Bioware: Next Mass Effect on "The Right Track"

[Sidmen]

Yes! Lets redo what they did in KOTOR 2 and Dragon Age 2! Because it worked so f-ing well in those games, right? Just keep riding the same damn horse until its well beyond the point of dead. KOTOR 2 was terrible by every imaginable, measurable definition. That's why you're not getting a KOTOR 3 - except for a...what was it again...and MMORPG? No that can't be right -that'd validate my earlier point, so lets just ignore it. We can always go with DA2, a game so universally panned they made ME2 and ME3 to bleach the memories of Dragon's Age from our minds and risk a completely unrelated relaunch of the franchise. If you think those are SMART decisions, then by all means, have Bioware make a new Mass Effect game set in downtown Citadel with a few patched together characters with implied depth and meaning. I'm sure it wont be seen as a cheap knock off and desperate attempt to cash in on fan's love and loyalty. Not at all. Nothing Bioware has done would ever, EVER even hint that something like that could happen.

You're good to go. Hope it pays off mate,

*Raises eyebrow*

KOTOR 2: The Sith Lords was a friggen awesome game, probably played it more than I did the first one. Its only problems can be directly pointed to the fact that it was made by Obsidian. It had bugs (so many bugs), and it had a pretty crap ending. The rest was great!

And Dragon Age 2? How did a single sequel count as "riding a horse beyond the point of death"? My problems with it weren't even remotely related to the fact that it was set in Thedas. Its problems were its crap combat mechanics and short development schedule (which meant it couldn't have the number of unique assets it should've). I can't speak about its story, because the former two meant I didn't get much past the "become rich" cutscene.

I think you just have a problem with sequels. I don't. You have the option to -NOT- buy a sequel, I don't have the opportunity to make one magically appear if they don't make it. So, yeah, I want them to make as many sequels as they can get away with whilst they're still fun.

 

[InterrogationBear]

I don't think they even entered production yet. The Lead Writer and Lead Gameplay Designer positions are still open and Yannik Roy indicated three month ago that they are still in the concept phase.
They might have finished porting a lot of the Mass Effect assets (like the Citadel) from the Unreal Engine 3 to Frostbite 3 and created new ones they intend to use.

 

[Proverbial Jon]

People within the dev team talking up their product? Well that MUST be a sure sign of quality! After all, someone must have thought multicoloured endings were a brilliant idea at the time of creation.

Without being the whiny little cry baby who didn't get the ending he wanted, I really am done with Mass Effect. I think a trilogy is more than enough for pretty much any franchise. After that the well of innovation seems to run dry. See pretty much any game with a 4 in its name.

Plus, it'll most likely be on the Xbone, a console I won't be buying.

 

[spartandude]

Developers of a game say their game is awesome? well then it must be good /sarcasm
Im still very bitter over the complete lies that they made surrounding the ME3 ending (and the fact their last 3 games they made were shit imo) so forgive me if i dont take their word for it.

Capha- gee whiz. seriously you always know how to finish my comments

 

[Blachman201_v1legacy]

As done as I am with Mass Effect, I must admit that I am curious to see what Bioware is going to do with this next game. If only to see how they possibly can move past Walters and Hudson's burning of the franchise. I guessing there will be a liberal use of retcons and hand waves.

 

[unindexedsearchengine]

I've been rather hyped about this for quite a while.
I fall into the category of hating the pre-EC endings of ME3, but absolutely loving the EC endings. I also really liked the overall game too.
Seeing as the two main reasons for the "i love faith in bioware" (DA2, ME3) were games I actually liked and enjoyed to a rather extensive degree, and based on what we've seen of DA:I, I'm rather confident that this will turn out quite nicely.

 

[Ninjat_126]

Never understood the massive hate over an ending like ME3 received. Looking forward to see what they do with the series from here on out.

That's exactly what they said for Mass Effect 3.

Biggest waste of $60.00 I ever spent.

I pre-ordered the special edition, and I live in Australia. Also, I have no disposable income and have no career or employment prospects.

Please, continue to complain about your loss of $60.



(Okay, I speak in jest. But I think after the backlash from ME3, Bioware and especially EA are going to need to sit down, have a big think, and come up with an original IP or two before going back to Mass Effect. Which is exactly what they aren't doing. Yay.)

 

[xplosive59]

People are still complaining about the ending? 99% of the game was great, only the last 5 minutes were mediocre. It is a bit cliche to say but: The journey was more important than the ending in Mass Effect's case, the main story was nothing special but the atmosphere and characters were all excellent... Except for Kai Leng, fuck Kai Leng.

 

[Vrach]

Mass Effect 3 as a whole was an <a href=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/editorials/reviews/9458-Mass-Effect-3-Review>excellent game, but many still left the experience feeling burned on account of its <a href=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/columns/experienced-points/9506-Mass-Effect-3-Ending-Controversy>controversial ending.

Nope. The ending is a bit stupid, but it's not a big deal. The game as a whole sucked ass when compared to either of it's predecessors and was at best a below-mediocre AAA title that no one would've paid attention to if it wasn't the third game in the series.

 

[The Great JT]

*Reads, sees plenty of ME3 ending rage*

Crying out loud, man. The game had a bad ending, lots of them do. GET OVER IT.

 

[DarkhoIlow]

Citadel dlc really saved the game for me which made the extended ending quite passable.

Don't get me wrong I still hate them a bit for doing it, but they have a chance to redeem themselves with DAI. Regarding the Mass Effect game I am looking forward to see where they will set it, pre or post Reaper war.

 

[TsunamiWombat]

Before Mass Effect 3 was released, Casey Hudson said [http://www.gameinformer.com/b/features/archive/2012/01/10/mass1525-effect-3-cas5ey-fdsafdhudson-interviewae.aspx?PostPageIndex=2]:

It's not even in any way like the traditional game endings, where you can say how many endings there are or whether you got ending A, B, or C.

Exactly the opposite of what Casey Hudson said turned out to be the case. There are plenty of other quotes like this, where devs claimed things about ME3 that they had to know were untrue, but I can't link you to the long compilation thread of them since Bioware deleted it from their forums (though I have a saved copy of it on my HDD). Anyway, so many promises were broken by the ME3 ending, and then protected under the aegis of "artistic integrity" (as opposed to the regular kind of integrity where you don't lie about your products), that I won't buy into the dev hype in this instance. I'll wait for user reviews of the next Mass Effect game to come out before I remotely consider buying it.

I must concur with my fellow user's statement. Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.

The past five years have taught me painful lessons about trusting any developer, no matter their pedigree. I never thought the day Bioware and Blizzard would be cast under the light of suspicion would come. But it has come.

 

[Silentpony_v1legacy]

snip

Snip

But how can you play Mass Effect 2 knowing that the events and ending of Mass Effect 3 will happen. The ending tainted the entire series! You know what the "ultimate threat" is in ME3, so how can 2 have the same impact? Itsruuuuuuuuuuuuuuined

Oh! OH! Oh see you misunderstood. My point is not that the overall majority of ME3 is terrible, just the ending. Like the last...3 minutes? Maybe 4? I think there may have been a small controversy over it when it first came out, but don't quote me. I'll have to double check. And I think they released a patch that added a few things but overall didn't fix the clusterfuck of an ending.
It would be very very VERY difficult to keep any sequel in canon with all the varying endings. They'd almost have to ignore the first three games, which would defeat the purpose of setting it in the ME world. And if they're just going to completely ignore all the established characters/locations/races/themes/events, again might as well make a new IP. And yes I am saying that if they make another and do not reference a single thing for the first three, fans will be pissed.

 

[Dansrage]

I didn't think 15 minutes of bad ending could ruin 300 hours of gameplay but it did.
It's going to be very hard for me to re-invest in a universe and characters I was previously invested in but fell out with.
Kind of like making up after a bad breakup and getting back together.
But as much as you like her in the back of your mind you still know she fucked your brother.

 

[Feauce]

So after reading the article, my reaction is probably very similar to others based on what I've read on this thread...

BioWare: "The new Mass Effect is looking fantastic!"
Me: "Great. So... can we maybe see something? Some screenshots, a teaser video, anything?"
BioWare: "Well, of course not."
Me: "...Why?"
BioWare: "'Cause."
Me: "Right. Well then, I still don't care about it. Let me know when you've got something with substance."

Because honestly, ME3's ending didn't ruin the franchise. The development of ME2 did it long before that.

 

[neppakyo]

ME3 a great game? not really. It was a shitty copy of Gears Of War, 3rd person duck and cover shooter, with giant plot holes and lots of retcon.

Those Bioware rose tinted glasses must be nice

 

[Maxtro]

Considering that Dragon Age 3 is coming out Fall next year, I wouldn't expect to see anything about the next Mass Effect until 2105.

 

[Panthera]

But do I get to choose whether I want to lose my shit in a white toilet, a blue toilet, or a green toilet?

 

[FFHAuthor]

Hmm, well, aside from being unwilling to listen to members of the development team slapping themselves on the back about their own work...they haven't actually told us ANYTHING about the game itself. So I'm sorry if I happen to be merely rolling my eyes and thinking back to the last time Bioware team members raved about their own product...

...hmm...ME3 ending it was...

Yeah...

Forgive me for not caring about what they have to say.

 

[martyrdrebel27]

I'll only buy the next mass effect if it acknowledges the Indoctrination Theory as canon. Or if you play as Marauder Shields in his retelling of ME3's events.