Inching Up--Finishing my Third Andromeda Playthrough

 Just last night I finished my third full Mass Effect:  Andromeda playthrough.  I've found that with every completion that I generally walk away feeling slightly more positive about the game.  Even after three mostly completionist playthroughs (I did not attempt to complete all the optional side tasks because I get irritated at the mostly random nature of actually finding them) Andromeda just doesn't quite stack up to the original ME trilogy.  Just a note that this might be a bit spoiler-y for those who haven't played Andromeda yet.

Things that still bug the k-rap out of me:

--I am still completely boggled by the plot hole around the use of mass relays.  In the OT a very central part of the story is the use of mass relays to facilitate almost instantaneous travel throughout the galaxy.  There are multiple plot problems with the mass relays:  1.) they were created by an alien race in the Milky Way 2.) according to the ending in ME3 they all were destroyed when Shepard used the Crucible (this in itself is a big plot problem because in earlier games it is mentioned that destroying a mass relay will release enough energy to annihilate an entire star system) and even though the technology was being researched it still wasn't fully understood 3.) THERE ARE NO MASS RELAYS IN ANDROMEDA...and yet, the Tempest can travel between systems.  There's absolutely no explanation for this, and I suppose that if you're a new player it's something you wouldn't even be aware of.

--Minor gameplay issues.  Let me list them:  1.) the weird camera angles that make it difficult to hear dialogue when in a conversation 2.) I seriously wish mining zones would appear on your map in a marked zone as opposed to one marker that requires you to puzzle out their boundaries 3.) I may have missed it through all three playthroughs but a hotkey for quick weapon swaps 4.) the annoying layout of Kadara--why the swapping between zones and the stupidly slow doors? 5.) companions who are almost completely useless in combat 6.) occasionally weird facial animations for Ryder.  I could probably think of more, but I digress....

--The main storyline is weak in comparison to the OT.  I am always amazed at how short it really is and how unsatisfying the ending is. There has always been a part of me that feels like they followed the "formula" for a ME game a bit too closely--If there are future games I hope they try for something a bit more unique.

Things that I enjoy:

--Beautiful worlds to explore.  ME1 had a nice space exploration feeling but the other games in the trilogy were much more focused on more story based aspects.  I am glad that Andromeda returned the series to the wonders of exploring a new galaxy.  Tooling around in the Nomad across the various worlds in the Heleus cluster is enjoyable.

--Combat in Andromeda is better (in some regards!) than in the previous games.  It's much more mobile and Ryder feels like a combat badass.  With that said though, I do miss the ability to issue commands to followers and to more effectively utilize the combo system.  It is almost impossible to get your  companions to do what you want them to do in combat and they end up dead more often than not.

--Companion banter is funny and helps to bring some levity to periods of exploration.  It's fun to swap out squadmates and see where the conversation ends up.

Jaal's romance is 🔥😘❤

--A wide variety of romantic choices.  This time around I chose Jaal as the partner for my Ryder and it's always fun to see how the relationship plays out.  Lemme just say here that the Jaal romance has one of the spicier romantic scenes--it made me laugh because I remember the controversy over ME1 and the fact that Shepard could hook up with Liara (there was an actual news story about it because some people were very scandalized by the entire concept).  Well, good thing those people have moved on from worrying about fictional alien/human sexual relationships in video games because I think Jaal and Ryder would cause them some internal panic. 🔥🔥🔥 It's also interesting that they threw in the option for casual hook-ups (which I haven't really checked out due to my innate fear of messing up relationships).  The relationship aspect has always been something I enjoy and Andromeda does it well.

In conclusion, a silly hypothetical ME question:

If you asked me "would you rather have an OT remaster or a new Andromeda game" I would lean decidedly toward a new Andromeda game.  It's not that I don't absolutely love the OT, but I am highly skeptical of remasters--most of them feel like simply slapping a new layer of paint on the game in an effort to make more cash.  The OT remaster rumors have been popping up occasionally and I always take them with a grain of salt.  If they decided to offer the remaster for free to people who already own the original games I would snatch them up in a heartbeat.  If there was an option for a remake of ME1 where they fixed the wonky-ass combat...maybe, just maybe I would think about spending some cash.

It saddens me that Andromeda never got DLC and that there are major cliffhangers (the benefactor?  the murder of Jien Garson?  the Kett Primus?  the Quarian Ark?) that could possibly never be answered.  My hope for the survival of BioWare and any future ME games is hanging on the upcoming Dragon Age game--if it does well I think there's a chance we could possibly see another Andromeda game.