*** HEAVY ANDROMEDA SPOILERS ***

I'm actually tired of Cerberus being an antagonist. I think I'm tired of them even being an entity that the main character interacted with. I want something new. Tired of Cerberus.

i still think a surprise quarian ark DLC would garner alot of positivity

The Rebuilding of the milky way opens up so many new choices that could affect future games.

Love the 40+ min video! As someone that liked Andromeda (but I don't ignore its issues), I agree with most things said here... I personally think it'll be set in the Milky Way but a while after Andromeda... I think a large time gap/skip post-ME3 would be good to distance itself from the endings & give the writers space to write in events between the trilogy & 5, in case they want to explain/change aspects of the endings & make it so all 3 ending choices (excluding refusal) are possible.

Honestly there's so much they could do with the next game. I have two massive plots I'd like to see in the next ME game. The first one being the ramifications of the reaper war: the power vacum that's left after the war, fixing back the galaxy along with building back the mass relays and improving relations between various alien races. And the second one the dark energy plot. Like how because of the harvest not happening, the usage of element zero by many alien species destroys the time/space fabric and maybe that's how wormholes are being formed, linking the OT/Andromeda timeline. There's so much they can do, I just hope it's going to be really well written.

Has anyone ever asked bioware as to why they put the "Shepard lives" scene at the end if they never intended to return to Milky Way? Always seemed weird to me.

Okay, so I hated Andromeda, and I would really hate to go back there. I played it only once, which says a lot, compared to countless playthroughs I did with the original trilogy. That being said, I'm really not interested in anything regarding that galaxy or characters that appeared there. The story was very lame, and characters were meh. On the other hand, I'm in love with everything regarding the original trilogy and would love love love to see Shepard and the crew again. For me, the only ME protagonist is Shepard, and I'm not sure that the Bioware could create anyone better.

I stopped this at 18 minutes in because I wanted to touch on one of the things that bothered me most about Andromeda. You harped on a few issues, but my biggest one was that there were 0 consequences for your choices. I mean really regardless of what options you take the story plays out the same. Example: I said yes to Peebee in the 0 G chamber to becoming her friend with benefits. This in itself is supposed to lock you out of a romance with her. I continued the game playing through and we got to her loyalty mission where I killed her ex girlfriend that she was actively trying to save. I literally took that choice from her murdered her former lover and on the ship I told her yeah I did it and cry me a river., She literally still asked me to be with her and I ended up with the full Peebee romance! I feel like Peebee should have left the tempest at that point and maybe not been an adversary to Ryder and maybe even unlock a cool new remnant armor or gun due to her getting that artifact but you lose Peebee as a companion. Another is making your first outpost choice a military or scientific one is such an important choice that it's net result is an Angaran diplomat decides with to keep his men armed or not on the Nexus. That being said I really feel you missed the point of the game having Ryder being so young and new. They wanted you to grow with Ryder as opposed to having a pre established war hero like shepard. This would have been the equivalent of starting shepard directly after his parents were killed on mindoir and you just joined the alliance. You wouldn't have the same shep you know and love. They wanted you to see Ryder from the very beginning. I do agree though that Ryder should have grown more confident during the game rather than show no character growth especially after rescuing the Moshae so early on. That should have been a huge confidence boost for team Ryder.

I would love to have shepard back, and a timeline close to ME3·, but except for that , this express my feelings and hopes about next game so much, that i wish you were a project director in BW (or co-project director at least). Ty for another great video.

I really would like to see Sheppard back ❤

In regards to ryder being too young im on the opposite end of the spectrum. I was in my late teens-early 20s when i played with ryder and they honestly felt very relatable. Now that im approaching my late 20s more of sheps qualities are relatable now so i guess its really about perspective. Honestly andromeda as a whole just didnt benefit from the tonal shift, if they told the same story just darker and more mature, then i feel it wouldve been better

I don't think I've ever commented 3 times on one video before, but I also wanted to touch on this one thought. If the next game takes place in the milky way I'd be so pissed if they did a time skip of 600 years. That would kill me for them to make such a huge time jump and not let us experience so much history that we were instrumental in creating. Wanted to add one more thing since I just finished the video. I believe they already set the seeds to bring Shepard back during the original ending of part 3. If you recall in the clip at the end of your video the star gazer is being asked by what we assume is his grand child if the story about the shepard was true and he says yes but it happened so long ago and the child asks him to tell him more about the shepard to which he replies "Ok ONE MORE story." You can take that to mean they will bring shepard back and can do it via cloning rather than time travel or time dilation.

My sole biggest problem with Andromeda is how it feels like you dont get role playing choices. Like is Mass Effect 1, every choice you got felt like it made a huge difference, maybe not across the series, but in that particular setting that choice had an impact even if you dont see it. In Andromeda you get choices like the science/military team choice for your outpost which it doesnt matter what you pick because the games lies to you and literally tells you later they are not military, they are engineers. Or New Tachanka where there is literally NO REASON to not side with the Krogans (your choices are make the Krogans happy, form an alliance, get a colony base OR get nothing?) I agree with your point on wishing we got more family interaction. Unlike most people, I actually really like DA2 because of 1 simple reason. I love the family story it tells. I grew a liking to my sister and really felt a desire to protect her (turning my proTemplar Hawke into a hypocrite, which I actually liked storywise.) So ya I would love to get more family dynamics.

I’m hoping we’ll get to play more than one time period. We should get to see how the galaxy looks shortly after the reaper war as well as further into the future.

Ryder’s like that 20-ish yr old rebound after breaking off a 10 yr relationship. Theyre fun and all but they will always be compared to the first

You did hit on one of my biggest problems with Andromeda. The characters all felt rather childish. Where I could connect with the Normandy crew, them feeling like friends or co-workers, the Tempest crew left me feeling kinda like a babysitter. The dialogue and banter, while it made me chuckle occasionally, more often than not made me roll my eyes. I simply couldn't connect with the characters. The crew though is just an example of the larger issue of the game not really being as serious as past entries. I'm still in the camp of wanting them to just canonize the Destroy ending. I don't think that them hand waving away the relevance of he final ending choice by saying that "So much time past that the green is gone." or "The Shep-reapers just left because reasons." therefore this is the canon state of the galaxy anyway, is any better than just saying "This is the ending the current state of the galaxy is based off of." The later option sounds better for story cohesion. While i know it isn't likely to happen, a part of me still hopes to see a galactic civil war scenario where, as the protagonist, we can somewhat decide what the future of the Milky Way civilization looks like. Maybe at the end our protagonist board a second Ark set to arrive in Andromeda just in time for the larger Khet invasion that was implied at the end of Andromeda. I do agree that the inclusion of things like time travel is not something I want to see in ME. Time travel is always a really... weird plot device. It can leave hole in a plot really easily. It's something that requires really excellent writing to make it work but I don't think it'd be worth it.

I agree with you about Ryder: Shepherd felt like they GREW during the trilogy, even during the individual games. Ryder didn't grow. Basically the same kid from the beginning, with a tiny little more self confidence. But confidence is only a portion of growth, and it's pretty much the only thing Ryder gained.

I was 17 when the game came out, Im 24 now. I enjoyed being the young person, but it definitely makes sense for the people who are much older to dislike it for the same reason. Great thought

As an enormous fan of the original trilogy who also read the novels I have to say that although I enjoyed many aspects of Andromeda I saw the very obvious lack of soul and depth the game had & I also saw a heavy dose of modern corporate political-elite propaganda being force-fed into the game’s main storylines (if you don’t know, then you don’t know)…Personally I would love for them to simply continue the franchise in the Milky Way shortly after the victory over the reapers and merely use various world-building aspects from Andromeda to expand upon the story and depth of the universe which hadn’t been delved into in the first trilogy. The gameplay could even avoid lazy time-travel/time-dilation plot devices and simply dart from past to future in narrative format. I personally felt little connection to Ryder as a person & also strongly agree with you regarding his/her static character-the absolute lack of growth and development as an individual. I also felt a total lack of attachment or endearment to any of the supporting cast and also like yourself only really felt a connection to Jaal, maybe simply only due to the amount of depth they attempted to give him. Too many loose ends were created in the story & it’s all so much of a mess now that leaving it all unexplored feels like a huge waste but at the same time the entire project felt so hollow from the get-go. The environments I found absolutely beautiful & there was a feeling of romance and age and “lived-in”-ness to a lot of it, the music also was amazing, but there was still always this endless feeling that the main people behind the game either weren’t sure of what direction they were taking the story-or that there was something quintessential missing from the game’s core which the previous games were sculpted & moulded around. I mean, put it this way-and this literally just occurred to me-I only remember *anything* about the teammates from Andromeda because they appear in the footage of this video I’m commenting on, because the cast are just so unremarkable. “Peebee”?-who I actually romanced, which is unmemorable-and Jaal are the only ones I would’ve remembered without the need for this video to remind me-whereas probably *all* of the characters from the original trilogy I can easily remember, despite the fact it was more than 10 years ago when I finished the 3rd game if my memory serves me.. And it was only around 3 years ago I played Andromeda. Only the beautiful environments leave any lasting image in my memory in regards to Andromeda, whereas the original trilogy feels like an intricate bundle of long-lasting *meaningful* relationships I will carry with me to the grave-relationships *I, personally* had with *real people…* - That’s the difference between the two timelines for me as an individual. It’s almost like if there was one single person who Mass Effect was the brainchild of, for one reason or another, was no longer able to give any input to the franchise, and then a large team of developers replaced that individual yet none of them really cared about the franchise but they were all told to somehow copy the original formula as best as possible and try to carry it forwards; Andromeda is exactly like what I’d expect them to come out with-with a little bit of Marxist propaganda sprinkled in from a generous billionaire donor in his mid-90s… I just genuinely hope whatever happens they recognise the importance in honouring the original trilogy because I think even the newest + youngest arrivals to the fanbase will be able to sense the soul of the first 3 and share the love we original fans had for it, and want that same magic revived and carried forward into the franchise’s future.

For me I just feel like the most exciting setting is shortly after the reaper war with the galaxy rebuilding. Andromeda feels so empty in comparison. Also the Citadel concept art has a planet/moon beside it with what appears to be the star formation of Orion's belt.

It’s crazy that you posted this a few hours after I just finished my annual play through of ME 1-3 😂 On the topic I don’t want to go back to andromeda. I have no investment in it. The story just never grabbed me. Personally I want a direct sequel to ME3 and explore the aftermath of the war.

Lots of excellent observations, as ever. I made a bunch of comments in the Community section of my channel about this game, which I surprisingly found myself liking the best (I played it last year, IIRC) out of the ME titles (though it was very close with ME3), but absolutely the romances are a huge part of the draw for the larger Bioware titles, like this and DA. I mean, they throw out Vetra as a romance optino, which I went with, and then the devs got really really scared when it came down to the actual consummation part of things, which was annoying, but most of the options weren't super great. Like, in the numbered titles of ME and the first two DA games, the romance choices had standouts, but even the others were worth playing again to see how it would go. In both DAI and MEA, I did not replay them again to see that (though to be fair, I didn't have any interest in anyone other than Tali, because she stood so far above the others). I do hope that is something they actually take more time and care with on ME5... and DA4.

I've been playing around with the idea of something along the lines of the Paragon/Renegade unique quests from ME1. You gave the example of homogenizing the endings with dialog "pearls-on-a-string" style, but you could do that _and_ have a short sidequest unique to each ending to bring the player _into_ the differences with relatively little development time as long as the quests are "side" enough. Something like: Synthesis - An extremist group is attempting to develop a bio-weapon that would kill everyone exposed above a certain level of synthetic material in an attempt to "purify" the galaxy. The MC is tasked with stopping them but has a choice of preserving the research or destroying it, leading to a meeting with his/her superiors with a superficially meaningful discussion about the choice (but ultimately not greatly impacting the story at large - superiors decide to sit on it etc.) Something short to reward the investment in your choice but not take _too_ much development time from the team.

I want Andromeda to be Bioware's experimental playground. The Milky Way is where everything we love resides but a brand new galaxy which we know barely anything about other than 2 alien races is the perfect place for devs to pull of concepts they don't want in the main storyline. For example, if Bioware ever decided to experiment mass effect in other genres like first person, survival, horror, or maybe a VR game, they could have it take place in Andromeda while leaving the main third person rpg for the Milky Way. While I do want Bioware to focus on the Milky Way to bring back the fans and build back stronger, I would be lying if I said I didn't want Andromeda to continue. In real life, the Andromeda galaxy is much bigger and older than the Milky Way. Just imagine the stories you could have - An apex race older than the leviathans, an alien race that got advanced through time travel by sending blueprints of future technology back to the past to develop faster, a synthetic race that hid their cores inside of planets making them impossible to find, a machine civilization whose CPU's got hijacked and were fooled into thinking that they are organic, etc. The possibilities are endless.

My thought on Andromeda is that while I've not played it yet, I will at some point. But I think the biggest issue with how they did Andromeda after 3 was it felt like Bioware was literally running away from answering the questions of how mass effect 3 ended. Like they don't have the answer worked out and just wanted to move on from it. But then Andromeda wasn't as big a hit, so now they've got to actually come up with an answer.

"...with its 2017 release." Omg has it really been almost 7 years? Wow. I did play at release and blown away that it's been so long. I always thought Andromeda got a lot of the extra hate that tends to happen once a dogpile starts and everyone jumps on it without actual knowledge of the situation; but it definitely had issues and was overall just "okay." Especially, in contrast to how great the first 3 games were, "meh" just isn't a good grade for a game from a series and studio with the pedigree they (once) had.

I have tried to get into Andromeda 4 times since its release and haven’t been able to every time. I won’t be trying again, but I’m still curious to see how they tied Andromeda into Mass Effect 5

Andromeda had great gameplay and combat, but I tried to play the game twice, and I couldn't get invested in the story.

I don't want any differences of opinion to come off as criticism of you. You keep fans of the game engaged and excited during lengthy game development cycles and we appreciate that so much. Your opinions are as valid as anyone's, you think things through and present them beautifully. Andromeda had such great potential but, even though i didn't hate it, it was a disappointment for me. Although I played it for the first time after some significant fixes. There were some good elements like the quality of the environments, some of them looked stunning. The combat was very energetic and fun. But the environments were underutilised. repetitive enemies despite the energetic combat, repetitive vaults and bosses. The characters were dull and it wasn't their age that was the issue, it's a massive shame that the voice actors are taking the flack for that, it's just unnecessary. I don't actually see the point of needing to merge the games, it feels like an unnecessary complication. Concentrate on Making the Milky Way Great Again. Andromeda could still have potential but it would need to have more races and a more adult feel, it was a great point. It was like Mass Effect:90210 rather than Mass Effect: The Next Generation. Yes they were younger, but growth comes through experience, not just age. I've said before that I think a new protagonist could take the reigns but I also think that Shepard's presence needs to be felt one way or another.

I have finished MEA 4 times, and I'm currently on my 5th playthrough (although suspended for now due to also playing other games). I could take it or leave it with some of the companion stories, but I really want the ending of Andromeda to be expanded upon in ME5. They left the final cutscene there (where you find out a particular person was in cryo) as a cliffhanger, and the actual campaign ending (how the Jardaan was running from something before they went extinct) could play a role in ME5. Will this entity come to the Milky Way, wreck havoc, and need the help of the Andromeda alliance?

Sorry, this is gonna be a long one... I loved Mass Effect Andromeda, it was a fresh start and I enjoyed the youthful, somewhat inexperienced and naïve aspects of Ryder and some of the other crew members. The negative reception was so over the top and in many ways I think much of it came from fans that were disappointed with the endings to Mass Effect 3. They were still smarting from that experience and so never wanted to give the next Mass Effect game a chance. But I also recognise the many issues Andromeda had. I'd like to revisit Andromeda and those characters. However, my love will always be with the original trilogy and Commander Shepard. If there was even the smallest chance I could play as my Femshep again, especially with how much the galaxy would have changed after Mass Effect 3, then 1000% yes, I would love that. But if there is one take away from Mass Effect Andromeda that needs to be repeated in Mass Effect 5 then that would be the gameplay. What's funny is that I started writing a sequel to Mass Effect 3, even putting some gameplay and level ideas together. It would have started with Shepard obviously being discovered amongst the rubble just like in the Destroy Ending and going from there. I even took ideas from Anthem and used that as the basis for having specialist teams to recover Reaper technology and the Javelin exosuits were designed to protect them from possible indoctrination... And that there is just one idea of continuing the Mass Effect games and so as you said there's just so many possibilities for what could happen next. It's gonna be a tough road ahead for BioWare, especially with such a rich and expandable universe and especially more so with all the different threads that were created through player choices. What I definitely don't want is time-travel or a Multiverse (sorry Paragon7). It only takes away all the tension in story telling. "Oh this character died, don't worry we'll bring the alternate version of them back." It's crap and only just about works in DC and Marvel comics. Using technology to cover vast distances in a short time is fine, but having different timelines or alternative this and that is just lazy. Ok, enough from me. Thanks again for such an awesome video Kala, there's a lot to think about as always. Oh, and just one last thing...at 2:46, did you let Kelly die !?! I should go 😉

No VA should ever have a backlash for their job. They did their best with what they had to work with.

Here's a thought... due to the severity of their injuries shepherd was put into cryogenic stasis to allow their injuries to heal slowly over time. And shepherd wakes up from cryo in the new timeline. Granted, it still has alot of holes in the idea, but it is a possibility.

Andromada needs to be a separate trilogy it has nothing to do with mass effect and shepard and needs to stay that way.

As someone who played Andromeda when it first came out most of the bugs i had where mostly visual glitches and heck one day i'll finally finish my playthrough but for those who know "MY face is tired"

I posted this theory in Mr. Hulthen's discord last night. I was playing through andromeda again (Yes I love the game regardless of how many people say it's bad.) and I was turning in the last Angarran artifact and one of the questions Ryder asks kind of struck me. He asked her if the Angarra of 600 years ago when the scourge struck could have made it to the milky way and she said i don't know maybe. I'm thinking we see the Angara in the pictures because they did in fact hop on their own arks and head to the milkyway. It would make a 600 year time skip and Liara would be 700 which would make her a Matron on the way to Matriarch and could explain why you see her wearing Matron colors.

No andromeda. It was an andromeda game with very little mass effect. When the most interesting parts of the game were callbacks to the Milky Way that means it’s time to let andromeda die.

If your studio's fate was hanging in the balance, and you know that if your next games don't deliver, it could very well be lights out, would you make a sequel to the lone (critical and commercial) failure in the franchise? Or would you continue the story that won you fame and glory? I think the answer is clear. We are not going back to Andromeda lol.

Agreed on all of the criticisms of Andromeda, even though I also want to see parts of the Andromeda story continue. Like you said though, the Milky Way just has too much left unanswered, and centering around a post-Reaper war scenario sounds more intriguing than anything Andromeda currently has to offer.

Story is everything to me i can get over cheesy aliens bad animation and lucky charms color choices. But i can't let bad story slide no mater how much i want the series to continue. I hope Bioware lives up to what i know they can produce. I have just enough faith for one more try. But i will be ready to move on if they fail.

I think for me was it was too long for multiple play throughs for me. Pretty sure I forgot about what happened on 2 worlds by the time I reached the end of Andromeda.

This is pretty reasonable. I am very defensive of Andromeda but I don't necessarily need to go there and play in the new game to get what I want out of it. Mostly just want them to not pretend like it didn't exist. You easily weave elements from MEA in ME5 without actually going there.

If the game runs well and the story is stellar, fans will come.

I'm hoping ME5 brings Shepard back and we find out his cybernetic implants from the lazarus project were based off of reaper tech from sovereign which makes him more resilient and gives him a longer lifespan than the average human. You start the game playing as Liara searching for Shepard who's been stranded and struggling for survival since the end of ME3 and Liara has to subdue him as he's a little feral from the isolation. You wake up in the Normandy medbay and that's the start of the game. As for what happens after, I'd really like to know what's going on with the dark energy storyline and see some more of the Yahg as a threat. You did have that one escape from the facility on Sur'kesh.

If the leviathans found out the reapers were destroyed there is no reason to suspect they would not try to conquer and rule the galaxy again. They were only hiding out because their reaper creation was too strong. But they hadn’t lost their lust for power and domination. With the geth destroyed or our friends, Cerberus as a b player and reapers gone, they are the only major protagonist left You can’t have a good game without a good protagonist Or maybe liara and Garrus just become council members and we follow their efforts to refurbish the lower wards. We attend council meetings and try to raise funds. We also have to deal with space Karen’s complaints and try to get reelected. This would be a sitcom with a 90s style laugh track

Our faces would just get tired again

I loved Mass Effect 1-3 plus all the story based DLC's. It was a game with great story and interesting characters. Characters that I cared about. I loved them or hated them but I can always tell why I loved or hated each character. That only shows that they were written with purpose. Andromeda had great gameplay but both story and characters were just lame, dull and uninteresting. I really hope they will just sideline all this Andromeda nonsense and won't bother with it. We might see it somewhere as a lore entry in a journal or someone will mention it but that's about it.

ME5 videos are really depressing. I’ve been so let down by andromeda despite loving the trilogy. dAI makes the feeling worse.

My two favorite things about Andromeda is they csn keep the 3D/4D exploration, forewords, backwards, jump jets jumping up things, climbing on things to get the sniper's advantage, and the nomad with 4 wheel/6 wheel traction all that was fine. And the scanner is our friend thing as monotonous as it was on one hand, was fun to an extent on the other hand.

fuck, I hated Andromeda. The game play itself was the best but the characters were uninteresting which is the opposite of what you'd want in a Mass Effect game. i didn't care what happened to any of them. not a single one.

If the next game is set purely in the MEA timeframe then I simply have no interest in it. Bring back Liara, bring back Wrex, set it in the MW galaxy, couldn't care less, I won't be playing it. Knowing that the game is 4/5 years away, it's hard to muster huge interest in it already. I think revealing a definitive MEA timeframe would just about put the final nail into it for me. If BW want to go down that route, good luck to them. I hope people enjoy what they put out, but I won't be giving it the time of day.

I wanted to like andromeda soooooo badly but i just can’t connect with most of the characters. And all of the quests feel so repetitive and inconsequential. Yes I know mass effect had a lot of big empty uncharted worlds. But most of those side quests either felt consequential and significant to the side characters, or they added a lot of exposition for the lore as well as foreshadowing.

I liked the mechanic in andromeda where you can scan structures and objects to get research data. I hope BioWare will bring back a mechanic at least similar to this and I also think we should stay in the Milky Way galaxy. We never explored Palavan itself and after the ending in Mass Effect 3 I also had lots of questions; like how did the galaxy get along and how did all the civilizations recover?

I think if Shepard returns, we’re are basically locked into the perfect destroy ending. Meaning they would need to implement all of your choices somehow. I don’t see that happening. New players are not going to be stoked to read 30 minutes of text walls to make decisions retroactively and return players won’t like to have all of their choices retconned for the sake of canon that allows for continuity. There’s no winning for the devs there. Short of time travel or a multiverse I just don’t see how they bring Shepard back and don’t manage to annoy a lot of people.

I think you nail it with the target age topic. It explains a lot of difference, and a lot of what's to be held against ME:A. I mean besides the technical... weakness of it all. Companions are better written that's commonly said, but you have to hear them, and that mean driving the land cruiser a lot. Each time you teleport to a point on a planet, you skip a conversation betwwen your passengers. It's on full automatic and you don't have a say, and some of them are generic chitchat but some are really good, and some shows exactly the tension you say is missing. Youjust have to bring different teammates around. That doesn't improve on their sexiness though. Speaking of which the romances are probably a little too... platonic for Mass Effect fans, but that comes back to your first point.

Andromeda being compared to the CW is a comparison I never thought of to describe how unserious the game felt but it's accurate. I also didn't personally like the angara or the kett. The kett especially felt extremely hastily thrown together as a species and antagonist entity, and the angara looked close to what you'd stereotypically imagine an alien species would look like.

I think I figured out why the characters in Andromeda look a bit off. It's cause to me is that they all look like they are made out of clay or like silicone. Like the Krogan look smooth and claylike. I would also like to say I would like to return to Andromeda but I wouldn't want the whole game to take place there. I just feel there were certain worlds that were quite unique that I would love to explore more. Specifically Aya and Havarl.

I just hope whatever we get is developed with respect and not rushed out so some corporate suit feels good about himself going into his next staff meeting. I want a Mass Effect game where there is a road map to where they are trying to go instead of, "Oh, we'll figure it out." There was a certain feeling the old trilogy gave me that made me feel as if I was in good hands, and yes I'm even referring to Mass Effect 3. For all the haters out there over that entry, I had a lot of fun with that game (everything except the Star Child)

You really hit the nail on the andromeda critique

To me, the issue with Andromeda is it felt like it was made by a 1990s dev team, not a 2010s. Most designs and gameplay were more reminiscent of Kotor-era games than actual Mass Effect era. And what I really wanted was a C-Sec game showing the events of the trilogy from that perspective and going into the aftermath. Then a new Mass Effect with a new protagonist.

I found Peebee and the Andromeda companions overall kind of frivolous and just not that interesting compared to ME characters and there was way too much filler content. I played Andromeda through once and never went back to it. Whereas I cant count how many times Ive replayed ME & MELE

Though I am skeptical of modern day game design and writing I am hopeful given the core team devoted to ME that’s currently chipping away. I would enjoy seeing Shepard and the crew back again canonizing the breath ending and I think they could stand to do a good job at exploring the new frontier of having survived the cycle and and interesting new ulterior motives for having cycles in the first place. However they do it I think all can agree they ought to take the time and do it right and really let the passion for the series flow.

They could spend many game just dealing with the aftermath of the Reaper war. You can't travel without the relays. No relays without the keepers or element zero. Have the different races rebuild their own relays. So many possibilities.

I really like how you also approached the subject from an objective point of view and not only from your perspective. I was expecting to be mad at the video when I started but how you approached it changed my mind. Even if we don't have the same opinion this is a great video for anyone, be it on favor or not, and is proof that people are and should able to separate what they want and like from factual truth or objectivity. Words are not my forte but seriously my props to you, a really great video.

All of that does not bother me. It is the quality of the game, the plot and the game play aka combat. Andromeda was not bad if it would be just a game but it lacked the villain, the spicy comments and a good boss fight. The take of a young, unexperienced crew that needs to gel together is not bad at all but it never led to anything. I am pretty sure Shepard will be back - one way or another (long lifespan, AI, time travel, cryo etc) - as BioWare cannot loose it best horse in the race. The problem with the galaxy rebuilding is that it is probably pretty boring so I expect to get back into the fight when things are the best again.

I think it’s possible that might be one of the galaxies that the reapers disappeared to when they left the Milky Way galaxy

I feel that the next game should kinda close some of the mysteries of the original trilogy just for reaper war and Shepard closure. I feel the end of the next game should have like end goal of making a mass relay development leading to the Andromeda galaxy especially since there is a huge mystery of the initiative purpose of building a receiving relay in Andromeda

I found Andromeda ok. But I didn’t care for the team mates. That was the worst part. But yes a lot of useless side quests. What I disliked was the sudoku. And what I really really disliked was the Vold vault. It was impossible to figure out a 27 step sequence in perfect order without freezing to death. I resorted to cheating by watching a video. A game should be fun, not so frustrating you are forced to cheat. The game also didnt encourage multiple play thru. Ryder topped out at level 125 but your team mates topped out around level 50. It’s like the developers thought no one would play the game 3 times I did like the crafting once I figured it out I’ve played it thru a dozen or more times including speed runs performing the minimum number of quests to get to the end

I remember my first time playing Mass Effect, it was the 3rd game that i played first because my dads friend who was not big on video games but was trying to play them, he ask me to help him out because he didnt quite understand the game i didnt understand it at the time either because it was new to me and i played a lot of games up till that point, i was 17-18 at the time so i was old enough to play it and when I tried it I was hooked immediately and wanted to get the last 2 games that i actually put effort in school and chores that i was able to save the allowance money to get both ME 1 and ME 2. And I've been playing and been a big fan of the series ever since. Andromeda was ok for me like a 7/10 score, because I was and still relatively young so it was alright for me because you technically have to build your reputation from the ground up rather then adopting one like Shepards, whos already a Grand Master while Rider is just a Novice, the game had one thing going for it and that was gameplay, I wished the story was written better and not be a bug riddled mess on launch. That i believe that the game could've gotten a sequel or DLC (like the Quarian Ark that we didnt get because of said problems) and I believe that the game would've had a longer support from fans, and even devs. Im 26 going to be 27 in August, I've been waiting patiently like you, and the rest of the fan base, im praying for this next game to be successful so that it can be the ground work for possible future games and DLC related to Mass Effect.

Andromeda had and still has a lot of potential , my main issue with the game is that it's called Andromeda but the entire story occurs in only one cluster, it's not called Mass Effect Heleus, also the lack of counterfactuality, In my humble opinion they should allowed to pick a different pathfinder and play the narrative from their perspective and/or allow to switch to a new pathfinder as you rescue them with unique story mission for each of them. I think I have a really cool idea for the Jardaan, the Kett and the Angara in context with the rest of the galaxy which as is felt a bit uninspired imo If it was up to me, the new "trilogy" would be Mass Effect 4, then Andromeda 2, and then third game which has a story that links both galaxies and where you switch between both protagonists to solve a problem

I think Andromeda should be a series of their own if they ever want to continue it, but the true Mass Effect should always be centered around the milky way until its 100% done.

Every Andromeda video: "I'm a Andromeda fan, but...." xD

On point, same here. ME:A for me was also disconnected on so many ways from trilogy, a feeling as should be completely different another game. Next game it should be in Milky Way. Too many things pointing in to that direction. Well done Kala as always.

I 💯 want a continuation from 3 with Shepard and crew (perfect destroy ending). He’s a video game protagonist, he doesn’t need “death rest”… Killing off the main protagonist was such a dumb trope in the late 00s/early 2010s

Even in Inquisition the walking animations were awkward, but most noticeably in cut-scenes. Was it a Frost engine issue or an animator issue?

Think a possible Milky Way sequel could go with a faction siding plot, similar to Fallout New Vegas. Where you try and broker peace or side with 1 group to re-establish civilisation. You can’t really top galactic genociding giant robots. So having a fallout/rebuild the galaxy plot might be good. Also the villain would be the leader of the opposite factions. As for a protagonist, I’d like to see different races. We can play them in MP and I’d like to see it in SP. Additionally quests could play out differently depending on your race. Like talking people down a salarian as a council race would be easier than with a Krogan. Or turians being skeptical when dealing with humans or krogans. Also racial passives. Like an Asari would get bonuses to Biotics/Charm, Salarians with medical Tech, Turians with Rifles

I am really hopeful about ME5 . They have potential to make another big entry. So many possibilities to make amazing story and even bring some new things to the players what have been hidden so far. I am not hyping anything anymore , just hopeful and wish they do not duck it up. The pressure on the team is huge, but they have so much material to work with. I liked Andromeda game. But I do not want to return to it or see any connections to that game. It was fun spinof for me and wish it to stay that way.

I also liked Andromeda as a spin-off game but the huge ammount of plot holes are a real challenge for writers and the dev. team.

I think playing the father (or mother) Ryder in MEA, then dying and passing the torch for younger Ryder for MEA2 would’ve been an idea too. Problem with that might be doing 4 character creations 😅

I agree Andromeda got a bad rap - but Bioware shot it in the foot when they released it with the day one glitches. Because Andromeda was ALWAYS going to be viewed with skepticism by the fans - as the first Mass Effect without Shepard- but the early glitches gave those who were already skeptical about the game validation, and a concrete thing to point to when their real gripe was that Ryder was not Shepard, and could never BE Shepard. this early VALID backlash tainted that crucial early reception so that all anyone who was thinking of giving the game a chance heard about was that it was broken. which it WAS. this built upon itself until Bioware canceled the DLC for lack of enthusiasm in the fanbase, which left the story hanging. which was the SECOND big mistake of Andromeda - keeping vital story back for the DLC. you can play the first Mass Effect all the way through and get the complete story without playing any DLC. it's not until Mass Effect 2 where you start getting essential story DLC. this could range from DLC squadmates like Kasumi, or actively setting up the next game such as Arrival, but by then the series had proven itself. even then, you could still get a complete experience WITHOUT touching DLC. by sectioning of an entire chapter of the game as DLC - and then not making it thanks to lack of sales Bioware shot Andromeda in the foot - AGAIN which contributes to it's bad rap

Andromeda was alright. Really only had fun with combining any powers. However, the lack of depth took me out of it, as well. I'd like to see the Milky Way expanded upon post-Reapers because of the sheer chaos that could be explored. This is my favorite sci-fi series. I really want it to come back strong. 🫠

I spent a CRAP-TON of time crafting weapons & armor in Andromeda. They really got that aspect right. ME: 5 needs to bring back & expand upon the crafting from Andromeda! Tricia Helfer needs to return as EDI, along with Garrus, Miranda, Aria, Ashley & Liara. As for the N7 character in the recently released trailer, I noticed the narrow torso, & curvy childbearing hips being female. Could she be Ashley Williams? HHhmmmmmm...

bring back Shepard !!!! Rider was just so basic and safe/boring. Reboot the franchise, so Shepard comes back but now a new threat looms in the distance and reveals itself for the first time (just like MA1) but bring the original galaxy and characters back together so we can actually get closure on so many things. I mean it's a Sci-fi game, you can literally write just about anything and get away with it. like how they kill Shepard off then boom he's just rebuilt again lol. It's all about the characters and dynamics between them and how they interact with each other, we care about their stories and what to see what happens to them because we get invested. well that's why I play anyways, to see what's going to happen next, like a great book you don't want to put down. these game's are about the story and the characters that should be the most important thing over everything else. Literally can do something else like at the start of game you choose if Shepard lives or dies (so then people who want Shepard back get it and people that don't won't.) Kinda like a Resident Evil game, where you have two characters at the start but they play through the game on different paths. Shepard was just NEXT level bad ass, imagine if Rider tried to be N7 lol. long live Shepard !!!!!!!!!

Keep up the good work Kala. It's great to see someone who loves ME as much as I do.😊

I played through Andromeda twice. Once several years after ME3 and then once directly after playing MELegendary on highest difficulty. First time I romanced Suvi and the second time Vectra. Like you said, none of the MEA romance possibilities really pulled me in and I've played ME1-3 so many times I've romanced all of the companions.

If you use mods for the PC version of ME3 you can use a happier ending mod, and Citadel Ending Lite. I do the first part of the Citadel DLC right after the Cerberus Base, or before it, and the party at the end. The Mod makes it so all the content referring to the ongoing war is out, and you are all just celebrating the victory. The ending my ME3 has Sheppard leaning against the railing at the docking bay to the Normandy 2 and staring out into space before getting back on the ship with all of her crew and continuing to adventure. If you haven't modded your ME3, try it out.

No matter if you love or hate a game, harassing the voice actors is absolutely not acceptable. I'm so frustrated it's a thing that happens to these people. Voice acting is a really vulnerable job to do. These people who do voice acting jobs really put themselves out there when they make these performances.

I think Milky Way is most likely, I am sure there will be a tie-in to Andromeda though (which I also thought was a good game - just not great). In terms of Shepard, BioWare are up against it - they firstly need Dreadwolf to be successful, but they also need the next ME to be as well, I highly doubt EA will tolerate anything less. So I expect they will go the safe route - as such I do think Shepard will be there in person (search for Shepard?), a Prologue of sorts wrapping up what happened to the fan favorite characters post the Reapers, and then maybe a passing of the torch moment mid-game to introduce a new protagonist.. They have already teased the return of Shepard (or at least planted that seed) - to ignore that and go with a few Vids and terminal entries to wrap up the old characters story arcs would be just too much of a risk - EA overlords will be watching....

There are still a lot of unanswered questions in Andromeda as well.

Yeah I think the Writers, and Directors for this game just really failed to really have Ryder grow as a person and character, the fact that this character loses their father and their sibling is in a coma then they basically just jump right into being a pathfinder like almost nothing is wrong just ruins what could of been some real growth having the character grieve and grow before our eyes into a stout Leader for his crew. The Customization for characters in this game I do highly agree was very, very lacking. I hope they expand upon it massively in our next adventure as it was just bleh. Romance wise: Its hard for me I do like some of the characters alright but Tali will always hold my heart so it really makes it hard to really enjoy some of these when i just compare them to how the adventure with that romance went. I'm not entirely against a MEA2 With Ryder, partially due to the fact that despite Sheppard is the most beloved MC of the series I do believe his biggest strength was his strong presence over the 3 games that helped him to solidify it, I'm not saying Ryder was good in MEA because again they left alot of growth on the table, but a very strong 2 could really help to fix this and even help grow them (wont be easy Ofc but I wont say its impossible either.)

ME1 was the best lore-wise. They introduced us to decent universe and almost Lovecraftian cosmic terror that there was no way to defeat to then reduce them to puppets in next games. Still the original trilogy is awesome as a whole and sadly the team that made it is no longer at Bioware. Then there is the fan fiction called Andromeda. I don't think current Bioware is able to make good game anymore.

Sorry for the multiple posts, it's just these are all sperate topics that shouldn't be in the same posts s they might be over shadowed by everything else so I felt it necessary to split them up. Mass effect 5 would be technically Mass Effect 4. Now hear me out, look at the game title. Its Mass Effect: *Andromeda* not Mass Effect 4 Andromeda. Look at the other titles, ME: 1, ME: 2, ME: 3. Its like what we seen with Fallout and their titling. FO1, 2, 3, NV, & FO: 4 ME:A falls into ths same nitch as FO: NV and FO:76. They are standalone games that hapen to be set in their respective Universes. So by all Rights it should be ME:4 if it has any continuation of the first three games. If not a d has nothing to do with ME:A then it shouldn't be numbered at all. In closing by calling It ME:A instead of ME4: A they made it sperate of the main trilogy so 4 should not be applied to it just as FO: NV was not called FO:4 nor FO:3 NV. I better stop, I am starting to ramble now.

8:45 I agree with this point so much, I'm currently 23 and I felt the dialogue in Andromeda was childish, even most people my age don't speak like the characters there and if rumors are to be believed the new Mass Effect could have a release date could be anywhere from 2027-2030 which means I would be pushing 30 when the next Mass Effect releases and if it has similar Marvel-esk writing then it would be pretty much doa/poorly received. Hell my cousin who introduced me to Mass Effect hasn't played Andromeda because of clips he saw and if I'm pushing 30s he'll be in his 40s so yeah a bit more of a mature tone would be appreciated and writing a product for the fans of Mass Effect that stuck around this long 29:28 that seems like a mass relay and if it as Cerberus colors and if we believe that the mysterious benefactor of the Andromeda initiative is The Illusive Man then cerburus could be working on connecting the milky way to Andromeda edit: spelling mistakes

The nuance I always put on it is that I would happily return to the andromeda galaxy, I just have no interest in the heleus cluster. lol Beyond the scourge, andromeda could still be anything, but in the one game we did get, we weren't free to explore an area any bigger than that served by a single relay in the milky way

This video made me cry. Not brcause of anything in particular you said but just because there really is no way all the fans are gonna get what they want from this game. It feels like the Mass Effect fanbase is split by a terrible divide and no ones happy. I wish they would just tell us whats happening so that we can be prepared for what comes. Instead we're all having debates online where everyones biased and spiteful and it all just eats at my soul. Bioware and toxic fans have been pushing each other deeper and deeper down a well that this series might not ever get out of, and I feel sad to be a Mass Effect fan.

If it was up to me I would totally remake Andromeda with only keeping vetra and drack I love them

If BioWare (and EA) worked the engine correctly, and not abandoned the project so early on, many others would have been better off with the game. And actually had the full game and not a half-arsed attempt would be better too.

I agree with most of this, except for 2 things. 1) I struggle with the idea that Andromeda was meant for a younger audience after seeing the major upgrade in sexual content compared to the original trilogy. 2) my biggest issue with Andromeda was the disjointed feel of the story and missions outside of the major story missions. Prime example: Liam’s side quest where you could follow that through and go through a huge encounter with the Three Sabres mercs but have never encountered them or heard of them before and have no idea what is happening or who they are.

i am with you on this. when we mention Mass Effect, the first thing that comes into the fan's is Shepard.