Bioware: Next Mass Effect on "The Right Track"

[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.

 

[You Can't Take the Sky From Me]

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.

I... I thought I was the only one... I'm not alone any more!

Anyhoo... I am actually quite excited to see more of the ME universe, and, since Bioware still has my faith, I look forward to seeing what the team has in store for it next.

 

[MarsProbe]

So, it'll have at least one kind of tank in it, real exploration, meaningful sidequests, procedurally generated landscapes and multiple possible solutions to singular problems?

Great, because you guys cut all of those things from number three and that's why I'm probably not buying number 4.

Whilst we're at it, real money gambling, let's not be having any of that, although given EA's obsession with it (And it's appearance in Battlefield 4 of all things) I'm not holding much hope.

Yeh, they need to bring back planets for the next Mass Effect. They were sorely missing from the ME2 & 3 I thought. I really missed the planets in ME2 & 3.

I'm going to remain optimistic (perhaps not even cautiously) until we some tangible form of this game. I know I could fly off the handle like this was a new Batman casting announcement or something, but you know, it's really not worth the bother.

 

[MiskWisk]

snip
Also, how does one add the spoilers tag on the forums?

Here, this thread [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/18.198114-Escapist-User-Guide-to-Posting-Commands] has pretty much every command on it. Just don't put the spaces between the [ and the command.

OT: Yeah, colour me sceptical. The Bioware universe is a little written into a corner with regards to a sequel and a prequel or a story taking place at the same time will just feel... inconsequential? I mean, we know how the story will turn out and that no decisions made in this one will mean anything. Unless they decide to pick one canon ending in which case they'll piss off a lot of people.

Captcha: umbrella corporation. Are you hinting at something captcha?

 

[Dragonbums]

snip
Also, how does one add the spoilers tag on the forums?

Here, this thread [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/18.198114-Escapist-User-Guide-to-Posting-Commands] has pretty much every command on it. Just don't put the spaces between the [ and the command.

OT: Yeah, colour me sceptical. The Bioware universe is a little written into a corner with regards to a sequel and a prequel or a story taking place at the same time will just feel... inconsequential? I mean, we know how the story will turn out and that no decisions made in this one will mean anything. Unless they decide to pick one canon ending in which case they'll piss off a lot of people.

Captcha: umbrella corporation. Are you hinting at something captcha?

The only way I can see this working is if they pull a classic Fanfiction.net style Alternate Universe sort of deal and re write the whole thing so that the original trilogy is canon but the AU is also canon just not canon to the trilogy and you know what? fuck this clusterfuck.

 

[lunavixen]

I wish they'd stop hyping it, excessive hype can only lead to disappointment (See Duke Nukem and Mass Effect 3 for this particular lesson). I'm not excited, i'd rather wait until there is more information before I start to get excited.

 

[BoredRolePlayer]

While I don't take word of what a dev says cause I didn't see it. I am excited for more mass effect, I must be one of those weirdo's who liked how the series ended and prefers the gameplay of ME 2/3 over ME1 (God ME1 sucks so hard for gameplay -_-).

 

[Ticklefist]

While I don't take word of what a dev says cause I didn't see it. I am excited for more mass effect, I must be one of those weirdo's who liked how the series ended.

The original ending where you destroy the galaxy you just busted your ass to put into order or the extended cut? Extended cut is a fine ending, if a bit anticlimactic. I think Bioware's handling of the whole thing is why it still wasn't good enough for a lot of fans. Calling a complete retcon of your intended ending an "extended cut" is pretty insulting.

 

[BoredRolePlayer]

While I don't take word of what a dev says cause I didn't see it. I am excited for more mass effect, I must be one of those weirdo's who liked how the series ended.

The original ending where you destroy the galaxy you just busted your ass to put into order or the extended cut? Extended cut is a fine ending, if a bit anticlimactic. I think Bioware's handling of the whole thing is why it still wasn't good enough for a lot of fans. Calling a complete retcon of your intended ending an "extended cut" is pretty insulting.

I saw Extended Ending, but read up on the original ending. But I've seen people complain about how your choices didn't effect the game and I didn't get that honestly. While playing (and I just finished it) I'm sitting thinking "I wonder how this would have turned out if I done X instead of Y in ME1/2". Also I think Bioware was trying to do right by their fans and fix the very thing the fans where whining about. So if they felt insulted by what Bioware did it's their own fault honestly(To be honest I was shocked when I read the news about that, because I figure they would go oh well). It's not like Capcom where they announce a squeal to a game that ended in a cliff hanger, and brag about how they have fan input on their forums for the game then cancel blaming the fans for not being interested.