Mass Effect 4

[Virandar]

When I look back and take off the rose tinted glasses the previous 3 games had their shortfalls and being honest to myself Andromeda wasn't far off that quality mark (that's not a whole compliment there to the original trilogy by the way) in virtually every area.

And that's an important thing here. None of the ME series games were perfect, each of them had things that were at best annoying. They were better at forcing us to an emotional response then MEA, which is why (in my opinion) so many people loved them. And it's also why criticism of the series after ME2 is so fierce.

 

[Garix]

The backstory of Shepard wasn't incredibly deep, but it was really nice to see some outcome of it in the game. I'm talking about the side quests in ME1 (in my case Talitha and Toombs). Well, more of conversations than quests, but it was a nice touch, sort of making you understand better what Shepard went through without a wall of text. And then it comes back as background news and conversations in ME2 and 3.

As for MEA, the background is that both of young Ryders are doing something for the Alliance. One is doing Prothean digs, the other is a member of mass relay staff. But you don't choose that, it's just mentioned in conversations.

Not deep is a understatement!

But it was something else to help call the Character "yours".

 

[Virandar]

Not deep is a understatement!

But it was something else to help call the Character "yours".

Yeah, it always cracks me up to hear Shepard's recommendations to become a Spectre, basically summed up in two lines. You get that at the beginning of ME1 and in Citadel DLC for ME3. But yes, with side quests, with e-mail from Toombs in ME2, with your crew mocking your dancing skills and so on, you could feel like it is yours character.

As for MEA, Alec Rider has far more background info than Shepard ever had. And it's a character you're not going to see much anyway. But he has also more background story than his kids (and they are supposed to be the protagonists here). Would be nice if we at least had a choice between those Prothean dig sites and a mass relay as a young Ryder's background, though it's a minor thing.
Overall, I don't see MEA as worse than ME1, but whereas ME1 had an air of novelty, discovering the new game universe, MEA doesn't have the advantage of that. Which leads to expectations of it being set higher.