Update: BioWare Teases Release Date for Next Mass Effect

[00slash00]

im so excited for this. i finished mass effect 3 last night and its probably my favorite game of 2012. thats not flame bait or anything, i loved the game and loved the ending. it doesnt really matter to me that your actions didnt really affect the ending. they had large impacts on the game, thats more than enough for me to be satisfied that my decisions mattered. my opinion of bioware is much higher after the mass effect trilogy than it has been since the days of baldurs gate

 

[Product Placement]

EC

I've yet to see the Extended ending, since I have a girlfriend, who's still working her way through the Mass Effect series and I want her to see the original ending before I get the "patch".

Now, the way I've had the Extended version explained to me, they weren't gonna change a single thing, merely fill in some missing details or as they themselves said it "provide additional context and deeper insight to the conclusion of Commander Shepard?s journey". This is changing the ending. Those relays clearly went boom in the original version.

Edit: Now that I remembered (and checked) the Star Child even specifically stated that the explosion would destroy the relay network, in the original ending.

 

[TheVampwizimp_v1legacy]

Looking forward to it. I don't think I will ever be as hyped for a game as I was for ME3, but ME X should be a quality game.

Thing is, I know that there are so many things that can go wrong. A prequel would be hard to justify seeing as it would never be anything but a sidequest compared to the galaxy-spanning apocalypse epic of the trilogy, and any sequel is probably going to have to pick a single ending from 3 and run with it. My biggest worry there is that they go with Synthesis; that resolution is bananas and I want no part of it, but whichever they pick would obliterate the ending canon of roughly 2/3 of their fans.

Also, EA is indeed an evil overlord, though I think even they may have learned a lesson from ME3, at least inasmuch as it risked one of their biggest franchises. They will probably be more careful with it for this next installment. The loss of much of the top-level talent at Bioware is obviously bad, and the fact that Hudson and Walters seem to be running things is definitely scary. So yes, there are several reasons to worry.

But I am still confident that it will be a great game, because despite everything I don't think they fucked up ME3 that badly at all. The marketing blunder was the biggest one and you can't blame the game itself for that, no matter what promises Casey Hudson made to your face. You should know better than to trust advertisements anyway. I can see where the game was rushed in spots: the ending was incomplete before they fixed it, the final sequence was lacking in gameplay epicness, the dialogue trees are stripped down. But I can be picky with anything. Bottom line, I wasn't disappointed and I sure won't go into the next game with any expectation but to be impressed.

 

[thebobmaster_v1legacy]

EC

I've yet to see the Extended ending, since I have a girlfriend, who's still working her way through the Mass Effect series and I want her to see the original ending before I get the "patch".

Now, the way I've had the Extended version explained to me, they weren't gonna change a single thing, merely fill in some missing details or as they themselves said it "provide additional context and deeper insight to the conclusion of Commander Shepard?s journey". This is changing the ending. Those relays clearly went boom in the original version.

Edit: Now that I remembered (and checked) the Star Child even specifically stated that the explosion would destroy the relay network, in the original ending.

They lied. They even added an ending where you can say "FUck you, Star Child, I won't do what you say." They changed quite a bit in the EC.

 

[Frostbite3789]

Agreed. I'd love to see a game based around CSEC. The citadel is plenty large enough. Maybe make it an LA Noire detective style game. It could have some real potential. Just no more "save the galaxy" type plot. I thiink it's safe to say we're collectively good without more of those for awhile.

You mean sort of how they narrowed the focus of DA2's story and everyone loved that?

 

[redmoretrout]

I'll try to keep an open mind but I haven't been impressed with a Bioware game since the 1st Dragon Age. They have been releasing mediocre games for a while now. I was amazed by the outrage caused by the ending of Mass Effect 3 not because I thought the ending was good, but because I thought the plot was weak for the entire trilogy.

 

[Zeckt]

I got the impression they don't want to make mass effect games anymore judging by how the trilogy ends. So is this a sick joke? and no, I won't look at their save face ending. They wanted to end their trilogy that way, thats the way it is with me. They wanted to kill their own franchise, and now they want to make a new game?

No matter what they do, I will never get starchild out of my head for the fact that that is the way they wanted it to be in the first place. ME is dead, shot by their own creators. If I could I would kick it while its down for being the biggest entertainment dissapointment in my life. It was THAT BAD that it was not only a dissapointment it simply disgusted me. I hate Mass Effect and I almost hate bioware for MAKING ME hate them.

 

[Murmillos]

When it comes out doesn't really matter. Because, well, Day-One orders between myself and EA are long done.

 

[Dogstile]

Just fix the ending. Retcon it if you have to.

Yes... I'm still bitter.

Retconned!


I love the internet sometimes.

 

[BloodRed Pixel]

Did actually ANYBODY see that ending in the midnight park where the 'child' asks 'grandparent' for 'one more story' and the 'grandparent' sais 'ok, one more story'? Anybody?

Or was I the only one on the internet getting that hint?

The ME3 story - following indoctrination theory - is far from finished, for me.
So hopefully they make ME4 the actual ending or Bioware can stuff it where the sun don't shine.

 

[Beautiful End]

B-but I want Dragon Age 3!

I couldn't get into ME at all but I love DA. So far. ME has the upper hand with 3 titles already out there and a 4th one in the work. DA, on the other hand, only has two titles, and the second one wasn't that great from what I hear (Barely started it).
Yeah, I know I'm just complaining about something unrelated right now but...is it just me or does it seem like they're releasing more information about this new ME game than DA3?
Not fair. :[

 

[Lovely Mixture]

Did actually ANYBODY see that ending in the midnight park where the 'child' asks 'grandparent' for 'one more story' and the 'grandparent' sais 'ok, one more story'? Anybody?

Or was I the only one on the internet getting that hint?

I think it's cause everyone would rather not remember the less desire-able aspects of ME3.

 

[DrunkOnEstus]

I played KotOR for the first time recently (I know, I'm upset with myself too). I was astounded when I discovered that Casey Hudson played a major role in that game. Anyone who's played KotOR knows exactly what I mean.

 

[Dendio]

I for one can't wait till the next installment in the series comes out. Love the mass effect universe

 

[crazyrabbits]

Unless Bioware wants to declare one ending canon...

You can't make a Mass Effect sequel that takes place after the third game, regardless which ending you pick. In all possible outcomes, the entire Mass Relay network was destroyed. It's not the same world anymore. What used to take hours/days of travel now takes decades or centuries.

Well, as others said, the EC did retcon the endings so that the relays were clearly shown to be merely damaged instead of outright destroyed (as the fanbase largely assumed after the original endings).

All that said, though, I'm going to go out and say it will be impossible to make an ME4 given the current circumstances. I still fail to understand why (given that this is a franchise that had - emphasis on that word -the potential to be a persistent franchise) the writers backed themselves into a corner. As I've said before (and as others have rightly pointed out), there's little prequel material to draw from - all of the major conflicts were either way too short (the First Contact War - two weeks) or way too long (the Rachni Wars, which stretched on for decades).

If they're going to create a sequel, they have to answer the following (potentially universe-changing) variables:

- Is Shepard alive or dead? (less of a concern if it's far in the future)
- Are the Reapers alive or destroyed?
- Is the game following the original ending (relays destroyed, everyone screwed) or EC ending (relays merely damaged, everyone goes home)
- What squadmates are still alive? (all of them can potentially be dead by the final battle if the EMS is enough to ensure a "good ending" but result in their deaths)
- Is the galaxy still unchanged or half-synthetic?
- Did the Reapers leave voluntarily (as a result of ghost!Shepard) or are they still helping the Synthesized galaxy?

I honestly don't know how any of these variables can be reconciled unless the entire ending is retconned. The fact that the development team (as noted in a recent Game Informer article) honestly didn't know there would be a problem with it until the game was released shows that they didn't think any of this through at all.

 

[Legion]

Giving Dragon Age 3 an isolated chance, that's the last for me, I know the studio responsible for Mass Effect has some great writing talent, like Patrick Weekes and John Dombrow, those two wrote a lot of your favorites like Garrus, Wrex, Legion, Mordin, Thane and a lot more. They also were responsible for Tuchanka/Genophage Arc and Rannoch/Geth and Quarian Arc (they were not the only ones, but they wrote the main parts and storyline for these parts).

To me those two were the saving grace of Mass Effect 3, but I cannot condone what they are being forced to work with so... I'll watch them, but have no faith in the people making the decisions at that studio anymore.

Dragon Age 3 though has one final shot, especially since the studio of Dragon Age actually did admit, that Dragon Age 2 was a flawed and rushed game. Still found it alright myself, not replayable, but still more compelling than ME3 as an isolated game (although the Tuchanka and Rannoch Arcs were the best in recent years from Bioware).
And for all its flaws, it did have some redeeming elements, it was like a failed Mass Effect 2 fantasy game, but it was also an isolated story, which makes it a bit manageable to recover from.

Oh well, with that said, let's wait and see what they bring to the table to show.

You have summed up my opinion almost to the letter.

To be honest with Mass Effect, I feel the franchise has been too ruined for me, too many issues with the lore and writing now, so I am only hoping that Dragon Age 3 might be able to show me that people leading Bioware games are still capable of making decent decisions.