Did the Archon Make a Good Antagonist in Mass Effect Andromeda?

Andromeda, depending on who you ask, had either a great villian or a terrible one. Let's evaluate the Archon and the other boss battles in Mass Effect Andromeda

BioWare Follower covers the latest BioWare News, news about BioWare games including Mass Effect, Anthem and Dragon Age. We also create lists, lore and more for those games.

Source(s)

Disclaimer: This channel, it's videos, assets, and staff has no affiliation with Bioware, Electronic Arts, or its products. BioWareFollower is not a company. BioWare Follower is not paid to create its content by EA, BioWare or any other source outside of Follower Entertainment. If the video above is paid for by an outside source, it will be mentioned. It's views, and opinions do not reflect those of any respected copyright owner and balances on Fair Use laws.

[QFlight]

I think the biggest problem with taking the Kett as a serious threat was that S.A.M. was too over-powered. He pretty much was the answer to any threat The Archon posed. At a disadvantage in a fight? Don't worry S.A.M. us there to help you adjust to any situation. Get stuck in a stasis field of some kind with no way to get out? S.A.M. has got you covered again. Archon has you pinned down in space? S.A.M. to the rescue. Also you can just sit back and laugh at The Archon and his frustrations as he has been trying to activate remnant tech for a long time while Ryder does it with ease thanks to trusty S.A.M.

[Duelli]

The Archons first appearance on Habitat 7 was hilarious. That "face" he made when learning he is not able to interact with the rem-tech, that was the point were he lost any credibility a villain needs. After that the Kett were more like an annoyance then a real enemy. When meeting the Angara it felt like the two races we saw in Andromeda were both not nearly as "adult" as any milky-way race. The Remnant is the only interesting thing this galaxy has to offer besides the scourge. The focus of the story should have been the Remnant and not these Angaran or Kett bystanders.

[carlosspicyweiner]

Short answer, no.

He could have been so much more interesting, I would have wrote him like this;

He and his "wife" were once a member of a species exulted by the kett. He and his wife (let's call her primus for now) are a rare example of being able to retain a sense of your past self after exultation and because of this they both despise the kett, but knowing they have no way to beat them they just blend into their military and wait for the right moment to strike.

I would make the archon a hateful lunatic but is only kept in check by his wife who he fights for.

The archon takes an interest in Remnant tech because he believes he can use it to build an army of remnant and fight the kett empire.
Primus, his "wife" on the other hand over sees exaltation for the archons kett soldiers. Meaning the kett under the archon have been programmed so subtly that they are loyal only to him and her, but the kett empire does not know this.
However due to the kett empire watching over him 24/7 and his operations he is forced to attack the initiative and the angara to keep his cover as a loyal kett commander, he has pity for the angara and initiative but he must exhault them for the greater good.

At the exultation facility were you save the moshi I would have instead made it so that when the facility is under attack primus calls archon for help, but during the live feed she is shot in the back of the head by the Moshi. This is what would break the Archon into full lunatic mode. He would capture rider in a trap and steal his Sam implant like in the normal salarian ark mission but instead this time rider escapes by the help of his squad mates. Because archon has Sam, the tempest can track them via the sam node on the human ark.

Archon now realizing he has what he needs to control the remnant sets course for meridian, the planet which connects to all remnant tech in the cluster, from there he would build his army and launch an assault on the kett empire. He will also use meridians terraforming properties to threaten species in Helios to join his exulted army or burn. But just before he does he contacts the kett leader, stating that he will no longer do their bidding and will kill ever last one of them. The kett emperor would respond by sending his entire fleet to prevent this.

At this time Ryder would gather all the forces in Helios in a desperate attempt to stop the archon. But because the tempest is the only one who can make it there in time the tempest gets to meridian first.
The tempest just makes it in time before the archon lands and the entire crew of squad mates joins you on the final battle jumping off the tempest before it jumps away so it doesn't get overrun. However you are completely overrun by archon forces and are forced to surrender. Ryder and crew now on their knees are met face to face with the archon. Archon seeing that Ryder was there when Primus was killed wants revenge and forces the player to choose 1 squad mate to die or else they all die. After your choice Archon would state "prepare the others for exaltation, we have an army to build" just as this happens the human ark jumps in smashing through archons flagship cutting it in half and both forces begin to engage. The end would be a 1 on 1 fight between Ryder and archon, resulting in the death of either one depending on player choices.

[TheKingby]

I disagree that the Archon needed a boss battle, I would even go so far as to say that it would have undermined his character (what little there was). He was never put forward as a fighter; he's a schemer, a commander. It is far more fitting to have him throw his troops at you while he does some schemery in the background.

Saren on the other hand, was a fighter (as well as a schemer), the first time we see him he caps Nihlus, then proceeds to personally lead the Geth and slaughter his way across the galaxy, add to that his well-known history as a field agent and the events of Mass Effect: Revelation and it becomes clear that his character is built around direct action and a boss fight makes sense (I hated the speech check to make him kill himself).

P.S. I dislike boss fights in general, but sometimes they make more sense than others.

[GauravMahajanAvaron]

Also, this game is eerily similar to ME1(storywise)
1. Planet Travel Check
2. Get most of the crew in the first 2 locations, check.
3. The defiance towards the higher ups in the nearing end mission, check.
4. Monsterous transformations, human to husk, Angara to kett, check.

[mulwin]

I agree, I liked the Archon as a villain and wished he was more present. ME:A reminded me a lot of Dragon Age Inquisition in that the hours spent exploring the open world areas, we would lose track of our purpose in defeating Corypheus. The Archon's character reminded me a lot of the Arishok in Dragon Age 2 in that he was away from his main home on a mission that he delayed in completing and ended up getting sidetracked by him own personal obsessions. The large pockets of time between encounters with the Archon muted his presence and the intimidation factor. I think Mass Effect 1 did the best job at focusing the pursuit on the villain as the main missions - Therum, Noveria, Feros, Vermire, and Ilos - kept the spotlight in Saren. In future releases, BioWare needs to narrow the narrative corridor and keep the open world as a bonus and not an essential so the pursuit of the villain is not lost in a checklist of tasks.

[deathtogoogle]

I think the Archon was a good antagonist, yes. I wasn't bothered at all by the rare and limited interactions as he did have other things to do than just target Ryder and the team. He had his own hunt for the remtech, the internal politics that triggered, as well as his mission of exaltation to deal with. His lack of personal appearance wasn't a problem, as you don't really expect to encounter the enemy general in every fight.

As for the boss battle, I was highly disappointed that I didn't even get so much as an interrupt option to shoot him in or around the final battle. You build him up, you end up with him personally threatening your character and their family, and you don't even get the option of personally ending him. That's just wrong.

[theolddarksoul]

no he was a weak villain nothing about him was intimidating

[Kacper_C]

You know who was not good, but a god villain?

Gaunter
O
Dimm

[jacobgillispie]

Thought the archon was an ok villain I personally liked him but he should've been able to kill a squadmate or someone you like if you made mistakes...like can you imagine how many people would've thought he was the best villain if he killed vorn....who doesn't like Vorn

[alanbernhardt]

I have been playing a bunch of Starcraft so when I saw archon I thought of the Protoss Archon

[alanbernhardt]

The architect shots that would go through walls pissed me off so much I was like, "You took off one of 3 mechanics of combat in your game!"

[fcrazyflood]

What they did to the salarians was appalling that's what made me hate the Arcon.

[InugamiTheHound]

IMO Archon and kett are pretty villains you hate them because of genetic experimenting they doing to salaries, humans, Angara etc.. Remember the Angaran have killing kett who use to be them. Just like the reapers used humans etc.. into monsters or protheans into collectors. Also remember this guy attack the Nexus and took Hyperion like it was nothing and almost succeeded if wasn't for Ryder twins working together with help of everyone on your team. Don't forget the Primus hated the Archon and wanted him out of the picture. Also Primus will and Kett Senate will be main villains of next mass effect andromeda game along with saving the Qurian ark.

[deanlachance]

they should have made the architects have more deviations. like different powers

[auriptide]

He was perfect for the quality of the game, which was very bad.

[imasiontist]

remember that first talk with sovereign in ME 1? THERE WAS NOTHING LIKE THAT IN ANDROMEDA! NOTHING! NOT EVEN CLOSE!

[Kingstyles]

I felt that we should've fought him twice. Once when on his ship, the second time after dispatching of the remnant on Meridian. A battle like that would've been epic.

[brainconqueror]

Akksul and the Roekarr were a more interesting villain faction than the Kett. The Architects made for excellent intimidating bosses on each planet, and a great opportunity was missed in tying the Roekarr to the Architects and finally to the hermits on Havarl. The Kett and the Archon should've been a side enemy you only fight on Voeld, leaving further Kett stories for DLC, kinda like the batarians.

[mikaelmadrigal]

He is more like a starter villian for a long series in my opinion anyway in a standalone game in a long line of amazing games he is not the best villian by any means he is a good placeholder for a worse/better villian to fight but to have him as a final boss you have to be kidding me anyway if they make more games based in andromeda we will fight better and worse villians and thanks for taking the time to read this. Oh and I am on my second run through right now been a while I had to let them fix it before I played through a second time and it is better than the first time I played.