Haravikk

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Do We Need Mass Effect: Andromeda 2?

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I know I’m late to the game, two years late in fact, but I speak now as someone who has just completed Mass Effect: Andromeda, and loved it, and wants more.

Mass Effect: Andromeda had a rocky start, with major issues on release, and even two years later many bugs and oddities remain unpatched. But considering the game more than covered its costs, and was still popular despite its problems, did it ever make sense to completely axe its promising DLC, and its sequel(s)?

Technical issues aside, the game is, in my opinion, among the most solid in the series. It has some great characters, easily the best combat of any Mass Effect game, a streamlined dialogue system with some hard choices to be made (and real impacts, both immediate and long term), and so it’s a real shame that such a solid base has had such a poor, and undeserved, reputation.

Yes it was broken on release, but I don’t blame BioWare for that, I blame EA.

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For me, Mass Effect: Andromeda was everything I love about Mass Effect, but most crucially captured something that the first trilogy always toyed with but never really succeeded at; the sense of exploration. It was there in the Shepard trilogy, but always on the backdrop of a bigger, much more immediate threat, so ended up feeling out of place.

But in the Andromeda galaxy, exploration was not only the primary mission, but it was a necessity, as with so much unknown, you couldn’t just sit back and hope for the best. While the story had a big-bad, with threat of more to come, the more immediate threat was simple survival, requiring colonies and resources, and that was such a liberating feeling to finally explore. 

I loved flying through new systems, I loved exploring new worlds, and I loved roving around in the Nomad. The main problem was how to also make it exciting, and tell a gripping story, but while it had its faults, I felt Andromeda did a good job of it. Its main problem was the pacing of side-missions, many of which are sprung upon you in batches when you have more immediate concerns.

This a common problem with single-player RPGs, which could really do with taking a look at MMO’s, by having a clearly designed end-game. Give us a pressing concern, let us build up as much or as little as we want to in order to face it, then once we’ve prevailed, cut us loose to enjoy the aftermath (the lull in the conflict, the fresh discoveries etc.). Players who just wanted action can stop if they want, while those who want to explore can be rewarded with more to do.

Andromeda is a game that can be played in this way, but only by knowing in advance which quests you can safely ignore for later; more often than not, these are quests that shouldn’t be put in the player’s way to begin with, as they can easily wait until the “end”.

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The worst thing for me about Mass Effect: Andromeda 2 being in limbo is the lack of conclusion for its DLC.

It isn’t much of a spoiler, but upon completion of the game there is an ominous signal pointing to trouble with the Quarian (and Drell, Volus, Hanar etc.) Ark.

What happened to it? Will we ever find out?

It was such a squandered opportunity, as no matter how rough Andromeda’s start was, a solid piece of real DLC, alongside additional fixes and patches, could have encouraged skeptics to buy Andromeda, or early adopters to give it a second chance. Good DLC has saved games before, and with Mass Effect being such a popular series, Andromeda deserved the chance.

But maybe there’s a future yet?

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Maybe it’s just a pipe dream, maybe not, but I want to see a Mass Effect: Andromeda 2; not just because I’m curious about the lingering plot threads of the first part, but because it was a genuinely good game. While there are rumours that BioWare wants to revisit Mass Effect, these remain sketchy.

Mass Effect as a series has always felt unique to me, despite its clear influences, it captures sci-fi immersion in a way that no other games for me ever have, and Andromeda, in spite of its flaws, was a worthy addition, and can still serve as a great foundation. One that managed to cut ties with the messy Milky Way storyline and the frankly abysmal ending of ME3, while retaining everything I loved about the first two games.

For me, the hope is that BioWare will recognise they can’t just throw it all away, not when there are real fans of Andromeda, and its characters, and not when they could so easily win back the fans of the Shepard trilogy as well.

Releasing the Quarian Ark DLC, with fixes and patches to polish up the main game, could pick up the new trilogy and propel it forwards by encouraging people to give the game a second chance, or to try it for the first time, ready for a much delayed sequel to drop. With the Quarian Ark launching after the others, it could even serve as an opportunity to bring some surprises, like characters we feared were lost forever.

Like the Andromeda Initiative itself, BioWare needs to stick to its convictions, and not be tempted to go back. The key is in negotiating a sane deadline, and the freedom to push it back if you need to, as Mass Effect: Andromeda’s biggest failure, was being pushed out when it wasn’t ready.

And for I don’t blame BioWare for that, I blame EA.

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