11 Ways Bioware Should Have Made Mass Effect Andromeda

10. Have The Crew Be Fans & Followers Of Shepard (Address The ME3 Ending)

The way Andromeda tackles the events of the original trilogy is to pretend they didn't exist or never happened, the only mention of Reapers, Protheans, Shepard and the old crew coming through optional audio logs or one conversation with Garrus' dad. This doesn't show the requisite confidence necessary to say to the public "Look, we revisited this universe for a reason", but it could've been done if many of the Initiative's members were fully engorged in Shepard's exploits.

I'll get to how they know everything in a second, but think about it: Enough time has passed in the games for the any events back home to fully transpire, meaning Bioware could've designed their crew of space-faring fighters to represent and vocalise all the responses to Mass Effect 3's ending controversy.

The only people that would sign up to such an 'Initiative' leaving the Milky Way in the first place are those who have a fondness for Shepard as the first human Spectre, and/or those that have attempted to keep up with his exploits during the original trilogy.

Flash forward in time and space, and you could have multiple scenes where various characters address the most polarising original trilogy elements head on. You'd have someone singing Shepard's praises, discussing how he did a phenomenal job with what was presented to him, whilst others could call out the 'bullsh*t' of space magic, the rumours of a 'Star Child' - even a joke/discussion on the indoctrination theory and how unbelievable/plausible it all feels, especially in retrospect.

Bioware clearly wanted to have a clean break from the original trilogy as its presented in Andromeda, but they still mention key characters anyway as some way of 'bridging the gap'. The controversy of ME3's ending isn't a ball and chain - it's an excuse to really unravel exactly what the developers were thinking, before using newer conversations to pivot our affections onto an entirely new cast for the future.