People that know me or maybe even others that don't will probably say the only reason I think this or feel this way is because I'm a massive BioWare fan. People have always accused me of thinking that my belief is BioWare can do no wrong, this first popped up when I said I didn't hate how Mass Effect 3 ended. Is it the case and my love of BioWare and it's games clouds my judgement when I make the claim I didn't hate these two things ??
I don't think so, because I'm more than capable of pointing out all the flaws BioWare has made in all of their games, but I just don't think these things are as bad as everyone says they are.
So let's kick things off with my thoughts on each and we shall start with the newest of the two because it's fresh in most people's minds.
MASS EFFECT: ANDROMEDA
A lot of people put the blame on different factors. That BioWare Montreal, Mass Effect 3's multiplayer studio, was the one in charge instead of the main office at BioWare Edmonton (who was busy with Anthem). That there were several workers on the project with terrible agendas whose attitudes seeped into the project didn't help. What came out of that was stiff, emotionless character models and a glitchy mess of a game.
These are some things that are unforgivable; there's no denying that Mass Effect Andromeda was a mess of bugs and glitches with stiff faces and ugly models. HOWEVER. As with all games these days, they can be patched, so did BioWare sufficiently patch Mass Effect Andromeda to the point that it became good ?? That answer is yes, yes they did.
Immediately after that first big day patch, the game was finally hammered out and proper. They, first and foremost, hammered out the facial issues which was the biggest issue with Andromeda; the one thing that became a meme and how emotionless things were. Yes, Liam and Cora still had some "meh" qualities but moreso in their personalities as I feel they didn't put enough effort into your human squad-mates; they did put a lot of effort into the non-human ones. Drak, the Krogan, is a grizzled old veteran with a heart of gold and the oldest Krogan teammate in a Mass Effect game. Vetra, a female Turian smuggler, who has that brash personality and obviously a caring side as she's had to take care of her sister Sid since they were children. Peebee, the Asari researcher, who while not as interesting as Liara had some unique quirks and was interesting in her own way. And the new race, the Angarans, had Jaal as their squad representative and he was something fun and new. But yes, they didn't have a lot of effort put into the humans so that's one thing they couldn't fix. They did fix when you created a customer Sara or Scott Ryder that Alec Ryder's look was butchered, now he was normal; but honestly as you can see in the picture below that default Sara Ryder was a great choice on her own, it's the first default character I've used when given the option to make one.
The combat was amazing and the most solid besides Mass Effect 3, like all of the different modes and the "Pathfinder ability" to be able to switch all different kinds of abilities was way more unique than the other games; giving you the ability to use the techniques of biotics, soldiers, infiltrators, sentinels, vanguards, everything from the old days. Everything without the constriction of just one class; with ME3 at least giving you the option to pick a non-class specific power for your class (a soldier could have a biotic ability like Slam). The planets to explore: Havarl, Voeld, Elaaden, H-047c, Kadara, and even Aya (though it was a hub world) were are all unique; with some interesting mechanics. That being Havarl's brutal cold, Elaaden's brutal heat, and H-047c's massive amount of radiation; each of these have areas where the planet is Level 1 and habitable but areas where it is Level 2 or 3 and you will instantly die because of exposure to the elements. The creation of weapons and armor was a cool thing, being able to find them or do it yourself for stat increases.
Mass Effect: Andromeda has a LOT of positives but it's unfortunate launch condition is what floundered it's success. You only get one chance to make a first impression and even in this world of patchable games that remains the same. I saw the same flaws as everyone else and it is the only Mass Effect game to date that I have replayed numerous times, like the others I've played at least 5 times each PER system so like 10 times per game between PS3 and Xbox 360.
I'd say my fondness of BioWare doesn't matter in seeing the flaws in this game BUT I did enjoy it for what it was worth which is a one time play-through game.
That extended ending added just enough to explain everything that was amiss in the original ending. I loved the combat in Mass Effect 3, I think combat wise it was better than 2 and story wise it was the 2nd best just behind Mass Effect 2; but it seems like the ending overshadowed all of that. I think Mass Effect 3 was a very good game but just the ending made so many that it's reputation is tarnished.
I ALSO BELIEVE NOTHING SUMS UP HOW MASS EFFECT 3 ENDS BETTER THAN THIS.
Basically, it all comes down to philosophy. What you believe and feel; if you just see it as colours then you aren't paying attention to anything. And philosophy wise, do you end up feeling more like or who's ideas do you agree with more ?? BLUE Do you agree with the Illusive Man and that through us humans controlling the Reapers we will be able to survive. RED Do you agree with Admiral Anderson and that we need to destroy the Reapers because if we don't they will destroy us. GREEN Or surprisingly, do you agree with Saren, which you never thought would be a logical idea until it's explained better to you. That we need a symbiotic relationship between humans and synthetics so that we share in each others strengths and eliminate the weaknesses. That organic life needs to evolve by bonding with synthetic life. |
That's what they did, they ended the Commander Shepard trilogy the way they wanted and in a way they thought that people would like, however, when things don't meet the masses perfect opinions they are incredibly sore about it and will scream to the heavens that that they were wronged and how dare BioWare make this game, Mass Effect 3 was garbage, and so on.
They ended Mass Effect in a way they wanted, a way they thought people would dig, and also a way that made sense; people getting upset about an author ending a story their way is their issue. The story ended up, like I said, with you unintentionally siding with one of the main people in the story and following the philosophy they had.
But it was already set in stone that the story was going the way of the Reapers........destruction. To so many, it felt like a betrayal, that this was how Shepard's historic trilogy was going to end but that's really if you were a pessimistic person (which I am but even I wasn't doom and gloom this time). Not everything goes the way we want but as long as things are resolved then that's what matters. I understand and see what people's flaws were, especially the "small endings thing", but everything got resolved and it left the ability for openings afterwards. Especially with the destruction path. Yet, no one was willing to give it a true chance.
It was an amazing Mass Effect game, hindered by one thing, I didn't mind that one thing but I understand people's emotions and their hatred towards this games ending especially if they only played the original and not extended ending.