For future Mass Effect, what are deal breakers for you

Oh I agree that going by the dictionary definition of 'alien' is not possible for Mass Effect or any other fictional setting as that would require something that, by it's very nature, we as humans cannot comprehend. That being said, pursing alien elements is not impossible, indeed it helps better flesh out the setting and world building, and is something that I would say that BioWare has very much let fall to the wayside in recent years; exemplified perfectly when "Rule of Cool" Mac Walters was put in charge as head writer. 

And while non-humanoid depictions are certainly the first thing people think of when they think 'alien' that is in no way a requirement. Indeed some of the more 'alien' aliens in the setting have been showcased to us in forms that don't diverge wildly from human norms; specifically Legion in ME 2 and the speakers for both the Rachni Queen and Thorian. Now granted the latter two examples have non-human appearances for their species, but they both interacted with the player through an easily recognizable mediator. The alien element that they conveyed wasn't based on their appearance but rather the writing behind them.  

The writing that depicted the ME 2 Geth, that explored the Rachni was based on the foundational theme of exploring how something intrinsically different from us would perceive the universe; whether that be through consensus and the cold logic of machine thinking, or adding the concept of synthesia disorder to eusocial hive minded insects. Those were the things that set them apart from just being another human in a rubber mask. Even the more human-like aliens of the first two games had an alien element to them; from the Salarians who thought fast, talked fast, and lived fast due to their hyper metabolism to the Krogan who's biological immortality, coupled with their R-rated predatory nature, made the narrative around application of the Genophage a very murky situation. Etc. 


Of course by the time ME 3 rolls around all of that nuance and 'alienness' has been shoved out the airlock in favor of forced emotional drama and cheap Pinocchio-bots, a trend which carried forward into Andromeda and left us with no real aliens to speak of despite taking place over two million light years away from the previous trilogy.

The Milky Way aliens have been reduced to the point of just being humans wearing rubber masks, and the new additions to the setting in the form of the Angara, Khett and Remnant are just rubber-forehead humans who have heightened emotions, Collector knock-offs with a semi-religious bent, and suduko powered rombas who are more plot-device than species. BioWare had no interest in attempting to explore those alien elements that were present, rather they focused on having Citadel-level 'comedic' writing with characters who were quirky.

A perfect example of this is on the first desert planet you encounter after the prologue. Those insectoid aliens you spend hours killing as you run around doing fetch quests, the bugs that just seem to spawn in for no other purpose than to give the player something to shoot? There's no mention of them in the dialogue, no overheard reference in side chatter, they don't even have a throw away Codex entry. Nothing.  




Or just look at this video for a presentation of what I am driving at:

I agree, some of it is also due to only telling but not showing. The game tells us how they are supposed to be alien in many ways but doesn't really show it, so our experience is that they are not that alien. You have to use your imagination and actively ignore what you are seeing and experiencing in order to maintain the mental image of all these interesting aspects that are  not shown or elaborated on. I'm not surprised most people just go on based on what they see rather than what they can imagine. 

IIRC, Volus and Batarians have a life span similar to humans while Salarians and Vorcha have shorter. Krogan, Asari and Elcor have the longest and Turians live somewhat longer than humans. It's not human-centric for Asari to say that. 

As for being emotional, I'm not sure it's correctly described. More like open about expressing emotions, since all MW races seem to experience emotions basically the same way as humans. It's really weird though for Angara to describe themselves like that because they have no frame of reference apart from the Kett. How would they possibly realise that they are more openly emotional than other races they have never even encountered. 

+10 Vortex. Spot on.

Chris L'Etoile leaving and the ascension of Mac Walters was the deathknell for the series.

At least there is cause for hope as that cockroach finally left Biower.....

Taking responsibility? In all the posts I've read, I don't believe I've seen the word responsibility in the same sentence with Ryder. Anyways. I disagree with your disagree. Lets take a look at this responsible thing. I would say Ryder is responsible for a few of the problems encountered throughout the game.

When talking with Kosta, he tells Ryder he was suspended x number of times. That should have been a warning for Ryder telling them this Kosta guy is a troublemaker. Sure enough, he lives up to that name. I would have him removed from the roster right away avoiding any future issues.

Then there's the peepee character. She tells Ryder she prefers to work alone. If Ryder had half a brain, he/she would know it takes a team to complete a mission. There is no I in team. Ryder should have known this from their days in the Alliance. But then again, the Alliance, or as i like to call them, circus, are not very well put together. Refusing to have the asari on the roster would have avoided any future issues. Later, it is learned, the peepee's girlfriend steals the robot. Hmmm. Is there a reason why the ship was left open for anyone to enter the ship? It would have been hilarious if the ship was stolen. Or worse, the crew is killed. I wonder if Ryder would leave their door unlocked when they went out to do whatever before going to Andromeda?

When on whatever planet, they recover the robot stolen yet for some reason do not scan the thing for any foreign objects. Then there's the peepee's loyalty mission. At the start, the pilot tells Ryder it might take a while to find a landing spot yet the asari says he won't find a safe landing spot. Why didn't the little duck point that out to the asari? Then for whatever reason decides to enter the escape pod. Why couldn't Ryder stand outside the pod to talk with the asari? 

If anything, Ryder is irresponsible. I mean nothing is done to punish the two for the crap they pulled. It's because of the I don't care attitude. Ryder says as much.  She/he is more interested in what they call a kicka** team. Nothing kicka** about when you have dumb and dumber on the roster. Of course Ryder will fill the third role as dumbest.

I would go even further and say father Ryder has the same I don't care attitude. He must have letting the Kosta clown on the roster. I would suspect he was so obsessed with his wife, it distracted him enough to ignore the Kosta record. He should know better being a former N7. 

I agree with what Vortex13 says about Ryder. Without the Sam voice thing, Ryder wouldn't have been able to accomplish much of anything.

Hmm. Considering how the Initiative is a civilian venture, maybe they were going for a realistic depiction of the corporate world. The higher you go in the hierarchy, the more inept the employees are. The decisions they make are stupid and out of touch with reality. I've heard this story so many times from friends working in big companies.

I don't know, if the Initiative project would have been militarily staffed you most certainly wouldn't have had all the problems with fracturing of the leadership and large swathes of your population. They definitely wouldn't have had a criminal running security, stirring up a full blown insurrection against said leadership.

Military organization and, most importantly, discipline would have stopped about half of the problems the Nexus faced when they arrived in Andromeda and the other half could have been tackled with a unified focus.  

In traveling to a completely unknown and very likely extremely dangerous location with no way of calling for help once you arrive who would you rather have leading people?

A dedicated military organization who are trained to deal with situations like this?

Or a civilian lead population, who can't even organize food rationing properly without it turning into a riot?   

IMO it's just the question of leadership, no matter whether civilian or military. You need competent, charismatic leader figures at the helm who people can trust and look up to for direction. If that's disrupted or absent, you get chaos - demonstrated countless times through history. With Jien Garson dead and Ryder's father, too, we can assume that the Initiative lost exactly that type of the leadership figures and the second-in-charge weren't up to the task.
The incompetence shown isn't exactly unexpected for a private exploration enterprise of that kind, where you would expect rather eccentric personas being a significant number of the expedition force.

ah yes, military or civilian? The initiative is all civilian with some former military personnel. Though I would question that with what is seen in the game. It all starts with Jein I can't balance my checkbook Garson. She runs out of funds during the project. Out of the blue, this so-called benefactor with vast amounts of resources shows up. He/she/they/it flashes some coin in her face. She turns to mush getting all giddy inside knowing she can finish her silly sightseeing adventure. Why didn't she ask why she is receiving all these resources? Why didn't she do a background check? It's only when she's ready to leave the Milky Way, she decides to start questioning the benefactor's motive. To keep her company, let's add Alec I only care about my implant Ryder. If anything, I would have expected him to question the benefactor before accepting any help. He didn't care. His obsession with the implant and his wife clouded his mind. I would not have made him pathfinder. He agrees with Garson's concern though, but it was too late for that. 

Alec also has a trust issue. He doesn't trust his kids enough to let them know what he had planned for their mother. If true, why even have them on the team. Oh right, it was the only way for big Ryder to pass the implant crap to the little Ryder.

When arriving to Andromeda, why weren't the fighters deployed to lead the way? Then again why weren't the fighter pilots and pathfinder team wakening up a few days before arriving so they can do an equipment check to make sure everything is in working order, go over any scenarios they might encounter? One of the funniest things happens in the shuttle when Kosta introduces himself. Little late for pathfinder team members to get to know each other. Waking up earlier would have helped for each team member to become familiar with one another.

Look at the Nexus. It suffered damage when running into the scrouge. Had they deployed fighters when entering the cluster, the Nexus might have avoided any damage. The Nexus also housed all the tempest ships. Why? When in the hangar on the Hyperion, there is a lot of empty space. It could have had a tempest. Why didn't a pathfinder travel with the Nexus?

Then there's the ships themselves. They decided not to add any defense system to protect all the fancy crap the ship had. Having them could make a difference allowing the ship to get out of trouble before things get to the point where it can't get out trouble.

If it was a military led operation, I would guess things would have been different. Might not have encounter the problems that is seen in the game.

Lastly is just after gaining control of Ryder. In the next area, a piece of machinery malfunctions. Ryder has a scanner. Ok. Why don't the maintenance personnel have one?
Jim: What's wrong Bob?
Bob: I don't know. I don't have a scanner to do my job.
Jim: Oh, right. My bad. Want to go to the cafeteria to get something to eat while waiting for when Ryder returns to scan the faulty unit?
Bob: Yeah. 

Overall a lot of the problems the Initiative encountered were self-induced. That can be easily explained as to why. Just use the same excuse dumb dumb used when talking to Shepard. You don't need to know, and there's not enough time to explain.