Next Mass Effect Includes Halo 4 Writer on Team, New Races, Exploration

[Dragonlayer]

Oh god. I get the feeling Mass Effect is going the way of Sonic. Somehow fanboys got hired and want to turn their personal fanfics into canon with absolutely zero idea of what made the games good in the first place. But then again, I should have realized that when they announced no more Commander Shepard or Normandy crew. Yeah, great idea there lads!

Just look at those pictures! Oh, a giant 2001 monolithic doom fortress in space?! Boy, they sure kept that a secret during the first 3 games huh? Wonder how many lives could have been saved using whatever bullshit deus ex machina space gun it has.

Writers/developers, I'll let you in on a little secret. That the Mass Effect universe has space(no pun intended) for just about anything wasn't why they sold well. They sold well, progressively higher with each game, because of the characters. Because we loved the Normandy and its crew, not the random bullshit planets or god awful Mako driving. You want me excited? Show me Tali. Show me Liara, Wrex, Kaidan, Ashley! Show me Shepard fist pumping Garrus, or lounging on a beach with Jack. Remind me why I view the Mass Effect trilogy as the best in gaming. Don't just show space wallpapers and post the Mass Effect logo in a corner.

Look at Star Trek: TNG. It was great. Now look at DS9 and Voyager. Each good in their own way, but fatally not TNG. See it was Picard, Data, Worf, etc... that kept the show going, not just the Enterprise or the setting.
This new Mass Effect, which I'm choosing to name Mass Effect 4: No, Shepard is not in this, will not sell nearly as well. You're missing the critical Mass Effect experience.

I feel this post perfectly highlights the dilemma that Bioware finds themselves in: create something new and get shrieked at for not creating a Sims: Mass Effect Edition that will follow the post-Reaper hijinks of Shepard and co, or build on Shepard's experiences (somehow) and get shrieked at for "milking the franchise" or "defiling the canon". Well you know, more then usual by the people who can't let a certain ending go. Would I love more Shepard stuff? Yes, because I fucking loved the original trilogy! But I also acknowledge that that arc is done and dusted and continuing it would weaken the impact of its story.

OT

Yes! Information! It's still pretty vague but what the hell! Gimmegimmegimme!

 

[Arina Love]

and ME6 will feature even more disappointing ending.

 

[mad825]

You're not missing much; ME2 was completely pointless and was written by assholes. ME3 is a middle finger to everything you hold dear, and written by incompetents.

...or, ME2's regarded as one of the finest contemporary action RPG's, and ME3 was arguably the best game [to play] in the series by a long shot, with some of the best presentation and most consistent writing, to boot.

I agree ME3 had the best gameplay...I agree ME3 had the best presentation but the most consistent? What game were you playing!? ME3 has the consistency of an acid trip. The continuity errors are numerous and the plot holes threatens the point of actually playing the game. ugh.

Well Bioware, you've tripped, fell and smashed your head on the pavement in the middle of the football field. Only god knows how you can misunderstand your audience.....Again.

 

[Infernai]

and ME6 will feature even more disappointing ending.

You finish the last mission objective. No final cutscene, no in game text, not even an "Objective complete" message. All you get is the screen going black for a moment. It then fades back in with the words "BUY THE DLC!"

Then again, I think we can do worse...hmm...

 

[Dandark]

So you decided to hire the lead writer from a game made to milk an already finished trilogy for your game made to milk an already finished trilogy? Makes sense I guess but seeing as a lot of Halo fans disliked the story of 4 it may not work out for you.

I really hope that they don't have any of the original characters from Mass effect in this though. The whole story there is done and dusted and needs to be let go so that they can try and do something new. After ME3s ending though I don't see how they can do this well, im hoping that it's either a prequel set before the ME games or some kind of alternative universe or something.

Really they would have been better off making it a new IP but of course EA can't let them do that. A new IP! Insanity!

 

[Kayar13]

Halo 4 had a writer? Could've fooled me.

 

[Ishigami]

Thus far I think it is promising.
However I'm of the kind that won't touch anything that is tied in with the first Mass Effect trilogy.
Once I can be sure that there won?t even be the slightest connection I might consider a purchase if it is good.
Until then?

 

[martyrdrebel27]

Just give me one game starring Legion, and I'll forgive you for that shitty ending.

 

[ZippyDSMlee]

Give me large Mako levels, modular equipment upgrades/mods and I might give a damn.

edit
Mako levels can be optional, have a 3 way setup, go Mako or go ME2 style via scanning the planet or use a auto setup that scans a single planet in random intervals have whatever messaged or sent to the main character.

 

[wooty]

I'm still more interested in knowing what time period it will be set. Pre-Shep era? post-Shep era? during-Shep era?

Also more interested in how this tale and universe will fit into the already well established universe and narrative.

 

[Erttheking]

It's true that halo 4 had the best (most tolerable) story, but head writer? I don't know bioware.

I have faith in the group, if nothing else. I'll remain cautiously optimistic.

Funny enough, because as a Halo fan I think it had the worst. And my friend who was into the series long before me agrees. Then again she's really pissed that Cortana when from a fun snarker to a fragile emotional flower. Really 4 just had a lot, and I mean a LOT of problems.

These Covenant are hostile again because reasons never explored in game and you have to read the expanded universe novels where Karen Traviss writes fanfiction of how Dr. Halsey was a Nazi.

There's a Forerunner alive now and he hates Humans for some reason and he has these weird ass machines that we've never seen or heard about before. I guess Sentinels went the way of the do-do.

Jennifer Hale, one of the most charismatic voice actresses I've ever heard, gets stuck voicing a smug commander with a stick up her ass and the emotional range of a teaspoon.

The Captain of the starship exists only to yell at Chief and for everyone to hate him.

Also Dr. Halsey is the villain now.

It...wasn't very good.

 

[Fox12]

It's true that halo 4 had the best (most tolerable) story, but head writer? I don't know bioware.

I have faith in the group, if nothing else. I'll remain cautiously optimistic.

Funny enough, because as a Halo fan I think it had the worst. And my friend who was into the series long before me agrees. Then again she's really pissed that Cortana when from a fun snarker to a fragile emotional flower. Really 4 just had a lot, and I mean a LOT of problems.

These Covenant are hostile again because reasons never explored in game and you have to read the expanded universe novels where Karen Traviss writes fanfiction of how Dr. Halsey was a Nazi.

There's a Forerunner alive now and he hates Humans for some reason and he has these weird ass machines that we've never seen or heard about before. I guess Sentinels went the way of the do-do.

Jennifer Hale, one of the most charismatic voice actresses I've ever heard, gets stuck voicing a smug commander with a stick up her ass and the emotional range of a teaspoon.

The Captain of the starship exists only to yell at Chief and for everyone to hate him.

Also Dr. Halsey is the villain now.

It...wasn't very good.

I'll admit that I was never a fan of the series. I never thought there was much of a story, and I couldn't get invested in the characters, so the only times I ever played the halo games was at a friends house. I thought halo 4 tried to give the characters more personality, but I wasn't really impressed. I understand halo fans feel let down by it, though, and I can't really blame them.

I'm not gainst this guy working for bioware, but head writer seems a little excessive for someone who seems to have average writing ability at best. That may be enough for most games, but for a narrative heavy RPG series like mass effect I'd like to see someone with heavier credentials. I researched his work history, and all he's really done is write a few halo books and made a handful of short films. So not exactly a narrative juggernaut. I've heard people say that bioware landed the halo writer, but I think the halo writer landed bioware. Again, he may be better then we think, but there's not much of a precedent, and I think he'd be better suited as a staff writer until he can prove himself.

Edit: holy cow, for someone complaining about writing ability, my spelling was atrocious. Sorry, I was on my phone.

 

[Animyr]

Funny enough, because as a Halo fan I think it had the worst. And my friend who was into the series long before me agrees. Then again she's really pissed that Cortana when from a fun snarker to a fragile emotional flower. Really 4 just had a lot, and I mean a LOT of problems.

These Covenant are hostile again because reasons never explored in game and you have to read the expanded universe novels where Karen Traviss writes fanfiction of how Dr. Halsey was a Nazi.

There's a Forerunner alive now and he hates Humans for some reason and he has these weird ass machines that we've never seen or heard about before. I guess Sentinels went the way of the do-do.

I especially liked how Halo 4 throws in a bunch of major plot developments, or potential changes, and then managed to squander or mismanage all of them. For instance, the Chief wakes up long after the war that defined him (and the series as a whole) had ended. How will he find purpose and meaning when the war (and possibly the humanity) he dedicated his life to is long gone? Just kidding. What, you thought it was going to be a hundred years? It's only been four and nothing's really changed in that time either.

The original games about the Chief had him fighting his war almost alone, humanity's sole champion and last hope. It gave his character a feeling of gravitas, and looking back on it, I think that sense of loneliness was a defining dynamic in the story (sure, there was the Arbiter, but he was literally too alien a companion to shake that dynamic up too much), as well has his partnership with Cortana. Now he finds himself rendered obsolete by an entire freaking spartan army. How will this affect the Chief? Trick question! It doesn't. The spartan army is only there to set up co-op, and to essentially be stronger versions of marine red shirt background characters.

The mystique behind the forerunners, a long standing fixture in the story, is also tossed out the window here in a single exposition dump. The plot twist that humanity was once the Forerunners contemporaries is also kind of bizarre and isn't explored enough to give it any sense of traction.

And honestly, while the direction the game took Cortana in was certainty a good idea at heart, the execution wasn't all that great either.

So yes, I, too, am not especially impressed that this guy is now the lead writer for Mass Effect. Maybe the guy was under too many constraints? As erttheking points out, the influence of Karen Travis (and the EU as a whole) hangs over the story quite a bit.I hope for Mass Effect's sake that Shlerf was just held back or tripped up by external factors (to be fair, that's common in video game writing). I'm not sure this beloved series can survive much more incompetent management before it becomes a complete laughingstock.

 

[Animyr]

I'm still more interested in knowing what time period it will be set. Pre-Shep era? post-Shep era? during-Shep era?

Also more interested in how this tale and universe will fit into the already well established universe and narrative.

I'm indifferent so long as they don't touch that ending with a ten foot pole. If they won't retcon it, I think the next best thing is to just ignore it or avoid it, by setting the game before ME3.

Let's consider: what could they do if they wanted to make a sequel? Make one ending canon? Make them all canon? Either one kind of makes the player's actions at the end of ME3 even more pointless. And they can't make the worldstate variable depending on what ending was chosen without minimizing that endings ramifications, which does the same thing. Though if they were to embrace the ending, minimizing it's ramifications on the universe going forward would probably be for the best.

This all would have been avoided if they made the worldstate ending for Mass Effect 3 relatively consistent across all endings (without any dumb eleventh hour twists), and made the character's choices have a major effect on the fate of individual characters instead.

No, I will never forget. Never!

 

[one squirrel]

Oh god. I get the feeling Mass Effect is going the way of Sonic. Somehow fanboys got hired and want to turn their personal fanfics into canon with absolutely zero idea of what made the games good in the first place. But then again, I should have realized that when they announced no more Commander Shepard or Normandy crew. Yeah, great idea there lads!

Just look at those pictures! Oh, a giant 2001 monolithic doom fortress in space?! Boy, they sure kept that a secret during the first 3 games huh? Wonder how many lives could have been saved using whatever bullshit deus ex machina space gun it has.

Writers/developers, I'll let you in on a little secret. That the Mass Effect universe has space(no pun intended) for just about anything wasn't why they sold well. They sold well, progressively higher with each game, because of the characters. Because we loved the Normandy and its crew, not the random bullshit planets or god awful Mako driving. You want me excited? Show me Tali. Show me Liara, Wrex, Kaidan, Ashley! Show me Shepard fist pumping Garrus, or lounging on a beach with Jack. Remind me why I view the Mass Effect trilogy as the best in gaming. Don't just show space wallpapers and post the Mass Effect logo in a corner.

Look at Star Trek: TNG. It was great. Now look at DS9 and Voyager. Each good in their own way, but fatally not TNG. See it was Picard, Data, Worf, etc... that kept the show going, not just the Enterprise or the setting.
This new Mass Effect, which I'm choosing to name Mass Effect 4: No, Shepard is not in this, will not sell nearly as well. You're missing the critical Mass Effect experience.

Speak for yourself, my Mass Effect experience is different from yours. I like the open universe, the countless planets and the mako, and I have seen more than enough of Shepard, Wrex, Liara ec. To be completely honest, I hope that they don't appear in future installments of the franchise, because this hype around the Normandy crew is starting to getting me on my nerves.
I would love to see a new story, something completely disconnected from the old games, maybe even in a parallel-universe.

 

[Evonisia]

It's true that halo 4 had the best (most tolerable) story, but head writer? I don't know bioware.

I have faith in the group, if nothing else. I'll remain cautiously optimistic.

Funny enough, because as a Halo fan I think it had the worst. And my friend who was into the series long before me agrees. Then again she's really pissed that Cortana when from a fun snarker to a fragile emotional flower. Really 4 just had a lot, and I mean a LOT of problems.

There's a Forerunner alive now and he hates Humans for some reason and he has these weird ass machines that we've never seen or heard about before. I guess Sentinels went the way of the do-do.

I imagine Halo 4 would have been vastly improved if they pulled a Ghosts of Onyx and made it so that bullshit planet was made of Sentinels and just have them attack Earth at the end rather than that silly laser business.

And Cortana's handling in Halo 4 was so bewildering. They effectively gave her a new character which makes sense in the context of the story (gasp!) then give her a deus ex machina ending. While everybody else was crying about the totes emoshuns of the scene, I just reached for my tissue at the level of bullshit in that scene.

I really liked that they set up a little plot line that Cortana could be saved by Halsey but it becomes very apparent by the end that Halsey's not going to be the one who can help Cortana in this situation. Was good stuff, just only worked because they didn't focus on it much.

 

[Rebel_Raven]

I just wanna play as a Quarian. Maybe a Geth. Preferably with an assortment of weapons. Nice, hard hitting full auto, sorta gun maybe.

... Maybe a Female Krogan? Heh heh heh... Yeah, despite multiplayer annoying me, Mass Effect is a favorite series of mine, still.

Captcha: Ladies, first. Yeah, I'll be playing them first.

 

[elvor0]

Oh god. I get the feeling Mass Effect is going the way of Sonic. Somehow fanboys got hired and want to turn their personal fanfics into canon with absolutely zero idea of what made the games good in the first place. But then again, I should have realized that when they announced no more Commander Shepard or Normandy crew. Yeah, great idea there lads!

But what exactly are they supposed to do with Shepard? Her story was told, and you can't carry on from ME3; where do you go from death to the entire galaxy along with making up another enemy that we've never heard about but is totally more threataning than the reapers?

Plus, in most of the endings Shepard dies and/or becomes the reaper intelligence, or is disperced into the AI system and forcing the ending where Shepard lives and picks Destroy as canon, risks pissing off 2/3rds of your playerbase for whom that /isn't/ the ending. Or you ignore them and do whatever and piss everyone off. Or use them, but they'll have to be pretty minimalisticly shown, because all three endings are pretty different; Dead Shep, Dead Reapers, Alive Shep, Dead Reapers, Shep AI Reapers, Shep Dead merged synth organic greenery, with variations up on that with the crew of the Normandy. There's endings where the whole crew die, the buggery are they supposed to do then? "Oh don't worry, I know the mass relays are fucked, and there's likely going to be a hideous civil war going on on Earth with that fleet stuck here, but don't worry guys, we totally ressed the crew of the Normandy with deus ex witchcraft!"

They've got a massive universe that they've created to explore, let someone else be the PoV, Shepards story is done.

 

[BloodRed Pixel]

Well since 2 of the 3 endings effectively mean that the Reapers won and are therefore illusional and only one ending suggests that Shepard broke free from indoctrination and thus can continue. Shep takes a breath, if it's the first one after 'coma' or the last one before death is not told.

It would be fairly easy to continue from here. The only problem would be that ME 4 (actually ME3.5 then), would be the ME3 setting all over again in another color (sorry for the pun), which sounds massively boring.

Fact is: BW ran the ME franchise into the wall, not matter what, so no matter what writers they put in charge they cannot win.