{"id":45971,"date":"2019-03-26T06:00:54","date_gmt":"2019-03-26T10:00:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.shamusyoung.com\/twentysidedtale\/?p=45971"},"modified":"2019-03-26T20:05:20","modified_gmt":"2019-03-27T00:05:20","slug":"andromeda-part-23-the-boss-fight-at-the-end","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shamusyoung.com\/twentysidedtale\/?p=45971","title":{"rendered":"Andromeda Part 23: A Pretty Good Slog"},"content":{"rendered":"

Our heroes reach Meridian, which they discover is a kinda Dyson sphere<\/a> type thing, except roughly the size of a moonIt’s got a sparkly lens flare or whatever at the center instead of a full-sized star.<\/span>.\u00a0Ryder and her crew race after the Archon to reach Meridian. He’s going to Meridian to… activate it? But I thought the space station was the control center for the network? Whatever. We’re basically repeating the previous chapter where we have to stop the bad guy from gaining control of the alien superweapon, except now he actually has the means to operate the superweapon. Also he’s got Scott as a hostage, which ups the stakes if you care about him. Also, Meridian is a lush habitable world and would make a good home for the Initiative.<\/p>\n

Meridian<\/h3>\n

Scott and the captain are just sitting in these chairs, but the animations make it look like they're restrained. It's odd.<\/div>
Scott and the captain are just sitting in these chairs, but the animations make it look like they're restrained. It's odd.<\/div><\/p>\n

The Archon has hijacked the Human ark and is piloting it to Meridian. He’s got Scott and the captain on the bridge as prisoners and he’s monologuing at them, because that’s literally the only thing this idiot ever does. He talks so much and says so little it’s infuriating. He yammers at Ryder. He jabbers to these two. He leaves long-winded datapad messages lying around. The whole thing would be unintentional comedy if his dialog wasn’t so tedious.<\/p>\n

Ryder is chasing the Archon in the tempest. And for no reason whatsoever, Ryder decides to leave her spaceship, jump in the Nomad, and race after him on the ground.<\/p>\n

I guess saying “no reason” isn’t fair. The reason is that the end of Mass Effect 1 had us eject from the Normandy so we could drive after the bad guy in the Mako, and this game is copying ideas from Mass Effect 1 whether they make sense or not.<\/p>\n

The Archon is on the bridge of the Human ark, with both Scott and the captain as hostages, along with 20,000 human sleepersMinus however many have woken up since we arrived in Andromeda.<\/span>. Perhaps sensing that the Archon’s position is too strong for our hero to overcome, the writer has him do something completely nonsensical. The Archon abandons the Human ark and flies off in a shuttle with Scott, leaving the captain alive and free to resume control of the ark. I guess he couldn’t spare four or five mooks to stand on the bridge and point guns at people?<\/p>\n

How I’d have done it:<\/p>\n

Instead of the Archon giving the humans back their ark, have him leave some goons behind on the bridge. Then have the humans overpower the goons and reclaim the ship. Instead of having the Archon do something inexplicable and stupid, have the bridge crew do something heroic and exciting. That will make us like them and care about their survival.<\/div>\n

This entire sequence is so awful that pointing out something as pedestrian as plotholes seems petty, but this one would be important if we actually cared about this unfolding drama. The humans have regained control of their ark. The Archon has taken Scott into the bowels of Meridian, planning to use Scott and SAM to take control of it. Laying aside the question of how the Archon could compel SAM to do something, this doesn’t work because SAM’s hardware is on the Hyperion. That gives us an instant win button. If it looks like the Archon might win, we can just turn SAM offOr smash him. Or put him in sleep mode. Whatever.<\/span>. I realize this might make Ryder sad, but since the Archon is threatening to destroy \/ subjugate the entire cluster, that seems like a small price to pay. <\/p>\n

The Archon talks a lot, but it’s not clear what his immediate plans are and it’s also not clear what the network can do. He’s basically threatening to take all the barely-habitable shithole planets and make them totally uninhabitable, which at this point would threaten the lives of like, a hundred people. And that’s assuming Meridian works fast enough to be an immediate threat. For all anyone knows, terraforming takes years. <\/p>\n

This is the final showdown with our big villain and we’re not sure what the super-weapon can do, how fast it works, or what the bad guy’s immediate plan is. If it turns out to be a problem we could just unplug SAM and cut the Archon off from the network. Even with simple plot elements like a cartoon villain and a doomsday weapon, the writer still can’t construct basic things like clear stakes and dramatic peril.<\/p>\n

The Slog<\/h3>\n

I've never seen anything quite like this in a game. It's better if you're playing the game yourself and can move the camera around. It's hard to capture the sense of scale and distance in a simple screenshot.<\/div>
I've never seen anything quite like this in a game. It's better if you're playing the game yourself and can move the camera around. It's hard to capture the sense of scale and distance in a simple screenshot.<\/div><\/p>\n

Here we are in the classic end-game slog. A lot of games suffer from this, particularly titles from BioWare, Obsidian, and Bethedsa. The plot has reached maximum tension, and now a lot of that tension will be lost as plot comes to a halt so we can gun down mooks for the better part of an hour. This particular slog is actually not bad by the standards of the genre. <\/p>\n

Visually, this section is spectacular<\/strong>. I know I’ve been merciless to this poor game for the last few entries, but I want to give kudos to the folks who put together this ground sequence. We’re driving around at high speed while a huge battle rages overhead. We’re on the inside of a sphere, which gives us a horizon like we’ve never seen before. The continents in the distance make the space feel huge, which makes everything seem more epic. There’s some radio chatter and a couple of quick cutscenes that sell us on the notion that the other characters in the story are active and doing things and not just waiting for Ryder to shoot all the mooks. <\/p>\n

Yes, we have to kill a bunch of dudes that feel very unimportant right now. But we also get a lot of reaction to player choice and a pretty good fireworks display. Based on the choices you’ve made, the lives you’ve saved, and the allies you’ve acquired, various groups will show up here at the end. Some will fight with you on the ground, while others will take part in the ship-to-ship battle raging overhead. All of this happens against the wild backdrop of a lush green planet that’s been constructed inside-out. While it makes no sense for Ryder to decide to drive around down here, it does make for a pretty amazing show. It’s a good sequence all around. Honestly this might be one of the best parts of the game. It’s fun, gorgeous, and reactive to player choice. <\/p>\n

Those ships flying overhead are the friends and allies we've made during the course of the game. It's a nice moment, although it's not clear why we're driving when literally everyone else on both sides of the conflict are flying.<\/div>
Those ships flying overhead are the friends and allies we've made during the course of the game. It's a nice moment, although it's not clear why we're driving when literally everyone else on both sides of the conflict are flying.<\/div><\/p>\n

If we can look past the confused themes, confused plot, horrendous villain, embarrassing dialog, plot holes, and bland characters, then this scene gives us a glimpse at the game that might have been. (Or perhaps the game they were trying to make.) There are moments of brilliance mixed in with the dross of Andromeda, and that makes the narrative failings sting all the more. <\/p>\n

Protip: Resist the urge to ignore the mooks and charge straight for your goal. A lot of progress is secretly gated by combat encounters, which means you need to kill all the enemies in the area before the next door will open or the required cutscene can trigger. I got trapped at several different points in the game when a lone mook would get stuck someplace out of reach and I’d have to reload the most recent save. For whatever reason, the ending sequence is particularly susceptible to this problem. I understand they didn’t have time for polish, but I wish the developers had at least removed these kill requirements. Being able to skip fights isn’t nearly as damaging as getting stuck.<\/p>\n

The Archon keeps bellowing about what a badass he is while also running away from our hero. He’s abandoned the Human ark and is flying towards the Meridian control center in a shuttle. Ryder is chasing after him in her space-tank, for some reason.<\/p>\n

All In<\/h3>\n

This entire scene where the Hyperion goes down has a VERY Star Trek vibe. Not just the bridge design, but in the entire concept and execution. Although I really do question how many of these people will make it to their cryo pods.<\/div>
This entire scene where the Hyperion goes down has a VERY Star Trek vibe. Not just the bridge design, but in the entire concept and execution. Although I really do question how many of these people will make it to their cryo pods.<\/div><\/p>\n

The Human ark isn’t designed for atmospheric flight and it can’t stay up. It crashes on the surface of Meridian, meaning the 20,000 sleepers on board are now stuck here. This place is either their new homeworld, or their grave. This is a fantastic moment for upping the stakes of this final showdown, although it has the unfortunate side-effect of rendering a majority of your efforts in the game moot. Ryder spent all those hours terraforming worlds to make room for those tiny little outposts. We worked so hard to establish these minor footholds in the jungle, on a glacier, and in two different deserts. <\/p>\n

The Earth is 75% ocean and huge portions of the remaining landmass are harsh. Only a small percent of the Earth’s surface is made up of comfortable, arable farmland. And yet we’ve managed to cram almost 8 billion people on this rock. Meridian looks like it’s made entirely of fertile ground with a temperate climate. The starting population of the Andromeda Initiative – all races included – is less than a million. There’s enough space here to keep everyone comfortable for centuriesUnless you’re an idiot and you brought the Krogan with you, in which case you’ll be up to your ears in Krogan in about a decade.<\/span>. <\/p>\n

Who is going to want to freeze their ass off on Voeld or get roasted alive on Elaaden when there’s all this open space on Meridian?<\/p>\n

Now THIS is how you establish stakes!<\/div>
Now THIS is how you establish stakes!<\/div><\/p>\n

Mass Effect Andromeda has these two parallel goals of establishing colonies and stopping the Archon, and in the end the latter sort of renders the former irrelevant. It’s not that this is wrong<\/i> or anything. I’m not saying this ruins the game. It’s just an odd way to construct our story, and serves as more evidence that perhaps this project was pulled in two different directions by different parts of the design team.<\/p>\n

Conjecture: I think the planet terraforming stuff is what was left over after the team finally cut the “massive procedurally generated open-world” exploration” stuff. It doesn’t have much synergy with the main plot, and here at the end it’s rendered moot by it. While I think the main story of this game is terrible on account of the atrocious main villain, I think it would have been a good call to cut the terraforming stuff and give those resources to the main story. Bad or good, the story is what this audience is here for and the terraforming is dull busywork that’s incompatible with the main plot. <\/p>\n

Before Meridian:<\/strong> Why do I need to track down Meridian when we’re making good progress just activating the vaults one at a time?<\/p>\n

After Meridian:<\/strong> Why do we need all those dinky outposts when we have this vast lush world?<\/p>\n

The two plots just don’t work together, and spreading development resources across two different, incompatible, and largely isolated stories didn’t do this game any favors.<\/p>\n

We’ve still got to settle up with the Archon. We’ll deal with him next week.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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