Weird plot inconsistencies in ME Andromeda

[Dansen]

The game is solid, a very bog standard "comfort food" sort of experience. That being said there is something that jas been bothering me a ton. And that is why are the Krogan are part of the initiative? Every race is part of the council except them. You could argue that it was for security reasons. Bring some hard core fighers in case things go to shit but then why stop at Krogans?

The Quarians would be a great asset to have due to their ingenuity when it comes to salvaged tech. They also have the biggest motivation to colonize new worlds. Where are the Volvus? They would be helpful in building the economy, many would relish the opportunity to shapetrade in Andromeda. Hell, why not bring Elcor to ocupy planets with dense gravity.

I know the real reason why. Krogans are iconic to the franchise, but there seems to be no in universe explanation. if it was just council races it would make sense, but the inclusion of just Krogans seems bizzare. Do I have to read the codex, because I have yet to be given an explination in game?

Im sure there are other weird things so lets get nitpicky.

 

[meiam]

The game is full of plot hole and mini retcon, but this one isn't really one, they were brought in initially as just raw labour to build the nexus. As far as the ark, building one was a tremendous endeavor, so not something any smaller race could pull off (ie definitely not krogan), the quarian were also building one but they were delayed cause they were also bringing other smaller race and had to make the ship fit every different species (in meta narrative, that ark will probably be its own DLC).

It almost certainly wouldn't have been easy to bring some of the other more exotic race since they would all need there own environment.

 

[pookie101]

apparently a pile of other races were coming on another followup ark...heck even drell were mentioned. it was delayed due to the issues of so many different species

 

[Zhukov]

Weeeell, one would think that if any species might like the sound of a fresh start with a clean slate it would be the Krogan.

It's also mentioned that they used the 600 years in cyro to undergo genetic therapy to improve their reproductive viability rates a bit, so there's that I guess.

I actually thought it made less sense for there to be Quarians coming along. (It's mentioned that their arc was delayed. Given the timeline that might mean that the Reaper war prevented it from ever leaving.) They have a relatively tiny population of about 20 million so they likely wouldn't want to spare the numbers needed to establish a viable population in Andromeda. Plus they're pretty close-knit. Hardly any of them even live away from the fleet, let alone permanently leave the entire galaxy.

Also, I wouldn't say Krogan are any more iconic to the series than Quarians. Although that reasoning probably does account for the lack of visible Volus/Drell/Hanar/Elcor.

 

[Elijin]

I mean it was an ultra expensive opt in private program. Remember the reaper threat was only stories, which were not widely believed. So it wasn't an ark out of trouble, it was a expedition. A very very expensive expedition that involved leaving everything you had behind.

At the very least, the Quarians...could not afford that. So many of their story threads are about how much that race is balancing on the razors edge between extinction and a viable future. The others just aren't very popular.

 

[Sniper Team 4]

The plot inconsistency that has been bothering me is Ryder being shocked--shocked I say--that the Knight organization doesn't like A.I. And then she asks why people don't like A.I.

Okay, let's stop and think about this for two seconds. The Geth aren't a new thing, Ryder. They were a threat when you were back in the Milky Way. In fact, they had JUST finished launching a massive attack on the Citadel. They kicked the Quarians off of their homeworld. They are, at the last time you saw them, the prime example of everything people fear about A.I.

But not even taking all of that into consideration, your father LOST HIS JOB because of A.I. research. Your own career was blacklisted because of what your father was doing. If anyone should understand why people don't like A.I., it's you. I mean, holy cow.

 

[Adam Jensen_v1legacy]

The entire game is a plot inconsistency. I think people will have more fun with it if they treat it as bad fanfiction.

I just learned that they named main bad guys the kett. Seriously? They didn't think that it was, oh I don't know, far too similar to the geth?

 

[Secondhand Revenant]

Uh. If you do all the SAM memory unlocks o believe you get to see a distress message from the Quarian ark. May be wrong about where you hear it, maybe it's not hidden behind the SAM memory quest, but it is in the game.

And I believe other species were supposed to come along as well in the Quarian ark. Do yeah, there may be plot issues but this isn't one

 

[Tsun Tzu]

The game itself is one big "retcon" and a tacit admission of their previous narrative failures.

Why Krogan?

People like Krogan. Therefore, Krogan.

I actually thought it made less sense for there to be Quarians coming along. (It's mentioned that their arc was delayed. Given the timeline that might mean that the Reaper war prevented it from ever leaving.) They have a relatively tiny population of about 20 million so they likely wouldn't want to spare the numbers needed to establish a viable population in Andromeda. Plus they're pretty close-knit. Hardly any of them even live away from the fleet, let alone permanently leave the entire galaxy.

You could make it work.

Just say it's the entire population of a ship. They've been ostracized for X reason or did Y thing that fucked the fleet and they want out.

Easy peezy.

 

[Ravinoff]

The minor races were, as I understand it, cooperating on a single Ark, as none of them alone had the capability (or possibly the numbers) for independent species Arks. To go into a bit more detail:

• 
  
  [li] the Quarians have no shipbuilding capability of their own, their Fleet is what they brought during the initial exodus from Rannoch and what they've bought and scavenged since. To accommodate them, an Ark would require the addition of specialized filtration and sterilization equipment as well, which takes time to retrofit to the basic design. [/li]
  
  [li] the Volus require a completely different atmosphere from any other race (cold, ammonia-based and highly pressurized), meaning not only would the Ark require accommodations for that, but none of the worlds initially targeted by the Andromeda Initiative would be suitable for them to colonize. Plus, again, lack of shipbuilding, as of ME3 they only have one dreadnought, although it is a monster. [/li]
  
  [li] Hanar need a water world, even going off the preliminary surveys none of the selected Heleus Cluster worlds would be particularly suitable for them [/li]
  
  [li] I honestly don't know about Elcor and Drell, but I'm thinking their reasons are probably based on lack of building capacity and required environments as well [/li]
  
  [li] As for the Batarians and Vorcha, Batarians hate the Council and the Alliance and wouldn't want anything to do with the Initiative, and it's probably a safe bet that nobody wanted Vorcha in a new galaxy [/li]
  

As for why the Krogans came (or were bought along)? Simple: your average Krogan is 7-9 feet tall, weighs up to 900 pounds, lives for upwards of a thousand years and has more durable biology than anything else with half a brain (ie. not a Vorcha). They can live anywhere, work in conditions that would kill other species, and have an attitude making them perfect for a colonization initiative.

 

[Kajin]

It's Bioware. They've been sharply declining in quality ever since Electronic Arts bought them out. Are you really surprised by a bunch of plot inconsistencies?

 

[Gethsemani_v1legacy]

Uh. If you do all the SAM memory unlocks o believe you get to see a distress message from the Quarian ark. May be wrong about where you hear it, maybe it's not hidden behind the SAM memory quest, but it is in the game.

Spoiler: End Game

It is a conversation in the epilogue mission, where you can talk to someone who's decrypted a transmission from the Quarian ark

And I believe other species were supposed to come along as well in the Quarian ark. Do yeah, there may be plot issues but this isn't one

The Quarians, Hanar and Drell are all stated to have their own separate arks, that left on a later time schedule.

You know what really bugs me? That we are never told what the Scourge actually is and that we never get to see a Remnant in any form. Those are both pretty big things in the plot, yet neither gets much explanation. Also, they totally wasted the Remnant derelict on Elaaden. I was hoping for some serious exploration/world building questing from that thing, what I got was a shooty corridor, followed by a runny corridor followed by a stupid string along quest.

 

[Secondhand Revenant]

Uh. If you do all the SAM memory unlocks o believe you get to see a distress message from the Quarian ark. May be wrong about where you hear it, maybe it's not hidden behind the SAM memory quest, but it is in the game.

Spoiler: End Game

It is a conversation in the epilogue mission, where you can talk to someone who's decrypted a transmission from the Quarian ark

And I believe other species were supposed to come along as well in the Quarian ark. Do yeah, there may be plot issues but this isn't one

The Quarians, Hanar and Drell are all stated to have their own separate arks, that left on a later time schedule.

You know what really bugs me? That we are never told what the Scourge actually is and that we never get to see a Remnant in any form. Those are both pretty big things in the plot, yet neither gets much explanation. Also, they totally wasted the Remnant derelict on Elaaden. I was hoping for some serious exploration/world building questing from that thing, what I got was a shooty corridor, followed by a runny corridor followed by a stupid string along quest.

Ahhh, okay that was it. I knew it was in there somewhere, and I knew the other species were mentioned as well.

Yeaaaaah, I agree completely. I feel like they plan to reveal stuff in sequels, but the problem there is they failed to do enough in this game to really make you *want* that sequel, because they seem to be too concerned with holding off content for a sequel and not delivering enough *now*. Feel like that about both the Kett and the Remnant.

And yeah, that derelict was pretty disappointing. Was expecting something more like the ruins, except bigger and better. And then all the real stuff happened outside it. Total waste of potential.

 

[laggyteabag]

To be fair, im still unsure if I even like Andromeda. Something about it just feels... soulless.

I think that it might just be the lack of alien races, and a complete rehash of the galaxy, with no real memorable locations. It just seems like bad fanfiction to me, and Im currently finding it to be quite boring, to be honest - Hell, it even makes Inquisition seem like a masterpiece in comparison.

Problem is, BioWare wrote themselves into a hole with ME3, and revisiting the Milky Way seems unlikely. What a shame.

 

[Dansen]

Just wondering where the info is. Is it early in the game and I just missed it, do I have to chat up nexus leadership, or is it in the codex? Because if it was mentioned in the main story then it must have been very brief because it has yet to come up again.

Anybody want to talk about how SAM is the worst thing ever? It is just one step away from being a narrator that dictates your actions, he has solutions to everything and makes most of Ryder's decisions for him/her. Fuck the pathfinders I think a team of SAMs could fix all the problems in the universe within a year if they wanted to.

 

[DeadProxy]

Just wondering where the info is. Is it early in the game and I just missed it, do I have to chat up nexus leadership, or is it in the codex? Because if it was mentioned in the main story then it must have been very brief because it has yet to come up again.

Anybody want to talk about how SAM is the worst thing ever? It is just one step away from being a narrator that dictates your actions, he has solutions to everything and makes most of Ryder's decisions for him/her. Fuck the pathfinders I think a team of SAMs could fix all the problems in the universe within a year if they wanted to.

I can't remember the trigger point, but I'm pretty sure it happens late in the game. It might be an Email where someone says they found a faint signal, or just some flavour text after some side mission, but you do get something that explicitly states "The Quarian ark has been delayed en route due to dealing with all the various species on board their arks and the problems that come with them," and that's all the explanation you get. So either they'll show up in DLC, or the next game. I don't think it's touched on again, so it's likely you may have blew past it.

As for SAM, I hate his insistence on telling me the planets temperature is too high/low every 3 seconds because I happen to be walking outside and wander into shade, or just a spot the game tells me is too cold. And a team of SAM's is exactly what the Pathfinders are. There's never really an explanation for how SAM just happens to crack this ancient alien code the first time it interfaces with it, and just gets better and better at accessing it as the game continues, but I guess that's AI for you. Too smart to explain.

 

[westcoast1313]

Just wondering where the info is. Is it early in the game and I just missed it, do I have to chat up nexus leadership, or is it in the codex? Because if it was mentioned in the main story then it must have been very brief because it has yet to come up again.

Anybody want to talk about how SAM is the worst thing ever? It is just one step away from being a narrator that dictates your actions, he has solutions to everything and makes most of Ryder's decisions for him/her. Fuck the pathfinders I think a team of SAMs could fix all the problems in the universe within a year if they wanted to.

I can't remember the trigger point, but I'm pretty sure it happens late in the game. It might be an Email where someone says they found a faint signal, or just some flavour text after some side mission, but you do get something that explicitly states "The Quarian ark has been delayed en route due to dealing with all the various species on board their arks and the problems that come with them," and that's all the explanation you get. So either they'll show up in DLC, or the next game. I don't think it's touched on again, so it's likely you may have blew past it.

As for SAM, I hate his insistence on telling me the planets temperature is too high/low every 3 seconds because I happen to be walking outside and wander into shade, or just a spot the game tells me is too cold. And a team of SAM's is exactly what the Pathfinders are. There's never really an explanation for how SAM just happens to crack this ancient alien code the first time it interfaces with it, and just gets better and better at accessing it as the game continues, but I guess that's AI for you. Too smart to explain.

In the opening of the game, probably the first time you get to the Nexus, it is mentioned that the launch of the 5th Ark that would contain Quarians, Drell and i think the Hanar was delayed due to the biodiversity of the species that would be on board and their requirements for different eco systems bla bla bla.
After the final mission a tech from the Hyperion says they have a distress message from the 5th Ark and play it for Ryder to hear. It is pretty much a set up for a DLC or a potential sequel i guess. As is the conclusion to the Ryder Family Secrets quest.

P.S. Elaaden seems like a perfect planet for the Drell.

 

[Adam Jensen_v1legacy]

I don't understand this discussion. You're talking about a game where almost no one in the galaxy believed in the Reapers until it was too late, and they wouldn't lift a finger to maybe do something about it just in case, yet in that same game it's totally believable that someone managed to approve, finance, coordinate and execute a project like Andromeda Initiative. Like I said, the entire game is a plot inconsistency. The game exists because the IP is worth a lot of money, but Bioware doesn't know how to continue the franchise after that abysmal ending.

 

[bastardofmelbourne]

The whole game was a bad idea, start to finish. I'm not surprised that the plot is a mess.

Should've made it a new IP about a sleeper ship exploring a new galaxy. But, nope; it had to be Mass Effect, no matter how little sense that makes and no matter how definitively the Mass Effect trilogy ended.Even in the context of a Mass Effect sequel, it's a rehash. A sleeper ship goes to an entirely new galaxy and finds...remnants of an advanced alien race that was wiped out by a mysterious scourge. Wow. Okay.

 

[Dalisclock]

I don't understand this discussion. You're talking about a game where almost no one in the galaxy believed in the Reapers until it was too late, and they wouldn't lift a finger to maybe do something about it just in case, yet in that same game it's totally believable that someone managed to approve, finance, coordinate and execute a project like Andromeda Initiative. Like I said, the entire game is a plot inconsistency. The game exists because the IP is worth a lot of money, but Bioware doesn't know how to continue the franchise after that abysmal ending.

The alternative is that the council was lying to Shepherd when they dismissed the repear threat in ME2(which is more or less confirmed in the citadel DLC for ME3). You know, because somehow they might not trust you because you're working with Cerberus.