what the hell will they do for mass effect 4 * spoilers* * spoilers*

[thetoddo]

I hope they go post ME3. If I were writing my dream game I'd:

-Set it 5 years or so after the Reapers' defeat. Make either Control or Destroy canon, synthesis would be odd.
-Have a Human main character with a multi-racial crew (that part ain't broke in my opinion, your mileage may vary).

As far as the story I'd have the main character be military again but a grunt rather than an N7, maybe a conscript from one of the colony worlds who was sent to Earth during the Reaper invasion. After the war and with the massive damage to the Mass Relay network the council, since the Citidel is still in earth orbit, restarts the Jump Zero program to try to find a way to do FTL flight fast enough to replace the relays if they cannot be repaired. Have the council succeed in this and the main character steals the prototype along with his multi-racial chums and they go off in search of the families they left behind to fight the Reapers on earth.
Adventure ensues.
Some of your crew's family is dead, some alive and some have perhaps moved on with thier lives. Have the main character's child be missing and you are chasing clues around the galaxy while dealing with whatever societal changes losing the relay system has caused (Palaven being taken over by Krogan trying to terraform the planet to produce food they can eat, Surkesh in civil war, there are a lot of really cool ways you can go). About halfway through the game you get your major break on what happened to the main character's kid and you go off to search right when the Council sends a second prototype ship to hunt you. Commence cat and mouse chase ending in the main character finding thier child and either faking thier death when their ship gets destroyed or turning themself in to the council.

I agree with those who have posted that with the Reapers being the focus of the last games, and that focus being on such an immense threat, the follow-up should tell an intense personal story that can still be epic without being "save the galaxy" epic. That seems to be what Bioware was trying with Dragon Age 2, so they might be leery of this approach in the future.

 

[thekillerseat]

I hope they go post ME3. If I were writing my dream game I'd:

-Set it 5 years or so after the Reapers' defeat. Make either Control or Destroy canon, synthesis would be odd.
-Have a Human main character with a multi-racial crew (that part ain't broke in my opinion, your mileage may vary).

As far as the story I'd have the main character be military again but a grunt rather than an N7, maybe a conscript from one of the colony worlds who was sent to Earth during the Reaper invasion. After the war and with the massive damage to the Mass Relay network the council, since the Citidel is still in earth orbit, restarts the Jump Zero program to try to find a way to do FTL flight fast enough to replace the relays if they cannot be repaired. Have the council succeed in this and the main character steals the prototype along with his multi-racial chums and they go off in search of the families they left behind to fight the Reapers on earth.
Adventure ensues.
Some of your crew's family is dead, some alive and some have perhaps moved on with thier lives. Have the main character's child be missing and you are chasing clues around the galaxy while dealing with whatever societal changes losing the relay system has caused (Palaven being taken over by Krogan trying to terraform the planet to produce food they can eat, Surkesh in civil war, there are a lot of really cool ways you can go). About halfway through the game you get your major break on what happened to the main character's kid and you go off to search right when the Council sends a second prototype ship to hunt you. Commence cat and mouse chase ending in the main character finding thier child and either faking thier death when their ship gets destroyed or turning themself in to the council.

I agree with those who have posted that with the Reapers being the focus of the last games, and that focus being on such an immense threat, the follow-up should tell an intense personal story that can still be epic without being "save the galaxy" epic. That seems to be what Bioware was trying with Dragon Age 2, so they might be leery of this approach in the future.

do you work for bioware/any video game company because that was a pretty good story

 

[Ascarus]

I got all the mass effects for xmas and loved it. I just finished ME3 and then i heard they were making another mass effect, and i was thinking to myself what the hell are they going to do since they killed of Shepard and all 3 endings are completely different

i would think it would have to be a more personal story. they have already threatened the entire galaxy. after that, what's next? the local groups? clusters? the entire universe?

and as others have mentioned it won't involve shepard at all.

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

I'm wondering what will they call it.

Mass Effect: Revolutions
The Return of Mass Effect
The Revenge of Mass Effect
Mass Effect: Revelations
Mass Effect Code: Mass Effect X
ME4: Mass Effect 4
Mass Effect 4: Massively Effective
M4ss Effect!
Effective Masses
Mass Effect 3 Episode 2
Mass Effect 4 Episode 1
Final Effect IV
Mass Effect re: 4

The list goes on...

 

[RJ 17]

The short, easy answer to this is that it'll have to be some form of a prequel. As indeed, due to the ending of the first trilogy, anything that happens after those events would take place in one of three vastly different galaxies. Say what you want about the "sameness" of the endings itself, but the intended and implied outcomes of each would change the very nature of the galaxy in vastly different ways.

So they'll either have to pull a KotOR II and simply have an "interview process" right at the beginning in which the player character "refreshes someone's memory" on what the history of Shepard's story was, or they'll have to go to a time before all that stuff happened.

 

[thekillerseat]

Bioware has said that it will probably be a sequel

 

[thekillerseat]

Oh c'mon, this is Bioware we're talking about! Chosen ones having to find the macguffin to save the world/universe/whatever is their bread and butter - I don't see why simply moving away from Shepard as a protagonist would also make them move away from their successful formula.

This is how:

If you're going to go with another uber badass charming mofo? At least go with someone that actually is an uber badass charming mofo to begin with. Shepard was... wet tissue paper.

.

I would live a dlc were you played as one of your crewmates instead of being shepard

 

[Dale wheeler]

most likely a prequel, back-story of another mass effect event or character or a non canon scenario like operation raccoon city.

 

[Jimmy T. Malice]

They could probably fit a storyline in between ME2's prologue and Shepard's resurrection.

 

[DragonStorm247]

Here's banking for Mass Effect: Archangel.

 

[Bob Thenecromancer]

How about a reboot that take's place in an alternate dimension where Shepard was never born.

 

[Al-Bundy-da-G]

Hang on guys I managed to sneak out a beta gameplay video from Bioware studios

 

[TakeyB0y2]

I'd really like to see a multiple-perspectives interquel taking place during the two years Shepard was dead in ME2. The only problem I'd see with this is that it could suffer the same problem that Resident Evil 6 had in which the gameplay, tone, and atmosphere felt too all over the place.

I think it'd be interesting to really see how Shepard's death and the knowledge of the ensuing Reaper invasion affected Shepard's previous squadmates who were stuck in a time of uncertainty.

I think it'd also be neat if there was a central antagonist they were all fighting against and were indirectly supporting each other without knowing it.

>.>

We can call it Mass Effect: 742/5 Days (742 Days over 5).

 

[Mikejames]

A very good question to ask good sir! I've thought a little bit about this just last week. I think it will be one of three things;

1) They make one of the "original" three endings canon and disregard the others

2) It's a prequel

3) It takes place sometime in-between or even during the events of one of the original three games

Without heavy retconning I still don't see how they could set it try to set it after ME3.

I predict a prequel, though I kind of hope they avoid featuring more of the Reaper war with us knowing how it all turns out.
The conflict couldn't get any bigger than what the first three games set up, so maybe a more personal story like DA2 attempted? I wouldn't mind seeing something heavily character driven rather than having another galaxy ending war.

 

[Siege_TF]

A prequel I'm guessing. Shepard did fight his way to being a commander, after all. I can see it being a more melee focused game.