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Rumour: New species/details for ME4 from BW's private fan panel [Content deleted]

EatChildren

Currently polling second in Australia's federal election (first in the Gold Coast), this feral may one day be your Bogan King.
Update: The original post on the Indoctrination Theory Forum has been deleted without explanation. Given the recent publicity, it would not at all be shocking if this was due to EA's lawyers, much in the same way GAF was hammered after the ME3 script leak.

Bumperoony. Posting this here because there's no way to gauge it's reliability, and could very easily be totally made up, but here's a dude describing the private Mass Effect meetings BioWare held with a handful of select fans at recent PAX events.

So long story short I saw that tweet from Mike Gamble a few weeks ago that said "...if you love Mass Effect and are going to PAX Prime email me..." And so I did and then I stumbled upon this forum of like-minded people and thought I'd make an account in case there was something shown to support IT; cause if you're like me waiting for something, anything, is painful enough. Needless to say I was one of the 21 people that got to give feedback on the concepts as they showed them and gave us tiny cryptic bits of information.

So I'll start by saying that they did show us a metric shit-ton of concept art with very brief explanations. I don't even know of a logical order to start in.

They started off with the profound question of what N7 means to us which you might read into it not being a previous cycle I guess.

Then this was followed by asking us whether we wanted a direct sequel, a prequel, or something somewhere completely different at a different time. The resounding majority wanted a sequel series, which I think they knew already. And this is based completely off of my opinion but by judging the concept art it has absolutely got to be a sequel.

First concepts were of two new races. The first one being described as "Arrogant". They were really skinny, almost skeletal. Their bodies vaguely looked like a boney Turian. They had glowing eyes and a neck that frilled up from their chest (once they show it off you'll see how hard it is to describe. Their heads almost remind me of the aliens from Independence Day. The second new race was described as "Ancient, Advanced, and Guardian". They had a similar color scheme to reapers and they looked like classic fantasy/sci-fi golems. Sleek rocky or metallic bodies with bright glowing lines flowing all over them. Some had fragmented pieces and shattered bits floating in place around them.

So I'm thinking sequel because new races are kind of hard to explain in a prequel especially when it does take place in the current cycle and I definitely know that for sure because the next few things they showed us were really nice cg models of an asari, salarian, human, and krogan running in the new frostbite engine. They looked amazing by the way. Also they stated that, like humans having many different features from each other, they wanted to do that with other races. That showed off some salarians and krogans with interesting face and bone structures. They also asked an odd but hard question for everyone. They showed a lineup of a character from each main race in the series and asked us which two would we get rid of if we had to. I couldn't do it but I was sadly surprised at how many people said quarian and krogan.

Anyways, they showed off a random human model wearing various armors and configurations asking us what we liked and thought was potentially iconic. They also showed us a slew of land vehicles that would serve for different environments. And the most interesting vehicle was a personal sized Normandy-esque ship that could "fit a mako-like vehicle in it". So the new races mingling with the old ones and a ship that looks like normandy architecture, sounds like sequel material to me. They said that as always characters and choices are most important and that they want to focus on exploration and discovery again. And then they finished by showing off too many concept art screens in rapid succession for me to be able to grasp anything. Just a whole lot of beautiful and interesting landscapes.

So that's that, I know it didn't quite answer any of our IT questions but if you're like me and have been holding out for 4 holding the answer to IT and the original endings of some dark matter stuff then the fact that this is most likely a sequel is great. And honestly what they showed us was absolutely amazing and I can't wait either way, I just love this universe so much. Thank you all for checking this out.

Summary:
- Opened with "What does N7 mean to you?"
- Asked if they'd like to see a sequel, prequel, or something different. Overwhelming majority said sequel.
- "Arrogant" race. Thin and skeletal. Glowing eyes. Necks that "frilled up from their chest".
- "Ancient, advanced, guardian" race. Like sci-fi stone golems with Tron-like glowing lines over their bodies and floating fragments/shards.
- Asari, Salarian, Human, and Krogam shown in Frostbite 3.
- Want to bring across the model variety of human models to other races, giving them more diverse bone structure.
- Showed a line-up of the series' main races, and asked fans to pick two if they had to get rid of them. Most picked Quarian and Krogan. Speculation: The game has multiple playable races in campaign, and BioWare wants feedback on which they should be.
- Multiple human armour configurations shown. Asked which would be most iconic. Speculation: Marketing query, to work out what should be on the box.
- Multiple land vehicles shown.
- Focus is on character sand choices, but they want to bring back the focus on exploration and discovery.

EDIT: More.

They didn't show any female krogans to my remembrance, there were several various head configurations with face plating on the forehead, jaw line, and chin.
They looked very synthetic, give a typical rock golem the Tron Legacy makeover and you've got it. Reaper color scheme though. Kind of like Sylux from Metroid Bounty Hunters; slightly less robotic in appearance.
They did say that exploration and story are very important and that one of their goals to strive for was "a stranger in a strange land like ME1" I think that's the way Mike Gamble worded it.
Also you reminded me of the thing about save customization. Mike did mention that they were looking into leaving a kind of debugging-like menu in the game for picking plot flags when making a save file so you can have the exact file you want without having to do another crazy long playthrough or going through a really limited motion comic.
Also off topic, something else I remembered that was mentioned but not shown. They really want to do crazy customizable armor. Down to different pieces, colors, textures, materials, and whatnot.
 
Bumperoony. Posting this here because there's no way to gauge it's reliability, and could very easily be totally made up, but here's a dude describing the private Mass Effect meetings BioWare held with a handful of select fans at recent PAX events.

Sequel. Very good yes. I'm hoping there's a lot more backstory to be filled in and it doesn't feel bolted on. I wonder if they can make another character we care about as much as Shepard.
 

EatChildren

Currently polling second in Australia's federal election (first in the Gold Coast), this feral may one day be your Bogan King.
A dude sharing the same username as the post author responded to Mike Gamble's post-PAX thank you tweet to Mass Effect fans, with a thank you for letting him attend. So unless the dude went to the effort of making the post, making a twitter, and then responding to Gamble on twitter, it's probable real.
 

Nirolak

Mrgrgr
They also asked an odd but hard question for everyone. They showed a lineup of a character from each main race in the series and asked us which two would we get rid of if we had to. I couldn't do it but I was sadly surprised at how many people said quarian and krogan.
So I'm guessing they want to figure out which species to not make an option for main character race.
 

EatChildren

Currently polling second in Australia's federal election (first in the Gold Coast), this feral may one day be your Bogan King.
Split thread.
 

Omega

Banned
Krogan. Really?

Why would you want to get rid of Krogans? Wrex and Grunt were the best characters in the trilogy.
 

Vooduu

Member
Sequel? Interesting. How does that work considering the Reapers were destroyed/assimilated? (Legitimate question)

If they do bring in exploration and discovery on the level of ME1, something I fell in love with, then I'm all in.
 

shira

Member
I'd be down if my ME1-3 saves did something. Otherwise I got too much invested to start at nothing.
 

Shrennin

Didn't get the memo regarding the 14th Amendment
So I'm guessing they want to figure out which species to not make an option for main character race.

I like Krogan but I could definitely see why people picked Quarian. I'm assuming these choices were limited to the main species and didn't include Volus, Elcor, Hanar, or something.

Actually, I would love to play as a Hanar, so scratch Hanar off that exception.

I'm also assuming that if it takes place in a new cycle, the Shepard story will likely not be linked to this new game at all (maybe referenced if anything), which means this will effectively be a "reboot" for next gen.
 

EatChildren

Currently polling second in Australia's federal election (first in the Gold Coast), this feral may one day be your Bogan King.
Krogan. Really?

Why would you want to get rid of Krogans? Wrex and Grunt were the best characters in the trilogy.

They're pretty much text book marketing queries to the fanbase. Mass Effect 4 is rumoured to not have one playable species, but more, for the campaign. It's possible, but the workload of extra voice recording and so on means they cant cover every species. Asking focus groups/fans which species to cut is a good way for them to work out which species fans are most interested in, and thus which to prioritise as playable. Human/Turian/Asari are borderline guaranteed, if it's going multi-race.

Kind of like the armour question, which is them basically saying "What should be on the boxart?".
 

Nirolak

Mrgrgr
So it sounds real to me due to:

-Most interesting armor, which is presumably for the box art/key art.
-Asking to eliminate races, which sounds like they want to focus on less potential player characters. Assuming the main races are Quarians, Humans, Asari, Turians, Salarians, and Krogans, going with four would have the same number of player species as Dragon Age Inquisition.
-"What does N7 mean to you?" is totally a question only a marketer would ever ask.
-Asking what timeline they would want the game to take place in is trying to validate the choice they made in the same way marketing surveys ask about features that are already in games so they know what to focus on in marketing.
 
I am interested but deep down I have a feeling that the resulting game is not going to be one I like considering the tag team of Mac Walters and the team that made the slogfest that is Omega.

Admittedly that DLC likely did not have a large budget and was designed for a janky engine but they need to do a hell of a lot more work on the writing and pacing of both the story and gameplay.
 

geomon

Member
They showed a lineup of a character from each main race in the series and asked us which two would we get rid of if we had to. I couldn't do it but I was sadly surprised at how many people said quarian and krogan.

Bastards. Don't you dare take my quarian love machines from me!
 

thetrin

Hail, peons, for I have come as ambassador from the great and bountiful Blueberry Butt Explosion
Who the fuck wants to get rid of Krogans? They're like Dino-Klingons.
 

- J - D -

Member
More non-humanoid races, please.

Greater variance between non-human races is exciting. Tired of seeing the same basic models for everyone and everything.
 
They showed a lineup of a character from each main race in the series and asked us which two would we get rid of if we had to. I couldn't do it but I was sadly surprised at how many people said quarian and krogan.
Commander+Shepard+Mass+Effect+3.jpg
 
I'm curious to see what canon they choose to go with if they do end up doing a direct sequel. Obviously we wouldn't play Shepard given they've stated quite adamantly before that his/her story is done.
 
It would be a bummer if Krogans were bumped out of single player race selection. Of all the original multiplayer classes, Krogans were perhaps the one real standout. Asari, Salarians, Turians, all basically functioned like humans, standing and shooting. Having a melee centric race in campaign could really give an option for a very different style of play.
 

Jarmel

Banned
Human/Asari/Turian/Salarian sounds like a decent selection for main character races. If they do it like Dragon Age: Origins, you could have four different starter areas such as the Turian Homeworld or the Salarian Homeworld. Hell they could even orient mission types around your race such as Salarian missions being more stealthy in nature or Turians missions being more gung ho.

Of course this is way too much effort so it'll be some shit like starting on the Citadel and only two people ever mentioning your race.
 
They showed a lineup of a character from each main race in the series and asked us which two would we get rid of if we had to. I couldn't do it but I was sadly surprised at how many people said quarian and krogan.

Blasphemy. Quarians and Krogans were the best followed by Salarians. If one of the main races has to go, it's gotta be Asari since there isn't a single interesting Asari in all 3 games imo. Turians gets a pass because of Garrus.
 
Human/Asari/Turian/Salarian sounds like a decent selection for main character races. If they do it like Dragon Age: Origins, you could have four different starter areas such as the Turian Homeworld or the Salarian Homeworld. Hell they could even orient mission types around your race such as Salarian missions being more stealthy in nature or Turians missions being more gung ho.
This sounds so awesome!

Of course this is way too much effort so it'll be some shit like starting on the Citadel and only two people ever mentioning your race.
But it'll probably end up like this. >_>
 

EatChildren

Currently polling second in Australia's federal election (first in the Gold Coast), this feral may one day be your Bogan King.
Added a short summary.
 
Blasphemy. Quarians and Krogans were the best followed by Salarians. If one of the main races has to go, it's gotta be Asari since there isn't a single interesting Asari in all 3 games imo. Turians gets a pass because of Garrus.
Agreed with everything you said.

They can't get rid of Quarians and/or Krogans. It wouldn't be the same.
 
...And you reminded me that multiplayer in Mass Effect is a thing.
>.<
Multiplayer is the only reason I didn't completely regret paying for this game and why I didn't stop playing the game after my first and only campaign playthrough. I just hope they don't take the grindiness even further this go around.

Anyone here still play on PC? Lol
 

Dawg

Member
Playable Krogan = instant GOTY

Also give me more armor, always felt like the amount of armor was lacking in Mass Effect. I want to customize my space jesus even more.
 
Turians would be a cool race if we ever actually got to see their planet or any hint of their society shone through in the characters outside of "vaguely warlike." Quarians would also be cooler if they weren't just some double sided allegory for space racism.
 
I want yahgs.

yahgs EVERYWHERE

Backstory on that. Also more Hanar

Not very fond of the sequel rumours though. I wanted a clean slate and MC being an alien.
 
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