There's something shady about the Andromeda Initiative - Minius GC

I kind of think the shady AI premise is nigh on perfect in terms of overarching implications down the road (who knew, who didn't) and different degrees of shadiness ranging from this mysterious idea that the Helios cluster is semi-mystical in a way, through to Jien and a few head benefactors being privy to Reaper information (perhaps from Cerberus, perhaps from other shady sources in the Traverse)...it lends itself to the trip making far more sense overall and adds potential 'gray' characters in our midst.

Fucking excited as a Volus in Azure right now, so keen on another trailer to get my hype train on level pegging with my Horizon: Zero Dawn train of hypes (which is admittedly way ahead due to the latest previews, it is out far sooner however).

Cerberus, could you actually be the catalyst that makes this whole AI thing make a shitload more sense? 

...this is indeed the darkest timeline 

I disagree with this logic.  If they were escaping the reapers then that would help there be a variety of backstories because people of all sorts would want to escape the reapers, whereas without that reason the AI is basically limited to crazy risk takers with no life.

I can already taste the Cerberus salt, it's at overloaded pretzel levels 

Great post, Ivory Samoan! If Minius was on these forums I'd give him a virtual high-five!
Those are all really interesting facts. I thought the same thing when I seen Cora's last name "Harper". and When I read about Alec's opinion about using A.I. as a means to human advancement. I mean, you can't deny that it kind of really hints at Cerberus, at least a little.

That's actually a very good point. I wouldn't mind Cerberus being involved. Like you said: "so long as it's for a reason, and not just shoehorned in".
It could be a nice surprise! Or they might not make an appearance, and that would surprise me, just as much. Given all the "hints" fans spotted.
 Either way, I'm left surprised! And that's fine by me!

I thought I saw somewhere that the AI was a backup plan of sorts to survive the reapers in case we couldn't defeat them? A bit like how the protheans put themselves into hibernation.

Why do people hate the idea of Cerberus in Andromeda so much? I dont know if I like the idea or not, but people seem be to really against it, what would be the reason behind that? (genuine curiosity, not trying to be judgy)

Cerberus is pretty big in the MW and to think that a colossal project like the Andromeda Initiave happened without Cerberus knowing and doing everything possible to put people in it, doesnt make much sense. The Illusive Man surely knew about it and I dont think he would just ignore it.

By the time the ships leave the Milky Way, Sheppard already knew about the Reapers and how they wiped the Protheans which the whole galaxy knew were a pretty advanced race, more so than the current races. Someone must have known that if the Reapers came back, the whole MW races would be wiped out(even if the alliance council denied it). Is it too much of a stretch to think that the AI was meant to go away (evading the reapers invasion) to a far away distant place to look for weapons/technology that would allow them to fight and destroy the Reapers in the future? Again, it seems people are pretty much against Cerberus and Reapers in Andromeda, but I would love to have a future Mass Effect game where we would go knocking on the Reapers door (wherever they are hiding in dark space) and take them out of their misery! I don't believe for a second that even if the reapers were destroyed at the end of Mass Effect 3, they wouldnt have back ups and a way to restore themselves far away from the MW. A super advanced synthetic/organic life form putting all their eggs in the same basket? Unlikely.

And the cool thing is, during this whole process we dont even have to go back to the MW, so no problem with whatever ending you choose in ME3.

Is being fed up with them and their "resources" a reason enough?

It's so strange to me that so many people expect them to not be a part of the game. They're as synonymous with Mass Effect as the Alliance, at this point. What's the point of this being a part of the established Mass Effect series if it isn't even going to reference its own lore and history? That would be ludicrous.

My opinion is simply this: Cerberus was just an annoyance from day one. They were never a threat.

You have a problem as big as the Reapers around the galaxy and strangely, Cerberus is the one thing that stands out to oppose everyone, with an army with cutting edge weapons, armor and implants, despite being severely weakened before ME3 (You can read it in one of the books).

You'd think with civilizations in the Milky Way dating back almost 2500 years, and the other species a lot more widespread than ours, they would have their shady organizations too, and with a lot more time to get into contact with reaper technology and be indoctrinated. But, they wanted the Illusive Man to oppose you, and that just cheapened the plot a lot more. He was better off as this mysterious figure behind the scenes.

Even if you agree with him (giving the Collector Base, agreeing that controlling the Reapers might be the best solution after all) you are forced to be enemies in ME3 and can't never tell him that (just don't wanting him to control the Reapers, but yourself, after all). Renegades always seemed to get the short end of the stick in the trilogy, even when their decisions seemed the most reasonable.

When you've already have that big war going on, Cerberus isn't going to be that impressive as enemies, much less taken seriously. Obvious from the get go you would take them down. And the Illusive Man dumbed down to hilarious taunts and increasingly incompetence at the same time, even with all his plans being obliterated. 

I don't need that same thing in Andromeda. I want to learn and focus on the new alien species, and discovery, not return the focus on what we already know so well, humanity. Why create amazing backstories, worlds teeming with alien life, mysteries from the universe, if you are going to put all the attention on humans again?

Dragon Age doesn't seem to have this problem.

@mdnplayer Because we are humans? Just because the original trilogy was bad at telling stories doesn't mean Cerberus is what's broken. It either means the writers on the last ME game were hacks, or they didn't have time or resources necessary to make the story better.

Besides, how much focus and emphasis has really been placed on Cerberus? The Illusive Man, sure, but Cerberus? TIM isn't around anymore. Most people that worked for Cerberus never even met him. Cerberus is not a dead plot element just because we changed galaxies. In fact, it would be incredibly lazy to build Cerberus up the way they have and not include them. It would completely contradict everything Cerberus IS if they weren't able to catch wind of the Andromeda Initiative and somehow get involved.

And regardless, you're implying that it's impossible to focus on humans and aliens at the same time. You seem to forget that the major focus on ME1, 2, and 3 was on humanity. A brilliant setting is nothing with shallow characters to experience it through. Humanity is the most important aspect of Mass Effect.

"Throwing it out" would contradict what Cerberus has been demonstrated to be capable of. It makes all the problems you have with Cerberus in the original trilogy look even worse, because it makes them even more incompetent, while the story tries to convince you they aren't.

You can't just throw it out. That's extremely lazy. 

Cerberus has been demonstrated to contradict common sense. If it's a choice between common sense and Cerberus, I'll gladly choose first.


That's exactly what they can, entire species are being left out, there will be no better moment to do it. Keeping them would be just denial of own mistakes.