More likely that we're heading back to the Milky Way?

The problem is Andromeda made them into a strong protagonist.  Just that for most of the game they were a weak one because they were still growing up and coming to grips with their responsibilities.  Any sequel will, hopefully, start with Ryder learning from Andromeda and moving on.  While at the same time continuing to grow as an individual.  Much like how they have handled James T Kirk in the JJverse. 

Regardless of any excuses other people might make, I don't think it's really the Initiative specifically that matters. Like, if the character encounters a band of scum in the wilderness and you would prefer that they die, being part of the Initiative shouldn't be a meaningful story block to doing so. Look at The Firefighters. My first playthrough, I chose instead that I was going to wipe those suckers out. Only reason I didn't put Alain in the ground with them was because he locked the stupid door and swore cripple-y revenge later. The Initiative leadership wasn't around to judge. Really, most of the time, they never are. I get the feeling that some of the restrictions on Ryder's range of personal traits has more to do with what BioWare trying to create a character that is more fixed in a certain range of personalities to fit the narrative. There are times when Shepard's shenanigans should probably have greater more lasting consequences, like telling the Council to shove Spectre status up their asses. Why would they bother giving it back in ME3? At that point, gaining political points with the humans would be pretty irrelevant, considering how they don't really give a shit what Udina has to say.

Did you notice that you have only one quote from ME1 and most are from ME2 - "The council can kiss my ass." and then you mention the action of hanging up on the council.


Well, I can name 1 thing Ryder says that's renegde - "Well, I'm going to fuck your shit up." followed by the action of shooting the Cardinal in the back (after having just made a deal with him so he'd let the angaran hostages go first.  Another comes if Ryder opts to shoot the Angaran AI. She says something like "Why should my life be worth more than his." Ryder responds with "You're right." and shoots her.  He/she does have his moments... not as many as Shep, but it wasn't until ME2 that Shep really started to shine on the dark side and the "sexy renegade" really came through.  So, Bioware could easily turn Ryder more to the dark side in an ME:A2.  In this segment (ME:A1, he/she is the naive kid plunked into a role he/she was not prepared at all to take on.  In ME:A 2, even if they only put it a year after this current one, Ryder will be a lot more experienced and potentially because of that experience - a lot more cyncical, less in awe of everything, and more badass.

I really dislike the DA model of different protagonists and I'd hate to have that happen in ME as well. Yeah I'm one of those people that still want to play as the Hero of Ferelden.

I agree I would not like to see it going back to the milky way!

I don't know why but I hear Mr Mackey's(sp?) voice from South Park when I read this 😂.

If it stays in Andromeda then there needs to be more Andromeda races instead of being majority MW races.

I think that it's very likely there will be new species added if we get a second ME:A in Andromeda.  We've already had a mention of one that we've yet to see - the Jaardan... And that species creates other species as a hobby... so, it seems likely that we'll see a lot more evidence of them create different types of life in the future.

If they stay in Andromeda, they need to kick the ball down the road hundreds of years to where the Initiative is established throughout the cluster.

You have a population of about what, 150K people, I forget how many people were on the Nexus.  Not even all of them are military, and you're in these scattered, fledgling colonies.  How exactly would it be anywhere near realistic for you to fend off invasion from multiple races?  They would need to have built themselves up to have gained the attention of other races with intergalactic transport capabilities, and be able to defend themselves.  I've already given the writers a pass for even defeating the Kett and their vast 'galactic empire'.  That would have been like an upstart race defeating the Protheans in the OT after they established their empire. 

A direct sequel would have to be still finding your way in the fledgling days of Andromeda, and building up your presence, which wouldn't be much different from the first game.  They need to kick the ball down the road into the future.

Not to mention the AI has ZERO warships.  They couldn't defend themselves from an invasion if they tried!

Unless Rider wants to hang out the back of the Tempest on e tether...