Should there even have been a new Mass Effect (yet?)

Feels like they have created a new game just because that's how the industry works now, not because they had fresh ideas or even particularily wanted to do it.

Bioware has now two IPs (the Fantasy IP and the Shooter IP) that will be updated ad infinitum - or at least until sales collapse, which might happen sooner then we think.

Bioware of old used to come up with new settings that they found exciting, gameplay that fit this setting and then comprehensively explore them with one game plus maybe one sequel. They had their tabeltop inspired RPG, the RPG that was built around a campaign creator, the Star Wars game, the Kung Fu game, the SciFi team shooter trilogy. Obviously, the quality fluctuated, but at least every new release felt fresh and interesting.

There was no need for a new Mass Effect. The world was created to tell a single, long story. Asari, Salarians, Krogan and all the other races simply aren't deep enough (and never were intended to be, and didn't need to be) to be trotted out every few years for decades. We came to know them, lived with them and said goodbye to them. Same goes for most of the concepts of the Mass Effect universe.

And of course, the setting is a poor fit for the Open World that every AAA game now has to have (understandibly so - even a poor open world sells better than no open world). FTL transportation and interplanetary travel required an open world so big that it had to be procedurally generated and feeling empty.

I loved the original trilogy. I though it brought the universe and story to an (controversial, but after all the DLC at least acceptable and often touching) end. Andromeda is an insipid, bland, spiritless second helping full of played out tropes and devoid of wonder and new ideas.

I wish Bioware would go back to making new IPs that they were excited about and that would only get sequels if there were good reasons for it. Hell, since open worlds and gathering & crafting overkill are now mandatory, come up with something that's build around that from the ground up.