Andromeda Is the Dragon Age II of the Mass Effect Series

Twinfinite Writes: Andromeda is the newest entry in the Mass Effect series, but it shares a few things with another of Bioware's big sequels.

[alexgibson]

It actually struck me as quite close to DAI, too, which I'm ok with...

[cleft5]

I disagree that ME:A is the DA2 of the series. For one thing DA2 was rushed, it didnt have 5 years of development like ME:A. Second, while the areas you could go to was limited the characters where all good. Then you have the fact that the animations for the characters in DA2 where actually better than the characters in ME:A. Oh and the characters looked good, if nothing else. Oh and the dialogue for when you lost a significant other was actually well done. Oh and the writing was better overall for the game. I could go on and on, but well why even bother.

ME:A may not be the worse game ever, in fact the combat is excellent. But as far as a Mass Effect game goes it was a big let down. ME:A was suppose to be the step up from the mistakes made in Mass Effect 3. Instead you have this average game, with average writing, and average/lifeless characters. No matter how you split it, that's not okay for a Mass Effect game.

People should be talking about this Mass Effect game with the same reverence that we are discussing the new Zelda. Instead you have a bunch of folks going around saying, hey its not that bad. Oh and if you complain to loud about the game you get these idiots that say you are just complaining because you don't like the fact that their is gay and lesbian content in the game. Which by the way, that content isn't all that well done either. No, the state of this Mass Effect game is unacceptable. People need to stop pretending like it is great because if you don't EA will give us yet another shitty Mass Effect game from Bioware C team.

[Reefskye]

DA:I was was boring as fuck the, I have no idea why so many people praise the game as the characters design was god awful, the story was boring and uninteresting and the world filled with fetch quests, Mass Effect is closer to DA:I.

ME:A didn't need to be open world and neither did DA:I out of them both ME:A is the better game, more of the side quests actually have story DA:I was full of crap side quests.

[joab777]

Yeah, it's NOTHING like DA2, which was 5 areas recycled with horiible combat.

Maybe it's a bit more like Inquisition except I liked DAI except for the combat, which was streamlined and way too easy. Thing is Andromeda has amazing combat, and if ya play in very hard or insane, it will shine!

To be honest I am really liking Andromeda and every critique I heard from rushed reviews pointed out aspects that I don't agree with.

[TricksterArrow]

No. Not even close.

DA:I, maybe.

[Summons75]

Still the same insult. DAI was marginally better than DA2 but it was still a terrible.

[Kreisen]

So name a few games that are similar rpg experiences like Inquisition but better. And dont even start with bullshit like Zelda or Horizon becouse they have nothing in common.
The simple reality is Bioware and CD Projekt RED are the only big devs out there making good story driven rpgs. Everything else is either action driven or shallow pew pew co-op shooters.

[Summons75]

@Kreisen, Origins...Origins was FAR better than DAI could ever dream to be. Bioware was a great company but then EA bought them out. Bioware doesn't even make RPGs anymore, if you think DAI was an RPG I suggest you look back at literally any other RPG in history.

[Unspoken]

Terrible? Far from. The story including dlc was epic, character growth and relationship development including multiple side quests tailored for your companions was entertaining to see unfold and interact with. Dialog and script had so many great moments.

What sounds more of the same is undesereved harsh criticism for a high profile game.

[bluefox755]

DA:I was worse than DA2 in my opinion.

[extermin8or]

Sorry but Dragon Age inquisition has far superior gameplay in terms of having the larger more sprawling locations, the more diverse quest system etc granted I prefered origins core storyline however inquisition has a solid storyline. Andromeda has clearly taken the bits that worked well for inquisition and adapted them and I have to say whilst I wasn't too sure for fist 3 hours or so past that it became clear there was a great game in there that was similar in key ways to previous mass effect titles however still different enough to be it's own thing. i actually hope bioware ignore the critics and continue as they were with the next dragon age and mass effect the stuff that needs improvement is the animations primarily. As for the story, so far it's been pretty decent is it quite as good as say MAss effect 3 (bar the ending) nope but that had two previous titles to set it up it's hardly a fair comparison.

[Armaggedon]

Dragon Age Origins was better than Inquisition? Really? Think about that for a minute.

[bluefox755]

It was much better than Inquisition. I've finished Origins like 3 times, couldn't make it once through Inquisition before I was bored.

[Armaggedon]

Not sure how that happened. Inquisition had so many secrets to be discovered in terms of the games lore.

[Allsystemgamer]

Origins was WAY better than inquisition

[Armaggedon]

Dont know about that. I played all of them many times, and I have to give it to Inquisition.

[brich233]

inquisition is the most boring game Bioware has ever made imo.

[Gatsu]

Uhhh no it's not lol...

[Kreisen]

Andromeda is just like ME1, it has fuck all in common with DA2. If you can get over all the jank theres a really solid game waiting for you.

[Lord_Sloth]

Nah because the gameplay is fun. The writing isn't up to par with past ME titles this is true but the gameplay is solid.

[DedicatedDark]

No. ME2 is DA2 of the ME franchise. ME2 was terrible, especially the writing, the limping shepard, the reused animations for female shep. Most of all the writing with the terrible intro and collector nonsense, the suicide garbage and the most anti-climatic boss fight in the history of gaming. Bland game. ME3 for all its fault is tremendously better.

[Armaggedon]

This comment is officially a troll comment. Mass Effect 2 is arguably the best of all the Mass Effects. Limpong Shepard was godly. Try walking dramatically into club afterlife with the walking animations from 1 and 3. Yeah, doesnt work.

[RedPill86]

ME2 was the weakest of all of them in terms of RPG. Writing? Remove the second game from the story. You lost nothing beyond character facts and stories so short they could have been DLC or the beginning half of the game. ME2 was utterly pointless in the plot department while simultaneously destroying the lore. You couldn't name any other argument for that game with an objective, detailed points. You'd immediately throw blanket statements like "but the characters, oh it was good, it had good reviews". It's tired. It's old. It's made Bioware fan boys weep on the forums for years.

[Armaggedon]

It had nothing to do with the plot? Research it a bit. The original story for Mass Effect was that the reapers were repeating these cycles to try to cultivate a race with genetic maliability and substansial biotics to try to deal with the theeat that dark matter posed on the universe. The protheans were close, but not quite there. So they used them as tools formthe next cycle. Humans were shown to have extreme biotic potential, amplified by their stubborn will and emotion(Jack is an example). The reapers saw that humans might just be what they needed, so they used the collectors to abduct humans to create a human reaper. That was the plan, but it was scrapped due to a leak. One thing you need to know about Bioware is that they have a habit of being subliminal with their story and themes. Im sorry that some of the themes of their stories are not in your face obvious. Same reason people dont get Mass Effect 3's ending.

[UnHoly_One]

Are you insane?

Mass Effect 2 was the single biggest improvement in a sequel that I've ever played. It was better than the first game in every single possible way. It was a masterpiece.

[game4funz]

Dragon age 2 was by far my favorite dragon age. So that would be a huge compliment. But somehow I feel it's actually nothing to do with DA2 and more to do with DA:I which to me was by far the worst dragon age ever.

[Spike20XX]

i'll say this, once you get past the first 3 hours the game gets very good.

[RedPill86]

The dialogue is awful and remains awful. That's a lie. The mechanics don't get any less buggy either. Can't forget the wonderfully original sudoku puzzles.

[Spike20XX]

don't lie, your reply is pure hate garbage.

[PixelGateUk]

It's Dragon Age Inquisition, even a blind armless bucket of meat can see that

[Armaggedon]

It is Mass Inquisition.

[Armaggedon]

But Inquisition was successful why wouldnt they take from it

[bluefox755]

It still sucked though, if Inquisition had broken animations, it'd have the same critical reception as Andromeda.

[LAWSON72]

DA2 was kind of that really big jump for DA at the casual market that failed. It was by no means suffering any issues that MEA has. MEA has far more depth than any other ME, its flaws are UI, animation, and just some poor game design decisions. DA 2 had bad design but for different reasons. MEA was a rushed product and over ambitious, DA 2 was EA trying to appeal to as many people as possible.

[Armaggedon]

Thats fair, bit a bit backwards. Dragon Age 2 was the biggest "f it push it out the door" game I have seen from Bioware. Still loved it though.

[dmonee]

Screw it all! Where the F*** is Jade Empire 2?

[TheColbertinator]

Best way to put it honestly. However I really prefer the cast of DA2 over Andromeda

[Jon_Targaryen]

Despite a lot of people having their own opinions. I like it so far... My biggest gripe is who the fudge employed this chick?!?! Worst voice actor EVER!!!

https://blogs-images.forbes...

[metalgod88]

I'm okay with the voice actor... not great but alright. But the character.. God I hate her. She has a way of saying good job and not meaning it at all while at the same dismissing your hard work. So annoying man.

Aside from this and a few glitches, like a vanishing car, it's pretty good man. I really enjoy all the backstory found in logs and notes. You have to dig for it, but its pretty interesting. I'm still sad Liara didn't go to Andromeda though.

I was also very surprised by how fun mp was. I wasn't expecting much, but it's actually pretty awesome.

[Jon_Targaryen]

I'm like 4 hours in, and it isnt as bad as I'd thought id be. I think people are jsut pissed that they protagonist is a person who doesnt have self confidence in his abilities and doesnt come off as a natural born leader like Shepard. I think thats where all the hate really comes from.

[NotanotherReboot]

or the god awful animations, models and bugs?

[metalgod88]

So tired of people saying this. Come up with some actual complaints, then I'll listen. The game is big with many things to talk about and all you have to say is the generic "animations are terrble"? Did you even play it? That's such a tiny part of the game...

[NotanotherReboot]

Animations are a tiny part of the game? LOL Yeah lets just disregard character movement and facial animation from a Mass Effect game because they're no big deal - right? good thing the game isn't dialogue and cutscene heavy and doesn't require you to move characters -- thank god!!!

[Jon_Targaryen]

So that 5 or 6 clips of Youtube is the whole game's animations now? Don't kid yourself, this is a good game. Just wish the protagonist was a better written character. Most of the time it feels like im playing with the loser kid who wants to hang out with the popular crowd but they just tolerate him because his parents has a guesthouse in the Hamptons.

[Armaggedon]

No, stop it. This was not a DragonAge 2 level mess up. I still loved Dragon Age 2 but, I can see the effort here, where there wasnt mich in Dragon Age 2. I know its a small thing, but my nomad tracks are still in the sand even after having left Eos for 30-40 minites to do other stuff.

[Armaggedon]

Basically, the Mass Effect divide comes from this: Do you like watching your games more than playing them? If yes, then skip this game. Do you actually like to play your games? Then you might like this one.lol

[Boog_89]

After spending a few hours on EOS im just baffled by all the hate, this game is fantastic. Exploring this beautiful world is a great experience.

[Jon_Targaryen]

Agreed! Every game has its bugs and whatnot. I had a few animation hiccups in Witcher 3 too. Sure Witcher 3's graphics are better in some many areas, but so are ME A too!

[DrShoe]

Bioware hasn't made a good game since Mass Effect 2: They're currently a bunch of hacks who are drunk on the Social Justice Warrior cool-aid.

[bluefox755]

I like Dragon Age 2 better than Dragon Age Inquisition. I would say Andromeda falls more in line with Inquisition, which was pretty underwhelming just like Andromeda.

[Jon_Targaryen]

DA:I was my first Dragon Age game. I enjoyed it, much worse games out there.

[FPS_D3TH]

lol that's a stretch. May be the worst in mass effect series but it doesn't come close to being as bad as that single setting trash that was dragon age 2

Big lol at these band wagoners calling inquisition bad too. Where have y'all been for the past 2 years before the ridiculous hate for andromeda came around?

[RedPill86]

Me2, while having characters, was an utterly pointless sequel. Nothing in that game had to be played to understand the 3rd. Even then? ME3 was the DA2. ME3 was a bad game from a mechanical view point and the story was atrocious. Andromeda did a lot of stuff better than ME3 and 2, ironically. It just happens to be a bad game also. It probably has the most mechanical issues of all the games and it's unforgivable in this day and age.

[Jon_Targaryen]

I think Bioware was too ambitious with ME2,. I was thinking about it yesterday and realized something. I think they wanted you too be either evil in ME3 when you decided to stay with Cerberus (depending on how you o bayed them), or being the "good guy" lapdog to the Alliance.

But that would've costed way too much in the end to do something that ambitious. So they just made the whole Cerberus suicide mission from ME2 a retcon in itself and end up being making Shepard a goodie two shoes for the universe.

[RedPill86]

Too ambitious? They made space gears of war, how low were your expectations?

[Jon_Targaryen]

*face palm* I meant from a choices/playstyle perspective, not a gameplay mechanic approach, moron.

[Maxor]

This game biggest flaw is the politics of the developers. Other than that, I'm having a huge blast. On the PC the game is a poster child for what PC HDR is capable of when it is not being held back limited hardware. HDR lighting effects are everywhere and they all look amazing, they're so pervasive that I don't even want to play on my 32" ultrawide because without HDR the game is so bland.

[Mithan]

I am enjoying MEA, glad I ignored the majority of the idiot reviews and player comments. Game is good. Only issue with the game is that it is very large. It is similar in some ways to DAI though, due to the large open maps.

[Jon_Targaryen]

Agreed, the maps are a bit too massive for whats inside of them. Plus fighting the Keft around every corner does get old after a while whem driving from point A to point B the whole time.

[Miacosa]

DA2 still reviewed better and there was still potential as the series was still somewhat new. MEA is the 4th game in the series and is viewed has a game that didn't need to exists unless it was doing something really new and all signs point to a trash fire game that reinvents nothing and fails to live up to the trilogy before it.