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Next Mass Effect Game


Zerimar Nyliram
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I'm a huge Mass Effect fan, and something huge is happening coming. Take a look:
 



This teaser has me hopeful, but also kind of worried. It's great to see Liara, so I'm fairly certain this will be a sequel to ME3. I am interested in what they can do with such a story, but there are also problems. For one thing, there were three endings with drastically different outcomes for the the entire galaxy. Say what you will about the endings, but they left it open chiefly because they wanted to bring some sort of finality to the series. I worry that this game will canonize one of the possible endings, and that is problematic because the Mass Effect universe has always been slightly different than the Star Wars universe in its approach to canon. For one thing, they purposely never ruled whether Commander Shepard was male or female, who he or she romanced, what choices he or she made or which of the companions are alive from game to game and what they are doing, whereas Star Wars has always canonized the genders, stories, and choices of characters like Revan, Metra Surik (the Jedi Exile), and Jaden Korr. I'm not saying one approach is better than the other (frankly, I like both for different reasons), but Mass Effect has always been adamant on leaving anything that was left up to the player ambiguous. I'd imagine that was the intent with the endings as well, and if this new game undoes that, I fear it'll cheapen the experience for many fans.

Plus, I recently learned that Casey Hudson has left the company again, and that worries me. The last time he left, Andromeda turned out to be an absolute mess. That, and I don't have a high opinion of BioWare these days, not since they came under EA's wing.

But I digress. I hope this game is good. It'll be awesome to play as our familiar favorites again (I hope).

Also, for as much as I'm not keen on Andromeda, I still want a resolution. Just give us one more game, a sequel, and keep it a duology, not a trilogy. Heck, I would even hope they'd reduce the amount of content in the second game, because the first was just way too big, filled with mostly stupid and pointless quests. Give us one more game to wrap up the Andromeda story, or at least give a book or two, or a comic series.

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The whole reason of going to Andromeda was to dodge the multiple endings—

But you know what? At this point haven’t all the hardcore fans replayed it enough times that we’ve tried all the endings? At this point, if they decided to pick one and continued from it, we could all have a save file for it. Honestly, the synthesis ending is the one that’s the problem— control and destroy could be worked with.

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Synthesis is actually my favorite and really dislike destroy, which I know is not a popular opinion. The two versions of my main Shepard--paragon and renegade--choose synthesis and control, respectively, while the two time I played as a different Shepard I chose what I consider to be the two neutral endings: destroy and Reapers win.

You'd be surprised. Most of the fans I talk to on Facebook seem to play the games over and over again one way and one way only. I think that comes with the popular way of playing RPGs, where the player views his character as an avatar of themselves in the game. For me, rather than playing as though I am my character, I play as though I am writing my character. It allows me to play as a woman (my Shepard is female), have my character be bisexual, and even make decisions I disagree with and would never make in a million years, but feel that they suit my character.

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I mean, sure-- my preferred angle is Paragon space lesbian who goes destroy, but if they present me a new ME game that doesn't make that canon, I am not going to be a baby about it.

Also, I HATE synthesis! Forced Borg assimilation! Robo-rape! Honestly "control" gives them the most option for a future.

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Shepard's dictatorial personality after becoming an AI in control seems way more in line with how my renegade Shepard would act rather than my paragon, so it is the renegade option for me. The reason why synthesis is paragon for me is because of Shepard's selfless sacrifice, even though I don't particularly agree to forced assimilation, especially as a libertarian.

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I just meant that with Control, you have the best sequel set up. The Reapers can be used to repair the damage they've done, no one is assimilated, the relays are functional, and some semblance of Shepard, even as a God AI, exists.

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Yeah, I guess you'd be right about that. I'd definitely prefer it to destroy. I'd hate to see EDI dead.

Although, really, I hope they're creative enough to set it up where you can specify what state the galaxy is in, whether the Reapers are there, all synthetics are dead, or everyone is a cellular cyborg. That would be a huge undertaking, though. I don't know if it'd be possible.

Also, I hope they don't try to make it into the mammoth open-world game that Andromeda was with scores of idiotic fetch quests. Just make a standard Mass Effect game with a reasonable amount of (good) side quests.

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One could hope they've learned lessons. The foundation of Andromeda was great, but it felt like Dragon Age with a ME skin. I'm guessing that the control scheme we'll get in the remaster will likely be a clue as to what they will have in mind for the game. But yeah-- I don't think they could work the game to make all 3 endings playable going forward. That was the entire reason for setting ME:A in another Galaxy. 

MAYBE they set it in a cluster that went untouched somehow? But Liara was at ground zero, and unless this teaser is just that--a pure tease, I feel like that's not likely. They're going to have to just own up to a canon ending and go with it. Even if you're right, I don't think that would keep a true fan from playing if it wasn't their pick of endings.

 

 

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It’s entirely feasible that they say anything that happened at the end of ME3 was localized. That the damage supposedly caused by Destroy was major from Earth out, but fizzles the further it went. Same with the other endings. Earth was totally Synthed, other systems blended and the others not effected. Control could be total within Earth, again some further out, much further out some Reapers survived and are now distinct and separate from Shepard’s Control force.

Regarding that and Control, a geeky reference would be Hugh and iBorg with TNG. Regarding Synth and Destroy, again reference iBorg and the eventual explanations by the Borg Queen... that once these endings happened, they were actively fought against as they happened by the opposition (the Borg Queen in TNG canon and some other Reaper AI in Mass Effect).

It’s simple, it is altering the implications of the ME3 endings, but still working with them without erasing it.

Also all three endings would still have a Reaper force somewhere. So any acknowledgement of the original Trilogy could really just focus heavy on “What Happened to Earth?”

All that said: I personally feel there was only one ending and that being Destroy with Synth and Control being Reaper endgame victories. I feel that is supported by everything in the games both subtle (computer log entries) and overt (the dialogue and action). But... BioWare said no to that, so whatever. lol

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The only problem with that is that each ending shows the effect moving from system to system through the relays, throughout the galaxy. Watching the teaser above again, does it seem to imply they are going into a specific cluster... or is it just a zoom in for narrative effect?

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I think the teaser is intentionally vague, but I agree it seems like they could be focusing on a specific area... perhaps one less changed by user endgame choices. 

They are also super implying that is Liara, but really it could be offspring if they want to spin it. If Liara they are again super implying that N7 is Shepard’s armor. Maybe we will have another ME2 Shepard clone continuing the story. But again, really they could do anything with that and it’s just us reading into it.

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I feel like it would be a super dick move to show somebody with Liara's outfit and face and then be all IT'S HER DAUGHTER!

Then again, remember Liara was young and Asari can live to be over a thousand years old-- so it could still be centuries post-ME 1-3

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Mike Gamble shared the following high-res shot on Reddit, where you can clearly see wrinkles and smile lines on Liara's face (click on it to blow it up). I think this is proof that it takes place a long time after the events of the original trilogy, most probably right around the time of Andromeda.
 

 

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I'm really annoyed with myself that I missed these games.   My PS3 hit the infamous "yellow light of death" when I became aware of them (really don't understand how I missed them - not like me at all!), and at that stage I waited a bit and moved onto the PS4.   

But I am really happy that they are doing a "Legendary" edition for the first 3 games as a PS4 release in early part of next year, so I will finally be able to get to play them.   Heard so much about them.   Will play it straight onto my PS5 so I have the saved data in place (if needed) for when this new one comes out!

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Side quests can make or break a game for me. In ME2 there were a lot, but they seemed organic and tied to the main quest. In ME3 you randomly overhear somebody mention they dropped their hammer on a planet and you fly there to get it and bring it back... over and over and over-- you HAVE to because they tied over all game completion to unlocking the better endings. 

I love all the ME games on the whole, but when I replay, it does get tedious around the middle of ME3.

Cyberpunk is dying by the endless fetch quest and dungeon clearing side quests. Red Dead 2 was the absolute best at side quests in terms of making them seem organic to the story. In fact, one of the biggest plot points begins in a side quest. Upon my second play through I realized they sort of cleverly stall the story until you play that side quest. It was genius.

One thing I will always hate are collectables.

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  • 1 month later...

Huh, I really thought Andromeda would end up killing the series for a long while. Interesting. The wheels just kinda fell off the series for me; 3 felt like a chore and Andromeda is... Andromeda. I hope they can pull me back into interest in the ME universe, but almost every "cinematic" AAA game title is just a wait and see sorta thing for me now.

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Andromeda DID kill the series for awhile. It's been 3 years. That's not a long time for games to be in development, but other stuff-- like the movie IP going into turnaround and all the DLCs for ME:A being cancelled, and the production of zero tie-in stuff really did signal that things were dead.

Remaster trailer is out today, it looks nifty. I wish they were changing a bit more, but knowing we're getting a new game in a few years makes up for it.

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Yeah, I wasn't going to get the the remastered trilogy because I've got all kinds of mods that gives me 4K resolutions, among other things; but when I heard today that they've added such things like carnage in the background on Noveria that you only hear about in the original game, and how they've really touched everything up, I might be a little more interested now.

But I've also decided that I'm not going to play it just yet. I'm going to do a second play-through of Andromeda with the other Ryder twin (as long and tedious as that game is), and then maybe next year I will finally retire my beloved Lana Shepard whom I've had the pleasure of working with since 2008, and dive into the remaster.

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