The biggest problem with the Crucible as the giant McGuffin is that they hadn't even started building it when the invasion began. Their worlds are getting slammed, fleets destroyed, sleeper agents and indoctrinated spies everywhere, and they somehow manage to construct this thing, in time and with the Reapers not knowing about it. Same problem with the idea of these plans being handed down from cycle to cycle - how have the Reapers never found out about this? They hold *all* of the cards when it come to infiltration, because they have indoctrination, and you need to include thousands and thousands in your loop to make the thing (scientists, engineers, security etc etc). There's no way it could be constructed, without the secret getting out.
And like I say, it should be too late. ME2 wasted all the time that Shepard bought the galaxy in ME1. They didn't listen, they weren't prepared *at all*, the galaxy was disunited, the Reapers caught them by surprise, they didn't even *know* what the Crucible was, let alone had started to build it, they have indoctrinated spies and agents everywhere, vast swathes of the galaxy's most powerful fleets and races are already taken out by the Reaper's first wave, the Krogan don't even have their own fleets anymore, and Cerberus is supporting them - and the Reapers *still* somehow manage to lose.
Its utterly stupid. There is absolutely no way that the story should have been allowed to get to this point. Javik has every right to be furious at the incompetance that this cycle has shown, ignoring the warnings until it was too late, even after they were attacked by one. And the blame must be laid at ME2's feet, because it spent the whole game wasting time on the Collectors and a story that ended up not mattering at all. Uniting the races, getting them on side, learning about the Protheans and what they tried to do to fight the Reapers etc - that's what ME2 should have been doing. The final shot of ME2 should have been a united galaxy arming up in readiness, and Hackett presiding over the construction of the Crucible. Then it wouldn't seem so out of the blue. Then you could devote all of ME3 to seeing how the war goes, really give the Reapers a chance to strut their stuff on screen, and see the races working together etc.
I said it then, I say it now - Mass Effect 2 passed the buck completely, and shot the series story in the head. It told a different story that retconned ME1 and left ME3 with far too much to do. The Reaper's sheer power should have ensured that if they invaded under the terms that ME3 states, they should have rolled through the galaxy in record time.
Incidentally, I'm with Brad in saying that Control is the only sensible option for Paragon players. Synthesis is grotesque and absurd that you would force it on everyone, Destroy would be a gross betrayal of the Geth and EDI, and an outrageous act of genocide. In Control, the only race you are affecting and exerting your will over is the bad guys.
