The GameInformer article thread

Isn't the only reason Garrus and Tali made it back in ME2 as romanceable characters their popularity? Ironically enough, neither had much of a personality until the second game anyway, so I suspect said popularity was mostly due to character design and voice acting. So jingle bells, fanservice all the way.

There were so, so many ways to handle what you call the "quarian health conundrum" that weren't anywhere near as cringeworthy as what we got: a non-sexual romance, a "let's look into it when we're not in a life or death situation" romance, even a "let's find alternative ways to do it that do not infringe upon anyone's health" romance, awkward as that may have been. But alas, it is too late for that now.

I have nothing against Weekes as a person, but as a content creator he has made it clear (explicitly and implicitly) that he suscribes to the idea of using fanservice, escapism and cheap thrills as the north of the creative compass. He has been emphatic about it, so I doubt he has changed his mind overmuch.

Haven't seen that view in awhile. I bought the alternate appearance pack solely for Miranda 

The series had an issue with overuse of the Overranked Soldier trope.

By ME3 Tali has gone from FNG to Admiral and government official, Garrus has gone from C-Sec cop to in the line of succession for Primarch of Palaven, Ashley has made the mind-boggling jump from Gunnery Chief to Lt. Commander, Kaidan has jumped from Lieutenant to Major and now technically outranks Shepard, Wrex has gone from mercenary and bounty hunter to War-Chief of Tuchanka, and Liara from mild-mannered scientist to Shadow Broker. 

Even new characters weren't immune from it. Vega, despite having a personality better suited for a junior enlisted man, is a lieutenant.

That nearly every named Alliance character aboard both versions of Normandy is an officer is an example of it as well. I think the only exceptions were Ashley in ME1 and Traynor in ME2. For comparison to the real world, the ratio of enlisted to officers in the US Marine Corps is 10 to 1. The US Air Force, which has the highest officer to enlisted ratio in the US military (the Marines have the lowest), is 3 enlisted for every 1 officer. The Alliance in contrast seems like it has too many chiefs and not enough Indians. To be fair to Bioware, that sort of thing is common with Sci Fi writers who delve into aspects of military fiction, primarily because most writers don't know what NCOs are or do, and wrongly associate any position in military organizations that has responsibilities or requires leadership with being an officer.

I don't think Wrex fits much the Overranked Soldier trope though. Other then he is old (in his specie's term) compared to the others who are quite young, he was already a clan leader back in the days, before he became a mercenary. It's not far fetched he became a krogan leader in ME2.

Remember the Alliance is Bioware's military. So they can do whatever they want no matter if you or I don't agree. Remember that Traynor is a Specialist, the same rank as a Corporal, but yet the rank does not exist.

To be fair it's not like the Normandy was only formed by officers. There were more common soldiers then officers. They just made the latter being the relevant npcs.

They can write whatever they want, but some attempt at verisimilitude makes the game more immersive. It's much easier to suspend disbelief when the characters feel like they could be real people, even when the situations they're caught up in are fantastical. The ship in a Mass Effect game is also arguably as much a character as any of the people populating it, and I think it's important than the atmosphere aboard it feel believable. Mass Effect was always at it's strongest when it leaned closer to hard Sci Fi than fantasy.

On that note, I wish Chris L'Etoile was still one of the series' writers.

Are saying that because you're a fan of Tali?

Having her stand there doing nothing while the geth uploads the code does make not care about her people. Why couldn't she push the geth over the edge? How about shooting the thing? Or better yet, stab the thing in the back? Remember what she did to the geth when it attacked Shepard? She never hesitated, but yet, for some reason, doesn't make any effort to stop the upload.
Who is this everyone else you mention?
You mean without squadmates? I remember saying I like to have the main character go through the game without having any squadmates at his/her side. But that has more to do with making the game more challenging.

Garrus was kind of a grey mark, he was ageneral but really not.

I don't find them that different from ME2, to be honest, though I don't get what you mean exactly with not having his back.

Yeah, I can't say I agree with you. You're confusing Bioware's decision of make squadmates voiceless in most quests, during dialogues, or non relevant in cutscenes where they're not relevant to the plot, whith them not  caring or covering for Shepard. What they didn't in ME3, it's the same as in ME2. And Jack and Jacob in ME3 are central in those quests since they're related to
Them.
Not that I can make you change your mind about it. Fair enough that you feel that way, but I disagree completely.

Again, it's not like I don't want squadmates that have my back. It's that I don't think the examples you mentioned mean those characters have your back and others don't. Because the same happened in all games, and it's a design decision from Bioware. By the same logic, I shoumd consider that the squadmates are all weaklings and stupid (despite them supposedly be well versed in their fields), instead of just being a design decision or Bioware not be able to design AI well so far.
I don't get why you have to mimick my final words (I think I saw you doing that other times to other people), but it's all right. Let's agree to disagree on this issue