I said Mass Effect: Andromeda was a fine game. Put it into perspective. Mass Effect 1 came out in 2007 and raised the bar for cinematic story telling in videogames. The Last of Us came out in 2013 and raised the bar again. Andromeda comes out in 2017. It was Naughty Dog that made Bioware look bad in the comparison. This is a cautionary tale of how the industry and audience expectations are constantly evolving and that it is dangerous to sit still.
The biggest problem with Andromeda is how safe Bioware played it. As if they were terrified to do anything that strayed too far from the path already trodden. When you walked onto the citadel in 2007, you were confronted with creatures like the Hanar and Elcor that are more alien than anything you will see in Andromeda.
This is something quite overlooked yet so terribly important when thinking about Cyberpunk and dealing with its whole controversy.
CDPR made a really bold move when setting for a futuristic 1st person RPG with new assets to make (from animations to general design to gameplay) when they just could have done a Witcher 4 featuring Ciri and a poor story to shoehorn her into. They could have milked that franchise so easily, and given the amount of persons starting the Witcher with the 3rd episode, most would have bought it without feeling tired of it.
Now look at Bioware and Mass Effect Andromeda. You have very valid points in regards to that game, and I agree. I also agree Bioware tried to move away from Shepard and its trilogy, which should be left as it is - a complete story.
Yet, because of the backlash, what are they now planning to do ? Another Shepard focused episode. They completely abandonned the Andromeda setting. The trailer they released for the Game Awards was so full of this "play it safe, give people what they want, don't bother moving the plot further, just bait them with nostalgia". Easy money, no risks, and eventually, an okay game (I guess, too early to tell) but without any groundbreaking advances. I don't want more of Shepard and Liara, I have already the original trilogy for that.
I remember feeling so afraid when they announced they were working on a Last of Us Part II, because to me the 1st part was so perfect it didn't need any more sequel to that relationship. I didn't want another follow up basically giving me the same plot and the same flow as the 1st part just because it's popular. I was so glad when eventually ND took huge risks and took the story to another place, tried to tell a new story instead of a rehashed one, and it shows in how good the game has come out, maybe even better than the 1st. I'm glad they did not go for just another episode of Ellie&Joel road trip. It would have been unnecessary, stale, and eventually very forgettable.
So all in all, I'd rather have CDPR take risks and give us a game which may feel half baked but makes up for it by feeling (when everything in it clicks and works, such as in side characters quests) like something you've never quite played before, rather than have CDPR milking the Witcher franchise to the point of making it a series of nonsense stories (as they did for Star Wars for example).
You should never bash a creative entity to try something new. It may not be good eventually or not to your taste, but that's the point of creativity. Taking risks and making what you have in mind, not making what "popular opinion" want. JRR Tolkien wrote the Lord of the Rings for himself before thinking about anything else. GRR Martin does the same thing, stated it multiple times. Countless artists, be it musicians, writers, filmmakers, do it too. I'm glad CDPR did it, even if CP has rough edges.
Unless all you want for the 20 years to come are a bunch of FIFA 2581, GTA 5 online remake 3rd edition for PS 7, and Assassin's Creed Origins of the Odyssey to Valhalla. Give CDPR credit where it's due : they are creative, they are taking risks, and at least they're not sitting there filling their overmilked franchises with microtransactions (I mean, do you really think all of those other studios like EA would refrain from putting in some Ciri bikini DLC skin for 10$ in a Witcher 4 game ?).