[UPDATE] BioWare Denies Multiplayer for Mass Effect 3

[Thorvan]

I wouldn't mind a multiplayer version of Mass Effect's squad based system, with each player taking on a different class and so on, but I'm perfectly fine with it not being in there.

 

[Dr. Paine]

The story, and universe should end with 3.

Then we are entering milking territory.

I'd sooner say the story of Shepard should end with 3, or it'd be milking territory obviously by relying on Shepard's hype.

But the universe...I'd love to see more facets of it, because the potential is just awesome. So long as it doesn't reference this trilogy too often for the sakes of milking it, and instead focuses on an aspect of the universe that was only mentioned in passing (like for example...a game about the Krogan rebellions!) then I'd be all for it!

I'd adore a game/comic/book/something focusing more on the various aliens. Especially something with the salarians and how they fight in a war

 

[Veloxe]

See, I actually had problems with this as well. The way I see it, they are just going after Earth first. The Reapers are planning on harvesting the human species to make the next Reaper, right? So, before they go and begin their unstoppable genocide of every species, they are going to grab all the humans they can. I figure that the plot of the third game is going o be something like, "Okay, the Reapers have landed on Earth to collect humans for their next Eldritch Abomination. This is the only time they are vulnerable, so we need to come up with a plan to destroy them before they get the chance to attack the rest of the galaxy."

It's safe to say that I spend way too much time thinking about Mass Effect.

I would say not necessarily. I'm going to assume you played ME2 (since it sounds like you did) so you should remember what the Collectors actually were. Humans (specifically shepard) laid some serious smack down and killed most of them (this is mostly assumption based on what we know from ME2, there could do tons more collectors out there). So I think it's a couple different things:

-They could take many of the Humans and create another reaper (Or 2, or 3) to help them destroy everything else.

-They could take a large handful of the more "perfect" specimens and turn them into Collectors 2.0 to use as their eyes and ears when they retreat back and let the cycle continue of evolution of new species and eventual destruction by them (the reapers) again.

-Humans are, if I remember correctly, one of the most numerous citadel species out there, and they are expanding far faster then the other races that have been around for longer. By taking out what, effectively, should represent Humanities ultimate defence and final place of safety they could strike a major mental blow against the rest of the humans in the universe to perhaps prevent them from fighting back as hard.

-(I personally don't think this but a buddy of mine suggested it) It could simply be revenge on Shepard. Sort of like, "You ruined our citadel plans, you destroyed our attempt to create a new reaper from humans, now we are going to fuck up your home planet to make things square." (I can't see a hyper advanced AI race stooping to revenge as a reason for doing something which is why I don't agree with that scenario)

Plus for all we know this is just like, the initial wave the reapers have sent out while the rest of their forces are moving into position to strike elsewhere. I mean, it makes sense strategically to me. Get an entire race and several of their allies to focus on one front (the Earth front in this case) and then while they are busy with that send a secondary force to the other homeworlds/major planets and obliterate them while they aren't as strong as they could be. It's aided by the fact that we don't know how many Reapers are actually out there as well.

From the trailer it looked like there was maybe 7 or so reapers attacking london, so it's probably safe to say that (assuming they aren't just attacking london) there could be several hundred reapers just attack Earth cities. Personally, 100-200 Reapers a Reaper Army does not make, I'd assume their would be millions (if not billions) of them if they are able to wipe out all sophisticated life in the galaxy. Otherwise it would just take forever for a couple hundred reapers to hunt down and extinguish every little pocket of resistance that pops up somewhere.

I dunno, just how I kinda look at it all.

 

[Moriarty70]

So long as it doesn't reference this trilogy too often for the sakes of milking it, and instead focuses on an aspect of the universe that was only mentioned in passing (like for example...a game about the Krogan rebellions!) then I'd be all for it!

That's my main worry, that the spin-off would be too closely linked to the main series. I mean, Shepard has made some important and far reaching decisions, and linking more games to this world would force canon choices on a game series about choice.

Not really if you set it an Asari generation and a half since the games.

Sometimes I think people just want a reason to *****.

A writer I once worked with said something to the effect of: "You could give the players a hat that will create their perfect RPG experience for them and they would ***** about the color of the hat."

Hey! I told them green looks really bad on me.

 

[C117]

Oh thank god, that was actually something I was worried about.
Good to see they're pouring all their Mass Effect resources into making a kick ass single player game.

Let's pray it stays that way...

 

[Galaxy613]

PLEASE let there be no Multiplayer! Focus on Singleplayer and make it epic and refined. ;-;

 

[CosmicCommander]

The 'single human' being the only being ever to actively threaten their routine. Maybe they want to attack his home planet and lure him into a trap to capture him, They seem fascinated by Shepard and his nature and might want to study him.

And they're totally not taking a risk by attacking a planet and hunkering down where they can easily be overwhelmed by the galactic fleet. Or by keeping a position where Shepherd can easily use the skill set that's long-plagued them to it's full. You know, where he can conduct diplomacy, and go on missions to cripple them with ease.

Here's a brief idea- forget about Shepherd, and focus on making sure that they can win by destroying Galactic infrastructure, and then making the rest of the targets a piece of cake to wipe out. And THEN they could go after Shepherd.

At this stage it's silly to call the plot ridiculous when none of us even know what it's going to be yet.

I'm attacking the premise, not the plot.

Sometimes I think people just want a reason to *****.

I've felt the need to criticise things ever since the Human Reaper.

 

[SmokePants]

Seriously? You think moderators on that forum know anything? Unless someone posts with the BioWare logo under their name, it means absolutely nothing. This is a non-story.

 

[Grey_Focks]

Huh. Co-op could be nice, and, if done right, regular VS could do nice, too. Hell, are you guys telling me you wouldn't cream your pants at a Mass Effect: Battlefront type of game, with space battles and different classes/races and all that jazz? I know I would, though I admit I would prefer that be a separate game from ME3. A MP focused game like that, however could potentially be amazing.

 

[Sparrow]

Good and bad, I suppose. Good as in I want to them to focus on the single-player, but bad in the sense that Co-Op could have been a laugh.

The story, and universe should end with 3.

Then we are entering milking territory.

I don't care if it's milking it, I want Mass Effect: Garrus dammit!

 

[BeastofShadow]

See, I actually had problems with this as well. The way I see it, they are just going after Earth first. The Reapers are planning on harvesting the human species to make the next Reaper, right? So, before they go and begin their unstoppable genocide of every species, they are going to grab all the humans they can. I figure that the plot of the third game is going o be something like, "Okay, the Reapers have landed on Earth to collect humans for their next Eldritch Abomination. This is the only time they are vulnerable, so we need to come up with a plan to destroy them before they get the chance to attack the rest of the galaxy."

It's safe to say that I spend way too much time thinking about Mass Effect.

It could just be that earth is the closest major(by galactic standards) population center to the point the reapers enter our galaxy

 

[CleverCover]

'and most of the fans breathed a sigh of relief'

Now they can focus on the important stuff, like making sure all my choices count for something come next game.

No crappy emails kthx.

 

[joshthor]

why do people WANT multiplayer for mass effect? it would suck.

 

[Varrdy]

Allow me to clarify... Why are they starting with Earth? Why does it seem to be their priority target? .

As far as I can tell, there is nothing in the trailer / promo bumf that says Earth was hit first.

I can see why they focused on it in the trailer though. Footage of Randomville on the planet Anywheritania doesn't have as much impact, in my opinion, as footage of a well known Earth-city getting a good levelling. When I saw it, my reaction was: "Shit! They're attacking MY planet! Wait...sod "Planet", that's my COUNTRY - where's my bloody gun?" Well maybe that's what my reaction would be if I were "in character" but you know what I mean.

It would make sense if the Reapers hit Earth fairly on in the proceedings though, seeing as it's "close" to The Citadel.

Wardy

 

[Veret]

I don't object to multiplayer in this series, but I certainly don't want it anywhere near the main trilogy. Here's hoping somebody who actually works for Bioware comes out and confirms this story soon.

Oh, and the moderator in question (Pacifien) is a she. Not that it matters, but that was bugging me. Fix please?

 

[Tarlane]

Oh, and the moderator in question (Pacifien) is a she. Not that it matters, but that was bugging me. Fix please?

We must clarify this immediately so people understand that its women who don't know what they are talking about!

I generally say stuff like that for comedic effect and to enjoy the glares of people who take such things too seriously, but somehow after seeing other threads on this site I have a feeling its more likely to get me high fived than eyed.

On topic, I was having the same thoughts as Varrdy above me. Earth isn't necessarily a first strike target just because it was seen being attacked in the trailer. The Reapers power is obviously immense as was shown in the last scenes of ME2 and with their surprise tactics its very possible that they could be launching coordinated strikes against the various homeworlds of primary races(sorry Volus) as a technique for demoralization.

-If- the council races are taking the threat seriously after the events of ME2, and thats a big if since there still is likely no hard evidence like they demand then the bulk of the council fleet will be protecting the citadel leaving the homeworlds open as juicy targets to break the races spirit. If the council isn't taking the threat seriously then the attack comes as a total surprise and takes out the heart of your enemies with little loss.

Also, its a very real possibility that by the events of ME3 the war has been raging for some time. They showed with ME2 that there is no problem with doing a time lapse, its really impossible to know what stage the war is at when you pick up the third game. Maybe everyone else has been exterminated and Earth is the last bastion of life? Ha! Take that alien lovers.

 

[Irony's Acolyte]

I'm fine with that. Mass Effect multiplayer sounds like it could be fun if pulled off correctly, but I'm glad to know that it won't be taking away from the single player experience in ME3. I would be very pissed off if Bioware ended up making ME3 so-so because they decided to work too much on multiplayer.

 

[Super Jamz]

There would be absolutely no point in Mass Effect 3 multiplayer.

Also, i think now would be a bitchin' time to bring out the Power Rangers.

 

[Icehearted]

I don't think a multiplayer component would necessarily detract from the single player game based on this idea of dev time being split between the two. Or need I remind you people that Bioshock 2 was overall unimpressive despite assurances that multiplayer and single player were both developed by different teams so one would not cut into the other?

I think the truth is simply that some games work in multiplayer and some don't. While the lore would be sound, and a multiplayer game based in the ME universe would be fine (I guess), ME is simply not a multiplayer game. Attempting to shoehorn the game's mechanics into such a thing would be a disaster. Then again, EA isn't known to be above such tactics if they think it will help push the game to a beefier demographic, and in case you forgot they're running things now.

 

[JUMBO PALACE]

Good. Keep the tacked on multiplayer out of my single player games.