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Mass Effect (4): First Details & Images [Update 2: Video of Mako driving around]

Gaz_RB

Member
This game seems to have a great concept. It can take place in the same time so that we still have our familiar aesthetics and technology and lore, but instead focus on something other than OMG WE HAVE TO SAVE THE GALAXY GUYS.

It can go to the smaller and (somehow) more intimate scale of discovering the unknown and interacting with whatever mysteries and moral choices the player can find there. I'm all for it. If it took place thousands of years in the future or completely unrelated to the time period with which we are familiar, it wouldn't be Mass Effect. It'd be a new IP (which wouldn't be so bad, I'm down with any new epic space games).

So bring it on. I hope it comes out in the next few years and doesn't get caught in development limbo.

Here's my theory: you control an expedition of the Mass Effect races to another galaxy when the news comes about that the reapers are going to fuck shit up. Sort of like an Ark. They were the last hope of continuing on the civilization of the main Mass Effect galaxy. It takes place in the same time period, but you don't interact with any of the old plot points forreal.
 

feel

Member
Exploring/offroading with the Mako on random planets was one of the greatest experiences for me last gen. Climbing a steep mountain and stepping off the vehicle at the top to stretch the legs and take in the view.. just scifi bliss. Can't believe they didn't build upon that for the sequels and just flat out removed it...
 

Darkmakaimura

Can You Imagine What SureAI Is Going To Do With Garfield?
I'm hoping it's not related to the Reaper story yet remains epic. So, I'm hoping that it does take place in another galaxy. Like, a group of people set out to escape the impending Reaper genocide and ended up in another galaxy somehow. New stuff going on.
 

WARP10CK

Banned
Well I'm as skeptical as anyone but obviously the poisonous reaction to ME3 has led to them being extra careful with this game and drip-feeding snippets here and there.

When they do reveal it fully they want to show something that will make people forget ME3, not their usual jank. The panicked development of the last game led to a complete turd, hopefully they are doing things right this time.

We can only hope however it will be interesting too see how the new Dragon Age will do this November if that fails they are in serious trouble.
 

SpyGuy239

Member
Mako has no gun. Maybe you're a delivery boy.

Mass Effect - Space Pizza.

Final mission: gather and deliver supplies for Shepards party.

Side story is some lazy ass shit. Especially if it's a side story as an N7 because N7's went to war in ME3 so the conclusion will be.

You go to war but .... don't do anything of worth cause space jesus is up on a big ass magic ship pissing around with a ghost child.

Now if it was something like a smuggler crew during the events of ME1-3 that would be neat.

shit guys you're really making me weekend here!!!

Also I think that MAKO is really Ugly. The original ME 1 was was wayyy sexier.
 

JC Lately

Member
All these posts calling for a Voyager-esque spin on Mass Effect.

Its like we all forgot that Star Trek Voyager was terrible.
 
Bring it on... I loved all three games. They could still take place afterwards, there's nothing saying it couldn't be 300 years in the future and people generally forgot the specifics of Shepard (remember only the legend), and the galaxy would have recovered from whatever choice he made. Then when you import your ME3 save you could get some flavour changes based on your ME3 choices. But, I think that's too much overhead for all the different branches in ME3, so probably this will be before the ending.

But then again I don't put that much faith in "no Shepard" from Bioware... IIRC they made a big deal about Shepard being "dead" prior to the ME2 launch. Yeah, s/he was... for 3 minutes!
 
All these posts calling for a Voyager-esque spin on Mass Effect.

Its like we all forgot that Star Trek Voyager was terrible.

Voyager wasn't terrible because of the concept. The concept is great. It gives scope and depth and potential to a universe.

Voyager was terrible because it had a stupid captain, an awful bridge crew and inconsistency out the ass. The new enemies introduced are either carbon copies of alpha/beta quadrant races or boring and the borg went from being a legit threat to cannon fodder.
 

Daemul

Member
If the Mako has no cannon then what the fuck is it there for? We just going be driving about doing fuck all? Thats one way to fix then broken Mako combat I guess.
 

Grisby

Member
Hhhhmmm, not a lot to go on outside of the different galaxy deal.

Hope to god they make the planet exploration fun and not just big and barren like ME1.
 

Phamit

Member
Well, if it plays during Shepard's lifetime and before 3, it is very likely that it won't have anything to do with the Reapers, because Shepard's crew and friends are the only people who bothers about the reapers ?
 

Daemul

Member
Wait, new Galaxy? Aww yiss, I won't have to see the likes of Liara and Kaidan ever again.

KqJnjci.gif
 
All these posts calling for a Voyager-esque spin on Mass Effect.

Its like we all forgot that Star Trek Voyager was terrible.
Voyager was terrible because UPN wanted TNG season 8, with less continuity, and focus testing showed that people didn't like the conflict shown in DS9's pilot. And it was probably worse than we know.

Just read about Rick Berman and Brannon Braga's interviews about UPN executives during Star Trek: Enterprise's run and you'll see what I mean.
 

Taker34

Banned
What is so bad about Shepard (you)? Playing in another galaxy is odd enough imo and starting ME from scratch would be even worse because the lore and important characters are lost. The events in ME1-3 are the basis of the whole Mass Effect universe, ffs.
 
One saying it's a new galaxy, the other one saying it's just a side story of ME 1-3
Don't know what to believe. Just tell us Bioware. Tell us when it takes place and give the game a name. That's all we want.
 

Nerokis

Member
I'm done with Bioware. You don't unveil a story-based game by talking about multiplayer, armor, and vehicles. Those things are all good, but they're not what makes Mass Effect great. If the game is not ready to show off properly then do not show it off. I mean really? Old characters may appear but we're in a different galaxy and this somehow set during Shepard's life? Half-baked nonsensical ideas from the people who gave us Mass Effect 3. Do what you want Bioware, but you're not getting anymore of my money.

These sentences look ridiculous against each other. Bioware has gone into little to no depth about anything, and it's pretty obvious why, I'd say. That Mass Effect is, in large part, a story and character driven game is precisely why we won't hear too much about either until a proper unveiling takes place. The most significant points are the ones that aren't going to be thrown out into the world in a setting like this one.

Even then, things armor, vehicles (planet exploration being the main point here), and multiplayer do matter quite a bit to a lot of people.

Otherwise, while the idea of exploring an entirely new galaxy is pretty out there, most of the plot details so far seem reasonable. I find it doubtful that we'll end up playing out a side-story in parallel to Shepard saving the universe. My guess is that we'll possibly live through some of the events of 2-3 (probably mostly 3), but otherwise we'll primarily live out a post-ME3 story. I think that could be really, really interesting on multiple levels.
 

Enduin

No bald cap? Lies!
I think the main thing is Bioware's very aware of how upset people get over story things and I think maybe the ME3 ending is too "hot" to touch, still. I don't think they'll be comfortable picking a canon ending because of the uproar it'd cause. I do think that it's likely that once there's one game between them and ME3's ending, they'll be more willing to look at that.

People need to get over it already, it's been over two years, and BioWare needs to grow some balls and step up to the plate and address what they did, not pussy foot around it.

If they want people's respect back the only thing to do would be to take on the ME3 ending head on and address just what would happen in the aftermath of a near galaxy wide extermination and miracle event that wiped out their enemy. They can do whatever ending they want, they can merge them, retcon them so Destroy doesn't kill all AI and EDI and the Geth survive. Whatever. They don't have to honor peoples ending choice. All they have to do is choose an ending, stick to it and deliver a high quality and believable aftermath to ME3. Doesn't matter if it's set 1 year or 100 years afterwards as long is it's good and doesn't shy away from the hard questions.

The only two worse things they could do other than a side story is a prequel set before ME or a sequel that just white washes over all the fallout that would occur from the Reaper War. Some side story set out in another galaxy is the safest thing they could possibly do, but it's hardly the smartest.
 

Daemul

Member
What is so bad about Shepard (you)? Playing in another galaxy is odd enough imo and starting ME from scratch would be even worse because the lore and important characters are lost. The events in ME1-3 are the basis of the whole Mass Effect universe, ffs.

Shepard is the most boring protagonist I've ever played as, the ultimate Gary/Mary Sue, completely unrelatable and bland as fuck. I don't ever want to play as him ever again.
 
going to another galaxy is sure one way to get around dealing with the ME3 endings.


Now im curious about the Reapers, did they limit themselves to just the Milky Way? I'd imagine if we can reach the other galaxy then the Reapers can as well and that they wouldn't ignore someone from there creating super AIs that could end life in the universe.

This new galaxy could just be devoid of life, but that's boring.

With how massive and uncharted the Milky Way is they really didn't need to bring in a new galaxy but whatever.
 

BeauRoger

Unconfirmed Member
I dont like the idea of another galaxy if it means that it will render much of the existing lore irrelevant. What made the original trilogy great was the different races, their respective histories, home planets, conflicts, relationships with other races, even the citadel was a fantastic idea. Id rather have them expanding upon that foundation.
 

Angry Fork

Member
Neat, they're finally making a Mass Effect 2. That first one was great back in 2007, wonder why it took so long to make a sequel.

Feel the exact same way. If this ends up being the actual ME sequel I wanted then I'm back into this series. Hopefully it's not bullshit.
 
Sounds like I'll enjoy it a lot more than the last two just going by the exploration talk and return of the Mako alone. I don't see how setting it during Shepard's lifetime is such a big deal; they can start small and make it grow but I know how people love to kneejerk around here.
 
Z

ZombieFred

Unconfirmed Member
Actually, having the game set to have you set upon a different galaxy sounds great actually, and if they play with the time setting right around the ME1-3 Era then that can work given the time spent on your voyage in a whole different system and facing a whole different set of scenarios. That is actually pretty exciting if they go for the "Stargate: Atlantis" style. Would allow plenty enough freedom with a new paradigm shift and can throw away the Reaper shit away.
 

i-Lo

Member
If it's new galaxy then it indeed gives them a lot of latitude story-wise. This would also mean that the scene shown during E3 with Krogan in it may most likely have been from milky way.

I really hope Bioware refrains from a single all-encompassing foe like the reaper in a new galaxy. It will ensure the growth for the story and make each entry stand on its own instead of creating a level of unrealistic expectation where a myriad of decisions made in the first game will somehow affect the outcome in the last one.

Imagine if they found Sith in the new galaxy; call it KoTOR 3.
 
I'll be cautiously optimistic they can recapture the amazing design of 1.

In the back of my mind I know the awful design choices of 2 and 3 will probably still be there, though.
 

SGRX

Member
Unless the game provides some sort of narrative bridge that moves the universe forward post-ME3, or has an impact on its ending somehow, I am not very interested in a game that takes place during the same timeline.
 
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