BioWare Founders Consider Mass Effect MMO

[The Pinray]

The Mass Effect franchise isn't ready for an MMO. Not yet, anyway.

I think they should make some more titles. But no more unstoppable bad-ass ultra heroes. Let's retire the Commander, place him on a pedestal, and let him stay there for us all to admire and reminisce about. DO NOT bring him back after this game. The more you milk a character, the less they'll mean. LEAVE SHEPARD ALONE.

I have hopes for Mass Effect as a franchise. The world is rich and deep. They could do so much with it.

I'll remain cautiously optimistic about the series' future.

 

[Smiley Face]

Why? How would this be in any way different than SWTOR? I mean, as settings, they're incredibly similar (spaceships, aliens, quasi-magic). Bioware just made a big damn Space MMO, the market is tapped until SWTOR goes bye-bye. And if SWTOR goes bye-bye quick enough to make it viable to make a Mass Effect MMO in the near future, then it's probably a bad idea anyways.

Also, I don't like MMOs, take the series in an actually interesting direction.

How about a GTA sandbox style game where you play a c sec officer on the citadel?

Actually, a game that bases itself strongly in the Citadel might be the best step to take. It lets it have all the different species while avoiding the planet-to-planet stuff, makes it feel like it's in the Mass Effect franchise, but it's NOT just the same-old, same-old.

I don't really think GTA-style sandbox would work - the key component to that is that all areas are linked by pedestrian/vehicular travel that you do yourself. The Citadel is so huge that that can't really work. That, and it's going too far from familiar territory for it to be the best move for players (and quite possibly for Bioware).


Actually, thinking about a Citadel-limited ME game without Shepard or serious travel between regions... seems pretty similar to the transition from DA:O to DA2. How did that happen?

 

[wintercoat]

I will reiterate a point made on the Bioware Social Network. EA will not blow another 200 million dollars on an MMO with only a fraction of the fanbase Star Wars has.

Also, DON'T WANT!

Your neglecting the cost defrayal of IP ownership. How much of that 20 million (which by the way, is still a completely unconfirmed number) was licence fee to Lucas Arts? How much of a % of their monthly revenue goes directly to Lucas Arts?

I agree a Mass Effect MMO is not on the horizon within, oh, probably this decade. They'll want TOR to run for 1-3 years before they even think of a new MMO project (if at all), and then the development will take another 5 years if TOR is any indication.

Even ignoring the financial and social logistics of the whole project, this sounds like a remarkably bad idea. At what point does this MMO take place? Before the events of the Mass Effect trilogy, thereby avoiding retcon issues but limiting what players can encounter? After the Mass Effect trilogy, allowing for maximum freedom but cock-slapping anybody who has finished their personal story due to a canon MMO backstory?

Timeskip, same as TOR, which takes place roughly 100-1000 years after KOTOR
-

Now for dream speculation!

My dream Mass Effect project is a pausable real time fleet strategy game that allows me to pit racial fleets against each other in futuristic ye olde nautical style (space combat in the ME universe involves alot of broadsides and big ship manuevering while gunships and 'fighter' class vessels try to slip past larger ships ME fields)

Or, Frankly, a Mass Effect RTS of any kind...

I would hope they release a Mass Effect MMO even longer from then if it can be helped. I think many here would agree that the genre needs A LOT of work and time to evolve. Hopefully by the time they do turn ME into an MMO the genre will no longer be resented by half the gaming community.

The problem with a time skip is the Rachnii. If the Rachnii are there, then that canonizes the decision on Noveria. If they're not there, it still catches them in the ass because they either have to canonize that the queen was killed, or canonize that she wasn't, but something happened to the Rachnii to make them not be there.

Same problem with the genophage. They would have to canonize whether or not you cured the Krogan.

All other details could probably just be swept under the rug, but those two details have a huge lasting effect on the entire galaxy.

And you can't really do anything for before the games, because there's not that much time between the events of the games and the First Encounter War. And they can't set it during the war because, lets face it, a Mass Effect MMO where you can either play as a human or a Turian, but no other race? Yeah, I don't see that going over too well with the fans. Plus, c'mon, would you really chose to be a human over a Turian? I can guarantee that the factions would be unbalanced.

 

[CobraX]

I don't want a shitty MMO. I want a solid Action RPG with good writing.

I don't want.....
To be forced to play with other people to advance in the game
OR
To be forced to pay a subscription fee
OR
To have to buy Alliance Keys to Open Citadel Crates To Get Certain Weapons
OR
To have to play it on my Computer
OR
To have watered down writing to accommodation the fact that I'm playing with hundreds of other people going through the same plot.

I DON'T WANT A MMO, DEAR GOD PLEASE DON'T LET THIS HAPPEN.

Bioware, Just Release Mass Effect 3, then work on Mass Effect 4 and improve on the gameplay/story mechanics. I'll be happy, I'll buy it, You'll make truckloads of money, and thus You'll be happy.

In closing,my opinion on the idea of a Mass Effect MMO is;DO NOT WANT

 

[Chappy]

Though I would in the future enjoy the possibility of adding my own character (Not a Shepard) to the universe I would also prefer it if Bioware slowed down.

As people have aforementioned they have just finished anouther MMO and they shouldn't overextend themselves, then again I have been wondering since the demo of ME3 if the multiplayer was/could lead to something larger and may in itself be a beta for a MMO combat system.

 

[Phlakes]

The ME3 multiplayer and TOR make me think it could actually work really well. Although I'd like if they stuck with Mass Effecty stuff rather than leaning more toward WoW.

EDIT: Christ, people, all they said is that the idea sounds interesting, yo don't have to tell them to slow down.

 

[octafish]

A Mass Effect MMO without space combat wouldn't be worth playing. Consider though, a persistent world, spaceships upgradable through a combination of loot drops and XP, recruitable squad members, separate missions for characters planetside... fuck it I'll just play STO. Still a massive multiplayer Mass Effect flavoured FreeSpace/Eve would be great, if you simplify the controls a little consoles and PC would be on an even footing.

 

[isometry]

They wouldn't necessarily have to compete with TOR, they could do a cheap F2P MMO like EA did with Need For Speed and Battlefield. That or maybe an ambitious facebook game are more likely than another subscription based big-budget MMO.

 

[Fr]anc[is]

Umm who said all mmos had to be a two faction conflict? It doesn't even have to be an rpg, I've actually been thinking of an mmo city sim for Mass effect. Yea it's a bit far fetched but it could work.

WoW said so. TOR has it, Warhammer online had it, Star Trek online has it I think, DC Universe has it, city of heroes/villains I'm guessing had it, APB has it.

 

[spectrenihlus]

anc[is]

Umm who said all mmos had to be a two faction conflict? It doesn't even have to be an rpg, I've actually been thinking of an mmo city sim for Mass effect. Yea it's a bit far fetched but it could work.

WoW said so. TOR has it, Warhammer online had it, Star Trek online has it I think, DC Universe has it, city of heroes/villains I'm guessing had it, APB has it.

What about Eve Online?

 

[The Random One]

Eh, I'd play it, and I don't like MMOs.

I'm also enjoying seeing all the people saying 'NOOO DON'T MAKE IT BECAUSE I PERSONALLY WOULDN'T ENJOY IT' as if they would being forced at gunpoint to play this game if it came out.

 

[Paragon Fury]

After the utterly, utterly medicore and disappointing event that was SWTOR, you think Bioware would've learned.

 

[LordReaver]

It's sad that people hear "MMO" and automatically think "MMORPG"

 

[RatRace123]

Meh, I wouldn't get it. I don't like MMOs; main reason why I didn't get SWTOR, despite the fact that everything I've seen about the game tells me I'd like it.

But the prospect of paying a monthly fee for a game I'm likely only going to play for a few months, or however long it takes me to "finish" it, and then maybe pop it in every now and then, just puts me off. And I don't like sharing my RPG space with other people, I don't want to see some idiots running around, dancing in the streets and jumping on random stuff; it takes me out of the experience. And there's the fact that the lifespan of an MMO is finite, but with a singleplayer game, it exists as long as you keep it in good condition. Well, OK, maybe not if you download it, and even if you do buy a disc, if they DRM it... well, my point still kinda stands.

I'd much rather them work on another singleplayer RPG, but with an Elder Scrolls twist where you can pick your species and just roll around the galaxy doin' stuff.

Just give me the option to be a badass Turian mercenary (without the monthly fee and the other people ruining the immersion factor) and I will give you my money.

 

[MPerce]

Yeah...I really doubt they'll go through with this idea.
Interesting idea, but it's a giant money sink waiting to happen. They already have a huge MMO to worry about. Why give it more competition while putting even more stress on yourself by having to run them both at the same time?
I'd rather them make some new content. Or Jade Empire 2. Holy shit, I'd love another Jade Empire game.

 

[Timberwolf0924]

Whats with all the hate people spew just because a company got bought out. It's a part of business, they can't help that someone with money offered to bring them in, at a price, and give them funding and resources they might not have had otherwise.

Also, yes. KOTOR was a great game, Jade Empires was good too. Mass Effect (series) is wonderful. But people need to know that things change and people keep complaining about it. So instead of quick keying your attackes to string them up you have to shoot people and wait for a cool down. I can see a whole MMORPG coming from this game. I don't see why it would bother people.

I'm hoping one, that it doesn't come at the cost of having it play like wow. I mean maybe revert back to the old style guns where they over heat, and have your powers on a certian cool down. But keep it OTS and a shooter. So you don't have to worry about clips and what not.

There's dozens of ideas out there, and I'm sur eyou've all thought up of a way they can make up a huge MMO from it. Maybe get money for kills and have to buy weapons and armor instead of drops. Scan tech for upgrades and what not.

But I'm sure there's something we can all get from it.

 

[The.Bard]

I... I just want to live long enough to play Mass Effect 3. And with all the wall-to-wall Bioware coverage on all these websites, I can't go a scant five minutes without thinking about how faaaaaaaaaaaaar away March 6th is!

Daaaaaaaaaaaaamn youuuuuuuuuu, interneeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeet!!!!

OSHI-! The.Bard is The Guardian from Ultima 7!

Wow. You just took me back to green pastures and the innocent violence of my youth. I'm totally going off topic, but it's your fault, Kimarous! Among my favorite activities in Ultima VII:

- Breaking into bakeries at night and making tons of bread, which I would stack in mammoth piles on the counter.

- Going to bars and starting brawls, slipping out the back, and then laughing when I'd come back to find everyone dead or arrested.


*sigh* 6 days. 6 days. I can survive six days. I can survive six days. I can't survive six days. 8'(

 

[GeorgW]

Soo, they spend half a billion on TOR and now they're gonna make yet another MMO? WHAT? Are they insane?? While I like the idea of mass effect gameplay in an MMO, there's just no reason for it until at least 5 or so years.
I like Mass Effect, but I like the universe more, and would love to explore that more fully. I wouldn't play it as an MMO, cuz I don't like MMOs, but it's still an okay idea.

 

[plus2exp]

I won't even be playing Mass Effect 3 unless it comes to Steam. Continuing the franchise in MMO form just further decreases my interest in the Mass Effect universe.