Story highlights [speculation]

The answer for me is "hardly". I'm having hope that it will but my expectations are not high in this regard.

Shock value? Not at all. That isn't the type of story being told here and honestly Im happy about that. Im glad we're getting something a little lighter that doesn't have us fighting a galaxy ending enemy hell bent on our destruction.

As for the general question about whether it will be 'better' than previous Mass Effect games in terms of story, I dont really know. Believe it or not but thats entirely based on opinion. Some people will prefer the story arch for Mass Effect (minus the ending) and some people will prefer Andromeda.

Lastly, the question as to whether it will be 'good'. I have no doubt that it will be good. If Bioware is known for anything its for their writing. They've had a few hiccups here and there but overall the Mass Effect games had fairly good writing and story archs. Either way Im gonna be happy with Andromeda, all I wanted was another ME game and here it is finally. It'll take some serious effort to turn me off of it.

I wonder if  having a story that doesn't revolve around you acting as broken moral compass to save a galaxy from certain doom' might lead to a more personal growing story like Tomb Raider for instance. The thing I loved most about that game is how human she had become and it felt like you were right there with here. It would be really cool if they managed to bring that kind of experience into Mass Effect.       

And who were among your favorites?

Yes

One of my concerns is that they've kept saying "It's about the characters" and fans keep saying the trilogy was great because "It's about the characters" but to me that's slightly reductive but nonetheless true in some fashion. I just don't think it was just about them. Rather, for me it was always about the context. ME1 has some really stupid dialogue here and there and some pretty flat characters at times but because of the setting and lore the various plights of your crew and your relationship to them soars above what it otherwise would've been. Similarly ME3's genophage arc is only as good as it is because of what Mordin was in ME2. I played without Mordin because he died in my canon playthrough so I had Padok Wiks and aside from Wrex's involvement this subplot left little to no impact on me because of it.

Imagine you clone Wrex into a new character in a non-existent setting. "Grr, I'm sad because my people don't have no glory no more! I gave up on my friends and family, now I'm just a bounty hunter." and that's it. No Krogan mythology, no genophage, no rachni wars. Just a generic bounty hunter who's sad because "someone" of his kind aren't great anymore. There's a little depth. It's kinda similar to Garrus and Sidonis where Sidonis's story is a little too vague, but at least Garrus had the fully realized Omega to create the context for what he was doing and why that resonates with you.

I'm sure Andromeda has this, but I'm just a little iffy on the "It's just about the characters." You can't just make PeeBee a great character by making her likeable and unlike most Asari for example. She has to have a bigger plight than that to make her interesting, so I hope the Andromeda cast has some good memorable backstories and motivations and relatable traits and not just charming, endearing dialogue or character designs.

Tali was sooo boring in ME1 though and then for some reason (I assume fan-feedback I didn't see) she's suddenly fawning over Shepard in ME2.