Is Shepard more relatable than Ryder?

I actually really enjoyed the expectations of Alec Ryder and how the game snatches it away completely, and it was a pleasant change, to me, to be the "recruit" that gets thrusted into a role of greater responsibility, almost like if we were to play a sequence where Shepard fights off batarians during the blitz. Before that, no one really knew or cared about Shepard yet.

Have neither of you played BG, JE, DA:O or DA:I?

Except for Baldur's Gate, yes, I have but what does that have to do with Shepard and Ryder?

All the main characters of those games are "recruits that get trusted into a role of greater responsibility".  This is not a new thing for Bioware.

For me at least, Shepard was someone who has appropriate background, training and career that the plot demanded. He was selected for spectre before given spectre status, and he was in the chain of command to succeed anderson, so when he does take over it doesn't seem out of place.

I'm not sure what the writing process was like, but I feel like Shepard is character that the plot logically demands.

Shepard is like Kirk in the original series, people wrote the story and setting and then wrote Kirk to fit it. Ryder is like Kirk in the reboot, he IS the story.

It wasn't so much that I couldn't relate to Shepard. Like I've said before, you can relate to someone's emotions and circumstances even if the situation they are in is one only found in fantasy It's hard to quite explain why Shepard didn't click with me the way Ryder did. It has nothing to do with their respective ages, though, that much I do know. 

I think part of it is that I had a hard time buying at times that Shepard could exist outside of their role and work as a soldier like, say, by having a personal interest unrelated to that field. I think that's part of why I like Ryder more: I can more easily see Ryder as someone who could have a life outside of their job and so exist more as an actual person. it didn't help that the trilogy had some odd writing turns for Shepard that should have been more acknowledged like the Sole Survivor background in Mass Effect. I'm not even going into how the auto-dialogue in Mass Effect 3 created character inconsistencies and how the lack of relationship mechanic retroactively created close relationships where none was before. I supposed I could say that Ryder feels more human than Shepard does and more a person. Like I said, it's a bit hard to explain but there is some of it, I think. 

Of the two, I found Ryder a more interesting character and that's even though Ryder lacked some of the dialogue options of the meaner variety that Shepard had. I supposed it may be that I found some of the options Ryder had were more meaningful like how you could select Ryder's motivation for coming along on the venture. I can't recall but in the OT, was there ever options to express Shepard's motivation for becoming a part of the Alliance?

This is very interesting.  What I think you're saying is:

The OT created Shepard because the story demanded it.  Andromeda created a story because Ryder demanded it.

I like the analogy.

When you watch the video you see how well written and introduced Shepard was for Mass Effect 1.
In fact I'd have to say the whole of MA1 is well written and plotted which you need for a new franchise.

I still like MEA but it is harder to match Ryder to their actions.

It's one thing to be an unknown Dragonborn and go out and soon be slaughtering monsters in some medieval period.

It's quite different to be Ryder, who seems to have been military, but certainly not a commander in battle.

Shepard definitely was perfect for Mass Effect - It's got to be harder to make Ryder so iconic.

You get me, wellsoul2.  You really get me. 

This is basically the whole video in a nutshell.

I don't know, I always felt connected to Shepard, and I just don't with Ryder. Maybe it has something to do with my perception that I made Shepard the kind of person I wanted to play and even when I played it multiple times and played Shepard totally different he was who I made him.

With Ryder all my choices either seem pointless or I don't have the choices I want. With Ryder it seems like I am just along for the ride, like I am watching a movie and that I have no real control over him/her. Seems like I am in the minority here but it is how I feel.

I don't want my rpg characters to be "relatable". Relate I do to someone else.

I want them to be identifiable, as in "I want to identify with them". For that, it is important that no canonical traits are ascribed to the character that I don't like. By that measure, I must prefer Ryder to Shepard by a significant margin.

However, I have to agree that Shepard is more convincingly written as what the writers wanted them to be against my preferences, than Ryder is as what they wanted them to be in accordance with my preferences. Having said that, writing can improve, but the character concept can't change, so I have a little hope for Ryder yet.

Unless they do a second game with Ryder  doubt we'll see our choices having any weight.  Like most choices in ME1 don't even play out until Mass Effect 2 or 3.