I think the Dream Sequences were a little too long, but were a good way of showing Shep’s survivor guilt.

Especially if you lose any crewmates in the Suicide Mission.

I will agree that the whole Star-child, Crucible, Kai Leng stuff was all pretty poorly expanded upon and should have been better.

Truthfully the weakest and strongest part of ME2 is that nothing that impacts the overall plot happens basically at all.

At the start of the first game, the Council is shown irrefutable proof of the existence of Reapers.

Then the second game fully focuses on doing side missions and expanding lore, without anything directly related to the Reapers (Excluding Arrival DLC).

Then 3 has you actually confront the Reapers.

2 is likely my favorite of the games, if only because I love the set pieces, lore, gameplay, all the squad members, and the difficulty level of insanity.

But the ending of 1 with M4 Pt 2 by Faunts playing was just so incredibly like the meme in the post haha. I do also get the same vibe for the ending of Mass Effect 2.

Ending aside, I disliked 3 because of the forced over-the-shoulder perspective in missions. It made the combat, and more importantly the sections in between combat encounters, feel awkward and rushed.