When comparing Mass Effect Andromeda vs Persona 5, the Slant community recommends Persona 5 for most people. In the question“What are the best story-driven games on PS4?” Persona 5 is ranked 7th while Mass Effect Andromeda is ranked 55th. The most important reason people chose Persona 5 is:
Even though the story dives deep into heavy themes such as abuse, loss, and depression, it never becomes too overbearing. That is thanks to its lighthearted moments, funny situations, and feel-good subplots to ease the gloom of a sullen reality. This creates a wonderfully woven story with a satisfying conclusion.
Specs
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Pros
Pro Combat is very fast paced
The combat in previous entries of Mass Effect has been based on getting behind cover and having good aim. That aspect still exists in Andromeda, but thanks to the new jump jet, things are much faster and much more fun. The jump jet allows you to vault over obstacles or make quick dashes while running, which lets you flank, charge, and generally just outmaneuver enemies in many more interesting ways.
Pro Exploration is quite fun
Nearly every planet in Andromeda is unique from the others. There's different terrain and environments to check out, new hazards to watch out for, and a plethora of missions to complete on every planet.
Pro You can change the way your character works on the fly
In Mass Effect Andromeda, the class system is incredibly open, and classes can be swapped at any time, even in the middle of combat. Essentially, you can go from being a battle-hardened front line soldier to a crafty engineer, or even to an infiltrator that's capable of invisibility. This will also swap out your abilities, which makes sure you're always prepared for the next challenge you have to face.
Pro Good Story
Pro Fun multiplayer
Mass Effect Andromeda's fast-paced combat from single-player works well with the team-based multiplayer matches, where up to four players cooperate to complete hacking or target objectives while fighting back against waves of enemies. Maps are densely packed with obstacles and winding rooms to take cover in or to take the enemy by surprise. Aggressive foes actively push back forward into player territory even on lower difficulties, keeping matches fun and intense.
Pro Well-balanced story
Even though the story dives deep into heavy themes such as abuse, loss, and depression, it never becomes too overbearing. That is thanks to its lighthearted moments, funny situations, and feel-good subplots to ease the gloom of a sullen reality. This creates a wonderfully woven story with a satisfying conclusion.
Pro Entertaining dungeons
In Persona 5 you'll explore many unique locations, including a medieval castle, an ancient pyramid, and even a futuristic spacecraft. Each location is filled with bizarre enemies, interesting puzzles, and various secrets. The great variation in enemies, layouts, and theme keeps the exploration exciting and will keep you interested in seeing more.
Pro Living the life of a highschooler is surprisingly fun
Your character is one of the very few highschoolers in a game that actually has to go to school. This includes attending lessons, answering your teacher's questions, taking midterms, and many other things, which is actually kinda fun. Then when school's out, you can go spend time with your friends or alone in Persona 5's version of Tokyo. You can hit up a karaoke, a batting center, or numerous other locations, all the while meeting new people and establishing connections with them. All of this makes it a refreshing change from most modern games where you're always trying to kill or blow up someone.
Pro Great soundtrack. Best I ever heard.
Cons
Con No single-player DLC
There will not be any single-player downloadable content for Mass Effect: Andromeda. This is especially disappointing because, by the end of the game, the writers clearly intended to give more context through DLC about certain galactic races who were absent from the original story. With the news that the publisher, Electronic Arts, has put the Mass Effect franchise "on ice," the series' future looks bleak.
Con Sub-par storytelling
MEA's writing is very inconsistent throughout the game. Sometimes the dialogue is really poor, having lines like "my face is tired". Other times characters forget important information such as the length of their trip to the Andromeda Galaxy, showing surprise at things that should be obvious to them. Even though there are few great moments with moral grey areas, most of the story feels rushed, incomplete, or done by completely different teams with different visions for the game. The end result is a story that lacks immersion and isn't very memorable.
Con Poor face textures and animations
Widely mocked and ridiculed near Andromeda's release, the facial animations, eye movement and tracking, and general skin textures are still sub-par, even after patches meant to fix these issues. Characters look unnatural and downright ugly at times, with the female Ryder inspiring dozens of cringe-worthy compilations of her cinched facial expressions and comical duck-like running animations. Moving to the Frostbite engine no doubt hampered the team's efforts to create believable faces, but in a Mass Effect game, the faces especially should not have been as bad as they were.
Con The time managment might feel constricting at times
Persona 5 uses a calendar-based time system, advancing the in-game date after you've done several activities during a day. The main drawback is that you're constantly trying to meet story-enforced deadlines, which require you to clear a dungeon before it's too late. This constantly puts you under pressure, causing you to spend more time on dungeons and less time on side-activities. It makes it feel like you're forced to do what the game tells you, which might dampen your enjoyment at times.