I'm all for it and really hope they can do that again with ME4. While 2 year turnaround is probably not realistic these days for major AAA titles, and realistically wasn't then either given the issues ME3 had due to rushed development, you could probably still manage 3-4 today if you really wanted. If not for COVID that probably would have been the case for Horizon FW and is still somewhat true for GoW:R. Though obviously if you got the Ubisoft route of like a dozen or more studios all working in parallel/tandem you can speed this all up a ton, but no one else is really setup like that. And their assembly line style development is not without its issues.
Still iterative sequels can also just be more enjoyable from a players perspective because if the core gameplay is solid that nuance and familiarity can go a long way if they can sufficiently build upon that base. You can refine and improve what was there, but then add more depth and nuance to it. And that's before you get to benefits like having a game sooner and being able to tell a cohesive narrative over multiple games in a timely fashion.
Even after all this time replaying the series for the nth time with MELE going from ME2 to ME3 is such a big, but clearly iterative, leap combat wise. In some ways as big as the leap from ME1 to ME2 despite not being the same kind of fundamental change to how things operate. It just feels like such a big leap because of how much tighter its controls are, the much wider build options, the expanded synergy of combat abilities for power combos, and other changes and tweaks. Even just minor but impactful additions like dodge roll and heavy melee attacks really help to round out the experience. It's just a ton of smart tweaks and additions that manage to make the whole experience, while still fundamentally the same, feel that much more robust.
And that holds true elsewhere like the location and skybox design is just so damn good in ME3. ME2 again kind of set the mold after figuring out what didn't work in ME1. But it was a bit too artificial at times with its location designs. But then ME3 has so many gorgeous locations that also function as great combat areas and with vistas that are insane. Like the opening scene of Earth is still a sight to see with all the Reapers around you just wrecking the city.
It's still crazy that the studios didn't collaborate on those projects.
I always got the feeling that the apparent toxic relation between Edmonton and Montreal offices with the whole A-Squad vs B-Squad mentality that those at Edmonton apparently gave off and treated them like may have lead Montreal to feel like they needed to go it alone as it were to prove they were equals to the main office and could make as good a game from scratch and in doing so arrogantly ignored important tools and systems already completed for DAI in Frostbite.
It's unfortunate as there were some really great things done in Andromeda, but it's bogged down by so much bad design and weird systems, and of course was deeply marred by a very buggy and unpolished launch that doomed the game from ever getting a second chance or real post launch support besides basic patching.
