That Synthesis doesn't have a flag could be a glitch. Why a flag has to exist in a save file that will never be imported to anything is more curious. Are you saying the existence of the flags themselves is a glitch?
Either that, or a possible just in case type of thing if they wanted to do a post ending DLC, though I really don't see that happening. Also you have to consider that this generation of consoles is on it's last leg, so at some point it's going to be impossible to import these saves into future ME games on the next consoles.
In ME1 they were too alien to human consciousness to be sympathetic (unlike aliens, who shared a fundamental organic nature with us), but then the development team decided that was too boring and added Legion and the peacemaking element to the Quarian-Geth conflict arc in ME2 and ME3. They added moral and psychological complexity to the Geth to conjure up dramatic interest. Apparently Marc Walters and Casey Hudson regretted that, because they scrapped the original ending of ME3 to produce one where Synthetics and Organics must always go to war.
Well, not so much regret: they felt like they had to backtrack on the sympathy toward Synthetics because they needed new enemies now that the Reapers were gone. Synthetics have the potential to be very threatening, so they were an obvious choice.
Not the best choice to my mind (which is why I don't respect the ME3's endings that much), but an obvious choice.
And that was because we didn't know them, couldn't communicate with them and understand their motivations. TBH I don't see the ending as setting up synthetics as the bad guys, what I got from Mass Effect is that while synthetics are not organic, that they are alive. And just like all life, they can be good, or bad on their own. In my "canon" playthrough I pushed Joker into a relationship with EDI, and sided with the Geth on Ranoch(I was actually able to save both the Geth and the Quarians but the convo was pro Geth) because of that.
The only way you could see that synthetics and organics must always go to war is if you believe the AI that controlled the Reapers, which I just don't. In ME2, and ME3 Sheps interactions with synthetics, especially EDI disproves that notion, and I don't find him to be a credible source of info considering he thought it was a good idea to commit mass genocide and harvest every advanced species for who knows how many years.
Bioware has slammed people with canon before. Especially since they seem to be scaling back their save file import ambitions. A majority of people are indifferent about canon (because they aren't too serious as role-players), and the nerdy minority is divided between people who don't want it and people who expect and even agitate for it.
People respected the Kotor endings a lot more than the ME3 endings, but nobody minded much when Swtor slammed them with a canon. Hard-core role-players understand the "necessity" of canon as an organizing principle for lore and plot development in campaign settings. Personally, I don't think canon is necessary, but Bioware is dragging its feet to realize that goal.
And I hope they don't do that, there's plenty of story, and time before Shepard's story to make games, and compelling stories.
Gamers (and role-players in particiular, and Bioware fans especially) are very picky, opinionated, and whimsical about the direction their favorite franchises take and spread bad word of mouth if they don't get their way, which Bioware has experienced a lot of with DAII, Swtor, and ME3's endings. While a small number of people have voiced enthusiasm for a prequel covering earlier events in the galaxy, it is generally assumed (probably correctly) that the lore will impose limits on the 'awesomeness' of the premise. Most obviously, it will be difficult to come up with an antagonist that equals the Reapers in menace. People who want a prequel don't care about that, but a larger portion of the fan base won't be satisfied with anything short of a comparable galactic threat. Casual gamers will be even more underwhelmed as much of the richness of the ME universe is lost on them and they just want to fight awesome enemies in cool places with cool weapons.
I don't think this is even remotely true, people just want more Mass Effect, and there are so many stories that can be told prior to Shepard's story, from the First Contact War, to the Rachni Wars, The Krogan Rebellions etc, all of which die hard fans of the series would love to experience, and all could be fodder for very compelling RPG's. Now while obviously the Reapers aren't going to be a threat, in anymore games, pre or post, that didn't make any of the side quests, and things not directly involving the Reapers in the trilogy any less compelling. The ME universe is interesting on it's own, even without fighting the Reapers.
So while I really like my Shepard, and would have loved her story to continue, I can understand that it just can't, but I am excited for more Mass Effect games, because the world is so awesome.
