After sinking 80 odd hours into the world of Andromeda and chasing countless side quests to the ends of the cluster and back, I finally finished my game this weekend. As with all Bioware games, the ending gave me a lot to think about, with so many different elements to try and parse. Have you finished the game and are feeling the same? Let’s talk about this ending.
In case it wasn’t clear from the title, this article will contain many, many spoilers for the end of Mass Effect: Andromeda. Haven’t finished it yet? Back out now!
Let’s get this out there first up — Mass Effect: Andromeda is clearly a set up for a larger series of games and/or plenty of DLC. The ending leaves as many threads loose as it does tie up, and it seems that the effect of many of the decisions made in this game won’t be felt until much later on (though hopefully they will actually be felt this time).
Among the many things left open are the fate of Ellen Ryder, the nature of the Remnant and their creators the Jaardan, the mysterious enemy responsible for the Scourge, the identity of the mysterious Initiative Benefactor and the reason for Jien Garson’s murder, Primus’s future plans, the fate of the angaran AI and (most excitingly) the quarian ark. Mass Effect producer Michael Gamble has confirmed to Forbes that many of these and more are plot elements that we’ll see in future installments. While some might find it frustrating to have so much of the game’s content become ‘to be continued’, I’m personally keen to see more of Ryder’s story.
Now to the ending itself. I found the final mission a lot of fun in a fast-paced, hectic kind of way. Screaming through Meridian’s lush backdrop in my souped-up Nomad was a definite highlight, though the on-foot fighting didn’t disappoint, either. Seeing all of my allies from around Heleus was great, even if it was hard to wrap my head around who was who while also punching hordes of kett in the face. I liked the way that the stakes for the final scene were dropped on you without warning — unlike say, the Suicide Mission, which was very carefully projected and planned throughout the entirety of Mass Effect 2.
While the final boss battle was more of a remix of known elements (Remnant bots, and an Architect) than an original, interesting boss fight, it still mixed it up enough to not feel boring. I may be in the minority here, but I really enjoy the Archon as a nemesis. He remains threatening by always seeming one step ahead of Ryder, but towards the end the cracks start to show as you get under his skin and disturb his plans. He’s decently clever as far as main villains go — despite falling victim to the idiotic move of ‘leaving the protagonist alone in a seemingly inescapable trap’. The subplot with Primus’s group of kett ‘rebels’ also adds a lot of depth that was sorely lacking at the beginning of the game.
Now starting my second playthrough, I can’t help but wonder how much of the ending does change depending on your choices, however. Many of the choices throughout the game impact the final battle — for example, adding extra forces to help you, or reducing the kett forces. Other than that, the main difference in endings seems to dictate whether Captain Dunn lives or dies — though it’s not certain how that’s decided. I had three Pathfinders — Sarissa (who I outed), Avitus and Hayjer, and Dunn lived. I also chose to take Primus’s deal, which results (in the short term at least) in a reduction in the kett forces you have to fight at the end. I’ll have to wait to see if I’ve screwed myself over in the long term.
It’s understandable why Bioware wouldn’t want to implement vastly different endings if they’re using this game as a jumping-off point for a series, but I can’t help but wish there was at least the threat of an over-the-top bad ending like Mass Effect 2’s ‘everyone dies’ outcome.
Overall though? I’m happy with it. The epilogue was just enough that it didn’t feel abrupt when you got dumped back into the main game, even if I wish you could drive around and explore Meridian a little. I do feel kind of bad for Ryder when her prize for saving Heleus was getting stuck in the ‘reply all’ from hell. I’m definitely keen for a (potential) quarian ark DLC, though.
So: what did you think? What choices did you make and how did you feel about them? Will you be replaying, waiting for DLC or a sequel or are you leaving the game here? Let us know!
Comments
19 responses to “We Need To Talk About Mass Effect: Andromeda’s Ending”
I finished my second play through over the weekend. things I noticed in the ending between my Ryders were the Krogan scouts (you get them if you save them), Podromas military squad if you setup an military outpost and Angaran squad with AI backing if you handed the AI over to them. it also seems Dunn (or whatever the captain of the ark is called) dies without all 3 other species pathfinder (my turian became a drunk)… at least I think that’s the one variable that was different. overall I liked the ending, it’s a bit odd you don’t actually fight the Archon but having so many allies so up is pretty cool.
I’m in two minds if I want a quarian DLC or use the quarian as a jumping off point for an eventual sequel, I also second the general (reddit) consensus that we should be able to roam around Meridian, maybe not the whole planet but parts of it at least
It’s really odd that you’re plunked down in Meridian but you can’t actually go outside. In Aya it makes sense because the city is about all it is but it’s really weird that you can’t do it in Meridian. Like, even if they used the same environment you drove through in the final scene but added some stuff to scan/explore I wouldn’t mind?
I would love for the quarian Ark to be DLC mainly because I think it would be interesting to deviate the story a bit from the kett/Scourge. Also because I don’t want to wait for a new game for fun quarian/volus/elcor/etc characters.
I’m mostly timid about DLC because BW’s ME DLC has been hit and miss based on pass releases. I don’t mind a quarian ark DLC if it was handled on the level of the citadel or lair of the shadow broker, after all, all 3 Arks was handled basically as a side mission.
there was a thread on the unofficial bsn forum speculating if exploring Meridian could come in a DLC that explores more of the remnant. i thought the idea was interesting, certainly there’s a lot we still don’t know
I’ve enjoyed most Mass Effect DLC, I’ve found it generally stronger than Dragon Age’s personally. Loved Omega and Citadel, LotSB, Kasumi’s mission, even Arrival. Personally I feel like they have a pretty strong record with it.
I’d be lying if I said I didn’t really just want a Citadel-style DLC for Andromeda’s crew, though.
I dunno, the Movie Night quest sort of has the same vibe as the party at the end of Citadel. I personally loved the DA:O Awakening DLC, I wouldn’t mind seeing something of that length for Andromeda to help tie up some of the loose ends and perhaps properly set up a sequel.
I’m down if they want to create a citadel style DLC for the ME:A crew
No one ever mentions the huge blackhole/wormhole in the centre of the cluster !
Well this is spectacular timing, as I just finished it last night! A short play thru though, at nearly 40 hours. I didn’t set foot on Havarl or Elaaden at all (mostly out of curiosity if that could be done).
The final mission was quite entertaining, and I was into the final boss fight – at first I was like “dammit, an Architect”, but you didn’t have to fight him the same way as the others, so it was OK. I had the Krogan scouts with me, and some people from Kadara – no idea who, I just played mostly the minimum on that planet, didn’t side with either of the competing groups on that planet.
Captain Dunn died, of course, seeing I only had the one other Pathfinder. I chose August Bradley as the representative.
Happy to get back out there and explore more stuff, at some point down the line. Re that never ending series of “thank you” emails you get on the terminal back in Alex Ryder’s digs, some of those were a bit ridiculous. There were characters from Dragon Age (e.g. Anders) and other BioWare titles writing emails to your Andromeda character, which while cute, really felt unneccessary and silly.
Haha wow you really played this in an interesting way, hey. Would definitely recommend Elaaden and Kadara to play in more detail, maybe Havarl if you can put up with the more closed environment, because they were some of my favourite places in the game. Interesting that the game will let you skip so many seemingly ‘vital’ plot points though!
I thought the emails were cute, though some of them pushed it a bit with the cross-bioware references. Still a bit of fun trying to spot the different character references among them!
that means you skipped like half the loyalty missions? wow now I’m curious about the experience.
the thank you emails was funny until I released that Ryder has a public facing email address which explains why everybody could email him / her during the main story
For the first couple of emails I was killing myself trying to remember who these characters were, thinking they were NPCs I had met in a mission somewhere. It took me a while to cotton on.
I don’t think I fully finished *any* of the loyalty missions, as none of my characters had their top tier skills unlocked – not that that made any difference in fights. It didn’t make any difference to who lived or died of my crew (they still all survived), or even who liked me and who didn’t.
I was surprised to not get more blowback from Kallo about choosing the Krogan scouts over more Salarians, but tbh I got the feeling there was very little in the game that was a “major” choice that would affect anything, at least in this game (maybe future ones, with the representative choice in the Epilogue), nor could you really do anything that would upset or enamour your crew.
I did do the full Movie Night one though, and romanced Gil to, er, completion :P. Which was nice to see there were extra scenes plugged in through the end section of the game, to reflect that fully.
Will go back and do all of those other planets and loyalty missions etc though, maybe six months down the line when they’ve implemented some patches and released some single-player DLC.
I wanted to do the short play through, but in the end, I just kept getting sucked in to side quests. Good for you.
I finished it on the weekend having completed most the planet missions, and the allies missions. About 10 or so memorable missions amidst the poorly plotted follow cookie crumb slop that made up most of the game. The final boss is a constantly recycled Architect, ohhh how exciting. It felt like true freedom when the credits rolled, what a slog.
ME:A is probably my favourite ending to a mass effect game so far. I really enjoyed the game. I’m guessing the quarians ark will be the dlc which I’m both excited and worried about. I just hope quarian’s ark storyline doesn’t rely on
Reapers which the audio log at the end hinted atWe don’t need too….. you want too.
I loved this ending. It felt complete while also giving me a peek of what’s to come. It was ominous and exciting. My Dunn lived, as I had all the other pathfinders. I saved the Quarians and let the Krogan turn, so I had lots of them to fight along the way.
I loved all the other groups coming to your aid. It was one big rainbow coalition of intergalactic unity. I’d solidified my relationship with Reyes, so it was nice hearing his voice and seeing him at the end.*
The fight, for me, was just right. It wasn’t super confusing, like a few of the vaults had been. It was scaled well and offered the right amount of tension and pacing. It was a good adrenaline rush that lasted just long enough and was just difficult enough that I didn’t feel cheated, but it also wasn’t the never-ending fight that made me want to pause for a snack. It didn’t bother me not to fight the Archon because I’d had a plenty of assistants and remnants and kett to tackle. I almost thought I’d have to make a quick decision to shoot Scott, severing the link and maybe relying on Sam to help bring him back. Kinda glad I didn’t have to pull that trigger. Hehe. After, back on the ship, it was ok. Wrap up style dialogue with the crew. Liked doing a little dancing. I supported Bradley, though I’d love to see a citidal-style council raised in a DLC. A Meridian exploration DLC would be awesome, though I have a feeling it’s secrets will be tied to the Jardaan and revealed in the series to come. As for the lost ark, a long DLC to track it and get us to its start in the next full game would be perfect. I’d love a teaser of sorts while leaving the majority of it for the next game. Maybe finding some pods or a roaming hanar in the DLC.
Overall, this did not disappoint. I finished today and am starting my second play through as soon as I finish this comment. I did 83 hours and almost all the side quests. I didn’t finish finding all the rocks, plants, memories or the movie night, which I think glitched on me. But pretty much everything else. It’s starting off better than any Dragon Age or the other ME series, which I love and continue to play.
*Kind of ticked that I finished the Reyes romance early in the game and was prevented from any other options, seeing any other dialogue or further “romancing” wasn’t an option when his storyline ended. Wish there’d have been more of a warning that I was shutting my romance storyline door completely.
while i understand you actually cant do renegade in this game, i find it very plain and completely unimaginative to force players to be paragon or indifferent, but only for unimportant side details.
that is not realistic or immersive in the least, straight math on the other hand is…
from the start i did everything for the good of the milkyway groups (including the squadmate missions but not really needed…maybe cora and PB…*shrug)
like the game says “we are new here” and we should think of ourselves first not b/c of selfishness but more like a mother wolf with a defenseless newborn pup.
everyone else can take a backseat till most of us got a handle on things and
feet on the ground with food, water, shelter, defense. afterward we can start meddling.
fired asari pathfinder for being shitty, replaced salarian pathfinder because respliced krogan/kett en mass is worse for the milkyway folks than another salarian. turians needed a pathfinder so they got one.
kept the heleus AI because angarans no longer understand AI. then used rem-tech to beat up kett b/c why waste milkyway lives..even the exiles.
picked krogan b/c long time coming and hate tann.(ok that last bit is bias admittedly)
My biggest disappointment: Not having Lexi as a love interest. On the lesbian side of things, none of the others did it for me, but I settled for PeeBee and honestly felt kind of bad about it. “You know I’m just thinking about Lexi when we bang, right?” And much like @acaldwell , I felt like it wasn’t explained well enough about committed vs. no strings relationships.
— Conversations don’t repeat. When Cora and Liam are talking while driving on Eos, and Liam asked Cora something about not being ‘an Asari babycatcher,’ I had missed the prior bit and … sigh … now I’m starting another play through just so I can hear it again.
— I kind of wanted Cora and Sarissa to be a thing. A love interest/pairing you’re not a part of would have been neat especially if your decisions would affect the relationship somehow.
My biggest regret: Shooting PeeBee’s ex. That right mouse-click button pops up and I just take it.
Most satisfying moments: Shooting Reyes in the back and watching that other dude get dropped by Drack. And the bar fight.
How I ended things: I let the Turian pathfinder go (Screw him, he was a spectre. Cry me a river.), which left me with Sarissa and the Salarian pathfinder, which in turn led to Dunn dying. I chose Morda as the ambassador because after hearing everyone spin their self-serving BS, I chose the nuclear option.
After I did so, I realized I now have Sarissa, Morda and Sloan all in some sort of power and that’s both exciting and terrifying.
I hated that I lost Dunn, but in reality, it was good having someone die at the end. It felt a little more real. I don’t know if I would have liked a fully happy ending. (Possible Reaper foreshadowing aside.)
I wish even just a few more of my choices counted for something more than one more friend/army/etc to aid you in the final battle. I can see how some of them might be fleshed out in the next game, or a DLC, but … it’s a bit unsatisfying.
But it was all very good and I hope to do it again, once I’ve replayed ME:2 and ME:3 again.
@gaiawells Kind of loving how you played the game. I regret 2 things. Shooting Peebee’s ex and hooking up with Reyes. I’d had a spoiler before hand that hinted that the only way to hook up with him was to make a choice between him and Sloan. Next play through I’m not sure if I’m letting the ex live. Peebee didn’t seem too angry. Not anything like Drack when I let his guys get assimilated… I mean exhalted.
I also wish there was more of an impact at the end. More like in Dragon Age. I spent a good 10 seconds shooting at a Turian until I realized he was one and on my side.
I liked that no one died, but you’re right, it didn’t seem realistic. I was tearing up thinking Dunn died, then overjoyed that she didn’t, but she will on my next run through because I’m saving Drack’s guys.
Love hearing about everyone’s slight variety of endings.
I saved Dracks guys, Dunn still lived in the end. I think it comes down to the choices you make around the pathfinders and having all three at the end
So I just finished today, like 30 minutes ago. 67 hours of gameplay.
I suppose not having Lexi as a love interest was kind of weird, but then once I got over that it wasn’t possible, I just moved on.
I was a female Ryder, as in my mind FemShep was always real Shep (The voice acting was what made it amazing), so I figured I’d roll a FemRyder – No regrets.
Regrets in game – I don’t think I had any. I suppose not destroying the Kett base on Voeld, but I figure we already smashed the base once, not like it would be hard to do a second time. I didn’t let the Kett at the end of the base raid live though – Smart mouth got her shot.
Best moments in game – Oh are there some awesome moments in this game. Having Drack drop the guy over the cliff on his loyalty mission. There was a conversation between PeeBee and Jaal on the asteroid planet, Jaal pretending to be asleep and Peebee moaning about wanting me. The conversation between them was hilarious.
How it all ended – I had all three pathfinders, didn’t out Sarissa. Dunn lived. Reyes supported, I just couldn’t like Sloan. She was a traitor and her general demour after taking over Kadara was poor. I choose the Moesha as the representative.
All in all, I did rather enjoy the game. I think the bit with the Archon that annoyed me the most, was when heading towards the second planet (Aya) you run into him and just run away. I feel like they could of done something there. Some of the people on the Nexus that you didn’t really talk to that much, after finishing and talking with them are referring to events that happened 40 hours of gameplay ago – Get with the times!.
I must admit, I romanced Peebee as I love the Asari as a race and I romanced Liara back as FemShep – Need all the mindbabies – The sex scene in the game was certainly not lacking for anything, I think they went all out for it.
Can’t wait for more DLC. Quarians will be cool, I want to see what happens with the rest of the Kett, I want to know more about the Remnant and the Jaardan. I hope that the romance side of things will be expanded in more DLC (Make mindbabies or muggle babies for those that choose the wrong route 😛 ). I feel that with the “Council” they want to set up to run the galaxy could be interesting.
That’s my take on it.
Totally agree about the Lexi romance being a big (maybe the biggest) disappointment. My biggest regret was not giving that A.I.to the Angarans. It was theirs to begin with but I kind of bought into SAM saying it was really dangerous. My most satisfying moment was making a prior decision (salarians) up to the Krogans by giving them a seat in the council. How things Wrapped up: I went with Reyes who seems more stable than Sloane. Dunn made it and Saelen made an appearance in the final fight.
I remember talking to Lexi in the Vortex about why she didn’t pursue a relationship. It wasn’t because of “me”, but because of her fears of ruining things as she has so many times before, with her many exes. Which is SAD, but makes me think there’s a chance with her later on.
Well I guess I must have fallen asleep many times as I logged 142 hours upon completion of grand finale. I can’t imagine finishing this one in 40 hours or less, wow! I seem to always take my time with RPG games though. I completed 86% of this game and was level 50 at start of “The Way Home” and ended with level 52. Having played all Mass Effect games squad mate loyalty mattered most to me, even if it’s not needed at the end so that ending up having me do a lot of quests to get the loyalty quests to pop. I also enjoy have the best-customized gear so spend loads of time gathering resources and R&D. Who didn’t enjoy dune-bugging with the Nomad? Yeehaw!
Gameplay
The game was a joyride for me. I was completely immersed, but one thing I miss from previous was the ability to control your mates during battles. Combat, at least in my opinion was much better however most of the time I didn’t know where my mates were at unless the were down and so I had to keep recalling them which they ignored half the time. I really enjoyed the vaults and tried to find all the caches and figure out ways to get them before being vaporized during the purging. The glyph and sudoku like puzzles were a good touch.
The bugs were ridiculous! Some had me laughing so hard I had to pause and others had me foaming at the mouth, but I’ve endured worse in other games that I won’t mention here…Skyrim… because they can’t be compared — really. It did make me wonder how Bioware allowed the release of this game with so may issues, especially with such a following…like me… waiting three years.
Choices
1. Had to kill the Krogan Elites at the end, such a shame. I choose to save the Salarian pathfinder because I didn’t want to end up having to do his job too later. I had enough Pathfinder crap of my own to do. Sure the Krogan were a bit harder to kill, but with Drack’s fire shotgun, Cora’s freeze shotgun and my Inferno/Shockwave combo they were taken out in no time, made it more of a challenge than squishy-mutated Salarian.
2. Had all the pathfinders – because (see above comment 🙂
3. Cora is hot – enough said. I had an Asari romance in previous series and mind melding sex doesn’t do much for me — just sayin. If that’s your thing I’m cool with that.
4. Captain Dunn survived for me.
5. I choose Moesha for ambassador because…well…it’s their solar system! Also, I didn’t want to get on wrong side of whoever I might encounter in the future responsible for creating them right by not standing with the Angara?
Regrets
I wanted to shoot Reyes in the arse but was eating a snack and missed the quick time, which I absolutely hate by the way…hint, hint Bioware
Future Expectations
I have to admit after completing the main quests, I didn’t really have desire to play anymore and actually upon speaking to my crew, a few others and getting my dance on I never returned to the Tempest. I do look forward to a DLC or sequel but not looking for anything specific and agree that this is starting point for a new series which is okay by me as the previous series ended quite ugly for me–enough said.
Just beat the game! I’m glad they set it up to have sequels, it looked to me like that would happen earlier on in the game. Fairly certain the Benefactor isn’t meant to be resolved in a future games tho – seemed to me it’s the Illusive Man, but they didn’t want to outright say that because they didn’t want to make it too confusing for new players. But I could be wrong.
I had all my Pathfinders, so Dunn lived. I had made the deal with Primus, but if past Bioware games have taught me anything, it won’t mean much in the sequels. I felt bad about not making the Moshae the ambassador, but she was pretty mean to me (I listened to Jaal and didn’t destroy the letter base), and I figured, “I’m the freaking Pathfinder and I’m dating an Angaran, so their interests will be represented.” Meanwhile, I wanted to make it up the the Krogan (*cough*Drax and Mesh*cough*) for not saving their scouts. So Morda is the ambassador. But of course, you can’t explain that the the Moshae, so she’s still made at me. Sigh.
Nice play BubbleDncr. I agree with your Benefactor theory too, I think they will play that out a while in future releases. I also commend you’re bravery on dating the Angaran. I was tempted but played it safe for beginning of this series. You shouldn’t feel bad about not selecting someone you didn’t feel good about as ambassador 🙂
As for the deal with Primus, I decided against it because I couldn’t bring myself to trust anything with the Kett. I found I was actually upset “for real” that they were going through the galaxy assimilating everything especially this beautiful-new Angaran species. BioWare was very smart to setup the story as such because I for one can hardly wait for my next attempt to “rid the galaxy of Kett!” You’re probably right that the decision won’t have an affect later, but with BioWare…you never know.
Interesting that you experienced Moshae was mean. I blew up the base but I didn’t think she’d actually display negative emotion towards Pathfinder after saving her life, that is interesting. I can understand that she’d want an end to exhalation but it did appear that you’d be able to come back and possibly save the captured. I pondered that choice for quite a bit.
I’ve always loved the Krogan, but truth be told, they have and always will find a way to survive. The Krogan separated themselves and established and maintained an outpost on their own and the squishy-Salarians were going to need a pathfinder. I didn’t want to be the one having to answer their whining throughout future games, and believe me when I say they are constant whiners. That was my thinking along with I didn’t know how many more of the Salarians I’d be able to save and unsure of the numbers still in stasis, seemed to be a lot of pods on the tethered Kett ship. In hindsight, I would have saved the Krogan scouts. But I don’t regret it, because now I know what it will take to kill them if the need arises in future 😉
I finished the game with a 96% of completion in 78h.
I liked it, but the lack of an awesome OST gets me angry. Suicide Mission in ME2 was perfect, and part of it was thanks to the music. That’s not the case this time.
Anyway, I had a bug when I got all planets at 100%. They renamed Habitat 7 as ‘Ryder’ and there where people form Meridian talking through the comms channel, but I didn’t know what was that at that moment. And of course no one lived there…
*Spoiler* You can save the Krogan and still end the game with 3 pathfinder and save the captain. I would say the Salarian that takes the originals place as pathfinder is much much more interesting and suited for the position.
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Just finished the game with 97% completion and 65 hours played with my male Ryder on lvl 59.
Gameplay
Did really enjoy the game. Maybe not as much as ME2, but still thought the game was fun, and setting up a lot of interesting things for the next installment/DLC. Sure some side missions felt more like farming shit, but the loyalty missions and some of the other side quests were good. The biggest problems for me personally were the amount of bugs (Xbox One). At time my fucking teammates would die and I could not revive them, and sometimes the doors on the tempest would not open??!!!. Usually it would be fixed with load, but losing 30min because of a bug had me fuming at times. I did really like the ending though, and how my choices had a small impact, and hopefully bigger impact on the upcoming games in the series.
Choices
1. Killed the Krogan Scouts. Felt like saving a Pathfinder was more valuable to the Initative and just to valuable to lose compared to a few Krogans. And this is even though Krogans are probably my favourite race in ME. Also gave the drive core to Morda even though she was a bitch.
2. Had all the pathfinders – Sarissa (though i outed her), Avitus and the Salarian chick i saved (see above)
3. Decided to romance Peebee. Just because Cora was no where near as hot as Miranda in the last games, so fuck it, try some alien sex for once.
4. Captain Dunn survived for me.
5. I choose Moesha for ambassador because I felt like the Angara knows the system better than us, and after all it is there homeworld. Also gave them the IA.
6. Decided to save Sloan and shoot Reyes in the fucking arse. Didn´t like Sloan at all, but can´t respect someone who cheats in a 1on1 duel, so fuck that dude.
7. Decided not to get help from that other Kett dude. Have a feeling that if you decide to use those codes it will bite you in the ass in a later game.
Last Words:
Looking forwards to the next installments in this series. Need answers on the “benefactor” and the Quarians. Overall a good game, would give it a 7/10 and this can either go up or down depending on how well Bioware can build on this foundations and choices in the next games.
Why this game has received so much hate is beyond me, have they played anything the series has offered before? Or are they just throwing jaded opinions around like a Krogan’s Hammer?
This game is MASSIVE! I find it hard to be overly critical of this game when I sit and think about every little nuance the game has to offer. Facial animations are really small fry when you consider how fun the combat and builds have become. The gameplay is as monumental as expected, I found myself shouting aloud and punching the air on the final mission, what a rush. I just wish the main arc lasted longer.
Now that my excitement has calmed my only criticisms would be that this game hasn’t really “grown up”. I just felt the moral decisions didn’t have much impact or the lack of real danger towards the end missions. The Brother / Sister story could have been a lot more substantial considering you could see it coming a mile off (and after spending forever customising what my sister would look like in that eventuality.) The Jardaan / Angaran history would be nice to have explored further and what the f##k was the deal with Little Mouse? That task was hyped so much I expected something more. Oh and a ride on one of those Remnant fighter ships would’ve been sick!
I really can’t wait for future instalments of this game and hope more of the things everyone’s covered will be involved.
The ending was great… However i’d Hope for at least some other news from the milkyway, besides the ambigous message from liara telling US about the crucible.
Just like the first ME, It leaves a lot more questions than answers:
– Who killed jien faraón
– where the jardan went
– Who and why deployed the scourge
– on hold the reaction of the primus and the kett “world”
– why the geth built an FTL telescope to watch worlds suitable for life.
– Will cerberus make a comeback? (You encounter a parir of former cerberus scientists and project overlord is part in one of the sidequests)
-Why the jardan created the network and Ultimately the angaran
Well the geth knew about the Reapers and called them the old machines and that they lived in dark space in between galaxies. My thought around the relays they gathered which the initiative repurposed as a telescope was designed to try and find them in dark space, and perhaps make the jump there, the fact that it was pointed towards Andromeda was fortuitous for them.
Never thought I’d complain about the size of a game but here iam!
Enjoyed story biggest issue was the size of the game it was too big which detracted from the story .. take the movie night quest the actual end was great but ffs galavanting all over the galaxy to set up a movie night pretty stupid .. all in all the side quests swamped the story line which ended up annoying me and frustrated me going from one planet to the next and back then to the nexus then back to the planet for even the most simplest task in the end instead of complementing the story and the game it felt like a chore !!
They could have cut 70% of the bs fetch quests that had little to no impact on the game and should have focused on things like better animations less bugs better UI .. Also better written companions..They just seem to be uninspiring accept for drack he was great fun and pee bee was cool ..
Liam was a tool and I wished I could flush him out the airlock every time we spoke..
Cora moped around like whinging school girl and droned on about how she was a human asari commando it got annoying after a while..
I played as a Sara Ryder and I had a fling with pee bee but found most of my companions dull at best so I walked away from the romance options..
where was the interesting well written Tali, Garus, jack and Miranda etc etc ??
Drack= Wrex which shined but that was about it..
Was the game great NO was it bad NO i enjoyed the story and look forward to meaty interesting dlc like the quarians ark and im spewing that I didn’t get more info on the benefactor ( I think it’s the elusive man ) and why and who killed jien!.
I also need to add why is it always humanity’s story why can’t we play as other races?
I feel it would add to the franchise and replay ability if we could of chosen to be the asari pathfinder or turian etc..
Here’s a random theory on the Quarian ark: from my understanding, the 4 arks (human, salarian, asari, and turian) left just before the Reaper attack began. So, perhaps the Quarian ark wasn’t able to depart from the Milky Way until after the Reaper assault was underway? And if this was the case, maybe a reaper ship(s) was on their tail all the way to Andromeda? It’s not entirely unreasonable, given that the reapers reside within dark space, if memory serves…so they do have the capability to chace an ark for 600 years, since they are programmed to hunt ALL life until it’s been either extinguished or consumed.
If they are bringing reapers with them we going to need the A team ( Shepard and gang ) back 🙂 they will show the D team how it’s done .. honestly to bring the reapers back would be a little to much we have the kett we don’t need the reapers to!!
I enjoyed the game and the ending for the most part. Though I feel they could have done more to acknowledge that some plot lines were unresolved but not forgotten. For example I was sure I must have missed something with regards to Jien Garson’s murder because it seemed to big a plot point to leave unadressed, without even the characters discussing it among themselves. The ending would have felt a lot more satisfying if they’d just have the characters acknowledge that these were unresolved issues and planned on looking into it. Another example was the entire length of the game I kept wondering “Is no one going to ask about the scourge?” it seemed like an accepted fact of life no one was really questioning.
The game felt like it ended by going to commercial instead of an actual end of an installment.
As a huge mass effect fan i really enjoyed mass effect’s newest chaptor, not the bugs mind you but the game was a great combination of the exploration of the first ME and the combat of the 3rd.
The major thing i would have liked to have seen was with the outposts was a change or expandion on the outpost as you conpleted tasks for it to show that your effets to help out really made a difference, yeah ya see a lot of shuttles landing but nothing comes off of them ever.
All ya efforts to improve things shows no change at all to the nexas except dialogue changing with the charactors a little.
You get to choose the focus on what the first outpost is and i thought cool i can help choose the course of all ourposts on the planets as i go but no such luck the first one only unfortunately
I do love the fact that you help secure a fuel sorce for the nexus as all the travelling ya do makes ya think that they will run out sooner or later but not after ya set up a fuel sorce which should have shown a difference at least with more ships around the nexus at least but nothing
I know there is some dialogue that says that most of the ships on the nexus were destroyed when they hit nexus but ya should have been able to help start a production of some kind to build them for your fellow path finders or repair the nexus with all the resources ya find
Please understand these are only improvements that id love to see added because other than some more ideas i had i really loved this game.
I enjoyed the game overall. Combat is fun with all the option it doesn’t get boring, variety of quest nuances and great humour and dialogue overall.
Had all 3 Pathfinders so Dunn lived. Outed Sarissa, saved the Krogan’s finished all loyalty missions and had 98% completion rate. Let Reyes shoot Sloan and dumped him afterwards for being two-faced he still showed up end-game to fight. It was a great ending with all the Allies coming together and the Archon fight was varied enough to keep it interesting. Chose Kesh as Interim Ambassador she seemed most level headed to me.
The Task missions surprised me actually. I finished one somehow and it opened up a whole new dungeon with another remnant devise.. So I am trying to finish some more. Also had one Scientist on Eos who I told to study bugs and fauna (Danny) show up screaming for help at a Remnant site when the bugs attacked him then go on to try researching remnants instead and scream for help there too. I laughed so hard had to pause the game when he announced he was now going to “Kandara since it had to be better”.
Overall the game has tons of nuances you only pick up on if you dig. Dialogues with the main crew could have been better scripted or a bit more expansive same for romances. Always felt it wasn’t enough and romances just felt off somehow. Great humour especially Liam’s loyalty mission. Looking forward to the next installment want to see where this story goes.
So, just finished my first playthrough of 79 hours and was really surprised how the game turned out after the slow start. So, so many references to old ME series and another ton of easter eggs. Main story was awesome and so were the Kett and Remnant, which at start seemed dull but as you moved forward, their story started to get deep and awesome. Almost got a tear in my eye when I heard that recorced message from Palaven about the Reaper attack and then hearing that Reaper shriek. What was quite sad was the soundtrack, to this day I remember having goose bumps and unsual joy when I firt heard Mass Effect main intro song and still remember most missions thanks to soundtrack, sadly in Andromeda, there was none or at least is was so uninteresting that I the only one I enjoeyd was the ending score. Overall, this game is an amazing start to a new series and can’t wait for the next instalment.:)
Im at like 128hours and have done everything except about a dozen Tasks that seem unnecessary. Tho I think Ive left the game on map menu for hours at a time and wonder if it counts all that, haha. I went thru as a female Ryder this time and chose everything on the LEFT side and Emotional if I had the 4 choices. Next play through will be all RIGHT side and logical. Prob do a more streamlined story of just the main questline. Hoping for a 3rd playthru in a few months after more patches and fixes then make choices from either side based upon what I like. I really enjoyed the whole story, side stories, missions, cast, etc
In short – I was expecting something totally differerent….Unfortunately. Don’t get me wrong, I think the dev and creative team did amazing job, but it seems like there’s something akwardly missing from the game. With all those endless possibilities coming from around us – the spiritual world (lucid dreaming, demi-gods, matrix – check out Rakka on YT, depopulation theories, univers as energy etc.) it seems the relations (except maybe the Angara; the race and their view on the universe and each other was quite satisfying) were shalow, not to mention the Raider…I swear, sometimes I thought she better (yes, it was her) belong in a kindergarten as a 2-year olds’ teacher then new world hunter…There was no profundness to her, no even slightest traces of uniqness and maybe even elements of divinity (as far as human can go :). It was like Lord of the Rings, all cute and sweet or all bad and ugly…Honestly, even the ME3 had a stronger ending then this..I mean Kett off to destroy? Seriously? The oldest (and most boring) story in a book…And the ending itself…I honestly believed that the Archont was just a half way before kicking the ass of the Kett leader (don’t remember the name)! Imagine my disappointment…
As to technical issues – a lot of stuff was completly pointless (like R&D, gathering resources, scanning planets), even talking to your crew members was more chit-chat then a solid relation building…There were bunch of bugs. As you said in the article, a lot of things were obviously left for the sequels of sequel…Sorry to say, I don’t think I’ll reach for it.
All in all, long hours, a lot of them could have been spent on something else. Shame.