Forum:Armor

I might be reading WAY too much into this but it's been bugging me. I understand that going from ME1's random number system of looting Light/Medium/Heavy armors to a customizable armor system was all for the sake of enhancing gameplay for ME2, and it does make sense that in universe manufacturers would make their armor systems visually unique. I realize that at the time, BioWare hadn't come up with all the cool and visually appealing armor designs that appeared in later titles. But what happened to all the L/M/H armor that littered the galaxy in ME1? Why can shep no longer use those kinds of armor? We see the Phoenix armor when we meet Ash on Horizon, so we know it still exists. Not to mention the fact that the galaxy's mercenary bands have a seemingly infinite supply of armors with the same basic shape, as well as the fact Alliance marines have inexplicably switched to a variant of the heavy armor with dark blue or gray camouflage (I think it's blue, but I've heard many people say it's gray. Maybe I'm colorblind), yet Shep can't use it, despite being part of the most elite military organization in the Alliance. The armor still exists in some capacity, so why can't Shep use it, and why does the N7 armor look different from the Onyx armor that filled the same role in ME1? And while we're on the topic, can we decide what the N7 armor actually looks like? Does it have the ME3 rounded shoulders and shield harness looking belt, or does it use the more vertical shoulders that Ash and Liara suddenly have access to, despite the fact neither of them are N7? And is this armor just a visually enhanced Onyx armor? It would have been so easy for Bioware to simply retcon the appearance of these armors by giving us the new armors we got with names from old sets. For example, the Cerberus Skunkworks Hoplite armor could have made a reappearance, as the Cerberus Assault armor from ME2 and 3, or the Kestrel armor from ME2 (referred to as Rosenkov Materials armor in ME3) could have been introduced under the "Titan armor" name that the Rosenkov Materials armor set had in ME1. Maybe I'm nitpicking, but I actually would like to know why these classic armor sets aren't even acknowledged in later titles, aside from the Phoenix armor appearing on Horizon when we meet Ash again, or Conrad Verner wearing a replica suit of heavy Onyx armor