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

[Therumancer]

Simply put if it's a prequel my interest is null. I tend to dislike prequels in general as they do more damage than sequels. Besides a proper sequel could potentially repair the damage done at the end of ME3. With the way ME3 ended I'll be honest in saying that other than a general dislike of prequels it also involves the feeling of futility, I mean nothing I accomplish matters because everything turns into a giant turd at the end.

As far as where they could go with the series, that's pretty much anywhere. How rich the Mass Effect universe was doesn't much matter when the developers have already proven they are willing to take a crap all over that, and "Mass Effect" is just a label to cram onto a science fiction franchise.

If anyone cared what I think (the people who make games generally don't) I'd think the ideal direction for a non-military Mass Effect game would be a apace sandbox, with some story missions thrown in. If civilization and intergalactic communication has been damaged after the end of the last game, it would be a great universe for a freebooter to slow-travel between systems, do mercenary work, and similar things. People seemed to enjoy making their own characters from various templates in the ME3 multi-player, so actually making this a game where you can create your own character, and perhaps your own crew/squad from scratch as opposed to recruting various pre-defined characters might work.

The odds of EA-Bioware getting behind anything space sim, or truely RPG like nowadays seems minimal, never mind a combination of the two.

One thing I do think a new Mass Effect game does need is to have both ground and space based action. I found it very annoying that despite having "the best ship in the fleet" and being told how great my weapons and stuff were, I never really got to do anything with my ship execept watch cinematics of Joker flying it. The thrill of say mounting a doom gun on my ship in Mass Effect 2 was heavily mitigated by the fact that all it really did was affect a later cinematic and a few later variables about crew survival in the endgame. It wasn't like "YEAH!, now I'm going to teach those space thugs who rules the spacelanes". In a space opera when I'm more excited about tweaking my pistol to be .02% more effective than I am with the gear on my ship, you know something is wrong, both should be appealing.

 

[Deshin]

My initial reaction is to scream betrayal "cash cow" but thinking about it logically I think it's a good move. The problem with Mass Effect was the whole game got so bogged down by number 3 that they really wrote themselves into a corner creatively.

You can tell the first game had balls. Only 6 squad members and AT LEAST 1 of them would die (with the other one tricky to keep alive on your first playthrough) and all the other choices which seemed to hint at larger things later on. Then come 2 they went all out and introduced a butt-load of characters and made it possible for ALL of them to die. This means they had to write up 3 with the possibility that the majority of the cast could be dead on your playthrough and no one wants to green light VAs for characters that half the player base isn't even going to see. Then of course the multiple plot points couldn't impact the series TOO heavily because then it'd be a gordian-flowchart and the pubs behind the scene said "ah fuck it make it a shooter with some fancy cutscenes".

The Mass Effect universe has some very good story behind it so perhaps the logical best step for a Mass Effect game to go back to roots is to do away with Shep and the scooby gang as best as they can. Perhaps throw the story back to the Krogan Rebellion or maybe even the First Contact Wars with the Turians and let us see firsthand what went on from the front lines.

EDIT: To give a good example of breaking away from the mold: (another space opera mind you) Star Wars. Sure we all know the story of Anakin Skywalker and those are what made it into the 6 movies but there are LOADS of other stories that are just as good. I mean take TOR for example, sure it flopped as an mmo but I absolutely LOVED the setting and the story of that game. I only played as a Bounty Hunter with a bit of dabbling into Agent before my 2 months were up and I looked at the resubcribe screen and said "fuck that" but the story from a non-Jedi perspective was really great.

So if we have a Mass Effect with the core focus shifted AWAY from the atypical Space Marine macho hero stereotype and have it from the eyes of someone less "oorah" it might give the series a much needed push in the right direction again

 

[Erttheking]

Well, at least the Commander's defiled corpse can rest in peace at the very least.

 

[BaronIveagh]

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

All of us who liked 3's ending, like me, or those of us who didn't care about the 10 less-than-good minutes at the end of a 3-game series. You guys are all whinier than Star Wars fans. Good grief.

Less-Than-Good? In much the same way that Genghis Khan was less-than-peaceful? Or Absolute Zero is less-than-warm?

As far as the Star Wars guys... After TOR I think they have grounds for some legitimate whining.

 

[Infernai]

I see two ways this can be set after ME 3

1. They pull the mother of all retcons....very unlikely given artistic integrity and all that stuff.

or more logically

2. The events of Mass Effect 3's ending caused a breakdown between dimensional barriers and resulted in a reaper and some of the other races being introduced into a modern day, parallel version of earth that never discovered the mass relays.

Centuries later, earth is afflicted with plagues due to the introduction of all these various elements and creatures, with most of them being hunted down because of this..however, in the process, Earth went dark and was sent back to the dark ages thanks to a very sizeable EMP burst as a final "Fuck you" by some of the surviving races.

You play the game centuries later in the post-apocalyptic landscape as an aging older man/woman in their mid fourties who, due to having one of the newly introduced diseases that has yet to have a cure/immunity built up for it.

During a routine run into the ruins for supplies for medicine for mild alleviation of said illness you come across a strange blue skinned woman who seems to be in possession of strange powers. Said woman seems to have amnesia, remembering little about herself aside from her name and her mission: To destroy "The Spire", a strange purple construct that was said to have a will of it's own yet hasn't acted in centuries.
Things go from there.

If you figure out what game THIS is ripping off...you get a cookie.

 

[w9496]

If it's a sequel, it would be cool if you got to play as one of your former squadmates with the class will dictate which character you are. At least I think it would be cool, or an interesting concept.

I'm looking forward to more Mass Effect. Hopefully more information comes out soon.

 

[thehorror2]

You know what else ME4 won't be featuring? Me.

Done with the series as a whole. I loved me some bioware games, but they've been comparatively GARBAGE since EA got them.

 

[antipunt]

You know what else ME4 won't be featuring? Me.

I lol-ed

So now with EA COMPLETELY at the helm (as opposed to partially before) with the leads from Bioware abandoning ship...this should be gooodd....

*grabs popcorn

 

[Owen Robertson]

Of course it will be in a different context. Everyones fucking dead.

 

[verdant monkai]

What I think they mean

"the game will be in a very, very different context"
(Bioware finally have that excuse they have always needed to make a dialogue exclusive game, with one or two rpg elements if we are lucky.)

"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."
(The game WILL BE A STINKING PREQUEL because they wont bother to try to make a sequel that make sense for all three of their endings. For example they would not in one save import make everyone a cyborg, and then in another have reapers flying about, doing odd jobs for everyone. It will be much easier for them to make a game about first contact, where the humans fight the Turians. And all of the amazing exploits of the protagonist, will have been too awesome and top secret to put in the Codex's of the 3 main games, or some other steaming turd of an excuse.)
I hope to god I am wrong about this.

This is just my crummy little guess on what may happen next, fingers crossed I am wrong. I will play a prequel but I will not buy it on day one I will buy it second hand for around £15, and I do not care how long I have to wait. A sequel on the other hand I will immediately preorder, but I seriously doubt Bioware have the fucking balls to make a sequel. They will probably just curl up into their filthy little comfort zone, and do a sickening little smile as they shit out a diarrhoea coated prequel, with online passes and on disc Dlc floating in it.
I am a colossal Mass Effect fan and would be delighted to eat these words but, something tells me I wont be taking that statement back any time soon.

 

[Miroku2235]

You know what else ME4 won't be featuring? Me.

I lol-ed

So now with EA COMPLETELY at the helm (as opposed to partially before) with the leads from Bioware abandoning ship...this should be gooodd....

*grabs popcorn

Yea, this ain't gonna be a Bioware game. This is gonna be an EA cash-grab in an attempt to milk a series in such a way that would make George Lucas proud.

"What's that? People were angry at the way we handled the last game? Pfft, who cares. Make another one, people will still buy them."

 

[Fireprufe15]

"1. They pull the mother of all retcons....very
unlikely given artistic integrity and all that stuff."

...except for the fact that their 'artistic integrity' retired a while back...

 

[Helmholtz Watson]

Its times like this that I miss Zeel. I only wish I could see how the guy would react to such news, hahaha.

 

[MetalMagpie]

I'm curious now, what could they possibly do to write themselves out of the corner that was ME3's ending. Not only was the ending bad, but it changed everything. I think their just going to go "destruction" as canon ending and pretend the me3 ending didn't happen. (at least one can hope)

I'm assuming ME4 is most likely to be set at some point before the end of ME3, removing that problem entirely.

 

[KingsGambit_v1legacy]

We always knew that ME3 would be the end of Shepard's story within the universe. And it's a grand universe indeed, with a lot of potential stories to be told. In the same way that the Star Wars: Extended Universe gave us Kyle Katarn, Coran Horn, Kyp Durron, all interesting characters with their own personalities and adventures.

Admittedly it's a little hard to follow up on "galactic extinction", but I think the best thing here is to simply forget that part, except insofar as the story may continue on in the universe that's left.

I would love to see a future Mass Effect title with a non-cinematic/fully VAd set-in-stone protagonist. I'd like an action RPG, where I can choose how I level up my main character and crew, with combat, stealth, biotic and engineering skills all available, as well as lots of cool gear and loot. We could choose to play as any race, each with "racial bonuses".

The story could include being SPECTRE, which would therefore result in a visit to the Citadel, meeting with the Council, which adds a sense of continuity and makes us feel we have an important role. Conversely, we could be a high level Cerberus/Alliance operative (if human), Krogan Merc, Turian SpecOps, maybe even Batarian smuggler/pirate, etc (kinda like DA: Origins, holy shit this idea sounds incredible already!). Even perhaps a very personal story, like BG2 had, rather than one of galactic significance.

We would have to have a ship, exploration, crew, that goes without saying. Adding to that, some potential new additions...melee weapons/specialisation, maybe some more "sandbox" style arrangement, with the Citadel/Quarian Fleet/something serving the role of Athkatla in BG2. Companion quests, some form of economy (that varies between systems), damn this would be amazing.

One thing that ME3 seriously failed to capitalise on was the space battle. Here was an incredible opportunity for a mini-game or a strategic digression. A single level along the lines of Nexus 2, whereby we issue orders to the fleet, positioning capial ships, fighter squadrons, frigates and support ships, making use of our resources in response to an evolving battlefield and hostile enemy armada. I think I'd be pushing it too much to hope for space combat too, but one never knows. But how cool to upgrade our ships (or even buy new ones) and have some opportunities for space combat.

The ability to explore the ME universe with a character of OUR choosing and design, different ships, ways to play, romances, things to do and a cool, personal story...If this game was on Kickstarter I would already have backed it Skyrim with ships, biotics, party based gameplay in the ME universe....ahhhhhhh.

Another CoD style cinematic adventure with a Shepard/Hawke is really unappealing.

 

[gbemery]

sorry but in all seriousness I can't read Fabrice Condominas's name with out reading "Fab[ulously]priced Condominiums" ....maybe its just the late hour...

 

[Mycroft Holmes]

Mass Effect: The inventory based puzzle solver.
Mass Effect: ExoGeni planetary exploration specialist. (Now with 500% more planet scanning minigames)
Mass Effect: Reproduction contract negotiator

 

[Daget Sparrow]

I hope "ME4" is a prequel. The Reapers were a fantastic adversary, I find it hard to imagine anything topping that. I don't know where the series can go from here, but perhaps a whole new antagonistic force or a dedicated battle in the Reaper War would be the way to go. Plus the chance to choose what species you play as would be cool to (Turian, Quarian or Geth for me. I'll figure out which one later).

And just to add fire to the discussion: I liked ME3's ending. So nyeh.

 

[Laser Priest]

I jest, of course.

Frankly, I'd love to see a game allowing you to choose your race (a la Origins) that takes place after Shepard's trilogy, but the ending of ME3 seems to have screwed over my hopes there, at least for the latter half.