The fashionably late theory

Well, that train has sailed for me already. What I wanted was a continuation of the Milky Way galaxy, to see how the galaxy would develop without the stifling oppression of the Reapers. It could have been like a post-apocalyptic Fallout-esque game set a couple of decades after ME3 where the player character explores a lost galaxy, travelling to ruined star systems, finding survivors in ramshackle communities sprung up after the Reapers croaked. Basically a story about rediscovering the known galaxy. I envision it as the Citadel's efforts to reclaim the territory they lost by systematically repairing the Mass Relays damaged by the Crucible and establishing contact with lost worlds and colonies. And of course, along the way they encounter a new enemy that threatens the recovery of galactic civilization, maybe militant spacefaring yahg, maybe something entirely new.

There was a lot of potential in the post-Reaper Milky Way and they threw it all away for a bogus soft reboot in Andromeda just so Super MAC wouldn't have to eat his stupid hat.

Naturally Arcian would be whining nonstop here on the forums if they didn't go with making Destroy canon.

Oh wait, Arcian would be whining nonstop here on the forums if they did exactly what Arcian said and made Destroy canon because then Arcian could complain about them "ignoring player choices".

One really does have to wonder why in the world someone involves themselves in the discussion of a game when they are completely opposed to the entire premise of the game and have absolutely no desire to have anything but loathing and hatred for the developers not doing only what they want.

They really don't need to take any of the existing endings into account. All they need to do is to simply start the game by saying "The Reapers were defeated." and then go from there.

By completely ignoring the three vastly different world states. Ignore the death of EDI and the geth in Destroy, ignore Shepard!Catalyst in Control, ignore the forced synthesizing of all galactic life in Synthesis. The one thing common to all three endings is that the Reaper threat is ended. That's the only detail that matters and the only detail that has any relevance in a sequel.

Because then the franchise can continue in the Milky Way without having to work around the bullshit Casey and Mac wrote. I mean, come on, you're willing to accept Mass Effect: Andromeda's nonsensical, lore-breaking premise in order to play another Mass Effect game but you can't accept Mass Effect 3's nigh universally reviled endings being thrown in the trash?

Why exactly is it nonsensical and lore-breaking to be able to go to another galaxy in a game about giant sentient squid bots and slingshots throwing people across the galaxy?

They just drift there on a pre-planned course. That's not super outlandish. It's actually easier to believe than a lot of things in the series, including the endings. Or the fact Shepard was literally brought back to life. Or the fact that while Shepard was in his zombie coma, the entire galaxy switched from infinite ammo to laser magazines. Or the part where the Reapers, modeled after various different species, all turned into the exact same squid monster. Or the fact that Shepard and company were able to charge headfirst into a Reaper that knew he was there. 

So yes, I would take something that feels relatively plausible over completely and blatantly ignoring something that is arguably the largest event in the entire series. I honestly don't see how you can even justify starting after the endings and pretending they weren't there. I would legitimately prefer a hard reboot to that idea. It sounds so incredibly lazy. Even lazier than a reboot, if I'm being entirely honest. 

"Just ignore something that definitely happened and changed the lives of literally everyone in an entire galaxy. No one is going to have any questions."

Because it gets rid of the useless and problematic elements of the existing endings, resulting in a clean slate that doesn't hinder the continuation of the Milky Way. The only thing that matters for a sequel is that the Reapers are gone.


Because the technology required to make such a journey doesn't exist by the time the Arks are supposed to leave (between ME2 and ME3). The codex makes no secret that interstellar travel within the Milky Way is already difficult enough without the convenience of the Mass Relays. Any expeditions to find and unlock new Mass Relays are never undertaken lightly, and always come with great costs.

So it makes very little sense that they would consider interstellar travel difficult and then sit on technology that makes intergalactic travel a 600 year walk in the park.

Now, they could've gotten around this by using the Prothean tech excuse. The Protheans were spacefaring for 22,000 years, which is more than enough time for them to establish themselves in the Milky Way and discover the necessary incentives to invent intergalactic starship technology capable of reaching the Andromeda galaxy.

Unfortunately Mac Walters cannot help himself from constantly masturbating to human exceptionalism in his writing, which is why humans in Mass Effect always end up inventing everything awesome despite being technological babies compared to the other Council races.


Mass Effect starships never drift - one, because the FTL engine can't be turned off mid-flight or everyone dies, and two, because there's something called the conservation of energy - turning off the main thrusters to preserve fuel means the trip will take longer, which means the FTL engine will need to remain engaged longer, which means it draws more power. So in terms of energy expended per unit of distance, nothing has been gained, which makes the conservation of fuel pointless. That's why Mass Effect starships keep their thrusters at max speed throughout the entire trip, accelerating the first half and then turning the ship around to decelerate the remaining half.


So because BioWare has been writing shoddily in the past, they should just throw self-criticism and internal logic to the wind?

Seriously?


You wouldn't consider it plausible if you were more familiar with the trilogy's lore.


The largeness of an event has no bearing on its legitimacy. Especially not the endings, which from a perspective of theme and narrative were so disjointed from the rest of the franchise that they can barely be considered a contiguous part of it.


Because virtually no one likes the effect they had on the franchise. Because they ruin the Milky Way forever. Because they make no sense. Because they're poorly written. Because they violate the thematic and narrative standards set by the rest of the franchise.


Lazy? It's a simple solution. Lazy is what a writer is when he haphazardly and with no regard for the established lore of the franchise creates huge plot holes in order to protect his pet endings.

With that said, I too would prefer a hard reboot. As much as I love the original trilogy, there's a lot wrong with it that I would like to see fixed. But a hard reboot is not likely to happen very soon. All I can hope for is that Andromeda bombs so hard that BioWare rescinds the sacrosanct status of the endings and does something about them to un-fuck the Milky Way so as to enable future Mass Effect games in the galaxy where they belong.


It didn't happen if it's removed from the continuity. Yeah, retcons are lazy, but the very existence of the Initiative's tech is a retcon. You're obviously okay with that, so why not just retcon away the endings instead? Considering how poorly they fit in with the rest of the franchise, it would barely register as a loss for the narrative.

Millions of people may have liked the game - and I know that because I'm one of them - but there's very little, if any, evidence to support the statement that millions of people liked the endings. I mean, you're basically implying that BioWare produced the Extended Cut, entirely for free, just for the sake of a few thousand fans. That makes absolutely no fiscal sense whatsoever. The only thing that could motivate them to produce free DLC is when a fiscally significant number of their consumers - millions - voice complaints about their products, and the number one complaint about Mass Effect 3 was it's abysmally received endings.

And just for the record, Salt Shaker, you're allowed to like things no one else likes.

Kinda fanfic but I like it.

Also if there's no good story reason behind Peebee eyebrows (the given reason so far is stupid), that's one thing I hope to mod out.