I have already read and watched plenty on the subject, also I wasn't talking about AI directly, but only knowing your complaint was plot related, I focused on Mass effect's overarching plot and mentioned it's been broadly written about ranging from Isaac Asimov and many before and after him.to demonstrate that explorations of universal themes even when wrapped in different cloth can follow a familiar path. Now having read up on Gurren lagann both seem to me to have two different stories with differing world settings who despite those differences have certain outcomes that play out in a similar fashion but this is answered by them sharing an underlying philosophical theme based around the power of choice soit isn't surprising or unexpected.

ME2 is favourite but feel it has pacing issues in the final 3rd (you can accidentally miss time things and get a bad ending). ME3 isn't as bad as many make out, just it dived of a cliff at the end.

Correct Shepard is Female Shepard, mainly because of Jennifer Hale's performance. Male Shepard can seem stale and flat at times when female bosses it, like a leader should.

Mass Effect 2 was overall the most enjoyable but they're all very close. ME3 had many series highlights for me, ending was rushed but the key hours leading up to it was incredible for the most part. ME1 built the whole universe and it such a joy to just explore discover the lore for the first time. 2 wins just because it was paced better than 3, which I think has a lil bit too much military filler for my liking and of course it was mechanically tighter than 1.

Always played male shepard.

Apparently 3 is a bad one? Anyways I only played 3 (the only one on a Nintendo system), so by default 3 is my favourite. I fell in love instantly and wish the trilogy was ported to Switch!

can't choose between me 1 and 2 probably a slight edge for 2 as it has superior gameplay but I actually liked using the mako to explore planets in ME1. and I vastly prefer fem shepard mainly because I think the voice acting of the female shepard is better

Not from what I've seen, I think 3's ending just overshadows the other issues the fanbase is vocal about. I.E. the RPG elements getting progressively lost as the series progressed further. 

Though we are two people outside a fanbase talking about what the fanbase might or might not think, so maybe we just look like a bunch of outsider assholes   

while the ending was very controversial I would be weary of using vocal gamers on message boards to conclude it was universally despised. I know I didn't hate it and I many plenty other Mass Effect fans who don't hate it either. A lot of us that didn't hate it either got bullied into silence by those that did or just didn't want to get into arguments with others about it

To this day I don't get why people hate the ending of ME3 so much. It seemed fine to me; a series about choice ends with a particularly difficult and impactful one that changes the Galaxy one way or another. I'm sure a series fan could write me an essay about how it's somehow the worst thing since Hitler but to me it seemed like a fine way to close out the trilogy; it wasn't the best ending I've ever seen, but I find no fault with it.

Yeah it was passable. Decent at best. Still really enjoyed the game and the extended cut made it better.

For me its ME2>1>3. One probably had the best story though from a gameplay perspective and ruling out the crappy mako explorations, 2 was my best all rounder.

Yep, I was already done with the series after the ME3 demo, heading more towards shooter instead of RPG. I had my worries after ME2 and the demo for 3 confirmed it. The controversy about the ending, which came out later, just made it easier not to care about the series any longer.

ME one was great though. I didn't mind the clunkiness at all. The sound was very well done too. I wouldn't mind playing the first one again, yet knowing where it leads to stops me from getting the trilogy. Same thing with Dead Space :/