Mass Effect 4 Will Not Feature Shepard or "Shepard 2"

[JonB]

Mass Effect 4 Will Not Feature Shepard or "Shepard 2"

A BioWare producer says that Shepard's successor for the next Mass Effect game will be very different.

With the Mass Effect trilogy completed, BioWare producer Fabrice Condominas has told VG24/7 that the studio will certainly continue with Mass Effect, but that Commander Shepard will no longer be a feature of the series. Calling Shepard's departure as protagonist the "starting point" of their production process, Condominas went on to describe that the studio is still in the planning phase for a fourth game. Additionally, Condominas says that the studio wants to avoid making the protagonist of the new game a "Shepard 2." He confirms that the game will be in a "very, very different context" from previous Mass Effect titles.

The decision to make the new protagonist not even "a soldier in the universe" is an interesting one, given the military focus of the Mass Effect trilogy. Judging by Condominas' comments, the game could be a sequel or a prequel to the original trilogy. He said that "we don't even know what kind of time frame we're going to be in." It's truly hard to judge what's in store for lovers of Mass Effect, because as Condominas points out, "the Mass Effect universe is vast and very, very rich."

The departure of Shepard will mark a shift in tone for the series, which has made its name on the adventures of the special operations soldier. The game is known for its branching storylines where player choice is emphasized, and while fans will disagree on whose Shepard is the best, they'll all agree that Shepard's story is the core of Mass Effect. It will certainly be a challenge to find a strikingly different protagonist who still makes the world feel like Mass Effect. In the end, a less militarily inclined protagonist will surely lead to a very different space opera, and could signal a shift in tone from conflict to exploration - or at least a broadened scope.

Source: VG24/7 [http://www.vg247.com/2012/10/19/mass-effect-4-star-we-dont-want-shepard-2-bioware/]


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[BaronIveagh]

But who would buy it at this point, after so much fail on 3?

 

[Falseprophet]

Wow, this just might make me interested in Mass Effect again. Shepard was fine and all, for an undeveloped blank slate character, but I really didn't care for the switch from Shepard being important because they stumbled into the path of the Prothean beacon in ME1, to space-Jesus who kicks the most ass in ME2. For me, the setting was the real draw of Mass Effect. It'd be nice if we could explore that setting in different ways, maybe without having to look over an iron sight.

 

[Jorec]

No Shepard 2?

Goddammit Bioware, you've already ruined ME4!!

 

[Space Jawa]

But who would buy it at this point, after so much fail on 3?

My thoughts as well - after the way 3 ended, how many people are going to be willing to trust Bioware on another series of Mass Effect games?

"Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice..."

 

[Legion]

Not even a soldier? Even after sacrificing so many of the decent story elements in order to make Mass Effect 3 a great third person shooter?

We always knew it wouldn't be Shepard though. They said before ME3 even came out that it'd be the last game based around them. Obviously Bioware are not particularly well known right now for saying things and sticking to them, but it's not that surprising that they have ended Shepards story.

 

[Soviet Heavy]

You know what will happen.

We will play as Eagle, a commoner who managed to escape from earth during the Reaper invasion. With the help of Aria T'loak, he manages to help his family escape to Omega, losing his sister/brother/cousin/puppy in the process depending on what class he/she is.

Then starts his rise to glory on Omega, where he earns respect for his actions in the promenade, Aria's club, and the basement. Then, an anti biotic group and a pro biotic group start a civil war, and he gets thrown into the middle of it, even if he isn't a biotic.

Will feature cameos by Neil Patrick Harris, and John Barrowman.

Not content with having to press a button to make something awesome happen, the game will feature a streamlined approach to gameplay in order to fix bugs from Mass Effect 3. Once you put the disk in the machine, you won't need to press anything else to make awesome stuff happen. The game will do it for you!

 

[Legion]

You know what will happen.

We will play as Eagle, a commoner who managed to escape from earth during the Reaper invasion. With the help of Aria T'loak, he manages to help his family escape to Omega, losing his sister/brother/cousin/puppy in the process depending on what class he/she is.

Then starts his rise to glory on Omega, where he earns respect for his actions in the promenade, Aria's club, and the basement. Then, an anti biotic group and a pro biotic group start a civil war, and he gets thrown into the middle of it, even if he isn't a biotic.

Will feature cameos by Neil Patrick Harris, and John Barrowman.

Oh you crafty devil, I see what you did there. After all, if they copied Dragon Age 2's plot into Dragon Age 3 it'd cause issues, but to switch series would be pure genius.

 

[BrotherRool]

This seems like a good decision to me. I always felt a bit constrained by the soldier thing and branching out in a new direction is a nice artistic choice which suggests that maybe ME4 isn't completely publisher controlled

 

[Soviet Heavy]

So it's going to be Kirkwall in space?

Not Kirkwall, Omega. That way they can recycle assets.

 

[gardian06]

ok. so are we to expect a story every line Bioware releases of info on Mass Effect francise. you know I would really like a completely contextual story instead of having to piece mill it together over several weeks. this is a criticism of the PR addled industry, and the journalists that cover it.

 

[Gabanuka]

As I've said before. They need to go for a smaller, more personal story, otherwise they wont beat ME 2 and 3 (1 was pretty small scale if you look at it)

 

[Sniper Team 4]

They'll bring Shepard back in some way. She won't be the main character, and she probably won't be in the game itself for very long, but they'll find a way to give her a cameo.

My question is this: Assuming they set the game after Mass Effect 3, how are they going to do it? While each ending in 3 is pretty much the same, there are some HUGE differences between them. Is BioWare just going to pick one of the three endings and decide, "Yep, that's what happened," or are they going to make it so the game can read our save files?

 

[Soviet Heavy]

They'll bring Shepard back in some way. She won't be the main character, and she probably won't be in the game itself for very long, but they'll find a way to give her a cameo.

My question is this: Assuming they set the game after Mass Effect 3, how are they going to do it? While each ending in 3 is pretty much the same, there are some HUGE differences between them. Is BioWare just going to pick one of the three endings and decide, "Yep, that's what happened," or are they going to make it so the game can read our save files?

The only difference I could see for that is if you see a Reaper flying around in the background, or if everything has a green glow in the game.

 

[Shoggoth2588]

If ME4 is ME4 and not, ME:Subtitle then it'll be facing an uphill battle. Since it sounds like it'll be a departure from the Shepard story though I'm going to assume and hope it is ME-Subtitle instead of an outright ME4. I'm also going to hope that you get to play as a non-human race although, this hope may be crushed since I remember an article a while back about Bioware wanting to get away from making RPGs. Come on Space Combat sim!

 

[Nihlus2]

You know what will happen.

We will play as Eagle, a commoner who managed to escape from earth during the Reaper invasion. With the help of Aria T'loak, he manages to help his family escape to Omega, losing his sister/brother/cousin/puppy in the process depending on what class he/she is.

Then starts his rise to glory on Omega, where he earns respect for his actions in the promenade, Aria's club, and the basement. Then, an anti biotic group and a pro biotic group start a civil war, and he gets thrown into the middle of it, even if he isn't a biotic.

Will feature cameos by Neil Patrick Harris, and John Barrowman.

Oh you crafty devil, I see what you did there. After all, if they copied Dragon Age 2's plot into Dragon Age 3 it'd cause issues, but to switch series would be pure genius.

Oh good lord, is this what you would call the Video Games' version of inbreed?

At this point however, I really would not put it past Bioware or... well the company named Bioware, not sure how many of the original staff still remains, if any at all

 

[ctear]

Perhaps they will make the main character a choice; start off as an Asari Stripper, a Silurian Scientist, a miss-programmed Keeper, etc. Only being able to choose human was one of the drawbacks of the original trilogy.

 

[Fappy]

You know what will happen.

We will play as Eagle, a commoner who managed to escape from earth during the Reaper invasion. With the help of Aria T'loak, he manages to help his family escape to Omega, losing his sister/brother/cousin/puppy in the process depending on what class he/she is.

Then starts his rise to glory on Omega, where he earns respect for his actions in the promenade, Aria's club, and the basement. Then, an anti biotic group and a pro biotic group start a civil war, and he gets thrown into the middle of it, even if he isn't a biotic.

Will feature cameos by Neil Patrick Harris, and John Barrowman.

Not content with having to press a button to make something awesome happen, the game will feature a streamlined approach to gameplay in order to fix bugs from Mass Effect 3. Once you put the disk in the machine, you won't need to press anything else to make awesome stuff happen. The game will do it for you!

I see what you did there.

If this is ME4's fate kill me now! DX