The Opposition is...

please....do not attempt to use logic....you may anger him

This would require a retcon of the Reapers to make catalyst not confused but a liar. (It didnt want you to know you could leave for another galaxy.) and pulls the ending crap in order to continue its experiments.

Picking Destroy wins = Canon.

I'm not opposed to that.

In the 600 years we were travelling there the Reapers were travelling back having defeated the AI behind the Angara using the scourge.

Dealing with the precursor species that arrived before us. There is a new war on back in the Milky way against their main force. Only now we are at the same level of advancement because we have dead reapers to study.

The war is winnable.

Yay.

I don't think the Catalyst addresses the topic of leaving the galaxy one way or another.

But to be more serious (my OP wasn't really a deeply thought through investigation of lore), I wouldn't mind something go wrong in the Milky Way over centuries and wrap into a multi-galactic storyline. At least then I wouldn't be so annoyed with the in-universe situation of "Can't go back to Milky Way? But WHY?"  Bioware would finally have an answer of some sort, even as I'd still prefer to open world explore Thessia, do important things on Kahje, etc (one day..... )

I don't think Destroy needs to be canon, but I wouldn't mind up to majority elements of the eventual situation to result in that. I've had posts around where I think ending unification is easier than it seems, and that its just that Bioware doesn't want to touch the poo yet.

Destroy - Everything boom at some point (contrary lesson --> things still head in a more Reaperish and AI-problem direction than hoped)
Control - Lots of tech around to use (contrary lesson --> things still destabalize and get corrupted)
Synthesis - Big advancements, transcending (contrary lesson --> disaster still occurs and separation then abounds, the solution was too much of a singular answer and it blows up in the worst way even as it proves amazing things more possible than it would seem)
Result --> Milky Way goes awesome for whatever extent of time but goes boom in conflict later on, well after anything we can consider a mortal Shepard's life, and we then get a Milky Wayer people that are amusingly close enough to how we consider Ryder with SAM (a technology that also proliferates with the Initiative after MEA), the biology of Angarans, etc. We move on into a more transhuman (but comfortably so, and still humanity focused and close enough to what we expect to see in a ME game) story of Mass Effect.

I do believe Bioware is done making any single game a 'Reaper' or 'Shepard' story, but I am one of the (maybe few on BSN? *shrug*) who doesn't think they're afraid of ever relating to those matters, but we're just done any sort focus or primary relevance. A DLC with a Reaper? A hidden aspect of Shepard or something he missed? A surprising function of the Crucible? Refugees of the war telling more revealing stories of their time then? A resulting series story that allows multiple interpretations of the goings on while not ignoring it? Sure.


EDIT: I do have a personal theory that a lot of a hidden focus of MEA is just to catch up Ryder on lore matters and plot journeys both similar to the combined ME1-ME3 and to what possible results of the Crucible/ME3 ending may have been. When meeting the Angara, the way they are, the situation they were in, somehow I felt like I was dealing with some gestalt version of all the Milky Way people in that galaxy. Something about MEA strikes me as Ryder getting early rushed lessons (as along with new players to the series) to prep them for more important but somewhat similar challenges later on - and not needing as much lore dump because MEA occurred. In a way, that makes MEA a covert lore/establishing dump where ME1 was a more blatant one.

I can definitely see the people of the MW crash down (as a civilization, not tech compared to ME3) for some reason at some point and provide future allies, enemies, etc - as well as reusable models and animations Bioware can use .

They specifically refer to the scourge as the opposition's weapon, I thought.

The part I'm mentioning shows the Meridian being hit by the scourge itself, and that event is what spreads the scourge through the galaxy.

Well they stated (via twitter i think) that reapers would not be present in Andromeda, it would have its own set pieces.

Aside from that, the speed at which the wave travelled was a matter of debate, as the Normandy would have been travelling at unprecedented speeds to make it to the Charon relay (past pluto) all the way from Earth. Also the Normandy wasn't impervious to the wave so there's no reason Initiative ships would be either. The only reason the wave would effect all their tech is because said tech was based on Reaper technology, that was their design in the first place. Completely unrelated to Andromeda races and evolution.

So the wave would have had to leave after the initiative, completely bypass them while leaving them unaffected to reach Andromeda first.

Lastly, the scourge itself shows none of the characteristics of the crucible's attack. Its reach is not absolute, and is avoidable. It acts more like a snare net that reaches for nearby craft rather than a wave of energy originating from a single point.

More likely the Opposition will be teased in DLC, obviously returning to finish the job now that Meridian is active again, and will be revealed as the new baddie for a later entry in the series.

Even still rocking the ships slightly in that instance, would have had even more diluted effects upon making it all the way to Andromeda. The scourge itself directly targeted Remnant tech. The crucible attack targeted Reaper based tech, if it would have ignored or barely scratched the Initiative there's no reason it would have homed directly in on Meridian, unless Jardaan are SOMEHOW connected to the Reapers. The effects shown vs Initiative tech Vs Jardaan Tech at the time of the attack would directly contradict this theory.
Unless bioware is in decline and plans to make each game worse than the last, there's no way to justify this unless "Wormholes." some sort of deus ex plot hole cover to shamelessly tie the two series together further despite Andromeda supposedly being a new direction.

Yeah.

Jaardan doesn't need to be connected to the Reapers, but it can be related. (these are not the same things) But I'm not saying they're related.
A Crucible-like weapon doesn't need to be the ME3 Crucible either, as well.

I do have to contend with one thing - a new direction, and a fresh start, does not mean everything is always new. I don't think its ever meant that. It means, well, just what it says - a new direction, a fresh start. Not an always separate direction, or restart, whatever. Its still in the same space, with a world that is the same as the old one. Taking your arks (literally and figuratively) in another direction, and trying to provide some distance and time from the past, doesn't mean that past doesn't matter or isn't relevant anymore. There's indeed enough dialogue in MEA itself suggesting this, in my opinion.

Yes this isn't Mass Effect 4, but keep in mind EA marketing - They called a game DA2 even though its still clearly the next chapter in Thedas' story and so "Dragon Age: Exodus" would have worked too. Its more about the cover than the contents. Bioware didn't want people to expect a direct sequel, and a direct sequel indeed wasn't what we got. That doesn't mean stories can't have relation to past stories. At least the sidemissions in MEA have proven that already.

Of course they would honor the past trilogy, but everything leading up to the release, mainly magazibe spreads, are speaking of quite literally a fresh start with a self contained story that they wasn't planned to be the first in a new series.

Repeatedly Andromeda points out that there's no going back to the milky way, culminating in a series of messages from the milky way that pretty much enforce the ongoing overarching theme of "There's no going back, we have to look forward." 

It would be ludicrous, insulting even, to bring the reapers or related material into Andromeda. Story wise it wouldnt have made sense as the Reapers only ever focused on the Milky Way in the eons since their creation.

And this is why you don't go shooting a Crucible off half cocked, because it may not be today, or even tomorrow-but somewhere at some time you are going to ruin someone's day.

"You are not a cowboy. You do not shoot from the hip. This is a weapon of mass destruction."

It reminded me of the ME2 talk about Isaac Newton being the deadliest sob in space.

Seriously,though, the idea that the Scourge could be some residual effect of the Crucible blast did occur to me. Still occurs to me. I mean, the door is wide open on that. Extraordinarily ancient designs; we have no idea where these came from; immense power and abilities that we don;t understand...and the Scourge does seem to have a "targeting" capability like the Crucible in that the Scourge specifically likes to target remnant tech the way the Crucible was able to target reaper tech.

Shrugs. idk, but I could see it happening. Whether or not BW does...