Did we need the Kett?

Okay but then we settle words and do what? As weak as the storytelling was, it would be much weaker if there was no antagonist. They might not have been a very good antagonist and when compared the the reapers they are a joke. But they are something to keep the story moving along. Remove them and we meet the angara would would welcome us with open arms. No conflict to drive the story forward. Maybe the outcasts are an issue but they are not enough of an issue to really drive anything forward. They might be a moral quandary to some degree depending on how you look at the nexus and what you might be able to dig up about the past to get you to take sides. Overall though that would be fundamentally boring I think. Archon was very one note for a villain, but I guess he exemplified the kett in a way. He was there to exalt. He was sick of being there. He was going to destroy it all if they didn't line up to become a kett. You know, I think it would be interesting if the autopsy discovers he had some kind of brain abnormality that can be attributed to all the genetic enhancements and manipulation and that is why he behaved that way instead of more like his next in line who wanted to continue to follow the directives they were given. Might make his behavior at least more interesting.

I mean the combat was pretty terrible in the first entry... I won't argue that so for those you wanted a good sci fi combat sim I'm guessing it wasn't their fav.

Check this out.  I loved the Vandal Hearts series...  I was a shining force fan.  That is like old school rpg stuff..  I get giddy thinking about the time Orlandu shows up in final fantasy tactics.  Not that those are clear cut examples of pure RPG... but I never played those games for the combat to be sure.

How pissed where you at the end?

Wasn't really pissed. I had forehand knowledge of star child due to forums. I always check the forums of games out before I buy them to see what I am getting into. When it did happen though, I was more disappointed then angry. Even the new ending is still awful, but I was happy with the citadel DLC. I mostly stuck with the franchise after that though because of ME3 MP. That was the glue which kept me held to it, and frankly, it is still for the most part.

The Kett were a bland underdeveloped enemy led by an even less interesting and almost comically bad villain in the Archon.

I somewhat agree with OP the story would've been stronger without them. But I also agree with others we need an enemy. I'd just like something more developed or at least intimidating. Having a villain just the the sake of it is not good storytelling.

Pretty much, yeah.

I've always said the game would have been better off without the Kett.  Let the Roekar serve as the antagonist and race us to Meridian if need be.  I'd rather they instead let the game focus on exploration and discovery.  That said I don't know how well BW could pull that off, given how anemic the exploration aspects of MEA turned out would cutting the Kett out have given them enough leeway to make that part of the game interesting?  Who knows.

Throwing yet another unbeatable evil "we shall change you into us" enemy into the game was both dumb and unnecessary though.  Now we are gonna need another big space magicy deus ex machina to save the day, just like ME3.

That made sense for Shepard, sure.  Makes far less sense in Andromeda.

Yes, I'm fully aware the game is meant to pull in the shooter crowds and have MP modes to drain those folks wallets one micro-transaction at a time.  Doesn't mean it makes sense for the narrative part of the game.  In fact the focus on and the amount of combat in MEA detracts from the narrative instead of supporting it.

I think having another Kett at the level of Cardinal or Primus would have been a better alternative.  The problem is they gave the Archon the possibility of an interesting arc, but they made him completely dispensable too.  So having another NPC that reported to him that captured Ryder and you needed to encounter at the end probably would have been just as interesting as the Archon, but saving him to another game would allow his obsession with the Remnant the possibility for the driving force of another game.

I suppose, if the narrative didn't directly involve getting in the middle of a cluster-wide conflict against a warmongering parasitic empire. 

The way I see it, Heleus is essentially the Wild West. The Angara are the Native Americans, maybe the Aztecs. The Milky Way species are the French(or any European race that didn't immediately murder the indigenous populace). The Kett are Spanish Conquistadors. If North America wasn't inhabited when the Europeans came, Clint Eastwood and John Wayne wouldn't have had careers. Without the Kett, or a similar antagonist with which to shoot at, ME:A is essentially a Sid Meiers game(less pew pew, more tedious management).

That being said, there are two things I would like to change in Andromeda: