Trilogies should just not be done in video games anymore. Fallout got it right - their games are independent stories set within the same universe. That leaves much more room to work with and much less room for ruining a franchise. When you have a trilogy, the first game is a huge success and then EA takes over and decides to milk it for all its worth and it turns to sh**. At least with Fallout, there is a chance for redemption because the stories told are all independent of each other. You can't undo Mass Effect 3.
No, but the stated goal was to always be a trilogy, and have this massive arc. The writing in the three games even followed the typical formula for a space opera. One introduced us to the players, the threat, the universe. Two went very dark, and three gave us the hope of victory... until the star child. And to be fair, Casey Hudson worked on ME1 & 2 as well, so it's not like there was someone new working on the games.
