Mass Effect: Andromeda/YMMV

• Anvilicious:
  • While the pro-LGBTQ stance of the game is well known and received, the execution can come across as heavy-handed. Two examples include how lesbian character Suvi Anwar had disproportionate emphasis put on her sexuality during advertisement, and before a patch the game featured transsexual character Hainly Abrams, a quest giver for an important quest chain, deadnaming without any prompting in the first conversation. Also, the homosexual romance between Male Ryder and Gil is the only romance where a Ryder of either gender has the option to start a family with their love interest (Jaal's mother sends a friendly I Want Grandkids message to Ryder if they romance Jaal, but there's no options available).
  • While the kett are Scary Dogmatic Aliens and the Nazis are notorious for good reasons, some considered the handling of the message to be over the top. In addition to the standard trappings, the kett also had deadly prison camps for undesirables and they - especially the Archon - kept getting saddled with the Villain Ball, as if the writers were trying to make sure people didn't Love to Hate the kett (also some Nazis were capable of using Pragmatic Villainy to devastating effect).
  • While it's true that religious extremism is dangerous, the game's treatment of religion overall is dubious. Token Religious Teammate Suvi is portrayed positively, yet is a theist rather than religious. While the angara religion is also treated fairly, it also carries an element of Maybe Magic, Maybe Mundane. But it is the villainous kett that the writers saddled with imagery and titles directly ripped from real-life religions, particularly Christianity (the namesakes of the kett characters "Cardinal" and "Primus" are Christian clerical titles), which raises troubling questions. While the Archon doesn't carry the same Unfortunate Implication, some have found his angel imagery in conjunction with his title and story role to be a heavy-handed reference.
• Base Breaker:
  • Cora. While there are fans who like her for her abilities in combat, her personal fortitude and her backstory as of the latest novel (along with positive view on aliens in general), others view her complaints about problems she's faced being a biotic as whining (especially because characters like Kaidan and Jack had it worse). Some also dislike her culture worship of the asari. Even her haircut (a sidecut) has drawn criticism, with some thinking it was perfect for her, others who disliked it for being like the memetic "I want to talk to the manager" haircut while a very vocal group among LBGTQ fans called it's use on the heterosexual Cora a form of cultural misappropriation.
  • Liam appears to be one of the most divisive characters in the game. This is due to his interactions with Ryder and the other companions. While he has his fans, there are those who do not like Liam for his treatment towards Vetra and her sister and his reckless actions in his Loyalty Mission (which many consider one of the less well-written missions). He is also nearly identical to Jaal in terms of combat ability and has drawn parallels to Jacob, a rather contentious squadmate from the original trilogy.
  • Peebee has proven divisive as well. She can be very abrasive and aggravating to talk to and she's often considered a poor substitute for other asari squadmates such as Liara or Samara. While this is a deliberate ploy on her part to keep people from getting close because she has trust issues, it still grates for some fans. There are also fans who consider her design ugly and unattractive for a potential Love Interest. There are also fans love her. Reasons include considering her funny - if not one of the funniest characters in the game, enjoying her traits, liking her character arc, or for being nothing like (and taking some indirect jabs at) other asari in personality nor culture.
  • SAM gets this as well. Some see SAM as a likeable, inquisitive and helpful AI. Others see SAM as an annoying Captain Obvious-type helper, a knock-off of EDI from the original trilogy or both.
• Captain Obvious: Some consider the reveal of Voeld to be this. If you completed certain sidequests and paid attention to ambient chatter and your various mission objectives before you reach Voeld, it is easy to figure, and you may already know what the kett do with Angara they capture before The Reveal.
• Complete Monster: The Archon of the Heleus Cluster. In addition to being a Hate Sink and a Scary Dogmatic Alien he has his own atrocities. He captured the Salarian Ark and began running tests on them, such as harvesting their organs while they were still alive, or committing Cold-Blooded Torture on them for information. When Ryder and co. came to liberate the Ark he eventually attempted to shoot down the Ark, killing the thousands of people within, rather than allow them to escape. He is also a Bad Boss, despite the fact that the kett are literally brainwashed to be loyal to the cause, the Archon has any kett punished if he thinks they aren't committed enough. Obsessed with the Remnant technology known as Meridian, the Archon planed to use its immense terraforming capabilities to force entire races to surrender to exaltation, or else he'll use Meridian to kill all life on their worlds. He's even implied to be a traitor to the kett cause whose only out for personal gain and is gathering resources for a coup against the kett leaders, and his right-hand-woman the Primus betrays him out of fear of what he's planning to do to their home. During the final fight, the Archon becomes so enraged at Ryder's efforts that he rescinds the offer entirely and just decides to commit genocide out of petty spite. Even in a genocidal species that views all non-kett life as barely sapient, the Archon of Heleus stands out as a monster among them.
• Eight Deadly Words: While views of the characters have been divisive, many fans consider the game to have failed to get them invested in the characters. The reasons for this include finding them Replacement Scrappies for their equivalent from the trilogy, too one-dimensional or undeveloped or even if they were good they are considered inferior to similar characters from the trilogy.
• Ensemble Darkhorse: Bain Massani has quite a fanbase among those who like the game. Reasons include being a bounty hunter, son of the second game's squadmate Zaeed Massani, and being skilled enough to hunt kett without too much difficulty.
• Narm:
  • Some players find the Archon impossible to take seriously either because of his frequently holding the Villain Ball or finding he looks too adorable to be scary. Regarding the latter, this is due to his short stature and a face that has drawn comparisons to baby monkeys. In his dialogue sequences with the captured Ryder sibling, his face is also very expressive compared to other kett, which doesn't help the comparison. This is further compounded by some fans who have compared him to a Teletubby, particularly Po, due to his short stature and the circular crest on his head.
  • Foster Addison is particularly noteworthy in this regard, due to her initial animation and some of her dialogue. The two most well-known examples are the lines "My face is tired" and "No one's a pathfinder until they've pathfound something".
  • There is a gem at the end of the New Tuchanka questline. There is a showdown between Nakmor Morda and Jorgal Strux immediately engaging in what amounts to krogan kung-fu. There with punching, blocking, kicks, the works... and all while they don't move from that spot or change angle or pose. It looks completely awkward and absurd, and the fact that it's set to a dramatically sweeping camera and dramatic action music is just the icing on the cake.
  • Liam's line in the first mission after shooting a kett, "I think I really pissed that one off. Maybe because I shot him in the face!", tends to evoke laughter, groans or both from fans and critics.
• Narm Charm:
  • Several fans have found Suvi and Female Ryder's awkward first attempts at flirtation to be endearing.
  • This is likely an invoked trope with the Movie Night sidequest.
• Overshadowed by Controversy: The game did not have a gentle release or reception.
  • After knowledge of the game's Early Access trial went public, the issue of the game's lacking, occasionally disturbing, facial animations dominated many discussions of the game.
  • After the release the game received a significant amount of criticism regarding the quality of writing for the characters and plot. The most common complaints were that they were one-dimensional, subpar knock-offs or both.
  • Despite the effort put into being inclusive to the LBGTQ crowd, the handling of same-sex romances received some criticism, leading to a response from the developers after a few weeks and a patch after a few months.
• The Scrappy:
  • The Archon, despite him being a Hate Sink, has also drawn fans ire for different reasons. His design has been criticized as poor for a villain, being deemed non-intimidating, unoriginal and/or unsubtle. He constantly gets saddled with the Villain Ball, and even fails the Scary Dogmatic Aliens criteria because he betrays his people and their cause for an even more destructive, and selfish, agenda. Along with players not even getting the satisfaction of fighting him directly in the final battle where he dies, many consider him the worst antagonist Bioware has ever created.
  • Foster Addison due to her memetic appearance and animations as well as being a generally unpleasant person. One particular example is her hiring exile mercenaries to protect Initiative ships and when they attacked the ships instead, she covered the whole affair up and even sends other people to kill them. Unlike Tann, who was clearly never meant to hold the role he has, the codex states that Addison was always supposed to head Colonial Affairs. Fans despise her incompetence and the fact that she gets no comeuppance for her bad decisions.
  • Sara Ryder's default appearance and animation has also been reviled. The facial capture doesn't look much like her face model, Jayde Rossi, and has even been criticized for being cute rather than attractive compared to her brother's. Sara's face also suffers more glitches than Scott's along with her standard smiling expression being considered wildly inappropriate for many of the situations she is involved with.
• Snark Bait: The game is considered this thanks to its facial animations, dialogue, questionable storyline and glitches.
• They Wasted a Perfectly Good Plot:
  • The Ryder/Gil romance has little content or plot relevance after the two get together, despite the fact there might be a child and starting a family involved.
  • The polyamorous romance arcs with Keri T'Vessa, Avela Karr, Peebee and Reyes have been considered lacking by some fans who pursued them. Keri and Avela are treated like The Mistress rather than a lover in a polyamorous relationship, with Avela even calling it cheating. While Peebee and Reyes start off polyamorous, they change to monogamous as you go through the story.
  • Late in the game you learn that, some of the kett question, and even oppose, the Archon. The former is only seen in datalogs and recorded conversations. The latter is only seen in the Anti-Mutiny the Primus organizes against the Archon when she suspects the Archon has ulterior motives. You never get more information about the kett as a whole, no sympathetic kett are introduced as it's only Evil Versus Evil and the Primus' offer is considered a Deal with the Devil situation (even being called such in the quest log and by Liam if he's present).
• Tough Act to Follow: Some consider the game to suffer from this. This because it follows the (generally) well regarded Mass Effect trilogy, as well as the fact that it had to prove there is still plenty of life and potential in franchise after the infamous ending to the original trilogy. This led some fans and critics to compare Andromeda to its predecessors, which played a role in some of the mixed and negative reactions it received; it hass also been speculated if the game would've been more warmly recevied had it not been released so soon after hit games such as Horizon Zero Dawn.