I have a feeling I know what the "save humanity" stuff is really about now.

That seems unlikely. I can't repost the GI article verbatim, for obvious reasons, but it states more or less the following:

Ark Hyperion arrives in Andromeda at Habitat 7, the first of the human "Golden Worlds" to be explored. Things aren't as expected, though, as the atmosphere is much more volatile than imaging had suggested. Communication with the Nexus and the other Arks is impossible, and it's ultimately Ryder's job to investigate and find a solution. Clearly, Ryder is aboard Ark Hyperion when it runs into trouble in isolation.

We do know that the sibling has trouble awakening from cryosleep. It's possible that he or she isn't even able to do so until we manage to make contact with the Nexus, I guess. I haven't seen the tweet of which you speak.

Let me see if I can find it. I don't think it was a tweet.....I'm trying to remember. It stuck out to me at the time because I remember thinking where the heck is Ryder then if not on the ARK. I was trying to figure out where Ryder might be if not the ARK, and why.

Or they might have said more that Ryder was not in the same area as the other people that were cryo'd.

Lemme see if I can find it. I'm curious now.

They haven't given us too much, yet. We know how we are getting there and that something goes very wrong. The details, though, are all up for debate. It gives us something to do while impatiently waiting.

Yes, when rumors started about yet another mysterious alien race and galactic thread, I was like "Seriously, Bioware? Again?".
But let's see what they did with it.
I mean, DAO had such an unoriginal bland main story but what made the game great were the characters. And in the end the game was more about Alistair and politics than it was about the archdemon. DAI's secret main plot was the wholen elven gods thing. And that was SO GOOD, much much better than Corypheus. Except for ME1, Bioware always kind of writes weak plots and ridiculous batshit crazy bad guys. It's the companions and how they are connected to the plot that make their games interesting.

I actually LOVED the family angle of DA2 and that's why I'm totally thrilled about daddy Ryder and sibling Ryder. However, I do not want a repeat of Carver hating your guts. Terrible terrible character.

I agree that the game should not spend too much time on Ryder being scared of so much responsibility. I want Ryder to be a natural leader and take things in stride. "Well shit, this is not good. But I'll think of something. Ok, everyone. We need to come up with a plan B. Let's figure this out."
Ryder can worry about others all they want. But please no Kaidan in ME3 situation. No overblown insecurities. And please no advisors. I want Ryder to be the one who has ideas, not do whatever the others say. Clueless inquisitor was painful. My elf didn't even understand who Mythal was. That was an awful oversight. Complete narrative mess. But I guess we won't have to worry about that in MEA. No multiple races.

I have a feeling we'll reunite with daddy at the end. And I hope he's NOT the bad guy. I want him to join the others for collective ass kicking in the big showdown.

For the advisers, I think we'll have characters that will be part of our staff, like a chief engineer/medic/executive officer, or similar. Considering the increasing role crew members have, I think their role will be deeper then in the trilogy,

And I agree with Element Zero. Ryder is young, and inexperienced, and she/he wasn't supposed to be the one leading humanity to find a new home. He should have people that can assist him/her.

What Garson said in the orientation video is what it should've happened. Things didn't go according to plans for Hyperion.

Different perspectives is always interesting when presented in a way that makes them easy to understand like in your case.

I did not read the novels. I do agree that the Grey Wardens have bleak lives. And they become wardens not knowing what they sign up for, which makes it so much worse. The one guy running away at the beginning… I cannot blame him. That aspect was well done and continues to be interesting, especially now after DAI. There are very interesting implications. It’s what I keep saying, that Bioware is good at how they tell stories even if their stories aren’t the most original imo.
They know how to move us, definitely.
But the overall evil-monsters-need-to-be-slain plot was not what appealed to me. I’ve always been a fan of the human side. The templars vs mages plot. I know many find THAT fairly boring and drawn out. I loved it. I loved that DA2 was all about that. I like how Bioware presents moral dilemmas. Like with the genophage, I honestly can see both sides of the argument and wouldn’t know what to do if I was in charge of the situation.

I never put DAO on a pedestal like many fans do. Even the art style was not to my liking. Aesthetically DAI is my favorite of the franchise even if it makes everything look deceptively cheerful. I’m not a fan of bleak visuals. Which is why I never touched Fallout. And the only reason I even played DAO was because of ME1, which was my first Bioware game. Fell so in love I tried DAO despite my dislike for medieval settings and gore.

The advisors made sense because the inquisitor came into the story as an outsider, yes. I simply happen not to like that narrative of clueless person who ends up having to save the world. And I never felt like the inquisitor progressed much from there to somebody who knows what they’re doing by the end. The advisors gave good advice and I had my Lavellan follow it.
I didn’t mean to say that taking advice is a weakness. I very much agree it’s smart and mature to listen to people who have more experience. It just made the inquisitor boring to me. I never felt like she saw eye to eye with anyone. Everybody had more insight, the inquisitor brought nothing to the table. It was only the anchor that made her “special”. Otherwise I saw no outstanding qualities. That bothered me. A lot.
I want Ryder to be uniquely qualified for something. And then brainstorm with other people who have a talent of their own for something else. I felt like the trilogy nailed that. Shepard was an amazing leader and a good diplomat (when paragon). The others had equally important qualities. Right down to somebody like Traynor. It was awesome.

Yes, I know the Mythal thing was an oversight, but it added more salt to the wound, so to speak.

Sorry, I meant that I’m fine with Ryder worrying about family and friends. I loved that side of Shepard, especially in ME3. See, Kaidan was having a meltdown mostly about himself. He got promoted and felt insecure about it. Not up to the task. He felt insecure about Horizon and where things stood with Shepard. And when Shepard needed somebody to cheer her up, Kaidan made it worse. He was a complete mess. Shepard was tired and “broken” because she was so scared everyone she loved would die. It wasn’t about her. That she wasn’t a good leader but that it just wasn’t enough. See the difference?
In any case, I don’t think Ryder will have such desperate responsibility on their shoulders. The extinction of all advanced Milky Way races was an extreme case. Even if the people on the ark are in deep shit, it’s not Ryder alone who has save everyone. So should be fine.

I grew up an only child of a single mother. Always wanted to have a brother. That’s why I like family stories so much. They are as fictional to me as alien races. Escapism, experiencing something I don’t know. I’ll always be drawn to these types of stories (I’m currently getting emotionally wrecked by Bates Motel!).
The romances I’m always looking forward to as extra character content, and then I remember that they usually aren’t particularly good, haha. I’m not in favor of adding even MORE romance content. DAI had already plenty. I know everybody wants to self-insert. But I’d rather play a really good one that ties into the plot (like Liara and Alistair) than have ten different cringe-worthy choices that exist in a void.
That’s the thing in general where we have two opposing camps: do we want characters intertwined with the plot for maximum scripted emotional payoff, or do we want maximum freedom to play our own story at the expense of such impact? I’m very firmly in the first camp. If Bioware has an amazing idea for a lone wolf story or a romance that isn’t my own sexual orientation, that’s still great. I have no problems playing Geralt either and watching him pine for Yennefer because that’s how it’s in the books. All *I* want is to get into other character’s heads and be moved by their story. Doesn’t need to be MY story. But I understand those who want to write their own stories in their heads. Bioware games are somewhere in the middle, I guess. But they lean more towards semi-set characters imo. Which makes me happy, others not so much. And I sometimes feel like some people would be happier with a different developer where there’s more roleplaying freedom.

I never played Jade Empire. But I downloaded it when it was free for a while. I might yet play it. I keep hearing good things about it. So without having played it, Solas is definitely the best villain of their two current franchises. I was so delighted how it all turned out in Trespasser. Great great writing!

Sorry this got so long!