I gotta say, Ryder is a nice contrast to Shepard....

You not taking into consideration that not all players are young inexperienced blanks, which seems to reinforce my point about issues of being able to relate to Ryder have in no small part to do with age. There are many people like me, with some life behind their belt who can relate much better and closer to Shepard, because his actions, tone, motivations and reasoning - all those of an experienced person who had seen his share of things - are more in line what those players would say or do in his proverbial shoes. Ryder on other hand feels way too unbelievable for his role due to how he talks or acts throughout a game, at least from a perspective of a mature person. While there is nothing wrong with teenage stories, I dont think anyone expected that from Mass Effect, especially after stellar original trilogy which fit well for more or less for players of all ages.

Well I'm not exactly saying the age is what makes him relatable, instead is that he is a new character and person on this world like we are on it getting to know everything from the beginning. He was never meant to fit the role of pathfinder, as the story progression is about how you were not meant for this role but were given the role anyway by your father. Ryder didn't train for this moment. By the end of the story's last moments you get to see Ryder being more serious and determined on the role and prove he/she was the right pathfinder. The story is more of a development of proving you are the pathfinder, despite a lot of people not believing in you right from the start like Addison.

What I want to get at, is that the way the character is written, leaves a great open door for him to develop a sequel installment with more maturity and focus. With Shepard, I feel he is already pretty developed right from the start, as he already had experiences. Ryder is starting to experience the big things now.

Also I'm sorry if it comes out I'm saying Ryder is the definitive more relatable, my argument was more explaining why others find him more relatable than Shepard. But some will find Shepard more relatable, some will find Ryder more relatable. Which in a way is what the thread talks about too "how is good to have a contrast different character, then a character that feels like another Shepard"

Uhm, the fact that he had ability to do all those things you mentioned, does not mean he actually had to do them - it was a players choice to shape Shepard that way. ... In contrast to yours, my Shepard was a reasonable man, acting on the situation and doing what seemed to be right in a context of situations.

One of the big differences I enjoy between Shepard and Ryder or another way can of putting it a Spectre and a Pathfinder is the less tense, top brass elitist class that fit so well in the first trilogy. It's a good change of pace to play as a totally different type of professional. Pathfinding bespeaks exploration from curiosity not just necessity.

I think a lot of "I can/can't relate to character" and "he/she is too un/serious" thing has to do in no small part with player age. Back almost 10 years ago when I played ME1 for the first time, I was in my early 20's and, while I cant say that didnt like Shepard, I often found myself too disconnected from him and thinking that he is way too serious and "stiff" in many situations, often wishing he would ease up and be more casual. In other words, I wanted him to be more like Scott Ryder we have today.
Fastfoward 10 years into present. Now I am in my early 30's, and as unbelivable as it would seem 10 years ago, a lot of my views and perspectives had changed over that period of time as well as accumulating some life experience. Prior to Andromeda release I decided to play through whole original trilogy, considering that somewhy I have neither played ME2 and 3 untill now, nor replayed ME1 since that playthrough around 10 years ago. This time I felt VERY strong and deep connection to main character, as if I was in his proverbial hide and saving galaxy myself. Almost never did I felt that Shepard did or said something that made me cringe and think "wtf dude, that's not how I would talk or do this or that" which ultimately led to extremely immersive and satisfying gaming experience. Conversations went smoothly, dialogue choices felt and went naturally, and I was easily able to imprint a lot of my personality into Shepard without game starting to feel awkward. Also I think it is important to note, that OT allowed player to shape Shepard as a character - he could be holier than though, dirty devil, or somewhere in between - game allowed to develop a natural character even with its paragon/renegade mechanic (I htink through entire OT I got locked only out of 2 dialogue choices by paragon/renegade system)
Now to Andromeda. I started my playthrough with Scott, hoping to form similar bond as I did with Shepard, hoping that the game will grab me by the balls the same way OT did. But unfortunately miracle did not happened, and playing as Scott felt completely off not due to things like animations or bad voice acting, no, it was because Scott felt, and in fact is by game lore, too young for me to be able to relate to him like I did to Shepard. His manner of speech and dialogues in general too often feels too cringy and like I am participating some teen drama forced on me. To make thing worse, you cant really roleplay in this game but only choose tone of dialogues, so it doesn't matter whichever options I choose, I still get stuck with a 22 y.o. nice guy Scotty that looks and sounds like he got out from college prior to Andromeda departure, and still keeps looking and sounding like that despite everything happening around him in this game. Ultimately I could not take it anymore, and after over 10 hours into game I decided to restart the game playing as Sara. At least with female protagonist I can distant myself more from main character and sort of observe things from the side, like in a movie, rather than having my brain unconsciously trying to immerse into character only to be hit back by a jolt of dissonance I get from Scott's acting.
Now I am not saying that Scott is a bad as a character, no its just that I might be a little bit too old for such character. The same problem I experienced with Far Cry 3 protagonist, which I never was able to play more than few hours into the story due to immature protagonist and game feeling like teen drama. I almost wish we could play as Ryder senior instead, ofcourse with all dialogues and game story remade to properly fit him in. Despite his very limited screen time, I think he showed more character and personality which I would be able to relate to, than both Scott and Sara combined. Ironically, Andromeda became a sort of revelation to me that now, among everything else, I need to pay more attention not only to games setting and quality in general, but to characters age as well, to make sure I will be able to enjoy a good game, which almost makes me feel old. I hope that next ME installment, if there ever be one, will feature a more mature character cast like it was in original trilogy.