Would you be ok if they went back to the Milky Way?

no, it' doesn't make any sense
why would they do that?

In that you would be wrong. I haven't got the time to browse through all the side missions of ME1, but there was one of these generic facilities on some planet where you met a lot of Batarian war beasts and a Batarina crew, which you could let go or not.

I remember Bring Down the Sky pretty clearly and this was an entirely different encounter. Not in any way remarkable, just one of the generic side quests, but still there.

In any case, even if you were right. That still leaves a lot of other races being present as compared to MEA.

I don't know what to tell you dude. Just read the wiki. It literally says that BDtS introduces the batarians. You can't be remembering that clearly. The only thing I can think of is that the Batarian War Beasts were basically just varren and you might have seen some varren elsewhere, but other than that I've no idea how you've managed to get this into your head.

The point is really that when your entire argument hinges on the raw number of species, being unable to even remember whether or not a given species even turned up in the game clearly shows the limits of that logic.

I do miss the Milky Way. Having Mass Effect where Earth is makes it different from other series like Star Wars.

I was thinking of how it could be a great story.

Make the destroy ending canon.

New protagonist on a far colony or habitat finds a working Mass Effect gate or a failsafe built into the Mass Effect system to slowly repair the gates.

You could even make it about a protagonist on a far colony and slowly they make their way through many star systems devastated by the Reapers, picking up squadmates and other lone survivors to make a crew.

I won't guess about enemies or goals but I would think there is a ton of material from the OT where you could revisit planets from ME1-3 and
see how they are changed or the same.

I really was kind of disappointed we couldn't revisit the Milky Way and see what happens after the war and having the relays destroyed.

I suppose it would be a darker story but not as dark as ME3. After the jokiness of MEA a serious story might work better.

I liked MEA but it has a completely different tone which may contribute to it not being taken as seriously as the OT.

I really can't be bothered to go round this circle again. Just re-read the posts if you want to do that.

I'm not entirely sure that would be an accurate way to distinguish the two franchises from each other. Let me explain.

Despite the fact that yes Earth does exist in the original Mass Effect games, it doesn't play a crucial role in the first two installments. It's role is so small that the closest you can do with the planet is orbit it and land on the moon. In fact, the only time Earth was ever relevant was when BioWare made it important for the sake of pathos. Shepard was on Earth when the Reapers attack, ergo Earth is now the most important planet in the galaxy to Shepard.

I think a better example of how Mass Effect distinguishes itself from Star Wars is how each series treats it's alien races. Take a look at the first two original Star Wars movies and note who is fighting on either side. With the exception of that one Hoth technician who commanded the Ion Canon, every single member of the Rebel Alliance and Imperial Navy is a white dude. For a galaxy that has hundreds of space faring races in a war that will decide whether the galaxy will be free of an evil dictator, it sure seems like the aliens don't really care all that much. At least until Return of the Jedi.

Mass Effect on the other hand not only gives us well defined alien races that we can get to know and understand, but they're treated like actual characters. Not some random background eye candy or the simple-minded sidekick (Sorry Chewie), but actual people who have a stake in everything that's going on. Quite the contrast when the only alien race from the original trilogy that we actually go to know were the freaking Ewoks.

And if you ask me (Or take a look at my "Humanity is Special Trope" thread), I think Andromeda did the Mass Series a huge disservice with regards to how it's alien species were handled. In the Milky Way galaxy, Humanity wasn't in charge of everything since every race had their own civilization. You don't get any of that in Andromeda because by the end of the game, Humanity is in charge of the whole freaking Galaxy. All of it. They are in control of all the technology that can turn each planet into a habitable planet or a barren graveyard. And with Andromeda's insistent "Humanity loves to explore more than anyone else" trite, things don't seem like they were going to get any better. Basically, Andromeda is turning Mass Effect into Star Wars little by little. Having it be more about humans than anyone else.

Member The Milky Way? Member Shepard? I member.

If eventually returning to the Milky Way would occur, then so be it.