I have played about 60hrs worth of MEA early last year around its release time. Then I stopped it for about a year until last night where I re-installed it.But I could only play another 1hr before I had the urge to quit it again. Like everyone says, it is not a bad game, but it also does not give me much wow besides the stunning visuals @4K max settings + Cinematics Reshade w/DOF.I just got a bit bored of the vast open lands of emptiness and really nothingness. Not much interesting things to see in the huge open lands. And alot of the quests feel very lifeless. So many quests feel like this, a simple conversation and then a simple fetch quest. Unlike the Witcher 3, where every quest had a deep meaning cinematic and feel to it. And the lands looked more interesting and not so lifeless like in MEA. The only thing that could really compell me to continue MEA atm is the stunning visuals when playing @4K on a OLED TV + the Cinematics Reshade w/DOF. I am thinking of uninstalling this again and reinstalling Witcher 3 lolSo wanted people input in MEA, is it worth continuing?

I played the heck out of the first three games. More times than I can clearly recall, actually. I was well primed to gobble up MEA with a spoon. I look back on this game, and while I can recognize that a lot of hard work went into what made it to release, I can't shake the disappointment on several levels.I don't mind the open worlds, I'm good with that - applaud it, really. The Frostbite engine seems to create beautiful environments, but doesn't seem to do much else without fitting it in with a sledgehammer. Otherwise the graphics just looked like someone took a sledgehammer to them. I was frankly amazed that the game was published with such glaring graphics problems. What. The. Heck? If I can fire up ME and have the animation and graphics be more appealing than MEA... Houston - We have a problem.The quest mechanics seemed bugged and incomplete. There were many "collection" quests with issues. Ew. Some quests were just plain broken.And... multiplayer. While ME3 got me playing multiplayer again, I was saddened by MEA. When I heard that there was no beta test, cancelled for some rather unbelievable reason, that was the first time I felt uncertain about the game. When I actually tried multiplayer, I was, again, amazed. Not in a good way. Best shotgun in the game was a pistol. Best AR in the game was again, a pistol. Many "adjustments" later and while there are more viable weapons, silly things like useless Cobra missiles rankle. Multiplayer was far too buggy, corrections far too slow, and over-corrections far too annoying.On the other hand, the prime/trigger mechanic of several powers works better than it did in 3, and while I like that, so many other disappointing things persist.Finally, the main story - spoiler tagged for those who might possibly not have gotten the memo:Spoiler (Highlight to read)Really? Years in production, a brand new galaxy, and we're still fighting Reapers? Oh, well, we call them Kett here... but they are to the Angara as the Collectors are to the Protheons. Almost exactly. Well, at least we don't have the Geth to deal with any... more... Right, OK the Remnants. 600 years and a very expensive bunch of arks later you are doing space-sudoku in a temple when you realize that the old saying is true: Wherever you go, there you are.While I didn't hate Ryder, I also didn't really connect that much with her. Is it bad that when the N7 died, I really wanted them back instead of their kid? Did they really have to symbolically kill off the N7? I won't say there weren't funny bits, or bits that made me smile, and bits that I truly liked... but...If we were going to have to abandon the existing storyline and characters, I expected to actually get a new storyline, not a re-tread. I don't blame the writers... I blame whoever approved it...Annnd the companions. It took three games for people to get to know and truly enjoy the unfolding personalities of the NPCs in the trilogy. MEA seemed to be in a rush for us to love them, cramming that all into one games worth of character development, and it was just... a shot-gun companionship. And now we have a story that will never get salvaged/finished.Really? Years in production, a brand new galaxy, and we're still fighting Reapers? Oh, well, we call them Kett here... but they are to the Angara as the Collectors are to the Protheons. Almost exactly. Well, at least we don't have the Geth to deal with any... more... Right, OK the Remnants. 600 years and a very expensive bunch of arks later you are doing space-sudoku in a temple when you realize that the old saying is true: Wherever you go, there you are.While I didn't hate Ryder, I also didn't really connect that much with her. Is it bad that when the N7 died, I really wanted them back instead of their kid? Did they really have to symbolically kill off the N7? I won't say there weren't funny bits, or bits that made me smile, and bits that I truly liked... but...If we were going to have to abandon the existing storyline and characters, I expected to actually get a new storyline, not a re-tread. I don't blame the writers... I blame whoever approved it...Annnd the companions. It took three games for people to get to know and truly enjoy the unfolding personalities of the NPCs in the trilogy. MEA seemed to be in a rush for us to love them, cramming that all into one games worth of character development, and it was just... a shot-gun companionship. And now we have a story that will never get salvaged/finished.So bottom line:If you have never played any Mass Effect before, and have $20 burning a hole in your pocket, I'd say go buy the Mass Effect Trilogy. You'll only get a minimum of the DLC (for ME1 I think), and will have more hours of more fulfilling game play. Once you get through that, and if you have $20 more... go get as much of the DLC you are missing for ME2 (Overlord, Stolen Memories, Lair of the Shadow Broker, etc). With your next $20, get DLC for ME3. Then come online with ME multiplayer - people are still playing that and having fun. Its easier to fill out a PUG match in ME MP than in MEA MP.When you've exhausted all the DLC and are hungry for a little more Mass Effect, then spend the $20 on MEA.

Even if there's another Mass Effect game, you can be sure both EA and Bioware will ignore the Andromeda title, they'll want to avoid that title like the plague due to what happened.It again goes in line with what I said, that replaying Andromeda is a waste of time, since your choices won't matter for future titles (that won't be coming any time soon).

I definitely think the main storyline has better level design than most of the side content (excluding loyalty missions). If you're put off by the open world design, I'd suggest sticking to the main story and those loyalty missions that don't require a string of fetch quests to unlock them (looking at you, Peebee).

I will admit the main story line is not too bad, is interesting enough.But since I got bored of the combat/challenge I installed some difficulty enhancing mods which kind of makes me have the need to do more side quests to gain more powerful character, which means I will need to endure the many lifeless boring fetch quests lolAnd like I said the vast open lands of pretty much nothing is kind of saddening too.Damm, this game has so much potential with the powerful engine and stunning visuals!

Well, I had to get past around 30 hours before I cared about any of the characters at all. And through another 30 before feeling at all comfortable in the game or its world. Then, at the end, feeling as so many others have said... "So much potential, so little realized." I know that part of the problem is that the expectation bar had been set so high to begin with. Right now I'm doing an(other) ME1 run (I'm somewhere in the high double-digits of replays) and realizing that it shares many of the same problems we're complaining about in MEA. When the whole cast and environment are new, things aren't as mature as when the people involved (devs and players both) have close to a decade to get comfortable with things. Did MEA go off the development rails? Every credible report and indication is that it did. Could it have been (so much) better? Maybe. Probably. Should we judge it by the standards of ME3, (or DAI, or pick your 3+ game series)? Every player will have to decide for herself. In my case, I find myself wanting to play it again for certain aspects, (different squad configurations, different "profiles") but not sure I want to put up with the "empty stretches".

Is it worth it, MEA? | EA Forums

17 Replies

Fred_vdp
Hero+
8 years ago
I definitely think the main storyline has better level design than most of the side content (excluding loyalty missions). If you're put off by the open world design, I'd suggest sticking to the main story and those loyalty missions that don't require a string of fetch quests to unlock them (looking at you, Peebee).
shadow2761
8 years ago
I will admit the main story line is not too bad, is interesting enough.

But since I got bored of the combat/challenge I installed some difficulty enhancing mods which kind of makes me have the need to do more side quests to gain more powerful character, which means I will need to endure the many lifeless boring fetch quests lol

And like I said the vast open lands of pretty much nothing is kind of saddening too.

Damm, this game has so much potential with the powerful engine and stunning visuals!
ThandalNLyman
8 years ago
Well, I had to get past around 30 hours before I cared about any of the characters at all. And through another 30 before feeling at all comfortable in the game or its world.

Then, at the end, feeling as so many others have said... "So much potential, so little realized."

I know that part of the problem is that the expectation bar had been set so high to begin with. Right now I'm doing an(other) ME1 run (I'm somewhere in the high double-digits of replays) and realizing that it shares many of the same problems we're complaining about in MEA. When the whole cast and environment are new, things aren't as mature as when the people involved (devs and players both) have close to a decade to get comfortable with things.

Did MEA go off the development rails? Every credible report and indication is that it did. Could it have been (so much) better? Maybe. Probably. Should we judge it by the standards of ME3, (or DAI, or pick your 3+ game series)? Every player will have to decide for herself. In my case, I find myself wanting to play it again for certain aspects, (different squad configurations, different "profiles") but not sure I want to put up with the "empty stretches".
shadow2761
8 years ago
I understand you don't want to put up with the empty stretches, but there seems to be just so much of it in MEA ;(

Such a shame, because I think it is one of the best looking games on the market...
mcsupersport
Hero+
8 years ago
Part of the trick to dealing with the empty stretches and vast areas is don't rush out and do ONE quest to finish, then get another quest....instead see if you can get a whole bunch started and do them in groups....ie, you are in an area, do 3-6 quests that are in that area, or the parts of them that are, then move on... Do this for side quests so you aren't constantly trecking back and forth across the map....also for side missions learn to love the fast travel to forward station ability. I usually drive around get them up and going, during the first part of getting the vault up and running, then for all the fetch stuff, it is fast travel to close point, do what I need, hit anything else close, then FT back to base/ship....

Personally, IF EA brings out another game that builds on this one, and heck if they had just brought out some DLC to fill in some more, then we will likely all start remembering MEA with rose tinted glasses like we do ME1. I can still remember the griping and complaining about cookie cutter worlds and bases in ME1, how there was only ONE thing to do on each world in a generic base and a whole lot of filler to ride around in the blasted can't be driven Maco and the stupid vertical mountains you can't pass......

Yet after 10 years of playing it, I can drive just about anywhere in the game, as I learned how to look at the map and find the gaps or passes to go through, I learned to read the terrain to see where I could drive up mountains, and I learned to use the game mechanics to my favor(ie driving off the side of the map to get placed back in the center instead of driving back there....). Now most everyone loves ME1 and remembers it being better than it originally felt to them, BECAUSE it was fleshed out so well later with story and character development. This is one reason why I am optimistic that MEA may still be advanced and the world developed, because the bones are there. Other than a few design choices about lack of active powers the actual combat is SO much better in MEA than in previous games to me, I jumped back into ME3 MP and wow, I sure missed the MEA controls, powers and movement, as ME3 felt clunky, stilted and unfinished in many ways compared to MEA.
shadow2761
8 years ago
The bones are definitly there lol. The frostbite engine is so good. Its just the meat is a bit raw this time around.

And im pretty sure MEA is the one that was rushed?
Fred_vdp
Hero+
8 years ago
@shadow2761 wrote:
And im pretty sure MEA is the one that was rushed?

Depends how you look at it. The game was in development for 5 years, which is as long as the development of ME2 and ME3 combined. It was rushed in the final stages because BioWare Montreal wasted years trying to include procedurally generated planets and that didn't work out. They had to scrap a lot of work late in development and they had to bring senior staff from BioWare Edmonton over to Montreal to course correct the project. EA offered a delay at some point, but the game came out on the scheduled release date regardless.

Here's the article by Jason Schreier, who interviewed anonymous BioWare devs: https://kotaku.com/the-story-behind-mass-effect-andromedas-troubled-five-1795886428
ThandalNLyman
8 years ago
@Fred_vdp wrote:

<snip>
It was rushed in the final stages because BioWare Montreal wasted years trying to include procedurally generated planets and that didn't work out.

@shadow2761; Note that it wasn't EA who "rushed" anything. People love to blame the publisher. Sometimes that may be appropriate. Not this time though... 🤓
Anonymous
8 years ago
My problem with Mass Effect: Andromeda is the fact you're wasting your time.
What I mean is, there's no sequels planned, and all your choices and time wasted don't matter whasoever (contrary to the previous games).
So once you finish the game once,there's nothing there to keep you playing.
mcsupersport
Hero+
8 years ago
Planned...maybe not, but still may be in the works. I don't know if they will go back to the Milky Way in either a prequel or some later time frame, or stay in Andromdea, but I doubt Mass Effect is dead. On hold, sure, but not dead. I hope I am not wrong on that, but Mass Effect is a fairly big franchise in the SciFi gaming world so I hope Bioware hasn't killed it with it's mismanagement. I personally feel they will wait a few years, see how Anthem goes, and then probably dig ME out after DA series and see about returning to it.....so maybe 5-7 years and we see another ME game.

And if you don't agree, well, only time will tell, and I will hold onto my hope until the end of time.....