mass effect andromeda is a great story about love
This post contains heavy, heavy spoilers for Mass Effect Andromeda.
I am now about 110 hours in at 96% and finished the story, and I want to gush somewhere about it. Yes, Andromeda was rough in the start when it released; I bought it way, way later when everything was fixed as much as possible. Even then, you could tell parts of the game lacked polish and thought. I still had annoying bugs and the UI decides annoy me. But I'm currently experiencing something I don't think I had before with a "flop" game; the further in I get, the better it is. I am usually used to flop games having either a shitty experience through and through, or being good in the beginning but the later stages are seemingly unfinished. I can't say what the development was like for Andromeda, but it actually feels like they put a lot more effort into the later missions and loyalty quests than the beginning, which is curious to see. Yes, it turns off a lot of players in the beginning (Eos is a massive, annoying grind), sadly, and I wish they could have invested more time into making the beginning feel as great as the late game; but at least you get rewarded for sticking to it, and it's still amazing what they managed in just 18 months. Many scenes and plot stuff in the beginning didn't land at all and were a little bit cringe, making it feel more like an ironic playthrough or a mockery of the series; but after that, it genuinely changed. I love it now and can't get enough.
I love seeing the little details, like hidden appearances of old squad members or their families in communications, old lore tidbits here and there, the Squad Comms and banter while you walk through the ship, funny emails, the bad jokes SAM makes, the rivalry between Kallo and Gil, Peebee trapping me in the escape pod and shooting us into a volcano, alien sex while suspended in low gravity, the Cultural Exchange on the Nexus, my hamster and my pyjak, beating half the bar up with Drack, awkward dancing, getting shitfaced in front of Sloane and embarrassing myself, everyone contributing better snacks and vids and the awesome movie night it creates, catching some NPC subscribing to alien porn, quicktime events pissing people off by hanging up on them, Suvi trying to eat inedible rocks and plants, petty answer options, taking drugs in a hut on Kadara... like, BioWare really thought of what people loved in the trilogy! It's just a shame it isn't there from the get-go. I'm not the only one who feels that way - the game is having a massive renaissance on Reddit, gaining new fans.
To get to the point of the entire post and get to the real, deep spoilers (last chance to turn back, especially if the previous text changed your mind):
At its core, Andromeda is a great story about love.
It starts off with the massive sacrifice many, many people on the arks and the Nexus make. Sure, some were escaping issues in their life or wanted to be pioneers in a new galaxy (or believed the Reaper threat when almost no one did), but as you meet more inhabitants of the Initiative, it becomes clear many did this for family and friends. They brought mementos from them, they carried their memories and stories 600+ years into the future into a new galaxy, long after everyone in the Milky Way had forgotten them. It's a love for each of their species, wanting to continue their story and trying to create a new world for their children.
Before that, Alec Ryder sacrificed his reputation and job for love. He so desperately wanted to save his deathly sick wife and mother of two children that he went beyond what was legal and permitted and created an AI that was supposed to help her and help find a cure. He was disavowed and kicked out of everything, then took one last chance: A new galaxy. His last hope was secretly sending his dying wife there with him in the ark Hyperion, in cryo sleep in a stasis pod, in the hopes that 600 years and new developments in Andromeda could produce a cure for her condition.
After arriving to a hostile world, in an immense act of sacrifice, Alec Ryder passes his oxygen mask to one of his children, saving them from choking and him dying in the process. He doesn't only sacrifice for his children's survival, he's sacrificing so the human race and other races plus his wife's survival still had a chance with one of his children being the new Pathfinder. Later on, the sibling of the Pathfinder risks completely sacrificing themself and dying in the process so everyone in Heleus can survive.
There are other stories of love in the lives of the squadmates. Liam smuggled his family's car to Andromeda because it was his and their passion project together. Vetra grew up without parents to rely on, so she raised her little sister herself and is still very protective of her. Drack was badly wounded via a bunch of frag grenades and the pain and recovery process almost killed him, but then someone gave him a baby to take care of - his daughter Kesh. It saved him and gave him something to live for. He owes his life to his little girl.
The angara have so much love for their own - the reverence and protection of the Moshae, taking turns living in precious Aya, the hospitality they show humans on Aya, and the absolute devastation when they realize they have killed their own people when killing the kett.
In general, of course the overarching story is: Fight the kett, restore the galaxy. But most of what you're doing is being kind: you're settling the planets, providing water, making it safe, getting to know and helping those "small" people with their little errands, retrieving lost people, making things work, making allies and friends. This feels decidedly different than the original trilogy, but in a way I enjoy.
I appreciate the trilogy for the sense of threat, urgency and helplessness it made me feel. Everyone was hellbent on taking Shepard down, misunderstanding them, and making things harder. You had to stick to your guns and fight for what is right, even when there was no official support and people spat in your face, even while going through PTSD after seeing a child die. But it's okay to move on from that in the new galaxy, and while you still have to make some hard decisions, you can actually help and steer some things by staying in Tann's good graces and being the one who gets their hands dirty. Of course it wouldn't be Mass Effect without some stupid ass council blocking you - but we can deal with that.
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Published 22 Jan, 2025