Mass Effect BioWare Montreal's Mass Effect: Andromeda - where element zero meets trisomy 21

[mastroego]

N. K. Jemisin

Oh jesus christ, I completely missed it was written by Jemisin, the only 3-times Hugo winner in a row.

She did in the current year and she's black but I'm sure it was completely deserved.

I haven't even heard of the Hugo award anymore in quite some time.
Even leftists appear to be strangely silent about it.

 

[cvv]

N. K. Jemisin

Oh jesus christ, I completely missed it was written by Jemisin, the only 3-times Hugo winner in a row.

She did in the current year and she's black but I'm sure it was completely deserved.

I haven't even heard of the Hugo award anymore in quite some time.
Even leftists appear to be strangely silent about it.

In the last 10 years only 2 men won Best Novel. No men in the last 5 years.

Nobody needs to hear about Hugo anymore.

 

[mastroego]

Yeah my point was that when they've finished virtue signaling they probably skip the reading part too.

 

[santino27]

N. K. Jemisin

Oh jesus christ, I completely missed it was written by Jemisin, the only 3-times Hugo winner in a row.

She did in the current year and she's black but I'm sure it was completely deserved.

I haven't even heard of the Hugo award anymore in quite some time.
Even leftists appear to be strangely silent about it.

It only makes news now when there's a scandal about the oppressive white patriarchy organizing to game the already-thoroughly-gamed awards system.

 

[rusty_shackleford]

N. K. Jemisin

Oh jesus christ, I completely missed it was written by Jemisin, the only 3-times Hugo winner in a row.

She did in the current year and she's black but I'm sure it was completely deserved.

excerpt from xer most recent award winning novel:

She drifts off to sleep. And a few hours later she wakes up because Alabaster is blurting, “Oh fuck, oh please, oh Earth, I can’t, Innon,” against Innon’s shoulder, and jerking in a way that disturbs the bed’s gentle sway while Innon pants and ruts against him, cock on oily cock. And then because Alabaster is spent but Innon isn’t, and Innon notices her watching, he grins at her and kisses Alabaster and then slides a hand between Syen’s legs. Of course she’s wet. He and Alabaster are always beautiful together.

Innon is a considerate lover, so he leans over and nuzzles her breasts and does marvelous things with his fingers, and does not stop thrusting against Alabaster until she curses and demands all of his attention for a while, which makes him laugh and shift over.

 

[The Dutch Ghost]

I know the lore of this damned game pretty well and I don't believe an Asari, Turian and a Krogan would share a bed so casually. And have threesomes.

I found Mass Effect rather average in general but even I paid attention to the damn lore. Has this writer played any of the games game or read any documents written on it to explain the setting?

 

[InD_ImaginE]

Has this writer played any of the games game or read any documents written on it to explain the setting?

Probably not lol

EA probably just gives here big bucks (OH HEY LETS MAKE A HUGO WINNING WRTER WRITE OUR NOVEL) and few pointers on how the world is.

And the writer just writes whatever to get the big EA bucks.

Now I can't say as I have yet to read the rest of her books and whether they are good, but really commissioned book from a big corporation about a world and premise you don't care about is not really something that I expect someone (especially award-winning writer, regardless whether you think she won based on virtue signaling or not) to write seriously.

 

[Lambach]

excerpt from xer most recent award winning novel:

She drifts off to sleep. And a few hours later she wakes up because Alabaster is blurting, “Oh fuck, oh please, oh Earth, I can’t, Innon,” against Innon’s shoulder, and jerking in a way that disturbs the bed’s gentle sway while Innon pants and ruts against him, cock on oily cock. And then because Alabaster is spent but Innon isn’t, and Innon notices her watching, he grins at her and kisses Alabaster and then slides a hand between Syen’s legs. Of course she’s wet. He and Alabaster are always beautiful together.

Innon is a considerate lover, so he leans over and nuzzles her breasts and does marvelous things with his fingers, and does not stop thrusting against Alabaster until she curses and demands all of his attention for a while, which makes him laugh and shift over.

I feel COCK ON OILY COCK has potential to be the new:

 

[Tytus]

EA probably just gives here big bucks (OH HEY LETS MAKE A HUGO WINNING WRTER WRITE OUR NOVEL) and few pointers on how the world is.

Well yeah this happened to the 4th Mass Effect book, which so bad and so full of lore errors/contradictions they vowed to recall it and republished a fixed version (but never did)

BioWare responds to Mass Effect: Deception outcry

Changes coming to correct "errors and oversights".

News by Robert Purchese, Senior Staff Writer

Updated on 6 February 2012
BioWare isn't happy with the new Mass Effect: Deception novel either.

The Mass Effect creator offered fans its "sincerest apologies" for the canonical "errors and oversights" in the book, and said changes would be made.

"The teams at Del Rey and BioWare would like to extend our sincerest apologies to the Mass Effect fans for any errors and oversights made in the recent novel Mass Effect: Deception," BioWare's community leader Chris Priestly informed fans.

"We are currently working on a number of changes that will appear in future editions of the novel.

"We are currently working on a number of changes that will appear in future editions of the novel."

Chris Priestly, BioWare's community coordinator
"We would like to thank all Mass Effect fans for their passion and dedication to this ever-growing world, and assure them that we are listening and taking this matter very seriously."

Mass Effect: Deception, released at the end of January, wasn't written by Drew Karpyshyn - author of the three previous ME books, as well as the first two ME games. Karpyshyn hasn't been involved with Mass Effect 3 due to his work on Star Wars: The Old Republic.

Mass Effect: Deception was written by journeyman sci-fi author William C. Dietz. Maybe BioWare won't complete his loyalty mission.

https://imgur.com/a/lAVji#0

 

[Cael]

I know the lore of this damned game pretty well and I don't believe an Asari, Turian and a Krogan would share a bed so casually. And have threesomes.

I found Mass Effect rather average in general but even I paid attention to the damn lore. Has this writer played any of the games game or read any documents written on it to explain the setting?

Since when do selfish jerkass wankers pay attention to anything other than what they want?

 

[Padzi]

From what I remember William C. Dietz destroyed not only Mass Effect but also Hitman. He took a shit on the lore of both of these settings. He is clearly writing only for money and doesn't care about the source material.

 

[mastroego]

On the other hand, caring about certain source materials would be dumb.

 

[Hellion]

In the spirit of renewed interest in Mass Effect due to the remake, IGN sheds more light into the "what went wrong with Prospermeda" train of thought.

Apparently, they removed the more interesting new alien race concepts they came up with because "they weren't easy to COSPLAY".

https://www.ign.com/articles/mass-e...cies-were-cut-due-to-budget-scope-and-cosplay

Mass Effect: Andromeda's Ten Potential New Alien Species Were Cut Due to Budget, Scope, and Cosplay
The new alien species in Andromeda were even shifted to a more "cosplay-safe territory."


Mass Effect: Andromeda could have had up to ten new alien species, but they were cut due to budget, scope, and... cosplay considerations.

One of the biggest criticisms of Mass Effect: Andromeda was the lack of new alien species, especially when the Mass Effect Trilogy introduced us to the Krogan, Asari, Drell, Batarians, Salarians, Turians, Quarian, Prothean, Hanar, Elcor, Keepers, Volus, Collectors, Geth, Reapers, Vorcha, and more.

In our Mass Effect: Andromeda review, we said "What’s bizarre is that BioWare went to the trouble of shipping us 2.5 million light years away to introduce only two new alien races (plus some robots) over more than 50 hours of campaign and major side missions, and only one local joins your crew."

Apparently this wasn't the original plan, and many of the developers on Andromeda recently spoke to TheGamer to discuss why these new alien species never made it to the final game.

“I think it was a project that couldn't have possibly lived up to expectations,” Neil Pollner, who was a senior writer on Mass Effect 3 and wrote parts of Andromeda, said. “Not just the high bar of the original trilogy, but the logical expectations anyone would have of Mass Effect going to a whole new galaxy. Because the scope of [the first] Mass Effect was so incredibly massive, there was an inherent promise that you'd be getting a massive new experience with a ton of new things in [what was supposed to be the first] Mass Effect Andromeda - new species, new lore, an entire new galaxy at your fingertips, etc.

“But we were only given the budget for two new species, plus the Remnant. Not to mention that we couldn't even include all the Milky Way species. And we weren't going to be able to let you travel throughout the galaxy. This meant that we had to develop the story around some pretty glaring inorganic limitations. So, not only did you get something that felt (and was) much smaller than what you got before, almost everyone playing the game probably had something that they really liked about Mass Effect that just wasn't there.”

Pollner continued to discuss how they had grand plans in pre-production, including expanding the "first contact" experience with new aliens, but most of that work wasn't even used.

Chris Hepler, another long-time Mass Effect writer, discussed how he proposed five or six new alien species, and ex-Bioware writer Jo Berry had also come up with a few that "were awesome."

Dorian Kieken, who was the franchise design director at the beginning of Andromeda's development, explained that some of the early alien concepts were "pretty out there" and that they were cut because one of Mass Effect Andromeda's goals was to make it easy for fans to cosplay the game's characters.

“One of the strengths of the original Mass Effect trilogy is that you can actually cosplay most of the alien characters - except the Hanar, although I wouldn't underestimate the creativity of some cosplayers," Kieken said. "The intention in Mass Effect Andromeda was to introduce new races that would still be in the realm of cosplay, which is probably why more crazy concepts were abandoned.”

Kieken even said that the two alien races that did make it into Andromeda gradually shifted to "cosplay-safe territory," with the team trying to avoid "jellyfish" types of aliens.

While one can hope some of these designs will make their way into the next Mass Effect project, fans of the series can look forward to interacting with the original set of aliens in the Mass Effect Legendary Edition this May.

You can't make this stuff up.

 

[Infinitron]

Post original source: https://www.thegamer.com/mass-effect-andromeda-cut-content-alien-species/

Mass Effect Andromeda Had Designs For Up To Ten New Alien Species, But They Were Cut For Budget, Scope, And... Cosplay
While we only saw two new species in Mass Effect Andromeda - which turned out to be the same species - the writers proposed up to ten more.

One of the most magnificent things about space is its inherent unknowability. In Mass Effect, the Milky Way is so immensely large that it uses both faster-than-light travel and jump gates - most sci-fi generally opts for one or the other - just to facilitate the traversal of a single galaxy. And so, the promise of embarking on a mission to a brand new galaxy, Andromeda, seemed to offer boundless possibilities.

In the end, not only were a number of Milky Way aliens missing from the Andromeda Initiative - this vast, unexplored galaxy only appeared to contain two new species (and they’re both essentially the same species). Well, three if you include the Remnant, who are just sort of weird robots.

As it turns out, this wasn’t always the case. After speaking to various developers who worked on Andromeda - some of whom were there at the beginning, others who saw it through to the end - I’ve learned quite a bit about what happened here. First of all, there were several more species designed for this galaxy. One writer lists having proposed “five or six” new alien types, while another states that the ones BioWare opted for in the end were specifically chosen for being in “cosplay-safe” territory. Another dev mentions that an entire system was constructed just to facilitate communication between species who were indigenous to Andromeda and those who had arrived from the Milky Way.

The “species who were indigenous to Andromeda” part is important, given that there were also different ideas for how to handle first contact - making the Pathfinder a violent colonist who shoots first and asks questions later wasn’t something that was set in stone from the get-go.

“I think it was a project that couldn't have possibly lived up to expectations,” Neil Pollner tells me. Pollner was a senior writer on Mass Effect 3 before going on to write parts of Andromeda. “Not just the high bar of the original trilogy, but the logical expectations anyone would have of Mass Effect going to a whole new galaxy. Because the scope of [the first] Mass Effect was so incredibly massive, there was an inherent promise that you'd be getting a massive new experience with a ton of new things in [what was supposed to be the first] Mass Effect Andromeda - new species, new lore, an entire new galaxy at your fingertips, etc.

“But we were only given the budget for two new species, plus the Remnant. Not to mention that we couldn't even include all the Milky Way species. And we weren't going to be able to let you travel throughout the galaxy. This meant that we had to develop the story around some pretty glaring inorganic limitations. So, not only did you get something that felt (and was) much smaller than what you got before, almost everyone playing the game probably had something that they really liked about Mass Effect that just wasn't there.”

Pollner goes on to explain something I mentioned above - that there’s an inherent disconnect between making your character an explorer in a game where the vast majority of gameplay involves killing. “Ryder the explorer should have a challenging and dynamic first contact experience,” he explains. “Instead, you're almost immediately killing kett. So, some very basic pillars just weren't lining up.”

When I ask about the fact that several species had apparently been cut from the game - something I had already learned in previous interviews - Pollner assures me that I had “no idea” of what was dropped in the early days of Andromeda. He also lamented the iconic narrative and branching complexity of earlier BioWare games, stating that he wishes the team had been able to maintain the same level of variation, options, and consequences as the revered RPGs the studio was known for.

“The other BioWare Montreal writers and I were dreaming up and developing things for Andromeda months ahead of Edmonton officially starting the project - i.e. before the budget and scope had been decided/communicated,” Pollner says. “We just knew that we were going to Andromeda, with almost nothing else established, including even when in the timeline it would happen. And we set out to brainstorm and grow ideas that could organically serve that general premise.

“That first contact expectation I mentioned? We'd developed ideas for how the player would navigate that. We were working on a process for the Milky Way species to learn how to even communicate with the new alien species. We were developing several additional species for the new galaxy, as well as several different storylines for why the expedition had been undertaken. Most of that pre-development work ended up not being used.”

Another writer, Chris Hepler, expands on the “new alien species” referred to above. Hepler was at BioWare right from the beginning of the Mass Effect series, having provided additional design support and writing feedback for the first game before going on to write the likes of Thane, EDI, and Citadel missions in the third.

“I proposed five or six new alien species when Andromeda was in its infancy, and I still think they had a ton of potential,” Hepler says. “[Ex-BioWare writer] Jo Berry came up with a few, too, they were awesome.

“However, I'm pretty sure those ideas are still property of BioWare, so even though I'm 100% certain they won't be used, I can't talk about them without getting some kind of permission.”

Given that Pollner had his own ideas for new species, and that Hepler had “five or six” on top of a “few” more from Berry, it’s reasonable to conclude that concepting was done for up to ten additional species that never made it into Andromeda.

“I remember some early concepts that were pretty out there,” Dorian Kieken tells me. Kieken was a design director at BioWare Montreal for Mass Effect 2 and 3 before being promoted to franchise design director at the beginning of Andromeda’s development. “One of the strengths of the original Mass Effect trilogy is that you can actually cosplay most of the alien characters - except the Hanar, although I wouldn't underestimate the creativity of some cosplayers. The intention in Mass Effect Andromeda was to introduce new races that would still be in the realm of cosplay, which is probably why more crazy concepts were abandoned.”

I was surprised that this was even a consideration, so I followed up. Kieken assures me that after Andromeda’s two new races had been decided on, their evolution of their design gradually went into more “cosplay-safe territory,” with the team consciously steering away from “jellyfish” types of aliens.

“In the early development of the game, we explored a lot of new species. I'm not sure why we settled on the specific number that were in the final game, but my guess would be a mix of production reasons and having a reasonable amount of races to deal with knowing we were already bringing quite a few from the Milky Way as well.”

As Pollner mentioned earlier, the team only had the budget for two new species plus the Remnant. On top of that, they weren’t able to bring all of the Milky Way species, which corroborates Kieken’s recollection of why so many species were cut.

Given the context of these conversations - species being cut from Andromeda, first contact being muddled with militance, and even cosplay potential governing alien design - I also ask why, in the devs’ eyes, Andromeda was poorly received in relation to the original trilogy.

“I think it’s more story-related than setting-related,” Kieken says. “Andromeda has strong core gameplay that improved a lot over the trilogy, but the story didn't feel as strong. I didn't connect with the new character cast as much as I did with the original trilogy.

“It's also not a fair comparison as the trilogy is three games, so you have a lot more exposition and time to bond with the characters. That being said, I seem to recall a stronger rollercoaster of emotions in the original trilogy, which I think led to more memorable moments. From the tension of almost blowing up Wrex with your shotgun or gathering everyone on a suicide run, to the lightness of listening to Mordin sing ‘I'm the very model of a scientist Salarian’ or shooting cans with Garrus in the Presidium.”

Pollner also explains why Andromeda was perceived so differently from the original trilogy, citing differences in the amount of time the team were given to make the game, but also noting that the core issue was more systemic in nature.

“I think the thesis statement for why is that the Mass Effect trilogy was an incredibly demanding endeavor,” Pollner says. “The checks that were written for it, the complexity of the experience was insanely massive. The team worked their asses off non-stop for so many years, on back-to-back-to-back games. The prospect of doing the same thing again was not only exhausting to imagine, but totally impractical. Some of the ‘lessons’ learned from the original trilogy are ones that are important for game development but result in the player experience being less. When you're talking about triple-A development, the original trilogy is actually the anomaly, not Andromeda.

“Because I moved on from BioWare after my work on Andromeda was complete, I have no idea what, if any, future plans there might be. At the time of my departure, there were none.”

It’s worth noting that Pollner is clear about Andromeda being better than a lot of people give it credit for. While some of the concerns people had have now been verified by people who worked on the project - that there could have been more species and that the core premise of Ryder the explorer becoming Ryder the killer is inherently flawed - the team still worked hard on delivering an ambitious game within the constraints of what they were given.

“I find the game to actually be pretty darn fun, and once the technical flaws were ironed out, and the initial reactive disappointment faded, the game does stand on its own,” Pollner says. “There's some really good stuff in there.”

 

[Yosharian]

Game failed because morons were put in charge of a successful franchise, no other reason.

 

[Dishonoredbr]

https://www.thegamer.com/mass-effect-andromeda-cut-content-alien-species/

Imagine making 10 new Aliens Race just to scrap all out for sake of Cosplay. Lmao

 

[Malamert]

Just look at what made it into the game. Fucking garbage. Imagine how terrible the scrapped designs are.

 

[Zeriel]

“I think it was a project that couldn't have possibly lived up to expectations,” Neil Pollner, who was a senior writer on Mass Effect 3 and wrote parts of Andromeda, said. “Not just the high bar of the original trilogy, but the logical expectations anyone would have of Mass Effect going to a whole new galaxy. Because the scope of [the first] Mass Effect was so incredibly massive, there was an inherent promise that you'd be getting a massive new experience with a ton of new things in [what was supposed to be the first] Mass Effect Andromeda - new species, new lore, an entire new galaxy at your fingertips, etc.

Lol why is any of this "impossible"? The first Mass Effect created the whole universe and all of the lore, mechanics, physics, etc. Here they didn't even have to create all those fundamentals of the setting--just throw in some new stuff, pretty easy task. This is just the typical "buck-passing" that seems so common with modern developers. They produce shit, then complain that producing anything but shit was impossible, and they did nothing wrong. It's all so pathetic.

 

[J1M]

https://www.thegamer.com/mass-effect-andromeda-cut-content-alien-species/

Imagine making 10 new Aliens Race just to scrap all out for sake of Cosplay. Lmao

Imagine making that 3000 word article and not including any concept art for said cut content.

 

[Atlantico]

Game failed because morons were put in charge of a successful franchise, no other reason.

ME2 and ME3 were both successes, and yet absolute garbage made by morons.

Lots of things wrong with MEA, but pretending that was the "odd one out" is laughable.

 

[retinoid]

The most soul crushing realization is understanding that it's ME1 that is the odd one out, and not any of the other games.

Much like DA:O and Dragon Age.

 

[rusty_shackleford]

In the first half hour of ME1 you get to the citadel and encounter all kinds of weird aliens.
Maybe they should have actually played ME1 to understand what made it cool.

 

[J1M]

“I think it was a project that couldn't have possibly lived up to expectations,” Neil Pollner, who was a senior writer on Mass Effect 3 and wrote parts of Andromeda, said. “Not just the high bar of the original trilogy, but the logical expectations anyone would have of Mass Effect going to a whole new galaxy. Because the scope of [the first] Mass Effect was so incredibly massive, there was an inherent promise that you'd be getting a massive new experience with a ton of new things in [what was supposed to be the first] Mass Effect Andromeda - new species, new lore, an entire new galaxy at your fingertips, etc.

Lol why is any of this "impossible"? The first Mass Effect created the whole universe and all of the lore, mechanics, physics, etc. Here they didn't even have to create all those fundamentals of the setting--just throw in some new stuff, pretty easy task. This is just the typical "buck-passing" that seems so common with modern developers. They produce shit, then complain that producing anything but shit was impossible, and they did nothing wrong. It's all so pathetic.

When you push out the talent that built the franchise, shit is literally all they can produce. Numerous examples of how current devs are unable to deliver releases on cruise control. They always try to 'improve' things they don't understand and fuck up.

 

[Cael]

“I think it was a project that couldn't have possibly lived up to expectations,” Neil Pollner, who was a senior writer on Mass Effect 3 and wrote parts of Andromeda, said. “Not just the high bar of the original trilogy, but the logical expectations anyone would have of Mass Effect going to a whole new galaxy. Because the scope of [the first] Mass Effect was so incredibly massive, there was an inherent promise that you'd be getting a massive new experience with a ton of new things in [what was supposed to be the first] Mass Effect Andromeda - new species, new lore, an entire new galaxy at your fingertips, etc.

Lol why is any of this "impossible"? The first Mass Effect created the whole universe and all of the lore, mechanics, physics, etc. Here they didn't even have to create all those fundamentals of the setting--just throw in some new stuff, pretty easy task. This is just the typical "buck-passing" that seems so common with modern developers. They produce shit, then complain that producing anything but shit was impossible, and they did nothing wrong. It's all so pathetic.

When you push out the talent that built the franchise, shit is literally all they can produce. Numerous examples of how current devs are unable to deliver releases on cruise control. They always try to 'improve' things they don't understand and fuck up.

There is also the "new setting" trap. You spend a lot of the first game of the franchise explaining everything in the setting. The history, the faction relations, the game mechanics, the legends, etc. That takes up a lot of the gameplay and writing, and easily distracts from the fact that the game itself is pretty barebones or formulaic.

The subsequent games in the franchise no longer has that shield, and so the weakness of storytelling, gameplay, pacing or lack of consistency shows up and piles on.

Dragon Age went through the same thing, which is why after DAO, the franchise shat itself.

 

[The Dutch Ghost]

Indeed Cael, at that point you can no longer fully depend on established lore and elements or just continue on those. You (well I mean the writer of such a project) will have to bring in new elements to keep the setting dynamic or alive but these elements need to feel that they fit in with the previous material.

And like you said, the writers will have expand on the now and the future and not just what happened in the past.
We see that with almost every IP these days. Writers have to respect the past and expand on it and bring in new elements, but they should not be too beholden to the past and start recycling it or completely throw it out and replace it (while still using elements of the past ideas and concepts and pretend these are new).
Perhaps I am going a little too meta or bullshit with this, but honestly I mean finding a good balance with setup lore and introducing new lore and not getting either too comfortable with relying on old stuff and references to it or fully going new lore/elements and loose the people that were attracted by the original concepts and ideas and stuck around for the followup game, book, or whatever media.

Every case is different but with Mass Effect 2 as an example I can indeed also say that the pacing was terrible. The recruitment stuff was okay at first but it became the main meat of the game along with the loyalty missions.
We got to see some good looking locations but there really wasn't that much to them once you had gone through them. Having locations (or in this case hubs with connected locations) that only exists for a few quests and some NPCs to talk with is not uncommon, not every location can be a major place you return to frequently.
But all these little hub locations don't constitute real world building, I would even say that perhaps a few less of them and just a couple of large locations that bring these spread out elements together might have been better such as all the NPCs writers want us to talk to.
Making the small hubs more open world would not have made them better if the content remains sparse or lacking.

With the side missions it was more clear that these were single visit mostly linear experiences where you only get to go once.
Hell, it might have been better if we had more of those to be used as world building/showing places in the universe and cut back on the little hub locations.
Edit: or would it perhaps have worked better if the single visit areas/places in ME2 had been centered more around the hub locations?
I am mostly talking about this from the point of how the pacing/progress could have been improved.

The storyline with the Collectors was "just there", occasionally once we have recruited certain companions or reached a required number the game told us that we had to go after the Collectors who are such a major threat to the human colonies, but whom we outside these missions and the endgame never really encounter or learn much from.
That last is not bad if done well, leaving an enemy mysterious and unknown but that was not the case in ME2 in which the Collectors are suppose to be enemy we have to learn as much as possible about as we plant go to their homeworld.
I sometimes wondered during ME2 how some of the characters managed to learn new information about the Collectors when we encountered them only a few times in the flesh.
Did they leave diaries or databases behind I never saw myself but my companions went through?
The designers should have put the Collectors into the side missions as well if they wanted to hype this species up, or just completely ditch them.

I have been actually wondering if ME might not have worked better if it had ditched the whole Reapers-Collectors stuff and Cerberus just being some human supremacy organization that is collecting alien technology and genetics and doing experiments on humans and aliens to create weapons and technologies to make humanity (with them running the show of course) the dominant species.
No ancient alien threats other than what people can take from ruins, wrecks in space, and lost alien homeworlds and colonies.
Like people here also suggested, a space cop storyline with a more personal story interwoven into it rather than a grand epic space opera storylines of civilizations have to get together to protect themselves and other worlds from a periodically returning all mysterious evil.

Dammit, I wanted to talk about the inconsistencies in the series Cael also brought up but this is already getting ridiculously long and I feel I have been talking out of my ass again in broken English to sound more enlightened or intellectual.