There's something shady about the Andromeda Initiative - Minius GC

Interesting ideas and I hope Bioware has something like this in mind.

I would prefer something underhanded or even sinister about Andromeda Initiative to the lazy writing alternative of "we're in this just to explore resource-rich areas" -- despite most of Milky Way being unexplored.

I pretty much feel the same way, though I don't think I would mind just a few hints as a call back to the OT. Outside of that, though, I'd prefer to not hear much of anything on Cerberus. I'd even be happy never getting a confirmation one way or another if they're involved and leave it more up to fan theory, but that's just me.

We have to remember, that at the time AI left, Cerberus wasn't yet recognized as evil as we know it from ME3.
At the time of AI departure, Cerberus was perceived more as a shadowy/secret group with plain intent to act in favor of humanity and humanity alone.
So, if we do get people who stem from Cerberus in Andromeda, we need to be prepared to hear lots of "explaining" from them on how Cerberus wasn't that bad yadda yadda...
I know... it will be tiresome for hardcore ME fans, but for Ryder twins this will be something new.
Unless of course, their father/mother turns out to be from Cerberus all along or it turns out that even Ryder twins also knew a lot about Cerberus themselfs (althrough, not the real deal, but just info from propaganda BS).

But this is a two-sided coin. They were so prominent in ME3, that it would be kinda wierd if they had NO pressense at all in Andromeda. I feel like it's about moderation. I think Cerberus could be a nessecery addition to Andromeda, if done correctly.

I don't fully trust responses like that, as to me, they sound like press responses. Like, of course he's not going to sit there in an interview and be all, "Huh, yeah, you're right. We kinda fucked that up", lol. Everyone's backstory wouldn't be the same, and that's why I don't buy it. Everyone would have one thing in common, yes, but surely most everyone in the Andromeda Initiative had a life before they left for Andromeda. Things happened to them. 

By that logic, everyone in the AI is impossible of having an interesting backstory because all of them are a part of the AI, regardless of whether or not the Reapers had anything to do with it. It just doesn't make sense.

And I wouldn't mind Cerberus being involved, even in a major way, so long as it's for a reason, and not just shoehorned in. People keep saying, "Cerberus shouldn't be there. It's a new galaxy", but they all showed up from the preexisting galaxy from the old trilogy.

I would've been okay with them leaving during ME3, honestly. It would've added a lot of weight to everything going on in Andromeda. As far as they would've known, they would be the only humans left. Now, if they fail, sure it sucks, but the Milky Way is doing just fine. 

It wouldn't have matched what happens in the game. The Initiative already at it's established now requires people to ignore the fact that there was no talk about it, and a huge expediction like that would've been the center of many discussions.
But it'd have lead people to have the same reason for going, at least a lot of them. And if the Reapers are truly behind it as a secret reason, there is actually a lot of weight going on, since they have no clue if the MW was reaped again. And it'll lead to a lot of anger towards the higher ups of the Initative for lying.

It would be nice if it was sinister take on this journey, but I have always felt that initially this project kinda struggled with how to proceed after the backlash of ME3 (ending). It's a nice theory, but i think this just gives them an "out" so they don't have to dedicate anything regarding the Reaper storyline and it's outcome.

Again it would be nice if something darker is indeed at hand here, but i don't think the writers was thinking anything along those lines. Interesting bit about Cora....i think cerb and that entire story stays with the trilogy tho...

The AI is almost surely hiding something in my opinion. The uprising on the Nexus as it reached Andromeda might be related to that.

I just don't buy it, honestly. The only reason that would somehow imply less complexity would be if the writer was incapable of making it complex. That's a fault of the writer, not a fault of the setup. Their previous lives don't stop being important either, because they all successfully escaped the Reapers, so they become largely irrelevant anyway. 

Besides, their personalities and histories are defined by what happened before the Reapers showed up. Their hopes, dreams, and goals are completely independent from the Reapers. There's literally no reason why they wouldn't be able to make interesting stories just because everyone shared a common motive for leaving. That just makes it sound like the writer is incompetent. 

I don't know about Cerberus, though. We only really knew about them through The Illusive Man, and his lackeys like Miranda and Jacob. People were inspired by Cerberus. People that probably never even knew for sure that TIM existed. There's a lot of depth to explore with Cerberus, especially considering the fact that they were so obviously "the bad guys" in the OT. Even in ME2, where you work for them, Shepard never trusts them and leaves them at the end regardless of how the player feels. It was so black and white that it begged the question as to why anyone followed Cerberus at all.

It's not that their lifes were less interesting, or that they'd lack complexity, it's that when your reason to be somewhere is such a life changing event, it's inevitable that it'll overshadow your backstory, if not completely, then at least in part. Same with your motivations, there's no chance in hell that after something like that you remain the same person you were, it'll leave a mark in everyone, it's inevitable. However, when it's the events of their previous lifes which made them take a position in the Ai, that's more intersting since we're not talking about random people running from a menace, but about people whose lifes led them to take a trip to another galaxy. I find the latter more interesting, but to each their own.

As for why people joined Cerberus, I don't think it's too different from why they joined the KKK or the NSDAP. I don't think BioWare would want to explore the good (or less bad?) side of a supremacist group, anyway. At least not more than we did in ME2.

But I feel like Cerberus being lumped in with the KKK is a bit disingenuous. They don't hate aliens. They just focus on humanity. 

As for the Ai, I suppose it's a matter of opinion, in the end, but I think that it would've strengthened the overall narrative. A lot of decisions Bioware is making seems strange to me, but it's their game, I suppose. I also find the Khett to be troubling... the setup here makes me think of Halo 4, when I think focusing on the aspect of being the last of humanity would've been far more interesting than just having some kind of evil alien antagonist. 

I want the game, but I keep seeing missed potential. Maybe that's just me.