I felt the desire to draw all my halfling babies :)
From top left: Leah (She/They) Quinn (he/him) Mitra (they/them) Chah (he/him) Miro (he/they)
[ID: A digital drawing of Leah, Quinn, Mitra, Chah, and Miro my ocs. Leah and Quinn stand over the others talking while Mitra is kneeling next to Chah and Miro. Mitra is tanned halfling with light brown hair wearing a red bandana. They have a brown mask on and warm brown eyes, Mx is wearing a partial cape and shoulder pad over a loose open brown trench coat. Leah is a dark skinned halfling with many piercings. She has bright red hair done up in two buns. They have gold goggles on their head, they are wearing a pink floral vest over a puffy light yellow shirt and she has purple bracers on. Quinn is a white halfling with dark brown hair and gray eyes. He’s wearing a green gray over a light brown shirt and a light gray scarf. Chah is a pale white halfling with green eyes and a blonde Mohawk. He has a burn scar across the right side of his face and arm. He is wearing a faded green cloak. /End ID]
The Mass Effect Trilogy is one of my favorite games in the whole world. They are full of problems but I hold them near and dear to my heart and Shepard a character I will never forget.
Mass Effect Andromeda on the other hand has left me wanting the sweet embrace of death at every loading screen, but I don’t hate the game, more like I’m underwhelmed.
I got Mass Effect Andromeda a week after release and played it for 4 days straight. When I woke up, before work, and into the long hours of the night I played, wanting to feel the same way I felt when I first played Mass Effect 2.
From the very beging playing as Ryder it felt like Mass Effect. I was thrust into a positon where people depended on me and it was my job to help and lead people to the promised world. As I continued to play however that initial feeling faded and I actually stopped playing for about a month or two.
Today I felt like I should finish the game and I was actually really close to the end. So I took some time to finish it and found myself eager for the next one but at the same time if the next one doesn’t come I wouldn’t even care.
I want to share my thoughts on what I liked and didn’t like from the game not because I hate it but because I was hoping for something that would make me want to believe in these characters and what they were fighting for but ultimately became a shadow of it’s former self.
Crew & Characters
My favorite shipmates were Jaal, Drack, and Kallo. They had a lot to say and I found them interesting. They were people I wanted to hang out with and actually talk too and I did often.
Lexi, Peebee, Suvi, Gil and Vetra were nice, especially since Vetra was the first Turian female to be part of the crew, but other than that I didn't talk to them as much and I did their loyalty missions.
And as for Cora and Liam I didn't even bother with them. I didn't feel the need to want to know them and when I did talk to them I didn't really care.
There were other characters I wish I could have romanced or gotten on my crew instead like Kandros or Kesh or even surprise surprise Bane Massani. I was super bummed they didn't have a turian male romance but I get it we got Reyes and Jaal.(Who I totally romanced.)
Exploration
I was really excited about the idea of the worlds we landed on to be open world since we never had that before. I was impressed by the size and scale of each world along with the ecosystem and how you as Ryder reacted to the environments. Like on New Tuchunka if you stood out in the sun too long you'd fry or on the planet Voeld where you'd freeze to death if not for the Nomad. However the planet could feel empty at times and the enemy encounters were really repetitive.
Transportation
Speaking of the Nomad I really disliked driving in Mass Effect 1,2, and 3 so to make driving the main source of transportation was a nightmare. The Mako drove like ass and while the Nomad gets better with upgrades at least.
I dreaded going for exploration because it meant having to load up into a giant armored vehicle that handled like a broken tonka trunk. It would have been cool if more vehicle types had been available for exploration and missions.
Everything Else
As a whole the game feels like a different game skinned and pushed as a Mass Effect game with all of the right lore but none of the character.
I wanted to love this game. I wanted to obsess over it like I did with Mass Effect Trilogy where I played it over and over but I don't think I will. I feel let down and sort of lost when it comes to this game and that's not what Mass Effect was about for me.
My crew was my family, it was do or die, it was fighting until there was nothing left and I didn't get that from this game.
The ending has me hopeful though. We get a sneak peak at the lost Ark carrying the rest of the Alien races, which sounds promising but I already hear that Mass Effect as a franchise might be put to rest for good which is heartbreaking.
To conclude Ryder is no Shepard and I don't believe she/he was ever meant to be the new Shepard, I get that. And believe me we should treat Andromeda as a separate as we can from the original but when you have 3 games with characters as memorable as the N7 crew its hard to let go.
So yes, I'm disillusioned, but heres hoping for more adventures.
(On a side note I’ve actually restarted my game having played it all the way through and this time it’s a bit more fun but not by much. I’d love to here what other think about this game and what might happen to it’s future.)
