Just going to type some random thoughts on all the recent discussion, I'll be interrupted by the kids every ten seconds so if it's scatty blame them
While Macphisto can fairly be pulled up for not having actually played it, he's not too far off in most of the things he's written.
It's always strange to revisit universes where there's an original story, beloved by millions, and just the basic tenets (seeing familiar faces, uniforms or locations, or in sci-fi's case, often vehicles, alien races) will give you the feelings, the reminiscences - exactly the same thing happened with the Force Awakens, or also when bands reform with the classic lineup - there's both a warming rush of enjoyment as the memories come flooding back, and then later, in the cold light of day, comes the evaluation.
Does it live up to the expectations? Does it merely exploit the memories, or build on them, enhance them? Can a revisit to a universe really transcend the work in which that very universe or environment was created?
I'm constantly torn. Sometimes, i just want to jib the rational evaluation and bask in the nostalgia. Others, I tear things apart and build a negative narrative in the mind, you know the type,
cash-in, or
sellout, which I usually reserve for musical endeavours of which I don't approve as frankly I don't care as much about films, games or other media.
My brain makes the decisions for me, it tricks me. I loved seeing the Stone Roses play their first show together for god knows how many years with the original lineup, I closed my eyes and listened to them play and the world around me just drifted away, the disgusting Mancymancmonkeymancness of it all, the corporate sponsorship, the fact its a blatant retirement cash grab after they hated each other for years. After all, I'd paid for it, I was prepared to allow my brain to filter out the gnawing feeling in the back of the mind.
Mass Effect Andromeda, for me, retains enough of the original 'feels', and is sufficiently removed from the original experience for me to enjoy it. After all, can I be arsed going in the loft, digging out and hooking up the 360, and sorting it to play the original trilogy? I can't experience how it how I did the first time I played ME2 - unencumbered by the responsibilities of kids, free to spend hours in the twilight hours, stoned, digging the music as I mined for minerals on far off planets, and led my Shepherd through his trials and tribulations. I played it after just buying my first HDTV, coming to the generation late, and it blew my mind, what videogames could now do.
This leap was never going to be possible for me with Andromeda, I've not taken any gaps from gaming, and I can see umpteen videos of great-looking games I'll never have time to play anyway. Ironically for a game built around a Pathfinder, there's no trailblazing to be done in Andromeda. But to be honest, can the Mass Effect series ever do this again?
It's not like Zelda as a series, which has already undergone massive transformations over the course of its lifetime - it doesn't get to do radical reinventions, its from a ruthlessly commercially orientated company (EA) who have taken monetising gaming to a new level with things like FIFA Ultimate Team. I'm just glad we got it in any form resembling the originals, thinking what it could have been in worse circumstances.
The fact that none of the original team or writers are involved is certainly some form of mitigation - with the original trilogy, the design is such that the creators are searching for something, trying to find a form of game and a narrative that presents something people like me had not experienced. With Andromeda, so many concepts are already set, the game is constrained by expectation. There's not the same thing to search for, as the path is already pretty clear, and any deviation from that risks the commercial gravy train in a way which most companies are afraid to. There's not the same (emotional?) connection with the series. I still think they've tried, I don't think its a game without care and attention. But perhaps the overall commercial machine has just ground up the game and forced cut corners in certain places.
As said above, I still think there'll be a patch which will fix a lot of the problems - not that that is in any way a good thing, fixing it after the fact - but it is common practice today. Things like Skyrim were buggy as hell and ridiculous when they came out, but the experience was such that we almost universally forgave it, accepted the trade-offs in return for the great experiences and freedom. This installment of ME is obviously trying to move towards a more open world approach, for good and bad - which it certainly is both - its bound to bring teething problems. To compare to things like Skyrim, in the Mass Effect universe interaction is far more important.
One of the things I like about the series in particular is the way in which your actions effect the characters around you, they respond differently. I remember Skyrim being quite ridiculous in that NPCs would ignore a lot about you if you happened to want a quest from them 'Yeah I'm sound your obvo a bad vampire wearing no clothes and carrying a phallic Daedric weapon of unknown crafting as I need you to go and clear out this barrow lid'. Mass Effect is trying to build an open world where this dissonance is reduced, and some of it works great, but also a few oddities are present, which I think overall I forgive because of the scale of it.
I still think its enjoyable, just as I did with the Force Awakens, and I don't think it's anywhere near the level of 'botching a return to a beloved series' as say Indiana Jones and The Crystal Skull or Home Alone 3. I guess you could say that the downside is is that it's not Resident Evil 4, or a similar game that stepped out into a different vibe but felt like forward motion. It might ultimately end up a bit of a hollow experience in comparison to the original adventure with Shepard, but I'm looking forward to finding out if that's the case. I knew it could never be Mass Effect 2 for the first time again. Or even Mass Effect 3 (I played the first one after the second two, not the best move!) It's all moved on, and so have I, and this is taking me back to that place, just close enough, give or take a few cryo freezes, so I am still eager to investigate it, and wish I had just turned on the PS4 instead of starting this post
It all sounds like excuses, but maybe its rationalisation. I'm unsure.
