Poll: Mass Effect 4 and species choice

[skywolfblue]

Story comes first, the protagonist must be voiced, and I don't see much of a point to having unique origins in a world as unified as Mass Effect's.

What I would like is the ability to choose a race and have it subtly affect my game. But unless they can get some sort of modulation to get the voices for all races from one actor, then I think that it is best left to doing one race as a recordings for each would balloon cost, time, and file size.

I'll second this.

It's not possible to have Voiced + ~5 race options + A story that recognizes your character(AKA other characters recognize and speak about the player being from all the time). Unless it's the far future and games cost 3 times what they do now.

A choice has to be made. I'd prefer voiced, and a story that recognizes your character. Which means no to the choice of multiple races.

However, I would love for the main character to be a different race.
Or for there to be several characters, and you play each for a few missions, like a krogan for the first 5 missions, a salarian for the next five, and then they all join up at the end.

 

[DanielBrown]

Option two, because I find mute protagonists dull.
I want to play as a Krogan!

 

[ninjaRiv]

I'd love the chance to experience the different cultures from the inside. I'd also love it if they did more with it; DA:O did great with the different races but I think Mass Effect 4 could go bigger and better. Heck, I'd be fine with multiple discs if that's what's needed to get it all in. Bioware's lore is always incredible, imo.

 

[Trillovinum]

I would actually like to play as a prothean, explore the great reaper war they had a bit. If that's not possible I'll be satisfied with Turians and Krogan.

 

[RJ 17]

To me it depends on where they go with the story, and I already have my opinions on where they'll be going with the story.

Basically if you ask me the story can't be a sequel to the original series no matter how far past the events of the original series they place it. The endings create three VERY different galaxies, despite all those complaints about how they all felt the same.

If you go with Red the Geth and Reapers have been wiped out.
If you go with Blue, ParaShep's benevolent will no rules over the Reapers as a Galactic Peace Force.
If you go with Green, the galaxy is united in one gigantic utopia of peace and happiness in which all races share a common form of existence.

They'd have to retcon WAY too many things from the original series and that would likely just piss people off even more. As such we'd be looking at prequels, where I believe the realm is MUCH more open to possible stories.

If humans are going to be involved at all - and I don't see why they wouldn't be - then a good place to start off would be the First Contact War. Unfortunately this was a relatively short-lasting war, but the good news is that not too many details are given about it other than "it happened" and a lot of war vets in the original series were part of it. This, however, would limit the race selection to just being Human once again, but they could do it. Place you in the shoes of some special human soldier assigned to carry out missions against the Turians. However that would likely make people feel like it's "Just another Shepard" as the similarities between the two characters - even if just on a basic level - would be too similar to ignore.

Or they could go with a story set somewhere between the First Contact War and the events of the original series. Personally I think this would be their best shot. They wouldn't have to worry about retconning anything from the original series, and according to some of the people you talk to in the original series (such as Jacob), there were apparently huge threats to galactic stability happening all the time, the public was just never aware of it. As such they could easily just come up with any kind of story they'd like and stick it somewhere in between the First Contact War and the ME trilogy. Seeing as how after the First Contact War humanity has officially been "introduced" as a peaceful member of the galaxy, it would open the game up to possibilities of race-selections for the protagonist. In the first game the council explains how the Spectre's aren't their only tool, that they often use smaller squads for more subtle missions since Spectre movements tend to bring a lot of attention. You could be a member of one of these task-forces and thus be able to pick what species you want to be (I'm just spit-ballin' ideas here of how it could work).

Really the only other way I can see there being race-selection would be to go BEFORE the First Contact War, but if that's the case then you'd be cutting humanity completely out of the picture since they haven't developed ME technology or even opened up their own relay. Place it in the Rachni Wars or the Krogan Rebellions (I think the Rachni War would be more ripe since it was essentially a united galaxy - including the Krogan - against a common enemy).

Anyways, those are my thoughts on the matter. In short: I think the race selection option will be depending on where they place the story.

 

[Il_Exile_lI]

Story comes first, the protagonist must be voiced, and I don't see much of a point to having unique origins in a world as unified as Mass Effect's.

What I would like is the ability to choose a race and have it subtly affect my game. But unless they can get some sort of modulation to get the voices for all races from one actor, then I think that it is best left to doing one race as a recordings for each would balloon cost, time, and file size.

The Saint's Row games allow you to choose from half a dozen voices for your character, each with their own subtleties and performance nuances. Granted, there is nowhere near as much dialogue and far fewer branching paths in Saint's Row than in a typical Mass Effect game, but one would assume the budget ceiling is also a lot higher.
Basically what I'm saying is that if a game like Saint's Row can have several voice options per gender, the excuse that having a unique voice for each playable race is too hard to implement is unacceptable.

 

[Il_Exile_lI]

Voice doesnt matter to me. I am not like some of the newer lazy gamers who cant read their games so I dont care if its voiced or unvoiced so long as I get a good story.

It's not about being lazy, it's about having a quality experience. Dragon Age Origins is fantastic, but I did get taken out of it every so often when people are talking and emoting and your character is just standing there with a blank look on his face. It'd be one thing if it was like Baldur's Gate where no one talked, but having every single character in the game be fully voiced except the main protagonist just breaks immersion, especially in a Bioware game with all their camera angles and such in conversations.

 

[Imperioratorex Caprae]

I am aware that a large number of people hail silent protagonists as the "best thing evar" but I don't feel its always a good thing. I don't agree, for example, that Gordon Freeman is an excellent SP. It feels lazy to me and is a slight disconnect in immersion especially the way characters talk as if your characters response doesn't matter at all.
In an RPG, I can deal with no voice as long as the NPC's are reacting to dialog I select properly. I want multiple racial selections in the next ME game and, if possible without sacrificing coherency, a voiced protagonist for each race. I'd also like dialog choices for the protagonist to reflect the culture of whatever species I choose, not just cookie cutter dialog that is the same no matter who you choose to make.
We will see.

 

[SmokingBomber465]

It is my opinion that the Mass Effect series should have stopped with Mass Effect 3 since the story was completed. There is no real reason to perpetuate this universe--just like there is no reason to have perpetuated the Halo franchise after Halo 3.

Its fine that they're still going to make these games and they are obviously going to be making a lot of money and serving a wide variety of fans but I am one who believes that a story should stop being told when the point has been made--and I won't be purchasing "Mass Effect: Another One" despite the fact that Mass Effect 1 was my favorite videogame ever, beating out both "Sonic the Hedgehog 2" and "Banjo-Tooie".

 

[Ishal]

Voice doesnt matter to me. I am not like some of the newer lazy gamers who cant read their games so I dont care if its voiced or unvoiced so long as I get a good story.

It's not about being lazy, it's about having a quality experience. Dragon Age Origins is fantastic, but I did get taken out of it every so often when people are talking and emoting and your character is just standing there with a blank look on his face. It'd be one thing if it was like Baldur's Gate where no one talked, but having every single character in the game be fully voiced except the main protagonist just breaks immersion, especially in a Bioware game with all their camera angles and such in conversations.

Funny how different some people are. Know what really breaks immersion for me? Having every other character talk, then when your character gets a chance you're presented with the trusty ol' "bioware dialogue wheel." It comes with three choices of 1) Neutral answer 2) Paragon of virtue and all that is good in the world answer 3) OTT sadistic "witty/snarky" evil answer. Then choosing one of those, only to have the voice actor say something COMPLETELY different than what was presented in the dialogue wheel. Nothing quite like that for breaking immersion. I'd much prefer a silent fence post protagonist that I can imagine speaking the sentences presented to me. Different strokes.

 

[MarsProbe]

I'm going to be awkward and come up with a mixture of some of the options presented here. While it would of course be cool to play as Shepard again, we do all know that story's over, so it is time to move on.

I'd like to see the opportunity to play as a number of races as in Dragon Age: Origins but keep the whole character history/background aspect limited to perhaps just some token mentions and one extra mission during the game as in ME1, as opposed to a whole separate "origin" story for each race. Though a different starting area depending on what race you pick would be neat (start your Drell character on the Hanar homeworld, for example - I still hope to see that place one day) and use that as a hub of sorts. It wouldn't feel like Mass Effect without the character being voiced though, personally.

 

[Rebel_Raven]

I wanna be a quarian. Or a Geth. Asari maybe. Female Turian might be nice to get more screen time of. ... ... OR A FEMALE KROGAN! That can fire a claymore like a pistol!

Seriously, I'd love to see more culture, and lore in the Mass Effect universe, and play as someone not a human for story mode.

 

[Adamantium93]

I'd like to choose my character (Salarian...yeah, I think I'm the only one) but I'd rather have a voiced protagonist.

Text based games are fine and all if they are all text based but DA:O really broke my immersion every time I had to choose a dialogue choice and watched my expressionless blank slate of a character send his messages telepathically. What is even worse is when the dialogue choice is rendered in modern vernacular or slang because I know they would never have bothered if someone actually had to say that stuff (Skyrim...)

That said, I'm sure there are ways of subtly altering one voice recording to fit different species (mechanical sound for a quarian, deeper for Krogan, etc.)

But that also raises the question of gender since certain races have specific gender roles in their species (Female Salarians are administrators and diplomats, not fighters, for instance) should the game bend established lore for gender equality or should they leave them as they are and risk pissing off female gamers who wanted to be a Salarian or Krogan?

 

[Terminate421]

Instantly I'd pick Geth and fight for the Geth to be able to contribute to society

 

[Thomas Barnsley]

I'd like to choose my character (Salarian...yeah, I think I'm the only one) but I'd rather have a voiced protagonist.

I would be a salarian. Seriously, all the cool characters are salarian and no one even admits it (mordin, kirrahe, that specter in Me3).

 

[Adamantium93]

I'd like to choose my character (Salarian...yeah, I think I'm the only one) but I'd rather have a voiced protagonist.

I would be a salarian. Seriously, all the cool characters are salarian and no one even admits it (mordin, kirrahe, that specter in Me3).

I was saddened when Kirrahe didn't become a squad member in ME3

Hold the Line!

(also, Salarian High-Five...which I do believe is a High-Three)

 

[Thomas Barnsley]

I'd like to choose my character (Salarian...yeah, I think I'm the only one) but I'd rather have a voiced protagonist.

I would be a salarian. Seriously, all the cool characters are salarian and no one even admits it (mordin, kirrahe, that specter in Me3).

I was saddened when Kirrahe didn't become a squad member in ME3

Hold the Line!

(also, Salarian High-Five...which I do believe is a High-Three)

Preach it, brother!
(Returns high five... Erm, three)

 

[legendp]

I picked 4 and here is why

I have played dragon age origins but the reactions to your character choice are very small. I ultimately feel splitting up the game into multiple races would give the protagonist even less character development. this is an area where I think the wicther franchise is ahead. having one character with a set gender and backround gives them a lot more charchterization and makes them more interesting to play as (imo), and how other characters react to him more interesting.

I would like to play as maybe a random unknown asari in a pirate gang (like firefly). or maybe your a quarian trying to save the fleet. I think a prequel would be better and I would prefer a smaller (less universe saving, more just survival) based story, make it more personal toward the character and there upbringing.

In recent years there seems to be the opinion that bigger worlds and more choices makes a game better. I disagree, I would rather a polished and refined, smaller, even more linear game that focused on a flushed out story.