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| Maybe Ryder will find a better story? |
Now that my journey has ended I have to say that I feel a little underwhelmed with the story. Alright...a lot underwhelmed. Maybe it was the fact that there was a lot going on--you're trying to explore and settle a new galaxy as well as fight off a major galactic threat in the form of the kett. When I got to the last mission it just didn't really feel like the whole Meridian thing was really much of a focal point--the entire exploration and colonization process was much more of a focus. Then, before I realized it, I had won the day and saved the galaxy....and it wasn't really that exciting. There weren't even any really big cliffhangers to make you feel excited for the next game!
Did I hate Andromeda? Am I raving for a refund? Not really. I enjoyed certain aspects of the game, but I found that the core part of what makes a Mass Effect game has been severely limited in favor of much shallower gameplay related themes. My playthrough clocked in at 92 hours--I tried to complete all the side missions but not necessarily all the "tasks." In my gentle guesstimate, I would say that about 40 hours were strictly story/character related while the rest was exploration. To me Mass Effect has always been about it's compelling story, characters, and writing. This time around I just didn't feel like those areas were much of a focus. I always enjoyed the times on the Normandy when Shepard would wander around and get to know the "team." There were plenty of chances to chat up and really get to know your people...and that made them special. I didn't feel that same connection to the crew this time around and felt like those interactions were limited. I'm sure there are some people who thought that was the boring part of Mass Effect, but I always loved it. Andromeda tried to capture those same feelings and it just didn't come off the same way due to the lack of interaction. Liam's "movie night" mission felt...weird and like they were trying to recapture the magic of Shepard and the crew in the Citadel DLC, but with none of the character development.
Previously I had written about my disappointment that there were virtually no connections to the previous game. I take that back--there is an explanation about the Reapers and the Milky Way but it takes place pretty late in the story. One big cliffhanger that I am curious about is this mysterious "benefactor." Could it possibly be Cerberus? Who else would have the funding to push a huge mission like the Andromeda Initiative? It has to be!
One part of Andromeda that I did enjoy was the combat. I chose to make my Ryder a biotic of the more combo-prone variety (not vanguard style). There was something highly entertaining about floating a group of kett in a singularity or with pull and then angling the combo detonator just right and watching them get launched into the atmosphere (although this could be annoying if they actually lived and came trekking back). The fact that there are more enemy types, and that you really have to be prepared to move, is a big change for the series.
The best parts of Andromeda are the parts that have always been done well in Mass Effect--the loyalty missions and the story-based missions. If only they had spent more time developing more stuff like that rather than the exploration or crafting system (which I've decided is fairly useless)! I'm going to stick with my earlier analysis that Andromeda felt like someone was pasting little pieces of past games together to try to make a new picture and structure for it. Within all those little bits are some good bits, but they are surrounded by a lot of other unneeded bits that you have to wade through.
If there's a future for Mass Effect, I hope they go back to the roots of what made the series a favorite for so many people--stellar storytelling and character development.
UPDATE: 4/8/17
I wrote the above immediately after I finished the game...then I went and read the other reviews that I had been avoiding. Many of them saw a lot of the same flaws that I did but also pointed out some things that now that I think of them I completely agree with.
1.) Somewhere along the line a decision was made to take out the whole Paragon/Renegade character aspect. When I first read about it I thought..."hmm, maybe that's a good thing." As a player you were sort of forced into these two archetypes--the heroic Paragon or the ruthless Renegade--and could mold your decisions around fitting into that role. After thinking about it more, it was at least something that gave you some variety and some depth of character. Often your actions could reflect a simple decision, but they could also be something really huge--like in ME3 where you can choose to shoot Mordin rather than letting him administer the cure for the genophage. Andromeda takes away those options--sure, you could say that they are still present in the form of the few cutscenes where you are given an option to quickly "click" an action--but it's not the same. I wish more development had gone into keeping that system but expanding it--they added symbols to the dialogue wheel (ala Dragon Age II) why couldn't we have some dialogue choices that allow Ryder to make some wisecracks or to be a hard ass or to be that iconic hero? I think Ryder would be a much better character with that ability to personify him/her into the type of character you want. I miss the old blue/red choices and the variety they brought to the games.
2.) There were so many parts of Andromeda that felt like someone simply cut and pasted parts of the old Mass Effect into this new world of Heleus. To a point I can somewhat understand it--if the Reapers are truly a system-wide phenomenon then it's believable that Heleus could be subject to the cycle of re-birth and eventual destruction just like the Milky Way. In that sense, you could have the remains of former civilizations present. But did that civilization have to be an almost exact match with the concept of the Protheans? And really, that's just the beginning of the similarities.
I get it that you need some core parts of the game to remain the same--I'm cool with the whole ship and team aspect, but you can't just re-hash the same story in a different way! (Or maybe you can--look at the 5 billion Superman/Spiderman/Batman movies out there) I guess what I'm saying is that I would've liked something new--why couldn't the story have revolved around the settlement aspect? That on each planet you have a story that revolves around its settlement and that the choices you make impact how the settlement turns out. Once, literally once, you choose what type of settlement you want to establish--either scientific or military. Why does it need to be carte blanche? Why couldn't we have more options that could be based around the needs of the entire initiative? Maybe you get to choose to make some settlements industrial--maybe like a mining colony on planets with rich minerals--or a military colony on planets like Voeld where there is the constant threat of Kett invasion.
3.) One review I read was actually pretty positive (my first thought was "did you actually play the other games?") and especially sang the praises of Ryder's crew. I somewhat agree with parts of that. Personally I felt like there was one standout on the crew--namely PeeBee--while the rest of the crew was extremely bland. PeeBee is a great character and one who I enjoyed taking along all the time. Part of that was influenced by the fact that I felt like there were a lot more opportunities to interact with PeeBee than with the other crew members. She's a big part of the opening of the main storyline and then seems to have several character based quests where the others really don't have as much involvement.
The rest of the crew....well, were a little disappointing. I had high hopes for Cora Harper; at first glance she has so much working for her--a badass haircut and a past working as the one human member of a joint species Asari commando squad--she has to have some amazing stories, right? Wrong. She has literally zero entertaining stories about her time doing something that almost no other humans have ever done! That was a huge missed opportunity. Even when you delve into her loyalty mission the most you learn about her is that she basically hero worships the Asari (and then, like in previous games, learns that they aren't all they are cracked up to be).
With a much greater focus and some better writing this crew could be salvaged and turned into a genuinely interesting bunch. I am still unclear about what Suvi Anwar's role even was on the crew--co-pilot? Science officer? Designated Irish accent character? Gil Brodie, who I am pretty sure is the one gay character on the crew, also confused me. He talks and talks and talks about his friend Jill whose job is literally to get people to have kids--that is an interesting job, and another chance for some good and possibly funny storytelling to take place--and toward the end of the game he gets to make this huge choice about having a baby with Jill. That seems like the type of decision that would warrant some very serious discussions--but you talk about it once! One time! Then he's like "yeah, I'm having a kid."Ohhhkay.
4.) The inability to command your companions in combat is huge and their AI is abysmally bad. I loved, loved, LOVED the ability to set up combos with my squadmates in the original trilogy. Wham, bam, suck it Cerberus! But now, it's mostly up to Ryder to make these combos happen. Add to this the fact that unless you directly order them to attack a certain target your companions spend most of their time standing around...in weird places...getting shot in the face. In the old games I would pick my companions based around who had the combat abilities that were most beneficial for a specific type of enemy. In Andromeda I picked PeeBee and someone else because your companions are there for more entertainment value than for actual combat usefulness. Ryder is the juggernaut (but should he/she really be?) who destroys everything while his/her companions are merely target dummies that somewhat conveniently soak up bullets.
5.) Romance. It's a part of the Mass Effect series that some people absolutely enjoy and others could probably do without. I opted to go with the lamest choice for my lady Ryder--Liam--and it, like Liam himself, was very bland. There isn't even the signature last mission awkward sex scene! I'm also not so sure how I feel about the ability to "hook up" with random crew members--PeeBee offers some escape pod fun, which I gracefully turned down in loyalty to Liam. Maybe it's a sign of maturity that the game is offering characters with a wide range of relationship options. It makes sense to me that some might be more open to a simple "hook up" while there are others who want to develop something deeper. But there's this other part of me that thinks that it's something that we didn't really need and that it's just another shallow distractor.
Wow, this sort of turned into a rant. I didn't hate Andromeda, I just feel like the series is morphing into this bland template of what people think a game needs to be (i.e. open world, multiplayer, combat heavy/story light). It makes me sad to see the series losing its luster.
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