what the hell will they do for mass effect 4 * spoilers* * spoilers*

[KrossBillNye]

Mass Effect: Choices are pointless.

That's the title I think they will stick with since it seems to be the new social norm that EA has been implementing into their games.

Not interested in playing another game. At least not paying for it.

 

[James Joseph Emerald]

I think a sequel to Mass Effect would work if they narrowed the focus and made it more of a character-driven story (no, having two interchangeable minions standing behind you on missions, whom you occasionally have private conversations with that are completely tangential to the plot, does not make it character driven).

Something like Mass Effect: Firefly would be awesome.

 

[spartandude]

1) They make one of the "original" three endings canon and disregard the others

endingS? there was more than one?

OT i remember in the Zero Punctuation review when Yhatzee said that there isnt much you can do after giant robots come to kill all life. anything seems like a step down from that. im not saying you cant have a good story that isnt on an epic scale, ofcourse you can. also in the extended ending i kind of got the impression that there was peace afterwards, well thats how i saw it given the fact there was no information in them and it just showed pictures of people being happy

 

[Ren_Li]

I'm sure they've actually talked about moving it well away from combat and the military, and I believe focusing more on exploration. Which means it will either happen before, or during, the Mass Effect trilogy. (Unless I dreamed that up!)

The endings- as bullshit as they are- are too varied in their potential futures to go forwards. Not only that, but there's our choices for Shepard.
Are there Geth? Are there Quarians? Are there both? Or even neither?
Are the Krogan rebuilding and living productive lives? Are they focussing on war and running rough-shot through the galaxy? Or are they extinct?
Just the outcome of TWO ME3 storylines can have an absolutely massive effect on the future of the galaxy. I can't believe they're unaware of how much it will piss people off to screw around with that; and the potential variables are too huge to make different game scenarios for different ME-trilogy choices.

That said, I'd love a character-driven story based way before Mass Effect. If they made it before the humans entered the galactic community, and explored the other races more, I'd be very interested.

And if they gave us a Batarian who was actually a none-minor character, AND not a dick, I'd be overjoyed.

 

[rcs619]

I got all the mass effects for xmas and loved it. I just finished ME3 and then i heard they were making another mass effect, and i was thinking to myself what the hell are they going to do since they killed of Shepard and all 3 endings are completely different

Well they already said it wasn't going to be about Shepard. So, the way I see it there's two options, one of which I think is much more appealing than the other.

Option 1 is the 'safe' option. It's the option for developers who hadn't planned ahead when they were making Mass Effect 3 and/or were told by EA mid-development that "Oh, by the way there *will* be a 4th game. Have fun." That would be to make a prequel. Or a game running concurrent with the main series. Likely involving some other specter/agents fighting space-pirates, mercenaries, or maybe even doing operations during the Reaper War. I guess you could set it during the First-Contact War between the humans and the turians as well, but it would basically mean all the main characters are human.

Option 2 is the more appealing and potentially interesting one. That is an actual continuation of the storyline, post-Reaper War. Now, in order to do this, they would need to choose a canon ending from Mass Effect 3's, well, 3, endings. My personal opinion is that it would be the red one, especially since it is *strongly* hinted at the end that Shepard actually survived. That could mean Shepard (maybe using the data from your save file?) could even return as an NPC. Maybe an admiral in his/her own right depending how much later on the game takes. A continuation would let us explore a post-Reaper galaxy, and how things are turning out. The other big issue to address are the Geth, which the red ending conveiniently never actually mentioned. They could very easily reveal that the starchild was lying to you (especially since Shepard, being part synthetic, seems to have survived), or that something about the Geth saved them from being destroyed by the red-wave. Lots of options to go with there, and personally, I hope they survive.

That would also mean that Quarians would no longer need their suits any more either, considering some of the things we'd learned in the third game.

So yeah, those seem like the two most realistic options. I suppose if they wanna get crazy, they could use the blue ending, and have the Shepard-Reapers begin to go crazy or even fall back into their own routine as the cold logic of the machine begins to warp what little of Shepard is left around within it. But then we'd just have a re-hash of the Reaper War and I don't think that would be that interesting, unless they figure out a way to effectively kill the things.

 

[mad825]

A very good question to ask good sir! I've thought a little bit about this just last week. I think it will be one of three things;

1) They make one of the "original" three endings canon and disregard the others

2) It's a prequel

3) It takes place sometime in-between or even during the events of one of the original three games

4) All three endings are cannon

Seeing as they just pretty much ripped-off Deus Ex, they might also copy Deus Ex:IW in this regard. I agree with you, this has been discussed at great length on the BSN forums...And still going.

 

[Frezzato]

Spoiler: Click to expand.

Guys, this is easy. A prequel 50,000 years in the past. We get to play out the Reaper-Prothean war.

It's perfect. It gets to be another galaxy-spanning apocalyptic conflict without stepping on the toes of the trilogy. We get to learn a whole lot more about the protheans, who seemed pretty interesting when I was talking with Javik. We could even get multiple races to play, since he said that the prothean empire was actually composed of many species all calling themselves prothean.

There are so many ways to do this. It could be a galaxy-wide RTS setup, with each planet having its own forces and resources that you employ to hold off the reapers as long as you can, with the occasional possibility of a victory to keep the player going in the face of ultimate defeat. It could be another personal Shepard-style story, where you play one of the prothean avatars, or whatever Javik called himself, like the embodiment of hope or something. It could even include some space combat, something the series has always had the opportunity to do but never has.

This would be a great example of how to do dark, end-of-the-world tension. We know that the protheans WILL LOSE. It's a game built on the hope of our protagonists that we know will end in genocide; but that even this ultimate defeat will result in the slightest glimmer of hope with the conduit from ME1. I really think this is the best option available. It avoids the problems that any sequel will run into, and it mostly avoids the problems of a prequel set in the same cycle. In this case, we also know the ultimate outcome, but none of the details that led to it. It just seems like a perfect setup to me.

That--holy crap. That's a really good idea! I kind of have an idea what the Protheans look like but do you think people would identify with a main character that looks like that?

And did you send your idea to Casey Hudson when he put out the call for suggestions?

 

[Teejonis Rahl]

They do a Krogan trilogy. Game number 1, you are a young Krogan who suffers the destruction of his planet and at the end ships show up. Game number 2, these guys ask our help with Rachni, give us shiny ships and we blow the Rachni away. Game number 3, We should rule the galaxy, but you have seen the destruction of your home planet and you actually eventually give them what they need for the genophage. Basically, you are a smart Krogan when many believe they don't exist. You will probably be hated by everyone at one point or another, just because you do the right thing and you are a Krogan. Fall in love with an Asari and you got a full Krogan soap opera.... That I would watch.

 

[WanderingFool]

Bwuh...?

Is this...

I'd better carefully examine my surroundings and make sure I'm not being Punk'd...

OT: Hopefully it wouldn't be focused on Shepard or the Reapers in any way at all. I'd also like the ability to make the MC a Quarian/Turian/Krogan/Asari/whatever else, instead of just yet another boring human.

Hopefully it won't be called Mass Effect 4, either.

Where have you been? There is definitely a Mass Effect 4 in the works. What is unclear is what it will be about, or if they've even storyboarded it yet.

Casey Hudson is still in charge.

It will not involve Shepard in any way.

They better not let that asshole do his own thing this time...

Anyways, I dont think we saw the "last" of Shepard. Of the four endings, one is a game over with now sequel potential, one has the possibility of him surviving, one has him gone for good, and one has him become a pseudo-god. Regardless, We are not gonna be playing as Shepard. the most we may get is a cameo from anyone that survived ME3.

Though I personally wouldnt mind a game set during the events of ME1,2,& 3, as a kind of side story. Fallow the story of Not Shepard as he goes to save small stuff while Shepard saves the rest of the universe...

 

[Gizmo1990]

Casey Hudson is still in charge.

As long as this is still the case I want nothing to do with it.

But I would guess that it will be set before ME1. Trying to do a game set after ME3 would be to hard. No matter what ending you make cannon you will endup pissing off most of the people who actually liked the ending to say nothing of the people who hated it.

 

[Amethyst Wind]

Personally I think it'd be best to do the post-trilogy story.

Think about it. For the past [Nx50,000] years the Reapers have been dictating the socio-technological growth of the galaxy. The Reapers (and by extension the training wheels) are now gone. What's the first thought in the minds of every species?

"Well f*ck. Now what do we do?"

Galaxy-wide identity crises abound. New religions pop up. A splinter group of nutcases emerge who actually want the Reapers back. Peaceful species' turning warlike and vice-versa. (Frankly I'd love to see the Salarians become the party people of the galaxy).

 

[The]

And if they gave us a Batarian who was actually a none-minor character, AND not a dick, I'd be overjoyed.

Or better yet, a Vorcha as a non-dick, non-minor character. I'd like to see how that turns out.

No wait, scratch all that. A badass, brutish Salarian mercenary. With low IQ.

Or a male Asari.

My life would be complete.

 

[Exius Xavarus]

I'd like to see a game based around the time of the Prothean's time period when the Reapers are descending upon them.

 

[SonOfMethuselah]

Two things:

Firstly: Casey Hudson is technically still in charge, but he's still hanging out in Vancouver(?) and the new game is being developed by Bioware Montreal. There's a pretty good chance that him not standing over the shoulders of the devs in the Montreal studio means that they'll turn out an interesting title.

Secondly: While the only logical thing for the series is to make it a either a prequel or an interquel, as trying to make it take place after the existing trilogy sets up a whole lot of problems, there are issues with that. The first is that if it's an interquel, the fact that there is already a conflict of galactic importance occurring, (or on the horizon), means that, in order to make the story at all interesting, it's going to have to be extremely personal. Otherwise, the stakes won't seem large enough. You could technically set it in the two years where Shepard is being rebuilt by Cerberus, hunting down the remnants of Saren's Geth, turning up evidence of the impending Reaper threat that the Council just won't listen to, but the problem is, we all know how that story is going to end: with Shepard fighting the Reapers. However, if that same story also revolved around some kind of intensely personal journey, I could see it working. But I don't know if Bioware has the chops to do a story like that.

If they make it a prequel, there is only one problem: no humans. I don't mean this from a personal standpoint: I never play as a human when I have the option of another race. But I can't think of a single Bioware game where you had the choice to pick a race, and human wasn't an option. It's like they're too scared to design a game like that. I don't think that anything in humanity's history leading up to entering galactic civilization is interesting enough to base the game around. I mean, what have they got, the First Contact War? Ehh. But, if you go back further than that, you don't have humanity at all, and, again, I don't know if Bioware have the guts to do that. I really hope they do. I guess we'll have to see.

Ignoring the story aspect, this series is set in SPACE! I want SPACE! battles. Running around on the ground shooting at things always felt like a missed opportunity. I want to see them explore the whole futuristic aspect of the setting in gameplay more than they have so far.

That's just what I think, anyway. Feel free to disagree.

 

[deanospimoni]

I think they've exhausted all the material they have for Mass Effect, and a sequel, prequel, or anything else will only compound the problems that they have. I enjoyed each game, but to be honest, I have doubts that they can create anything new that won't be overshadowed by the original trilogy.

 

[NicotineStainedSoul]

There are so many ways to do this. It could be a galaxy-wide RTS setup, with each planet having its own forces and resources that you employ to hold off the reapers as long as you can, with the occasional possibility of a victory to keep the player going in the face of ultimate defeat. It could be another personal Shepard-style story, where you play one of the prothean avatars, or whatever Javik called himself, like the embodiment of hope or something. It could even include some space combat, something the series has always had the opportunity to do but never has.

This would be a great example of how to do dark, end-of-the-world tension. We know that the protheans WILL LOSE. It's a game built on the hope of our protagonists that we know will end in genocide; but that even this ultimate defeat will result in the slightest glimmer of hope with the conduit from ME1. I really think this is the best option available. It avoids the problems that any sequel will run into, and it mostly avoids the problems of a prequel set in the same cycle. In this case, we also know the ultimate outcome, but none of the details that led to it. It just seems like a perfect setup to me.

I like it, unfortunately its idealistic to presume this will be the course they take. Good, very good concept. Bioware will just pump out another generic space shooter however. Shame too, because the universe they created is cool and deserves more investigation, but in their business model it isn't profitable, shooters are, so lets make another one and further strip out the rpg elements and lets make sure it is multiplayer focused. It'll be perfect...

all i can think of is that south park episode where indy gets raped. This sequel will be like digging up the corpse and going at it again.

In a strange way tho, i hope for a true sequel. I know if they had to choose they would choose the "synthesis" ending as canon. I would be very interested to see how they dealt with that reality beyond a tacked on after thought with space magic and glowing people, and what that would it be like in depth because it honks of retardation. Would people need to eat now? or plug themselves in? would this hurt the races affected or be embraced?

They took a good thing and shat on it, and are gonna dig it back up and shit on it all over again because $$$. and whoever earlier defended casey hudson...you gotta be kidding me.

 

[hermes]

I have no fucking idea. I would guess they could have one ending as cannon and start in the far away future, or during the human/turian war... That could be interesting.

Things they shouldn't do: Set it during the Mass Effect trilogy games, with another character (kind of like Dragon Age 2). Why? For once, we know how it ends (this is not a rant about the ending of 3), we know Reapers appear, Shepard gets to the catalyst and saves the day... And we know our character will have little to no impact in the universe. I think the main problem with Mass Effect (in general, but mostly evidenced in the last one) is that Shepard is the solution to everything... EVERYTHING. An entire race is exiled? Shepard gets them a planet. A 500 years war with an old race of cyborgs? Shepard make peace with them. A genocidal virus threatens to wipe out an entire race for centuries? Shepard cures it. An unstoppable race of machines wants to wipe all advanced civilizations? Shepard slaves them; while bossing their creators. The Volus has lost a very old and powerful relic? Shepard stumbles upon it.

Talk about Messiah's complex... Shepard personally decides to merge every human, alien, animal and tree in the galaxy with machines, because he can. He starts as the first human Specter (kind of a big deal), and turns into the single most important sentient being in the history of the galaxy. Under those circumstances, what would the protagonist in 4 do? People complain about lack of closure... how about too much closure? Shepard already did everything. What was everybody else in the galaxy doing? Where was Jacob (he was standing in a hospital reception)? Where was Jack (in a bar at the Citadel)?

 

[Subscriptism]

I wish they'd do a DA:Origins style game where you can choose your race/origin. I think they should do it somewhere in the 30 years between the end of the Contact War and the first events of Mass Effect.

 

[AD-Stu]

I'm sure they've actually talked about moving it well away from combat and the military, and I believe focusing more on exploration. Which means it will either happen before, or during, the Mass Effect trilogy. (Unless I dreamed that up!)

The endings- as bullshit as they are- are too varied in their potential futures to go forwards. Not only that, but there's our choices for Shepard.
Are there Geth? Are there Quarians? Are there both? Or even neither?
Are the Krogan rebuilding and living productive lives? Are they focussing on war and running rough-shot through the galaxy? Or are they extinct?
Just the outcome of TWO ME3 storylines can have an absolutely massive effect on the future of the galaxy. I can't believe they're unaware of how much it will piss people off to screw around with that; and the potential variables are too huge to make different game scenarios for different ME-trilogy choices.

Eh, a quick wave of the hand of god will fix those and any other problems.

Seriously, they've done it loads of times before. You picked Anderson as the Councillor? Overrulled, you always get Udina in the end. You thought long and hard over whether to save the Rachni Queen back in ME1? N'yeah... turns out that didn't really matter. You killed Wrex? Here's another guy who's much the same. Did you destroy the Collector base, or did you gift it to the Illusive Man? Didn't really matter in the end, did it?

Like I said earlier, if they got really lazy they could solve pretty much any discontinuity problem, up to and including whether or not the entire universe has become an organic-synthetic hybrid with nanobots or space magic or something.

And y'know what? There'd probably be a bit of an uproar, but I'd still play it. And I know I'm far from alone on that.

I think they've exhausted all the material they have for Mass Effect.

There's a whole bunch of comics and novels that say otherwise. As to whether the next game is overshadowed by the original trilogy, that's up to the designers. But if it happens, it won't be because there's no more material in the game universe.

 

[dogenzakaminion]

Well...it's going to be in the Mass Effect universe, though the setting might be different (different time period for example) and it will not feature the Normandy crew. Could be anything really. I'm hoping for an "old republic" analogue. I really see this franchise, and to be more precise, the expanded universe, having really good potential.