never happened.
Primers and detonators were introduced in Mass Effect 3 and was a major component of why I enjoyed that game's multiplayer.
Most folks on RUclips play ME3 on narrative mode, avoiding anything that would require combos
The concept existed since ME 2. ME 3 expanded it by adding tech detonations.
technically it existed in ME2 as well but it was just biotic combos iirc like Singularity + Warp or Pull + Throw
I admit Andromeda really made the combat top notch...however combat should never be the focus of an ME game
@@ChrisDeebo I played Mass Effect on narrative mode just cause I was there to explore space.
Ashley saved my soul with those fire grenades countless times in the third game! And edi with her clone. Truly missed the ability wheel.
Late, but fuck it: Ashley is a Garrus lite with her Assault rifle too
@@elseggs6504didnt usually bother saving ash. Kaiden had more development in my opinion
@@arthurmarston7496didn’t usually bother saving Ash… but Kaiden had more development? Ok… I mean she has an arc, goes all New Hope with you, while he…. Cooks for Shep. Each to their own I guess.
Suppose at least Jacob makes him look interesting.
@@davids5566 I think kaiden opens up more than ash. But each to their own
@@arthurmarston7496 how did Kaiden have more development?
The biggest problem in Mass Effect Andromeda is the lack of choices - there's only three times in the game where you get to make a decision that has a visible outcome. Every quest in Andromeda ends exactly the same regarding what dialogue you make.
In Mass Effect 1 even if you don't see the consequences of your decions e.g. 'save x' or 'leave y to die' you at least get to make those choices. In Andromeda every choice is made for you, even in tiny side missions
I agree but also disagree in some ways... ME1 did have a lot of choices that didn't pay off until the sequels... In Andromeda, you do get some 'save x' or 'leave y to die' choices. Such as: Save the Salarian Pathfinder or Krogan scouts which has consequences with Drax, Choices in regards to who becomes Pathfinders for the other species, such as if you reveal the truth about the Asari Pathfinder, then choosing their Pathfinder in Cora's loyalty mission, if Avitus Rix becomes the Turian Pathfinder or if you even choose to find some of the lost arks as most arw optional to not find (But that should've had more consequences in game), Choose who runs Kadara out of The Collective or Sloane, Find Ryder Mother, Ancient AI fate,Who becomes the lead ambassador post Meridian, etc... These & other choices are there, some of which do effect the current game in some small ways, with others probably paying off later if they got a sequel... Which they 'might' do in ME5...
@@SpectreSaunders I think in Mass Effect 1, you could even decide to not even recruit Garrus or Wrex onto the team.
@@Edax_Royeaux Your'e right
Having just played ME1, I felt the choices in it were much less impactful than in Andromeda.
Only as I get into 2 am I seeing they may have had some weight.
I'd bet Andromeda had similar plans of adding gravitas to earlier choices in later iterations that simply didn't materialize.
its story not choice, if better story we would forgive choice more vice versa but ME1 had great mystery detective thriller vibes
I listen to these with a single earphone while on long shifts and boy does it make my day go by quicker. Thanks Gingy, I hope to be able to make similar videos in the future as story analysis is my bread and butter.
Same.
People underestimate how valuable videos like these are when passing time while doing monotonous labor. Thank you Gingy, you’re a real one.
literally what im' doing right now and it's already lunch lol
broo i was doing this last night during my shift. it’s so nice
I'm listening while making bread sticks and pasta at Olive Garden
The reapers were horrifying... They were unbeatable... the reapers had me traversing the galaxy on behalf ceberus doing things I normally wouldn't do. We literally beat the Reapers by a miracle and all possible effort the galaxy could muster. If the Kett had attacked the milky way galaxy the whole lot of us would've been wiping our asses with kett faces.
Archon's kett are just a small fraction of kett. They could have people similar to behemoths(krogans after exaltation) for example
I...is this a critique if Andromeda? You know before anyone knew about the Repears, all we fought in ME1 was robos and a possesed turian.....if the series was allowed a couple games to grow then maybe it couldve ended with The Scourge coming alive or something and destroys a planet, who knows
@@DS-wl5pk yeah, and Pi mean even if it wouldnt does every story have to be about surviving some super dangerous
Eh, the whole story of Andromeda could've been just a show/movie. I feel like this was a whole set up for the REAL story.
I mean, we are still waiting on the others to come through and join us in Andromeda.
I liked the premise but I think this set up is waaay too long.
It should've been "we came in, it was already messy. We made it less messy we actually made things worse. We were the bad ones"
@@wanderingbufoon well yeah it was setup. Just like mass effect 1. Btw I and a lot of players dont think like a lot of toxic fans and think this game was really good. Maybe not as good as me2 or 3 but still
Imagine playing as Alec. A mature man/woman with a family he/she cares about, having to deal with one of their children being stuck in cyro and a mission that just doesn't go a lick as planned. The game would have been more Mass Effect with them, than Scott. Also if they found it hard to implement a second side character more, they could have just made them a mute.
imagine scott being like a companion version of joker, i would love that
I think playing as the dad for the first mission/tutorial and then him dying and you passing the torch to your child would have been really cool, but you are the kid from the beginning.
Also your sibling should have been there the whole time, putting them on ice for the majority of the game was weak
@@jamesbg314or you could play alec most of the game then have him die at the end then swap to scott or sara
Andromeda is overly hated on (to an extent). Gameplay, Characters, Setting, etc are mostly fine... But I was let down by the story... They had so much narrative freedom & potential being set 600 years after 3 in another galaxy, which has rarely been done in sci-fi. Yet they barely took any story risks, repeated things done before, teased deeper things that should've been shown/explained more, & didn't make it more alien (e.g. Still had humanoid races that mostly use similar tech to us: Guns, etc)
Just finished the vid. It was a great balance of fair criticism, explaining why certain things are that way, whilst giving good personal insight for yourself as a player & to other players play style & choices. e.g. The romance sections (being fair to players that don't want to "go all the way" when it's available), or not just hating characters (such as Liam) because most people do & giving them more nuance, etc... The game ain't perfect but it's not bad either... it's just "average", with wasted potential.
I see you just uploaded Gingy's opinion without even because he might be wrong or just opinionated, which he is. He slides pass the fact that decisions don't mean anything and thinks that the choice to be morally grey but always end *one way* super seeds choice-based decisions that lead to different outcomes. Characters are one-dimensional that don't change or grow you just get more of the same content or are just underutilized. The best thing to come out of Andromeda is the base combat improvements, he even says the side missions were fun, majority of which fetch quest with paper-thin context to justify it, dude doesn't even mention the shitty scanning missions because they were probably so mid he forgot about them.
@@melancholyman369 I never alluded to agreeing with all of his opinions & he did make some mistakes here & there (Like most people would for a video essay of this length)... As the title says, it's a "story Analysis of Mass Effect Andromeda" video , not a gameplay analysis ... Regardless, I liked Andromeda for the most part... Sure there's issues, but it's not terrible either... Just average... I'm just praising what I enjoyed.
@@SpectreSaunders ntn wrong with enjoying what you like but objectivity is virtue.
@@melancholyman369 That's fine also! If you knew me personally & we were having a face to face conversation about Andromeda, you'd know that I'm objective about the game. I did enjoy things about it & praise those aspects (Combat, etc), but I'm also very critical of it too (Story, etc). But not the extent of blindly hating (or praising it) & dragging it like most people did at launch & after... I just liked this video talked about certain characters, arcs, etc from a more broader perspective... if that makes sense 😅
45:58 another character that explores the dichotomy between science and faith (or lack thereof) in a very interesting way is Padok Wiks from ME3. Unfortunately, conversing with him in detail means Mordin has to have died in ME2, so a lot of players missed out on his great dialogue.
She is also a basically spiritual girl, just like Ashley was.
"How do Krogan mate?"
Bakara "Very clumsily"
Tbh i genuinely hope ME5 will address the arcs in Andromeda. There was enough intriguing plot points for me that was interested in more
Might be some Easter egg references, but considering Andromeda takes place in a completely different galaxy, I wouldn't be surprised if they didn't address it.
@@shanen.1541 Considering Liara had direct contact with Alec Ryder. We could at the very least hear more about him.
They should leave Andromeda entirely. Never touch it again
ME4*
@@Melinmingle. Like that's ever gonna happen; We'll most likely just get some references.
Really loving this channel lately. Been falling asleep listening to a lot of your stuff. Fantastic content and I love your steady, analytical pace in going through the narratives.
I cant imagine the amount of meticulous work that goes into something like this. Know that we appreciate it immensely.
1:10:13 This isn't new to Mass Effect or something that Andromeda invented. The combo system was first introduced in ME2 with Warp being able to trigger biotic explosions. The system was expanded in 3 to include Tech bursts.
Yeah 🤦♀ I agree with him that the removal of the ability wheel in MEA was a mistake, but I don't understand how he missed those epic explosions in ME2 and 3. They're so much fun.
@@AndreaP_N7To be fair, ME2 explosions were really difficult to trigger in an unmodded game. Primer powers didn't work on targets with shields or armour and targets without them mostly died already from the primer power alone, even on insanity.
Commenting to feed the algorithm and to hopefully get you some more views and exposure.
Your videos have always been so amazingly made. No insanely loud noises or memes just great production , script and voice work.
Do not take this as a negative but I have used your videos for months to help me get to sleep. That isn't in anyway a cop out.
As always thanks for the work and time poured into this and moreso all of your videos. Much love from Australia.
Gingy's format is chill and relaxing. You aren't the only one who puts on long form video game reviews to sleep to. ✌️
29:11 its constantly mentioned in the game that they met the exiles at kadara before the pathfinder or the nexus so thats how they know about the initiative before you meet in-game as kadara port used to be an angaran port that was taken over by sloane kelly
I thought one of the reasons your character joins the Initiative is because you got kicked out the Alliance due to your father's work with AI. Making so you basically had no other choice.
That is mostly the reason why, if not the only reason.
That was expressly the twin's reason for joining.
@@rhoetusochten4211 yeah I wrote this early in the video. I did it sarcastically cause he says the reason you join was to explore.
1:34-1:39. The real reason isn't revealed until the whole thing with the memories is done, hence the issue: It's not like Breath of the Wild where you're literally told what happened to Hyrule Kingdom within the first couple of hours.
@@dragonbornexpress5650 actually Bioware told you the reason why the twins joined before the game came out during interviews.
I don't think the Kett were ment to be the overall "big bad" of the Andromeda franchise. Remember that this was meant to be the first part of a new trilogy.
No, IMO the big bad were meant to be whoever created the scourge, which got revealed to be artificial.
After everything I heard about this game I expected complete rubbish, but after I finished playing the Legendary Edition, I decided to complete my Mass Effect marathon and played Andromeda, and it turned out to be a really fun game. The Gameplay is the best of the entire Franchise, and the story may not be as good as the others, but it's still decent and the characters are very fun and charismatic.
playing it right now. i think it's enjoyable.
Yeah it was completely overblown, although they did fix some bugs over the years. But I think folks were remembering the me3 ending be the last thing they remebered from ME so they were overly hard on MEA
@@TheDeanthedon It is because it aint a good Mass Effect. It aint a bad game at all.
Since you've made videos on all the mass effect games I've been playing them in tandem with you're reviews I'm mad at missing out on these games when they first came out but glad that started now
Never too late to start on a classic series! Glad to have you aboard, Commander.
While the companions had the most strength in Andromeda, they lose a lot of touch when compared to the previous crew because they ARE the previous crew: two human allies, one a gung-ho soldier and the other a Biotic with an unorthodox past, a Turian that does the right thing but doesn't want to play by the rules or regulations, a battle worn Krogan warry of his place in society, and an antisocial asari archeologist. The only exception to this is Jaal, but even then, his "fish out of water" and gloomy outlook on the Kett War is a little to close to Javik's endling-depression. Granted, most of their "loyalty missions" are fairly unique, but the base of their character's foundation is very obvious from the beginning.
Still, Andromeda had a very good combat loop (when not glitching) that, while not as "boots on the ground" as the previous games, did offer some unique combat experiences. Also, the idea of being able to access ALL abilities, from soldier, engineer, and biotic, was pretty cool and made me feel like the Pathfinder wasn't just a title. I also really liked the Architect boss fight, but wished they came up with other remnant designs other than the big tripod.
Played this about a year after launch and got it for like.... Ten bucks maybe? Had a blast, long enough after launch that most things were fixed. Going back to the og three now and I really miss the jump jet lol
Gameplay wise it was the best in series and nobody can argue that. Andromeda entire issue comes from the fact that the story wasn't good. It wasn't bad but compared to the trilogy it's midling at best and it really dragged the game down. If it was a new ip it would have been much better received.
@@razorflossrazor2937 Although I think they made great additions to the combat system vertically, I dont really feel like the enemy ai evolved enough with it. But I am also very salty about my loss of the N7 Crusader "shotgun" from ME3 xd
@@razorflossrazor2937 I prefer ME3's combat. Andromeda was practically a platformer and they eviscerated the ability wheel. you end up having to swap "loadouts" in order to have more than 3 abilities. the guns also had no real omph to them.
I pre-ordered it for $70, a colossal mistake.
@@razorflossrazor2937 The wooden voice-acting, ugly faces, woke propaganda, etc, doesn't help.
H-047c was an asteroid, though. It made sense that you couldn't setup an outpost but the thing that made it fun was it was unique to the series . I actually enjoyed the variation (low gravity and strange layout).
An Asteroid? Or remains of a destroyed planet?
I do believe after "we saved the initiative" party you get a storyhook regarding quarians arc (Some who, if I recall correctly, was NEVER mentioned in Andromeda up until that very moment).
Also do have to say that Ryder's mother reveal, IMO, had to be sidequest - it plays well towards overall mystery of you character's father secrets. Something that you, as a player, might not care, and roleplay as you character grown to not care as well, just accepted that this secrets died with father.
I also do believe, regarding kett, there was a mention in a note or audio log, that their empire goal is to spread further and unify every race they encounter. But might be wrong here.
We never found out who disallived Jien Garson
I’m so glad I found your channel two months ago! I’ve watched almost every single one of your videos to this day multiple times. Keep up the amazing work!
Shirtless Jaal is an image that will stay with me for the rest of my life
I have never played this game and now it seems as if I had. Phenomenal. I love technology.
technology is quite cool
I agree! Compressed to 1.5hrs only!
honestly, the video is probably a better experience on the whole as well, so you did good
Shepherd and Ryder may be vessels for the player but it's not like they don't have a personality of their own, even if you get to choose what they say the outcome alot of times is still something you would not have said yourself.
Great point you made! You are only informing their decisions and how they direct conversations.
Ryder certainly has a personality. Being a young, unlikely hero who needs the save the initiative. The problem with Ryder is that the choices you make don't really redefine their personality and they usually are act one-note, which lack creativity in decision-making and as result replayability.
I think what would’ve really drove the game home story wise was if they changed the motive for leaving the Milky Way in the first place. They could’ve EASILY had it been that after the Geth Attack on the Citadel with a literal Reaper, some chose to believe Commander Shepard and that’s what funded the Initiative and why people of (nearly) every race are on these arks and the Nexus. Then it could’ve set up a whole thing about how since they know they’ll arrive what would be 600+ years later, they’d have no idea if their Galaxy survived the cycle, making Andromeda their literal only option at survival. Could’ve set up so much cooler shit and even make more sense for why there are exiles. Perhaps people who stole identities to get on the arks and start new lives in Andromeda.
I think Benefactor is a shadow broker. He/she knew about reapers before Shepard.
Great analysis. I for one did like a lot of what Andromeda had to offer and would be all in for a properly written sequel. As you said there are a lot of great ideas, that just need to be better developed. Shame EA and Bioware are more than likely never going back to it. :/
Yeah I did a lot of the content in the game on my first playthrough and am interested to see where they could go with Andromeda and Ryder. Hope BioWare and EA do something with this but I’m not gonna hold out too much hope
I feel like they were planning to make Andromeda a second trilogy with the amount of stuff they set up, but the poor reception caused it to get canned. Which is disappointing, because it feels like ME1 in the way it sets everything up for future games, it just hasn't been allowed to grow beyond this.
There we go. I was waiting for this.
I always assumed the reason the ket went to exalt other species is a cultural or religious they see themselves as the pinnacle of evolution and all of our species are beneath them to them becoming exalted a honor
This. It was mentioned in some logs one can find in the game. We, frankly, don't know if the Archon is _the_ kett or whether they are a race or a diverse society of various factions fused by the exhaltation. It is hinted, but not stated. In all honesty, Kett make more sense than Reapers did.
i just finished watching your other mass effect videos today, and heres andromeda! nice.
Can’t watch this now but definitely hyped to come back later, seriously gingy, these have been some top notch videos and a joy to watch 👌🙌
This is a good example of "Form your own opinion", because despite only hearing negative reviews, I tried the game and ended up really enjoying it.
Just in this comment section you see so many people saying they haven't played the game. That's fine but I don't think you can have that much of an opinion if you don't actually try the game out
@@Knight1029 that’s an idiotic statement because there are plenty of walkthroughs for this game all over available to view …are people blind too now?
I remember there being a semi similar system in Dragon Age Inquisition and it was definitely an interesting mechanic. It allowed me to make my Inquisitor a hard ass who proritized the mission at hand but equally extremely faithful to the Maker which was great cause I was going for basically a Paladin and got almost exactly that.
I dont get why people say the story is shallow or doesnt make sense for the universe.
How i saw it, AI was basically started after the events of ME1, where someone who had the connections heard Shepards warning of the reapers and therefore started the initiative as the Milky Ways "Assured mutual continuance." The reason for the "Exploration" reasoning was due to the reapers existence being suppressed by the council. So outwardly they play up the "Exploration" narrative because the AI would have never been possible if everyone thought they were just a group of doomsday whackos as opposed to Pioneers of a new frontier. So they get things going just as a background group that seemingly has no relevance to the pressing matters during ME2 so they are ignored by all sides of that story which absolutely is perfect for their actual purpose. They launch roughly in between ME2+3. The events of ME3 take place during their 600 year voyage and so it makes sense as to why the MW has no real influence and or relevancy to Andromedas well, anything because of how ME3 ends for all possible endings. However the AI wouldnt know this and so it makes sense why they are confused about why theres no communication from back home but due to the false narrative wouldnt be super concerned.
So in my opinion, it not only ties in brilliantly but it also allows for a completely unrestricted new story, but allows for people may not have played any of the original 3 to pick up here and not be absolutely overwhelmed so it also makes it a practical buisness decision as well. It is intentionally separated from those games because they are opened, expanded and closed. So because of this i dont understand why people insist on using the previous games as a benchmark for story and plot as if they were meant to be significantly entwined. Also I had the benefit of playing after it had come and gone because i hadnt even gotten to or through ME3 yet due to being broke af and because all this is just the side quest to my main I.E. Life. so alot of things were either more refined and or fixed.
All that being said, I feel that Bioware then failed to build and capitalize on this foundation leaving it feeling.....like an unfinished idea and therefore squandering any potential for this title to achieve acclaim that any ME game, should have reached.
Now obviously this is just my own rundown of how i interpreted the story i was presented through my own pursuit via logs, sidequests and generally every piece of lore throughout all ME games.
It coulda have always been worse like Xcom Squad cashcow or whatever its called lol!
I honestly still can’t get over what a bad choice it was to switch engines. It’s not even the weird facial animations, or the weird walk animations, but that every scene looks like it’s only 80% rendered.
Great video as always! I personally would love to see a deep dive into the Metro games!
it had so much potential... i really wanted to see how they would approach a first-contact scenario.
1:10:10 Andromeda introduced primers and detonators???
It did not, it only introduced having a symbol on the power indicating whether it was a primer or a detonator
1:37:50 - a TON of lore about the Kett is conveyed through logs found around the game. So is the case of exhatation - which was very much about being raised to the level of kett, who were, in their view, the pinnacle of progress. In general - the race was driven mostly by religious zealotry and getting exhalted was being 'christened' into it. An honour of sorts.
EDIT: I also think they wanted to pull DA:Inquisition stunt and have the actual ending in a DLC. Kind of like in DA base game the main bad-guy just shows up at your door and wants to fight for no reason whatsoever.
Andromeda was the consequence of an absolutely atrocious dev cycle that resulted in the closure of that studio as a result of their development.
Everyone wants to blame EA for this one, but in reality, and I’m the furthest thing from a corporate defender, this actually wasn’t entirely their fault. BioWare Montreal was created specifically to create this game (so the main studio could do the massively popular, gangbuster game we were blessed with called Anthem), and it was crushed under its own weight. The game at a late stage of development saw a COMPLETE rewrite and rebuild that basically threw away everything they spent 3 years working on because they initially wanted to pull a No Mans Sky and offer a seemingly endless, procedurally generated galaxy map.
When they realized that they straight up didn’t have the resources for it, it was too late. Then the main writer, and many development heads just straight up quit mid development. Switching to Frostbite from Unreal also didn’t help at all.
It was doomed from the start. It’s why most new features are hilariously half baked, why the game was so buggy, and why everything just felt slapped together at the last second. They were in way over their heads, biffed it, and scrambled to throw something out there.
Great analysis, great script, and overall great video my man.
The real reason you're exploring Andromeda was never a secret. It was a "secret." This is called dramatic irony. We as players knew what was going on in the Milky Way around the time the mission was launched. But the characters in the game just thought they were on a purely adventurous expedition. It's a little like when you're watching a slasher movie and all the characters are sitting in a car in the beginning just talking about how much fun they're going to have in the deserted cabin. They don't know what kind of movie they're in, but we do.
Exactly. It adds a whole different perspective to the initiative. I imagine the milky way probably lost against the reapers, or they are experiencing the low EMS destroy ending.
@@zafelrede4884 or just completely forgot about the Andromeda initiative when literally 90% of the people who had even heard of it were killed.
The saddest thing about this game is the missed potential. There was something good here but the cringey writing and bad bugs killed it. It’s not a great Mass Effect game, it’s a failed opportunity to move the series forward. EA keeps pushing games out before they’re ready. Andromeda and ME3 are cases of this.
Both of those games were also screwed by its own developers and lack of a competent direction and development efficiency. Bioware wasted so much time on ideas they eventually scrapped or marginalized instead of focusing on things that worked. "Bioware magic" dev crutch existed long before EA meddling, so the company itself has management problems.
Been waiting for this, cheers G!
It wasn't the bugs that killed this game, it was everything that had anything to do with the story that really killed it.
Amen; just like how ME3 defenders think that the ending alone was what caused ME3 to be hated, when it was a huge number of other things.
@@NostalgicGamerRickOShay how DARE somebody defend something they like
@@NostalgicGamerRickOShayYou cowards will label anyone who doesnt fall in line with your terrible opinions as "woke" and then act like that word matters its hilarious
happy to get to watch this, waited for this after watching the other mass effect reviews i think they were all great videos and cant wait to finish this one! really fell in love with this channel and the style of the reviews. cant wait for more videos on diffrent games!
This game had so much potential, but it was to rushed and to unfocused to actually hit the mark.
I know that the news on the new Mass Effect is semi teasing the original trilogy, but i also wouldn't mind if they went back to the Andromeda series and built a stronger, better game, with better writing a more coherent story and actually making you like the characters.
Watching the teaser trailer, seems to involve both The Milky Way and Andromeda in one of the opening scenes. There may be a tie-in somewhere.
They realised their mistakes and are planning a crossover to continue the grandeur of the original trilogy, but instead of sweeping Andromeda under the rug they wish to fix their mistakes and give it a fully flushed out completion after the cliffhanger they left us with. My hope is that the timeline is a bit after ME3 with the original cast returning or having the original cast in stasis for an adventure in far off places. For the former I would suggest the Jardan or the Kett having found the Milkyway long before invading Andromeda. But I just hope whatever they do it blows my mind and doesn't disappoint after Andromeda's flop.
Great video as usual
Worth noting Mack Walters, a 19 year veteran, & one of the last original BioWare members, just left the company around 2023/01/23rd
The EA lid inches closer to closing on another great developer
Ayo, new Gingy video release. Super glad to see a new video here from yah
Personally I liked Andromeda but your arguments were valid. I too think it should get a second game. Maybe getting to play more as the other Ryder from the first game. Or finally getting to have an interaction with your mother. The cliffhanger of the fifth Ark's distress signal is also intriguing. And finding out who the Benefactor is would also be nice.
The benefactor is mostlikely the Illusive Man and that is the plottwist of the quest with the Memories
I actually really liked Andromeda. It’s a good game and almost everything about it is good, it’s just none of it is better than the OG trilogy. None of it can even compare. Except for the combat, I love Andromeda’s combat way more than the original trilogy combat.
After Mass Effect 2 we all thought we'd be playing in and exploring this universe for the next 20 years. They painted themselves into a corner with the third game ending. Only wanted to do a trilogy so I suspect this was an attempt to continue it and start a franchise.
I love how you could just fit your entire analysis into the thumbnail
I honestly think the reveal of the Nexus was absolutely perfect for the story. The Hyperion was supposed to be the last Ark that reconnected with the Nexus and after everything going wrong with habitat 7, The crew of The Hyperion were LOOKING for something that was going to be like the citadel. They even say upon approach that they hope the other arks fared better than they did getting to the nexus. Mass Effect has always had an affinity for the grandiose reveals so the expectation going in is that youll turn the corner and the Nexus would be full of life and activity, but having nothing when you first find it adds to the additional feeling of dread that's tied into the existentialism of leaving everything behind to explore a new universe. There's no music, no activity, not even radio chatter because much like the hope you had that was squashed on first contact, the nexus is effectively dead at this point. I think the subversion of expectation and lack of any sounds of life plays in extremely well with the reveal
Partially disagree; The expectation subversion would have been even greater if it was like Gingy proposed in this video: Super colorful and grandiose on the outside, then you get inside and things go south within seconds. In that way, you could also have a scene where the Hyperion crew are super happy at first only for them to dock and reality hits them in the face like the blast from a Reaper laser, or even change the music to be slightly distorted giving the hint to the player that, although the ship looks good, something ain't right here; In that way, you can have a slight sense of dread and still completely shock the player because of the abrupt tonal shift from hopeful, yet eerie, to frightening.
I've been waiting for this, and even now I'm not ready to see this game again...
Average is the most positive thing I've ever heard anyone say about this game
It’s biggest mistake was being marketed as a continuation of Shepard’s story.
I feel Ryders dialogue options are too passive, no matter what you choose Ryder comes off as a push over. The combat is the most fluid out of the franchise. But its too easy. I like the modularity, but it also makes the MC seem less personable. Being able to switch combat profiles mid fight, makes the game too easy and narratively make your character feel like a "Mary Sue".
Ryder being passive is an intentional choice. You can disagree with it but that is the point. Even then there are options that make Ryder more confident.
Also Ryder isn't a Mary Sue as much as Shepard is. They just have the right stuff to get it through.
@@Knight1029 Shephard has some military background that would warrant them becoming a Specter. They were literally an N7 soldier prior to ME1 (elite), so the Mary Sue argument does not hold too much warrant (at least in ME1, later games would make it worse). Ryder kids are just awkward civilians being trusted in the role of military, scientific, and political leaders during a crisis event. Bumbling around makes sense for them more than doing it for a elite soldier like Shepard or Alec Ryder.
@@Bionickpunk both twins are experienced. Scott being a soldier and Sara being an officer protecting Prothean dig sites. They both have the means to be in the role they got. Now does that make them the best for it? No, but what still takes great effort to accomplish and in no way makes them a Mary Sue. The world doesn't revolve around them or bend to them. Just like Shepard they had the right stuff for the job.
@@Knight1029shut up. They are god awful characters
I just recently did another play through of mass effect andromeda and the ony thing i can say that i abolutely love and hope they develop more for the next title is the free flowing movement and the combat they have in the game. i feel like the movement system of andromeda was extremely well done and i really hope they continue using it with the new mass effect game
id love to see you do a video on the infamous games, its a pretty overlooked game in terms of its story and i think it deserves some love. great video man keep it up
I've been waiting for this, let's gooooo
Andromeda's gameplay is SO fun, that I've played it 4 times. I wish that the story had been better developed, they've been given more time to fix bugs and we actually could make a difference in the ending.
17:51 I know this moment has been memed on pretty hard, but I actually love it so much. I think it's full of character and immediately establishes Peebee's personality - that wide-eyed, excited puppy-type energy.
Paws.
It really did a great job establishing who she was at her core, just like you said. I have absolutely no problem with that.
My problem is with the character herself. Or rather, the options we DON'T have in dealing with her. Her impulsive decision on her loyalty mission was EXTREMELY selfish and had every expectation of getting us killed. She lures us into the escape pod and launches it towards an active volcano, one where she KNEW the Tempest couldn't retrieve us from and she had NO PLAN on how to get back, as she didn't know that her ex was already there.
The ex, by the way, who repeatedly tries not only to kill us but instructs her lackeys to rip out our implants after we're dead. And Peebee wants us to save this woman? Nah.
Once everything is resolved and we use her ex's shuttle to get away, we should have had the option to kick her blue butt off the Tempest. She endangered the ENTIRE mission of getting habitable planets for the Initiative survivors and stopping the Archon, all for her chance to get a piece of tech that is barely useful.
That was my biggest gripe about her. We let her off with a slap on the wrist and a welcome to being permanently part of the crew.
Same with what's his name, the black guy. Liked his character but his decisions were SO BAD that he put a colony, us and the entire Initiative (we die, it's screwed) in jeopardy. We should have had an option to leave him planetside to help out where he couldn't do as much damage.
@@sarasunshinemt4444 I haven't played the game but I've watched a few different videos about it (if you haven't seen Weekend Warrior's video(s), I highly suggest it cause it's hilarious) and from what I've gathered you're absolutely right. Both characters are well and truly crappily executed and it seems like whereas the original trilogy made it almost frustratingly difficult to keep everyone with you/alive throughout the games, I get the impression Andromeda took the absolute opposite approach - like you can't get rid of the fuckers lawl. Even if you make decisions that *should* piss them off to the point of desertion, they stick by you despite all that and even in some cases, seem to forget entirely that you had a major disagreement with them in the first place and only moments before.
So my observation was really just to highlight that with all the gaffes in the animation department (at least upon initial release - and apparently even to this day, in some respects), this one particular animation was harped on quite a bit but I think its subtlety and cinematography (that you can tell it's from Ryder's perspective, from beneath her looking up) really comes across well and is honestly pretty cute. Still, so many better moments in the original trilogy - maybe not specifically animation-related that I can recall off the top of my head but certainly things like the lecture you can overhear of a drill seargant or whoever talking to a bunch of cadets about Newton's laws of motion, in the context that if they shoot at someone in space, they need to make sure they don't miss cause otherwise they're gonna be ruining someone's day somewhere (something like that). Hilarious!
Hell, I have an N7 jacket and to this day, whenever anyone compliments me on it I say "I'm Commander Shepherd and this is my favorite shop on the Citadel" (I'm usually out shopping when this happens). And I must've commented that very story on, like, 5 different Mass Effect videos for one reason or another lawl.
It's no question, Andromeda was not the continuation the series deserved - especially after how Mass Effect 3 ended. And it's really unfortunate that, because of Andromeda's mediocrity, we're not likely to see another entry in the franchise any time soon. Not to mention a lot of what went wrong with Andromeda can be blamed on the culture of "BioWare magic" - which is just a bullshit name for the impossible expectations of higher-ups who can't get their shit together in a timely manner shifting everything onto their workers and turning management's poor planning into months of crunch, so when they're forced to inevitably deliver an inferior product (what would be impressive given the time and resources those poor bastards had to work with) it's considered a failure of the "magic" and not the fucking management. Sorry, that kind of shit really pisses me off - I've read all of Jason Schreier's articles about crunch (he did articles on Andromeda, Anthem, Rockstar, and Naughty Dog - I wonder if he'll do one on CDProjekt ( *quick google* oh, wait lawl)).
@Gabby Weekend Warrior is awesome, I've seen his Andromeda videos (plus a bunch of his other stuff). And you are right on target! Bioware did a lot of things right but I think they let their "good times" crew take the helm and that's where this went bad.
Everyone likes the Citadel dlc right? Well it only works because Shep and crew EARNED that lighthearted adventure thru 3 games of serious, galaxy saving battles. They've lost people, won and lost battles and know that they very well might not live fighting the Reapers. Andromeda has high stakes but Rider and his crew act like it's no big deal. There really isn't ever a sense of urgency to what they're doing.
Anyway, I see your N7 jacket and raise you a vanity front N7 license plate 😆
Happy gaming!
Honestly I love their combat system, story wise they could’ve done loads better but I really like their combat system
Dear Gingy,
This Channel is SENSATIONAL!!!
This Bugged Mess Ruined my all time Franchise : ( - Praise the Modder's
Yo, thanks for playing this and telling me about it. Now I never have to
Played Andromeda recently and enjoyed it a fair amount. My biggest problem with the game though was the YA novel/CW tone of the writing half the time. Also fuck liam, genuinely a terribly executed character.
Yeah Liam is the worst sidekick in whole franchise. He is so annoying.
I finished this game 3x but haven't touched it for 3 years, your video reminded why I loved this game so much and why I found the hate around it very disproportionate. This game, in spite of its flaws, is a very good game and as a huge fan of the mass effect trilogy I still find it in its place as part of the franchise (can't wait for ME IV).
The story was meh, but the combat was probably the most fun I've ever had in the mass effect series. While the switch on the fly is cool idea I never really did it considering the cool combos you can make with just one build.
Hey you found a secret:
The shadow group backing the organization is 100% the shadow broker. Most likely the Yahg was actually a full partner to the shadow broker. When the broker realized that the reapers were coming he pulled his resources and jumped galaxies leaving the Yahg to take over. Considering the andromeda initiative takes place right before ME2 this lines up extremely well.
This actually doesn't have much evidence.
@@dragonbornexpress5650it Actually does lol
Love your. Content just like the mass effect 3 I've been waiting for this one and here it is. Thank you man
I honestly hope we get a andromeda 2. While it did have problems, both gameplay and storywise, it's nothing I feel couldn't get fixed in a sequal with a proper budget and development time. I liked the new world, I liked the new characters, I liked the gameplay. And it did the most important thing I feel ME should do. After a several hours while watching that movie me and the crew spent so long setting up, it made me sit back and think "this is my crew" and that feeling, that smile, is the same one I had when we took that photo at the end of the citedel DLC. I feel like that feeling is something that's just so Mass Effect, I can't explain it very well. Ill admit to the problems, but I still go back to play this game amd still hope one day we go back to andromeda properly. Also Vetra is second best girl(tali is number 1) and I will die on that hill.
thanks for uploading. I can now stop writing in the notes app like its my therapist, now I can watch this while playing dark souls 3. keep it up :)
Liam really was the worst. He spent my entire play-through on The Tempest because he’s so unbearable.
I still think we missed a lot by not having even dlc released for Andromeda. Book telling you what happened on that Ark is interesting tho.
Also Vetra is great xD
Played andromeda first then played the legendary editon...i'm now on my 2nd insanity playthrough of the trilogy
I played Andromeda for the first time recently, and I quite enjoyed it. I understand the disappointment too, though, as its definitely incomparable to the OG trilogy, but I'd love a sequel to this game. I feel it has potential, and hope it isnt entirely abandoned. Would love to see the Jardaan expanded on, the mystery behind the benefactor/the death of Jien Garson being revealed, and to fully understand the Scourge!
Not sure how many would agree but I would love to see a next gen Console version of this game
I would too. Tried it on my ps5. The resolution is just too low to enjoy for. And the graphics aren't as good as I remember
@@Etheral101 it's mostly the 30fps that bother me. I just want better performance. Tried it on my Xbox series x but nah. The legendary edition was such a treat in comparison
I played both andromeda and dragon age inquisition. Both seem extremely similar... to a point where I wish I had the car from MEA.
Amazing review, I felt that you nailed everything even contrasting viewpoints. As a person who generally liked Andromeda and never saw game breaking bugs I can say that it's a good game if you want a bit more Mass Effect. Sure, it feels different, there is not that much character building for some characters. But after tearjerking times with the trilogy it feels nice to wind down, play some more mass effect and not worry about leaving with something missing in my life after 80+ hours.
Major gripes is that immersion is broken every time you see characters with involuntary eye moving syndrome in the game. That is all of them. However, banter during trips and Ryders sarcasm can be funny. It's not Mass Effect trygoly army humor by any means, but it does make some parts enjoyable.
Crafting system, or at least resource gathering system is trash. I even play multiplayer, which can be enjoyable when your character shreks incoming waves of enemies with ease, but it still takes loads of time to gather enough mats for cool gear.
Combat - best it ever was, enough said. After a single mission I can respec and then become a biotic god? yes please!
Visuals - best it ever was. Animations kill it tho.
Story is serviceable. It was inevitable after Mass Effect trilogy that people would feel these characters are lesser in every way. Drak and Vetra being exceptions, and to some Extent Rider. I wanted to add that it should have been made clear that Kett are not just your brainless army zombies with weird structures sooner. Only 1 mission after 20 to 40 hours of gameplay tells you that there is a society behind it all. We would have faced an actual ideology right from the start, with its own customs and traditions. In the trilogy it was perfectly done, society was introduced almost immediately after the arrival on to the citadel. We began to delve deeper in to all of the races straight up. If there was more behind Kett at the start, it would have been a different feeling.
I totally agree that Alec should ahve been the protagonist, he had much more to offer, could have kept the kids too, they could have been either somewhere else doing their thing or come along wth you. Or maybe even be responsible for their own settlements. Aslo the other arks should have gotten more focus. Helping each ark would have given so much more story. WE would have so many different cultures around the galaxy would feel just as full as it was in the trilogy.
Doing a playthrough of MEA right now and I can say that while I'm enjoying most aspects of the game, it just doesn't feel like Mass Effect. It has familiar technology, races, and dialogue to the original trilogy, but something just feels a little off.
bro great vid. very smooth presentation as well.
Currently on my 2nd play through, and I quite enjoyed it on my first run. Obviously.
Like everyone else, it felt like a whole in my metaphorical chest after the ending of the Trilogy. I missed my Shepard and the old squad. I wanted to go back see what happened to all of them post Reaper War, go on a new missions with them, and watch all or at least most of them get a happy ending (Giggity)
But after a little while Andromeda grew on me. And just enjoyed it for what it was. I didn’t let nostalgia get in the way and needlessly compare Andromeda to the Trilogy, or Ryder to Shepard. And bash it for it daring to be different. That’s stupid and childish. (That doesn’t excuse the poor execution because EA rushed BioWare to release it just so they can quickly get started on Anthem. And we all know how that genius move turned out)
Andromeda, Ryder, and everyone else is it’s own thing now. I like them and the story is serviceable. The gameplay has never been better it’s a hell of a lot of fun. And you can switch profiles/classes anytime you want? That’s always awesome. And I thought it was pretty neat that they added the player being able to change their Ryder’s appearance any time they want.
Say what you want, but Andromeda is no where near as bad as a lot of people made it out to be
36:41
Never understood this, as the difference is pretty clear, though it's part of that, the methods are too similar. The Reapers were trying to preserve life, not in its original form, but more the idea of it, which is debatable by what the MEAN with that phrasing, but the early books seemed to be the way of thinking and stuff(Of course, that's because Drew's original reason for them doing this was to figure out a way around the Dark Energy problem, but we'll ignore that for now).
Meanwhile, the Khett are literally grafting the best of other races into themselves. The Exaltation is for individual members, but the advanced Khett types, and the Archon in particular, are stated to be 'the Genetic Advantages of a thousand species', with more info easily found during the jail break sequence in the rooms around the one you were locked in showing the traits they're after in the milky way races.
That means their motivation is purely selfish, but they frame it in a religious way. You do not matter as an individual, even once Exalted. But your species traits, those matter, and by Exalting you, you bring that into themselves, building a better them.
Now, why would they do this? Is there an end goal? Given later plot things, it seems not. While we will never know, their ability to incorporate other genetic structures into themselves, and the fact that this does seem to be how they make more of their species, i would think they're like blank templates to make other races off of that were created by the Jardan. The thing is, when the Scourge happened, the templates broke out, and now are desperately trying to turn themselves into the best beings that they can possibly be.
Honestly, they seem more like the Mycon from the series Star Control, which were a race of planet destroyers that had a weird religion that was hard to understand...then you found out they were not a natural race, but instead a bit of terraforming tech that got left behind and turned their programing into religious doctrine. If the Khett are the same way, it would explain a lot of their oddities.
I agree with Alec Ryder being the protag. His knowledge and experience he would have gathered in his life would have gone well with the idea of exploring and first contact with any alien lifeforms.
Really happy to watch this video really excited NGL
I played that game shortly after it came out (I remember having wasted a birthday-gift wish for that) and I mostely scrubbed my brain of the memories of it. But one thing that I remember is how, when Ryder and the Archonj interact fopr the first time, you don't even have the option of taking the Kett seriously. That really rubbed me the wrong way, because if the people in universe (who don't know that they are in a story that is going to - almost certainly - end victorious for them) don't take the main antagonist seriously, how can I take the main antagonist serious?
Andromeda of course deserves a second chance, though even if it did have one, it wouldn't come around for a long, long time. The launch bugs were what completely marred the title's image and left the permanent sour taste with the fandom. Though we all can recognize if every single bug were fixed and the game played smoothly, it'd be a pretty good experience, worthy of it's name. The poor thing just had a horrendous development. Management changing hands, multiple different visions, time crunches, and the insistence on an Engine that wasn't built for RPGs, that's why the gunplay was fantastic but everything else felt wrong. A Mass Effect built around the heart of a Battlefield.
43:27 - Not true, Samara turned you down in ME2.
Omg I forgot about the "Kill me now" that kallo says. So good.
I played it years after its release, not knowing its controversy and thought it was ok. I had fun and thought it was cool.
Just finished your ME3 Analysis and noticed it was posted 1 month ago. "There's no way he's done with Andromeda already, right?"
Well, thanks for proving me wrong. Thanks for your hard work.
Honestly, the unifying theme of the game to me was exploring transhumanism. Three, from what I can tell.
The Kett and their exaltation is obviously genetic engineering taken to the logical extreme. A few at the Pinnacle, the most worthy, with near insectoid specialization.
Ryder and the other pathfinders represent synthesis. Evolution and growth through bonding with AI. Honestly, a route I prefer to the Mass Effect take, which was involuntary. Forced on every species in the Milky Way.
Last is the Jardaan, which I have a pet theory on. I think they underwent machine uploading. It explains the lack of emotion in their recordings, the nature of their Remnants. Similar to the Geth, those platforms were tools. Units they would control to perform their activities. They were likely destroyed in a civil war. The Angara are their original biological selves.
Though, just as likely, it actually is the Geth and Quarians, repeated in Andromeda. Only the Jardaan succeeded in wiping out their creators. And now they regret it. This faction is trying to bring them back. Most likely, the ones that deployed the scourge weapon are a faction of their own race that disagreed with reviving their creators.
Either way, I imagine the Jardaan are currently fighting a civil war, which is why they aren't active in the cluster anymore.
Excellent work as always!! 😊