2. Shepard & The Reapers Dominate Too Much
The Reapers and Shepard are the Alpha and Omega of Mass Effect. ME 1-3 all focus on them (to varying degrees), leading to the sense that the Shepard saga is all that matters about the ME universe. Everything in the expanded universe somehow ties into Shepard and/or the Reapers. Instead of feeling like an ocean teeming with possibilities, Mass Effect feels like a small pond with two giant yachts on it. If youre not Shepard or Reapers, you dont matter and it shows in the fan community. How much fan art and fiction is there that doesnt involve Shepard and/or the Reapers? Not a lot. The lack of scope in Mass Effect is something that has to be addressed by ME4. Like Star Trek in the 1980s, Mass Effect is associated with a set of characters more than a universe, which is never a good thing for a franchise. Getting away from the Reapers and Shepard is a great way to remind everyone that this is a universe worth telling stories in, especially ones that arent related to the original trilogy. In a galaxy teeming with untold numbers of heroes and villains, its hard to see why Bioware cant come up with an equally compelling cast with better adversaries.