Reapers, their impact on the Milky Way, and Andromeda

So here's something that's been bothering me for a while.

The Reapers - created almost a billion years ago by an ancient civilization known as "Leviathans", the Reapers were tasked with finding a solution to the recurring problem of organic and synthetic life always trying to kill each other. Logic of this solution aside, the Reapers have been wiping out all technologically advanced life in the Milky Way galaxy every 50 thousand years for the past billion years. As a result, the Milky Way galaxy and its species have been eternally stunted in growth and development. Much like a bonsai tree that is permanently pruned to ensure it remains small instead of growing larger (they aren't a unique species of small tree, just normal tree species that have their growth carefully managed and restricted). The Milky Way galaxy has been practically eternally defined by the Reaper's management, with the Mass Relays that their creator's civilization developed almost a billion years ago defining how and where species will develop, and even the Citadel defining where they will rule from once space flight is achieved. And as soon as a civilization is on the cusp of advancing technologically in a way that would make them a threat to the Reapers, they are wiped out. The Milky Way is reset, and the technological development of intelligent life begins anew.

Now let's cut to Andromeda - a brand new galaxy that, we're told, is free from Reaper influence. My first thoughts on this game's announcement were "How will a galaxy free from this 'reset button' every 50k years differ from the Milky Way?" Because on the grand scale of things, that reset button should have ensured that the Milky Way species are severely stunted technologically compared to life in other galaxies. And yet... if anything we're more advanced than life in Andromeda? We are after all the species that travelled to their galaxy, and not vice versa. And we seem to be the ones posing the threat and horror of being an alien invasion force intent on settling another galaxy's planets and terra-forming them to meet our own needs, often with little to no regard for the life that already calls these planets home.

The Big Question - Why is it that without the presence of the Reapers, this galaxy's species are, so far, not unlike our own? Both physically and technologically. The species in this galaxy have had, potentially, up to 20 THOUSAND times longer to develop than the current Milky Way races have. As far as I can see this has three different explanations:

1) Bioware's writers have made yet another big mistake. And with the quality of writing on display in Andromeda, this might even be the most likely explanation, as depressing as that would be...

2) The Reapers didn't just harvest life in the Milky Way and then chill out in Dark Space doing nothing for 50k years. They carried out a 50k year tour of multiple galaxies in our universe, harvesting and resetting life across more galaxies than just our own, with Andromeda being one of them. If the Milky Way races could develop the technology to reach another galaxy in just 50k years, then it seems impossible that the Reapers couldn't also achieve the same space flight distances with their significantly more advanced technology. Perhaps we'll find evidence of the Reaper's past actions in Andromeda in the future?

3) Another Reaper-like event befell Andromeda in the past. It may not have been an event that regularly recurred like the Reapers did, but something may have happened in the past that wiped out all technologically advanced life in Andromeda and caused a reset event not dissimilar to the reset events the Milky Way galaxy endured for the past billion years. Possibly a galaxy-wide extinction event that reset all life.

What are your thoughts on this? For those of you far enough into Andromeda's story to have picked up on any clues as to why technology is so bizarrely stunted here in line with the Milky Way's technology (if any such clues can be found, that is) then please remember to SPOILER the relevant info for the benefit of those still playing the game. Otherwise, I think this is something that could definitely use some more speculation. In the (hopefully) unlikely event that Bioware didn't even consider this topic when they developed ME:A, it could at least become a topic they address in sequels if we make them aware of it.